Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-17
Of THE Evxsrse srAn.

oofrsns- MEMORIES or THE snAH's VISIT.
Correspondence Of the Evkxrxe star.
PANS, August I, 1889.
| The shah OF Persia and the "Bohemians" ar
rived In London at about the same time. We
found him well billed and the town preparing
10 help him get the proper shade Of red on in
suitable quantities and In the best possible
style. A fcilow-tramp-like feeling induced us
TO send full delegation to see him in and help
| wboop tup for him. There are many reasons
| why We should not admire the shah, but for
one reason we do admire him. There are no
| winged insects on him-not any. He knows
his meat-the English, and that II he doesn't
| make more than his board and clothes of this
trip thore'll be a strike among the Mrs. Shah
at home, who are banking on tailor-made
ulsterines for next fall. When the English get
out their old coaches and gilt-mounted foot
| men and outriders and trundle him about with
| numbering squadrons of life guards afore aud
aft he thinks he is a great man. We saw his
royal highness and his grimy looking lot of
retaIners as they proceeded through the strand
under the escort of Wales and other nota-
bes. to grand free lunch set mp by the lord
mayor, passing through double line of police
and regulars. We have nothing against the
shah although several of his dates at places of
interest clashed with ours, and as he had '.in-
huence" and we had none, we we're ruled out.
TIPPING.
We set foot on the soil of Great Britain fully
| determined to stamp out, with our brazen heel
the pernicious system of tipping. Beginning
with frowning down the many stewards" on
the steamer, who had done nothing in particu-
lar Tor u.s. We got on very well as far as Lon
don, leaving cloud of disappointed ''boots,"
&C., &C., &C.. In our wake. In London, alas
we Tell prone IN the majestic presence of the
Strand walters and yielded up our loose change
as regularly as the exigencies of the occasion
demanded. (Note.-The waiter has powerful
influences In the kitchen.) One redeemiug
quality OF the system, if it has any. is that the
equivalent OF from two six cents will generally
accomplish as much more as a dime or a
quarter. or even a half dollar in the states.
But IN England persons will expect and accept
TIP for almost anything and everything, even
though In the line of their employment and
under circumstances where in the states no
one would have thought of such a thing. At
the Zoo even the swans stuck out their bands
ana the rhlnoceros opened his mouth for what
ever our generosity might bestow upon them
EARLY TO BED AND LATE TO RISE.
1t took us sometime to get il thoroughly i'm
pressed upon our minds that because it was
still twilight ii was not necessarily only half
past seven or Whereabouts. Several successive
failures to get off to places of amusement in
time were the result of our inattention, until at
last we caught on to the new time schedule. In
the long days of June We could read as late as
800 or later without difficulty. 1t was quite
light at a.m.-so we were told; We never
stayed up late enough or got up early enough
to see whether it was so. Shops generally seem
to close later and open later than with us. In
London we continually found ourselves get
ting up and out for breakfast ahead Of the
We honored could get under way for the days
business.
STAMPS AND BARRIERS.
Incidentally and without any attempt at
| investigation we discovered some Of the English
methods of raising money to keep the wheels
of government moving. A '.half-penny" Zone
cent? postal card for domestic use costs, besides
its postage value, farthing extra Zone half
cent? for the card: SO that for three half-pence
(three cents) one gets only two postals. This
is the English ''cheap" postage we sometimes
hear a good deal about in the states. Every
draft cashed, even though drawn in q country
where no stamp is required must have its
penny 1.-TWO cents) stamp the cost of which the
person for whom the draft is cashed must bear.
even if it be but from your lodging house land
lady, must have its penny stamp too; and if
your landlady has a sufficient amount of gall
you will be asked to pay for the stamp in this
instance also. The municipal authorities come
in for their share of the swag by placing
of benches, tempting looking chairs, upon
which you innocently seat yourself, when an
old fellow with a door-plate and a bunch of
tickets slides up and you disgorge q penny for
the privilege Of resting. That butt Of Ameri-
can travellers, the barber who seats you in an
old arm chair, with a prop at the back on which
you hang your head which he takes in chancery
while he dabs you with soap suds, then skates q
razor around a little through the foam, shows
you to place where you wash, and permits you
70 oil far tua 10 nv NJ
H, in spirit of adventure, entrusted him
self TO one, but he hasn't for a long time now"
For five minutes it was ten to one that he
wouldn't make even a respectable looking
corpse; but he pulled through all right, though
slightly disfgured- There was no extra
charge.
SODA AND PIE.
The sight of what bore very slight resem-
blance to an American soda-water fountain
tempted us to invest in someEnglish soda water
The experiment was q failure and although
we saw several 'ice-cream" signs, we hadn't
the courage to tackle the article after our ex-
perience with the soda We prowled around a
while in search Of pie-good old American pie
but gave it up and made the best out of the
nearest approach to pie, tarts. Their ''lemon-
ade" is bottled stuff unworthy name it bears.
In short there is little in England that is Amer
lean. There seems to be a superiuity of metal
brass and copper, which Is utilized by the
making of huge badges for all the numerous
porters, cabbies and conductors &C., generally.
worn strapped to the arm. There is some
spirit of enterprise in the matter of advertising
the omnibusses and tramcars appearing to the
unaccustomed eye simply advertising vans, SO
numerous and conspicuous are the soaps, choc-
olate, ale, theater, and patent medicine adver-
tisements. After little practice you are able
to distinguish from the eonglomeration the
sign which tells you where the bus or car will
take you. The English rule of the road is
keep to the left, but that of the sidewalk the
reverse. Sign-reminders of the road rule are
common in the streets, and in Coventry and
others of the smaller towns and cities there
were similar reminders of the sidewalk rule.
THE AMERICAN WITH A woFUL TALE.
We were barely settled in London when the
American with long account of his misfor-
tunes and a standing desire to 'get home" pre-
sented himself. This scheme seems to be
worked pretty successfully, judging from the
names our petitioner had on his list of victims
The American registry at the Office of the LON
don edition of the New York Herald where
Americans usually register, supplies the neces-
sary names and addresses not only for the man
who wants to get home to Gods country" as
he puts it, but for the fellows who shower YOU
with circulars Of all kinds during your stay.
THE ROAD TO BRIGHTON.
Having done London in the conventional way
we set out in drizzling rain for Paris via
Brighton and New Haven, late in the afternoon
OF July g The streets were covered with mud