Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-05-19
WAKEMAN'S WANDERINGS
FROM BOWNESS TO GRASMERE,
AMONG THE ENGLISH LAKES.

bearing" at Ancient Grasmere.
Copyright. 1891. by Edgar L. wakeman.l
AMBLEsIDE, England, May "A German
writer has truly said. There can be no
guide 70 a lover Of nature but that love it
self" No pen painter who has ever lived or
will ever live has limned or can ever depict
in page OF a book the beauties Of the En-
glish lake region. There never has been
printed an adequate guide; and even were
the best one that could be made provided,
the traveller who comes here to see with
eyes and heart would suffer greater from
its insuffciency than find delight in its ex-
positions. This is true because in the first
place no one with pen or brush can produce
/ on a single page or canvas a single picture
| comprising manifold expression It would
be human impossibility TO comprehend
| in any series Of descriptions or paintings
the myriad distinct and glowing scenes
which the region furnishes. And even
could this be done, then there would still
be lacking all those glorious promptings to
emotional enjoyment from associative in
| terest which the beholder Of the actual
scene can never have interpreted 70 him by
. another. Everyw here Is scenic glory here
But the wild, sweet undertones that trem-
BILE in every leaf and blade Of grass, that
sound in every tumbling waterfall, that
are borne on every passing breeze, form
the inexpressible witchery which thrills
the being where these loving genii dwell
Take simply the few miles, perhaps nine,
from Bowness north through Windermere,
Ambleside and Rydal 20 Grasmere. 10 il
lustrate the superhuman task you would
have in attempting 70 convey 70 another
what one sees, recalls and feels throughout
the entire lake region. You could make a
great volume full Of glorious paintings,
winsome descriptions, exquisite incidents,
memories almost as comprehensive as the
wide domain Of English literature, and
sweet with tender philosophiZings. and
then but have barely hiBted at the majestic
book Of nature and reminiscence which
lies open for the enjoyment Of all who
come The village Of Bowness j. one Of
the quaintest and sweetest old nests in
England IL is "a dreamful maze Of mex
tricable streets, whose houses are almost
wholly covered with roses and ivy The
east window OF its square lowered little
church is one Of the oldest in England,
having been taken from that once most
magnificent OF all England's ancient mon
nastic edifces, Furness Abbey. The place
is hidden beneath gigantic trees on the
eastern shore Of the queen Of the English
lakes, Windermere.
Climb Brant Fell behind IL. The lake,
Immediately beneath 10 the west, stretch.
ing from the lower Furness Fells. in Ian
cashire, 20 Ambleside in Westmoreland,
forms LIQUID valley OF blue, set with num-
berless emerald islets, its mountain shores
merging into purple depths at the far north,
where grim Helvellyn lifts its curved crest
. beyond the sublime isolation Of mighty
Helm Crag. The ocean blue Of Morecambe
Bay glints beyond the puce sands of Ian.
| caster 70 the south. Esthwaite and Conis
ton Water glimmer among the western
fells, and Hard Knot and COniston OLD
Man form mighty sentinels in the back
ground in the direction of the j.. n sea. Il
is a sublime spectacle. But along with II
!. is the ever welcome element OF soft anC
tender beauty. The lower masses Of larcl
nearest the waters edge are like giganti,
pillows of emerald These merge in grace
full lines into the more somber fir, which
bank on bank and wave on wave above, rol
upward in noble undulations, often to th'
very crests of lofty mountains, while bal
seen cottages peeping from mountain sides
gray old chapels Nesting in patches of sun
light, splendid halls and manor house
perched upon lower promontories, an'
countless pleasure craft specking the fai
waters Of Windermere, add 70 the exulta
ton Of an exalting solitude that happ,
consciousness Of certain, II isolate, near
ness TO man. But whose pen can adequate
" tell the calm which pervades these won
drous scenesf II silence can take on pei
sonifcation of vastness and majesty, yol
will be conscious Of all that here. 1t ha
such intensity that one feels a sense of e1
isting in some upper world from who's
face and armament sound has been bar
ished. And il is so impressive and pail
able that at times all objects seem but th
imagery Of reality, all moving things 4
the unreal mimicry Of dreams. all person
but the shades Of men
Feast as you may at natures lavish boar
the undertones are ever heard. Over yol
der by Coniston Water, gray and scowlin
John Ruskin. a prisoner in his own hom
lovely brentwood, presses his pale fa'
against the window panes and stares wit
!. strangely lighted eyes at the wondro'
- world without, but knows it not, for ma
phantasms possess his darkened mind Yc
can see a hundred dales and glens whiC
Wordsworth loved and haunted. Ne
Brentwood is Tent Lodge, where Lord Te
nvson once lived, dreamed and wrote. Nea
gentle Gerald Massey wooed those pensi'
spirits with whom be so wholly lived, an
in whose actual though impalpable pre-
n ence he 50 undeniably believed. Then
- sturdier lot appear Just below Bovine
20 the left Storrs Hall Is seen. IL was he
that in lS25 such giants as the statesm'
Canning, the philosopher, novelist Al
poet, Christopher North" professor W
son), the laureate Of England and bard
A the lakes, Wordsworth, and Scotland
greatest romancer, Sir Walter Scott, N
and held high mental carnival, While d
porting like a bevy OF school bows, and Z
minated the ilustrious occasion by a bri
liant REGATTA on Windermere I'm charge
Wilson as admiral Of the lakes IL wou
N have been worth year Of ordinary nam
: pamby life 90 have sat silent among th'
u and listened during those rare and radia
days.
Windermere, but continuation Of 80
ness. is modern. The London and Nor
u western railway penetrates 70 this poi
-eI In the ulaee OF BOwness, which l. now !