Evening star., 1906-04-08


walks Of twenty to thirty miles In a day to
Leeds and other points in the British
Islands, and the boy promised himself that
some day he would walk over the same
roads and see those same sights and now,
after fifty years of anticipation, that prom
ise Is to be made good, barring accidents.
Capt. Oldroyds objective point will be
Huddersford England. the birthplace of his
grandf father and his father-the Oldroyds-
a boy. His grandfather owned a woolen
mill at Huddersfield, and 1t was from there
that he emigrated in 1919, coming to Car
Isle, Pa, where he erected a stone mill
and fitted 1t with machinery which he
brought from England. The mill is in ope-
ration today and is still making cloth goods
Mr.. Oldroyd the grandfather, went to
Ohio from Carlisle. The Oldroyds Were all
good walkers. Capt Oldroyd says, and they
made many noted trips. He has theory
about walking which he says he knows can
be put into practice. Capt. Oldroyd was
not robust youth. and when as a very
young man he entered the war of the re-
bellion his friends thought he would never
live through Its hardships, but walking was
his panacea for all Ills.
Good Walker Described.
"a good walker is not merely one who
will cover a certain number of miles with
IN given time" he says, but one who
will take in the beauties, the instruction
and the enjoyments these miles afford.
Walking is a primitive art. 1 learned it
when I was a baby. Almost anybody can
get along putting first foot down and
then the other. but to walk is a different
matter. Good walkers are astonishingly
rare. A tramp OF half dozen miles will
knock out the most of people, young well
as old. | can make my thirty miles in ten
hours with no more WEAKNESS than days
sightseeing in Washington. Travelling
without a companion is lonesome. There
Is, however, this advantage. You are inde-
pendent-go when you please and stop
when you like. 1t compels you to mingle
with the people and learn more of the
country than If you had a companion.
Il have walked to Appomattox twice,
once via Leesburg Winchester. up the
Shenandoah valley to Strasburg, Woodstock
Harrisonville. Staunton, Charlottesville,
Lynchburg, Appomattox. Farmville. Amelia
Court House and Richmond.
to Yorktown Williamsburg, jamestown,
Charles City Court House, Malvern Hill,
City Point, Petersburg, Reams Station.
Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks. Amelia
Court House, Sailors Creek. Farmville ana
Appomattox. made another tramp 10
Richmond through Alexandria, Fairfax
Court House, Bull Run. Gainesville. Var
renton, Culpeper. crossing the Rapidan az
Germania Ford and through the battletiells
Of the Wilderness and charlottesville. TO
Petersburg, Spottsylvania Court House,
Guinea Station. Bowling Green. Hanover
Court House, Gaines Mill, Cold Harboc,
Seven Pines and Richmond.
Down the Cumberland Valley.
Another walk was made to Gettysburg
Carlisle and down the Cumberland valley
through Shippensburg. Chambersburg. Ha-
gerstown, Williamsport, Antietam, crossing
the Potomac where Lees army did below
Sheperdstown, then to Martinsburg, W. va,
then to Leetown, Charles Town., crossing
the Shenandoah river and the Blue Ridge
to Hillsboro and Leesburg, crossing the
Potomac at Edwards Ferry and down
through Maryland to Washington. Every
gap in the Blue Ridge between Harper's
Ferry and Lynchburg l have tramped over |
THE last walk of any distance was made
two years ago to New York. through north |
ern Maryland, to York. Pa. Harrisburg |
Lancaster Philadelphia, through New Jer-
sey. reaching New York on the thirteenth
day. distance Of 821 miles All the walks
have consumed two weeks. making from BUG
to 825 miles,"
Capt Oldroyd will leave this city on his
long tramp OF / 400 miles April 28. He is to
sail on the 10Th instant from Philadelphia |
on the steamer Haverford. He expects TO
reach Queenstown May g. and from there
will begin his tramp through England, Ire
land, Scotland and Wales. and will return
70 Washington about the middle of August
For fifty years he has been laying his
plans, studying the routes his grandfather
used to travel. and putting them down on
paper. till he knows every milestone along
the 1,4O0 niles-all the cottages, all the
familiar landmarks. He has slips Of paper
on which he mapped his tentative plans |
when LAD at his grandfather s knee and he
has the slips made last year, and all the
years In between. the latest being the per-
fected plans but. after all. the same that
has been living in the house where Lincoln |
died, and where he has his collection Of
Lincoln relics. be has met e number Of
them many noted men. and has formed |
many fiendnhfpu. HiD plans have been