Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-08-13
TrRTnrR NOTES OF TRAVEL.


EeOn.
We give below the conclusion of an i'm
teresting letter from one of our citizens
abroad, descriptive of London, part of
which has heretofore appeared in our coll
umns:
COLOGNE, June Is, 1873.
From here to Westminster Abbey, can
not take time to describe it. There be-
meath the marble slabs you walk over
sleeps the dust of England's greatest
poets and statesmen of men whose names
live in history. Chief among them are
Shakespeare, Spenser, Ben. Johnson, Mill
ton, Gray, Dickens, Fox, Pitt, Grattan,
&C., &c. In the chapels and cloisters lie
England's Kings, Queens and mobiles, all
impressing vividly upon your mind that
power, greatness, grandeur, fame and
learning avail us little here and at last are
crowded into little space, only a few
bones and heaps of dust.
Here are marble tombs, statuary, mauso-
leums, &C., in rich abundance, wonderful
ly executed. One or two let me try to de-
SCRIBE Two figures stand on VAULT a
wife dying in the arms of her husband,
who supports her with one arm, while
with the other he vainly tries to ward off
the dart which death, in the shape of
skeleton bursting open the doors of the
vault beneath their feet, holds in his hand
in the act of hurting at her.
This is the design, but who can describe
its beautiful and wonderful execution!
Another, also by master hand, repre-
sents husband sitting in paradise; va
cant chair beside him far beneath him
kneeling with eyes and ears turned up
ward is the wife, while midway between
them, emerging from the clouds, an angel
points the woman to vacant seat beside
her husband.
But away from scenes like these to
FAIRY LAND,
A creation as wonderful as those that
sprung into existence under the magica |
spell of Aladdin's lamp--the Crystal Palace.
Were London bl0tted from the earth
this creation of beauty, n palace of glass
supported by iron, would alone repay q
a visit across the Atlantic. 1t is 500 feet
long, $50 feet wide, the centre transept
200 feet high and with its park and gar
dens covers 200 acres of land, embellish7d
with statuary fountains, flowers shrub
berry, everything taste and money can col
lect together to render the scene enchant-
ing.
cannot attempt to give you descrips
ton of it, inside or out. 1t is filled with
fine art courts, showing the various stages
of architecture, from the earliest to mod
.ern times; picture galleries of great interest
are found here in abundance, curiosities,
natural and artificial are everywhere scat
tered around. Cleaning through them
stands profusion of statuary. The aisles
are lined with flowers and evergreens,
fountains play all around you, and birds
fly unsecured through the building.
But it is grand gala day now we are
here, and
CONCERT OF $500 VOICES,
A thousand instruments, and the deer
thunder-like tones of an immense
organ make grand music, which fills
even this immense building. But let us al
dark go out on the broad stone steps on
which lie the immense sphinx guarding
the entrance and see with the twenty
thousand others who stand around the
park, gardens, terraces and ballustrades IL
Illuminated by brilliant fireworks. The
fountains are the finest in the world, the
principal jet is two hundred fifty feet
high, the small jets numbering twelve
thousand, forming combinations that nc
pen can portray. 1t was said in the pro-
gramme that six millions of gallons of wa
ter were use in the myriad of fountains
cascades and waterfalls in this display
Imagine acres of these illumined with
many colored fireworks bursting from
every side, with variety like the changing
scenes of spectacular play, now we have
cascade of crimson like blood-now g
waterfall of god-now miniature Gre
clan temple, which you thought was ar
oors for lovers to rest in, becomes foun-
tains, water bursts from the spire and falls
broken into shapes of beauty making ar
bors of water while the glittering lights
that play upon them give them one after
another every hue ofthe rainbow. Comets
fly through the air, balloons float off heav-
lily laden with rockets that continually
bursting leave one
Long track and trail of splendor'
as far as the eye can follow them.
Then to conclude, at given signal
ONE THOUSAND IMMENSE ROCKETS
rise from the various points of the ground
burst in the air, showering each its numer-
Gus, many-colored halls of fire, until the
whole Heavens are filled with falling stars
and comets, thick as snow-flakes in 6
winter storm. How poor this description
of the brilliant scene! / will no further
attempG it.
Now to the Tabernacle and
HEAR STURGEON PREACH.
You cross the Thames and find this i'm,
mense building crowded with 900 people
A platform half way from the wall to the
center of the building, and on level with
the first gallery, answers for pulpit
From this we hear wonderful sermon by
this wonderful man, a man little taller
than and about the appearance OF Col
Baxter No attempt at oratory or decla-
nation, he stripped bare his own nature
and showed you palmer than you ever
saw it before, your own; Speaking clear