176 



AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



American is apt to notice and I hope appreciate. In 

 London, the boot-black salutes you with a respectful 

 bow, and touches his cap, and would no more think of 

 pursuing you or answering your refusal than he would 

 of jumping into the Thames. The same is true of the 

 newsboys. If they were to scream and bellow in Lon- 

 don, as they do in New York or Washington, they 

 would be suppressed by the police, as they ought to 

 be. The vender of papers stands at the corner of the 

 street, with his goods in his arms, and a large placard 

 spread out at his feet, giving in big letters the prin- 

 cipal news-headings. 



Street-cries of all kinds are less noticeable, less ag- 

 gressive, than in this country, and the manners of the 

 shopmen make you feel you are conferring a benefit 

 instead of receiving one. Even their locomotives are 

 less noisy than ours, having a shrill, infantile whistle 

 that contrasts strongly with the loud demoniac yell that 

 makes a residence near a railway or depot, in this 

 country, so unbearable. The trains themselves move 

 with wonderful smoothness and celerity, making a 

 mere fraction of the racket made by our flying palaces 

 as they go swaying and jolting over our hasty, ill-bal- 

 lasted roads. 



It is characteristic of the English prudence and 

 plain dealing, that they put so little on the cars and so 

 much on the road, while the reverse process is equally 

 characteristic of American enterprise. Our railway- 

 system, no doubt, has certain advantages or rather con- 



