CHAPTER II

FIRST VIEWS OF ENGLAND

Liverpool The Mersey - Docks - Foreign Trade - Customs - TrolleyCars Signboards - English Money Canals, Railways, and Steamships Nearby Industries (Mining, Cotton, and Woolen Manufacturing)- Other Industries Streets, Parks, Museums, and Colleges - Manchester Contrast between the North of England and the South-English Names in America - Birkenhead.

IT is early in the morning when we come on deck again, for the run through St. George's Channel from Queenstown to Liverpool has taken all night. While we

slept we have been speeding past the rugged coast of Wales, and now, far away on our right, we have a good view of its high hills and deep bays. On the water all about us are many little sailboats with dun-colored sails. The men on board these vessels are plainly as much interested in the great steamer as are her many passengers, crowding about the rails, in the strange sights they see. But

there are no salutes from one boat to another, nor does the whistle greet even the huge boats that are starting

ON THE MERSEY

15

on their way back across the Atlantic. The people of England are much more quiet in their ways than Ameri

cans.

At last we enter the mouth of the river Mersey, the port of the great city of Liverpool. Here we see a vast number of ships entering or leaving the harbor, many, perhaps, starting for South America or Africa, for Liverpool has a larger export trade than any other city in the British Isles. A great many little tugs are darting about, and there are tiny canal-boats which have made their way down the narrow canals that enter the Mersey. Noisy steam dredges are working away to prevent the long sand-bars in the mouth of the Mersey from choking up the river, and we are told that they are working this

way almost constantly. High on the banks are forts to protect the city, with its great harbor and its ships, from a foreign enemy in time of war.

"What wonderful docks!" we cannot help exclaiming, as the steamer now approaches its landing stage.

These docks, like those in all the English harbors, are not of wood, as most of those in our own harbors are, but of stone, solid and lasting. In Liverpool there are nearly forty miles of "quays" as the English people call them, and of floating docks there are nine miles! The latter are so built that they rise and fall with the tides; but when we look at them we can scarcely distinguish them from the quay itself to which they are made fast. We see the need of such docks when we learn that Liverpool has a yearly foreign trade that exceeds in value more than a billion dollars, sending out one third of all the exports and receiving more than one third of the imports of the United Kingdom.

On the dock there is the usual crowd to welcome incoming travelers, and among them are agents for the railroads who come on board to sell tickets to London and other cities. Before the people go ashore, long chutes are adjusted to the boat, down which the trunks and bags are sent in a steady stream. Every piece of baggage has on it the initials of its owner, and as soon as the pieces reach the dock they are taken and arranged in order in the custom-house. If a person's name chances to be "Black," he must look for his trunk in the baggage which has been collected under a huge "B." If his name is "Jones," he will find his belongings under the letter "J." Before he is free to take it, however, he may be requested to open his trunk and permit the customs officers to see what it contains; and if he has any sweets, spirits, perfumery, or other taxable articles, he must first pay the duty. Most articles, however, are not taxed as they are in America, for Great Britain is largely a freetrade country.

At last we are free to leave the station. Some of our party enter cabs and are driven at once to a hotel. The

cabbies do not make a babel of noise as they do in New York, and it is good to find that the fare is very much cheaper than at home. Some of us, however, prefer to ride on one of the strange-looking trolley-cars, which have seats upstairs as well as downstairs. We climb the little circular steps and secure seats outside, where we can have the air and see all that is going on.

Liverpool is plainly a very smoky and a very busy place, and we are surprised to find how much like an American city it appears. Yet before reaching our hotel we see that in many ways it is quite different. To begin. with, our fare is only a penny, or two cents in American money, for in England one pays according to the distance

one rides. The conductor who receives the coin punches a ticket which he hands back to the passenger. In reply to our question about these tickets, we are told that an inspector may at any time enter the car to collect the tickets, and if a passenger does not have one he will have to pay his fare again.

On our ride, we hear the elevated railroad spoken of as the "overhead"; we make out, from signs over the doorways, that a "booking office" is a ticket office; and that a "fruiterer and greengrocer" is a dealer in fruits and vegetables. We are astonished, also, to see footpassengers turning to the left instead of to the right, and we wonder if we can ever get used to so queer

a custom.

We know, of course, that American money must first be changed into the coin of the realm before it will be of any use to us in England. So after we are comfortably settled in our hotel, in which we already have engaged rooms by telegraph, we diligently put our minds to the problem of learning English money.

"Twelve pence make a shilling, twenty shillings make a pound," we repeat glibly. As an English penny is equal to about two American cents, we conclude, for convenience, that a shilling is worth about a quarter. We find, too, that practically we can call a pound about five dollars, and a sixpence twelve and a half cents.

We are greatly surprised to learn that the English use very little paper money. The Bank of England issues notes for five pounds and for greater amounts, but that is all. We shall use for money, the crown, the largest silver piece, equal to five shillings; the silver halfcrown; the florin, or two-shilling piece; the shilling; the sixpence, and the three-penny piece. The copper coins are the penny, the halfpenny (which is commonly called