Four Quarters Volume 5 Article 1 Number 3 Four Quarters: March 1956 Vol
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Four Quarters Volume 5 Article 1 Number 3 Four Quarters: March 1956 Vol. V, No. 3 3-15-1956 Four Quarters: March 1956 Vol. V, No. 3 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/fourquarters Recommended Citation (1956) "Four Quarters: March 1956 Vol. V, No. 3," Four Quarters: Vol. 5 : No. 3 , Article 1. Available at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/fourquarters/vol5/iss3/1 This Complete Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Four Quarters by an authorized editor of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A FINAL VIEW Including Correspondence from Malcolm Cowley, Evelyn Waugh, and Riley Hughes Iour • Page 18 lluarters The Building of the Cathedral Page 1 A Short Story by Victor M, Hamm George Lippard: Gothicism and Social Consciousness in the Early American Novel Page 6 /4« Article by Lionel Wyld 1 Marginal Page 12 A Poem by Sister M. Maura, S.S.N.D. The Letters Page 13 on A Short Story by Leslie Garrett S Florida Street Page 17 A Poem by Joseph Engel ^ Once More, Arsene Lupin Page 20 3u A Poem by Charles Edward Eaton OS "H'wo Peepow" Page 21 A Sketch by Jonella Main € A Man Is Smarter Than a Bull Page 27 ^ A Short Story by William C. Sayres Inseparable Page 31 1 A Poem by Lorraine Good • Block Prints by Carl Mersche^I March, 1956 JBI rgi vol. V, no. 3 • fifty cents Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/fourquarters91unse The Building of tlie Catliedral O Victor M. Hamm THEN came tlie loud music of only difference his presence seemed stone on stone, as the masons to make was that after he had lifted the grey masses into po- passed, they sang with increased sition. Ring of hammer and chisel zest, if they sang, or spoke with in- resounded in the clear air, mixed creased joviality, if they spoke, and with the voices of the workmen as took particular pains to fit the mortar they gave and received orders or well into the stones. sang, and echoed down the streets Pierre Naron was the cleverest of of the town to its boundaries. In the the artisans. It was he who had fragrant April morning the children charge of the Saints of the grand had left their fathers' houses and portal. They encircled the arch of come into the square to watch the the doorway, and rose on one an- building. Some of them had flowers other's heads in ever mounting tiers. in their hair. They danced with joy They stood in more conspicuous to see the Saints coming out of the ranks beneath the rose window. stone, or stood perplexed face to face The bishop had suggested this orna- with a long-necked gargoyle. mentation, having seen a similar de- And so the building of the cathe- tail on his friend the Abbot Suger's dral continued. There were scores church, St. Denis. His church, he of workmen busy at it: masons and suggested, should have one like it. sculptors, joiners and carpenters, Pierre took to the idea eagerly. hewers of wood and hod-carriers. The Saints were coming to life They were all dressed in short- out of the stone. At the base, the skirted smocks, and some of them great apostles and martyrs, with had caps on their heads. Interested books and keys in their hands, and and busy, not one of them shirked symbolic devices underneath them, or idled. Yet no one was watching were practically complete. Pierre them. Occasionally Bishop Geof- added a touch here and there. Ei- frey, the prime mover of the under- ther St. Peter's nose was too flat, or taking, came to observe the progress St. James's ears were too prominent. of the w^ork. But no sudden burst With his chisel he seemed rather of activity marked the event. The to stroke than chip the stone. Very sculptor kept on chipping at his lovingly he brushed the grey faces, statue, and the hod-carrier took his the heavy cheeks and ears. deliberate step on the scaffolding. Pierre loved his work and his The bishop was a genial man, and workmen. He had grown up with he often smiled at his workmen, cathedrals. In his youth he had praising this one for his keen eye seen Notre Dame de Paris come to and that one for his strong arm. The life. He had first laid hand to stone Four Quarters on the cathedral on the Seine. Many of the workmen chided him, Thence he had gone to Rheims and and laughed at his moodiness. But achieved a name as a sculptor. Christophe brooded on, and his Bishop de Leves had called him to Saints grew less and less gay. Chartres. and Naron left the facade One bright day some time later of Rheims to other hands. And now the two met again. There was dark he was here. Pierre was a tall, well- fire in Christophe's eyes, and he made man, with the bearing of a tried to avoid Pierre's. But Naron master. There was much of the said cheerily: "Who put wormwood father about him, and something of in your porridge this morning, Chris- the priest. Though he was younger tophe? I am sure the good Lord, if than many of his worlonen, they all He saw^ your face, would be fright- looked upon him with the respect of ened." sons, and his word was law, though Christophe moved closer, and his voice was gentle. there was bitterness in his voice Now there was among the crafts- when he spoke: "That is the w^ay men one Christophe Rudol, a heavy- with us in the world. The deserv- nmbed, raw-faced fellow with a nose ing get nothing, and the undeserv- like that of one of the monsters on ing get alL" Pierre smiled, but the the eaves of the church, and with man w^as quite serious, and went on: small black eyes hke beads. Chris- "I have been working here longer tophe was an excellent workman than you have. I studied with the with ideas of his own. He did not great Sanpierre. I can do a Saint to favor Naron's plan for the decora- the hfe from my remembrance of the tion of the facade. It seemed too Saints at St. Denis. By all rights it elaborate to him. He preferred a is I who ought to be in command simpler, more massive style. Naron here, not you." His tone was chal- knew his opinions. One day Chris- lenging. tophe had come to him and said, Pierre did not reply for some mo- rather brusquely, as was his way: ments; when he did it was severely, "The Saints are too many. One yet gently: "Christophe. tempt not would think you w^ere trying to the good Lord. For you know^, my empty Heaven upon this wall." brother, that I was sent here by the Naron laid a gentle hand on his bishop. I had nothing to say about shoulder. "Brother," he said, and it. If I had, I would be carving the his eyes twinkled, "then there will hard stone, which I enjoy much surely be room enough there for more than walking about here giv- thee." Christophe glanced at him ing orders. But we must do the angrily and moved off. From that work the Lord sets for us. And this day on he avoided Pierre and grew seems to be mine. If you are dissat- moody, saying httle to his comrades isfied. He is not pleased with you. and not joining in their songs. One Go, Christophe, be glad in your noticed, too, that the Saints he work. Look at Adolphe and Louis, worked on grew frowns on their fore- your comrades. They whistle and heads and looked hke Puritans. hum and are joyful, and the Saints The Building of the Cathedral smile under tKeir hands." down. What he saw was this. A " "AdoIpKe and Louis are idiots, little man with flaxen hair^that growled ChristopKe. "No, I will would be Naron^seemed to be bus- not be content. Things are not as ily engaged in conversation with an- they should be. You are my enemy. other little man in black^that would You have stolen my rightful place be the bishop. The flaxen-haired from me." man was pointing out various de- Pierre felt that disciphnary meas- tails of the building. Then he ures were indicated. "I have told pointed upwards to the tower. Chris- you how matters stand," he said tophe shrank back into the recesses simply. "You are a foohsh fellow. of his perch. After a few moments It is my duty to oversee the worlc and he again peered over. He saw^ the to distribute it. I shall arrange to other man look up too, then pat both have you from novi^ on do the carv- of Pierre's shoulders with his hands ing in the tower. It is a high place, and stride off. and perhaps better suited to your "They have been talking about aspirations." me," thought Christophe, and his Christophe glared. Secretly he heart pounded louder against his was pleased, for the carving in the ribs. He looked down again. Naron tower was delicate and difficult, and was standing directly beneath him.