, o " ° * *o o » r«5^V^ . O 4 O ****** #fr ^* ; jte v ****** >*oV° o V r^ ^ 4o, ,4- AXc. Wu I .00 HY 8. r Copyright By Thomas Rees 1908 DEDICATORY. To Henry W. Clendenin, with whom 1 have been intimately associated many years and whom to know long is to love much, this volume is respectfully inscribed. JUST A WORD It seems to be necessary in issuing a new book to give some reason for its publication. This book is intended to convey an idea of what can be seen in Europe in the time indicated in its title while traveling by the ordinary methods, and with a fair degree of comfort, and covers a number of what seem to us very interesting subjects. It follows a similar work issued one year previous covering a trip through Cuba and Mexico, called "Spain's Lost Jewels," and which was so kindly received that the writer is encouraged to this second effort in the line of book making. Anyone contemplating a trip to Europe should allow at least two months for travel and sightseeing between the time of his landing and departure from the other side. This is hardly enough, but adding to this the time in getting started and crossing the ocean both ways, makes nearly three months, which is about as long a period as the ordinary business man feels like devoting to one season's vacation. Having this amount of time at our disposal, we followed the route indicated in these letters, and, in looking back, we hardly see how we could have done better unless we had taken more time. But if we had, the book would have probably been too big. THE LINE OF TRAVEL CHAPTER I. Page 17. Across the Ocean — Wind and Waves — A World in Itself — Daily Routine — The Azores — Gibraltar — The Mediterranean — A Dance — Captain's Dinner. CHAPTER II. Page 33. Naples — Ordeal of Landing — Experiences — Live in the Open — ■ Cab Service — Eye for the Picturesque — Up Mount Ve- suvius. CHAPTER III. Page 50. Island of Capri — An Ideal Home — Sorrento — Ruins of Pompeii — ■ Recent Destruction — Virgil's Tomb. CHAPTER IV. Page 62. In Rome — Ancient History — The New Era — St. Peter's Church — The Vatican — Its Works of Art. CHAPTER V. ~ Page 73. San Giovanni — Making Mosaic — The Sacred Steps — Santa Maria — The Pantheon — St. Paul's — The Catacombs — Grew- some decorations. 11 CHAPTER VI. Page 83. The Stores of Rome — The King — The Forum — Rome's Ruins — Keats and Shelley — The Dying Gaul — The Coliseum — The Grandest Ruin. CHAPTER VII. Page 93. Florence — Work of the Old Masters — Feeding the Pigeons — More Works of Art — Royal Collection — Ponte Vecchio — "Variegated Cathedral — Savonarola. CHAPTER VIII. Page 105. Venice — The Rialto — Bridge of Sighs — A Few Streets — The Campanile — Napoleon — Churches — Gondolas and Gondoliers — Grand Canal — Don Carlos — Farewell to Venice. CHAPTER IX. Page 121. Milan — Old Time Relics — A Great Cemetery — How About It- The Cathedral of Milan — The Last Supper. CHAPTER X. Page 136. Railroads of Italy — Hotels — Italian Money — Anglo-Italian Sign Language — On Lake Como — Meeting Old Friends. CHAPTER XI. Page 148. Into Switzerland — A Traveling Companion — Music on the Water — Crossing the Alps — The St. Gothard Railway and Tunnel. 12 CHAPTER XII. Page 158. On Lake Lucerne — Story of William Tell — City of Lucerne — A Good Place to Rest — Lion of Lucerne — The Great Organ — Where Dogs Work. CHAPTER XIII. Page 172. Travelers by Classes — A Study of Skulls — Cog Railway — A Lake Ride — A Swiss Town — A New Game — A Cave and a River — Old Castles. CHAPTER XIV. Page 185. The Lauterbrunnen Valley — Scaling the Alps — How the Trip is Made — Great Tunnels — Easy for the Traveler — Among the Clouds — Down to Earth. CHAPTER XV. Page 194. Capital of Switzerland — Odd and Good Public Works — The Bears — Other Animals — Dogs and Women Work — Switzer- land — The Government — History, etc. — Its Four Great Rivers. CHAPTER XVI. Page 209. Dance of Death — Invading Germany — Alsace-Lorraine — Ger- many a Republic — Strassburg — Germany's Great Army — The Old Cathedral — The Great Clock. CHAPTER XVII. Page 222. Old Heidelberg — The University — Double-Headed Church — The Old Castle — Rig Wine Cask — The California Tree — Mainz — Gutenberg. 13 CHAPTER XVIII. Page 236 Down the Rhine — The Mascot Goat— Great Bridges — Old Castles — Legends — Emperor's Castles — Vineyards — National Monu- ment — City of Cologne — A Hungarian Orchestra — A Welsh Rarebit. CHAPTER XIX. Page 258. Among the Dutch — Dikes and Canals — Old Amsterdam — Rem- brandt — Cutting Diamonds — Country Houses — The Cheese — The Artists' Mecca — On the Canal — The Hague — A Holland Hotel — Seaside Resort. CHAPTER XX. Page 286. Belgium — Brussels, the Capital — Expensive Structures — The Stony Streets — The Flower Parade — Hotels and Cafes — The Crazy Man's Gallery — Battle of "Waterloo. CHAPTER XXI. Page 299. Paris — Busy Streets — Hotel Experiences — Eiffel Tower — Grand Panorama — Glimpse of the Past — The Louvre — Venus de Milo — The Trocadero — St. Mark's Horses — Jeanne d'Arc. CHAPTER XXII. Page 318. The Tuileries — Place de la Concorde — Champs-Elysees — Arch de Triomphe — Vendome Column — Washington — The Made- leine — The Bastile — Ratified — Seine — St. Cloud — Grand Opera — Paris Gowns. CHAPTER XXIII. Page 343. The Bones of Three Millions — The Pantheon — Napoleon's Tomb — An Old Love Story — The Grand Prix — Automobiling Around Paris — Versailles — Good -Bye to Paris. 14 CHAPTER XXIV. Page 364. In London — Immensity of City — Charing Cross — Great Bridges — Well Known Streets — 'Bus Drivers — Breaking Into Parlia- ment. CHAPTER XXV. Page 378. St. Paul's Cathedral — The Bank of London — Tuppence and Threppence — My Father's House — Westminster Abbey — Hyde Park and Kensington — Old Curiosity Shop — London Theatres. CHAPTER XXVI. Page 393. The Tower of London — Old Armor — Bouquets of Bayonets — The British Museum — Mark Twain — The Thames — Windsor Castle — The Captain — Aye, 'Tis a Dream. CHAPTER XXVII. Page 408. In Ireland — Dublin — Some Churches — Tom Moore — Balfe — Dub- lin and Killarney — Gap of Dunloe — Lakes of Killarney — Coaching in Ireland. CHAPTER XXVIII. Page 425. City of Cork — Irish Wit — Blarney Castle — Shandon Bells — Pood for Thought — The Trouble With Ireland — Looking Forward — A Jolly Farewell — Homeward Bound — The End. 15 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Mr. and Mrs. Rees 1 ^ The Bay of Naples 32 ■/ Ruins of Pompeii 48 - Coliseum of Rome 80 / Forum of Rome 96 ' Rialto in Venice 112 Cathedral of Milan 128 Lion of Lucerne 160 Girls of Strassburg 208 Bismarck Monument, Cologne 256 Marken in Holland 272 Tuileries Garden in Paris 320 London Bridge 368 Poets Corner, "Westminster Abbey 384 Irish Jaunting Car 416 Blarney Castle near Cork 432 16 Chapter ACROSS THE OCEAN We have been on the ocean a week and I am be- ginning to wonder why the Lord made the ocean so big and wide, with so much wind and such great waves. It has also occurred to me that there are many peo- ple who may never have taken an ocean trip and that they may be interested in some of the details that go to make up a voyage across the Atlantic. We left New York on the good ship "Moltke" of the Hamburg-American line, on Thursday afternoon, April 23, for the port of Naples, Italy, on the Mediter- ranean Sea, 4,230 miles from New York. There is only one stop on the way and that is at Gibraltar, nearly ten days after leaving New York. The departure of an ocean liner is a great event. I had often read of the starting of a vessel for Europe, but having never been an actual passenger or partici- pant in the scene, was never very much impressed. But nothing that I have ever read or can write here will fitly describe the intensity of the occasion. The boat on which we sailed carried, of all classes, about six hundred passengers, with a crew of perhaps half as many more, or say, about one thousand all told, 17 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE and it seemed that nearly everyone had one or more friends at the pier to bid them good-bye, so that the assemblage presented a wonderfully animated lot of peo- ple on the pier and on the boat. There were tears, talk and laughter, and a thousand occurrences and evidences of affection, each of which, if woven into a story, would make a chapter. When the whistle blew as a sign for leaving, all visitors were ordered ashore, and the evidences of joy and sorrow were the more intense. There were two fel- lows, hard looking characters, shoved aboard just as the boat was about to leave. They had neither wraps nor baggage and were probably being sent back because they had not been allowed entry. They were directed to go to the steerage, but they were surly and objected. One of them stepped out on the gangway connected with the vessel to go ashore. He was opposed by the officers guarding the entry, but he was a husky fellow and, after a short struggle, came out victorious, broke through the guards and disappeared through the dense crowd on the pier. There was the usual belated passenger. Just as the stage was being hauled in, a tall man with a kodak in one hand and a big silver-trimmed flask in the other landed on the deck as though shot from a cannon. The stage was being hauled away when, from over the heads of all, came his baggage consisting of a big roll of steamer rugs and a big fat suit-case. The steamer was in motion by this time and the baggage came down as though it had been thrown from the top of a sky- scraper. I never saw so many flowers in my life as were 18 THE FIRST DINNER given the departing travelers. Great boxes of them, from all parts of the country, and baskets of fruit banked up all the passageways and almost filled the rooms. Then there were letters and telegrams until the main office looked like a branch office of the New York postoffice. They were all loving tributes from the dear ones left behind. "Evidences of sentiment," you might say; " only evidences of sentiment," and yet it is these evidences that make the bright spots in life. Yes, they are the sunlight of life and give to life the same grand, natural growth that the sunlight of heaven gives to the flowers and plants of the field. THE FIRST DINNER We were soon out in the ocean when a bugle call for dinner summoned us to the dining room. Though I should live many years, which I hope to do, the view of that great banquet hall will never be effaced. The dining saloon is nearly seventy feet square, and the tables were literally burdened with flowers through which the glass and china shone like crystal. The two hundred and forty-four passengers that sat down all looked as happy as could be, and it was a glorious sight. At the head of the center table sat a big, fat, jolly "Dutch" captain with big whiskers and dressed in blue and gold lace. He appeared as though he might be impersonating King Gambrinus at a Schutzenfest. There were other officers in uniforms and seventy-five waiters with blue jackets and brass buttons. It looked as though we were being served by Emperor "William's whole army in full regalia, while the popping of corks from bottles of Apollinaris and champagne sounded like a battle. 19 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE WIND AND WAVES "The storm, is on the ocean, Don't you hear the winds that roar, Bill, While we are safe on ship, Don't you pity them on shore, Bill?" Alas and alack, that the good things of life are so short of duration, and that golden apples turn to ashes on our lips. It is nearly thirty miles from the ship docks of New York down through the harbor and out onto the open sea, and that is the part of this trip that has been described in the foregoing part of this letter. Just about the time we got half through this great dinner, we passed over the bar and were out on the real ocean. There was a considerable storm at the time and before we had finished that first meal the ship began to wobble and lunge in a manner that was very uncomfortable. Pretty soon away went a vase of flowers and then another, until it looked as though a cyclone had struck a rose-bed. Some people never stopped to see the end of that first meal and it was several days before they got back to another. Next morning the breakfast table was divided off into little pens with little fences to keep things from sliding off the table. Each passenger ate out of his own little pen and these frames were kept on the tables for two days, during which time the storm prevailed. The tables when divided off looked like a minature model of the Chicago stock yards, but the absence of the passengers for the next several meals made it seem as though the live stock business had suffered a de- cline. At the end of two or three days the weather became ideal, although some high winds continued, and 20 A WORLD IN ITSELF one by one the people returned at mealtime to their places at the tables. It is peculiar how the winds and the waves can toss a great ship at their will. The ship we are on is neither one of the largest nor one of the smallest. It is five hundred and twenty-five feet long, about seventy feet beam, measuring crosswise as beams were formerly used in building wooden ships, and has a tonnage of twelve thousand five hundred. The largest ships are seven hundred feet long, about seventy-five feet wide and have a rated tonnage of double what this ship has, while a number of the smaller boats in the Atlantic trade are not over two-thirds as large as this one. Ordinarily, if loaded the same, the larger the boat the smoother it floats, but none of them can defy the power of the deep, and this one seems as responsive to the waves as a cork would be floating in a tub of water. Some of the waves have been twenty-five or thirty feet high, and the variation in the boat from end to end, at times, seems almost that much. When the waves are so high, the spray dashes over the bow, making the steerage passengers scurry to their quarters. A WORLD IN ITSELF Perhaps this letter seems a litttle elementary; but those who have traveled on the ocean must remember that there are many people in the United States who are not in the habit of making sea voyages and this is written more especially for them. This ship, in fact every great ship, is a little world in itself. "We have several communities; the first cabin 21 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE passengers, the second cabin passengers, the steerage passengers, the upper officers, the members of the crew, the sailors, the cooks, etc. "We have a printing office on board. Musical pro- grammes and menu cards are printed daily. A wireless telegraph station gathers the news of the world and a daily paper is issued each evening. Other ships on the ocean are equipped with wireless telegraphic stations and an exchange of greetings is kept up. Ships are passed at close range and we do not seem so far out or off the world as might be imagined. THE DAILY ROUTINE The daily routine is as follows : At seven a little German air, the words of which are "Arise from slumber and greet the morn," or something of that sort, is played upon a horn on each deck of the steamer. Then a bugle call for breakfast sounds at 7 :45. Breakfast is served from 8 o 'clock to 10 a. m. At 11 o'clock bouillon is served on the outer deck. Lunch is from 1 to 3 o'clock. At 4 o'clock tea, cakes, etc., are served on the deck, and dinner, a ten course affair, with finest of viands, is served at 7, lasting until 8 :30 p. m. ; a musical programme being rendered in the meantime. During the forenoon there is a band concert on the outer deck. Salt water bathing and a gymnasium in which there are artificial horses, camels, rolling ma- chines, etc., to rub the back and loosen all the joints, use up a great deal of the time, and one day after another floats by and is gone altogether too quickly. Those who are not so active wrap themselves in steamer rugs, so-called, but in reality striped horse 22 THE AZORES blankets, and lay themselves out in