Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-12-21
A GENUINE LONDON pea
SOUPER."

fNtH' fANlululH lsOHubll liNNopdpti
IN u mock-exultant headline concern
Ing the astonishing fog that lately
squatted on London and stayed for
nearly week The Americans might
hulld better locomotives and more
shapely shoes and more comfortable
underground railroads than England
hut America at its best never could
produce fog like the variety known
az "the London particular" or any
thing approaching thereunto, So said
the London newspaper, and II might as
Well be acknowledged that the boast Is
good.
Not one American out Of every ten
In the thousands who come over each
year has ever seen the real thing In
London fog, for the American season
and the fog season do not coincide
Wei, the latest OF these fogs was worth
seeing, for II broke all previous records
in duration, and t.y cost Of life and
damage to business II set London folk
60 serious consideration Of the fact that
the atmospheric conditions in London
ore becoming intolerable In the winter
end that something must be done about
il
Anyone with a taste for adventure in
his blood finds something exciting in
his first experience with a London
particular" Five feet from ones own
doorstep Is new world. Strange
shapes loom vaguely near at hand,
y lille the familiar gas lamp that should
be blazing brightly almost within reach
apparently has receded into the dis
lance, its light diminished to feeble
red glow The customary sounds Of the
street are cut Off, and are replaced by
hoarse shouts of cabdrivers, bride In
enc hand lantern in the other plow-
Ing along the curbs and striving to
learn where they are.
In the blacklist fog within the writ
cr's experience, the light from a street
gas lamp exactly ten feet from the
window gradually diminished TO a
vague luminescence, and then was hid
den altogether.
A sheet of the carbon paper used in
copying manuscrlpts-as dead black as
one can flnd-was pasted on the win
dow and found to be Invisible when the
lights inside the room we're turned out.
Yet the hour was exactly noon.
Not quite as black as that was the
great fog just past, but II was black
enough to stall trains as effectually as
a snowbank and to lead TO many
strange adventures and tragic deaths,
II was no uncommon thing for
householder, hearing strange sounds at
the front of his mansion to open the
door and be confronted with the heads
Of two equally astonlshed horses, and
there was horror unbounded among the
members Of the sober old Athenaeum
club, which absolutely refuses TO admit
visitors, over the announcement by two
or three indignant tlunkles that han
som cabble was endeavorlng to drive
his steed up the clubs eminently re-
spectacle steps.
The mouths Of all the harbors we're
choked with ships whose shippers did
not dare attempt to land IN the fog, IN
consequence Of which thousands Of
wharfmen We're idle. Vessels that did
try TO get in or get out got into trouble
instead. ordinarily hundreds Of fishing
boats come up from Gravesend TO Lon
don in the course OF the day, but dur
ing the four days when the fog was
thickest only two arrived. Visitors
from the country who had left home
with the sun shining brightly sudden
ly found themselves, when within a few
miles Of London, az q standstil in the
midst Of q fog that made II seem as II
the car windows We're covered with
dark blankets. Some OF them had to
wait In their compartments" for
hours. only 10 find on entering the sta
ton that no cabman would venture in
to the fog unless offered an unreason-
able price and on one day there We're
no cabs at ell. Strangers had 10 leave
their baggage at the station and grope
their way to the nedrest hotel as best
they might
A friend Of mine sent cab to meet a
friend OF hers. a lady who was 10 arrive
on train that night with her daughter.
When the cabman left the fog was only
moderately thick, but Il soon grew more
dense, and by the time the train got in
driving a cab through the streets was
not 70 be thought Of In this predlca- |
ment the cabby proved himself a man
OF resource. Descending from his cab. |
which he left In charge Of a boy. he |
took the lady on one arm and her
daughter on the other and after about |
M hour and half of walking. cropping
AMI nquiring, brought them in triumph
20 their destination
There was one class that didn't mind |
The fog at all and that was the blind |
men. These incumbents % the street |
corners promptly pocketed their beg. |
cling caus and volunteered as guides. n |
elvico m which they proved twice as
efficient as the boys and men with both
eyes ana torches who offered TO steer |
you across the street for "tuppence' or
half a mile for one bob" T. e., shlll- |
ing
The fog had queer effect on theater-
ana theatergoers, English playhouseg
are apparently rs loosely constructed |
as English dwelling houses. On par
ucqlarly thick night theater audi.
torlums are so filed with fog that e. |
will be almost impossible to ses what