Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-03-15
ENGLISH COUNTRY.


observed the vastness Of its size
and population, its enormous
wealth and terrible poverty, large
in virtue and deep in vice, when
one has watched its colossal de
mand for daily food and clothing,
studied it as a law making power
for an empire on which the sun
never sets and sees the play Of
human forces of such a city he is
apt to forget the rest Of England
But this island on which men have
lived and thought so many thous-
ands Of winters and summers is
not without interest. England is
fertile and beautiful land which
accounts for the energy and APP
pearance Of the historical Brittan's.
A few trips over the country soon
shows its beautiful landscape, its
broad rich pastures and wide for
ests of hard wood timber. Pro-
ductive dales stretch in the far
distance and blend with sloping
hills crowned with woods. It is
quite level country yet the low
murmur of clear meandering
streams can be often heard and
seen. It's old ruins meets ones
eyes here and there and the graves
of it's statesmen and noted dead
calls to remembrance the annals
of its ancient active life. Stone
cathedraIs centuries old, thick
walled castles hoary with age and
statuary of worthless almost for
cotton are Englands relics. Rail
roads thread the country and the
roads run almost always over or
under the public highway. No
stock is allowed on the railroad
and therefore the engine bears no
cow-catcher. Some engineers be-
fore the days of Stevenson's infu
cnce attempted to survey the rail
road straight, going through a
mans library, his cherished garden
or any building noted or otherwise.
But when Stevenson's practical
common sense was put into use
the road was surveyed and laid
according to natural conditions,
fine estates were not disturbed, the
road was laid around a hill when
possible, streams were followed
and a tunnel was bored through
only when necessary. Some tun-
nels however are very long, and
dark as pitch.
The real beauty of England and
the nobility Of English character
is best learned in the country, be
cause high or low seem to be more
at home there and harbor less
suspicion than in London. To
one who has that rich legacy Of
birth and boyhood, a farm in the
country of England, appears
charming. One loves to see those
wide rich stock farms, with fat
sleek COWS and oxen standing in
the PASTURES sunshine, heavy long
wooded sheep and bIeating lambs
that make the English mutton
chops. 1t is pleasant to see the
full stomached horses caper over
the grazing slopes and fowls that
crow and cackle with happiness
for all the animals are fed to fat
ness. The farm house is a statue
of content, made Of stone it has
lasted through the lives of gener-
atoms. One loves to see the big
old fireplace and wide chimney
through which the smoke of coal
and logs has curled for many
years, its quaint heavy furniture,
its cosy sitting room and above all
the English kitchen which vies
with the world in things good to
cat, for none need criticise the
richly laden table. But how old
everything looks, the stone door
steps followed by the tread Of
ages, the tiled roof grown gray
with the accumulated mossof years,
the quaint old grand-fathers clock
measuring time on the ancient
mantle piece, Big chairs and
clumsy, the old arm chair in which,
decades ago, grandmother gently
rocked out the waning years of
her aged life. In yonder little
bed room, narrow, with one small
window, stands a massive bed
stead, strong enough to hold half
a dozen couple, wedding gift of
revolutionary days. The china
dishes in the cupboard have a his
tory longer than the reader would
believe. This appears to be the
happiest home Of men where strife
and discord the greed of gain
which al men DO love, seems to be
at a golden medium. The garden
and the orchard near by have
stood the storms of many 4 win
ter and bloomed through many a
summer. Some Of the great fruit
trees have the annual rings Of hall
a century. The falling of the yel-
low autumn leaf and the blush OF
rosy checked apples hanging on