Show nm n i MoTHER AND AND JACK J ACK 1 i raRE RE It not that they were so 50 soY Y t VV to A J wide aPart writes Norman Normaa t Lennew In Great Thoughts an anh ansh sh h publication it WO would ld be no noa not nota l a bad way of spending a few days r leisure for those on holiday bent 1 o t ts s t out to view the different different spots t tt t our U un Ia land d which still tm stand as the thu ls of some o ot at pur our most famous I nur tales I i surprising Sing how O few people I I h t any y Idea that tha ne nearly l all these oh oU r. r t 7 tales hale haje a a a- areal real foundation I J and hist history ry and still ill more surprising how Ze few folk have this tha f r t that t. t the Pl places S f the h houses us 3 J v which gave ve them b r. r 1 eyen cven to-d to day to-day seeth often b be seen seeri x f. f f c rom Cherrington Manor the o J pretty black and white timbered survIval survival survival sur sur- vival in we got the famous story of The House That Jack Built Cherrington Manor was erected somewhere somewhere somewhere some some- where about 1635 and less less less' than five ty-five years ago was still surrounded by y r the celebrated moat which doubtless doubt doubt- less was less I was the home of the rats whose renown in connection with the story is hardly less than that of Jack himself him him- self There too close beside the tho moat is the very vory old Malt House which at once gives the clew to th the rat which ate the malt lines of the tale I According to local tradition Cherrington Cher Cher- rington Manor anor was renowned through long decades for its noted breed of or cats which were much sought after as s. s rat catchers by farmers whose buildings were infested by those vermin ver ver- mm min and there can hardly be a doubt that these cats were descendants of the cat which figures so prominently in the story As you gaze on CherrIngton Cher Cher- rIngton Manor to-day to with its lovely lawns and old trees Its splendid preservation preservation preservation pres pres- from the thc Stuart era and see sea seethe tho the beautiful cows with the crumpled horns lying In ill the rich fields beside it every feature of the fine old nursery tale seems there again brought to life Ufe specially for tor your benefit Another favorite tramp trump of mine when near Thetford In Ia Norfolk was to see Merton Hall one of the seats 0 oi of Lord Walsingham With what awe and yet with what keen enjoyment and Interest I first gazed on this grand old relic of bygone days I stood richt right In front of ot that wondrous house so often seen in childhoods childhood's fancy as asI asT asT T I listened at my mothers mother's knee to enthralling story of The Babes in the Wood For Merton Hall was the scene of their sad adventure There not far away from the ho se still J stands that hat memorable wo wood wooI l' l where whore 0 a The robins so red when they saw them lie He dead Brought strawberry leaves and over them spread and local wiseacres yet proclaim that the ghosts of the b babies bles can be seen on one particular night of the year in this wood While it is certainly curious but nevertheless true until recent recent recent re re- re- re cent days a stuffed redbreast W was usually given by the host to every visitor at Merton Hall as a memento of the entrancing but striking awe-striking nursery story It wa wag the inclusion 0 of the tale among of Ancient Poetry which first set tho the story going as a nursery one of the finest description Strolling down in that corner of which h lies beyond Glas- Glas and Wells I came camo in due course to Fromme and so to Mells And in the rich valley where Mells Mella lies I had hall a fine view of the old house i i's s 1 01 RE It LAL C CH HAItA l h V OJ lU and large estates of that historic and ancient family the Homers Horners where still resides Sir John Horner Homer Bart lineal descendant of the far more celebrated celebrated celebrated cele cele- Little Jack Horner Homer of centuries past That same Jack Horner Homer himself lived at Mells and when the magnificent magnificent magnificent cent abbey of Glastonbury and th the tho church possessions of Wells were vere being being being be be- ing despoiled and torn tonn away by the minions of King Henry Henly VIII the said greedy John Horner Homer of or Mells re resolved resolved resolved re- re solved not to miss such a glorious a and d unique opportunity put in his thumb and too tool took out a plum as the story Tery wittily and significantly puts it It Is interesting to know that the original copy of the rhyme Is still preserved d and intact in the Library y at t Oxford and that in it certain certain tam tain other and notable deeds of the worthy Jack are narrated for forthe forthe the tue benefit of or posterity i t It is safe to say aay ay Mr Ir that English people gen generally rally have never heard either cither of Tho Manor Yealmpton South Devon or of John P. P Bastard M. M P. P who was the squire there at the end of the eighteenth century century cen ecu tury tory and also Lord of the Manor Kit Kit- ley Icy It ft was here that there lived the famous famous' Old Mother Hubbard This This' good woman was in reality the housekeeper housekeeper housekeeper house house- keeper to the said John P. P Ba Bastard tard a athis at this stately home of England and she was a curious character in more ways that one Down in Devonshire Street Lendon London Lon Len don there lived a printer called Thomas Thom Thom- as Fleet who married a young woman who br brought her mother to live with them This good lady got on quite well with her son law and when the first first child was born she was so delighted delighted delighted de de- de- de lighted that she used to croon to t it Hall tall all the nursery tales she could re ro f member 0 Thomas who ha had a business 4 h men came early to the conchi Fran that if these tales and sc so aile I lighted his own child they would D. D c please the children of ot oth Itt So he lie collected them the Ch Cha and as her real name was Mrs l in in the parlance of those tI t del delin I Mother Goose he Goose he Issued them ii GI Is small volume with the he title of of Mo Mo O I II th Gooses Goose's Tales 80 o br |