The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-30
The London Bobby" )
BY FRA NIX DANIELS.

through his mustache and invites sundry
fools TO tread on the tail of his coat"
There is nothing of the, terrier about him.
Rather is he some great benevolent, self
sufficing St. Bernard, quietly but majes-
tically moving over his beat, gently nos
ing obstacles out of the road, and with
rumbling growl and maybe a warning
cuff of his big paw for the snarling mon
grels of the street. He is there to pre-
vent trouble-not to make or add to it,
Unquestionably his height of stature is
the London 'peelers" most impressive
characteristic. 1 never met one that was
not two to three feet nearer heaven than
physically. If you should happen to be
built on my scale, and would suffer a
Christening experience calculated to inn
press on you your own nothingness and
eradicate every shred of conceit, just take
your stand on the westher side of Lon
don Bobby and try to get into commu-
nication with his upper story. For me
it was an appalling experience every time
| tried It, The big fellow after a time
is conscious that something is moving
about his feet: then there is a slackening
about his belt, and the human tower In
clines over from the top and you hear a
basso profundo voice from cloudland in
quiring: "Phwat can OF do for YEP For
a moment or two you hardly know; in
fact, you feel inclined to kick yourself
for having put yourself in this ignonini-
Gus position. and this feeling is doubiy
intensified If the giant should patronizlng-
~ lay one of his big hands on your Shout
der-a thing he Is more than likely to DO.
However. you soon find solace for the lit
tie bit of pride wounded by ltobert"-he
Is so friendly and useful and interesting.
One curious feature about l..ls force is
that few of its members are "eockneys,
or natives of London. The green isle of
Erin would appear to be It's chief recruit
ing ground, If speech indicates anything.
The English and Scotch provinces also
send their quota the majority of the
men, however, that l came In contact
with on point duty. and also in high Of
fetal positions on the force, spoke Eng
lish with an accent that you could cut
and of the variety familiar in the streets
of Cork or Limerick. Many of these Of
ficers had been transferred from the
ranks of the Royal Irish Constabulary,
probably the finest police force in the
world, judged by physical standards. The
purely English amongst them have gen.
orally served in one or other of the crack
regiments of. guards. and this accounts
for their fine stature, military bearing and
ability as horsemen. This reference to
them as horsemen reminds me that l
have never seen such huge crowds ham
died with such ease and good temper as
Is the case when the London mounted po-
lice are in evidence, and British crowds
are by no means so 'amiable and forbear-
ing as American. In the streets as in
the theatres John Bull will have his say,
and comport himself after fashion dear
to his own individual heart, though he
were hanged, drawn and quartered the
next moment.
The horses used by the mounted police,
like their riders, are giants among their
fellows. and possessors of an unlimited
fund of tact and patience. These horses
are so we'll trained that / veritably. be-
lieve they could waltz on pop bottles,
Under the skilful guidance of their riders
they have an overwhelmingly funny way
of backing a crowd into position without
so much as treading on the bare toe OF
the smallest street urchin. am satisfied
that these horses are comedians OF the
very front rank.
AS may be supposed, the control of the