The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1920-07-03
The Garden at the Diapers Hall.


| memory.
II the diapers displayed energy in
business and kindly works, they were
also always to the fore In the civic
pleasures which abounded In the mid
die ages; and of their rulings" pag-
eants by land and water, their "mId-
summer walks" and their professions,
when one of their number CHANGED to
become lord mayor, there are many
quaint and interesting records.
On the occasion Of the marriage of
Henry VII and Elizabeth. we hear of
the diapers, with the others, going
forth upon the Thames, "at her COM
ing from Greenwich by water I'm
"Barges freshly furnished with Ban
ners and Streamers of Silke, rechely
beaton and bagges of their Crafts"
Catastrophe of 1866.
The ancient hall Of the diapers was
in st. Swithins Lane, but In 1541 the
company ended its negotiations with
Henry VIII for Cromwell House." the
site of the present hall. which had
come to the crown through the at
tainder of Cromwell, earl Of Essex
The great fire of 1866 stopped its
northward fury at Diapers hall, but
great damage was done to the build
ings. and the unfortunate clerk of
those days. whose house had been
demolished, had to take refuge in the
Garden house, which, until the fire,
had been the house of Mr.. Miners, the
beadle.
AS 1t remains today, the Drapers'
hall displays all the tempered rich
ness of an English country house and
the magnificent suites of rooms, two of
which are adorned with perfectly pre-
served pieces of Gobelin tapestry, and
whose walls are hung with splendid
pictures, betoken the hospitality of this
ancient company. But the feature
which fingers most in memory is the
quiet and ancient garden, with its
shimmering trees, including aged null
berries-from one of which a dish Of
fruit can still be plucked-its bright
hued flower beds, and its leaden tanks
filed with flowers. And though in the
very midst of the city's greatest tur-
moil, ii still looks so reposeful that II
is easy to remember those other days
when my Lord Ambassador from
France" walked the plaisaunce In the
September of 1862, or when one Rob-
ert Ratford, the gardener. complained
to the court shat by drying Of naperye
clothes in the Diapers garden. the
knobs and borders Of erbys therein are
destroyed" which resulted In prompt
measures being taken to suppress the
practice.
Today the Diapers company is
actively engaged I'm administering its
trusts, and in promoting education and
charitable work In many different
ways, by means of its corporate funds.
Among the various benefactions may
be mentioned its annual scholarships
and exhibitions of students in the five
chief branches of the textile trade, in
their respective districts, and its an
nual grant of $1,000 toward the
chair of agriculture at the University
of Cambridge. But the most interest
ing of it's activities is the East Lon
don college, with which it is most init
mately associated, and which is uni
versity college. giving full course in
natural science, engineering, or art,
for the small sum of f10 los.
The students, both men and women,
are mainly drawn from the workipo
classes. The company has expended
fully f250.OO0 upon this college. and
contributes large sum annually
toward its maintenance. Its work in
connection with both the college and
the Peoples palace" is marked by
most enthusiastic and personal inter
est, and the diapers are justly proud
that this college is the only one In the
British isles where an aeronautical
department has been established.