Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1911-04-06

service on st. Johns day, last Decem-
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
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
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
$20,000,000. One-fifth of this sum has
been spent already to bring the cathe-
dral to it's present state. When II Is
completed 1t will be the largest &C.
clesiastical 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 fanking towers will &C.
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.
Levi p. Morton. The choir stalls are
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 bishop
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 John 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 {
tiled tablet which came from the orig
fnal Church of st. John the Divine il
Ephesus. Its inscription states tina
the original church was built by tn,
Emperor Justinian. Behind the rere
das altar will be hung the Barberin
tapestries, five in number, that hav
been loaned to the Metropolitan MI
scum of Art for number of year
past. They are already in place. The
were made in 1888 and are unique
They are so large that they will b
hung Sc feet from the floor and We
seem entirely in proportion with thei
surroundings.
The choir floor is OF mosaic an
gives gorgeous touch of color as on
looks toward the shining altar. Tn
ceiling Of the great dome also is to b
of mosaic. In many of the Europea
cathedrals the roofing is of WOO
which is very beautiful. but is hardl
enduring. There are few great E.
ropean churches that have not had
be restored because of fire. Whe
the roof OF Canterbury cathedral wa
burning the priests and choir filed
az usual and sang evensong. so ths
the chain of daily service leadin
back so many centuries should nj
be broken. There will be no such daI
ger In st. Johns. Nothing but graz
lite, unburnable limestone and marbl
enters into It's composition. There
no steel or concrete or anything who's
absolute durability is not beyon
question. There is hardly tower
England that has not had to be r
! stored because of defective found