Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-29

magnate. Pierpont Morgan has furnished
the money which enables the English to see
the glories Of their greatest church, whether
the city in which 1t stands is shrouded in
fog or not.
/ cam describe the beauty of the church
under the soft lights of these lamps. 1t
looks far better than in the brightest sun
shine The church authorities told Mr..
Morgan that they could not afford to put In
this electricity and he thereupon offered to
do it for them. He took $45, 900 out of his
left breeches pocket and planked it down
on the pulpit and told them to go ahead.
At any rate, that is what 1t cost at the
start.
The fixtures are modelled after the origi-
nal lamps designed by Sir Christopher Wren
and they are in perfect harmony with their
surroundings. Som of the most beautiful
OF them are in the choir, just beyond the
dome. They are great chandeliers Of gold
hanging from the roof, which is hundreds
OF feet higher up. Each chandelier has
six lamps, but the rays are filtered through
frosted glass and they give the effect of a
bright moonlight.
AS l sat under these lights In the mighty
cathedral my mind went back to its wonder
full history and 1t seemed to me that l
could see the ghosts of It's architect, Sir
Christopher Wren, and of the hundreds Of
England's dead now buried there lowering
about the lamps in amazed curiosity. St.
Pauls dates back to the days of the
Romans. Som authorities maintain hat a
temple OF Diana stood here in pagan times
and Christopher Wren found the ruins Of a
church built by the Christians in the days
OF the Romans when he laid the founda-
tion for this structure. There was a Chris
tian church here as far back as 1000 A. d.
and there was a cathedral on this spot
when the great fire of London came and
wiped 1t out in 1866.
Sir Christopher Wren began his work
upon the present structure fifteen years
later and he lived to see it completed In
l7lO. He watched the job for twenty-nine
years and in that time received the munih-
cent salary Of 1000 per annum as his
architect fee. Nevertheless the cathedral
cost 81, 100000 to build. Had Sir Christie
pher received the fee Of 5 per cent which
our architects now demand he would have
gotten $lS5, 900 for the job, and after look.
ing the building carefully over am sure
1t was worth 1t.
How Americans Made a Million.
Still men of all sorts worked for less IL
those days than now. Samuel Johnson
whose grave l mourned over in the church
his statue stands not far from that of tn,
duke OF Wellington-made almost nothinI
out of his dictionary, his total receipts fol
his work being less than IS, 1000, the most o
which was eaten up by clerical hire. Tha
dictionary then was as great an undertaken
in comparison as the Encyclopaedia Britain
! MICA is now, and the latter work, which
b, had already run its day in England, mad
e a million dollars for some Americans VIII
= brought into Eng and the Yankee system O
|. selling books through the newspapers
When they first proposed the selling Of tn
e encyclopaedia in this way to the Londo
e journals the publishers laughed at then
, At last. however, they interested the Lon
d don m and through that paper on tn
n installment plan sold so many books tha
1t is said their profits were ESQ, 900, G
s 81, $50, 900.
< None OF the great authors OF the pas
} made anything to compare with the author
Il Of the present. Oliver Goldsmith die
e deeply in debt at 46. and during the bei
p part Of his life he did not make more tina
= $4,000 a year. All his literary earning
= were hardly as great as the price thu
It Scribners paid Barrie for Sentiment