The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-12-18

Inc street came 10 an end at last
however, and we saw before us large
and rarely beautiful structure. ]
have read dozens of descriptions Of
this Stratford church, and from all Of
them L had got the idea that it was
a small, mean building, devoid of in
terest except that which attached to
it as the resting place of Shakespeare
AS matter of fact it is among the
largest and certainly one of the hand
somest churches / have seen in Eng
land. Standing far back from the
street, from which it is separated by a
cemetery and garden, thick Swallowed
by great trees, its gray and messy
walls relieved here and there by
masses of bright colOred wall-flOwers,
/ its gothic battlements and buttresses
and vast arched windows Obscurely
seen through the sheltering bows,
its graceful spire lifting gray finger
above the mass of een,-surely it is
structure that might well repay a
visit even though it held no sacred
dust. 1t must have been an instan-
taneOus photograph that imprinted all
these details on my mind, for we did
not pause a moment at the gate but
rushed headlong, past the pretty gar
den, past the ''mOssy marbles" to the
door of. the church. An iron wicket
INSTRUCTED our entrance and we were
obliged to content ourselves with a
long longing look into the dim room
at the farther end of which we knew
might be seen, if we had but three
minutes more time, the slab of stone
beneath which reposes the dust of the
worlds poet. But the three minutes
were not Ours-we wished they might
| have been hours-and so we turned
and fled down the avenue of lime
trees, past the astonished and scan
/ dalized old sexton who was coming to
open the wicket for us, down the long
street which seemed twice longer than
before, to the station-a minute and a
half too late! l leaned against con-
venient fence to give my breath, which
had left me several blocks back, time
to catch up again, while the Man pro-
jected few brief but earnest remarks
in his choice New England dialect in
the direction of the disappearing
train, that seemed to fit the situation
about as closely as mere words could.
~
When only one thing remains to be
done it isn't worth while to waste
much time making up ones mind to
do it. And so on application to mine
host of the Red Lion Inn we were
speedily furnished forth with car
riage and driver and given assurance
that we would be landed in Warwick
within two hours. The country
through which our road lay was very
beautiful, succession of billOwy hills,
not high but regular and graceful as
the long swells of the sea, endless
green meadows stretching away from
either side of the tranquil Avon, rows
of trees along the road side, and in the
cross-hedges, dainty wild flowers
cleaning out from sheltered nOoks,-
/ beauty enough to make us almost
glad we missed our train. The staid
old driver was not averse to answer
ing questions and gave us great deal
of interesting, if not valuable, inform
alton. Good farm land, he said, rents
for e3 an acre. How it would para
lyZe Kansas tenant to ask him to
pay SIS an acre, cash rentD Farm
labOrers are paid ten shillings (about
$40 week and must board and
lodge themselves. Most of them are
married and must support i family
out of these wages. 1t OftenNappens
that the labOrer lives as much as four
miles from the farm on which he
works and so must leave his home be-
fore daylight and cannot return to it
until after dark. None of them owns
| the house he lives in and the rent
shillings week commOnly-must
therefore come out of his wages. Once
in a while, if he is economical, he can
have butchers meat on his table of
Sunday. All the land belongs to the
great estates and none of it is owned
by the men who work it. The crops
have been poor this year on account
of the wet weather and the tenants
who have the heavy rent to pay are
in great distress. These are some of
the points the driver finished dis
cOursing upon as he drew rein in
front of the outer gate of Warwick
castle.
Buying tickets Zone shilling EACH
at little shop, we presented them to
an ancient man in ancient livery and
were admitted to the grounds. Moth
ing was to be seen at first but a dense
forest, but following winding road
cut down through the solid rock of a
high hill we came soon to a green
swarded opening and saw before us
the deep mOat and the high and bat
tlemented wall which encloses the an
cient and stately home of the Earl of
Warwick Crossing the old mOat on
bridge and passing under the walls
through the ancient gateway-the
old pOrtcullis, one of the ''What, War
der! Hon. variety, is still in its place
we entered the inner court. Extend