New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-09-05
A KENT HEALTH RESORT
Tunbridgc Wells Families = Old
Days and Ner.
Tunbridse Wells. August Is.

A highly moral watering place naturally mas 4
so=anolent air. Tunb-idge Wells is now at the
height of its gayest period but the casual visitor
has TO pinch himself to assure himself that he is
really awake. A small orchestral band plays
morning and afternoon drowsy selections IN the
centre of the Families, and few scores of rheu-
I..-tic old gentlemen and elderly DANES are nod
ding and yawning in penny chairs. The chaly-
beate spring is at the bottom of the parade, and
IL nnicdle-aSed dipper fills glass from the
basin whenever a saunterer pauses in front OF
II and fumbles in his pocket for twopence
When the gritty beaker has been slowly drunk
The health seeker mounts five stone steps and
takes a ieisurely turn under the trees or loters
in the shops with open arcades before settling
into a chair for long nap. 1t is a well shaded
picturesque little parade, with nearly all the
houses and shops over two hundred years old,
and with gables roofs dorrners and oriels closely
jumbled together. There is an Old World en-
vironment and il is restrul TO the eye and sooth-
ing 10 the mind The leader Of the orchestra
scarcely moves a finger in conducting the music.
and the silayers touch their violins lightly and
breathe softly into their wind instruments. as
though they had been hired for ghost walk
Tunbridge Wells is not without traditions Of
fashion and rank. The first patron was dissi-
pated and enfeebled young rake Of the court Of
James j, whose curiosity was excited by the
yellow scum of a spring in the woods Having
secured g certificate from his London doctor that
the water was not likely TO kill him and might
cure him of various ailments. he camped out
near the spring for three months. and returned
10 court in vigorous health. As he lived to the
advanced age of eighty-fve and was. wonder
fully robust and active, the chalybeate waters
received the FLIP OF attractive advertise
ment- Tley became a fashionable cure, ana
cottages We're multiplied behind double rows OF
and p1r-ir
wells into a centre OF healing and psalm sing
ing during the Commonwealth. and scattered
Scriptural names among the Verdant hills ana
sunny valleys After the Restoration the town
received q baptism of fire, and the Families were
rebrilt and the walks paved with tiles During
the reign of Queen Anne it was frequented by
ministers of the Crown and by court ladies. and
under the Georges il was converted into fash
ionable health resort. George " was often
there. Queen Victoria lived there during her
n;rIbood and il was a favorite residence OF
,,rincesses duchesses and exiled sovereigns
While il never succeeded in Tivalling Bath as
social centre. il had prestige as health resort
and was not without resources OF pleasurable |
excitement
The quaint gabled houses Of the Families have |
seen something more stirring than the tourna- |
rnent CT chess players now in progress DueIs
have been planned under the trees by jealous
plotted in the leafy alleys and trfnket booths; |
fortunes have been gambled away at the card |
table in Mount Ephraim Mount Sion; and |
court beauties have danced with staggering |
bucks the bowling green. The Tunbridge |
Wells road was not the highway OF rakes |
prohigates adventuresses and prizehghters, as |
the Brighton road was under the Regency: yet |
n was not without vivacity when the stage |
soaches ran down from London in eight hours |
aghtfalL The scandals of corrupt court were |
Cot exhibited there were there professions |
sveIls in barouches. fanciers in gigs and gam
blers on foot to witness and degrading |
sport at wayside amphitheatres. The memories |
Of the Puritans and the sanctity OF the names |
bestowed by them upon favorite hsunts pro- |
Jected the town against excuses OF dissipation |
and vagaries Of fashion; vet IL had pleasurable
life Of own. with fewer literary and political
celebrities than Bath but with throngs Of gay |
promenaders and gmpses Of Vanity Fair from |
the Families
The old watering place has grown more sedate |
with age. Hotels recreation grounds, prone |
rades and golf courses have multiplied, and the |
wide circuit of surrounding downs and wood |
lands has been brought within the range of out |
door activities. The medicinal qualities of the |
ehalybeate springs may not have deteriorated. |
but there is less dependence upon them than |
upon the bracing air and the environment OF
charming rural scenery. Tunbridge Wells is
now sluggish residential town. with popula- |
ton Of 34,9oa where life is taken deliberately |
and seriously. Convalescents drink the waters |
IN the Families. and work out their salvation by
walking far af1eld. taking long drives in car
riages or Brakes and cycling among the villages
Of Sussex, Kent and Surrey. Mount Sion has
been tunnelled by railway, Mount Ephraim has |
become a cricket ground and Jordan Lane Is |
without religious associations; yet the Puritan |
heritage remains a potent influence in coloring |
the life Of the town. II is known Noncon- |
forrnist and evangelical refuge where pleasures
are enjoyed pensively and such distractions as
dancing and theatres are avoided as unsettling |
Sheridan. who found at gossip loving Bath in |
spration for The Rivals and The School for |
Scandal" could have written only dull moral |
ity play If he had known Tunbridge Wells as |
It IS to-day. The sober matrons who listen TO
the drowsy music of the orchestra in the Pan |
tiles have disposition 10 frolic with the wan
ton satyrs. They read Jane Austen when they |
have finished their weekly religious newspaper. |
ana are shocked whenever they find their daugh- |
ters tasting forbidden fruit in the modern novels
As for the respectable old gentlemen walking |
sedately under the trees watching the rounds |
OF chess IN the silent tournament. they kill
ing time without being conscious of any need |
Tor entertainment or pleasurable excitement |
Tunbridge Wells does not affect the humors |
and conventions OF Vanity Fair. It has pump |
room. assembly halls. luxurious hotels. and an |
opera house: but with facilities for social diver
sion and fashionable amusement unknown in the |
days Of Queen Anne and the Georges. # is con- |
tent with jogging along without whirl OF ex- |
citing gayety. The wholesome tonic OF life in |
the open air reconcfles residents and visitors To