Rollo on the Rhine | Page 9

saw a
procession formed of boys, with a priest, bearing some glittering sacred
utensils of silver in his hands, at the head of them. The boys were all
dressed alike. The dress consisted of a long crimson robe with a white
frock over it, which came down below the waist, and a crimson cape
over the frock, which covered the shoulders. Thus they were red above
and below, and white in the middle.
One of these boys had a censer in his hands, and another had a little

bell; and as they came along you could see the censer swinging in the
air, and the volumes of fragrant smoke rising from it, and you could
hear the tinkling of the little bell. The priest advanced to the altar
before which the audience were sitting, and there, while the censer was
waving and the smoke was ascending, he performed various
ceremonies which Rollo could not at all understand, but which seemed
to interest the congregation very much, for they bowed continually, and
crossed themselves, and seemed impressed with a very deep solemnity.
Presently, when the ceremony was completed, the procession returned
into the choir, the priest at the head of it, just as it came.
When the procession had passed away, Mr. George made a sign for
Rollo to follow him, and then walked along out through the gate where
the woman was sitting with the holy water. She held out the brush to
Mr. George and Rollo as they passed, but they did not take it.
"What ridiculous mummeries!" said Rollo, in a low tone, as soon as
they had got out of the hearing of the congregation.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "they seem so to us; but I have a certain
respect for all those ceremonies, since they are meant to be the worship
of God."
"I thought it was the worship of images," said Rollo. "Did not you see
the images?"
"Yes," said Mr. George, "I saw them; and perhaps we can make it out
that those rites are, in reality, the worship of images; but they are not
meant for that. They are meant for the worship of God."
CHAPTER III.
THE GALLERIES.
"I want to get up upon the towers," said Rollo, "if we can."
"Yes," said Mr. George, "but I want first to go and see the tomb of the

three kings."
"What is that?" asked Rollo.
"I will show you," said Mr. George. So saying, Mr. George led the way,
and Rollo followed, along what is called the ambulatory, which is a
broad space that extends all around the head of the cross in the
cathedral churches of Europe, between the screen of the choir on one
side and the ranges of chapels on the other. The ambulatory is usually
very grand and imposing in the effect which it produces on the mind of
the visitor, on account of the immense columns which border it, the
loftiness of the vaulted roof, which forms a sort of sky over it above,
and by the elaborate carvings and sculptures of the screen on one side,
and the gorgeous decorations of the chapels on the other. Then all along
the floor there are sculptured monuments of ancient warriors armed to
the teeth in marble representations of iron and steel, while the walls are
adorned with rich paintings of immense magnitude, representing scenes
in the life of the Savior. There seemed to Mr. George some incongruity
between the reverence evinced for the teachings and example of Jesus,
in the pictures above, and the honor paid to the barbarous valor of the
fighting old barons, in the monuments and effigies which occupied the
pavement below.
At length, at the head of the cross, exactly opposite to the centre of the
high altar, which faced the choir, in the place which seemed to be the
special place of honor, Mr. George pointed to a small, square enclosure,
or sort of projecting closet, which was richly carved and gilded, and
adorned with a variety of ancient inscriptions.
"There," said Mr. George, "that must be the tomb of the three kings.
That is the sepulchre which contains, as they pretend, the skulls of the
three wise men of the east, who came to Bethlehem to worship Jesus
the night on which he was born."
"How came they here?" asked Rollo.
"They were at Milan about six or eight hundred years ago," said Mr.
George, "and they were plundered from the church there by a great

general, and given to the Archbishop of Cologne, and he put them in
this church. They have been here ever since, and they are prized very
highly indeed. They are set round with gold and precious stones, and
have the names of the men marked on them in letters formed