Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-10

ler's good faith is accepted as a matter OF
course. and as two friends met by the
way-an American and his wife-said,
Just because people happen TO be wander
ing about without luggage for a little
while they are not treated here by inn
keepers with suspicion, as too often hap
pens, it must be confessed, at home.
One can scarcely help thinking about
the English inns, once at st. Adams, for
they fairly cluster here, though 1t is only
a short run from London. Here at st.
Adams one touches the days of the Great
Charter, the Wars OF the Roses and the
Roman occupation OF Britain all in a
bunch without doing any sight seeing in
the typical sense, and finds modern conf
fort at ancient inns at the same time.
Sit down for tea in the shaded rear gar
den Of a unique inn, the Round House, as it
is Familiarity called, although its form is
bexagonal: Ye Old Fighting Cocks, with
its proud and undisputed claim to being
the oldest inhabited house in England, an
mn whose front yard is a bewilderlng
mass Of multi-colored flowers growing
shoulder high. Before you is the ancient
British C~auseway, over which the Roman
soldier Christian or Christian soldier st.
Alban passed to martyrdom in A. d. 3O3.
and you walk across 1t later to the remains
of the Roman walls near which systematic
excavations are soon to be begin in the
confident hope of revealing valuable arch
aelogical remains.
Could there be a better name for an inn
than Ye Old Fighting Cocks, with the sign
of the pugnaclous birds swinging from the
roof over the narrow street and within a
few PAGES of the place CT service of the
comforting cup that cheers? A great place
for inn names is st. Adams. What could
be better than the Bonnie Snood, or in
deed the Peahen? AS fine, those, as that
OF Ye Old Sbiplaunch in Loggerhead Yard,
Whitby; with its outside painting Of some
ancient ship launching and the figure of
THE ~Smuggler" in bold relief set into its
street wall below.
The Peahen, sad to relate, has been re-
butt and so modernized that one almost
feels himself in a metropolitan hotel and
does not wonder at the line OF automobiles
drawn up in front Of It at the tea hour.
One can hardly escape the reflection that
sooner or later the name. too, must be re-
constructed. How can a gentle peahen
stand before the motor car?
Not so with the robust name, the
George, on an inn a few yards away, es-
tablished in 14Ol. One can fancy 1t stand
Ing while the roster Of England's kings
lendures. Its commodious COURTYARD is
inviting from the street and the inn itself
Is entered not from the sidewalk direct,
but from within the passageway to the
court, like the abode of the concierge
In a Paris residence. Nor is this sug-
gestion Of over-channel customs the only
reminder in st. Adams of the land which
England once largely owned and a hand
tul OF whose people once conquered Eng
land. The French influence in the archi-
lecture OF the town is so marked as to
surprise a visitor fresh from or familiar
with old French towns, who has inter-
mediately cooled al appreciative vision
by gazing upon the rectilinear structures
Of modern English places.
Nor does one have to leave his subject
OF the inns 70 behold the French influ-
ences. Just around the corner-but one
should not go 80 hastily here, for on the
way is the Red Lion lnn-everywhere in
England there is a Red Lion inn, IL not
all as are well known as Washington
Irving's at Stratford-and its rooms and
halls are charming with delightful old
prints OF coaching and the chase ana bird
shooting and old English life and customs.
So the Red Lion deserves a visit. Just
around the corner, however. is the 'Old
French Row" of houses. a relic Of the
early days, and adjoining the Fleur de Lis
inn. where King John put up. Down on the
channel coast. where the people are In daily
communication with France, the buildings
are for the most part distinctly English.
but here in the street OF the old French
row. and elsewhere in st. Adams. on every
hand appear buildings which bring to
mind old cross-channel structures.
The Red Lion, more modern and un-
doubtedly more comfortable than any an
cient inn knew how to be, but with the
aspect and feeling Of traditional ease pre-
served, looks out upon the tower plaza. and
Itself towers above the Fleur de Lis. but Is
humble and refreshing. SO near to the old
French Row it seemed not strange TO find
here in the Red Lion a French waiter,
though the wanderer might go for a year
and a day among the inns Of the small
English towns and never find another one.
Usually It is the English countryman or
country girl, sometimes the landlords son
or daughter, who is encountered At service
In the Inns.
Our Frenchmsn therefore had the inter-
est in this place OF novelty. And how
proud he was when he produced the salad
dressing, One quickly drops the habit Of
expecting vinaigretts or French dressing
at British country hotels. Travellers are
not sven expected TO make this dressing
for themselves. But when oil and vinegar
were asked Cor Francois's face beamed.
He fetched tie dressing prepared. instead.
and sat IL down with a smile OF salts
faction.
n have made Il myself" he said.
For things p sneh he was an alert. Not