St. Paul daily globe., 1892-11-20
ANECDOTES OF TENNYSON.


nyson, who had been travelling in the
East for some years, says the Gentle
woman, returning to England, wrote to
the poet to announce their whereabouts
and beg him to go and see them. Ac-
cordiDgly, one fine afternoon, TennySOn
betook himself to Shepherds Bush, and,
on ringing at the bell, learned they were
not at home. "Well, then. will just
write them note and arrange for a day
Os meeting" said he to the houSemaid.
Forthwith he was conducted to thes
drawing room, where quills, ink and
paper were supplied. When sign
ing his name to polite little note,
Tennys0n, by a jerk of the elbow, over
turned the ink bottle, and great was
his diSmay at seeing a large pool of ink
spreading rapidly over his friends new
white Persian carpet of matchleSS
beauty. H0rrorstruck. he rang the bell.
Up ran the servant. For Gods sake,
help mel" cried the poet. Now it hap
pened thai the milkman had just left
can of frothing milk at the door. And
the intelligent handmade remembered i'll
the nick Of time that new milk, if thrown
over wet ink, would remove all traces
of the deSpoiling fluid. Accordingly,
she overturned the jug on the large
black pool, ard, with house flannel and
cloths, set about rubbing and scrub
blng at the stain. Down went TennySOn
Oh his hands and knees, rubbing and
scrubbing with his little helpmeet. His
agony of mind for fear that his ola
friend should knock at thedOCr and
suddenly appear on the scene Of dis
aSter he often described in later days,
declaring it ITO reach the infinite"
With such good Will did this strange
couple work together that every trace
Of ink was removed. Here is nye-
shilling piece, my good girl cried the
poet, land God bless you" With that
he seized his hat and made for the door.
Some weeks later an invitation to dine
with his old friends reached IennySOn.
He went. And the carpet was i'll no
way alluded to on either side.
Early in 1887 the TennysOns left So
mersby for Beech Hill house. near High
Beech, on the skirt of Epping Forest
Down in the hollow, a couple OF miles
or so away, stood the old Norman pile Of
Watham abbey. with its memories of
Harold, thelast of the Saxon kings. and
its famous old peal of bells. AS the
time drew near the birth of Christ the
poet heard them pealing through the
midSt-Strange voices, unlike the music
Of the four Lincolnshire hamlets. a
week later they bore him happier.mes-
Sage as the Old year passed away
Ring out, wild bells, 10 the wild sky.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more!
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindier hand;
Ring oct the darkness of the land,
Ring i'll the Christ that is to be.
Pleasant 1t is to know that While we
owe Tears, Idle Tears" to Tintern
abbey. we are indebted to the old tower
of WaItham Holy Cross for this jubiIant
anthem of the bells. In 1910 the Tenny-
son family removed to Tunbrjdge
Wells, and in the following year to
b OXley. near Maidstone, locality aSso-
ciated with the closing section, the
splendid epithalamium, of the ''ln
NJ emOriam." For here, in October.
1912, the poets youngest sister, Cecilia,
was married to Edmund Law Lushing-
ton, professor Of Greek in Glasgow uni
yersIty. Glimpses of Park house, the
seat OF the LuShlngtonS. are preserved,
too, in the prologue to The Princess"
When Dickens died, says the Athe-
n8um, the late Lord Tennyson was
asked to bee 0me president Of the news
venders' benevolent institution. The
poet declined in the following letter:
'Sir: First let me thank the committee
and yourself for the honor you have
desired to confer upon me, which. how
ever, feel obligel to decline accepting;
for [ am neither a diner-out nor
speaker after dinner, nor could without
violence to the truth be called a man of
business. | should be loi faneant,'
which | don't wish to be-the square
man in The round hole-but if you wish
for the square mali in the square hole |
am sure Lord Houghton would be proud
to serve your cause as president At
the same time, with the permission OF
your committee, would be happy to be
one of your vice presidents by the side
of my friend LOngfellow. l have the
honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Alfred Tennyson." In consequence he
was elected a vice president