Rollo on the Rhine | Page 3

so that by leaning over and
looking down he could speak to his uncle without any difficulty.
Mr. George was so busy reading his guide book that he paid little
attention to what Rollo said.
"Uncle George," said Rollo, calling louder, "I can see the city; and in
the midst of it is a church with a great square tower, and something
very singular on the top of it."
Mr. George still continued his reading.
"There is a spire on the top of the church," continued Rollo, "but it is
bent down on one side entirely, as if it had half blown over."
"O, no," said Mr. George, still continuing to read.
"It really is," said Rollo. "I wish you would look, uncle George. It is
something very singular indeed."
[Illustration: COLOGNE IN SIGHT.]
Mr. George yielded at length to these importunities, and looked out.
The country around in every direction was one vast plain, covered with
fields of grain, luxuriant and beautiful beyond description. It was

without any fences or other divisions except such as were produced by
different kinds of cultivation, so that the view extended interminably in
almost every direction. There were rows and copses of trees here and
there, giving variety and life to the view, and from among them were
sometimes to be seen the spires of distant villages. In the distance, too,
in the direction in which Rollo pointed, lay the town of Cologne. The
roofs of the houses extended over a very wide area, and among them
there was seen a dark square tower, very high, and crowned, as Rollo
had said, with what seemed to be a spire, only it was bent over half way;
and there it lay at an angle at which no spire could possibly stand.
"What can it mean?" asked Rollo.
"I am sure I do not know," said Mr. George.
Next to Rollo, on the banquette, was seated a young man, who had
mounted up there about an hour before, though Rollo had not yet
spoken to him. Rollo now, however, turned to him, and asked him, in
English, if he spoke English.
The young man smiled and shook his head, implying that he did not
understand.
Rollo then asked him, in French, if he spoke French.
The young man said, "Nein."[2]
[Footnote 2: Pronounced nine.]
Rollo knew that nein was the German word for no, and he presumed
that the language of his fellow-traveller was German. So he pointed to
the steeple, and asked,--
"Was ist das?"
This phrase, Was[3] ist das? is the German of What is that? Rollo
knew very little of German, but he had learned this question long
before, having had occasion to ask it a great many times. It is true he

seldom or never could understand the answers he got to it, but that did
not prevent him from asking it continually whenever there was
occasion. He said it was some satisfaction to find that the people could
understand his question, even if he could not understand what they said
in reply to it.
[Footnote 3: The w is pronounced like v.]
The man immediately commenced an earnest explanation; but Rollo
could not understand one word of it, from beginning to end.
The truth of the case was, that the supposed leaning spire, which Rollo
saw, was in reality a monstrous crane that was mounted on one of the
towers of the celebrated unfinished cathedral at Cologne. This cathedral
was commenced about six hundred years ago, and was meant to be the
grandest edifice of the kind in the world. They laid out the plan of it
five hundred feet long, and two hundred and fifty feet wide, and
designed to carry up the towers and spires five hundred feet high. You
can see now how long this church was to be by going out into the road,
or to any other smooth and level place, and there measuring off two
hundred and fifty paces by walking. The pace--that is, the long step--of
a boy of ten or twelve years old is probably about two feet. That of a
full grown man is reckoned at three feet. So that by walking off, by
long steps, till you have counted two hundred and fifty of them, you
can see how long this church was to be; and then by turning a corner
and measuring one hundred and twenty-five paces in a line at right
angles to the first, you will see how wide it was to be. To walk entirely
round such an area as this would be nearly a third of a mile.
The church was laid out and begun, and during the whole generation of
the workmen that began it, the building was prosecuted with all the
means and money that