Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-07-16
An English Village,


The village streets entertained us
greatly from the outset with their per-
petual though tranquil animation; the
moving figures of men, women and
children; the ever-open doorways and
bright fresides; the flowers in every
window; the silent, sunny spaces by
the roadside; and the coming and going
OF wagons, carriers vans, and coaches.
The principal shops were the butch
er's," the tea-grocer's," the "green-
grocer and poulterer's," the BAKERS"
the dairyman's," and the draper
and meIcer's." Around these promi-
ncnt trades people circied few lesser
lights; a cobbler, who worked most
laboriously in his doorway. fanked by
two grimy apprentices, and with per-
petusl background of tail wife and
clamorous children; the tailor, who
occupied the neighboring house, and
stitched in fine old kitchen furnished
with Chippendales; he sat upon table
in deep old window fairly overhung
with flowers, and being very old man,
brought his eyes perilously near the
needle at every stitch. Sometimes
pa.sers-by would tap On the window
pane, and then bring their heads in at
tho always-open door.
"How tee, John Timbs?' we would
hear them saying.
"On the CO." from tie tailor, who
never turned a muscle toward them.
We wondered often, seeing his intense
application, whether the demand was
greater than the supply; bat oil over
the village his stitching was famous,
and o good pile Of corduroys and waist
coats was always waiting to be distrib-
uted.
Tie leading trades-people wore an
air OF great respectability; their shops
were trim and tine, and their customers
usually deferential. This attitude OF
superiority was the great difference be-
tween London shop keepers and them
solves; except when somo one obviously
belonging to he "gentry" appeared,
the shop Keep rs tone was lofty; his
wife and daue .ers usually serving in
the shop, won address the customers
with various degrees of familiarity ::
"Well, now, Mrs. Bunting, what for
you to-day" or, "Well, Jane, what 'ee
bee, sent for, my gal?' or "How do
you do, Elizabeth Wills !? Have zee come
for something warna this weather."
These remarks would DO accompanied
| by q good-humored coaGescension,
which occasionally encouraged the Gus
toner to sit down and rest O while be-
tween purchases, and possibly enter
into family details. It is hard TO char
acterize all this. Differing subtly from
| the intercourse in American country
| CO. ~ l,nln ma l. ~ nn nc
ton and response; our never failing
interest - called by the satirical curios-
ity; oure radiness to be astonished or
amused. The English country man or
woman possesses but slight faculty for
any such expression or emotion; grave
facts are received with an unrutfied
calm, and grief and Joy alike seem
robbed of all excitement; but there is q
ceit tam intensity ia their brevity and
quiet utterances not without its dram
attic force, and critical moments arc
sometimes pathetic from their very ST.
lence.
The shops we're ranged in the two
| principal streets hard by the market
| place. The butchers, as is customary
throughout England, was very open
looking building, the butcher himself
usually visible on the door step, and
all the best meats hung withc ut, ex ,ctly
as in the shops Of Chaucer's day, or
that chaotic period before the ex-
change was established to give system
to tradea-people and purchasers; the
Diapers had one buiging window, and
a loud bell over the door; and the bak-
er's window was principally filled with
! x,1,in1, fnrn,al on
griovous lure for the children Of the
neighborhood That there was always q
u row of little marks on tho panes
above the dangerous confeetions, and
one never approached the bakers with.
out sending flock of Juveniles flying
in'various directions. The shops were
interspersed with houses and inns,
nearly all OF which were whitewashed
and matched. Many of the buildings
were medieval; some had curious Old
porches, with seats on either side, ami
u bit of tagged court, here and there
appeared tho peaked roofs and tiny
windows Of Henry the Seventies day,
and the sixteenth and seventeenth cen
turtles had furnished many models.
IN the humber district every door stood
open, morning, noon, and night, SO
that, going up and down the street, one
could catch glimpses of succession of
interiors, all arranged much after the
same fashion, all characterized by deep
Willow.seats With high narrow case
ments, giving the rrettiest background
to tho stone Tagged kitchens, with a
bit OF muslin curtain, and always the
added grace of flowers. We used t.
th;nh We had never seen in any part OF
the woi!d SO many flowers and children
both seemed to grow equal Y calelesslv
every doorway OVERLOOKED with little
people, harc-ariucj and baro ncclC /,
but never bArefooted; and every window
was blooming with flowers and green
with ferns.
Away mp At tho end OF tbs village
street WAS the forge, always open, buoy
and cheerful, its shadows giving Rem
brandt effect TO the angle of the
road in which it stood, and It's lumi
} nous center casting out lurid CLEANS in
which the du>ky farriers coull be seen
at their work, while outside Was sure to
be y group of idlers about the horse
waiting to be shod old mon, in smoch-