The Iola register., 1891-10-16
THE lola REGISTER.
OVER LAND AND SEA.
Cologne, Its Great Cathedral. Its Church
of Bones, It's Market Place and
Other Features-Brussels
and Waterloo

dated at Cologne, said nothing about
that city.
To begin with the worst that can
be said of it, Cologne (the Germans,
who ought TO be allowed to name their
own cities, call it Koeln)is undeniably
dirty. True, il is washed by the river
Rhine: but, as Mr.. Coleridge peril
nently inquiries,
"TeIl o tell me, nymph divine
What power can wash the river Rhine|''
The streets are narrow, paved with
cobble stones and lily drained, and
there is no part of the city that could
be called beautiful. 1t is big city
though (250,OO0) and is of much i'm
portance commercially. And 1t has
two or three big "show things The
first of these, naturally, is the great
Cathedral. Begun in the year 124S, it
was not completed until 1880, and it
cost in the meantime several barrels
of money. But the result is grand
enough to fully justify the expendi-
ture,-at least to one who did not have
to help pay for it. 1t is admitted to
be the finest specimen of Gothic arch
itecture in the world, and while it is
not as large as st. Paul's in London
or st. Peters in Rome, or the Milan
cathedral, it is more imposing than
either of them at first view. The two
principal towers are 512 feet in height
and consist of four stories, of which
the three lower are square, while the
fourth are octagonal. crowned with
elegant open spires,-built of stone
from bottom to top. This enormous
mass of masonry is enlivened by a
profusion of flying buttresses, turrets,
gargoyles, galleries, cornices, etc.,
that produces most rich and striking
effect. In one of the towers is chime
of bells, the largest of which weighs
- tons and requires the united
strength of 2S men to ring it. 1t was
cast from French cannon and is called
the Emperor's bell being rung only on
his birthday, or upon the entrance OF
some member of the imperial family
into the city. There are two other
bells in the tower which weigh 6 and
IL tons respectively, besides a half
dozen or SO smaller ones. Converse
ton must be suspended for several
miles around, should think, when
they are all set going at once. The
interior of the cathedral is not es-
pecially impressive, although room
14S yards long, 81 yards broad and 2Ol
feet high might excite some remark if
one had not already seen several that
were larger. But the special pride OF
the Cathedral is its possession of the
remains of the Magi. 1 believe it is
not generally known out West what
became of the three wise men who
came from the East to worship the
child Jesus, and the discovery of their
whereabouts will therefore be read,
trust, with a great deal of interest.
They are here in the Cathedral of Col
ogne. I know it because paid 37l
cents to gee the golden chest in which
they are kept. They have been here
since 1854, having been brought from
Milan, to which city they were brought
from Constantinople, to which city
they were brought by the Empress
Helena, who always refused to tell
where she got them. In times of dire
distress or disaster, these bones are
taken out and carried through the
city, business being practically sus'
pended meanwhile in the streets
through which the procession passes
Besides these relics the Cathedral
treasury contains the poor remainder
of several other dear departed nota
hles of one grade or another, done uI
in gold and silver and precious stones
the staffof st. Peter, and several high
ly valuable crosses and swords and
monstrances. 1t also contains bun
die of the arrows which were used tt
accomplish the martyrdom of st
Sebastian; but as had already seer
a much larger bunch of the same ar
rows at Rome was not particularly
interested in these.
Another one of the show things o
Cologne is the church of st. Ursula
This is church of ordinary size ano
not unusual architecture, but the pc
culiarity about is that it is built large
ly and ornamented wholly with hu
man bones. The story goes that il
some one of the earlier centuries st
Ursula, an English princess, went Oh
pious pilgrimage to Rome attended
by 1900 virgins. They made the
trip thither in safety and had return
ed thus far on their way home wher
they were set upon by the savage
Huns and slaughtered to the last
mothers daughter. After the lapse
of a few years their bones were gath
cred together by Christian hands and
placed in coffins in church built Oh
this spot. In the course of time the
old church was torn down and the
one which now stands was built or
the same site, especially designed tc
receive the sacred remains. That il
the legend. The truth of history
seems to be that when the Saxon:
overrau England a great many Chris
tiaps were driven out of that island
%.oly raf,,Uo hn,,i