The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-03-10

When engaged in this way he seemed
to be lost in an enthusiastic ardor. lie
wildly reveled in musical sounds. On
this occasion he seemed to resolve on a
display of his powers. Rushing away
for a few minutes, he brought little jim
Oxley, son Of the verger, to blow the
bellows, and with this necessary aid he
set to work and produced a voluntary
that was altogether marvellous, and
the effect of which was enhanced by
the darkness. Well-known passages
from great masters were skillfully
welded with harmonious links into one
another. One, however. a favorite OF
his as l knew, was complete and alone
the 'Quando Corpus, from Rossini's
sStabat Mater l could compare it to
nothing but the strenuous forging to-
pether of solid bars of melody, so
severe, so nervous, so weighty was the
working out of the theme. And last OF
all, with most ravishing sweetness,
came the exquisite duet and chorus
from Memberships 'Lobgesang,' Il
waited for the Lord; : and as those deli
cate silvery strains of patience and
thankfulness streamed into one another
and melted at last with the chorus in
to the great tide of praise, l was UNI
conscious of any thing but the music,
and could have staid there without
further thought till the morning.
al was aroused from my ecstasy by
little jim, who had been blowing the
bellows all this time, asking me If he
might 60 home, as his father did not
know where he was. l let him out, and
as the door fell behind him l heard the
low, dying wall of the O,gan as Symes
struck one or two Intellectual notes and
exhausted its last breath. He came
down and joined me, and as l was taxi
ing up my book and lantern previous to
our departure he suddenly cried: 'Hol'
10, that tower-hole is open. just fancy
looking down through there into the
nave.'
Eyes said l; Il dare say it would
be very pretty; in the meanwhile am
going home, however,
".All right said Symes. LEND me
your lantern and I'll bid you good
night
".why, what are you going to dor'
l said.
"'Going up into the tower he re-
piled.
Sin vain l tried to dissuade him, u.s.
ing every argument to represent to him
the folly, the uselessness, the danger OF
such a proceeding. Good-humoredly
but ~obstinately he threw aside my re-
monstrances, and when at last / found
him resolved 1 made up my mind re-
lactantly, and not in the best of humor,
to accompany him on his FOOLS errand.
Thank God that l didn't leave him
alone, as l had intended.
81 was little disposed, however, to
respond to his lively sallies as l follow
ed him into the staircase which led to
the tower. The lantern was of little use
to us as we climbed the worn steps.
4 cold strip of moonlight came through
en- open slit in the wall now and then,
but otherwise we were in the dark. At
ter some few minutes ascent we came
to a doorway that led over the top of
the transept arch under the leads of the
roof. Begging Symes to look about
him and to tread carefully, 1 passed .af-
ter him through the darkness into the
main tower. From where we stood, the
upper side of the dome-likc ceiling OF
the center of the nave, between the two
transepts, rose like an inverted cup be.
fore us; and at the apex of the dome,
through the opening which had sug'
gested this hayward undertaking, the
moonlight streamed dimly up into the
darkness of the tower. To carry out
his purpose, Symes now proceeded t.
crawl up the dome, in order to lool
down through the orifice. Iknew i
was of nc avail to say any thing, so
stood and watched him with anxiety, a
he leaned yer the verge of the chasm
e"As l gazed l became aware tina
Immediately above the opening a stou
rope was swinging, TO which was at
tached a large hook. l remembered
that some repairs had been going OF
for a few days on the roof of the cathe
dral, and that l had seen n or tw
rolls of lead wound up through the hol
on the previous day. These thought
were passing through my mind whe
Symes, catching hold of the rope, jerk
ed it TO ascertain that it was fastene
above, and leaned forward with hi
weight upon it, as he looked downward