Kensington, Notting Hill, and Paddington / With Remembrances of the Locality 38 Years Ago

Transcribed from the 1882(?) Griffiths & Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries for allowing their copy to be used for this transcription.
WITH
Remembrances of the Locality 38 Years Ago .
BY AN OLD INHABITANT.
PROFITS OF THIS EDITION GIVEN TO THE BAZAAR FUND FOR THE NEW ORGAN AT WESTBOURNE GROVE CHAPEL.
LONDON: Printed by Griffiths & Co., “Paddington Mercury” Office, 58, Porchester Road, W.
I have thought it would be interesting to you to know something about the locality in which you live, as it was in times gone by.
The changes have been marvellous, but not more than many others within my recollection.
I knew the time when gas was not used, but when streets and shops were lighted with oil lamps. When no police guarded our streets, but watchmen paid their half-hourly visits crying out “past 11 o’clock, &c., and a starlight night, &c.”
I remember when no omnibuses ran, and cabmen sat by the side of their fares.
When 4-horse coaches ran to Greenwich, Kensington, and other suburban places.
When the only way to obtain a light was to strike a flint on a piece of steel, and catch the sparks on tinder, and to puff at the tinder till it lighted a brimstone match.