long, double- jointed deck chairs and lazily sleep the hours away. When you can't help it it is surprising how much time you can consume doing nothing. There are a number of distinguished people on board, but they don't seem to be any better off than the rest of us. THE AZORES When we were six days away from the land we came in sight of the Azores, and it would be hard to imagine anything more enchanting. The several islands that are scattered over a distance of something more than two hundred miles are all of the same general na- ture. They rise precipitously from the water, some as high as a mile and a half, with rugged stone bases washed by the waves. They are cultivated in little irregular fields, each of a different shade of green or natural earth, and divided by hedge fences of some kind. While it is dan- gerous for the ship to approach too close, with marine glasses people can be seen in the streets of the cities or villages and ox-teams can be seen dragging the plows in the fields. The little farms seem to hang on the sides of the hills and are so odd and irregularly shaped that they are wonderfully interesting. The villages, of which there are many, are made up of little red houses with red tile roofs, so white and quaint that they seem like fairy or toy houses and among them are palm trees and pine- apple gardens covered with canvas. One of the cities has a population of about 18,000 and has several fac- tories and a railroad in operation. In connection with 23 f SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE several of the smaller villages are huge four-armed wind mills, like those always shown in pictures of Hol- land, which stand on the highest knolls and cut the air in a vigorous manner. I never saw ordinary earth that looked so much like an enchanted habitation as those islands appeared from our boat. We passed them all without making a landing, which was just as well, for perhaps if we had stopped and found that they were like other parts of our dear old world, the spell might have been broken and the charm dispelled. As it is now, we will always have a green spot in our memory for those beautiful islands of the far-away sea. To-morrow at early dawn we will land at Gibraltar, and the boat's engines that have kept up a continuous chug for ten days will take their first rest and we will tread a foreign soil, way across the big, wide sea. GIBRALTAR When I left off on my last letter we were ap- proaching Gibraltar. Since then we have landed at that famous point, have completed the trip through the Mediterranean, usually referred to by writers as the "Blue Mediterranean," and are ready to continue our sight-seeing in Naples, Pompeii and the Island of Capri. Gibraltar has been described so often that any further description of the place seems unnecessary, and yet one cannot pass there without having something to say about it. The most remarkable thing about Gibraltar to the visitor is the fact that it seems to be wrong end to. Most of the pictures of the rock show a high promon- tory tapering away down to the sea, and I presume 24 GIBRALTAR ninety-nine people out of each hundred imagine that it presents the main front in the direction of the strait of Gibraltar, which it commands. But this is a mistake. The front toward the open water is the lower portion of the rock, and the pictures are taken from the land side across a body of water known as Gibraltar Bay. Another thing about the pictures of Gibraltar not generally known is that the famous picture of the rock used by a certain insurance company as an advertise- ment is not like the rock itself, but is a modification or rather an accentuated picture of the same and is copyrighted. There is on board our ship a well known advertising agent of New York who handles a large amount of the insurance advertising and in whose office this picture was originated and the copyright secured. No matter about the picture, the rock comes up to the expectations of any reasonable person and is a won- derfully strategic position, and England exhibited great foresight in getting it away from the Spaniards and has exercised equal wisdom in holding it all these many years. It is the extreme south point of Spain and logically should be a Spanish possession, and did belong to the Spaniards until 1704. Like many other things which Spain has owned, it was undervalued and neglected. In the year mentioned above the fortifications had gone almost to ruin and the place was garrisoned by about one hundred men. Then an English fleet appeared on the scene. It evidently came unexpectedly. There was no telegraph, either wire or wireless, in those days. After a short struggle, and before Spain knew it, Gib- raltar was in possession of the English and has remained 25 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE there ever since. During all that time it has com- manded the traffic of the Mediterranean, and is a greater power in Spain than Spain itself. The Spaniards have made various attempts to recapture it, notably in 1727, 1779 and 1782, but every attempt has proved and will prove a failure. I think there are not enough men, guns or powder in all of Spain to make an impression on Gibraltar. It is lost to Spain and lost forever. A very pretty story is told in connection with the capture of this stronghold by the English. "When the battle was over and the English flag was floating over the ramparts, it was discovered that the Queen of Spain was quartered in the fortress. The English commander offered to allow her to descend and depart. She re- turned word that while the English were in possession she had not surrendered and would not leave the fort alive until the flag of Spain floated over it. The Eng- lish commander, being a gallant gentleman, ordered the English flag to be pulled down and the Spanish flag to be hoisted, and that all pay respect to her majesty as she came down from the stronghold never to return. The rock rises from the sea, removed at least a mile from the high lands bordering the strait. It is nearly surrounded by water and is between eleven and twelve hundred feet high. It is full of secret passages and caverns, hewn out of the solid rock, and is full from top to bottom of guns and ammunition. The sides are perforated with port holes and the mouths of cannon point therefrom in all directions. It is the greatest stronghold in the world and its transfer to the English was an incalculable loss to Spain. Visitors are allowed and welcome to visit certain 26 GIBRALTAR parts of the fort, but there are inner recesses where no one is allowed to go except certain English officers. It is said and it is safe to assume that there are supplies and ammunition enough to maintain a siege for many months. Against the base of the rock rests a picturesque old town of 20,000 population with its streets one above another. The houses have many porches and galleries, and, as they tower one above the other, it looks as though the town had been set up on edge to present the most beautiful picture possible. A drop- curtain for a theater could not be more effective than Gibraltar as seen from the bay, which is the first glimpse the ocean traveler gets. "When you enter the town you find it is more odd and picturesque than it appeared from the steamer. It is a remarkable combination of architecture of all ages and all nationalities, the Spanish and Moorish predominating. There are walls, forts and parapets, bastions, barracks and fortresses. The streets are quaint and irregular, narrow, up and down and full of all kinds of people, who are dressed in clothing of almost every nationality, from the picturesque costume of the Moors to the wonderful creations of the Paris milliners. There are people from all nations and costumes of every description, and among all there are 6,000 of King Edward's troops with their jaunty uniforms. There are military equipages almost everywhere, and the bay is full of gunboats of all classes. There are beautiful parks full of lovely flowers. Ripe straw- berries, beautiful bouquets and a hundred other things are offered almost at your own price. The trees are 27 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE green. Our stay was a happy change from our ten days' continuous ride on the ocean, but it was at least ninety-eight hours too short. ON THE MEDITERRANEAN The Mediterranean sea is a larger body of water than you are liable to imagine, unless you are pretty well up in geography. It is about 2,000 miles from Gibraltar on the west, to Jaffa or Beyroot on the east, or almost as far as from New York city to Denver. It is about 1,000 miles from Gibraltar to Naples, our next stop, and for days at a time we were out of the sight of land. There was a wind directly against us of at least thirty miles an hour and the waves were of con- siderable size. But we breasted them in good shape and entered the sea under favorable circumstances. The weather has been very fair so far on the trip. "We lost about thirty passengers, who disembarked at Gibraltar, but we had an addition, for down in the steerage there were two hundred Italians on their way to their old home. An event occurred which was not regularly billed, but which increased the count to two hundred and one. It was a great event in the Italian settlement, but it is said to be such a common occur- rence on this line that the ship's crew passed it over as an every day event. A DANCE ON DECK The first night on the Mediterranean was cele- brated by a ball on the ship. The after deck was com- fortably roofed over with canvas, decorated with Ger- man and American flags, illuminated with colored elec- tric globes and Chinese lanterns, and the floor was 28 THE CAPTAIN'S DINNER copiously spread with oatmeal, and the music and dancers furnished the rest. It was really romantic to contemplate the idea of dancing on the Blue Mediterranean, beneath colored lights and twinkling stars, to those old tunes that have been played in all places. They bring to mind love's young, happy dreams. And the music — they were the same old tunes that I have heard ground out by some corduroy fiddler at a country dance in the western states and have heard brilliantly executed by great orchestras in great ball rooms in later years and finally mingled by this little German band with the melodious swash of the waters of this wonderful inland sea, which has been the lurking place of pirates, the battle focus of many nations, and the home of romance in all ages. THE CAPTAIN'S DINNER Sunday morning came with its religious worship, and Sunday evening was the last night on board ship. After so long a trip and being just off the coast of Sardinia, the captain's dinner was celebrated. After considering all the wars and all the various occurrences that have transpired on the Mediterranean, I am of the opinion that the captain's dinner on the steamer Moltke on Sunday evening, May 5th, was the greatest of all events so far recorded, and I so write it down. All of the officers appeared in their bright uni- forms. The royal Italian commissioner, in full regalia, sat at the right hand of the captain. All the other gentlemen appeared in full dress suits, and the ladies, bless them, they were too beautiful to describe. Rich gowns draped beautiful forms, diamonds sparkled and 29 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE smiles and bright countenances outrivaled the electric lights and gilded furnishings. The great dining hall was wreathed with garlands of roses and vines. American, German and Italian flags were draped in beautiful combinations and little flags of all nations ornamented the tables. The band seated in the balcony discoursed patri- otic airs of the several nations and responded to a num- ber of encores that were spontaneous. When "Amer- ica" and "The Star Spangled Banner" were played, the whole assemblage rose to their feet and joined in the strains. So they did also when the band played "The Watch on the Rhine," and as a special compliment to the Italian commissioner, as the national anthem of his country was played, the banner of his country was dropped from above. The audience rose to their feet and drank to the commissioner's health, and so the dinner continued with a number of surprises. The dinner was unique and a number of ornamental dishes were served. Wine and champagne were much in order. An amusing part of the meal was when the dessert was reached. Pyramids of snapping favors were attacked. They were little rolls of gold paper with tas- seled ends. A gentleman and a lady would each seize a tassel and pull. When the wrapper gave way, it snapped like a little torpedo, and disclosed an odd cap made of fine tissue paper and a sentimental quotation appropriate to the occasion. The caps were in all colors and in all shapes, and when the guests fitted them on their heads, they looked very chipper. Some repre- sented dairy maids, others German peasants, etc. It 30 THE CAPTAIN'S DINNER was a pleasing innovation and provoked round and round of laughter. The grand climax of the dinner, however, was the illuminated ice cream procession. At a signal all the lights were extinguished and absolute darkness pre- vailed. Then came the seventy-five waiters, each dressed in a different costume, representing all the na- tions and all the peoples of the earth. There were Chinamen, Japanese, Russians, American Indians, Scotch Highlanders, Alpine Climbers, Wooden-shoe Hollanders, German and Dutch peasants, Italian organ grinders and many others. Half of them carried Chi- nese, Japanese and various colored paper lanterns and the other half carried platters in the center of which were little cabins made of ice and illuminated from the in- side with lights that showed through the windows, doors and walls. Clustered about the little cabins, in what would be the yards, were miniature pumpkins, which were in reality oranges from which the fruit had been removed and replaced by ice cream. After the proces- sion had wound through and about the tables to the music of the grand march, the hall was suddenly lighted by the bursting forth of a lot of incandescent lights which were concealed in a wreath which entwined a bronze bust of the old German warrior, Moltke, after whom the ship is named. It was a wonderfully beau- tiful and effective act, and the two hundred and fifty banqueters rose to their feet and cheered and cheered again. It seems that only Germans can carry such occa- sions as these to a truly successful issue, and this time they outdid themselves. It was a fitting celebration 31 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of a long but successful trip. The weather was perfect and everything combined to make the function a success. It left all in a happy mood to greet Naples, the beau- tiful city of Italy, to which we had all looked forward with such bright anticipations. 32 NAPLES. With Glimpse of the Bay and Mt. Vesuvius. — Page 33. Chapter II NAPLES FROM THE WATER Our entry into Naples could hardly have been made under more auspicious circumstances. Having left New York thirteen days previous under gloomy skies and with a beating ocean, we sailed into the Bay of Naples about 4 o'clock in the afternoon under a clear heaven and on the smoothest of waters. Coming from the west, the sun was behind us and cast its brightest rays against the city, and as we dropped anchor it was a fitting end to a successful voyage. As seen from the water, I think that the claim that Naples is the most beautiful city in the world might reasonably be conceded. It is built in the form of a crescent; the inner circle toward the bay. It reaches from Mt. Vesuvius on the east, to the hills of Posilipo on the west. Commencing on the water's edge with picturesque buildings, the city rises in irregular ter- races and clusters high in the sky-line at the back. There is every imaginable style of architecture from brown, rusty fortifications of past ages, to fairylike villas and fanciful hotels of to-day. As the steamer comes to anchor a considerable distance from the shore and as the eye sweeps the circle of sea front, and the great and beautiful struc- tures rising one above the other like Jacob's ladder 33 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE reaching to the sky, you are electrified by the view. It seems as if the whole city has been brought to you and placed conveniently for your inspection, your approval and your acceptance as the grandest effort in many respects ever accomplished in bringing together the crowded habitations of man, the busy marts of trade, the beautiful in nature, the sublime in architecture, and the nearest approach to perfection in civic splendor ever combined in one grand picture. The outer side of a circle repels and defends. The inner side of a circle invites and receives, and so Naples, in this respect, as well as others, is wonderfully fasci- nating; for as you come into the harbor, it encircles you with its wreath of loveliness and you are all anxiety to enter its inviting portals. You can hardly endure to wait the time required for the several for- malities that are required before being allowed to land on a foreign shore. THE ORDEAL OF LANDING The ordeal of landing, however, in Naples is not so poetical an experience as one might imagine, but is withal an experience long to be remembered. I think the arrangements for landing are as bad as the city is beautiful. The ship comes to anchor about a mile from shore. Before it has reached its destination scores of row boats can be seen coming from all directions, and before the ship has ceased motion they are about it like a flock of sea pirates. Their recklessness and audacity are surprising. While the marine police are trying to drive them back they will row swiftly in, striking the ship 's hull, and, throwing a rope with a hook on the end of it into an open port hole of the ship, will catch on 34 ORDEAL OF LANDING and be jerked along through the water at a rapid rate, while the troupe of men and women serenade the pas- sengers with Naples' famous air, "The Sextette from Lucia. ' ' Another boat filled with brown, husky men follows the ship, and while two or three keep their boat in mo- tion, several begin to pull off their clothes, exposing their brown bodies. It looks as though they were going to be entirely naked in a few seconds. But when they have removed their outer clothing it is seen that they wear bathing trunks, and they are soon overboard div- ing for coppers thrown from the ship by passengers who are willing to pay for the exhibition. Other boats are filled with musicians, some with divers and others with flowers and novelties to sell. There is activity and life in the landing at Naples. It commences at this time and does not end until after you get to your hotel, and lock the door, and even then the sounds, like the confusion of the many voices at the time of trouble at Babel, reach you. I think the arrangements for disembarking are the worst that could be tolerated. After the ship comes to anchor, aside from the boats of quarantine, police, etc., three tenders are sent to the ship. One for the first- elats passengers, one for the steerage passengers, and another for the trunks. As all the first-class passengers have their hand baggage, which is ponderous on a for- eign trip, and there are about thirty hotel runners and an Italian band already on board, there is not room enough for all the passengers, so a second or third trip of the tender is necessary. "When you land at a formidable stone dock adjoin- 35 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ing the custom house you have your real Neapolitan experience. On this dock pandemonium reigns su- preme. It is a scramble, open to all comers, with no rules or regulations, and the strongest lungs and the most strenuous limbs win out. The harassment of the new-comer and his tortures are complete. There are thirty or forty hotel runners, each with two or three assistants, who have free consent to go and come any place and solicit unrestrained. There are all kinds of peddlers and venders of miscellaneous ar- ticles, and they are all let loose on the incoming passen- gers. Then, in addition, there are swarms of beggars that are positively the limit of their kind. Armless, legless, sightless, twisted, warped, stunted and mal- formed, old, young and middle-aged, limping, hopping, and crawling, and all crying out in most imploring voices all their sorrows and all their woes. It is truly appall- ing and you feel sick at heart and almost wish you had not come so far to be so unmercifully annoyed by the strong and so relentlessly pursued by the afflicted. ' The arrangement for the discharge of baggage is even worse than that for passengers. After long wait- ing, a barge is brought ashore with trunks piled up in tiers and pyramids. None of them are checked and everybody seems free to help themselves. Every per- son who has a trunk in the collection has one or two porters to help dig it out, and everybody's trunk is under everybody else's trunk. Unsystematic work at a house on fire in our country is order and system as com- pared with the unloading of trunks from a steamer at Naples. "While the barge is bumping up and down with the waves, men, women and porters are all climbing 36 IN NAPLES over trunks looking for other trunks. In the melee one trunk was knocked overboard and I noticed two others with their sides caved in. My trunk, of course, was directly in the center of the boat in the bottom layer. "With the aid of two husky porters, I dug down to it, but in doing so we undermined a young New York lady who was standing on the top of the pyramid and came near toppling her into the sea. I do not know just why I should have started in so soon to write about the beggars unless it was that the beggars started in on me first. There were many others besides peddlers and beggars on the dock. There were several ranks of soldiers and police with bright uniforms and headgear, ornamented with feathers and gold and so fanciful that they might be taken for actors in a grotesque show, but they seem to be more for ornament than use and the tourist is forcibly re- minded that the Italian idea is still in vogue, viz., "That anyone who cannot protect himself is not worth being protected by the law." IN NAPLES I wish I had language to describe Naples as it is, and yet, if I had, it Would make a long story. It is a remarkably beautiful and interesting city. It was es- tablished about three thousand years ago, over a thou- sand years before Christ, and bears the imprint of its varied existence. Some of the buildings seem to date back from the beginning and yet there are many modern buildings and new ones are being erected in every quarter. The streets are splendidly paved with granite blocks, six to 37 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ten inches thick and about sixteen by twenty-four inches square and laid diagonally with the street. The houses are ordinarily five stories high, built of stone, plastered and frescoed or painted on the outside. As the stories each are considerably higher than those we have in America, and the windows are narrow and the streets unusually so, everything seems tall. There are other buildings and old castles that con- form to no rules except the idea of the architect who planned them or the builders who built them without plans. As the city is built on the sides of bluffs, hills or mountains, there are many peculiar and heroic ideas displayed. Next to a five-story business house built on the street level may be a structure of equal or greater dimensions perched on a solid, natural rock higher than the first building. There are old fortresses, towers and castles built of brown stone, covered with the moss of age and with vines and shrubbery growing from many cracks and crevices, and there are such departures from our modern ideas that we become confused and as- tounded with the variety and impressivenes of the scenes round about us. As you are rushed pell-mell down a winding street, with imminent risk of being dashed to death on roofs of houses a hundred feet below you, palaces may tower twice that far above you, approached by a ziz-zag road and supported by a series of arches and galleries that excite your wonder and your admiration. The structures are not all grand, for beside the castle of a patrician on some bold eminence may stand the house of a very poor family and the royal banner 38 IN NAPLES of Italy may float side by side with the dago's family washing. There are beautiful public squares or openings of irregular shapes, grand circles surrounded by colon- nades of huge stone pillars, and in the center are magnifi- cent fountains and statuary. There are little narrow streets going upward by steps, crowded with people. There are shrines built into the walls. There are statues in great profusion. There is the royal palace with a roof garden that is so extensive that it looks like a public park. There are more hotels than one would be able to locate in a week. They seem to be numbered by the hun- dreds. There is one hotel that is reached by several winding streets and an elevator. When you alight at the approach of this hotel you are ushered through a little reception room into a tunnel at least two hundred feet long, paved with tile and graced with palms and potted plants the entire length. Then an elevator is taken that carries you up through the rocks for a considerable distance to the hotel above. The building is very pretty, occupies an eminent posi- tion and overlooks the entire city and the bay beyond. When lighted up at night it presents a very beautiful sight from the lower part of the city. Of the several forts, two particularly attracted my attention. One jutting far out into the sea, and the other on the apex of the highest hill. They are both so old-looking, so overgrown with moss and vines, have so many angles, tunnels, battlements and port-holes that it would seem as if they were built, as an artist would paint pictures, for a scenic effect rather than for use. And yet they were built for war, grim visaged 39 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE war, and have passed through many hard fought con- flicts. While most of the stone buildings are old, many of them are new and up-to-date. There are several that are innovations. One is a large building about the size of the Illinois state house. It has a glass dome with steel frame nearly as large as the horticultural dome on the Illinois fair grounds. From this dome are four glass covered corridors with stores on the floor and offices above. There must be nearly a hundred stores in this one building. These stores are not large, but they carry stocks of jewelry, art works, silk, etc., of great value. There are one or two other buildings of this nature, but not so large. This one is a remarkable structure. But who can describe Naples ? It is a city, as is Italy a country, of contrasts. There is more wealth, more poverty, more religion, more rascality, more music and more disagreeable noises, more sweet perfumes and more bad odors, more activity and more laziness, more military and less order, grander houses and meaner hovels, more politeness and less respect for one's rights, and more musicians, peddlers and beggars than any other place in the world. Withal, it is a wonderfully interesting and fasci- nating country and is more than worth a visit at any time. EXPERIENCES IN NAPLES Much of the pleasure of a stay in this country is marred by the continuous demands made upon you to encourage music, to develop industry, and promote va- grancy. 40 IN NAPLES Orchestras assail you at every turn. As you drive in a public conveyance up Mt. Vesuvius an orchestra marches with you and plays music as you go. Orches- tras and quartettes are on the ferries, in the stations and every place, and they render regular operatic con- certs on the pleasure boats, while the hat or the plates keep on the go for collections. Half of the population of the cities apparently live by singing, peddling or begging. Those that can not sing sell everything imaginable and do not know the meaning of "Get out," "Go away," "Don't want it," "Don't bother me," or anything of that kind, but keep right on pestering the life out of you till you lose all patience unless you are an exceptionally good Chris- tian and have excellent control of your temper. There is one thing they all do understand although they some- times pay no attention to it, and that is "skiddoo." While looking for my baggage I was vexed almost beyond endurance, by a young man who clattered in my ear the advantages of buying postal cards from him. I finally turned to him and told him to ' ' Skiddoo. ' ' He came back at me promptly with ' ' Twenty-three. ' ' That appeared to him to be a complete answer and he stuck to me after that till I got into a carriage and left the station. I afterwards heard "skiddoo" and "twenty- three" all along the line. It is all the English they know, and they are proud of that much. When you ride you usually have small boy beggars running beside your carriage crying for money and they turn "cart wheels" as they go, that is, they put their hands on the ground and throw their feet over their heads, and they will keep this up as fast as the horse 41 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE trots. About half the time their feet are up and the other half their heads are up, and every time they are right side up their hands are extended for pennies and their voices ringing in supplicating tones. At one place while we were eating our lunch a little band of ragged urchins, hardly old enough to talk, sang to us a cute little air, carrying their several parts, the leader beating time with all the sangfroid of a Sousa, and then they waited their reward. In another instance as we were eating on a gallery adjoining the street, as saucy a little bunch of rags as could well be imagined approached us, and be- fore I knew what he was at, had picked up my bread and intimated that he would enjoy eating it better than I would. He got it. As I left the table, an elderly wo- man with a small baby in her arms thrust a bouquet into my hand as I was pointing at a statue and had thus consummated a sale of flowers without my know- lodge. Men chase alongside of your cab at break-neck rate and insist on selling huge bouquets; two or three dozen roses at a franc for all. As we went to the sta- tion at Naples, these enterprising floral salesmen threw their bouquets into the omnibus, until they nearly covered us and we looked like the occupants of an ad- vance wagon of a funeral procession. And so I might continue indefinitely, but this will give you some idea of the thrifty disposition of the citizens of Naples who want to divide your money with you. LIVE !N THE OPEN Naples has a population of a little over half a mil- lion, but there are apparently more people on the streets than there are in Chicago or New York. 42 WONDERFUL CAB SERVICE The people of Naples carry on more of their affairs in the open than those of any other city that I ever visited. They do not seem to use houses even for sleep- ing. That is, some don't. They eat on the street, sleep on the street, work on the street, and play on the street. Shoemakers and other workmen carry on their business on the sidewalks, compelling the foot passengers to en- tirely abandon the sidewalks and take to the street to get around them. Much of the selling of goods is done on the streets. To an American the most peculiar use of the streets is the use that is made of them for the milking of cows and goats. They have no trouble about adulterated milk in Naples as the cows and goats are driven to the doors and milked in the presence of the customers. As there is lots of milk used in a city of over half a million peo- ple, and