The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1894-06-16
CHEAPsIDE, LONDON.
A CORRESPONDENT CALLS IT THE
WORLDS BUSIEST STREET.

Until He Has Seen Cheapside.
Cheapsido is a street, and a busy one
the busiest, l dare say, Of the whole
world Of streets. 1t is not long; it is rot
beautiful; it is not the resort CT the
fashionable; it is a business thorough
fare from first to last, and it has more
history crenmed into its short stretch
than, other great thoroughfares have in
their combined long mes. Chea.stac be-
ing rot ct the side Of anything III the
present era, but at the heart Of all things, Z,
being IN the heart of London, has q very
important place in civic affairs 1t is
what they call IAN artery of traffic"
aspllalted into the bargain and afford
ing ingress and exit as between the city
and the regions west. If it has a quarter
of a nile to its length, it has as much
as it can legitimately claim, and even
that includes a little slice az the eastern
end called the Poultry" 9 title which
signifies q local purpose II the pictur-
esque past.
CheapSide has at one end the Poultry,
but this need not be counted as a sepa-
rate entity. And at the Poultry end is
the Mansion House, where lives the lord
mayor in gold lace state. Cheapside
bumps into T~hreadneedle street, up to
the steps Of the Royal Exchange and
against the walls Of the Bank Of Eng
land, Institutions which are both useful
and ornamental. At the other end Of
Cheapsidc there is astatue of Sir Robert
Peel. But / venture to say that Ealf the
people who pass there every day do not
know whose statue it is, and Of the 9th
er half an inconsiderable fraction will
have on accrrate notion as to who Sir
Robert Peel really was, the balance be-
ing able to suggest only that he had
something to do with the police"
Cheapside is to London what lower
Broadway is to New York, between the
p~ostofice and Wall street. Shops, shops,
shops, insurance companies, great mer-
camille houses, restaurants, q church
Dick Whittington's-that is to say,
Bow church, where the bells still tingle
these are the stationary ingredients Of
Cheapside. Omnibuses, human beings,
cabs and carriers ram are the movable
ones. Cheapside is like the channel Of a
. tidal river-at one time Of the day the
current sets in one direction, and at an
other time it GIBBS to the opposite course.
The street has many funny little trib-
utarles, with funny little names, Bread
street, Friday street, Ironmonger lane
and Old Jewry being some of these
narrow passages where in days more
primitive than our own opposite neigh
bors leaned out of windows and shook
hands across the street, while from the
pavement they could scarcely have seen
the sky, SO closely did the overhanging
stories approach to the roofs thereof.
But there are no dwellings in Cheapside
now, nor in the adjacent tributaries.
The buildings are all for business pur-
poses only. The old vogue Of overhang
has been long dispensed with. and q
sprightly modern air is worn by the
commercial architecture.
One kind of commodity Cheapside has
in more abundance than any other place
On the whirling footstool-jewelry. It
may not be the most sumptuous jewely
that ever was made, IL may not compare
with the golden fligree work Of "a
mara. but 1t is jewelry nevertheless and
Of . good sort for the moderate classes
And there is SO much Of it that it over
dows the contracted enporiums and
lows in cascades and Niagaras Of watch
chains, necklaces, fantastic guards, be-
h,nd the plate glass windows
Il seems to be . trick Of Cheapside's
shops to display all their treasures to
the ~preoccupied eyes Of those who here
march in legions along the pavement
They pour their wares into their win
dows with q reckless profusion suggest
i've Of the oeient-that is to say, the
orient You read about, not the orient
which actually exists. The jewelry Of
-Cheapside is mainly silver jewelry, and
the radiance Of the windows is the white
radiance which furnishes with such hap
less result in the London fog.
Cheapside Is best seen between 9
and 10 in the morning or between 5 and
Z in the afternoon, either when every
body is coming to or going from his &C.
cupation. But all day long the street is
crowded from end to end, SO crowded
that you cannot anywhere cross it in
safety, except at the points where con-
stables are stationed to regulate the traf-
fc.
One Of the odd features Of Cheapside
is the line Of pedestrians who stand in
either gutter, stringing along the curbs
and vending catchpenny toys. Theso
merchants are an amusing lot in their
way. Their harangues are endless and
not wholly lacking in wit, although
their language is not altogether parlia-
mentary. They sell the most wonderful
assortment of ingenious toys that you