St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-05-17
LETTER FROM SPAIN.

We are pleased TO be able to give
our readers the benefit of the follow
ing extracts from letter from Joseph
p. Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury who
is now travelling in Europe:
SEVILLE, April 13, 1895. Yester-
day was a very busy day. We went
first to the Cathedral to see the
"rending Of the veil" The larger
part OF the Cathedral is closed for
repairs, the roof having fallen in a
few years ago. This service was
held in large chapel connected with
the church. When we first entered
the priests were chanting
service in Latin at the end opposite
the high altar. The altar itself was
completely hidden by purple dra.
perry reaching from floor to ceiling.
Soon some of the priests walked
down the center of the chapel and
back again, then at certain mo.
ment in the service the whole veil
hiding the altar was rent asunder in
an instant. At the same time the
music swelled and all the bells in
Seville began ringing. Directly
above us the Twenty-Five bells of the
Glrada tower were Ginning togeth-
er. The smaller bells Of the church
we were in, and all the other bells in
the city kept up an incessant clamor.
The dram effect OF the rending of
the veil was fine. We Immediately
left the chapel and began the ascent
of the Giralda. The bells were still
ringing, but we supposed they would
stop before we reached the top. You
know the tower was built by the
Moors in the 10Th century but they
only completed it asf far as where the
bells are now. Above that it is the
work of Spanish architects of later
date. The ascent is made by series
of inclined planes, thlrty-eight in
mum DER, and consequently lot at all
atguing We were much pleased
with the pretty little balconies dis
trlbuted along the walls OF the tow
er; they were so Enthusiastically
Moorish. We reached the top in
few minutes, and such clang as
burst upon our ears Most OF the
bells were ringing for all they were
worth, cang, clang, dong, dong,
sucl racket we could not make
each other understand a word. We
went up beyond the bell space into
the cupola. This rises about 100
feet higher. We obtained a magnih-
cent view from the top. All Seville
lay 800 feet below US. We got
fairly good idea of the way the city
is laid out. Such crooked streets,
and so narrow. We stayed in the
tower for some time, consulting our
guide books for its history. The
Moors held it in great veneration on
occount OF its supposed magical tai
ents, and at the time Of the Christian
conquest threatened to destroy it.
They were only restrained by Ferdi-
nand's threat that he would sack
the city If they did. Just as we were
leaving the tower one OF the bell
ringers pulled himself up onto the
bell. He went out over the edge of
the tower and back again on the
bell, 1t was frigh tful feat to do.
The Girada adjoins the the Cathe'
dral and as soon as we were out OF
the tower we entered the church.
This was out first Cathedral and we
were much impressed by its immen'
sty, Most of the chapels are closed
during Holy Week, and most of the
hne paintings and carvings are in
them, We visited two chapels how
ever, In the first one, the Royal
chapel, are deposited the bones of
many royal personages. The altar
consists of sitting statue of the
Virgin with the Christ child in her
arms. Both are elegantly dressed in
gold and silver robes studded with
Jewels. Above the Virgins head, on
the under side of a canopy, is what
is said to be the largest emerald in
the world; 1t is as large as hen S
egg, and extremely beautiful when
the light shines through it, We left
the Royal chapel TO see Murillo's
painting of st, Anthony. The Christ
child is descending to him from the
sky, surrounded by host OF cherubs
is indescribably beautiful, and we
sat looking at it a long, long time
and are going again tomorrow.
From the Cathedral we went to
the Alcazar. We first entered the
Court of the Maidens. There is a
legend about this court and the hun
bred maidens' sent yearly as a tribute
to the King. The decorations and
style Of the Alcazar are all Moorish,
although built by Don Pedro the
Cruel. One OF the rooms adjoining
the Court Of the Maidens was the
birthplace of Isabella, wife of the late
Alfonso XII. We next went to the
Hall of the ambassadors, the most
beautiful of all the apartments OF the
AIcazar. We had very nice and
accommodating guide who enabled
US to gain entrance to the royal
apartments up stairs. Very few per
sons are allowed there, and we
thought ourselves very fortunate.