The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-10
A Tramp Over the Fell From KGS-
wick to CaEernOath.
A QUAINT OLD GUMBRIAN PLACE.
The Ancient Village Of GFSmGTe Which Was
Once the Poets Home wide Where 1t
BaS Shad0WY as TWilight-A Tiny Grass
Mound and Wide Steps Of HGFl Stone A
WiIS0mG PiCtuTS-ThG Vale Of St John
Special TO THE SUNDAY CALL.

DUST as the present century was coming
Ia Wordsworth. the then political extremist
and budding poet, with his sister Dorothy
one of the grandest types of those women
whose resiStless sympathy and encourage
ment are of more benefit to the world than
the blatant pretensioDs of all the female
lists that ever were born. or ever will be
born into it-returned to the English lake
region, the land of their birth, and it re-
NAMED their home until their death.
1 tramped over the fell from Keswick TO
Cockermouth, the ancient village in which,
in IVY, the poet was born. The grand seen
cry of the region lies In every direction in
endless change along the winding way. To
the east Helvellyn and Skiddaw, huge and
dark, are continually presenting new forms
of majesty and color, or hiding in mysteri-
GUS beauty behind the feeting veilings of
tender passing clouds. One or another
Of the lakes. DerWentwater, Butter
mere, Crummoek Water, Ennerdale
Water, Loves Water, or Bassenthwaite
Water, is never absent from view,
and from the height of Iordly Grass
moor as from the peaks of Skddaw
and Helvellyn, the entire lake district could
again be surveyed and Toasted upon.
Cockermouth itself is but one of the
many quaint old Cumbran villages, which
seem as ancient and messy as the rocks
out of which they were hewn. 1t is a
sweet, dim dreamful and SODgful old spot,
for the DerWent River sweeps meiodiOusiy
by. and the Cocker River, from which the
village derives its name, is emptled into
the DerWent at the village side. Words
W0rth'S father, John Wordsworth was en-
attorney here, and law agent to Sir James
LOWther, afterward the Earl of LOnsdale,
who Tequited his services By forcibly bOr-
rowing the earnings Of his lifetime, 95000
which sum, years after the death of both
the Earl and his victim, was returned to
the Wordsworth family. The house is
long, jWO-StOIied, hpped-To0f structure,
standing at a corner of Main street and
recessed alley, and must have been re-
garied as a stately affair in its time. a
tier Of nine windows in the second and
eight in the first story face the street, which
Is shut OF by a massive stone wall with wide
coping and monumental projections at reg
ular intervals and at the corners. In the
area between the street wall and the house
are several peTtly trimmed shade trees. and
the ample garden in the rear extends to the
banks of the lovely Derwent,
HawkShead, where the lad Wordsworth
passed his first years of school life. is in the
most northern part Of Lancaster. where that
shire pushes I'D into the southern reach of
tie lake region. 1t lies midway between
the queen of the English lakes, Winder-
mere. and CoDiSt0n Water, near which may
be found the home Of John RHskin, and
nestles prettily beside the beautiful ESth-
waite Water. 1t is by far the most antique
village Of the lake country.
All angles. twists and crooks
with penthouses and gables over srchways, vents
and nOOKs.
As Gibson oddly sang; while its yew trees,
under which many Of WOTdSWOrth's earlier
verses were written, are quite as majestic
and far more beautiful than the famous
yews Of BoTrOwdale. The old sehool-hOuSe
IS standing just as Wordsworth left it. 1t
is noted IN literature as the Grammar
School Of Hawkshead," and its 'Rules," in
the handwriting Of Archbishop Sandy Of
York, who founded the school in 1856. may
still be seen. It IS no more than
A TINY STONE DUNGEON,
With wide, low windows. a single broad,
low door, and a WhitewRShed schOOl-ToOm
interior, where tail man would be in dan
ger Of humping the ceiling beams with his
head. The Scboolboy, Wordsworth, cut his
name into his desk, and the Scared old
plank IS accordingly priced as a precious
relic. Every enc will remember the good
old dame. Anne Tyson, with whom Words
worth lived, and who was so much a mother
to him during his bOyh0ods days at Hawks
bead Her cottage is still standing; and
The snow-white church upon the hill,
Made famous in the prelude" stands as
then in a near field. Around it the sheep
and lambs are grazing. But the old life
went out Of Hawkshead with the hand
looms; you will never find half-ScOre of
worshipers at service within it; and the in
Cumhency Is so reduced that the village
rector himself rings the chime of bells
which calls the dim old folk that remain 70
this all but deserted shrine.
