Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1911-04-08

service on ST. Johns day, last Deem
Der. This was found impracticable,
and so the next great festival of the
church, Easter, was chosen. The cor
ner-stone of the building was laid on
st. Johns day in 1892.
The great building is nowhere near
completion. The choir and two of the
seven chapels are finished. But even
as 1t stands now, the cathedral Is
capable of seating about 5000 per-
sons. No other church in the city,
except st. Patrick's, has room for SO I
many. Although the walls of the
crossing are regarded as only tenn
porary, an accurate idea of how the
central part of the great structure
will look may be gathered from its
present appearance. The ground plan
of the cathedral is in the form of q
cross. Where the arms intersect each
other, is the part known technically
as the crossing. Over this rises the
great central dome. The total cost of
the cathedral probably will exceed
$4,000, 00O. One-f1fth of this sum has
been spent already to bring the cathe-
dral to its present state. When it is
completed it will be the largest &C.
clesiasical building in America and
the fourth largest cathedral In the
world The biggest of all cathedrals
is ST. Peters in Rome, which is near
ly twice as large as the one next in
size, that Of Seville. in Spain This is
only little greater in size than the
Cathedral of Milan. The Cathedral of
ST. John the Divine will be about
four-fifths the size of the one in Sc
vile. A new cathedral is being built
in Liverpool which will be almost as
large as the one here. Only one of
the four arms of the cross which the
cathedral will form. is complete. The
nave and both the transepts are yet to
be done. Four danking towers will oc-
cupy the angles formed by the tran
septs, the nave and the choir.
Ex-Governor Morton's Gift.
The choir is the gift of former Gov
of carved oak. They are very elab-
crate and are surmounted with charm
ing statues of monks praying, sing
ing, blowing on musical instruments
and going to battle. The bishops
chair is of oak also and is no less
wonderfully carved. The reredos has
many very fine statues. The figure
Of Christ has on its right st. John,
ST. James and St Peter; on the left
Isaiah, Ezekiel and Elijah. A fine
statue Of Moses, much like that by
Michael Angelo, is at the extreme left,
corresponding to St. Jehn the Baptist
on the other side. Each figure Is beau
tifully done; but for that matter they
all are everywhere, inside and outside
the building, high up and low down,
conspicuous or hidden.
In front of the reredos there is a
tiled tablet which came from the orig
fnaI Church of ST. John the Divine in
| Ephesus. Its inscription states that
the original church was built by the
Emperor Justinian. Behind the rere-
das altar will be hung the Barberini
tapestries. five in number, that have
been loaned to the Metropolitan Mu-
scum of~Art for a number OF years
past. They are already in place They
| were made In 1888 and are unique.
| They are SO large that they will be
| hung Sc feet from the hoer and yet
seem entirely In proportion with their
| surroundings.
The choir floor IL of mosaic and
| gives gorgeous touch of color as one
| looks toward the shining altar. The
| ceiling of the great dome also Is to be
| of mosaic In many of the European
cathedrals the roofing is of wood
which is very beautiful, but In hardly
! enduring. There are few great Eu-
ropean churches that have not had to
be restored because of fire. When
| the roof of Canterbury cathedral was
burning the priests and choir filed in
as usual and sang evensong. so that
| the chain of daily service leading
| back SO many centuries should not
be broken There will be No such dam
| In lob Lott hui
lite, unburnable limestone and marble
enters into it's composition There is
| no steel or concrete or anything whose
absolute durability II not beyond
question. There Il hardly a tower in
England that has not had to be TO
stored because q detective founda-