TO AN ORIOLE How falls it, Oriole, thou hast come to fly Yearning to heaven until its wish was heard, EDGAR FAWCETT. EDGAR FAWCETT (1847-1904), an American author, was born in New York City. He has written novels, poems and plays. Some of his writings in verse have been published under the titles, "Song and Story," "Romance and Revery," "Songs of Doubt and Dream." His best known novels are "An Ambitious Woman" and "The House at High Bridge." O flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river O'flower of song, bloom on, and make forever HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (Flower-de-Luce). The glory has passed from the goldenrod's plume, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. COACHING IN BRITAIN Monday was another thoroughly English day. The silver Thames, which glistened in the sun, was enlivened by many THE CHURCHYARD AT STOKE POGIS, THE SCENE OF GRAY'S The sun here reminds one of the cup that cheers, but does not inebriate: its rays cheer, but never scorch. You could not tell whether, if there had to be any change, you would prefer it to be a shade cooler or a shade warmer. Stoke Pogis is a few miles out of our direct road, but who would miss that, even were the detour double what the ordnance survey makes it? Besides, had not a dear friend, a stayat-home, told us that one of the happiest days of her life was that spent in making a pilgrimage to the shrine of the poet from this very Windsor? Gray's was the first shrine at which we stopped to worship, and the beauty, the stillness, the peace, of that low, quaint, ivy-covered church, and its old-fashioned graveyard, sank into our hearts. Surely no one could revive memories more sweetly English then he who gave us the "Elegy." Some lines, and even stanzas of that gem, will endure, it may safely be predicted, as long as anything English does, and that is saying much. Just such a churchyard we found, too, as seemed suited to the ode. Gray is fortunate in his resting-place. Earth has no prettier, calmer spot to give her child than this. It is the very ideal God's acre. The little church! How fine is Gray's inscription upon his mother's tomb! "Dorothy Gray. The careful, tender mother of many children, survive her." The touch in the last words, "misfortune to survive her!" "One noon I missed him on the accustomed hill, Another came, nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he." 1 One perfect gem outweighs a thousand mediocre performances, and makes its creator immortal. The world has not a second Gray's "Elegy " among all its treasures. Nor is it likely to have. The manor house of Stoke Pogis, which took its name from a marriage away back in the thirteenth century, between a member of the Pogis family and an heiress, Amicia de Stoke, furnished the subject of Gray's "Long Story," a poem known now only to the curious student of English Literature. How fortunate for the world that the poet did not let his reputation rest upon it! The old house, built in the time of good Queen Bess on an older foundation, is still more noted as the home of Sir Edward Coke, the famous Lord Justice and the rival of Bacon. In 1601 Coke entertained the Virgin Queen at Stoke Pogis in a manner befitting the royal dignity and the length of his own purse. Among the presents which her majesty graciously deigned to accept at the hands of her subject on the occasion was jewelry valued at a thousand pounds, a large sum in those days. Several years after the death of Coke, Stoke Pogis was for a short time the place of confinement of Charles I, who could see from its windows the towers of Windsor Castle, which he was never again to enter alive. When Charles II came to his own again, the possessor of the mansion was knighted. He became so devoted in his affection for the Stuarts, that when in after time King William desired to visit Stoke Pogis to see a place so rich in historical associations, the old knight would not listen to it. In vain did his wife intercede: he declared that the usurper should not cross his threshold, and he kept his word. So it came to be said that Stoke Pogis had entertained one sovereign, been the prison of another, and refused admission to a third. In still later times the old place came into possession of the Penn family, the heirs of our William Penn of Pennsylvania. It was by one of them, John Penn, that the cenotaph to Gray was erected, for the poet, it will be remembered, was laid in his mother's tomb. The same Penn pulled down much of the old house and rebuilt it as it is to-day. Our luncheon was to be upon the banks of the Thames today, the Old Swan Inn, where the stone bridge crosses the stream, being our base of supplies. The rugs were laid under a chestnut tree, and our first picnic luncheon spread on the buttercups and daisies. Swallows skimmed the water, bees hummed above us-but stop! what's that, and where? Our first skylark singing at heaven's gate! All who heard this never-to-be-forgotten song for the first time were up and on their feet in an instant. But the tiny songster, which was then filling the azure vault with music, was nowhere to be seen. It's worth an Atlantic voyage to hear a skylark for the first time. The flood of song poured forth as we stood wrapt awaiting the descent of the messenger from heaven. At last a small black speck came into sight. He is so little to see so great to hear! de"tour', a round-about way. ode, a short poem. viv'i-fied, enlivened. in-e'bri-ate, to intoxicate. me'di-o"cre, of ordinary quality. ANDREW CARNEGIE (Abridged). deigned, condescended; stooped to. in-ter-cede', to speak for. cen'o-taph, a monument erected to a person buried elsewhere. |