The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-08-23

There is SO much of interest In this nam
moth metropolis that we are bewildered when
we contemplate it. What can one say of Lon
don's weather, London's streets, London's old
historical structures, London's more recent
palaces, London's rich, London's poor her
theatres, her historical past, her omnipotent
present, her momentous future? Volumes
have been written upon these subjects.
The history of London is, in q great meas
ure, the history of England. The inter
ests of the one are closely blended with
those of the other. The whole of Eng
land might not improperly be looked upon as
one great metropolis with London the city
proper and the country and provincial towns
making up its suburbs. London constitutes
world within itself, and one, to know it, must
devote-not a month or year, but g lifetime
to its study. John Bright, / think, once said,
that although he had spent forty years of his
HE IN London he could not say he even knew
it fairly well.
To me the most interesting phase of Lon
don is the life of the streets. OF this never
tire. Once on the streets of London | find
myself always Interested To stroll around
the smoky old city watching the people,
studying faces, looking in the shop windows
specializing about this and that queer char
acter, or, best of all, riding on a bus, has an
indescribable fascination for me. When such
ride fails to interest me see no good rea-
son for eking out further existence All
hope OF prolonging life with view to enjoy
ment will have vanished. But what series
OF shocks experienced on my first omnibus
ride squirmed up the little spiral stairs at
the end and took a seat on top. 1t was on the
Strand, and the usual sea of humanity was
surging through this narrow thoroughfare
The driver cracked his whip and started like a
mailman through this mass of men, women
and children. I clutched the seat and shud-
dered as / looked forward, for it seemed we
were grinding dozens of hapless pedestrians
under the wheels of this vertable car of Jug
gernaut. looked back half expecting to see
our track strewn with manned and nangled
humanity. Yet everybody on the bus seemed
to be wholly indifferent to this crimi-
nal recllessness How easily they all
die, thought-not shrek or even moan
to be heard. 1t was with some difficulty that
| mustered up courage to face the awful sight,
but finally with firmly set teeth looked back
But saw nothing unusual. The great river
OF faces seemed to flow on undisturbed L
looked again to reassure myself, but could
not discover even SO much as smashed toe
or bruised shin. This is remarkable L
thought, with sigh of relief. | am sure those
people were under the wheels, and vet thev
don't seem to mind it in the least. | began to
'spot' individuals in front and thea watch
for them in the rear There! thought /, he's
under beyond doubt, as a red cap disap-
D. l.
turned my head to watch his reappearance /
thought the red cap would identify him even
Ii his remains were so scattered about that he
would have to be taken up in dust pam
which seemed from my position the most
practicable way of collecting him. But in an
instant, directly behind the bus, the red cap
bobbed up serenely, ,whistlingstAnni Rooney.',
How did that heavy bus pass over his frail
pody-for no amount OF argument will con-
vince me 1t did not pass over him-without
crushing him. ask I oiy ny, hot
the trick
flnaily after witnessing numerous cases of
this kind, became convinced thai by some
miraculous power these people are not crushed,
but why, Will never be able to explain; and
then 1t was began to thoroughly enjoy the
ride. Oh, isn't it jolly sitting up there about
ten feet above the mass of heads, swaying
back and forth; ploughing through seemingly
impossible chaos OF carriages, carts, hansoms,
and hacks, men and women, horses and dogs;
looking into shops and stores; watching the
ever-changtng, Notwithstanding scene below,
seething back and forth, now into eddes, now
into currents. Always moving, boisterous,
noisy,and neyer-ending, turning sharp corners
rumbling through narrow lanes, over bridges,
and under arches, always going, going, going
from morn till night, and the enchantment
never ceases. II it rains-as it usually does
so much the jollier. Raise you umbrella, but
ton the raln-apron around you, and then YOU
can snap your fingers at the weather and are
as "snug as bug in rug.n When mount
the top of London omnibus only about two
things will bring me down, viz: extreme
hunger or an exhausted eXchequer.
Let the sentimentalst go to the Tower, the
scientist to the Museum, the artist to the
Gallery, the politician to the Houses of Parlia-
ment, the historian to the Abbey, the
theologian to st. Paul's, the swell to the club,
the society deyotee to the drawing room, but
put me on top of London omnibus with my.
pockets full OF pennies and my condition will
more nearly approach that of complete happi-
ness than anything else am able to recall.
so we spent good deal of our time on top
OF an omnibus. We would go sightseeing In
the morning, get good lunch, and then ride
bus all afternoon. 1t didn't matter whereit
went, or what kind 1t was, just SO it was an
omnibus. We would climb to the top, be
jerked into our seats, and then give long
sigh in anticipation OF bliss. They collect fare
here according to distance, and give you a
duly punched receipt each time you pay. We
would give the conductor our first penny, and
he would return a perfectly legal receipt
This would be repeated at the next ''distanee,"
and the conductor would simply give us an
inquiring glance. The third time he would
ask US where we wanted TO get down aud we