"ST. LUBBOCK'S DAY" 123 



The passengers were packed on decks and paddle- 

 boxes like herrings in a barrel, and so great was the hunger 

 of the crowd on board one of the vessels that the steward 

 declared himself to be " eaten out " in ten minutes after 

 the vessel left Thames Haven. Margate Jetty was 

 simply blocked so far as to be impassable, whilst 

 thousands of the excursionists who came down by rail 

 wandered along the cliffs. How many may have gone 

 down it is impossible to say. The people arrived at 

 Cannon Street and Charing Cross for Ramsgate at 

 8 a.m., and it was 10 o'clock before the surprised but 

 very active officials of the South Eastern could accom- 

 modate all their customers. Seven " specials " were 

 sent from Cannon Street, and probably as many more 

 from Ludgate Hill. It was simply impossible to get to 

 the seaside, for at Fenchurch Street one clerk and one 

 ticket-window only were supplied, and the struggle to 

 get to it promised too probable an attack upon either 

 your ribs or your pockets to enable you to venture. 

 At the river-side the last steamer to Sheerness was 

 crowded to excess, and there were hundreds continuing 

 to arrive, in the hopeless expectation of being carried 

 somewhere by water. Vain expectation ! An ingenious 

 individual suggested a reference to the advertisements 

 of the daily papers, and there was an advertisement in 

 which there seemed to be a hope that you might be 

 conveyed "by certain trains" to Henley-on-Thames 

 and the pleasant neighbourhoods of Windsor and Tap- 

 low. . . . There was a train to Shepperton, near to 

 Weybridge, dear to the lover of the gentle craft. . . . 

 On the river there were here and there to be seen the 

 patient disciples of Isaak Walton, seated in chairs with a 

 rod in their hands, " a worm at one end " and a philo- 

 sopher of course at the other. There was not a rod nor 

 a punt to be had for love nor money. " Bless you, sir, 

 if I liked I could have had forty jobs to-day," said the 

 eminently skilful puntsman to whom we applied at first. 

 Never was such a day in this quiet region, and so un- 

 expected to the inhabitants. There was no tobacco to 

 be had, and even the public-houses were destitute of an 

 article so essential to the comfort of some people. . . . 

 It is impossible to rate overmuch the blessing of the 

 holiday of the 7th of August, and there were doubtless 

 numerous proposals for the presentation of a testimonial 



