"Do you see that gallery," said Mr. George to Rollo, pointing upwards, "which runs all around just under the dome?"
"I see a small railing, or balustrade," said Mrs. Holiday.
"There is a gallery there," said Mr. George, "eight or ten feet wide, though we do not see the width of it very distinctly here. And the railing, or balustrade, which looks so small here, we shall find is not very small when we come to get up to it."
"Can we get up there?" said Mrs. Holiday.
"Yes," replied Mr. George. "That must be the celebrated whispering gallery."
"How do you know?" asked Rollo.
"I have read descriptions of it in books," said Mr. George. "They said that the whispering gallery was a gallery passing entirely around the centre of the church, over the choir, and just under the dome; and so that must be it. All that is the dome that rises above it."
"Let us go up there, then," said Rollo.
The party walked about the floor of the church a few minutes longer, though they found but little to interest them in what they saw except the vastness of the enclosed interior and the loftiness of the columns and walls. There were several colossal monuments standing here and there; but in general the church had a somewhat empty and naked appearance. The immense magnitude, however, of the spaces which the party traversed, and the lofty heights of the columns, and arches, and ceilings which they looked up to above, filled them with wonder.
At length, near the foot of a staircase, in a sort of corner, they found a man in a little office, whose business it was to sell to visitors tickets of admission, to enable them to view such parts of the church, especially those situated in the upper regions of it, as it would not be proper to leave entirely open to the public. For these places attendants are required, to guard the premises from injury, as well as to show the visitors the way they are to go and to explain to them what they see; and for this a fee is charged, according in tariff, which is set down in the guide books thus:--
COST OF ADMISSION.
s. d.
Whispering, Stone, and Golden Galleries, 0 6
Ball, 1 6
Library, Great Bell, Geometrical Staircase, and Model
Room, 0 6
Clock, 0 2
Crypt and Nelson's Monument, 0 6
--
3 2
Mr. George knew in general that this was the arrangement for showing the church to visitors; but he had not examined the tariff particularly to know what the prices were which were charged for the several parts of the show. He did not care particularly about this, however, for he meant to see all.
Accordingly, when the party came up to the little office where the man sold the tickets, and the man asked them how much they wished to see, Mr. George turned to Mrs. Holiday, saying,-
"We wish to see all, I suppose, do we not?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Holiday; "let us see all there is to be seen."
"Then it will be nine shillings and sixpence," said the ticket man; "three shillings and twopence each for the three. I shall not charge for the young lady. I presume, moreover," he added, with a smile, "that she will not wish to go up into the ball."
So Mr. George took out his purse, and Mrs. Holiday took out hers at the same time.
"I will pay," said Mr. George.
"We will all pay," said Mrs. Holiday. "The easiest way to keep our accounts is for each to pay as we go."
So Mrs. Holiday, Mr. George, and Rollo paid each three shillings and twopence, and the man gave them a variety of tickets in return.
"Those," said he, "are for the gallery," pointing out the tickets at the same time as he presented them; "and those are for the ball. These are for the crypt. You keep these till you get down stairs."
Rollo wondered what the crypt could be; but, as he considered the whole party as now under Mr. George's guidance, he thought he would not inquire, but wait until he should see.
There are several different staircases in St. Paul's by which one can ascend to the upper portions of the edifice. Our party began immediately to mount by one which commenced very near to the place where they had bought their tickets. The stairs were circular, being built in a sort of round tower which stood in the angle of the cross.
Rollo took Jane by the hand and went before, while Mr. George and Mrs. Holiday followed.
"Round and round, round and round, higher and higher above the ground," said Rollo to Jennie.
"Go slowly," said Mr. George, "or else you will get very tired before you get to the top."
"The stairs are very easy," said Mrs. Holiday.
"Yes," said Mr. George; "they are very easy indeed."
The stairs were, indeed, very easy-the steps being very broad, and the "rise," as it is called, of each one being very small. Rollo and Jennie went on very gayly; and, as they kept about half a turn, of the staircase in advance, they were generally just out of sight of Mr. George and Mrs. Holiday, who followed somewhat more slowly behind. Jennie would have been afraid to have gone thus out of sight of her mother and uncle were it not that she could hear their voices all the time close at hand, and their footsteps, also, on the stairs.
From time to time, as our party ascended, they met other parties coming down. When there were children in these descending parties, they tripped along very lightly in coming down; but Rollo and Jennie soon found themselves growing quite tired. So they stopped to rest. After stopping a moment, Rollo's mind seemed to swing, like a pendulum, to the opposite extreme.
"Let us run, Jennie," said he, "and then we shall get up quicker."
"No, it will tire us more to run," replied Jennie.
"But then we shall get up all the quicker," said Rollo, "and so it will not make any difference. We may as well work hard and have it over quick as to work not so hard and have it last a great while."
"Well," said Jennie, "then let us run."
This reasoning of Rollo's was very specious and plausible, but it was very erroneous notwithstanding; for it is found by experience that the whole amount of fatigue which results from doing any given piece of work is by no means the same when it is done quickly as when it is done slowly. A horse, for example, if you allow him to jog along slowly, at the rate of three or four miles an hour, can travel forty miles a day, for months at a time, without growing thin; but if you drive him at the rate of eight miles an hour, he cannot stand more than ten miles a day for any long period. That is, he can do four times as much in amount, with the same degree of fatigue, if you allow him to do it slowly.
It is curious that the case is precisely the same with a steam engine. A steamer can cross the Atlantic with a very much smaller supply of coal, if she goes slowly, than if she goes fast. One might imagine that it would take just twice as much coal to go ten miles an hour as would be required to go five; but in reality it takes more than four times as much-the higher rate of speed requiring a very disproportionate expenditure of power.
If, therefore, you have a long way to walk, or a high ascent to climb, and are afraid that your strength may not hold out;-
Or if you have a horse to drive a long journey, and are afraid that he will tire out before he gets to the end of it;-
Or if you have a steamer to propel, and are not sure that you have coal enough to last to the end of the voyage;-
In these, and in all similar cases, the more slowly you go, the farther the force you have will carry you before it becomes exhausted.
Rollo and Jennie went on running for a few minutes, as they ascended the staircase, round and round; but their strength was soon spent by this violent exertion, and they sat down on the stairs entirely exhausted. And yet they had not come up very high. The whole height of this first staircase, which the party were now ascending, was only about as much as a house four stories high; whereas the whole height of the church, to the very top, is equal to that of a house-if such a house there could be-forty stories high. So that thus far they had come not one tenth part of the way to the top.