The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-31

GTllcle WHICH was puDilS1ed III l lie
Age Herald last week concerning Glas-
tonbury, England. | beg to state that
am native of England and my last
visit to Glastonbury was in the year
1912.
GLASTONBURY"
"To the island valley of Avilion,
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any
snow.
Nor ever wind blows loudly, but II
lies
Deap meadowed. happy. fair with or
chard lawns
And bowery billows crowned with sum-
mer sea-
The Idylls of the King.
1t is very beautiful village and in
+. olden times was called the Apple Isle
of England
Glastonbury Abbey. whose associa-
tions belong to the earliest years OF
the Christian era. tradition says that
in A. ID. SO, ST. Joseph of Arimathea,
sent by ST. Philip the Apostle, came
with band of missionaries to preach
the gospel in Britain. They sailed up
the Bristol channel until they came
in sight of a hill most like to Tai
bor's Holy Mount" for which st. Jo-
seph, to continue the interesting old
legend had been instructed In dream
to look for. This hill. known as Glas-
tonbury Tor. was an island like ele-
vation amid the marshes. AS Avalon
| 1t is known in the most ancient of
romances and in one of the noblest of
modern poems.
Near to the road leading from the
! station to the town is Weary All Hill. u
the spot where st. Joseph and his com
panions are said to have landed, hav-
| ing steered their vessel UP the river
which then flowed at the foot of the
slight eminence. Here st. Joseph, we
read in the fascinating tradition. plant
ed his pilgrims staff, a hawthorn stick
which at once took root sent forth
branches and made a practice of cele-
| hrating every Christmas day by burst
! Ing into flower. 1t is certain that for
many centuries there flourished upon
this hill tree famed throughout
| Christendom as the Glastonbury
sanctity that sailors carried sprigs from
it for luck in their voyages and dying
mon desired that some of its leaves
should be buried with them.
There may be seen today in several
of the ancestral parks of Somerset
trees said to have grown from slips
taken from the original Glastonbury
thorn. They flower about Christmas
time and botanists tell us that they
are of eastern origin.
One of the trunks of the old tree
was cut down in Elizabeth's reign and
writer of that period says that the
same fate would have befa1len the rest
of the tree had not chip struck the
sacriligious woodcutter in the eve, de-
TO- - s-~l.% fT.t-
built in honor of the Virgin Mary a
church of osiers wattled together. the
first Christian church in our land. A
stone oratory was afterward erected
here in 443 and st. Patrick. returning
from his great mission in Ireland vis-
tied the holy spot early in the seventh
century. Paulinus. Archbishop of York,
covered the wattled church with
boards and lead for it's preservation as
sacred relic. A century later mon
astery was founded to the east of the
original building. This was plundered
| by the Danes and restored by the
great st. Dunstan, a native of Glaston-
bury.
The ancient church and monastery
was burned in 1854 and although its res
torat1on was at once undertaken more
than century elapsed before it was
completed in one long, magnificent
building, nearly 600 feet in length, of
which the present ruins are a frag-
ment. Under ST. Joseph's chapel Is a
crypt constructed In the fifteenth CEN
tury as a place of burial for the many
distinguished persons who desired to
be laid to rest close to the spot where
st. Joseph of Arimathea was believed
to be buried, also st. Patrick and St
| runstan. Can we wonder that the spot
became for centuries the Mecca of pill
grims?
1
! One may visit England in the deptf
of winter and find grass and the higf
| hedges beautiful green. We are alst
noted for our white glistening roads
MRS. w. G. CAIN.
| 1897 Pike avenue, Ensley. January