Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-06-06
THE CHALK HILLS.
RURAL ENGLISH SCENES AND OLD
TIME TRAVELLERS.
Axan VINO went 10 the Congo in 1883
A Surveyor Of Bslakiava-fha'
Famous Yield Visited.

! or :" 80 copspicuously in our shiDwreck
-, snno,ncr upon the west coast OF Africa
,s,,tcIy IN co out again before l)ng to one
:, ,se desduesi regions in the whole OF the
n.rk CONFERENCE.-The, the fatal valley Of the
Lower Niger, from which another OF orr
t,IIow.yoyagors has Just returned Inyalided,
Icsying two Of his Comrades behind as a
tribute 10 the fell Airican.ievcr that spares
no one.
However. Il will not do 10 speak or think
Of Aincan malaria amid tee pure and
brscipg air OF these glorious Surrey bills,
In whose breezy, buoy2nt atmosphere one
feels s. II one could never die. The author
Of - The Battle Of Dorking" has made the
name 81 this upland tract OF the greet
chalk ridge familiar TO every reading man
in Europe. but IL is surprising how few,
even among travelled Engiishmen. have
actually seen &. / myself knew no.
thing whatever about II tlll last
Thursday beyond what could be gath.
cred from hasty glimpse through
The window o. ear while flying toward
The south coast IN an express train.
AND yet there ale few districts in all Eng
land which arc better worth seeing, cspc.
cialll IN this morry month, when coy spring
is lust ripcninps into glowing summer.
True, May DAY has nov lost nearly all It's
ancient obsoTvanoes, and the sturdy little
applc-chet he'd fellows who are fourishlne
punches Of primrOses upon sticks in front
a our windows. and singing the old
chorus Of {" Maypole, Mayole." with all
the power 81 their tiny voices, are The
sole remaining COMMUNICATIONS OF the great
festival which our saxon ancestors
celebrated with many grim heather
rite amid the gloomy forests OF Mercia
1000 years ago. But what need OF rites
and obseryancos for a day which l. cele-
traied by the whole creation and hailed
With Joy ly everything that lives and
moves between earth and sky! May-d1y
is the holiday Of oil nature. and well
worthy of the sweet old German fancy tbtt
II was the day upon which God rested
from an His work that He bad made" and
looked down in blessing upon His COM
pletcd universe.
Sucb weather matches well with the
dreamy beauty Of our present surround
ipgs, 10 which We shall doubtless look back
Ionpingly three mouths hence amid the
stcaming sSamps aud parcbed hillsides and
bIlSiering glare Of the Lower Congo. This
miet little village 81 ours, Graded in the
lap Of the Surrey hills. would have been a
perfect paradise Of repOSe to the ill.fatct
heroine OF that famous epitaph recently
quoted so effectively by Sir John Lubbock,
beneath the grotesque humOr Of which
turks a homely pathos that any one who
knows what It l. to be habitually over
worked will fully appreciate:
Here lies poor woman who always was
tired.
For size lived IN world where too much
was required;
DO not weep for me, friends, thus she
said. for Pm going
Jowhcre there's no reading, nor writing,
nor sewing
DO not weep for me. friends. for when
HES thread shall sever.
I'm going to do nothing for ever and
ever '
The distant hills that rise blue and
shadowy along the northern sky seem TO
shut The noisy, busting world Of busy
life from this "cnchantcd ground" in
which the slaunchcst OF Bunyan's pilgrims
might have sal down 10 rest without shame
TO lis manhood. Beyond those hills, barely
twenty miles away, the great whirlpool Of
London loars and cddies In its eternal I'M
rest. Down here in this "happy valley
Of ours the quiet little English villages he
slumbcring in the cloudleSS sunshine amid
stiffness ~ deep and TepoSeful rs that OF
the first morning Of creation, when the
pCace Of God tbat paSseih all understand.
Inc sill bToOded over newborn world
which had never known sin or sorrow.
These charming little hooks are certainly
Il vast improvement upon the filthy, tumble
down, pOyerty-stricken hanletS which we
Saw not long ago at the opposite corner OF
Europe. where the hot, dusty uplands Of
bulgaria slope westward from the Black
Sea. As rule the ordinary Slav village OF
the Balkan peninsula has all the squalid
~ N M
mcturcsQueness. When you enter one OF
them provided you are not eaten up alive
by q pack OF yelling dogs before you can do
so al all-you find yourself amid "A group OF
WTCtched, crumbling novels. built of mud
end matched With rotting reeds, at which las
soldier Of the Irish Brigade justly remark
cd on seeing them 10 1851 "any respect
able pig would turn up hls snout." Here.
as In switzerland. large stones are piled
upOp the roof TO prevent the wind from
tearing IL bodily away, which would GER
tainly be no difficult matter Above the
crazy. half-decayed rail fence that surrounds
every Int Uses nondescript building very
much like q Noah's ark on sllts, in
which The sallow. bcetIc-browed, gray
fIock,d master OF the house stores the
little hoard q wheat or Indian corn which
is tO keep his family alive during the long.
dTeary months OF the cruel winter. Add
20 these properties q wooden pillow that
might have served Cain IN his first attempt
at tnling the ground. few other tools
equally primitive, rude ladder, a clumsy
cart without springs. pile OF split LOGS,
two or three dismal turkeys and few
starvellne chickens looking in vain for
something 10 eat-and you have "A fair idea
Of the Bolgar" at home.
Little betteras regards comfort, although
infinitely more picturesque in outward APP
pearance, are the quaint little fortreSs-like
Persian villages which stud thevast plain
that stretches sOulheaStward from the great
mountain wall Of the Caucasus 10 the west.
eTn shore Of tho Caspian sea. One glance at
these miniature strongholds tells you that
YOU are in q region where war in its most
pitiless form is mans natural state OF exist
ence, and where for centuries past the only
government has been that Of the strongest
arm ard the sharper sword. The tiny
gardens attached TO the houses are
Shut ia by massive Enclosures OF
stone or baked clay seven or eight
feet high. The houses themselves.
with their thick walls. fat roofs, and two
or three small. narrow, loOphole-lile win
dows, are suggestive OF casenated battle
ries rather than domestic habitati0ns.
The deep, dusty crooked street that
winds between these toy forts is much
more like the moat OF castle than
an ordinary thoroughiare. The lean,
swarthy, wolhsh faces that peer
out at YOU from the low dark doorways
with the balf.cunning, hali.ferocIous look
Of prowling wild beasts in those Keen black
ewes that watch YOU so closely doubtless 10
see whether you intend robbing Others or
are likely to lie worth robbing YOURSELF,
carry you back nj The first glance through
many dark and bloody age TO those wild
DAY when "eyery man did that which was
right in his own eyes y and wrong IN those
Of his neighhors.
Far different are our present quarters in
The "chalk region " OF merry England.
The doorways OF HOLLYWOOD Village are
filed with rudy, faXen-haired children.
instead OF scOwliag robbers bristling with
knives and pistols. The doors open with
simple thumb-latch, and any one who COW
els his neghbor'S goods has only to go and
borrow them, on account of lending his
own in turn when required. The dogs, in.
stead Of yelling end biting like Their half
starved Eastern brethren, way their tails
dronsily, while lying ouIstretched on the
warm smooth turf, a. though quite disposed
10 BE- friendly II il were. not too much OF an
eXertion. The cows lick your hand IN
place Of trying 10 born you. and the tiny
hfoak -, -. ffh