The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-08-02
Selerf Sforu.
ANADVENTUREIN ST. T.PAULS.


[Belgravia-l
We colonials, on the whole, ! think,
have more appreciation of st Paurs than
Of any other of our London sights. More
than of Westminster Abbey, even. For
it wants deal of history TO understand
the abbey and its puzzling chapels; and
after certain amount of stock driving
one jumbles up the kings and queens.
Coming over from Australia for a six
months visit to England, one of the first
things promised myself on landing was
to see st Paul's, and yet it's singular
fact that up to the very end of my SO
journ here / had never been inside your
(or may say our?) great cathedral.
1 felt it impossible TO go back and face
my relations and friends if | couldn't say
that I'd seen st Paul's, and / made half
a dozen plans at various times of paying
it visit. But first one thing intervened
and then another till my last day in
England had come, my pilgrimage un~
performed. This last day, however, 1
kept clear Of engagements on purpose to
see the place. Before l was out of bed
in the morning had telegram of i'm
porIance, which took me off post haste
to the Eastern counties; and it was
eight o'clock in the evening before l
reached Shoreditch station on my re.
turn. Now was bound to start early
next morning to reach Brindisi in time
for the Italian mail, and it thus seemed
IS if it were my fate TO miss my last
chance of entering st Paulis. Still was
determined not to throw away the
chance; it might be that the Cathedral
was still open and | picked out fast
looking horse from row of hansoms,
and bade the driver put me down in the
shortest possible time at the corner of ST
PauPs churchyard.
As descended from the cab and stood
on the edge of the pavement looking up
at the giant bulk of the dome the clock
struck nine. The sun had set but high
overhead the golden ball and cross stood
ont against the sky, still FURNISHED by
the evening glow. All the lower part OF
the building was in deep shadow, rem
dered still darker by the thick coating
of SCOT that encased it; but the upper
portion, towering clear of houses and
chimneys, and swept and eetened by
the wind and rains, caught gleam ol
brightness from the clouds above, and
raised itself white and fair into the ev-
ening sky.
The traffic of the day had slackened
there were few pedestrians and only an
occasional cab ratified by. The big ware
houses had retired from business; the
shops were shut; :he city seemed tt
sleep. ST PauI's also was closely flsten
ed up. 1t misgave me that all l should
see of it would be the outside.
Bending back my neck and gazing
upward at the huge dome l saw tha
about the great golden cross and bal
was tracery as Of cobwebs, and mel
5 like flies were crawling about thes'
slender filaments. Stout scafolding
and thick cables they we're, no doubt
but from the street they looked like thu
J delicate fabric of the gossamer.
l walked quietly around the church
: hoping to find some doorway open, SOM
}. access to the interior The iron gate
!. were all closed, the doors were fast. S
Paulis portals looked as inaccessible ant
J, forbidding as the rocky flank ofa noun
tain. was determined TO find my wa
in, if possible, but knew not how to Sc
: about it. Could 1 have come acros
ANYTHING that looked like deanery O
! sacerdotal residence should have mad
!, bold to knock thereat and ask the occu
). piers for the key. But 1 could fin
< nothing of the sort. Even at bun shoI
/, which was still open, where l inquire
Is as to the way of getting into the church
d the people knewno more about st Paul
d than if it had been a thousand miles di.
t tant.
y began to feel respondent about th
d matter, but went around ihe churc
/. once more till l came to the end of th
= south transept-the shorter limb of th
: cross-and looked yacantly up at the fin
n semi circular pcrtico, with its tall co
\ umns and flights of steps. All this tim
D ] never thought of there being anybod
living inside st Paulis; should as 500
IS haYe expected to meet with furnishe
d apartments in the Catacombs or a fan
r. lily residence in the Pyramids. Bl
peering cautiously about espied in III
'. angle formed by the nave and transe,
~ on the western side a window frol
" which came the faint gleam of candl
Or l stood and looked between the railin,
=. and saw that something was movin
rs within. There was bird cage in II
window on the soil outside some re
flower pots. Presently somebody cam