Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-17
CORONATION GOSSIP
Visitors to LCndon Find Dis
agreeable Weather.
SNOW, HAIL AND SLEET
SKATING REPORTED In NORTH
OF ENGLAND.
Sir Thomas Upton Declines Peerage-
W. W. Astor Has Not Been
Offered One.

LONDON, May 17.-So far as II has pro-
gressed in London, rain, snow and hail
have been Englands harbingers OF sum-
mer. Never has there been such an inclem-
ent spring. Americans who have come over
for the coronation sit around In doleful
groups waiting for the sunshine that never
comes. The women go to the opera and
clubs in furs, and the men have long since
reverted to their winter clothes, so pre-
maturely discarded in sunny April. No
amount of festivities, and there are plenty
of them. can dispel the universal gloom that
the awful weather has created.
In the northern part of the country there
was actually skating this week, while an
automobile run to Scotland had to be
abandoned on account of the snow. Lon
don itself has been spared this last visita-
ton, but cold northeast winds and per-
petual rain fully brought the unsavory
weather record of the metropolis up to that
of the provinces until today, when 1t be-
came slightly better and warmer.
Scaffolding Everywhere.
What is worth seeing in London that is
not obscured by rain is hidden by scaffold-
ing. Unsightly stacks OF timber that run
as high as the buttresses of Westminster
Abbey blot the national gallery out of the
Trafalgar Square panorama and turn the
Pail Mall clubs into lumber yards. which
project their unfinished ugliness into
the London streets until II is small
wonder that the American visitor returns
from sightseeing expeditions bedraggled
and detected. The abbey, that mecca Of the
American In England, is now not only half
hidden by enormous stands but is rendered
perfectly ludicrous on account OF the semi
completed stucco addition to the great west
door.
This is a wooden imitation of the abbey
architecture, in castellated panoply, ex-
tending fifty yards beyond the door where
the king will enter, and was apparently
designed for the purpose of making the en-
trance more imposing, not to say drier, In
case of rain. At present 1t is half plaster
and half wood, which has the effect of
making the whole abbey and the surround
ing historic buildings look like merely poor
limitations of the temporary structures Of
some exposition.
Town More Empty Than Usual.
AS regards the London season, of which
so much was expected, the fact is that up
to now the town is more empty than usual
at this time of the year. More houses are
unoccupied. there are fewer private enter
tainments, and trade in the west end is less
brisk than in ordinary years.
The Associated Press is In a position to
definitely deny that either Sir Thomas Lip
ten, William Waldorf Astor Sir Ernest
Cassett, who recently placed f2O0, 600 at King
Edwards disposal for utilitarian purposes,
will be made coronation peers, as previous
ly reported. To a friend Sir Thomas said
today:
"A peerage has not been offered me- and
ii 1t should be /, while appreciating the
great honor, would be compelled to decline.
l have no desire to get so far away from
my friends. / am quite satisfied to remain
as ! am
At the same time Sir Thomas Upton could
have peerage for the asking, and the king
himself suggested Ii.
Among the Americans who will have a good
view of the coronation is Lady Chas. Wolse-
ley's sxteen-year- son Eric. Lord Wolse-
ley, who will be close to the sovereign
to act page. Lady Wolseley was Miss
Anita Murphy of San Francisco