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I think it fully sustains its reputation, little nasty narrow streets with squalid sickly looking children playing with all sorts of mud and filth, old men and women in the most disreputable looking clothes and usually drunk or selling matches. Every where here you see the most miserable specimens of humanity selling these penny boxes of matches. Then the boot blacks will follow you for half a block trying to entice you to have your boots blacked; I usually escape as mine are patent leather.

When we brought our trunks up to the house where we are stopping whe went to the Am. Exchange to see if there were any letters for us; when we [[strikethrough]] ya [[/strikethough]] came out to get into the cab there was a rusty looking drunkard of about 35, [[strikethrough]] po [[/strikethrough]] hanging around; when we got in he politely closed the door for us and told us that he would come up to the house and do the baggage [[strikethrough]] as it [[/strikethrough]] for us, that is he would carry it up stairs for us. Well we were at least 2 miles from the house but that [[strikethrough]] dt [/strikethrough]] did'nt seem to trouble him any, he ran along with us keeping up with the team all the way and when we got there he was standing ready to open the door of the carriage and had rung the bell. It was very funny to see him, we had five or six trunks

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on top of the cab and all the way up we would see these men start and run after us they had a quite a lot of races on the way but they all finally gave it up but this man and another and they got the job.

It seems that that is a regular occupation for these old innebriates here; when they see a cab with luggage on it they just follow it till it stop and then offer to carry it up stairs for you. You often see a cab going along with a lot of trunks on it and 3 or 4 of the things running after it at the top of their speed. Well a fellow sees some queer sights travelling about Europe if you only keep your eyes open for them.

But if I stay here long I shall be as thick headed as the natives and that is something that would be perfectly frightfull for I think that the English are the most block headed crew that I ever met. This beastly fog seems to work into their brains and make them as stupid as an owl in the daytime.

Well I think I have [[strikethrough]] layed [[strikethrough]] laid the english out enough for once and so will try to write something decent the rest of