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Leighton Buzzard Observer & Linslade Gazette
Tuesday, 1st June 1875
Brief background
Reader's poem about a trip to the exhibition from Woburn published in the local newspaper.
The Article
ORIGINAL POETRY
A SHORT RHYME
ON A VISIT TO
THE LEIGHTON EXHIBITION
26TH OF MAY.
'Twas a May day, in one-horse chay
We trotted by the hedgerows gay,
Along to Leighton town;
And many a scene in life's long dream,
Came up amid the white and green -
Scenes once of some renown.
And actors, too, who once we knew,
By magic memory came to view;
These shadows passed as fast!
Sheep Lane, Stone Lane, and Heath & Reach,
Did unto me grave sermons preach,
All of the buried past.
Then the "North End" we hardly knew;
So much of old appeared now new,
I hardly knew this place;
Still, as we trotted o'er the ground,
By signs and specimens around,
We traced the olden race.
Then by the Cross I was set down,
And in the heart of Leighton town
I met my father's friend
Then to th' Exchange I paced my way,
And gazed on relics rich and gay,
Which may in time descend.
What there I saw, what then I thought,
May be of value or of nought;
Enough, this newer scene
Gives to "Beaudesert" modern fame,
Gives Leighton town a local name,
In Time's all-changing dream.
In this short rhyme I've only time,
In numbers rustic, not sublime,
To say in this rare show -
An hour well spent, you'll not repent
The time or money in it spent
Then, all to see it, go.
GEORGE CASTLEDEN
Woburn, 27th May.
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