Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-14

Even now it is hard to find a shop or
off1ce building Of any sort which is not adj
vertising windows to view the coronation
PROFESSIONS Almost all of these windows
have been bought up by rich syndicates-
most of the stands also are being built by
syndicates-who are planning to charge
whopping prices for them. Some one has
estimated that these windows will accom-
modate about 100000 spectators. that the
grandstands will probably seat 100000
while 10000 more will find places in the
snow windows of shops, almost every one
of which along the route will contain a
tier of seats. Added together, these figures
give total of 10000 people who will be
seated in one or another along the corona
ton route. Present indications are that the
humblest of those seats will sell for two
guineas, or $40, apiece
To attempt to say what the more desira-
BILE will bring would be rather rash proph-
ecy; but if you calculate that each one of
these three hundred and seventy-six thou
sand spectators pays only $40 for his seat
you have $3,760,00O changing hands
10 keep the crowd back the line of march
Will be hedged with troops and policemen.
The soldiers will come from India from
the colonies; some of them will be volun-
teers or Imperial Yeomen and there will be
$1,000 of them in all. So you can imagine
the scene-the pavcments from the shop
fronts to the curbS black with people press
ed back by the thin, red line" of troops,
the windows Of every story white with
faces. thousands looking on from endless
stands and other thousands peering down
from the roofs. 1t is expected that the
London streets through which the process
sion is to move will be impossible at s in
the morning
Energetic Americans who come to Lon
don with the intention of seeing King Ed
wards royal progress undoubtedly will see
1t, in spite of high prices. crowds and the
unfamilarity of their surroundings But
even should they miss it-as so many miss
ed the queens funeral-they at least will
have the rare opportunity of seeing the
biggest city in the world giving itself up to
frollcktng in a way that probably it has
never done in all the long years of it's his
tory. Even the merrymaking of the dia-
mond jubilee time promises to be surpassed
A Good Time for Everyone
1t will be rather an interesting thing to
see just how stiff old London goes about
disporting itself. Continental cities, like
Paris and Vienna. go in for that sort of
thing at regular intervals and do it well
because they are accustomed to doing it.
and also because letting yourself co.
comes more naturally to the Latin than it
does to the Anglo Saxon temperament. All
the same, you never can tell. London S
Mafeking night orgy couldn't have been
beaten for sheer Spontanety in Nice itself
which seems to Indicate that the corona
ton rejoicing may not be as leaden as
one might suppose.
The idea seems to be to give every one
on coronation day, and the various ar
rangements that are being made to that
end have nothing at all to do with the pro-
cession through the streets. Every Lon
don borough is collecting a fund toward
organizing some sort Of fete within its
precincts. Public squares without num-
Der VIII be given up to entertainments for
the children as well for the older peo-
pie where bands will play and comedians
perform; Punch and Judy shows innumer-
able will be view. There will be great
dinners for children and poor folks in other
parts as well as sports of all kinds The
hands of the clock are to be pushed back
too, and the River Thames utilized for
merry aking. just as it used to be in the
time of good Queen Bess. There will be
great water fetes at Chelsea and Battersea
barges. The picturesque old city of Rich
mond. seldom missed by visiting Ameri-
cans in any event. will be especially worth
visit at coronation time, for there is to
be Venetian fete on the water front.
which, at night, will be Illuminated with
fireworks for couple of miles.
Another reminder of old times is the plan
to light up Great Britain from end to end
| on coronation night with immense bonfires.
There is an official bonfire committee which
is planning to have a fire of really great
size on every hilltop throughout the land.
The funds for building these fires are being
raised in the different localities and they
are all to be lighted at exactly 10 o'clock
on the night of June %, when there also
will be displays of colored fires and Of
rockets on a grand scale. Most of the fires
are to be made of peat, and will burn
brightly for over four hours, so that to any
one on a vessel off the English coast on
that nigh; it will look as if the fighting
men of the country were being warned
against the coming of another Spanish
armada.
Odd Insurance Customs.
There is a custom that seems much more
common in England than it is in America,
and which is playing a decidedly promi-
nent part in the arrangements for the cor
onation festivities-that of insuring against
every possible chance of financial loss OF
course, the spectators who are building
all the immense grand stands and who
have bought up most Of the available win
dows, the proprietors Of coronation shows
who have arranged special programs and
the managers of hotels and restaurants
who have doubled or trebled their facili-
ties in the expectation of immense crowds,
all stand to lose disastrously in case of
anything happening to prevent even
postpone the great ceremony. Therefore,
most of them are insuring against such an
event just as they would against death,
physical injury or fire.
The kings life has been insured prob
ably some thousands of times during the
last two months, in cases for amounts as
high as 100000. The life of the German
emperor-whose death, of course, would
lead to the coronation being postponed-is
being insured almost as extensively. The
lives of other continental rulers are being
insured by London tradesmen who make a
speciality of catering to visitors from their
respective countries and who probably
would not come in large numbers in case
of serious mishap to their ruler. Some
entertainment purveyors have insured-at
heavy premiums, Of course-against not
making as big profit as they hope out of
the ventures. Risks have been taken even
on the possibility Of the rain spelling BUSH
ness. TIE decide on the rates for this in
surance the companies drew up a funny
little table of rain statistics and calculated
their chances Of having to pay by studying
the June weather for the last hundred
years and averaging up.