The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-29

from tie -Eel1 YORK Sun.
Mud, fog, misery and gloom pervaded
.Jormyn street one day, not long ago, whom
the Hon. Percy Thalps went to the windows
of his chambers and looked abroad. He
had risen and batned, and voluminous
robo Of Turkish tDwcling enveloped his
gaunt figure. His eyes were bloodshot, his
throat was parched.
81 feel" he said, as he sat regarding me
from a roory chair near the fire, "hke the
man whom the ancients pirate about"
"Who"
"a Loedon man. Ispeak of the ancients
bec luse the story is, / believe, rather old,
though the theme is ever new The hero
was ri0ier, hard liver, heavy drinker
iii word, a London man in the hilarious
sense of tie word"
Here the Hon. Percy Thorpe fell into a
violent fit of coughing, from which he res
cued himself with flushed face and stream
ing ewes by q corking drink of raw brandy.
II made me shudder TO look at it-and I've
been in Chicago.
"a FREUD knocked" continued Thorpe,
''and his servant opened the door.
ass your master upF asked che caller.
"'Up. sir! Well, really, sir, e got up,
sir. drank bis bawth and went to bod again,
sir'n .......
laughed at the story. 1t was habit.
had laughed at it so often in England that
II was really no effort. The Hon. Thorpe,
as his servant called him colpquially, then
proceeded to point the moral of his little
anecdote after the fashion of Englishmen all
over the world.
'And so" he said, 81 feel as though
could drink my bath.
To emphasize it, he took another appalling
swig of brandy, and showed the decanter to-
ward me with "lJln i'm
"Thanks.n said, otis too early"
81 thought Americans were heavy drink
srsT
'They have the name, but l think they
seldom take raw spirits before dinner. In
fact have never seen such heavy drinking
at home as in England"
THAT" said my host, with conventional
British polish. sis partly because the
Americans are still crude, tut mainly on
account of the murderOus character of your
liquors."
He then fell into a solemn consultation
with his servant concerning his boots,
fifteen pairs of which were ranged along
the wall Of his dressing room. Many of
them were on trees, and they were all var
nished brightly.
He was a typical London man, member
of dozen clubs, knew everybody, includ-
ing lot of Americans, went everywhere,
but never saw anything worth admiring
outside of the limits of his town.
1t was about noon, and he had just risen.
In the narrow street without were beggars,
tramps and mendicants without number.
The fog was thick, yellow, pasty and I'M
pleasant Before the door stood big mail
cart with a boy holding a team Of bays. Mr..
Thorpe, whom | had met on the occasion of
his visit i'll New Y ork, had written me very
politely the day before explaining that there
would De lot of coaches In Hyde park the
following day, and that he would drive me
out there and show me something of Lon
don afterward. Accordingly l called at
his chambers as l was stopping with
friend out in st. Johns Moderator a
long drive from his place. Presently we
went out and climbed into the mail cart
The Hon. Percy Thorpe took the reins, and
the horses started for Hyde park.
My host was dressed exactly as the upper
hundred thousand clubmen are this year at
all hours of the day. He wore frock coat,
rather roomy trousers, heaver hat, var
. rished boots and drab CATERS. His gloves
were brick -colored, and there was a big
white carnation in the lapel of his coat. In
cidentally, may MENTION that, like most
London men, he had eighteen or twenty
frock suits, which he wore on succeeding
days. They were nearly all of the same
pattern. London men now wear no other
style of coat, for fear they will be con-
founded with business men and clerks, who
wear sacks and jackets.
The fog lifted by the time we arrived at
the park, and, just as We we got through
the gate, short line of coaches swept along
In front of us. There was tremendous
crush of vehicles of all sorts. There were
many drags. Our own coaches in New
York are every bit as well appointed as
those of the famous London whips.
The people stared at the Prince of Wales,
who sat on the same coach with the Earl of
Fife. Occasionally the prince raised his hat.
He looked a dumpy, thick-set man of %.
Heavy streaks of gray were visible along
the under side of his beard. He was round
shouldered and seemed rather seedy. Lord
Charles Beresford and Lord Randolph
Churchill drove coaches. Beresford held
team of fiery bays with one hand, well
down, while he amused himself by cutting
SIS in the air with his whip At the tail of
the procession, the princess of Wales drove
by, looking like girl of Is at a distance,
but so bunglingly and roughly made up
when her landau passed us, that | was
startled at the crudity of it all. William
X. Vanderbilt, with a suit of loose-htting
clothes, stood with his hands in his pockets
near a tree, gazing at the thropg, and that
most placid, serene and equitable of New
Workers, Mr. Al. Claggett, formed pic
ture of tranquility and quiet observation on
discovered that we were in an ocean of
vehicles, and, for two hours thereafter we
moved at snail's pace around the drive,
staring at rather bony-looking women and
conventionally attired men.
Mr. Percy Thorpe's manner had not
changed since he arose in the morning. In
fact, in the course of q somewhat extended
acquaintance with him, found that such a
thing as a change in hfs:manner was an i'm
possibility He viewed life, London and
everything appertainingto thetwo with pro-
found, natural and unpretentious indiffer-
ence. He seldom smiled, and was always
equitable, if bit pompous. He drove me
home, and at 1880 we went to his club for
dinner.
The dining room was long and low. The
table service would have graced the palace
Of a prince and the walters were admira-
BILE. Perhaps fen men were dining there,
but nearly all dined alone. They bowed to
one another, but nothing was heard but the
occasional clash of dish as the walters
moved about.
The gloom of all London was intensified
by the dismal and heavy air of the club din
ing room A man Of fine physique with a
perfectly bald pate strolled up to our table
when we were half through dinner, stuck
his glass in his eye, and looked steadfastly
at my host thought at first that he was
going to run knife into the Hon. Percy
Thorpe's throat and leave it there; but just
before things arrived at this stage the new
conner dropped his glass from his eye and
said:
NEIo1y do PeY-SyD