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Show WOMAN'S EXPONENT. HUSH. MRS. ORMSTON CHANT. The sound of a voice has gone-G- one from the autumn day, misses the note of one The world-choWhose hymn was hushed ere the singer won, Time for his noblest lay. Hush and harken a while to hear If from the gates afar Reaches the listening, straining ear Heavenly welcome chanted clear Hush ! ir ! 'Twixt portals held ajar. Hush V 'Twas sudden, swift and straight, The thrust that silenced him; He so kindly, so good, so great He the target of devilish hate ? how our eyes grow dim Hush In the splendor of noontide cold; h 'Mid a nation's chill; Prone head haloed in martyr-golSaint and martyr like them of old, "Done be the Holy Will." God ! ! ! heart-warmt- d lest our trembling branch of palm Rustle too loud, and break Death's lone silence of healing calm, Safe on time for the Great Day psalm, God shall bring him awake. Hush, oh hush weep soft, and pray. What was it laid him low ? Who was it shed his blood that day, Blocked the road of his blameless way ? Woe to the murderer, woe Hush, O, nation, and drink the cup Filled with tears to the brim God is lifting the nation up Nearer the feast of heaven, to sup Joy after grief with Him. Hush There was too much noise and din, Shouting and stress of war; Love in the guise of a traitor's sin Showed her palace, and drew him in, Gave him shelter her courts within, Where the Peace Angels are. Hush Hush ! 51 well as some of more modern date. It is a massive new and commodious building with public reading rooms and free library attached. It was founded by the late Rev. Beamy, a native of Canterbury, to whom the citizens showed such marked discourtesies that he left his home, going to Australia where he amassed a great fortune which he left to his birth city, desiring, in the greatness of his heart, to benefit her and add to her riches and glory. A noble revenge indeed A large oil of the Doctor on one of its painting hangs walls. ! ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH. High up the London road this church is reached. Formerly it was a hospital for p It was built in 1084 by lepers. Lanfrance. Two benches, heavy and strong, though in places worm eaten, still remain, said to be fifty years old; they Arch-Bisho- certainly evidence great antiquity. In the turret are the Canterbury bells, five hundred years old. One window, old and but rare of quaint, design, shows in its varied coloring the fluer de lis of France; another the king and St. Nicholas, with the angel Gabriel on one side with a city in his hand, the Virgin Mary on the other, almost black with age. Here are the arch and candles; the Easter Tower frescoed. In front of where was a is the altar large, flat slab over a vault, bearing the name of a knight who died eight hundred years ago. Another inscription reads, "Here lyeth the body of M. George Short, some time minister of this hospital who departed this life, Nov. 25, Anno Domini 1641, Resurgam." Formerly the pilgrims visited this church on their way to Canterbury. In WALKS AROUND CANTERBURY. common with the other old churches a few (Concluded.) years ago the walls were scraped of their coat of plaster, (which by order of Henry The West gate well preserved still stands. Here as in other parts the VIII. was put on all all the churches) thus sentinel's posts and apertures are to be revealing many figures and designs which seen. This gate was saved recently by the no doubt were beautiful before that day. mayor's vote alone, the council agreeing to However they are plainly outlined and tell pull it down. Many rooms are here one of a faded glory. called the Council chamber; and dungeons, Lepers must have been quite common in where unfortunates were cast by those iron England in those days. The main body of rulers. A broad bench made of wood, is this church is quite large, and here the unThe corridor on the only article of furniture they contain. fortunates worshipped. ' is where the door When they were tired of sitting on them the right of the entrance Dark priest entered, robing himself here where they could have them for a bed. A short prisons they were, too, no light only that the church regalia was kept. admitted from the door. Out on the roof flight of stairs once stood by the end wall of a portion of it is a tower which ascendon which he mounted to preach through the opening, half as tall as a man, over one of means a ladder reaches the by ing their heads as they assembled below, thus from the with a whence top, flag pole, not entering among them. Union Jack floating, is to be seen. Whether the opening was glass covered The Roman city it seems did not