Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, September 2, 1921, Page 10

ta < Cos ass Ms Ms Ih = We ae Ti ccijchthaeasdesceneat eae THE « RIGHT « OF « WAY By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS T Ged to iilustry:) a chir- tc of the English people. I think, to what lengths an Englishman will go to gain his rights, “Ob, when ean American would say, what ts the use?" or, One of the reasons England is such a comfortable pince in which to live is due to the fact that the English people have tht. peculiar habit of fighting for thes rights, by letters to the Times, or by taking the numbers of cabmen and policemen and appearing against them in the morning, or by sending war-ships into strange harbors where the window- panes of some English merchants have been smashed. If there were elevated roads in London, the clerk who lives in Kensington would not hang and swing from a strap on his way to and from the city. He would see that he was given the seat for which he had paid. The American is too busy and too good- natured to fight for his rights, so he continues to stand from Rector Street to Harlem, and to walk over unclean ets, and sees the beautiful green park st the Battery taken from him and turned into @ railroad terminus. He will . in time, that the reason the Eng- an has better roads and better because he and protests and growls and is generally disagreeable until he gets what he wants, Good-nature is ways a virtue, and sometimes the person is a very selfish one, qually is rights is the Englishman's det- erence for the rights of others. He shows this deference by respecting the English law, which makes those right: good. There was a young woman in sland who told me that. she and! seven or eight other young people had| tramped in single file through a gentle- man's dining-room one evening, while he and his guests were at dinner, in order to establish a right of way. The Englishman had built his house on a meadow directly across a pathway that had been used for centuries, and once} ® year the young people of the neigh- boring estates marched across hie lawn, and up his stairs, and through his house, in order that’ he should remem- ber that the right of way still existed. She was an exceedingly shy and well- bred young person, and of a family quite as ol¢ as the right of way, but it apparently did not strike her that she was rude in trampling through a stran- ger'’s house, or, indeed, that she was doing anything but a public duty. And the interesting point of the story to’me| was that the English householder, in-| stead of getting a Winchester and driv- ing the young trespassers off of his lawn, should have had so full an appre-| ciation of their right to question hig right that he simply bit his lips and went ‘to law about it | ‘There was an Irishman in the same | county who lived in a small cottage cm | and prope i an estate, and who was in the habit of| lace. Mr. —— here,” pointing to the crossing from it to another through the | father. of one Of the cre: is ah attor- gateway of a very distinguished and | ey, and though ho won't Jet his son noble gentleman. He had done this for twenty vears, and when the noble gen- | Ueman “came into some more money} and hung two fine iron gates between | the posts, the Irish laborer took u crow- | bar and broke the hinges on which they | hung, and tramped o7 them on his/ way. He was put in jail for this for a month, at the end of which time he| went after his crow-bar and tore the gates down again. When he had been| in jail five times in six months, the people round about took up his case, and the right of way was declared a just one, and the gates came down for- ever. The Englishman will go further than this; he will not only fight for his rights, but he will fight for some other man's rights; he will go out of his road to tramp through a gentleman's prop- erty simply because the people in the neighborhood are disputing for right of way with him. I heard of three young barristers when I was in London who went on a walking-tour, and who laid out their route entirely with the pur- pose in view of taking in all the dis- puted rights of way in the counti through which they passed, and who cheerfully sacrificed themselves for. the good of others by forcing their way into houses and across private grounds and by. tearing down hedges, : This brings me to the particular right-of-way case in which I was tn- volved, and of which I was appointed chronicler. I have been somewhat tardy in bringing the true story of this inglorious Oxford inovement to the at- tention of the world; but now that it is to be written it will be given fuliy and with all possible detail, as befits so| important an event in the history of the struggles for English liberty. The Balliol Eight had bumped the boat in front that day, and were cele- brating the fact with a dinner.. I re- member this dinner very well, because each of the elght had come to me ina friendly way during the afternoon, and had told me not to dress for dinner, as