Public-domain ebook
A Cathedral Courtship
Language: en2,320 downloads on Project Gutenberg
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #25493.
About this book
A Cathedral Courtship is a light‑hearted turn‑of‑the‑century romance that follows the American young woman Kitty Schuyler on a prescribed tour of England’s great cathedrals. The narrative opens with Kitty’s aunt, a fervent High‑Church devotee, dictating an “iron itinerary” that strings together Winchester, Salisbury, Bath and a host of other historic sites. As Kitty records her impressions in a gold‑lettered notebook, the story interweaves her observations of English customs, a flirtation with a Boston‑born sketch‑artist, and the comic mishaps that arise when a well‑meaning aunt’s bag spills its contents onto a cathedral floor. The opening scenes establish a framework of travel, cultural contrast, and the gentle teasing of courtship that will unfold amid the vaulted aisles and genteel hotel dining rooms.
The prose is unmistakably Victorian, marked by a polished, slightly ornamental diction and a narrator who frequently comments on her own sentimentality. Illustrations by Charles E. Brock originally accompanied the text, reinforcing its genteel, picture‑book quality. Readers who enjoy witty travel sketches, modest romantic intrigue, and a glimpse into 19th‑century American perspectives on English ecclesiastical life will find this charming, episodic tale an engaging companion.
Characters in A Cathedral Courtship
- Kitty SchuylerYoung American woman in late‑19th‑century travel dress, straw hat, dark hair, holding a gold‑lettered notebook
The opening · free to read
_'A Cathedral Courtship' was first published in 1893, appearing in a volume with 'Penelope's English Experiences.' In course of time, the latter story, finding unexpected favour in the public eyes, left its modest companion, and was promoted to a separate existence, with pictures and covers of its own. Then something rather curious occurred, one of those trifles which serve to make a publisher's life an exciting, if not a happy, one. When the 'gentle reader' (bless his or her warm and irrational heart!) could no longer buy 'A Cathedral Courtship,' a new desire for it sprang into being, and when the demands became sufficiently ardent and numerous, it was decided to republish the story, with illustrations by Mr. Charles E. Brock, an artist who can be relied upon to put new energy into a live tale or resuscitate a dead one.
At this point the author, having presumably grown in knowledge of grammar, spelling, and punctuation, was asked to revise the text, and being confronted with the printed page, was overcome by the temptation to add now and then a sentence, line, or paragraph, while the charming shade of Miss Kitty Schuyler perched on every exclamation point, begging permission to say a trifle, just a trifle, more.
'You might allow me to explain myself just there,' she coaxed; 'and if you have told them all I was supposed to be thinking in Winchester or Salisbury or Oxford, why not tell them what I thought in Bath or Peterborough or Ely? It was awfully interesting!'
Jack Copley, too, clamoured to be heard still further on the subject of his true-love's charms, so the author yielded to this twofold pressure, and added a few corroborative details.
The little courtship, running its placid course through sleepy cathedral towns, has not been altered in the least by these new pages. It is only as if the story-teller, meeting a new pair of interested eyes, had almost unconsciously drifted into fresh confidences._
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN.
This is all quite true, and anyway we have said nothing that we are a bit ashamed of.
KITTY SCHUYLER.
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