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diff --git a/24651.txt b/24651.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a77bf1c --- /dev/null +++ b/24651.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2057 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Times at Otterbourne, by Charlotte M. +Yonge + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Old Times at Otterbourne + + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +Release Date: February 19, 2008 [eBook #24651] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIMES AT OTTERBOURNE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1891 Warren and Son edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + +{The Keble Cross--Otterbourne Churchyard: p0.jpg} + +{Picture from title page: p1.jpg} + + + + + +Old Times +at Otterbourne. + + +BY +CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. + +[SECOND EDITION.] + +Winchester: +WARREN AND SON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, HIGH STREET. + +London: +SIMPKIN AND CO., LIMITED, STATIONERS' HALL COURT. +1891 + + + + +Old Times at Otterbourne. + + +Not many of us remember Otterbourne before the Railroad, the Church, or +the Penny Post. It may be pleasant to some of us to try to catch a few +recollections before all those who can tell us anything about those times +are quite gone. + +To begin with the first that is known about it, or rather that is +guessed. A part of a Roman road has been traced in Otterbourne Park, and +near it was found a piece of a quern, one of the old stones of a hand +mill, such as was used in ancient times for grinding corn; so that the +place must have been inhabited at least seventeen hundred years ago. In +the last century a medallion bearing the head of a Roman Emperor was +found here, sixteen feet beneath the surface. It seems to be one of the +medallions that were placed below the Eagle on the Roman Standards, and +it is still in the possession of the family of Fitt, of Westley. + +After the Roman and British times were over, this part of the country +belonged to Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, of which Winchester +was the capital. Lying so near the chief town, which was the Bishop's +throne, this place was likely soon to be made into a parish, when +Archbishop Theodore divided England in dioceses and parishes, just twelve +hundred years ago, for he died 690. The name no doubt means the village +of the Otters, and even now these creatures are sometimes seen in the +Itchen, so that no doubt there were once many more of them. The shapes +and sizes of most of our parishes were fixed by those of the estates of +the Lords who first built the Church for themselves and their households, +with the churls and serfs on their manor. The first Lord of Otterbourne +must have had a very long narrow property, to judge by the form of the +parish, which is at least three miles long, and nowhere a mile in +breadth. Most likely he wanted to secure as much of the river and meadow +land as he could, with some high open heathy ground on the hill as common +land where the cattle could graze, and some wood to supply timber and +fuel. Probably all the slopes of the hills on each side of the valley of +the Otter were covered with wood. The top of the gravelly hill to the +southward was all heather and furze, as indeed it is still, and this +reached all the way to Southampton and the Forest. The whole district +was called Itene or Itchen, like the river. The name meant in the old +English language, the Giant's Forest and the Giant's Wood. + +The hill to the north was, as it still remains, chalk down. The village +lay near the river and the stream that runs into it, upon the bed of clay +between the chalk and the gravel. Most likely the Moathouse was then in +existence, though a very different building from what it is at present, +and its moat very deep and full of water, serving as a real defence. +There is nothing left but broad hedge rows of the woods to the +north-east, but one of these is called Dane Lane, and is said to be the +road by which the Danes made their way to Winchester, being then a +woodland path. It is said that whenever the yellow cow wheat grows +freely the land has never been cultivated. + +There was a hamlet at Boyatt, for both it and Otterbourne are mentioned +in Domesday Book. This is the great census that William the Conqueror +caused to be taken 1083 of all his kingdom. From it we learn that +Otterbourne had a Church which belonged to Roger de Montgomery, a great +Norman baron, whose father had been a friend of William I. + +Well for the parish that it lay at a distance from the Giant's Wood, +where the King turned out all the inhabitants for the sake of his "high +deer," making it the New Forest. He and his sons could ride through down +and heath all the way to their hunting. We all know how William Rufus +was brought back from his last hunt, lying dead in the charcoal burner +Purkis's cart, in which he was carried to his grave in Winchester +Cathedral. Part of the road between Hursley and Otterbourne, near +Silkstede, is called King's Lane, because it is said to have been the way +by which this strange hearse travelled. + +Silkstede is a farm now--it was most likely a grange, or outlying house +belonging to some monastery--and there is a remnant of the gardens and +some fine trees, and a hollow called China Dell, where snowdrops and +double daffodils grow. But this is in Hursley parish, as is also Merdon +Castle. + +The green mounds and deep trenches, and the fragments of ruinous wall, +have a story reaching far back into the ages. + +There is little doubt, from their outline, that once there was an +entrenched camp of the Romans on this ground, but nothing is known +thereof. Merantune, as our Saxon ancestors called it, first is heard of +when in 755 Cynewolf, King of Wessex, was murdered there by his kinsman +Cyneheard, who was in his turn killed by the Thanes of the victim. With +this savage story it first appears, but no more is known of its fate +except that it became the property of the Bishops of Winchester, some say +by the grant of Cynegyls, the first Christian King of Wessex, others by a +later gift. It was then a manor, to which Hurstleigh, the woodland, was +only an appendage; and the curious old manorial rights and customs +plainly go back to these ancient prae-Norman times. To go through all +the thirty customs would be impossible, but it is worth noting that the +tenure of the lands descended by right to the youngest son in a family +instead of the eldest. Such "cradle fiefs" exist in other parts of +England, and in Switzerland, on the principle that the elder ones go out +into the world while their father is vigorous, but the youngest is the +stay of his old age. The rents were at first paid in kind or in labour, +with a heriot, namely, the most valuable animal in stock on a death, but +these became latterly commuted for quit rent and fines. The trees were +carefully guarded. Only one good timber tree on each holding in the life- +time of a tenant might be cut by the Lord of the Manor, and the tenants +themselves might only cut old rotten trees! But this is as much as you +will wish to hear of these old customs, which prove that the Norman +feudal system was kept out of this Episcopal manor. It was not even +mentioned in Domesday Book, near as it was to Winchester. There it lay, +peacefully on its island of chalk down, shut in by the well-preserved +trees, till Stephen's brother, Bishop Henry de Blois, of Winchester, +bethought him of turning the old Roman Camp into a fortified castle. The +three Norman kings had wisely hindered the building of castles, but these +sprung up like mushrooms under the feeble rule of Stephen. + +The tenants must have toiled hard, judging by the massiveness of the +small remnant, all built of the only material at hand, chalk to make +mortar, in which flints are imbedded. + +This fragment still standing used to be considered as part of the keep, +but of late years better knowledge of the architecture of castles has led +to the belief that it was part of the northern gateway tower. I borrow +the description of the building from one written immediately after the +comments of a gentleman who had studied the subject. + +Henry de Blois, King Stephen's brother, Bishop of Winchester, probably +wished for a stronghold near at hand, during his brother's wars with the +Empress Maud. He would have begun by having the nearly circular +embankment thrown up with a parapet along the top, and in the ditch thus +formed a stockade of sharp pointed stakes. Within the court, the well, +300 feet deep, was dug, and round it would have been the buildings needed +by the Bishop, his household and guards, much crowded together. The +entrance would have been a drawbridge, across the great ditch, which on +this side was not less than 60 feet wide and perhaps 25 deep, and through +a great gateway between two high square towers which must have stood +where now there is a slope leading down from the inner court, into the +southern one. This slope is probably formed by the ruins of the gateway +and tower being pitched into the ditch. + +The Castle was then very small, and did not command the country except +towards the south. The next work therefore would be to throw out an +embankment to the south, with a ditch outside. The great gap whence +Hursley House is seen, did not then exist, but there was an unbroken +semicircle of rampart and ditch, which would protect a large number of +men. In case of an enemy forcing this place, the defenders could retreat +into the Castle by the drawbridge. + +The entrance was on the eastern side, and in order to protect this and +the back (or northern side) of the Castle, an embankment was thrown up +outside the first moat, and with an outer moat of its own. Then, as, in +case of this being carried by the enemy the defenders would be cut off +from the main southern gateway, a square tower was built on this outer +embankment exactly opposite to the ruin which yet remains, and only +divided from it by the great ditch. On either side of the tower, cutting +the embankment across therefore at right angles, was a little ditch +spanned by a drawbridge, which, if the defenders found it necessary to +retire to the tower, could at any time be raised. The foundations of the +tower and the position of the ditch can still be distinctly traced. + +Supposing farther that it became impossible to hold the tower, the +besieged could retreat into the main body of the Castle by another +drawbridge across the great ditch. This would lead them through the arch +which can still be seen in the ruin, though it is partially blocked up. +The room on the east side of this passage was probably a guard room. + +These are all the remains. The embankments to the south and west command +a great extent of country, and on the north and northwest, we trace the +precautions by the great depth of the ditch, and steepness of the +earthworks, though now overgrown with trees. All this must have been +done between the years 1138 and 1154, and great part of the defences were +thrown down in the lifetime of the founder. Merdon was not destined to +shine in sieges, in spite of its strength. Henry II came in, and forbad +the multiplication of castles and Merdon seems to have been dismantled as +quickly as it had been built. + +The Bishops of Winchester however still seem to have resided there from +time to time, though it gradually fell into decay, and was ruinous by