Part 10 (2/2)

The clangorous hammer is the tongue, This way, that way, beaten and swung, That from mouth of bra.s.s, as from Mouth of Gold, May be taught the Testaments, New and Old.

And above it the great crossbeam of wood Representeth the Holy Rood, Upon which, like the bell, our hopes are hung.

And the wheel wherewith it is swayed and rung Is the mind of man, that round and round Sways, and maketh the tongue to sound!

And the rope, with its twisted cordage three, Denoteth the Scriptural Trinity Of Morals, and Symbols, and History; And the upward and downward motions show That we touch upon matters high and low; And the constant change and trans.m.u.tation Of action and of contemplation, Downward, the Scripture brought from on high, Upward, exalted again to the sky; Downward, the literal interpretation, Upward, the Vision and Mystery!

And now, my hearers, to make an end, I have only one word more to say; In the church, in honor of Easter day, Will be represented a Miracle Play; And I hope you will all have the grace to attend.

Christ bring us at last So his felicity!

Pax vobisc.u.m! et Benedicite!

IN THE CATHEDRAL.

CHAUNT.

Kyrie Eleison!

Christe Eleison!

_Elsie._ I am at home here in my Father's house!

These paintings of the Saints upon the walls Have all familiar and benignant faces.

_Prince Henry._ The portraits of the family of G.o.d!

Thine own hereafter shall be placed among them.

_Elsie._ How very grand it is and wonderful!

Never have I beheld a church so splendid!

Such columns, and such arches, and such windows, So many tombs and statues in the chapels, And under them so many confessionals.

They must be for the rich. I should not like To tell my sins in such a church as this.

Who built it?

_Prince Henry._ A great master of his craft, Erwin von Steinbach; but not he alone, For many generations labored with him.

Children that came to see these Saints in stone, As day by day out of the blocks they rose, Grew old and died, and still the work went on, And on, and on, and is not yet completed.

The generation that succeeds our own Perhaps may finish it. The architect Built his great heart into these sculptured stones, And with him toiled his children, and their lives Were builded, with his own, into the walls, As offerings unto G.o.d. You see that statue Fixing its joyous, but deep-wrinkled eyes Upon the Pillar of the Angels yonder.

That is the image of the master, carved By the fair hand of his own child, Sabina.

_Elsie._ How beautiful is the column that he looks at!

_Prince Henry._ That, too, she sculptured. At the base of it Stand the Evangelists; above their heads Four Angels blowing upon marble trumpets, And over them the blessed Christ, surrounded By his attendant ministers, upholding The instruments of his pa.s.sion.

_Elsie._ O my Lord!

Would I could leave behind me upon earth Some monument to thy glory, such as this!

_Prince Henry._ A greater monument than this thou leavest In thine own life, all purity and love!

See, too, the Rose, above the western portal Flamboyant with a thousand gorgeous colors, The perfect flower of Gothic loveliness!

_Elsie._ And, in the gallery, the long line of statues, Christ with his twelve Apostles watching us.

(_A_ BISHOP _in armor, booted and spurred, pa.s.ses with his train._)

_Prince Henry._ But come away; we have not time to look.

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