Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-11-11
STRATF0RD IS
PLACE or PEACE
Shakespeare's Old Home Casts
Softening Spell Over Its
ThrongS of Visitors.
.RES1FULkEsS IS ITS LURE
Voices of Strangers Are Not Lifted
In Observation-Disclosures Enjoy and
Appreciate shakespeare-Many
Americans There.

Standardization. - The poet Of
Shropshire has given his high metrical
authority to the statement that the
quietest places under the sun are in
that county: but he refers to places
only. and obviously Is not thinking Of
towns, of which the quietest under
I'the sun is surely StratfOrd-on-A Avon. 1t
asSimilateS its visitors without noise.
much as Shakespeare himself compre-
hends the heights and depths of human
life easily as to the manner born.
There are plenty of strangers here
this summer, but they do not make a
crowd and their voices are not lifted
in hilarity. Perhaps they are under the
softening spell of genius. The nearest
approach to merriment | have yet no
ticed, however was in front of the
birthplace. 1t was already full of
sightseers, and little throng awaited
entrance on the pavement. Among them
was not one Sin the learned way" as
Boswell puts 1t. but the whole COM
pany bore the plain, sturdy, bucolic
stamp. Dressed in their customary
Sunday suits of solemn black they re-
vered the immortal memory with
contrasted cheerfulness.
In the train from London a French
man on holiday asked me for advice
on motor travelling between Stratford
and bennington. Having just four
hours to spend in Stratford he was pro-
posing to see all the sights, to attend
You Like 1t" in the Memorial theater,
and to catch a glimpse of Warwick on
his way back to the railway. Evidently
Americans are not the only folk who
can hustle. He might have been reas-
sured on the motor question. Such is
the enterprise in this direction that it
is calculated that sixty char-a-bancs
and the like stay in Stratford every
day They take their passengers to
the many delightful towns and vii
lagos in the neighborhood and bring
in the inhabitants Of spots which
would otherwise be remote.
Villagers Enjoy Shakespeare.
A large proportion of the audiences
of the summer festival are villagers
who have learned to rely on the motor
as means of conveyance, and they
do, am assured, really appreciate
Shakespeare. Not only that, but they
possess an Unborn aptitude for Old
English dances and pageantry. The
stories one hears of Maypole and
Morris dancing in some of the villages
suggest either that Shakespeare's
England has never died, or has been
revived by the agencies that aim at
resuscitating the drama In the coun-
tryside. But 1t should not be conclud-
ed that these village festivals are
manufactured by artistic labor. On
the contrary, they are described as the
spontaneous sports of the young In
which the old are not afraid to join.
Stratford itself has more than one
open place to which Maypole would
seem no alien addition. From time to
time much has been said and written
of Its commercialization. With some,
the memory of Shakespeare may have
become trade, like aluminium or any
thing else. Others have shown how
little they fear the intrusion Of fac
tory. YET the town remains very
paSsabe veStige of that In which
Shakespeare was born. The spirit of
the Elizabethan village still brOods
over its timbered houses and spacious
streets, and the business in mementoes
has not succeeded in destroying their
meaning. No town can get peace for
the asking, and 1t Is peace which
Stratford has secured by some semi
divine right and retains in spite of
every provocation to barter the posses
sion.
Many Americans There, Too.
The Warwickshire meadows are as
smooth and green as ever. There the
river glides at its own sweet will with
the placidity Of other streams but none
of their dullness. One wonders wheth-
er it is only for Shakespeare that the
whole world comes to Stratford, or
whether some part of the compulsion
Is not that desire for retreat which he
has expressed in many remembered
passage.
Be the attraction what 1t may, the
visitors this very year form kind of
conspectus of Stratford's universal at
traction. 1t need hardly be said that
there have been many small parties
of Americans. From various registers
may be gathered an idea of their rep
resentatlve character for Denver fol-
lows Boston and New York Is next
door to Colorado in those undeniabe
pages. South America is there, too.
Australia stands high In the list Of
Dominion visitors, and after Australia
comes South Africa.