Douglas Island news., 1911-01-25
AROUND THE WORLD Dr.. Simpsons Story of His Visits to the Countries of the
 Old World
COLOGNE (Continued)

like Cologne cathedral better than St. Paurs of London, Westminster, Notre Dame de Paris, Winchester or St. Peters in Rome, yet most of those are superior to that of Cologne in some respects. St. Peters is grander and larger; Westminster Abbey is older and it's Henry VII chapel is more beautiful than anything in Cologne; there are parts of Winchester cathedral more beautiful than anything in the Cologne Cathedral; they have nothing like the dome of St. Paul, nor is it as old as Notre Dame de Paris. Speaking of churches, the one that impressed ne most was the mosque of Sophia in Con- stantinople. It is older than any of those have mentioned and it's interior is more impressive; it is devoid of stat uary, as the Mohammedans will not al low carved or painted figure of any living being in their places of worship; yet the place actually awes you. You cannot imagine the mosque ever having been built by anybody. In St. PauPs you think what great man Sir Chris
 topher Wren must have been; in St. Peter's you think of Michael Angelo, but in St. Sophia you never think of builder-you feel as if it had always been there. 1 tried to believe that l was influenced by it's tragic history; l thought of the thousands who had fled there thinking that they were safe there; that there would be miracle if neces sary to prevent any christian being killed by a Mohammedan in the church of St. Sophia, but the thousands were killed or taken prisoners and the next day the church was no longer church but the mosque of St. Sophia. Ma | homet II, or the copqueror, rode into the church on horseback over the dead bodies and passed out through another door. In one place he made the mark on the wall with his bloody hand and it stil! remains. It is quite high and when 1 expressed my doubts as to the possibility of a man on horseback reaching so high they replied that the 1 layers of dead bodies on the floor were from six to ten feet deep and that the horse was consequently that far above the floor. But some of the other churches had their little troubles also and it did not affect my impression of the church. l do not imagine it was very pleasant in Notre Dame when the crowd broke in and tore the graves open, scattering the contents to the winds, throwing them in the river, in ditches or in sewers.
 The interior of Cologne Cathedral is at first disappointing. This is partly because it has been completed only a few years and partly on account of the destruction done by the French during their occupation. For seven years they used it as barn or stable with hay or grain loft. They tore open all the tom bs of the archbishops in search of treasure. They also wantonly mutilated the statues or efigies. They carried away or destroyed many papers and other articles of value that could not be replaced. 1 have not much sym pathy with that kind of a thing. l think man is in bad way who has to rob tomb for money. Yet that spirit has existed as far back as we can go and in nearly every country. One reason why it is so difficult to find the tomb of any great person of ancient times is that they were desecrated at