only bounders and cads wore dress clothes at a “wine.” TI accordingly came in flannels, and found the entire elght in the proper garments of eve- ning, and with a pained and surprised look ‘at my appearance, and when I de- manded with some indignation why they had put me in such a pdsition, they all Genied ever having spoken to} at any time on the subject of dress, «nd cpologized tor my appearance to he other guests by explaining that I came from America, where evening dress was unknown. The guests ac- cepted this as an interesting fact, and the ht grinned together in unison at the success of what they considered a very subtie practical joke. But I had my revenge, as they were still in train- ing for Henley, and could eat nothing but cold meat, and so were forced to look on at the celebration of thetr vic- tory by the only men present who had in no possible way contributed towards it. It was near the close of the dinner when the Hon, Hubert Howard, who pulled bow that day, rapped for silence, gravely that he was looking for valun- teers to join him in an expedition which romised much excitement, danger, h would subjects. j why? and when he had obtained tt, announced Possible and the ultimate success cf ‘ing liberty to many HIS ts a true story, end one that! Stratford to Warwick with Harry Far- is t mer, the gentleman on my right, whose work at stroke, I may add parenthetic- ally, #0 largely contributed to our suc- cess of this afternoon.” Mr. Farmer blushed at this and bawed his head, and everybody except the boy who wanted Farmer's place in the boat Farag iss: his knife-handle and critd hear!” in patronizing tones. “They rowed about seven miles,” Howard continued, “until they were stopped by a barrier of chains and fron rods across the river 2: Charlecote, The Charlecote estate, as you know, belongs to the Lucy family, and their land runs deer there, and they claim that the ex- cursiovists from Warwick and Strat- ford, who row up and down the river, frighten these deer. As you may re- member, the Lucys were always very Particular about thelr deer; they, or one of them, had Shakespeare himself up for killing a deer, and so handed them- selves down to an inglorious {mmortal- on both banks of the Avon. They keep) ernment and the Stratfora Rowing Club. ‘There wax no church on our way to the Fiver, so Howard could not nail one of while he addressed the populace. “Little they know,” Howard said, as he pulled away in the boat we had hired | at the landing, “as they go idly by, tbat| we are going to strike a blow for their | rights and lberties. To them we are| merely a party of rowing-men. otit for| a lark, ang that bag which ts filled with | destruction contains nothing more ter- rible than luncheon.” “There again,’ said Howard, “you see the ingratitude which makes martyrs. | ‘The innkeeper doesn’t know that we are | going to increase his Sunday trade for | travellers at least two pounds a teeek.| He thinks we are a lot of vagabonds, | and now that I come to look at the rest | of you, I don't much blame him. But! it is always thus with great reformers. | They suffer that others may reap the ity. Well, they've put this iron barrier up now to keep the boats out, and/ | they've marked the river that runs| | through thelr lands ‘Private Water.’ When Farmer and Curzon dscovered tt, | they rowed back ’o a village and bor-| 4 better protection for his life| owed some tools and broke the barrier | @Td called back cheerfully. “I “makes «| gown, and rowed on into the private | late to drop out if you choose, | water, for which the agent of the estate took Farmer's name, and told him he/ would summon him to the high courts| | for trespass and destruction of private| he added, with great indifference— property, That was just a year ago| strong with his desire to| this June, and they haven't summoned |@ quarter of a mile from the hou: him yet, and they never will, And} Why, because they are afraid, because they know they've no more right to block that thoroughfare than they have to build a wall across the Strand, Suppose a man owned @ house on both sides of the Strand, that wouldn't give him the right to run a| fence between his two properties, would | it? Of course it wouldn't. Well, that’ what these people have done. Now we have been corresponding with the Stratford Rowing Club, and they~tell us that the barrier has been built up again, and they want to know if we won't go there and break it down. They're afraid to do it themselves, you see, because they live to near to Charle- cote, and the Lucys might make it un- pleasant for them. So Farmer and I are going down there tomorrow or next day to tear down that barrier, and any other gentleman who wants to sacrifice himself for the sake of lberty can come with us. I call for volunteers.” There was much confusion and ques- tioning and mocking Inughter. “Fought on our side?” demanded How- ard, “There never was a case with a much right on one side. It is over- balanced with right. And we've docu- | ments and pictures and