St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, No. 06, April 1878: Scribner's IllustratedVarious
General
St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, No. 06, April 1878: Scribner's Illustrated
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals; Children's periodicals, American
Although it is nearly forty feet below the surface, daylight is let in
from above at this station, as in many of the others on the line.
Before and behind us we could see the great black-mouthed tunnels, through
which the trains were constantly passing.
When our train arrived we quickly found seats in a car, or carriage, as
they call them here, and were soon rushing along underground.
Now and again we came out into the open air for a while; soon we were at
Bayswater, then at King's Cross, at which station we got out of the car
and climbed up the iron stairs to the earth's surface again.
From King's Cross to Alexandra Palace was a ride of about twenty minutes
more, this time on a railroad which ran, for some distance, _above_ the
surface of the earth. We sped above the tops of smoky houses, by sooty
walls, through egg-shaped tunnels, beyond all these to the open country,
where were smooth green grass, groups of picturesque trees, and tangled
hedges.
The train stopped at the station called Muswell Hill, on which is built
the new Alexandra Palace--a large red-brick building at the top of the
hill. It is not so extensive as the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, but, like
it, is covered over with glass, and contains tropical plants, many
palm-trees, several theaters and lecture-rooms, and a large bazaar with
gay booths, at which you can buy almost anything you wish for.
As we approached the central part of the hall, a deafening chorus of dogs,
yelping, barking, growling and howling, assailed our ears. The stalls in
which the dogs were chained were arranged to form several aisles. They
faced each other, with a wide passage-way between, for the crowd of
spectators. The stalls were open, and each one had from one to five
animals chained in it.
The persons who exhibited dogs numbered one thousand and thirty-nine,
and, as each exhibitor sent several of his animals, you can roughly
estimate the immense number of dogs brought together.
It made my heart ache at first to see the poor creatures jumping and
pulling at their chains. Some looked worried and excited, and some of them
seemed bored to death, surly and contemptuous, as if saying, "Go away, or
I will bite you if you stare at me a moment longer;" and some were sulky
and turned their backs, hiding their noses in the straw.
The little puppies slept unconsciously through it all, while the mother
dogs struggled with their chains and barked furiously.
There were greyhounds,--great, tall, slender creatures, that looked as if
they could run a mile a minute,--deer-hounds, beautiful pointers, setters,
retrievers, and otter-hounds. These last were dangerous, and were kept in
wire cages. There were bull-terriers, fox-terriers, spaniels, white and
black Newfoundlands, shepherd dogs, mastiffs, and fierce bull-dogs that
looked as if they would be glad to eat you without ceremony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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