The Republican journal., 1902-01-30
IN KING EDWARDS DOMAIN.
Notes of a Six Weeks Trip to England and
Scotland.


>
, Gardens and groves. your presence over
powers
The soberness of reason till, in sooth,
Transformed, and rushing on a bold eX-
change,
slight my own beloved Cane, to range
Where silver Isis leads my STRIPPING feet;
| Pace the long avenues or glide adown
The stream-like windingS of that glorious
street,
An eager novice, robed in fluttering gown"
| Wordsworth.
We babe goodbye to great, over
crowded, smoky London in driz-
zling rain which did not cease until
Oxford, our destination, was reached.
From the station we were driven di-
rectly to the Mitre, a quaint old inn,
familiar to the readers of "Tom
Brown" and of which mention has been
made in previous article of differ
ent series. One of the attractions of
the Mitre was an enormous tabby pussy
cat, one Of the regular office Gf it may,
by courtesy, be called an office staff,
who honored the two young ladies de
voted to the feline race with his pat
: ioiuSN' IL lS IdNolllC lCSlillS paw, oP-
parently, was on the iron safe on the
fartheSt side of the small room occupied
by the lady manager but at word
from his admirers he would descend
to the center table, and thence by easy
stages to the open window. where he
would arch his back and submit with
! the best of grace to the offered caresseS.
/ When shown to our rooms ours, by the
way having immense carved-oak beams
ami a wainscotting of oak we prepared
for the waiting meal and then descend
ed to the dining-room, where we were
served by a corps of very efficient
Young men. whom if it had been Amer
, lea we would have pronounced college
I students. The term was not begun and
consequently few gowns We're to be
seen.
i Luncheon over, we found awaiting rs
at the door an old gentleman who was
to act as our guide about the college
buildings. Richard Harding Davis
says; and we quite agree with him:
+ The beauty of Oxford as every one
knows, does not lie in any one building,
OF in any one street; it is the abundance
and continuing nature of its beauty
( which makes it what it is 1t is not
like any other show town. in that one
does not ride or walk from the inn to
see a certain cathedral OF a particular
/ monument. III oxford with every step
! You take you are surrounded and shut
in 10y what is oldest and best in archi-
lecture and Shut in by what is softest
and most beaut flu in turf and III Win
dow gardens Of lowers. You cannot
90 to the corner L. post a letter without
/ being halted by some iron gateway
| which you have not seen before, or a
| row Of hooking garg0yleS. OF a mySterl-
| Gus coat-ot-arms. OF statue half eaten
/ by the cannibals of Time and Weather"
| Perhaps it will be best to explain here,
what we did not learn until later, that
each of the twenty-three colleges in the
University has its own chapel. hall.
| library, students quarters and inner and
i outer Quadrangles. famillarly known
as "Quads or yards, as we'll as athletic
| fields outside of the grounds These
| colleges are scattered over the city, the
| head master, fellows and tutors having
rooms near the students. In order to
! avoid confusion although it only
i added to 0urs-the head Of each college
has q different title There they speak
of the president of one college the
/ warden Of another etc The first build
| ing we saw was Jesus College, the first
+ of Protestant origin. 1t was establish
/ cd in l57l The students of this college
| We're largely made up Of Welch. our
} guide Informed us. Ballot college,
founded in 1866 by Sir John Balloil.
was also passed by. and st. Johns was
, the first "Quad' we entered. Here we
| Immediately remarked the presence of
some apple trees, rather a rarity in
England. Our guide, who had lived all
lis life in the shade of these historic
walls, was ready to be drawn out, and
told US some interesting tales about
! those very trees. One year, the apples
| having been left on the tree after the
return of the students, they resolved to
have a mammoth apple-roast, and
accordingly build an big bonfire under
the tree, and arrived at the desired
result with hardness and dispatch. 1t
is needless to say that forever after
| the apples were carefully gathered
before the return of the young gentle
men who had developed such supris-
; ing fondness for delicacy scorned by
the average American youth The hall
where the students are supposed to
dine daily at five was next visited, and
the high walls lined with portraits, the
long tables with their back-less wooden
benches, and the raised platform at one
end where sit the fellows, instructors
and tutors, were all gazed at with
interest. Exeter College chapel was
next visited, and the tapestry represent
ing The Alteration of the Magii"
| designed by Burne Jones, was admired.
| New College founded in 13S9, gardens
| We're next visited, and we agreed with
Hawthorne, who says of Them Such a