Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-05
BEAUTIES OF THE BY-WAYS.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH.

| truculent Darbar1ans armed WIN lances anu
arrows, and to play an unwilling game or
hide and seek behind the trees and around
the ledges of the hills Yetevery misfortune
has its compensations. And, at least, the
people who walked through by-ways got no
| dust in their sandals; they were not jostled
| by the touring crowd; and as for scenery and
| the shade of the green trees, and the music
| OF the brooks, they had a monopoly of these
| delights and benedictions
Blessed be the by-ways. and happy the
| traveller who has the good fortune to get
| into them. He has pleasures which the
| armies of General Cook knew not OF. The
best memories which one brings back from
foreign travel are not connected with the
| conventional sights. They are not garnered
| along the railways nor in the streets of
| cities. They come out of the lanes and the
corners, and are associated with adventur-
GUS journeys of discovery, with walks to
unconventional places, with sights seen
from the tops of coaches, or from the sum-
mits of the hills after long climbing.
Exercising the Lightning.
Il REMEMBER little experience which I
had two years ago at Bozen, on the way
from Innsbruck to Verona. The train stop
ped at Bozen and showed no signs of going
on. Everybody got outSand began asking
questions and, after some struggle with
the German language, we learned that there
was a flood over the track ahead
and that we would have to wait till morn
ing and take diligence around the flooded
part and get another train beyond. So we
found quaint hotel in the heart of the
quaint littie town, where our windows
looked out upon the roof of the old Cathe-
dral, a g eep roof with glazed and twisted
tiles wh ,ch glistened in the sunlight. And
that night, in the small hours, the great
Cathe dral bell began to ring. And it rang,
and iang, and rang, and rang, as if 1t meant
to ring on forever, Was there fire? No,
look out of the windows showed no glow
In the sky. There was q storm outside. 1t
was raining to an accompaniment of thun-
der and lightning. Was it the flood then,
and was the bell intended to alarm
the town. The thought was not
comfortable one. But the town slept on,
and there was no movement in the Streets
Finally the booming ceased. The bell had
been ringing 90 minutes. It seemed like
hours. In the morning we found out what
it meant They were ringing the church
bell to keep the lightning from striking the
town! AS long as the bell was busy the
devil would not dare to fling any of his hot
thunderbolts into the protected neighbor-
hood.
The Past Found in the By-Ways.
Il HAVE always been grateful for the
sight and sound of Bozen. There was moth
ing in Munich half SO interesting. The
Cathedral of Bozen surpassed the Cathedral
of Cologne. And then the diligence ride the
next morning over the wet roads, between
the green fields, and through the back
streets of little villages, where troops of
housewives were doing their family wash
ing at the fountain in the middle of the
square-what a delight to the eyes, what a
treasure for the memory One thinks of the
wise man who said, "Gfve me the luxuries
OF life and will dispense with the neces-
sariesr' Give us the by-ways and the high
ways may go unoccupied.
Who ever heard of Kitchen and its ancient
monastery church? Kitchen is in Hertford-
shire, halfa-dozen miles from Knebworth
The road leads out between the hedges and
the walls of brick and stone which fence in
the great estates; and through the groups of
houses in quaint villages, all OF. brick, close
to the street with gray church in the
midst, and a full complement of ale
houses with od-fashioned signs. The
meadows are green, as only English mead
ows can be, and the trees beside the way
and in the fields stand out against the sky,
not massed together, as our are, but apart,
each with an individuality of its own. And
SO We come to Kitchen, and to its great old
unaware, and no personally conducted"
tourist ever saw, but over whose ancient
walls the ivy chambers, and on the dial of |
the square tower the sun still marks the |
hours as it has marked them since the days |
when white-cowled monks looked up to see |
the time. Inside are curious old stone |
effigies by the windows, figures of knights |
and ladies of the centuries of chivalry, re-
cumbent with hands clasped in prayer. |
Over a tomb in the transept hang helmet |
and a breastplate and pair of stout steel |
gauntlets, for which the former owner has |
now these many years had no further use.
In curious old painting on the wall the
holy Mother is depicted, attired in what |
looks quite like modern evening dress.
Picturesque English Parish.
THE little church at Knebworth is |
equally picturesque and interesting. There |
are old brasses in the chancel floor which |
have survived the days of fanaticism and |
plunder. There are marble monuments of |
departed Lyttons in the little chapel by the |
choir, wonderful studies in the elaborate |
of century and a half ago. There /
is a great square pew for the lord of the |
manor and his family at the entrance to the |
choir, rallied in by a partition of good |
height from the gaze of the peasant congre-
cation, and provided with prayer books |
which are as tall as small children. The |
row of trees around the church was planted |
by a former Lady Lytton, who had a quarrel |
with the parson. After she had appointed |
him to the living-according to the per-
nfcious custom of the countryside met an
other clergyman whom she liked much
better. So she coolly invited the rector
to resign. And when she found |
thst he had no intention of consenting to
her wishes, she planted this row of trees
about the church to hide it from the win
dows of her house and from the sight, per-
haps, of her own conscience, and forbade
the congregation to attend. So that for
three years the good man said the service
with the parish clerk alone. Then he gave
up and esigneo.
Queer Out-of-the-Way Services.
Il HEARD parish clerk pronounce the
amens the other day at Amesbury. Ames-
bury is few miles out of Salisbury, midway
between Old Sarum, whore there are extern
sive and impressive remains of fortress
which was held by the Romans. and Stone
henge, where that mysterious group of
Druid stones stands in the midst of Sails
bury Plain. We looked into the little church
as the vicar was saying the litany. There
were half a dozen good women4in the con-
and the parish clerk. The parish
clerk magnified his office. His voice was as
loud as the parsons.
Another queer, little out-of-the-way serv-
ice which I will always remember with
pleasure was at st. Cross Hospital in Win
chester. st. Cross was founded good many
centuries ago in the Middle Ages for the
poor people of Winchester as an aim shouse
for the aged, and the good man who gave
most of the money provided that at the st.
Cross gate dole of bread and horn OF