Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-07-30
FOREIGN TRAVEL
More About Chester.
The Fastest Railway Train ON Earth.

We give below the conclusion of an in
teresting letter from a prominent Knox
vile citizen, part of which we published
a few days ago, leaving off during the
description of the old town of Chester,
which is resumed below:]
1.-THE Roman ,curiosities still preserved
in or near one of the towers are affairs
hypocausts, pigs of lead, tessellated and
Mosaic pavements, a sculptured figure of
Minerva, with her emblem the owl-vases,
stone columns, &c. Among them is an al
tar, not with a Roman, but Greek in
scription. Why it should be Greek L can
not understand. The wall and
public buildings, churches, etc., are of red
sandstone and not very, durable.
One OF the most notable things we OBJ
serve is the double row of business houses
on each side of the street. Over the first
story and next the street is a pavement
running through an arcade or porch from
this floor you enter many of the best retail
establishments of the city.
There are many, very many curious and
quaint old houses Il noticed carved in oak
" Erected in 1003'' over the door of one,)
with singular gables and pointed roofs,
leaden sash, small window glass and Gov.
slate, are " ST. John the Baptist's Church,
and the Cathedral. Ethelred, King of Mer-r
ciais said to have built st. Johns in the 9th
century. 1t is magnificent pile, and in
the finest style of early Norman architect
ure. Inside it is divided into five apart
ments--the nave, the choir, two transepts
ami central tower-each large enough to
hold large congregation.
But the cathedral outstrips all other
buildings in Chester Here, on Sunday,
the lst day of June, 1878, / first heard the
Church of England " service.
The cathedral covers about two and
half acres of ground. Like "St. John's,n
it is built of red sandstone, which has sad
ly crumbled with time. The site it stands
on is said to have been once occupied by q
temple dedicated to Apollo; then by a
monastery, and in the twelfth century
this Protestant Church was built.
/ can not describe it. "The choir'' for in
stance, q large church room, ceiling eighty
feet high, beautifully frescoed, immense
organ, choir separated from the congrega-
ton by open gothic screen made of stone
several pointed arches on each side resting
on groups of pillars-above each an arcade
of pointed arches, then there are thrones
on three sides, over these are rich canopies
with ,pinnacles andipendants in rich pro-
fusion-all OF stone-mosaic pavements,
stone floor, windows of rich stained glass,
representing Bible scenes nearly as per-.
fectly as if painted by master on canvass.
L can't describe it. They are now spend
ing three hundred thousand dollars $780,
900 gold in repairing it.
But enough of Chester. I waited
Monday until l o'clock, p. NJ, to
take the fastest train on earth to Lon
don. 1t is called the "Irish MALI and
runs from London to the coast carrying
the mails to steamers leaving Queenstown
for America. And nothing is more odd to
an American than their trains. A little
locomotive on six wheels, (only two driv-
ers) no cab to protect the engineer, q stove
pipe three and half feet long for stack, F"
no dome nor bell, and q sand box of iron
like q kettle turned upside down. The en-
gineer open his throttle by turning crank.
They are not as good class of men as our
locomotive engineers: They look as if
they wanted intelligence and vim. The
ears are little things on four wheels di-
vided into three compartments, and doors
only at the side, and open, and
you get in and sit as if you
were in a two-seated stage coach, but
yet on it, especially the "Irish mail'
schedule time is sixty miles an hour and
we run offeighty-four'miles wiUhouta stop.
Think of running by towns larger than
Knoxville with more side tracks and
switches, and over bridges, and through
tunnels at sixty miles an hour and never
check your speed. Yet there is not much
shaking of the cars, but the noise a train
makes is like the whirring of threshing-
machine.
So came on here to London, and in me
paxt will try to describe something of thy
impressions made by this immense, city
and it's people. INT"