The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-25
FOUR YANKEE CARS.
They Are Ordered for
the Midland of
England.
ACTOR SNOBBERY IN LONDON.
Arthur Chamberlain Con-
cedes the Whole Home
Rule Case.
ACTOR SNOBBERY IN LONDON.

The Midland Railway Company of
England has ordered four sleeping
cars from the Pullman Palace Car Co.
of Chicago. This is another indication
of the waking up of the railroad direc-
tors of the old world. With the self
blindness of the ostrich, they have been
going along for a generation denying
to the travelling public the benefits of
improved accommodations, and compel
ling their patrons to accept the hen
coop-like coaches of Geoge Stevenson's
time that carried With them discom
forts and Inconvenience which would
not be tolerated in this country for
single day. The introduction of the
Pullman sleeper on the Midland line
one of the most extensive and best
managed in the united kingdom-may
be the entering wedge that before long
will silver to pieces the whole fabric
of ultra conservatism which for so
long has been supported-to a large
extent 'reluctantly-by the travelling
public of Great Britain. The car of
progress has indeed moved slowly in
this important matter of railroad ac-
commodations on that side of the At
lantic, but now that it has at last got
a move on itself, as proved by the or
der for the Pullmans. its wheels may
yet revolve both sure and steady.
| An officer of the British army has
| been making comparisons between the
| postal systems of his own country and
| the United States. He pays warm trt-
| butte to the genius of our postal OFF,
cials in delivering insufficiently or in
| correctly addressed letters. But he
claims that, as a whole, the postal
| service of New York does not come up
to the standard of the London service,
| either in the speed or the frequency of
deliveries. Commenting upon this cri-
| ticism, writer in the New York sun,
who evidently knows whereof he
speaks, admits that both in the bust
ness and residential districts, London
| probably averages three or four more
deliveries a day than New York. A
| letter mailed in Kensington up to ! a.
m. is received anywhere in the city by
| 100 whereas no matter dropped into a
New York letter box after II .. m. is
delivered before 10 or 1890 on the fol-
lowing morning. Admitting so much,
the Sun writer goes on to say:
But in the matter of ferreting out
the addresses of wrongly directed let
tiers New York shows considerably
more intelligence than any English or
European city. In England an incor-
rectly addressed letter might just as
well have not been written. The post
office never bothers itself to overcome
the mistake, but hands the letter over
to the dead letter office. where it takes
two or three weeks of official cores
pondence to dislodge it. An English
man now in New York gave a good in
stance of this casual way of Sinking
difficulties. A letter was addressed to
him at Great Russell street w. c.,
about fifteen minutes walk from the
Strand. Unluckily the writer put
Strand" on the envelope, and Great
Russell street being in the Bloomsbury
and not the Strand district, the letter
was sent to the dead letter office and
did not reach him for nearly a month.
That probably IS an extreme example
Of English methods, but there is not
much room to doubt that the New York
system is the better of the two. 1t
was put to a pretty severe test few
years ago, when a wag who was writ
ing to various well known men con-
tented himself with sketching their
faces on the envelopes by way Of adj
dress. All the letters were delivered.
1t is possible that the performances Of
our post office in this direction are
founded in general on the completeness
of the American city directories, the
Ike Of which does not exist on the
other side"
The suggestion about the directory is
perfectly apt and true. Our friends
across the pond have no such director
les as are to be found in even the
smallest American cities. In fulness Of
information, completeness of detail and
general accuracy in every department
peculiar TO such a volume the directory
Of the city of Worcester is far superior
to that Of Liverpool, Manchester Dub
lin or Glasgow, to say nothing Of Lon
don itself or If the dozens Of cities that
are similar in size to Worcester. The
American directory Is as essentially
American as baked beans or pumpkin
pie 1t is as racy Of the soil as Buffalo
Bill himself. Nothing like it can you
find abroad.
In the opinion Of Alan Dale, Thack-
eray's book of "Snobs" is very much
apropos in London today. There never
was a time, says this caustic writer,
when snobbery exerted such an under
mining influence in London as IL does
at present. II is almost incredible.
Actors and managers are completely
enthralled by the 'swells' They are
taken up by the swagger set, invited
out to dine and wine, hidden to pass
DAYS in country houses, pampered, pet
ted and feted The time that they should
devote to work (for even an actor has
a few duties to perform) is given over
to the sweet ministrations of society
1t is the aim and object of every Lon
don player to be launched upon the
dizzy sea Of swelldom. Nowadays ii IS
quite the thing TO go to an opening
night and find that the star has not yet
mastered his lines He slips and slides