The Penn's Grove record., 1884-12-13
House

A writer from London says; it would
be ancient history to so many of my
| readers to write of the house Shakes
peare was born in that 1 will not ruL
the risk of being quite 50 tiresome,
There is an idea prevailing that the
three antique ladies who have the house
and museum in charge are the last liv.
ing descendants Of the great poet
family. This is fiction, unfortunately,
but if the old ladies have not in point
of fact any blood relationship TO the
Shakespeare family, they are thoroughly
saturated with the conviction that the
little house on Stratford on Avon is,
with the events that have made it fam.
Gus, the one important and imposing
spot on the face of the earth; that it is,
in fact. the axis around which every
thing else revolves. They also believe
firmly in the greatness of their " po-
sition as guardians of these world-reY-
cred relics, and, joking aside, It is one
Of great trust, and probably could not
be condded to more Jealous hands.
The greatest care is taken that no &C.
cident should occur. Gentlemen arr
not permitted to bring a lighted cigar
over the threshold, a match is never
lighted in the house, o any kind OF
light or fire introduced. The building
is closed at dusk to prevent the neces
sity of the former, and is heated by
steam. which is conveyed through pipes
from half a block away. The houses
on either side of the Shakespeare birth.
place were torn down a few years since
to prevent danger from fire.
During the tourists session hundreds
of people daily make this pilgrimage,
and hundreds and thousands Of times
probably the three little old ladies in
their grim black silk gowns, with vel
vet spencers and what the English cal
''dress-caps" ornamenting their scant
locks, repeat the explanatory remarks
to group after group of visitors, begin
ming with ''Be kind enough to place
umbrellas and walking sticks upon this.
the old table Of the poets father, next
turning your attention to this, the liv'
ing-room of the family, unchanged il
any respect since the childhood Of the
great author. After the father Of tue
poet died this room was rented for
butcher-shop, which accounts for the
defacing of the floor; look, also, at the
chimney with its corner seats; here
William Shakespeare, IS a lad, doubt.
less little dreaming of the great future
before him, often sat on a winters ev'
ening after his return from the village
school. Visitors are permitted to sit
mament in the chimney seat"-this il
tones at once solemn and pa|tronizing
1--WE next have the second or best room
in the house, and off OF it IA poets
bedroom, but a poor place, ladies and
gentlemen, to shelter the king of intel
lects.
And so from room to room. While
our party is in the poets so-called bed
room, l hear the second old lady, who
is evidently just beginning the tour
with a company, chanting the UTaclang-
ing refrain word for word as our old
lady dld at that point, and as We de-
scend the narrow, crooked staircase,
after seeing the long upper room which
has the autograph of Sir Walter Scott
cut with a diamond upon the window
pane, we run against the third of the
weird sisters Just as she is saying: But
a poor place, ladies and gentlemen, to
shelter the king of intellects."
The Shakespeare house is like two
houses, now that there is a partition
wall cutting it directly through the
center from garnet to cellar or ground
floor, which was put there ''when the
poets father met with reverses and
rented part of the house as an iNn."
This is now called the museum, where.
in are collected the various relics Of
Shakespeare, his family, and a few IN
teresting objects pertaining to his time,
notably the form or desk from the vii
lage school the poet attended, and
vouched for by the best authorities
about Stratford as authentic. Every
smallest object is rellgiously guarded
as something sacred. and in noticing
this care and solicitude n cannot but
bless the happy chance which awakened
these sleeping old villagers to a realiza'
ton of the treasures in their midst.