THE POLICEMAN.
The policeman was a very well-dressed and gentlemanly-looking personage.
He was standing, at the time when Mr. George saw him, on the edge of the
sidewalk, looking at some beggar boys, who had brooms in their hands, as
if they were going to sweep the crossings. The boys, however, when they
saw that the policeman was looking at them, seemed alarmed, and one
calling to the other, said, "Joey!" and then they both ran away round a
corner.
Mr. George advanced to the policeman, and asked him if that building was
the Horse Guards. The policeman listened to and answered his question in
a very polite and gentlemanly manner. Mr. George made several additional
inquiries in respect to the building, and received in reply to them a
great deal of useful information. Rollo stood by all the while,
listening to the conversation, and observing with the greatest interest
the details of the uniform which the policeman wore. He was dressed,
Rollo saw, in a suit of dark blue, which fitted his form very nicely.
The coat had a standing collar, and was buttoned snugly up to the chin
with bright buttons. On the collar was worked the letter and number, A
335, in white braid, which denoted the division that this officer
belonged to, and his number in the division. The hat was peculiar, too,
being glazed at the top and at the brim, and having an appearance as if
covered with cloth at the sides. The figure of the policeman was very
erect, and his air and bearing very gentlemanly, and he answered all Mr.
George's inquiries in the most affable manner.
Every part of London is provided with policemen of this character, whose
business it is to preserve order in the streets, to arrest criminals, to
take care of lost children, to guide strangers, and to answer any
inquiries that any person may wish to make in respect to the streets,
squares, public buildings, and other objects of interest in the
metropolis. The whole number of these policemen is very great, there
being near six thousand of them in all. They are all young and active
men; and in order that they may perform their duties in an efficient
manner, they are clothed with a great deal of authority; but they
exercise their power with so much gentleness and discretion that they
are universal favorites with all the people who traverse the streets,
except, perhaps, the beggar boys and vagabonds. _They_ stand in
perpetual awe of them.
Each policeman has his own district, which is called his _beat_; and he
walks to and fro in this beat all the time while he is on duty. There is
a station near this beat, to which he takes any delinquents or criminals
that he may have occasion to arrest, in order that they may be examined,
and, if found guilty, sent to prison.
One day Rollo saw a policeman taking a prisoner to the station. It was a
boy about thirteen years old. The policeman walked very fast, and the
boy ran along by his side. The policeman took hold of the collar of the
boy's jacket behind with his hand, and so conducted him along. There was
a crowd of young men and boys following, some walking fast and some
running, to see what would become of the prisoner.
Rollo was at first inclined to join this party, in order that he might
see too; but Mr. George thought it would be better not to do so. Rollo
then began to pity the poor prisoner boy very much, in view of the
expression of dreadful terror and distress which his countenance had
worn when he passed by him, and he was very anxious to know what he had
been doing. He accordingly stopped to ask an orange woman, who stood
with a basket of oranges near a post at a corner.
[Illustration: THE ARREST.]
"He has been beating and abusing a little boy," said the woman, "and
spilling all his milk."
"Come, Rollo," said Mr. George, "we must go along."
Rollo would have liked very much to have inquired further into this
transaction; but he relinquished the idea, in compliance with his
uncle's wish. He found, however, that his sympathy for the poor
prisoner, as is usual in such cases, was very much diminished by knowing
the offence of which he had been guilty.
Rollo had an opportunity to experience the advantages of the London
system of police three or four days after this, in an emergency, which,
as I am now speaking of the policemen, I will mention here. He had been
to see the British Museum with his uncle George, and had undertaken to
find his way back to the lodgings in Northumberland Court alone, his
uncle having had occasion at that time to go in another direction. The
distance from the museum to Northumberland Court was only about a mile;
but the intervening streets were very short, narrow, and intricate, and
were inclined towards each other at all possible angles, so that Rollo
very soon lost his way. In fact, he soon became completely turned round;
and, instead of going towards Northumberland Court, he went wandering on
in exactly a contrary direction. He turned this way and that, and looked
at the names of the streets on all the corners, in hopes to find some
one he had heard of before. Finally he became completely bewildered.
"I shall have to give it up," said he to himself. "If it was a pleasant
day, I could go by the sun; for by keeping to the south I should, sooner
or later, come to the river."
Unfortunately for Rollo, as is usually the case in London, the sun was
not to be seen. The sky was obscured with an impenetrable veil of smoke
and vapor.
"I'll take a cab," said Rollo, "at the first stand, and tell the cabman
to drive me to Northumberland Court. He must find where it is the best
way he can."
Rollo put his hands in his pockets as he said this, and found, to his
consternation, that he had no money. He had left his purse in the pocket
of another suit of clothes at home. He immediately decided that he must
give up the plan of taking a cab, since he had no money to pay for it.
