The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-07-27
FROM OVER THE >EA,
A SCENE FROM LIFE IN LONDON.
The Roeuss waik---sIidpisht Orgies on the
Pavement.
Correspondence Ne,c North Vest

ss'-
face of the earth certainly think tina: this
city takes he lead In the way Of real brazen
faced wickedness, and should any young
man tie possessed with an inclination To co
down Hill hs will here find every facility aud
inducemenr to do so offered by the hnrdes Of
rogues Of. both sexes who infest its streets.
/ dare say that Brooklyn, New York, Chica-
60, st. Louis, and other American cities
could each tale unfold as to its own partic-
ular class OF evil deers, but doubt If any OF
them could produce such a crowd as came
across the other night-a crowd which can
be seen every night In The week on q PROM
enade now known as the "Rogues' Walk"
This Is the name applied to abroad stretch
of SOME three hundred yards of level pave
ment extending from Piccadilly Circus to
Waterloo Place, in the West End If London
"A neighborhood to which many of the most
popular theatres are closely adjoining. The
Criterion, Leicester Square, Haymarket, Her
Majes;y's, London Pavilion, and several
others are within few minutes walk, and
the simultaneous emptying of so many
crowded houses causes the streets TO be
thronged with such crowd as Is to be found
nowhere else in the metropolis a. that time
of night. All is hustle and confusion for
half an hour or SO, and by that time one Is
able to distinguish that portion of the crowd
which is making for home, and those who
IN int
shelter Of the paternal roof for some hours
to come.
BY 1l:30 p. m. the traveller will find the
pavement referred to blocked by a dense
throng of some hundreds of the youth of
both sexes, who begin to manifest their idea
of enjoyment by breaking out into snatches
Of songs amatory and bacchanalian, with
full choruses, while small force of police
officers endeavor to keep an open pathway
through the crowd for those who have no in
tention of joining in the frolc which is now
developing.
They are gay crowd; but that is far
from conveying correct description of some
of the characters which strike ones atten.
ton. Here you find the girl of tender years
who has grown tired Of parental restraint,
and, lured astray by evil association, is now
following in the footsteps of her elder COM
panions. Here, again, is the wretched, tooth.
less old vixen, whose counter nance tells of a
long career of shame and crime; while be
tween the two extremes one may easily dis
tinguish various degrees of age and guilt
the whole crowd travelling together In the
same road to ruin. The male portion of the
crowd also presents variety of form and
age, from the gay, thoughtless youth of sew
enteen summers to the hoary. headed old sin
ner whose latter days seem to be but spen.
In constant repetition of the follies of his
youth-a pitiful instance of a wasted life.
The church clocks speak out the hour of
midnight, aud all the respectable citizens
Except one) have retired to rest. 1t Is near
closing time for the drinking saloons; their
doors are flung wide open, and the crowded
houses begin to disgorge their throngs of
more or less intoxicated patrons. What q
crowd! Detachments of yelling, laughing
roys:erers now come Keeling IN from all sides
aud help 10 increase the multitude on the
pavement, whilst an itinerant fiddler strikes
upa lively air and induces some thirty or
forty couples to 60 Waiting madly around
on the asphalt pavement adjoining the Cafe
Monieo. From this time onward the fun
wakes fast and furious. Many of the new
arrivals have provided themselves with well.
filled TASKS of spirits and forthwith proceed
TO hold midnight carousal on the curb
stones with their boon companions of both
sexes-forming sort of gutter picnic. The
streets now resound with the echo of ribald
jests and songs, and the crowded paths pre-
sent an animated spectacle of jostling and
struggling humanity.
Such company is veritabls paradise for
who are here able to indulge in
their favorite forms of amusement to their
hearts content; it is also the happy hunting
grounds of embryo dukes, baronets and ar
quises, who assemble here and SOW their
'wild OATS" they feel secure from recogui-
lion in such crowd, and enter recklessly
into the scenes of frivolty and dissipation,
with which they are surrounded. The glld-
ed youth rub shoulders with their humber
brethren, and are gradually lured away by
the strange woman "whose house is the
house of corruption, and whose paths lead
unto DEATH"
A long row Of cabs are drawn up In the
center of the road, and the nocturnal iehus
are soon busily engaged in carrying drunken
jewellers to their homes, or 90 careering
madly away with a cargo of ladies Of easy
virtue and their unfortunate victims. As
The night wears on many of the characters
may be seen indulging pretty freely in the
fragrant weed, whilst others--intent on more
solid comfort-trip gaily around the corner
and invest in q hot potato at perambulat-
ing bakery.
These scenes continue-but to gradually
less noisy degree-uptil daybreak, and pre-
sent state of things which surely cannot be
paralelled by any other city on the face of
he earth. 1t is somewhat sad reflection on
modern society 10 know that these scenes of
rice and crime take place nightly at the very
doors of pious public which contributes
thousands of pounds annually for the pur-
pose of regenerating the so-called heather of
,ther lands.
The disorderly crowd is being constantly
reinforced by recruits from the continent;
hey have heard how liberal are the wages
If sin in London, and crowds Of human har.
pies come focking over from their roostIng
places In France, Belgium and Germany,
adding still further to the Babel of voices in
his molly throng.
This is far from being q complete descrip-
ion Of The scenes TO be witnessed on the
'Rogues' Walk" but II i entered further into
ietail should probably be prevented from
aging before the readers Of the New NORTH.
VEST this short sketch of one of the dark
st phases of life In London.
KEMPsHILL.