The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-13
'"wHAT THINK OF ENGLAND
SOusa's Adventures with Foot
Warmers and Britich Currency.

From the London Mail.
The thing that has impressed me
most in Great Britain is the railway
carriage foot warmer II is not so big
at st. Paurs Cathedral, nor so long
as Regent street. but nothing archi-
tectural in the whole country has made
such vivid impression on my mind
as the footwarmer.
In my contemplative moments your
foot-warmer forces it's way to the
front. If l dream, it is of foot-warm-
ers, and in the only nightmare 1 have
had since 1 came to England 1 imag-
ined that somebody had made sort
of Pharaoh of me and buried me under
pyramid of foot-warmers. l would
advise you to invent a new kind of
shock for your American visitors.
The first time saw the foot-warmer
something on wheels came into the rail-
way station and men in uniform be-
gan to fling about what l thought were
under-grown milk churns. why is this
cart coming down the station filled
with tin cans?' 1 asked. The man
refused to explain.
cart" and somebody else threw can
inside. At first / thought it was an
internal machine but | was wearing
the uniform of the United States, and
] swore to die bravely. All the way
kept one foot firmly pressed down on
the can, which l believed would go off
at any moment. OF course, it did moth
ing of the sort; but in three or four
hours 1 began to experience a curious
sensation in that foot.
1t tingled in a. way that recalled
frost-bite I had in North America when
the thermometer was 2S degrees below
zero. Growing worse, / took off my
boot. The foot warmer or refrigerator
or whatever the machine was bad
given me chilblains.
At the next stopping place | sent for
rough towels, and by vigorous rubbing
managed to restore circulation in the
foot. l affirm that if your tight lit
tie island were big enough to take a
long railway journey in, the whole ma
ton would be laid up with chilbiainsh
Another thing that badly needs re-
Vising is your money system. There IS
an idea in America that things are very
cheap in Great Britain, and visitors
from the states work on that hypothe-
sis. But it is all wrong-at least, for
the simple minded and trustful Amer
ican, though no doubt it is all right for
the tradesman. Let me illustrate my
point.
The other evening I had just time
to take exactly nine whiffs at a cigar
before commencing the performance.
l went into a cigar store-I mean a
tobacco shop-and asked for a mild
smoke.
How much?" 1 said.
"Sixpence," was the reply.
Cheap" said /, wonderfully cheap,
and giving him the nimble coin in
hurry lest he should change his mind,
I lit the cigar and proceeded to enjoy
the nine whiffs. At the eighth I be-
gan to think.
"Sixpence," I said to myself. lis
equivalent to our IL cents. This ca
gar is sold in America at the rate of
three for a quarter-fourpence, Gee
wiz! It's mighty dear after ALL
] would suggest that for the guild
ance of guileless Americans in Eng
land the mint should put a start after
the words "Sixpence' on that coin and
a corresponding footnote, This sum
equals IL cents"
A great deal more money is being
spent by American visitors in buying
things cheaplY than they imagine.
Another snare and delusion is the
guinea. There is no such coin in Eng
land outside museums, and yet you
price goods at so many guineas. Many
Americans think the guinea another
word for sovereign and make their
purchases accordingly. The laugh is
the storekeeper's. The other day
bought 80 guineas' worth of clothes, and
after long sum in mental arithmetic
discovered that l had paid 30s. more
than l thought I had paid. why do
you call them guineas," l asked the at
tendant instead of pounds?"
"In dealing with gentlemen we al
ways call them guineas," the nice man
explained.
Having figured the whole thing out, L
said:
"Well, in future / shall receive money
as a gentleman and pay it as the other
thing. 1t seems to me that is the only
way to trade on profitable lines in this
country"