登陆注册
15292600000007

第7章 Impressions of London(1)

BEFORE setting down my impressions of the great English metropolis;

a phrase which I have thought out as a designation for London; I

think it proper to offer an initial apology. I find that I receive impressions with great difficulty and have nothing of that easy facility in picking them up which is shown by British writers on Ameriea. I remember Hugh Walpole telling me that he could hardly walk down Broadway without getting at least three dollars' worth and on Fifth Avenue five dollars' worth; and I recollect that St.

John Ervine came up to my house in Montreal, drank a cup of tea, borrowed some tobacco, and got away with sixty dollars' worth of impressions of Canadian life and character.

For this kind of thing I have only a despairing admiration. I can get an impression if I am given time and can think about it beforehand.

But it requires thought. This fact was all the more distressing to me in as much as one of the leading editors of America had made me a proposal, as honourable to him as it was Iucrative to me, that immediately on my arrival in London;--or just before it,--I should send him a thousand words on the genius of the English, and five hundred words on the spirit of London, and two hundred words of personal chat with Lord Northcliffe. This contract I was unable to fulfil except the personal chat with Lord Northcliffe, which proved an easy matter as he happened to be away in Australia.

But I have since pieced together my impressions as conscientiously as I could and I present them here. If they seem to be a little bit modelled on British impressions of America I admit at once that the influence is there. We writers all act and react on one another;

and when I see a good thing in another man's book I react on it at once.

London, the name of which is already known to millions of readers of this book, is beautifully situated on the river Thames, which here sweeps in a wide curve with much the same breadth and majesty as the St. Jo River at South Bend, Indiana. London, like South Bend itself, is a city of clean streets and admirable sidewalks, and has an excellent water supply. One is at once struck by the number of excellent and well-appointed motor cars that one sees on every hand, the neatness of the shops and the cleanliness and cheerfulness of the faces of the people. In short, as an English visitor said of Peterborough, Ontario, there is a distinct note of optimism in the air. I forget who it was who said this, but at any rate I have been in Peterborough myself and I have seen it.

Contrary to my expectations and contrary to all our Transatlantic precedents, I was not met at the depot by one of the leading citizens, himself a member of the Municipal Council, driving his own motor car. He did not tuck a fur rug about my knees, present me with a really excellent cigar and proceed to drive me about the town so as to show me the leading points of interest, the municipal reservoir, the gas works and the municipal abattoir. In fact he was not there. But I attribute his absence not to any lack of hospitality but merely to a certain reserve in the English character.

They are as yet unused to the arrival of lecturers. When they get to be more accustomed to their coming, they will learn to take them straight to the municipal abattoir just as we do.

For lack of better guidance, therefore, I had to form my impressions of London by myself. In the mere physical sense there is much to attract the eye. The city is able to boast of many handsome public buildings and offices which compare favourably with anything on the other side of the Atlantic. On the bank of the Thames itself rises the power house of the Westminster Electric Supply Corporation, a handsome modern edifice in the later Japanese style. Close by are the commodious premises of the Imperial Tobacco Company, while at no great distance the Chelsea Gas Works add a striking feature of rotundity. Passing northward, one observes Westminster Bridge, notable as a principal station of the underground railway. This station and the one next above it, the Charing Cross one, are connected by a wide thoroughfare called Whitehall. One of the best American drug stores is here situated. The upper end of Whitehall opens into the majestic and spacious Trafalgar Square. Here are grouped in imposing proximity the offices of the Canadian Pacific and other railways, The International Sleeping Car Company, the Montreal Star, and the Anglo-Dutch Bank. Two of the best American barber shops are conveniently grouped near the Square, while the existence of a tall stone monument in the middle of the Square itself enables the American visitor to find them without difficulty. Passing eastward towards the heart of the city, one notes on the left hand the imposing pile of St. Paul's, an enormous church with a round dome on the top, suggesting strongly the first Church of Christ (Scientist)

on Euclid Avenue, Cleveland.

But the English churches not being labelled, the visitor is often at a loss to distinguish them.

A little further on one finds oneself in the heart of financial London. Here all the great financial institutions of America--The First National Bank of Milwaukee, The Planters National Bank of St. Louis, The Montana Farmers Trust Co., and many others,--have either their offices or their agents. The Bank of England--which acts as the London Agent of The Montana Farmers Trust Company,--

and the London County Bank, which represents the People's Deposit Co., of Yonkers, N.Y., are said to be in the neighbourhood.

This particular part of London is connected with the existence of that strange and mysterious thing called "the City." I am still unable to decide whether the city is a person, or a place, or a thing. But as a form of being I give it credit for being the most emotional, the most volatile, the most peculiar creature in the world. You read in the morning paper that the City is "deeply depressed." At noon it is reported that the City is "buoyant" and by four o'clock that the City is "wildly excited."

