The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-31

National galleries ana museums are
80 conspicuous In their new darkness
that tremble lest by the very alb
sence Of light they prove the easier
target for the boaiss. Government
offices in Parliament street where
work now never seems to stop. az
once pulled close curtains and blinds.
After a while more stringent orders
were issued. Then shops gave up their
lights in the front and let down avn
ines outside or half drew the curtains
al their windows To conceal the blaze
inside Red blue and green lights came
into fashion. Tho American who thinks
he has his London at his fingers ends
would not recognize Bond street aud
Regent street kensington. High street
and Knight shridge were he transported
into their darkened midst. Hotels and
restaurants everywhere open their doors
In modest obscurlty Railroad stajions
lose themselves I'm the shadows
Theatres and music halls and cine
mas try to hide ont Of sight and ! q
am not sure that he most uurecog- .
nizable place in London IS not Leicester
Square Of old, the most brilliant Of all /
with glow of light always hanging
over II that could be seen from near
aud far, but now sonbre and sad the /
Alhambrd hanging out one dreary little i
row OF blue lights the Empire hanging
out none AT all. The most strenuous
advertisers let ny forget the virtues Of.
their mineral waters and whiskeys
londCu's Great White WAY has
degenerated or been improved. into
Londons Great Black Way. Piccadily
Circus IL AZ dun ~ a suburban ter
minus Trafalgar Square well Of
blackness, Shaftesbury avenue rivalling
III dinginess me dingiest street IN soho
. Ana buses lower their lights some In
an excess OF patriotism keeping them 80
low that | cannot tell whether / am
giving the conductor a half crown or A
penny. a half sovereign or a siNpence.
and he IL in an equal agony Of uncer-
tainty when he lunches the hole in
: my ticket. TaNis and motors have di-
minished the power Of their lamps uutil
In sef-defence they have increased the
D power Of their horns with should
T. he curious to record how many cases OF
/ nervous breakdown as consequence.
, In the suburbs the darkness ;s so
much more complete that the quiet lie
there is no mere matter " choice. Even
u Paris, | am assured, though enemy air
ships there have been not only q threat,
but fact, is not so dark az London.
The darkness IL more astonishing as
the evening wears on. with the public
u houses closing AZ 10 and the theatres
beginning and ending earlier and sup
pers at hotels and restaurants sus-
= pended, London goes to bed almost three
hours before it, usual time. People liv-
: ing further north, south, east west
, may not he conscious OF change: but as
= I've near Charing Cross my way home
= leads through streets and squares that
are usually the gayest at night. and /
cannot fail to see the difference and to
. marvel at II.
;, | have driven back from dinner in
n a taxi about II o'clock In the evening
:, ana round Regent street or Piccadilly
n as decorous and deserted as Spruce
Il street in Philadelphia Piccadilly Cir
3 Gus and New Coventry street. .. a
> rule between II and 12 the llveHest
, and most crowded part OF London. with
o Just a few people waiting for the buses
Ir or walking quickly along, and the
70 Strand already stepped in silence a
provincial. n cathedral town could not
take the night more primly.
There Is no question that with the
darkness London has gained in
beauty. ! know artists who. has-
clnated by 1T under its new aspect
spend their evenings and nights in
roaming through streets and squares
or by the river, enchanted nv some un-
suspected charm at every turn. The
vulRarity Of certain vistas and many
details have disappeared with the glare
shadowy distances are full OF sugges-
ton; mystery is in the dim rays OF
the rare light and in the dark figures
passing like vague phantoms from
darkness into darkness. And every
here and there an old building. al
old church Of T.ondons whiti.h gray
stone-St. Martin's-in-the-F Fields. st
Mary-le- Strand. st. Clement DANES -
rises shostlike from the depth OF tn
shadows and fade. away again into tn,
blue depths OF the sky--a beautiful
London. strange and haunting
But a dangerous London, too. II
each OF those long tramps OF mine
see an adventure. My family, who a
all times labor under the amiable delu
sion that 7 cannot go out without
being crushed by q motor, are nov
more convinced OF II than ever Ant
certainly Il would be no difficult mat
ter for me not TO dsappolnt them
There are times when | feel that
would rather not come home at al
than hazard II by way Of Piccsdill!
Circus or Trafalgar Square At som
OF my most familiar street crossings
stand peerlng anXiously up and down
as one used to in the days OF London
black fogs. before 7 venture to tn
island IN the middle and from the isl
and TO the safety Of the opposite side
walk | am the less Inundated by m
cowsrdice because 80 often I see grow
men, even men in khaki, taking nh
same precaution. and more than on
man has told me that oncs he get
home from his once II needs somethn
Of unusual importance or promising un
usual pleasure to lure him out again.
Shops suffer. theatres suffer, restau
rants suffer--the life Of the town q
nlght is almost as provincial as II look
Many protest that the darkness is
farce, that L. causes more deaths tina
could be caused by the Zeppelin again,
which It is fanced a protection. Other
vaunt az loud its virtues as a saf'
guard and a rumor In proof has bee
going about town OF British airsh
- nha In,, 7 nf