The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-02-10

| medieval and modern languages, ORR
entail languages, and natural science.
Both the colleges and the university
| give lectures, and each co-operates to
promote academic harmony and eff
cheney. Members of any college are
at liberty to attend any lectures, uni
Versity or collegiate, which their tu-
tors recommend and without the pay
ment of special fees.
But the academic, vital and funda-
mental as it is, is really the reverse
side of the medal. Oxford is more
than classrooms, and degrees, and
rules and regulations, and their ex-
ceptions. F. D. How no doubt exag-
| gerates when he says: "For beauty
and for romance the first place among
all the cities Of the United Kingdom
must be given to Oxford" But one
must search far to find an equal Of
| the mellow beauty of it's winding
! streets and it's classic buildings, or of
the pastoral charm Of the meadows
and walks along the Cherwell and the
Isis, or of the romantic associations
| Of the place, from Alfred the Greats
| day to the World war.
| Beauty Along High Street.
Walking down High street, affec-
| tionately known in Oxford as "the
High" one catches some of this feel
ing of beauty and romance in the long
curved fronts of the colleges and
| churches and other stately buildings
which border it; for High street is
| Oxford and, incidentally, one of the
| most beautiful streets in the world.
Beginning at Carfax, the center of
town, it curves gently for half
| mile or more to the Magdalen bridge,
| unfolding vistas of spires, and stout
| stone walls, and moss-coyered cor
nices, and towers, and courtyards, and
| thousand and one things, each more
| lovely than the last, until one begins
| to regret that such delight cannot
| last and must dwindle at the end to
| some mediocrity.
But at the end Of the High is re-
served the most charming view of all.
Rising gracefully from the buildings
| of Magdalen college Is an exquisite
| Gothic bell tower, from which each
year Seventeenth century eucharis-
| tic hymn is sung at sunrise on the
first of May.
Directly opposite are the verdant,
spacious grounds of the Botanic gar
| den, the Oldest in England and to
close the picture, beyond is the River
| -
elms and willows and the stately
arched bridge which carries the High
toward London town.
Some prefer to reverse the picture
| just drawn, and it is charming the
| other way. But Carfax, with it's noisy
hustle and confusion, brings one just
| bit too suddenly to earth. 1t is bet
ter to linger on Magdalen bridge,
where one may drink deep Of scenes
| that belong to another world-truly
| world of romance and beauty.
There is yet another spot in Oxford
where one may feel this age-old I'M
reality. Not far from the High is
| round-domed building (the dome is the
| entire building) known as the Rad
! cliffe Camera, the reading room of
the Bodleian library. A small fee will
! admit one to a stairway which winds
up and up to circular outdoor gal
lery far above the street.
View From Radcliffe Camera.
Below and all around is spread
veritable forest of stone turrets, tow
| ers, arches, battlements, spires, and
| delicate tracery. Massive pieces of
masonry they undoubtedly are, but
from this height they seem light and
| airy, exquisitely delicate and grace
| full. Refinement of detail is lost in
the splendid upward sweep of whole
| buildings, although one is conscious of
embellishments which carry the eye
and delight the spirit.
Haphazard as was Oxford's growth,
there is a symmetry in her architec-
ture which many another city of less
spontaneous origin might envy.
Beyond the colleges, to the east, is
| the green-forested slope of Heading
| ton hill; to the south, perhaps bit
| dim in the mist which rises from the
| meadows along the Isis. is Bears hill,
nearest of the gently rolling Berkshire
| Downs; to the west are the railroads
| and the commercial districts; and to
the north are the principal college
gardens and the university parks.
/ A short cut from the Radcliffe
camera through the old Divinity
school leads to the Bodleian library,
| the granddad of all the English IL
| braries in the world. Over the en-
| trance doorway is a Latin inscription
and the worn wooden stairs that lead
| to the library itself creak as If their
| last days had come. But these stairs
| Eave creaked to the footsteps of count
less thousands for centuries.
/ The Bodleian is one of the six H.
braries that enjoy right to copy
| of every book published In the United
| Kingdom In size it's collection is ex-
ceeded in western Europe only by
those of the British museum and of
the Bibliotheque Rationale. As a
source of material concerning the life
and letters of England and Of a good
/ deal Of the rest of the world, 1t Is
unsurpassed.
The Bodleian still clings to the an
cient system of listing its volumes In
huge parchment index books. pasting
in a slip of paper when new books