The Argosy — page 203: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

189 HOW IT HAPPENED. By NARISsA ROSAVO, Author of “ Polly.” EDCHESTER was, in old days, a fashionable sea-side town. It is now chiefly peopled by persons concerned in the fishing trade, which prospers here: by the male and female scholars and teachers and scholars of two large educational establishments called respectively the College and the Academy: and by some ever-varying detachment of troops. The place is too large for these inhabitants, and only looks as lively as it ought on market-days, when visitors crowd in from the surrounding country districts. We might have many permanent summer guests here, if only there were any railway stations near at hand, but there are not; and so the grand old squares of houses in the upper part of the town are mouldering away, and falling into ruins. We have to travel ten miles by coach, cab, or waggon, as the case may be, to reach the junction, in order to proceed thence to the city of Weston or elsewhere ; and this is thé nearest spot from which we can commence a journey by train. Redchester is divided into districts. All the upper part is appro- * priately termed “ Look-out,” as it commands an extensive view of the ocean and harbour, which is continually gay with home and foreign boats and small vessels. Up above here there is a pretty tree-enclosed square, where the shopkeepers promenade on certain evenings in summer and listen to the band playing; and where the young people sometimes amuse themselves at croquet. The assembly-rooms and billiard-hall overlook this. The barracks are near at hand ; and then, a little further on, stands our very old-fashioned and somewhat clumsy- looking church, which is rich in strange monuments and weird legends. Look-out also boasts of a large monastery within its precincts. This is inhabited by some foreign order of monks, who go about bare- headed, and wear long grey gowns, gathered in at the waist by coarse ropes. Down below, Redchester is intersected by a wide river, emptying itself into the ocean. Two bridges cross this, and one of these is dilapidated and shadowed over by tall trees. The districts they connect are termed Old and New Town: and in both an odour of fish, in every stage of preservation and decay, is universally prevalent. The Academy, before mentioned, is in the latter division. It is, in part, a charitable institution, and there are consequently strict rules laid down concerning the attire of the pupils. Girls of all ages, from ten to thirty, can receive an excellent education here, fitting ‘them comicbooks.com