Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-09-23
AOMEWARD BOUND.
A Charming Letter From Miss Clara
Conway.
Memories ola Pleasant Summer
in Europe.
Ar So, september rs. lss2.

been TO- cross The sea-never,
never morel But to-day sea and sky
are blue as the blue Of a baby's
eyes" We are the happiest people
between earth and heaven. We sit
upon the decks in little groups, laugh
ing, chatting and discussing the
probability OF getting into port Mon
day night or Tuesday at latest
We are a tired set of travellers, very
tired, and if the sea had been the
least bit kind. we should have enjoyed
the long restful days upon the water.
But Sunday, Monday and Tuesday did
their best to make us miserable, and
we're crowned with the success which
their mean efforts didn't deserve. The
"Oh myl' ragged with a fury that is in.
describable, everybody had a bad case;
] had the worst; Peggy was stricken
down too, and all through the days
her moans and groans helped mine to
rend the skies.
September l6, Saturday Morning.
A week ago to-day we were at anchor
off the northern coast OF Ireland
Some of US went ashore in little boats
and took jaunting cars for Green Gas
tie, a pretty gray ruin, whose sole ten
ants are an old woman and a goat.
Two weeks ago to day | stood beside
George Eliot's' grave in Highgate
Cemetery. A simple gray granite
shaft bears the inscription:
''0f those i'm Mortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence"
Here lies the body Of
eROeGR ELIOT
VARY ANN CROSS,
Born % Nov. 1873
Died % Dec. 1850
The next day, Sunday, we attended
service at Westminster Abbey, in the
south transept which includes the
Poets Corner" Eloquence can add
nothing to the lesson taught by this
silent meeting place of the dead Of
eight centuries, nor add TO the glories
of light and shadow 10 this great
temple of silence and reconciliation,
where the enmities Of twenty gene
r%ations lie buried"
when" says Addison, IT look up.
on the tombs ofthe great, every motion
OF envy dies 10 me; when ] read the
epitaphs Of the beautiful, every inor-
dinate desire goes out; when l meet
with the grief Of parents upon a tomb
stone, my heart melts with compassion;
when | see the tombs Of the
parents themselves, | consider the
vanity Of grieving for those whom we
must quickly follow. When | see
kings lying by the side of those who
deposed them, when | consider rival
wits placed side by side, or the holy
nun that divided the world with their
contests and disputes, | reflect with
sorrow and astonishment, on the little
competitions, factions and debates Of
mankind. When | read the several
dates Of the tombs, Of some that died
yesterday and some six hundred years
ago, | consider that great day when
we shall all Of us be contemporaries
and make u appearance together
Addison himself lies there now.
among the abbey's honored dead;
looking upon his tomb his words have
a fuller meaning. We miss in West.
minister Abbey many of the best loved
names in English literature, and find
instead, the names Of the sordid, the
selfish and the acknowledgement which
is written, as If in extenuation-King.
Walter Scott, C~oleridge, Shelley,
Keats, Burns and many more whom
the world delights to honor have no
memorial in the great abbey.
| enjoyed nothing more than the
manuscript room in the British
Museum and the Forster collection
at South Kensington. The latter
contains the originals of almost all of
Dickens novels, and one may sit and
read page after page as they came
fresh and warm from the writer's
hand and brain. Here arc also char.
acterlstic letters from our own Long
fellow and Emerson included in the
Forster gift to the museum. The
new buildings recently added to the
Kensington will contain the splendid
natural history collection now in
process OF removal from the British
Museum. The famous Elgin marbles
are worthy of the best that is said Of
them, Notwithstanding the dictum OF
Hawthorne to the contrary. Hayden
says. Were the Blgin marbles lost
there would be as great a gap in art ss
there would be in philosophy If New
ton had never existed" | need
scarcely tell you that these marbles
comprise the frieze and metopes OF
the Parthenon purchased BY the
British government in 1916. A model
Of the temple in the gallery shows
their original position.
The manuscript room contains the
originals Of "Grey's Elegy," written
in d fine, clear, legible hand, the neat.
est and prettiest by far Of all the
valuable manuscripts | saw. Here are
also Millions contract for the sale Of
Paradise Lost" manuscripts ofScott.
Ben Jonson, John Locke and MANY
others, and autograph letters of Cal
vim, Luther, Erasmus, Bacon, Newton.
Addison, Dryden aud Byron.
The Round Tower Of Windsor
Castle commands, | believe, as fine a
view Of English landscape as any SPOT
in all England. | have never looked
out upon a fairer scene than that
which met my eye that sweet, soft.
summer day at Windsor. The Queen
is making a stay at her castle OF Bal.
moral, in the Highlands. At such
times the Castle, the Chapel and a part
OF the Palace are open to visitors
Looking out from the tower of the
Castle may be seen, on the left. the
famous field Of Runnymede; near bv
the house in which Milton lived and
wrote Paradise Lost" On the right.
Stoke Pogis," one of the prettiest
spots 10 England, the scene Of "Grey's
Elegy,' aud his own burial place
Elton College is near by, and Slough J
the home Of Sir John Herschel. Its
said that the people Of this little towr.
disguised with this unpoetic name
and thinking they deserved something
better, proposed to change il for thai
OF Upton Royal" but somehow il
didn't change, whereupon ubiquitous
Punch suggested Stuck Upton Roy
al"
st. Georges Chapel, at Windsor. is
a little gem, resembling somewhat
Henry wills Chapel at Westminster.
1t contains, among other beautiful
tombs, that Of the late Prince I'm.