Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-21
LA VILE GOTHIQUE"
STREETS IN ROUEN THAT CARRY
ONE BACK CENTURIES.
From the London News.

From the London News.
Certain sympathetic writers have for some
time been exercising their ingenuity in try
ing to get at the SOUL of cities.
Placed in the Rue Theirs, or the Rue
Jeanne dare, the Rue de la Repuhlique
or the Rue des Carmes, four of the prin-
cipal streets of Rouen, they might say that
the soul of this old Norman capital is just
the soul of any ordinary town wherein
money-making is the chief end of man.
Even William the Conqueror street, with
it's memorial date, 1O27-10S7. in fresh paint
white and black, or the street named after
Rollo, who entered Rouen as a slaughterous
heather, and ended his career as her re-
forming duke and a lamblike. beneficent
Christian-even these streets are almost dis
tresSingly modern.
The main difference is that In these mod
ern streets the horrible face of the civilized
man." pushing ahead In his absorbing
thought of turning penny, honest or dis
honest, is SO refreshingly less obtrusive than
at the Paris bourse.
But turn aside from any one of these
modernitieS, and minutes walk will bring
you into companionship with the soul of
Rouen.
/ The soul of Rouen is the ghost of the
thirteenth century. Like a spirit haunting
ancient tombs, wherein the living have
made their abode, the ghost of the middle
age broods over the little place" of the
Maid of Orleans; over the Rue Martainville,
with it's silent, Somber fourteenth century
closters; over the streets of the glovers,
hosiers, grocers and other guildsmen of old I;
over the street of the Grey Friars; over
Clock Tower street, from the upper air of
which, at o nights, the great bell still
sounds its slow, melodious, dreamlike notes.
in remembrance of the cdrfew; over the
populous labyrinth of winding lanes and al
leys. their contours broken by the pointed
gables, overhanging stories, dormerwin-
dowed roofs of old-Wbrld dwellings that eX-
| pose on their gray facades the anatomy of
| their dark woodwork-all clustered around
| their glorious cathedral of Notre Dame,
| their matchless Church of st. Ouen, their
| famboyant gem of st. Maclou, so that
| often, from the end of some street perspec-
| tive. or over the high roofs, sudden vision
| of the flying buttreSSeS or traceried sum-
mits of the spires and towers of these
| Gothic solendors breaks upon the eye of
| the visitor in the narrow ways.
The Old Rouen.
Yes, Rouen is truly ia vile Gothique;"
and the voice of old-world Rouen speaks
most 1mpressiveIy, not in the glorious
| cathedral, Notwithstanding its wonderful
| facade and the endless variety of It's deco
| rative achievement. but in the Benedictine
| church of St. Ouen, In spite OF the re-
| storer's desecrating labors on it's western
| front. and because of it's severe simplicity.
| the unity of the design, the perfection OF
| its proportions and its lightness.
| The unsurpassed expression of the medi-
| aeval ideal of the religious life, as one of
| austerest discipline, of the medieval con-
ception of God in his aspect of unapproach-
| able, stern majesty-such Is the monastic
| church of ST. Ouen The word lightness
I indeed, seems somewhat incomprehensive
| when used to indicate the aerial effect OF
| those nave columns soaring upward with
| out break, without ornamental detail to
| divert a lingering eye-ever soaring up
ward, in their comely strength from their
| rough stone-mason floor to the dim heights
| of the vaulted roof, where they fulfill their
| mighty task.
| Not so much the spirit of the medieval
| Christ, the human-hearted "Son of Man.
| can have guided the hands that wrought
this stern structure, as the spirit of God,
| the retributve Judge, in His awful aloof-
| ness. And to one gazing from the western
| door along the vast unornamented nave to
| watch the shadows fit high over the shafts
| of the distant choir and transepts the
| fancy may prevent itself of frown on the
face of Yahveh.
To the builders of St. Ouen religion was a
more serious thing than to the artists of
| the neighboring church of st. Maclou-that
| prodigally ffamboyant gem, receiving It's
| last touches of perfect finish at the thresh-
| old of the new epoch. when the Gothic of
the great age was to pass away into ex-
| quisitely decorative superfuities, having
nothing to say and nothing to do
Window Gardens.
But let US stroll through the streets, taxi
| ing on way the cloister of st. Maclou-
a spot seldom visited by tourists In Rouen.
| This fourteenth century relic, wherein a
lady superior and q few nuns teach small
boys ana girls, has darker message than
tf&t OF tAes saints church. You may resd