CHAPTER XV
A SAFE PASSAGE AND A HAPPY REUNION
Gertrude and May never knew what happiness was before. One maiden had herlover, and the heart of the other was pledged to music. George too washappy in Gertrude's happiness and joyous in his own thoughts that perhapshe had already entered upon his life work, the development of plans whichwould bless humanity. Colonel Harris's chief joy was that he had earned arest, was soon to see the absent members of his family, and to behold thework of men in Europe.
People crowded the gangway, the same as on a previous occasion when dutyforced him suddenly to leave the "Majestic." It was almost two o'clock;visitors were no longer admitted to the steamer, except messengers withbelated telegrams, mail, packages, and flowers for the travelers. Onthe bridge of the "Campania" stood the uniformed captain and juniorofficers. The chief officer was at the bow, the second officer aft. Thecaptain, notified that all was ready, gave the command, "Let go!" and thecables were unfastened. The engineer started the baby-engine, whichpartially opens the great throttle-valves, the twin-screws began torevolve, and the "Campania," like an awakened leviathan slowly moved intothe Hudson River. Hundreds on both the pier and steamer fluttered theirhandkerchiefs, and through a mist of tears good-byes were exchanged,till the increasing distance separated the dearest of friends.
For twenty-four hours George Ingram was seen but little on deck. Most ofhis time he spent with Carl Siemen, the engineer. The colonel took greatdelight as the escort of two appreciative young ladies. Before the voyageended every available part of the "Campania" was explored.
Gertrude was surprised to find an engineer so cultivated a gentleman. Hewas surrounded in his oak-furnished office by soft couches, easy chairs,works of art, burnished indicators and dials. Mr. Siemen received hisorders from the captain or officer on the bridge by telegraph.
"It's mere child's play," said May, "and as easy as touching the keys ofa great organ."
Mr. Siemen now conducted his friends into the engine-room. "It is noteasy to imagine the tremendous force of the two swiftly turning screws orpropellers exerted against the surging waters of the Atlantic," he said."Our 30,000 horse power engines, a horse power is equal to six men, equal180,000 strong men pulling at the oars, or twice the number of men thatfought at Gettysburg to perpetuate the American Union."
"Wonderful!" said Colonel Harris.
"Steam guided by command of the officer on the bridge, with slightesteffort, also steers our immense steamer."
"Mr. Siemen, tell us please how the steamer is lighted?" said George.
"We have fifty miles of insulated wire in the "Campania" for the electriccurrent generated by our two dynamos, which give us 1350 sixteen-candlepower lights, equal to a total of 22,000 candle power, absorbing 135horse-power. We also use large electric reflectors and search lights topick up buoys on a dark night. All our machinery is in duplicate.
"At night when the broad clean decks of hardwood are illuminated withelectric lights and filled with gay promenaders, you easily imagine thatyou are strolling along Broadway."
The accommodations and appointments of staterooms, of all the largepublic rooms, and especially the dining-room, are perfect. A week on theAtlantic, with the joyous bracing sea-air of the summer months, andsurrounded as you are by a cosmopolitan group of people, passes asdelightfully as a brief stay at the ocean side.
The passage of the "Campania" from Sandy Hook Light to Queenstown wasmade in less than five and one-half days, 5 days, 10 hours, and 47minutes, or at an average speed of 21.82 knots per hour, the highestday's run being 548 knots. At Queenstown Colonel Harris receivedtelegrams and letters from his family saying that they would meet him atLeamington, and that Alfonso would meet his father at Liverpool.
Reuben Harris wired his wife when his party expected to arrive. It wasten o'clock in the morning when the S.S. "Campania" arrived in the Merseyoff Alexandra dock, and the company's tender promptly delivered thepassengers on the Liverpool Landing Stage.
Gertrude was first to single out Alfonso, whose handkerchief waved abrother's welcome to the old world. Alfonso was the first to cross thegangway to the tender, and rushed to his friends. The greeting wasmutually cordial. The father embraced his boy, for he loved him much andstill cherished a secret hope that his only son might yet turn his mindto business. Alfonso seemed specially pleased that George and his sisterMay had come, for he had frequently met May Ingram and her singing hadoften charmed him.
May was about his own age. As Alfonso helped her down the gangway to thedeck, he thought he had never seen her look so pretty. She was about thesize of his sister Lucille; slender, erect, and in her movements she wasas graceful as the swaying willows. May's face was oval like that ofher English mother. She had an abundance of brown hair, her eyes werebrilliant, and her complexion, bronzed by the sea-breezes, had a pinkunder-coloring that increased her beauty. If Alfonso's eyes were fixed onher a moment longer than custom allows, perhaps he was excusable, forportrait painting was his hobby, and he fancied that he knew a beautifulface.
