The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-11-16
GOSSIP FROM LONDON. Dull Days in the Old Town-American Girls Who Are
 Countesses-The Mad Mudlahs Raids end Real War.
BY HENRY pEvEREAux.
oNDoN. November 15--I have just sense of come back to damp. foggy Lon m :. Xles 2.


 In view of the increasing popularity which Cairo has deservedly acquired within recent years as a winter health resort, Lord Cromer's reassuring tele- gram as to the sanitary condition of the town will be received with special satis- faction at the present moment. Lord Cromer reports that Cairo may now be said to be practically free from cholera, and that as regards the whole of Egypt the disease. has shown so steady de- cline since the early part of September that the medical authorities anticipate it's complete cessation in the form of an epidemic by the end of the present month In Alexandria the improvement has been rapid and well maintained, and there is a practical freedom from cholera in the other large provincial towns. It would seem, therefore, that those who have made Cairo their winter quarters in pre- vious years have no hesitation in return ing thither for warmth and sunshine dur ing the coming months
 
 This week it is chiefly of a concert hall that I have to speak. The renovation of St. James's hall is an event of which no concert goer can think without a thrill Think what stories the rafters could tell of the early Popular Concerts. of the days when Dr. Richter's was the only voice crying in an orchestral wilderness. of Rubinstein recitals, of ballad concerts --of concerts interrupted by muffin bells and the unloading of soda water bottles of asphyxia in summer and icy blasts in winter, and of pianos and organs at diff ferent pitches! In short, not only of mus ical history but of all moving accidents that add picturesqueness to concert-going and concert-giving the hall could speak most movingly. The attentive reader of (1r0va will lruouv that many ooo1ooioaI difficulties hampered the original builders and forced them to devise the peculiar system of staircases and passages which astonish the stranger. These of course, can never be altered in their essentials; but 1t has been possible to make them more convenient. The entrance from Re- gent street no longer suggests a public wash house; and those who have to walt at the doors will at last find some pro- tection from piercing drafts in the crush room which tardy ingenuity has con- structed Marble, gliding and oak have raised it.. at least, to the level of a re- spectacle restaurant It is, indeed, quite pleasant. As to the interior, those who have read in the offical description that the architect has determined to "extend the period of Gothic transition into that of the Byzatine, while the style is also suggestive of Renaissance, will, of course,
 
 they will not be disappointed, though the total result is not quite what so proud a boast would seem to suggest The walls are now of deep red. and on each side of the hall there Is one strangely ineon- gruous marble panel where the looking glasses used to be- The balcony no longer has a grating through which the toes of boots can emerge or umbrellas drop moisture on heads or hats below there is a solid front to 1t. The ceiling Is no longer red and blue, but chiefly pale vel low and sage green. The windows are cloisonne, and above them one looks in vain for the cherubs with sheets of music on their knees. On the windows are names of musicians, chosen with a special apti- tude for q nice Arrangement. To discover why Percell should share a pane with Bizet, or Sullivan with Berlioz or Schu- mann with Tsehaikowsky, or Bach with Auber, no one can say off-hand. Perhaps the directors wished to provide us with a pleasant occupation during dull con- certs. The numebr of lights has been largely increased and everything looks fresh and cheerful, so that to complain Is perhaps ungrateful. When the ventilation has been thoroughly reorganized and heating arrangements have been installed there will be reason to congratulate ev- erybody concerned; and we are told that before long this will be done, and on the best modern principles too At present it would be interesting to discover whether the principles-if any-adopted are Gothic transition, Byzantine, or something more suggestive of Renaissance.
 The trend of the development of modern times in England is creating new situa- ton which as yet has apparently escaped attention. The women of today are im- proving their social position faster than the men. As secretaries nurses clerks, typewriters, actresses. telephone girls, barmaids, waitresses and shop assistants, they rank higher than their brothers. who mainly are laborers, mechanics or servants. Besides they have opportuni- ties of marrying into a higher station in life than they would have had if in ser vice, as those who came before them were. At no period in our history have so many women, born in humble .circurn- stances, socially outdistanced their con- nections as have now. Besides, well-to-do and reputable husbands are comparative ly easyily secured in many of our oolo- nies by those enterprising women who emigrate. The best looking, and even the fairly good looking girls-now that educa- ton has removed one of the chief ob- stacles to their advancement-can hope to marry above their roiginal level, and SO the peasant, the laborer, the mechanic and the servant have to be contented with wives who are less favored. This social separation of the sexes, in the same position at the start, may be ex- pected to increasingly continue as fresh employment Is found for educated wo- men, and 1t Is difficult to predict what the consequences will be.