the +end of the Plantagenet period. + +After the younger Oliver's death, his sisters endeavoured to obtain the +Hursley property to which their father had succeeded as his son's heir. +He was past eighty and the judge allowed him to wear his hat at the trial +in court, an act of consideration commended by Queen Anne. + +After his death, in 1708, the estate was sold to the Heathcote family. +The old house, whose foundations can be traced on the lawn, and which was +approached by the two avenues of walnut trees still standing, was then +pulled down, and the present one erected. + +{Doorway of Old Church: p6.jpg} + +Most likely the oldest thing in Otterbourne is the arch that forms the +doorway of the Boys' School, and which came from the door of the Old +Church. By the carving on that arch, and the form of the little +clustered columns that support it, we can tell that it must have been put +up about the time of King Richard I or King John, somewhere about the +year 1200. There was certainly a church before this date, but most +likely this was the first time that much pains had been taken about its +beauty, and carved stone had been brought from a distance. It was a good +spot that was chosen, lying a little above the meadows, and not far from +the moated Manor House. The east wall of the nave is still standing, but +it now forms the west wall of the small remnant that is still covered in. +It still has three arches in it, to lead to the old chancel, and above +those arches there were some paintings. They came to light when the Old +Church was pulled down. First, a great deal of plaster and whitewash +came off. Then appeared part of the Commandments in Old English black +letter, and below that, again, were some paintings, traced out in red +upon the wall. They have been defaced so much that all that could be +found out was that there was a quatrefoil shape within a square. The +corners were filled up apparently with the emblems of the Four Cherubim, +though only the Winged Ox showed plainly. There was a sitting figure in +the centre, with the hand raised, and it was thought to be a very rude +representation of our Blessed Lord in Judgment. In another compartment +was an outline of a man, and another in a hairy garment, so that this +last may have been intended for the Baptism of our Blessed Lord. +Unfortunately, being on the outside wall, there was no means of +protecting these curious paintings, and, sad to say, one evening, I +myself saw a party of rough boys standing in a row throwing stones at +them. There being a pathway through the churchyard, it was not possible +to keep them out, and thus these curious remains have been destroyed. + +We may think of the people who resorted to the little Old Church as +wearing long gowns both men and women, on Sunday, spun, woven, and dyed +blue at home, most likely with woad, a plant like mignonette which still +grows in the lanes. The gentry were in gayer colours, but most likely +none lived nearer than Winchester, and it was only when they plodded into +market that the people would see the long-hanging sleeves, the pointed +hoods, and the queer long-toed shoes of the young gentlemen, or the +towers that the ladies put on their heads. + +The name of Otterbourne does not come forward in history, but, as it lies +so near Winchester, it must have had some share in what happened in the +Cathedral city. The next thing we know about it is that Bishop Edyngton +joined it to Hursley. William de Edyngton was Bishop of Winchester in +the middle part of the reign of Edward III, from 1357 to 1366. Bishop de +Pontissara founded a College at Winchester called St. Elizabeth's, and to +assist in providing for the expenses, he decreed that the greater tithes +of Hursley, those of the corn fields, should be paid to the Dean and +Chapter, and that the rest of the tithe should go to the Vicar. Then, +lest the Vicar should be too poor, Otterbourne was to be joined with +Hursley, and held by the same parish priest, and this arrangement lasted +for five hundred years. It was made in times when there was little heed +taken to the real good of country places. The arrangement was confirmed +by his successor, Bishop Edyngton, who lies buried in the nave of +Winchester Cathedral, not far from where lies the much greater man who +succeeded him. William of Wykeham went on with the work Edyngton had +begun, and built the pillars of the Cathedral nave as we now see them. He +also founded the two Colleges of St. Mary, one at Winchester for 70 boys, +one at Oxford to receive the scholars as they grew older, meaning that +they should be trained up to become priests. It seems that the old name +of the field where the college stands was Otterbourne meadow, and that it +was bought of a Master Dummer. Bishop Wykeham's College at Oxford is +still called New College, though there are now many much newer. One +small estate at Otterbourne was given by him to help to endow Winchester +College, to which it still belongs. + +Good men had come to think that founding colleges was the very best thing +they could do for the benefit of the Church, and William of Waynflete, +who was made Bishop of Winchester in 1447, founded another college at +Oxford in honour of St. Mary Magdalen. To this College he gave large +estates for its maintenance, and in especial a very large portion of our +long, narrow parish of Otterbourne. Ever since his time, two of the +Fellows of Magdalen, if not the President himself, have come with the +Steward, on a progress through the estates every year to hold their Court +and give audit to all who hold lands of them Till quite recently the +Court was always held at the Manor House, the old Moat House, which must +once have been the principal house in the parish, though now it is so +much gone to decay. Old Dr. Plank, the President of Magdalen, used to +come thither in Farmer Colson's time. What used to be the principal room +has a short staircase leading to it, and in the wainscot over the fire- +place is a curious old picture, painted, I fancy, between 1600 and 1700, +showing a fight between turbaned men and European soldiers, most likely +Turks and Austrians. It is a pity that it cannot tell its history. The +moat goes all round the house, garden, and farmyard, and no doubt used to +have a drawbridge. Forty or fifty years ago, it was clear and had fish +in it, but the bridge fell in and choked the stream, and since that it +has become full of reeds and a mere swamp. It must have been a really +useful protection in the evil times of the Wars of the Roses. + +Most likely the Commandments were painted over the old fresco on the east +wall of the nave of the old Church either in the time of Edward VI, or +Elizabeth, for if they had been later, the letters would not have been +Old English. The foreigners who meddled so much with our Church in the +latter years of Edward VI obtained that the Holy Communion should not be +celebrated in the chancels, but that the Holy Table should be spread in +the body of the Church, and many Chancels were thus disused and became +ruinous, as ours most certainly did at some time or other. St. +Elizabeth's College was broken up and the place where it stood given to +the college of St. Mary. It is still called Elizabeth Meadow. The +presentation to the Cure of our two parishes went with the estate of +Hursley. + +There was a very odd scene somewhere between Winchester and Southampton +in the year 1554. Queen Mary Tudor was waiting at Winchester for her +bridegroom, Philip of Spain. He landed at Southampton on the morning of +the 20th of July, and set out in a black velvet dress, red cloak, and +black velvet hat, with a splendid train of gentlemen to ride to +Winchester. It was a very wet day, and the Queen sent a gentleman with a +ring from her, to beg him to come no farther in the rain. But the +gentleman knew no Spanish, and the King no English. So Philip thought +some warning of treachery was meant, and halted in great doubt and +difficulty till the messenger recollected his French, and said in that +tongue, that the Queen was only afraid of his Grace's getting wet. So on +went Philip, and the High Sheriff of Hampshire rode before him with a +long white wand in his hand, and his hat off, the rain running in streams +off his bare head. They went so slowly as not to reach Winchester till +six or seven o'clock in the evening, so that the people of Otterbourne, +Compton, and Twyford must have had a good view of the Spanish Prince who +was so unwelcome to them all. + +Thomas Sternhold, who together with Hopkins put the Psalms into metre for +singing, lived in the outskirts of Hursley. + +When the plunder of the Monasteries was exhausted, the Tudor Sovereigns, +or perhaps their favourites, took themselves to exacting gifts and grants +from the Bishops, and thus Poynet who was intended in the stead of +Gardiner gave Merdon to Edward VI, who presented it to Sir Philip Hobby. +It was recovered by Bishop Gardiner, but granted back again by Queen +Elizabeth. Sir Philip is believed to have first built a mansion at +Hursley, and his nephew sold the place to Sir Thomas Clarke, who was +apparently a hard lord of the manor. His tenants still had to labour at +his crops instead of paying rent, but provisions had to be found them. +About the year 1600, on the arrival of a hogshead of porridge, unsavoury +and full of worms, the reapers struck, and their part was taken by Mr. +Robert Coram, who then owned Cranbury, so hotly that he and Mr. Pye, Sir +Thomas Clarke's steward, rode at one another through the wheat with drawn +daggers. Lady Clarke yielded, and cooked two or three bacon-hogs for the +reapers. + +The old road from Winchester to Southampton then went along what we now +call the Old Hollow, leading from Shawford Down to Oakwood. Then it +seems to have gone along towards the old Church, its course being still +marked by the long narrow meadows, called the Jar Mead and Hundred Acres, +or, more properly, Under an Acre. Then it led down to the ford at +Brambridge, for there was then no canal to be crossed. The only great +personage who was likely to have come along this road in the early 17th +century was King James the First's wife, Queen Anne of Denmark, who spent +a winter at the old Castle of Winchester, and was dreadfully dull there, +though the ladies tried to amuse her by all sorts of games, among which +one was called "Rise, Pig, and Go." + +James I gave us one of the best of Bishops, Lancelot Andrewes by name, +who wrote a beautiful book of devotions. He lived on to the time of +Charles I, and did much to get the ruins made in the bad days round +Winchester Cathedral cleared and set to rights. Most likely he saw that +the orders for putting the altars back into their right places were +carried out, and very likely the chancel was then mended, but with no +attention to architecture, for the head of the east window was built up +anyhow with broken bits of tracery from a larger and handsomer one. The +heir of the Clarkes sold the property at Hursley to Mr. Mayor, to whose +only daughter Oliver Cromwell married his son Richard. + +What happened here in the Great Rebellion we do not know. An iron ball +was once dug up in the grounds at Otterbourne House, which may have come +from Oliver's Battery; but it is also said to be only the knob of an old +pump handle-- + + "When from the guarded down + Fierce Cromwell's rebel soldiery kept watch o'er Wykeham's town. + They spoiled the tombs of valiant men, warrior, and saint, and sage; + But at the tomb of