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- will suffer.
On Friday night the kid end I along with Oorpl. Kirkby, who I mentioned before as living in our tent, paid a visit to the Coliseum, and saw a fine show in the largest theatre in London.
It is magnificently furnished, throughout, much more elaborately than the Royal Victoria. The orchestra numbered 30 pieces, and discoursed sweet music every so often. Regarding the show, not a weak turn was on the bill, Adeline Genee being the headliner and justly so. Have seen her dance before, but it was all ballet work, which in my opinion leaves much to be desired. In this turn though, she gives some fine renditions of dances of the various nations.
The Strand, Pioadilly, Leicester Square, surely they are names to conjure with, and’ the best of it was that they came up to expectations and then some. The Strand, as you know, is in the heart of the business district, while the other two are the home of most of the big theatres. After the usual custom over here, the Strand is narrow, and to make it worse taxis are parked in the centre, so that the bus drivers have one busy• time dodging obstructions in traffic. Just missing another car by a fraction of an inch seems to be their favorite occupation, and I didn’t see one eassh up in spite of the fact that there are hundred* of busses running through the Strand. Mr, Brayne told me that there were taxis lying
idle in the garages, but I thought they had better be kept there es there were plenty running about.
So much for our first day,, and will now tackle Sunday’s doings.
Rose on Sunday to find the sky overcast with urospects cf rain before long but glad to say that my prognostication was wrong, as it turned out fine later on. Of course, don ’ cherknow, on a Sunday morning the sightseers steps naturally gravitate towards Petticoat^ Lane, and ours were no exception. Piute had taken a "yid" home the previous night;.who lived in that neighborhood, so under his expert guidance we had no difficulty in finding the nlace, I find it rather hard to describe what we saw there as it was such a heterogenous conglomeration of incongropsities, that it has to be seen to be appreciated. Just imagined!)out six long narrow streets with stalls lined up on both sides against the curb, leaving about twelve feet leeway in the road. Draw on your imagination still further, end see these stalls loaded to the limit with every conceivable saleable article, the vendors of the same being the greatest collection of Lagos, Yids, Hindus, Portuguese etc. it has ever been my fortune to see, with every mother’s son or daughter of them trying their level best to convince you that the particular artiole he or she is selling is something to be desired above everything else. Talk about noise, ye gods and little fish hooks, a boiler feotory is quiet in comparison. At one stall we see a Hindu selling rare silks, flanked cm one side by a huge fat Jew selling fish, and on the other by a miniature hardware shop. Just happened to oetch the eye of the fat Jew as we were passing, and he
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