“‘I am not thinking of that toy,’ said I; ‘you stand in a monument of art that it has taken a thousand years to build.’
“‘Yes; I hope we shall be here to-morrow when the Twelve Apostles come out and the cock crows at Peter.’”
A MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS.
The soldiers of Aurelian, the Roman emperor, used to sing,—
“We have slain a thousand Franks.”
“We have cut off the heads of a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand.
One man hath cut off the heads of a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand;
May he live a thousand years.”
The Franks came out of the North, and established themselves in Gaul and Germania during the period of the early Roman emperors. Their most renowned king was Clovis, with whom began the empire of France. He was a savage and passionate man, born to command and to conquer. He was a heathen. It is related of him that once, when he had enriched himself with spoils from some of the early Christian churches, the Bishop of Rheims desired that he would return a valued vase that had been taken from the cathedral.
“Follow us to Soissons,” said Clovis; “there the booty will be divided.”
In the division of the booty, a high-spirited and selfish Frankish chieftain objected to the bishop’s claim, and, to show his contempt for him and the Church, struck the vase with his battle-axe. Clovis was offended. He gave the bishop the vase, and soon after avenged the insult by striking the chieftain dead with his own battle-axe, saying,—
“Thus didst thou to the vase at Soissons.”