The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-12-31
A NEW YEARS STORY.
BY JOHN H. KELsoN.
CHAPTER I,

CHAPTER I,
Reposing in tha forest shade,
The sombre mansion stood,
Where met the tired and the brave,
The wicked and the good.
Around the little villsge church,
The great and lowty sleep;
Bene4 be spreading oak aud birch
The bending mouTners weep,
England is land of angles, and
every angle is a point of beauty. It
is also a land of conlrasts-Of ex-
$remes geographically, nationally,
and socially; and especially socially.
England, I love theel In thy Storm
beaten coasts, and thy tranquil
retreats; Thy mighty castles, and
thy lowly mOss-covered cottages;
in thy gorgeous palaces, and thy
MISREPRESENTATION novels; in thy
naughty, all-devouring princes, and
thy squallid, gutter-burrowing
paupers, 1 read the synopsjzed
history Of past humanity, and horo'
scope the future heaven and hell.
S tuated in the southeastern part
of the island, near the point where
the land thrusUs out into the Sea its
toughest and most acute angle, is
one of the loveliesJ tracts of country
on the island. In feudal times.
when William the Norman carved
up the country like sirloin Of beef,
and gave a fat slice to each Of his
faYOrite marauders, this choice cut
was placed upon the plate OF the
Duke of Somerset.
In the depths of a dense forest,
which covers several miles of
country, stands stately mansion,
built by one of the descendants OF
the illustrious house Of Somerset.
This structure is called Longleat
House. 1t is not a castle, but a
country seat. There is a great deal
of Roman in its architectural design.
The edlhce is from two to three
hundred feet long, about half as
wide, and rises seven stories above
the ground. 1t presents to the
beholder a grand and imposing
appearance. 1t iG said to contain
as many windows as there are days
in the year. All around the build
ing, standing above the cornice, and
inJeGsected with battlemenUS and
emDrasures, are human figures,
male and female, nine or ten feet
in height, cut from stone. But the
ten thousand storms which have
beaten upon their exposed forms,
have worn away the features and
rounded off the contours and out
lines; so that now, when seen in
daylight, they look like Faust's
wretches emerging from the sui
Dhurous pit; b IL in the still mid
night, when the pale moon sheds
her grey light upon the sOmbre but
majestic pile, they appear like the
grim shades of its departed Occu
pants, keeping sentry over the black
crumbling walls. The front en-
trance to the mansion faces east
ward, and i so wide that a carriage
might pass through the portal. A
flight of steps fifty or sixty in num-
Der, and twenty-five feet long, leads
to the door, which opens into a
spacious hail, the walls of which
are decorated with ancient armor,
rude implements Of early warfare,
and the Wondering trophies of
battle and the chase. At the back
is large paved courtyard sur
rounded by stables and coach houses.
In olden times, when each duke and
baron was a petty monarch, and
each shire a small kingdom; when
the inhabitants of each county were
yOemen and vassals, the stones of
this courtyard rang with the clatter
of war horses and shouts of brave
warriors whom the alarm bugle had
summoned to follow their Iege
lord against some neighboring
chieftain.
AS before stated, the mansion
stands in the midst of a dense
forest, which is enclosed by a high
fence. At the principal entrance
there is a wide gate leading to
graveled coach road, five miles in
Iength-the only road to the house.
At the period of which we write,
the forest abounded with game.
deer, hares, rabbits, pheasants, par
tridges-and the hunt and chase
were the chief pastime Of the duke
and his conYivial guests = kings,
princes and lords in times of peace.
just inside the gate was the lodge
Of the head keeper, very import
ant parsonage. He kept the keys,
and granted OF denied ingress to
the forest, as his duty or pleasure
directed. Subject to him were a
dozen or more under-keepeTs whose
duty it was to protect the game
from poaehers; to ramble through
the forest, day and night, with flint
lock blunderbus in hand, to prevent
trespassing upon the dueal do
main. Brave and rugged men they
were; exposed to hardship. cold
and storm, frequently engaged in
violent personal encounters with
poachers and other tresspasers.
whom they crossed in their ram
blings.
At the date when our story COM
mences, 1888, the Duke of Somerset