For some unaccOuntable reason but little
Of WoTdsw0rth's pOetical devotion was given
to his birth spot, Gockermouth, or to his
yOuthtide haunts at Hawk5head SceDically
their surroundings would seem to prompt
tile same, equally with the more central
lake region upon which his highest genius
was expended. While all the lake region is,
properly speaking, WOTdswOrth's land. the
Interest and feeling Of the thoughtful traveller
seem TO parcel the district into two almost
equally fascinating typographical and liter
airy diVisianS-the northern and southern;
though both Of these are central These
are very near each other III miles, and ten
DERBY near in associative interest. The
northern district is geographically dOmi-
mated by Skiddaw, Saddleback and Grass
moor. 1t possesses the beautiful lakes Of
Bassenthwaite. Derwent, UIlsWater and
Thirlmere. 1t has KesWick town for a cen
tral point from which to seek its scenic
SpleuGOTs, bile as a distinct area It seems
sacred to the memories of COieridge, Shelley
aud SUuLhey. The southern, and, all
things considered. perhaps the SUMMER
and more exquisite Of the two, is over
Swallowed by the mountain monarch of
y
street, by Sea Fell and Bow Fell, and by
Conist0n Old Man from the old British aid
naen-hil Of stOue). The enhancing lakes
Of COnistoD, Windermere, Rydsl and Gras-
mere silver its noble dales and wales; in the
hamlets Of BowneSs, Ambleside Rydal and
GrasmeTe cluster its sweet old Cumbriaa
homes. and their neighbOrhood is chiefly
rife with memories of Martineau, Hemans,
Arnold, christopher North" De Quincy
and Words worth.
The latter first intended to huild his home
at Approximate, On How GILL; q lovely spot
on the southern slope of Skiddaw, within
sight Of oOuthey's Greta Hall and Keswick,
and within hearing of the chimes Of old
CroSsthWate Church. The land was gift
10 him from Sir George Beaumont Of Coler-
ton, and still remains the property of his
descendants. But on bis permanent re-
turn to the lake region he made the ancient
village of Grasnere his home. This
hamlet IS on the main coach road,
trayersing from north to south the
central and most beautiful portions Of
The lake district, and is but three miles
from RYdal and five from Ambleside.
which lie to the SOUTH Here he resided for
three years-frst at Dove Cottage, after
ward occupied by De Quincy, and now form
ing portion Of the outbuildings OF busy
inn; neXt1n T0omier but less comfortable
house at Allen Bank, and again in the par
sOnage Of the ancient GTasmere church.
In 1913
THE w0RDsWoRTHS MOVED
To Rydal Mount where the poet remained
until his death in 1850, having uninterrupt-
eddy lived within a three-mle radius of
where he now lies in GIasmere churchyard
for upward of fifty years.
II you were wandering north on the
main coach road from Windermere TO
Keswlck, a steep, wide roadway turning
10 the right and east would attract your
attention, From the Enclosures on either
side huge beech trees and syeamores
push tremendous arms across the walls
and completely cover the way 1t is as
shadowy as twilight here. You will not have
passed a score Of rods up this high arched
natures aisle until the sounds from the
highway-the rumbling Of the stages, the
laughter. Of gay tourists and even the