Soldan High School - Scrip Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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p1an showman welded together thxs Group of some thirty odd human bemgs as m1ght a skllled stage manager and Chaucer knowmg well hrs part passed from each to each lrstened to the out pourmgs whlch he dlgested and set down And the next mornmg they rlde r1de forever down those s1xty mlles of road and we rlde wlth them hstemng to thelr 1mmortal tales They never reach the shrlne so there are no return storles And the There IS the group of Chlvalry the Knlght the Squlre and the Yeoman We mxght mclude the Franklm for he represented the free dom from feudal laws Then there are the eccleslastxcs from the revoltmg Summoner h1s mottled red face made more loathsome by h1s Wreath of sores We see the monk the fashlonable preacher of hrs day costly fur trlmmmg the habxt of hrs order hrs mount a splendld charger Jmollng bells that he hears more often than those of the chapel We see the school mlstress of the fashlonable semlnary of the day the Lady Prloress We hear her unorthodox French wltness her pseudo courtly manners for She leet no morsel from h1r llppes falle Then her p1ty for the trapped mouse and her lnhuman tenderness for her lrttle dog as agalnst chlldren leaves her forever Fames rlpe cherry Ireserved m syrup We can almost see the fond and anx1ous mothers rushmg to her convent wxth thelr tender daughters We can only touch here and there on thls 1mmortal company There IS the lawyer We have an ugly name for hrs type today but as old Don Chaucer says No where so blsy a man as he there was And yet he seemed b1s1e1' than he was But here IS the madmficently vul0ar wlfe of Bath the Hauntmgly r1ch woman her clothes the exaggeratlon of everythmff that marks good taste from her hat the slze of a sh1eld to the ten pounds of coverchlefs under lt Indeed all her clothes 1n quallty and 1n quantlty falrly screamed the1r prlces as d1d her vo1ce roar forth her story on the way so perfectly was each ln character But how maonlficently has Chaucer done her portra1t It was the gCI'11llS of Chaucer who devlsed the meetlnv place at the wavslde mn the Oemus who made the landlord the soclal h1 h arblter lt was he who paved the way for modern HCt1OI'l Then even more splen drd than the storles each sulted as It IS to the character that relates It are the lmks that hold the storles together Here are Harry Balley s most splendld accompllshments, here IS that framework that holds the talks together and bmds thls human company mto an mdlssoluble umt Flfty or seventy five years earller, no woman would have appeared ln thls processlon The places of refreshment would have been a refec tory of a monastery and both the lmks and the stones would have been ll ..g -- Y , Q- g i!-fl-Lg:-:L,,,,f-Y '-gl? ff:.t-f if-, 'J - ,fl gf - r - ff f H JC- bg: 1. f---1 '-1-', v , ,yr f ,T ,ig-gr,,Y if i W g if A Y . , D - T' V supper to the winner of the contest is never given. P . U - V - H . A 1 . . N , ,, . ff ' ' ' H za ' S ' 1 ' 5 5 . - 5 S - . . . ,

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I have never believed that genius could be fostered on banana splits, chocolate sundaes, and soda pop. Neither could I believe any form of intoxication as revolting as that displayed by groups of over-fed, self- indulgent bodies and faces that I can witness any day in the vicinity of the innocent soda water fountain. But my subject is Inns Taverns and Llterature I intend to halt here and there down the long centuries at some contemporary tavern I shall dwell at each stopping place long enough to comment on the humaneness yes and the humanities contributed to literature by these places of public fore gatherlng l1'1St1tL1t6d as they were for rest for nur ture and for rich human intercourse It IS April toward the mid month and well on into the afternoon of the year 1375 All day long strangers were arriving at a tavern in Southwark at the end of the London br1dOe By sundown there had assembled one of the most famous companies ever gathered at a public hostelry Among theme was the reatest reporter of all time by name Geoffrey