The herald., 1895-09-15
IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE
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william s. Creighton, editor.elect OF
The Herald. returned to this city on
THURSDAY evening on an overdue Santa
te slesper, after an absence of four
months spent. for the most part, in Eng
land and the Channel islands.
You may direct the Office boy to dust
off the tripod and sharpen up the ex-
change scissors" said Mr.. Creighton to
the reporter. II will reed them both in
a FEW days, when shall have arranged
some engrossing personal business and
rented one of the multitude OF new houses
which have sprung up in this CITY since
last spring. How astonishlngly the city
has grown and feel the wind of rising
market blowing. Do you Know" said
the new editor, with a suggestion of the
Englishman's don 't-yer-know' l am de-
lighted to get back to a country where the
look is forward, and the shadow of the
past is not projected over the present and
the future"
The reporter said that n voyager re-
turned from wandering ON a foreign
strand ought to submit to an interview,
and ELECTED the following discursive talk:
the British isles and the continent OF
Europe are no longer terra incognlta to
Americans. I found so many of my
aountrymen IN London and Paris that /
hardly telt like a stranger in strange
land. However, 1 take it that when one
goes to visit a land he has never seen it
is to him an undiscovered country, and
when he looks at it through his own
spsotacles he is likely to make Disco
veries. This is especially true. | think,
when one starts out with plentiful lack
of information about the masses of a for
eign people and their every day life,
and, in lieu thereof, has large and
varied stock of historical data about the
lineage of kings. the palaces OF queens
and the stars and garters of an effete no.
bility. If | acknowledge myself to have
been IN this predicament at the outset, /
probably describe the condition OF good
many visitors who cross the Atlantic.
We'll, what were some of the things
that seemed strange to me? l think the
chimneypots of Liverpool-the ubiquitous
chimney pot of all the English towns
were the first novelties that struck my
vision. There seemed to be no sky. scrap
ing structures. but tiles were marshaled
like battalions of soldiers on the tops of
the houses over all the city. l was pre-
pared to note the mighty argosies of COM
merce gathered in the harbor, from the
ends OF he earth, drawn to the free trade
market of the world. But, on leaving
Liverpool for London, my surprise grew
all the way that there was no evidence of
a dense population until l reached Lon
don. There were wide pastures and great
estates with few buildings in sight. The
only'tobjects to mar the view from n
esthetic standpoint were the hundreds
of sign boards erected along the line of
the railway advertising Beechsm's pills.
Certainly the English have no right to
accuse the Yankees of vandalism in desc
Grating scenery with advertisements.
Tho night had come on when l
reached London-black, smoky. badly
illuminated. gigantic m metropolis. Then
l discovered England population. driven
from the country to the city. where there
is more poverty and less discomfort than
Acquiescent. abject poverty brings about
a degradation which makes the London
masses almost hopeless. l like to see a
man take off his hat to woman or his
friend, and it is line to see the helping
hand extended. bat it is pitifui thing to
see the hat pulled off in servility to lord
who has his patent of nobility from the
tended for aims and tips. Give me the
noble discomfort of the American, who
dares to look up and is ambitious to
push on.
II attribute this acquiescent degrada-
tion to centuries of land monopolization
by the lords of the soil. The sequestra-
ton OF the source of wealth and sus-
tenance in the hands of few has put the
rest of the Inhabitants in the attitude of
occupants by sufferance OF the island.
This mas so differ entiated the masses
from the classes that the subsills look up
klna at ntt,v nj
so high above them as to be unapproach-
able save as the dispensers of gratuities.
This was quite manifest in the recent
election, when the Liberal party, which
is oh iefy recruited from the respectable
middle classes, was overtbrown by COM
bination between the lords and their
coachmen and dependents of all sorts.
The outlook Is certainly not encouraging
for Democracy in England al present.
Conservatism is now, as 1T ever has been,
the predominant characteristic of the
English people. formed the opinion in
Lon don that Joseph Chamberlain is the
coming political Moses for the English
common people. 1t is rrue that he is
scathingly arraigned by the Liberal press
for his detection from the party and his
acceptance of cabinet appointment un-
der a Tory administration but | think
he has only stopped to conquer and
will be able TO compass moro in the way
or lDeral leSlSlatlOn curing Ine GallSCuTy
regime than he could as co-worker with
the divided Irish home rulers and their
disgruntled and impractica Liberal
allies in England.
II said that the American was in evil
dence abroad. | saw him at the hotels,
races, parks and theaters. l attended the
Princess theater one night to see Cissy
Lotus and some varieties. When the
American flag was thrown upon the skirts
of the volving dancer a shout went
up from all parts Of the house, and ac-
clamatIon which greeted the queens pic
ture was hardly more demonstrative.
Most of my stay abroad was on the
Island of Jersey at St. Heliers. My eXpe-
rience there was charming and l tried to
tell The Herald readers about 1t in my
letters. If l were compelled to live on
the other side OF the frog pond I should
choose Jersey as the place to live.
But l am glad to get back to Los An
geles. Life is better worth livinga here
than IN any other place l know of-and
my wife thinks so, too.
"Paris? Yes, but 1 must talk about
that another time.