The Newtown bee., 1905-02-03

born in Stratford, April 23, 1864 ,-." If the desired pennies are forthcoming at this point new victims are sought out, otherwise the little chaps go on with lingo which seems interminable.
 In spite of vicissitudes through | which the house has passed the timber | framework, the floors, the internal | walls, the cellar, remain substantially | the same as in the days of Elizabeth. | The walls of the rooms were at one time covered with the names of visi- tors but whitewash was used to oblit- | crate them. In the birth-room, how ever, the signatures of Scott, Byron, Thackeray, Tennyson, Dickens, and the actor Kean are pointed out. There is strict regulation against the addi- tion of new signatures. Although a sixpence has been paid for admission, another sixpence is required to gain ad- mission to rooms on the ground floor off from the kitchen containing early editions and other precious relics. Perhaps the most interesting room is the kitchen or living room. It has a stone floor, the ceiling is low, and the wide, old-fashioned fireplace is unmis- takably Elizabethan. The birth-room is on the second floor, as we would say, though the English, like the Con- tlnentals, call that floor the first. When the premises became national property, about a half century ago, the adjoining cottages were purchased and pulled down, to guard against fire, and the building itself carefully re- stored. The yard and orchard back of the house have been converted into a garden containing practically all the trees and flowers mentioned in the poets works. At the front door, which opens into the kitchen, 30, GOO pilgrims (one-fourth Americans,) pay admission annually.
 Upon passing from Henley street in- to High street we come to another fine old half-timbered house, once the home of the Harvard family. A scion of this family is known among certain young men of Cambridge, Massachu- setts, as "Johnny Harvard"
 In front of the Town hall, at the corner of Chapel street, is a statue of Shakespeare, presented by Garrick. At the other end of Chapel street are the Guild Chapel, Guild Hall, and Grammar school of the poets day. This is the only school Shakespeare is known to have attended, but Ben Jonson's ''small Latin and less Creek should not lead us into error regarding his scholarship.
 Just across the street is New Place, purchased by Shakespeare when his plays had made him well-to-do, and his home until his death, April 23 1916. A curious !coincidence in the old rec. ords enables his biographers to draw a genial picture of the retired drama tist in the character of host. There is a record of visit made at New Place by dissenting clergyman and under corresponding date is found in an ac
 item of charge for wares sent to New
 Place. Add to the dry records little ingenious imagination and we have ], the great dramatist seated in an easy chair listening good-naturedly as "the whole truth'' is expounded by hi! Z clerical guest.
 About century and half ago New l, Place became the property of1a clergy man with weak nerves and high tenn
 per. He cut down the poets mulberry !, l f0 1oo ioc of vic , itors, and a few years later razed the
 horse to the ground because of guar
 rel over rates. The foundations of the
 house, an old well, and a scion of the
 mulberry tree are carefully preserved
 A short distance away, almost hidder
 by trees on the bank of the Avon, is the Church of the Holy Trinity, which
 contains the dust of Shakespeare. The
 avenue from sthe gate of the yard te , the church door is beautiful archway of foliage. The grave is in the chancel
 covered by plain flagstone bearing
 the lines:
 , Good friend, for Jesus sake torbeare To dig the dust enclosed here.
 Blessed be he that spares these stones,
 And curst be he that moves my bones."
 The poets wife, his daughter, Sus anna, and her husband, Dr John Hall
 are buried near. On the wall above is the famous Stratford Bust, made shortly after his death. The font ir
 which he was christened and the regis
 ter containing the entries of his bap tism and funeral are in another part of the church. A beautiful stained
 glass window, presented by Americans
 represents the "Seven Ages' of Jac, ques in ''As You Like It." Another
 memorial window, also the gift O Americans, contains among othe , figures, the Pilgrim Fathers, William s Penn, land the first bishop of Connecti cut.
 Near the church and likewise on thu bank of the Avon is the recent Shakes peare Memorial Building, containing theatre, a gallery of Shakespear paintings, and a library of rare Shakes
 pearian books. One of the mos