The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1883-11-03


hard, we lguomlniously failed to repress q
little blubbering.
Scenery in Wales
A tour ist In Wales thus sets down
some ideas Of his trip in the rugged,
beautiful land. Our first excursion
was to Conway, which has an old castle
built on great rock jutting out into
the Conway river. This castle was
built by Edward l in 1884, and is in a
very dilapidated condition, owing chic
fly to the many times it was besieged.
The grand old ruin. from its command
ing position at the entrance of the val
ley, has a most picturesque effect when
seen from the tops of the surrounding
heights. 1t is parallelogram with
eight round towers, most of which are
still standing, and which, like the walls,
are heavily draped with beautiful ivy,
To the north was the Great Orns Head,
with landLudno, the most fashionable
watering place in North Wales. at its
foot; to the east, the Vale of HARVEST.
with the narrow, silver ribbon of the
Conway winding in and out as far as
the eye conld reach; at the south, the
rugged peaks of the Welsh hills, with
Penmaenmawr standing as sentinel
on the seashore.
In Conway there are also other
scenes of interest. An old house
called ''Plas Manor' (Great Housed. is
where Queen Elizabeth spent some time.
The largest room in it is the brewing
room, paneled In oak that is black with
age. The furniture is also of oak, and
when we saw 1t, was adorned with the
weekly wash of one of the families that
live in the house, Up winding stair,
room is pointed out as the Queens
bedroom now occupied by an infant
school, presided over by miss of 10
years. 1t has a bed in one corner,
where any weary midget may take a
nap during school hoursl Such consid-
GRAFTON Of the children's comfort sur
passes that of our school boards.
In the church at Conway we saw the
tomb of Alderman Hopes, in the altar
floor. AS the tablet above him states.
he twas the father of twenty-seyen
children, and was the forty-first child
of his father" Fame may be achieved
in more waysthan one. In the church,
yard without, Wordsworth met the
little maid" whose quaint answer
suggested the poem, "We are Seven. ;,
Carnarvon Castle is two hours ride
from Conway, and the railroad rams
along the seashore, affording beautiful
views Of both land and water and of
the villages nestled in the quiet valleys,
This castle is much larger than the
Conway Castle, but is not 50 pictures
que, as it is in much better state of
preservation and has but little ivy on
its walls. The interest is drawn prin-
clpally to the Eagle Tower" where the
first Prince of Wales was born.
IL was, however on particularly fine
day that we started for Snowden, the
highest peak in England or Wales, 1t is
$3.50 feet high, and ON clear dayst
grand view of $50 miles on either hand
rewards the climber. The Cheshire
hills, a corner of Scotland, and a hill
in Ireland can be distinctly seen, but
there are few who are fortunate enough
to have such a treat owing to the
varlablencess Of the weather. We left
the train at Llanberrles, called the
"Chamounix of Wales,n and COM
menced the ascent, a climb of about
We and one half miles from this point,
over the toughest imaginable road. 1t
is composed of sharp stones from the
quarries thrown into the bed of a
brook.
1t marks the path and thus saves the
necessity of guide, but has no other
advantage. II was very bad, especially
for the fair ones" of our party. We
found little Welsh children always in
waiting to open gates and beg for
pennies" or, if particularly modest,
for ''ha'penny." Some little mites
certainly not over seven years, offered
TO guide usto the top of Snowden. Their
persistent clamor was silenced by one
of the party who addressed them in
Spanish. For moment they are puz-
zled, 1t was not English or Welsh,
and at last one of the little chaps said,
with an indignant air, "Dym Cymrogl'i
t'That is not Welshp') The linguist
was taken aback to find that her attain.
ments were supposed to be a bad at.
Tempt to speak the child's native
tongue.
Before we had walked far, our ''fint
day" had changed, the ram began
and the prospect was decidedly dis
couraging. But having read in the
guide books that often when it wa!
raining in the valleys it would cleal
most unexpectedly, we struggled OF
until we reached the halfway house.
NO hope awaited us there. The de
ISOLATION of the mountain side, looming
up black and threatening through the
fog, combined with the rain to dis
courage any further attempt.
Far below us we could see littl,
lake, the water so black and still as t,
suggest the idea of some monster wal
ting to receive into its depths any
taveler who, too venturesome, should
approach the edge of the precipic,
above. A lifting of the fog induced u!
to go on, and on arriving at the SUNNI
we found other tourists drenched anC
dripping like ourselves. Some hut
and huge cairn of rough stones mari
, the highest spot. A FIRE and some warn
tea soon revived us, so that we werI
even able to eat some of a huge loaf O
bread almost as hard as the rocks tina
composed the cairn. Beddgelert is
quiet little town, Boosting of name anC
fame from the faithful hound Gelert
the favorite of Prince Llewellyn. Til,
legend is familiar to all, how in hi
nasty anger Llewellyn shot the dog
thinking he had killed his child, ant
then found the babe unhurt by the sid,
of the wolf the hound had killed. 4
tree in the field marks the grave.