XIV. "THE SUNDOWN SPLENDID AND SERENE." 1906-1907 342 XV. "MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD." 1808-1910 369 JULIA WARD HOWE CHAPTER I EUROPE REVISITED 1877; _aet._ 58 A MOMENT'S MEDITATION IN COLOGNE CATHEDRAL Enter Life's high cathedral With reverential heart, Its lofty oppositions Matched with divinest art. Thought with its other climbing To meet and blend on high; Man's mortal and immortal Wed for eternity. When noon's high mass is over, Muse in the silent aisles; Wait for the coming vespers In which new promise smiles. When from the dome height echoes An "_Ite, missa est_," Whisper thy last thanksgiving, Depart, and take thy rest. J. W. H. From the time of the Doctor's death till her marriage in 1887, the youngest daughter was her mother's companion and yoke-fellow. In all records of travel, of cheer, of merriment, she can say thankfully: "_Et ego in Arcadia vixi_." The spring of 1877 found the elder comrade weary with much lecturing and presiding, the younger somewhat out of health. Change of air and scene was prescribed, and the two sailed for Europe early in May. Throughout the journeyings which followed, our mother had two objects in view: to see her own kind of people, the seekers, the students, the reformers, and their works; and to give Maud the most vivid first impression of all that would be interesting and valuable to her. These objects were not always easy to combine. After a few days at Chester (where she laments the "restoration" of the fine old oak of the cathedral, "now shining like new, after a boiling in potash") and a glimpse of Hawarden and Warwick, they proceeded to London and took lodgings in Bloomsbury (a quarter of high fashion when she first knew London, now given over to lodgings). Once settled, she lost no time in establishing relations with friends old and new. The Unitarian Association was holding its annual conference; one of the first entries in the Journal tells of her attending the Unitarian breakfast where she spoke about "the poor children and the Sunday schools." Among her earliest visitors was Charles Stewart Parnell, of whom she says:--