The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-12
observation-disclosures
ODD INCIDENTS OF FOREIGN
TRAVEL AND CBsERvATION-XL


Veldemusa-SoddenC outen tment O.
European Peasautry-LowIy Galiciar
Shrines- of COntinenta,
Railroad Travel-Acrcss the Island
of Cuba.
Copyright
LONDON, Feb 15.-If Melross abbey, the
Mecca Of all American tourists in scotland,
furnishes examples Of art nearly as be-
witching as the most delicate expressions Of
nature itself, Bryburgh abbey, but four
miles distant from the Tweed, holds and
fascinates the wsnderer with far more
tender and subtle charm The founding Of
Dryburgh Is of remoter antiquity than even
that Of the original Culdee house Of Old
Melrose.
Before the advent OF Christian mis-
sionsries the place was resorted to by the
Druids for the celebration OF their mystic
rites-as Ddrachbrduch or bUrgh, 1.-THE
bank cluster Of sacred oaks Dry
burRhs Celtic name, implies. Modan,
Culdee presOyter, set up the
first Christian establishment in Dryburgh,
IN 522 For 62S years thereafter its
history is insignificant. The monks from
Alnwick, under toe patronage Of Sir Hugh
King David l., founded here q Premonstra-
tentian abbey of splendid Dimensions.
This was burned along with Melrose abbey
by Edward H., and restored by aid granted
by King Robert the Bruce.
Twice, IN 1885, and in 1854, 1t was pill
LACED and devastated by the English. The
reformation of doughty John Knox, six
teen years later dId the rest. The ruins Of
Dryburgh abbey show that the walls of the
completed edihce stood on different levels,
and that the structure illustrated at least
four different styles Of architect
ure. This is seen in the mas
sive Roman arch with its ample,
square sides; the deep-splayed and always
impressive Saxon arch; and the early En-
glIsh pointed arch. The church was orig
finally in the form Of a cross with short
transepts, and a small but exquisitely
decorated choir, while the interior was d.
vided by light and graceful colonnades into
q central space aud side aisles.
OF the transepts portion Of but one, the
north, called st. Mary's aisle, is still stand
ing; but there is a no more beautiful speci-
men of the early Gothic to be found in
Scotland than is this, the solemn and
secluded burial-place Of Scotia's greatest
minstrel, the noble author OF "Waver-
ly.n The.ohapter house, tiny chapel of
st. Modsu, and a Norman arch which
formed the western doorway are yet stand
ing. A stately yew, over 800 years old,
casts its somber shade upon the lawn, oppo-
site where once the IDIOTS sat at their case
ments, to mock the huge pile of stone al II
crumbles into the earth.
You feel more than you can see at Dry
burgh The whole place is instinct with re-
pose. The horizon is close, not half mile
away in any direction. It is fTiuged with
the bougbs and verdUre of sheltering trees
save where, far to the south, the weird Eli
don bills OF wizard renown peer down from
above their cloud mists into the sunny
copse. The Tweed moving in silence for
miles above, circling her sweeps wide and
Rrandly over cleaning Swallows, and sings
its endless song just at the edge of the olden
abbey grounds.
You come to the place through hushed
- silent avenue, ankle-deep in the spring
w. with hawthorn blossoms white as
y1s~. In the grazing days their place is
filed by the browns aud puces OF rustling
drift from the beach, elm and sycamore.
Only the lodge keepers habitation reminds
Of earthly activities. Nature alone holds
sway. Bloom and birds, grasses and vines,
odor and song, russell walls and emerald
masses Of moss, orlels Of ivy, fillets OF
vines, pointed arches OF roses, towers of
trees leaping from the old walls themselves.
reach the eye and sense tenderIy, slumber-
ously, puislng with hush and balm.
Nlelrose exalts. Dryburgh soothes. The
entire spot is ruin merged into Elysium,
hallowed by one humble grave. AND so
sweet and hushed is all that even your rev.
ereuce for the ever-silent disappears; for
you feel that your mighty friend lies here
as on the bosom OF the land be so loved and
immortalized and that Scott only sleeps
while sWeetly all nasure,songs TO him are
sung.
The cafes and fondas Tor eating houses,
for the latter are equally resorted to- are
the resting places OF tue gay city Of Havana.
Their number and patronage are remarka-
bic. They are all wide open to the street
the year round. One fanoies they are
almost a part of it, as frequently more than
one-half the cafe is underneath long, wide,
huge-pllared porticos. Here chattering
crowds by day and brilliant crowds by
night, under the fare OF lamps In great
century-old metal frames, never cease Gig
arette-smoking, gin and wine drinking;
although all liquors, however frequently
ordered, are used in sparing quantities
And between the shriu cries of the dulceros
or CONNECTION peddlers. the hoarse impor-
tunities of the lottery ticket mobs, the ever
minor music OF the wandering street min
Btrels, and the numberless sounds of a
marvelously gay, but never brutal, and
more than half oriental city life, the ''olick
click, click" of the universal and never
silent dominoes upon the marble table, come
TO you as an undertoned staccato Of myriads
of unseen cnstinets.
II your own wanderings ever lead you to
Gibraltar, TO Barcelona or to Marseilles
upon the Mediterranean coast, do not fail TO
engage passage IN one Of the pretty steam
ers which ply between these cities and the
slumberous port OF Palma In the little
Spanish isle of Majorica. II is quainter
than Spain, more Moorish than Algiers,
and its pleasant folk are the most hospitabls
in all the world. A visit to its half ruined
ancient monastery of Valdemusa and the
wild and marvellous north coast scenery are
alone worth a trip 70 the island.
With as magnificent and far more classic
surroundings as those of Vallombrosa
In Italy, mountain chasm il bridged
by the ancient pile in so extraor-
binary and picturesque way as to seem at a
distance like a gay old cloud-kissed nest that
has for ages detied decay aud the battling
of the aerial tempests there. But the gray
OF real decay is upon all things at Valde-
musa; in the gray old church and endless
clolsters; in the gray old huuses that nestle
along the mountain side beneath it: and in
the gray old folk that haunt the spot like
wraiths OF those who once we're there.
An indescribable sadness fingers about
this splendid Majoricsn relic Of monkish
times and days. The rich Of Palma come
here IN summer and live a gey mock con-
ventual life. George Sand half a
century ago passed the most dolorous
winter Of her life within these walls. With
hos