A TOUR IN DEVONSHIRE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 799, 23 April 1910, Page 11

A TOUR IN DEVONSHIRE.

BY LADY STOUT, . -.'.'.) ■

Lady Stout sends to a friend in Wellington an interesting account of a tour she has recently taken in Devonshire, from which we are permitted to make extracts: — . "At Exeter,"'she writes, "I joined Mrs. and Miss _ Ostler, and wo spent a most interesting though very damp week in Exeter. The Cathedral alone is well worth going to see. It is very old, dating from the twelfth century, and containing many very notable old memorials. The whole front of the building is ornamented with figures, representing old kings, crusaders, monks, bishops, e:c. There aro many very fine memorial chapels behind the choir, in which are representations of bishops and warriors in robes and armour, and also memorial tablets with the emblems of cross-bones and .skulls, and other

One of .the - iiost. ' enthusiastic workers in the Mayoral election campaign is Mrs. :0.,.J >: Crawford,, the wife- of ■the candidate, -.who, 'though she addresses no public meetings, is hard at work winning • votes from all parts of :thecity. It is Her first experience of canvassing in- New Zealand...' Mrs. Crawford is-a New Zealander by birth, •having been born in, Canterbury where her father:had a'run,..but most of her life has been. spent,in England, where, she was .educated.and*where she was married..:'. She' was .keenly .• interested in political life.-there and canvassed at the. general election before last for her uncle ; who : is ari'English M.P., but canvassing in an English" country village where one knows everyone, and canvassing in the- huge ,area'..of Greater Wellington are.«,t\vo/ if verys..3ifferent things. : : $>%. "I hated.-Khe thought of it at first," says Mrsy. • Crawford. * "I 'thought it would be dreadful, everyone has been so pleasant and friendly. that I.

quaint representations of death and immortality. One tomb is the. representation of a body reduced: to -a skeleton, to remind' thoso who ■ view it of 'the mortality of the.flesh. I ; ,am.afraid the atmosphere of dea|h has'been allowed to envelope -the surroundings .of- these old cathedrals and .churches .to'.'the;;ixclusion of everything in ;:iihe;-.way;;'of ■hope orhehr for, tho : living f< : arid -the' future of the peopled ...-:* .'■'.' :.

■. From the cathedral "we walked to Stepcoat'.Hill, and.there we:'-saw old houses broken down,- worm-eaten, unwholesome,, in a street some fifteen feet -wide....At the doors of the houses stood women; •'.;■..'ill-clad,\. .. hopeless-looking, battered and bruised derelicts on* life's ocean, with babies and ' children that never had and never will,have a chance to live. ~.'-.-v .'..-: ■...;.' ■ .•''■:-.■:■:• . : '■~.' '

A Hldeouj!. Restoration. \ ' .-Many::faf ihe oldl churches in Exeter are most' interesting " from .; an antiquarian,'point of view:. One 'especially, an old Saxon church, and another a Norman of early date; were fine specimens of architecture.' -The pity of it is that so many have been so vulgarised by hideous' methods of , restoration. The Norman church, for instance, has very massive old stone pillars and a good tower, but the vicar ' has: had the walls painted strawberry pink, and the ceiling pale blue. The altar cloth is , a'hideous shade of blue,; and the electric light globes are.'edged with-'red. The effect completely .. spoils the;, handsomo .* effect of the.pillars,-and makes the place an eyesore to.even a : New Zealander'- who does Hot .profess to much knowledge of ; the subject*of ecclesiastical restoration. ■ One gets the impression of'a church and a music hall combined. ) ■

The old castle on the top of the hill, with its portcullis and moats, was vqry interesting to us. In fact, we, are becoming so very much'imbued with admiration and interest in" the- olden times that nothing that does not date back from before 1700 or even' 1500 appeals to our satiated appetite for antiquity. ' '•' , •■. . . -.

Tha Oldest Church in England. ...< v. By the by, I have forgotten' to tfell you about Bradford-oii-Avon and 1 its Saxon church and'old Tithe barn. The church dates from 709, and was made into" a dwelling-house, but was 1 discovered to be a church, and; restored many hundreds of years ago. It is the oldest church in existence in England. The stone step down to the altar is absolutely worn away, and has '._ been trodden on by thousands of worshippers in the past ages.' There is only one window—in those days the people could not read, and the priests used, candles during service. The restoration of this church is Very good indeed. Windows haves been put in, and candelabra of a quaint, old-fashioned shape in bronze, with thick candles, nnd altar vessels of a very old shape have been made, so as ,to have the whole'thing in keeping. The walls are left in the original stone, well and carefully patched up. In this church we find, tne "characteristic Saxon archway which narrows at the top, and which so far is the only specimen I have seen. The old Tithe barn is an enor-'i mous structure,-which, when full, must have represented offerings of great value, and is in a good state of preservation. The old oak doorways are very heavy and massive; the walls are quite -four feet thick; and tho old rafters, which were, there in 700. or 800,' are still quite strong and very handsome. There are many other places in Bradford which are of interest, such as the Shambles, where ore now tearooms and other shops. We had tea in the shop in the Shambles, which was a unique experience..', A splendid specimen of.the Tudor /style of. architecture, Kingston Housed a model of which was

shown in the Paris exhibition, and is supposed to bo the best specimen of the period extant, stands in very fine grounds in Bradford. Quaint Newton Abbot. From Exetor.we went on to Newton Abbot, a very quiet small town whioh wo found cleaner than any place we had yet visited. We had a very long drive ono afternoon over the hills—those are roally hills around Newton Abbot. The Devonshire lanes which are very narrow, .with high banks on either side and a hedge on top, must be very pretty in the spring. We were rather too early to see them in their beauty, as the hedges' are not in leaf and tno primroses and wild flowers were not out:We only found three small bunches of primroses in flower, but there are hundreds of plants of primroses, wild strawberries, foxgloves, daffodils, violets, and . wild hyacinths which will make tlhe banks and hedge-rows one mass of glorious colour in a few weeks.

