The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-09-23
SIGHTS
Seen by Frank Carpenter
in London.
A City of the Rich and Poor.

London is q ity of millionaires and
paupers, of thousands who are worry
rich, OF hundreds of thousands who
spend money as freely as any people on
earth, and of million or so who are
wretchedly poor. The town has 10o, 600
paupers and cannot tell you how many
millionzires- IL has king who has q
civil list of s3, 600, 900 year and dukes
and earls who own towns and vast es-
tates, and lords and other golden drones
galore. In the West End about Hyde
Park you drive through street after
street of magnificent palaces, and In
the east and along the docks you may
ride for miles and miles through sec
tions where whole families live in one
room and where semi-starvstion reigns.
The Church Parade of the Rich.
Let me give you two pictures of Lon
don which have seen during my stay.
One is the church parade at Hyde
Park, which takes place every noon on
Sundays from ! until o'clock. This
will give you some idea of the possible
market for the best Of American goods.
Hyde Park is q great expanse OF green
trees, soft, velvety turf, beautiful lakes
and walks and drives. On last Sunday
there were 10000 people walking up
and down the chief thoroughfares, and
these people represented the cream OF
London swelldom. have never seen
so many persons so well dressed Every
man and every boy wore tall silk hat.
ALI were gloved and the men wore
frock coats and trousers tightly creased.
As = whole the American men are the
best dressed of their kind in the world,
but the Hyde Park crowd on Sundays
| Is better dressed than they, as 1t repre-
sents only the best tailors Of the king
dom.
And then the womenl My heart
jumps rs I think Of them. There were
at least 10000 dainty girls and lordly
danes, clad in Paris gowns and bon.
nets, and last, but not least, in Ameri.
can shoes. They were good looking,
and as q rule tall and stately. They
merely walked back and forth, some
with men and some without, staring
and laughing and chatting.
In the crowd saw faces Of every ma
tionality under the sun, although the
majority were English. At the same
time there were carriages, coaches and
|four-in-hands driving along the roads
outside the walks; there were scores oi
automobiles whistling by, and alto
gether the scene made me think thai
poverty was dead. 1t was the parade
of the rich.
The SIum Parade Of the Strand.
Now let me give you picture Of the
parade Of the poor. Imagine yourself
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 holiday. They have
poured themselves from Whitechape
and the slums Of other parts Of the city
and have come to Fleet-st,, the Straut
and Trafalgar-square to celebrate the
occasion.
Many of them have been drinking al
day and more are drinking now. Th'
crowd consists Of women and men, boy
and girls, rushing, pushing and jostlinI
one another as they move up and dowI
the sidewalks and roadways. At time
they stop the buses and the hanson
cabs must 60 at walk.
The faces are hard and many OF then
are red with drink. Even the womeI
are drunk, and at every few steps yo'
meet party of them who are singing
and dancing and throwing their arm
around one another in their inebriat
JOY. Some have men with them an,
men and women pass along embracing
as they 60.
Young girls have long peacock feath
ers with which they tickle the men in
discriminately under the chins as the
pass. 1 stopped and leaned against tn
wall to make mental notes of the crowd
Every now and then some giddy White
chapel maiden with her hair frizzle'
lover her ears and q sailor hat on tn
side Of her head chucked me under tn
chin or put feather in my nose an
told me TO s'larf" Indeed, 1t made IN
blush.
Drin King In London.
l was surprised at the drunkenness
of the crowd, and especially at the nun
Der of intoxicated women. have see
every great city of the world, but M
where have seen women drinking pull
licly in The saloons as they do here. o
the peace night saw drunken girls I
fifteen and some who seemed younge
although there were signs on the saloo
1 windows saying that children unds
. fourteen would not be served.
There were scores of women wit
= babes in their arms dancing and shou
a ing, their breaths redolent Of whisk
and gin. Some of the babies were M
more than two weeks old, but the
mothers bundled them up to the
, breasts and sang and danced with Il
lrest-
The saloons along the Strand we
N filled with half drunken people Of bo
sexes. | looked into saloon after salot