The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-02-20

eha1 suin, put oelort ne nau a cnance to
bid higher several wealthy Englishmen
learned of the American offer, hurried
to Stratford and paid the price asked.
They suddenly awoke to the danger
that imperiled the old house and con-
Cluded it would never do to have Shake
speare's birthplace leave England or
Standardization. Barnum felt sore
over the matter, for he knew there was
money and fame in the transaction.
Perhaps his soreness has kept him from
telling the public how he rescued one of
the most interesting spots in the world
from utter ruin. Had it been bought
by an ordinary citizen he would have
converted it into a modern dwelling
place and taken away even the SEM
blance of its original appearance and
historical halo.
The men who purchased the prop
erty formed a stock company and APP
pointed trustees to take charge of the
house. Money was subscribed in order
that Shakespearean relics of all kinds
might be purchased and put on exhibit
ton in the house. The two estimable
maiden ladies who still have personal
charge were appointed. They were
quite young in 1850, but to-day they
are quite antiquated, and, therefore, in
keeping with their surroundings. Every
thing was put in place about the house
and arranged as nearly as possible as it
was when Shakespeare was a boy.
Shakespeare's father used q part of the
house for a tavern, and that part was
turned into a museum. Shakespearean
relics of all sorts were procured, and
the collection has been increased from
time to time until it is now exceedingly
valuable. The very air of the house is
Shakespearean. The old ladies are
walking encyclopedias of Shakespeare
can lore. They are ready to refute all
scandals connected with dear Williams
name, and to narrate marvellous and
hitherto unpublished tales Of his great
ness. They are particularly emphatic
in denying 'the stories of the great
bard's bibulous tendencies, and declare
that he never lay under an apple tree
for twenty-four hours in a drunken
stupor.
The bedroom in which Shakespeare
was born and ever the bed where the
event took place are pointed out. The
desk he used at the quaint old school is
shown, and the evidences of a busy
jack-knife are gloritied. His signet-
ring that he wore on his thumb is
shown, with the initials on it. 1t would
do for Il watch-chain in these days, I'M
less some man with gigantic hands,
like John L. Sullivan, chose to wear it
on his forefinger. So careful are the
trustees of the house lest it be destroyed
that no lights are allowed around the
house at any time. The heat in winter
is furnished by means of steam radi-
ators connecting with q boiler in al adj
jacent house. The old ladies must re-
tire in the dark, or else 90 to sleep be-
fore shutdown. This reverence for the
bard pervades the whole of Stratford.
You see Shakespeare everywhere.
There is a Shakespeare in the shoe
making line, a Shakespeare stable, q
Shakespeare hotel and doubtless the
ubiquitous plumber attaches the great
name to his trade.
The hotel, by the way, has q peculiar
interest for Americans. In it Washing
ton Irving resided for months while he
was writing up the poets home. The
parlor is called Irving's room, and the
b~ed-chamber he occupied contains his
picture and autograph. The ruins of
the house where Shakespeare died are
pointed out, and che Stratford
citizen ever yet bushes with indigna-
ton as be tells how a clergyman who
bought the house tore it down, along
with the tree under which the bard
meditated, because the clergyman got
tired of the people that came to visit
the spot. The citizens made it so warm
for the minister that he left soon after.
IN. Y. Star.