The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1917-01-12
anaY.s cHyHcITYARD.

NNMNMN 30 aHENa 1fA@A NAN 49,"
trees shade,
where hssvss sbe turf In many a
Wondering heap.
Each In his narrow cell forever laid.
The rude forefathers of the hamlet
Sleep
may have often wondered as to tho
present condition OF the spot that Is
said to have inspired this poem. a
writer in the london Chronicle has
this TO say about u:
II happened TO oe In the pouring
rain. along roads strewn with sodden
leaves. and with the mist of a late
November afternoon vignetting each
siimmer OF landscape. that l made
piigrimmage 10 Stoke Pogis. Thither.
doubtless. the bicentenary OF Thomas
Gray will be taking a good many other
pilgrims before the ear is IA Not
Inappropriate. perhaps, this weeping
day. for due homage 20 the author OF
IAN Eiesy Wrote in a Country Church
yard" II so. Il was the only appropri-
cite element OF a singularly startling
adventure in what ! may call the tragi-
comedy 81 literary veneration. p
'Yarrow stream unseen. unknown
Such would be my counsel to those
who hope to replace the dream by the
reality AT Stoke Fegis-so far. that Is
TO say as the "Elegy' and its message
are concerned. Any who make e
must be prepared. however. for a
study in M irony OF fame. strained
almost to laughing point.
Probably there is none OF US who
has not from mis- youth up cherished
his own vision of that neglected spot
u~npretentious. rural scene: tho
seauestered hamlet" the "moldering
heaps where lie It's rude fo%refathers''
the "uncouth rhymes" spelled by the
unlet,ered Muse" the "shsrt and sim
pie annals OF the poor" Even for those
Who have never seen stoke Pogis.
war time has a certain satiric bearing
upon the whole making OF the
"Elegy."
How deep a change there has been
slnca the elegant scholar-poet. the
gracefully academic wilt. the most
learned man in Europe" and politest
Of letter writer's. was tempted to pat
ronize with his art that pretty hypo-
thesis OF Village Hampdens' and
mute. ingiorious Miltons," The vii
lage Hampdens" are in small need
nov either Of his or OF anyone's cham
pionship.
But all this is a mere nothing COM
pared with the contrast between then
now a, Stoke Pogis Itself. As /
set out from slough-shrough a long
suburban trail Of little distorted roads
newspaper shops and brick fields
and tin tabernacles" and raw. red.
new churches oomfortod myself
with the thought that should come to
the village at last. I came to no viz
lage. ! came TO what was Huccinctiy
and no doubt truly. described upon
the auctioneers' boards. which greet
the eye at almost every corner, as a
"desirab bic residential neighborhood. :
Fine villas. "replete with every mod
ern convenience" white walled and
red gabled, with OTTO garage at side.
to what will happen when all
the plots OF all the estate have been
taken up. Stoke Pogis, one learns
suffers from the advantage of a.
grave soil" OF Stoke Park-Gray's
own stoke Park. which actually
hounds the church-yard-one reads
that this imposing mansion has been
converted into golf links, which may
be described as perhaps. the most aris-
tooratio in the county"
what. then. Of the chuT chyard it.
self1 Beautiful 1t still lie. But here.
a. everywhere around. the whole spirit
Of the place seems 70 have been turn
ed, by inevitable human nature. into
the very opposite Of what the poet
would have US imagine. II is not a.
neglected spot" II Is not rude
not even typically rural IL is. on the
contrary. a smart, stylish cemetery.
where the latest and daintiest devices
of the stonemason in marble and pol
ished granite vie with eaoh other on
every hand. 1. is approached through
a long. trim avenue Of standard roses
-aii sc~rupulously tended. and some
% them blooming even in November.
such has been the natural desire Of
well-to-do folk to be buried AZ Stoke
Pogis that the churchyard. through
comparatively big In itself, has re-
Gently beer crowded out, and oyeTlaps
TO some adjoining land.
Above all, 40 far from any sugges-
ton Of "destinies obscure. Gray could
hardly have found a Valhalla, short ot
London itself. where he would bo
fated 10 lie In more distinguished COM
pany. Quite 4 number Of peers OF
the realm seem TO be buried a. Stoke