Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-24

| yond. Saddleback looms up in the north
east. Beyond the tower of Old CrosSthwaite
! church, where Southey lies buried shines
| the blue bed of Bessenthwaite Water. And
| across the whole lovely vale. where the
| farms spread in checkered patches of color
| TO the sun, lofty Skiddaw stands monarch
! sublime
OF THE CUMBRIAS NORTH
! This dragging way over Castle Rigg is
| one OF the two great heights yoU will attain
! by coach on your pleasant journey. The
| other Is at Dunmail Raise. Just before YOU
| pass into WeStmOrelaud. You are in Cum
| berland now. This was the Little Britain
| OF long ago. 1t was the home of those fierce
| and unconquerable Brigantes who. from
| the time the region was known as Brigantia
until il became Cumberland. beat back the
| SaXonS from the east. the Welsh from the
south and PiCtS from the north, and met
every foe outside their mountain gates
| Marvelously sweet and fragrant is the
morning As YOU ROW smoothly spin along
| these noble heights. But IL seems 10 have
scarcely reached the deepest wales. To your
| right. the weSt-fOr YOUR direction j. nearly
| always due south from keSwick 20 Wiuder-
mere-are the seemingly
| ENDLESS FEELS.
| odorOus with the budding heath. and here
| and there u mass of color from banks of ViO-
| lets, the gentle breeze stirring the whole
| fell-side as if with wild and riotous motion
and delight. In front, the Wide. smooth
mountain road winds between overhanging
lichened rocks, spans shudowy diug!es, and
Al its APPARENT end seems to drop sheer into
L measurelesS sea of blue. But now 10 the
left down, down. as il into some vast witch
Cauldron, the sight descendS. and attempts
to penetrate the films Of mist Morning Is
late i'll reaching 81. Johns Vale. Dense
and dark in the Wales lowest depths. the
~ I,2yst hon
the rays OF the eastern sun litter through
in tilmy streams of gold. Half disclosed
behind them are the dark gray outlines of
the mighty crag. Castle Rock You cannot
see it clearly; but Scott has so nobiy de-
scribed it III The Bridal of Trernain, ="
with its.
Wicket OF oaR a. iron hard,
With IRON studded. cenchet ami barred,
And prongd portcullS. Join'd 10 guard
The gloomy pass below
that YOU need no Better view
Above this, almost on L Level with YOUR
coach. which Is Just beginning the long
southern descent of Castle Rigy lies Il huge
moving cloud. II Is slowly passing down
the valley. suddenly You realize you are
above the clouds. for see the Stridiug
Edge! is chorused by many of YOUR com
panionS. There il lies, this grim yellow
black and curved ridge Of Helvellyn. ma
iestic monarch OF all this grand lake region.
IT seems across that cloud to be the mighty
mural walls of
SOME WEIRD ISLE,
unattainable beyond a sea OF mountainous
waves. \ curve in the road for Il few mo
meutS hides cloud and mountain top. When
Helvellyn again appears the cloud has been
lost in and over the vale of ST. John, and
there stands the grand old mountain, forest
hung at its base, cleft and scared above,
still higher striped here and there with far
Il III II
white. and its broken summit and ''Strid-
ing Edge showing thousands of blackencd
almost vertical burrows III the eternal stone
of It's peaks and ridges.
But you now have something 10 do be-
sides gaze ON HelveQyn. Your coach is de
sccndiu" the mountain at tremendous
speed The wheel horses are n their best
pace in Il troJ. and the leaders are fairly at
canter. The skids smoke al the wheels.
Many Il God bless Iue' is calculated by
old travellers. The ladies Stiile little shrieks
in vain, and have recourse 10 occasional
alarming "Ouches,
THE GUARD BLOWS HIS HORN FURIOTSLY.
And in series OF bounds. lur;.hes and
ricochels over good two miles descent,
done IN less than seven minutes, the foam
ing horses, the creaky, beclouded coach
and gISpiHg passengers come to 4 grateful
standstill al the Kings Head Inn,
ThirlSpot, hard by the shores of Thirlmere
lake.
The inn IS for those who wish to stretch
their legs and wash the mountain dust from
their Threats with mountain dew. You re-
main in your high seat there, for this valley
and its mountain sides have hosts of mem
Ory-wraithS for the few minutes in which
they may appear. Just before YOU Is Dale
head hail. once full Of Southey'S mirth and
WardSwOrth's quiet wisdom. Beside II,
Dalehead meadows, i'll which once stood
the famous inn-Of-calI for packers and
dalesmen, ''Willie How" Across Thirl-
mere is ancient, haunted Armboth hall.
You passed in YOUR mad gallop down the
mountain side Fisher place, where Rossetti
at death door read the last proofs of his
wild. melodious sonnetS, To the right
outlandish Watendlath; and you
can any time 90 over its weird
wild course with Forster and Matthew
Arnold by reading the latterS exquisite
poem, Resi-. nation All this valley was
WORDSWORTH and COeridge's daily meet
ing ground. Down there in Thirlmere is
the Rock of Names where the name
of William Wordsworth, Dorothy his
faithful sister, Mary Hutchinson after
wards his noble wife. Samuel Taylor Col
eridge. John Wordsworth and Sarah
Hutchinson. were chiSeled by their own
hands. At the valleys edge to the north
is all that is left OF the Cherry Tree Inn,
forever ldIlOtS Dttdu~c NOItN " vi III
stopped his peasant ''Waggoner' there.
and at the Village merry night gave
him two or three hours of rouSing fun.
Under Bull Crags is the ancient Justice
stone" where in olden times the law was
administered.
ALMOST CLINGING TO THE CRAGS
in spots like chamois, around the noble
valleys rim are tlOclls of the black-faced
Herdwick sheep OF Umbria. which tradi
ton says the Armada brought here 900
years ago. Not only here but on many q
mountain side in Cumberland you will see
circular green bits Of pasture on the hill
sides. They are walled with stone and are
the earliest enclosures by civilized people
in the north of England. In ancient times
the cows were herded within them at milk
ing time. Here and there on highest crdgS
can be seen the ''maenS" or cairns of old
These ami countless other objects will lead
YOU into the mazes of antiquity, while in
the very names of the inn and valley of
Thirlspot and of Thirlmere set like twin
sapphires in the bosom Of the vale, tell of
the Viking T'hOrold who dwclt here and be-
Queathed the spot his name forever.
TIMES Up ~
from the guard breaks in upon all vofT
dreamfuI musings In ,rice your nov
cherry companions are in their places. -
notes of the coach horn flood the valley
On on you speed. soaring the Sdndpipers
into the PUSHES and reeds: aud the ring
ouseis skim scamperin%ly TO the farther
shadowy shore-through the valley past
sleeping Thirlmere; up past little Wythe-