HOME OF PEACE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 32, 1 November 1932, Page 3

HOME OF PEACE

Where Dean Inge Lives VISIT TO HIS WIFE i Simplicity and Charm All the world over, the voice of Dean Inge, called in derision _ “the gloomy dean,” hasl fluug its clarion notes. He speaks of trouble and tribulation for the world, yet ho lives in the home of peace, in a peaceful spot in, the very heart of the city, within sound- of “London’s mighty roar!” writes Florence B. Low, in “The Queen.” 1 Who can imagine that such a secluded home exists not a stone’s throw from the great Cathedral, 1 and that no sound of all that traffic reaches the'etately house surrounded by iron railings enclosing a flagged courtyard and a wonderful plane tree centuries old! Four years after , the devastating. fire of London, .which destroyed the old Deanery as well as the famous cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren built this splendid example of a gentleman’s country house for Dean Sancroft , \ Then gardens surrounded the mansion, of which only a courtyard back and front, and a magnificent lime tree —perhaps the solitary survivor of an avenue of limes through which the clergy of St. Paul’s walked on their way ,to take a boat on the river—and some fine spreading plane trees remain to tell of the time when this part of London -was open country, and the deans of the cathedral maintained stables for twenty horses. To-day the ehoir school occupies the site of the stables and the Deanery is wedged in among the great city warehouses. In the late eighteenth century a wing was added to the main building,, but except for this the Deanery remains much the same as it was when it came forth from the hands of London’s greatest architect —a splendid solid piece of architecture nobly planned, a fit dwelling for thoste who spend their lives in the service of Wren’s masterpiece. An old-fashioned bell pull, so in keeping with the house, brought an-elderly maid (she somehow seemed also just right), who ushered me into the noble hall, with its wonderful panelling,. great fireplace, “open to the stars,” and a fine painting of Wren above it. Oak Furnishings. Immense oak chests, an oak bench running along two sides of the walls, two beautiful carved chairs bequeathed by Dean Church, and a fine oak table with rugs on a stained floor make an appropriate' setting for a room that can easily hold some 150 people. As I surveyed this interesting room, a delightful lady, clad in a quaint, soft grey cotton dress, came swiftly towards me and bade me welcome in the most musical tones, thanking me for my punctuality. It was Mrs. Inge. She might have stepped straight out of a seventeenth or early eighteenth picture with her soft, ashcoloured hair, parted in the centre and drawn softly over her ears, her pretty blue eyes and complexion, her broad brow ami kind smile; her dress was that of a lady of the' period, a perfectly plain shortwaisted bodice, cut square at the neck with a little white lace, and a full gathered skirt. Against the dark furniture, the soft grey coloured figure looked charming. i An Ideal Marriage. , The wives of great men are often so disappointing! Not so in this case, and as. the dean’s wife piloted me from room to room and told me a little of her life and ideas, I felt, if I may venture to express an opinion after so brief an interview, that here was an ideal marriage, wheie husband and wife were in complete harmony, where each owed much to the other, and where' the wife made it her proud joy to supervise the household with knowledge and skill and to make all things! in the home smooth and lovely for a great man so that he could devote himself to his work, .and happy for the children whose education and care have •been undertaken equally by husband and wife.

Most of the bedrooms are on-the first floor, and Mr£. Inge took me into hers. Like nearly all the rooms it has .beautiful panelling which in this particular room was only discovered after some eighteen coats of paint had been stripped off. What vandals had been at work here! There was a fine seventeenth century fireplace with a'Queen Anne: basket grate, and I greatly admired the beautiful carved bed with its hangings of dull, old-gold brocade and an exquisitely embroidered bedspread of most delicate design. “It took me nearly six, years to complete this bedspread,” Mrs. Inge told me ■to my astonishment. “The design is taken from a seventeenth century piece of needlework in the Victoria and Albert Mliaeum. I love doing embroidery and also plain needlework, and have done much while my husband has read aloud.” All the bedrooms are plainly furnished, with a few beautiful old pieces of furnir ture that tone in with the panelling, a notable feature of the whole house. Tue kitchens, Mrs. Inge told me, were large and none of ; tlie rooms underground, and there was' ample accommodation for the large staff of a great mansion when, in earlier days, the Deans of St. Paul’s kept great state. To-day there is but. a small staff —indeed, I was surprised at the small number of maids at the Deanery —but they live a simple life there nowadays), and'an eighteenth century dean would perchance think little of. the twentieth century simplicity of daily life in his former home. Wife, mother, friend, citizen, the word “good” applied to each would, I believe, be a true description of her who, with the Dean (“he is so wise,” she said), dwells in the Deanery of St. Paul’s, that noble “gentleman’s house.” built by the great architect of the cathedral.