The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-09-12
From Northern France and Belgium

EDITORS INTELL1GENCER: Like the
bird that circles about its summer re-
sort before taking its final departure
for it's winter home, so we, before
leaving Europe, where we have spent
our vacation, for America, are visit.
ing several cities in Northern France
and Belgium.
The first one We visited was Beau
vais, an old historic town some fifty
miles north of Paris. The most at
tractive feature of the city is the ca
thedral, which was begun in 1247
with the intention of eclipsing the
great Cathedral at Amiens. Although
only the choir and transepts have
been built, these are on such a grand
scale as to make it one of the famous
Churches of the world. According to
the greatest modern architect, Violet
le-duc, it attained the last limit to
which the construction Of great edi.
1ices Of the thirteenth century has
been able to arrive. He says that it
is the Parthenon of French architect"
ure. The choir was made so high that
the bu&tresses were too weak to sup
port the vaulting, SO that it fell in
1854. The vaulting is the highest in
existence, being 157 feet above the
pavement. Magnificent stained-glass
windows, long and slender, lend their
varied color and grace. When one
looks up on entering, this sweep Of
$50 feet is almost tiresome to the eye.
Yet there is so much grace, so much
harmony Of parts in these Gothic
Churches that no fault can be found
with them.
Among many things about the Ca
thedral, perhaps the most interesting
is the astronomical clock, which re-
sembles the famous clock Of the Stras-
bourg Cathedral. It has $4,000
pieces, and is made to indicate the
hour, day, week, month, rising and
setting of the sun, phases of the
moon, the tides, the time Of day in
the principal cities Of the world. It
has 81 faces. When the hour strikes
there is scene Of the last judgment.
The cock crows, angels blow their
trumpets, flames leap out of the dome
Of the clock, the Father inclines his
head to his right and left to indicate
that he is going to judge the world.
First comes the soul of a righteous
whoi is weighed in the balance that
St. Michael holds. He is found Of the
right weight and receives favorable
judgment. Angels conduct him to
Heaven amid sweet music, which va
ries for every day Of the year. Next
comes the soul of wicked. He is
weighed and found wanting, a demon
with pitch-fork comes out and
throws him into the bottomless pit.
The next city was A.uiens, thriv-
ing town of Northern France. This
place enjoys the honor Of being the
birthplace of Peter the Hermit, who
preached the first crusade. His
statue is erected on square at the
back Of the Cathedral in this city.
The Cathedral, taken upon the whole,
is the largest and most perfect exam
pie of Gothic architecture in exist
ence, and is the one usually taken as
the type by writer's upon the subject
of Church architecture. Its length is
40 feet, length Of transept 213 feet,
width Of nave 147 feet (being surpass-
ed in this respect by Beauvais alone).
Our next city was Laon, a pictu-
rescue city situated on the top of a
mountain that rises almost perpendic-
ularly on one side to height of sew
eral hundred feet. There is very
interesting Cathedral at this place,
which the government is restoring.
This work has been in progress for
forty years, and fifteen years yet are
necessary to finish it. The sum spent
is upwards of $4,000 dollars year.
All the Churches in France belong to
the State. They are supported by
charges made for seats at the services.
A seat is usually two cents. The
priests, or the Church proper as we
would call it, gets what those in at
tendance choose to give.
Our itineracy next calls for Reins
(Rheins), noted for two things: it
contains the Cathedral in which the
old French Kings were crowned with
the exception of Napoleon l, who was
crowned in Notre-Dame de Paris, and
it is the centre of the champagne dis
trict. It was more on account of the
history in connection with the Church
that carried us there than the desire
Of enjoying fine drinks. Viollet-le-
due calls this the queen of Gothic
Churches. Its facade is the finest in
the world. Such sculptured richness
is almost incredible. There are more
than 1900 sculptured figures of men,
angels and animals about the Church.
This is probably the most historic
Cathedral of Europe. 1t was here
that King Clovis, after being con-
verted to Christianity, was baptized in
the fifth century. This may be said
was the beginning Of Christianity in
France. It was to this Church that