Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1910-10-07

~ NE Of the saddest things IN life.
81 perhaps, is the sight OF an
American tourist In West
W minister abbey. Unconvention-
al as he may be in e thousand
things. the American is the most con-
ventional OF mortals in bis attitude to-
ward the historic show places of Eu-
rope. There is but one proper way to
view a monument. one proper opinion
to express In regard to It. This is de-
termined by tradition and. in the case
OF the abbey the Washington Irving
tradition is the one that must be re-
garded. "A hundred years ago Irving
established residence within the
wall Of the old minister and pro
ceeded to write some very charming,
albeit little forid. prose regarding
its architecture and its memorials,
His expressed feeling toward It was
one Of reverence and awe and melan-
choly, Of admiration and respect Now.
this was both correct and natural IN
Irying's time. but that was before the
day when visitors crowded the aisles
like cattle at the herding. when the
walls were placarded with instructions
and warnings, even as the motor
buses that pass the door are placard
ed with advertisements, and before
youthful vergers lined up the curious
In companies and collected sixpence
apiece for personally conducting them
through the royal chapels. The at
mosphere today. indeed. is not conduc-
i've to meditation and reverential &c
stasy; the abbey is as much a show
place as the Albert Memorial or Earl's
Court. and the sad sight referred to
above is that Of the hurried. hustling
tourists of the twentieth century try
ing 10 adapt themselves to the tradi-
tional pose Of reverence and awe ere
ated by Irving-trying and not sue
ceeding,
Women In the Minister.
The suggestion that Florence Night
ingale 6e accorded-the highest honor
known to an EngIishman, that OF
burial In the abbey. caused me to res
urrect from the scrap pile an old
guide to the building. written in a tone
that Irving himself would have ap-
proved. | wanted to find what women
have heretofore been granted this
distinction. or that of tablet or mon
ument in this national place Of sepuI-
ture. and the reasons therefor. dis
covered that their name was legion,
but that the honor given them, except
In two or three cases was for no 81
clal merit Of their own. Their bod al
rested there or the monument y.
raised to them because they waHe
wives or daughters Of this digniproE
or that, one taking the room fofaces,
more valid reason than that she
the spouse Of an estimable gentle VI
who was for time organist of end
church. Two exceptions there v Ia
indeed-the one, Jenny Lind, the
err Sarah Siddons But their tadio
are Of small, comparative size
value. while to this or that lady OF
court has been erected an imposing
and colossal monument One all Wis
itors 20 the abbey will remember be-
cause OF the hideous skeleton that
forms part Of its composition. erected.
as II happens. to the lady as well as
the lord of the same namc as the he
roic Santa Filoment. who has just
passed away.
Was an Age Of stilted Periods.
The epitaphs quoted In the guide
book have distinctive favor, as II
they were some special brand manu-
featured for the abbey. The old kings
in the splendid old tombs need no In
scription. and have none. but as the
architectural merit OF the tombs de-
creases so does the verbal decoration
increase. and with the monstrous
sculpture Of the eighteenth century
comes the torid and overwrought pc
RODS of the epitaph writer's. You can