Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1914-02-20

a smaller scale, Is seen simultaneous
ly, every night, in 80 or 40 west end
theaters; can be seen, night after
night, without repetition! While out
side In the street there is a carnival.
impromptu and undiverted by its own
antics, scarcely less enthralling. gem
med and tinseled and decorated no
less lavishly.
Through Central London.
The wise stranger reserves a night
free from theater-going for a stroll
through central London's streets. OF
course he must see the Embankment,
where noble curve Of lights trails
its reflection, like a flung-down neck.
lace, in the water from Blackfriars
to Big Ben. The monstrous tram
cars, not very impressive by day, are
glass caskets Of effulgence, spinning
along their polished rails below the
cliffs of the Cecil and the Savoy.
The more squalid south side of the
Thames displays an Illuminated adver-
tisement or two, exasperations to the
aesthetic. Westward, st. Stephens
lifts a fine silhouette athwart a vague
flush Of radiance beyond. The light in
the clocktower shows that parliament
Is sitting; and Tate extra" bought
in Northumberland avenue, will tell
us what the talk has been about. We
have forgotten it by the time we enter
Trafalgar square, where the silhou-
ette of lions and Nelson's Pillar are
clear-cut against flare Of gold at the
Coliseum in st. Martins lane. Those
spots Of extremer dazzlement always
mark a theater-though the picture
palaces are now nearly as blatant.
Up by Charing Cross road and round
into Coventry street or Shaftesbury
avenue we get the impression that the
whole Of London is given over to the
pursuit Of pleasure.
This is theater-land: the vortex of
gaiety's whirlpool, only excelled, per.
haps only equaled, by our American
friends tabled half-mile of Broadway.
Why go inside any theater when this
tableau is to be seen free outside
Why bother with burlesque and ballet
when the evofutions of London's mil
lion pedestrians roll and unroll, tan
gle and untangle here? Why seek
comedy and tragedy behind footlights
A hundred yards of Piccadilly circus
exhibit enough comedy and tragedy
to last for many an evening. That,
/ think, or something like 1t, is how
our provincial often feels after his
walk through London at night. Should
he be temperamentally countryman,
fond Of the fields and the fresh air OF
heaven, he may be glad enough to see
the last OF this exhausting and garish
wilderness Of houses and lights and
hectic activity; but even 80, he can
not fail to derive some amusement
from just those aspects of 1t which
leave the Londoner cold. The Lon
doner buys all his pleasures too d.
rectly. A theater is to him a place
wherein to see play, a cafe is a
place wherein to obtain meat and
drink.
To a stranger theater is a place
wherein not only to see the play. but
this Is a gift supplied without
charge-to see the playgoers; a cafe
is place wherein to get refreshment
i for the body with the addition Of a
still more stimulating refreshment for
the mind. Pictures!-London at night
Is bewildertng and Kaleidoscope gal
lery Of pictures; and even when the
streets have emptied and no sound is
heard but the hoot Of a late taxicab
or the trundling Of an early market.
cart, fresh compositions present them
selves at every turning; mysterious
and endless perspectives Of lamps,
strange. pale facades with blank win.
dows rising like precipices from the
canyon Of the roadway, or colorless
trees, in some deserted square, throw.
Ing the pattern of their motionless
leaf-shadows upon the pavement be.
side tho enntv rniIin~~