sure it must be open to the public, because all sorts of persons must have occasion to go there continually, to transact business; but I do not suppose there would be much to see inside. There would be a great many tables and desks, and a great many clerks and monstrous big account books, and multitudes of people coming and going continually; but that would be all.”
“I should like to go and see them,” said Rollo.
“Well,” said Mr. George, “perhaps we will look in some time when we are going by on our way to the Tower or to the Tunnel. But now look down just below the Custom House and see the Tower.”
Rollo looked in the direction which Mr. George indicated; and there he saw upon the bank of the river, a little below the Custom House, rising above the other buildings in that quarter of the town, a large, square edifice, with turrets at the corners. This building was surrounded with other edifices of a castellated form, which gave the whole the appearance of an extended fortress.
“That,” said Mr. George, “is the famous Tower of London.”
“What is it famous for?” said Rollo.
“I can’t stop to tell you about it now,” said Mr. George. “It was built originally as a sort of fort to defend the city. You see, the place where the Tower stands was formerly the lower corner of the city; and there was a wall, beginning at the Tower, and running back all around the city, and so down to the water again at the upper end of it. Do you see St. Paul’s?” added Mr. George, turning half round and pointing.
“Yes,” said Rollo; “but it is pretty smoky.”
“You can see,” said Mr. George, “from the position of St. Paul’s, where the old wall went. It passed some distance back from St. Paul’s, and came down to the water some distance above it. All within this wall was the old city of London; and the Tower was built at the lower corner of it to defend it.
“Do you see any reason,” continued Mr. George, “why they should place the Tower at the lower end, rather than at the upper end, of the city?”
“No,” said Rollo, “I do not see any reason in particular.”
“The reason was,” said Mr. George, “that what they had reason to guard the city against was the danger of an attack from enemies coming up the river in ships from the sea; and so they placed the Tower below the city, in order to intercept them. But now the city has spread and extended down the river far below the Tower, and back far beyond the old wall; so that the Tower is, at the present time, in the midst of an immense region of streets and warehouses, and it is no longer of any use as a fortification. It is too high up.”
“What do they use it for, then?” said Rollo.
“It is used by the government,” said Mr. George, “as a sort of strong box, to keep curiosities, treasures, and valuables of all sorts in, and any thing else, in fact, which they wish to have in safe and secure custody. They keep what are called state prisoners there.”
“Can we go in the Tower,” said Rollo, “and see all these things?”
“Yes,” said Mr. George, “we can see the treasures and curiosities; but I believe there are no prisoners there now.”
Just then Rollo heard a rapping sound upon the stone of the sidewalk near him. He looked round to see what it was. There was a blind man coming along. He had a stick in his hand, which seemed to be armed at the lower end with a little ferule of iron. With this iron the blind man kept up a continual rapping on the flagstones as he slowly advanced. The iron produced a sharp and ringing sound, which easily made itself heard above the thundering din of the carriages and vans that were rolling incessantly over the bridge, and served as a warning to the foot passengers on the sidewalk that a blind man was coming. Every one hearing this rapping looked up to see what it meant; and, perceiving that it was a blind man, they moved to one side and the other to make way for him. Thus, though the sidewalk was so crowded that a person with eyes could scarcely get along, the blind man, though he moved very slowly, had always vacant space before him, and advanced without any difficulty or danger.[B]
“Think of a blind man in such a crowd as this!” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said Mr. George.
“And he gets along better than any of the rest of us,” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said Mr. George, “so it seems.”
“The next time I wish to go through a crowd,” said Rollo, “I mean to get a cane, and then shut my eyes and rap with it, and every body will make room for me.”
“Look round here a minute more,” said Mr. George; “there is something else that I wish to explain to you. You see there are no bridges below this, though there are a great many above.”
“Yes,” said Rollo; “and how do they get across the river below here? Are there ferry boats?”
“I think it likely there are ferry boats down below,” said Mr. George. “At any rate, there are plenty of small boats which any body can hire. They are rowed by men called watermen.
“’Bound ‘prentice to a waterman, I learned a bit to row.’”
“What poetry is that?” said Rollo.
“It is part of some old song,” said Mr. George. “Look down the river and you can see these boats cruising about among the shipping.”
“Is that the way they get across the river below here?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said Mr. George; “and then there is the Tunnel besides. They can go under the river through the Tunnel if they please, about a mile and a half below here.”
“Is that the reason why they made the Tunnel,” said Rollo, “because they could not have any bridge?”
“Yes,” said Mr. George. “It would have been a great deal cheaper and better to have made a bridge; but a bridge would have interfered with the shipping, and so they made a tunnel underneath.”
“I never knew before,” said Rollo, “why they made the Tunnel.”
“Yes,” said Mr. George, “that is the reason. It was a very difficult and expensive work; but I believe it proved a failure. Very few people use it for crossing the river, though a great many go to see it. It is a curious place to see. But now let us go across the bridge and see what is on the other side.”
Mr. George and Rollo had to stand several minutes on the curbstone of the sidewalk before they could find openings, in the trains of vehicles which were moving to and fro over the bridge, wide enough to allow them, to pass through to the other side. At length, however, they succeeded in getting across; and, after walking along on the upper side of the bridge for some distance farther, until they had nearly reached the London end of it, they stopped and looked over the parapet down to the water.
Of course their faces were now turned up the river, and the view which presented itself was entirely different from that which had been seen below. Immediately beneath where they were standing, and close in to the shore of the river, they witnessed a most extraordinary spectacle, which was formed by a group of small and smoky-looking steamers, that were hovering in apparent confusion about a platform landing there. The decks of the steamers were all crowded with passengers. Some of the boats were just coming to the land, some just leaving it,
