The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1911-02-16

lZatlOnS; ana the ACADEMY OF flHo ArIS
includes some of the richest and most Won
derful pictures and statutes in the world.
| couldn't begin to describe the wonderful
and beautiful collections of art that we
found in these places. When Pm home
again I'll try then to tell you all about it,
but my pen refuses me now.
We spent nearly an entire afternoon
going through St. Paul's Cathedral, the
second largest in the world. This cathedral
was thirty five years in building. The top
of the dome is about $50 feet high and the
outside walls are eight yards thick. In the
basement of st. Paul's, which is called
The Crypt, are the graves and monuments
to many of England's national heroes, in
GLIDING those of Nelson, Collingwood,
Wellington, and many poets,
scientist and clerics. About half way up
to the top of the dome is gallery running
around the inside of the dome, which pos
sesses a popularity such that person can
talk in a whisper and can be heard dis
tinctly by other persons Numerically op-
posite to him-hence the name of Whisper
ing Gallery. 1t reminded me very much
of our visit to Salt Lake City, where the
guide demonstrated to US the acoustic
of the Mormon Tabernacle.
Another interesting place in st. Paups is
the old library, which contains about 2OO,-
600 volumes, and nearly all of them are
theological reference books, with very
great number Of different editions of the
Bible, some of them containing the auto
graphs of old Kings of England where
they pledged to give certain sums of money
for the building of St. Paul's. Iremem-
Der particularly the autographs of a King
James and a King Henry, but l don't know
my English History we'll enough to suffix
the proper Roman numerals. There were
some old Bibles there that were entirely
land printed, and the lettering was so good
that you would never have thought it pos
sible for a man to copy whole Bible so
accurately and so much like that printed
from type. They had Martin Luther's
Bible there. It's big thick book about
thirty-six by forty eight inches, with a
clasp and paddock attached to the covers
and chain and lock to prevent the pages
being torn out. The padlocks and the
chain are the original pieces that Martin
Luther had placed on,the back.
The Guildhall, the Citizens Parliament
and where the Lord Mayor and Aldermen
of London preside, is just across the street
from St. Paul's. Rutter and attended a
luncheon there Friday. 1t was the official
reception and luncheon of the Lord Mayor
and the Council of London to our Admiral
and the officers of our fleet. There were
about 900 guests present, and it was GER
tainly the most stupendous and the greatest
ceremony that have ever attended. Ihad
more honor paid me that day, in the way
of being publicly announced before the
nobility and presented to the Lord Mayor
and being applauded by so much rank,
than ever expect to receive again in my
career. The luncheon. itself, was mag
nificent affair, with menu the like of
which have never before seen.
have saved my cards and diagrams to
show to you all when l get home. Until
you see them you cannot appreciate what
wonderful affair it was.
Other sights that we took in were the
Bank of England; the mansion of the
Duke of Wellington buckingham Palace)
which was erected for him at state expense
after the Battle of Waterloo; the Tower
Bridge and London Bridge, across the
Thames; Fleet Street and some of the old
resorts of johnson and Dickens; Trafalgar
Square; Hyde Park; Picadilly; the House
of Parliament; the Tower of London, and
Westminster Abbey. The Tower of Lon
don includes about twenty buildings, some
of which are over 800 years old, and the
whole is surrounded by stone wall and a
wide moat crossed by the old-time draw
bridges. 1t is most interesting place to
go through on account of the great num-
Der of exhibits there, and for its history in
connection with Kings and Queens of Eng
land and the prison for the royal prisoners
of old England. William the Conquerer
founded the Tower and used it as his
palace and it was so used as the royal
palace up to the time of Charles II. The
crown and state jewels are displayed in
one of the old buildings, including the
crown now used for the King. The pres
ent crown, with which King George V will
be crowned at the coronation next June,