The bell which surmounts this lofty spire, and upon which stands a colossal figure of our Saviour, is said to be large enough to contain twelve persons at a time; but without climbing to the summit, the local guide's assurance that there were just three hundred and ninety three steps between base and top was unhesitatingly accredited.
"Due North or Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia"
Maturin M. Ballou
The most distinctive details of the interior of Notre Dame are the massive piers and symmetrical arches of varying width of the nave, the simple but most effective vaulting of it, the double aisles and the choir; the shortness of the transepts, atoned for by the unusual length of the semicircular apse, with its circlet of chapels; the combination in the clerestory of pointed-headed and rose windows, and, above all, the exquisitely proportioned and spacious triforium, which surmounts the whole of the double aisles and forms a circular gallery with arcaded openings, harmonising alike with those of the nave below and the clerestory above, and a stone vault of pointed intersecting arches springing from slender clustered columns.
"Architecture"
Nancy R E Meugens Bell
If she is energetic and clever, she surmounts this difficulty by giving a series of receptions, or engaging in charities, or working on some committee, making herself of use to society in some way; and thus picks up her dropped stitches.
"Manners and Social Usages"
Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood