Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-09-11
In OLD ENGLAND.
How a S0utherner views this Stal.
wart Buttress Of the Worlds
Freedom.
LEditoriai Correspondence.l


We leave the dungeons and the musty
stones Of the old castle at Newcastle to
the spiders and bats that now haunt it,
to be in turn haunted ourselves that
night by the hob-goblins and ghosts
that arose mentally before us in pom
dering over the relics and srmors accu-
mulated since the time the Caesars held
sway in this distant isle.
Southwark we dash through fertile
fields, almost devoid of trees, and we
are glad to feel the temperature creep
ing above the sixty mark of Scotland.
The English rsilway-cars and engine
looks for all the world like the first ele-
waited trains run in New York. They
are midgets beside our enormous trains.
But they are the acme of utility in this
land Stations close together require
that the train shall be started quickly
and stopped in short order. Few peo-
pie live on their farms, all huddling to-
gether in the villages or cities close by,
as though they lived in feudal times.
Every few minutes is town, and one
OF less than thirty thousand inhabitants
or the size of Newport News-hardly
appears on the map. We whirled, at
fifty miles an hour, through towns of
sixty or . hundred thousand people,
without noticing them or the engineers
ringing bell. The railway coach is
divided into four or FIVE compartments,
holding some six persons each, and
wbep you step in you are locked and
must stay put" until the door is
thrown open by the guards at the next
STOP No passing through the train,
and you see nothing of the conductor
except on the platform at each stop.
A decided Improvement is appearing on
some coaches by having two-foot ves-
tibule on one side, by which persons in
one closed compartment may reach
those in another. When you take
seat and put your grip in the rack over
your head, that is your seat and no
one will interfere with il. Neither
must you jump about and take others.
Until recently there were first, second
and third class coaches in England, but
the second has been dropped. They
have saying over here that ''none but
dukes. fools and Americans travel first
class" on railways, so after our first ex-
perience we refused to be considered
anyone of the three, and did like other
folks-fell into the third class ''car-
riages" Chats what they here call
carl. There are very few ''first class"
compartments on the trains. and they
are nearly always empty. We soon
caught on to a scheme that Yankee
gall is practicing here. A railway
company that sells you a ticket must
provide you with a seat. When the
least bit crowded. just before starting
give the porter Tor brakeman) q six
pence az cents) tip on the sly and he
will pilot you to . seat in 8 ''first-class"
compartment. But il not crowded you
have no desire to go into the first
class" The third class" comforts
are superior to our day coaches in
America, and the ''first class ones
eclipse them only by the grandness of
their plush seats and Innings. You do
little or no night travelling here. and il
aboard at night you can generally get
compartment for yourself and compan-
ion, where. locked in. you put out the
light and each stretch himself full
length upon the two long seats meant
to seat six or eight when crowded. On
the Continent, owing to the travel of
emigrants. there are first, second, third
and fourth class carriages on the rail-
ways. Wherever you go. travel first
class by steamer, third class In Eng
land by rail and second class by rail
on the Continent, There is difference
of % to 3S per cent in the scale of
fares between each class.
In o few hours we stop off at Durham
famous for its breed of cattle). Here
We take in the cathedral and the Prince
Bishops castle. The beautiful but
narrow (as are ell these riyers) river
Weir flows at the foot of the ancient
castle surmounting the high stone cliff.
Through all these cathedrals (now
Church of England property we find
some sort of service from a. m. to 6
p. m. 80 at Durham we were fortunate
to hear the Litsnny and the massive or
gan. One cannot describe these great
structures. You at once feel your in
significance when entering an edifice
whose ceilings are almost lost in the
dimness of distance; their length (us-
ually of cross like shape) is sufficient
tC contain half q dozen congregations
of our big city churches. Near the
middle is rallied in with gold and fine
tapestry the sacred apartments where
only the ministers, choir and boy at
tendants have access. More marvel
lous even than the magnitude and won
derful architecture, with hundreds of
embellished spires dotted with figures
and images. is the acoustics of these
cathedrals. The old builders had a
knack that has apparently been lost.
The canon reading in moderate tone,
can be heard in every corner and craney
of the intricate interior. As we STEP