National Republican., 1886-12-11

and stare and say, "Ah, ye know !" New
York and few of our cities are producing
or Matching out few Of these birds with
ocksscoats. of.arms and pretenslons which
would make their poor, honest old Goldfish
parents blush for shame. Imagine Phil
Armour's son setting up coat-of. arms and
mimicking English affectations, when
there are lots alive who remember Phil
when he punched cattle. / know a socalled
Fifth avenue swell whose father cried fish
through the streets Of New York, and
everybody knows who old Astor was. Now,
here they may have something In the way
OF ancestry to brag about-that is, II you
can get up any enthusiasm over the
matter OF ancestry, and you don't run up
against some bastard branch Of duke or
earl. have failed so far to arrive at that
stage of ancestry worship necessary, sup
pose, to look upon with holy veneration the
Duke of Bangtown, whose twenty.ilfth
grandfather came over here with another lot
Of old pirates to steal and devastate. My
veneration lies in the worship of such an
old sea dog as Lord Nelson; and every day
as go by his monumentin in Trafalgar square
look up at the eillgy Of this old fighting
god and say, "Yes, but for such chaps as
you, where would their ancestry be?" And
over q little way | see Wellington, the
Nemesis of him who never knew defeat till
he met Wellington, and l think, Snow,
here's something to venerate; here's great
ness for you.n All, they were men, those
two, and all that is England or will be Eng
land can well venerate them. Compare
them to the kings they served, the imbecile
lunatics, the Georges, and wonder, or all
the monuments scattered about, you never
see one to the greatest OF them all, Oliver
Cromwell. Imagine house raised to the
greatness Of England-its pantheon, West
minister Abbey-full Of tablets to common,
poor, weak, stupid kings and queens, but
no great tomb to Cromwell. Some day 1t
will be done.
The public buildings here would be very
great II one had not seen the capitol and
public buildings at Washington, Albany,
and others In our states. How strange that
| should have to say this, but it's positively
true. There is no building In England or
Europe as grand in position, situation, and
in size as our capitol at Washington. Now
brag, but it's true. or course we have no
antiquity attached to our capitol or tradi-
tion or exciting history. The greatness,
the immensity, the fascination Of London,
| is its moving tides OF humanity, Its wealth,
its miles, yes, hundreds Of miles Of shops,
but they are to-day In New York, Boston,
and Chicago, tearing down buildings they
consider grand here. You cannot see in
this place or In Europe such building as
the Mills building in New York, or any OF
those ten-story palaces surrounding the
Chamber Of Commerce In Chicago. In fact,
there are no such structures for office pur-
poses here as We have In the states; their
tastes do not run to beauty in architecture,
and In all rich London there are no
such residences as the Vanderbits aud
Others we know. Inside, many OF them are
| full OF art treasures gathered together by
generation after generation, but the price
| less treasure is set in q frame of dingy,
black old stone and covered up by the dust
| OF ages. Like their weather, dismal and
black, their faces, pleasures, houses are all
| dismal, they laugh dismally, and their fun
| is dismal, vide Punch to bear me out. But
| the roads and streets, superb, magnificent;
you see little donkeys no bigger than dog
| pulling a cart load Of vegetables that would
stagger Il mule over our streets and roads
The streets are as clean, smooth, aud nice
as O billiard table, the manure on them Il
swept up by boys and sold, and the traffic
| is regulated up one side and down the
other. and blocks and delays are almost un.
| known because the drivers have to obey the
rule Of the road and it's only by obedience
can order be kept. No conception can bC
| given Of the traffic and its variety, the
| order, law abiding ways, and manners Of
the people and the iRcessant roar and din o.
this huge moving mass.
I've been to SEQ Irving In "Faustn and
and Terry as Marguerite, II ia the finest
piece Of acting and mounting ever saw
| but shoot the auditoTums and seats. On,
custom is splendid-no woman can sit IL
certain parts of the theater with hat o.
| bonnet on. Still, to 60 to a play here is Il
get yourself up in style, and a lot Of rec
| tape and nonsense has to be gone through
with; while the best seats are in the pit
where the poor people go. They hay,
women for ushers, aud charge you for you
programme, and it's all very gloomy ant
dismal in front of the stage, nobody talking