thoroughly enjoy my experience: No, not ,aU the women are interested/ Sometimes they say: 'Why, is the elec.won near? I never thought of it: , y tfut they seem pleased to bo reminded, and of course-some are keenly interested." A candidate's wife . who goes -canvassing is liable to be told' very uncomplimentary things about her husband, jf she happens to meet a strong opponent, but so far • Mrs. Crawford has. had-ho experience of '.that kind.' it'was to her sister that one voter yesterday expressed a most unkind opinion of Mr. Crawford promising that' he would- settle the candidate that very evening with a. very poser of a question. ;Mr. Crawford referred to ; this menace at his meeting last night, but the pjoser;failed to,arrive. '■ •'. • ! ?Mrs.. , !|Gia«'ford' : is : ;a ; ;'w6maii ! -'6f very' bright attractive personality, and durpast,few weeks she h'ae proved that she can: ■ be ' a very able assistant to-her husband in his' work.

' Wo made several very interesting excursions from Newton Abbot, which is a. very convenient centre from which to start. One day we went to Dartmouth where we. saw St. Saviour's Onurch. which has. the finest carving we nave yet seen. There is also a-very .old pulpit in stone, painted in-colours. J.uereiiro. also .painted figures "of "the apostles, , etc., on the front altars'and' reredos, and on the front panelling of the gallery. The church has a wonderful oak door with beautiful carving... ■.'.■■ . ; .• ■ N >

_ A very .saddening sight to me was the number of little children's graves nvtle modern division of the cemetery lhe death-rate of . babies • and young children must be very high indeed and no doubt is- due to some defect in the water. At Kingsteington, about one mile and a half from Newton Abbot, we round .a pretty stream running tkroueh the_ village which looked clear and' 0001. A little further on we found the same stream running through the churchyard, within two feet the , graves. It then passed under an archway and, flowed on to Newtown Abbot i believe. The churchyard is on a rise and at the. other. ■ side there is a deep w -3 an( \ a row -'Ol houses on.the other side o| ,the .street, about twelve feet away,..from the graves-and. an. equal numbers of: feet beneath,the. levef of graveyard..,. No ■ one thinks' such. matters here and all ■ wl,« +h of Providence when the babies, die in thousands, The ;stream: has always,been there.and the verandah .roofs bay widow' looks sunlight and warmth could 1 ™,T r e , at , eraa y r Pom; The thatch was renewed ten years ago,-and in this climate must have been cold and damp and dripping all these years. Yet there 3 fJ?? +£ m l£ ith - tt ' e am <>«ncement ot the death of the vicar, at 85 years of age. I supposo that once one got to that sort of atmosphere •. iid survived. a few yeaiß nothing . would •be ■able .to., kill him. There is no record of. how many of the children, born in i the rectory, made the heroic"fight for'! omtence under the •-picturesque condi- \ e i us .^.*e ; fight was.short and that they did not suffer.long from! the devotion.of. their parents to artistic and 'quamt surroundings.. The . river ft "•*«• the Newton .Abbot between- stone walls, mthout any safeeuardam.in<i+ accident to children, is ordinary example of'the way in whiU Proridence guards the unprotected in-I tants. If it any New Zealand <*<™ would be daily cases oi death-by .drowning, but evidently the , , children are so trained i n ] alv . ™% .order that they never think of. making any enterprising excursions of investigation as our babies would do. .

Old Apple Orchards. •The apple orchards in Devonshire remind one of : the trees described in Dante's Inferno, knaried, knotted, blighted relics of what .must at one time have been fruitful trees. There are acres and acres of-such orchards' which look as if they had never had any attention for generations. One wcll-cared-for tree would bear more fruit than an acre of such awful nightmare visions of neglect and careless husbandry. In the future, when I think of English apathy in matters of social and politienl reform, tho phrase will l ) 0 English "apple-trees.! , ' From Newton _ Abbot we mado excursions to Bovoy Tracy, a pretty littlo village and to Chudloigh, -where wo

(found publichdnses not hotels, but only bars with adjoining rooms at every few yards along the village street. I counted eight on my way back to the station and I had not gono half through tho village which is only very small... . Tho Chudleigh rocks, which are about a mile or two from the village, are., a high mass of rocks rising perpendicularly and forming a plateau which is covered with bush, or wood, as it is called in. England. The view from the top is very fine and gives one a good idea of English landscape scenery which reminds one of a largo wcll-laid-out garden and lawn., Tho fields are all so small and well kept, and in Devonshire of red as well as grey earth, surrounded with' well-cut hedges that the landscape has the appearance at the distance of- a map of England with the countries coloured in soft water-colour tints.