Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-04

amount of money on Buckingham pal
 ace, as the queen was only there so short
 q time the money be spent on Hollyroad
 palace. As this was already well pro
 vided for it was moved that large
 amount then be expended in a statue to
 Oliver Cromwell and erected before the
 Westminster hall above. the beams of
 which Gromwelfs head stood on pike
 for so long. The motion was lost. Isn't
 it remarkable that the English nation
 is not yet ready to honor Cromwell2
 First in interest I placed the houses of
 parliament, something of which We have
 read and heard and not England's
 alone, but the worlds. We would thrill
 in the same way over the pyramids or
 the fields of Marathon, or the Chams
 Elysees," and next Westminster abbey.
 Now the Englishman takes nothing to
 America but himself, but how different
 with us. When we enter the abbey the
 spacious and gloom of this vast edi1ce
 produce a profound and mysterious awe.
 We step cautiously and softly about, as if fearful of disturbing the halloWei
 silence of the tomb We feel that We
 are surrounded by the congregated bones of Ehe great men of past times, who haNS filled history with their deeds and the earth with their renown," SO said our own Washington Irving and the abbey is a grand. solemn place. We are so near it that we go over often, for we
 love to sit in it's tranquil heights and dream of the glories depicted therein In Henry VII cnapel our Bulue tooh u' up windy staircase and showed us sight not frequently seen by visitors. It used to be the custom to have the iuner- al cortege preceded by wax figure ot the illustrious dead to represent them as in life and here in glass cases we saw the effigies of good Queen Bess, not hand some to look upon, but oh, she was so strong and grand she could easily dis pense with looks. Charles l, too, in all his regal splendor; William and Mary: | fFf- I gapf Nelson. It was a most impressive slght to see them so lfe-like, and the dress of the period making the impression strong CT most interesting portion of the abbey is the old Charter house, the oldest portion of the abbey, in which are mag
 nficent art windows. Illustrating the periods of English history "Saxon,' vet to be made; Norman" "Plantagnut, fourteenth century, under which is the American window, which James Russell Lowell unveiled. making one of the grandest orations of his life. Then the stuart" and Tudor" windows. Just outside this octagonal room is the memo rial window to Lowell, given by his Eng fish admirers, Duke of Argyle. Mrs. Les
 lie Stevens and Gladstone. That is one
 of the most beautiful and appropriate
 things ever saw. Then believe next in
 interest to me came Temple Bar. As
 we walked through the lanes and lnio
 Pump court" spoken of by Dickens in
 Martin onuZZleWlt, --6S lllP HetuuS place of lovers, and made famous by aS-
 ssociations of Dickens, Dr. Johnson, Gold
 smith, Bosworth; and to the north of the
 old Temple church saw the graves Of Ol- iver Goldsmith. The Temple gardens are of peculiar interest. Here it was that the white and red roses were plucked, which
 were assumed as the badges of the houses of York and Lancaster in the long and bloody civil contest, known as the
 war of the roses," and as we with en- thusastic emotion offered the keeper any price for white or red rose
 he gravely informed us that nev- CT since those days had roses ever grown in the gardens, though they had been often cultivated, but en- tirely without success. Here, however are held brilliant chrysanthemum shows in November, for it was here that chrN santhemums were first cultivated in Eu-
 rope. Our interest, though, centered in
 the dining hall of the temple, dating from the eleventh century; the old oaken boards of the floor dating from that cen tury; an elaborately carved oaken screen erected by Elizabeth and the magnif- cent ceiling proudly erected by Elizabeth from the ships of the Spanish Armada. A stage about a foots higher than the main floor across the end of the room was of peculiar interest to us, as being the first stage that Shakespeare ever acted upon and left on that account, but we decided the room was worthy of Shakespeare. The room was first used by Knight Templars, and around the
 walls are crests of Templars and v the
 kings who had been Templars, and low r of those who had risen to high estate. Above was the armor of the first a.d later crusaders. Many handsome DOT traits adorn the walls. We learned there was to be meeting of Hardwicke's D. batting society the next evening. and by applying to Lord Hardwicke and the sec | retary, Percy Atkin, with our proper ere dentials we received an invitation to at | tend which we appreciated very much. | Our leader has declared that the next | time she conducts a party to Europe | they must sign an affidavit that they did | not attend the Worlds fair. So many | places we ga we exclaim "Oh, I saw bet | ter than that at the fair or ''I saw enough of that at the fair" until now it has become a joke with us, and we Say we only came abroad for the "scenery;' | but there is a great deal of historic in | terest to the student in this old city of | London and two weeks is but paltry | time to take in the sights and wonders. Oh! I must not forget to say, II you l think we haven't made an impression on | the London public, were at the din- | ner table when one of these piano organs | came along and first thing you knew com | menced playing "Dixie." We all jumped l up from the table and rushed to the | window and such shower of coins I'm | sure the poor performer never experi- | enced before But how good it was to | hear "Dixie" played in this foreign land | I'm sure the performer had no idea of | it's significance. But hear the sequel | We are now distracted with ''music!' | each evening just as we wish refresh | ment and just before the dinner hour. | Thus we pay dearly for our enthusiasm. l PAUL PRY. l