The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-08-15
EUROPEAN LETTERS.
THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE: AND
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
Our Correspondent still Com
plains of sour Bread and Stale
water While Engaged ln he
SCriJOiIIx London Town.
LONDON, Monday morning, July 30

LONDON, Monday morning, july ~.
Editor Citizen For the past two days
your correspondent has been buSily en-
gagged in searching for some London To-
Gals to adorn your columns, with q very
moderate degree of success, because /;
continued diet of sour bread and Stal,
water has Il tendency to promote rather
the moralizing side of his constitution
and to tinge all he sees with a tone o
sadness, almost amounting to deprcs.
sion of spirit, SO that he feels a hesitation
in coming before the Ashevile public
But we have seen many things and
thought a great deal, and we must try
to tell of the former, even il we are una.
BILE to keep out occasionally our own re.
hections.
A visit to Parliament House was very
much a repetition of that to the State
apartments in Windsor Castle. A hur-
ried walk through the rooms with Il
guide in 'front.' pretending to describe the
paintings, in a sinEsong kind of Il way,
and a policeman behind, insisting that
we shall pass hon; 'urry up, please. "
And SO we are crowded and iostlcd
through the beautiful corridors and
rooms, and come out with mind so con
fused as to be afraid to attempt Il de-
scription, even OF any one OF the really
exquisite paintings, statues or tapestries
which we have seen but not enjoyed.
Ofcoursc our brain holds the same inn
precision ofthe old rasCally MormonHcnry
VIII, who is accompanied by his SlX
wives, and looks very much as ii he was
considering the proprlcty OF establishing
still another church i'll order to get per
mission to marry six more, when mcr-
Cilul providence cut short his DcaStly cX-
iStencc.
The most interesting part OF the build
ingS to us is Westminster Hall, where we
are permitted to lingcr few moments,
and catch inspiration OF the scenes which
it's walls have witnessed and to think
with sadness upon the number OF good
and true men who there have been sell
tcrCc to cruel torture and death. Even
as the martvrcd Wallace was, "to he
hung, drawn and quartcrcd" because he
had done deeds most noble, and had
dared to hold andcXprcss opinions differ
ing from those of the powers that he
Truly intolerance is not a new thing,
nor is it Il thing of the past. Many OF us
know that even i'll America, and i'll dear
little AShcvillc, that a man is advised to
form his mind according to the dictatiUm
of the party bosses; but, as the days "t
hanging, drawing and quartcrlng' are
past, some men decline to do 50.
We now enter Westminster Abbey, ami
truly are aStonlShcd at the sight which
greets us. Description after description
<Ve have read and listened to, and yet We
had not the slightest idea of that which
we now see as we stand astOnishcd, awe
struck, i'll this wonderful church How
then can we attempt to give you faint
description? Truly it will be a failure
we know, but try to sympathizc with us
as VIC enter the north transcpt and look
through the lofty arChing columns i'll all
directions, surrounded at its base with
statues in white marble OF every imaEi-
nablc shape and design illustrating the
virtues of men and women whose ashes
lie beneath, and imprcsslnE one with the
remembrance, as stated on the tablet Ol
.tlc poet Gray, that
Life is Jest, and al things show it:
thought SO once but now know it,
We can conceive of nothing more absO-
lu1clv wcarlSomc than an inspection OF
this tremendous Abbey perhaps amy one
Oi It's works OF art would delight us, but
the toni en- ScmbLe opprcsSes us beyond
measure. OfcOursc wcarc delighted with
Il walk through the Chapels which con
tain the royal tombs, although the guide
hurriCS us along all too fast for our wish,
Everything we pass, see or touch IS
rceking with history, and no one can fail
to realize i'll himself a feeling that 1t is
impossible to convey to others, as he
stands at the very spot which contains
the ashes OF poor hcadcss Queen Mary,
and not far away those OF her cruel per
sccutor Queen Elizabeth, and secs the
royal chair on which the Scottish, Irish
and more recently, the English kings, have
all been crowned while seated upon the
'"kings Stone" of which the legend is
that it composed the pillow OF Jacob
when he dreamed his dream of the lad
,de-S reaching up into lenven, and saw
;thc bright angels ascending and descend
ing on errands of mercy.
Ofcourse biologists tell lis that this is
impossible; that no such stone can be
found in the East, bat perhaps they do
not know everything yet; and for our
selves, we prefer to hold to the old, old
story, and hope that all successive mon
airIS may see the lovelincss of the vision
ami bc inclined to "go and do thou like
wise"
y wonderful piece of carving is seen in
ono of the numerous side chapcls, Il huS-
band supporting the form OF his diving
" lie, while from the tomb, on which the
figures are placed, Death darts out, grim
i'll all The horrors with which he can be
imagined, and directs his javclin at the
lovely. dropping form.
\ few American mcmCntus are found,
and our Longiclluw is appropriately cn-
shriuch among the nobility less noble
Than hc. Also wc see with sadness a
monument i'll memory Oi Maj. Andre,
sacrificed to the treachcry of Arnold, and
I'VE reflect how much We would prefer at
this day to have been the victim rather
than the rascal who escaped; truly few
tlceting years make many hard things
come all right.
As we before remarked, a sense of eX-
trcme WEAKNESS attends our visit to
Westminster Abbey; it is SO lar beyond
our power of grasping its marvellous
beauties and adOrnments. Very different
is the sensation produced by st. Pauls
Cathedral. Its wonderfully calm and
peaceful, magnitude, its lofty airiness I'M
adorned by aught else than its own per-
fiction OF proportion; its statues Ot the
y.Ty best art, located so as to allow a
NIsIIUr 10 see one at a time, and to drink
in its beauties; and most appropriately
im this grand church we stand, and l;rin
wouid kncel before the form OF John
Howard, truly philanthropist, who
traveI scd the civilized world to reduce
the sum of human misery, from The
throne to the dungeon"
Here we could realize the scene in the
grand old temple, where King Solomon
"sprcad forth his hands" in prayer to
the God who chose his house, and this as
his own. In no other place have we ever
felt SO near the Throne.
What curious people we are, not salts
fed with the Swee, and holy thoughts
anDendcred by St paurs We hasten