The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-22
SHAKESPEARE" Entertaining and Instructive Lecture by Mrs. Ward in the Library at
 Stratf0rd.
CHILDHOOD OF GREAT POET

IulLDQUUD UF GkEAT POET
 A very select, but not very larg
 audlence, was present Saturday even
 Ing at the library in Stratford, to lister
 10 a lecture on Shakespeare, his child
 mood, and the country in which h.
 nVeo previous to going to London
 Mrs. Ward, who has made a study o
 the old English Stratford, and tn
 surrounding country, was introduced oy MT. F. c. Beach, who spoke of he
 as friend of his. The lady is not al
 Engllshwoman, as has been supposed put married an Englishman, and ha:
 resided for a long time in her hus
 Dands country. She speaks with thu
 Engilsh accent, which is by no mean! | unpleasant to American ears She re-
 marked, in opening her lecture. tha,
 IL was very pleasant to come from old Stratford to modern Stratford
 shakespeare, she said, was product
 or his times, and to know him vel
 IL was desirable to know something
 of the times in which he lived. She l spoke briefly of the condition of the 1 common people at the time of the
 poets birth, and said the lords o1 the manors turned out the squatters and that in the time of Henry VIII no less than 10000 men were killed as they had no visible means of sup port. This she remarked, was an ef- fectual remedy for mendicancy, but
 the remedy wouldn't do in these times! At that time London was city of about 1S0,O00 inhabitants, or as large as the modern English Brighton One Richard Shakespeare, who might have
 been the grandfather of William, lived
 in Snitterfeld, three miles from strat-
 ford, and tried to make his living by
 farming. She said that the pedigree of
 the Shakespeare family is interesting,
 but that it became extinct in 1870.
 Therefore those of today who claim to be descended from the poet, are mistaken. A picture of the font fin
 which John the father of William was baptized, was thrown upon the screen. The next picture was Arden house, owned by Robert Arden, near Strat- ford, the family connected with the Poets by marriage. In the living room was the ingle nook, very unlike hooks of that name seen in modern de- signs for workingmen's houses. Here too, was the copper, or wash boiler set in brick, and the bake oven, such as may yet be found in old houses in this town. The we'll yard was shown, and the shelters for cattle and vehicles, since barns are almost unknown in England. John, the father of William, was a glover, and a member of the court leet. He was also high baliff and taster of ale, for, as Mrs. Ward said, they had no boards of health in those days. He had two children before Shakespeare was born, who came into this world on St. Georges day, April IF, 1564. The misused and dilapidated fountain in which Shakes peare was baptized, Was shown. Since that time it has been used to plant flowers in, and the rim is pretty we'll broken off. The we'll known house in thrown upon the screen, and the au- dience was told that John lost his two elder children by the plague which ragged in Stratford. All the rooms in the interior of the house were shown, also the portrait which was discovered while cleaning an old picture. The house is now heated by hot water, and one may not even light a match in- side. A view of the old house, as it looked before the renovation in 1858, was shown, also a view from the gar den, and the old mulberry tree, which was planted when the English under took to raise silk worms. Mrs. Ward very truthfully said that the inmates of the house used to gather about the big fire place and talk over the events of the day, for they didn't have Sun day newspapers at that time. Views 1 of the guild hall and the grammar school, inside and out, were shown, and proved to be very interesting. School l in the time of the poet began before | Z a. m., and Shakespeare was in the l grammar school as early as years ]! of age. It was in the great room of l the guild hall that Shakespeare first 1 saw band of rowing players. They | came into town over the Clopton l bridge, which still stands, and always ] travelled in company for self protec- ion. Their coming gave rise to the | rhyme:
 'Hark, hark! the dogs do bark,
 The beggars are coming to town;
 Some in rags and some in tags,
 And some in velvet gowns!'
 n any town was always free, and af- CT that an admission was charged. The Latin school room was shown and Mrs. Ward said the school is to-day me of the best in England. The spot where Shakespeare's desk stood was pointed out. The plays in which the ,oys of Shakespeare's day indulged 1! lind of baseball. But of the games n which William indulged nothing is known. Many very inter- sting pictures of famous houses and ] treets in Stratford were displayed | uch as the old door of the Holy Cross hurch; the old house in Robber street, which was the market for horned 'easts; the court on Sheep street; ,lopton bridge: St. Mary's church, in- idle and out; the long tree-lined walk o the church; the memorial theatre, nside and out; the White Horse inn made famous by Washington Irving; l nd other places. Mrs. Ward was a title sarcastic about the flood of Ann l ricans who attempt to do old Strat- ord in 20 minutes, and going to the house ask: "Is Bill at Iome?" She thinks one should stop l the town a week or a month and isit all of it's by1ways and the sur ounding villages, and drink in the I cenery and atmosphere and environ 1ent which exists now the same as it i'd in Shakespeares time. Only in , nat way can the nature of the man nd the subtle sentiment of his plays { e understood. He was not a man of ookS, but one who had studied nature I l all it's phases, and especially hu- ,an nature Many lovely views of the dir,o al | [