Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-12-13

From the Ladies' Companion, Uondon)
I H ELEGEND 0FsABINE &,
n MAIDEN ARCHITECT OF s%rRAsBouRo.

lfONGFELLOW'
How many nre daily lamcnting that female vo-
cnti0us are so few, and that dependence mu st there
fore he the lot Of the great majority Of women whOl
are not among the very small number born totor
tune? Would it not be wiser than lameutatlon to
examine carefully how far custom or prejudice
have unnecessarily restricted the careers Of indus
try and art, in which the delicate taste md sensitive
refinement of the female mind might ind su1h ut
ting exercise?
The Legend of Sabine, the daughter of Erwin de
Steinbach, tie architect Of Strasbourg, is an Illus
tration of the beautiful adaptiveness ct feminine
talent to the highest walks OF art even the sub
lime combinations of architecture upon the most
gigantic scale.
In the fourteenth century many Of the greatest
Of the vast cathcdrals of central Europe were ris-
ing toward completion, their fretted towers pierre
ing the heavens to an elevation that the greatest
works OF classical antiquity never attained the
whole Of these stupendious structures so covered
with carvings, OF such minute and exquisite beau
ty, that one might flucy myrinds of lace workingl
atomies had wrought these sculptured mountains
from she living rock, in the slew progress OF coun-
less ages, as the coral worm gradually builds up
tropic continents from the base of the iathomless
ocean.
So great was the enthusiasm with which these
vast Christian temples were reared, SO abundant
the supply of artistic skill, that, at the time Erwin
de Steinbach submitted his plan of the great tow
or of Strasbourg to Bishop Conrad, of Lichten-
berg the most skillful artisans tOcked in such
multitudeS to work, that the chrOHlclefS OF tne
time compare them to a whole population engaged
upon it forming, as they state, one of the most ex-
traordinary spectacles OF the time. And such was
the one mindednessw with which this mass of ar
fists conducted their simultaneous labor, that no
single name is preserved prior to that of Steiubach.
OF the original planner of the vast temple, of all
the cunning carvers of the countless statues. and
all the quaint and excellent devices 50 highly
wrought, so carefully finished in every part, the
names all unknown-all absorbed in this vast la
Dor of love and faith.
The name of Sabine alone is snatched from the
general obsCurity by Il trait of sentiment which
proves, as the beautiful lines of Longfollow, at
the head of this article, so sweetly express it
that
1t is the heart, and not the brain,
That 10 the highest doth attain.
Erwin do Steinbach died, as so many had done be-
fore him, ere the completion Of the temple, and,
diving with the ambition of n true artist, conjured
his son Jean and his daughter Sabine (hoth devot
ed with success tu the art OF their iather) not to al
low any name but that Of Stein6ach to become as
ISOLATED with the termination OF the rapidly ad-
vancing structure.
1t was dccreed that the completion of the work
should be oonfded to the architect who should
within twelve days produce the most excellent
plan for the object. Among those who had work.
ed in the vast d~teliers Of Erwin were two youthful
architect-sculpturs, who had beheld, not without
the deep sympathy Of artists as well as lovers, the
talent, the devotion, and the beauty of Sabine
The elder of these was Bernard de Sunden, a ST.
lesian, n youth of mild character, tinctured with a
strong cast of the deep devotion which animated
many of The greatest workers OF that high period
of christian art. The younger was known by the
name of POlydore, and was II native Of Boulogne,
Of a reckless and ambitious character. On the
eleventh day he exhibited a plan for completing
the works it was II magnificent design, fuil of the
holiness and daring which distinguished the char
acter Of is author. Sabine saw it. wondered at
its beauty, and retired to q small cell III the old
atelier, which was her own peculiar studio, to weep
for she saw that her brother Jean was yanqnlsl-
ed, and that another, perhaps more dear, was van
quished also, the meek Bernard, who had found
more favor in the secret heart of the artist-maid-
en- than the daring Polydore.
Night came at last to hide her bitter tears, as
she wept herself to sleep. But in that sleep the
highest regions of art seemed miraculously opened
to her. She saw in the dream.land OF her artist
vision temples aad palaces in which the highest
beauties Of Gothic art were carried far beyond all
she had seen or earth and, waking, the dream
was all so ~palpable, so clear, that she traced the
temple OF tie splendid vision upon a sheet OF
parchment, with such accuracy that it seemed n
realization Of her dream. 1t was the twelfth day
the prize was ~adjudged to Sabine,
The work advanced rapidly, the matchless sculp
lures of the portal Of the great clock tower excit-
cd general enthusiasm. and all expressed the deep
est admiration except Polydore, who had darlngiy
demanded the hlnl Vi the mailen-architect and
been refused. But what excited the greatest Won
der, was the rapid progress Of these Intricate and
elaborate sculptures, which every morning seemed
even more advanced and more beautiful than the
night before in 50 much that it was deemed
miraculous, and superstition whispered strange
stories of bands OF angels toillng IN the night mt
the ediice, and that Sabine was visibly p%rotecte1
by Heaven.
Only two days more were required to complete
the exquisite portal, when, on the morning OF the
last day but one, great part Of tho work was found
jacacab and hruEpn- In was then that the fick
leness Of popular favor was truly shown the de-
structiun, it was averred, was the work of demons
the labors of Sabine were rejected of God. Der
nard de Sunden alone still believed in the piety
anu GODDESS of Sublime and at night, the last night
his figure might have been seen gliding from pin
nacle to pinnacle, among the mingled turrets and
scaffolding Of the cathedral, toward the summit OF
the great portal. Arrived at the place where the
greatest mutilation bad been committed, he was
near falling from the yet unprotected wall on
which he stood, as he saw, advancing toward him
a ~shadowy white figure, SO slender, so graceful, sc
beaming with n divine earnestness and expression
that, as the beautiful head seemed surrounded
with a kind of glory in the ray of gentle'moonlight
that fell upon it through an opening Of the trac
cry, he thought he beheld one Of the angels whose
immortal hands had been supposed to have shes
such superhuman beauty upon the sculptures o.
the portal.
But rs he stood and gazed, supported against
the crocketed pinnacle of the turret, he perceived
that it was no other than Sabine herself and that
she trod the giddy path along the narrow walls,
across the lettering planks, over the gaping void
Of darkness beneath-not with the cunning and
experienced step of the waking, but with the
wonderful instinct of the sleeping. Thus was the
magical progress of the work explained TO the
wondering Bernard, as he beheld the sleeping girl
ply the mallet and the chisel with a rapidity and
skill that plainly showed she was dreaming the ex-
ecution of the work, of which she had already
dreamed the design.
A BERNARD stOud cOncealed in tho shadow Of n