Wykeham good angels quenched their rage." + +Colonel Nathanael Fiennes prevented harm from being done to the College +or the monuments in the Cathedral; but there was some talk of destroying +that holy place, for I have seen a petition from the citizens of +Winchester that it might be spared. It is said that some loyal person +took out all the stained glass in the great west window, hid it in a +chest, and buried it; but when better times came, it could not be +restored to what it was before, and was put in confusedly, as we now see +it. + +Stoneham had a brave old clergyman, who kept possession of his church and +rectory all through the war, and went on with the service till he died, +no man daring to meddle with him. But Otterbourne was sure to follow the +fate of Hursley. The King's Head Inn at Hursley is thought to have been +so called in allusion to the death of King Charles I. A strange +compliment to the Cromwells. + +Richard had a large family, most of whom died young, as may be seen on +their monument in Hursley Church. It was at this time that the customs +of the Manor were put on record in writing. The son, Oliver, lived till +1705, and was confounded in the country people's minds with his +grandfather. + +There is an odd, wild story, that Cromwell sunk all his treasure in the +great well at Merdon Castle, in Hursley Park, 300 feet deep. It was +further said, if it were drawn up again, that no one must speak till it +was safe, otherwise it would be lost. A great chest was raised to the +mouth of the well, when one of the men said, "Here it comes!" The rope +broke, it fell back, and no one ever saw it more. Most likely this is an +old legend belonging to the Castle long before, and only connected with +Oliver Cromwell because he was an historical person. Certain it is that +when the well was cleared out about 30 or 40 years ago nothing was found +but two curious old candlesticks, and a great number of pins, which had +been thrown down because they caused those curious reverberations in the +great depth. Another legend is that Merdon Well is connected with the +beautiful clear spring at Otterbourne called Pole Hole or Pool Hole, so +that when a couple of ducks were thrown down the well, they came out at +Pole Hole with all their feathers scraped off. + +It was in the time of the Commonwealth, in 1653, that our first parish +register begins. Some parishes have much older ones, so, perhaps, ours +may have been destroyed. The first entry in this old parchment book is +that Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Cox, of Otterbourne, and Anne, his +wife, was born ---. A large stain has made the rest of this entry +illegible. There are only three births in 1653, and seven in 1654, one +of these William, son of Mr. William Downe, of Otterbourne Farm, and +Joane, his wife, is, however, marked with two black lines beneath the +entry, as are his sisters, Elizabeth and Jane, 1656 and 1658, apparently +to do honour to the principal inhabitant. + +It is to be observed that all the entries here are of births, not of +baptisms, departing from the general rule of Church registers, and they +are all in English; but in 1663 each child is recorded as baptized, and +the Latin language is used. This looks much as if a regular clergyman, a +scholar, too, had, after the Restoration, become curate of the parish. He +does not sign his registers, so we do not know his name. In 1653 the +banns of William Downe and Jane Newman were published September 17th and +the two Lord's Days ensuing, but their wedding is not entered, and the +first marriage recorded is that of Matthew Dummer and Jane Burt, in 1663. +The first funeral was Emelin, wife of Robert Purser, in 1653. + +Also, there was plenty of brick-making, for King Charles II had planned +to build a grand palace at Winchester on the model of the great French +palace of Versailles, and it is said that Dell copse was formed by the +digging out of bricks for the purpose. It was to reach all over the +downs, with fountains and water playing in them, and a great tower on +Oliver's Battery, with a light to guide the ships in the Channel. There +is a story that Charles, who was a capital walker, sometimes walked over +from Southampton to look at his buildings. One of the gentlemen who +attended him let the people at Twyford know who was going that way. So +they all turned out to look at him, which was what the King by no means +wished. So he avoided them, and punished his indiscreet courtier by +taking a run and crossing one of the broad streams with a flying leap, +then proceeding on to Winchester, leaving his attendant to follow as best +he might. + +After all only one wing of the intended palace was built. For a long +time it was called the King's House, but now it is only known as the +Barracks. The work must have led to an increase in the population, for +more baptisms are recorded in the register, though not more than six or +seven in each year, all carefully set down in Latin, though with no +officiating minister named. There is an Augustine Thomas, who seems to +have had a large family, and who probably was the owner of the ground on +which the vicarage now stands, the name of which used to be Thomas's +Bargain. + +There must have been a great quickening of activity in Otterbourne soon +after the Restoration, for it was then that the Itchen canal or barge +river, as it used to be called, was dug, to convey coals from +Southampton, and, of course, this much improved the irrigation of the +water meadows. This canal was one of the first made in England, and was +very valuable for nearly two hundred years, until the time of railways. + +In 1690, a larger parchment register was provided, and every two years it +appears to have been shown up to the magistrates at the Petty Sessions, +and signed by two of them. + +At this time there seem to have been some repairs of the church. +Certainly, a great square board painted with the royal arms was then +erected, for it bore the date 1698, and the initials "W. M." for William +and Mary. There it was, on a beam, above the chancel arch, and the lion +and unicorn on either side, the first with a huge tongue hanging out at +the corner of his mouth, looking very complacent, as though he were +displaying the royal arms, the unicorn slim and dapper with a chain +hanging from his neck. + +Several of our old surnames appear about this time, Cox, Comley, Collins, +Goodchild, Woods, Wareham. John Newcombe, Rector of Otterbourne, who +afterwards became Bishop of Llandaff, signs his register carefully, but +drops the Latin, as various names may be mentioned, Scientia, or Science +Olden, Philadelphia Comley, and Dennis Winter, who married William +Westgate. Anne and Abraham were the twin children of John and Anne +Didimus, in 1741. + +The first church rate book only begins in 1776, but it is curious as +showing to whom the land then belonged. The spelling is also odd, and as +the handwriting is beautiful, so there is no doubt that it really is an +account of the Church _Raiting_, nor that the "rait" was "mead." Walter +Smythe, Esquire, of Brambridge, appears, also John Colson John Comley, +and Charles Vine. Lincolns belonged to Mr. Kentish and Gun Plot to +Thilman. + +The expenditure begins thus:--April 9, 1776, "Pd. Short for 6 dozen sparw +heds," and the sparw heds are repeated all down the page, varied with +what would shock the H. H.--3_d._ for foxheads. Also "expenses ad +visitation" 9_s._ 6_d._, and at the bottom of the page, the parish is +thus mentioned as creditor "out of pockets, 5_s._ 1_d._" In 1777 +however, though the vestry paid "Didums 1 badger's head, 1 polecat's +head; Hary Bell for 2 marten cats, and spares innumerable, and the clarck +warges, 1 pounds 5_s._, there was 1 pounds 3_s._ in hand." The polecats +and marten cats were soon exterminated, but foxes, hedgehogs, and +sparrows continue to appear, though in improved spelling, till April +24th, 1832, when this entry appears:--"At a meeting called to elect new +Churchwardens, present the Rev. R. Shuckburgh, curate, and only one other +person present, the meeting is adjourned. Mr. Shuckburgh protests most +strongly against the disgraceful custom of appropriating money collected +for Church rates towards destroying vermin on the farms." And this put +an end to the custom. However, there were more rightful expenses. Before +Easter there is paid "for washan the surples" 4_s._ It would seem that +the Holy Communion was celebrated four times a year, and that the +Elements were paid for every time at 3_s._ 7_d._ In 1784, when there was +a great improvement in spelling, there were some repairs done--"Paid for +Communion cloth, 10 pence, and for washing and marking it, 6p." In 1786 +there was a new church bell, costing 5 pounds 5_s._ 10_d._ Aaron Chalk, +whom some of the elder inhabitants may remember, a very feeble old man +walking with two sticks, was in that year one of the foremost traders in +sparrow heads. It gives a curious sense of the lapse of time to think of +those tottering limbs active in bird catching. + +May 2, in 1783, we find the entry "paid for the caraidge of the old bell +and the new one downe from London, 11_s._ 10_d._ May 22--Paid William +Branding bill for hanging the new bell, 1 pounds 13_s._" Altogether, at +the end of the year, it is recorded "the book in debt" 1 pounds 11_s._, +but "the disburstments," as they are spelt, righted themselves in 1784, +when we find "paid for musick for the use of the Church, 1 pounds 1_s._ +To George Neal for whitewashing Church, 1 pounds 1_s._, George Neale, two +days' work, 5_s._ 3_d._, for work in the gallery, 19_s._ 4_d._, bill for +tiles, 3_s._ 4_d._" + +The only connection Otterbourne has with any historical person is not a +pleasant one. The family of Smythe, Roman Catholics, long held +Brambridge, and they endowed a little Roman Catholic Chapel at +Highbridge. At one time, a number of their tenants and servants were of +the same communion, and there is a note in the parish register by the +curate to say that there were several families at Allbrook and Highbridge +whose children he had not christened, though he believed they had been +baptized by the Roman Catholic priest. One of the daughters of the +Smythe family was the beautiful Mrs. Fitz-Herbert, whom the Prince of +Wales, afterwards George IV, was well known to have privately married. He +never openly avowed this, because by the law made in the time of William +III, a marriage with a Roman Catholic disqualifies for the succession to +the crown; besides which, under George III, members of the royal family +had been prohibited from marrying without the King's consent, and such +marriages were declared null and void. The story is mentioned here +because an idea has gone abroad that the wedding took place in the chapel +at Highbridge, but this is quite untrue. The ceremony was performed at +Brighton, and it is curious that the story of it having happened here +only began to get afloat after the death of Mr. Newton, the last of the +old servants who had known Mrs. Fitz-Herbert. Walter Smythe, her +brother, was one of the _detenus_ whom Napoleon I kept prisoners, though +only English travellers, on the rupture of the Peace of Amiens. His +brother, Charles, while taking care of the estate, had all the lime trees +in the avenue pollarded, and sold the tops to make stocks for muskets. + +{View near Hursley: p16.jpg} + +In those days there was only a foot bridge across the Itchen at +Brambridge. Carts and carriages had to ford the river, not