thinge, and we're going to” nail the documents to a church door. There's a precedent for that; and I speak to address the popu- go with us, he'll be our iegal adviser, ; and Davis will be chronicler and treas- urer, I you Americans are *'ways talking about your love of libe::y. and| here's a chance to exhibit it, Besides, | somebody must be, treasurer, or. we can’t go.” I temporized by saying that I should like to hear from the logal adviser now instead of later, when his advice would not perhaps be so valuable. ‘The legal adviser smiled, and. asked what these documents of Howard's might be. “One of them is an order in Privy Council, Issued by Charles II, declaring that the Avon must be kept clear and open from Coventry to the Severn; and we've Rot an old engraving of Charle- cote which praves conclusively that there was no barrier there as late as 1790; and we also have indirect backing in the fact that the Earl of Warwick had to get an act of Parliament passed before he could put up a barrier at Warwick Castle, which is a step the Lucys have never taken.” ‘The legal adviser, after « pause, asked if Howard rested his case there, and on the Honorable Hubert's replying that he did, the legal adviser instantly with- drew from it. “I don’t believe you real- ly want an attorney,” he said, “though you'll need one badly enough before you get through.” But they were not at ali frightened, and to the American there war some- thing particularly amusing in the idea of destroying a gentleman's private Property on the strength of a document issued three hundred years back in the Past. I wanted to see what an English householder would do under the cir- cumstances; I could guess how the American householder would act. So it was agreed that I should supply the money to bail them out in case of their being arrested, if they would supply the coples of the order in council and the weapons for the attack. I was alsd to act as photographer and chronigler of the expedition, and to help enroll two other men. Further than this I re- fused to strike a blow for the cause of British lUberty; but as it turncd out wo all had to strike several blows. We went down to Stratford third class, with three sledge-hau:mers and three crow-bers in a green-baize crick- et-bag, at which the guards would make @ grab, and then drop-it with a crash upon the platform, with the final con- viction, as we drew out of the station, that they had fallen upon a kit of burg- lar’s tools. There were five in the party —Howard and Farmer, T. P. Roger: the Captain of the Eight, and Murray, all of Balitol College, and myself, There was unother man coming, who had been asked chiefly on account of his name, but he overslept himself, and so missed all the glory. Howard tried to get sev- eral other titles for the same reason, as he thought he would impress the police; but their owners strangely enough cb- jected, and for the same reason, saying that the police were about the Inst peo- | ple they had any desire:to impress, We told them they had po sporting blood, and when they read this they will be sorry they 6'¢ not take the chance we gave thom to add further lustre to their ancient and distinguished names, We called ourselvés the fons of Liberty, and when we arrived at Stratford dis. tributed our orders in council from the summer, @ Curzon he began, an, “a chap farted to row from|doors of several houses belonging to PA PIV top of the coach, and left them at the ring us| ‘afd don't talk so| i How- not tod benefit, To obtain liberty “Oh, look where you are ste to!” cried Rogers, mauch,” “You're getting rattled, T. P. It's only another bend of the river now, and then you can see the barrier yourselves, There will-be no one about,” ‘The barrier js over and the family seldom walks there. We can hack it down and get away again,” he added, reassuringly, “before t know what {s going on.” | We all looked more cheerful. least, I think not. os “Let's go on to Warwick and break down that barrier, too,” cried Howard. gentlemen connected with the local gov. | the orders to its door, and we were in| manded, standing up teo much of « hurry to walt for him | to the barrier they slowed up, and, uh- shipping thelr oars, ran the boat up | broadside against it. “Make her fast |there at both ends,” Howard com- n@ laughing with exeltement. “You mustn't land, If you | did,.they would have us up for trespass. We must attack it from the boat.” “Wait a minute,” I shouted back; “I want thoso orders in council put up first." “Quite right.” answered Howard. “Farmer, run along the barrier and put one up on that tree where they can see it.” EXHIBIT “5B.” March 9, 1635-6. ORDER OF THE KING IN CoUNcH. Sec.: Windebank this day acquainted his Majesty, sitting in Council, that Wm. Sandys, of Fladbury, co, Worces- ter, had undertaken at his own cost to make the river Avon. passable from Severn, where that river falls in near ‘Tewkesbury, through counties Worces- ter, Gloucester, and Warwick, unto or near Coventry, and that he has been already at great’ charge therein; also| that Mr. Sandys intends to make passa- ble a good part of the river Teme lying towards Ludlow, whereby the said coun- ties may be bett supplied with wood, fron, and pit coals which they want, It was ordered that commissions should be issued to persons of quality in each of the said counties, authorizing them to see that all persons interested many lands, soil, mill, or othr thing adjoin- ing the rivers aforesaia be reasonably compounded with, and ‘s call before them such persons as sha.. sot be con- tent to accept reasonable recompence for their estates whereof use is neces- sary io be made. In such case the ~ & All Were Striking Frantically But Impotently at the Swinging Chains Commissioners are to assess such re- compence to be given by Sandys as ‘We might as well make a clean sweep of the river while We're out, What do| you think?” None of us said what we thought, We were rather quiet, all save Howard, whose delight and excitement were ris- ing visibly. “Now look again, Farmer,” he cried, | as tho boat swung around the bend: “can you see it ‘from here?” Farmery who was sitting in the bow, stood up, and the Sons of Liberty rested on their cars and waited: “Yes,” he cried, ex- citedly, “I can seo it; we.are almost.on it, They've built it'up asain, and then —oh, I say—" His voice changed and died out so suddenly that we all scram- bled~to our feet to see for ourselves without waiting for an explanation. What we saw, two hundred yards abead of us, was a barrier of iron rods and chains swung between heavy wooden posts that rose three feet above the water-line, and the level turf| stretching away from one bank to a thick woods, and from the other to a great mansion. But the turf between the barrier and the house was covered | with tents and marquees, and oyerrun| with workmen who were digging and/| hammering and filling the place with life and movement. Instead of finding our barrier at a deserted bend of the river, hidden by overhanging bushes, we had come upon it apparently in the only populated spot upon the Avon, and we stood silent and dumbfounded like criminals caught in a trap. It was Howard who was the first to spenk. "I say,” he exclaimed, delishtedly, are going to haye an audience, aren't we? I must say, Farmer, it was rather civil of you to send them word,” “They're making ready for an agri- cultural fair, or a lawn-party, or soms- thing,” growled Farmer. “How conld} I know that? What shall we do now?” “Do? said Murray. “What do you suppose? We haven't travelled four | hours in a third-class compartment, and Fowed seven gniles uphill, to go back have ‘ow, then,” cried Howard, clutching the tiller-ropes around him, “Pull up to tt in style, Lively, now. Bump her right into it.” They fell back tn their the last stretch that lay between them iS a 4 en f ear 4 (eR SES oe ss SN LATEST Places and shot at a racing paco over | shall be just: and if in a business so well approved by his Majesty the Com- missioners find any persons factious or opposing, they are to certify their names to the board that such. further order may be taken as shall be just. Lastly the Attorney General is to give his special furtherance in this under- taking. See Caumnpan or State Parzns. Editei_by Bruce. Longmans, 1866. S—on-A Corporation Recorps. Avon |AVIGATION, Council Book C. ps 126. At a Hall held 9 January 1635.—"At this Hall a Writinge passed under or Comon Seale unto Wm Sandis esq. testi- tying or approbation comendacon and alowance of the makinge of the River of Avon passible for bringinge of Wares from sondrye places to this boroughe of Stratford.” do p. 200. Hall held 1 Oct. 1641.—Mfr. Wm. Sandes ts to haye the Comon Seale to a peticon to bo Drawne by =r. Dighton for assistance in his navigacon and for mendingo. the highewales.” Farmer stepped dyer the side and on to the barrier, and worked his way along it as a sailor runs out on the bowsprit. When ht had reached the bank farthest from the house and from the workmen, he nailed the order in council upon a tree which stood so close to the water's edge that it was used as @ support for the barrier, It had ‘all been done in a second of time, but one ‘of the workmen on tne estate had seen us coming and had run down to the edge of the bank to meet us. “You can’t go through there, sir,” he called, waving with his hand. “That's Private water, sir.” ‘T. P. Rogers waa on his knees work- ing at the straps of the cricket-bag: he pulled out the sledge-hammers and held them up, and Howard swung one blindly and struck the lock of the gate that formed the centre of the barrier. The lock rattled, but the gate stood like a stone wall. “First blood for.us," Howard clatmed. “Now, all together!” The workman dropped his shovel and started on e run towards the house, calling to his mates, Some of them in great uncertainty. first persons to show me that day that an Englishman knows when it is not his place to interfere, and that all garda fot law and order, All of the Sons of Liberty had crow-bars or ham- mers in their