EXPERIENCES IN ENGLAND: CAMBRIDGE

England continues to be a beautiful and exciting place. Plans were made to visit Cambridge, and finally the day arrived and we motored there. Cambridge was a flourishing town long before the first students and teachers arrived 800 years ago, and it is still bustling today. The town developed as a trade center and remains so today. One can find anything from the most ancient books to the very latest style and fashion, usually housed in picturesque medieval buildings.

Originally, Cambridge grew up where the Romans built a fort to defend the area north of the River Cam. After the Romans left Britain, Saxon settlers began to build south of the river on areas above the marshes in the market hill area, which became the main settlement. In the 14th and 15th centuries, more and more land, particularly along the river, was used for college buildings.

Cambridge is famed for the excellence of its university and celebrated for the magnificence of King's College Chapel, whose Christmas-carol services are broadcast worldwide. Cambridge is renowned too for the beauty of the many colleges found here. I'll list just a few of the more famous schools: Queen's College, St. John's, Downing, Emmanuel, Trinity -- where Isaac Newton made his calculations which transformed our understanding of the universe -- Sussex, Corpus Christi and Pembroke. Many eminent scholars have graduated from these schools, including Oliver Cromwell, Isaac Newton, Sir Christopher Wren, Charles Darwin and John Milton.

All the colleges here have their chapels, but none is remotely comparable to King's College Chapel. In architectural terms, it is superb. It possessed the large fan-vaulted stone ceiling in the world and is renowned for its intricate and inventive carvings, remarkable screen, magnificent choir stalls and some of the most exquisite painted and stained-glass windows in England. The interior of the chapel is breathtaking. As I stood and tried to take it all in, I was in awe of what a supreme effort went into creating such an awesome place designed specifically for worshipping God. When the chapel was begun, a fan-vaulted ceiling was inconceivable, but John Wastell, the master mason responsible for finishing the stonework in 1515, discarded the plans for a conventional vaulted ceiling and replaced it with the superb fan design. It took five kings, four master masons and an army of craftsmen over a century to build King's College Chapel. The chapel is used regularly for evensong on Sundays, and we plan to be there for at least one service during Advent and hear the famed choir.

After leaving the chapel, George and I walked to Trinity College, the largest and one of the oldest schools in Cambridge. It was there that good luck was with us. The Trinity choir was rehearsing in the chapel for evensong. The rehearsal was closed, but we stood at the doorway and listened for at least 30 minutes. The choir was made up of both men and women, 18 in all, different from the King's College choir, which has 14 men and 16 boys. Nevertheless, the Trinity choir was outstanding and sang with the English sound of very little or no vibrato, perfect intonation and sensitive dynamics. The acoustics of the chapel were truly impressive.

Streets are narrow near the university, and the pleasure of walking around is helped enormously by the absence of cars in some of the city-center streets. I learned that the university authorities hardly ever allow undergraduates to have cars. Many students and residents bicycle to school and work as a part of their everyday routine.

Next on our agenda was Emmanuel College. It was there I learned that Emmanuel graduates were among the early settlers in New England, including John Harvard, founder of Harvard University, who is commemorated in one of the chapel's stained-glass windows.

Part of the character of Cambridge is the mix of rural charm with fine buildings. Cattle and horses graze behind some of the colleges. The combination of open greens with the ancient colleges and city shopping streets makes strolling through Cambridge a delight. One day is barely enough to get a good taste. We will be going back in two weeks to see and learn more and to hear the King's College choir. I can hardly wait.

Judith Williams Johnson and husband Dr. George Johnson of Cape Girardeau are on an extended stay in England. This is another in a series of reports about their experiences.