the people use both cows' and goats' milk, the streets are always full of cows with new calves, and flocks of goats of all sizes. As the goats and cows are driven through the street and all have bells there is a continual tinkling of the bell, morning, noon and night. Some of the goats go up to the living apartments on the third and fourth stories to deliver their milk. The street car service is fair. There is one main line several miles in length, but not more than one block of the line apparently is straight. It seems there are no crosstown cars so this line makes all the places that crosstown cars would otherwise reach, and the line is constructed accordingly. WONDERFUL CAB SERVICE The cab service is wonderful. The vehicles used are small victorias, accommodating two passengers and a 43 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE driver. The rates are very reasonable ; one lira or franc, equal to about nineteen cents, carries two persons any- where, within two or three miles ; while by the hour they go for one and one-half francs, equalling less than thirty cents, American money. There are myriads of these little vehicles and the drivers are alert to a won- derful degree. The driving is furious. The drivers carry long whips which they crack all the time and everybody seems to look out for themselves and let the cab take its course. There seems to be no law against fast driving, and it is truly a wonderful experience to go down a crowded street in one of these little victorias. The front wheels are about twenty- four inches in diameter; the hind wheels about thirty inches. They have no rubber tires or washers to prevent rattling of the wheels, so they make a clatter on the stone streets about like Nero made with his chariots in days of long ago. ' They go on a rapid trot or frequently a gallop in the most crowded streets, swinging and cracking the whips vehemently, and as there are sometimes a dozen on the same block, going equally fast, it seems remarkable that there are not more people run down than there are. "We Americans think we are pretty rapid, but I think the cab men of Naples can give many pointers to our hackmen at home. I cannot understand how the horses can endure the treatment they are given here. The rate they go, the loads they haul, and the service they render is truly remarkable. They never go slower than a trot, and frequently on a full gallop like a fire marshal going to a fire. One day we engaged a cabman on the Island of 44 AN EYE FOR THE PICTURESQUE Capri, to go to the top of the mountain on a winding road. The driver galloped the horse up the hill with three in the rig until we begged him to let up. Another day we drove from Sorrento to Pompeii, over stone roads, for a distance said to be twenty miles. I don't think the horse was out of a trot for five minutes of the entire drive, and then only at our persuasion. It took three hours, and they said they usually made the drive in two and a quarter hours. The day we visited Pom- peii was a feast day, and many carts were fixed up to convey passengers. Many of them carried over twenty persons with two horses, or mules, and frequently one horse conveyed ten to fifteen people. In one instance a small horse was trotting along with a load which I counted. It contained twenty-three people, all but two or three full grown. There are no freight or farm wagons in Naples such as we have in America. Heavy hauling is done on huge carts. They usually have one horse between the shafts, and one or two small horses hitched at the side. The loads they haul are out of all proportion to the weight of the horses that are required to do the work. HAVE AN EYE FOR PICTURESQUE There is lots of military in Naples. Some company of soldiers seems to be always on the march, either cavalry, artillery or infantry. One might imagine that a war was fully on and that a considerable army was in possession of the town. There are soldiers everywhere and they wear gorgeous uniforms and carry swords. Policemen carry swords, and their headgear is orna- mented with feathers. Some have a single straight 45 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE feather that sticks up in a jaunty manner and gives them a chipper appearance. Even the private sol- diers wear large clusters of coq feathers. The people here have an eye for the picturesque. All of the several Victor Emanuels who have been kings of Italy have turned up their mustaches at the ends, and, as a consequence, and in imitation thereof, nearly every Italian wears his mustache that way. Some of them have them twisted up so tight that it raises their feet off the ground as they walk. UP MT. VESUVIUS We went to the top of Mt. Vesuvius the other day and it was an experience that I am not likely to forget for at least several weeks. Before the recent eruption Cook's Cog Railway reached nearly to the top. But the eruption destroyed a considerable portion of the upper end and what there is left of that part is in bad condi- tion. The cross ties burned out and the rails are as crooked as fishing worms. It is now necessary after leaving the cog railway to go a considerable distance on foot or horseback £o within a few hundred yards from the mouth of the crater where it becomes too steep for the horses. That is where the trouble usually commences. In my case, however, it commenced previous to this and continued until the apex of the journey was reached. "When it came the time and place to select horses, I was assigned to as bad a looking creature as there was in the bunch. It was a dark roan with a bald face and a glass eye and I found it as bad as it looked. The one thing that puzzled me was how so small a horse 46 UP MT. VESUVIUS could get up so much actiou iu so short a time with a, man of my size on its back. We started up a winding trail on the mountain side with many ups and no downs. It was like a small crevice between huge chunks of lava and volcanic rocks. Every here and there it was steeper than at other places. As the horse went up these steeper places its back-bone pointed at an angle of about forty-five degrees toward the tip of the mountain, and the rider took the position of an exhibition horseman in a circus when the horse stands on its hind feet. About the first one of these steep places we struck, my saddle slipped back about ten inches farther than it should have been, and before I knew what was the matter, I found the hind end of the horse was up and his heels throwing the pumice stone of Vesuvius about half way to the Bay of Naples. Order being restored, I dismounted and the saddle was moved forward and I started again, but the same ex- perience was repeated at each steep place in the road. Nobody else seems to think so, but I was vain enough to believe that I was a pretty fair rider and I thought I would stick to that horse and follow Prof. Gleason's plan of wearing him out. But a narrow groove on the side of a mountain, two thousand feet above the sea, in the midst of ashes and chunks of rugged stone as big as bales of hay, is not the best place to train a saddle horse. So when the horse was more vigorous every time, I began to think the wearing out idea was a failure. When on the eleventh attempt of that horse to get me off, I found myself with both feet out of the stirrups, my eye-glasses flying in one direction, my field-glasses in another, one arm around the brute's neck and the 47 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE other clutching his mane, the back strap of my pants at least sixteen inches higher than my head, and with per- spiration oozing from every pore, it seemed to me that the horse was doing a better job of wearing out than I was. Then when I heard my wife imploring me to get off and let the horse go, out of deference to her wishes, I dismounted gracefully, and, like King Richard, called for another horse. A mountain guide furnished me with another animal with a better disposition and I proceeded on up the path that seemed to hang like a spider's web around the cone and gradually disappear near the tip of the mountain that has been torn and burned by so many eruptions. Having reached the limit of the horse trail it was necessary to dismount and engage a guide and go the rest of the way on foot. I was intercepted here by the most audacious set of rogues I had yet encountered in Italy. There were about six in all and they insisted on carrying me the rest of the way. When I demurred, tbey implored, "Seenyour, its iz right heera zat ze fatta menz all dye wiz ze heart dyseeze. You shall not. Ve sava your lifa, only 10 francs," and before I knew it they had grabbed me and had me half on their shoulders, determined to carry me whether or no. I executed a half tackle, broke away from them, and, grabbing a big, heavy stick that my guide carried for a cane, offered to brain the whole bunch of them. Then tbey desisted, but the guide wanted one franc extra for the use of the cane. I compromised the situation by offering to accept the services of one of them to go ahead and pull me with a rope looped in one end, to which I held, while he held the other end over his 48 RUINS OF POMPEII. on^llT-^TtT *"' aateS ~ Si ^^ -eath and deso.ation reigned UP MT. VESUVIUS shoulder. Without my consent another fellow hired himself to push me from behind, and so I went up the steep incline like a balky mule with a pull from in front and a push from behind. The hot ashes were over my shoe-tops and were crowding my feet for possession of my shoes. My breath was short and my heart went like a trip-hammer, but for speed I think I almost made a record-breaking trip on that part of the journey. We shortly arrived at the edge of the crater and the vast abyss yawned beneath our feet. Away on the yonder rim were specks that looked like ants moving about. They were visitors who had gone up from the Pompeiian side. I do not know how large the hole is, but it is a terrible rent. The volcano is dormant now. A small streak of smoke could be seen issuing from way down in the bowels of the earth. Aside from this there is no evidence of life or animation, and the great hole is to a considerable degree disappointing. I do not know whether the trip is worth the effort. It is a long pull and a hard pull at the best and I made it under trying circumstances. Yet thousands will make the effort and will climb to the top of this famous mountain to gaze down into the crater that vomited forth its fires on Pompeii and Herculaneum two thousand years ago and has been a threatening demon of death ever since. 49 Chapter III THE ISLAND OF CAPRI In childhood we live in the fancy of anticipation and we long for the time to come when we will go out into the world and visit the enchanted lands we have pictured as" being in existence. In old age we live in the past and the commonplace things that we knew in youth take on clothing of mag- nificence until it seems as we look back that we lived and grew up in a fairy land. In middle age we are so engrossed in the struggle for wealth, for fame, or in the regulation of affairs that we forget the anticipated fancies of childhood and, not having reached the sweet old age of mellowed recollec- tions, we are apt to think there are no fairy lands to visit, that there are no places where the sun always shines, except when the stars are coquetting with the roses. But we are mistaken in this. There are spots on this real earth where the real things are as fanciful, as romantic and as lovely as the dreams of childhood or the golden recollections of old age; where mountain peaks are lightened by the sun's bright rays, and where crags crowd each other with majestic shapes, where vines intermingle with verdant trees and where hills and mountain sides are clothed with roses and gar- 50 ISLAND OP CAPRI landed with flowers of many hues. There are such places, and the Island of Capri in the Bay of Naples is one of them. It is a reality of "The magical isle up the river of time, Where the softest of airs are playing, Where there always is a musical chime And the Junes with the roses are straying." Capri is an irregular shaped island. Its area is about five and a half square miles. It may be as much as three miles the long way and if there is a foot of flat surface on the entire island, it must be where someone has leveled it. Capri presents a solid wall to the sea, 900 feet high, and then extends on above that to the top of the mountain, over one thousand feet more. It was the favorite home of Augustus and Tiberius, the ancient rulers of Rome, and the ruins of the baths of Tiberius still exist. It is remarkably verdant and pro- duces 800 varieties of vegetation, and yields fruit, oil and large quantities of wines that are exceedingly good. We made a short journey to this famous island during our stay in Naples, and it was very enjoyable. Before the boat comes to the main landing, it stops at the Blue Grotto, allowing time to go into the famous aperture. This is a cave at the base of the mountain, apparently about half above and half below the water line. The cave is about one hundred feet wide, one hundred and twenty-five feet long, thirty-nine feet from the arch to the water and about fifty feet below the water line. The opening is only three feet high and not much wider, and row boats can only enter it when the water is smooth. We had a most excellent day as the sea was calm and a bright sun was shining. I think, as 51 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE a natural wonder, the grotto may be overestimated, and yet it is quite a wonder and remarkably beautiful. The sun shining into this small opening and the water having a sparkling blue tinge, reflected in the dome above, which is of white stone, imparts the same hue to that and the whole interior of the grotto becomes a beautiful blue color, while the oars of the boat, the boat's keel or a bare hand thrust into the water, seem almost as white as marble. Young men who, for a remuneration, dive and swim in the water in the grotto, wear light colored trunks and look like marble statues in bathing. After visiting the grotto, we took a ride on the Island and reached a very high altitude by a road that must have been a remarkable piece of engineering in road construction. We who live in the level states of the middle west do not know what it is to build roads under difficult conditions. As you stand at the base of the mountain of Capri, you see a well built road, mac- adamized full width and with solid stone walls. It winds its way up backward and forward, one coil above the other as far as you can trace it. Nearly a thousand feet above you it passes over a succession of arches and is lost to view. Away above again you see a white mark across the side of a perpendicular stone wall. It seems to hang upon the wall like a white ribbon stretched along its side. It is the same white stone wall that is pro- tecting the traveler on the same road that commences at your feet. You engage a driver with a tough, chunky little horse with a harness ornamented with gilded trap- pings and with a pheasant's tail feather nearly two feet long sticking straight up between its ears, and are off for a trip up this mountain road. The driver jumps onto his 52 IDEAL, POETIC HOME box and starts off up the hill on a gallop, and in spite of your protests he goes up the road at a rate that would be called fast in our country on level ground. It is a wonderful ride as you go up and look down into the sea hundreds of feet below and see the boulders in the bot- tom under thirty feet of water and see how small the row-boats look, and then look above where the rocks never seem to end. In the most daring and apparently most dangerous place, a figure of the Virgin stands in a little cleft in the rock and a candle burns in front of it. It is a timely warning, and it is proper to lift your hat as you pass this point. You meet many rigs on the way and some carts