hands now, and were striking frantically but impotently at the swinging chains, But as they were doing no possible damage, I advised them to stop until they could pick out when this pho‘ograph was being taken. Each of us had an entirely different idea as to bow the barrier should be attacked, and we were all shouting at once, amd telling each other to “Hit it there, where it joins,” or “Here, give it to _me,”.or “I'll ‘show you, let me have it," and “It is no use prying at that, knock it off with the sledge.” “How long did it take you to get this thing down last time, Farmer?” Howard gasped between strokes, “An hour,” said Karmer, who had lost his crow-bar overboard, and was hold- ing on toa post to sted@y the boat. | } } sledges or crow-bars, and the boat rocked so violently as they swung their bodies for each stroke that the water poured over the sides, and one crow- |bar after another was jerked out of | their hands and shot with a splash to | the bottom of the river. The bank was crowded now with workmén and the Servants of the Lucy household. grave young man, who looked as though he might be the agent of the estate, was the first to arrive. He bit his nails and grinned feebly, and then frowned stern- ly in much indecision. He was followed closely by halt a. dozer, stable-boys in gaiters, and the butler and underserv- ants struggling into their coats as they ran. They all prowled up and down the bank like animals in a cage, not two cars’ length; from us, or gathered in groups and whispered and laughed ner- vously. At every second stroke of the flying hammers they turned their heads to look back at the house. “You fellows had better hurry,” 1 said. “Somebody's coming soon who means to do.something, They're wait- }ing for him.” | There was only one small hammer and a mean little crow-bar left to uy now, and the four tolleginns stopped for lack of weapons and gazed hope- lessly at tho barrier, panting and cov- ered with muddy water and perspira- tion. As each hammer or crow-bar had dis- appeared I had called to the boys -to jump in after it; but they, in spite of the fact that they were alreidy wet and in dirty cricket flannels that would not have been hurt by a bath, had lookéd at me scornfully and made no answer, Now that. the attack had stopped altogether, I besought them again. But Rogers only growled und asked if I wanted to drown him. “I thought anybody could swim under water,” I sxplained. “Can you?" Rogers demanded. “Why, yes,” I answered, injudiciously. “Then pull your clothes off and get lover there, quick,” cried Murray, who was the largest of them, “or we will throw you-over, Jump now! “Come, jump,” sata Howar got.to help too.” ‘Whenever a crow-bar had been car- ried away the crowd on the bank had cheered and jumped up and down with satisfaction, but when I got up and be- gan to pull off my clothes there was an Interested silence, and a hasty stam- pede on the part of the women, whose todesty and desire to nee the outcome of the attack on the barrter pulled them both ways. It was very cold in the Ayon, an@ the barrier had caught in- numerable branches of trees on their way down-stream and had dropped them to the bottom, where they felt to the touch exactly lke water-snakes, |ana suggested man-traps, though why any. one should pitta man-trap eight feet under water I cannot now imagine, but while I was crawling around feeling tor sledge-hammers it seemed the most natural and probable thing for a person to do, I got all of the weapons but and the private water; when they came followed him, and others ran down to one, and as each showed above the the water's edge and consulted toxether | They were the| cheered too, as it things, even the resisting of an assault, | deed, that once, must be done decently and with due re- | balance, he, soover “An hour!” gasped Howard. “And we |have to do it-in five minutes.” The| {Sons of Liberty were not used to Copyright, 1981, by The Wheeler Newspaper Syndicate, 7 water the boys yelled, crowd | promised | tainment for them. me over the side @gain more carefully, go, let himself go, that the forece of the blow hammer’s weight pulled bim | and he hung himself up over the bar-| Fier as a horse does over a fence, with| the important difference that all of the| upper part of Murray's long body was with green moss and twigs and leaves sticking in his ears and bair, so that he looked hike aywater-nymph. We were all fighting the gate now, for they had given me a hammer that I might get warm agai... and the lock was nearly gone; then two chains fell to the bot- tom, and the lock broke and the gate Swung back, and with a triumphant yell we pulled and pushed our boat head-forward into thé private water. We were not 2 moment too soon, for| across the lawn camo a galloping cob | swinging a dog-cart behind him: with three men clinging to its top, and going at such a pace that the cart! rocked like a skiff at sea. They were the three largest men I had ever) seen. They were dressed in keepers’ knickerbockers and@ velveteen, and