The Coolidge examiner., 1932-08-12

terloo Bridge Is Falling Down" "
The falling" however, is not ac-
cidental, 1t is an engineering job.
The bridge will be rep.lced by a
new span.
Many travellers are now seeing
London from a bus top, where they
enjoy watching perky messenger
boys with their tin-can hats cooked
on three hairs, the huge policemen,
the sandwich men, and the clatter-
ing crowds of men and women on
the streets.
II is true that one sees the cen
turies without order or sequence !;
but that is as II should be in Lon
don, where today, tomorrow, and
1900 years elbow each other COM
panionably.
Perhaps one leans over the rail
TO see Il lordling sprawled at the
wheel of great car. all color and
silver, on that Waiting street
which was one Of the four thor
oughfares by the aid OF which the
Romans held Britain; or TO watch
those who are to fly 10 Paris, step
ping into the car that is to carry
them TO the flying field at Croydon.
Next, the bus passes a porter's
lodge in which a duchess lives at
the gates of the great house she
can no longer afford TO occupy. Or
the brass triangle near the site Of
Tyburn tree, a common gallows
away back in 1896. Or that street
of pallid houses built by a French
architect that Napoleon's officers
might have fitting quarters when he
had conquered England. Or the
horse guards, where massive senti-
nels i'm scarlet and buckskin and sill.
yer bestride horses of black silk.
One marvels at the horses more
than at the men. However do they
train them to stand so still?
Reminders Of the Past.
Yonder is Lansdowne passage,
leading from Piccadilly into Curzon
street. The street is the citadel of
the highest fashion, lined with
gloomy houses. A steel bar Is still
set across the passage, that no high
wayman may gallop his horse
through II to safety In the fields,
as one formed the reprehensible
habit of doing a hundred years ago
Nearby is the Shepherds mar
ket. which is in its essentials what
a shopping district was in London
in Dick Turpin's time. and a little
public house whose customers are
almost wholly the Jeames Yellow
pushes of today. A wealth of gos-
sip about their masters might be
gathered there by one admitted TO
their intimacy.
or Whitehall one may see the
window through which king
walked on his way to the block.
Over the rail of Hyde park one may
glimpse the little gravestones of the
dogs cemetery; then hurriedly
glance at the new Devonshire
house. wherein apartments may be
leased for 900 years at an incre-
ment number Of pounds the year.
Trafalgar square is the natural
center of London for the adventur-
er. 1t is true that Charing Cross,
long stones throw down the
Strand, is accepted as the geo.
graphical center, If there can be a
geographical center of a map. which
is messed about as is that of Lon
don by the oxbow-bend Of the
River Thames.
At any rate. the 600 square
miles of the greater city include all
parishes. any part of which may be
within u miles of the cross, or of
which the whole may be within Is
miles.
Going From Nelson's Column.
But Nelson's column, in Trafal-
gar square is the North pole to the
visitors compass. If he were able
10 mount to Nelson's eminence, as
steeplejacks sometimes do, and
there revolve upon his heel, he
would discover that each quarter
turn would reveal a new aspect.
Down Whitehall is the ancient
City of Westminster, with the
houses of parliament and the alb
hey. The Strand opens to Fleet
street and the Offices of the great
newspapers.
Over Covent garden, a bit more
TO the left. one might sight the
Bank of England and the heart of
the old Roman city. Another turn
left and the markets. the Charter
house, the British museum.
Left once more and the theater
district; Soho, where are the for
eign restaurants beloved of novel
lists. and the fashionable shopping
districts. Just bit more and club
land and Mayfair and a glance at
Buckingham palace Then Hyde
park and the Admiralty, and the