Bangor

“ Nothing new or entertaining from Holyhead to Bangor. A delightful day at Bangor, pleasant walk: Charlotte drew some Welsh peasants and children: we tried to talk to them, but Dumsarzna, or words to that effect, "I don't understand English," was the constant answer, and the few who could speak English seemed to have no wish to enter into conversation with us: the farmers intrenched themselves in their houses and shut their doors as fast as they could when we approached. ”

“ When we look to Bangor, so favorably located at the head of navigation, the grand center of all these great interests, it would seem not irrational to predict for it a glorious career in growth, wealth, and importance, nor improbable that the same may be fully realized. She is surrounded by resources of wealth altogether beyond any other town or city in the state, of which neither her citizens, with all their foresight, nor capitalists, seem to be fully aware. ”

“ Waving woods, barren precipices, distant mountains, Bangor and Beaumauris, Penrhyn Castle, Paenman Mawr, the Great Orme’s Head, the ocean, and the strait, are objects that dazzle and astonish from the exquisite beauty of their natural arrangement. ”

“ The road from Aber to Bangor is replete with interesting scenery. The mountains assume a p. 368dark and gloomy grandeur, half clad in rolling vapours, which at intervals reveal their black and purple forms, their barren summits and deep hollows, to the eye. Towering above them all, Benclog rises conspicuous, into whose threatening gorge the road to Capel Curig winds, like a snake venturing into some monster’s jaws which appears ready to devour it. Upon the right, the shores of Anglesea, with its luxuriant woods, are seen stretching down to the Menai, and agreeably diversify the scene. ”

“ That literature, both sacred and profane, was successfully cultivated at Bangor, will be made evident from the writings of the great scholars whom it produced, even during the lifetime of its blessed founder. Humility and obedience, however, were even more dearly prized than learning. It was a rule amongst the monks that when any person was rebuked by another at Bangor, whether justly or not, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground in token of submission. They bore in mind that word of the Gospel, “If one strike thee on the right cheek, turn also to him the other.” ”

“ Even though you couldn’t understand it I think you’d like to hear the way they go on; they seem to express so much. I sometimes think that at Bangor they don’t express enough—except that it seems as if over there they’ve less to express. It seems as if at Bangor there were things that folks never tried to say; but I seem to have learned here from studying French that you’ve no idea what you can say before you try. At Bangor they kind of give it up beforehand; they don’t make any effort. (I don’t say this in the least for William Platt in particular.) ”

“ The neat little town of Beaumaris, (the capital of Anglesea,) the Castle, which is a beautiful ruin, and the adjoining Park, are well worth the stranger’s attention. Being anxious to proceed further that night, and having transacted some business in the town, and taken tea at the King’s Arms, I was ready at seven o’clock to join a party, if I could meet with one, in hiring a boat for Bangor, three miles across the water, or to the p. 6Chain-bridge, two miles further, or to Carnarvon, seven miles beyond it. The boatmen spoke of a party going to Bangor, but not further, that night. ”

“ Presently we pass under the hideous excrescence of the Penrhyn slate quarries, grey terraces of rubbish contrasting cruelly with the glowing gorse of the opposite slopes; and then through the equally hideous town of slate, Bethesda, the miners’ town, whose slate walls, slate steps, and slate porches are enough, as Dr. Johnson, would say, “to make a man hang himself.” Let us hurry on into the Cochwillan Woods.
Very soon after passing the modern towers of Penrhyn Castle we reach the town of Bangor, “which for the beauty of its situation, was called Ban-cor, the high or conspicuous choir.” ”

“ Till the vale of Nant Francon of slates is bereft,
Nor a Lady, nor Countess, nor Duchess be left.
The see of Bangor extends over all Anglesea, and parts of Caernarvonshire, Denbigh, and Montgomery. It was most probably founded, or at all events a monastic establishment was formed here, in the year 525, by St. Deiniol, who was at first abbot, and afterwards bishop. The name Bangor may signify “the White Choir,” or the “High Choir,” and is found applied to an ecclesiastic institution in Flintshire, as well as to a famous religious house in the County of Down, in the North of Ireland. ”