Alfonso was all attention to his friends in clearing the baggage throughthe customs and getting checks for Leamington. After lunch, at the finerailway hotel, the two o'clock express from Lime Street station wastaken, and Colonel Harris and party became loud in their praises of JohnBull's Island, as they sped on, via Coventry with her three tall spires,to the fashionable Spa, where the Harris family were again to bereunited. It was six o'clock when Alfonso alighted on the platform."Here they are, mother, I have brought them all; father, Gertrude,George, and May."
The Leamington meeting was a happy one. The sorrow of separation is oftencompensated by the joys of reunion. Mrs. Harris embraced her husband asif he had returned a hero from the wars. In fact, he had emerged from aconflict that brought neither peace nor honor to capital or labor.
Lucille too was enthusiastic. She, who was haughty, rarely responsive,and often proud of her father's wealth, for the time assumed anothercharacter and warmly welcomed her sister Gertrude and Gertrude's intendedhusband as "brother George." Leo too was glad to make new acquaintances.Eight joyous people attracted the attention of many at the station.
Fortunately, the next day was Sunday, which gave time for rest, forreview of the past few exciting weeks, and for the development of futureplans of travel. Much was told of the Harris trip through Ireland and ofthe last week spent in the south of England.
Lucille described to Gertrude and May Stonehenge, hanging stones,--thewonder of Salisbury Plain, where stand the ruins of the Druidtemple--three circles of upright moss-grown stones with flat slabs acrosstheir tops, in which it is supposed the sun was worshiped with humansacrifices. Many burial mounds are scattered about. A broad driveway, amile in extent, surrounds the temple, where possibly great processionscame to witness the gorgeous displays. In early Britain the Druid priestsheld absolute sway over the destinies of souls. These priests werefinally overpowered by the Romans, and some of them burned upon their ownaltars.
"But, Lucille, you wrote that you planned to visit Osborne House."
"Yes, dear, we did go to the Isle of Wight, and saw Osborne House, QueenVictoria's home by the sea, as Balmoral is her summer home among themountains of Scotland. Her Majesty's palace is surrounded by terracedgardens, nearly five thousand acres of forests, pastures, and fertilemeadows. Osborne House is furnished with much magnificence, mosaicflooring, costly marbles, statuary, paintings, books, and art souvenirs.
"There the queen and Prince Albert painted, sang, and read together.Those were happy days indeed for the young rulers of a kingdom. Each oftheir children had a garden. The Prince of Wales worked in a carpenter'sshop, and the royal princesses learned housework in a kitchen and dairyprepared for them." This was a revelation to Lucille, who had been rearedwith little or nothing to do.
Lucille told Gertrude and May that she had just been reading the earlylife of the queen, who said, "If one's home is happy, then trials andvexations are comparatively nothing." The queen also said, "
Childrenshould be brought up simply and learn to put the greatest confidencein their parents." Lucille continued, "The queen often visited herpeople, bringing toys for the children--a promise to a child she neverforgets--and gifts of warm clothing for the aged, to their greatdelight."
At a conference of the Harris family, it was decided to go to Londonafter spending Monday in a carriage drive to Warwick and Kenilworthcastles and Stratford-on-Avon. So Monday promptly at eight o'clocktwo carriages stood waiting at the hotel. Colonel Harris took Mrs.Harris, May Ingram, and Alfonso with him, and George Ingram tookGertrude, Lucille, and Leo in the second carriage.
There are few, if any, more magnificent drives in England than the onethrough the beautiful Stratford district. It is recorded that twoEnglishmen once laid a wager as to the finest walk in England.One named the walk from Coventry to Stratford, the other from Stratfordto Coventry.
It was a delightful day and both the colonel and George entirely forgotbusiness in their enjoyment of the loveliest country they had ever seen.A drive of two miles, from Leamington and along the banks of the historicAvon, brought them to Warwick Castle which Scott calls "The fairestmonument of ancient and chivalrous splendor uninjured by the tooth oftime." It is said that Warwick Castle was never taken by any foe in daysgone by.
