Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-17
ELLEN ADATR SEES
BOTH SIDES OF LIFE
ON LONDON NIGHT
She Gets Glimpse of Dere-
licts by T h ames En-
bankment and Witnesses a
Romance in Restaurant.


ant twilight. The streets at : o'clock
no longer TEEN with busy men, the trains
have carried these to long-drawn happy
evenings on the hundred golf links which
surround the great City-to gay little ten
mis- clubs-to quiet backwaters where
rows of gaily decorated houseboats line
the old river Thames. The punts and
sklffs at Hampton Court are filled with
happy drifting couples, and moored be-
meath the overhanging willows the white
flanneed river youth is courtins the
white-clad English river girl Oh, happy
youth Dear Hampton Court! The old
red palace in its stately Elizabethan
beauty every summer witnesses the same
old scenes as in those stately days ioV
years ago when Anne Boleyn coquetted
with the amorous King Henry. and idly
driftcd, happy Queen, in her snort love
dream on the river Thames.
That July evening, the night before l
sailed for America, is still so fresh with
I'm my mind. We drove around the Lon
don streets, the little old lawyer man
and I, perched high on the great motor
bus And mingled with the pain of my
recent loss, my lonely present, and my
vague uncertain future. l felt stranGe
elation. For | was setting forth on the
Great Adventure.
Miss Adair" said my companion sud
denly. you're a fine little girl. and hate
TO think of you clearing off ike TINS
with no one TO help YOU. | nope thaI
uncle OF yours over IN tHlldN'lIillh -
safe proposition. You wrote him last
week. didn't you? He'll probably come
to New York to meet you. l wish l could
stay here in town to see you TO your
train tomorrow morning-but can L
I've rung UP a good boarding house IN
Kensington. and they've got a room FOR
- YOU there tonight And tomorrow just
taxi over to Waterloo Station, and por-
ter will book YOU and your luggage rlEnt
through to Southampton on the early
boat-train. Got your ticket all rlsht.
YES indeed" said l hurriedly, Tor
did not like to mediate on the fact that
was travelling stceragc-it was all l
could afford
TIFE's DERELICTS IN LONDON.
We inurneyed many miles in silence out
nv the Thames Embankment, when the
sky was reddening in the west-paSt those
otIie, Embankment seats which hold lite's
dorelicts. cast up from God knows where
the melancholy army of the Mtght-HaFe-
Becns.
sec those poor souls sitting yonder
said the little lawyer huskily. 'ifes
fotsnm. drifting rudderlcss. And many
Of them better men than l.
..Rut these are down and out ] said
"and look like tramps and heggars.
No matter" said the little man. they
once were great, they once were hne. C''
yonder lonely seats have often sat the
greatest geniuses of the age-shaooS-
hungry-neg glected-misu Inc
.--iSSaa+4ssePsstYfsd DR. johnson often came here.
without a copper in his pocket heTe
under the shadow of Westminster ana the
Houses of Parliament he sat alone, ana
gazing on the old Thames, medtated on
the vanity OF all earthly hopes. o. Vani'aS
vanitntum-how true that is
81 don't believe it's true cried l
vallartIy "for life is surely what we
make Il. I hate that dull philosopnlzlhS
the path of glory leads beyond the
grave. and anyhow should include very
pleasant life in this world. mean 10
make the very most of my life.
You have the courage of youth saiG
thc little lawyer in his kindly voice, 'and
now that the hours are slipping by, shall
we return 10 dinner? Frascau's in the
Strand is a famous place
And later We arrived there. In front Of
the great restaurant a long line OF taXis,
ISndaulettcs. electric brouEhams was as
semblcd. II was now nine o'clock ana
still daylight. And we walked in to-
gcther, through the cheerful entrance
hall to a veritable Aladdin's Cave be-
yond In my country ineNperience. l
thought a new heaven and new eartn
had opened-it was all so magnificent
Great banks of hot-house flowers ming
led sweet odors with exotic perfumes Of
the East, great palms lowered far above
our heads 20 the vauIted roof, the glitter
of a thousand lights sparked in one great
chandelier beneath the dome.
INFLUENCE OF Ml SlN.
And the people. At sotty-shaded lamp
lit tables there they sat-and OH the
beauty of the women, l know saw
them all through rose -colored glasses
that night 10 me II was all touleur-de-
Rose-and the strains OF dear Hun
garian melody We're drifting from floor to
gallery and dome. pompous waiter
waved us 10 a tiny table. se-wreataed,
rnse-lit-mirrors mirrors everywhere, and
! looked strangely shabby in that gay
crowd
And then the relocated leader NJ the
orchestra stepped forward and the music
changed. II began with a vague sigh
ing of the Embellishments, like the
early STRINGS In a wood in autumn,
when four-footed furry little creatures
are stealthiy stalking over the fallen
leayes-I could smell the pines and the
bog-myrtle, and feel the fresh keen tang
of autumn in the air-and then tie
cadence deepensd as the 'cellOs softly
caught the melody. II was all a breath,
q shadow, so softly did they start. And
then my heart leaped strangely, for the
violin oblgato sweled louder. II was the
great "Barcarolle" of OffcnbaCh, that
wild sweet melody that holds the tears
the heart-throbs OF a universe! At first
II softly rose and fell, rose and fell, with
a tender Hitting cadence that refused 10
plunge beneath the surface Of things, but
that held that gay crowd, In the hush
Of a sudden silence. ! could still hear the
autumn STRINGS In my English forest,
and see the quiet unfolding Of the little
wood-sorrel as II raised its pink face and
tender foliage 10 the morning sun
And then. on sudden sobbing breath,
the music rose on a higher key--no words
OF mine could give its passion and its
Dain-nor yet its wild eXultant beauty,
Up through the glttering gallery up
through the lofty palm trees and the
great arched roof it drifted, / think TO
the very gates of heaven. 1t filled me
with a yearning and a pain, and vet a
strange new ecstacy I could not fathom
Beside us at the nearest table sat a
slender lovely girl in a rose-pink gown,
and by her side an eager boy, typical
London youth, with keen, clever face
and fine dark eyes. AS the melody rose
and fell, rose and fell saw him sud
denly grasp her slim hand in his big
strong, sunburnt one. Higher and higher
the cadence rose, and in II was the love
that many waters cannot quench, and
many floods can never hope to drown
Then suddenly, on one breathless note
vibrating with a tender passion, the mu-
sic paused-and on that passionate note
the boy leant forward. "Leonora
Leonora!' said ne breathlessly.
l turned my head away, for felt