Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-08-16

lettering OF the benefactions Of dead and
gone Reeves, and so on out into the
churrhynri where lay the dust hun
dre,ls Of wears old, ofmy children's for
hears. scraped the moss from one old
date which commenioTRted the death oi
the wifr OF one John Reeve in 1897. Few
changes in that country village since her
day, perhaps, but oh, Shat different
world outside We had to tear ourselves
away from our ideal life there and come
up into the great busy world of London.
and here, having many friends, we are
more or less tied by the conventions we
had so long laid down and yet we have
had considerable time for sight seeing so
called. and each day only adds TO my de-
sire for fresh explorations and my kuowl-
edge of the inadoquacy of my time to
make them.
1t was think natural that the first
temple should desire TO enter should be
Westminster Abbey, and it IL equally n
matter OF course that at its shrine ]
should offer up the pent up enthusiasm
of lifetime. think it no irreverence TO
quote that it hath not entered into the
heart of man to conceive" the glories of
this wonderful Temple of God. The
churchly architectural beauty of its
glorious workmanship is enough to draw
out the reverent admiration of each hui
man being who sets foot within its walls.
From the very apex of its most churchly
root, through every arch, groin and pill
lar, the wonderful nave with its treetold
screen of Caen stone, the yet more won
and rails and brasses, its innumerabIe
chapels, and inches, crypts and cloisters,
its carvings of oak. black with the age OF
centuries, the building itself stands out
the first OF every building on the habita-
BILE globe; and then when you realise
that the temple is peop'ed, full, with all
those who have made England what she
is, in the past thousand years, know OF
nothing that can impress us like this I'M
til the last dread day shall come. In the
, chapels of the kings and princes we stood
, by the ashes OF the Great Coniessor him.
/ self, in whose honor, as ito the Glory Of
: God" this building was erected; by the
, dust OF the Norman ConQueror and his
successors, their consorts, their children
Sometimes the lament of the stricken so v
e ereigns is shown in the unique tomb o
4 some beloved child. remember tiny
: baby cradle in age-crumbled carver
: stone; sometimes tiny form laid on {
royal couch with all the gorgeous trap
c pings of royalty in the unconscious mar
Y bic. Then comes the commemorative
tomb of a royal husband over his Ia
mented spouse as The good Queer
Eleanore," or later the wicked Henri
VIII sleeps near his murdered queens
While the beautiful and deeply wronget
c Marie Stuart had been moved by the or
a der of her son after his accession to tn
Il English throne 20 her was erected ST
$ beautiful tomb that the haught,
d Elizabeth would almost turn in her un
Y easy rest in the madness and jealousy O
r her hated rival, had she been tor a cen
/ fury dead l." could she witness the crec
l, ton. The ashes of the two youn
L princes murdered in the tower lie not IA
g from those of their cruel uncle, while
of the lion heart reposes quietly nea
" them all.
h But leaving the tombs of ROYALTY lie
t. us see how England has honored he
y brave and good. There is scarcely a
It inch OF wall space i'll this wondertt
II Abbey from the floor to height of pei
q haps twenty feet that is not occupied b
y monuments, busts, engraved tablets an
/ mural decorations of every form that ar
&c enthusiasm or beauty suggests. Ever
y one has heard of the Poets Corner,
st where stands the tomb of Spenser, a bus
81 of Chaucer, busts OF almost every poe
&c England has produced and our ow
| sweet Longtellow with his contempor;
rs ries, while Shakespeare, rare Ben Jonsol
> and many others are near at hand. Hug
allegorical monuments erect thenlselvC
~ to the memories of England great wal
riors, statesmen, inventors, explorer
donors and public benetactors, eac
- bearing its appropriate inscriptio,
III Some have said to me There is no chan,
>e for selfmade man in Englandw l.,
y those who think thus go to Wesrmin
vi ter Abbey, familiarize themselves wit
X the history OF some of those enshrne
= there, and believe with me that no III
u. Nv ton is reader to recognize native wort
nc or keener to appreciate nobility of cha
. acter in any sphere than the nation tn;
~ immortalizes its great men within i
" walls. &c. R.
Vi London, July 81, 1895.