The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-12-22

ones. unless they are quite modern. were
pu up between 1850 and 1850 In 1905 a
pulpit was ordered TO be placed IN
every church not alreay SO furnished
Stone, al 7his date, seems to have gone
out OF ashton; and the new pulpits were
generally made OF that excreScence
of the EARTH as a seventeenth century
noblsman called il. which Providence
has provided for the payment OF deots-"
namely. oak timber. With this alter
alton the drum scclesiasiic became more
resonant than ever. Sometimes 81 lent
itself TO quite illegit.mate effects At
Twy-wen in Northhamptonshtre. for in
stance. there is. or recently was. a
wooden pulpit with the front panel split.
The village tradition is that a preacher
in CroEnxeirs time purposely kicked
ir out to impress a particular text OF his
hearers. A hundred years later une
zeal of the PurltanS had given place TO
uhe druwstness Of she Georgian clergy.
II was then. according 10 the poet Cow
per that pulpstS were first covered with
crimson velvet The local squire.
though he could generally cut she ser
mon short by standing up in his pew.
did not like to have his nap disturbed
while il lasted: and he guarded himself
,, against unexpected noises under pre-
|
which they might have come. Many
outdoor pulpfts remain. There is one
looking into the court of Nagdalen col
iege. Oxford. II is entered by a door AZ
the back. and covered by a Stone tester
of canopy, which shelters the occupant
from rain and rough weather There Is
a still finer one AT the Cathedral OF 81.
ISo in Normandy. another at Notre
Dam, Wire. and a small one. recess in
the wall, at Pistoia, in Italy. Perhaps
the most striking Is at PratO. in the
same country, II is circular in plan: u
stands cut boldly from an angle of the
church.a nd r is protected by what.
If il We're wood instead OF marble. might
be called a great covered sounding
board. Being very large Its general ef-
fsot is remarkable enough. but " Is also
noticeable for FIVE or six beautiful
groups OF winged boys. with which Do
natello sculptured its panels. Refec-
tories. in monkish times. often had pull
pits Of rheir own. There is a pictur-
esque one al Shrewsbury Abbey. and
others at Great Walsingham and at
Wells. Granite puipits. covered with
fanciful ornaments incised with point
ed hammer. and OF course unpublished.
may be found an DevOnshire and Corn
wall There was formerly a wrought
iron pulpit in Durham Cathedral and
there are one or two modern ones in
London For early fine specimens in
this metal. however. we must go to
Spain. and especially TO Burgos and
Vviha-
Old English stone pnlpits were gen
orally small, so small that some OF
them may even yet be unknown. hav-
ing been hidden away under later aSidi-
tfons. This was the case with one Of
much beauty. discovered about thirty
years ago during restoration at Ship
ton-under-Wychwo wood. Being very di-
minutive. il has been shaped out Of
single block and. like Merlin In the hol-
how tree, ~ had been long afterwards
enclosed for generations In the once
fashionable "three-decker." This fate
could hardly have overtaken our largest
examples. such as that In Trinity
church. Coventry. But mediseval Italy
was the place for immense and magnifi-
cent pulpits; 50 magnificent that. as Mr..
Ruskin remarks. even the clergy for
whom they were built seldom cared 10
use them. AS Beatrice says of Don Pc
dro, they were too costly for everyday
wear" and the preacher who was In
earnest preferred a humber standing
place The east of one Of them in the
South Kensington Museum is familiar
enough; but few people who pass II
know that for ages it's original has
ceased TO exist. except in catered frag-
ments. Sculptured for Pisa Cathedral
by Giovanni Pisano about the year 1902.
II remained there til 1896 Then came
a gerat fire. in which the roof OF the
church was destroyed. The pulpit was
fv14f, =.