Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-04-17


weu-loved queen, whose passing away,
fastened no doubt by the war in
! South Africa, brought sincere grief
to people all over the civilized world.
| The writer was stopping in London
the time and had the privilege of see
ing evidences of how truly she was be
/ loved by all classes Of her subjects
From the dear, dainty old lady who
had been a debutante at court in the
queens girlish days, to the poor, rag
ged old woman trying to sell papers
or pins on the street
London never impresses one as a
very cheerful city 1t carries the
weight Of its years with too much dig
nifty for that. Centuries of time and
smoke have put the city in half
MORNINGS at all seasons, and now
added to that was the gray sky and
drizzling rain, shattered shop win
dows draped in black and royal pur-
| pie, theaters and places of amuse-
ment closed, and thousands of people
| thronging the streets attired wholly
in black. The gloom cannot well be
| described nor the qUietness of those
| days. The funeral procession, magni-
ficent in it's simplicity and dignity was
made all the more impressive by the
absolute silence of the millions of peo-
pie who lined it's way through London.
| [ had seen some of the poor districts
with the settlement visitors, and hav-
ing one or two addresses to start with,
made a round of calls among those
| people whose condition somewhat
dims the luster of the British crown
! After passing through most interest
ing streets, with their quaint, pictur-
esque old houses, in dark alleyway
| | found the abode of Sam Price,
hard-faced prize-fghter, and his fami-
! ly. AS he was also bird fancier and
his wife fond of flowers, the house,
although in a dingy, squalid court, had
an air of the country about it. The
dozen or more Of linnets hanging in
little wooden cages outside sang
cheerfully, and many wretched neigh
bors stopped quarreling and stood to
| IiolO1l " C11S III uo dnu IOOh dL IHO Jew
struggling primroses growing in the
window.
| Mrs. Price had a lodger upstairs in 4
little back room into which she usher
ed me. This iodger was for many
years peddler of needles, tapes and
pins, and was a well-known character
J III the court where her business" had
given her the name of "Pinrose" The
bundle of rags reclining on a we'll
! worn carpet-covered couch proved to
| be ''Pinrose." The protruding rusty
springs would have made themselves
| felt, but for the many layers of cloth
| ing the woman was wearing Waists,
skirts, a jacket and shawls, every
thing that had been given to wear at
different times, were put on at once.
| You know where they are when
they're on your back. she said, not
| having much confidence in the honesty
of the neighbors.
The dirty little CRATE which at it's
best wouldn't hold more than a quart
of fire, held few Goals smoking furi-
ously, making thicker the coat of SCOT
on the teapot and everything else in
the room, not excepting Rose. The
broken window panes stuffed with
rain-soaked rags were dripping MOURN
! fully on the floor She was painfully
short of breath from asthma, and
could only gasp out her words 'Im
| hill, /" she said, 'thill all hover but
wants to die 'ere," she walled, and her
eyes wandered fondly over the dismal
room.
Haven't you any food?" / asked,
as there We're no signs of it. @'Oh, yes,
COW eel tea plenty yesterday and a lit
tie milk today" but Mrs Price she
drinked most of the milk and put wa
ter in the rest" glaring at her land
j lady, who made no reply Then she
added: What could one expect of
she that was honly flower girl?" So
much for class distinction in England
1t must take fine line to distinguish
the different social standing of flow
er girl and peddl.r. Her "cow 'el
tea" proved to be a soup made of the
lower part of a leg of beef, an is per-
haps triffe more nourishing than hot
water. She had groaned and complain
ed SO much the night before when she
| had heard of the queens death and
! imagined she would die too, that to
stop the noise her neighbors had
threatened the infrmary poorhouse.
No wonder she wanted to "die ere =
: She quite forgot her sorrow, and smil-
ed contentedly at the thought of not
leaving home and having her favorite
drink every day, which was promised
her.
/ She was UP in few days and had
! her rags dyed black in time for the
/ Queens funeral, and probably wore
mourning longer than those in court
! circles. She may be peddling yet, but
i4She Will carefully avoid the vicinity of