HOME FROM ABROAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23362, 30 November 1937, Page 16

HOME FROM ABROAD

Mrs James Taylor, who has been living in England for the past few years, and was in London at the time of the Coronation festivities, has some interesting information to give about Haddenham, the little village in Buckinghamshire where she and her husband made their headquarters. Only 40 miles away from London, it smacks of mediaeval England, and is so conservative that it has no lights in its streets, its houses are all surrounded by wychent walls, and customs of hundreds of years' duration are still observed by its villagers. A wychent wall is made of a mixture of clay and straw, built up by degrees on a two-feet high foundation of stones, with a thatched or tiled top to protect it from the weather, and is one of the sights that tourists look for in Buckinghamshire. It is said to be mentioned in the Domesday Book. The houses are, for the most part, very old, only a few having even a bathroom, and for that reason housewives prefer to have their clothes laundered at the homes of the villagers who call for them weekly and bring them back when washed and ironed. Labour is cheap there, sixpence an hour being the average . wage paid, and most of the maids go out by the day from 8 till 5. They are a supe rior type of girl, cheerful and capable, and seem to have no quarrel with their lot. One of the old customs still observed is that of celebrating St. Catherine's Day very much after the fashion of the May Day festivities. Children up to 14 years of age sing and dance through the village, carrying garlands on poles, and call in large crowds on various people whose duty it is to pay them with pennies. The celebrations are supposed to stop at noon, but generally go on all the afternoon. Folk-dancing, too, is still practised, and at Haddenham Hall Mrs Taylor and her husband spent a memorable afternoon and evening watching scores of men and maidens from Haddenham and the surrounding villages performing folk-dance after folk-dance—some 24 in all—with delightful abandon. Supper was served on the green at 10.30 p.m. on a perfect summer evening in July.

Two of the first people to call on Mrs Taylor when she arrived in Hadderham were Mr Allan Wilkie and his wife—Miss Frediswyde Hunter-Watts They had been living there quietly for three years, but left shortly afterwards. Mrs Wilkie was longing to go on tour again, but no arrangements for such a plan had been made. Mr W. J. Morrell's brother also was living there, charmed, like Mr and Mrs Taylor, with the quaintness and unspoilt simplicity of the district.

Everything in Haddenham is old. Mrs Taylor saw a cottage, 400 years bid, being rethatched, thatched roofs lasting only between 30 and 40 years. Part of the village church dated from 1216, and at Dmton. a neighbouring village, there was an old church with an early Norman' doorway which she Was never tired of studying. The age of the buildings at Oxford and Cambridge were also fascinating. At Cambridge Mr James Taylor's brother (Dr Harold Taylor), a fellow of Clare, entertained him and Mrs Taylor at dinner in his room at Clare College, and later conducted them over the University, where King's College and King's College Chapel afforded most pleasure. Before returning' to New Zealand. Mr and Mrs Taylor toured through Devon and Cornwall and went to Germany. The German girls, Mrs Taylor delightful, beautiful to look at, and very friendly and lovable in disposition.

-•"Miss Violet Livingstone, who, with Mr and Mrs A. E. McDougall, went to England at the time of the Coronation, spent most of her time in London, but had one particularly interesting week--end in Paris. The Paris Exhibition was the great attraction. This huge* display, housed in buildings placed in the shape of an anchor, was arranged around the Eiffel Tower, with the ,newly-built Trocadero forming the entrance gates tnd the River Seine flowing through its grounds. A large expanse of water, sparkling with fountains, stretched between the gates, and the tower, and all around were huge buildings housing the exhibits of the various Powers . and countries. Little countries such' as Alsace and Lorraine had their exhibits in chalets typical of those in their own land, and places such as Tunis and Algeria displayed theirs in native houses. In all of them workmen plied their crafts as at home, so that one.saw workers in: ivory and brass and weavers of car- 1 pets actually in occupation. The exhibits of the large countries of the world were very in-j teresting in the way they re-, vealed national characteristics. The. exhibition from Great Britain included hunting and historical scenes, manufactures, the making of Fair Isle jerseys, and so on, and had a restaurant, grill room and buttery attached where only typically British food and drink were procurable. The German exhibition was remarkable for its amazing displays of articles made from little-known metals and for the scientific and methodical air about everything. Its restaurant dispensed only, German food and drink, as was the case in every restaurant attached to a national exhibit. The United States of America did all its publicity by means of small motion pictures, which were far more-, lucidi than the placards and photographs of explanation used by other countries. No expense was spared and everything was worked by electricity. The exhibition of the United States of Soviet Russia did nearly all of its exhibiting by means of posters.

It would have taken over a month to see and appreciate the whole exhibition, but in a week-end one could gain a fair idea of its attractions. From the; Eiffel Tower the travellers saw a fireworks display over the floodlit scene,, with playing fountains through all the grounds, the Seine bright with pleasure' beats and floating restaurants, and all around the lights of Paris, and gained the impression of something almost too colossal to be true. It was possible to go round the whole exhibition in little trains similar to those used on the

scenic railway in the Dunedin and South Seas Exhibition, and in the immense crowds that throng the grounds such a means of transport was a boon. The amusement park was too crowded for Miss Livingston to visit, but she speaks with amusement of a tethered parachute by means of which daring souls launched themselves gaily into space 200 feet above ground. During the week-end in Paris the travellers visited Les Champs Elysees and saw six fountains specially made so that their waters might play over some of the clever glass animals of M. Lalique's creation. They boated down the Seine from one end of the exhibition to the other, and drove to Fountaineble-au and Barbizon, where they saw the newly-constructed studio of Millet, and returned via part of the Black Forest. They also visited La Comedie Francaise. where the seats are expensive but nobody dresses and where the best actors and actresses in France may be seen; the Casino de Paris, a sort of super Folies Bergeres where Maurice Chevalier was giving a farewell performance to an audience half in favour of him and half against him; and Les Folies Bergeres, where Josephine Baker was performing, which seemed curiously tawdry in comparison with the Casino de Paris.

Miss Livingston considers that a person would probably have to work or study in Paris before learning to love the town. But one needs only to go to London to experience a curious sense of home-coming and to feel that the city is one's very own and always has been.