well loaded with wine and other stuff for the fine hotels clear at the top, and horses pull themselves almost to death to haul stuff up here that men ride up to eat and drink. But while this road is narrow it is safe, for it is always protected on the outer side by that solid wall of stone, laid up with cement. AN IDEAL AND POETIC HOME We enjoyed an unexpected pleasure by finding as residents of this Island two gifted ladies with whom I had some acquaintance in one of the central middle states of America several years ago. They own and live in one of the most extensive and beautiful villas, of which there are a number on the Island, and certainly have an ideal and poetic home. They have traveled extensively and finally settled on Capri because it seemed to them the most delightful spot they had ever visited. Notwithstanding that they were in the midst of a bridge whist party, which shows that the Island of Capri is not behind the times, they received us cordially and kindly invited us during our visit to go through 53 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE their house. We were especially glad to avail ourselves of this opportunity, as tourists and travelers, such as we, have very little chance of seeing the interior of fine houses in foreign countries and can hardly judge of how the better class live. I cannot describe the house very well. It is so much different from our houses it would take a long chapter. It was the most beautiful and ideal residence we had ever seen. It is perched fancifully on an abrupt hillside, giving a magnificent view of the bay. It is built, I think, of stone and plastered on the outside. It is white as marble. The foundation on the bay side rests on arches and above them is a succession of porches or galleries on the two exposed sides with arches one above the other for some three stories and all sur- mounted by a tower. All the floors are of white tile as smooth as polished glass. The stairways are of marble and all the furnishings are either white or most deli- cately tinted and finished. Statues and works of art are so tastefully arranged that they are pleasing beyond description. There is a stairway, also of marble, to the roof, which is flat and overlooks the bay. The roof is also covered with tile and has a substantial balustrade and is supplied with seats and can be used for parties and receptions. The kitchen, which is presided over by a polite Italian, is a marvel of completeness and shines with polished copper utensils and nickel-plated ranges, while the dining room is in keeping with all the other parts of ihe villa. There is no coal smoke in Capri, as charcoal is used, and dust, if there is any, certainly never finds a lodging place in this villa. When you call you ring a bell at the iron gate by the road, connecting 54 SORRENTO with stone walls, covered with vines. A charming Ital- ian maid conducts you through a garden blooming with all kinds of flowers and you are ushered into a reception room that is a happy preface to the lovely palace. Our visit to this remarkable home was one of the events of our short stay in Capri that we will remember with pleasure. Another surprise was to find that these ladies had relatives living in our home town. SORRENTO We took a steamer from Capri to Sorrento. It is a city of some importance on the east coast of the Bay of Naples and is famous as the birthplace of the poet, Tasso. It is also a place of resort and is the market for certain patterns of silk and inlaid woodwork. There is no railroad to Sorrento except a trolley line, so most travelers usually go there on steamers. As the steam- ers must come to anchor a considerable distance from shore, row-boats are used in place of omnibuses. There are over a dozen hotels here and an odd scene is the fleet of hotel boats coming out to meet the steamer, each carrying, instead of a banner, a wooden sign on a mast, naming its particular hotel. The boats are manned by several hotel employes in uniform and present an ar- mada almost equal to that one sent out by Spain in the ancient times. As there is only one ladder to the steamer there is some sharp sparring for position of the boats and a considerable amount of inflammable Ital- ian language is indulged in. Sorrento is located upon an abrupt sea wall and all the hotels have elevators down through the solid stone to the boats' landing, and you are lifted up through the rock to go to the hotel where you arrive as 55 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE though you were emerging from a coal mine. But what magnificent hotels when you get to the surface. They are of the very best. We drove from Sorrento overland in an open car- riage, a distance of about twenty miles to Pompeii, pass- ing through several towns on the way. The road was similar to that on Capri, frequently hanging on the mountain sides, at other times deep in a cut with, stone walls on either side as much as fifteen feet in height; some places it was paved with solid flag-stones and all the rest of the way macadamized and in excellent condi- tion. For a considerable distance the wagon road ran side by side with a well-built interurban road. For the en- tire length of the track, the trolley wires were supported by iron or steel posts of the "I" beam pattern. This seemed peculiar to me as there is no iron or steel mined in Italy and such material is very expensive. On this line the rails were of good weight, and the cars of a late pattern and in good form. I should pronounce it a well-built and well-equipped road. THE RUINS OF POMPEII We arrived at the walls of Pompeii about noon, and, taking our seats in the shade of a little restaurant, enjoyed a pleasant noon-day lunch under a bamboo tree. We watched the people as they came away from some religious feast at the modern Cathedral just outside the ancient city. They came in all kinds of wheeled conveyances. They were dressed in fancy costumes, garlanded with bright colored flowers, and they blew tin horns, rattled castanets and beat upon tambourines as they passed. They were all joyous, happy, noisy and full of life and animation. 56 RUINS OF POMPEII But what a contrast! We stepped through the old gates of Pompeii, and just on the other side of the wall from the merry scenes described, silence, death and desolation reigned undisturbed. The old city that was buried by Vesuvius nearly two thousand years ago, and lost to all mankind until about one hundred years since, stood in melancholy relief. A few straggling sight- seers and official patrolmen were all the life now in evidence and these were almost lost to view in the nar- row streets. This old city of the dead lay in the bright sunlight connecting the present and the past in a pecul- iar and melancholy manner. So much has been written and said of Pompeii that it seems useless to write more, and yet it seems proper to give one's own observations after a visit here. The ruins which have been excavated have de- veloped many wonders. The streets are narrow but regular in their intersections and paved with solid blocks of stone which are considerably worn by the wheels of chariots that passed over them when the city was inhabited. The sidewalks are narrow but well-built and stepping stones narrow enough to go between the chariot wheels allow for crossing the streets without the necessity of descending to the level of the road- way. A stream from the mountains carried through a round brick tunnel supplied the city with water. A covered sewer traversed the main street and house drains were connected to it by lead pipes which show wiped joints just as plumbers make them to-day. Pompeii was not a large city, but it was evidently a city of great wealth and considerable activity. Some 57 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of the finest statuary in the world has been recovered from the ruins of Pompeii and most exquisite frescoes in bright colors are still visible on the walls. There are fanciful pictures executed in the highest style of art, that have been copied by famous artists even in these later days. There are still magnificent mosaics that look as though they had been completed but yesterday and no one could imagine that they had been under ashes nearly two thousand years. In the great museum at Naples are many utensils and fixtures recovered from this old town. There are scales with their miniature weights to weigh gold. There are larger scales, all kinds of ornaments and trinkets and old, strong iron safes. It is truly remarkable how these things have been so well preserved. In the city there are old stone well curbs, showing the grooves worn by ropes in hauling water from them. There is the house of Syracuse, the banker, with his name plate on the pillars. There are the terra cotta casks of the wine merchant, the stone mills of the baker who ground his own flour, and the ovens in which his bread was baked. There are the theatres of the pleasure-goers, the prison of the malefactors, and the tombs of the dead. The city stands and imparts a silent and majestic awe. Where thousands lived in the long ago nobody lives now, and the few sentries must have a silent and lonely time. As you pass among the old ruins an occasional lizard runs briskly before you and scuds away into a crevice in the stone wall and this adds additional weirdness to an al- ready melancholy picture. The whole vast ruin by its evidences of similarity to modern ideas, its fine specimens of art, its solid 58 RECENT DESTRUCTION streets and its graceful columns, connects the present age with the first century of the Christian era. And as we look over the whole, we wonder if all the great boasts we make of the wonderful progress in the world's af- fairs and in civilization is not. only boasting after all. Were not the people of Pompeii as far advanced, or nearly so, and as wise as we are to-day? And is it not as true to-day as it was when Solomon wrote even be- fore the foundation walls of Pompeii were laid — "There is nothing new under the sun"? RECENT DESTRUCTION We drove out and took a look at the village near the town of Torre del Annunziata, which was destroyed by Vesuvius last year just as Pompeii had been de- stroyed so many years before, and just as St. Pierre in the Island of Martinique was destroyed a few years ago. Before the eruption it was only a small village and most of the houses were of not much importance. The lava swept over some of the buildings, covering some and demolishing others. One two-story building which withstood the flow, and which we went into, had been restored and people were living in it. The lava had swept all around it and had filled it to the ceiling of the first story, but the owner had cleaned it out and had started a wine shop, and as the government had un- earthed the road directly in front of it, giving him a good location, he seemed to be doing a thriving busi- ness. But he was the sole occupant of a sea of deso- lation and certainly was entitled to all the profit that accrued to him. The lava is a porous substance and its general ap- pearance is the same as a field of cinders mixed with 59 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE clinkers from an ordinary coal furnace. The whole field of lava is still very hot and a few inches below the sur- face is hot enough to blister the skin. Eesidents of the neighborhood who lost their homes are now saving on their bill for fuel, for they dig down a little way and find the lava so hot that they can boil eggs or fry beef- steak by the heat that is going to waste. It is peculiar how people take chances on the ele- ments and run the risk of calamities that are practically sure to come. Every year we have a wail from the people whose homes are inundated and destroyed along the lowlands of the Ohio, Mississippi and other Ameri- can rivers. San Francisco is now being rebuilt over a volcanic mine that is liable to explode again at any time. Galveston is again ready for another sea wave. So these people take it for granted that there will be no more trouble from Vesuvius. At the present time the mountain is cultivated nearly to the top. There are two substances sent forth by the eruptions, lava and ashes. The ashes after a time seem to be very fertile, and little homes hang on the mountain side and hun- dreds of little vineyards and truck gardens occupy every available foot of space, notwithstanding that it is intermingled with great boulders of pumice stone and lava. Immense retaining walls are being built along the side of the mountain to restrain the lava from coming down onto the people below. This seemed to me a futile attempt of man to intercept the wrath of God. When Vesuvius has another convulsion these great walls will be swept away like straw before a tempest. As another city is now built over the ruins of Herculaneum so other cities will be built over these villages and cities 60 VIRGIL'S TOMB after Vesuvius has wreaked its vengeance on them. And so it will proceed year after year, generation after gen- eration, and age after age yet to come. VIRGIL'S TOMB We had now, in a hurried way, seen almost every- thing in this vicinity which seemed to attract special attention. There was much of interest of jwhich we have not found time to write. At the last moment we remembered that we had not visited the tomb of Virgil, who is buried on a high bluff in the western part of Naples. We found, when we came to the location, that the tomb of this eminent poet is now the individual property of a family that operates one of the traveling dairies. The young man said that he would have to show us around, as his father was in the city with the cows. This family appears to have a corner on the poet's grave, and do not let anybody shed tears over it unless they receive a franc as a consideration for each shedder who" sheds. We crawled up a long pair of stairs, steep and dan- gerous and much worn. When we reached a high alti- tude we struck another pair of stairs. These went down nearly parallel with the ones up which we had come. The grave is within a vault made to receive the bodies of all of Virgil 's family. The stone designating Virgil 's resting place is a simple slab about three feet high, set in the floor of the vault, with a few lines in Latin, stat- ing name, age and death. It is a sort of out of the way place and apparently is not visited by many travelers. Virgil should have a public tomb and a monument of his own instead of a small stone and a private grave owned by an impecunious dairyman. 