Morning journal and courier., 1894-05-19
TALES OF TEN TRAVELLERS.
[coNo1uprn FROM FIRST pAan.l

day = say good bye fur bit o houting
In Kent along O. tn ops. She
says, they 'as no need o. vegetables, nor
either good-byss. They's done fur All
tn more need o. friends says Hetty. 60
long says she, 'or Hill ave ye SUM
monsed.' AT that says 1. Easy does It,
nissus aaotionsble i.ngw,aes ki9f. 1ssh
We left, with leads as Ugh a. st. Paul's
clock. Now we're ere aein g give DER th'
houtin' an T. take ye t. our 'ome. Strike
me lucky, faint no lud mayors pallus, bat
If ye can put up long O Hetty's 'avin' no
bloomin' grammar in Ter, hits yours az
long a. Hetty can boiler or HI can shove q
cartl Lady an governor likewise, 10 hit .
go9'
He said this in an almost pitiful tone Of
appeal, as Pelham and his sister touched BY
his genuine magnanimity, showered thanks
and blessings upon them both.
"You spoke of going to Kent on little
outing. Did you mean among the hop
gardens, Ike."
"Dldn't Hi, thought"
GLOW were You goinga" continued Mercy
with unusual earnestness.
''Same as all o. hus t. Yarmouth, last
year. In our wan, to be sure"
"What can each of you earn per week,
and how many weeks work are there?"
"Thirty bob (shillings) fur four weeks"
"That is six pounds, each9"
"Gor bill me, lady, them's tn fgures!"
'Ike," and the handsome young woman
regarded the ooster with kindling eyes,
''csn we-my brother and I-so with you
and Hetty in the vsn!"
Ike gave such fierce whistle that Mercy
1aughingly stopped her ears against its
piercing shrek, when the coster, cutting
several ecstatio pigeon-wings about the
apartment, loosened his neck cloth "kings.
man" as If to express the almost choking
nature of his joy. Hetty blubbsred and
gurgled radiantly at the unexpected turn
of events, while Pelham turned from the
window, laughing at the hubbub, but with
an anxious "What crazy scheme is This OF
yours now, Aerce."
"Nothing crazy about til You and ]
picked hops, George, back there on the
dear old Mohawk valley farm with oul
neighbour children, year after year. There
was nothing crazy about it then. W.
thought it the treat of the year. And how
George-could fill more sacks than othel
need the money, I'd enjoy it again, just
for auld lang syne. We do need the money
and Ike and Hetty-blsss them for thei,
goodness!-will give us chance to earn it
Besides, want to see Kent, just once, If
only as hop piekerl" she concluded de
terminedly.
"You are the bravest sister man eve1
hadl" exclaimed Pelham rapturously.
"Gor bill me, she's hsvery inch queen!'
murmured Hetty rapturously.
GA queenp added Ike scornfully at tn.
undergraduates of the title. "Strike m,
| lucky, she's hempress, hout an hoat!'
Bright and early the next morning, Ike
Eetty and their van, drawn by their won
| the newly polished coronets of his second
| hand harness, were in waiting in the his
toric precincts of Cheyne Row.
The Pelhams had stored their remainin
belongings with their landlady, leaving in
structions to forward any letters tina
/ might arrive in their absence to Maidstone
| the metropolis of the Kentish hop coun
try, and, having provided single chang
/ of garments, with some necessary add
tions of food to the already generous coe
ter supply, were ready for the extraordl
nary journey into Kent.
While busy about the van with the ina
preparations, Ike with genuine feeling cou
fided to Pelham that all provisions againa
"the ladies'" wants had been looked te
"For," he said, with almost tinge of bill
terness in his argument, "w'at's the use {
leavin' out tn wei2 Strike me lucky, bu
ye must give a woman, leastwise Hetty
wat she's used ter, on houtin' an plent
hof it, m no fear, she'll make folks 'arpp
were she bidesl"
With this generous outlook before then
Hetty and Mercy were comfortably en-
sconced in the van, and Ike and Pelham
l walking beside the demure Bolivar, tn
| pilgrimage to the hop yards of Kent vi
begun.
Their way led over the Thames o,
through Southwark with its Tabard I'M
where Chaucer's fancy grouped q quar-
eompany-hi his knight, prioress, yoeme1
friar, monk, merchant, sergeant of Law
clerk, haberdasher, weaver, dyer, mile
reeve, soodwife of Bath and what-not
that ilk-at the beginning of the Cantel
bury spripgtime pilgrimages; throug
little Foot'a Cray with its picturesque u
maiden ladies'" into Eynesford, embov
cred in apple-orchsrds and doing dron'
fully beneath the gray ruins of It's flint
Norman castle curisusly studded with Ri
man bricks; and at last, after two day
time, they came to sweet old Abingdon
where Sir Thomas Wyatt, through hi
passion for the Kentish beauty, Queen Ann
Boleyn, wrote almost the earliest and som
OF the sweetest love songs in the Englis
tongue-the green depths of whose forest
throbbed with the endless melody of birds
and from whose gentle hills the hop "a,
dens of Kent stretched away to the sout
and east like impenetrsble masses O
shadows, toward ancient Canterbury an,
the sea.
Nor were they alone in their pilgrimage
From every highway, by-psth and Ian
4
GUS shire and centerfng about Maidstone
foated low clouds of dust. These half hi
and half disclosed masses of oncomin
| pilgrim bands. They came not in hun
dreds but in thousands. They came II
| vans, in carts and on foot. Thousands o
Gipsies were among their number. Ever
| railway train which halted at every statioi
| in the entire district, left scores or hun
| dreds from the London elums; and thes
set out with fierce halloas upon the crowde,
roads in mad racings for fsvorite garden
| and masters.
From the hillside where their van hai
halted for the night they could see TO
| miles and miles the wild throDgs thicken
The hedges were alive with them. Ever,
spring or stream or we'll was seized upol
as by armies in their pestilential, all con
Stunning long marches. They crowded
from the hedges into field corners. They
| broke into the meadows and wallowed II
the aftermath. Wave-like they beat ur
| against the farm houses and fought like
| beast for sheds and half-sheltered spots
beneath division walls, or for hollows be.
| side the highways. Far as the eye could
reach, 1t seemed that writhing, wriggling
ungovernable countless thousands OF
frantic humans were wsdged in upon each
other simply for savage outlswry and de.
struction. -
As the night came down the valley scene
and sound were more impressive still.
Hundreds of Pickering campfres were
lighted in the plain below. No human
was visible, but the mutterings of this
unmarshalled army of labor were more
dreadful In contemplation than their I'm.
masked ranks by day. Hoarss halloas
laughter from which all innocence had for.
ever flown, cries of drunken men and
shrieking women mingled in horrible dis.
cord and 1oated blastingly over THU
sweetest of English Wales.
/ But late. late at night, one bv one tbs