DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62134#0013
PEET-WASHING ON GREEN THURSDAY.
b
ported by marble pillars, with a row of tall windows on
either side ; a dark, inlaid floor of some brown wood; but
with no sign whatever of Hercules to be seen. Suffice it
to say, that having noticed all this at a glance, we observed,
in the centre of the hall, a small altar covered with wdiite
linen, and bearing upon it golden candlesticks, a missal
bound in crimson velvet, a veiled crucifix, and a golden
ewer standing in a golden dish. On one side of the altar-
rose a tall reading-desk, draped with a sulphur-coloured
cloth, upon which lay a large open book : a row of low,
crimson stools stood along the hall, opposite the altar •, on
the other side, across the windows, ran a white and very
long ottoman, raised upon a high step covered with crimson
cloth, and chairs of state wrere arranged at either end of the
hall below the galleries. The arrival of people below
was gradual, although our gallery and the gallery opposite
had been crowded for hours. We at length had the plea-
sure of seeing something commence.
The door at the further end opened, and in streamed a
crowd. Then tottered in ancient representatives of the
twelve “ Apostles,” clothed in long violet robes, bound round
the waist with white bands striped with red, and with violet
caps on then heads: on they tottered, supported on either
side by some poor relative, an old peasant-woman, a stal-
wart man in a black velvet jacket and bright black boots
reaching to the knee, or by a young, buxom girl in her
holiday costume of bright apron and gay boddice. On they
came, feeble, wrinkled, with white locks falling on their
violet apparel, with palsied hands resting on the strong
arms that supported them—the oldest being a hundred-
and-one, the youngest eighty-seven years old ! My eyes
swam with sudden tears. There was a deal of trouble in
mounting them upon their long snowy throne ; that crimson
step was a great mountain for their feeble feet and stiff
b
ported by marble pillars, with a row of tall windows on
either side ; a dark, inlaid floor of some brown wood; but
with no sign whatever of Hercules to be seen. Suffice it
to say, that having noticed all this at a glance, we observed,
in the centre of the hall, a small altar covered with wdiite
linen, and bearing upon it golden candlesticks, a missal
bound in crimson velvet, a veiled crucifix, and a golden
ewer standing in a golden dish. On one side of the altar-
rose a tall reading-desk, draped with a sulphur-coloured
cloth, upon which lay a large open book : a row of low,
crimson stools stood along the hall, opposite the altar •, on
the other side, across the windows, ran a white and very
long ottoman, raised upon a high step covered with crimson
cloth, and chairs of state wrere arranged at either end of the
hall below the galleries. The arrival of people below
was gradual, although our gallery and the gallery opposite
had been crowded for hours. We at length had the plea-
sure of seeing something commence.
The door at the further end opened, and in streamed a
crowd. Then tottered in ancient representatives of the
twelve “ Apostles,” clothed in long violet robes, bound round
the waist with white bands striped with red, and with violet
caps on then heads: on they tottered, supported on either
side by some poor relative, an old peasant-woman, a stal-
wart man in a black velvet jacket and bright black boots
reaching to the knee, or by a young, buxom girl in her
holiday costume of bright apron and gay boddice. On they
came, feeble, wrinkled, with white locks falling on their
violet apparel, with palsied hands resting on the strong
arms that supported them—the oldest being a hundred-
and-one, the youngest eighty-seven years old ! My eyes
swam with sudden tears. There was a deal of trouble in
mounting them upon their long snowy throne ; that crimson
step was a great mountain for their feeble feet and stiff