Cities and towns -- Growth -- Fiction; Wales -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
The "Montgomery" is actually outclassed by the better "Private Hotels"
and one or two of the superior "Boarding Establishments." Indeed, of
these last the "Cadwallader" almost ranks with the "Cambrian" itself.
And so we come by degrees down to Ham-and-Egg Terrace.--But enough of
these _nuances_ of difference of a fortnight's duration. Who, taken
by-and-large, are these people, and where do they come from?
You have only to ask yourself, "Who else should they be?" and your
question is half answered. Remember the smallness of these Islands, and
the scores of pulsing, radiating, almost radio-active centres within
them, every one swarming with folk who intend to have a better time than
their fathers have had. Could the East Coast be pushed out beyond the
North Sea, and Lancashire be stretched until it took in Galway, St.
George's Channel and all, there might be room enough on England's shores
for every parliamentary voter to have a few acres of Trwyn foreshore of
his own and a black cow walking up and down them, seeking coolness and
food hock-deep in the glistening ebb; but, as things are, the littoral
is by much too small. True, scores and fifties of miles of it remain
practically unvisited; but no snail has snuffled out its manganese
there, and they are not within a few hours and a thirty-shilling
circular fare of the human ant-heaps of the land, where King's Ransoms
of Holiday Club money are put by. There was no wonder about the growth
of Llanyglo. Geographically situated as it was, the marvel would have
been had it not grown. With a few posters and similar devices to
advertise it, it would presently continue to advertise itself.
Therefore the folk who flocked there were of every kind, short of the
grey and overwhelming multitude itself. _Because_ it was only partly
built, _because_ it had not yet shaken down to a definite character and
physiognomy and personality, it spread its net the wider. Did you want
to dress for dinner, and to have your luggage carried by a man in a red
jacket? There was the "Cambrian." Did you want everything that the
Cambrians had, barring only the luxury of being seen lounging in one of
the wicker-chairs about its portals, and still to keep your money in
your pocket? There was the "Cardigan." Did you want to read or to idle,
to botanise or merely to forget your cares for a fortnight, to picnic up
the Trwyn or to have your meals in bed? They asked no questions at the
"Montgomery." From Philip Lacey's piece of Floral Geometry to the nooks
on the farther side of the Trwyn where you could spend a whole morning
undisturbed, there was something for every taste. And they actually had
to turn people away who had been so ill-advised as to come with their
luggage without having first secured their lodging.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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