XIX. 

 ABOUT WOOLER. 



WOOLER is the centre of a world of its own. It is, as 

 it were, the queen of its four streams which, so to 

 speak, knit themselves about it, and look on it from 

 near and far as their presiding and tutelary patron. 

 At its feet the Wooler Water, flowing gracefully on ; 

 further off, the Beaumont and the College streams that 

 wind down to meet and form The Glen, one of the 

 most delightfully wooded and most picturesque of 

 Northumbrian streams. I had come to Wooler from 

 Warkworth, and reached it rather late in the evening, 

 for some of the trains on that line are not only slow, 

 but apt to be rather behind time, and it was too dark 

 to see much that night. But as I took a turn, and 

 picked my way along at the risk of a fall, I could see 

 that the place was pretty, and had a character of its 

 own. But more than this was not possible then. I 

 put up at the delightful Tankerville Arms (locally called 

 " The Cottage Hotel "), which combines in very truth 

 the character of a cottage with that of a town hotel. 

 You are served in a hearty and homely way, for Mr. 

 and Mrs. Aitchison are the true old-fashioned host and 

 hostess; and you soon find that the inn has many 

 memorials of famous fishermen who have made head- 

 quarters there, returning to it again and again, as 

 though it were to them a kind of second home. It 



