The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1884-01-24
Olr London Letter,

| $3.50 ~ A&cAAS esta RNl
place on this side Of the Atlantic. II
is quite the practice with our enthu
siastic American visitors, to make
| pilgrimages to the scene of action de
picted in the novels of their favorite
authors. Dickens seems to be the
best favored. in this respect, of the
writer's of fiction, and, like the rest OF
our countrymen, we too have made
our tours.
From the quaint and ancient dwell
ling of timber and plaster, in Ports
mouth street. Lincoin's Inn-felds.
whence Little Nell and her grand
father started on their memorable
wanderings, = the s.Old Curiosity
Shop" of the pathetic story - to the
| Fleet Prison. redolent of memories oi
| the benevolent Pickwick the Wei.
lers-father and son; The sly Jingle
and his hydro static friend. Trotter !;
have visited them all, and fingered
fondly about the places, male so faml-
lar by the faciIe pen of Dickens. Per-
haps the strongest proof of the vital.
ity possessed Ivy his characters is that
they are capable of forming this
strong interest in actnll places.
On Christmas morning last, the
| contractors and workmen of the Dan.
gerous Structures Office of the Board
| of Works began to stir themselves to
keep the sold Curiosity Shop from
falling bodily into the street. On the
| day before-of all times in the year,
seeing what Dickens had done for
Christmas--the venerable pile AMI its
two undistinguished neig.lbors gave
alarming tokens of imminent dissoiu-
tion. The landlord OF the Black Jack
| opposite, did land Office business
during the morning, entertaining the
crowds of curious spectators who had
| become aware of the condition of af-
fairs. Among these were some of
our countrymen from Boston and
Philadelphia, who expressed them.
selves ready TO purchase the ruins and
set them up again in their own cities.
The Black Jack. by the way. is held
by some authorities to be identical
with the "Magpie and Stump of
Pickwick-the favorit resort of Mr..
Perker's clerk.
| In view of the opening of Parlia
ment on Feb. 5th. 1884, Nj. Bradlaugh
in a manifesto sets forth his inten
tions of again presenting himself for
/ his seat in the House. that for North
ampton, to which he claims his legal
right. He a-raigns his enemies, in
Guiding Sir. Stafford Northcote, NJ.
p, and charges them with the cor
rupt use of money in manipulating
the petitions against him. We
shall see whether or-not the "two
policemen" of Mr.. II. S. Northcote,
who were going to be sufficient to
keep Mr.. Bradlaugh out "until the
end of the chapter" will suffice.
1t seems to have become quite the
thing nowadays for noble members to
be apologising for the House of Lords.
at the Mayoral banquet at Chester,
recently, the Duke Of Westminster
said they had been described as a
House of incapables. He admitted
that times were changing and he did
not believe that the House of Lords
would stand upon the hereditary ele-
inehe alone in ito constitution, He
thought that the making of peerases
for great lawyers, great statesmen.
men of letters, soldiers and distin-
guished poets like Mr.. Tennyson,
was what saved the House from ex-
tinction. His strain of thought is
quite in keeping with Il recent sug-
gestion that life-peerages be made for
the representative agents of the var
ious colonies. This would give these
important factors of the British En-
pire voice in the deliberations of the
| upper House, and might at some crit
ical juncture-like that was an hun
dred years ago-serve to modify at
least, the ill-advised stubborness of
, Cabinet ministers in matters relating
to Colonial affairs,
It takes, as rule. quite long time
to me ke an innovation on an English
mans ideas of fun. 1t is not surpris-
ing therefore that our sprightly little
countrywoman. the inimitable I.otta.
found that she could not leap into the
affections OF her London audiences as
readily as she had done-we are gal.
liant enough not to say how many
years ago-into those Of her Ameri-
can admirers. Pluck has done the
thing. however. and she is now hav-
/ ing unlocked foa success. She has
become almost the rival of the
queenly Mary Anderson. We are
proud of item both. Speaking OF
matters theatrical, were the immor.
tai William" to revisit the sglimpses
of the moon" to-day. he would find
enough for comparison between the
dramatic productions of modern Lon
don and the crude attempts of the
olden time, at the Globe Theatre. In
those daySit was mark Of manager.
ial favor to be permitted to seat
upon the stage. We doubt if the
most liberal Of our dramatic purvey-
ors would unbend to this extent now.
adays.
i NJ. j. II.
London. Jan. Srd. 1881.
i Stevens County is probably as fine
farming and stock county as is any
in Minnesota. The character of the
soil. the quality OF the water, the roll.