Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-09-13

on the Strand on the night the word
came that the Boer war was ended and
peace had come. Every one Is mad
with joy, and the lower classes have
dropped work for a holiday. They have
poured themselves from Whitechapel
and the slums of other parts If the
city and have come to Fleet street. the
Strand and Trafalgar Square 20 celc-
brate the occasion
Many Of them have been drinking all
day and more are drinking now. The
crowd consists Of women and men. boys
and girls, rushing, pushing and iostling
one another as they move up and down
the sidwalks and roadways. At times
they stop the buses and the hanson
cabs must go at a walk
The faces are'hard and many of them
are red with drink. Even the women
are drunk, and at every few steps you
meet a party of them who are singing
and dancing and throwing their arms
around one another In their inebriate
JOY. Some have men with them and
men and women pass along embracing
as they go.
Young girls have long peacock feath-
ers with which they tickle the men in
pass | stopped and leaned against the
wall to make mental notes Of the crowd.
Every now and then some giddy White
chapel maiden with her hair frizzled
over her ears and a sailor hat on the
side of her head chucked me under the
chin or pat feather In my nose and
told me to "larf," Indeed, it made me
blush.
DRINKING IN LONDON.
was surprised at the drunkenness
Of the crowd and especially at the num-
Der OF intoxicated women. ! have seen
every great city In the world, but no.
Where have | seen women drinking
publicly in the saloons as they do here.
On the peace night saw drunken girls
of Is and some who seemed younger,
although there were signs on the sa-
loon windows saying that children UNI
der fourteen would not be served
There were scores of women with ba-
bies in their arms dancing and shout
Ing, their breaths redolent Of whisky
and gin. Some Of the babies were not
more than two weeks old. but their
mothers bundled them up to their
breasts and sang and danced with the
rest
The saloons along the Strand were
fllled with half-drunken people OF both
sexes. looked into saloon after saloon
and did not find one In which there
were not women drinking. Many of the
women We're gray-haired and even
these were drunk. This drinking pre-
walls throughout London. The women
patronize the saloons almost as much as
the men. and you cannot drive through
the poorer sections OF a Saturday even
ing without seeing drunken women
dancing, shouting and quarrellng.
AMONG THE PICKPoCKETs.
The scenes make me think OF Dick
ems novels, and especially OF Oliver
Twist, The characters of that story
We're everywhere and Fagin and his
plckpockets We're abroad. There are
no more expert thieves in the world
than here and ! saw a good specimen
Of their work as | stood against the
wall. Two men lost their watches in
side Of two minutes. The first was an
old fellow with his wife As the thief
rushed away the good woman shed
tears saying: They've stolen my hus-
bands watch"
The other was a dude in a tall hat,
who, like myself, was out to see the
fun. one thief Knocked off the hat an
other pushed the dude and third
grabbed at his watch chain and took his
gold repeater before he could turn