Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-01-16

and some refused point blank to give
page under any conditions! And as
Tor these cleverly corrected notices
and those fascinating "stories,'' in
which the name OF the shcw was mere
~ mentioned, as if by accident, not a
line would be received or printed
not line! Not line of such mater
1al has been used by the London press,
before Or since the opening Of the
show. But it proved very early that
this was not because of any unfriend-
llness; it was simply not the London
way. This was quickly demonstrated
by the appearance of from seventy TO
eighty reporters of the London press,
who have since then Heroded
Herod in show writing. And these,
for the most part, are scholarly men
in the prime of life, or past-more Of
ten past than of our home types
whose cunning use of the English Ian
guage in the art of composition makes
me feel like laying aside the pen for
ever. They took up the freaks" with
more avidity than a schoolboy takes
to pie, and with a particularly OF de-
tually idiotic from my point of view.
They wrote up" the whole show from
day to day in a style and with a
strength of statement that would put
ANY ADVANCE MAN
in America to the blush. No press
agent of our land could put that over
whelming unanimousness OF praise IN
to every line and paragraph, or evolve
the unctious laudatory humor from
trivial things as has been done by
those gentlemen of the London press.
Of the opening performances even the
heaviest papers gave columns that
could not be excelled by any press
agent with carte blanche. To the aid
of the dailies came the pictorial week.
lies with pages OF sketches, ad libitum,
until one would think the entire Lon
don press had conspired to help the
American Snowman to put English
money in his inside pockets. The on
Nv term of criticism thus far is that
the show is bewildering-too much
too vast for ordinary comprehension.
Now, l know you'll say they are
circus mad. Along the stations of the
underground the guards add to the
names Of the stations, and to the
Barnum and Bailey show" And OF all
the pushing and hauling and scram-
hing of men, women and children Tor
nlaces in these trains couple OF
hours previous to the opening hour
every day, the like was never seen,
save on foot ball day on the Sixth
avenue L., New York, or in Chicago
during the Worlds Fair. After two
or three disagreeable experiences, l
avoid those hours between Charlng
Cross and the Olympia. This thing is
calculated to make an American tired.
But it is within the immense Olym-
pia itself that the London 'jay"-yes;
l say Jay" for
NO COUNTRY TOWN
in the United States could produce a
collection Of humanity more deserving
| of the appellation-is to be seen in all
| of his well dressed, civilized glory.
! They get so excited as they enter that
it takes an extra doOr-keeper on every
| door to grab them, and make them
| take their seat checks. Inside once,
| the first thing they do is to attack the
| bars and booths that line the Turkish
| corridors, and go to eating and drink
| ing and guzzling and champing.
! There are corridors here six hundred
| feet long, with bars, baZaars, restau-
! rants. and fancy stands and what-nOt
| on both sides, banked up with pretty
j girls, all smiling at you sweetly and
inviting you to buy something. The
corridors of temptation run from cur
tain wall to curtain wall, below and
above, all the way round. When the
lays" get in this corridor below they
are overcome by that hunger and
thirst that has been accommodating since
breakfast, and the way they fall upon
| the eatables and turntables has never
been equalled since Sampson CT old
| fell upon the Philistines with the jaw
bone Of an ass. The enemy is slain
1 by thousands. Behind a single one of
| the half dozen bars are eleven bar
maids. big scale of prices is on the
mirror behind, and nothing remains to
/ be done but 10 yank beer pumps, ladle
out drink, and throw sandwiches,
buns, and cake at the clamoring crowd
! Through this shower CT
EDIBLES AND STIMULANTS
the excited Jays" move down upon the
Palmarium, where they wander around
in a maze of ignorance and various
degrees of imbecility, viewing the
freaks, animals and other curiosities-
/ none Of which, to me, is a greater cur
! iosity than this same London crowd
Tommy Atkins, in his gorgeous glory
Of red and blue and gold-as naughty
guardsman, bare-legged Highlander,
! Queens Own, etc.-and his diminutive
imitator, the district messenger boy,
with his sauce pan cap tilted on one