Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-01-07
ChristOpher North.

tuc IA AHS VI COlleRe cuhlr, QOI DeIWceQ
the covers of a book. He was q charac-
ter rather than a thinker; a great,
handsome, healthy, whole-hearted, gen
erous, heroic soul; natural noble;
one of whom-reading his life, and the
good stories of him, and his works too
we may imagine krishna as saying to
Arjoon, He my servant is dear unto
me who is free from enmity, the friend
OF all nature; he is my beloved of whom
mankind are not afraid" Probably they
alone who saw Christopher North amid
these lakes and mountains ever really
saw him at all "More than one per-
son." wrote Harriet Martineau. "has
said that Wilson reminded them OF the
first man Adam, so full was his large
frame Of vitality, force and sentence.
His tread seemed to shake the ground,
and his glance to pierce through stone
walls; and as for his voice, there WAS
no heart that could stand before it. In
his hours of emotion he swept away all
hearts whithersoever he would. Not
less striking was it to see him in mood
OF repose, as he was seen when steering
the packet boat that used to pass be-
tween Bowness and Ambleside before
the steamers were put upon the lake.
Sitting motienless, with his hand upon
the tiller, in the presence of journey
men and market women, his eye appar-
emily looking beyond everything into
nothing, and his mouth closed above
his beard, as if he meant never to speak
again, he was quite as impressive and
immortal an image as he could have
hoa,, 70 ha a. 10 Af l.; ,11,sl-
osophy class, or to the comrades of his
jovial hours. He was known, and with
reverence and affection, beside the
trout stream and the mountain tarn,
and amidst the deep gloom of Elleray,
where he could not bring himself to let
sprig be Topped that his wife had
loved. Every old boatman and young
angler, every hoary shepherd and prim:
tive dame, among the hills of the dis
trict, knew him and enjoyed his pres
ence. He made others happy by being
intensely happy himself, when his
brighter moods were on him; and when
he was mournful no one desired to be
gay. He has gone with his Joy and his
grief, and the region is so much darker
in thousand eyes" Miss Martineau
oCSaLAO q POCk WACaCNCL ouC WAOeO
about the professor, whose health she
drank in the first spring breath, and
pledged him in the sparkling thunder
shower. " Blessings above I'LL on
Christopher North" she exclaims again !;
1--WE cannot but wonder whether he
ever cast thought upon such as we
are when breasting the breeze on the
moors, or pressing up the mountain
side, or watching beside the trout
stream. 80. Whether he is now con-
scious OF the fact or not, his spirit has
come many time, while his tired body
slept, and opened our prison doors, and
led us long flight over mountain and
moor, lake and lea, and dropped us
again in our beds. refreshed aud
soothed, to dream, at least, of having
felt tie long'lost sensation of health
once more"
Elleray Cottage, with its several
roofs shelving away there in the ulster
of the loveliest lichens, each roof with
its own assortment OF doves and pigeons
preening their pinions in the morning
pleasaurc,,' remains, and over II
the tutelary sycamore - that syca-
more of which Christopher wrote,
Never in this well-wooded world,
not even in the days of the Dru-
ids, could there have been such an
other tree; it would be easier to sup
pose two Shakespeares.' Here Wilson
passed the eight brig htest years OF his
life; to this spot he brought his bride
for the never waning honeymoon, and
though the loss of his little fortune by
the dishonesty Of an uncle compelled
him to leave this cottage (1S15) enough
was won back when eight years later he
was able to take up his summer quar-
tiers here again. "He was in posi-
tion,S writes his daughter, " once more
to take up his summer quarters in his
beautiful villa of El]eray, the place
which he loved above all others on
earth; and in the summer of 1928 we
find him there, with his wife and chill
dren again under the old roof-tree."
d" He was in the habit of sauntering the
whole day long among the woods and
walks of Elleray.' In one of those
fond letters of his to his wife, which
hardly bear printing, he says: "The
country now is in perfect beauty; and
I think of one who has been kind and
aucSllOuato hHu Sooi WAC w AnC ns aAA
hours. If l do not may the beauty of
nature pass away from mine eyes!' 1t
was years after when Jane passed away,
and sure enough with her the beauty
of Elleray. Sadly" writes the daugh-
ter, "comes the confession from his
lips of the dreariness which fell upon
him at Elleray, a place at one time as
enjoyable as paradise" He tried to go
there again, but when he slept at the
Bowness hotel "the silence and loneli-
ness of the night to him were not to
be borne He went off and saw Elleray
no more,
Christopher North, in the history Of
the lakes, occupies the place of Pros
pero; all that this region has known in
the way of pageants and revels is as
sociated with his wand. Of these the
most notable was that which occurred
on the occasion when Sir Walter Scott
and Canning came to be the guests OF
Mr.. Bolton, merchant, at Storr's Hall
on Windermere. The host threw his
house open to all the literary men
Wordsworth, Wilson, Southey, and the
rest-and they stayed there nigat and
AZ