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VOL. IV. RICHMONl
A Pilgrima
^ By 1
In the lingering twilight of a long summer
day we stepped off the train at Melrose. A
melancholic young man with an
apologetic air and sad voice invited
us to a little hotel nearby,
I ' where a melancholic matron
with a sad but determined face .v'/'jli
Invited us to register, and then J
d the way, lighted candle in fi
. 5 o nd, through a dark labyrinth I
of halls and rooms to our apartments.
We felt ghastly?like
animated figures which had * M
stepped out of the old woodcuts
of a volume of Dickens, a full
^alf century late
Although it was nine by the
'ock the northern twilight made
^possible to spend an hour
ong the ruins ol' the Abbey. IBIII^H
aP ruins none is so fine as
.irose, and of all Melrose no
?rt> is so fine as the window
j/rtie South Transcept, especially if you catch
, a t> t upse of the '' Crowm of Thorns'' window
J: igh the broken but graceful gothic arches.
The tracery of the "Crown of Thorns" windowis
jjo- wrought that the thorns all turn down,
I : suggesting contact with the quivering uesh of
the Saviour.
I I
East Window and Burial Place of the heart of Robert Bruce.
: ; ' '' :
f j Lees elaborate is the tracery of the east winLjr
. dow, which once rose to a noble height above
tthe high altar. Under this window the heart
of 'Robert the; Bruce is' buried instead of in the
), N EWpOW^tANS, ATLANTA, JANU/
^ A ;
X<-,- " "V%>
1" . l\/l -1.
ge to lvien
-lev. W. H. T. Squires, Norfolk,
Holy Land as he wished. The attempt to carry
his heart to Palestine and inter it there was ac_
jdHfckl*; A
MELROSE ABBEY.
%
tually made but proved impracticable owing to
the fierce wars of the Crusades, and so the heart
of Scotland's he^o king was buried here at Melrose.
Just to the right of where the high altar
once stood the ruined capitals and other fragments
of stone richly carved are heaped around
a broken pillar. This is Sir Walter's favorite
seat, for here the famous novelist spent the hours
dreaming of a mighty and romantic oast. Here
lie the remains of the "Wizard Michael Scott, a
great scientist long before his time. He seemed
to guess the power of electricity and declared
that with proper equipment he conld ring the
bells of Notre Dame from far Melrose.
To the south of the Abbey a tri-peaked mountain
stands boldly against the horizon. Once,
the peasants say, it was a single summit, but the
Wizard Scott by satanic power in a single nig*
divided this mountain into three. Unfortunately
for the accuracy of the tradition and the
reputation of the wizard the Romans called these
hills *' Tremontium." Our ancient guide grew
enthusiastic as be talked of the wizard.
Every nook and corner of the Abbey repay*
careful scrutiny and close study. Here as so
often in life many pass and one sees the n^re,
aisles, windows, galleries, transcepts, choir, celling,
cloister, walls, pillars, niches?all when *?
amined patiently repay the student for his carp.
Where no face appeared to a casual observer,
a saint or abbot now beams down upon yon.
Where the eye saw only a bare wall a moment -i
since, the strange letters of an id^omtion
ually unfold themselves. Where mejpshes mpk \
far np in the shadow of the vaulted ceiling m
lily springs from the stone, or an angel stanb
with a trumpet to his Hps, or perhaps a
"H
I
vesternpfpesb vter/am
al Presbyterian ?
"pern Presbyter/an
VRY 3* 1912. NO. 1.
ose Abbey
Va. ?->
tesque mask leers down as ugly as sin and as
cunning as the devil. Nothing is symmetrical,
but all is harmony. No two
windows, doors or arches are
alike. Complete unity but complete
dissimilarity was evidently
IH ir?r - - ??> >? U4. uurac gcuci tlUUIDi
Iof laboring monks.
As the eye rejoices at the
matchless art and joy of beauty
here so patiently wrought one
i grows indignant at the cruel and
unthinking fanaticism that de
stroyed far more of Melrose than
escaped. But when one calmly
considers how centuries were
spent upon these stones by fat
Hw| and idle monks who left a sinful,
I miserable world without hope
I and without God to shut themselves
in here and to spend the
precious years in carving insensate
stone when they should have
been writing upon the hearts of living men, ou&.
comes the better to understand and to sympa- l"r
thize with the strong unsentimental followers j
of a Knox and a Cromwell. Melrose is a splen
did tomb of a system that sinned away its d*
of grace in Scotland?and the world is better s-'
Our guide now led us down a step or two int
I ^ \. >^v.ti-i*iu'i^SxA'
aft I Ink' 1 -ivv" B'flH
mm-.. 't^MSmBai'ELs' > j
^fltauR HSmHhH9H^H:
HB9^hKw^^I
^^^BB|MIIBBBBbB5^B^^^Ki/,i 'pi \
^1
I &outh Window with gUmpae of '-'Crown of Thorm" Window
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