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ION (JEE eee eee eee Lae clawes KRiVER PAN TRATION BELT — lt ae ES SEE SSS ee 7 zel with the monotone of the minister, he would drift away upon the wings of sleep. In this old church, as in the garden, one’s thoughts go back into the storied past and recall the days when the great landowners worshipped there. Some rolled up in great six-horsed coaches with servants and outriders; others came from up and down the river in pirogue or pinnace or sloop; the more humble yeomen rode up on horseback, their dames upon pillions behind. The plain little church must have been gay with bright silks and satins, plumed headgear and jeweled fans, brilliantly-flowered waistcoats and pompous wigs. Many of the old gentry sleep under the mouldering slabs in the graveyard. ‘The earliest date is that of 1637, in which year the first church was erected. The tomb of Evelyn Byrd is kept from disintegration by iron bands. Yet the church yard is no place of gloom; it is more like a garden than a cemetery. All that man could select, all that Nature can give, has contributed to make the Westover garden a bower of fragrant beauty. But it is neither the flowers, nor the trees, nor the shrubs that most touch the heart which is tuned to ancient memories. Io dream of these, there is no more fitting place, where, as the old verse, so often used on sun-dials in England, has it: “With the song of the birds for pardon, And the joy of the flowers for mirth, One is nearer Gods heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth !" SHERRARD WILLCOX POLLARD. [53]