of} course I, being an American, expected they would begin to shoot as they reached the bank. I supposed from! what I had read of game-keepere tn Kingsley’s novels that they would prov-| ably carry shot.guns with sawed-otf barrels, such as poachers affect, and while carefully steering the boat into the private water I was wondering how far a mhot-gun would carr and whether sawing off tke barrels would not make the shot scatter over a very | large wurface. Howard, being an Eng- Ushman, knew perfectly well that no one would shoot us, so ue | uled their approach gayly. “Now it's getting exciting,” ne said. “Shall we stop here and fight ‘em, or go on to Warwick and break down the other barrier?” We admired his spirit very much, but| we pointed out that we had est2>lished our point by destroying the barricade | and entering the private water, and that it was now a case for lawyers to settle. So, in spite of Howard's remo.. strances, the boys pulled the boat's head around towards Stratford, The keepers sprang from the cart into a punt, and six of the grooms and servants tumbled in after them, and with a single oar shoved after us in pursult, “Let's stop and board them.” sald Howard, who was sitting impotently in the bow. But Farmer sald to go on, but not to hurry, or they would think we were running away. “Keep the stroke you have got, and talk about the weather,” he said. But our dignified and leisurely departure went for noth- ing, for the first thing the keepers went for was the order in council, They were evidently. not going to attack any one until they had read and digested this brief, and they judged that the! Plece of paper fluttering on the tree was ours. It served us as the child thrown to the wolves served the men in the sleigh, for by the time the keepers had puzzled it out, and what possible bear- ing it had on our destruction of their barrier, we had lighted our pipes and arifted gracefully out of sight around the bend. “Such a lot of muffs I never d{d see,” said Howard, who was in full mutiny. “Why didn’t you row up alongside and bang them with the oars?” “What's the good?" -said Murray. “The barrier's down, isn't it? There were forty of them, and they'd have thrown us in a horse-pond, most likely and that's not.dignified. What's th use of rowing with Keepers? "Tisn't their barrier.” “Use?” said Howard. “Well, we'd have been arrested for one thing, and I could have made a speech too.” ‘We lay on our oars and let the boat run with the rapid current, which was now with us, and we felt like patriots and heroes as the people in the occa- sional “villages “hurried to the banks to ask if the barrier was down, and on hearing that it was, started off with a shout to tell their neighbors. Then the boats of the Stratford Rowing Club be- gan to appear, and the occupants asked the same question, and said, “That's good,” and laughed at our muddy gar- monts and dripping hair. © ~ “We'll have a grand reception when we get to Stratford,” said Howard, glee- fully. “It will be all over the town by that time. Those orders of council we threw out will haye stirred up their curiosity.” ‘There was a nice old gentleman fish- |ing from a punt about a mile from Stratford, and he regarded our dishev- elled and disre; appearance as we drifted him. “Are you tha gentlemen,” he inquired, doubtfully, ho went up to Charlecote to destroy the barrier?” We said that we were, He regarded his bobbing float with interest, and then called after us, without raising his head: | “They're waiting to give you a recep-/ tion at the bridge. They will be glad | to see you.” “Do you hear that?” asked Howard, triumphantly. There was something about the nice old gentleman's manner that I did not fancy, and I said I thought we had much better tle the boat uv to a tree end-make a run across -ountry until we strock a railroad station. “We can telegraph. the man where his boat is,” I said, “and send the money by malil,| I Gon't want a reception.” P “But Howard would not hear of it. ‘Why, that’s the best part; that's our reward,” he remonstrated, “He wants to address the populace,” sald Farmer. “Tet him alone." The bridge was black with people, and many | more were grouped along the wharf and| far up the bank. “There must be a boat-race on,” suegested, “and they're wafting for the fintah.” “They're waiting for. us!” shouted| Howard, as we turned the last bend. “Isn't it glorious?” he chuckled. | my pocket. But Farmer, who was pulling bow and looking over his shoulder, suddenly SS SSS Sa, eee eer threw himself forward on his car. “Stop —back her!" he shouted. “Look at the “They've beaten us,” said Howard. “If had rowed instead of drifting, we should have won easily.” ‘We paddied up to the wharf, and the crowd on the bridge cheered. Howard stood up and took off his cap to the inspector “Are you going to arrest us, Mr. Policeman?" he asked. “We are,” said that dignitary: “Then we must ask you to stand just as you are for a minute until we photo- graph you. I have never been arrested, ind I must have the