The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, January 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific CircleChautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, January 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
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_Ohio._—Since I began to study in the C. L. S. C., I have spent
a summer in England and Scotland. Thanks to you and Green, I was
thoroughly steeped in English history and literature, which made every
place alive with interest. At Oxford did we not wander along the lovely
Isis where Addison loved to walk, to ponder, and study? and did we not
revel in a mild way under the solemn shade of the venerable trees,
and gaze with intense interest at the manuscripts and books of the
Bodleian Library? and did we not hear Gray’s Elegy in that very country
churchyard? Then, too, we made a pilgrimage to Canterbury,
“The holy blisful martir for to seeke.”
There were six of us, and we were all of one mind. We crossed the
border and made a short tour through Scotland, which included a visit
to unfrequented Ayr,
“Auld Ayr, whom ne’er a town surpasses
For honest men and bonnie lasses;”
and to Kirk Alloway, where poor Tam saw such a bewitching sight. The
last weeks of the summer were spent in the English lake district, and
long shall I remember the wonderful pictures seen from our windows
at Keswick: mountains blue and hazy, and again with wreaths of vapor
creeping up the sides and capping the summits, or perhaps clouds
hanging in pillowy masses over them; and there in the sunlight was
the Greta, rippling waves and leaping just as it enchanted Southey,
and if I had not known about him, it would have been nothing to me.
If there is a paradise upon earth, it must be at Grasmere and Rydyl,
sacred with the memory of Wordsworth. There is nothing to disturb the
serene, charming place. We sat by the clear, noisy Rothay, and wandered
through Grasmere churchyard, where Wordsworth is buried. Dorothy lies
beside him. The clergyman intoned the evening service in the church as
if it were a tedious affair, and we were glad to be through with it.
Maybe he did not think it worth while to be slow and solemn, as there
were only five worshippers. May it be your good fortune some day to
see the old creature known as guide to the principal fall of Rydyl.
As she painfully hobbled along on her cane, she grew quite garrulous
over her recollections of the past. H. asked her whether she ever
read his poems. “Seeing him and knowing him,” said she, “is a better
memory than reading his poetry.” To the C. L. S. C. is due much of the
pleasure of the summer. Through the C. L. S. C. I received the first
impulse to study systematically at home; and it is my desire to have
my gratitude take a substantial form. I remember the scholarships you
referred to that Commencement Day. Inclosed you will find ten dollars,
which is my contribution for such a scholarship. It is my way to make
acknowledgment of what the C. L. S. C has done for me.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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