A DESCRIPTION OF MOSBROUGH.

A Mosbrough Man will have to travel many miles from home before he can find another village equal to his own for beauty of situation, the grandeur of its aspects, the healthfulness of its climate, or the convenience of its streets. I fancy I can hear some of my fellow villagers saying to themselves, "I think the scribe is exaggerating." Not in the least. What I say I believe to be the unvarnished truth. I hope none of you will be offended by what I am about to say. I believe there are scores, nay hundreds of Mosbro’ people who, as regards their native village, have eyes and see not, ears have they but they hear not, neither do they understand. I myself was once in the same ignorant condition, but by going to live in different parts of the country my eyes have been opened and I now know have to appreciate its beauties and blessings. We must all be deprived of the blessings we enjoy ere we can estimate them at their proper value.

Now, let me speak of its qualities singly. First,—its situation. It has a high elevation, being situated on a hill and an elevated hollow, between this said hill and another, which shelters it from the cold winds of the North-west and North. On the South is a lovely deep ravine, overhung by steep precipices, which are for the most part covered with woods containing lofty forest trees. Through it flows the Moss Brook, tracing its way for the most part through thick woods, and seeming to say in the words of Tennyson,

"I come from haunts of coot and hen,

I make a sudden sally,

And sparkle out amongst the fern,

To bicker down the valley.

* * * *

I clatter over stony ways

In little sharps and trebles;

I bubble into eddying bays,

I babble on the pebbles."

There is not such a lovely and romantic glen to be found for miles round. Here in summer time it is most pleasant to wander, and cull the wild flowers in all their variegated colours, or gather herbs, of which God has here given a great choice; for here grows the foxglove, wood betony, burdock, wood sage, yarrow, and hundreds more, each worth more than it's weight in gold to some people. There are many people, however, who choose rather to go to a doctor on trifling occasions, and pay dearly for their medicine, than be at the trouble to take what God has most freely given for the service of his creatures. On the East side extends the Rother Vale, with its hundreds of highly cultivated fields. To the river Rother the disciples of Isaac Walton, of whom there are a good sprinkling in Mosbro’, betake themselves in pursuit of their gentle craft, catching the finny tribes. Part of the West side is exposed to the healthy breezes which blow from off the Western hills.

Second,—Its aspects. Where is there a grander sight than can be got from Owlthorpe in the North of the village ? Hence, there is a view of the country, stretching from Scholes’ Keppell's Column in the North, to Hardwick hall in the South, a distance of not less that thirty miles. When I say view, I do not mean such a view as you would have in Linconshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, or other flat counties. A Lincolnshire man living twelve miles away from Lincoln, might get on a load of hay and say, " I can see Lincoln Cathedral,’’ and yet be able to see but little or none of the intervening country. Here we can look on almost every rood of land in fields for miles round, and see the ploughman at work ; or, if we take a telescope, we can see the tombstones in many of the churchyards, in the villages near by, or the ladies enjoying themselves on the lawns in front of the halls ; in feet, it is almost as good as a bird’s eye view. There are no less than seventeen churches to be seen from this standpoint, viz: Rawmarsh, Rotherham (parish), Treeton, Catcliffe, Handsworth, Beighton, Ashton, Todwick, Haughton, Laughton-en-le-Morthen, Killamarsh, Harthill, Spinkhill, Barlbrough, Bolsover, Staveley, Chesterfield (parish). From the brow " we may look Westward over Troway, Coal Aston, Dronfield Woodhouse, and Holmesfield ; and Eastward as far as Laughton-en-le-Morthen, a distance of not less than twenty miles. There are equally charming views from Mosbro’ hall and West Mosbro.’

Third,—the salubrity of its climate. Very little foggy weather prevails in Mosbro’ proper, as distinguished from Holbrook, which is part of the township. Often we enjoy bright sunshine, when the lowlands are enveloped in mist. The air is bracing and pure, the wind blowing from off the Western hills during the greater part of the year.

Fourth the convenience of its streets. The village is so laid out, that a man, leaving his house for a stroll through it, can take either a short walk or a long one, and not have to retrace his steps. All the streets are main streets; there are no back slums; and as for promenades and esplanades, I have not seen such a prominent and delightful road in any village as the road round the verge of Primrose Hill, and that is saying a good deal, for I have been in hundreds of villages. The worst fault about it is that the hill slope is not better preserved.

Such is a poor description of Mosbro’, for my readers must know by this time that I am not an eloquent writer.