lEOM BOWNESS TO FURNESS ABBEY. 39 



perhaps^ somebody may have the good taste to 

 advise him to come at night when the glow from 

 the fires makes the thicket a scene of singular 

 wildness and charm. A sad story about a char- 

 coal-burner belongs to this neighbourhood. On 

 two farms lived families which were about to be 

 connected by marriage. The young lover was 

 a "coaler/^ — a charcoal-burner; and one stormy 

 day, M'hen he was watching his fire, and sitting on 

 a stone near to his hut to take his dinner, he was 

 struck dead by lightning. The poor crazed sur- 

 vivor, his Kitty Dawson, went to that hut after 

 the funeral, and would never leave it again. She 

 did nothing but sit on that stone, or call his name 

 through the wood. She was well cared for. There 

 was always food in the hut, and some kind eye 

 daily on the watch, — though with care not to 

 intrude. One day in winter, some sportsmen who 

 were passing took the opportunity of leaving some 

 provision in the hut. They became silent in ap- 

 proaching, and silenced their dogs. But she could 

 never more be disturbed. They found her dead. 



It is eight miles from Newby Bridge to the 

 cheerful little town of Ulverston, which is now 

 reached by the railway branching from the Lan- 

 caster and Carlisle Railway at Carnforth, and 

 crossing the estuary of the Kent, on the one side ; 

 while from Ulverston, the Whitehaven line fetches 

 a detour south, past Furness Abbey, to the mar- 

 gin of the sea. From Ulverston to Furness Abbey, 

 it is only six miles. 



There is a handsome and excellent inn, the Fur- 

 ness Abbey Hotel. The charges here are. moderate, 

 and the house has many attractions besides the first- 