extend It is in about the west far beyond this arm of the stone on or not cannot be told. his voice could of that the centre which we now gaze. seems that church, It really from West Gate between the two arms of be heard all over it. The outline of a the stone, was in Roman day only a march. crusader on the corridor wall indicates that Ruins of a large Roman building have the place was visited by them. The old Baptismal font shows the Tudor been discovered right across the line of the present street, near the Fluer de lis Hotel. rose cut out of stone on one side, and those This probably was the business centre of of York and Lancaster entwined on the These fonts though called baptisRoman days. Certainly in medieval times other. the Royal Exchange and mint stood there, mal must be understood to admit only also the Canterbury Jewry. The Jews were of sprinkling. They are about the size of an and as but ordinary wash tub, but of in Edward the depth I., expelled reign late as the 17th century traces of their made of stone and as a rule are beautifully Stepping down from the Jewry Lane embellished. synagogue were to be seen. still remains which leads into Stem Street. chancel (which is now the part used as a Rise and fall, progress and decay, ever church for the paupers whose homes are mark the decades of man. opposite in the houses where the lepers From here we visit the New Museum. used to live) the entrance to a vault is disMany objects of antiquity are shown, as closed It is a clear dark slab, over which ! ! ! ! ! a wide piece of matting is placed, which extends some feet down the main part of the church. Cut into the stone is the fol"Thomas lowing: Young, 1774, down to 1818, and members of his family." This man was steward of the estate, also his family after him. On the opposite wall are knights in armor, also the Crusader's cross and the niche in the wall where the image of the The narrow Virgin Mary used to stand. stairs, about six inches wide, which lead to the belfry, are in some instances eaten entirely away, others being substituted, while some still remain, show the progiess of decay. Up these stairs, though so dangerous, the caretaker must ascend evety Friday at half past two o'clock to ring the old Canterbury bells, calling the paupers from their houses to worship at three To the question, "Why do you o'clock. not have worship on Sunday ? " he said, "The minister has two other parishes where he preaches on Sunday, but the paupers have theirs on Friday. ' ' To the question, "Why do they not have another minister, if he's so crowded ?" "O, he has to have three livings, because the farms do not yield so abundantly as they used to." The tax, one tenth of all they raise, is demanded of the farmers to keep up the Church of England. To the question, "Why do not your ministers preach as Christ did, without purse or scrip ?" an uncomprehending stare is the answer. The wooden platters and bowls exhibited are siid to be those formerly used by the lepers, and the queer old well the place where the Black Prince used to bathe. The church stands high upon a knoll, a very pretty situation, from which the surroundings are very pleasing to the eye. So that is the row of pauper houses How sad to be poor, and be denied the word of God on the Sabbath day ! How changed is the world, that some must be termed paupers, when God sends enough for all and Christ came that the poor should have the Gospel preached to them I ! ! THE CATHEDRAL. Arriving early we loiter through the nave. The memorials on the walls and cenetaph of Archbishop Benson attracts the eye. A heavy hardwood prayer bench or stool about twelve feet long, elegantly carved, has been removed a little to one On this worshippers at this sacred side. building were wont to kneel and offer up a prayer for the deceased bishop, whose beautiful monun ent was unveiled July, 1899, with great pomp and ceremony by the Duchess of Albany, who came to Canterbury on a special train for the purpose. As the royal party left the train rain began to fall, continuing until the ceremony was almost completed, when just at the juncture of the unveiling the most terrible thunder storm and lightning, accompanied by hailstones measuring many of them an inch and a quarter, broke over the city, striking terror to the hearts of the The old moat below the Roman citizens. filled was wall many feet high with water, also the garden which adjoins it, in a very The mark is still visible on few minutes. Such the trees where the water reached. a storm has never been known in the city's annals. The thunder was deafening and a large amount of glass was broken all over the city. Lydia D. Alder. |