Bacon and—Stratford.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 16 September 1910, Page 4

Bacon and—Stratford.

THE STORY OF AN AMEMDISILLUSIONMENT. (By 'ALary Alortimer >La.xwoll, auther of "An Englishwoman in X« York.") Only eleven shillings and sixpence" to Shakespeare Lend and •back! That was all it cost me to jojii an American party travelling to Stratford one day last week. ( Ana how they took possession of Sliake-spofl-re,-- these Americans! "You see, ma'am," said ono of them, "wo tkought wo'd go out to see tlie home of the inventor of the American language 1" I looked at him somewilmt doubtfully, and he added, will a twinkle in 'his eye, "Yes, William Shakespeare said 'had gotten , and 'Jiave gotten, , the same as we do in America. Over hero you say got,' and. you're wrong—that is according to Shakespeare 1" ""When Shakespeare lived here' remarked another, "my ancestors on my mother's side were living in Warwickshire, too. Lord! 1 wish they'd left some record; of whether they knew Bill Shakespeare or not!"" OXiLY A POET. There was a regretful note in his voice, and then a man whom 1 recognised in some indefinable way as a Presbvterian minister spoke to me.

"I like always to negard Mm as a poet," ho said. I never go to tilie theatre. _ J ■rogaird plays and theatres as a hindrance to Christian living. J wouldn't go to see one of Shakespeare's productions on the stage. But 'I read him, and while T read him T forgot that lie was a playactor."

"Why, he was only that. Everybody that's gone into the mattei knows tkat—just a play-actor, and nothing more!" ,It was a sort of hurried, whispered statement from a young woman whom I had -heard a certain member of the party call "Elizaibeth." Her other name they did not mention, bufit seemed she hailed from a little town in Wisconsin called by some such quaintly-pretty name as "Sun Prairie." She ivn.s a person of medium height, with sparkling, ibrown eyes, which just then held a touch-, of read sadmess in them, as though she spoke against her wish and will, "yet must speak. "Hash!" I whispered hack. "Such things must not be said in Stratford." Then I turned to the woman attendant <ind asked—

"Do you ever have visitors who say Shakespeare- didn't write the plays at all?" "Oh, yes," sho answered, "sometimes, but we don't pay any mor<? attention to ih#m than wo would to the Flat Earthers!" DOUBTER'S STOBY. The young lady from Sun Prairie cnoild only look 'back at the attendant with a melancholy air, 'but to me she grew more communicative. And here is her story.

■She had boon an early admirer r>l Shakespeare. From the time slio was six, when she began to read her "Shakespeare Made Easy" in the village school, till the time when she went to college and took up the seriously, she had loved the ard of Avon, and looked forward to visiting Stratford ami revelling in all the glories and ireminiscences of the town. Then the devil oi doubt had! crept into her soirl when a hook, written by a Minnesota man named Tgnatius Donnelly, had been lout to her iby a schoolmate from .Minneapolis, the homo of the said Donnelly. Since then she had attended Jsapoaian lectures, 'bad 'road certain tilings published in an English magazine by a Mrs Gallup, and many othe rthings in the cipher puzzle line, until, finally, as she put it, she "knew that Shakespeare couldn't have written those plays, but Bacon did." •

But she didn't want to' believe this heresy; she had a feeling tlmt some beautiful tiling had been taken away from her, "just as though -she had proven the religion of her forefathers false," so she said. She •wanted , to (believe that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. Finally she .stopped reading tbe controversial papers, and began to save her money for a trip to England, and Tiow she was here, and had conic clown to Stratford "-hoping tbe dear old town itself might shatter hei Baconian theory to bits and bring back the faith of .her childhood. "But it doesn't," she said, "oh, it d'oesn|t. When T look at these early editions I know they weren't •Shakespea.re's. When tliey show me the date of Shakespeare's baptism and burial, I know the dates record only the baptism and burial of a butcher's son, and not of a poet." SAD UNBELIEF. With all the 'humble Shakespeare lore I had at command I tried my best to convince tlio young lady from Sun Prairie that 'there was a mistO'kc about tliie butcher's so-n ■theory, any way, hut she wns sadly uneonvincible. d say "sadly," for 1 never met seoh a. 'melancholy doubter in my life. Personally, 1 glory in whatever unbeliefs I may ■have at the moment, but this girl «;ept becauso sho knew the signot ring of Shakespeare wasn't Shakespeare's at air; she glanced tearfully at the old, battered desk u-hio.li Shakespeare is said to hare used as a schoolboy, and, tliouHi she wished it wore Ms desk, -she "know it wasn't." She was quite sure the Shiakespeares never had a parlour," ami that the upper chamber, where ho was said k> have been horn, never ireally wns his birth-nlaco. . In the Shakespeai:e Otitirch she dropped tears upon the sfcane Arith its

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbearo " epitaph, and deekred that the only reason Shakespeare's name dad not appear on the stone was that "they didn't dare to put it there."

She stopped crying; suddenly a» w ?.,got jn front of Miss Marie *Cbrolli s .house, \ritli its many windows, its #-een creepers, and its glowing window-boxes. Sho stood on tiptoe and plucked a little white β-ose-■olll trom among the creepers. "I'll take this back with me to Sum Iraine" she said, almost eheerf.ulq': 4.c 7 S, ™ etl, in-B real from ntratrord, anyway!" ,' <IJ "V' I said, "I don't think Aliss Corelli would care to have one o>l her rosebuds in tho possession or one w,ho doesn't believe Shalvespea.re wrttto Mmself. She'd .rather resent it, I'm sure." The young woman by name pi JMizabeth frein Sun Prairie made no answer She was weeping again, and feeling sorry for her, I led hei nlotoff tho High street into Bacon's fcliakespearo Bostanrant and gave Her ten. h