Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-27
THE WEEKEND HABIT
MORE PEOPLE LEAVE LONDON FOR
COUNTRY THAN EVER
Upper and Other Glasses Get Out of
British Metropolis on Saturday
and Rest Till Monday.
From the London Mall.

From the Londoa Mail.
| Although clerics are laundering against
| the weekend habit. and London tradesmen
| and shop<eepers suffer from II from "a
| financial point OF view. the fact remains
that more people every year leave London
| from Saturday 20 Monday Not only IL
| the habit now firmly ingrained in waat
| are popularity called the upper classes. but
| the middle and lower classes are beginning
to troop out OF London from Saturday 10
Monday whenever possible. AS for Sunday
itself and what should be done on that day
| wherever spent. l leave this problem 10
those who have got to solve It for them
| selves and to those who are trying to solve
1t for other people.
l will now take a typical case OF the
week-ender The man Is. win assume.
| either a parliamentarian or politician Of
some degree. say the head OF government
| department or a leading barrister or tna
| head of big commercial business. The
| majority OF men OF this class have country
homes as well as a residence In London.
and IN a great number of cases the husband
| lives in London alone-as rule In some
| compare lively cheap rooms or chambers
and goes regularly down to the country
! from Friday evening or Saturday to Mon
| day. as the case may be- according 70 the
| leisure he has al his disposal and The dis
lance from London.
For Health and Efficiency.
Now. would ask some of those clerical
critics what harm there is I'm such a man
leaving London from Saturday to Monday?
| Personally, / hold that the man is doing
what is best for himself and his family.
| His wife and children are better living in
| the country than I'm town. for they are
breathing more wholesome air living Is
! cheaper for them. and for the rent paid the
/ house is more comfortable and has mere
| accommodations. Why should such a man
stay in London or compel-his family TO live
| In the metropolis?
Again. take the case of the landowner
small or large. who may also be busy man
| during the week I'm town. Such a one has
duties TO his place. tenants and workpeople
! and his only chance 10 avoid the reproach
| OF being an absentee landlord is 10 take ad-
vantage of every Saturday and Sunday pos
| sible at home. Then there is the case OF
| those who are working hard with their
| brains-who would dare in this case 10 say
| that a Saturday and Sunday in London give
| such rest to the over-wearied brain the
same period spent in the country? IL this
| class of is also a hunting or shooting
| man he takes Saturdays when possible for
| his sport. and on Sunday he can go to
| church in the morning and yet take healthy
| exercise In the afternoon playing golf or
tennis in way that would not be possible
| in town.
Indeed. one might multiply arguments for
| the Saturday -to-Monday habit in the direc-
| ton of showing how II tends toward health
! and greater efficiency. London. moreover.
is obviously tending 20 become more and
| more the workshop for those who have
| hard work to do and less and less a place
| for residence pleasure. and as locomo-
ton facilities increase this tendency will
| be more accentuated. Even now an iucreas-
| ing number OF people who belong TO what
| is Yulgariy termed the upper ten live OUT
| of town on Putney Heath. Wimbledon.
| Coombe, Hampstead or somewhere in the
outskirts. The motor car has. OF course.
| had the chief share toward bringing about
this shifting OF the social center Of gravity.
Churches Badly Distributed.
One would have thought that some of the
indignant clergymen who have been COM
planning OF empty CHURCHES would have
| taken the trouble to find out something
| about the subject before they began to
criticise so emphatically a class about
whom they appear to know but little and
had they made any Inquiries they would
! have found there are hundreds of houses
| and a great many streets In London which
| are full during the week and ali but empty
! on Sundays for the reason l have stated
above, and that probably very large pro-
portion of the jewellers In these residences
are at church at their own homes in the
country. To put the boot on the other leg,
most people agree that there are too many
churches in the West End of London for
the modem changed conditions. and i
would be a good thing II some of these
churches and their clergy and incomes
were transferred 10 the more crowded and
understaffed districts in East and South
London. where workers are easily needed.
But l viii now take the blacklist View Of
the case lately put forward from the
pulpit-viz., that man and his wife, not
caring for the unfortunate children they
possess, spend their week ends entirely In
playing bridge. smoking cigarettes and car
| rying on Illicit amours. No doubt there
are. and always have been. a few such
people who are crfminally foolish in one or
perhaps all OF these ways; but are these
doings peculiar to the class who are week
enders. and would the morals Of these
degenerates be any better IL they sat In
their drawing rooms in London or took
part in the church parade in Hyde Park?
I would here point out that such persons
would not be likely TO attend the admoni-
lions of Father Vaughan or any other dis
tinguished clergyman even IL they renamed
In London.
Why Rate the Absent Sinner.
Moreover, If these divines wish to reach
those who need advice comfort. they
had better call upon them in their homes
and approach them privately. Reproaching
absent sinners from the pulpit only makes
them laugh. and bores the devout who are
in church to worship. 1 suppose It is vain
also to imagine that these critics will ever
realize that what they. call the smart set
is only e-hundredth or possibly one-thou-
sandth party OF society, using the word Ia
its proper sense. and that there are thou
sands OF religious respectable and com
nonsense British families for every den of
iniquity such as has been lately alleged
decentralization exists here and there, but Is
comparatively rare.
Another development which helps the IN
creasing tendency to take week-enos OUT
of London is the cheap Saturday-to- Monday
or Friday to- Tuesday ticket. For instance,
one line running TO the west or England
gives a reduction of no less than ao per
cent. and IL is no exaggeration 10 state
that 80 per cent to 40 per cent Is quite
common in connection with such arrange
ments on many railway systems. The rail-
way companies nowadays habitually pro-
vide extra accommodations on the evening
trains on Friday from o'clock onward
| and on Saturday corresponding augmenta-
ton is necessary. Not only this. but spe-
ciaI trains are run on Saturdays by many
comma nies-for instance, the Great Eastern
TO places as distant from London as
Crorner and Felixstowe, at special cheap
fares.
"Sunburstry."
Chroucle