同类推荐
  • 凤山县志

    凤山县志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 书诀

    书诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 羽林恩召观御书王太

    羽林恩召观御书王太

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 启颜录

    启颜录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 培远堂手札节要

    培远堂手札节要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 怎样当好班组长(最新工会干部培训与业务指导手册)

    怎样当好班组长(最新工会干部培训与业务指导手册)

    为了把广大基层工会干部和职工的思想行动统一到党的十七大精神上来,把贯彻落实工会十五大精神落实到基层、落实到行动中,因此,非常有必要在新形势下加强基层工会干部培训与日常工作业务指导,使得基层工会能够不断推出新举措,指导基层工会工作在各方面的创新发展。
  • 盗墓之鬼灭灯

    盗墓之鬼灭灯

    凡是盗墓者,进了墓穴,必定点上一根蜡烛,别称“鬼吹灯。”我从英国留学回来无所事事,一直都没有找到一份属于自己想要的工作,经朋友介绍,认识了几个久经盗墓的土夫子,几经周折,我跟他们去了。却没有想到碰到一个黑毛的大粽子,还碰到了不少奇奇怪怪的事情。
  • 朴灿烈最后的思恋

    朴灿烈最后的思恋

    这篇文主要写的事一位大学生初进校园遇见了自己人生中的真爱来自大二的学长朴灿烈两人日久生情最终情定终身的故事以后每周六周日会更新的第一次写小说有错的地方请大家多多包涵谢谢
  • 炮灰逆袭:小白怎么办

    炮灰逆袭:小白怎么办

    霖云死翘翘了,投胎的时候遭遇了意外,遇见了她人生之敌——系统小白!虫大处女作,不造广大人民稀不稀罕这一类型~~
  • 晗玥铭恋

    晗玥铭恋

    被人追杀的他,路过此地的她。他为狼族王位纠结,她被杀父之仇牵绊。在此刻,他们展开了刻骨铭心的爱恋......白雪皑皑,雪山之巅。灏影在此,决守圣地。
  • 腹黑傻相公

    腹黑傻相公

    苏姗姗本是躺在小船上打着遮阳伞优哉游哉的睡大觉,谁知一醒来竟发现船换了,还是竹排,很狗血的,上面还插满了白的黄的花,怎么看怎么像死人浪漫水上漂……夜里苏姗姗突然醒来,感觉有一只手在自己身上摸来摸去……一妖孽男满脸童真:娘子,别人娶了媳妇就蹦出个小娃娃,我也要。”……
  • 大道吞天

    大道吞天

    一片千里雷霆大海,悬浮于万里天空。一条七彩天路,从雷霆大海中伸出,天路尽头,隐隐可以看到一座高大的天门——南天门。一个全身金光的身影,行走在天路上,高昂着头,看着那高大雄伟的天门,好似便能将整个天地都吞噬——
  • 撒旦CEO训妻成瘾

    撒旦CEO训妻成瘾

    "丫的,她居然成了女版Edison,艳照都登到杂志上去了。至此以后,她的悲惨命运就开始了,被未婚夫抛弃,爹不疼姐不爱的,更可恨的是,某无耻市长居然还阴魂不散地缠着她,百般折磨她。不过,道高一尺,魔高一丈,她可是冉亦贝,全民女神,这点挫折就让她退缩可还行?刷宝卖萌装可怜,有谁还能比她更在行?“剃掉好像变得有点娘哦。”她看着满脸刮胡泡的他啧啧道,然后走出了卫生间。“冉亦贝你找死是吗?我现在就让你知道,我到底娘不娘。”他扔下了手中的剃须刀,冲了出去,直接将她扑倒在床上,让她看看他的实力。“啊!我知道错了,是我娘才对,我老公最Man了。”她猛眨无辜的大眼睛,求放过!"
  • 一诺成疾

    一诺成疾

    高歌一曲,豪气干云!孤身闯荡江湖,笑迎一切困苦!死神,我治病是为了救人,杀人也是为了救人!神也好,魔也罢,我都是为了拯救苍生!你们,一个是为我出生入死的当今太子,一个是我誓死要帮的前朝太子!一个是我师兄,一个是我所爱!我不想看你们龙争虎斗,暗地里却崔发了战争!谁知到最后,我竟然是一切的根源!!!
  • 自娱自乐的游记

    自娱自乐的游记

    嚣张个毛线,神特么特种兵,吃个P软饭啊,一点也不胖以上是对标签的吐槽,按照标签找过来的少年们你们被骗了主角形象参考封面吧,用别人的图不太好,自己把之前画的一张截了个图,再插上两根犄角就是了