The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-05-10
CHEAPsIDE, LONDON q ],
A CORRESPONDENT CALLS 1T THE
WORLDS BUSIEST STREET.


Until IIo Ins Soon Chcapsidc.
Cheapsido is q street, and busy one
tho busiest, daro say, of tho whole
world of streets. It is not long; 1t Is not
beautiful; it is not tho resort of the
fashionable; 1t is business thorough
faro from first to last, and it has moro
history crammed into its short strotoh
than other great thoroughfares have in
their combined long ones Cheapside be-
Ing not Mt the side Of anything in the
present era, but ut tho heart Of all things,
being In the heart of London, has very
Important place in civic affairs. 1t Is
what they call Fan artery of traffic, "
asphalted into the bargain and afford
ing ingress and exit as between tho city
and tho regions west If it has quarter
OF mile to it's length, it has as much
as 1t can legitimately claim, and even
that includes little slice ut the eastern
end called the Poultry" a title which
signifies local purpose In the pictur-
esQue past
Cheapside has at ono end tho Poultry,
but this need not be counted Us q sepa
rate entity. And at the Poultry end is
oAAO 1hetlLolOh aOooCJ NuCIO llHCS Illc lOrQ
mayor In gold lace state Cheapsido
bumps into Threadneedle street, up to
the steps of tho Royal Exchange and
against tho walls Of tho Bank Of Eng
land, institutions which are both useful
and ornamental. At tho othor end of
Cheapsido there is statue of Sir Robert
Peel But 1 venture to say that half the
people who pass there every day do not
know whose statue it is, and of tho 9TH
er half On inconsiderable fraction will
have some accurate 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"
Chcapsidc is to London what lower
Broadway is to Now York, between the
postofficc and Wall street. Shops, shops,
shops, insurance companies, great mer-
camille houses, restaurants, q church.
Dick Whittington's- is to say,
Bow church, whore the bolls still tinglo
these arc the stationary ingredients Of
Cheapsidc Omnibuscs, human beings,
cabs and carriers vans arc the movable
ones Cheapsido is like tho channel Of q
tidal riyer-at ono time Of the day tho
current sets In one direction, and at an
other timo it GIBBS to the opposite course.
The street has many funny little trib-
utarics, with funny little Names Bread
street. Friday street. Ironmongcr lane
and Old Jowry being some of these
narrow passages where in days moro
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 ovcrhanging
stories approach to tho roofs thereof.
But there are 10 dwellings In Cheapsidc
now, nor i'll 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.
Ono kind Of commodity Cheapsido has
In moro abundance than any other place
on the whirling footstool-jewclry. 1t
may not be the most sumptuous jowelry
that over was made, it may not compare
with the golden flligrec work of Ia
mara, but 1t is jewolly nevertheless and
OF good sort for the moderate classes.
And there is SO much of it that it over
flows the contracted emporiums and
flows In cascades and Niagaras Of watch
chains, necklaces, fantastic guards, bo-
hind the plate glass windows
1t seems to bc n trick of Choapsidc's
shops to display all their treasures to
the preoccupicd eyes of those who hero
march i'll lcgions along tho pavement
They pour their wares into their win
dows with reckless profusion suggest
I've Of the oricnt-that is to say, the
orient you read about, not tho orient
Which actually exists. The jcwelry Of
Cheapsidc is mainly silver jcwelry, and
the radiance of tho windows is the white
radiance which furnishes with such hap
less result i'll the London fog
Chcapsido Is best seen between 0
and 10 In the morning or between and
i'll tho afternoon, either when every
body is coming to or going from his oc-
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-
fic.
Ono of the odd features of Chcapsido
is the line Of pedestrians who stand in
either gutter, stringing along the crubs
and vending catchpenny toys. These
merchants are an amusing lot in their
way. THOR harangues arc 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
can imagine. and every week or two
thoy produce some new thing. Variety
is the spice of their trade. Tho wonder
fUl flows that cop no bOupl,t 20 kbo,~, G.