Vol. VI No. 1 - Modernist Magazines Project

DOWN THE NILE
able fruit stand together with poor looking barrows selling off cheap
lines. Some of the better appointed stands are supported by shining
brass poles. These outshine their near rivals. During the busy dinner
hour there is a constant succession of customers buying the fruit. Here
are factory girls, attracted by cheap pears at twopence a pound. In
turn they bashfully ask for a "penn'orth please." The girls stroll away,
one hand protecting their hair from the wind, and the other containing
the bag of pears. They giggle as they pass the boys at the corner
of the street, and shrilly return flying compliments.
Nearly every street corner contains youths lounging against shopwindows,
doorposts, walls — anything capable of support. Wearing caps
and "chokers" they keep their hands thrust deeply into trousers pockets,
bawling out at one another, or scrutinise the passing crowd. It is when
a newspaper seller comes rushing along, and yelling out "twelve
o'clock" or "Star" that they become animated and are fired with a
new interest. They scan the news-sheet when it is bought, and discuss
the latest news with much zest and vigorous comments. Then there
is another relapse till the next edition of the paper appears, and no
prophet has yet arrived who can tell which way the wind will blow.
Nile Street in days gone by, as the oldest inhabitant will tell you,
also had its loungers, but they were more vicious than the modern
ones. They made the Nile a place of notoriety, where thieves' dens
abounded, and policemen hunted in couples. To-day things are not so
bad, but the dirty atmosphere does not seem conducive to the growth
of a mannerly, refined, class of individuals. The by-streets contain
the most tumbledown and ramshackle houses that ever disgraced the
living quarters of human beings. There are long lines of two-storey,
poverty-stricken dwelling places. Some are relieved from utter drabness
by little flower boxes or pots placed on the window-sill. In many
of the windows of the houses appear dirty curtains, making the outside
appearance look an unbroken area of gloom. The doors and window
sills have lost their last coat of paint, and the bricks of the walls show
the ravages of Time. There are many such streets leading out into
the Nile. They bring their huddled overcrowded flock of humanity
converging into its teeming thoroughfare. It is as if they were seeking
avenues of escape, or a relief from the congestion of a stuffy, stifling
existence.
The children seem the greatest problem round the Nile. You see