THE TOWN OF ^lANY GABLES 



117 



gaged" or "married" by observing if the 

 girl leans upon the man's right or left 

 arm) — going to the parents for the soci- 

 able coffee-drinking, an every-day func- 

 tion, which upon Sunday receives a pleas- 

 antly, leisurely, holiday ilavor and offers 

 convenient opportunity for offering light 

 refreshment to one's family and friends. 



From our vantage spot on the balcony 

 we had noticed now and then some passer 

 stop and gaze intently at St. Lambertus' 

 tall tower. Several times our eyes swept 

 its tall height ; yes, it zvas undeniably 

 lovely, graceful, altogether satisfactory, 

 as it soared upward from the market, but 

 these people who looked longest did not 

 look like students of picturesque archi- 

 tecture. 



Finally we discovered the objects their 

 eyes were seeking — three long iron cages 

 swinging just above the clock face on the 

 tower. They recall Miinster's most har- 

 rowing days, those when she went mad 

 with frenzied religious zeal and followed 

 blindly the vicious teachings of John of 

 Leyden. 



It is unjust to saddle upon a sect the 

 evils practiced by its leaders, but all Ana- 

 baptists suffered in reputation and Miin- 

 ster in stern reality b}^ reason of the 

 vicious excesses there indulged in by this 

 John of Leyden and his associates. The 

 wild orgy ended with John's overthrow. 

 He and his chief intimates, Knipperdol- 

 linck and Krechting, died by torture and 

 their bodies were exposed in these iron 

 cages upon the stump of St. Lambert's 

 older tower, for this present graceful 

 structure has scarcely been finished a 

 decade. 



A CITY WITHOUT A TOWER 



In the brief period of John of Leyden's 

 rule, all of Miinster's church towers were 

 demolished by his order, so it is said ; 

 only St. Lambert's was stout and strong 

 and could not be entirely destroyed. Very 

 recently some one spoke of Miinster as 

 the "city without a tower," and that may 

 well have been the case in the years di- 

 rectly after this religious upheaval, but 

 not today ; Miinster boasts many graceful 

 towers and spires. 



Beside St. Lambertus is a charming 

 little fountain, a children's fountain, its 

 basin carved with quaint nursery rhymes 



and a ring of chubby marble children, 

 not cherubs, nor fairies, but lovable ev- 

 ery-day children, frolicking around the 

 splashing water. Usually it is encircled 

 by living children as well, scrambling and 

 clambering up the basin's sides, dabbling 

 eager hands in the pool, or gazing open- 

 mouthed at their marble representations. 

 The Ludgerus fountain by the cathedral 

 is more celebrated, but this one in the 

 Lambertus Platz is our favorite. 



Aliinster has several beautiful churches 

 besides the Dom, the largest and finest 

 church in Westphalia, notably Ludgeri- 

 Kirche, older yet than the cathedral in 

 part, and the beautiful Gothic Ueber- 

 wasser-Kirche, more rhythmically the 

 Church of Our Lady. The cathedral 

 (St. Paul) was built in the thirteenth 

 century upon the site of an earlier church, 

 traces of which may still be found by 

 antiquaries ; but the later additions made 

 in the sixteenth century are far more 

 apparent. From some corners of the 

 great tree-shaded Domplatz the edifice is 

 very beautiful, from others unimpressive ; 

 but the whole space about it was so 

 crowded with booths that we scarcely 

 saw it fairly. 



MUNSTER KEEPS THE SABBATH 



The booths were all closed and the 

 carrousels silent, for iMiinster keeps the 

 Sabbath, so far as buying, selling, and 

 noisy merry-making is concerned. A 

 few fakirs plied their trade in the ca- 

 thedral's shadow. The most popular was 

 a man selling small flutes, upon which 

 he played folk-songs to attract buyers. 

 He drew a sweet, bird-like note from the 

 tiny thing and with such ease that his 

 wares found many sales. It was very 

 amusing to watch the interested faces in 

 the group about him and the sheepish 

 glances buyers cast about them as they 

 essayed to try the toy for themselves. 



Miinster's old walls and gates are all 

 gone. One or two plain old towers alone 

 remain of all her stout fortifications. 

 Her "Rampart-promenade," a ring of 

 small parks crossed at intervals by well- 

 paved city streets, takes the place of walls 

 and moat, and from it American cities 

 could well learn the art of landscape 

 gardening within narrow limits. 



Nowhere are these parks of great 



