The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-27
TO STANDARDIZATION.
Search for Shakespeare not Sue
cessful Till Ann Hathaway's
Cottage Is Reached.
In Memory the Scene Recalled
When the Bard Passed
From the Earth.
A Longer Look From tho BROW OF tho
SiOpo Above Avon-Murdor OF
Evesham.

enough, DC u pretty lOneRt lnOex 10 MS OWN
temperament. But never will it do for an
other mans reliance. So let it be con-
fessed that for a day we searched Stratford
streets. and found nothing of thu Shakes
peare that We sought. Neither in the
famous birthplace in Henley s%treet-re-
stored "out of all ~whooping.' crammed
with worthless mementos, and psnciled
over with lesser names; nor in the fussy,
inept Memorial theatre; nor in the New
Place, whore certain holes, protected with
wire gratings. mark what may have been
the foundations of Shakespears's house; il
none OF these could 70 find him. His name
echoed in the market-place, on the lips of
guide and sight-seer, and shone on monu-
ments, shops, inns. and banking
houses. His efigies were every
wherein Photographic. in statuettes, now
dong duty as a tobacco-box with the
pald scalp removabiel, now as a trade mark
Tor Deer. And even while We despised these
thlnEs the fault was ours. All the while
the colossus stood high above, while We
"walEed under his huge legs and peep'd
ABOUT" too near to sec.
MOI. until we strolled over the meadows to
ANN Hathaway's cottage at Shottery did
p99aerstanding come with the quiet falling
oil the day. Rarely enough, and never but
IN The while between sunset and twilight,
may a man hear the sky and earth breath
ing together, and drawing his own breath
ambltlously in tune with them, '.feel that
he ID greater than he knows" But here
and at this hour it happened to us that,
our hearts being uplifted, we could mems
uie Shakespeare for a moment; could know
MIN for the puissaut intelligence that
held communion with all earth and sky,
ana all mortal aspirations that rise
between them; and knew him also for the
Sstratford youth treading this very footpath
beside this s~wees-smelling hedge toward
those elms a mile away, where the red LIGHT
fingers, and the cottage below them, whore
already in the window Ann Hathaway trims
her lamp. You are to believe that our feet
trod airily across those meadows, and our
talk was worth listening TO-. And at the
cottage, old Mrs. Baker. last living descen-
dant OF the Hathaways, was pleased with
our reverent behavior, and picked for each
o. us at parting a spFig of rosemary from
her garden for remembrance. God keep
her memory ns green and as fragrant!
II was easy now to forgive all that before
had seemed unworthy III Stratford; easy
next morning, standing before Shake
speare.s monument, while the sunshine,
colored by the eastern window, fell on one
particular slab within the chancel rails, to
live back Tor a moment to that April
morning when q Shakespeare had passed
from the earth, and earth must mourn
tneretor;' to follow his coffin on it's short
Journey from the new place, between the
blessoming lines Of the church walk, out Of
the sunlight into the lasting shadow, up the
dim nave to this spot; and easy to divine,
IN the quaint epitaph 80 often quoted, the
mans passionate dread lest his bones might
be flung in time to the common chnrnel-
house, the passionate longing to lie here
Always In this dusky corner, close to his
friends and kin and the familiar voices
that meant home-the talk of birds in the
nea7 elms, the chant of Holy Trinity choir,
md, night and day, but a stone's throw
from his resting place, the whisper of Avon
running perpetuallv.
For even the wayfarer finds Stratford a
hard place to part from. And looking back
as we left her, 30 kindly, SO full OF mem
cries, giving her haunted streets. her elms.
and riverside to the sunshine, but guarding
always as a mother the shrine of her great
son, l know she will pardon my light
words.
Returning we paused on the brow of the
slope above Avon for a longer look, At orr
feet was sprend the vale of Evesham: the
river, Eoraered with meadows gs green and
nat as billiard tables: the stream of Arrow
TO northward, which rises in the I.ickoy
n,lls, and comes down through Alcester to
Priors and Stafford Abbots: farther to thu
west, among its apple trees, the roofs and
gables of Stafford Nunnery, the village of
Harrington. And all down the stream, and
round the meadows, and in and out of these
low farms.
Poor polling villages. eheepcotes and mills"
nre willows innumerlblu, some poIled last
year, ard looking like green mons, others.
with long curved branches ready to be-
Topped and turned into fence poles next
winter, until they arc lost in the hills
round Evesham, where the dim towers
stand up and the bold outline of Bredon
hull shuts out the view of the Severn val
ley.
The mound on which we are standing ia
surmeunted by the stone socket of an old
cross, and beneath the cross are said to lie
many OF those who fell on Evesham battle
field: for the vale below was on Aupust 4.
1865, the scene of one OF the bloodiest and
most decisive conflicts in English history,
bimon de Montfort. earl of Leicester, victor
OF Lewes, and champion of the peo-
forced marches from Wales, having KIM
Henry Ill. III his train, a virtual host
age. lie WAS hurrying to meet his
son, the young Simon, with 1e-enforce-
ments from the southeast; but young ST.
mons troops had been surprised by Prince
Edward a. Kenilworth in the early morning
and massacred in their beds, their leader
himself escaping with difficulty, almost
naked, IN a boat across the lake OF kenil-
worth Castle. Unconscious of their fate,
.ue oiu Gull isaSueu EIVesnHm on Monday |
August 3D., and crossing tho bridge into
tae town, sealed his own doom. For Eve
sham is a trap. The Avon forms a loop
around it, shutting off escare on three
sides, while the fourth is blocked by an
cminence called the Green. And while vet
Simon and his king were ~feastine and
making merry in Eyssham Abbey, Edwards
: oops were crossing the river here at
Clevs Ford in the darkness, and moyino on
their sure prey.
A strange AMI horrible darkne as Law over
the land OF that fatal Tuesday morning.
shroudlng the sun. and hiding their boo a
from the mouksof Eyesham as they sang in
the choir. The soldiers at their breakfast
could scarcely SEQ the meats on the board
before them. They were ready to stnrt
again; but before the march began banners
and lances and moving troops were apieu
on the crest of the Green hill, coming
toward the town.
1T liz my son." cried Simon: "fear not.
But nevertheless look out, lest we be- de-
ceived."
Nicholas, the snrl's barber, being expe't
IN the cognlAsnce of arms. nscended the bell
tower of the abbey, and soon detected
among the friendly banners TINT were, in
TACT, but trophies OF the raid at kenilworth,
the three Ions of Primes Edward Id the
royalists. The alarm was given, but it was
quickly seen that Sinion's army would 10
utterly ouinumbered.
by the arm of st. James" cried the old
warrior, they come on well! But il WAS
from me-" he added, with n touch of sol
dierly prlde-"it WAS from ma thov leprnpa