The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-10-03
AMERICANS IN LONDON.


INK ~ 04QQe0. 0Sy 3<& o00W10H ID
intelligent acquaintanee with our G.
oexzphy and eur pphlic men, for one
unheard-of thing. The prince Of Wales
haS had electric lights put in his town
house; the siffocaking, sulphurous I'M
dergroand railway h experimenting
with electric motors, and the newspa-
pesu are printing pictures. Vestibuled
trains with saloon cara are appearingon
the railways and the theaters are begin
ming to give away programmes TO the
audiences. But the most surprising,
rock-shivering revolution makes the
latest news of the week-the city mer-
chants have formslly agfeed to let their
clerks wear straw hats. It has bsen -
hot ~ Chicago during, . national con-
vention, 10 something had to be done
for the. clerks. but who would have
dreamed that the traditional dress of
tens d thonasnda Of clerks who have
gone shout srslteripg In their hats was
thus suddenly to be cAaneed7 It prob
ably has taken ever since the French
revolution for them to get their high
hats and no one supposed they would
lose them inside Of another century.
This change makes it bothersome Tor
me TO pick out the Americans in the
streets. For weeks have been riding
shout on the tops of buses (the chario4s
Of the masses) and picking out Amer
leans by their derby hats and straw
tiles. Fancy my surprise, then. when
I see ON the Strand my cigar counter
clerk in . straw hat, aud Bob Fitzsim-
mons, the champion Of the world, in
silk tile. BY the way, I stepped down
from my chariot when saw the pugi-
list and said: 'Hello! are you over here
to fight7 mo-" said he, and his an
swer was such as Alexander might have
made when he had rounded up the
world. There's nobody here to tight.
I can stop them al In four rounds"
There are about 50, 700 of us here, and
part of this huge burg has become al
most homelike in consequence. West
minister Abbey Is as American resort -
the Fifth Avenue hotel. and you could
not 90 amiss in st. Paul's or the Tower,
if you went up to the first man or wom-
an IN the crowd and said: "Hurrah
for Old Glory!"
Some of the American men who come
here are terror to their countrymen.
They seem to have had enough money
to get here with, and. .once here. they
borrow to get back. They catch US who
are rooted here and cannot get away.
One American resident, . well-known
novelist. got card from hard-up the
other day, adj asked him in. The Wis
itor began to tell him how much he ad-
mired the novelist's work. how he had
read every line he had ever written and
there the novelist stopped him. "See
here" said he. 'you have run short Of
money and are 1000 miles from
home, and want . slight favor of
!. and 60 forth, and % forth. /
understand; yon needn't say q word.
Now. don't you think you are
wasting your time with me? am only
novelist, and have family. Iconld
not possibly loan you more than ave
shillinGs, but If you would 90 to Axtor
and spend the same time and honey
on him, telling him how fond you are
OF his books, he could give you hum
dred dollars"
The visitor rose to his feet. "You are
9 brick" !" said he. "Thank you very
much. I'll go and zee Astor ct once"
There Is another way Of telling Amer
leans without looking At their hats. It
Is by their quick, alert, nervous move
ments, their bright, wide-awake faces
and their conscious independence and
pride. You thought was going to say
by their speech, but that is not 80. The
sharp. nasal speech that the English
.Acribe to W il only the heritage OF
few Of us. and we got it from the Eng
lish. Down in Cornwall and up In
Yorkshire they have the same sharp
That we use. Here in London the
cockneys al say "c>ow,- and ...raound, )"
and 'naow." just q our Philadelphians
md some Yankees DO. No; there IL no
'ense ip that old gibe atoat our
speech. We got It from these folks, aod
we left it here besides.-N. Y. Journal.