The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-10-01
RHEIMS CATHEDRAL.
Famous Structure Situated on Histor.
10 Ground.


Every foot Of the ground over which
the German and allied armies have
fought the past week Is historic. Here
the Roman legions battled with the
uncouth hordes of Gaul; here the
Franks and the Goths and the Huns
have contested on many bloody fields
for supremacy; over these hills and
through these valleys rode and fought
the knights Of medieval days Many
of the cities whose names have be-
come familiar in the last few weeks
were important places when Christ
was born. Rheims and Scissors and
Laon and Chalons and Verdun We're
all In existence before julius Caesar
conquered Gaul, and all Of them bore
Latin names for hundreds Of years. 1t
was at scissors in A. D. 486, that the
Roman army was broken by the defeat
of its legions by Clovis. king Of the
Franks, and 1t was at Rheims, ten
years later that this same Clovis was
converted to Christianity and all his
people with him, through, so the legend
runs, the miraculous descent Of a
dove from heaven bearing a vessel of
holy oil for the celebration Of the mass.
1t was the possession Of this oil that
made the cathedral at Rheims the
place Of coronation of the French
kings for centuries, for 1t was held
that oil sent from heaven must Of ne
cessity bestow divine virtues and pow
ers upon the king who was anointed
with 1t. That the records Of French
kings scarcely proved the soundness
Of this belief seems never to have af-
fected the custom. and It continued
up to the time of the revolution, when
the republicans pillaged the cathedral
and destroyed the vessel Of holy oil. 1t
was in the cathedral at Rheims that
Joan Of Arc crowned Charles VII. This
cathedral, by the way, Is one Of the
glories of France. II was begun In the
first half Of the thirteenth century and
1t was over 200 years In building. An
other interesting feature Of Rheims Is
a Roman triumphal arch built in hon.
or Of Augustus by Agrippa, the same
Agrippa before whom the apostle Paul
delivered his memorable address In
defense OF the Christian religion
Rheims was even then an old city,
having been one Of the capitals Of an
cient Gaul. the seat Of the Remi, from
whom II derives Its name.
Returning to Scissors for moment,
II was here that st. Crispin, the patron
saint Of the shoemakers, was born, and
It was here that Abelard was tried for
heresy and compelled to burn his books
az well az suffer confinement and flag
citation. A later and greater reformer.
Calvin. was born at Noyon, another
very ancient town, around which the
battles have been waged the past
week. II was at Noyon that Charles
the Great. Charlemagne. was crowned.
ard here. too, Hugh capet was chosen
king.
when the German center rctreated /
from vltry-la- Francois the other day |
II fell back 10 the Aisne through the
pre-Roman town Of cbalonA and pass
ed over the battlefield where. nearly
1900 years ago. the Romans, vislgoths
and Franks Under Astius defeated At
tia, the aII-conauering Hun. and put
an end 10 the conaussts u that mon
ster in Western Europe. That also
was a battle Of the Name, and. " the
early historians can bs believed, II was
almost ~ great IN The number NJ men
Involved and IN the losses ~ the me :
,f September. 1914 According 10 these
there wsrs nsay1y lo6.0Do /
men In that great bsstjs, ssd II was
Ought with Incredible fsyoetty. 1s1,. /
40 dad being isft spos IN MA
tA -