“ On the 1st of March, 1838, we entered Bangor, which at that time had a population of ten thousand. This was my birthday, I being thirty-one years of age. I visited some of the leading men of Bangor. They granted me the use of the city hall, where I preached to good audiences for two successive evenings. This was the first time a Latter-day Saint elder had preached in that town. Many were anxious to learn more about our principles, but our visits through all the towns from Thomaston to Bangor were necessarily brief, owing to our appointments upon the islands. ”

“ The country was beautiful with its rugged hills and heather-clothed fields. The road to Bangor ran through the most picturesque section of all this scenic beauty, and the girls took many snapshots of the artistic views.
The route planned led to Bangor, where the tourists stayed over-night. No one cared to cross St. George’s Channel and arrive in Dublin at night, for they had been hearing too much about the Irish riots, to deliberately choose to stay at any hotel where bricks and shot might strike innocent heads at any time. ”

“ These two places are accessible to all respectable visitors; the road to them, from Bangor, abounds in grand and interesting prospects.—Penrhyn Castle and Woods, at all times a rich and remarkable feature in the Scenery—the Sea, bounded by the distant Promontory of Ormes Head—the protruding bulkiness of Pen-maen-mawr—the bold and mighty barrier of Mountains, forming the most picturesque lines with the horizon, and extending nearly all round the distant Scene—these are the chief ingredients of this distinguished and beautiful landscape. ”

“ He made Bangor his headquarters.75 Doubtless Malachy preferred Bangor to the nominal see, because it was consecrated by centuries of sacred memories, and because as yet he could not place the office of bishop above that of abbot. He ruled his great newly formed diocese, or as much of it as he succeeded in ruling, from its remotest corner on the sea shore, as Aidan ruled Northumbria from Holy Island. There he lived among his brethren, of whom he gathered a great company. There was no provision for his mensa, for he was "a lover of poverty." He practised austere asceticism. ”

“ The Eastern Maine Music Festival is held in Bangor in October of each year. The rise of the tide here to a height of 17 ft. makes the Penobscot navigable for large vessels; the Kenduskeag furnishes good water-power; and the city is the trade centre for an extensive agricultural district. The Eastern Maine State Fair is held here annually. Bangor is one of the largest lumber depots in the United States, and also ships considerable quantities of ice. The city’s foreign trade is of some importance ”

“ Directly opposite Old Town is a small island, where reside a remnant of the Penobscot Indians. They number some four hundred souls, and are just sufficiently civilized to lead a very miserable sort of life.
I come now to speak of Bangor. It is a well-built and handsome city, eighty miles from the ocean, and contains about eight thousand inhabitants. It is at the head of tide water navigation, and has a good harbour, where I counted from one 276 point near two hundred sails. The principal article of trade is lumber, which is distinguished for its good qualities. ”

“ A man so famous for holiness and miracles, soon attracted great crowds to Bangor. St. Bernard in his Life of St. Malachy says that “this noble institution was inhabited by many thousands of monks.” Joceline, of Furness, a writer of the twelfth century, says that “Bangor was a fruitful vine breathing the odour of salvation, and that its offshoots extended not only over all Ireland, but far beyond the seas into foreign countries, and filled many lands with its abounding fruitfulness.” ”

“ Hampden has put everything out of our minds. We could have crossed the river lower down, but thought we might as well see Bangor when we were so near, and then take the main road straight down to the island, a distance of about sixty miles. We took a last look at Hampden, and after a brisk drive of six miles reached Bangor, where we got our mails, filled our lunch basket, drove about the city a little, and then were off full of anticipation, for we had been told repeatedly that the drive from Bangor to Bar Harbor was “magnificent.” ”

“ Bangor was one of the most celebrated schools in Ireland when this island was said to have been 'the quiet abode of learning and sanctity.' As to the quiet, I could never make out at what period it existed, nor how the 'thousands' of students at Bangor could have been supported. The Danes came occasionally up the lough and murdered the monks en masse, plundering the shrines. But the greatest scourges of the monasteries in Down and elsewhere were, not the foreign pagans and pirates, but the professedly Christian chiefs of their own country. ”

