A Day At England's Sea-Side [pp. 26-30]

A DAY A T ENGLNDVD'S SEA - SIDE.
A DAY AT ENGLAND'S SEA-SIDE.
OUTHEND, an English watering- her stomach; when he barters her for
place, lies at the mouth of the another, toward whom the elderly wornThames, some forty-odd miles from en look scandal over their brandy, which
London; and, after one passage thither is developed from side-pockets in "nogby sea, the Californian may all the bet- gins," and the younger ones figuratively
ter appreciate the comforts of his own make up envious faces. All this time
river and harbor steamers, for while the the boat is making the best of speed,
boats running to Southend grant speed, shooting close alongside and past barthey are sparing of many appliances con- ges, whose cooks are preparing solid
ducive to human ease. What is termed and comfortable dinners, just a savor of
the fore - cabin is a cramped, triangular which is vouchsafed us, and whose dogs
pen, furnished with hard benches, and mount the rail and hurl after us all
these are always filled by voluminous manner of canine abuse; past clumsy,
women surrounded by packages, boxes, smoky, rheumatic, lumber-laden ships,
baskets, and hampers, while, as every- from the Baltic; past brigs, which the
body opens an umbrella, when it rains knowing lady-passenger by my side inor the sun breaks from the clouds-oc- forms her companion are ships, and
currences happening every fifteen min- sloops, which she terms schooners; past
utes- it follows that room becomes great rusty iron propellers, surging along
extremely limited, and a view of the and churning the waters behind them.
Thames' banks is confined to moment- We came to snuff the fresh air, but,
ary fragments of scenery seen through apart from the heaving of the ocean, it
the interstices of numberless umbrellas. is a dead stillness, and many of the pasThere is no resource for cramped limbs, sengers, overcome by the sun without
save to arise and walk, and when you do and beer within, drop off in bone-andthis, you lose your seat. Besides, there muscle - aching dozes. A tall, young
is no room to walk, so that you can only woman opposite me, who for the last
stand. The only refuge lies in beer, three hours has busily supported life by
which the steward loudly proclaims, and a steady consumption of ham-sandwichevery one orders. With this and pipes, es and ale, interspersed by sips from a
and the enormous lunches, which are small pocket-flagon, drops her head on
opened an hour after starting-thus ex- the rail, opens her tired jaws, and snores
pllining the necessity of so many pack- for the entertainment of all who have
ages-and eating themselves to sleep and sufficient vitality left to enjoy the spec sleeping until they are hungry again, and tacle. At last, the pier at Southend wishing the place of destination was a mile in length, the boast and pride of
reached, the passengers manage to enjoy Britain-is reached; and as I gaze upon
the trip down the Thames; while the it, I wonder why no one has told these
Captain picks out the prettiest girl on Anglo-Saxons that afar off, on the Pa board, elevates her to the dignity of the cific frontier of America-where, less
paddle-box bridge, and devotes himself than twenty-five years ago, scarce an
entirely to her, until the premonitory American and not a single newspaper
heavings of the German Ocean affect drew breath, and in a State which to
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[JAN.