Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-01-25
The SIMPLE LIFE
OF A COMM0NER
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since, if that knife had been lost
for a thousand years and then
found by some antiquarian, what a
time the wiseacres might have had
over the monstrous size of a man,
who, in the middle of the nineteenth
century carried pocket knife like
that.
There were other places and
things in London besides the Crys-
tai Palace which were of great in
terest to me, not the least of which
was Trafalgar Square, where the
monument of the greatest of all
English admirals, Lord Nelson,
stands; Paternoster Row, where
fifty years ago both sides of the
street were lined with book stores.
Cheapside, Fleet street, the Strand,
London Bridge, The Thames Tunnel,
through which l passed under the
river; The British Museum, West
minister Abbey and many other
places of historic interest which are
the common property of all man
kind.
One day as we were passing down
one of the principal thoroughfares,
my father pointed out sign which
read: BEN CAUNT, Champion of
England" This he told me meant
that Mr.. Caunt was the greatest fist
fighter in England, fact that
was quite familiar with already,
though my father was not aware of
it. l have been told that one of
those champions of the prize ring,
before he entered upon his illustri-
GUS career as an exponent of the
manly art was a brick mason, and
one day he decided to make a
change, so taking from his pocket
his old bulls eye silver watch he inn
bedded it in mortar, between two
bricks in the wall upon which he was
at work, saying as he did so: From
this on l quit work and fight for a
living" Tradition has it that the
watch may be seen in the wall to
this day, though Tom Savers, the
man who put it there has been dead
for many years; however that may
be there can be no question that if
Mr.. Savers was DESTROYS of fighting
for living, it was not necessary
that he should leave the honest toll
of brick mason to enter the roped
arena. Every man that gets an
honest living finds that he has to
fight for it, and generally he finds
foes worthy of the best that is in
him.
Among the well known public
buildings in London, few are better
known than the st. Paul Cathedral.
1t is certainly magnificent struc-
ture and is well worth a visit. Even
as boy l was delighted with it
when on one occasion | visited it
with my father. To say nothing of
the building itself which has SO Of
ten been described by tourists and
others, the great organ charmed me
beyond measure, for 1t was won
derful creation; | had never heard
of anything to compare with it nor
have / ever since heard it's equal,
though at the present time there are
a few larger in Europe and also in
this country. On the dome or GU
pola of the cathedral there is hol-
low iron ball which viewed from the
ground appears to be not larger than
an ordinary tea kettle, but In real
ity is large enough to seat nine full
grown persons; my father was in
side of it when there were seven
others and he said there was quite
room enough for another.
There is an interesting story con-
nected with St. Paul's church which
was told me many years ago: A
horrible crime had been committed
in the vicinity Of the cathedral
which was shown to have been COM
mitted at midnight. No trace of the
of the deed could be
found though every effort was made
to uncover the criminal. Large re-
wards were offered for his appre-
hension and conviction but without
avail, he could not be found; at
length suspicion fell upon a certain
policeman whose beat covered the
place where the crime had been per-
petrated. The officer was not charg-
ed with the actual commission of the
crime, but with neglect of duty, for
which he was tried in court and
would have been convicted had it
not been for most unusual occur
ence. He was accused of being
asleep on his beat instead of being
awake and alert as he should have
been. To this charge he plead not