The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-17

merfng rays of sunshine. which touch
the inner gloom with mystery. What
fearless prisoner of silent tyranny has,
day by day, with agony Of longing, peered
out, with dull eyes and ashened hopes,
at liberty, and whose poor fingers, ever
seeking through a loosened stone the way
TO freedom, were beaten back by the hall
herds OF a guarding warder. Through
these a wife's strained eyes stared forth
upon a loving husband turning to blow
a farewell kiss and srnilingiy 70 walk
out; and here, widow wept to see q
headless corpse dragged in
Nearby flows the river. Along with it
runs a high wall of blackened rubble.
which throws back the echo OF the visi-
tors footsteps as he treads the paved
courtyard toward Traitors Gate. the
iron bars of which are rusting in their
wooden sockets. Age and decay have
eaten the hinges. But the double gates
swing no more; they hang, instead, in
in apathy, old and useless. One night
they opened and in the darkness of a
storm a boat, with oars muffled. grounded
silently on the Shiny flooring beneath
the archway. A prisoned queen passed
out. a queen still. prisoner no more,
but soon 10 be "still queen''-Mary.
Queen of SCOTS.
You pass on UP winding stairs, through
narrow halls, into the armory, wherein
are weapons and -fmor OF centuries
spears of knights and men-at-arrns, the
rikes of Cromwell and his Ironsides.
swords Of the Crusaders.
Whose homes are dust,
Their good swords are rust,
And their souls are with the saints
we trust
Passing down another stair and out
into the inner court you go by the spot
where pretty Ann Boylen and Catherine
Howard laid their heads on the axeman's
block. In the Blauchamp Tower, where
Lady Jane Grey Robert Dudley. Sir
Walter Raleigh and others, were confined,
are tracings in the gray walls, word
here. q word there, carved deep in the
stone-syInbols from dumb lips that
,strove 10 tell the curious passerby their
Httle story of misery and dispair.
1.-THE Jewel House Is q little round room
on the second floor OF a corner tower
1t is about fifteen feet In diameter. In
the center. reaching, to the ceiling. is
circular cage of steel, in which are kept
the paraphernalia OF English royalty-the
crown Of Queen Victoria, other jeweled
and carved crowns of Engiand's mon
aronx, the sceptres, consecrating dish.
amounting spoons, and the golden table
service
August z is known here as Bank
Holiday~-to save. perhaps, the 'ciarks'
CLERKS. as pronounced here who all come
at 10 o'clock, from coming down at ALL
''They are each one filed with an abid-
ing desire to emulate 'Dickory Dollar"
as one "curbstone" orator put it-Napo-
leon the First over again, in looks. and
he dresses to emphasize the likeness
England Is whirling to destruction.
while her boosted sons are ping pongfng
their lives away" He is called a park
orator, and a park orator Is the poor fell
low who believes the jackals and vul-
lures have already spied the corpse of
decaying Britain, and who harangues
the curious crowds. on Sundays. particu-
interspersed with whirligig OF gestures.
"Once, while ] was making a purchase
In Liberty street, an Englishman and his
wife walked up TO the counter This,
madam explained the suave clerk. lis
an exceptionally noble. piece of ,watered
silk, and --' Won't do" said John.
I'VE don't waste money on watered
stockp' Which incident goes to show
that the ''bloomin' Britisher' is begin
ming to differentiate himself from the
rest of the animals. along the line of
Man is the only animal that laughs"
This particular Britisher, indeed, nearly
smashed his joke in cracking It; and I
followed him of down the street and he
still had chuckle coming.
Weather here is a combination Of
samples-today the sun actually knocked
a hole through the clouds-and as is
usual with samples Of fine goods. those
OF nice days are the scarcest. But
''Yo no, yo-e no.
Let gentle winds blow
With ever the water blue;
Yo no, yo-e no,
For how do we know
We could weather a tempest
through"
And I'll be home soon from across
the stormy waters to taste again the
peerless breezes. hot and cold, Of the
Peerless Princess-Wichita"