EARLY MORNING IN THE STRAND. 89 hidden with swarms of busy men, and the thoroughfare is blocked with vehicles, can have formed any idea of their aspect at daybreak in summer, or imagine the singular beauty of the view eastward from a point, say, opposite 160 Fleet Street. The perspective of varied housefronts on either side converges on St Paul's Cathedral, a shapely, soft-toned mass against the pale sky; and looking westward from the Law Courts, the eye surveys a scene, not so impressive or harmoniously composed as the other, yet far redeemed from commonplace by the quaint churches of St Clement Danes and St Mary-le-Strand, and that block of houses, long threatened by the plans of the city improver, which shuts out Holywell Street from the Strand. Save a policeman or two, and here and there a belated wanderer creeping home, there is not a human being in sight, till, as the bells ring out half-past two, the first of Smith & Son's well-known scarlet carts comes clattering down the narrow thoroughfare laden with piles of the 'Illustrated,' the 'Queen,' or some other great weekly journal. This is followed by others, till, at three o'clock, the street is crowded with vehicles, each bringing its load of "raw papers to be carried into the office and sorted into parcels for the country. Inside matters present an appearance in which the casual visitor might, in default of a clue, despair of tracing either method or motive. The place is like an ant-hill; men are running about in every direction carrying bundles on their shoulders, as aimlessly to all appearance, and as ceaselessly, as ants do their white pupa when something has disturbed them. Sometimes they pause to swallow a mug of excellent coffee, which, with bread and butter, is supplied for the workers. But the simplicity of the system is apparent once it is explained. A stream of bundle-bearers comes in from the street, each tossing down his parcel on a large table on the right side of the hall; these are "raw papers"-papers, that is to say, as they come from the publishing office. Then each of the parcels for the country is passed round, checked by a list, and receives its proper contents, which are again checked before the parcel is sent forward to be packed. Watching the packers, one is impressed not only by their swiftness and dexterity for an inexperienced hand would find it a very difficult matter to tie up securely in a single sheet of paper a parcel weighing 50 or 60 lb., composed of newspapers of various size, shape, and substance-but also by the amount of knocking about these apparently fragile parcels afterwards endure with impunity. EARLY MORNING IN THE STRAND. 91 One part of the secret is the excellence of the stout twine used, and the peculiar slip-knot employed, which enables the packer to draw the cord almost as tightly as if by machinery. The amount of this twine used is prodigious: in the twelve months the of 1892 consumption was 9,264,410 yards, or 5271 miles (at the rate, that is, of about 100 miles Knot used in tying parcels of newspapers. a-week), weighing over 59 tons. The parcels, when finished, are carried or wheeled out to the street, packed into vans, and driven off to the different railway stations. Mr Monger, the head of been connected with One very remarkable feature in this busy scene is the absence of noise. No loud or hasty accents of command are heard. this department, who has it for forty years, moves quietly through the throng; any instructions he has to give are made in a gentle, almost confidential tone; expostulation or altercation seem quite unknown; |