Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-29
TO OXFORD BY THE THAMES
English Scenery Seen on a Leisurely
Journey,
VARIED PROCESSION OF CRAFT
VOuseboats at Henley-PanOramn
of Mansions, Cottages and Green
Fields - Women studying
Hard at oxford.

LONDON, Aug. B-Just why the Folly
Bridge should lead from the Angel House
at Henley-on-the-Thames you do not know
or ask. being satisfied that such is the
fact and that the fact is a pleasant one.
II Is the lengthening shadow Of the
bridge, in the tiny garden on the river
front, that you dine on the eve Of the com
Ing trip, oxford way. For to get to the
famous university town, while It may be
roacvhed in an hour and a quarter by rail
from London, requires two entire days II
you take the water course, a journey by
winding paths and pleasure intervals at
the many locks.
Below Henley the river Is compare
lively undressing. Therefore you will
do well TO follow the advice of the know
ing and begin the river trip at Henley
which will give you a landing In the long
twilight, which lends to the huge. Gothic
structures Of oxford an added attraction.
Some one has said that the reason the
Englishman is more athletic than his
American contemporary is tina he has the
long hours after dinner in which to get his
outside exercise and certainly II the river
at Henley is an example Of this summing
up Of national characteristics you are in
clined to believe that there is truth in
the statement. For as you drink your
after dinner Golfer in the garden and the
walter with furrowed brow retires 70 a
leafy arbor in order to jot up long rows
of. Figures on a tiny blue slip Of paper.
which will later-in perhaps half an hour
II he Is a more expert mathematician than
his class generally-be presented as your
bill, you will notice plenty of evidence of
this.
You note a pretty girl who is punting
a ooatload under the arch of the bridge.
The punt is long, narrow and apparently
liEht, and the hook OF the punting pole
finds the river bed easily and with prac-
tised ease the boatwoman avoids collision
with the jutting edge Of granite, over
which a sculptured head Of Isis marks the
keynote.
Following her comes a swift rover in A
shell. He has on the regulation f~lannels
and his boat is like an arrow i'm its course.
with a dextrous turn he avoids touching
a Canadian canoe holding a man and maid
who are looking in each others faces
and forgetting to paddle. There is much
excuse for this temporary alteration. for
the girl is dainty and pretty as a flower.
her light hair curling about her uncovered
forehead. a red tie marking her low col
Jared waist, while the Drowned youth with
her wears a scarlet sash over his white
suit.
AAeei them comes q randan treble soul
Ing) pleasure skiff with a merry party
who are singing and laughing, and next in
the procession is a boat with a tent cover,
which an old boatman explains holds a
camping party, All along the Thames the
next day you see these tenting parties.
The river at Henley is not wide. A
stone throw by a mans hand would easily
touch the further shore and perhaps one
throw by a woman's too, for the London
woman Is becoming an expert stone singer.
You think of this as you see a suffragette
punt come in sight, with cushions of purple.
green and white, and a s~uffragette pennant
flying audaciously. There is a young man
in It leaning languidly on the velvet squares
and a vigorous maiden punts him with de-
clsiVe hook through the channel course.
The villagers on the bridge applaud.
Hits as hit should be-" says one water
man. We've took our turn"
And another in awestruck tone. Hits a
Duchess"
1t is in one Of William Blacks novels
that the heroine asks. rs Henley the
p%rettiest place in the world. I wonder?"
To compare beautiful places is as useless
as to compare beautiful flowers or beauti-
ful faces, but you leave the next morning
with hegret, boarding the small steamer
at 3 o'clock promptly. the days long trip
TO be accomplished and the oxford landing
made and trains caught only by observing
absolute punctuality.
The steamer leaves at Folly Bridg and
you turn your back to It and to the ad-
Joining gardens Of the famous Red Lion
Inn, where are breakfasting a party of
Americans whose motors are grinding and
grumbling in the nearby garage. George
III, his queen and daughters breakfasted
II may be In the very spot where the chat
ter Of the American party accompanies
the ehurning Of the paddle as the salute.
OF good-by and bon voyague is made.
II is a day with great patches of sun
light on flower and field, and cavernous
clouds, quickly forming and swiftly dis
appearing, blotting out for a moment
the blue OF the water, the green Of the
meadows and the kaleidoscope display OF
horticultural aIurments, but there is no
rain, a fact always noteworthy in a
country where a rainless day has been
this summer the rare compliment, the wet
June giving place to a wetter July with
a promise of the wettest August on record.
The steamer holding perhaps 200 passen-
d. gers is not filled at any moment of the
day except for the last ten minutes run to
Oxford. People come and go at the vari-
Gus landings, and there is opportunity for
an uninterrupted study OF human nature.
There are many summer lovers who pick
out villa sites and plethoric Britich citi-
gems whose wives are addressed as
'Mlssus" discuss the difference that the
motor cars have made In the river life.
Parties OF young people, sometimes hat
less and always GREATNESS, come on at
one lock and depart at the next. Many
Americans, usually with guide books and
always with comparisons in favor Of the
land OF the stars and stripes, are neverthe-
less interested and enthusiastic.
Their enthusiasm becomes most empha.
do when Alfred C. Vandsrbnts huge house
boat, anchored just below Henley, come.
into view with Venture placarded across
the facade. IL Is as large as one pictures
Noah's ark and seems as IL Il might hav,
taken an equal time in the building. It is
cream eolored with a great deal OF Christ,
mas cake adjoining and Is covered with q
mass OF foliage, one end a palm garden
The captain informs the breathless
American contingent that Mr.. Vanderbilt
has paid also for the position. a partieu,
larry favorable one; but with the excep.
ton Of a few tea parties the owner has
not spent much time there. except during
regattA week.