The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-08
SAINT DENIS.

ftlrsssoia. Pafis Lete. D C.n,.ana,i satar
 Jay Night.
 Yesterday made pilgrimage 10 the
 a.hedra. oi Saint Denis celebrated as ne burial place of French royalty IL IS 4beut five miles from ,he centre of Paris, reacheS by tramwsy. $. Denis is a good szed city in itselt. numbering 5 900 in- aabitAnis and surrounded by Tnanufac- tories. The cathedral was built in houor of St. Denis, the fsrst bishop of Paris, who suffered maftyrdom al Montmartyre m ,he tkird century a, the hands of the bar harians.
 The early GArls did not take kindly tc me Christian religion or it's apostles. They were worshipefs of idols and idleness. as many of their descendants are to this .ay. Their priests were Druids and thea temples groves of oak, where grew the sacred mis,letoe. One of the cheerful 9bseranoes of the Druid priests consisted n packing ar immense osier basket wth human beings prisoners of war and -rimlnals, generally and making ben ire of them. 10 appease the wrath ot their 1iiended dei,les. When there was lack of such material they filled up the qee,a with innocent people, and members of heir congregation who were behin6 in heir pew rent.
 The Christian religion penetrated nto i,aul about one hundred years afte. ste 1eath of the Savior. The Romans. who were then masters of the country. perse- euted the early evangelis,s and submitted them to msrtyrdom. St. Denis was sent 70 Paris by Pope fabien. and became d martyr to h.s faith soon after. He vas aecapitated and his body throwa into ske Seine, b II ]; waSrecovered, so says traGi- aon, by pagan woman, toached by compassion, who concealed II iH her dwelling until |, could receive proper burial. ] chapel was erected over the supposed place of sepulture about shc rear z75, to which pilgrims directed their rious footsf 2s from near and lar King Dagodert l.. who died in C ,o substituted d large basilica, oI church. for the chapel curing his reign, and handed i, over 10 he Benedictine monks, for whom he alt to built an abbey 3, the same place. The ehurch was repeatedly restored. par,icr- .arly by pepin the Little, father of Gharle- magne. Srger, the famous aobo, Of St. Denis and the astute adviser of Loiis VI and Louis VII, erected in the fore part of the twelfth century. more handsome edihce, in the construction Of which no part of the olC church was retained eA- cept the central crypt and few columns. Alterations and improvements have gone on from time 10 time since that period During the revolution which began in :7ss 1t was sadly desecra,ed and nearly ruined. Renova,ions were made uader Napoleon l., but II was reserved for Ma polcon III. 70 Eest0re |, 10 its ancient :nagnihcence. the work being conducted ander fiollci-le-Iuo, one of the greatest Gothic architects of modern times Ma 2oleon l. decreed Tn Sob that the crypt should be used 10. his own burial and hat of his successors: but one member only of hss family was inferred there. young Napoleon Charles, son of his brother Louis. The body was afterwards conveyed to an old church called St Leu-Taverny, not far from Paris, and re- :nterred alongside of Charles Bonaparte, father of Napoleon l. During the reign of Napoleon III. he arranged for his own ourial and that of his successors in the crypt of St. Denis, but the sacred resting place is unoccupsed, the emperor and his iil-fated son both sleeping in English soil.
 Nearly all of the French kings, from Dagobert l., who died about 6,o. with :heir families, were buried 2, s,. Denis. The numerous monuments. however, hat were erected m the early period. nave perished during the frequen; altera- ,ions or rebuilding Of the church. Lotus iA- fieco-7o} erected number Of mau- soleums and monuments with recuribent ngures in the chair to the memory of his xingly ancestors, and from his time down 70 Henri ". (died i5Iol monuments were erected to all the monarchs as well as to numerous princes and dis,ing lished personages. After Henri's death the c0<- ms of his successors were merely depos- tied in the royal vault During the first revolution, the convention resolved that the tombs should be destroyed. and in accordance with the decree the work of demolition began October ., i7o,. The walls of the crypt were broken through, and the bones of the illustrious dead of thousand years were torn from their consecrafed resting place by ruthless hands, and thrown together into a com- mon ditch that had been excavated near oy to rece1ve them. Easy 10 imagine the hoots and gibes with which the frantic mob, drunk on blood and liberty, mocked the bones of Dagobert, Charles Martel and Pepin, or played football with the skull which had held the great brain of Chariemagne. No people like the French for destroying monuments of their past greatness, during paroxysmal periods
 The preservation of the torabs which survived these disastrous vicissi,udes was largely due 10 the oainter. Alexander