London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
LONDONERS AND THEIR SUMMER HOLIDAYS.
ABOUT August the arrival platforms at the various London termini of the railway companies are crowded with young gentlemen who have come home to their parents to enjoy from six weeks to a couple of months' vacation. Those who have returned from inland schools expect a trip to the seaside, and those who have just left the sea breezes suggest other pleasant resorts. The young gentlemen are on their best behaviour, and if some of their have served as inadequate substitutes for footballs during the journey the incident is of no lasting importance. For the moment the juvenile hopefuls are as For some days they will probably remain in this pleasant disposition. Then as they grow accustomed to the clemency of their parents, and forget the discipline of the Rev. Dr. Birch, they will become as And later still silver | |
276 | will be exchanged for copper, and not improbably for brass. When they arrive at this stage of behaviour the worst will not be over, but only just begun. I think we may take it that the holidays will be made up of a week of gold, three days of silver, forty-eight hours of copper, and a month and a half of brass. Under these circumstances, it will be wise to get your family to the seaside well before gold turns into the baser metals. If you do not, the chances are that your most cherished books will be dirty-fingered, your most valuable carpets stamped out, and your neighbours for miles round set at open defiance. |