Chaucer And what a remarkable group and on what unfor gettable mounts they entered the immortal inn yard later to be seated at a feast both for body and for soul There was no such group of formally aristocratic lords and ladies as Boccaccio selected for his famous ten days 1I1 the palace at Fiesole Chaucer in his fine human reach far surpassed h1s model Here at the Tabard was an intensely human and racy representative of every class of society save alone the highest and the lowest the king and the serf And they meet as was hinted not at a castle or a palace but at a house of public call kept by the unmatched host and showman the immortal Harry Bally We can imagine the reception of each pilgrim by that portly and enoaging landlord We can falrly taste the wine and the ale and the viands that revaled the mner man and woman When the human draught relieved what rnaonihcent human talk followed For the Olym frail: -Ji-j fq 3-E'-!lI'E Xx Q W ,L BQ Z 449 Ill ll' IE Z fimlulll lil! ' U? A I .nl 1 f I 't L , 1 LV 1 my F f il 'x ir.. -2- r-ina' 'Qcqg 'U-F Ties OLDTABARD INN 1 A D 1585 10 - - ss - n - 9 l . . . . - - I, Y - , . 5 - , ' O' . l. ' o 7 . . - .1 v x A ' Q T' - n tg ' - n g . . ' S 0 H N r x f ,.-' I ,-'12 - Q '5 A . f .j ' - f uf' .I A ' -t I FH--no-' 'R I - .J -Q up l ,,::1a:: A 'Will' X 4 I -1. , , 1 - Zn 7 , uh .- a 1.. I I V .,,. Y 1 V 'Af I Il ' nr: 111' 'L' 'lg' - . X1 ' 55:3 1 , 'f'f'If. ' ' QT. S ll Vllil. . 'L ' l V UM' ' 'ul' ' ' 'Q .m. ,V l ' ..t':::: '- ' T U . if ' - 44 L N '- A- ' f:,1::aa1' 'l I' l 'i .1 t 1 1 - LJ ' N , Iniuzzxzzis:ic:g.:.:azgiQ-ag::::,i::1 HX- .Ml ...tv -l I 2 -lar, is 'fi if film I: l l!: ' -:N -Q lggig,-'A ,, .ll -.- 'A .- 1 . 1 Q: M' J- I i f -A., new sf I-4 '11, I V5 .A I - 5 - vrg :xiii '- ' vpfzff- ' ' ' Wie' ' f - ? T' 1. I :I '-W. C. ' va' I

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f -0 Q, CQ1JiQ4EsfsQi7R41 adjusted to what was thought proper for eccleslastlcal ears Here we have rlch untrammeled common human talk We cannot but remark that Chaucer expressed no surprlse at the appearance of women at the mn or on the prlgrrmage Besrdes he puts three of the best storles 1nto theu' mouths and they do thelr full share of the talkln rn the l1nks between the tales The tavern then brought about a perfect fuslon among 1tS accldental guests and the v1s1t to the four 1nns alono the way to Canterbury contmues to weld thls company Althouoh w1th strong royal afhllatlons rt was rn the London taverns of hrs time that Chaucer learned a tolerance and acqurred a humanlty that was Shakespearean 1n 1ts reach No vlolent or rash cr1t1c1sm escapes h1s pen as he draws the portralts or repeats the tales of that racy group of thlrty odd men and women And so they r1de on down throuoh the years the merrlest rrchest mmded company every preserved from Obl1VlOf1 throuoh the lmmortal Orft of sono Then as two hundred years roll away we hear commo back from a century not yet born a crystallrne volce Souls of Poets dead and gone What Elys1um have ye known Happy Held or mossy cavern Chozcer than the Mermard Tavern9 Have ye trppled drrnk more fine Than m1ne host s Canary wrne Or are fruzts of Paradzse Sweeter than those darnty pres Of venzsonp O generous food' Drest as though bold Robzn Hood Would wrth hrs Mald Marzan Sup and browse from horn and can I have heard that on a day M1ne host s srgn board flew away Nobody knew whrther, tzll An astro1oger's old quzll To a sheepskxn gave the story, Sard he saw you zn your glory, Underneath a new old szgn Srpprng beverage d1v1ne, And pledgrng wrth contented smack The Mermazd rn the Zodzac Souls ot' Poets dead and gone, What Elysrum have ye known, Happy field or mossy cavern, Chozcer than the Mermazd Tavern9' 1 It has often been wondered whether these lovely llnes by Keats are responslble for the revlval of mterest ln The Mermaid Tavern Although they unquestronably gave publrc mterest to the matter, he was In 4- gvfix X ,vv.,1:-'X-f-'af-3-1 fi-13, - amiff- 'LA' 1 M- N , , , 4 C -r f 'f ,. . x X , H , Aj,fg.g,- egxa gj :gg Wg xg-A g M g 4 rip -gg jig gf , , . . . O. . . i 3, - r v C . D v 5 . y ' b D D' ' D KA' y Y f . , . 9 1 1 . , . -A