The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-15

same you never can tell. London's
"Mafeking night" orgy couldn't have
been beaten for sheer spontaneity IN
Nice itself which seems to indicate that
the coronation rejoicing" may not be
as leaden as one might suppose
The idea seems to be to give every
one in London a chance to have
good time on Coronation Day, and the
various arrangements that are being
made to that end have nothing at all
to do with the procession through the
streets Every London borough is
collecting a fund toward organizing
some sort of fete within its precincts.
Public squares without number Will
be given up to entertainments for the
children as well as for the older people,
where bands will .kay and comedians
perform; Punch and Judy shows in
Vulnerable will be on view. There will
be great dinners for children and poor
folk in other parts, as we'll as sports
of all kinds The hands of the clock
are to be pushed back, too, and the
River Thames utilized for merry max
ing, Just as it used to be in the time
of good Queen Bess. There will be
great water fetes at Chelsea and Bat
tersea. with long professions formed of
ornamental barges. The picturesque
cid city of Richmond, seldom missed
by visiting Americans in any event,
will be especially worth visit at cor
onation time, for there is to be Ven
etian fete on the water front which,
at night will be illuminated with nre-
works for a couple of miles.
Anotehr reminder of old times Is the
plan to light up Great Britain from end
to end on Coronation Night with i'm
mense bonfres 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 be-
ing raised in the different localities and
| thew are all to be lighted at exactly
10 o'clock on the night of June 18th,
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 hurn brightly for over
four hours, so that to anyone on yes
sci off the English coast on that night,
ii will look as if the fighting men OF
the country were being warned against
the coming of another Spanish
Armada.
There is a custom that seems much
more common in England than 1t Is In
America, and which is playing de-
cidedly prominent part in the arrange
merits for the coronation festivities
END~~-0
chance of financial loss. OF course, the
speculators 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 pro-
grams, and the managers of hotels and
| restaurants who have doubled or treb-
| led their facilities in the expectation OF
immense crowds, all stand to lose dis
| T.. rf or ha n
| ing to prevent. or even postpone the
great ceremony. Therefore most
| them are insuring against such ar
| event Just as they would against death
| physical injury or fire.
The Kings life has been insured
| probably some thousands of times dur
| ing the last two months, in cases fo1
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 al
most as extensively. The lives of other
continental rulers are being insured
| by London tradesmen who make q
! speciality of catering to visitors from
| their respective countries and who
probably would not come in large num-
/ bers in case of serious mishap to their
ruler Some entertainment purveyors
have insured-at. heavy premiums, Oh
course-against not making as big a
! profit as they hope out of the ventures
Risks" have been taken even on the
! possibility of the rain spelling busi-
ness. To decide on the rates for this
| insurance the companies drew up a
| funny little table of rain statistics and
calculated their chances of having tc
pay by studying the June weather foI
| the last hundred years and averaging
up.