The Argosy — page 309: what you’re looking at

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

290 Among the Welsh. their abodes. ‘They might have been beauties once—they were so no longer; and as they gazed after the solitary wayfarer with great black faces under great black Welsh hats, it may be that they lost their hearts—they certainly received none in return. These doubtful beauties of the past gave place to the undoubted beauties of the present: those of nature, which, whether in youth or age, summer or winter, are unfailing. Here, as the path led upward and onward, the beauty grew wild, though not of a grand or severe type. Wooded hills almost met on either side, and a. mountain torrent ran its course over rocks and boulders, every now and then taking a leap, and becoming a miniature fall. Ferns grew in splendid profusion in dark nooks, and struggled out between the stones, refreshed and strengthened by the spray of the waters and the shade of the trees. Very lovely it must be in summer under the full blaze of the sun, which cannot penetrate into this retreat except in glints and snatches, adding laughter and warmth, as it were, to the music of the water: those lovely Songs-without-Words of Nature. To-day all the hills looked wild and solemn; a deep tone rested upon them, partly their own, partly borrowed from the tempestuous sky ; flying clouds and broken glimpses of blue that every here and there now began to struggle out for a moment, yielding their tribute of dark and light; shadows of varying degrees, yet without melan- choly. It did not take very long to exhaust the beauties of the Fairy glen _and return to the inn at Dwygyfylchi, in the parlour of which Jehu had made himself so comfortable, that he left it with evident reluctance. The remainder of the distance was quickly made. ‘The road was good, the scene picturesque. On the left, hills and passes ; hills one behind another, with lovely forms and outlines. On the right a bold, fine sea came in over the beach, in great rollers and angry waves, under the influence of the strong north-east wind. Approaching Pen- mznmawr, houses reposed here and there in sheltered nooks. Then the uneven street of the small town, and the post-office, where we halted to receive a budget of letters. | What pleasanter greeting than this, on arriving at a strange place? Next turning to the right, beyond the post-office, were the well-kept grounds of the Penmzenmawr Hotel, and we came to an anchor. One was quite willing todo so. You fall in love with the place from the very first moment of approach. Its situation—I speak of the whole of Penmznmawr, not only of the hotel—is well-favoured and romantic. ‘The air is bright and sparkling, and more bracing than that of many of the Welsh watering places. It is infinitely pleasanter than most of them. But it is small, and its resources are limited, compared with such towns as Rhyl and Llandudno. In return you have greater solitude and quietness, an infinite number of charming walks, many mountain excursions. ‘The hotel is splendidly situated, almost on the shore, but above the level of the sea. There is nothing between it GOmiGoooks7com