St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-08-28
SIGHT SEEING IN GREAT BRITAIN.

|
The following extracts are taken
from private letters written to home
friends by ST. Johnsbury people now
travelling through Great Britain:
After as pleasant a week as l remem-
Der we are at beautiful, quiet, little
town on the edge of charming lake,
for day of rest. Every day of the
week has been packed full of sight
seeing From the time we bade our
| Atlantic Charon good bye, seven
days ago, until last evening, when
we returned from sail around the
lake, our feet have hardly paused, nor
has our zeal tagged. We spent five
days in Ireland. The ride from Cork
to Bantry by rail was through low
moorland, barren and uninteresting.
The coach ride from Glengariff to
Killarney was not pleasant, as the
day was misty; but the next day at
the Killarney lakes was delightful.
We left the hotel in the early morn
ing, drove four miles to the entrance
to the gap of Dunloe There the la
dies took ponies for the ride of four
miles through the gap. These Irish
ponies very much resembled Lord
Wellington in one respect - they
would undoubtedly prefer to die
rather than run-or walk either, ex
cept at a moderate pace. We were
constantly followed by beggars-old
women, and dirty, ragged, wretched
boys and girls. l have never seen
such abject poverty. In many places
the family, cow, pigs, hens, etc, all
occupy the same apartment. 1t is
not entirely, perhaps not chiefly, the
fault of the people themselves, but of
their more fortunate masters. In the
part of the country we traversed one
man owns 100000, another 10000
acres-tine, handsome estates. We
rode through the private grounds OF
one of these men - they were very
beautiful, fine roads, rich verdure,
lovely lawns but some of the charm
of the thing would vanish as we
would pass an old, bent, gray haired
woman with great bundle OF twigs
But the Lakes of Killarney are GER
tainly very beautiful. They are full
of the loveliest little islands, green
and wooded, and surrounded by high
mountains, upon which the day we
were there the sun shone brightly.
The row from the end of the upper
to the end of the lower lake was
worth all the annoyance it had cost.
We saw Muckross Abbey, an old ruin
with its shroud of ivy, its roof gone,
but the frame and stone outlines of
its windows still standing in all their
grace Then we saw Ross Castle, a
huge, plain, old ruin. Thus, in the
Abbey and the Castle, we saw the
two opposite types of the life of the
middle ages; while nature, affected
by neither, remained, and still re-
mains the same.
From Killarney we went by rail to
Dublin We visited its principal pub
lie buildings and its immense Phoenix
Park. The huge distilleries, employ
ing thousands of men, seem to be the
centre of its commercial life. From
Dublin we crossed the Irish Channel
to the quaint old town of Chester in
England Our first visit was, of
course, to its cathedral. 1t is a very
old one, but not one of the most i'm
pOrtant. The wood carvings and
many of the ornaments were the
most delicate and exquisite we had
ever SEEN On one side of the nave
were two old, tattered British flags,
carried in the battle of Bunker Hill.
Thus, now and then, we are reminded
of home. In one town we saw the
posters announcing that the Great
American Circus was coming; in
another l heard the small boys
whistling Little Annie Rooney
thus is all the world made kin.
Chester is one of the oldest towns
in England and its architecture is
very curious. Some of the houses
have the date of their erection upon
them, 1902, 1854, etc; and some
have texts emblazoned across them.
Leaving Chester we came to this
beautiful lake Windermere. Tomor-
row we hope to reach Edinburgh and
get our first mail from home. All the
American news that | have seen in
the English papers has been about
the execution of Kemmler, and the
war in Central America, neither of
which subjects absorbs much of our
interest. Given some letters from
home, some copies of the Caledonian
and Boston Herald, and we think we
can prove the existence of happi-
ness under these foreign skies.
Lake Windemere, Eng, Aug. 10.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.