The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1910-09-16
Miss Parker sFoTeignLetter.
Ambleside, Eng, Aug. 20, 1910.
TX

AmUI6SluS, Eng, aug. 10, 1917.
Dear Co1ntrymen:
We are coming nearer our lain
countrie" and it never seemed more
beautiful to US than as we are about
to coach through the splendid English
lake district, but I left you at London
and now is the time for a weekly re-
port, in boarding house language
but here's hoping it's not pudding
made from the leavings.
From London, we have Travelled in
state if private car fills the require
ments. England looks as though she
had been washed and dressed every
morning so spick and span does the
whole country appear. The fields are
green and fertile and every blade of
grass grows in its proper sphere
and never blows rudely over into its
neighbours space. Hedges and stone
walls divide the land into equal Sec
tons, some square, some oblong. Even
the little mountains are well groom
ed and in their rightful places, so
that the scenery is not exciting but
very restful and satisfactory. The
oads-well they are an autoists dream
are like smooth floors and the sides
are wholly devoid of underbrush or
litter of any kind.
Tuesday morning, we went along
down to Oxford, where some Ameri-
cans once in a while come, and where
our Teddy" attached another degree
last spring.
We had but few hours to see parts
of few of the twenty-one colleges,
which have left their impress on Eng
land since the 18th century. Miss How
ards brother-in-law, Rev. Mr.. Free
borne, rector at Kidlington, about five
miles distant from Oxford met us at
the station in cap and gown and en-
tertained us very delightfully."- as he
knew his Oxford and passed on its
charm to us by his enthusiasm. Wei
first went to Christ Church College,
from which Mr.. Freeborne holds his
A. M. We went into the chapel to see
the Burne-Jones windows and the pc
culiar arrangement of the arches in
the nave, but more interesting than |
this was the kitchen, in the oldest part |
of Wolsey's building, which we reach
ed by going down some stone stairs.
where the students eat was most in
teresting with its portraits of famous
fellows" and few others. 1t brings |
the great and good and the great and
wicked very near to go to school with
them and they became quite human as
we went over the ground with them.
Magdalen College is familiar
enough in print, but seems like
a stranger when you hear it called
"Maudlin." 1t is said to be one of the
most beautiful of all the colleges and
it certainly had a charm all its own
even in the furious rain which was
descending on the just and unjust at
the moment we beheld it. At one cor
ner of the quadrangle we saw the old
stone pulpit from which the university
sermon is preached once a year, and
it did not require an heroic amount of
imagination to see the student body
assemble on the green for the occas-
ion.
On we went to New College, which s
bellies its name and is really one of 3
the Oldest. We went in the rain to g
see the famous Reynolds window of a
Faith, Hope and Charity, each being I
by a single female figure, /
and occupying the three central sec I
tons of the great window. I
We did not spend much time in any I
of the colleges, but we went into Ke- I
BILE to see the first Light of the '
World painted by Holman Hunt. We t
had seen one of his copies of this IA c
nous picture in st. Paul's in London, e
but as it was a disappointment in col Y
oring and size, we were anxious to get i
a better impression for final one The I
Keble painting is the one to see, it C
being very soft in coloring and small b
enough to give the figure finer mean s
ing and power. S
The Alteration of the Magi tapestry, {
designed by Burne-Jones at Exeter {
was worth once more piling out of 4
the barge to see, and that is apprecia- {
ton, indeed. Our trip through Exc S
ter, in the rain, in this barge was in '
some respects like an Episcopal ser Z
vice "All City up and sitty down" s
But what was most enjoyable of all, S
there being nothing to live up to, was {
the Addison walk at Magdalen Col t
lege down the shaded lane to the lit
tie bridge over the stream, where so v
many great and small have wandered Il
these long years, and in the wonder 3
full old English garden at New Col Z
lege, where the ancient wall, with its s
convenient loop-holes for the destruc- C
ton of the enemy fulfil their present a
destiny of being picturesuue v