The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-10-24
QUAINT OLD PLYMOUTH.
In Americans Description Of Historic
English Town.

EhSLsh
1.-THE streets inthe billy parts o. Ply.
MOUTH are narrow and winding, and
remind one of the streets in some OF
theold Italian cities. The architecture
of the whole town is peculiar, inasnuch
as it includes all the styles known to
Europe. On the top of the hill are the
handsomest buildings, and there the
streets are broad. AS | turned into
F7Inion street on my first visit to the
ltoyn, found myself amid a throng so
busy as to remind me of Broadway.
But there was this difference, the move
ment of the stream of people was not
so swift as on Broadway. Nor is it on
any English thoroughfare that | have
visited. In Plymouth a New Yorker or .
Bostonian must slacken his new-world
pace in order to study the Plymouth
ians. He will then find that these slow
and sturdy walkers are healthy, big and
rosy, and that they give the impression
of people well fed prosperous and
| self-satisfied. Their foreheads look less
| anxious than those he recalls on his
own streets. They seemed to me quaint
/
was in foreign land. The language
that heard about me was our OWN, but
hstill it seemed to my ears to be spoken
/ in a cultural and peculiar way. The
women that | saw bore little resemb-
lance to my own country-women, eN-
cept in the brilliancy of their complex
ions The beauties of Devon are IA
miliar in England. and on the streets
and in the lanes about Plymouth one
sees handsome, strapping women, gen
orally with dark hair and eyes. and with
the Du Maurier profile. They are gen
orally dressed rather oddly, and they
move with less grace than strength,
The men on the street are decidedly
good looking. 1t seemed to me that
cheerful disregard of taste in dress pre-
vailed among them. Gaudy plaids of a
huge pattern. curry-colored homespuns
and yellow cloths made blotches in the
scene. Staid old gentlemen who ought
to have known better wore hairy little
cricket caps of bright colors. But, in
spite of their dress. the men had in gen
eral a personality that was impressive.
They looked like proud men-a product
OF the keen air and commanding
heights of their native city. From these
heights they look out over the sea
) which their fathers became masters of.
From this port Hawkins and Gilbert
sailed; Drake started from here on the
: first voyage ever made around the
earth. and it was here that the English
feet lay in wait for the Spanish Arma-
da. The descendants OF such men have
a right to be proud.
The shops of Plymouth are small and
poor, as all the people who are able to
buy what they need in London. The
shop keepers are very polite, even OPP
pressively so. There are many old
shops in the odd hooks and quaint old
courts of Plymouth. To an American
these time-worn corners in this old
world town possess q novelty in their
very age, a charm in their tradition.
The people in them seem so ancient in
their modes of speech and their ideas,
and yet SO attractive by their sim
plicity. | ran across a quaint tavern,
an enticing place, called the Rose and
Crown, said to be three hundred years
old. y glass of musty ale has greater
flavor in such place than elsewhere
and it was pleasant to sit and hear the
ale-wife vaunt the quality of her brew
The quantity of ale that is drunk in
8 Plymouth is prodigious. 1t seemed tc
me that everybody drank ale at al
hours of the day. The place is also ia
IS nous for the manufacture of gin, muct
V of which is exported, particularly tc
Y America. The barmaids of Plymouth
= are respectable and polite, and theil
tidy and attractive presence imparts {
it decency to a drinking place which Is
e sadly missed in our American bar
r rooms.
/: Fogs and winds and rains have theil
home here, but everybody wears {
Vt macintosh and carries an umbrella
'e and goes about just the same. The
Te air is evidently healthy. and it breeds
n good appetite for the delicious NUT
u ton chops that are to be had in the coy
j. grill rooms of the town. The Ply
u mouthians are fond of good things t.
~ eat and drink, and plenty of both arr
N necessary to withstand the damp an(
" cold of their climate. They are als'
- fond of their leisure, and on Wednes
> day and Saturday afternoons all tn
- shops are closed and the town adjourn
, = to the fields or to the water for enjoy
III ment
d. The large number of tap rooms i
s. noticeable in Plymouth. and in tn
n slums of the town 1T is not uncommon
X to see men, and sometimes women
H. under the influence Of the gin which i
IS; so cheaply produced there. The poo
as quarters of the town seem to me to oo
cupy larger area than i'll one of on
lg New England small cities. The aver
ce age being on the streets is also less II
~ telligent As a natural accompan
nent of this fact, the scarcity of boo
r. stores in Plymouth is conspicuous
Strange as it may seem, it is difficult
e. find "A set of Dickens or Thackeray her,
u N. Y. Post.
IN The Brute.
VI 1t was really her fault that the BIZ
wv cults burned little on the bottom, an
o. he ought not to have raised so big ro
er about it, 81 suppose such a thin