LONDON.
89 Jermyn Street,
June 25th, 1897.
[DEAR MOTHER:]
The Jubilee turned out to be the easiest spectacle to get
at and to get away from that I ever witnessed. Experience in
choosing a place and police regulations made it so simple that
we went straight to our seats and got away again without as
much trouble as it would have taken to have gone to a matinee.
The stage management of the thing almost impressed me more
than anything else. For grandeur and show it about equalled
the procession of the Czar and in many ways it was more
interesting because it was concerned with our own people and
with our own part of the world. Next to the Queen, Lord
Roberts got all of the applause. He rode a little white pony
that had been with him in six campaigns and had carried him on
his march to Candahar. It had all the campaign medals
presented to it by the War Department and wore them in a line
on its forehead, and walked just as though he knew what a
great occasion it was. After Roberts came in popularity a
Col. Maurice Clifford with the Rhodesian Horse in sombrero's
and cartridge belts and khaki suits. He had lost his arm and
was easily recognized. Wilfred Laurier the French Premier of
Canada and the Lord Mayor were the other favourites. The
scene in front of St. Paul's was absolutely
magnificent with the sooty pillars behind the groups
of diplomats, bishops and choir boys in white, University men
in pink silk gowns, and soldiers, beef eaters, gentlemen at
arms and the two Archbishops. The best moment was when the
collected troops; negroes, Chinamen, East Indians, West
Indians, African troopers, Canadian Mounted Police,
Australians, Borneo police and English Grenadiers all sang the
doxology together in the beautiful sunshine and under the
shadow of that great facade of black and white marble. Also
when the Archbishop of Canterbury without any warning suddenly
after kissing the Queen's hand threw up his arm and cried out
so that you could have heard him a hundred yards off "Three
Cheers for Her Majesty" and the diplomats, and foreign rajahs
and bishops and Salvation Army captains waved their hats and
mortar boards and the soldiers ran their bearskins and helmets
on their bayonets and spun them around in the air. The
weather was absolutely perfect and there were no accidents.
Last night the carriages were allowed to parade the streets
and for hours the route was blocked with omnibuses hired by
private parties, coster carts, private carriages, court
carriages and the hansoms. The procession formed by these was
two hours in going one mile. They passed my windows in Jermyn
Street for three hours and a party of us sat inside and guyed
the life out of them until one in the morning. We got very
clever at it finally and very impudent and as the people were
only two yards from us my windows being on a level with the
tops of the buses and as we had a flaring illumination that
lit up the street completely we had lots of fun with them
especially with the busses, as we pretended to believe that
the advertisements referred
to the people on the top, and we would ask anxiously
which lady was "Lottie Collins" and which gentleman had been
brought up on " Mellin's Food" — We had even more fun with the
swells coming home from the Gala night at the opera and hemmed
in between costers and Pickford's vans loaded down with women
and children.
They called on us for speeches and matches and segars and
we kept the procession supplied with food and drink. Nobody
got mad and they answered back but we were prepared with
numerous repartees and they were apparently so surprised by
finding a party of ladies and gentlemen engaged in chaffing
court officials that they would forget to reply until they had
moved on. One bus driver said "Oh, you can larff, cause your
at 'ome. We are 'unting for Jensen on a North Pole
Expedition. We won't be home for three years yet — " Charley
seems very happy and he got a most hearty welcome. I shall
follow him over. I do not think I shall go when he does as
that would mean seeing people and getting settled and I must
get the Greek war done by the 12th of July and the Jubilee by
the 15th of August. I know you will not mind, but I have been
terribly interrupted by the Jubilee and by so many visitors.
They are running in all the time, so I shall try to get the
Greek war article done before I sail and also have a little
peaceful view of London. I have seen nothing of it really
yet. It has been like living in a circus, and moving about on
an election night. I am well as can be except for occasional
twinges of sciatica but I have not had to go to bed with it
and some times it disappears for a week. A little less rain
and more sun will stop it. I hope you do not mind my not
returning but we will all be together
for many months this Fall and I really feel that I have
not had a quiet moment here for pleasure and work. It has
been such a rush. I do wish to see dear Dad. I am so very
sorry about his being ill, and I hope he is having lots of
fishing. Love to all at Marion — and God bless you.
RICHARD.
