The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-05-17
WEsTcHE1E3sS'TlEsEERIs Is 'lEsE B ,T0WEElR.. N

~|St- -" III y sSI2 -. :
Some years ago, I had occasion to
make short trip from london, 10 VISIT
my old college friend, Maitland who
had settled downsas a1clergyman N con-
nection with the cathedral Of Westches-
ter. It was pleasant excursion, chiefly
by railway, and I was Hospitality enter
tained. sAftersdinner, my friend and I
walked out in the dusk OF the evening"
to look at the antiquities Of the place.
In the course of our ramble, the moon
rose,- and threw. a. charm over the scene.
With the moonlight streaming through
the colored wind dows, we sssuptered
through the ,ancient cathedral enjoying
the solemnity Of the edifice. AS we ap-
preached the gates ofrthe choir, sMaitsr
fand. Sfhourh accustoued to the phoe,;
becane si1gulMIy silent ALI at once
he called on me to notice thatwe were
standing under the main central tower,
and that in the vaulted dome overhead
was a round black spots sa.srsp0
"You see that dark spotf" said he.
"Itis,as covered shole- opening mp into
the tower. Tits isorne netsmes nsed Tor the
haulfpn up of lead and timber for repairs
onths lrooE sI cali your attention to it
nov, because I am going to tell You
something about il, ,by-and-bye."
Seated once more at the freside of my
bachelor friend, I listened to what he
had to say about the hole in the tower.
I will try to repeat his story as he told
it to me: - B.
"I suppose it must be about fve'years
ago,soon after T. came to the Iscathe hedral,
that I was engaged one evening in this
room, writing, when I lad occasion. to
refer to q book not in my possession, but
which I knew to be accessible to me in
the cathedral library To procure the
work, I sailed out with lantern; and I
had not gone. very far when I was as
sailed by q CHEEKY shout from Symes-
Geofrey Symes- AN Oxford man, who
had been my Junior at Oriel. Symes was
little ..eccentrics Hslhad taken e fair
ish degree, and might have done WELL
but, being passionately fond Of music,
lie etoaS,te q stgaying the organ; and this
had Brought him to Westchester, as q
professed pupil of the organist. As
such, he was allowed to have. constant
access to the instrument-one Of won
derful conrass-in the zcathedraL 60
ASy1pes would not, perhaps, have
been called scientific musician; but he
had wonderful gift of expressing
thought and feeling on the organ, which
he almostmades toSsp peak, 60 ,extraordi-
nary vas his power in bringing out efs
fects.ss When engaged in this way, he
seemed to be lost in an enthusiastic ar
dor. w " He wildly reveled in musical
sounds. On this occasion he seemed to
resolve on. q display OF his powers.
Rushing away for few moments, he
brought little Jim 0xley, son of the ver-
ger, to blow the bellows; and, with this
necessary aid, he set to work, and pro.
duced q yoluntal that was altogether
marvellous, and, the eject of which was
enhanced by the dark. Well known
passages from great masters were skill
fully welded with harmonious links into
one another. One, however, favorite
of hiss as e kne% was complete, and
alone~the nando SCorpus,n from
Rossinfs sSsd6 at Mater.a I fcould com
pare it to nothing but the strenuous
forging together of solid bars Of melody,
so Sseyere, So nervous, so. weighty, was
the working ont of the theme. And last
of all, with most ravishing sweetness,
camezShenexquisites duetsgand 2 chorus
from Msndessohn 8 : Lo6gesang,s : ]
waited for the Lord, and as those deli
cate silvery strains of patience and
thankfumess streamed into one another,
and melted at last With the chorus into
the great tide, of praise, was uncon-
sciouso any hing butthe music and could
have stayed there without further
thought till the morning.
S"I 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. I let him ont
and as the door fell behind him, II heard
the low, dying wall Of the organ, as
Symes struck zone or two Intellectual
notes, and exhausted Its last breath.
He came down aud Joined me-; and as ]
was taking up 2 my book, and lantern,
previous to our departure, he suddenly
cried .:sS5T bag I~fasEI
"Hollol that tower hole is open.
Just fancy looking down1 through there
into the nave"
"tYes,' said 7 I daressy it would
be very pretty !; in the meanwhile, am
going home, however.
e'An right, says Syrues. LEND me
your lantern, and Illb bid You good.
night III. l;-, .5....I.,
"Why, what are you going to do 2
I said. 49,.
sssssQqoius up =, into % the tower, be y.
I5lisd. 8. seaa&S r. T.
aIn vain I tried to Sdissuade him,
using every argument to represent to
him the folly, tue uselessness, the dan.
ger of such proceeding. Good hu.
moredly, but obstinately, he threw aside
TuyFwremonstrancesr; and when sat
lest I found him resolved, 7 made up my
mind reluctantly, and not..in the best Of
humcrs, to accompany him on his FOOLS
orrant. Thank God that 7 didn't leave
him alone, as I had intended |"
81 was little disposed, however, to
respond to his lively sallies, as l followed
him into the staircase which led to the
tower, The lantern was Of little use to
us as We climbed the worn steps. a
cold strip Of moonlight came through
an open slit in the wall now and then,
bat otherwise we were in the dark.
After some few nninu es'sscent, we came
to doorway that led over the top Of
the transept arch under the leads of
the loot. Begging Symes to look about
him and to tread carefully, I passed after
him through the darkness into the main
toyM, From where we stood, the upper
side ofsthe dome-hke ceiling Of the cen
iterof the nave, Between the two tran
septs, rose like an inverted cup before
US; and at the apex Of the dome,
through the opening which had suggest
ed this wayward undertaking, the moon
light STRAINED dimly into the darkness
of the tower. To carry out his pur.
pose, Symes now proceeded to crawl up
the dome, in orderto look down through
the ori6ce. knew it was of no avail to
say anything, SO I stood and watched
him with annetysaas he leaned over the
chasm. -. - -->a-s~
GAS gazed, I became aware that i'm