Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-05
Of Ordinary Size Could Be Placed
Within the York Minister.
A SITE WITH QUITE A HISTORY.
Rev. George Hodges Writes EntertaininglY
of the Great Pile.
MIXING OF PRAYERS AND ROTATIONS
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH, /,

now covered by the great spaces of York
Minister. For the cathedral is set upon
hill; and hill was the natural center of
town, in those old days when every town
was walled fort, and the middle of the
town would be the fitting place for the little
church which was to be the scene of the
baptism of the King. This ground. then,
upon which we stand, as we look up at these
great walls and square towers, is holy
ground.
The photographs fatter the cathedral. 1t
bigness, but it has very plain and ill-Iook
ing central tower. And this central tower
is taller than the two fine western towers.
The pictures do not show that. The per-
spective brings out the two good towers with
fine emphasis and sets the ugly tower in
the background.
Over the great west door, as you 90 in, are
carved figures. The one in the middle is at
tired in the robes of bishop. The side
statues are in the dress of knights The
bishop is giving his benediction. holding up
two fngers-a characteristic attitude, and
significant one; for what is the chul ch for, if
not to bless men? the knights have, each
Of them, big rock in his hand-but not to
stone the bishop. The bishop was the
builder of the west front of the Cathedral,
and these good gentlemen in knightly
armor contributed the stone from their es-
tates. Here they are, over the great door,
holding out the symbols of their liberality.
Disappointing From the Outside.
If York Minister is little disappointing
from the outside, all feeling Of disappoint-
ment vanishes when you get in. A great
building, big enough to hold half dozen of
our large churches without crowding; the
roof lofty like the sky, and upheld by i'm
mense pillars: stone everywhere, from floor
to ceiling; empty, of course, as the Cathedral
naves are, for the most part, but looking all
the bigger for its emptiness.
I stood within Minister of old time,
Ornate and mighty. Like mount it reared
Its mossy front, with pinnacle and tower,
Augustly beautiful. The morning sun
Through noblest windows of refulgent stain,
Mullioned, and wrought with leafy tracery,
Threw Ger the pavement many gorgeous
group
or cherubim. and seraphm, and saint,
And long-robed patriarch, kneeling low in
While as his golden finger charged the ray.
Fresh floods of radiance poured on all around.
Der the long vista the delighted eye.
Bewildered, roved-transept, and nave, and
And screen screen elaborate, and column proud,
And vaulted roof that seemed another sky.
The poet has not exaggerated the glory of
the stained glass of York, which is the
finest in England. The first recorded use Of
glass in England as material for windows
is in connection with this church. and it has
kept its pre-eminence ever since. Especially
notable, and looked for first by every
visitor, are the FIVE slender windows called
the Give Sisters. They are in the wall of
the north transept, elaborate in design, and
green aud glistening like the sea. They say
that five nuns worked out in tapestry the
tracery of the figures, each taking a window.
In the same transept, set against the chancel
wall, is fine clock with Ginning bell.
The face is painted on the stone, and about
it in Latin runs the Inscription, "The Lord
be praised from the rising up of the sun unto
the going down of the same" Beside this
clock, ruauing across the entrance to the
choir, is the great stone screen, which parti-
tions the cathedral into two parts.
One of the Peculiar Features.
The choir screen is peculiar feature of
ecclesiastical architecture in England. The
English Cathedral is built in the form OF a
cross, the long part being the nave, the arms
being the transepts and the head being the
choir and chancel. The choir is separated
from the rest of the church by great stone
wall, with central door, with Ornamental
ton Of carvings and statues, and often with
big organ on top of 1t. So that cathedral
was meant to be two distinct churches. One
of these churches, the bigger one, was
intended ior the common people, the laity;
the other, the smaller but more sacred,
was for the clergy or the monks. 1t was
never intended that the whole cathedral
should be used at one time for one service,
except upon some very remarkable occasion,
l. Al L. = Al II
hear the singing within the choir and see the
smoke OF incense rising from the high altar,
and could imagine what gorgeous ceremo-
nies were being enacted on the other side of
the stone wall. Outside in the nave were al
tars along the walls, and masses were being
said at them for the souls OF benefactors, and
before them people knelt in prayer.
To-day the altars are all gone, and there
are no kneeling people, and the services
even on Sunday are all said in the choir and
chancel. In some cathedrals they have a
sermon preached in the have on Sunday aft
ernoons. But the great service is on the
other side of the stone screen. Here the con-
gregation sit on long benches running
lengthwise with an aisle in the middle
In the midst of the congregation sit
the choir boys in their white gowns
You may touch elbows with them,
or even with the clergy. You may sit in
one of the canopied stalls where once a
monk sat in gown and cowl singing his
PRAYERS. The service in cathedral has,
accordingly, quite y different look from the
arrangement of clergy, choir and congrega-
ton to which we are accustomed.
Remarkable to Look Upon.
The screen at York which parts the nave
from the choir is queer. There is series Of
stone figures set across it, with stone crowns
upon their heads and with the most gro-
tesque expressions upon their stone faces
These figures represent the early kings Of
England. Here they stand. as in the con-
venient rhyme:
First William the Norman,
Then William his son,
and so on, Il dozen caricatures of English
royalty remarkable to look upon. If they
had been saints with halos around their
heads instead of crowns the jealous REFORM
ers; with their axes and hammers, would
have made short work OF them. But the
early kings of England were not saints.
Anybody who knows anything at all about
E glish history can bear witness to that
So here they stand, petrifed (for their sins)
into spectacles wonderful to the beholder,
almost as bad-looking as they were bad-be-
having.
On Sunday, in the winter, the day begins
with the clangor Of bells. Great Peter
sends out his mighty voice abroad, and all
the little Peters swell the chorus. The ef-
feet is not particularly musical. Down from
the bell-towers comes n hoarse, confused,
disordered tumult OF intermingled sounds,
as if the big bells were having riotous
fight up there in the skv, each shouting
louder than the other. Take a year.oi6
baby and plump him down good many
times in succession upon the lower octaves