Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1918 — Seeing London In Two Days [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Seeing London In Two Days

AS SO many American soldiers are passing through London on their way to the western front, the following article from Country Life on “How to See London in Two Days,” is timely. In normal days, when American visitors filled the hotels, sight-seeing was, In spite of American hustle, a fairly leisurely thing. It is the soldiers who are here today who have to be the real hustlers. Their sight-seeing has often to be crammed Into a day or two’s leave, and the proolem of how to see all possible, and yet so to see as to store up mental pictures, clear, definite and full of color, on which to draw in pleasurable restrospection for the rest of life, is one which probably few of them are solving. Now, the secret of success in sightseeing is discrimination and 'selection. Try to see everything and you see — effectively—nothing. Your thousand impressions are mixed, in a week they are hard to disentangle, in a year they have vanished. On this principle I throw out ideas for those who have no more than a couple of days to give to the work and the pleasure. On more than one ground I should counsel giving up of at least half a day to outdoor sight-seeing. The hugeness of London strikes everyone who gives days to its discovery. The best way of getting the same impression quickly is to travel from end to end of the route of one of the great London liners the “General” motorbuses. It matters little which you take. Service 38—Victoria to Walthamstow —will show you much of west and central London and of the northeast. At Dal-

ston you can pick up No. 106 to Mile End station, thence you can return by the Mile End road to the city and by Fleet street and the Strand to the heart of things, having seen something of the real and wonderful East End, alien, cosmopolitan; and having passed through the Mile End road. But this is only one suggestion. If you are for less of variety and for more of the splendor, you can as easily go south, west or north —out by Kensington and Hammersmith to Richmond —and this will be for many a more delightful excursion, since it would give time for a peep at the wonderful view frdtn the hilltop;. or from Charing Cross to Golders Green. Country Walk in London. Of the half day I should counsel you to leave an hour for what has been Called “the finest country walk in Lonlon.” For that you should contrive a bus ride that will leave you in the layswater road, near Lancaster Gate, vith still an hour to spare. Then walk >y the flashing waters of the Long Water and the Serpentine, and under the oble trees, through all the beauties of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to lyde Park corner, down Constitution till to the Mall, and so to Charing 'ross. Yon will then have seen in the est possible wuy the verdant belt i thfe heart of London kept inviolate Id ie royal parks, Rotten Row, Buckingmi palace, the Victoria memorial, St lines’ palace, Marlborough House and e palaces of Carlton House Gardens. Rveryone will want to see Westlster Abbey. There, almost more

than anywhere, you need the help of! selection and restraint. If you give yourself up to the vergers they will tell you all about the royul tombs. Wheni they have left you, think for a moment! of my idea. Remember that the Abbey has been three things: First, a> monastery; next, the royal church andi the tomb of many kings; and, then, the grave of great men. As to the first,, do not leave till you have seen the cloisters, the chapter house, the under- 1 croft and the chapel of the Pyx, the little cloister —and, if you are there on. Saturday, the hall of Westminster school, which was the dormitory of themonks. These things illustrate the dally monastic life and are withoutquestion the most picturesque thing; remaining of the middle ages. As t ot the next, the vergers will have shown' you the coronation seat, and the tombs; ot the great kings, to that of Henry V who fought at Agincourt. As to the third, I counsel you to see Poets’ Corner—the south transept—for Its reminders of the men who have knit the empire together in the poetry of a common speech. What to See in the Tower. You will go to the Tower. Here, again, remember that the Tower has been three things: a fortress, a royal palace and a prison. The White Tower is the oldest complete building in London. It was the keep built by the Conqueror to overawe the city. It never was of the city, and a bit of the Roman wall here shows how the outer boundary of the earlier city was overrun. See the Traitor’s gate, by whichl prisoners entered the Tower and so few left it; the site of the headsman’*

block, the chambers In the Beauchampi and the Bloody towers, where prisoners left on the walls pathetic messages of their long internment. While in the city I should suggest two other things at least to see—the Guildhall and St. Bartholomew’s church —the former because of its historic connection with the city, as a hall that has been for 500 years the court of justice, the meeting place of the corporation and the scene of historic feasts. I should ignore the houses of parliament, except as to the outside, but do not let the opinions of certain critics rob you of a right appreciation of this modern work. See Westminster hall, however, if you can, as the ancient court of justice, and for its magnificent timber roof. There yet remain, of the major institutions, St Paul’s and the National gallery. They are more easy to deal with than Westminster or the Tower. St Paul’s c has no secrets as Westminster has.. I£is revealed at one view. To have from outside is to. carry the memory of its huge bulk and, form forever, and in the main that is true of it internally, though a few minutes can be spared for the tombs of Nelson, Wellington, Lord Roberts nnd other great soldiers. The National gallery, too, is comparatively easy to see on the principle of restraint. One thing remains. Do not fail to walk the embankment from. Westminster to Blackfriars, both for Its river views and for the finest river front of buildings in the world.

The Albert Memorial.

Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.