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Article THE LITTLE VILLAGE IN THE LONG VACATION. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Little Village In The Long Vacation.
THE LITTLE VILLAGE IN THE LONG VACATION .
BY A LONDONER AND A LOITERER . BY the time that these lines greet the eyes of my readers the great metropolis will be comparatively deserted . Long rows of closed
houses Avill prove that their denizens are far aAvay at CoAves , in the Channel , in Belgium , up the Rhine , in Brittany or Normandy , in Champagne or Switzerland ; at one of the German Baths , or one of our English watering places ; in Scotland or Wales , or even in the Mediterranean ; anywhere but in the " Capitol . " And if any strangervisitor asks the reason of thinned streets and tranquil squares , and the mournful solitude of palatial residences , there is but one reply ,
" London is out of town . ' The Long Vacation has set in . This remarkable institution , unknown in any other country , begins August Sth , and ends November 2 nd . The Law Courts are closed , the great Talking House is desolate , and the learned gentry who inhabit the "Inns" ( many of them good
Freemasons , by the way , ) are off on their holiday tours ; some perhaps meditating and completing a new " Cruise of the Water Lily ; " some manfully breasting Alpine heights ; some tossing to and fro in the stormy Hebridean waters—but all away from law and equity , their chambers deserted , their text books left in quiet and in silence .
And the same idea of rest and change has seized upon all other classes and ranks of society , and everywhere in many lands and many climes , our good John and Jenny Bulls are Avandering and wearying , ( somewhat dust begrimed , a little out of temper , butalways hungry and thirsty ) , Avith their Baedeker and their Murray , " doing" great
Cathedrals , looking up at wondrous pictures , revelling in lovely scenery , and all as unlike their usual life at home as well may be . And London all this time Avears a peculiar aspect to those who have ever spent a Long Vacation there , and the feeling of isolation and of
loneliness comes over us in Avonderf ul reality . You have nowhere to go to , and hardly anyone to speak to . Your club is shut up , your cronies are on the wing . If in sheer desperation you betake yourself to Richmond or Greenwich , you find that the lustre is gone , the glory departed . You may nestle doAvn or settle down at Sunbury , or
Chiswick , or Putney , or Teddington , but still you feel yourself all but deserted . The letters you receive are from distant places . The friends vou know the best are now out of reach ; the mates and M
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Little Village In The Long Vacation.
THE LITTLE VILLAGE IN THE LONG VACATION .
BY A LONDONER AND A LOITERER . BY the time that these lines greet the eyes of my readers the great metropolis will be comparatively deserted . Long rows of closed
houses Avill prove that their denizens are far aAvay at CoAves , in the Channel , in Belgium , up the Rhine , in Brittany or Normandy , in Champagne or Switzerland ; at one of the German Baths , or one of our English watering places ; in Scotland or Wales , or even in the Mediterranean ; anywhere but in the " Capitol . " And if any strangervisitor asks the reason of thinned streets and tranquil squares , and the mournful solitude of palatial residences , there is but one reply ,
" London is out of town . ' The Long Vacation has set in . This remarkable institution , unknown in any other country , begins August Sth , and ends November 2 nd . The Law Courts are closed , the great Talking House is desolate , and the learned gentry who inhabit the "Inns" ( many of them good
Freemasons , by the way , ) are off on their holiday tours ; some perhaps meditating and completing a new " Cruise of the Water Lily ; " some manfully breasting Alpine heights ; some tossing to and fro in the stormy Hebridean waters—but all away from law and equity , their chambers deserted , their text books left in quiet and in silence .
And the same idea of rest and change has seized upon all other classes and ranks of society , and everywhere in many lands and many climes , our good John and Jenny Bulls are Avandering and wearying , ( somewhat dust begrimed , a little out of temper , butalways hungry and thirsty ) , Avith their Baedeker and their Murray , " doing" great
Cathedrals , looking up at wondrous pictures , revelling in lovely scenery , and all as unlike their usual life at home as well may be . And London all this time Avears a peculiar aspect to those who have ever spent a Long Vacation there , and the feeling of isolation and of
loneliness comes over us in Avonderf ul reality . You have nowhere to go to , and hardly anyone to speak to . Your club is shut up , your cronies are on the wing . If in sheer desperation you betake yourself to Richmond or Greenwich , you find that the lustre is gone , the glory departed . You may nestle doAvn or settle down at Sunbury , or
Chiswick , or Putney , or Teddington , but still you feel yourself all but deserted . The letters you receive are from distant places . The friends vou know the best are now out of reach ; the mates and M