The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-01-13

and every one was dressed in his
best; but the captain said We could not
move and would have to stay there all
night which we did. All the boats were
ringing bells and blowing whistles to
prevent passing craft from running into
them This reminded us OF new years
ringing the old year out, and the new
one in. Well, we retired expecting the
fog would lift and We would wake up in
London the next morning. But when
We awoke we were anchored at the same
place and the bells were still ringing
We moved about 8 O'Clock and got as
far as Graves End England, eleven miles
from London. Here the English Health
Inspectors from the quarantine station
came aboard. We got into London at
9 O'Clock Thursday, Nov. 18th, and We
were not sorry even a little bit. And
that ends the trip.
vii now try to tell you about Lon
don alnd its funny ways. Al OF the peo-
pie are very nice here and very polite to
every one. When you make a pur-
chase at the store or ''shop' as they
call it here, and ask what an article is
worth which for instance should be SILT,
they would say shilings, 8 pence and
hay penny, which is equal to $1.17 in
our money. Say you gave them 5 shil-
lings, they would take the money and
say ''thank you," before giving you the
change and then thank you again after
handing you the change. And if you
didn't know the money very we'll it would
fool a person when they say thank you
at first. You would think that you had
given the right amount, and if you
started out lots of places you would not
be called back as they'd take it as Il tip.
har hat nil I,,1
20 in the saloons Just the SAME as the
men. They call the saloons Public
House." or commonly speaking they
would say Lets go to the Pub aud ave
u drink" They never sound the 81 at
all.
The railroad cars are very oddly con
| structed--qute unlike what they are in
the States. Instead of entering FROM the
end as we do in America they enter from
| the side, the cars or carriages us they
| call them, being sectioned off into little
| ROOMS or compartments carrying ely Int
| people The conductor is called the guard
in this country. If you ask any one
| where the depot is they don't understand
what you are talking about. They call
! it the station. When you are. put in
| the carriage the guard locks ta- door
and you can't get out until yeu reach
your destination. The cars look like u
! lot of cigar boxes as compared to the
railway coaches in the United Suites.
The London Bridge is a splendid piece
| of work and an interesting sighs for any
| one as is the Tower of London4 In the
Tower you see the ways in V'ich the
| people i'll the old days used toxexecute
| there fellow creatures. You 81 some
| thing like this: There is a machine with
| two rollers the rollers being ABOUT ten
feet apart. The hands and feet OF the
victim would be tied to the rollers. Then
| the process OF torture and death would
| follow, the rollers being turned until they
| pulled the man apart, which was very
| slow death. Another method was a chop
| ping block with a large blade something
| on the order OF a tobacco cutter in
| America. The prisoner would be made
| to put his head under the blade and then
| they would lead an elephant up and
| make him tread on the blade and cut
| the cuIprits head Off. And many other
ways they had of putting people to death
| i'll those days. But they have banished
| all such barbarous things now and hang
ing is adopted as in America
There is no need for a person to go
hungry here-if he has the means to pay
for the several meals served during the
| day at the hotels. They have breakfast
| at $50; luncheon at 1 tea at +; dinner
at I; tea or coffee at $50. And the
coffee is like boiled licorice-dOes not
taste like coffee at alI-and at every
meal they serve tea whether You want it
or not. All that you can hear from the
walters is "will you have tea, sir?''
Every time they ask you anything it
always ends with ''sir."
You have heard and read a great deal
about the logs in London. 1t hasn't
been exaggerated. 1t gets so foggy here
that you can't see a lamp post ten feet
away, and sometimes people get lost and
cannot find their way home, | have been
told. 1t has not been that bad since [
have been here but we had to burn the
gas all one day in order to see anything.
| slept until IL O'Clock one day thinking
it was about / in the morning when |
first looked out; but it was the fog which
had fooled me.
They have queer names for the streets.
Picadllly Circus is a street as is Rotten
Row. The first named is a very pretty
thoroughfare and Rotten Row, despite
its forbidding name, is one of the finest
promenades have ever seen.
Well, l guess l have made this letter
about.as long as you care to give space
to, or gold LEAF readers will he dis
posed to wade through, so | will bring
it to a close. Wishing for you and my
Henderson friends a Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year, though doubt
less Old Santa Claus will have made his
rounds before this reaches you, l am,
Very truly,
ARTHUR CASTILLO LoUGHLIN.