Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-07-26
AROUND ST. DAVIDS HEAD.



W<,skussn.
a ecrrspondcnt Of the 7smes. writing
5rom So. David's Head, South Wales. says:
Few places are better worth visiting, ane
therefore, al course. few are less visited
than ST. Davies Head. The "Lsnd's End !"
Of Wales. Seen beneath use fass iasling
shadows Of night. e looks lonely and grim
enough 10 please either artist Or post. a. u
stands GAZING seaward from ne oicak Fem.
broke shore over the darSsuing waters OF
tie Irish channtl a. u wafching Tor the
rpnurrccflen OF that " drowned land of the
wertr about which the Bancroits and
Naeeaulays Of the thirteenth ceatnry
have prescfyed 80 many Wild legends.
INT who ever spares II & second thought,
Yorker, on hts first tour 70 Europe Il
routed up before daylight by HE room.
mate ito SEQ Wales and ireland both al
once ~ Up he struggles, still half asleep.
scramblre on deck inst In time 10 have a
bucket Of cold water emptied neatly into
HE shoes by some jealous swabbcr."
strains his eyes 10 make out the sbadowy
mass of Carnsore Point on the port beam,
tries hard 10 imagine that he sees the
outline CT Sc. David's Head on the
stArbosrd quarter, and goes to bed
again with comfortable sense OF
having done bis duty. but with no very
Distinct impressions either OF Ireland or OF
Wales. Ia rough weather. undoubtedly.
this famous promoniory Is one oil those
places which look best At 4 distance. Few
eailors would care 10 see 1t looming out
suddenly on their lee bow through the
cold gray dinness and flying spray OF q
wild March morning, a. the disabled vessel
drifts helplessly toward the spot where the
waves are breaking mast high in roaring
sheets Of foam, against the cliffs OF Ramsey
Isjet and the cragey sides Of those formi-
dable rocks which some local satirist--pre-
sumably dissenting piiot--bas nicknamed
ssTbe Bishop and Clerks, Yet this stern
headland lies close to one Of the finest bar.
bors In Britain viz. Milford Haven, which
IL already marked out BY sundry theorists
ne the Liverpool OF the future. and the port
Of those "monster passenger steamers"
which are TO run the tourists OF the twenti-
eth century IN less than five days across the
Atlantic.
such q bit OF coast as this would have
been invaluable thirty years ago as frontis-
piece for one Of the delightful songs so pop
ulnr at that time, in which everything goes
wrong and every one is made miserable,
the hero being invariably drowned, shot,
or hanged, and the heroine promptly dying
Of a broken heart after watching the per-
iormanes 10 It's close. But the public taste
has changed since then. and the model
" tragic song" OF the present day would
probably run somewhat as follows:
she watched her lovers bark 20 down
In the deplls Of the stormy main,
knd she wept 10 think Of her new tllk gown
All epOttei with spray and riIa.
Bui COW sat hgh on ine spreading oak
cob. I'm glad 10 be sqaaF with that bothersome gal
Whats always a-Inilkfn' Of meN"
But when you strike inland from these
desoiate shores among the wooded hills
that overhang the trim little town OF New
castle Enlyn, you see South Wales at It's
best. Look how the tiny rivers glance and
glitter between their grassy banks, and
how the windows Of that neat little white
villa that peers out from the dark woods
fash into sudden fire al the first ray al sun
rise, before which the lowering mist is
already beginning to roll away from the
distant mountains. Two or three fair
haired children, sturdy aud ruddy as
Byron's "young Dar5arians," watch you
VITA round, wondering eyes from yonder
cottage door. A Uncovered waoo:, comes
jogging along the road, driven by brlsk
old Welsh marketwoman with mans hat
surmolnting her hale brick-red face. Alto
Setbsr geediy region. peopled with sim.
pie and kindly ,o,as. D. D.. neware OF ask
jng them too many questions about their
own affairs, for they are apt 70 be shy OF
strangers. and have strong objection TO
correspondents. In these parts,
however, you may at times find it hard TO
get along without some knowledge OF that
quaint cid Cyrrian tongue In which |
Taliessin sang and Hoel Dha gave law. |
The rosy less OF whom you ask your way
II crossroad replies only with daz- !
zling show OF white teeth aud "Dym
(no English). The CHEEKY
old dame who gives you share Of her |
brown loaf and homemade butter greets
you In tumble of Welsh and broken
English as puzzling US an explanatory note.
In every church you find Welsh psrson
Welsh sermon. Yor go up 10
4 printed notice on wall AVID find 1t
couehed in the language Of Madoc and
over which you look as wise as
rou can should any one be watching you.
In word. these remote hooks are sill
What England itself was fifty years ago,
When the British farmer believed all
- ne e,.Ler "psrlyyooing
e.el anmcnv or "heatheu Turks" o."
,sgarded steamers ana ray ,.,th the
same wono'' .re wherewith sismese
peasan.. cocks upon n genuine white eie'
bhant.
seen far away on the eastern horizon, in
lhe purple splendor OF early morning or
the golden glory OF sunset. those shadowy
hills from which the Teify and the Towy
leap downward to the sea make as goodly
a picture rs the Detachable Mountains"
Of Bunyan. But when once you are fairly
among them they assume widely differ
ent appearance. Fer time, indeed, the
grimness OF tins stern panorama is hall re-
deemed by the fresh green of the clustering
leaves that fringe the road a. it winds up,
up, up, disclosing with every turn wider
and wider expanse Of wood and stream
aud meadow ir below, tall the whole land
seems TO lie outspread beneath you, framed
IN the misty blue OF the far-on sea. But
rs you ascend oil the brightness, freshness,
and beauty Of the summer landscape below
seem 10 shrink away before the gaunt desc
lat,on Of the ancient mountains above.
The graceful trees, the clump, OF green
bushes, the brilliant wild flowers, the fresh
grass itself, forsnke you one by one IS you
mount higher aud higher. Your path
grows rugged and broken. winding among
browning rocks and up and down bare,
stony ridges, gashed every here and there
with gaping clefts, around which the
red dust and gravel lie Ike blood
clotted on wound. And now the air
becomes chill and raw, and the sinking
sun is overcast with leaden clouds, and
the dreariness OF the desolate earth beneath
seems rejected in the gray. sullen sky over
head. Far as the eye eau reach there Is no
sign (saye ene) that any living thing has
g.. ne, ,ssratAd thesa volesi..sss solitudes,
and that enc Is grim token indeed. As
YOU stride forward along the bleak miisiue
rour foot suddenly ....rikes soGetpfng white
and smooth aud shining. Il Is the skull Of
. sheep, which, lost upoa these painless
mountains, has dropped down here to die,
and high above you circle on their VAST
black wings the foul carlton birds taai
have picked Its bones, vanishing at length
with umirous shrieks into the cold, white
mist which Is fast gathering around you.
Here II was that In the grim old days o.
Norman England tragedy was enacted
n which history has almost forgotten, bu
(which IL well worth recalling. On
bright, cold morning In the early sprinl
n the great Earl Of Hereford, Warden OF th
Marches on the Welsh border, fnds tim
hang so heavily on bis hands that he mus
really 20 out and amuse himself BY KILN
something or somebody, no matter what o
whom. Uuluckiiy there are no Saxon
near enough to be robbed or murdered, an
ali hts Normsn aeiVhhors are relatives q