The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-11-08
fine old Welsh Ruins
Miss Kaiser Chats Entertainingly of
Picturesque Sights She Has Seen.
OUR SINGERS SEE IRELAND
Tenor Anwyl Wins Local Renown by His
Daring Climbing Feat and Suffers the
Loss of an Overshoe in a
Humorous Manner.
snecial Corresnondence of Tho Tribune.


LANDAU, Oct. IA.
I have just had delightful day here
in LANDAU, one of the Oldest of all
towns in the kingdom, and
very interesting place, OF course, most
of the interest centers in the old cathe-
dral here, where we attended divine
service in the morning. There were
some very fine choristers there, whose
singing / must acknowledge | enjoyed
very much. The dean, instead of the
old bishop, preached a sermon, and after
the service my friend and | walked
around the building bit, which eX-
ploration | enjoyed very much. The
old care-taker informed me that the
edifce dated back as far as the fourth
century; that it had been twice de-
stroyed and afterward rebuilt. A pile
of UNCOVERED stones, which would
have set bona-fide ruin worshipper
wild with delight, was pointed out to
me as the remains Of the palace In
which all the first records of the church
perished at the time when Owen Clan
dow the famous North Wales fighting
prince, destroyed the place by fire
hundreds of years ago. We saw
too, in the cathedral building
two ragged old flags which some
one carried in the Wars of the
Roses. The grounds about the cathe-
dral are quite beautiful l suppose
they are kept by some landscape gar
dener as also is the bishops court,
magniflcently wooded place in which
stands his palace and some other build
ings connected with the church. We
were taken by the care-taker to see the
deanery, which, she told us, has as
many windows in it, but one, as the
year has days. The grounds here are
models of elegance and beauty, too,
and / could not help wondering, seeing
all these separate and beautiful build
ings, and remembering all the different
clergymen, clerks, choristers, the dean,
the bishop, the sacristan, and all the
other people connected with this cathe-
dral, if 1t did not take an immense
amount of ecclesiastical machinery
with the attendant machinists to keep
up cathedral.
had noticed very large number of
fashionable people at service and sew
eral very smart equipages at the gates
afterward, and upon asking the care
taker if all this large congregation
came from Llandaff and near by she
informed me that most of the gentry
drove over to service from Cardiff, as
Io !
such a dirty common town, all given
over to pounds and shillin's."
Beautiful Decorations.
Some of the decorations of this struc-
woman showed me where the Norman
part of the building was Joined to the
old Roman building, and / could only
be sorry, while looking over the many
beauties of the palace, that the OBJ
server was not some poor student of
architecture who would understand
and enjoy so much more than the at
fractions of such a splendid old builG>
ing.
We walked home to dinner through
the fields, and on the way caught a
fine view of Castle Cock, or Red Cas-
tie, which Is romantically perched UP
on the top of precipice somewhere be-
tween Cardiff and Pont-y-Pridd, but
which cannot be seen at all from the
latter place. This particular castle, my
friend informed me, belongs to the
Marquis of Butte, whose country house
and estates had a glimpse of yester-
day, and who enjoys the distinction
of possessing no less than twelve cas-
ties throughout England, Wales and
Scotland. / do not want to talk guide
booky, and, by the way, / haven't
looked into a guide-book once since
being over here-I like best to listen TO
the stories the people here tell about
places, they are so interesting and not
cut-up-and-dried into a book-but
can't help mentioning what a loqua-
cious old man whom i asked about 1t
told me; that 1t was, of course, very
old. Oh, very old, he said, and had
been one of the strongest Notifications
in Wales, and had sheltered an army
with their provisions and sheep and
cattle and horses for three years. while
Is was undergoing siege, until, at last,
Edward the Third came with his bat
tering rams and knocked 1t down. He
showed me just where it had given
way, and / was very much interested in
the old place, which has been restored
by the Marquis father, the former
Marquis of Butte, to it's former appear
ance and strength. / should like to get
up to 1t once and look around me from
up there i fancy one can see almost
all of South Wales from its position.
Ancient Beacon Mounds.
My old friend showed me a great
many interesting things at LANDAU
yesterday. He pointed out to me the
mountain all around Ithe valley in
which we were and drew my attention
to occasional little mounds or humps,
which ] had not noticed before, but
which are distinctly visible on the hori-
zon. / supposed they were part of the
outline of the mountain tops, but he told
me how long ago they had been beacons,
which were then used for signalling
over the country any intelligence of i'm
portance. Whenever band of pirates
or robbers would land on the south
coast the people near the coast would
hasten TO light the beacon on top of the
nearest mountain. Then the nhabi-
tants Of the valley beyond saw and un-
derstood 1t, and lighted the fires on the
next range of hills, and so on the intel
ligence would go from the coast to the
interior, till 1t reached way up into
North Wales in single night or two,
and when the erobbers invaders com
menced their operations they found the
alert Welshmen quite ready for them.
THAT" my friend concluded with a