Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/76

Rh appreciate them; or being made to play, all uncomprehending, the great piece of music which could not yet be great to you—only difficult?"

"Yes," the girl replied, "I do."

"And when you finally are of the age to appreciate them, don't you always still find yourself rather—resenting them, therefore, in spite of yourself?"

"Yes," the girl said again; "why?"

"Because that is the way I have had to feel, in spite of myself, about these wonderful piles of architecture—and even about the churches themselves. Yet I can't help having a sneaking respect for them, after all. Especially Ely here. I remember, even as a boy I used to like it best; because here on the Isle of Ely I knew that Hereward, the 'last of the English,' made the last stand of the Saxons and held out against the Normans, after the Conquest, for almost five years. I always liked Ely. And I hope you understand my feeling against cathedrals in general," he concluded 56