ntertainments and deliberative
proceedings of grave moment arranged for the elder portion of the
great congregation. While groups of blushing lads and lasses are
hunting the handkerchief in the hustle and tussle of the ring under
the great, solemn elms, a scene may be witnessed on the lawn nearer
the mansion that ought to have been painted long ago. Two or three
double-horse wagons are ranged end to end in the shade, and planks
are placed along from one end to the other, making a continuous seat
for a score or two of orators. In front of this dozen-wheeled
tribune rows of seats, capable of holding several hundred persons,
are arranged within hearing distance. When these are filled and
surrounded by a standing wall of men and women, three or four deep,
and when the orators of the day ascend over the wheels to the long
wagon-seat, you have a scene and an assembly the like of which you
find nowhere else in Christendom. No Saxon parliament of the
Heptarchy could "hold a candle to it." Never, in any age or country
of free speech, did individual ideas, idiosyncrasies, and liberty of
conscience have freer scope and play. Never did all the isms of
philanthropy, politics, or of social and moral reform generally have
such a harmonious trysting time of it. Never was there a platform
erected for discussing things local and general so catholic as the
one now resting upon the wheels of those farm wagons. Every year
the bland and venerable host succeeds in widening the area of
debate. I was invited to be present at the Festival this year, but
was too far on the road to John O'Groat's to participate in a
pleasure I have often enjoyed. But I read his resume of the year's
doings, aspects and prospects from Japan to Hudson's Bay with lively
interest and valuable instruction. He seldom presides himself as
chairman, but leaves that post of honor to be filled, if possible,
by the citizen of some foreign country, if he can speak English
tolerably. This gives a more cosmopolitan aspect to the assembly.
But he himself always makes what in Parliament would be called "a
financial statement," without the reference to money matters. He
sums up the significance of all the great events of the year,
bearing upon human progress in general, and upon each specific
enterprise in particular. With palatial mansions, parks, and farms
great and small, scattered through several counties, he is the
greatest radical in England. He distances the C