The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1880-12-04
LIFE IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY
HOUSE.

| you are asked TO come to one 4 tram Is
suggested, and you are told that a car.
riage will be at the station to meet you.
Somehow the footman manages to find
you out. At -, which is little sta
tion at which few people get out, had
hardly left the train when very respect
able-looking person, not footman,
stepped up to me and said, "Lord IS
carriage is waiting for you, sir" The
carriage and the footman and the coach
man were on the other side of the build
ing of course. My drive from the sta
tion to took quite rs long time as
it took me to come down by rail from
London, although we went at a grand
trot. The country was beautiful, stretch
ing off on both sides in broad fields and
meadows, darkened in lines by hedges,
and in spots by clumps of trees. The
roads were very narrow,-thcy seemed
rather like lancs,-and this effect was
increased by the high walls and hedges
on either side. Two carriages had
hardly room to pass in some places, with
careful driving. Being in Lord IS
wellknown carriage, was quite in state,
and the country folk, most Of them,
bowed to me rs went on; and oil
course / followed the apostolic injunc.
tion and condescendcd unto men OF low
estate.
ought to have said that the IS
are in deep mourning, Lord - hav-
ing lost his father and his sister and an
other near relative within nine months !:
and it was very kind of them to invite
me. was met at the door by 4 digni-
fed parsonage in black, who asked me
if would go uo to Lady IS room.
She welcomed me warmly, said that
Lord had been CALLED away for few
hours, and offered me tea from tiny table
at her side. And, by the way, you are
usually asked to come ut time which
brings you to 5 O'Clock tea and submits
YOU to feminine examination, before you
are turned loose,-as you soon arc
This also gives you an opportunity to
rub Off the rough edge of strangenesS
before you dress for dinner. Lady
IS own room was large and hung
with tapestry, and yet it was cozy and
home-like. The hall is large and square,
and the walls are covered with old arms.
The staircase is good, but not so grand
rs others that have seen; that at
-, for instance, where there was an
oriole window on the first landing
This one has no landing it is Of polish
ed oak, but is carpeted. Lady - is
very attractive and elegant woman,
sensible, sensitive, and with a soft, gen
tie way of speech and action, which is
all the more charming, as she is tall
Her tea was good. She talked we'll, and
We got on very satisfactorily. Presently
nurse brought in her two little daugh-
tiers. thought she must have approved
of her savage Yankee guest; for she en-
couraged them 10 come to me and sit
upon my knees and the mothers arc
shy about that. Soon in popped Lord
-, and gave me the heartiest welcome
that have received since | have heen
in England. He has altered somewha,
since he has been in New York isgrown
a little stouter, and avery little graycr ;
but is just the same frank simple fellow
as when you saw him. About O'Clock
I was asked If / would like to go up to
my room. He went with mean at.
tention which found general and di.
rectly "he had left me-" according to
the phrase here, very fine hammered
person, in dress coat and white tie
appeared, and asked me for my keys
l apprehended the situation at once, and
submitted to his ministrations. He did
everything for me except actually TO
wash my face and hands and put on my
clothes. He laid everything that could
need out "in wow," like Lord Dun
dreary's night shirts, opened and laid
out my dressing case, and actually turn
ed my stockings.
Dinner at s. | take in Lady -.
Butler, very solmn parsonage, but moi
stout or rcd-faced. Ihave seen no stou,
red-faced buffers since have been in
England. Dining-room, large and
handsome. Some good portraits. Gas
in globes at the walls candles on the
table. Dinner very good, Of COURSE
Menu written in pencil on porcelain
card, with the formula in gilt and 4
coronet. Indeed, the earl's coronet and
cipher was on the very cans that came
up to my room with hot water. was
inclined to scoff at this, at first as osten.
tatious; but after all, rs the things were
to be marked, how could il be done bet
tera After dinner, very pleasant chat
in the drawing-room until about clever
o'clock, when Lord - sent Lady
- to bed. She shakes hands on bid
ding me goodnight, and asks il half
past nine IS too early for breakfas, fol
me. / was tempted to say that it was,
and to ask il il couldn't be postponed
till ten but / didn't. The drawing
room, by the way, although it was hand
some and cheerful, was far inferior in
its show to a thousand that might be
found in New York, many of which, too,
are quite equal to il in comfort and in
tasteful adornment. Lord - and
sit up while and chat about old times
and the shooting on Long Island, and
when 60 to my room ! find that al
though am to stay but two days my
trunk has been unpacked and all my
clothes put into the wardrobe and the
drawers, and most carefully arranged as
IL were going to stay a month.
In the morning the same servant
comes, opens my window, draws my bed
curtain, prepares my bath. again lay:
out everything that need "in WOW,
turns my stockings, and in fact does
everything but actually bathe and dress
me, and all with a very pleasant and
cheerful attentiveness. At quartei
Il IL L..