[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR...1 SrE,—You were good enough
to let it be made known through your columns that the National Trust had, for a limited time, the option of purchase of more than seven hundred acres of mountain land on the shores of the Lake of Ullswater. Since then more than half of the money has been secured. The offer published in the Spectator from a "Stroller" to give 2100 if nineteen others would do the same was responded to within the time given, and forms part of the amount secured. The money has been sent from all over Great Britain, from Ireland, from America, from • residents in India and in our Colonies. But nearly 25,400 has still to be obtained before the land can be purchased and dedicated to the public. Will you let me announce that I now have the offer of 250 condi- tional on nineteen other sums of 250 being contributed before the end of August? It appears to me that this scheme should commend itself specially to the great manufacturing towns of the North. The Lake District concerns them more than any of us. It is the natural outlet for the holiday time of poor and rich from their crowded districts. Such an area as this, which they now have an opportunity of preserving, will be a joy, a rest, and a refreshment to the North Country in per- petuity. If the inhabitants of six of the great towns would amongst them contribute 21,000, not a large sum, for so priceless a boon, the thing would be more than done. I will not say a word more about the breezy slopes, upland moor, lake shore, ravines, and waterfalls, or of their beauty in every season. 1 have written of them before, and surely they must be present to the imaginations of many who care deeply for them, and who have not yet contributed even their mite towards this fund for their preservation. To all such I would appeal to send their gifts at once, lest it be too late. They will be gratefully received by Canon Rawnsley at Crosthwaite Vicarage, Keswick, by the secretary of the National Trust, [It will be a thousand pities if, after all, Gowharrow cannot he made an open space for ever. To us one of the most attractive things about the scheme to buy Gowbarrow is the fact that the money subscribed cannot possibly do harm as well as good, as is the case with so many public benefactions. No one can be pauperised, or deprived of self- reliance, or kept idle by making the public free of the noble stretch of "woods, waters, wastes," sought to he purchased by the National Trust—Er. Spectator.]
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