Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-16
RUSkIN'S "SHEPHERDLAND"
A Picturesque Region Dear to the Artists
Heart.
Soon to BE Invaded by Railroads-The
Herdsmnn's Housewife, Their
Work and Their Home.
From the London Chrc ricle.

l
If the. long-projected railway from Green
odd, near Coniston. to, Ambleside becomes
an accomplished fact, it is to be feared
| that district still famed for its primitive
virtues will be delivered over to the mercies
| of the hotel keeper and mining company.
At present "Shepherdland," as Mr.. Ruskin
christened the fells and dales near Brant-
wood. is little known to the ordinary tour
/ 1st, who keeps to the main roads, and it's
| hardy sors. who earn their living either by
sheep farming or slate quarrying still pos
| sess those virtues Of self-reliance unceas-
| Ing industry and sturdy independence. char
acteristic of all mountaineers. A reserved
race, like all northerners, and by no means
| inclined to respond promptly to every
casual greeting, travellers from the more
effusive south who have strayed among
them nave often gone away complaining
of their iudeness and moroseness. And yet
! by no race is such condemnation less de-
served, as all those who have penetrated
Within those bare, stern-looking, gray stone
farm houses, and enjoyed the hospitality
and confidence of their owners will agree,
and certainly nowhere in England do bet
sway in the fell farms and skaters cot
tages of the two Langdales.
The farm houses themselves are built Of
the waste of the green slate quarries,
ard are STRAIGHTFORWARD, unornamented
structures set in the most sheltered places
at the fell foot, their chief characteristic
being the deep porch built SO as to protect
the kitchen OF house place. into which it
opens, from the driving wind and heavy
winter snow. The cottages, also built Of
waste" are generally plastered, and show
as brilliant and pleasing patches of daz-
cling white against the dull purple of the
fellsfde heather and whin bushes. Occa-
s1onally the porch will be gay in summer
with the vivid scarlet tropaeolum, that
most capricious of plants, which will cover
a Wayside cottage window with a curtain
OF glowing color, and absolutely refuse to
put forth single bud in some well-kept
garden. to which it's kobold-like mind has
taken exception.
alike in two OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES spotless
cleanliness and the beauty and appropriate
ness of their furniture. That healthy pride
IN ones goods and 'chattels, which the
cheap, bad furniture, miserable, jerry-built
cottages. and frequent moves necessitated
by the exigencies of the labor market have
almost destroyed among the southern la
borers, still exists In all its old strength in
the hearts of the shepherds wives of the
north. Indeed. such is the value set upon
furniture and the pride with which 1t Is
cherished that within the last thirty years
Doth children and servants stood to their
meals lest the treasured chairs should suf-
fer from scratches made on their rails by
careless feet! The result being that no
home In England can show a more pic
turesque interior than that seen through
Facing the doorway Is the tall clock made
at Penrith or Kendall, and often bearing on
Its brazen face the names of it's original
purchasers. from whom it has descended
as precious possession through some hun
cred years. Near it, ranged against the
wall, stand fine. high-backed. oaken chairs
with rush seats. many of which have never
needed reseating since their purchase over
forty years ago. Under the window is
usually long, oak table, with a rail con-
Meeting the legs to keep the feet of the
diners from the cold flags, and these same
slate flags. always stainless. are on Satur-
days after their weekly securing, curious
ly decorated with foot-wide border of
criss-crossing In white chalk. In a large
Kitchen there will he, beside the table, a
long. hgh-backed settle or oak chest both
often very well carved in simple Jacobean
strap work. But the chief feature of every
"housepiaCe" around which the whole life
OF the house centers, is the great open fire
place, over which hang copper and brass
pots and warming pans on whose brightly
polished surfaces the light Dances while
across the fire stretches a fine steel or iron
crank. from which hangs kettle or cooking
pot. By the hearth stand the rocking
chairs of both master and mistress. with.
out which no house is complete Near the
masters is small, round, three-legged ia
bic with three-cornered shelf below and
beside his wife's either wooden cradle or
spinning wheel
Hours are very long in the north, for
work at the quarries begins at g. and a
house must be astir by 3 if it's master be
either slater or farmer. though the mis-
tress will often be found still busy over
mending or ironing as late as IL at night
The children, too, must be started on their
walk to school by 1880 at latest, and many
whose homes lie still further from the
school house even earlier. When all have
been safely set on their way Homework
begins in earnest The mistress and her
maids feed the poultry. milk the cows and
even look after the wants of such sheep as
happen to be folded in the intake" near
the house Such Is the spirit possessed by
the whole race. that no woman shirks her
burden. and work is done and children bred
up In honesty and health. blow the wind
never so coldly or lie the winter snow
never so long.
Such characters have time for everything.
and 1t Is no uncommon thing to see two or
three violins hanging against a kitchen
waH,and to hear the mistress or her daugh-
tiers train the choirs Of mission-room or
chapel. play the harmonium at the Sunday
service. and arrange the practices for the
various concerts with which they enIiven
the dreariness Of the long winter evenings
SMALL SAVINGS.