straight +across, but making a slight curve downwards; this led to awkward +accidents. There was a gentleman dining with Mr. Walter Smythe, who was +pressed to sleep at Brambridge, but declined, saying that he liked to +have all his little comforts about him. When daylight came, the poor man +was found seated on the top of his chaise, the water flowing through the +windows below; for the post boy had taken a wrong turn, and, being afraid +to move, had been forced to remain in the river till the morning. A far +worse disaster befel the Newton family on their way to a funeral. It is +described by one of the bearers: "When the cart turned over, the corpse +was on the foot bridge. It was a very wet day, and the wind was blowing +furiously at the time. It had a great effect on the cart, as it was a +narrow cart with a tilt on, and there was a long wood sill at the side of +the river. That dropping of the sill caused the accident. I think there +were five females in the cart and the driver. The water was as much as +4ft. deep and running very sharp, so myself and others went into the +water to fetch them out, and when we got to the cart they were all on the +top of the other, with their heads just out of the water. They could not +go on to church with the corpse, and we had a very hard job to save the +horse from being drowned, as his head was but just out of the water." + +All through the time of the long war with France there was here, as well +as everywhere else around the coast, fear of a landing of the French. The +flat-bottomed boats to bring the French over were actually ready at +Boulogne, and the troops mustered to come across in them. On our side, +volunteers were in training in case of need, and preparations were made +for sending off the women and children inland on the first news of the +enemy landing. Not very many years ago there were still to be seen in a +barn at Hursley the planks prepared to fit as seats into the waggons that +were to carry them away. And a family living here are said to have kept +everything packed up, even the fireirons, and to have stirred up the fire +with a stick during a whole winter. However, by God's blessing and our +fleets and armies, the danger was kept from our doors. + +With the activity that followed upon the peace came a great deal of road- +making. The present high road between Winchester and Southampton was +then made, and the way cut through the hills--Otterbourne Hill and +Compton Hill on either side. This led to the main part of the +inhabitants settling in the village street, instead of round the old +Church as before. Another great road was made at the same time--that +which crosses Golden Common and leads ultimately to Portsmouth. It used +to be called Cobbett's Road, because William Cobbett, a clever, +self-taught man, had much to do with laying it out. Cobbett had a good +many theories which he tried to put into practice, some sensible, others +mistaken. The principal traces we see of him now are in the trees that +he planted, chiefly introduced from America. He thought the robinia, or +false acacia, would make good hedges, because of its long thorns and +power of throwing up suckers, and many people planted them, but they +proved too brittle to be of much use, though some are still growing. He +was a friend of Mr. Harley, who then owned Otterbourne House, and planted +many curious trees there, of which two long remained--a hickory nut and a +large tree in the drive. There was also an oak with enormous leaves, but +it was planted so near the house that it had to be moved, and died in +consequence. + +These roads were for the coaches. Young folks, who never saw anything +nearer approaching to a stage coach than the drags some gentlemen keep, +can hardly fancy what these stage coaches were--tall vehicles, holding +four inside passengers and at least twelve outside and quantities of +luggage. They were drawn by four of the strongest and quickest horses +that could be procured, and these were changed about every five or six +miles, so as to keep up full speed. The coachman, generally a big, burly +man, with a face reddened by exposure to the weather, and often by a +glass of ale at every stage, sat on the box in a drab coat, with many +capes one over the other. The seat next to him was the favourite one +with the passengers, and gentlemen would sometimes bribe coachmen to let +them drive; nay, some gentlemen actually took to the trade themselves. +There was also a guard, who in mail coaches took care of the post bags, +and dropped them at the places where they were intended for. In the days +when highwaymen infested the roads the guard had carried pistols, and +still the guard of the mail wore a red coat, and blew a horn on entering +any place to warn the people to bring out their post bags and exchange +them for others. + +One or two coaches kept their horses at the White Horse, so as to be +fresh for going up the hill, others at the Cricketers, while others +changed at Compton and the New Hut. Some of the stables still remain, +converted into cottages. The horses were fine animals, beautifully kept; +but the habit of hanging about public-houses to attend to them was not +good for the ostlers and people concerned. About fifteen coaches came +through this place in the morning, and their fellows in the evening, each +proprietor keeping two coaches, starting from the two opposite ends at +the same time. There was the Mail, the Telegraph, the Independent, the +Red Rover, the Hirondelle, all London coaches, besides the Oxford coach +and some that only ran between Winchester and Southampton. The driver +and owner of one, Mason's coach, was only a few years ago living here. +When people intended to go on a journey, they booked their places a day +or two beforehand, but for short journeys or going into Winchester they +would watch for a vacant space in a coach as it passed by. + +It is odd to look back at an old article in a quarterly review describing +coach travelling as something so swift and complete that it could not be +surpassed in its perfection. Yet accidents with the spirited horses and +rapid driving were not uncommon, and a fall from an overloaded coach was +a dangerous thing. + +When the mail went by coach the sending of letters and parcels could not +but be expensive. Heavy goods travelled by waggon, barge, or ship, +parcels went by carriers or by coaches, and nothing could be posted but +what was quite light. So postage was very expensive, and it is strange +to look back on the regulations connected with it. Our readers under +forty years old will hardly believe the rates that were paid for postage, +varying according to distance. There was a company in London that +carried letters from one part of that town to another for twopence +apiece, and this was the cheapest post in England. A letter from London +to Otterbourne cost eightpence, and one from Winchester either threepence +or fourpence, one from Devonshire elevenpence, and this was paid not by +the sender, but by the receiver. It was reckoned impolite to prepay a +letter. Moreover, the letter had to be on a single sheet. The sheet +might be of any size that could be had, but it must be only one. A small +sheet enclosed within another, or the lightest thing, such as a lock of +hair or a feather, made it a double letter, for which double postage had +to be given. The usual custom was to write on quarto sheets twice the +size of what is used now, and, after filling three sides, to fold the +fourth, leaving a space for the direction and the seal, and then to write +on the flaps and in the space over "My dear ---," sometimes crossing the +writing till the whole letter was chequer work. For if the letter was to +cost the receiver so much, it seemed fair to let him get as much as +possible. Letters were almost always sealed, and it took neat and +practised hands to fold and seal them nicely, without awkward corners +sticking out. + +Newspapers, if folded so as to show the red Government stamp, went for a +penny, but nothing might be put into them, and not a word beyond the +address written on them. The reason of all this was that the cost of +carriage was then so great that it could only be made to answer by those +high rates, and by preventing everything but real letters and newspapers +from being thus taken. As Government then, as now, was at the expense of +postage, its own correspondence went free, and therefore all Members of +Parliament had the privilege of sending letters freely. They were +allowed to post eleven a day, which might contain as much as would weigh +an ounce, without charge, if they wrote the date at the top and their +name in the right hand corner. This was called franking, and plenty of +letters by no means on public business travelled in that way. + +There was no post office in Otterbourne till between 1836 and 1840; for, +of course there were few letters written or received, and thus it did not +seem to many persons worth while for village children to learn to write. +If they did go into service at a distance from home, their letters would +cost more than their friends could afford to pay. This was a sad thing, +and broke up and cut up families very much more than any distance does +now. It really is easier to keep up intercourse with a person in America +or even New Zealand now, than it was then with one in Scotland, +Northumberland, or Cornwall; for travelling was so expensive that visits +could seldom be made, and servants could not go to their homes unless +they were within such a short distance as to be able to travel by coach +or by carrier's cart, or even walking all the way, getting a cast now and +then by a cart. + +People who did not travel by coaches, or who went where there was no +coach, hired post-chaises, close carriages something like flies. Most +inns, where the coaches kept their horses, possessed a post-chaise, and +were licensed to let out post horses for hire. Most of the gentlefolks' +families kept a close carriage called a chariot, and, if they did not +keep horses of their own, took a pair of post-horses, one of which was +ridden by a man, who, whatever might be his age, was always called a post- +boy. Some inns dressed their post-boys in light blue jackets, some in +yellow ones, according to their politics, but the shape was always the +same; corduroy tights, top boots, and generally white (or rather drab- +coloured) hats. It used to be an amusement to watch whether the post-boy +would be a blue or a yellow one at each fresh stage. Hardly any one +knows what a post-boy was like now, far less an old-fashioned travelling +carriage or chariot and its boxes. + +The travelling carriage was generally yellow. It had two good seats +inside, and a double one had a second seat, where two persons sat +backwards. The cushion behind lifted up and disclosed a long narrow +recess called the swordcase, because, when there were highwaymen on the +roads, people kept their weapons there. There were sometimes two, +sometimes one seat outside, called the box and the dickey--much the +pleasantest places, for it was very easy to feel sick and giddy inside. A +curved splashboard went up from the bottom of the chariot to a level with +the window, and within it fitted what was called the cap box, with a +curved bottom, so that when in a house it had to be set down in a frame +to hold it upright. A big flat box, called the imperial, in which ladies +put their dresses, was on the top of the carriage, two more long, narrow +ones, generally used for shoes and