WATERS OF BABYLON 69 



release, and caused an access of activity in the dismal 

 rout of passengers, Gladstone bags, gaudy turbans, 

 muddy white trousers, and brown shanks; farewells 

 drew to their acutest, and were cleft in twain at 

 the gangway-head ; then the lull and relaxation of the 

 empty railway carriage, the abiding sense that the 

 thing was done, that it had been a mistake, that it 

 would never be attempted again. 



Yet it had its compensations. The Apocalyptic 

 desert of ashpits now possessed beauties of the soul, 

 Whitechapel became the threshold of home, Liver- 

 pool Street had undreamed-of welcome beneath its 

 roof -tree. Hot roast beef and Yorkshire pudding 

 were the most immediate outlet of patriotism ; 

 how un-saloon-like were the lofty proportions of 

 the refreshment-room, how fresh-complexioned the 

 waiter; how friendly, subsequently, seemed the 

 buses, how national the hansoms, how maternal, 

 how immutable, the Strand. 



Martin Ross. 



]895. 



