A Glimpse of the Salt Works

340 IMPROVEMENT ERA

ing to bask in the warm sun while mirroring the clear sky and the picturesque crags and woods of its further side. Rising on the

THIRLMERE

east and pouring cascades down their broad sides to feed the valuable lake are the giant mount and his companions. Thirlmere is now the property of the Manchester corporation which has made of her a reservoir for the thirsty thousands of the city, by '

raising her water level twenty feet with a dam at the north end, and conveying the water through an aqueduct ninety-six miles long. We sigh for more time to gaze, but a glance as we Tur-"*!

ride past is all we may permit ourselves. Then, push- coaches descending dunmail raise ing on through beauteous woods, up and down dale, we reach Keswick at last. It is situated close to Derwentwater, and amid other attractive places. And therein lies its distinction, for of itself, 'tis just a busy little market town with perplexing tangles in its street arrangement, and not much to lure the visitor. Threading our way through the maze, we find the broad, blue lake and, at its edge, a clamorous old boat-tender who assures us

A DAY IN THE ENGLISH LAKELAND \ 373

most earnestly that to return without viewing the environs from — — one of his gasoline launches fare, one "bob" would be rank folly. The restful prospect looks entirely welcome, and boating delightful, so we heed his warning and clamber aboard actions ;

not to be regretted, for Derwentwater appears to us the most fascinating and loveliest lake we have seen on the trip. Its breadth, its arrangement of green islets, the well-tim- bered banks, and, more than all, its background of lofty hills, over which, on this sunny afternoon, a filmy blue haze lingers, make of every man a "si- lent poet." Leaning back upon the chair cushions, we rehearse the incidents of the day. Of DERWENTWATER the heart of "Wordsworth- shire" we have received only a passing glimpse, but, be that view ever so transient, it has awakened in us a desire for more careful scrutiny of what we — can understand now more fully than before "Lake" poetry and prose. And we have spent a day with nature at her best. If it be true that "man is a part of all that he has seen," then we need search no further for the source of a deal of the power of Wordsworth, who saw intensely and loved most deeply this impressive country, his chosen home. Surely, there is great strength in the hillsfor him who seeks it. Just a concluding thought. It has often been said that a

thorough love of travel destroys, or at least interferes, with a love of home, but we believe that, however much one from the West may be fascinated by the antiquity and beauty of European displays, yet the highest compliment he is able to pay to a foreign scene appears to be :"It is very much like home !" And if the Lake district of England has its school of poets and other noble and renowned men, we feel that the merited distinction is sure to come to those unselfish and great souls whose lives and efforts have been and are being directed, in those beautiful vales of our own inspiring Rocky Mountains, toward the improvement and benefit of the race. WIGAN, ENGLAND