The coltsfoot, which is
really the first flower of Spring, was all aglow
along the railway banks,: and even in the waste
spaces around the city, unmolested by our
southern folk, who are not as familiar as more
northern races with the rare virtues of this humble plant. There was no sound of
the cuckoo, of course; but the fair skies, the warm air, the bright sunlight
seemed to tell all the world that summer was a-coming in; and the happy- hearted
Londoner started from Hampstead, or Hammersmith, or Highbury, or Clapham,
with the determination that he would have
a capital "breather" before getting into
his office, or counting-house, or chambers
for the day. But very soon, indeed, a change
came over the spirit of that pleasant dream. He
had forgotten the vestries, or rather the contractors over whom the vestries are supposed to
keep diligent watch. He began to get unpleasant
whiffs of gritty material as the west wind came
swooping along narrow lanes and over broad
thoroughfares. His eyes began to smart. There
was an unpleasant sensation about his teeth. Then
the further he got into town the severer became his penance, until, it may be, the unhappy
wretch had to cross one of the Thames bridges.
Now the condition of a Thames bridge, on such a
day as yesterday, is a thing that must be written
about gently, so as not to provoke unnecessary
wrath. The winds seem to have a merry time of
it when they got clear of the streets, and play
cantrips over the open apace above the stream ;
and they come charged, as the awful river
spirit did in "Undine," with : an element which
they love to shower upon the luckless mortals
whom they meet, only that it is dust and not
water that they bring. If any modern Fuseli
wanted to study the various phases of human. anger he could not do better than
stand on London Bridge or Westminster Bridge on a windy day in March, just after
the first fine weather has dried up the long-standing mud of adjacent
thoroughfares. There are people who yield to the coffee-coloured sirocco, and
turn their backs to let the worst go by; there are others
who will not yield to compromise, but, urge on
their wild career with head bent down, teeth
clenched, and temper indescribable. At such a
time the opinions that are formed, rather than
expressed, of our system of London government
are far too dreadful to be put into words. Dust,
it is true, is not unknown in the City; but there
it is seldom so. cloud-compelling as it is-in parts
of Oxford-street, Parliament-street, or the Mall in
St. James's Park. The City authorities do pay
some attention to the cleansing of the thorough-
fares (and they are aided by the prevalence of
the new sorts of paving), while in dry weather
the water-carts are kept busy. But can it be
said that any real supervision is exercised over the
outer municipal districts of London as regards the state of the streets?
Attention has just been called to the condition of the foot-way and carriage-way fronting Buckingham Palace. During
wet weather, it is not too much to say, this space of ground is in a state of
mud such as could scarcely be found in any other of our great cities, such, as
Manchester, Glasgow, or Edinburgh. Naturally, when the dry and windy weather comes in,
this mud becomes pounded into dust, and is
thrown about in all directions, to the infinite discomfort of the passers-by.
Daily News, 10 March 1875
The dust was, of course, for the most part, dried horse dung.
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