DOI article:
Grahame, Kenneth: The roman road
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21215#0217
By Kenneth Grahame 213
twice a year we went to have our hair cut; hence, in the result,
Vespasian's amphitheatre was approached by muddy little streets,
wherein the Red Lion and the Blue Boar, with Somebody's Entire
along their front, and " Commercial Room " 011 their windows ;
the doctor's house, of substantial red-brick ; and the facade of the
new Wesleyan chapel, which we thoughi. very fine, were the
chief architectual Ornaments : while the Roman populace pottered
about in smocks and corduroys, twistingthe tailsof Roman calves
and inviting each other to beer in musical Wessex. From Rome
I drifted on to other cities, dimly heard of—Damascus, Brighton,
(Aunt Eliza's ideal), Athens, and Glasgow, whose glories the
gardener sang ; but there was a certain sameness in my conception
of all of them : that Wesleyan chapel would keep cropping up
everywhere. It was easier to go a-building among those dream-
cities where no limitations were imposed, and one was sole
architect, with a free hand. Down a delectable street of cloud-
built palaces I was mentally pacing, when I happened upon
the Artist.
He was seated at work by the roadside, at a point whence the
cool large spaces of the downs, juniper-studded, swept grandly west-
wards. His attributes proclaimed him of the artist tribe : besides,
he wore knickerbockers like myself. I knew I was not to bother
him with questions, nor look over his Shoulder and breathe in his
ear—they didn't like it, this gemis irritabile ; but there was nothing
about staring in my code of instructions, the point having somehow
been overlooked : so, squatting down on the grass, I devoted myself
to a passionate absorbing of every detail. At the end of five
minutes there was not a button on him that I could not have
passed an examination in ; and the wearer himself of that home-
spun suit was probably less familiär with its pattern and texture
than I was. Once he looked up, nodded, half held out his tobacco
pouch
twice a year we went to have our hair cut; hence, in the result,
Vespasian's amphitheatre was approached by muddy little streets,
wherein the Red Lion and the Blue Boar, with Somebody's Entire
along their front, and " Commercial Room " 011 their windows ;
the doctor's house, of substantial red-brick ; and the facade of the
new Wesleyan chapel, which we thoughi. very fine, were the
chief architectual Ornaments : while the Roman populace pottered
about in smocks and corduroys, twistingthe tailsof Roman calves
and inviting each other to beer in musical Wessex. From Rome
I drifted on to other cities, dimly heard of—Damascus, Brighton,
(Aunt Eliza's ideal), Athens, and Glasgow, whose glories the
gardener sang ; but there was a certain sameness in my conception
of all of them : that Wesleyan chapel would keep cropping up
everywhere. It was easier to go a-building among those dream-
cities where no limitations were imposed, and one was sole
architect, with a free hand. Down a delectable street of cloud-
built palaces I was mentally pacing, when I happened upon
the Artist.
He was seated at work by the roadside, at a point whence the
cool large spaces of the downs, juniper-studded, swept grandly west-
wards. His attributes proclaimed him of the artist tribe : besides,
he wore knickerbockers like myself. I knew I was not to bother
him with questions, nor look over his Shoulder and breathe in his
ear—they didn't like it, this gemis irritabile ; but there was nothing
about staring in my code of instructions, the point having somehow
been overlooked : so, squatting down on the grass, I devoted myself
to a passionate absorbing of every detail. At the end of five
minutes there was not a button on him that I could not have
passed an examination in ; and the wearer himself of that home-
spun suit was probably less familiär with its pattern and texture
than I was. Once he looked up, nodded, half held out his tobacco
pouch