CS.--THE STORY AND LEGEND OF CHARLEMAGNE.--THE STORY AND LEGEND
OF BARBAROSSA.

"We emerged from the majestic circle of the Seven Mountains, the most
beautiful part of the Rhine scenery, and broad plains again met our
view. The river ran smoothly, the Middle Rhine was passed, Bonn was in
view, and there we dismissed our boatman.

"We stopped in Bonn only a short time. We went to the Market-place and
walked past the University, which was once a palace.

"We took the train at Bonn for Cologne, in order to pass rapidly over
a part of the Rhine scenery said to be comparatively uninteresting.

"Holy Cologne!

"The Rome of the Northern Empire! The ecclesiastical capital of the
ancient German church!

"The unfinished cathedral towers over the city like a mountain.
'Unfinished?' Everything has a legend here, and a marvellous one, and
the unfinished cathedral stands like a witness to such a tale.

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE.]

"Above Cologne the river runs broad, a blue-green mirror amid dumpy
willows and lanky poplars, and the windmills on its banks throw their
arms about like giants at play. The steamers swarm in the bright
waters; at evening their lights are like will-o'-the-wisps. The long
bridge of boats opens; a steamer passes, followed by a crowd of boats;
it closes, and the waiting crowd upon it hurry over. The Rhine at
night here presents a most animated scene.

"The river seems alive, but the city looks dead. There is a faded
glory on everything. There are steeples and steeples, towers and
towers. Cologne is said to have had at one time as many churches as
there are days in the year. But life has gone out of them; they are
like deserted houses. They belonged to the religious period of
evolution, and are like geologic formations now,--history that has had
its day, and left its tombstone.

"Cologne is as old as Rome in her glory,--older than the Christian
era. She was the second great city of the Church in the Middle Ages.

"Cologne is full of wonders in stone and marble, wonders in legend and
story as well; and among these the cathedral holds the first place, in
both art and fable.

THE MYSTERIOUS ARCHITECT.

In the thirteenth century--so the story goes--Archbishop Conrad
determined to erect a cathedral that should surpass any Christian
temple in the world.

Who should be the architect?

He must be a man of great genius, and his name would become
immortal.

There