Milford chronicle., 1908-01-17
a SAD oLO CHURCH.
Fine Interior OF st. Denis Cnthedr'i
Now virtually "A Museum.


Now virtually "A Museum.
When place and street in front
empty. St Denis carries off itsf'a'
fortunes with something of d.-..
But as | last saw it, on "A sprln- D'.
when the new cOnscripts Of the >t
had gathered just outside, Gdnr
singing, buying big paper roseJteS
one with thought or a glance TO -.
to it. the church struck me as nt
only in the way, useless, out OF -'
with the new life that had grown
about it. preserved entirely from st.--'
Of duty
The G Interior so like and 50 r.'-
like Westminster Abbey, has vTj"
become a museum. The royal to-" ''.
reached by that picturesque wide S'...-
way to the ambulatOry, suggest
their neat rows so many specliii'.i o..
labeled and catalogued. One can" '
see without emotion tombs like tt.'
of the good King Dagobert-greai a..
though best remembered for the "i-
fair of the breeches in the son---"i
Louis XII. Henry H.. Francis l.. Wa
their beautiful sculptures; of the les g
of the Bourbons, with their ili.''
memories. But to follow the saet-0.-}
as he drones out the story learhed '|
heart and repeated until his very '"'
betrays his boredom with the w"'&
business of royalty, alive or dead
TO see in st. Denis nothing save ~"
show place for tourists.
And this is the church that not ''''i
Notre Dame can outrival in the Sd1s
tv or splendor of its past its site r.''
sen bv the holy man who wis r't
bishop. first martyr first saint of Par;
the building founded by Ste. Ge''
We've. whose first chapel over his ssi.
grew eventually into the churr@ 1
which the Able Sugar made the i eli
experiment with the pointed arch DO
so large sCale-the first great co.
church: ST. Denis, the shrine OF '
oridamb of France the Louvre w
Versailles of dead royalty.
And so it remains. only a LouNi a.
a Versailles. shaken by the storl.- ''
liberty. equality and fraternity i-
triots of 1893 had no more uSc l'r
deod ROYALTY in its tomb than hF.-t
royalty in its palaces. And after '..-
triotism has been down among i-'
tombs rummaging," had played .'-I
with the skeletons Of kings hd''" 10
stOD to hold its nose when that W'
Of old enemies. Louis Nv, apned %
suffering a relapse into loyalty hr 20 e
the embalmed body of that old tav3f o
Henry ". after royal bones AMI q"
ashes had been dumped into ore
roval common grave, after royal {"
had been broken and royal statues b. r.
tilated. there was not much le't o. T.
Denis. But, defaced, roOfess. l'
of birds of prey, it was at Ic''i hA
eloquent monument to the hatrr H
fbe third estate for kings and pr d.
After the tombs, or so much oi i: b
as could be. were brought back
Louis XVIII. after new noses '''
| hands and draperies were found e" IT, .
poor dishonored efligies, after
,building was rooted in, its walls W"" p
ied and everything generally ph D"
rights by indefatigable Violet ir % 70
St. Denis was doomed to aware 80
feeling stronger than curiosity 90 go
tourist. 1t is the irony Of f''c g.
ROYALTY. dead forever in France. 'h Il
rest not in the capital nor in the cAi.:''
dr,iI. but in the parish churcl-io ''i.'
rank has st. Denis been degrade -
bus,y industrial suburb. the heaG --.t-
ters, of anarchists, where the 1>o3e
who killed it are too busy to re'Hc p.
much less TO resent, the presence y. --+
tOmL among them.
Thdre may be other places Of int''
in the suburb of St Denis. n'' ."'
looked for them. l am content
nv Ia st impression of it with $500
streets, of dull shops and electric '.' "r
with gEoups of cOnscripts, with i"'
factoriAs. with ciimneyS h"rH %
smoke 6nd with the sad old chur'a '
last resting place Of the royalty
SACRIFICED a century ago that ius'
n busv iSdustrial town might Lt" "..
prosper. Century Magazine.