The National tribune., 1883-11-22

slender soldierly. self-respecting old man-who
led us about the garden to get the best points of
view for the ruins This had been an austere
friars' monastery, he said down to the reign of
Henry the Eighth. Their, at the dissolution of
the monasteries the king gave the friars' prop
erty to-ene Edmund and his wife Philippa. The
old man did not know to what family this Ed
mund and his Philippa belonged, but presently
he showed us their initials E. p, cut in stone in
many places. Being kind souls and grateful to
heaven for their kind fortune in becoming heirs
to the rich frairs, this Edmund and Philippa
renewed under the shadow of the ruined
monastery twelve tiny cottages and one small
chapel, all under one roof and fanking a square
court. Such a little colony was an institution
older than the monastery Itself, for in the
twelfth century the Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem had founded here charity for the
maintenance OF six old soldiers, five old
gantleman's servants and one chaplain"
The friars, who followed the knights in
the possession of the place, maintained the
charity; Edmund and his Philippa renewed
it in their turn; now their heirs are faith
fui to the trust. Each cottage has two
little rooms, one above another, and the chap
lain performs service in the little chapel, which
bears interior decorations in the form of the
arms of the Knights and of the family who
have maintained the little colony since the
Reformation. The roof and floor date back to
the earliest foundation-to the twelfth century,
and are more ancient than any other part of
the establishment except the kitchen, where
supper for the community was formerly cooked
under huge stone chimney. Apart from the
chapel service. the chapain's only other duties
seem to be administering the sacrament to the
dying and reading the funeral service over the
dead in this littlescommunity. 1t must be q
narrow groove for his mind, poor man, for the
duties of his parishioners are few and simple.
a PICTURE OF OLD AGE.
Their lives in this world are already lived
! when they come to vegetate through their re-
manning monotonous days In his little pasture.
| The only counsel they need from him is in
preparation for the next life, concerning
| which, perhaps, his knowledge is not more
definite than their own. There are no we'd
| dings here, no christenings, no confirmations-
| only the end Of life and the simple duty of
/ peaceful living and grateful remembrance of
| the dead Edmund and Philippa. To one of the
old soldiers is intrusted little share of response
| bility for reporting illness or death among the
colony and seeing that attendance at chapel IS
! regular and punctual among all such as are
well. and he receives the title OF corporal and
| a triding addition to his weekly allowance.
| Our old man is the present corporal, being
| the oldest in his sound mind among EN- all. -
The inhabitants live to great age, mostly
over ninety; sometimes to hundred and
their wives sometimes survive them: but this
ID Il SESStb 5ofKDNT ioT biit poOF Oiu 6Ohic1
go to the w0rkhouse then. They are admitted to
the colony only as unavoidable appendages to
their husbands, and have no personal claim
upon the charity; hence they must not occupy
a cottage which tho husbands death has left
vacant for some other aged couple. 1t was q
fine crisp autumn afternoon when we watched
the golden sunlight fade from the ivy-coyered
ruins; looked into the chapel, which is sundergo-
ing simple, sensible restoration; peeped into the
now abandoned common kitchen; caught a
glimpse Of an old soldier reading aload to his
old wife in their tiny living room, with the
simple preparations for their evening meal, all
made in readiness for the common sun dial to
register six, and drove away rich in the bless
ings OF the corporal.
Is it progress, after all, which gives Us the
toiling women of Merthyr-Tydvil and tht
British pauper as the product of the nineteenth
century, instead of Hereford Cathedral and thu
friendly charity Of the Knights OF St. John o
Jerusalem, which we possess. alas only because
time has spared them from the simpler life o
the twelfth century? FIX.