n fastened to this chain, and
hoisted up by machinery. When they were raised high enough, that is,
just above the edge of the wall, the whole crane was turned round upon
its platform, in such a manner as to bring the stone in over the wall;
and then it was let down into the place which had been prepared to
receive it.

When the work on the cathedral was suspended on account of the want of
funds, the men left this crane on the top of the tower, because they
hoped to be able to resume the work again before long. But years and
generations passed, and the prospect did not mend; and at last the old
crane, which in its lofty position was exposed to all the storms and
tempests of the sky, of course began gradually to decay. It is true it
was protected as much as possible by a sort of casing made around it, to
shelter it from the weather; but notwithstanding this, in the course of
several centuries it became so unsound that there began to be danger
that it might fall. The authorities of the town, therefore, decided to
take it down, intending to postpone putting up a new one until the work
of finishing the cathedral should be resumed, if indeed it ever should
be resumed.

The people of the town were very sorry to see the crane taken down. It
had stood there, like a leaning spire, upon the top of the cathedral,
from their earliest childhood, and from the earliest childhood, in fact,
of their fathers and grandfathers before them. Besides, the taking down
of the crane seemed to be, in some sense, an indication that the thought
of ever finishing the cathedral was abandoned. This made them still more
uneasy, and a short time afterwards a tremendous thunder storm occurred,
and this the people considered as an expression of the displeasure of
Heaven at the impiety of forsaking such a work, and as a warning to them
to put up the crane again. So a new crane was made, and mounted on the
tower as before, and being encased and enclosed like the other, it had
at a distance the appearance of a leaning spire, and it was this which
had attracted Rollo's attention in his approach to Cologne.

Within a few years, on account of the opening again of the navigation of
the Rhine, and other causes, the city of Cologne, with all the
surrounding country, has been returning to its former prosperity, and
the plan of finishing the cathedral has been resumed. The government of
Prussia takes a great interest in the undertaking, and the kings and
princes o