The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-13
WAKEMAY'S WANDERINGS.
Notes About Some Of The Great London
Holiday ReSOTtS---I,

InhE 9WEGR AAAQAAB NA1 A'RANAA eAAA
East Coast and Crowd Within the
Near Suburban Resorts-H Hampstead
Heath. the Nearest Great Gathering
Place ofLondon Lowly-Its Winsome
Uncouthness, Breezy Heights and
Charming Memories.
Copyright 1898, by Edgard L. Wakeman)
London, July 29.-The vastness of Lon
don's population is less felt in it's impress
siveness from meeting it face to face in
TondOn thOrOughfares than from even
the still Inadequate comprehension Sc
durable through seeing some of its com
nonent parts in its various holiday re-
sorts for summer outings. In the first
instance if one could severally confront
its four or five million inhabitants along
it's seven thousand miles of streets, the
monotony of the experience would detract
from lust perception of its tremendous
impOrt But when you might pass an
entire month, indeed perhaps an entire
summer, without being able to visit, with
the most careful disposition of time, any
large proportion of its immediate resorts,
finding at each outing crowds numbering
from hundreds to almost hundreds of
thousands, the immensely of the totality
of those who are "Outers" and those who
are not, begins to dawn upon the observ-
ant mind.
There are more than one hundred pop
Nous resorts, from thirty minutes to two
and a half hours distance from the
Strand, beginning at Bournemouth and
following the so nth coast with a circle of
the Isle of Wight to the east coast, includ-
ing those of the north and south shoes of
the lower Thames, and thence up along
the Channel to Great Yarmouth On
every pleasant Saturday half holiday, on
sunny Sundays and on Bank holiday and
other full summer holidays, every one of
these places is thrOnged. The rich, the
weLl-to-do idlers and families of comfort
able tradesmen are found in these. be-
Heve a quarter of million of ''outers" of
all classes are at the same time atlOat upon
or lounging beside the Thames, from Mar
gate to Windsor.
As an experiment in seeing London out
ing crowds, in one days travel l found
perhaps 80, 900 people IN Greenwich Park;
as many more at Brighton; at least 10000
OVERLOOKING Royal Kew Gardens; fully
10000 in Hyde Park, where it seemed that
all the open-air speakers of England were
harangung crowds upon every concieva-
BILE social, political and religious subject
from 10000 to $4,000 on and about Hamp-
stead Heath; and from 100,000 to $50, 900
disporting themselves in the sun and
shade of ancient Epping Forest. On this
one day I secured at least glimpses of
crowds that in all forms of holiday max
ing must have numbered more than three
quarters of a million souls.
UnquestionabIy the greatest two resorts
for the London middle classes and the
lowly are Hampstead Heath and Epping
Forest II is but pleasant walk from
the heart of London to Hampstead Heath,
for its farthest reaches can be no farther
than six miles from the Strand while
an Epping Forest tO-and-return fare is
but one shilling; and the myriad London
costermOngers and other pOssessors of
tidy carts and traps find it an easy Jog
for their donkeys or screws to either of
these recreation grounds. The result is
that in both of these resorts you invaria-
bly, find hordes of the common people,
filed to the brim with. horse play, -four
ale and good cheer. They are vigorous
III their merry making as children loosed
from school. They are grudgingly but
good-naturedly fierce in the utilization of
every moment of the holiday in some sort
of rugged diversion And altogether
they furnish scenes of the heartiest,
provoked, most unctious ana voci-
ferrous holiday enjoyment to be found In
all the world
But who can properly describe this an
C1ent Hampstead Heath and its quaint
and picturesque surroundings, or fifty
tell its weird and pleasant memories2
Cor bli meiN exclaimed a CoStcr friend
"me blOOmin' dOnah ID fade 70 a hangel,
eff didn't Jog her uppn tn 'Eath wonct
week er so, Cor bli me, so she wOuldn'
That was his idea of its exceeding utility
Pa raythcr ha' Il mouthfu o. tn Faith
air than the best whites my miSsus do
mess together!" observed a tram-car
driver on the Kentish Town Road; and
that was his glowing tribute to its fine
salubrity. Wen yer goes in for a reg
lar lark, req lar lark, mind watts easy
to git, an sweet as Essex milkmaid to
remember, 'Ampstead Faiths tn parry
disc yer wants ter keep yer heye ont"
was the brisk and authoritative remark
OF gre7n groCer's man upon its ethical
ana diverting advantages, as | rumina-
lively trudged into old Hampstead town.
All these fine encOmiums brought me with
che3ry enthusiasm to the verge of the
enchanted holiday region.
The Heath is a trifie west of north of
the heart of London tt is not more than
oOO or 400 acres in extent, but as it com
prlses the highest and widest hills rising
out Of the valley OF the Thames, the rail
ways have had to stop at its edge and
leave the region for the people, almost as
nature fashioned it. The High Street of
ola hampstead town, winding up the last
steep of the first hill which has stood as a
rampant against London encrOachment,
gives charming views of ancient houses,
old streets which have held their old
4N'' OAN NOlA 10, anu dNtAu6o VI lIUltS
ana elms so old that the midday light be-
meath them is like the saffrony cleaning
q eyentide. There is a pensive hush in
lnese streets and lanes suggestive of
splendid antiquity and gentle, loving de-
cay. IL would be a glorious outing in it.
sell to sauRter and dream in these lovely
avenues and courts, with here and there
lnelr shadowy vistas blending into bios
somlng lanes, every one of which, sun
Aegked and odor-laden, invites to the free,
VIDE eXpanse of the pleasant country be-
,, You enter the Heath at once from old
hampstead town, and instantly compre-
ne4u that the region and its attractions
10 Londoners must be considered IN three
instinct and delicious aspects-its advan-
ydgeS for free and untrammeled recrea-
uoA It's positive inspiration to painter
ana poet and excellent uses for the natur-
aust and from those blendings and envi-
-GAl4ient of mellow age, tenderest aspect
VI all, which furnish the idler and dream
81 81, d most of winsOme memories. First of
al IL Is wild and rugged heath and not
park Dark wind bound fir trees hang
asIlnst sandy ridges where they have for
uIurles clutched the virgin soil. There
are nigh banks of red sand pierced by
tta9olt burrows. Ancient bitches and
NHg1ges cut each other at sharp angles.
arrow bournes or ravines, their hollow
eo LoorS of clear and shining sand plough