linen, fitted under the seat, and +another square one was hung below the dickey at the back, and called the +drop box. Such a mischance has been known as, on an arrival, a servant +coming in with the remains of this black box between his arms, +saying--"Sir, should not this box have a bottom to it?" The chariot thus +carried plenty of goods, and was a sort of family home on a journey. To +go to Plymouth, which now can be done in six or seven hours, then +occupied two long days, halting for the night to sleep at an inn. + + + + +The Old Church + + +Some of us can still remember the old Church and the old Sunday habits +prevailing before 1830. The Churchyard was large and very pretty, though +ill kept, surrounded with a very open railing, and with the banks sloping +towards the water meadows clothed with fine elm trees--one with a large +and curious excrescence on the bark. There was a deep porch on the south +side of the Church, with seats on each side. Then, on red tiles, one +entered between two blocks of pews of old brown unpainted oak (their +doors are panels to the roof of the boys' school). In the space between +them were two or three low benches for the children. There were three +arches leading to the chancel, but that on the south side was closed by +the pulpit and reading desk, and that on the north by a square pew +belonging to Cranbury. Within the chancel on the north side was a large +pew lined with red, belonging to Cranbury, and on the south, first the +clerk's desk, then a narrow seat of the clergyman's, and then a large +square pew. Boys in the morning and men in the afternoon used to sit on +the benches placed outside these, and beyond was the rail shutting in the +Altar, which was covered with red cloth, and stood below a large window, +on each side of which were the Commandments in yellow letters on a blue +ground, and on the wall were painted the two texts, "The Cup of Blessing, +is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ?" and "The Bread which we +break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ?" The vestry was +built out to the north, and was entered from the sanctuary. + +Further space was provided by two galleries, one on the north side, +supported on iron poles, and entered from the outside by a step ladder +studded with large square-headed nails to prevent it from being slippery. +The other went across the west end, and was entered by a dark staircase +leading up behind the pews, which further led to the little square +weather-boarded tower containing two beautifully toned bells. These were +rung from the outer gallery where the men sat. There was a part boarded +off for the singers. The Font was nearly under the gallery. It was of +white marble, and still lines our present Font. Tradition says it was +given by a former clerk, perhaps Mr. Fidler, but there is no record of +it. An older and much ruder Font was hidden away under the gallery +stairs close to an old chest, where women sometimes found a seat, against +the west wall. + +In those days, now more than half a century ago, when Archdeacon +Heathcote was Vicar, he or his Curate used to ride over from Hursley on +Sunday for the service at Otterbourne. There was only one service, +alternately in the morning and afternoon, at half-past ten or at three, +or in the winter at half-past two. The time was not much fixed, for on a +new comer asking when the service would take place, the answer was "at +half-past two, sir, or at three, or else no time at all," by which was +meant no exact hour or half-hour. This uncertainty led to the bells +never being rung till the minister was seen turning the corner of Kiln- +lane, just where the large boulder stone used to be. The congregation +was, however, collecting, almost all the men in white smocks with +beautifully worked breasts and backs, the more well-to-do in velveteen; +the women in huge bonnets. The elder ones wore black silk or satin +bonnets, with high crowns and big fronts, the younger ones, straw with +ribbon crossed over, always with a bonnet cap under. A red cloak was the +regular old women's dress, or a black or blue one, and sometimes a square +shawl, folded so as to make a triangle, over a gown of stuff in winter, +print in summer. A blue printed cotton with white or yellow sprays was +the regular week day dress, and the poorest wore it on Sundays. The +little girls in the aisle had the like big coarse straw bonnets, with a +strip of glazed calico hemmed and crossed over for strings, round +tippets, and straight print frocks down to their feet. The boys were in +small smocks, of either white or green canvas, with fustian or corduroy +jackets or trowsers below, never cloth. Gloves and pocket handkerchiefs +were hardly known among the children, hardly an umbrella, far less +parasols or muffs. Ladies had pelisses for out-of-door wear, fitting +close like ulsters, but made of dark green or purple silk or merino, and +white worked dresses under them in summer. + +Well, the congregation got into Church--three families by the step ladder +to one gallery, and the men into another, where the front row squeezed +their knees through the rails and leant on the top bar, the rest of the +world in the pews, and the children on benches. The clerk was in his +desk behind the reading desk--good George Oxford, with his calm, good, +gentle face, and tall figure, sadly lame from rheumatism caught when +working in the brick kilns. His voice was always heard above the others +in the responses, but our congregation never had dropped the habit of +responding, and, though there was no chanting, the Amens and some of the +Versicles used to have a grand full musical sound peculiar to that +Church. People also all turned to the east for the Creed, few knelt, but +some of the elder men stood during the prayers, and, though there was far +too much _sitting down_ during the singing, every body got up and stood, +if "Hallelujah" occurred, as it often did in anthems. + +There were eight or ten singers, and they had a bassoon, a flute, and a +clarionet. They used to sing before the Communion Service in the +morning, after the Second Lesson in the afternoon, and before each +Sermon. Master Oxford had a good voice, and was wanted in the choir, so +as soon as the General Thanksgiving began, he started off from his seat, +and might be heard going the length of the nave, climbing the stairs, and +crossing the outer gallery. Sometimes he took his long stick with him, +and gave a good stripe across the straw bonnet of any particularly +naughty child. In the gallery he proclaimed--"Let us sing to the praise +and glory of God in the Psalm," then giving the first line. + +The Psalms were always from the New or Old Versions. A slate with the +number in chalk was also hung out--23 O.V., 112 N.V., as the case might +be. About four verses of each were sung, the last lines over and over +again, some very oddly divided. For instance-- + + "Shall fix the place where we must dwell, + The pride of Jacob, His delight," + +was sung thus:-- + + "The pride of Ja--the pride of Ja--the pride of Ja--" (at least three + times before the line was ended). + +But rough as these were, some of these Psalms were very dear to us all, +specially the old twenty-third:-- + + "My Shepherd is the living Lord, + Nothing, therefore, I need, + In pastures fair, by pleasant streams + He setteth me to feed. + + He shall convert and glad my soul, + And bring my soul in frame + To walk in paths of holiness, + For His most Holy Name. + + I pass the gloomy vale of death, + From fear and danger free; + For there His guiding rod and staff + Defend and comfort me." + +Another much-loved one was the 121st:-- + + "To Zion's hill I lift my eyes, + From thence expecting aid, + From Zion's hill and Zion's God, + Who heaven and earth hath made. + + Sheltered beneath the Almighty's wings, + Thou shall securely rest, + Where neither sun nor moon shall thee + By day nor night molest. + + Then thou, my soul, in safety rest, + Thy Guardian will not sleep, + His watchful care, that Israel guards, + Shall Israel's monarch keep. + + At home, abroad, in peace or war, + Thy God shall thee defend, + Conduct thee through life's pilgrimage, + Safe to thy journey's end." + +Will the sight of these lines bring back to any one the old tune, the old +sounds, the old sights of the whitewashed Church, and old John Green in +the gallery, singing with his bass voice, with all his might, his +eyebrows moving as he sung? And then the Commandments and Ante-Communion +read not from the Altar, but the desk; the surplice taken off in the desk +instead of the Vestry; Master Oxford's announcements shouted out from his +place, generally after the Second Lesson--"I hereby give notice that a +Vestry Meeting will be held on Tuesday, at twelve o'clock, to make a new +rate for the relief of the poo-oor." "I hereby give notice that Evening +Service will be at half-past two as long as the winter days are short." +Well, we should think these things odd now, and we have much to be +thankful for in the changes; but there were holy and faithful ones then, +and Master Oxford was one of them. + +In the days here described, from 1820 to 1827, few small villages had +anything but dame schools, and Otterbourne children, such as had any +schooling at all, were sent to Mrs. Yates's school on the hill, where she +sat, the very picture of the old-fashioned mistress, in her black silk +bonnet, with the children on benches before her, and her rod at hand. + +Several families, however, did not send the children to school at all, +and there were many who could not read, many more who could not write, +and there was very little religious teaching, except that in the Sunday +afternoons in Lent, the catechism was said in Church by the best +instructed children, but without any explanation. + +About the year 1819 Mrs. Bargus and her daughter came to live at +Otterbourne, and in 1822 Miss Bargus married William Crawley Yonge, who +had retired from the army, after serving in the Peninsula and at +Waterloo. Both Mr. and Mrs. Yonge had clergymen for their fathers, and +were used to think much of the welfare of their neighbours. It was not, +however, till 1823 that Mrs. Yonge saw her way to beginning a little +Sunday School for girls, teaching it all by herself, in a room by what is +now Mr. J. Misselbrook's house. While there was still only one Service +on Sundays, she kept the school on the vacant half of the day, reading +the Psalms and Lessons to the children, who were mostly biggish girls. +This was when Archdeacon Heathcote was the Vicar of Hursley and +Otterbourne, and the Rev. Robert Shuckburgh was his Curate. Archdeacon +and Mrs. Heathcote, who were most kind and liberal, gave every help and +assisted in setting up the Clothing Club. + +Mrs. Yonge's first list of Easter prizes contains twenty names of girls, +and the years that have passed have left but few of them here. A large +Bible bound in plain brown leather was the highest prize; Prayer Books, +equally unornamented, New Testaments, and Psalters, being books +containing only the Psalms and Matins and Evensong, were also given, and +were then, perhaps, more highly valued than the dainty little coloured +books every one now likes to have for Sunday. Then there were frocks, +coarse straw bonnets, and sometimes pocket handkerchiefs, for these were +not by any means such universal possessions as could be wished, and only +came out on Sunday. As to gloves, silk handkerchiefs, parasols, muffs, +or even umbrellas, the