The Irish standard., 1901-11-09

0OW u1uSIellL IuluSS are uuAuASeu on
the Continent. There, families and
friends assemble at their little tables
inside and i'll front Of the cafes. par
taking of their wine. light beer or cof-
fee, and holding friendly converse with
each other for an hour or two. But
there Is no unseemly noise or rowdi-
continent the whole number of persons
saw the worse for liquor could be
counted upon the fingers Of one hand,
end my experiences embraced Holland,
Germany, France, Belgium, Austria,
Hungary, Switzerland and Italy. But
in London boisterous crowds are to be
seen every night Of the week jostling
each other in front of common bars,
and INDUCING in al! sorts of profanity
and indecent language. The American
who has gone through London and not
seen and heard these things has done
the rounds of the city with his eyes
shut and ears closed.
One American doctor, whose &C.
Quaintance l made in London, a smart
and Skilled practitioner from out ore.
gon Way, had his eyes rather Disagree
ably Opened He was not descended
from any Of the pilgrims who came to
America in the Mayhower. His people
reached these shores so many decades
Later that he Was not Il little proud Of
his more recent English descent. He
came to England for the first time, be-
ieving that he was descended from the
finest race Of people on the earth's
surface, but he was speedily dissillu-
stoned. lie WAS not many weeks in
London, doing the rounds of the city
In his leisure time between his engage
mentS at the hospitals, when could
see plainly enough that he had no long
er any desire to claim the English us
his kindred 81 shall return to America"
he said to me one day, "prouder of my
country. than l have ever been before.
have seen so much to disgust me in
England that shall never wish to see
this country again"
But the climax was reached when he
accompanied me on the top of an onn-
bus from the Strand to Epson ON Der
by day. On the way out the sight OF
men, women and girls in different stag
es Of intoXication was bad enough, but
the spectacles presented at various
points on the homeward journey, as
we'll us upon the course itself, batlled
description.
Women and girls hugging men intox-
icated like themselves, young and mid
dle-aged women throwing themselves
into various attitudes, drunken orgies
in and around the numerous public
houses at which the omnibus stopped
and it did not pass, without stopping,
single one of them all the way
there were sights which SO shocked my
medical acquaintance from Oregon that
when we reached Charing Cross at II
O'Clock at night, after being no less
than five hours coming Is or 16 miles,
disgust, and thus delivered himself:
"Well, Mr.. Grey, if l thought the peo-
pie of America could ever sink to such
depths Of degradation as l have wit
messed today, l should feel like going
right away and hanging myself"
The excess of drunkenness in both
sexes which one sees constantly in
London--and l. have seen it, too, in
many of the manufacturing towns Of
England--is not the only symptom Of
the nations decay which has set in.
-. 1t was my misfortune to be in LON
don on the day of the reception of the
City Imperial Voluntecrs-the G. l.
VS., as they are called-on their return
from South Africa, and the scenes en-
acted that day and night were most
disgraceful to any people calling them
selves civilized and Christian. London
ers that day-the great lingo majority
meaIl-bchaved themselves more like
demons than anything else, and they
drank and howled, and conducted them
selves more Economically than those
who did not see their orgies can have
any conception Of. They took posses
sion Of the city, and the police were
powerless.
AS watched that besotten, bowling
mob could not help thinking how thin
their veneer OF civilization actually Is;
and I thought, too, OF the enormitles
which that excited crowd could be ca
pable Of enacting in revolutionary time
against individuals and property.
Thoughts Of the French revolution ma
turally came up, and that crowd, l be
lieved, was just as capable of commit
ting the same atrocities as THE sans
culottes Of Marat, Desmoulins and
Robcspierre, or the sangulnary COM
munists of Paris under that blood
hound, Raoul Kiyault, whose browning
act Of butchery was the assassination
of Archbishop Darboy and the other
hostages. Who knows but that some
day that same crowd, remembering
that upon the occasion referred to they
set all law and order ut defiance. may
break through all bounds i'll the revolu-
ton which some prophets fnretcl must
come about in England some time or
other unless Il change is made from