Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-09
News and Gossip From
Various Foreign Fields
STRANGERS IN LONDON
CITY FLOODED AS NEVER BEFORE
IN YEARS.
Special Correspondence of The star.


LONDON, July g. 1905.
Not since the days when the Normans
came to town under the leadership Of the
Conqueror William at the termination OF
the Hastings season in the year 1905 have
there been so many strangers in town as
have appeared here this week.
In the first place. the city Is full OF
Americans. Estimates from the various
agencies, like Cooks, the steamship COM
panies and the different tourist exchanges
make 1t apparent that about 100000 Amer
leans expected in Europe this year,
and that of these at least 100000 have al
ready arrived. OF these it is needless to
say by far the greater majority find Lon
don sooner or later. though occasionally an
American who has been to Europe many
times remains on the continent without
paying a visit to London or touching the
shores of England at all
Under the stimulating influence of the
sunshine of the past few days, after the
recent rains, it begins to appear as though
the Americans are not the only travellers
who are here to see the sights. They are
sWarming in from Scotland, from the prov
inces of England and even from Wales and
from Ireland-the latter phenomena being
something that has not been known during
recent years.
Though the invasion by the Normans was
a hostile one, to all intents and appear
ances the recent invasion by the Americans
and by the representatives of other ma
lions is extremely peaceful In the neigh
borhood of Trafalgar Square foreign VS.
itors of all tongues were SO numerous mat
the Nelson column might have been mis-
taken for kind of modern Tower OF Babel.
The policemen duty in that quarter
heard English spoken with many accents,
for a complete and touching reliance upon
the perfect courtesy and Acknowledge OF
the London bobby seems to be quality
which the visitors of all nations nave IN
common. The difficulty of compromising
lral in .h-Es
man-English, or Spanish-English, to say
nothing of the more easily understood Dut
equally absurd questions asked by the
American English was not usually so great
as the uatient and polite officers generally
found in making themselves understood IN
reply.
In this cosmopolitan invasion of England
the Americans are of course the most pio
nounced factor, Their relative command or
the language enables them to ask ques-
tons with greater facility than other strah-
gers. In the ancient fleet street tavelh
which DIR. Johnson Is said TO nave ire
quented hardly any language is spoken our
ing lunch time except the plain United
States" One gentleman who was explain
Ing the literary associations of this par
ticular Johnsonian establishment to two
well-dressed American ladies was over
heard to remark that the tremendous ooc-
tor was "hgh-grade photographer unui
Webster came along, and then ne became
two-spot sport and joke" Which would
seem to indicate that the fame of William
S. Devery, the best chief of police Ne"
York city ever had, has reached London
and even the classic haunts of DR.. Johnson.
Among the policemen in the vicinity OF
Trafalgar Square the most successful en-
deavor to cope with the polyglot difficulty
was made by an officer who has done some
soldering in the east, and who has &C
qured a knowledge of pidgin Enghsn,
which it is well known is sort OF aIterna-
tive mother tongue for foreigners In gen
eral. He declared that in wha tever accent
be asked the to the BRITISH Mu-
scum for example he found he was quite
easily understood If he replied to the effect
that: You savvy one yellow bus al same
go long that side? You savvy all right.
So you go takee one penny walkee top side
all same yellow bus soon some one plenty
big street oxford street; then all finish yell
low bus. go talkee one more poliseeman,
allie same me, he talkee you which museum
side all rightr
1t was wonderful, he said, how quickly
they understood no matter If they were
Swedes Danes Greeks, Italians, Germans,
Frenchmen. Americans. They found the
yellow bus. and they never came back to
bother him again. Thus he was enabled to
repeat the same lingo to the new horde OF
visitors about to swarm down upon him.
The overcrowded state of London hotels
and the boarding houses of Bloomsbury is
by no means entirely due TO the great In
flux of visitors from America and the con-
tnent. Country people in their thousands
are making a visit to the metropolis and
going the rounds. All are bent on seeing
the sights.
Inquiries go to show that for the visitors
there are at least six places which are
rarely missed. namely, the British Mu-
scum, Tower of London, South Kensington
Museum, Westminster Abbey, ST. Pauls
Cathedral and Hyde Park. This year, too,
there Is the Diplodocus in the Natural His
tory Museum
AS for the Londoners themselves, APP
parently they never visit these places. Out
of dozen Englishmen who were asked the
direct question, not had visited the
British Museum in year. and ten of them
had not been there since they were boys.
The priceless treasures, representing
divers countries and remote ages. do
not appeal to them, but the visitor
from the country districts or from
foreign lands who has come to do
London" neglects the museum rarely
or never. The point that admission is free
is point In its favor, but it is point that
is never asked by strangers, and if it is
considered at all 1t is considered as an
agreeable surprise at the end of the journey
on the yellow bus"
The Tower of London Is also favorite
with the visitors. Boys from the country
apparently are willing to forego any of the
sights rather than miss the venerable pile
by the Thames, with it's dungeons, its
traitors gate. its crown jewels and its beef
eaters.