Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1906-10-20
A SAD OLD CHURCH.
fine Interior of 81 Denis Cathedral
Now NIrtuaIiy "a Museum.

When place ana street in front are
empty ST Denis carries OIL lis fallen
fortunes with something Of dignity
But aS last saw it, on Il spring day.
when the new conscripts OF the year
had gathered just outside, dancing.
singing. buying big paper rosettes not
one with It thought or glance to fling
to H. the church struck me rs being
only III the way. useless. out of gear
with the new life that had grown up
about il. preserved entirely from sense
Df duty
The IL interior. so like ana so I'M
like Westminster Abbey has virtually
become n museum. The royal tombs,
reached 10y that picturesque wide stair
way To the ambulatory. suggest in
their neat rows so many specimens,
labeled aud catalogued One cannot
see without emotion ioIuhs like that
of the good King Dagohcrt great. too.
though best remembered for the af
fair at the brooches in the Sungof
Louis Nil Henry H., Francis l.. with
their beautiful sculptures; of the last
of the RourhunS. with their bitter
memories hut 10 follow the Sacristan
;iS he druncS out the story learned by
heart and repeated until his very voice
hctrays his boredom with the whole
business Of ROYALTY, alive or dead. is
10 see IN ST Denis nothing save the
show place for tourists.
And this is the church that not even
Notre Dame can uutrival IN the Sanct-
IS or Splcndor of lis past its site cho
sen by the holy man who WAS first
bishop. first martyr. first saint Of Paris;
the hnildin. founded by Ste Gene
We've. whose first chapel over his grave
grew eventually into the church Of
which the Able Sugar made the first
experiment with the pointed arch on
50 large Il scale the first great Gothic
church. 81 Denis the shrine Of the
orlhamb of France. the Louvre or
Versailles of dead royalty.
And 81 IL remains. only Louvre or
a Versailles shaken by the storms OF
liberty. equality and fraternity. Pa
triotS Of l193 had no more use for
dend royalty in its tomb than living
ROYALTY in ills palaces. And after pa
triotiSm has been down among the
tumhS rummaging." had played hall
with the skeletons of kings. having 10
stop Ia hold its nose when that worst
Of old enemies. Louis Nv. appeared.
suffering 4 relapse into loyalty before
the ernhalmcd body of that old favOritc.
Henry ~. after royal bones and royal
ashes had been dumped into one I'M
royal common grave. after royal tombS
had been broken and royal statues mu-
tilatc,l there was not much left of st.
Denis But. dcfaced. rootlcSS. u haunt
Of birds of prey il was at least an
eloquent monument 10 the hatred Of
the third estate for kings and priests.
After the iomhS or So much of them
as could Ice. were brought back by
Louis \Nlll.. after new noses and
hands ana draperics were found for the
poor dishpnorcd efhgicS. after the
building was rooted in. lis walls mend
ed and everything generally put To
rights 10y interchangeable Violet L. Due,
81 Denis was doomed To awake no
feeling stronger than curiosity in the
tourist. II is the irony Of fate that
royalty. dead forever in France. should
rest not in the capital nor in the cathe
dral but in the parish church to this
rank has 81 Denis been degraded of
busy industrial suburb. the hca,lquar
tiers Of anarchists. where the people
who killed ii are too busy 10 remember
much less to resent, the presence of its
tomb among them.
There may bc other places of interest
ia the suburb Of ST. Denis. never
looked tor them am content with
my last impression Of il with wide
streets &c dun shops and electric trans.
with groups of conscrpts. with gaunt
factories. with caimncys belching
smoke aud with the sad old church, the
last resting place Of the royalty France
sacrificed Il century ago that just such
busy industrial town might live and
prosper Century Magazine.