98 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



the tablets erected to their memor}^ all over the United Kingdom 

 are mute witnesses of their worth, their celebrity, or at least of a 

 nation's gratitude. 



In making comparisons of customs and usages of the people, 

 transportation facilities, and manner of doing things in the old 

 countr}' and the new — :one is soon ready to admit there is room for 

 improvement in ijotli coiuitries. We will mention first a few of 

 these noticed in the old land that struck us as being sadly in need 

 of renovation, yet are apparently so deeply rooted in the strata of 

 public opinion tliat unborn generations nia}^ yet come and go before 

 a change for the better has become iniiversal. As an example, 

 take the drinking custom. Our Canadian girls and }oung woman- 

 hood would doubtless consider themselves irretrievably disgraced 

 were they to place tlitir feet inside a saloon where men are in the 

 habit of congregating to talk, jesi and drink, \et, as we have 

 already described in a letter pnblished in the Hamilton Times, we 

 have seen in the city of Bristol, England (on a Sunday evening, 

 too), a saloon or drinking place literally packed with men and 

 women, chiefl}' young persons, jesting, talking and taking their 

 grog like old veterans, the fact of the baneful influence of promis- 

 cuous drinking by the sexes seeming to have no deterring effect 

 whatever, but in our estimation can only result in gross immorality 

 and vice. Very few in this audience we think would be prepared 

 to saj' this practice did not need reformation. 



The Railway Compartment Coach, over there, is claimed to 

 possess many advantages over our iVmerican system of centre aisle 

 coaches, 3^et, to our way of thinking, is awa}^ behind the age, and 

 were it permissible in a mixed audience for the writer to relate a 

 imique and droll experience he had while traveling between 

 Scarborough and Manchester, you would all probably agree with 

 me that the compartment coach has at times very pronounced dis- 

 advantages. 



Again, the tipping system so much in vogue in the mother 

 country proved an abomination to us. You are scarcely in sight of 

 land before you feel it in the air. The ocean liner that bears you 

 onward is permeated by it^ and from the chief steward to the table 



