The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-20

an act Of parliament, and 40 an expense
] 20 the present time Of about three quar-
] ters OF q million pounds, by purchase OF
immortal rights and other procedures,
/ recovering several thousand acres which
/ had been enclosed
The entire area, amounting 10 about
] 5000 acres. which stretches away 10 the
northeast Of London on the western Dor
/ der Of Essex. from Wanstead 20 the town
/ Of Epping, a distance Of about twelve
miles, was publicly declared forever
/ free 10 the people" by the queen who APP
/ peared at the forest in person, before
| concOurse Of fully 100000 BOndoners, on
! Nav g. 1882. Since that time portions Of
/ the tract have been medSurablY bedutl-
/ fed and improved but the chief glory Of
/ Epping Forest is in its actual primeval
character. Scarcely an acre of its surface
has ever been touched by spade or plow.
Old Roman camps are within it shaded by
I the selfsame trees which clustered about
| them nearly 1000 years ago; and the turf
upon the earthwork where Boadicea,
Queen of the lceui was defeated by Suet-
onius, with $4,000 Britons slain, since it
received that mighty feast Of blood, save
for the proddiug of antiquarians, has never
been disturbed.
At Chingford on the western slope of
the Forest, we gave Bolivar as famous
stabling as could be found left Sprat to
bring on the hampers at a seasonable
hour to the woods between Queen Eliza
beths lodge and Connaught lake and set
out for genuine coster's enjoyment of the
forest. Back towards London for sew
eral miles we had only seen patches of
woods and coppices to our right. Here
at Chingford the real forest begins.
Jem and Becky, already within its &C
custOmed spell, pressed forward TO its
heights with increasing speed, out
4
as ! saw them far in advance, ! could not
but think of the old prints of Pilgrim
when his burden fell.
We were at once in the thickest of it,
not of the forest, but of the mighty
throng. Avenues upon avenues Of east
enders stretched in every direction. It
was now after noon, the Saturday half
holiday a Joyous, glorious day withal,
and it seemed that from all ways leading
from London and near outlying towns
great tides of humanity came sweeping
on, each one greater than the one before
it, and all finally merging at the edge of
the woods and over the open spaces IN
seething masses of motion and color II
was like the action of incoming sea-tides
breaking upon a shallow, shingly beach.
No one can understand the complexity,
the responsibility, the vastness of
London holiday crowd until the
or 10000 souls can be seen here
at a glance moving upon and almost storm
ing this ancient Epping Forest en- masse.
Far back as the eye can reach hundreds
upon hundreds of outlandish Essex shan
dry3anS, as many traps and gigs, White
chapel omnibuSes, millers' and butchers
carts, brewers vans and coster's carts,
are moving toward you, around and be
tween which countless thousands of folk
"a tor ifrl1.r
lanes and from footpaths across the fields,
are massed in seemingly ineXtricable con-
fusion. For an instant there is something
like terror in such a scene. | cannot tell
why, but in 10 and through il, again saw
what ! looked upon, all but thirty years
ago, when Sherman's cruel edict emptied
Atlanta of all its people, and left their
homes in flames.
But those were faces. set and white;
these bright and rubiand and broad,
with endless smiles. And in this respect
you London "outer" differs from all other
folk on earth. No matter whether he be
great or humble, the moment his face is
turned towards the fields or the sea ne is
a bundle of quivering sympathies, respon-
stve IN kind to every form of mirth, to
the most vagarous incident or accident of
situation or condition, and gives back an
hundredfold every kindly look that ma
uncouth in what he says and does, but he
has left all care behind, and makes in
every moment of his holiday hours, even
in untoward eXigency and defeat, a place
for unctuous mirth and hearty cheer.
What are the amusements of this vast
army of men and women and lads and
lasses} Chiefly in wallowing, and use
the expression literally, in the sun and
shade of Epping Forest Thousands upon
thousands have brought their hampers or
baskets as we have done Then in great
splatches of color, they group and heap
themselves in wriggling punches of en-
1oyment over field, upon brae, in cool re
cess, in shady avenue, upon grassy
meadow, in dead wood glade, and actually
wallow in the ancient forest turf and
soil. They wander and stroll and leap
and race, and shout and sing and dance,
and turn hand-springs and somersaults,
and cavort and pirouette and act like half
mad folk, just as they do at Hampstead
! Heath, while the bands roar
and the crowds halloa, and mounted
! police and forest venderers look
on with benign smiles at the unrestrained
! and understandable enjoyment. Turn
| where you may, from Clingford six miles
| north to Epping, or from Beak Hill three
miles east to LOughton, the same wild
| scenes of physical and mental abandon
| and elation are repeated. Ten thousand
children are chasing butterflies like ex-
/ ultant naturalists. More than ten thou
| sand lads are swinging from hawthorn
| limbs, shouting from the dumped tops of
| pollard oaks, or routing the birds from
| loftiest hornbeam branches: while the
! surface of every lake and pond is shut
| from sight by thousands more wadng
among lilies and reeds, or floating in
boats upon their surface.
In great open spaces every manner of
| game and diversion known to English
fields, or streets, or holiday resorts, is
| proceeding in perfect bedlam of roaring
from the touters and managers of a vast
collection of Vanity Fairs. You will see
| skittles, football, cricket WRESTLING and
| putting-the-stone Everglorious Punch and
| Judy are omnipresent and screamingly
witty and hilarious Donkeys by the
thousands and screws by the hundreds,
are here for uprOarious riding and racinS.
The three-card- monte game is everywhere
| Knock-'em-downs by the hundreds, with
their crashing and bawling and shouts of
defeat and victory, are all the way from
| Wanstead to Epping American shoot
ing-saloons are quite as frequent and well
/ patronized The artificial pigeon whirls
and flies from scores of booths and deton-
ations of the shooting are incessaut.
/ There are more than a thousand of my
old Gypsy friends in all manner Of pictur
esque apparel, plying their "dul1kering''
among the good natured 'Arlys and
'Arriets. Mingled with all this and these