The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-08-10
At ST. PAUL,S CATHEDRAL.

| The Embicmattc Bouquets-Hhe
! Bishop of stepney and His Sermon
| English Judges and English jus
| tice.
London, July 91st.
To the Editor of the Journal and Courier:
A service at st. PauPs Cathedral
must always be interesting because ol
the associations of that great historic
pile, but to one service in partlcuial'
annually held there in the summer a."
interest attaches which is altosether
| unusual from the fact that 1t Is at
tended in State by His Majesty JuuSe9
and that the preacher for the occasloii
has the rare opportunity of bringing tils
| law and the Gospel to bear upon seI
| of gentlemen who themselves OFTEN
| bring the law to bear upon their TEL
low creatures, but, as many think co
not temper law with Christian mercy
| quite so often as they should. Waltihs
under that mammoth dome in the COM
pany of some five thousand other curl
| ous folk for the hour when this service
should begin, l found wish sprinslng
up which, could it only have been gratl-
| fed would have added to the occasion
| q. new Glellll1J UUlll u liilSi 81 ''''N- -
ness. What I cnaved was that the pull
Dit for this occasion might nave peel
occupied by some outspoken preacher
| like DR.. Parkhurst OF New YORK. W
| failing of that kind, by at least sohie
versatile genius of the Tamase STRIPE
J But they haven't any such men IN tne
| Church of England. Everything Eng
| lish is very likely to be CONVENTIONAL
| and as a matter of course that was
what the sermon proved to be on I'LL
| occasion into which live YANKEE
| preacher would have been sure 10 III
| teriect something that was strlklhs'
! even il he did not go the full length
| of sensationalism.
| But were spectacular effects wholly
lacking in this service? On the con-
trary they were in the most athueht
| evidence The pulpit did not make
much show, but the occasion itself was
| decidedly show. 1t Is the one occa-
sion in the year when there is com
ing together of what might be caileu
the three English graces-Church, Law
and Civic Government. The beWlggeu,
scarlet ROBBED judges are met at the en-
trance to ST. Pauls by the even more
Enthusiastically arrayed City Aldermen,
| headed by the Lord Mayor, and II the
reader will imagine, in the central aisle
of that great cathedral, a long preces-
sion of such dignitaries, with some
nunky CARRYING before each of them
golden mace or other SHINING empleiii
of his office, and vii then watch TINS
glittering pageant as 1t enters 'he
chancels and there blends, IN the pro-
cess of seating itself, with the surpllceo
choir and the variously goWned Clergy
he will be quite convinced that the oc-
casion was indeed what | nave calleu
IT. viz. a show, and assuming fancy TO
have told him all her tale, he VIII
further agree that it was a show well
worth seeing.
pleasing feature of this church
spectacle was that clergy, judges ana
CITY fathers alike al carried tastefully
arranged bouquets of white ana reu
ao,vers This did not seem inappropri-
ate. But before accepting the propri-
etv of what one sees as full explana-
ton of why one sees 1t, one must re-
member that in England what people
do is not half so likely to be done pc
cause It conforms to good taste as from
! regard to some ancient custom. Ihese
bouquets carried me in thought to the
sessions room of the Old Bailey. on the
tables In front of the presiding judge
and the attendant aldermen you VIII
ALWAYS see in that historic hall, when
court "a in session, bouquets which
hear a suspicious resemblance to those
which on this particular Sunday are so
! pleasantly in evidence at ST Paul $
| Cathedral. Here | thought, was per-
hans a little clue which If followed,
! might throw light upon this matter
| And SO IT turned out The white flow
ers typify the purity OF Engish JUS
tice and the whole bouquet, with It's
| fringing Of green, whether you sect IN
| a Judges hand at church, or on MS
| table at the Old Bailey commentaries,
as one might have been sure 1t did
| from the first, a custom which stretches
| far back into antiquity.
| In olden time the seats of English
Judges were strewn with scented herbs
as prot lection to their lordshlps
! against the plague and, at the Ola
| BAILEY, as a particular protection
| asinst iail fever; for Newgate prison
was in close proximity, and from Its
foul atmosphere. as the iron doors were
| opened to bring prisoners into the trlal
| room. there was danger of infection.
| There Is of course no such danger now
but what a pity it would be to ever
! give up doing what you used to do
| once, You might modify the custom
| little. but to wholly give it up, what
| Sian in the face that would be to the
| shades Of ones ancestors! So these
English seem to argue in such cases.
| Hence the bouquets, carried alike by
Judges, aldermen and clergy, which
formed so pleasing feature of that
special service for the judges. They
were certainly ornamented, and 1t
rather seemed that the preacher, from
| the tenacity with which he chung to his
own specimen, was more than half per-
| s,1aded that these floral successors OF
the ancient scented herbs might be use
| full as well. The preliminary services
| lasted about an hour and half. Many
| in the audience were kept busy during
| that time in holding on to their pa
| thence, and so sleep were some that
| they needed to hold on to their chairs
[ to keep from failing over But the
Bishop of Stepney still held on to his
BOUQUET and seemed reluctant to Jay it
| down even while he was preaching.
This Bishop of Stepney is an interest