Thames Valley Villages (Complete)

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Thames Valley Villages (Complete) by Charles George Harper, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Charles George Harper ISBN: 9781465622181
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Charles George Harper
ISBN: 9781465622181
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English

The Thames we all know intimately, for the river was discovered by the holiday-maker in the ’seventies of the nineteenth century; but we do not all know the villages of the Thames Valley, and it was partly to satisfy a long-cherished curiosity on this point, and partly to make holiday in some of the little-known nooks yet remaining, that this tour was undertaken. To one who lives, or exists, or resides—the reader is invited to choose his own epithet—beside the lower Thames, there must needs at times come a longing to know that upper stream whence these mighty waters originate, to find that fount where “Father Thames” starts forth in hesitating, infantile fashion; to seek that spot where the stream, instead of flowing, merely trickles. To such an one there comes, with every recurrent spring, the longing to penetrate to the Beyond, away past where the towns and villages, the water-works and breweries cluster thickly beside the river-banks; above the town of Reading, the Biscuit Town, and town of sauce and seeds; beyond the fashionable summer scene of Henley Regatta, and past the city of Oxford, to the Upper River and its unconventionalised life. When spring comes and wakes the meadows with delight, and the osiers and the rushes again feel life stirring in their dank roots, the old schoolboy feeling of curiosity, of mystery, of a desire for exploration, springs anew. You walk down, it may be, to some slipway or draw-dock by Richmond or Teddington, or wander along those shores contemplating the high-water-marks left by the late winter floods, which not even the elaborate locking of the river seems able to prevent; and observing the curious line of refuse of every description brought down by the waters, and now left, high and dry, a matted mass of broken rushes, water weeds, twigs, string and the like, marvel at the wealth of corks that displays itself there. Children have been known to make expedition towards the distant hills, seeking that place where the rainbow touches the ground; for the sly old legend tells us that on the spot where the glorious bow meets the earth there lies buried a crock of gold. An equally speculative quest would be to fare forth and seek the Place whence the Corks Come. There (not for children, but for “grown-ups”) should be, you think, the Land of Heart’s Desire.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Thames we all know intimately, for the river was discovered by the holiday-maker in the ’seventies of the nineteenth century; but we do not all know the villages of the Thames Valley, and it was partly to satisfy a long-cherished curiosity on this point, and partly to make holiday in some of the little-known nooks yet remaining, that this tour was undertaken. To one who lives, or exists, or resides—the reader is invited to choose his own epithet—beside the lower Thames, there must needs at times come a longing to know that upper stream whence these mighty waters originate, to find that fount where “Father Thames” starts forth in hesitating, infantile fashion; to seek that spot where the stream, instead of flowing, merely trickles. To such an one there comes, with every recurrent spring, the longing to penetrate to the Beyond, away past where the towns and villages, the water-works and breweries cluster thickly beside the river-banks; above the town of Reading, the Biscuit Town, and town of sauce and seeds; beyond the fashionable summer scene of Henley Regatta, and past the city of Oxford, to the Upper River and its unconventionalised life. When spring comes and wakes the meadows with delight, and the osiers and the rushes again feel life stirring in their dank roots, the old schoolboy feeling of curiosity, of mystery, of a desire for exploration, springs anew. You walk down, it may be, to some slipway or draw-dock by Richmond or Teddington, or wander along those shores contemplating the high-water-marks left by the late winter floods, which not even the elaborate locking of the river seems able to prevent; and observing the curious line of refuse of every description brought down by the waters, and now left, high and dry, a matted mass of broken rushes, water weeds, twigs, string and the like, marvel at the wealth of corks that displays itself there. Children have been known to make expedition towards the distant hills, seeking that place where the rainbow touches the ground; for the sly old legend tells us that on the spot where the glorious bow meets the earth there lies buried a crock of gold. An equally speculative quest would be to fare forth and seek the Place whence the Corks Come. There (not for children, but for “grown-ups”) should be, you think, the Land of Heart’s Desire.

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book The Cross in Ritual, Architecture and Art by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use It by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Evolution of the Dragon by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, France and England in North America by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The South American Republics (Complete) by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Most Interesting Stories of all Nations: Real Life by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book Henry Smeaton: A Jacobite Story of the Reign of George the First by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Guinea Stamp: A Tale of Modern Glasgow by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Eskimo of Siberia by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book A New Witness for God (Complete) by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Minute Man of the Frontier by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Passing of the Great Queen by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Imaginary Marriage by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book The Footlights Fore and Aft by Charles George Harper
Cover of the book Bell's Cathedrals: The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield. A Short History of the Foundation and a Description of the Fabric and also of the Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less by Charles George Harper
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy