An English holiday with car and camera . egers leisurely picnicking in thecountry round about the castle, whilst its governoramused himself out of it love-making ! I wonder ifany other strong castle were as weakly defended oras cheaply captured ! One comes upon delightfullyquaint bits of history when on a road tour; and acastle without a history is as wanting as a novelwithout a plot. I will now show you the church; I think itmay interest you, said the rector. The church, wenoticed, was close by; in fact, it stood in the veryshadow of the castle walls, a small and unpretendingbuilding dwarfed
An English holiday with car and camera . egers leisurely picnicking in thecountry round about the castle, whilst its governoramused himself out of it love-making ! I wonder ifany other strong castle were as weakly defended oras cheaply captured ! One comes upon delightfullyquaint bits of history when on a road tour; and acastle without a history is as wanting as a novelwithout a plot. I will now show you the church; I think itmay interest you, said the rector. The church, wenoticed, was close by; in fact, it stood in the veryshadow of the castle walls, a small and unpretendingbuilding dwarfed by its massive neighbour. It waslate in the afternoon, and we felt that we had doneenough of indoor sight-seeing for one day—the sunlitcountry had an inviting look—but we could hardlydecline the invitation. On our way to the churchwe passed by an ancient and buttressed barn that,with its stone-topped gables ending in carved finials,showed a greater refinement in the building anddetail than one generally discovers in such wAo H W> o XIV THE MODERN TRAMP 255 It was a very simple building, yet it possessed anindefinable quality that attracted our attention. This,we were told, was known as The Pilgrims Barn,wherein pilgrims going from the Abbey of Malmes-bury to Gloucester, or the reverse, were entitled toclaim a nights food and lodging. The moderntramp was born too late, for the r61e of the medievalpilgrim would have suited him to perfection—boardand lodging free, and nothing to do but to saunterat ease from one shrine to another, with a pretenceof worshipping sundry relics; even possibly thisdetail might be omitted with safety, and above all,he could beg on the way with impunity, it not beingconsidered, as in the present unenlightened day, acrime, but rather the proper, if not, indeed, alaudable, thing to do ! I wonder if the inevitableand profuse blessing—the hall-mark of his profession—that the tramp of to-day bestows upon the foolishdonor of a trifle
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcu3192, booksubjectlegends
