The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-06-13

Au0 DuoSCO OFeEtOV ever IuluB Ou Wu0DS0a
are gaudily painted in yellow, blue and
red, and are despatched with ADVERTISE
ments. They give a color and impressive
ness to street life that has no counter4
part in American cities. They are found
in great number on Fleet street and thes
Strand, along which they form an UNI
broken line from Ludgate Circus to Traf4
algar square. Stations are located at
every four blocks and while the bus Isl
standing in front of them the conductor
Justify shouts the points where his chariot
runs in the endeavor to secure passen-
gers. The fare is cheap-a penny for Less
than a mile-and when the coin is passed
to the conductor he hands back a punched
ticket, which is cast away, as it is no
good to the recipient or giver. The Lon
doners are so attached to the bus that they
will never part with it. The roadwayS
are so narrow and so crowded that street
cars would add to the confusion rather
than lessen it. Only a few lines are i'm
operation, and these are two-story affairs
on wide thoroughfares away from the
rush and roar of the mighty city.
The Park System.
The stretches devoted to parks are d
surprise to the American looking over the
city for the first time. Hyde Park, set
down in the heart of the town, covers 400
acres. If it were cut up into building lots
it would yield more than a thousand mill
lion dollars. No special pains are taken
to add to its natural beauties, and tho
grass and the benches have a neglected
look. The serpentine lake in it's center
contributes to it's picturesque beauty. Re-
gents has 30 more acres thar HYDE
Richmond Park, the largest, has 2,47O
acres-three times that of Central Park,
New York. Victoria Park has pa acres.
the Battersea 1913 and the Kew Gardens
ITO. None of them compares with Cen
trail Park in beauty, whether it be natural
or artificial, but they provide breathing
areas for the millions, and any encroach-
ment upon them would arouse a growt
from the people that would deter the
%staunchest from undertaking their
ab~ridgement.
London is unique in insisting that driv-
ers shall keep to the left while travelling
it's streets. And for fear that the needless
might forget it standards are erected in
the middle of the roadway from a project
ing arm of which are displayed the words:
Keep to the left" To go contrary to
this would block the highway and land
the offender in prison. London is alone
in the enforcement Of the rule; even the
crowds on the sidewalk keep to the left
in forging ahead.
The Refugee.
The refugee is q sort of an island in the
middle of a street or square to enable
pedestrians by degrees to cross in safety.
There is SO much driving that one has to
keep his eyes peeled to take advantage of
a lull to gain the refugee. There he awaits
a second chance to make the sidewalk he
is aiming for. Sometimes minutes go by
before the opportunity comes and on gala
occasions ten minutes are consumed be-
fore venture No. 2 is undertaken. But a
minute or two ordinarily brings the re-
quired chance. On Trafalgar square there
are two refugees intervening between side
walks, as several streets unite here and
the crossing is most dangerous.
One of the sights of the town is the di-,
minutive chap employed to clean the
streets. He is usually s years old and is
armed with a bag and brush to gather up
the refuse that defaces the roadway.
This chap will take his place in the mid
die of the street and will pursue his work
unmindful of the dangers that surround
him. The wheels are passing within an
inch of his body, but so careful are the
drivers and 80 alert the brave little fellow
that he escapes injury. Sometimes you
would imagine he would be crushed as he
disappears in the jam, but a moment later
he reappears doing his work the same as if
death did not hover about him.
In New York the open circles are called
squares; when you reach Italy they are
denominated plazzas; in London they are
known as circuses. Strangers, for the
most part, are misled by this designation
when they first arrive in London. Ask
directions to a firm doing business, in the
vicinity of these areas and you are told it
adjoins Ludgate circus, or Oxford circus,
or Picadilly circus. At once you head
for one of these, expecting to find the
party desired adjoining a tented exhibit
ton. But you look in vain for the circu-
lar canvas roof with supporting projecting
poles rising one above the other. After
inquiries that make you vexatious you find
that the circus hat does business every
minute in the year in London Is nothing
more than the diametrical space where
half a dozen streets intersect and has
neither clown nor ringmaster unless the
policeman can be counted as such.
Boobies.
The uniformed guardians of the law in
England are known as boobies and in
ireland as peelers. The nicknames come
from Sir Robert Peel, who acted respec-
lively as secretary of Ireland and home
secretary of England. Under his admin
istrations he reorganized the police con-
tingent of these countries and made them
a formidable body of civilian soldiery.
From 1912 to 1918 he held power in Ire
land. and displayed a vindictiveness to
Catholics that made him detested. O'Con-
nell called him an Orange Peel and taunt-
ed him so that he challenged the Irish
statesman to a duel, which the police pre-
vented. So the latter were dubbed peel
ers. which they retain to this day. As