THE LONDON POLICEMAN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 83, 22 May 1908, Page 5

THE LONDON POLICEMAN.

There are not many colonials who know the London policeman, and those who do know him, for obvious reasons, are not likely to boast of his acquaintance. According to some accounts in the London newspapers, however, he is a man who is worth knowing well. He is, indeed, one of the most remarkable men in the world. He carries a vast store of ■ artificial learning in his head, and he has to touch the fringe of several learned professions. But it is his inexhaustible fund of tact and his wonderful knowledge of human nature that win him fame. His tact has lately been put to a severe strain. The suffragettes have placed him in a delicate position, in which all his resource has been called up. He has had to deal with a lady of distinction who, for the sake of her political principles, clings tightly to street railings, or flings herself on to the pavement. He has learned to unclasp her fingers from the railings with gentle force, and to raise her from the ground with a smile on his face. If she struggles on the way to the station, he takes her by the arm and quietly forces her along, while he makes her believe that she is going of her own free will. Some time ago one policeman, more tactful, more good-hearted, and more deeply versed in human nature than most of his fellow members of the force, gave a suffragette her freedom for a few minutes, in order that she might adjust her bonnet before her photograph was taken for the illustrated newspapers. The London policeman car- ; ries with him a bewildering quantity !of solid knowledge. The parts he is sometimes called upon to play in the great city are amazing. Down in the East End he is learning Yiddish, and he is often able to speak French, Spanish, German and other languages, i He is a lawyer, a doctor, a fireman, a free-lance detective, and a gentleman who at all times helps the infirm, the aged, the young, and the members of the weaker sex. With the same placid confidence he has to pacify a | crving baby, and quell a riot. His life, apparently, has no official valueHe is coldly instructed what to do, for instance, in the case of the use of ; an infernal machine. His instructions are : " Quench or disconnect iuse, if : burning ; pl?ce under water ; remove to a safe place." At one hour he ; deals with domestic trivialities, at the : next with the great tragedies of life. • There is no public servant who is more often made the butt of cheap ! wit, and there is no public servant I who gives more faithful service.