Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom — John Shaqi
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
History
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
From the King let us turn to his people. Here is a crowd of the
people of London, gathered in the Park when Queen Victoria was taken
to be buried. It was a mighty, silent crowd, never to be forgotten by
those who saw it. Of course there are some people in the great crowds
of London, as of all other places, who are bad and disorderly, but
in general the people of London obey the Law. Here, for instance, we
have a busy point where four streets meet. Two policemen control the
traffic, now letting this stream of carriages pass, and now that.
Often a driver is in haste, but when the policeman raises his hand,
the driver silently waits until he has leave to proceed. Only in
this way could seven millions of people live together and do their
business. The policemen of London are a fine body of strong men, who
very rarely lose their tempers or presence of mind, whatever the
sudden difficulty with which they may be faced. Here is one of them
politely telling the way to an enquiring stranger. You see that he
carries no firearms, yet there are only about 20,000 police to manage
all these people.
[Sidenote: 42. Hyde Park--Rotten Row.]
[Sidenote: 43. St. James’s Park--Children at Play.]
[Sidenote: 44. The same--Children Fishing.]
[Sidenote: 45. The Zoological Gardens.]
[Sidenote: 46. Flowers in the Park.]
[Sidenote: 47. The Crystal Palace.]
[Sidenote: 48. St. Thomas’s Hospital.]
Perhaps the most beautiful possessions of London are the parks, in
which, in the midst of their province of houses, the people take
exercise and find health and amusement. None of the other cities
of the world--not Paris, or Berlin, or New York, or Peking, or
Calcutta--have anything quite similar to the parks of London, for
they are not formal gardens or bare parade grounds, but pieces of
rural country; and they are not just outside the town, but contained
in its midst. This is a celebrated road in Hyde Park, where only
horses and no carriages go. It is called Rotten Row. Here we see
it on a summer day, when the sun is shining, with men and women
upon horseback taking the air. But the parks are not merely for
the amusement of the rich people who can afford to keep horses;
they are also for the poor. Here, for instance, we have a picture
of children at play, and here another, taken in St. James’s Park,
showing children fishing for the little fish that live in the water
of the lake. In Regent’s Park there is a Zoological Garden, in which
are kept animals from all parts of the world. Here we see a group of
children, who, by way of a holiday treat, are having a few moments
on the back of an elephant. These parks of London have much money
spent upon them, so that the poor people of London have in parts of
them gardens to look upon which are as fine as the gardens of rich
men. Here, for example, we have a scene among the flowers in Hyde
Park. Nor must we forget the Crystal Palace, an immense house of
glass, where the people may find amusement in all weathers. Of course
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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