The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-06-23
A NEW LOD GING HOUSE.

OF course, | do not mean 10 say that
Whitechapel has been metamorphosed IN
10 u district where men and women are
invariably pure and holy. or even that 1t
approaches the average standard OF NOR
alty and decency. So far as | know, no
curb has been placed upon vice-as dis
tngushed from crime--there or elsewhere
fn London, and filth and drunkenness ana
petty dishonesty are woefully prevalent.
But 1 do mean to say that crime can no
longer walk Whitechapel streets I'M
watched and work its Will; 1t would have
been safer to commit murder on the
Strands brightest block ten years ago
than il would be to commit murder on
any street | have seen in Whitechapel
now. In dozens of spots throughout the
district the rough high board fences
which always in London surround the
place where the destruction of old build
ings or the construction of new ones is
going on meets the eye; and each one of
those fences means that some slum Is be-
ing done away with, to be replaced by
well-constructed buildings and wide. we'll
lighted streets. The narrow blind alleys
and mysterious, threatening courts of
which old London was fun. and of which
hundreds still remain. can no longer be
built. Splendid sanitary plans are re-
Quired for every new building that goes
up.
A few nights ago l inveigled a London
er. still young, bat staid and sober. into
taking me about through the part of the
ity-Holborn-which he knew best during
his school days and after he had left col
lege during his bachelor period, when ne
found MANY a strange resort and partici-
pated in many a street adventure.
We left the stage OF prury Lane on the
last pantomime night 10 do II, and that
neighborhood has been changed but little.
He stepped off confidently. full of antici-
pations Of the pleasure he would derive
from a visit to localities which he had
not visited in ten years. Then We passed
through new street. He commented
upon 1t. Presently We found that the
whole neighborhood was new He began
10 peer puZzledly a the street names on
the corners of the houses. and finally
stopped.
We'll so far as I can see" said he.
This is where that alluring little court
OF which | told you opened off the main
street 10 lead 10 that delicious little public
house. But now it's an office building"
And so II went for an hour. Occasion
ally he ran across a building which he
knew. and hailed 1t gleefully as an OH
friend in the midst of strangers He had
told me of many little streets in Holbo5n.
lined with fifteenth and sixteenth century
houses. built Of timber and plaster, each
story rising broader and broader until
the peaked roofs almost mct-antl two
people could shake hands from the upper
stories across the street. Not one Of those
streets is left. We found one row OF the
Old houses, but the other side of the
street had been torn away ana the thor
oughfare wdeued from twelve 10 forty
feet. There were almost tears IN his eyes
We gave UP the search fer the London
ne used 10 know. IL was the London that
was picturesque and interesting. the Lon
den that excluded literature. that created
Dickens. the London that fascinated and
delighted tourists. put IL was the London
that was 1re-swept and plague-raVishcd.
the London that was murder-staIned and
crime-cursed. and * exists no longer
one OF the high officials In scotland
YARD. after commenting on these things.
added:
But a scarcely less vital enemy 10
crime here have been our school board
laws Little Boys and girls are no longer
permitted to roam the streets at Nill. even
On the poorest districts. They must take
advantage OF education whether they
want 80 or not. ana their parents must
give them these advantages whether they
are 50 dispos "a or ro."
This is true, and adds another great
power 70 that of siam annihllation The
school board laws are enforcei mere with
a riEor which is almost Russian They