pictures of the men who do it ag souvenirs, Move up close,” he said to us over his shoulder, “so that Davis can get a good focus but don’t get too close,” he added, has- |\tiy, “or they’! grab us with a boat- hook.” ‘We snapped the shutter at them sev- eral times from a mfe distance, much to their disgust, but to the delight of the crowd, In whose eyes we. were martyrs. The attitude of the inspector was strongly suggestive of an aid hen on a bank worrying over young duck~- lings in the water, “Are you coming out to us, sir,” sald Howard, “or de we have to come in to you?” “Come, now, no nonsense,” said the inspector; “we've been here long enough.” So we ran the boat to the bank and gave ourselves up. The in- spector and the agent whispered to- gether and the game-keeper pointed at }each of us. “AI! of them? said the inspector. “All of them,” repeated the agent, My hopes. of reaching the country- house at which I was promised began to grow infinitesimally small, and I fin- gered nervously at the bail-money in “You are not a Stratford man?" said the inspector to Howard. Howard replied in a very loud tone that he was not, but that that made no difference, as the liberties and rights of the people ef Stratford were as dear to him as though he had always lived among them. ‘The men in the back of the crowd said “‘ear! ‘ear!” at this, and some boys on the bridge who were too far off to know what was golng on, leaned over the railing and shouted “Hoorar." The inspector frowned an- grily and took out an imposing-looking blank book. 3 “Where do you live?” he asked, “if you live anywhere, and what's your name?” ‘Howard gave his name, and Balliol College, Oxford, as his address. The reporters, who were looking over the inspector's shoulder as he wrote, whispered to him eagerly at this. and he stared at Howard's muddy garments and disreputable appearance and shook his head. 1 “This gentlenwn says that you're the son of Such a Person. Is that so?” he asked. “Well, what if it 1s?” said Howard. “I say," he went on, eagerly turning to us, “this is my chance, fiin’t it; now I will address the populace." ‘There was a broad row-boat turned bottom up, and Howard sprang on that and waved his hat at the crowd. “Gentlemen,” he said, “the inspector has shown surprise that ‘we should core all the way from Ox- ford to break down a barrier. We purpose. This gentleman without-any shoes on has come all the way from America to do it, and we are glad and proud of what we have done. We are going to fight ths case from court to court until it reacnes the House of Lords, and then,” he said, suddenly running up to the keeper and patting him'on his broad chest, to which How- ard's hand could just reach, “this keeper and I will walk up hand in hand to the bar of the House together and settle this thing between us, The crowd cheered, and we applaud- ed, ond everybody laughed except the keeper, who was so overcome with the idea of walking hand in hand with a Peer's son to the very bar of the House of Lords that he could only grin help- lessly and rub one knickerbockered leg against the other. Then the inspector took the other names, and as T. P. yas Captain of the Hight and a very famous man indeed, and as each man save my- self-gave Balliol College, Oxford, as his address, the crowd continued to laugh and cheer, and the inspector to’ look worried and confused. “It certainly ts a queer lark for gen- tlemen like you,” he remonstrated, re- sentfully, “to come all that way just to break the peace—and dressed jike that, too!” he added, as if that were criminal enough in itself. The agent seemed to regret having mustered such a show of force, and assured us with infinite politeness that our names and not our persons would be quite sufficient for his purpose, So he and the keepers drove off in the cart, and the towns-people took us to the Red Lion, where they gave us things to drink and made us fine speeches, and organized committees to take up sub- scriptions and to fight our case. That ends this famous story, which tells how William Shakespeare was avenged, and the liberties of the Strat- ford Boating Club recognized. But I Srieve to relate that after I left Eng- land Farmer was summoned to appear before the High Court, where our order in council and our engraving of the Charlecote estate without the barrier made no impreasion whatsoever, strange as it may appear, upon the judges, who smiled our attorney out of court. and made us pay elghty pounds for sacrifie- ing ourselves upon the altar of liberty. And this in spite of the assurances from all parts of the country which we had received by telegraph and throush the papers that we had done well. But the cruelest cut of all, perhaps, {s that in Oxford, where this proat (oteede of reform originated, there are some who say that it was not for the sacred cause of Iiberty that wo broke down the barrier, but in a trivial spirit of mischief. And thus are the motives of all great reformers : derstood. Fen: Was <7 4) SNh —— ( i 4 y) i { SS PS. 3 QL SS 7 KNOG