Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-02-25
special correspondence.l

have a sense Of intimacy with their em-
ployers and a Possession Of much knowledge
Us TO their private affairs Sunlight and air
have small entrance in these by streets, half
court, half yard, and owning every incon-
venIence that can be included in the position
or general arrangement Of house. Such
street is partly dead wall and part stables,
but at the entrance there are always three or
four small airless houses, in great request,
for reasons already mentioned and if ever by
any chance vacant, which seldom happens,
they are advertised at once by the house
agent as ''gentlemanly residence in the
most aristocratic part o: the town, inhabited
solely by the elite of the beau monde"
With this London happily We have nothing
to do. 1t is as well defined, as rectangular
and as uninteresting as Philadelphia itself;
but, unlike Philadelphia, it has no sunshine
save the erratic and intermittent sunshine of
the English climate. and it is draped in
mantle worn by fashion and famine alike; a
mantle of SCOT, which is as all pervading as
the fog and mist and cloud in which the
EnGlishman lives and moves and has his
being Only a strong purpose or imperative
business would take one into these monoton-
Gus and depressing regions, from which one
escapes with speed TO anything absolutely
its pPosite as possible.
Naturally then it is to Petticoat lane that
We turn, journeying to it by devious ways as
one must whose path lies in old London.
From the West End to the Bank of England,
that focus OF city life and the point from
which countless lines OF omnibuses radiate,
while each avenue Of departure from il has
its own interest for antiquarian or casual
stroller in these precincts Out through
Lombard street, which instantly suggests
generations Of substantial bankers; through
Fenchurch into Aldgabe, only name today.
bu;. up TO 1850, an actual gate as well defined
as Temple Bar, and from the time Of the
Romans the chief outlet to the eastern coun-
ties Its first form having fallen out of
repair, the fierce barons who had brought
King John to terms in the Magma
Charta, turned their attention, first to the
monks, from whose Golfers they stole money
enough TO pay for all charges Of rebuilding,
and then TO the Jews, whose substantial
houses in the Minnries and near by furnished
all the stone required. Over the gate, in the
dwelling house which made part of it, lived
Chaucer, who seems TO have felt no qualms
as to any wrong done Jew or monk, and long
after his tenancy had ended, it became q
temporary prison, and remained so till its
destruction. Baron and squire, soldier and
commoner, and poet VINO looked upon it all
as scene set for his purposes, have walked
here. each with his own thought of the busy
scene, and none Of them with much thought
save contempt for the Jew, hurrying, with
bent head, through the throng toward the
lanes where his trade centered. Then, as
now, old clothes was one Of the chief inter
ests in life; and, though there was then no
formally organized Old Clothes exchange as
today, the trade was chiefly in Jewish hands,
and seems likely TO remain there. Not Petit
coat lane alone, but a labyrinth Of other
lanes, Rosemary leading the list, are given
over to this pursuit, and, as seems 10 be the
law for this traffic the world over, they are
all dark and narrow and crowded Ewes ap-
pareItly are not 50 much needed in this
business as fingers, and touch determines all
question as to quality, far better than sight,
Reg fair, he Rag fair Of Shakespeare and
earlier dra natists began it all, but il is with
in fifty years or so that this has consolidated
itself as il were, into the Old Clothes ex-
changes, two os which do an enormous bust
ness in supplying the small shops and dealers
and one Of them being devoted solely TO the
81 Of unredeemed pledges in clothing; to the
other contributions come from all the world,
80 that Jew or Gentle, Greek, Copt or Ara
hian might easily find a needed garment
But the supply is mainly English, and the
renovation of its various orders is the source
Of many a strange trade, thriving side by side
with the old clothes shop and an essential
part of its success Even the present cheap
nt>s of wearing apparel, and the vast amount
Of shoddy cloth which makes such cheapness
possible, has not destroyed the occupation Gf
the men and women who test the possibilities
OF every left off garment at glance.
Petticoat lane is, then, simply an exten-
sion Of the old clothes mart, and, with the
adjacent lanes and alleys given over 10 the
same trade, represents two or three miles of
old clothes. There is much besides, but the
Iirst view on a bright morning, when the
trade is at its best, leads to the conviction
that nothing else can be. The lane, long and
narrow, with low houses on either side, is
but a vista OF many colored garments, not
only at the sides but on the ground. The
crowd fits about or gathers into little groups
Of harsainers. There is nothing bright, and
certainly nothing white, for nothing in Lon
don can be white; ''it is vista of dinginess,
but many colored dinginess, regards
female attire Dress coats, frock coats,
great coats, livery and gamekeepers coats,
paletots, tunics, trousers, kneebreeches,
waistcoats capes, pilot coats, working jack
cts, plaids hats, dressing gowns, shirts,
guernsey frocks are ali displayed The pre-
dominant culors are black and blue, but
there is every color; the light dress Of some
Iristocraiic livery, the dull brown green Ot
yelvetesn, the deep blue Of pilot jacket, the
variegated figures Of a shawl dressing gown,
the glossy black OF the restored garments,
the shine Of newly turpentined black satin
raistcoats, the scarlet and green Of some
flaming tartan These things, mixed with
the hueS Of the wOmen's garments, spotted
ANA striped, certainly present a SCENE which
cannot be beheld in any other part OF tn
greatest city in the world, nor hardly in an.
other portion of the world itself
This for the air, or, AT least, the pegs an
lines outside the shops. but the ground itsel
has also its array Of cOlors. at is covere
with lines Of boots and shoes, their shinin
biack relieved here and there by the admiNt
ure OF wumen's boots, with drab, green
rlum or lavender colored legs as the uppe
'art of the boot is always called in the trad,
There is, too, an admixture of mems butto
boots. with drab cloth legs, and of few red
yellow and russell colOred slippers, and Q
childrens colored morocco boots and shoe
Handkerchiefs, sometimes Of a gaudy oTang
I,attern, are heaped in chair. Lace an
muslin occupy small stands or are spread 0
the ground Black and drab and stra@ hai
are hung up or piled one upon another, Will