The Ekalaka eagle., 1916-01-28

~ NL114 once III dWu!Ie we leau
in the cable dispatches that
another spy has been shot in
the Tower Of London. Re-
Gently we have seen much about Cap
tain Franz Won Rentelen's imprison-
ment in that historic building 1t Is
said that he was sent by Germany to
America with $3O,OOO,OOO credit with
which to foment trouble in this coun-
try. This, however, Germany has dis
avowed. There is little question.
though, that he is now in the Tower Of
London, where he was placed. it is
claimed, after being taken from
ship while trying to reach Germany
after leaving America. Again we read
Of other distinguished prisoners cap
tured in battle and incarcerated behind
the walls Of this ancient British cita-
del.
"Where's the Tower?"
Most Americans upon beholding the
Tower Of London for the first time ex-
press surprise. "Well, where's the
Tower:" is the question commonly put
by the visitor after he has taken a
general survey Of the vast congrega-
tion of buildings which make up the
ancient palace and fortress. Our
friend seems to expect something
cloud capped, an Eiffel-like structure
at the very least and by preference
something to suggest the edfice Of
Babel. A tower is, to the best Of be-
nefs, tower, and you can make moth
Ing else Of 1t, so our countryman nat
some sort pointing heavenward, and he
more than half expects that it will be
round tower. But he sees instead
what appears to be a fortified town,
surrounded on three sides by moat,
now dry, and fronted on the fourth
side by the rushing Thames.
Here, indeed, are score and q half
of acres covered by ancient gray build
angs. In the center of the medley
rises the oldest building Of all, the
largest, too, square, lofty, turreted. it's
massive walls still capable Of defying
as many centuries as they have yet
known, and this stout, venerable, for
bidding building is the Tower proper,
usually called the White tower, be-
cause IN days long distant it was the
custom to whiten the exterior walls;
sometimes called Caesars tower, be-
cause tradition says that when Caesar
Invaded Britain 1881 years ago he
erected a fortress, Of which the White
tower Is an amplified survival,
Town Of Twenty six Acres.
But 1.-THE Tower" in the popular
phrase, means the whole of this forti-
fed town Of twenty-six acres. Its
mass Of ramparts, walls and gates
make up ''the most ancient and most
poetic pile in Europe" as an accom-
plished historian has said. Hepworth
Dixon summed up it's interest in par
agraph:
"Set against the Tower Of London
with its 800 years of historic life, it's
1900 odd years of traditional fame
all other palaces and prisons appear
like things Of an hour. The Oldest bit
OF palace in Europe, that Of the west
front Of the Burg in Vienna, is Of the
time Of Henry III. The Kremlin in
Moscow and the doges' palazzo in Ven
ice are of the fourteenth century. The
Seraglfo in Stamboul was built by Mo-
hammed II. The oldest part Of the
Vatican was commenced by Borgia,
whose name it bears. The old Lou
vre was commenced in the reign Of
Henry VIII, the Tuileries in that of
EliZ0hoth Tn tho %imo nf tho (,rov,,
wellian wars Versailles was yet a
swamp The Escorial belongs to the
seventeenth century, Sans Souci to the
eighteenth. The Serail of Jerusalem
Is a Turkish edifce. The palaces of
Athens, Of Cairo, Of Teheran, are all
Of modern date" And again: 1.-THE
Tower has an attraction for us akin
to that of the house In which we were
born, the school in which we were