Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1907-10-18
Letter from
England.
Friend Emerson :


Oxford at about 10. 80, where we had
to wait about two hours for a train
to Bath by another line; so we walked
up town, as Oxford, though city of
colleges, still uses only horse cars.
We were Immediately spotted by a
guide, who introduced himself by
pointing out the exact spot, marked
by a cross in the street, where Gran
mer, one of the early martyrs, was
burned. As time was short, and as
We thought ourselves able to get
around, We did not avail ourselves of
his services. We soon struck a group
of colleges. One, the New College,
built about 800 years ago. Trinity,
also old. The buildings, on account
of the poor quality of stone used,
look badly moth eaten or weather
worn on the outside, but fine and
substantial inside. Trinity chapel
has, so it is said, the finest oak car
wings in the kingdom. We also took
look into AlISaints church, and at
the Virgin porch of St. Mary church,
which is fine piece of ancient stone
carving. Strange to say, most of the
old churches had their fine carvings
more or less nutilated. 1t seems one
set of christians showed their faith
in producing the finest work they
we're capable of, and then 200 or 300
years later came another lot of chris
tians with hammers, who took delight
in destroying the labors of their pre-
decessoIs. In many of the churches
statutes were completely destroyed,
some only partially, and others left as
good as new. The same holds true
with the eff1gies of deceased on their
tombs, carved of marble and alabaster,
with noses, fingers and toes knocked
off.
After getting some post cards we
hurried to the depot and got to Bath,
where we took another train to Shop
ton Mallet in Somersetshire, where a
brother of Mrs W. met us. This is a
town of about 5000 inhabitants. All
the houses and fences are built of
stonse, as stone quarrying is its chief
industry. The town lies like jackson,
between hills of about the same height,
with creek running through, and mar
row. crooked streets going up and
down hill, just like the old town,
only all the streets are paved and kept
clean. The town is very old, and has
an old church-St. Peters and st.
Pauls, with statues of the two saints,
one on each side of Jesus, but some
knocker of the past centuries got up
the tower and now st. Paul and st.
Peter are without heads. Maybe
some future day some knocker will
come along and off will go the head
of Jesus of Nazareth, thus emphasiz-
ing his own religious belief and show
ing his contempt for the belief of
Others.
Five miles from Shepton MalIet is
the town of Wells, which King Ina,
King of Wessex or the western Saxons
founded in the eighth century, and
named from some spring which he
dedicated to st. Andrew. The spring
or the Wells, as they are called, have
sufficient flow to allow the CUTTERS on
both sides of the main street to have
line stream running in them year in
year out. As we entered the town
from the depot we passed st. Cuth-
berts church, and as there were eVid-
ences of wedding we stepped IN just
in time to see the whole of it. There
was no wedding march, as is usual in
America, but an old pair of shoes
were tied to the rear end of the
carriage and the happy couple were
showered with confetti instead of
rice. After the ceremony We viewed
this fine church, and moved on to
st. Andrews the cathedral of Wells
which became a bishopric in the
year 909, with monasteries and COL
leges. We were told that graduates
for the ministry from Oxford come
here to get their finishing touches.
This and tourists are the principal
industry of the town. The front of
the cathedral is 152 feet, with two
} towers $50 feet high, and the front is
adorned with about 300 statues of
saints, some of which look as if they
} had been used for targets in days
gone by. The inside is the most
magnificent we have seen so far. A
} view of the main part is free, also the
cloister, but for the choir, Lady
Chapel, Chapter House and Crypt is
} sixpence each, and its worth it. 1t il
impossible to describe the beautiful
stone work, windows, carvings and
monuments. And to think that in
1855 Lord Grey of Wark had to draw
his sword to prevent the destruction
of the altar by Monmouth aand his
men.
To see all these fine old churche:
one wonders where the money tt
build came from. The old monks
must have been good collectors, and
we are told that in those days one
penny day was the ruling wages anG
board yourself. Nearly all churche:
have chimes, and this is no excep
; ton. 1t also has a clock inside anC
one outside The one on the inside