61 Chapter IV ROME "Who is there who could set foot in the Eternal City without more or less emotion? A city into whose his- tory are woven more events, both good and bad, than can be associated with any other municipality or center of civilization on the face of the globe. And yet, in the hurly burly of emerging from a crowded train through a modern railway station, with carriers grabbing for your baggage and half a hundred hotel men crying for your patronage, with noise everywhere and a confu- sion of many tongues equal to the confusion of Babel, it is not an opportune time to call into action emotions of a very reverential or spiritual nature. So I am con- strained to say that our arrival in Rome was like any other commonplace arrival in any large city. There- fore we simply went to the hotel, secured a room, en- tered our names on the register, ordered a warm bath, went to bed and postponed the emotional circumstances until a more convenient season. And so we spent our first night in Rome. And now comes the tug of war to write a letter from and about Rome. I must confess that I do not know where, when or how to begin. Its history is so long, so eventful and so intimately connected with the 62 ROME affairs of the world, that it cannot be ignored. Its ruins and relics are so numerous and so immense that they should have a liberal treatment. Its churches are so grand, and so numerous, that a mere mention of each would fill a volume, and the city itself in its mod- ern aspect is so enterprising that it must claim atten- tion, and, last of all, I feel that we had only begun to know Rome by the time we were compelled to leave. Yet I have so much to choose from that I do not know what to leave and what to take that will give any ade- quate idea of Rome and still keep this series of letters within reasonable bounds. Tradition says that Rome was founded about 2,700 years ago. Whether it was laid out as a boom town to sell city lots or whether it just grew, I have not been able to determine. There is a story that it was started by two young men who had a wolf for a mother, and that one was named "Rum" and the other "Rum Ome- let." I could not authenticate this story and seriously doubt its truth. Passing that over and coming down to what seems to be more probable, it is said that Rome was founded at least 750 years before Christ, and some historians claim that it was long before that. It had its varying fortunes until, as the Roman Empire with its Csesars, it reached its zenith. This was about the time of the beginning of the Christian era, when its popula- tion is estimated to have been over one million people. Augustus, who reigned from thirty-one years before, and until fourteen years after the commencement of the Christian era, it is said, found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. At the end of his reign Rome was the grandest and most magnificent city 63 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the world has ever known. Nero's fire, which occurred in the year 64 A. D., destroyed almost the entire city, and it never recovered from that blow. The city was rebuilt under the rule of Nero and his successors, but never reached its former glory. Then came the as- saults of the Goths and the Vandals about four hun- dred years after the commencement of the Christian era, and the downfall of Rome and the Roman Empire was complete. Since then the city of Rome has never arisen to anything approaching its former glory. The story of the wars, vandalism, disaster, devil- ment and destruction, that finally reduced the city to a population in 1350 of less than 20,000 people, would be a long and painful one if followed up, so we will treat of other matters, perhaps more cheerful. THE NEW ERA Rome started on a new era after this time. Art, learning and civic improvement were encouraged by the various popes who followed, and Rome began to grow. In the year 1870 it had a population of 221,000. At the time the troubles between the church and the gov- ernment were settled, Rome was made the capital of the government as well as the head of the church, the one "exerting the temporal power, the other the spiritual power, and both have worked together and given Rome a boost that rivals the spirit of enterprise which we think in America belongs exclusively to us. Since that time, or in a little over thirty years, Rome has more than doubled in population and now has nearly half a million people. It has lots of nice new buildings, good streets, an excellent street car system, good water works and more superb hotels than almost any city of its size 64 ST. PETER'S in the world. If you come to Rome with an idea that it is an old fogy town, given over entirely to religion, you will soon have that idea dispelled. You will find that you are in a city where both religion and commerce are carried along on a wholesale basis. The churches, which beat the world, are mostly in the old part of the city, while the new part, where the railway station is situ- ated, is modern in every respect, and the solid stone paved streets are in a roar with the wheels of traffic similar to that of lower Broadway in New, York, or the wholesale district of Chicago. The first thing that confronts you as you emerge from the station, which is a well constructed stone edifice six hundred feet long, with a steel and glass arch roof, is two lines of omni- buses backed up, each line a block in length. Beyond these are street cars going in every direction, and you know at once that you are in a live town. The national palace is on a considerable hill and a tunnel has recently been constructed through this hill under the palace to open a new street. The tunnel is nearly a quarter of a mile long, at least sixty feet in width, has a double street car track, is lined from end to end with white tile and handsomely illuminated day and night. And this is the way they are doing things in Rome now. ST. PETER'S The first morning in Rome, of course, we went to St. Peter's, as almost every other visitor does. At first sight, the exterior of St. Peter's is some- what disappointing. It was a serious blunder in the construction of this grand edifice when the builders de- parted from the plan of that noble old architect, the 65 —5 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE grand master of all old masters, Michael Angelo, and added to his work an additional plan of a latQr architect. This resulted in placing before the grand creation Mi- chael Angelo inspired, a solid block house that largely obscures the dignity and majesty of what otherwise would have been far in excess of any other structure in the world. Owing to a block or two of old style houses, filled with stores, restaurants and wine rooms, which should be removed, St. Peter's cannot be seen until you are very near the entrance to the piazza. The piazza is the opening in front of St. Peter's, with its two colonnades, its obelisk and fountains. Even then, the majestic dome, 426 feet to the top, seems much less than it really is. The effect on St. Peter's exterior of departing from Michael Angelo 's plan is said, by all authorities, to have been disastrous. The effect of the additions made by the later architects is about the same as would result if some one would take a square building without a dome, and attach it to the front of 1 the Illinois state house, and thus hide the beauty and grace which it now possesses. I think almost everybody is more or less disappointed at first sight of St. Peter's. When one has reached the entrance to the piazza, he does not realize that it is nearly a quarter of a mile to the church door, and the structure with its square front, therefore, seems smaller than he expected. Besides this it is built of limestone that has withstood the elements for several hundred years, and it looks somewhat dingy and weather-beaten. But as one approaches the church, the immensity, the magnificence and majesty of the edi- fice grow upon him until any person with a fair ap- preciation of a great building must stand amazed at the 66 ST. PETER'S mountain of stone before him, and the grandeur and beauty presented. Everybody has seen the pictures of the piazza, the opening in front of St. Peter's, and I assume that they have wished they could see it. It is a magnificent ap- proach to a great building. The opening is 780 feet across. The colonnades are formed of 284 round columns and eighty- four piers of square columns, each column some six feet in diameter and high in propor- tion. The columns are in four rows and look close to- gether, and yet between the two center rows there is room to drive two carriages or automobiles abreast, and the other spaces are nearly as wide. Passing through this colonnade you enter under a huge portico into the church. If you ever thought St. Peter 's was small or that it lacked dignity or anything else, you wonder what gave you that impression. You are transfixed with wonder, over-awed with the splendor, and your mind dazed with the immensity and grandeur before you, around you, over your head and even under your feet. The nave, that is, the space between the two center rows of columns that looks like a great hallway as you look to the farther end of the church, is as wide as a street and stretches away some 600 feet, and the vaulted, or- namented and gilded ceiling is so high that you stand with open-eyed wonder as you endeavor to grasp the proportions with which you are surrounded. We think the new bank building in our town, eight stories high, is pretty well up in the air, and yet you could stand this same building in the main corridor of St. Peter's, have plenty of room to drive on either side of it and it would not reach more than two-thirds of the 67 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE way to the ceiling. Every inch of the interior is covered either with magnificent sculpture, gilding or carving. There are scores of monuments or figures in marble, any one of which would represent a fortune in dollars if a financial value could be put upon it. In great panels are what appear to be sublime paintings, ten, twenty or thirty feet high. On examination you find that they are mosaic work, and that each picture is composed of thousands and thousands of small pieces of stone of all colors, gathered from all parts of the world, each cut to fit its place and matched and put together with such delicacy of shade and tint, that it is only by the closest scrutiny that the pictures can be distin- guished from oil paintings, of which they are exact re- productions in all the colors of the original work. In every niche there are tombs of saints and popes with monuments of skill in sculpture, marble and bronze, that are beyond the belief of one to realize pos- sible. There are columns from Solomon's Temple, por- phyry from Egypt, art contributions from the forum of Eome, from the houses of the Cassars, and from all the countries of the ancient and modern world. Grand altars and Virgins with solid gold settings to diamonds and other most precious stones. But who can enumer- ate what there is to be found in St. Peter's? A cata- logue with one line devoted to each object would be a large volume, so I will not try to enumerate all here. The most extravagant description would fall far short of the glorious realities that are in profusion every- where. 68 THE VATICAN THE VATICAN Next to St. Peter's, and adjoining the same, is the Vatican palace, the home of the Pope. It is said to be the largest palace in the world. It is a large, rambling structure, built and added to at many different times. The exterior is not impressive and, unless one knew, he would not imagine from looking at it from the outside, what stores of inestimable value it contains. Beneath its roof is, I believe, conceded to be the grandest and most valuable art gallery and most extensive collection of sculpture now on the face of the globe. The govern- ment of Italy recently paid $90,000 for one statue, and in the Vatican there are hundreds, any one of which is worth, if there was any way of measuring their value, a hundred times more than this one that has cost Italy so much. There are paintings and statues by Michael Angelo, the great, architect of St. Peter's, who must have been the most capable man of his or any other time. There is a general opinion that no man can do more than one kind of work well. Michael Angelo refutes that idea. He was one of the greatest painters the world has ever known. His sculpture is acknowledged to be among the very best, and he was the architect of the dome and much of the other parts of St. Peter's church. In addi- tion to this, he was a scholar, a statesman and a teacher, and he has left more evidences of his greatness in sev- eral of these lines than any other man who has ever lived and who may have devoted all his attention to one line of art. But I am digressing. In the art galleries there are pictures by Eaphael and every other great artist 69 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE that could be named. There are figures in marble and bronze by the greatest workers in stone and metal that have ever lived upon the earth. All the schools of art, from the beginning of civilization down to the present time, are represented. There are jewels and presents that have been made to popes and kings for centuries. There are mosaic floors, a single panel of which would be worth a fortune. There is the Sistine chapel with ceiling so high and with such wonderful frescoes that visitors spend hours holding mirrors before them hori- zontally and looking down into them to study the ceil- ing above. And so I might go on, column after column, and page after page, and still the half would not be told. There are some odd and curious things about the works of the old masters. Eaphael, when painting a church scene or any picture in which several figures ap- peared, always put his own head and face on one of the persons in the picture. In one he would appear as a prophet; in another as a shepherd; in another as a gen- tleman, etc. ; but he was always there. Some other great artists followed this habit. Several of the artists placed in the portraits of their pictures the faces of their teachers, and one of Raphael's pupils used his teacher's pictures. So Raphael appears in a greater number of grand pictures than perhaps any other man. One of the artists nearly always put Dante's face in his pictures. He was a friend of Dante and considered his profile very beautiful. There are a number of statues that, through the work of the Vandals that sacked Rome from time to time, were broken and have been restored. In one instance I noticed a statue that, when 70 THE VATICAN found, had lost one leg. Michael Angelo restored the statue, adding the missing leg. The original leg was afterwards found and was in an entirely different po- sition from the one added by the eminent sculptor. As the first was in position and doing all the work required by a motionless statue, the old leg was placed along- side to show how great men's ideas differed even in the shaping of a leg. In St. Peter's, near the main altar, there are two figures, one of Dante and the other of Beatrice, Dante's loved one. "When the piece was first placed there the figure of Beatrice was nude. This was offensive to some persons ; so a flowing robe of marble was added and the work was done so well and so gracefully, that no one would notice the addition unless attention was called to it. There are both pictures and sculpture that repre- sent odd ideas that culminated in the brains of these old masters. There are some depicting horrible ideas, and others that represent pleasing conceptions. Some that make your blood creep as you look at them ; others that fill you with emotions of a nobler sort and others that force a smile despite you. After all, a visit to these galleries, where the most sublime art is so copiously presented, cannot but im- press you with a feeling of reverential awe. As you stand before these rich paintings, portraying the scenes surrounding the birth of Christ, His death and resur- rection, painted centuries ago, the colors nearly as bright as though painted to-day, you are glad that such artists lived and did this work and did it so well. Or, as you stand before some colossal statue in pure white marble, whose fixed eyes have apparently gazed into the far be- 71 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE yond without a faltering glance for two thousand years, you may feel inferior to even a piece of inanimate stone when you consider that it may be standing here two thousand years hence, the same as now, admired by multitudes, while you have passed away and may be as completely eliminated and forgotten as though you had never lived a single day. 72 Chapter V SAN GIOVANNI Next in importance to the church of St. Peter in Rome is the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, which dates back to the time of Constantine the Great. The emperor presented the pope with a palace that had be- longed to a wealthy family of the Lateranus. Constan- tine, it might be mentioned, was the emperor who turned his back on Rome and moved his capital east- ward to the city of Byzantium which he, with becoming modesty, changed to Constantinople. In later years, after many hard