children thought them as much out of their reach +as a set of pearls or diamonds, but what was worse, their outer clothing +was very insufficent, seldom more than a thin cotton frock and tippet, +and the grey duffle cloaks, which were thought a great possession, were +both slight and scanty. + +About 1826, Mrs. Yonge was looking at the bit of waste land that had once +served as a roadway to the field at the back of Otterbourne House, when +she said, "How I wish I had money enough to build a school here." "Well," +said Mrs. Bargus, "You shall have what I can give." The amount was +small, but with it Mr. Yonge contrived to put up one room with two new +small ones at the back, built of mud rough cast, and with a brick floor, +except for the little bedroom being raised a step, and boarded. + +The schoolroom was intended to hold all the children who did not go to +Mrs. Yates, both boys and girls, and it was sufficient, for, in the first +place, nobody from Fryern-hill came. Mrs. Green had a separate little +school there. Then the age for going to school was supposed to be six. +If anyone sent a child younger, the fee was threepence instead of a +penny. The fee for learning writing and arithmetic was threepence, for +there was a general opinion that they were of little real use, and that +writing letters would waste time (as it sometimes certainly does). +Besides this, the eldest daughter of a family was always minding the +baby, and never went to school; and boys were put to do what their +mothers called "keeping a few birds" when very small indeed, while other +families were too rough to care about education so that the numbers were +seldom over thirty. + +There were no such people as trained mistresses then. The National +Society had a school for masters, but they were expensive and could only +be employed in large towns; so all that could be looked for was a kind, +motherly, good person who could read and do needlework well. And the +first mistress was Mrs. Creswick, a pleasant-looking person with a pale +face and dark eyes, who had been a servant at Archdeacon Heathcote's, and +had since had great troubles. She did teach the Catechism, reading, and +work when the children were tolerably good and obeyed her, but boys were +a great deal too much for her, and she had frail health, and such a bad +leg that she never could walk down the lane to the old Church. So, after +Sunday School, the children used to straggle down to Church without +anyone to look after them, and sit on the benches in the aisle and do +pretty much what they pleased, except when admonished by Master Oxford's +stick. + +Mr. Shuckburgh had by this time come to reside in the parish, in the +house which is now the post-office, and there was at last a double +Service on the Sunday. + +The next thing was to consider what was to be done about the boys, who +could not be made to mind Mrs. Creswick. A row of the biggest sat at the +back of the school, with their heels to the wall, and by constant kicking +had almost knocked a hole through the mud wall; so the Vicar, who was now +the Archdeacon's son, the Rev. Gilbert Wall Heathcote, gave permission +for the putting up another mud and rough cast school house near the old +Church, for the boys, in an empty part of the Churchyard to the north- +east, where no one had ever been buried. + +However, there Master Oxford was installed as schoolmaster, coming all +the way down from his house on the hill (a pretty-timbered cottage, now +pulled down). He and his boys had a long way to walk to their school, +but he taught them all he knew and set them a good example. The boys +were all supposed to go to him at six years old, and most were proud of +the promotion. One little fellow was known to go to bed an hour or two +earlier that he might be six years old the sooner! But some dreaded the +good order enforced by the stick. There was one boy in particular, who +had outgrown the girls' school, and was very troublesome there. He would +not go to the boys', and his mother would not make him, saying she feared +he would fall into the water. "Well," said Mrs. Bargus, who was a most +bright, kindly old lady of eighty, "I'll make him go." So she took a +large piece of yellow glazed calico intended for furniture lining, walked +up to school, and held it up to the little boy. She said she heard that +he would only go to the girls' school, and, since everybody went there in +petticoats, she had brought some stuff to make him a petticoat too! The +young man got up and walked straight off to the boys' school. + +Here are some verses, written by Mrs. Yonge in 1838, on one of the sights +that met her eye in the old Churchyard:-- + + While on the ear the solemn note + Of prayer and praises heavenward float, + A butterfly with brilliant wings + A lesson full of meaning brings, + A sermon to the eye. + + There on an infant's grave it stands, + For it hath burst the shroud's dull bands, + Its vile worm's body there is left, + Of gross earth's habits now bereft + It soars into the sky. + + Thus when the grave her dead shall give + The little form below shall live, + Clothed in a robe of dazzling white + Shall spring aloft on wings of light, + To realms above shall fly! + +Changes were setting in all this time. The rick-burnings, in which so +many foolish persons indulged, was going on in 1831 in many parts of +Hampshire. They were caused partly by dislike to the threshing machines +that were beginning to be used, and partly by the notion that such +disturbances would lead to the passing of the Reform Bill, which ignorant +men believed would give every poor man a fat pig in his stye. There was +no rick-burning here, though some of the villagers joined the bands of +men who wandered about the country demanding money and arms at the large +houses. But, happily, none of them were actually engaged in any +violence, and none of them swelled the calendar of the Special Assize +that took place at Winchester for the trial of the rioters. + +One poor maid-servant in the parish, from the North of Hampshire, had, +however, two brothers, who were intelligent men of some education, and +who, having been ringleaders, were both sentenced to death. The sentence +was, however, commuted to transportation for life. At Sydney, being of a +very different class from the ordinary convict, they prospered greatly, +and their letters were very interesting. They were wonderful feats of +penmanship, for postage from Australia was ruinously expensive, and they +filled sheets of paper with writing that could hardly be read without a +microscope. If we had those letters now they would be curious records of +the early days of the Colony, but all now recollected is the account of a +little kangaroo jumping into a hunter's open shirt, thinking it was his +mother's pouch. + +The Reform Bill, after all, when passed made no present difference in +Otterbourne life--nothing like the difference that a measure a few years +after effected, namely, the Poor-law Amendment Bill. Not many people +here remember the days of the old Poor-law, when whatever a pauper family +wanted was supplied from the rates, and thus an idle man often lived more +at his ease on other people's money than an industrious man on his own +earnings. It was held that if wages were small they might be helped out +of the rates, and thus the ratepayers were often ruined. In the midst of +the street stood the old Poorhouse. It had no governor nor anyone to see +that order was kept or work done there, and everybody that was homeless, +or lazy, or disreputable, drifted in there. They went in and out as they +pleased, and had a weekly allowance of money. Now and then there was a +great row among them. One room was inhabited by an old man named Strong, +who was considered a wonder because he ate adders cut up like eels and +stewed with a bit of bacon. Every now and then a message would come in +that old Strong had got a couple of nice adders and wanted a bit of bacon +to cook with them. Then there was a large family whose father never +worked for any one long together, and lived in the Workhouse, with a wife +and six or seven children, supported by the parish. These people were +pursuaded to go to Manchester, where there was sure to be work in the +factories for all their many girls. The men in receipt of parish pay +were supposed to have work found for them on the roads, but there was not +much of this to employ them, and as they were paid all the same whether +they worked or not, some were said to hammer the stones as if they were +afraid of hurting them, or to make the wheeling a couple of barrows of +chalk their whole day's work. + +A good deal depended on the vestry management of each parish, and there +was less of flagrant idleness supported by the rates here than at many +places. There was also a well-built and arranged Workhouse at Hursley, +and the Poor law Commissioners consented to make one small Union of +Hursley, Otterbourne, Farley, and Baddesley, instead of throwing them +into a large one. + +The discontinuance of out-door relief to help out the wages was a great +shock at first, but, when the ratepayers were no longer weighed down, +they could give more work and better wages, and the labourers thus +profited in the end, and likewise began to learn more independence. Still +the times were hard then. Few families could get on unless the mother as +well as the father did field work, and thus she had no time to attend +thoroughly to making home comfortable, mending the clothes, or taking +care of the little ones. The eldest girl was kept at home dragging about +with the baby, and often grew rough as well as ignorant, and the cottage +was often very little cared for. The notion of what was comfortable and +suitable was very different then. + +The country began to be intersected by railways, and the South-Western +line was marked out to Southampton. The course was dug out from Shawford +and Compton downs, and the embankment made along our valley. It was +curious to see the white line creeping on, as carts filled with chalk ran +from the diggings to the end, tipped over their contents, and returned +again. When the foundations were dug for the arch spanning the lane the +holes filled with water as fast as they were made, and nothing could be +done till the two long ditches had been dug to carry off the water to +Allbrook. In the course of making them in the light peaty earth, some +bones of animals and (I believe) stags' horns were found, but unluckily, +were thrown away, instead of being shown to anyone who would have made +out from them much of the history of the formation of the boggy earth +that forms the water meadows. + +{The Old Church, Otterbourne: p32.jpg} + +It is amusing to remember the kind of dread that was felt at first of +railway travelling. It was thought that the engines would blow up, and, +as an old coachman is reported to have said, "When a coach is overturned, +there you are; but when an engine blows up, where are you?" He certainly +was so far right that a coach accident was fatal to fewer persons than a +railway accident generally is. + +The railway passed so near the old Church that the noise of the trains +would be inconvenient on Sundays. At least, so thought those with +inexperienced ears, though many a Church has since been built much nearer +to the line. However, this fixed the purpose that had already been +forming, of endeavouring to build a new Church. The first idea had been +of trying to raise 300 pounds to enlarge the old Church, but the distance +from the greater part of the parish was so inconvenient, and the railroad +so near, that the building of a new Church was finally decided on. There +really was not room for the men and boys at the same time on the backless +forms they occupied between the pews in the chancel. Moreover, if a +person was found sitting in a place to which another held that he or she +had a right, the owner never thought of looking for another place +elsewhere, and the one who was turned out went away displeased, and +declared that it was impossible to come to church for fear of "being +upset." It is strange and sad that people are so prone to forget what +our Master told us about "taking the highest room," even in His own +House. + +But besides the want of accommodation, the old Church was at an +inconvenient distance from the parish. No doubt there had once been more +houses near, but when the cottage inhabited by old Aaron Chalk was pulled +down, nothing remained near but Otterbourne Farm and the Moat House. +Every one living elsewhere had to walk half a mile, some much more, and +though Kiln Lane was then much better shaded with fine trees than it is +now, it was hard work on a hot or wet Sunday to go twice. Some of us may +recollect one constant churchgoer, John Rogers, who was so lame as to +require two sticks to walk with, and had to set out an hour beforehand, +yet who seldom missed. + +Just at this time the Reverend John Keble became Vicar of Hursley, and +Otterbourne, and forwarded the plan of church building with all his +might. + +Few new churches had been built at that time, so that there was +everything to be learnt, while subscriptions were being collected from +every quarter. Magdalen College, at Oxford, gave the site as well as a +handsome subscription, and every endeavour was made to render the new +building truly church like. It was during the building that Dr. Rowth, +the President of Magdalen College, coming to hold his court at the Moat +House, had the model of the church brought out to him and took great +interest in it. He is worth remembering, for he was one of the wisest +and most learned men in Oxford, and he lived to be nearly a hundred years +old. Church building was a much more difficult thing then than it is +now, when there are many architects trained in the principles of church +building, and materials of all kinds are readily provided. + +The cross form was at once fixed on as most suitable; and the little bell +turret was copied from one at a place called Corston. Mr. Owen Carter, +an architect at Winchester, drew the plans, with the constant watching +and direction of Mr. Yonge, who attended to every detail. The white +stone, so fit for carving decorations, which had been used in the +Cathedral, is imported from Caen, in Normandy. None had been brought +over for many years, till a correspondence was opened with the people at +the quarries, and blocks bought for the reredos and font. Now it is +constantly used. + +The panels of the pulpit, with the carvings of the Blessed Virgin, and +the four Latin fathers, SS. Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the +Great, were found in a shop for antiquities in London. The shape was +adapted to a sounding board, which had been made for the Cathedral, but +was rejected there. The altar-rail also was found in a shop. It must +previously have been in a church, as it has the sacramental corn and +grapes. It is thought to be old Flemish work, and represents a prince on +one side with a crown laid down, as he kneels in devotion, and some +ladies on the opposite side. The crown is an Emperor's, and there is the +collar of the Golden Fleece round his neck, so that it is probably meant +for either the Emperor Maximilian or his grandson, Charles V. One of the +gentlemen kneeling behind the Emperor has a beautiful face of adoration. + +The building of the Church took about two years, the first stone being +laid at the north-east corner. It was begun on the 16th of May, 1837, +and it was ready for consecration on the 30th of July, 1839. The +building had been prosperous, the only accident being the crushing of a +thumb when the pulpit was set in its place. + +The new boys' school was built at the same time, the archway of the south +door of the old Church being used for the doorway, so as to preserve the +beautiful and peculiar decoration, and the roof was lined with the doors +and backs of the old oak-pewing. In the flints collected for the +building of this and of the wall round the churchyard there was a water +wagtail's nest in which a young cuckoo was reared, having, of course, +turned out the rightful nestling. Probably it flew safely, for the last +time it was seen its foster parents were luring it out with green +caterpillars held a little way from the nest. + +The expense of the building of the boys' school and of a new room for the +girls was defrayed chiefly by a bazaar held at Winchester. There were at +that time no Education Acts nor Government requirements, and the +buildings would be deemed entirely unfit at this time even for the +numbers who then used them, and who did not amount to more than between +thirty and forty boys and fifty or sixty girls and infants, together +about a third of the present numbers at school in Otterbourne and +Allbrook. Miss Tucker was then the mistress; Master Oxford still the +master. + +The Church was consecrated on the 30th of July, 1839, by Bishop Sumner, +who preached a sermon on the text, "No man careth for my soul," warning +us that we could not plead such an excuse for ourselves, if we neglected +to walk in the right way. + +One of the earliest funerals in the churchyard was that of good old +Oxford, old, as he was called, because he was crippled by rheumatism, but +he was only fifty-two. He lies buried near the south gate of the +churchyard under a large slate recording his name. + +He was followed in his office by Mr. William Stainer, who had hitherto +been known as a baker, living in the house which is now Mr. James +Godwin's. His bread was excellent, and he was also noted for what were +called Otterbourne buns, the art of making which seems to have gone with +him. They were small fair-complexioned buns, which stuck together in +parties of three, and when soaked, expanded to twice or three times their +former size. He used to send them once or twice a week to Winchester. +But though baking was his profession, he did much besides. He was a real +old-fashioned herbalist, and had a curious book on the virtues of plants, +and he made decoctions of many kinds, which he administered to those in +want of medicine. Before the Poor Law provided Union doctors, medical +advice, except at the hospital, was almost out of reach of the poor. Mr. +and Mrs. Yonge, like almost all other beneficent gentlefolks in villages, +kept a medicine chest and book, and doctored such cases as they could +venture on, and Mr. Stainer was in great favour as practitioner, as many +of our elder people can remember. He was exceedingly charitable and +kind, and ready to give his help so far as he could. He was a great +lover of flowers, and had contrived a sort of little greenhouse over the +great oven at the back of his house, and there he used to bring up lovely +geraniums and other flowers, which he sometimes sold. He was a deeply +religious and devout man, and during Master Oxford's illness took his +place in Church, which was more important when there was no choir and the +singers sat in the gallery. He was very happy in this office, moving +about on felt shoes that he might make no noise, and most reverently +keeping the Church clean and watching over it in every way. He also +continued in the post of schoolmaster, which at first he had only taken +temporarily, giving up part of his business to his nephew. But he still +sat up at night baking, and he also had other troubles: there was +insanity in his family, and he was much harassed. + +His kindness and simplicity were sometimes abused. He never had the +heart to refuse to lend money, or to deny bread on credit to hopeless +debtors; and altogether debts, distress, baking all night, and school +keeping all day, were too much for him. The first hint of an examination +of his school completed the mischief, and he died insane. It is a sad +story, but many of us will remember with affectionate regard the good, +kind, quaint, and most excellent little man. By that time our +schoolmistress was Mrs. Durndell, the policeman's wife, a severe woman, +but she certainly made the girls do thoroughly whatever she taught, +especially repetition and needlework. + +The examiner on religious subjects, Mr. Allen, afterwards an Archdeacon, +reported that the girls had an unusual knowledge of the text of +Scripture, but that he did not think them equally intelligent as to the +meaning. + +Daily Service had been commenced when the new Church was opened, and the +children of the schools attended it. There was also a much larger +congregation of old men than have ever come in later years. At one time +there were nine constantly there. One of these, named Passingham, who +used to ring the bell for matins and evensong, was said to have been the +strongest man in the parish, and to have carried two sacks of corn over +the common on the top of the hill in his youth. He was still a hearty +old man at eighty-six, when after ringing the bell one morning as usual, +he dropped down on the hill in a fit and died in a few seconds. + +There was not much change for a good many years. In 1846, the Parsonage +House was built and given to the living by Mr. Keble. The stained glass +of the south window of the Church was given by the Reverend John Yonge, +of Puslinch, Rector of Newton Ferrers, in Devonshire, in memory of his +youngest son, Edmund Charles, who died at Otterbourne House in 1847. +Thirteen years previously, in 1834, the eldest son, James Yonge, had +likewise died at Otterbourne House. Both the brothers lie buried here, +one in the old churchyard, one in the new. They are commemorated in +their own church at Newton by a tablet with the inscription--"What I do +thou knowest not now, but thou shall know hereafter." + +In 1834 their father gave what made, as it were the second foundation of +the Lending Library, for there were about four-and-twenty very serious +books, given in Archdeacon Heathcote's time, kept in the vestry at the +old Church. They looked as if they had been read but only by the elder +people who liked a grave book, and there was nothing there meant for the +young people. So there were a good many new books bought, and weekly +given out at the Penny Club, with more or less vigour, for the next +thirty years or so. + +The next public matter that greatly affected this place was the Crimean +War. It was a large proportion of our young men who were more or less +concerned in it. Captain Denzill Chamberlayne in the Cavalry, Lieut. +Julian B. Yonge, John Hawkins, Joseph Knight, James and William Mason, +and it was in the midst of the hurry and confusion of the departure that +the death of Mr. W. C. Yonge took place, February 26th, 1854. Three of +those above mentioned lived to return home. Captain Chamberlayne shared +in the famous charge of the Light Brigade, at Balaclava, when + + Into the jaws of death + Rode the six hundred: + Cannon to right of them, + Cannon to left of them, + Volleyed and thundered. + +His horse, Pimento, was killed under him, but he escaped without a wound, +and on his return home was drawn up to the house by the people, and had a +reception which