Haec vallis unuit olim sibi nomen ab herba Bekan, qua virtuit dulcis
   nune, tune sed acerbe; unde Domus nomen Bekangs-Gille claruit.

[Illustration:  FURNESS ABBEY]

Although my brother could repeat the first two rules in the Latin Grammar with their examples, one of which he said meant “The way to good manners is never too late,” he would not attempt the English translation of these Latin words.

We were the only visitors then at the abbey, no doubt owing to the bad state of the weather, and we were surprised at the extent and magnificence of the ruins and the ponderous walls and archways, with their fine ornamentations, impressive reminders of their past greatness.  In order to get a better view we mounted the adjoining hill, from which we could see a portion of the rising town of Barrow-in-Furness.  We returned by the footpath alongside the railway, and entered into conversation with a man who was standing on the line.  He informed us that he was the ganger, or foreman, over the plate-layers on the railway, and that at one time he had lived in Manchester.  He also said he had joined the Good Templars, who were making headway in Barrow-in-Furness, where he now resided.

Just before reaching the main road we were somewhat startled to see a railway train quite near the abbey ruins, and the thought of home, sweet home, accentuated by the rainy weather, came so strongly upon us that we asked ourselves the question, “Shall we give in and go home!” We were only the length of one county away, and about to make a long detour to avoid going near, yet here was the train waiting that would convey us thither.  What a temptation!  But for the circumstance that we had left our bags at Ulverston our story might have ended here.

Some of the streams over which we passed on our way were quite red in colour, and the puddles on the muddy roads were just like dark red paint, indicating the presence of iron ore.  We saw several miners, who told us that they got the ore (known as haematite, or iron oxide) at a depth of from 90 to 100 yards, working by candle-light, and that they received about 2s. 6d. per ton as the product of their labour.  The ore, it seemed, filled up large cavities in the mountain limestone.  It was about one o’clock by the time we reached Ulverston again, and we were quite ready for the good lunch which had been prepared for us.

[Illustration:  THE NORTH TRANSEPT, FURNESS ABBEY.]

Leaving Ulverston, we passed the old parish church and entered a picturesque footpath quite appropriately named the Lover’s Walk and covered with fine trees, through which we had glimpses of Morecambe Bay; but the lovers had been either driven away by the rain or we were too early in the day for them to take their walks abroad.  We mounted the Hoad Hill to inspect a lofty monument which had been erected on the top in the year 1850, in memory of Sir John Barrow.  Sir John, the founder of the great works at Barrow-in-Furness