The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-05-24


seen, but here in Cologne, just inside Of
the wall of the town stands the church
of 50. Ursula, aHd Of clcce,t Thousand
TirginS' The great attraction of the
church, which is remarkably plain
building, is in the bones of these young
ladies exposed to view within the walls
of the holy cdiicc. In glass cases, in
the walls, in the choir, even in the pave
ment, and wherever the eye turns as you
walk about the church, you see the bone,
in piles here is heap of legs and arms;
there a row, of ghastly skulls here n
heap of ribs, and there promiscuous
jumblo of lady-limbs} presented to the
admiring gaze of the faithful, and thc de.
rision Of all unbeliovers. a series Of
very poor paintings on the wall, at the
( right of tho door as you enter, tells the
dreadful tale of the martydom Of these
damsels, whose premature death has been
celebrated by the erection of this church
and the gathering of their veritable
bones.
The Lady Ursula was a British Prin-
cess. and sailing from England to Armo-
rlca with a troop of young women was
driven into the Rhine by tempest The
Huns, the barbarans made love to the
girls and as their advances were repclled
with Indignation, the savagcs murdered
the virgins, who have been immortalized
in this church. The princess sleeps in a
sarcophagus behind the alter. The heads
of few of the young ladies are done in
silver and shown iu the Golden Cham.
ber where one of the water pots stands
which held the water made into wine at
Cana, but there is no wine in it now -
Here too is one of the links of the chain
with which Peter was bound in prison.
Some pretended that this story of the
900 virgins has grown from mistake
of some stupid writer who has confound-
cd the Latin name of ono of Lady Ur.
sua's attendants, UHdccimMa with the
Latin for ,000and so they would reject
the history as fable. l Iprcfer the great
est number 1t makes better story !;
and when you are getting up wonder,
it is not bes. to stop for triaes
There is an inscription on tue wall
which would be spoiled utterly if we
gave way to the doctrine that only one
poor girl was put to death with the prin-
coss. II will bless the Lord who adorned
this place with the bones of / | 900 vir.
gins, in the year OF martydom" And
here too is picture of thirty zone Of the
young ladies standing up in tub, to be
baptized, and if there was only one, it
spoils the picture as well as the story.
The following from the same letter
is in quite another vein -
Or the day following my visit to the
cathedral, was in steamer on the
Rhine one of an English family on
board was a young lady, an invalid. She
was lovely to look on, though thin and
pale the brightness of her dark eyes
and her expression SO sptrituelie, had
often caught my attention, and when [
could be of any service to her, there was
pleasure in mnistering to q stranger
who seemed TO be a stranger in this
world and near better 1t was at sun
set we had been admiring tho castled
hills and picturesque scenery Of the Rhine,
when she quoted Lorgfellow and | said
it was pleasant to hear the bards of my
own country repeated in foreign land" /"
l think him, said she, the first Of
living poets. And as you are an Amer.
lean, tell mo your impressions of Europe:
you have been at Cologne what do you
think OK the Cathedral ?"
Beautiful exceedingly" said, "even
glorious, and thing to be remembered
life time but we Americans are wor-
shippers Of utihty, and / fear that many
of us, on that account, do not admire.
as you do, the yastnoss and grandeur
of temple that is not demanded by the
wants of the people"
She replied with soft bu. earnest tones
f" | do not associate utility with such a
temple: it is not merely to worship in
it is worship itsolf-it is an anthem -
praising God as it stands, silently like
the stars that have no speech, but are
heard in their evening songs, forever
singing as they shine" Her pale face
was half crimsoncd as she spoke. and
gathering strength, she added, " | shall
never see anything so beautiful"
Never" asked, do you mean
acrer ?"
She looked at me thoughtfully, aud
comprehending my question, said, : All,
yes hope to sec it-hoaven, heaven"
The building" | continued, not
made with hands: its walls are of pre-
cious stones; its gates are pearl its
come is sun, and every pinacle is
star. How mean the earthly temples
are when once compared with heaven. -
And the anthem to bear it in the choir
of that housc--the anthem Of angels,
and the spirits of tho pure who have
gone up there to join in the song Of
but you will think am preaching
y No, no." she cried, ''ifthat is preach
ing | would hear moro of it-they tell
me that | am gaming health and
strength but | know better 49, my
thoughts are more up there than here
tell me of heaven"
And in my poor way, in en- under.louo
OF voice that the gay around us might
not hear, | talked with this gentle spirit
of the spirit-world. till the curtain of
evening fell, and we camo to the end of
our journey for the day The next
morning stepping into the cars,I saw her
leaning Oh the arm Of her father, about
to take train in another direction. She
waved her hand to me as farewell, and |
then she pointed upieard. | never saw
her again.
How many such meetings travel makes;
brief, pleasing, memorable. How pleas.
ant people are in the world, if we could
only find them. How many more in
Heaven