The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-08-24
STORY or OLD ST. PAuL.s.

s. Paufs. Of London. which IS at pres
ent exciting attention. has had q checker
ed story Three times fire has brought
Il 20 the ground. and the cracSs in the
walls which are just now beiag talked
about bring TO mind tie sight which good
Samuel Pepys saw as he walked Up Lud-
gate Hin two hundred and fifty years
ago. Il stopped at St PauTs." he says
in MS diary. and did see a hideous sight
Of the walls Of the church ready 10 fail
that I was in fear as long as ! was "a
Il The very sight Of the stones fall
Ing from the top OF the steeple GO make
me sea-sick. the famous liarist wrote
again. We are not likely 10 see St
Pau AZ PepyS saw il. but any peril in
its condition is 4 legitimate cause Of ma
tionaI anxiety.
Those who know their London can find
few places so inspiring. that carry the
mind back so far in history as under
meath the great dome. Christianity has
been represented by a church on this
site since Augustine brought the Gospel
10 England. and all through the centuries
a national interest has been taken in the
Cathedral OF 81. Paul :. After the de-
strIction by hre IN the reign of the
ConqUeror. the new 81 PauTs was built
from the offerings OF thousands Of neo-
pie. to whom the bishops granted special
indulgences in return for their stbscTlp-
lightning in the middle OF the fifteenth
century, and q hundred years later-in
l56l-the tail steeple became q ruin ''Di-
yers persons in time of the tempest. being
IN the fields near adjoining TO the CITY
affirmed that they saw long and spear
pointed fame of FIRE run Jhroueh the
top Of the shaft Of st. PaUls steeple"
and it was natural that the journalists
Of that day should set down the calam-
ity 10 the lightning II a later writer
is TO be believed. however. a plumber
afterwards confessed that The destruc-
ton was caused through his carelessness
in leaving a pan OF burning coal in the
steeple while he went home to dinner.
a hundred thousand pounds was spent
nj restoring the Cathedral. and the work
was finished in time to allow the great
fort Twenty years after TIE great fire
burned St PauIs once more TO ashes.
The ground was so hot. SAYS Evelyn. that
it burned the soles of his shoes. Half
London had cshemes for rebuilding the
famous church. st. Paul's was stin
smouldering when Wren submitted his
ideas 70 the King, within two DAYS OF the
confagration- He had little hope. The
cost, he said, would frighten the age"
But at last the work was begun. and tho
pulling down OF the ruin was for days
one Of the sights of the metropolis The
heaps of rubbish were so great that scat
folds had to be erected over them 10 save
delay while the men were clearing 10
away, and when il became necessary to
remove the high tower. the workmen
suailed before the task OF mounting two
hundred feet TO cast it down, and gum
powder was resorted to.
A box containing eighteen pounds Of
powder was placed IN a hole under tho
pier. and the explosion caused the tower
to rise visibiy, in the mass. for quite nine
inches before il fell. BY an accident q
piece OF stone was shot into a room IN
which two women were at work. and this
led 20 the prohibition Of the use OF pow
der. Wren provided an ingenious sub
stitute in the form of an ancient batter
ingram, with which he kept thirty men
beating against the same part OF one of
the great walls for a whole day. On the
second day the wall trembied at the top.
and in a few hours the last ruin of old
St Pauls fell with crash like an
earthquake.
With 1t passed a strange phase OF life
in ancient London. For generations St.
Pauls had been the rendezvous OF all
sorts and conditions Of men. The benches
at the door or the choir were tile com
mon resort Of beggars and drunkards
and a large dunR-hiu lay within one of
the doors. The aisle through the center
Walk, and Rotten Row is not more popu-
lar in our day than PauTs Walk was
then. A Gramatist has LETT us the pic
ture. AT one time" re says. Sin one
and the same rank, yea, foot hy foot
and elbow 10y elbow. shall you see walk
ing the knight the gun, the gallant. tho
upstart, the gentleman, the clown. the
captain, the apple-squire. the lawyer. the
usurer, the citizen the bankroot. The
scholar. the beggar. the doctor. the
idiot tho ruffian, the cheater. the Plsri-
tan, the cut-tbroat the highwaymen. the
low-rneu. the true man. and the thief.
Of all trades and professions some. Of all
countries some Thus. while Devotion
kneels at her prayers, doth Profanity
walk under her nose IN contempt Of reii-
gion."
Old St PauTs. indeed must have had
within its walls a veritable city. More
than twenty private houses were built AZ
one time against the walls. and the own
ers Of several OF these cut doorways
through into the church parts Of which
they made use Of IS their own rooms.
The very vaults We're turned into private
cellars, with dOOrways from the houses
outside. Somewhere in the records OF the
cathedral IS a report OF a faithful verger
who protested that the shrouds and
cloisters under the CONGRATULATIONS are
made common lay-stau for boards.
trunks and chests. being let out unto
trunk-makers, where, by means Of their
daily knocking and noise, the church IS
greatly disturbed" Thus IL came about
that one part OF ST. PsuIs was used rs
q playhouse. that q baker baked his
bread in an oven cut out of one % the
bUttresses. and that another OF these
privileged h0useholders found a way
from his house into the steepie, where DE
managed 70 set Up store-room.-St-
Ia mes Gazette