This difficulty, however, was, in fact, by no means insuperable, as he
might have taken a cab, and paid the fare when he arrived at his
lodgings, by asking the man to wait at the door while he went up to get
his purse. He did not, however, think of this plan, but decided at once
that he must find some other way of getting home than by taking a cab.
"I will ask a policeman," said he.
So he began to look about for a policeman; and as there are so many
thousands of them on duty in London, one can almost always be very
readily found; and, when found, he is instantly known by his uniform.
Rollo met the policeman walking towards him on the sidewalk.
"I want to find my way to Northumberland Court," said he. "Will you be
good enough to tell me which way to go?"
The policeman looked at Rollo a moment with a kind and friendly
expression of countenance.
"Why, it is two miles and a half from here," said he, "at least, and a
very difficult way to find. I think you had better take a cab."
"But I have not any money," said Rollo.
The policeman looked at Rollo again with as near an approach to an
expression of surprise on his countenance as it is possible for a
policeman to manifest, since it is a part of his professional duty never
to be surprised at anything or thrown off his guard. Rollo was, however,
so well dressed, and was so gentlemanly in his air and bearing, that
almost any one would have wondered a little to hear him say that he had
no money.
"I accidentally left my money all at home," said Rollo, by way of
explanation.
"Very well," said the policeman; "come with me."
So Rollo and the policeman walked along together. As they walked they
fell into conversation, and Rollo told the policeman who he was, and how
he came to lose his way. The policeman was very much interested when he
heard that his young friend was an American; and he asked him a great
many questions about New York and Boston. He said he had a brother in
Boston, and another in Cincinnati.
After walking the distance of two or three blocks, the policeman
said,----
"This is the end of my beat. I must now put you in charge of another
officer."
So saying, he made a signal to another policeman, who was on the
opposite sidewalk, and then going up to him with Rollo, he said,----
"This young gentleman wishes to go to Northumberland Court. Pass him
along. He is from America."
So Rollo walked with the second policeman to the end of _his_ beat,
talking with him all the way about America and about what he had seen in
London. At the end of the second policeman's beat Rollo was placed in
the charge of a third policeman; and thus he was conducted all the way,
until he came in sight of Charing Cross by a succession of policemen,
without ever making it necessary for any one of them to leave his beat.
As soon as Charing Cross came into view, with the tall Nelson monument,
in Trafalgar Square, to mark it, Rollo at once knew where he was. So he
told the policeman who had him in charge there that he could go the rest
of the way alone; and so, thanking him for his kindness and bidding him
good by, he ran gayly home.
Thus the policemen are, in many ways, the stranger's friends. They are
to be found every where; and they are always ready to render any service
which the passenger may require of them. Each one is furnished with a
baton, which is his badge of office; a rattle, with which he calls other
policemen to his aid when he requires them; a lantern for the night; and
an oilskin cape for rainy weather. In winter, too, they have greatcoats,
made in a peculiar fashion.
* * * * *
But to return to the Horse Guards. After Mr. George had finished his
conversation with the policeman about the Horse Guards, he said to Rollo
that he was going over to the other side of the street, in order to get
a better view of the building. So he led the way, and Rollo followed
him. When they reached the opposite sidewalk, Mr. George took his
station on the margin of it, and began to survey the edifice on the
opposite side of the street with great apparent interest.
"I don't see any thing very remarkable about it," said Rollo.
"It is the head quarters of the British army," said Mr. George.
"What elegant black horses those troopers are upon!" said Rollo.
"It is the centre of a power," said Mr. George, talking, apparently, to
himself, "that is felt in every quarter of the world."
"I should like to have such a uniform as that," said Rollo, "and to be
mounted on such a horse; but then, I should rather ride about the city
than to stand still all the time in one of those sentry boxes."
"About the _town_, you mean," said Mr. George.
Rollo here observed that there was an open gateway in front of the Horse
Guards, and beyond it an arched passage, leading directly through the
centre of the building to some place in the rear of it. There were a
great many people coming and going through this passage way; so many, in
fact, as to make it evident that it was a public thoroughfare. Rollo
asked his uncle George where that passage way led to.
"It leads to the rear of the Horse Guards," said Mr. George, "where
there is a great parade ground, and through the parade ground to Hyde
Park. I have studied it out on the map."
"Let us go through and see the parade ground," said Rollo.
"No," said Mr. George, "not now. We had better go some morning when the
troops are parading there. We must go now and look out our lodgings."
So Mr. George and Rollo walked on, and about half an hour afterwards Mr.
George engaged lodgings in a place near the junction of the Strand with
Charing Cross, called Northumberland Court.