made such an impression on the children that when one was +asked in school what a hero was, she answered, "Captain Chamberlayne." + +John Hawkins, Joseph Knight, and William Mason died in the Crimea. A +tablet to commemorate them was built into the wall of the churchyard, +with the text--"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth," +for the discipline of the army had been very good for these youths, and, +therefore, this verse was chosen for them by Mr. Keble. + +The next event that concerned the parish much was the death of the great +and holy man who had been our rector for thirty years. Mr. Keble died at +Bournemouth on the 29th of March, 1866. His manners and language were +always so simple, and his humility so great, that many of those who came +in contact with him never realized how great a man he was, not being able +to perceive that the very deepest thoughts might be clothed in the +plainest language. Some felt, in the words of the poem,-- + + "I came and saw, and having seen, + Weak heart! I drew offence + From thy prompt smile, thy humble mien, + Thy lowly diligence." + +But none who really knew him could fail to be impressed with the sense of +his power, his wisdom, his love, and, above all, his holiness; and his +_Christian Year_ will always be a fund of consolation, full of +suggestions of good and devotional thoughts and deeds. Mrs. Keble, who +was already very ill, followed him to her rest on the 11th of May. It +may be worth remembering that the last time she wrote her name was a +signature to a petition against licensing marriage with a deceased wife's +sister. + +Sir William Heathcote then appointed the Reverend James G. Young as Vicar +of Hursley and Otterbourne. A fresh tide of change began to set in. As +times altered and population increased, and as old things and people +passed away, there were various changes in the face of the village. The +Government requirements made it necessary to erect a new Girl's School, +and land was permanently secured for the purpose, and this was done +chiefly by subscription among the inhabitants, affording a room large +enough for parish meetings and lectures, as well as for its direct +purpose. The subscription was as a testimonial to the Rev. William Bigg- +Wither, who had been thirty years curate of the parish, and under whom +many of the changes for the better were worked out. The building was +provided with a tower, in case there should ever be a clock given to the +parish. + +The clock was given in a manner worthy of remembrance. Mr. William Pink, +as a thatcher, and his two sisters in service, had saved enough to +provide for their old age, and to leave a considerable overplus, out of +which the last survivor, Mrs. Elizabeth Pink, when passing away at a good +old age, bequeathed enough to provide the parish with the clock whose +voice has already become one of our most familiar sounds. + +Allbrook was by this time growing into a large hamlet, and a school +chapel was then built, chiefly by Mr. Wheeler. We must not forget that +we had for five years the great and excellent Samuel Wilberforce for our +Bishop, and that he twice held confirmations in our parish. No one can +forget the shock of his sudden call. One moment he was calling his +companion's attention to the notes of a late singing nightingale; the +next, his horse had stumbled and he was gone. It was remarkable that +shortly before he had, after going over the hospital, spoken with dread +of what he called the "humiliation of a lingering illness"--exactly what +he was spared. + +Bishop Harold Browne came from Ely to take the See of Winchester. He +reconsecrated our church when the chancel was enlarged and the new aisle +added. He carried on vigorously work only begun under Bishop +Wilberforce. Under him Diocesan Synods, the Girls' Friendly Society, and +the Examination of Senior Scholars in Religious Knowledge have all shown +his diligent oversight as Shepherd of the flock. + +In the year 1875 Sir William Heathcote succeeded in bringing about an +arrangement by which Otterbourne could be separated from Hursley and have +a Vicar of its own, the difference of income being made up to the Vicar +of Hursley. This was done by the aid of a munificent lady, Mrs. Gibbs, +the widow of one of the great merchant princes, whose wealth was always +treated as a trust from God. She became the patron of the living, and +the advowson remains in her family. + +The first Vicar was the Reverend Walter Francis Elgie, who had already +been six years curate, and had won the love and honour of all his flock. +Deeply did they all mourn him when it was God's will to take him from +them on the 25th of February, 1881, in the 43rd year of his age, after +ten years of zealous work. + +It was felt as remarkable that a young pupil teacher in consumption, whom +he had sent to the Home at Bournemouth, was taken on the same day, and +buried here the day after, and that the schoolmaster, Walter Fisher, a +man of gentle and saintly nature, followed him six weeks after. + + We left them in the Church's shade, + Our standard-bearer true, + And near at hand the gentle maid + Who well his guidance knew. + + He fainted in the noon of life, + Nor knew his victory won; + She was fresh girded for the strife, + Her battle scarce begun. + + Long had we known Death's angel hand + The maiden's brow had seal'd; + He fell, like chief of warrior band, + Struck down on battle-field. + + So in God's acre here they meet + As they have met above, + Tasting beneath their Saviour's feet + The treasures of His love. + + For what they learnt and taught of here + Is present with them there; + May we speed on in faith and fear, + Then heavenly rest to share. + +With the coming of our present Vicar, the Rev. H. W. Brock, our +Otterbourne story ends, as the times are no longer _old times_. The +water works for the supply of Southampton are our last novelty, by which +such of us benefit, as either themselves or their landlords pay a small +contribution. They have given us some red buildings at one end and on +the Hill a queer little round tower containing the staircase leading to +the underground reservoir, a wonderful construction of circles of brick +pillars and arches, as those remember who visited it before the water was +let in. And, verily, we may be thankful that our record has so few +events in it, no terrible disasters, but that there has been peace and +health and comfort, more than falls to the lot of many a parish. Truly +we may thankfully say, "The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground, yea, +I have a goodly heritage." + +{Birds on fence: p42.jpg} + + + + +Old Remembrances. + + +{Bridges over river: p43.jpg} + +I remember, I remember, + Old times at Otterbourne, +Before the building of the Church, + And when smock frocks were worn! + +I remember, I remember, + When railroads there were none, +When by stage coach at early dawn + The journey was begun. + +And through the turnpike roads till eve + Trotted the horses four, +With inside passengers and out + They carried near a score. + +"Red Rover" and the "Telegraph," + We knew them all by name, +And Mason's and the Oxford coach, + Full thirty of them came. + +The coachman wore his many capes, + The guard his bugle blew; +The horses were a gallant sight, + Dashing upon our view. + +I remember, I remember, + The posting days of old; +The yellow chariot lined with blue + And lace of colour gold. + +The post-boys' jackets blue or buff, + The inns upon the road; +The hills up which we used to walk + To lighten thus the load. + +The rattling up before the inn, + The horses led away, +The post-boy as he touched his hat + And came to ask his pay. + +The perch aloft upon the box, + Delightful for the view; +The turnpike gates whose keepers stood + Demanding each his due. + +I remember, I remember, + When ships were beauteous things, +The floating castles of the deep + Borne upon snow-white wings; + +Ere iron-clads and turret ships, + Ugly as evil dream, +Became the hideous progeny + Of iron and of steam. + +You crossed the Itchen ferry + All in an open boat, +Now, on a panting hissing bridge + You scarcely seem afloat. + +Southampton docks were sheets of mud, + Grim colliers at the quay. +No tramway, and no slender pier + To stretch into the sea. + +I remember, I remember, + Long years ere Rowland Hill, +When letters covered quarto sheets + Writ with a grey goose quill; + +Both hard to fold and hard to read, + Crossed to the scarlet seal; +Hardest of all to pay for ere + Their news they might reveal. + +No stamp with royal head was there, + But eightpence was the sum +For every letter, all alike, + That did from London come! + +I remember, I remember, + The mowing of the hay; +Scythes sweeping through the heavy grass + At breaking of the day. + +The haymakers in merry ranks + Tossing the swaths so sweet, +The haycocks tanning olive-brown + In glowing summer heat. + +The reapers 'mid the ruddy wheat, + The thumping of the flail, +The winnowing within the barn + By whirling round a sail. + +Long ere the whirr, and buz, and rush + Became a harvest sound, +Or monsters trailed their tails of spikes, + Or ploughed the fallow ground. + +Our sparks flew from the flint and steel, + No lucifers were known, +Snuffers with tallow candles came + To prune the wick o'ergrown. + +Hands did the work of engines then, + But now some new machine +Must hatch the eggs, and sew the seams, + And make the cakes, I ween. + +I remember, I remember, + The homely village school, +The dame with spelling book and rod, + The sceptre of her rule. + +A black silk bonnet on her head, + Buff kerchief on her neck, +With spectacles upon her nose, + And apron of blue check. + +Ah, then were no inspection days, + No standards then were known, +Children could freely make dirt pies, + And learning let alone! + +Those Sundays I remember too, + When Service there was one; +For living in the parish then + Of clergy there were none. + +And oh, I can recall to mind, + The Church and every pew; +William and Mary's royal arms + Hung up in fullest view. + +The lion smiling, with his tongue + Like a pug dog's hung out; +The unicorn with twisted horn + Brooding upon his rout. + +Exalted in the gallery high + The tuneful village choir, +With flute, bassoon, and clarionet, + Their notes rose high and higher. + +They shewed the number of the Psalm + In white upon a slate, +And many a time the last lines sung + Of Brady and of Tate. + +While far below upon the floor + Along the narrow aisle, +The children on then benches sat + Arranged in single file + +And there the clerk would stump along + And strike with echoing blow +Each idle guilty little head + That chattered loud or low. + +Ah! I remember many things, + Old middle-aged, and new; +Is the new better than the old, + More bright, more wise, more true? + +The old must ever pass away, + The new must still come in; +When these new things are old to you + Be they unstained by sin. + +So will their memory be sweet, + A treasury of bliss +To be borne with us in the days + When we their presence miss. + +Trifles connected with the love + Of many a vanished friend +Will thrill the heart and wake the sense, + For memory has no end! + +{Flowers: p46.jpg} + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIMES AT OTTERBOURNE*** + + +******* This file should be named 24651.txt or 24651.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/5/24651 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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