fought battles, Constantinople fell in- to the hands of the Moslems, and Rome again became the head of the Christian government. But to return to the church, which was established through the generosity of Constantine. It has had a long and eventful career. It was several times burned, several times rebuilt, overhauled and improved until now it is a great structure. Even in recent years it has had its exciting events. In 1870, when the difficulties arose between the government and the church, Garibaldi opened his guns on this church, and its walls to-day show the indentures made by the cannon bails at that time. The church is now being redecorated and re- stored through the generosity of a wealthy resident of Philadelphia, who, it is said, has placed half a million 73 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE dollars at the disposal of the church for this purpose. When the work is finished it will be a magnificent struc- ture. In our city a church that represented a half mil- lion dollars in its entire construction would be consid- ered a pretty extensive affair, while here it is proposed to expend that amount to overhaul and brighten up one that already appears about all right. "When the work is done, the remains of Pope Leo will rest here, in ac- cordance with a wish expressed before his death. This church has a baptistry in which Constantine the Great was baptized in the year 308, the roof of which is supported by eight immense columns of por- phyry of great value. San Giovanni is the Pope's church, as Bishop of Rome. At St. Peter's he is sov- ereign pontiff of the world. So this church ranks very high in the estimation of all Catholics. It has an altar at which only the pope officiates. It is beneath a canopy, supported by antique gilded bronze columns. Above this altar is a receptacle said to contain the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul. There is also in this church a wooden table said to be from the catacombs and used there by St. Peter as an altar. There are other sacred relics and some very fine mosaic pictures. No one who has not seen a great mosaic picture can fully appreciate the intricate work, the complete detail, the delicate lights and shades and striking colors that can be produced in stone and the effectiveness of such a picture. There is not a color nor shade that can be laid upon canvas by the brush of a painter that cannot be duplicated by the artist who fully understands mosaic work. Go to some fine church and see the beautiful pictures that can be brought out in a stained glass 74 MAKING OF MOSAIC window. Then consider what can be done in stone when taking such colors as those that appear in the window, but using hundreds and even thousands of minute pieces of stone where the window artist uses but one piece of glass. After this perhaps you can form some idea of the beauty and value of a mosaic picture. Such pictures as these can be found in every great cathedral in Italy ; many of them are as large as the side of a good sized dwelling house. I think some single pictures we have seen contain as many as a million separate pieces of stone. THE MAKING OF MOSAIC We went to a mosaic factory in Florence and saw the procees of making these pictures. Although there is some difference between Florentine mosaics and Ro- man mosaics, this factory gave us some idea of the pa- tience required to accomplish the work of a complete picture. The stones, which are at first cut into thin sheets, are cut by hand into small pieces of proper shape with a thin wire which is used as a saw, with water and ground emery. "While we were there several men were reproducing an oil painting about 24x30 inches. The manager said it was being done on an order from Tiffany of New York, and they expect to complete it in about two years. They had been then working at it for some time and already had one flower and part of a human figure ready to put in place. It reminded me of the story of the farmer and the patient and indus- trious tramp. When the tramp applied for something to eat, the farmer said he would supply his wants if he would work for him. So he gave the tramp a maul and pointed out the biggest tree on the place and told the 75 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE trainp to cut it down with the maul. The tramp went at it and the sound of the stroke of that maul went on all that afternoon until sundown. When the farmer called the tramp in to supper, he asked him how he was getting along. In a wonderfully cheerful and optimis- tic tone, the tramp said he was doing first rate, and that he already had the bark loosened almost half way round on one side. This is about the progress a good workman or a high-priced artist makes in constructing a mosaic picture. Mosaics are used to- reproduce or replace paintings in the churches. For time, when . meas- ured by years and hundreds of years, is bound to dim and disfigure frescoes and oil paintings, while a thou- sand years, when applied to a mosaic picture, is but as a single day. THE SACRED STEPS Across the street from San Giovanni is a building containing the "Scalla Santa," 'meaning the sacred steps. The edifice is of peculiar construction. There are jthree pairs of broad stairs, side by side, all ap- parently exactly alike, divided by walls and with an altar at the top of the center flight. The center ones are said to be from the house of Pontius Pilate in Jeru- salem, and were those used by Christ when he was sum- moned before Pilate. They were brought to Rome in the year 326. Everyone who worships at this altar must ascend to it on their knees by the central stairway, saying a prayer at each step as they proceed. No hu- man foot profanes these stairs. It would not be allowed, and no one would care to commit so serious an offense against the religious opinion of those who ascend on 76 THE PANTHEON their knees with contrite hearts. The stairways at "the sides are used for descending from the altar. There are a large number of other churches in Rome, each of which could be the subject of a long and, to some persons, interesting chapter, but it is not my pur- pose to dwell too long on any one subject, so I will but briefly mention a few of the many. SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE There is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This is the largest of eighty churches in Rome, dedicated alone to the Virgin. It was built by Pope Liberius on ground said to have been indicated to him by a miraculous fall of snow on a certain day in August in fulfillment of a dream which he had had to that effect. The ceiling is bright with decorations of gold. It was the first gold ever brought from America and was presented to the pope by Queen Isabella of Spain for this purpose. In the high altar in an ancient basin of porphyry rest the remains of St. Matthew. There are also four boards said to be from the holy manger in which Christ was- born. As we were making our rounds in this church, a wedding was proceeding in one of the chapels. It was about 10 a. m., and the bride and groom were attended by a number of their relatives and friends. The groom wore a silk hat and Prince Albert coat, and the bride wore a tailor-made walking or traveling suit, so there does not seem to be much difference between Rome and our country when it comes to morning weddings. THE PANTHEON. The Pantheon, which is the only perfect specimen of Roman architecture now in existence, is used as a 77 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE church, having been dedicated to that purpose in the year 609. Of all the great buildings constructed by the early Komans, all others succumbed to the ravages of time, hastened along by fires, wars and vandalism. But this building was well built, and would have required more work to destroy it than to leave it as it is, and that perhaps accounts for its good condition. It is per- fectly round, the interior being 145 feet in diameter and 145 feet in height. The walls are 22 feet thick. Its bronze doors are at least a foot thick and are good specimens of such work. The portico is supported by sixteen granite columns, five feet in circumference and 41 feet high. The roof of the portico formerly rested on bronze columns, but in 1632, Pope Urban (whose real name was Barberina) removed these columns, part of which he used in the high altar of St. Peter's, and the others he used to make cannons. He replaced them with rough, irregular stones that still remain. This pope seems to have been well named, for it was certainly a barbarous proceeding. The edifice is lighted by an opening in the center of the stone roof, 30 feet in di- ameter. There are no other windows and it is remark- able how much light this gives, but it would not be very good in rainy seasons if the church had a full house. San Pietro, in Vincoli, is another church, not so re- markable as an edifice as it is for the treasures it con- tains — the chief one of which is the great marble statue of Moses by Michael Angelo. This church is also the de- pository of the chains which bound St. Peter, and a number of other relics. "ST. PAUL'S OUTSIDE THE WALLS" Another remarkable church is known as "St. Paul's 78 THE CATACOMBS outside the walls. " It is practically out in the country, away from city life and the big, rich houses. And yet if we had such a church in the heart of Chicago or New York city, it would be known throughout the whole country for its size and magnificence. It is 390 feet long by 195 feet in width. The ceiling is carried by eighty beautiful granite columns. They are about the size of the columns supporting the porticoes of the Illinois state house, but each in one solid piece and each at least sixty feet high. It has six large columns of alabaster, presented by the Khedive of Egypt, and some malachite pedestals which were presented by the Emperor of Rus- sia. A pleasing frieze or border near the ceiling is made of large medallion portraits of all the popes, worked in mosaic, extending entirely around the building, there being more than 200 medallions in all. Although this church dates from the year 388, the present structure is comparatively new, having been preceded by several edi- fices on the same ground. The dedication of the present building occurred in 1854. I cannot understand why so much money and labor was expended upon an edifice ic such a remote place. Such a building is not often so situated. THE CATACOMBS About the gloomiest place at Rome is the catacombs, where the early Christian martyrs were buried, but as all the bodies have been removed, there is nothing now to be seen there except a succession of irregular caves carved out of the solid rock, one below the other, and each with receptacles that have formerly contained bodies. Yet thousands of people go every year and grope through these underground passages with no 79 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE light except a lighted taper, furnished by the monks who have charge of the place, and who live apparently on the proceeds of the admission fees paid and gratui- ties offered. While this was the gloomiest place visited, the monk who showed us through was about the j oiliest we have met in all our travels so far. He catechised us and I think he rather enjoyed what he knew about reli- gious matters and what we did not. GREWSOME DECORATIONS The Church of the Capuchin monks is about as grewsome as the catacombs, but has a novelty in its grewsomeness that is peculiar to this particular place and attracts many visitors. There are a number of chapels in the basement which are decorated with the bones of the departed monks. In connection with the church is a small burial lot in which the body of each brother is placed when he dies; as soon as the flesh disintegrates and leaves the bones, they are taken up, cleaned, and used to decorate the chapels. I should judge, from looking at the decorations, there must be a good many more monks dead than alive. There must be over a thousand skulls and a due proportion of other bones to go with them. Not only are the altars con- structed of skulls and bones, but the side walls and ceilings are also covered and decorated. They appear to be nailed on the walls and ceilings and piled one on top of another and fastened in place with wires to build objects of worship and ornament. It is really surpris- ing what artistic work can be done with bones by a skillful artist who has enough of them. Almost everyone has seen the ornamental booths or stalls made of corn and vegetables that are fixed up at 80 THE COLISEUM. "After all we came back and took another look at the Coliseum which, I believe, justly ranks as the greatest and grandest ruin in the world."— Page 88. GREWSOME DECORATIONS the State or County fairs. Now, if you will just imag- ine the" substitution of bones for vegetables or cereals, you have the idea. Instead of taking ears of corn and cutting them into short sections, and nailing them on the wall to make words or fancy borders, you take human backbones, separate each joint and nail them up just as you would the corn and you have the same effect. In place of a rosette of carrots, you make a rosette of finger bones, use skulls in place of pumpkins, and little toe bones to represent the petals of cauli- flower. Make a rocco border by taking a lot of ribs and reversing every other one. The effect is really artistic. Suppose you want a pillar six inches or even, a foot in diameter. Take several thigh bones, fasten them to- gether and place them on top of each other endwise, six, eight or ten feet high, and they look like carved or orna- mented Corinthian columns made of marble. Take a skull and cross-bones, around them you can make a border of little finger joints, then another of one size larger and so on until you have a center-piece that could hardly be duplicated in any other place. But it would tax your imagination to reproduce all the figures that have been worked out by these patient monks. They have been at it a long time. The several rooms or chapels are all decorated in different schemes, each embracing new and original features. They have arches, columns, rosettes, borders, diagrams, etc. Aside from the oddity of the idea, it presents a considerable revenue as everybody who goes to see the church and examines these bones is expected to leave a modest con- tribution to help along with the good work and almost every visitor does so. It is an odd idea, but the living 81 SIXTY DAYS IN EURaPE seem to enjoy the work, and are looking, perhaps hap- pily, forward to the time when their bones shall help to ornament the premises they love so well. I suppose everyone expects to die sometime. It is not a cheerful contemplation at the best. I can hardly see how it would add any pleasure to the thought to feel confident that after one has been gathered to Mother Earth, he should again be brought forth from his tomb and have his bones scoured and used to festoon a damp basement in a dark, dreary church, where his skull would grin with a thousand more and his back-bone be nailed up on the ceiling, joint by joint, to scare the devil out of Rome. There are many beautiful things in Eome, some old, some new. Its irregular streets and open squares here and there give opportunities for locating great monu- ments and beautiful fountains, and every place where they could be has been taken advantage of. Obelisks have been brought from Egypt and columns from all the world. Bronze and marble statues, the accumula- tion of centuries, are to be found everywhere. I think I am safe in saying that there is more water run through the public fountains than the entire water supply of many large cities in the United States. 