Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-10

If you were wandering north on the main
coach road from Windermere to keswick. a
steep, wide roadway turning 10 the right
and east would attrac. your attention
FROM the Enclosures on either side huge
beech trees and sycamoreS push tremendous
arms across the walls and completely cover
the way. 1t is as shsdowy as twilight here
You will not have passed score Of rods up
this high arched natures aisle until the
sounds from the highway-the rumbhng OF
the stages, the laughter OF gay
tourists, and even the notes of the
the place is thronged with birds.
Even these irreverent choristers seem as
if subdHed and ruuinative here. II autumn
YOUR feet sink in featheTy masses of pale
golden leaves. II seems long time that
you have been traversing these few rods;
all is so hushed and still. Ascending
little farther, there is a break in the foliage
20 your right. Some hage gates are seen.
A lodge standsciust beyond, and suddenly
the splendid facades of Rydal Hall. the seat
Of the lie Flemings, appear above the !uxu-
RANT shrubberv of its splendid park.
Higher still YOU climb, and where the dark
roadway seems TO make final circle over
the brow of the hill TO the left, YOU pause TO
listen. Something like low and heSitant
organ notes is murmering in minor chords,
while gay and Joyous treble plays i'll
eyultant tones above, All YOU remember.
These are the voices of the two cascades OF
Rydal. Their songs were sung 10 one poet
for
FORTY HAPPY YEARS.
A step farther, and the bright sunshine
leaps along and through the tree tops, Us #
impatient to flood its efulgence upon one
little spot. On that spot stands an ivy COW
cred old house, two stories in height, with
all manner of angles and patches; with
huge chimneys and wondrous gables: with
windows cut here and there at random, or
pushed outward in bows and bays: with
doors entering as though made for convcn-
fence aud not appearance: amt Inc Who!e
with genera! air of having been done AT
different periods by various masters. each
Of whom labored leisrely IN fond and
whimsical mood In front is the tiniest of
grass mounds, and wide stems Of rough
hewn stone lead this way and that as if Ia
invisible entrances; but as YOU see all
grass mound, steps, half disclosed terraces,
and the mansion itself facing the south
SquaSely-thcre was never more Wlnsome
picture set in framing of laurel, yeW, beech,
and fir; and never will YOU see another
home where the very spirit of peace seems
so embodied in outward material things,
giving rapt and radiant welcome TO the end
less threnodies of waters and
THROBBINGS OF ) LOVING Sun.
This is Rvdal Mount, the former home of
w OFuS"OEIH- llNGIl W SittE. ~ ilit tOItl4-
and the long, dreamful reach of Winder-
mere can be seen from the grass mound i'll
the little enclosure. From every upper
window, mountain, valley and lake smile
back from glorious perspective upon the
beholder. With the poets long, happy and
fruitful life AT Rydal, every reader of Eng
lish literature is familiar. But it seems to
me precious thing for the wandercr here
to identify and become acquainted with
Wordsworth's best loved haunts. Two
lines of road, with innumerable pony and
foOtpathS detieItionS into all manner of SUB
lime or witching scenes, knew him best,
Just as around the two villages and lakes OF
Rydal and Grasmere the memories Of the
poet are most thickly strewn. One of these
roads is the great central highway of the
lake region, and winds all the way from
BOwness through the villages of Winder-
mere. Rydal and Grasmere over wierd
Dunmaii Raise, past huge Helyellyn over
into keSwick. where Coleridge and Shelly
We're. The other is the Grand old road from
Ambleside nOrtheaStcrly, past the roar of
StOckghyll Force, through kirkStone Pass 10
patterdale, GriSdale. Glenriddng and alp
the glorious fcllS and glcnS that lie along
somber Uiswater between the heart of the
lake region ami the ancient town Of Pen
rlth. Probably the personal enjoyment Of
the poet was greater along the former way,
although the territory beyond kirkStone,
particularly around the head Of Cllswater,
furnished by far the greater number Of
poetic illusions.
The vale of St. John, at the foot Of Hell
vellyu. was 4 ncver-ending feast 10 him.
He fingered times without number around
Wythburn church. Thirlmere, to which
the city of Manchester has tunneled for
what will prove the finest water supply in
the world, and against the contamination of
which Mr. Ruskin, with more regard for
oh ant nc h..1 lois tHnt,
the needs of hosts OF human beings, fought
long and bitterly, was an almost constant
haunt Here Wordsworth. in company
with his wife and his sister Dorothy, al
most daily came in summer. In the earlier
days Coleridge would come over from
Keswicli and meet the three friends
from Grasmere The ladies' brought
their sewing and lunch, and the
two poets furnished the soul ambrosia.
Commemorative of these golden hours the
poets had their names cut upon the Rock
Of Names at Thirlmere. and it was to this
rock that Wordsworth addressed the
apostrophe, .A
20 thought of pain,
That would impair il or profane.'
No fear of that: but the great walls Man
chester is building at the lower end of
Thirlmere, to increase its depth, will cause
the Rock Of Names to be permanently sub
merged. Some future Schliemaun will
find it.
On the way from Grasmere to Thirlmere
a spot forming the northwestern boundary
of Grasmere was undoubtedly Words
worths most frequented and passionately
loved resort. This is Easdale. II is one of
the most accessible though least visited
places in the lake region. 1t runs far into
the northern hills on the western side of
Helm Crag. In its upper reach is bittern
haunted, shadowy tarn, which is dis
charged through the foaming Sour Milk
Ghyll not a mile from the highway
of Grasmcre. Wordsworth loved 10
claim Easdale as all his own, and he
was jealous of intrusion here. When re-
siding at Grasmere, a half hours walk
would enable him TO penetrate its depths;
and he so grew to the place that when he
had removed TO Rvdal, three miles TO the
south, nearly every day, rain or shine,
found him seeking the companionship of its
tender soitudes. The loftiest passages OF
the Excursion" were written here: and
it was the very essence of the poets life 70
brood by Easdale tarn, with an intensity of
passion, on those images OF nature which
his noble fancy brought from near and afar,
and nodded into fadeless forms for the
measmeless world of poetic thought.
EDGAR l.. WAkEHAN.