Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-07-19
]. LONDON !! {. LETTER.
The Portland Party Takes In
the Diamond Jubilee.
The Immense Crowds and The Great
Procession Ia London Town.
The Stay In London Ended and the Party !,
Broken Up.
London. June %, 1897.


blaze of countless bonfires lighted
simultaneously at given signal pro-
claim jubilee! The very air is literally
red, white and blue with jubilee; Lon
don is decorated from end to end, fes-
toons of green. garlands of roses, gay
colored buntings, adorn building after
building. The electric devices almost
battle description; notices hailing
Victoria, our Mother Queen" I'VE
loyal, Thou, royal Sixty years of
unexampled prosperity" are what we
read on every side. Father" we over
heard a child ask, what has Victoria
done herself that everyone gives her
such great praise?" For a moment, an
answer seemed beyond the fathers
power to give; "Ah. well, my son, she
has been a very good woman, a very
good wife and mother, and very good
Queen, very good indeed" he reiter-
ated, clinging to goodness as if that
alone made material greatness. AS we
moved on we wondered if the child, like
ourselves, was still unsatisfied. Our
Jubilee began weeks ago, but Eng
lands, it seems to us, was inaugurated
at Crystal Palace, by HandeIs Trien-
NAL festival. Those mighty choruses
rising and surging like the boundless
ocean, what words can portray their
power and grandeur! Israel in
Egypt" 1.-The Messiah" we had no
conception of their stupendous depths!
1t is a thrilling sight to look upon over
five Thousand musicians, but to hear
their voices and instruments quickens
ones pulse. The whole house rose and
he RI f,~,n ss(Nn.1
Save the Queen" the effect was mag
nificent but our lips breathed with 4
fervor never before known. MY
Country it's Of Thee, sweet land Of
liberty, of Thee I sing" The events
preceding the memorable 22nd we will
mention later but will first endeavor
to describe the experiences of lone
lorn Mrs. Gummidge" and daughter
seeing the Jubilee procession.
The first actual personal intimation
we received that we were in 'the
thick of the fray so to speak, was
when on Regent street, Saturday
morning, looking for our Atlas bus,
we read, Increased Jubilee fares. one
shilling any distance"
AS we had been paying ''tuppence"
(four cents) this meant an increase OF
20 cents and it made our pocket book
feel as low in coin, as we did in spirit.
We recovered, however, when we re-
membered that our numerous pilgrim
ages through London were ended and
that our seats at the rooms of the
| London Glove Company where we go
| fer the procession, could be reached by
| the underground railway, which re-
| manned in statu quo as to place and
fare Monday we felt restless, anxious
| for the morrow; we spent a large
| portion of the day dallying with dumb
bells, Indian clubs and sand-bags; not
that we dreamed we could displace &
London crowd, but we simply wanted
to be in our usual health and strength.
| We retired at p. NJ, after begging
our landlady to thoroughly rouse US at
2 A. NJ. This hour may seem unsea-
sonable to the uninitiated but did we
not see crowds on June Goth at five in
| the morning on our way to the com
memoration service at Westminster
and we trembled lest we should be
late for the procession. After day
break meal which was not of jubilee
| character, we looked askance at the
long array of sandwiches prepared for
our sustenance and were tempted to GO
forth trusting in the might of the
| Aerated Bread Company to supply the
inner woman, but discretion muir
INJURED Think what the papers
prophecy; you may be in state OF
siege for days, so we hastily picked VI
our supplies and with something OF
dismay in our hearts, started for the
station. But where was the dense
throng, through which we had secretly
dreaded to elbow our way? Two people
| rover before assumed such huge pro-
portions as we. 1t was just four by
the clock as we sat down on the wood
en- benches at the station, to wait fol-
the 445 train, and we were the sole
representatives of our sex, together
with six of the sterner who without
haste or violence quietly took our seats
| in the railway carriage 1t dawned
upon us as we passed from station tc
station 1--WE went two miles out OF oul
| way to avoid the crush) and few
early birds, as foolish as we, boarded
the train, that the Jubilee jam was a
bubble inflated by the English nation
but. which blown too hard and long
had burst. We dreaded, yet were
anxious to see the monster shown
forth by the press all over the world in
such dark and dismal type, and when
it failed to materialize in our presence
| we could have wept like Alexander
"for a crowd to conquer" 1t was all
so tame, 50 prosaic, so different from
i the exciting scene we had imagined
| We had the entire sidewalk to our
! selves, we strolled round about St.
PauIs and counted her "bulwarks"- -
in other words, innumerable stands
gay with bunting, and blooming with
| paper flowers. OF course there were
4 many people on the streets, but the
| solid phalanx of human beings. that
we had been led to expect would ex-
tend in every direction of the compass,
was not there. We finally succumbed
to what was hopelessly easy, walked
to our seats and sal watching and
waiting.
About o'clock people began con-
gregating on the sidewalks and stood
patiently in the dull light of what we
i feared, would prove a rainy day, but
Queens weather" triumphed and the
sun blazed out with summer warmth
i The utmost good nature and perfect