Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-12-04


the stone staircase; the iron gate at the
bottom creaked on its hinges. / sprang
forward and met gray headed old man
with pallid face, who was just opening
the iron grille.
With all the eloquence of which / am
master besought him to do me the good
Office of letting me into the sacred fame.
He hesitated, shook his head; at last he
relented. Every well,n he said, ''it's
against rules; but, as you say, it's long
way to the antipodes. I'll let you in if
you don't mind stopping inside alone for
an hour; it will be that time. before l re-
turn; and / must lock the door behind
me. Do you still wish to go insides'
thanked him warmly and said: Seer
tainly, yes" l was delighted at the idea
of an hour in perfect silence and seclu-
sion among the mighty columns and
arches of st. Paul's. / got under the
great dome, which hangs like a luminous
cloud above, full of haZy, uncertain
shadows, faint circle of light trimming
itround, arches and huge piers encom-
passing it. From the west subdued
crimson glow; eastward the choir, dark
and somber; the windows of the apse
showing as stray luminous patches, the
altar glooming in the distance like some
funeral catafalque White figures gleam-
ing here and there in shadowy recesses,
marble warriors, heroes, statesmen.
Under the dome in the great open space,
was a vast crowd of chairs-wooden rush
bottomed chairs-lashed together in rows,
looking toward the east. Choosing one
of the most central of these / sat down
and began to dream, peopling this wide
area with vast, invisible congregation.
In soft, long-drawn cadence the bell OF
Paul's struck out the hour of ten. l had
been in the place nearly an hour. felt
chilled and numb. Enough of dreams.
Let me walk briskly up and down and
think of the busy scenes awaiting me; the
warm, glad welcome: wife and children
holdingout eager arms-right at the other
side of this huge world.
paced rapidly up and down an avenue
between the chairs. / had seen enough;
| was anxious to be released, to get away
from the world Of shadows into the living
world outside. For moment stood in
what seemed to be the very center OF the
dome, and looked upward. A faint cir
Gle of light marked the apex of the soar
ing vault, and just above my head l saw
my eyes being now accustomed to this
halflight-I saw, | say, rope hanging
Then | remembered the spider-webs
had seen outside the ball and cross. And
as | stood, and looked, and listened
heard faint sounds or hammering and
knocking Men were at work hundreds
of feet above; light shone here and
there, twinkling like a star.
In years gone by used to be famous
gymnast, and the sight of the rope hang
ing just above my head put me in mind of
my ancient prowess. was heavier now,
my muscles less elastic; still, there was
some salt of youth in me. How many
times, / wondered, could /, hanging to
that rope, draw my chin up to my
knuckles?
The rope was just out of reach, but l
leapt up and caught it--once, twice, thrice:
| felt kind of emulation with my old
self; / wanted to persuade myself that
had not lost much of my former proves;
and so went on drawing myself up and
down, not touching the ground, till grew
tired, and stretched myself out expecting
Just to reach the pavement with my toes.
But | could not reach it. Casting glance
below me, | saw with horror that the
flooring had vanished under me. l was
swinging suspended by my hands high
up in the dome.
Perhaps, If | had dropped at that mo-
ment, might have escaped with only a
serious shaking; but hesitated, and was
lost. Slowly and steadily, the rope was
being wound up. ! shut my eyes. Sure
ly this was hideous delusion that another
moment would dispel. But no; as / looked
down, the floor below was almost lost to
my sight There | swung, tiny human
speck, half way between heaven and earth.
/ couldn't hope to hang on much longer.
NV muscles were weary with the task
had given them / made desperate cf-
fort to raise myself hand over hand, so
that | might grasp the rope with my feet
also; but it was impossible; l could not
do it, Even the desperate energy OF self
preservation could extract no more force
from my muscles; | could only hold on.
was now on level with the plinth
that surmounts the great arches OF the
dome. The gilded groundwork OF new
fresco in the spandrel cast sort OF glow
upon me; the colossal figures seemed to
mock my agony. must be half way up
now, and for the moment ray OF hope
shone in upon me that could hold on to
the end. But, to my despair, now saw
that the seeming dome was false one,
above which rose the veritable conical
rOOI, announcer itSt VI hna
that through vast round orifice in the
sham dome, the rope was to ascend to the
uppermost peak of the roof. In that mo-
ment of torture | recognized my fate as
inevitable | might prolong my agony
for few seconds; my muscles were invol-
unfairly relaxing; my grasp would fail
in another minute at furthest | must fall
to be dashed to pieces on the adamantine
floor below
A thousand confused thoughsts whirled
through my brain, like the moke and
sparks of an approaching confagration;
but especially clear in my minds eye, l
saw did not think but saw this vision
the picture Of my far-of home, the roll
ing plains of grass, the herds and fiocks,
galloping horseman-there was my
home. NY wife stood in the portico,
shading her eyes with her hand; the
children were clustering about her; there
was news of daddy coming-perhaps
daddy himself 1t was bitter to die thus.
NV limbs relaxed my senses almost de
serted me: merciful oblivion, the intoxl.
cation of despair, stole over me; voices,
thought, were calling-perhaps adelusion
Of failing sense--I was slipping, slipping,