The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-02-06
SHAKESPEARE'S HOUSE
The Three Antique Ladies' Who
Have It in Charge.
The Explanatory Remarks Made TO
Group After Group OF Visitors
Every object Guarded
as Sacred.
TaH III A ,sr london Letter I

["H. II. A. s" London letter.
1t would be ancient history to so many Of
my readers to write of the house Shake
speare was born in that will not run the
risk Of being quite so tiresome There is an
idea prevailing that the three antique ladies
who have the house and museum in charge
are the last living descendants of the great
poets family. This is fiction, unfortunately,
but if the old ladies have not in point of
tact any blood relationship to the Shake
,peare family, they are thoroughly saturated
with the conviction that the little house on
Stratford-on-Avon is with the events that
have made it famous, the one important and
imposing spot on the face Of the earth; that
1t is, in fact, the axis around which every
thing else revolves. They also believe firmly
in the greatness of their own position as
guardians of these world -revered relics, and,
joking aside, it is one Of great trust, and
probably could not be confided to more zeal
Gus hands.
The greatest care Is taken that no accident
shoull occur. Gentlemen are not permitted
to bring lighted cigar over the threshold, a
match is never lighted in the house, nor any
kind of light or fire introduced. The build
ing is closed at dusk to prevent the necessity
of the former, and is heated by steam, which
Is conveyed through pipes from half block
away. The houses on either side of the
Shakespeare birthplace were torn down a
few years since to prevent danger from fire.
During the tourists session hundreds Of
people daily make this pilgrimage, and hun
dreds and thousands Of times probably the
three little old ladies in their grim black silk
gowns, with velvet spencers aud what the
English call "dress-caps" ornamenting
their scant locks, repeat the explanatory
remarks to group after group Of visitors, be-
ginning with "Be kind enough to place UNI
brellas and walking sticks upon this, the old
table of the poets father, next turning your
attention to this, the hving-room of the
family, unchanged in any respect since the
childhood of the great author. After the
father of the poet died this room was rented
for a butcher-shop, which accounts for the
defacing of the floor; look, also, at the CHM
ney with its corner seats; here William
Shakespeare, as lad, doubtless little dream
ing of the great future before him, often sat
on a winters evening after his return from
the village school. Visitors are permitted to
sit moment in the chimney seat"-this in
tones at once solemn and patronizing. ave
next have the second or best room in the
house, and off of it our poets bedroom, but
poor place, ladies and gentlemen, to shelter
the king of intellects."
And SO from room to room. While our party
Is in the poets so-called bedroom, hear the
second old lady, who is evidently just begin
ming the tour with company, chanting the
unchanging refrain word for word as our old
lady did at that point, and as we descend 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
poor place, ladies and gentlemen, to shelter
the king of intellects"
The Shakespeare house is like two houses,
now that there is partition-w wall cutting 1t
directly through the center from garret to
cellar or ground-foor, 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, wherein are
collected the various relics of Shakespeare,
his family, and few interesting objects per-
tanning to his time, notably the form or desk
from the village school the poet attended,
and vouched for by the best authorities
about Stratford as authentic. Every small
est object is religiously guarded as some
thing sacred, and in noticing this care and
solicitude one cannot but bless the happy
chance which awakened these sleeping old
villagers to realization of the treasures in
their midst.