The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-18
weather So Miserable that Visitors Sit
in DOIeful Groups Waiting for
Sunshine That Does Not Come.
CITY IS UNsIGHTLY, ANYHOW
LITTLE EXCEPT sC~AFFOLDING FOR
CORONATION VISITORS TO SEE.
Denial of the Report that Sir Thomas
Upton, w. w. Aston and Sir Err
nest CassiI Are TO he Peers.


LONDON. May 17.-So far as it has pro-
gressed in London. rain, snow and hail have
been England's harbingers of summer.
Never has there been such an Indictment
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
10 their winter clothes 50 prematurely dis
carded in sunny April. No amount of fes-
~tivities. and there are plenty OF them, can
dfspel the universal gloom that the awful
weather has created In the northern part
of the country there was actual skating this
week, while an automobile trip to Scotland
has had to be abandoned. London itself
has been spared this last visitation, but
cold northeast winds and perpetual rain
fully brought the unsayory weather record
OF the metropolis UP to that Of the provinces.
until to-day when it became slightly better
and warmer.
h 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 Abb
hey 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 it is small wonder
that the American visitors return from
sightseeing expeditions bedraggled and de-
jected. The Abbey. that Mecca of the
American in England, is now not only half
hidden by enormous stands. but is rendered
perfectly ludricuous on account of the semi
completed stuccO addition TO the great west
door. This is a wooden imitation of the Abb
hey architecture in a castellated panoply.
extending fifty yards beyond the door where
the King will enter and was apparently de-
signed for the purpose of making the en-
trance more imposing, not to say dryer. in
case Of rain. At present 1t is half plaster
and half wood. which has the effect of max
ing the whole Abbey and the surrounding
historic buildings look like merely poor
limitations of the temporary structures OF
some exposition.
As regards the London season, of which
70 much was expected. the fact is that. IN
tAnoU, the town is more empty than usual
atNthis time of the year. More houses are
occupied, there ~-aTe~tewer private enter
: tainmenU, and trade in the West End is
less brisk than in ordinary years.
The Associated Press IS in a position 70
definitely deny that either Sir Thomas Lip
ton. William Waldorf Astor, or Sir Ernest
Cassel. who recently placed 100000 at King
Edwards disposal for unitarian purposes,
will be made coronation peers, as previous
" reported To a friend Sir Thomas said
to-day: "A peerage has not been offered
me: and IL IL should be l.. while approaching
the great honor, would be compelled TO de-
! cline. l have no desire TO get so far away
\from my friends. L am quite satisfied to re-
main as L am" At the same time Sir
Thomas Upton could have a peerage for
\he asking. and the King has himself sug-
Tested il.
Among the Americans who will have a
Ygood view of the coronation Is Lady Charles
Wolseley's sixteen-year-Old son Eric. Lord
y Wolseley. who will be close to the SOW
ereign throughout the ceremony, has Sc