The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-07-18
In Lucerne Cathedral.
Scene from "That Beautiful WRETCH" by
William Black.

found themselves in Lucerne. 1t was an ex-
ceedingly hot evening; and after dinner the
crowd in this great hotel had been glad to
pour out into the spacious verandah, which
was formed by a succession of arches all hang
ing with evergreens. There they formed little
groups round the small tables, lit up by the
orange glow streaming out from the windows
of the hotel, some taking coffee, some smoking
all chatting idly.
"It feels like thunder" said Mary Beresford
to her sister Edith. SIT would be odd if we
were to have a real thunderstorm after listen
ing to the imitation one in the cathedral"
"The Uo1 h,taana stop is better at some things
than at Others" said Miss Edith, critically "In
the chanting the boys voices are good, and the
tenor voices are good; but the bass is too musi-
CAL You hear that it is the organ. And it Vi
brates too much"
"They must make good deal of money by
it," said the elder sister, sin the tourist season
l am sure there were hundred people there,
II wish knew the name of the piece. I
should like to try one or two of the airs.'
"It was considerate of them to finish in time
to let us get back for the table d'h6te."
"Sooner or later that organ will shake the
cathedral to bits; the vibrations were fearful. I
thought there was a great deal too much poise
You lose effect when you pile up the agony
like that; people only want to stop their ears
to prevent their heads being split
So they chatted on. But what was it that
Nan, who had accompanied them, had heard,
as she sat in the great, empty, dimly-lit cathe-
dral, with her hands clasped, her head bent
forward on them, her eyes closed? Or, rather,
what was it that she saw?-for this seemed to
be picture in music. She saw small chap
ell far away up in the mountains, the tremb-
ling red rays in the windows looking strange
above the snow. She heard the monks at their
midnight chanting, low and sad and distant
And then it seemed as she listened, as if the
stars overhead were being blurred out, and a
murmuring wind came down the gorge, and
the air grew cold. The darkness deepened;
the wind rose and moaned through the pine
forests; then an angry gust swept along so that
the intoning of the monks was lost altogether.
There was rumble of distant thunder-over-
head among the unseen peaks. But still, un-
conscious of the threatening storm, those with
in the small building went on with their jolly
office, and there were snatcheS of the clear
singing of boys, SO faint that you could scarce
ly hear; and again, the strong, sad, sombre
voices of the men. Then the tempest broke,
fierce and terrible; the elements seemed min
gled together. She lost sight of the chapel in
the whirling snow; the heavens ratified over
head; and the wind swept down so that the
whole earth trembled. A horror OF wrath and
darkness has overwhelmed the world: and
what of the patient choristers now? No longer
are their voices heard amid the appalling
fury of the hurricane; the sudden lightning
flash reveals nothing in the blackness; the
powers of evil have overcome; and the uni
verse has lost its hope. But now there comes
a lull; and suddenly-far away, and faint, and
triumphant-rises the song of reliance and
joy. The demons of the night muttef and
moan; but the divine song rises clearer and
more clear. 1t is the voice of faith, slver-toned
and sweet; and the very heavens themselves
seem to listen; and the thunders rumble away in
the valley; and the stars shining and calm, and
benignant, come out again over the mountain
peaks. And 10! once more she can descry the
faint red rays above the snow; and she can al
most see the chorsters within the little build
ing; and she listens to the silver-clear song;
and her heart is filled with a strange new
gladness and trust. What must she do to keep
it there forever? By what signal sef-sacrifice
by what devotion of whole life-time-shall
she secure to herself this divine peace, so that
the storms and terrors and trials of the world
may sweep by it poweresS and unregarded.
When she rose and blindly followed her sis
ters she was all trembling, and there was
great lump in her throat. She was, indeed, in
that half hysterical state in which rash re-
solves are sometimes made that may deter
mine the course of human life. But Nan
had the sense to know that she was in this
state, and she had enough hrmness OF charac-
ter to enable her to reason with herself. She
walked, silent with her sisters to the hotel;
and she was reasoning with herself all the
time. She was saying to herself that she had
glimpse, an impression of something divine
ly beautiful and touching that at some time or
other might influence or even determine her
course of life. Whom taat time came she could
remember But not now-not now. She was
going to resolve to become Catholic, or join
sisterhood, or give herself up to the service
of the poor, merely because this wonderful
music had filed her heart with emotion. 1t
was necessary that she should think of some
thing hard and Notwithstanding that
would be the embodiment of common sense.
She would force herself to think of that. And
casting about, she determined to think-about
Singing Sallie.