The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-11
AMONG WELSH MOUNTAINS.
Life of the Farmer Is Primitive,
Hard and Simple.
Pail Mall Gazette.

Pail Mall Gazette.
1t is a charming experience to be domi-
ciled in a Welsh farmhouse with name
of eleven consonants and two poor little
novels, the farmhouse itself in mountain
recess with even more consonants to it's
name. 1t is not bit like England. Yet
suppose a pigeon would get into Shropshire
in an hour or two from our SQUAD stone
chimneys, or our very wet meadows, upon
which the huge gray rocks east and south
send their eternal cascades.
A tremendous shower was the beginning
of 1t. Soaked to the skin after a morning
on the mountains, and considerably mud
died by the whirling fog, 1 Numbered into
this particular valley, with this particular
farmstead at its extreme head. The sheep
dogs gave me warm welcome, and would,
L feel sure, have bitten me if 1 had not
been so moist. Then out came the guide
wife and blamed the dogs. I was entreated
to enter. The vast chimney corner of the
kitchen was put at my disposal; So too
were the lady's stockings and her hus-
bands outer garments. For an hour or
two / sat in an atmosphere of the past
(for it is q very ancient building), among
milk pals, little girls, strips of ham, shop
almanacs, antique crockery and pussy
cats. Then, under renewed sunshine. I re-
turned to the coast, dried and determined
man. / had been offered lodging at the
old farmhouse all among the rocks and
tumbling waters and I was determined to
move without delay into my new quarters
And so here I am, eleven miles from any
where of consequence. My rooms have
walls four feet thick. There is a perpetual
supply of milk on the red tablecloth. The
sheep-dogs have got to wagging their tails
at me and paving me with limbs that but
just now trod knee-deep in the odorous
Welsh, which. like all difficulties. when
faced, is not so terrible riddle as it looks.
The mountain sides are familiar to me-
know Just where to stand In the ''Ilyn," a
thousand feet or SO above the farm, to
have the best chance of a trout There are
mines among the. rocks, and l have
dreamed dreams of hitherto undiscovered
mineral wealth that I destined to find.
the eight children of the farm by their
right names. And on the past Sunday not
to seem a heather, l submitted to a SER
vice at the Calvinist chapel in the valIey-a
service of one hundred and fifteen min
utes' duration. not one word of which I
understand. All this is education though
not after conventional methods
We go to bed at the farm at $50
OF course need not do SO; but after
into the rule of the house. To man not
used to hearth-crickets, there is something
uncanny about the chant of those invisible
choristers when all else is deathly still.
Everything is so massive in the farmhouse
that when the family have gone upstairs
you hear further sound of them. There
is solid oak beam across my low chamber.
and here, too, the chimney space is two
thirds the length of the room itself. Hence
come eerie shadows and darkness when
night has begun: for the state lamp is a
fraud, and Eliminates only a limited circle
of the tablecloth. The crickets sing and
the gloom seems TO deepen. To the towns
man. this is too unsettling to be long en-
dured- You have no escape from 1t except
to bed. Out of doors is the blackness Of
bowling wind. All this explains why it is
desirable to retire early, even though the
sole book of the farm tsave religious works.
available for pillow reading is an Illus
agents. club managers. canvassers. shop
keepers lers. ETC., to show to their Gus
toners to obtain orders This book of
nearly two hundred pages is very precious
ternoens and its many thumb marks prove
how it is appreciated. The little girls syloat
over the pictures of such rings as No 99s
in the list one of twelve diamonds and
five rubies or five sapphires, 1s-carat, e1O
los. to G72
One Of the characteristics of the farm is
its mushrooms. / could, il / would have
them for breakfast. dinner and tea But
reeks with the perfume of the fungi many
of which are made into ketchup for urban
consumption. / have seen four or five little
girls returning from the meadows each
with her bucket full to the brin of just
such mushrooms as sell readily in our near
est town at sixpence the pound. Each little
girl has courtesied beautifully. mushrooms
and all. TO the stranger man. who cannot
in the abstract seem to them very admir-
able person, since he represents the people
who speak the language they are brutaIly
constrained to learn al the school But
do my best to convince them that am nc