Our visitors drove over the draw-bridge through a gateway covered withivy, and still guarded as of old, by an ancient portcullis. In the hallof the castle, pannelled with richly carved oak, are religiously guardedthe helmet of Cromwell, the armor of the Black Prince, and many historicrelics and art treasures. The drawing-room is finished in cedar. Informer days guests were summoned to the great banqueting hall by a blareof trumpets. In the gardens is seen the celebrated white marble Warwickvase from Adrian's villa. Interwoven vines form the handles, and leavesand grapes adorn the margin of the vase. Superb views were had from thecastle towers. In the Beauchamp chapel in the old town of Warwick reposethe remains of Dudley, Earl of Leicester, one of Queen Elizabeth'sfavorites. She gave Leicester beautiful Kenilworth Castle, which is fivemiles distant.
As the carriages drove over the smooth road, beneath the venerable elmsand sycamores, artists along the way were sketching. Both Alfonso and Leotipped their hats, as members of a guild that recognizes art for art'ssake, a society that takes cognizance of neither nationality nor sect.
Gertrude and George had read Scott's novel in which he tells of theancient glories of Kenilworth, which dates back to the twelfth century,and to-day is considered the most beautiful ruin in the world. Ivy mantlesthe lofty ruined walls; the sun tinges in silver the gray old towers, andsends a flood of golden light through the deep windows of the oncemagnificent banqueting hall.
For years Kenilworth Castle was a royal residence, and later it wasthe scene of bloody conflicts between kings and nobles. Today sheeppeacefully graze within the ruins and about the grounds. Visitors fromall parts of the world look in wonder upon the decay of glories that oncedazzled all Europe. Here the earl of Leicester entertained his virginqueen hoping to marry her. As Elizabeth crossed the draw-bridge a song inher praise was sung by a Lady of the Lake on an island floating in themoat. Story writers have never tired of telling of the magnificence ofthese entertainments that cost the ambitious earl $20,000 per day fornineteen days.
Returning, Warwick Arms Hotel was reached for lunch, after which theparty drove eight miles to Stratford-on-Avon, a model town on the classicAvon. Here in Henley Street, in a half-timbered house recently carefullyrestored, Shakespeare was born. The walls and window panes are coveredwith the names of visitors, while inside are kept albums for theautographs of kings, queens, of Scott, Byron, Irving, and others. Oneof the three rooms below is an ancient kitchen, where by the big openchimney the poet often sat. Climbing a winding, wooden stairway,George and Gertrude in the lead, our Harrisville friends entered theold-fashioned chamber, where, it is said, on St. George's Day, April 19,1564, William Shakespeare was born. A bust of the poet stands on thetable.
"We know little of his mother," said Gertrude, "except that she had abeautiful name, Mary Arden. If it is true, as a rule, that all great menhave had great mothers, Mary Arden must have been a very superior woman."
"The reverse, Gertrude, must be equally true," said George, "that allgreat women must have had great fathers."
Gertrude who had made a special study of Shakespeare and his works didmuch of the talking. She said, "All that is definitely known of the lifeof the great poet can be put on half a page. It is thought that Williamwas the son of a well-to-do farmer who lost his property. William, notabove work, assisted his father as butcher, then taught school, and laterserved as a lawyer's clerk. When he was eighteen, like most young people,he fell in love."
Saying this, Gertrude led to the street, and the party drove to Shottery,a pretty village a mile away, where is Ann Hathaway's thatched cottage."Here the beardless William often came," said Gertrude, "and told hislove to the English maiden. Ann Hathaway was older than William, she wastwenty-six, but they were married, and had three children.
"When Shakespeare was twenty-five he was part owner of the Blackfriar'sTheatre in London. There he spent his literary life, and there he wasactor, dramatist, and manager. He became rich and returned occasionallyto Stratford where he bought lands and built houses.
"If we can trust statues and paintings and writers, William Shakespearehad a kingly physique, light hazel eyes and auburn hair."
"What about his death?" inquired Colonel Harris.
"Of his death," said Gertrude, "we know little, save that the Vicar ofStratford wrote that Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Johnson had a merrymeeting, possibly drank too much, and that Shakespeare died of a feverthen contracted, on the anniversary of his birth, when he was fifty-twoyears old."
"And where was he buried?" inquired Lucille.
"In the Stratford church," answered Gertrude, and the carriages weredriven up an avenue of arching lime trees. The old church, with its talland graceful spire, reflected in the waters of the Avon, is a restfulplace for the body that contains the mightiest voice in literature. Nearby also lie buried his wife and their children. A plain slab in the floorcovers his remains.
Recently a new grave was dug near Shakespeare's and the intervening wallfell in. A workman ventured to hold a lighted taper in death's chamber,which revealed that the ashes of the immortal Shakespeare could be heldin the palm of the hand. The Harris party drove back to Leamington tospend the night.
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