“ They are singularly enriched with the charms of art and nature. The shipping, the suspension-bridge, with its arches and festoons; the towns of Beaumaris and Bangor; the tall column of the Marquis of Anglesea, and many pleasant villages and seats, as you look towards Caernarvon, afford a pleasing addition to the richly wooded shores, the flowing waters, the indented line of coast, the swelling hills, and last, but not least, the glorious succession of peaks that stretch along the eastern background from Snowdon, to the Great Orme’s Head, which rises like a wall from the sea. ”

“ I had my Franklin car, so Pa asked Mr. Booker to show us about the city. Bangor is a nice city, but it don’t have any barrooms 24 in sight like most cities do. Pa says it’s a matter of legislation whether they are in sight or not. Pa says a glass of their whiskey down there will make a man think he owns the State. ”

“ The River Penobscot is situated entirely within the State of Maine; having its rise far in the interior of the State, it is not subject to the tides above the city of Bangor, near its mouth. Between the city of Bangor and Old Town, a distance of eight miles, the Penobscot passes over a fall, is crossed by four dams erected for manufacturing purposes, and for the above space is not, at this time, and never has been, navigable; but there is a railroad from Bangor to the steamboat landing at Old Town. ”

“ The road from Bangor to Caernarvon is very good and the scenery interesting—fine hills border it on the left, or south-east, and on the right at some distance is the Menai with Anglesey beyond it. Not far from Caernarvon a sandbank commences, extending for miles up the Menai, towards Bangor, and dividing the strait into two. ”

“ In short, from the speculative spirit of the inhabitants, and the increasing demand for Slates at Port Penrhyn, which, as well as the Quay at Hirael, is generally crowded not only with small craft, but with Ships of considerable burthen, Bangor seems advancing rapidly into consequence; it is also of late years become a place of fashionable resort, particularly in the Summer season. ”

“ As I had sent my luggage by coach direct from Bangor to Llangollen, I had no incumbrance; and I decided upon walking about four miles, to Bettws y Coed, a small place on the great Welsh road. On leaving Llanrwst, and crossing the bridge towards Gwydyr House and wood, I was much pleased with the beauty of the scenery up the river; scenery which forcibly reminded me of the exquisite Diorama of Holyrood Chapel. The unclouded moon was shining above the summits of the hills towards the south-east, and brightly illumined the left bank of the river, and all the neighbouring objects in that direction ”

“ We soon reached the dark lowering promontory of Pen-mawn-mawr, about p. 127eight miles from Bangor, rising perpendicularly, in a massy wall, to the height of one thousand four hundred feet: huge fragments of shattered rock are scattered by the side of the road, and a wall, scarcely five feet high, alone protects a carriage from the steep precipice; which, from the slightness of the foundation, has even fallen down in many parts. ”

“ The music which made the vale of Bangor resound as if inhabited by angels, was their composition; the hymns that accompanied it were their own. "It is a poor Church that has no music," is one of the oldest Irish proverbs; and the Antiphonarium of Bangor, as well as that of Armagh, remains to show that such a want was not left unsupplied in the early Church.
All the contemporary schools were not of the same grade nor of equal reputation. We constantly find a scholar, after passing years in one place, transferring himself to another, and sometimes to a third and a fourth. ”

“ Within a dozen miles of Bangor we passed through the villages of Stillwater and Oldtown, built at the falls of the Penobscot, which furnish the principal power by which the Maine woods are converted into lumber. The mills are built directly over and across the river. Here is a close jam, a hard rub, at all seasons; and then the once green tree, long since white, I need not say as the driven snow, but as a driven log, becomes lumber merely. ”

“ In the afternoon I again passed over into Anglesey, but this time not by the bridge but by the ferry on the north-east of Bangor, intending to go to Beaumaris, about two or three miles distant: an excellent road, on the left side of which is a high bank fringed with dwarf oaks, and on the right the Menai strait, leads to it. ”