The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-04-16
OUR LITERARY TABLE
A CLASS EXCURSION.

/ CLASS EXCURSION
| The First Seniors of 1904 FORM in many rasls.t,
of the most remarkable classes on record I'M tb
annals Of St Mary's academy. 1t therefor TAX
| en- as a matter of course when they proposed ON
! fine day last fall, to hire automobile for I'll Iht.
! private excursion When the committee on arrsDos
ments met to discuss til trip it was found Thar -
objective point had already been decided Expeet4nc
surprise delight appeared in swift succession s the
nature Of the expedition was unfolded somewhat in
the following manner:
Are we really going in an automobile"
We'll, auto couldn't take US across seas
oh! are going abroad?'
Yes very far abroad, we are to traverse nor
only land and water, but years and centuries. In
fact we're going back to the days of Caedmon and
from that as a starting point make a three months
tour through the Land of English Literature"
AT this point the excitement so great that
no connected report could be made OF the proceedings
Suffice it to say that We were aware guide-book
in hand We found ourselves transported to the mon
aslery OF WhltDy where, under large oak tree SAT
Silent Caedmon writing his Song of the Creation
We would have invited him recite some of his
inspired lines, but the silence reigned i'm those
sacred precincts subdued the impulse and after nav
ing our respects to the Abbess Hilda we Jared on
At Yarrow we were presented TO Venerab1a pa
who kindly gave US great deal of information about
the Church in those times Passing through York wa
called upon AIcuin, who was Just about to transfer
his residence to the court of Charlemagne He gave
us copy of his Farewell Lines to NV Cell as "a
souvenir of our happy meeting
\ little later had the honor O an introduc+io,
to Alfred the Great. who so gracious that we
quite forgot he was a royal parsonage. He Showed
US the beautiful illuminated book he had won as a
his small library, and made US realize a little more
a
-, OuF intercourse with the Normans was compare
lively slight Here and there We passed Trouverp or
Troubadour, but had leisure to listen to their
verses we visited few of the famous universities.
attended Mass at the Canterbury cathedral which
had Just been rebuilt by Laufran. and listened
eloquent sermon the-Holy Trinity by St. Anselem
Coming down to the reign of Henry Ill we paid a
visit to the chief scientist of that agehe Franciscan
1rlar, Roger Bacon He seemed quite pleased show
US the various instruments had invented and in
the light of that day, they looked very wonderful
About week later we met the Father of English
Prose Sir John Vaudeville. who had just returned
from Palestine full of tales about the countries and
peoples he had visited.
But We were eager to see Chaucer so We FASTENED
on TO London and there sought the residence Of
the first great English poet. We were so delighted
with entertainment that we tarried with our ge-
NAL host for several weeks making the acquaintanca
meanwhile of all the pilgrims whom he had met IN
the way to Canterbury, and listening to a few Of
their Tales. We went through his House of Fame
heard his Cuckoo and Nightingale sing together and
admired Eis beautiful garden where The Flower and
the Leaf had grown as we'll as the about which
he wrote the "Romaunt." We were 10th to depart
selves that future day would bring us back
to it, and plucking "daisie' for remembrance Of
him who wrote:
For of all flowers in the mede
Then love most those flowers white and rede
soeh that men eallen daisies in our town.
That well by reason men call if NAV
The daisie, or else the eye of the day
The emprise, or foure Of foures ALL
As we went along found that our friend was
very popular IN his own day, and affectionately
by those who came after him. William
Caxton, for instance busy printing The Canter-
bury Tales, while Cover and Lydgate were proud to
claim Chaucer for friend.
Proceeding on our journey, came upon a large
crowd of people, all talking excitedy Approac ching
nearer, we witnessed, in the midst a very melan-
'holy scene, the last farewell Margaret Roper TO
Ter sanity father, who going to che scaffod 1t
vas an affecting sight; but with the sadness there
vas mingled eXultattOn in the submity that char
lcter, so tersely described by Thomson, writing Of
Sir Thomas More
Like Cato. firm like Aristdes. just
Another hero of the Tudor period eicited our at-
niration-the martyr-poet Southwell. How appro-
riately might the beautiful thought he expressed on
dary Stuart's death:
The bud was opened to let out the rose"
e applied to himself
Times go by turns" sang the gentle Jesuit in
those days to the gay of THE Fairy Queen
the sweet and restful scenes which The Shep-
erds Calendar and Acadia conjure up. Here
gam we We're compelled by rapid itinerary
lake a memorandum for future visit to the spa-
ous estate OF Spencer and improve upon our slight
cqualntance with mis- charming friend Sir Philip
idney.
AT last were at Stratford upon Avon Here
as little world in itself, and many were the sur
rises in store for Portia the gate Civ
lg US cordial greeting; The Two Gentlemen OF
erona conducted us through the poets grounds and
troduced- us to the various persOnages of ancient
nd modern times. seated here and there walking
nder the trees. How we longed to stay and listen
King Lear or julius Caesar Macbeth Fain
ould we have tarried Falstaff or even watched
ON afar Henry and his Catherine of Frame; but
lie map of our journey and the hard limit of the
llendar forced To Stratford, however.
edge is made, and many a return do we wish our
Ives as we reluctantly speed onward.
ANNA RATHER, 05-