The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-12-26

written in Country Churchyard, which
Edmund Gosse has called the typical piece
OF English verse. our poem OF poems, "
has charmed every reader with its plain
| tive and exquisite melody, and proba bly,
each or them has pictured in his own
| mind the scene of the peem,-the lea over
| which the lowing herd winds slowly, the
| ivy-mantled tower, the churchyard,
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-
tree shades,
Where leaves the turf in many q
mouldering heap,
and all the setting of the glimmering
landscape. And probably each such men
tai picture differs widely from the actual
scene, yet the churchyard and its sur
roundings are as beautiful as any one
could wish.
On the banks OF the Thames. less than
~ miles above London, is the little VIII
lage OF Slough. Leaving the train there
YOU are but two miles from Eton college
on the one side and Stoke Pogis. the
scene of the elegy, on the other. 1t is a
quiet sultry summer afternoon The
grain fields send back their golden refiec-
ton TO the sun. The birds are silent
The great elms, darker and heavier I'm
ioiiaSe than our own, and the beeches in
Vlte one To rest beneath their shade Let
us leave the road, shady though il is. and
take one OF the pathways that intersect
the fields in all directions, not winding
and indistinct and grass grown, like our
own held paths, but straight and we'll
rodden and at the end a stile or a gate
instead OF fence TO climb IL is a beau
tifui country, level but richly cultiva-
ted ana broken by well-kept hedges and
lines of noble trees. Beyond the field
there is a road bordered on either side
with evergreens, and passing through a
gate we find ourselves already in sight
OF the modest spire OF the little church.
Right before US is the great stone ceno-
taph erected by admirers OF the poet
standing on a slight elevation hard by
yon wood, now smiling, as I'm scorn. "
The monument itself is far from satis-
factory, but the lines from the elegy en-
graVed upon 1t stir the deepest emotions:
One morn / missed him on his accus-
toned hill
Along the heath and near his. favorite
tree
Another came; nor yet beside the riIl
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was
he.
Passing into the old churchyard |
L
ering heap "a form of grave seen in /
many English churchyards but never i'm !,
our country-we move slowly along the /
path, bordered with holly and laurel and /
lrlsh yews, 10 the doorway OF the quaint |
ana aged little church and enter What |
an atmosphere OF venerable antiquity, OF |
lulet ana contemplation and worship, of |
serenity and of melancholy! The spirit !
)f the past descends upon one, envelops
ff,
10 himself no longer OF the 10Th century.
out to be living in the remote past as he
ooks upon walls parts of which date
rom as Tar back as ll00. reads con.
inuous list of rectors from the 18th cen.
ury. Stoke Pogis was the home of the
Penns, of whom was our own William !
'enn, and there may be seen the capa-
'ious pew OF Thomas Penn's FAMILY. The
'ew In which the poet sat is in the rear !
II the church I'm the northeast corner
md there the pilgrim may sit him down |
ma absorb so much OF the influence of I
ne place and OF the poet as time and
us own personal limitations will allow.
just outside the door is the noble old
'ew tree alluded TO I'm THE Elegy."
hrowing its gracious penediction over the
raves where
Zach In his narrow cell forever laid.
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep
nd under which, according 10 tradition.
he poet sat to write his immortal poem.
he foliage OF the yew is not unlike that
I the American hemlock, but its wide
branches give Il a far more
and home-liks aspect. East OF
he church and Just outside the chanceI I
'ail Is the grave where lies the body OF /
homas Gray, the grave unmarked and I
nown only ny it's proximity TO that OF |
Is mother. upon whose tombstone is this
luching inscription written by the poet
imsef