The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-01-07
The SOCIAL BRITONS,
How Our Tourists Did Not. See
Parliament in Session.
ON THE DECK OF AN OMNIBUS.
That is the Place to See London from and In
Gain Lively and Other Ac-
.quaintances

Three things in England surprised me
greatly-they are so very different from all
rne accounts [ had of them These are:
Tine general comfort and apparent content
of the humber classes: the clean appear
anee of the most notorious sections of Lon
don, and the ease with which the stranger
can make acquaintance. If there was any
one statement that had been repeatedly
forced upon me till it had assumed the
strength OF an established truth, it was
that the English in general vare a reserved
people-some say a ''surly set.n If SO then
! met the select few, for l found them
extremely pleasant, approachas5le and COM
municative. Except in our south and south
west never travelled in any country where
it is so easy to make acuuaintances-an
such intelligent and desirable acquaint-
ances.
My experience justifies me perhaps in
waving the point as to egotism and de-
scending to a style which may seem per-
sonal. In hotel and boarding house. I'M
der an archway in shower or on top of an
omnibus in fair weather. in the lobby of
the house of commons and in all places of
public resort / met many people whose
courtesy charmed me, while their eonversa-
ton was both pleasant and instructive L
feel compelled to give few instances
l climbed TO the hurricane deck of an
omnibus on my first fair day in London to
ride out to South Kensington, for it is on
the deck that one can see the whole life of
the streets and get the ideas of the people
at first hand. 1t is like second class on an
English railway and the smoking car in
America. 1 asked question of a gentle
man by me and with the reply got this:
''Ah, you're an American, l see-and
from the far west, / think. l am from
Australia mysele''
Then followed conversation in which I
related of the stock anecdotes about in
vestors in Florida, raising my voice consid-
erably on account of the noise made by the
bus. 1t stopped suddenly in a quiet street
and made it seem as if / had shouted the
closing verbs for the benefit of the whole
neighborhood. (They were pretty strong
words, too-the catastrophe OF the story
There was a general laugh and my posi-
ton was awkward. a lady in the next
seat, young, strikingly handsome and rich
ly dressed turned and laughingly said,
you are very right, senior; | am joost
from Florida" following this with fas-
cinating account in English, with for
eign accent, Of her life at St. Augustine
and Jacksonville. Then all joined in and
we had delightful ''sociable" on the deck
of the omnibus for the next mile, the lady
translating it into French from time to
time for the benefit of her companion
She was evidently accomplished, for in
addition to her native Spanish she spoke
French and English fuently, and when
she landed in the most fashionable part of
the West End my thanks went with her,
for had she not deity turned an awkward
situation into an occasion for social enjoy
ments
was much struck with the Australians
account of those who 90 to that continent
in search of health. "If it is lung trouble,''
said he, they nearly always get well; but
if they return to England to stay they al
ways die soon, and generally before the
second winter ends. / only ventured here
in the summer, and already am warned
that / must get away before Christmas
and even as he spoke l noticed in his
breathing that peculiar ''h-r-a-a-h'' with
which | am painfully familiar, sound as
If a comb were drawn across the edge of a
board
And does English vigor endure in that
climate:n l asked
ooh, yes. The sons of the Oldest settlers
are growing to manhood as vigorous as
the lads Of Yorkshire and Hampshire, and
suppose you know that Australian pugi-
lists are knocking all before them Wecan't
stand the English climate, though-the
sky never seems clear here to me-and YOU
couldn't stand it either in winter Why,
! have known fat cattle to smother here
Just getdown in their bedding and smother
No-o-o, must get back to Melbourne
and the sad sanitary exile drew his overcoat
closer about his neck and shivered as the
sun went down. All the Americans of our
party wore their overcoats after g D. M in
midsummer, though the mercury was once
as high as 81 dogs. at noon, and several
times up to IS dogs.