152 Four-in-Hand in Britain. 



spectacles to me is that of an elderly man occupying 

 his last years grasping for more dollars. " The richest 

 man in America sailing suddenly for Europe to escape 

 business cares," said a wise Scotch gentleman to me, 

 one morning, as he glanced over the Times at breakfast. 

 Make a note of that, my enterprising friends, and let 

 it be recorded here that this was written before my 

 friend Herbert Spencer preached to us the gospel of 

 relaxation. 



It has always been assumed that dirt and smoke are 

 necessary evils in manufacturing towns, but the next 

 generation will probably wonder how men could be in- 

 duced to live under such disagreeable conditions. Many 

 of us will live to see all the fuel which is now used in so 

 thriftless a way converted into clean gas before it is fed 

 to the furnaces, and thus consumed without poisoning 

 the atmosphere with smoke, which involves at the same 

 time so great a loss of carbon. Birmingham and Pitts- 

 burgh will some day rejoice in unsullied skies, and even 

 London will be a clean city. 



We spent the afternoon in Birmingham, and enjoyed 

 a great treat in the Public Hall, in which there is one of 

 the best organs of the world. It is played every Satur- 

 day by an eminent musician, admission free. This is 

 one of the little — no, one of the great — things done for 

 the masses in many cities in England, the afternoon of 

 Saturday being kept as a holiday everywhere. 



Here is the programme for Saturday, June 25 : 



