Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-06-12

England lost her greatest SbaLeSman,
in my humble judgement, when this
scholar and sage passed from earth.
His estate is very large, and in many
ways was like the man-beautiful in
Tits simplicity. We tossed a penny to
the little girl at the gate lodge as she
kindly swung the gate open, and we
drove thru the beautiful drives by the
running brooks; and such grand old
trees, chestnuts, oaks, and many other
varieties. The stone castle, covered
with ivy, and the ruins of the ancient
castle stands near by. 1t all adds to-
the beauty of the picture. The favor
lite tree, where this student of nature
and of men, dwelt is surrounded with
a simple rustic seat, and is the tree he
sat under so many hours and wrote
for the good of his fellow man. Fur
ther on near the village is the church,
beautiful windows and memorials, and
the pew, where this God-fearing man
asked to be guided Alright in all his
public and private acts. We stopped in
the village and purchased few me-
moirs of the place. AS we left it was
glad to be permitted to visit the home
now made historical, by the high char
acter of the great commoner, w. e.
Gladstone, and may England, yet give
to Ireland what was taken from her
years ago-a parliament, and the con-
stitutional right of home rule which
belongs to every civilized and enlight-
ened people.
bennington was next visited. Here
the Manor House was our temporary
abode, and we were treated, in old En-
glish,' in royal fashion. We INDUCED
in drive to Warwick Castle, probably
the best preserved ancient castle in
England; Guy Cliff, the old mill and
Kennilworth were all enjoyed and
showed to us how proud England is of
her landmarks. How well she pre-
serves them. And we Americans are
helping them to do it, by the thou
sands that visit them each year.
s'We then went over to Stratford-on-
Avon where we remained over Sabbath.
have never visited so quaint and in
teresting spot as this home of Shakes
peare. The architecture of an
Gent time all over the place seems to
have been preserved. We walked and
drove thru the old sections, the mar
row streets, and the steep-roofed,
|straw-thatched cottages were very in
teresting to me. We were guests at
the Red Horse Inn,' where Washing
ton Irving, our own American, wrote
his Sketch Book Many memorials
are at every turn. We took copy of
the Sketch Book and read Irving's de-
scription of the place in the room in
which it was written. Then the home
was visited, as was the great Memorial
Theatre and Museum and great mon
uments. In this theatre one week in
each year great actors of the world
have come and played as their gift to
this perpetual memorial fund to the
genius of Vim. Shakespeare, Mr..
Childs, of Philadelphia, the american
philanthropist, has erected beautiful
memorial fountain, given it to the
town as his gift offering and is preser-
wing in a marked degree the memory
Of the great poet. 1t is blessing to
have revived in one the memories of
the great characters of history, and a
privilege long to be remembered to Wis
| it the places where they were part
in common with the ordinary man Of
| the world.
"We now leave with pleasant memo
ries the country life of England and
will soon reach the metropolis of the
world, London. There is so much to
write about this wonderful city, it's
people, customs, public buildings,
churches, parliament, ETC., that | must
leave2.it for another time. Knowing.
well, aI have already taxed your patti
ence, if you have followed me in my
wanderings in this letter. We are all
lwell, and are kept pretty busy if moth
ling else than in tipping some one at
every town.
Every truly, Calvin Manning