New-York tribune., 1902-05-10
MEMORIES or RUSKIN.
HOW THEY KNEW HIM IN THE LAKE
REGION.
RUsxIN AND THE ENGLISH LAKES: BY the
Rev. H. D. Rawnsley. 16mo PIP 2i5 Inc Mac
milan Company.

RUsKIN AND THE ENGLISH LAKES: BY the
Rev. H. D. Rawnsey. 16mo, PIP. 2i3 the Mac
milan Company.
In spirit of affectonate reverence Canon
Rawnsley has penned these rambling chapters
on Ruskin's associations with the beautiful lake
region of England Long years ago a London
wine merchant made q business journey to the
North taking with him his wife and his five
year-old son That was the boy Johns first
sight of scenes so lovely that they newly Gre
ated the world for him, opening his eyes to
beauty which for him never faded until, grown
old and dim. those eyes closed in death. Again
and again in youth and early manhood he visited
this countryside. Here he came to write for
The Quarterly" the review by which he
thought to recommend himself to that Scottish
fairy" Lockhart's daughter, Charlotte; here,
the Charlotte dream having been given up he
came upon his honeymoon with his bride from
Perth and here. alas. before the month had
waned there rose between the two disunlon
and inharuonv Il begin to feel he wrote to
Miss Milford in those grievous days, that all
the work I have been doing and all the loves
l have been cherishng are ineffective and friV-
olous and that the time for endurance has
come rather than for meditation, and Tor hope
rather than for happiness"
Both meditation and happiness he found long
iston Lake and bought for permanent home
the plain. rough cast cottage wherein the poet
Gerald Massey and Linton, the engraver. had
once lived This Brentwood he grew to love
with never ending delight In the glorious views
that opened before his windows. Inside there
was the cosey charm always to he found in
books and pictures though in the way of furni-
ture and arrangement all was commonplace
and even Of ugly formality. But TO Ruskn
# was the dwelling of peace made perfect,
pecally when his favorite cousin. Joan Severn.
and her husband came TO live with him. He
made himself much beloved by the rustcs Of the
countryside particularly by the children, to
whom he always tenderly kind. The small
est and shyest Of them clung to him, and he
knew how to soothe their baby sorrows with a
fatherIy tenderness. II girt Professor" they
called him. and that kindness swept away their
awestruck remembrance Of the fact that he
was high larnt." Canon Rawnsley thus quotes
one Of the simple warders of the moor, talking
about his old friend:
livery shepherd for miles round kenned him
an aw. He hedn't a bit o pride, hedn't t pro-
fessor and he was perticker fond Of a crack
about dogs and sheep. Wad crack on
same if he owder you or me. He a grt
professor and we nobbut a fell-shepherd But
he was most partickler fond Of the sheep and
dogs and birds and aw max OF things that he'd
onything that he'd a bit o. life in it was the
professor, now. But ii wasn't only sheep and
dogs he partial to. he was gaily weel pleased
with flowers and ferns an aW. You
nivver met him widout laal bit O. moss. or
a steam. a flower his hand.
The school children would wait about on the
chance of getting a word or a pat on the head
from the professor. Sometimes they would coax
him to sit on their little sled carts and would
Dull him thus uphill, while he talked TO
the little girls of the party concerning pretty
and sensible dress LAS for BARNS, he was fairly
bairn-mad," said his old shepherd frends-and 1t
must be admitted that he sometimes spoiled the
little people Of the Dales. The humblest or MS
rural acquaintances Ruskin met on equal
grounds with courtesy a sympathy and SIM
plicity which every genuine soul understood and
loved. Canon Rawnsley who was his disciple
and pupil at oxford, lays stress on the masters
echeery, silver voice and happy welcome of blue
gray eyes" and on the way in which he devoted
himself heart and soul. to the entertainment OF
those who came to him.
OF Ruskin, the lecturer al oxford. by the way
Rawnsley says in passing that his manner OF
speech had a peculiar power of appeal in it.
Its tone and timbre were full of feeling. 1t
was the speech of one who sang rather than
spoke to US. His message was rhythmic ana
musical. His peculiar dwelling on ana ron Oh
the ''r'' in such d word entirely was never
to be forgotten. His manner changed with his
feeling, and swift or slow, as suited his sub
iect He USED his hands to emphasize what he
said-hands delicate, so fun of expression
hands he used to clap with pleasure or fold to-
gether almost as in prayer. He won all our
hearts not only by his unconventionahty ana
undonnsh ways. but because he took such IN
finite pains for us ana Of all men ever met ne
the best listener.
The young undergraduates who breakfasted at
his rooms once a fortnight in preparation for
lin ,.-ith he
were astonished when he gave them his most Sc
rious attention. 1t was all delightful to them
the way in which he showed them how to break
stones by the roadside, and they strolled
back 10 college in the evening his talk of his
hopes for oxford when men should use their
muscles less for mere JOY Of rivalry on river or
on the running path and more for the service
of the poor who lived round about them His
old pupil records his belief that there would not
have been any University Settlement in London
but for the "Hinkscy Digging and it's lessons.
OF the professors looks in those days Rawnsley
saws: The notable personal features mis-
delicate aquiline nose, his sensitive mouth his
tender blue eyes. his abundance of straight yell
low brown hair. Below the average height and
somewhat hollow chested, he made up for a GER
tain unrobustness Of appearance by his habit
of dressing in the thick gray LaXey cloth, as
seen in that best of photographs by Barraud.
The SkN-blue tie, except Nneh ne HlOuIheu LOT
his mother was always part of his dress, and
a long delicate gold chain for his watch hung
loosely around his neck and fell about his waist
coat"
AS he lay dead those about him saw that his
gentle expression had become gentler still and
the mass of yellow white hair like snow
wa shed with gold" A pail of white linen en-
broidered with roses and lined with rosy silk by
the hands of Daleswomen was wrapped about
-