The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-10-13
Two wIcHlTANs IN LONDON.
The following letter has been receive
from Dr. Jennings:

1 i.ut
Barney had gone down to Heme Bay, =
popular seaside resort, but after remaining
there several days he decided to spend The
remaining portion of his vacation al
Canterbury, which is only six miles in
land After getting settled he wrote fol
me to join him.
When arrived found that he had as
usual hunted out every place of interest
and had the history of each ready for my
instruction We at once went for a
ramble. We passed down the narrow
winding main street lined with houses OF
many gables of the Elizabethan period,
aud stopped to look at the old Falstaff
inn Above the door hangs a large oblong
sign adorned with portrait OF Falstaff,
adorned with full armor and drawn sword.
The next object o. interest was the Frest
gate to the CITY, large stone gate stand
ing between two lofty round towers, built
in the reign of Richard II.
Till within one hundred years the city's
walls six gates and towers stood as in
ages past, but they have all been removed
to improve the city. The west gate mar
rowIy escaped destruction about fifty
years ago, AS the town council wished to
remove it in order to widen the street.
The gate was saved by one vote and the
street widened by taking down several
houses on the south side. A little farther
down High street stands St. Thomas hos
pilgrims who were too poor to stop at the
other hostelries. 1t is provided by the
statutes given to the hospital in 1912,
| THAT poor pilgrims to the shrine of ST
! Thomas A. Beckett shall be entertained
only for one night; and poor, sick and
we'll pilgrims shall have daily S cents ex-
| pended for their sustenance out of the rev.
enues and profits of the hospital, greater
regard to be bad for the sick than the well
pilgrims. That if there should be not a
sufficient resort of pilgrims in any one day
| to require the cents for their sustenance
what is spared in one day shall be laid out
| freely in another day when the num-
Der of pilgrims shall be larger, SO
that for every day for the whole
year the entire sum OF cents be carefully
and faithfully expended"
A little further on we came to Mercury
Lane, the chief street leading co the Ca
thedral In bygone days the pilgrims
from all parts of Chrstendom passed
| through the lane on their way to the
shrine in the cathedral.
And specially from every shire's end
OF Engle-land to Canterbury they went,
The holy, bllsSful martyr for to seek,
| That them hath hopen when they were sick"
At the entrance to Mercury Lane stood
| the ChequeIs inn. freQuented by the rich
pilgrims and mentioned by Chaucer in his
Canterbury Tales" The houses in this
years ago. Each story projects outwards
so that they almost meet at the top. OF
course the great cathedral was the main
attraction for US. and We spent the whole
afternoon wandering in and about it. We
were shown the spot where ST. Thomas
was murdered, his shrine and the marble
steps leading to it. The pilgrims crawled
upon their knees and the steps were worn
into deep depressions by the constant pass
ing of the multitudes We descended to
the crypt Immense vaults under the Ca
thedraD and saw the place where the
archbishop was hastily buried by the
monks. Sunday morning we attended
service in the choir of the cathedral and
listened to what | was told afterwards
was very good sermon for an Englishman.
But must confess that at this stage of
the service, l was studying the rich and
beautiful coloring of an ancient window
opposite. 1t is said that the rich tone of
this glass has never been reproduced in
Theses later days. But when the rector con-
cluded his remarks and the perfectly
trained boy choir burst into song. then in
deed the stained glass windows faded
away, and with bowed head we listened to
music of surprising sweetness, as pure
and beautiful In its way as the rich stain
of the ancient windows. After service we
visited the little church of st. Martins,
of great interest As being the first place of
their conversion from the heather religion
in the year ISL This venerable church is
in splendid state of preservation. The
walls are constructed of small flints laid
in mortar, with here and there Roman
brick. At the rear Of the church we saw
small round window which is now closed
up but which WAS originally made for the
use of the lepers of that date The lepers
of course were not allowed in the church,
and so they gathered without this window
to listen to The service.
Another curious object of interest in
Canterbury is the Dane John, mound
eighty feet high, which some
say was built by the Romans;
was the scene of great battle and that
this mound marks the grave of the killed.
My suggestion that the disputed point
could be easily settled by digging under
the mound met with no favor Ia the eyes
of dignitied and ancient citizen of
Canterbury who was our guide.
Last Thursday evening l received .ele-
gram from friend to meet him in The
lobby at $50 p. m. to witness the proroga-
tion of parliament. arrived on time aud
while waiting for my friend saw Mr.. John
Burns. who has recently been sent to
parliament by the Labor party. He is a
thick set man with dark beard and dresses
well. AS | stood contemplating the hero
VI Tie LiScrpOOl uOCk StTlheS, l. EOtlC0u
iaboring mau in his working clothes cross
the lobby and walk down the corridor
into the house of lords. AS it was raining
heavily at the time. | imagined there
must be a leak some where, which it was
his duty to repair. But there was evil |
IDENTIFY no leak in the house of lords, as he
shortly returned to the lobby. As he
walked about with his cloth cap on the
back of his head. l noticed many people
gazing in his direction, and, as he seemed
strangely out of place among the lords
and gentlemen, l enquired who he was.
why sir, that is Mr. keir Hardie. one of
the new members OF the house of COM
mons"
Inow began to wonder what had be-
come of my friend, and to speculate as to
my chances of witnessing the proceed
ings. Each door aud passage was guarded
by. two tall policemen, who allowed only |
members and people with tickets to pass |
But my ingenuity WAS not to be taxed on |
this occasion. My friend arrived shortly |
before o'clock and whispered few
words into the ear of the chief usher. |
This had the desired effect, and following |
in the footsteps of this most important |
parsonage, we were allowed to pass un- |
challenged into the gallery of the house !
of lords. Scarcely moment had we been |
seated when door ut the far end of the |
house opened and her majesty's commits |
SlONeTS. dTTdttu III Tcu ToUeS duO wearing |
black cbapeaus. filed slowly into the room |
and took seats upon the wool sack in front |
of the throne. These five mem bers of |
Mr.. Gladstone's cabinet were Lord Her |
schel, earl of Kimberly, Earl Spencer, the |
marquis of Ripon and Niscount Oxen
bridge. As soon they were seated, a /
messenger. bearing sloft the golden mace,
was sent 70 summon the commons TO the |
house of lords. Tae commons came and |
as tney reached the bar. saluted her |