The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-11-13

and Buttermere, through their associa-
lions with poets whose love and genius
have given them
| "The CLEAN,
The light that never was on sea or land,
The conservation and the poets dream"
In America not one of them would be
more than pond, but here, with their
unique surroundings and associations,
their impression on the mind is wonder
fully deep. In the midst of these scat
tered sheets of water rises group OF
eminences OF all heights below 3,20S feet,
the height Of Scaur Fell. After this
comes Helvellyn, 3,118; Skiddaw, 3,058;
Bow Fell, 1851; Great Gable, 2,949; Cross
Fell, 1928; Pillar, 1928; Fairfield, 1882,
etc. Some forty in all, ranging down to
$50 feet, and all in the counties of Cum
berland, Lancashire and Westmoreland,
occupying an are of thirty miles square.
Travellers from Scotland halt at Kes.
wick; those from the south, at Winder-
mere, or Ambleside, mile from the up
per end of the lakes. Our own route was
on the home journey from London, and
we halted at Lakeside, on Windermere,
thence by steam yacht to Waterside- ten
or twelve miles, a charming sail, thence a
mile by bus to Ambleside. From this as
a radiating point the finer parts of the
region are accessible. Just back of the
"Salutation" hotel is one of the best of the
many lovely water falls of the region, the
Stock Ghyll, which descends seventy feet
in wild cataract, and Wapefell, a "bluff, !"
as we should say in Western America,
1850 feet high, which 1 assembled one
beautiful afternoon. The little town
of Ambleside is 1,400 feet below the eye,
Lake Windermere and several other
sheets of water are in sight; Rydal is
seen, and the valleys of Bratbay and
Rothay, and groups of lesser and loftier
hills, are on every hand One can appre-
ciate Wordsworth's lines written on the
spot:
with exultation, at our feet we see
Lakes islands, promontories, cleaning bays,
An universe of natures fairest forms,
Proudly revealed with instantaneous burst,
Magnificent and beautiful and gay
Hence we walked to Harriet Martineau's
former residence, to DIR. Arnold's, and
Wordsworths seat, a lofty rock where for
many years he was accustomed to medi
tate and so]iloquize his immortal lines,
which he usually did in the open air. In
deed, SO familiar was he to the eyes of the
peasants that they missed him during his
occasional absences from wandering
about the fields, and when he returned,
they were accustomed to say to one an
other: "It is pleasant to hear the old man
cumming around again"
The favorite trip hereabouts is the "Cir-
cular Tour" 1t occupies all day. Start
ing at nine A. NJ on fine coach-be sure
and secure an outside seat the day before
after delightful two hours ride,
steam yacht is taken around Coniston
Lake, and then the train to Furness Alb
hey, one of the grandest and most extern
sive ecclesiastical ruins in Britain; thence
toLakeside by train and thence by steam
again to Ambleside. The journey is more
than fifty miles, through some of the fin.
est portions of the region, and the round
trip costs 81 cents,
When on Lake Coniston one sees the
home of the celebrated Ruskin, and only
his announced illness prevented me from
exercising little (more than usuaD
American "cheek," and interviewing the
man who among all living Englishmen I
would most desire to see. He little
knows what compensations his sickness
afforded himl
From Ambleside to Cheswick the coach
passes the house in which Hartley Cole
ridge lived and died, Ryd Mount, for
many years the home of Wordsworth, and
the churchyard in which he is buried, the
picturesque old parish church with which
his name is associated, Rydal Water, and
indeed thousand things with which his
name is connected. In fact, he domi-
mates everything in the entire Lake Dis
trict.
At Keswick we saw Southey's grave
and residence, the famous Druidical Cir
Gle, and rambled all about the prettiest of
all the lakes, Derwentwater. The town
itself is most picturesquely located in an
amphitheatre of hills, and there is no end
of points of interest in all directions. OF
course we went to see Lodore-so quantity
described by Southey, whose rugged verse
almost initiates the rush of the cataract
il describes. On the whole, it quite over
does the reality, as we saw it, for decid.
eddy the greatest fall we saw in Europe
was the descent from Southey's descrip.
ton to the reality OF Lodore. 1t was, how
ever, dry time. On spring "spate" it
must be grand, as the waters tumble 100
feet among the resisting boulders.
But time would fail me to even refer to
the thousand and one objects of historical,
poetical and picturesque interest with
which this famous region is crowded, and
which would we'll reward weeks instead of
the five days we bestowed upon it. The
one drawback is rain. Rain, mist, fog
and vapor are the rule, and fair weather
the exception, but everybody goes pre-
pared for it, and it rarely keeps the tour
list in doors. On the contrary, you are
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