Memories of the Tennysons . in thepeaceful land of his love, and not in the far-offroaring, restless city. Not that we seed much on im at best o times,continued the old man ; and when folks met himhe was in gineral so roughly dresst they couldhardly tek him for a lord. Was very short to themsometimes, I suppose; but then the famly was allvery kind, you know, to them as comed across em,specially down at the farm, when they went fortheir milk and butter there. His missus and hisson particular so, and he was quite conversable withem as he knowed. I wish they could have lefthim wi us ; might ave b
Memories of the Tennysons . in thepeaceful land of his love, and not in the far-offroaring, restless city. Not that we seed much on im at best o times,continued the old man ; and when folks met himhe was in gineral so roughly dresst they couldhardly tek him for a lord. Was very short to themsometimes, I suppose; but then the famly was allvery kind, you know, to them as comed across em,specially down at the farm, when they went fortheir milk and butter there. His missus and hisson particular so, and he was quite conversable withem as he knowed. I wish they could have lefthim wi us ; might ave buried him at Haslemerechurch, you know. Not, he added, with a kind ofhalf apology for the thought, that he was verypartial to church-goin at best o times. Folks usedto stare at em so, they do say, and he warnt a manas could bear being stared at, you see. Well, I dontthink I ever seed him i church, not to say seed im,tho he might ha bin there when I warnt there, youknow. The man saw a look in the face of my wife. ) > J 1. FROM ALDWORTH TO THE ABBEY i6i and to correct any false impression he had made,said : Not but what he wur a very rehgious man,wur Lord Tennyson, I daresay. He sent his carriageto church, you know, very reglar on Sundays, withthe family and servants and them. Poor fellow, thought I, how httle do yourealize that the dead poet there, in the Aldworthsanctuary, has done more than any prophet of song,for this past forty years, to keep our land and peoplenear to God. Yet the old mans half apology forthe great poet was but a sign of the times, that seemstill in the quiet countryside to demand that attend-ance at a place of worship shall guarantee a life ofgood repute, and, as one listened, one went back toconversations one had had with Westmorelanddalesmen about their own Laureate, concerning whosepoems they knew nothing, concerning whose abilitythey had grave doubts, but as concerning whosereligious life they had no hesitation in asserting itwas of a high order, fo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherglasg, bookyear1912
