The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-04-19

'ridce, London.
years ago an Englishman in America,
happening to enter into conversation
with Il negro schoolteacher learned
that one of the keenest desires of her
life was to see London, AMI that she
especially wanted to visit every place
that was connected with the characters
in Dickens.
Places of Special Interest.
Many Americans, again, spend indus
trious days in hunting up buildings that
have some historic connection with the
foundation and early development Of
their own communities. There is a
long list of churches where eminent
Americans of the colonial period were
baptised: William Penn, at All Hal
lows, Barking; Roger Williams at st.
Sepulchere's; Calvert, the founder OF
Maryland, at st. n-the-F'ields;
General Oglethorpe, the founder OF
Georgia, at Martin s-in-the-Fields and
John Harvard at st. Saviour's Cathe-
dral, Southwark, where rne incident Is
now commemorated by memorial
window. st. Ethelburga's is of inter
est as the church where Henry Hud-
son and his crew are reported to have
made their last communion the night
! before they sailed. The house In New
man street, occupied by Benjamin
West, may be quoted as an example
of many buildings whose associations
appeal to American visitors almost ex-
clusively.
1t would be quite a mistake, how.
ever, to suppose that to the American
London serves no other purpose than
to make more vivid what he has learn.
ed at school. However diligent he
may be in following up its historical
and literary associations, he finds time
to sample its lighter side-its theaters
and other entertainments, and its so
cial festivities, in so far as he has
access to them. Even that ornament
of the Aforementioned world, DIR. AID.
drew D. White, the late president OF
Cornell university, records in his au
photography how, after working In the
British museum, he found refreshment
in an evening at Maskelyne and
Cookies "great temple Of jugglery."
Yet, after all, as Oliver Wendell
Holmes puts it, "the great sight Is Lon
DON" In the old days, before the era
of motor traffic, nothing could beat the
top of a horse-drawn bus as a means
of RECALLING oneself with the ever-chang-
ing panorama of the streets, and, al
though the petrol engine has banished
the more leisurely progress of that
time, an outside seat on bus remains
unrivaled as a point from which to
observe the everyday life Of the city.
The streets themselves impress an
American with their tidiness. Their
paving is kept in good repair, and they
are free from the litter that disfigures
important thoroughfares in New York.
Some Of the Exceptions.
As rule, the American in London
means to have a good time, and gets
1t. There are, of course, exceptions
people who lack the gifts of sympathy
and Imagination, and who accordingly
miss all that is Of unique interest in
the scenes they visit. A man Of this
type was once, 1t is said, standing on
{ the Terrace of the House of Com
mons and Dragging about the glories
Of some river in his own state. 1t was
a much finer river than the Thames
cleaner, wider, and so on. John Burns
D happened to be close by and could not
J stand 1t. "Do you know, SIR" he broke
in, what that brown river ISL It's
a liquid history" But that na-row-mind
! ed provincialism is not the prevailing
r mental attitude of cultivated Ameri
a cans. On the contrary, the impact OF
e London upon them would more faith
: fully be expressed by the passage IL
: which James Russell Lowell, under {
e different figure, emphasized that sense
= of historic continuity which appealed
q so strongly to John Burns.
r Zone thing about London" he said
Q 'fmpresses me beyond any other sount
have ever heard, and that Is the Low
:. unceasing roar one hears always In tn,
b air; 1t is not a mere accident, like
y tempest or a cataract, but it Is impress
e sive, because 1t always Indicates hu
t man will, and impulse, and consciou,
a movement; and l confess that when
q hear it I almost feel as If / were lis
e tening to the roaring loom Of time