The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-04-24
SHAKESPEARE AND STRATFORD

Happily to the stroller in Stratford
every association connected with him Is
gentle and tender His image. as it rises
there, is of smiling boyhood, or sedate
and benignant maturity; always either
Joyous or serene, never passionate, or
turbulent, or dark. The pilgrim thinks
of him as happy child at his fathers
fireside; as a wondering school-boy in
the quiet, venerable close of the old
Guild Chapl, where still the only sound
| that breaks the silence is the chirp Of
birds or the creaking of the church vane;
as a handsome, dauntless youth, sporting
| by his beloved river or roaming through
field and forest many miles about; as the
| bold, adventurous spirit, bent on frolie
and mischief, and not ayerse to danger,
leading, perhaps, tue wild lads of his
village in their poaching depredations on
the park of Charlecote; as the lover
strolling through the green lanes OF
Shottery, hand in hand with the darling
honeysuckle breathed ont its fragrant
heart upon the winds of night. and over
head the moonlight, streaming through
riffs of elm and poplar, fell on their
pathway in showers of shimmering silver
and, last of all, az the illustrious poet,
rooted and secure in his massive and
shining fame, loved by many, and vener-
ated and mourned by all, borne slowly
through Stratford church yard, while
the golden bells were tolled in sorrow,
and the mourning lime trees dropped
their blossoms Oh his bier, to the place
of his eternal rest. Through all the
scenes incidental to his experience the
worshipper of Shaspeare's genius may
follow him every step of the way. The
old foot path across the fields TO Shottery
remains unchanged. The wild flowers
are blooming along it margin. The
white blossoms of the chestnut hang
over it. The green meadows through
which it winds are thicbly sprinkled with
the gorgeous scarlet of the poppy. The
hamlet Of Shottery is less than q mile
from Stratford, stepping westward to-
ward the sunset; and there, nestled be
meath the eims and almost embowered in
vines and roses, stands the cottage in
which Anne Hathaway was wooed and
won. 1t is even more antiquated in ap-
pearance than the cottage of Shakespeare,
and more obviously relic of the distant
past. 1t is built of wood and plaster,
ribbed with massive timbers, crossed
and visible all along its front, and cover
ed with a roof Of .hatch. 1t fronts east
wafd, presenting Its southern end to the
road. Under its caves, peeping through
embrasures cut in the thatch, are four
tiny easements, round which the ivy
twines, and the roses wave softly in the
wind of June. The northern end of the
structure is higher than the southern,
and the old building, originally divided
into two tenements, is now divided into
three. In front of it is struggling ter
race and large garden. There a is com
Portable air of wildness, yet not of neg
lect, in all its appointments and sur
roundings. The place is still the abode
of labor and lowliness. Entering its
parlor you see a stone floor, wide fire.
place, a broad, hospitable hearth, with
coy chimney corners, and near this an
old wooden settle, much decayed but
still seryiceable, on which Shakespeare
may often have sat, with Anne at his
side.-Harpcrs' Magazine.