Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-23
The Poet Traveller Visits Seven
Hundred of Them.
WAKEMAN'S WANDERlNGS,
Tho Hamlots that we All Know from
Fiction Arc SIM In E4istence--Dron.
ing Ole Villages and the People
that Live In Them.


For the Sunday Gazette;
London. April II, 1893.
In my preceding article on English vii.
/ lagos aud their folk, / gave some ac.
| count Of seven English villages. and these
| In merest outline. Seven hundred H.
| truly nearer the number / have person.
| ally visited. Each one could furnish
through leisurely study for brush or pen,
abundant material for q winsome volume.
Some writer's would have us believe
that English villages were things Of the
| past that rural England had completely
gone 20 decay; that the smoke Of factory
stacks hung like q pail over the remains
Of all that is mellow and old and good
| that the thuudcrs Of the mills had
drowned all the dear old country sounds.
that commercial England with hard aud
cruel hand bad oiiaccd almost the last
/ ycstige of the crst sweet and charming
/ cOuutrysides; and that brick and iron.
/ stone and steel. coal and Brumuagem,
varied now aud then by noblemnu's de
mcsnc or gcutlenan's seat, were the char.
actcristic features Of an English land
scapo
As goodly % proportion Of English as
American people have come 90 accept
this as true. But DO is astOundingy false,
as any one who will really suunter. not
rush, about England may know Books
are largely responsible for this. Eng
| lish fiction. like American fiction, of
/ from q half century Co n century ago
/ was rcplctr with pictures of village life
aud character When Charlotte Broutc
/ laid down her pen, aud the labor IT
| George Elliot who was to the early Vic
| tondn age. az least In degree, what
/ Shakespeare was to the Elizabethau-
/ was done, mustcrship in this school OF
| dclincntiOn seemed tu cease
| Neither America or England has since
! produced q lasting work of fiction upon
| rural scenes and lowly folk Nuvolists
| have walluwed In ultrusm. psycholOgi,
| cal phenomena, suhtlctics Of crime aud
! it- detection, hidcous snlaciousnrss, posi-
/ tive aud comparative religion, the hero.
| ics Of uguustiCism and inhdplity and In
the shredded and bedraRglcd warp and
! wOof OF ultra Intense metropolitan life
| So those who rely on intelligent fiction Co
reflect reality, have fclt that the English
| village and its folk had surely passed
| away.
Again the great world Of activities has
| come constantly % intelligent attention,
! through the press, the reviews and
through statistical volumes. largely 10
the exclusion of the great underlying
| world of fHct aud sentiment Ia America
the stupcudous affairs aud progress Of
! our great cities have almost oblitcratcd
| the memory of some of the sweetest old
| hooks iu nll the world the historic aud
| beautiful humlrts Of New England. of
the eastern aud even of the southern
| and middle states. Yet they are an
just as they once were. pretticr aud ten.
durpr for their pcnsvcucsS and iucrcas.
! Ing age. Here. similarly. everything IN
| London, Leeds Birmingham, Mnnchcs.
| ter Liverpool Hull, and that host of
practically new manufacturing towns
aud cities Of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
| The American commercial mind aud
the English commercial mind have heard
for quarter uf q century Of naughl
else than their ingots and spindlcs, pot.
terry and looms, fabrics aud ships, lock.
outs aud walk-Outy depression aud OK.
pnuWOu aud their tremendous trade
suprrutivrs of every hard aud horassinp
description.
But the material aud literary fact still
| remains that all the thousands Of an,
cirut English villages. and with not u
half hundred exceptions, are here just ae
they were nt the beginning OF the cen.
| ury and just as we have porpd over
Thorn in the best old works of English
fiction. Not only this, but hundreds pi
modern villages with Winsumr uldpu
architecture m the hahilamcnt of Ellie
hothqu aud even earlier Tudor times
enriched with luxurious parking and in.
| telligpnt Horticulture, and windows filled
| with ruddy English faces. have been
added To- the mossier olden stock.
Even in the cOugcstcd districts Of Ian,
cnShirc, Yorkshire. northern Warwick
shire. Stauurdshrc and Shropshire, mol
an ancient village has passed from sight
save whore a town on city has grown
within and around H. and whore fac
tory towns are 80 thick that clusters of
chimney stacks crowd every acre of th,
horizon like giant spears above som,
mighty enclrcliug camp, there between
| aNN
bcwitching for the grimy fellowship OF
trade an endless sOlace 10 eye and hear
of those who ceasees, toll.
Therefore when the lively American
who does England In a week tells n,
that the rural England of literature h IA,
more he tells ms what perhaps som,
Hyde park orator. railway station purtul
on travelling salesman has told him, bu
atm something which he does not know
and when the London literary dilettnuu
falls upon aud dispOsos of rural Bingham,
iu % single breezy magazine article nj
smart review, he commits for nccdet
stipend of ten or twenty pounds it'll,
short of literary crime.
Such AZ these and better stlll an thos,
who love the truly beautiful aud win
somely picturesque In any land, with0u
J seeking OuiNotic quests lmo5g puliticn
md social problems should certaiuy pas
at least Que summer among EnglisI
NllluErN, ltNNufruN can Toe iOunu eve
along the limos Of railway Leaving thcs
! at any station by coach, hy tran upu
; bicycle, or mere udyuntugcously an,
fuller ~ citation than ALL ON your Owl
= good legs, every fine old hcdso-horlore
= highway viii Furnish you an astoundm
revelation In every half-day's drive q
< wink
. What wondrous Journeys In TO the pas
; are thus afforded. What splendid page
2 OF history are thus reoponel- for II I'm
( been Ia and about English villages rattle
J than any towns that English history IA
I been made. What challenges ar
, prompted 90 the great and the immorta
20 conrc from their Wrnithlands ana
. walk beside you where they once dwell
& And how you find that an you know o
b books has inexpressibly lacked ia ia
: Wue color aud feeling until yon thu
t wed presence and actually with IA
j. tonoloss tale Of words
x The wealth and number Of these olde
q villages ia Kent alone would Confonn
\ the Dryaslusts and iconcclasts of ruri
r England IL Is with a thrill of deligl
that you wander through Saltwood, peel
Z ing out between leafy hills upon the gl0l
a ious sea; lyminge messy AMI still be-
p side the most ancient church OF souther
Kent so ancient that in It's walls M
X actually seen every specimen Of eccles
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