The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-20
ENGLAND, GOOD AND BAD.
The Charms of the Shakespeare
Country.
BY Ida Hustled Harper.


Warwick is perhaps most interesting
Of the historic towns of England, hold
ing fast to its ancient buildings and
antique customs, but these can be en-
joyed with a much greater degree of
comfort if the traveller make his head
quarters at bennington, two miles
distant. 1t is the Saratoga of Eng
land, or one of them, for the country
is rich in mineral springs. Hawthorne
lived here for long time, and describ
ed it as the cosiest nook in the
world" and always in flower"
Charles Dickens, in "Dombey and Son"
has Mr.. Carker and Edith Granger
meet first in Holly Walk, Harrington.
1t is green all winter, with charming
parks and public gardens, clean and
healthful, purely a residence city OF
perhaps $4,000 inhabitants. Although
its springs have been visited by inva-
lids for 400 years, it has a modern and
up to date appearance. When you
start out for your first drive the
coachman pauses before a great oak
tree encircled by an iron fence, and
says solemnly: The exact center of
England" And so it is, with the
sweetest drives this side OF paradise.
to Stratford, Rugby, Coventry, Guys
Cliff and to that grandest of all ruins,
Kenilworth Castle. In half an hours
time one can go from new world into
an old, from the present into the past,
and that past, too, which contains
most of historical interest to English
speaking people.
There is, however, no spot in all Eng
land so full of living, breathing, hu-
man attraction as oxford. We see here,
indeed, the work of hands and brains
which passed out of life nearly a. thou
sand years ago, but upon the founda-
lions which they laid are builded the
vital institutions of to-day Oxford
University is one of the great educa-
tional centers of the world. Vastly
different are the feelings with which
we regard the black and time-stained
walls of Merton, Magdalen, st. john
and the other colleges from those in
spired by ancient castles and cathe-
drals! 1t is true that these college
foundations were laid in sectarianism,
that within these walls were waged
the fiercest of religious wars, but here
has been also the fountain of English
intellectual life and the source OF a
revolution in religious thought. The
transforming force is still at work.
Some one mas SdlQ lhdb lhO III OoShs
age in oxford is one of collapsed opin-
ions. There have been periods of ac-
ton and of reaction, but each has re-
suited in bringing the universities into
a broader existence. Its huge collec-
tions of schools of science, history,
philosophy, theology, are an immense
reservoir from which thousands OF stu
dents drink daily draughts of learning
and eventually go forth to leaven So
ciety.
No one can visit this great univers-
ity and not feel profoundly stirred
by the sight of the fresh, vigorous
Young life coursing in and out its col
lege walls. There is no finer sight than
the vast University Park filled with
hundreds of students engaged in the
various athletic games, and other nun
dreds cheering and shouting their APP
probation. Nothing can be more in
teresting than a stroll down the
Broad Walk" bordered by immense
elm trees, to the river Isis, where the
long rows OF college barges are moor
ed and scores of sturdy young fellows
are skimming the water in their swift
boats. There is something in the very
atmosphere which quickens the pulse
and drives away pessimistic thoughts.
Whatever must be omitted in trip TO
England, let 1t not be oxford Univers-
ity.
Wherever the traveller goes in Great
Britain he returns ultimately to Lon
don, for all other places are within
so small a radius. The early autumn
which is so beautiful in the United
States has few charms in this great
city. The black smoke rises from
countless thousands of chimneys and
drops down to meet the dark fog which
rolls up the Thames and finds its way
into every narrow, crooked street.
The English do not know what
Il is to have fire which warns the far
thest corners Of the room. Like the ma
tives Of our own Florida and Califor-
MIA, they know there is no danger OF
freezing to death, and so they huddle
over their little handouts Of coal and
shiver through the winter while count
ing the days TIL spring. Halls are
never heated, and not always the bed
rooms, even OF we'll TO do families.
Ccal. or the Goals" as they say here.
are no more expensive than in the
United States. and IL would not require
nearly so much, or so many. TO produce
abundant warmth, as the cold here is
not so intense hut the English are very
CLOSE" In more yays than one. They
have funny custom. after poking the
FIRE, Of standing the poker against the
crate with the end pointing up the
A. a.