describes as:--"Mingling and blending in the air like a rich
embroidery of all sorts of melodious sounds"--America can furnish no
greater oratorio.

Its interior, which is profusely embellished and enriched, the spacious,
two-storied galleries, in a twilight of mysterious gloom, and an altar
upon which so much wealth has been consecrated, combine to make it a
temple worthy of any time or race.

"Whatever may be the external differences, we always find in the
Christian Cathedral, no matter how modified, the Roman Basilica. It
rises forever from the ground in harmony with the same laws. There are
invariably two naves intersecting each other in the form of a cross, the
upper end being rounded into a chancel or choir. There are always side
aisles for processions or for chapels, and a sort of lateral gallery
into which the principal nave opens by means of the spaces between the
columns.

"The number of chapels, steeples, doors and spires may be modified
indefinitely, according to the century, the people and the art. Statues,
stained glass, rose-windows, arabesques, denticulations, capitals and
bas-reliefs are employed according as they are desired. Hence the
immense variety in the exterior of structures, within which there dwells
such unity and order."

The nave here is two hundred and twenty feet long, almost eighty in
height, and one hundred and twenty in width, including the side aisles.
The walls, which are five feet thick, have fourteen side windows forty
feet high, which light softly the galleries and grand aisle. So
admirable is the arrangement, that fifteen thousand people can find
accommodation and hear perfectly in all parts of the building. On high
festivals, such as Christmas or Easter, when the great organ, said to be
the finest in America, under the fingers of a master, with full choir
and orchestra, rolls out the music of the masses, the senses are
enthralled by the magnificence of the harmony. The various altars and
mural decorations are beautiful with painting, gilding and carving. In
the subdued light, which filters through the stained windows, are found
many things of especial sanctity to the faithful. On a column rests an
exquisite little statuette of the Virgin, which was a gift from Pope
Pius the Ninth, the finely chased and wrought crucifix and the riband
attached to it having been worn around the neck of the High Pontiff
himself. Directly opposite to it is a statue of St. Peter, a copy of
that at