82 Chapter VI THE STORES OF ROME The stores of Rome are not on the average very large, but they are very handsome and there are many stocks of rich jewelry and art works. As many people, including the capitalists of all the world, visit Rome, and some buy extravagantly, it makes a great market for the very finest of art goods and jewelry. The stores are dazzling. The average tourist does not buy very much, but all buy something. They usually com- mence by "pricing" various articles that run from one thousand to fifty thousand francs, and finally settle on something that is offered for fifteen francs, for which they offer seven, and then buy it at about ten. Then they wonder how much less the dealer would have taken if they had held out and are sure they offered too much. The dealers have no fixed prices and when it comes to trading with them, the dealer works on the principle of David Harum : ' ' Do unto others as they would do you, but do 'em fust. ' ' They generally do the tourist ' ' fust. ' ' When a bunch of tourists get back to the hotel, they usually show what they have bought. There is always, of course, a great variety of articles, but invariably there is a greater variety of prices than of articles. THE KING One day when Mr. Kelley was driving us "pro and 83 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE con," he called our attention to the number of police- men on one street. They averaged about one every fifty feet on each side of the street. He said the king was out taking his morning ride and would soon pass that way. We directed him then to stop in a convenient place and await his majesty's coming. We hadn't long to wait before the king came by, and we caught a glimpse of him. Only a glimpse, as the carriage in which he was riding was entirely surrounded with of- ficers on horses, about sixteen in all. Notwithstanding the hill up which they were coming was pretty steep, they were on a rather brisk trot. There were three of- ficers seated in the carriage with the king, all in uni- form, the same as he wore, although his was plainer than those of the other officers who surrounded him. Everybody lifted their hats as the king passed, but there was no cheering or other demonstration. It was the first real live king that I had ever seen. I could not see that there was much difference between him and ordinary men. I was not particularly stunned. In fact, I have noticed that one king does not ordinarily affect anybody much, nor does even two or three kings, but four kings seen under some circumstances, I am told, is enough to paralyze a stout heart. ROME'S RUINS A visit to Rome, while usually considered a pleas- ure, has its melancholy side and the visitor, if he is sensitive, is liable to have a feeling of depression creep over him that cannot be lightly put aside. There are so many visible evidences of the city's former great- ness, that are in such complete ruin and show their age and damage so painfully that, with the work of 84 ROME'S RUINS devastation and destruction with which he is surround- ed, one cannot but feel discouraged. The Forum is but a mass of broken and battered stone. Only a few columns are standing to tell of its former beauty and greatness, and the miserable ped- dlers and beggars torture the life out of you while you are trying to get into harmony and study what there is left. Where Caesar fell, there is nothing left but the base of Pompey's statue. There is not enough of the temple of Castor and Pollux left to show that they ever had a temple, and the temple of the Vestal Virgins is but a tottering ruin. The old aqueduct stretching miles across the country, arch after arch, some places as high as thirty or forty feet, seems to represent such a vast waste of labor that it is hard to appreciate it as a magnificent ruin. The great baths of Caracalla are stripped of all their marble and stand as great skeletons of a past age. The baths of Diocle- tian are demoralized and the circus of Maximus is overgrown with vegetation and new houses. Beauti- ful marble statues are battered and broken and are so common that I noticed one marble bust that a gardener was using to prop up a dilapidated sheet iron stove pipe. Everything is so old and the people who built them so dead, and you are carried back to such a remote age, you sometimes wonder whether you are of the present time or whether you are not as dead as the old masters themselves. Every church and every cathedral you visit has popes, bishops, emperors, poets, generals and cardinals buried profusely in niches in the walls under the altars, 85 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE between the windows or under the slabs on which you walk, till you feel as though you were the angel of death, walking over the battle-field of life on the dead bodies of the mighty leaders who have fallen in the fray. It is an odd custom they have in many churches of burying the great people of the age in the church floor, then covering the graves with a marble slab on which is chiseled the likeness, in life size, of the illus- trious person who rests beneath. Then they allow peo- ple to walk over the grave until they wear away every semblance that the picture might have borne to the original. Eyes, nose, ears, chin, and all, become worn to nothingness, and still the people walk. I was some- what squeamish at first and trod lightly over the graves of such men as Cassar and Cato, Pompey or Cicero, but I finally got so used to it that I could walk over the graves and slide my feet over the faces of kings, emperors and prelates with as little reverence as over common paving brick. And yet, in thinking of it, even now it does not seem just right. You cannot see Rome and omit carrying with you the mantle of death that, before you are through with it, will hang heavily upon you. To walk among, below, between and over the graves of the old masters and heroes of two thou- sand years, to say you have done so, seems to be a sort of ghoulish performance and altogether too serious for pleasure. There are many things to see in Rome that cannot be classed under the head of pleasure. They are proper enough, however, if the heart be right. "We went to the little cemetery where rest the bodies of the English poets, Shelley and Keats. Somewhat separated, they 86 ROME'S RUINS both rest beneath unpretentious head-stones. Keats died a young and discouraged man. He never knew what immortality his touching poems would some day bring to his memory. As he tossed with fever on his dying bed, so far away from home, the victim of ad- verse circumstances and the machinations of enemies, knowing his end was near, he asked that this epitaph be placed over his grave: "Here rests the body of one whose name is written in the water." Is it joy or sorrow to look upon such works of art as the statue of the "Dying Gaul?" This statue represents a gladiator in the arena. Having received a death wound in the breast, he sits or reclines upon the ground, resting on his right arm and hand as the life blood ebbs from the wound. Notwithstanding this statue is of pure white marble, cold as death and as silent as the tomb, it speaks to you in more telling words than you would think could emanate from stone. Every lineament of the body, the attitude, all indicate an early dissolution, and the expression of the face is as truly horrible and impressive as could be possible in a human being. Byron tells of this statue in one of his more forcible poems. "As the Gaul hears the shouts of his adversary who has murdered him to make a Roman holiday, he thinks not of revenge, but of his wife and little children whom he'll never see again. ' ' There are many such works of art that appeal just so to your feeling and touch your heart in its tenderest spot. Mayhap as you turn from them you will feel a peculiar fullness of the throat and a tear stealing from 87 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the eye. Have you, then, in looking at them, enjoyed a pleasure or suffered a pain? I confess, I cannot tell. It is pecular how statues are always being un- earthed in Eome. There may be thousands still to be found. When the enemies of Rome came to pillage, destroy and sack the city time after time, the residents who owned valuable articles of any kind did everything to conceal them. Some statues were buried; others were hidden here and there, and some were even thrown into wells to be recovered some other time. But before Rome's troubles were over, the owners of these art works were sometimes as dead as the statues them- selves. And so it has been that statues, that are about the only things that have stood the ravages of 2,000 years, are still being unearthed. The fine statue for which the government recently gave $90,000 was washed out of the ground where one of Nero's gardens used to be, and in digging the great tunnel recently under the king's palace to build a street car track in Rome, several statues were found, one of them very fine, which had been secreted in a well. Many others may yet be unearthed that will still add to Rome's wonderful collection which already beats the world. THE GREATEST AND GRANDEST RUIN After all the ruins were gone over in Rome, we came back and took another look at the Coliseum, which I believe justly ranks as the greatest and grand- est ruin in the world. No one can approach this mam- moth relic of a cruel and blood-thirsty age with a knowledge of its cruelties and tragedies, its combats and martyrdoms, without being impressed with a pe- culiar feeling which it would be hard to describe. You 88 THE GRANDEST RUIN have seen pictures of the Coliseum ever since you were a child ; you have read of the gladiatorial combats that have taken place in the arena. You have shed tears as you have had recounted to you the martyrdom of the early Christians who were torn to pieces by the wild beasts which were let loose upon them by the Roman authorities for the amusement of the populace; of performances given by the light of torches made of live human beings whose bodies were wrapped and saturated in oil ; you have read of its solid walls, its prodigious size, its age of nearly two thousand years. All these facts are familiar to every person, young and old. Then as you come face to face with the mighty structure, and see it as you have seen it in pictures, see it in fact as you have painted it in fancy, and realize that you are looking with your own eyes at the very stone of which it is made, you can hardly keep from being appalled at what is before you. The building was elliptical in form, being 510 feet wide and 615 feet long, the circumference measuring 1719 feet, or practically a third of a mile. The height is 157 feet. Allowing 11 feet to each story, it would be about as high as a fourteen-story house, while the structure, as built, is divided into four stories. There were four tiers of seats in the shape of an amphitheater. It was completed in the year A. D. 80, and if it had not been molested it would probably be in good condition to-day. It would accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 spec- tators, leaving a large unoccupied arena in the center. In the basement were dens for wild beasts, rooms for the gladiators and dungeons for the Christians. These latter were sacrificed by having Avild beasts turned 89 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE loose upon them. Sometimes forests were constructed in the arena and hunters were let loose upon animals as well as the animals being let loose upon the hunters. Another idea that was described in the story of "Quo Vadis" was to sew human beings up in the skins of various animals, and then let other animals loose upon them. In fact, every species of cruelty that could be devised by man or suggested by the devil was indulged in, for nothing but the bloodiest tragedies would appeal to the Romans. There were a hundred days of bloody feast when the Coliseum opened, marked by the deaths of many gladiators, and over 5,000 animals. And so was this bloody arena inaugurated. There is only about four-fifths of the original structure now standing full height. Earthquakes did it considerable damage, and, as Rome declined, it appeared to have become pub- lic property and was used as a stone quarry by several persons who dug the stone out as they would from a natural ledge to build other houses and castles. One of the largest palaces now standing in Rome was built of stone from the Coliseum. It is likely that the ma- terial would all have been removed had it not been for Pope Benedict XIV, who in 1750 stopped the further desecration and dedicated the edifice as a sacred en- closure on account of the blood of the martyrs shed therein. Thick buttresses were built to prevent the un- supported stone work from crumbling, and the re- mainder stands as it has for the many years since that time. It was a great work to have built this coliseum, for every arch is well formed and the carving was well done. 90 THE GRANDEST RUIN We visited the Coliseum on a bright Sunday morn- ing. Aside from a few guides that show people around, some beggars, some peddlers, and a few other travelers, the place was deserted. We went through its mighty arches. We examined the dungeons and the dens and listened to the story of the former wonders, beauties and tragedies of this place. In its present dead silence it was hard to imagine the excitement and noise that prevailed here nearly two thousand years ago when Eome's great but inhuman statesmen, Eome's beautiful but wicked women, Eome's Vestal Virgins, the personifi- cation of virtue, with absence of heart, Eome's patri- cians and plebeians, all assembled to see the murderous gladiatorial fights, and shouted themselves hoarse with delight as they saw men hack other men to pieces with double edged swords, or saw wild beasts tear human beings into shreds, when Eoman citizens feasted them- selves on scenes of blood, the like of which we trust the world will never see again. Then we retraced our steps and went once more through the streets of Eome. Those same streets that had resounded to the tread of the emperor's soldiers, who had conquered the world; those same streets that had been trodden by the feet of the captives brought to Eome; those same streets that had afterward echoed and re-echoed the wail of dying Eo- mans and the crash and clash of Eome's devastation and destruction, all mingled with the wild yells of the Goths, the Vandals, and the barbarians, as they pro- ceeded with their mad work of eliminating Eome's old glory ; those same streets that were afterwards the scene of so many murders, wars, battles and insurrections, but which are now used for peaceful avocations and 91 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE clatter with a new era of commerce. As we looked around us and saw the merry faces, heard the musical voices and recognized the evidences of happiness and prosperity, it seemed to us that Rome was Rome itself once more. Conditions are not yet perfect in Italy, and it may be a long time before they are. But I believe that the rights of the people of Rome are safer to-day than ever in its history, for there is more religious and political freedom. And while there is not so much splendor, there are not so many miseries, and while there is not so much wealth, there is more conscience, heart and loyalty. The upbuilding of Rome sems to be assured. The history of Rome shows it is not wealth, splendor nor wars of conquest that make a nation great, but a loyal, contented and united people. Old Rome conquered the world but could not govern itself. New Rome has no conquests but does govern her people, and demonstrates to all the world that "Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war. ' ' 92 Chapter VII FLORENCE Florence is a place of about 200,000 population. Its foundations were laid before the inauguration of the Christian era. It has been the center of the art world for several centuries and to-day is a beautiful city. It is also of considerable commercial importance. The river Arno flows through the city by graceful curves between stone walls, being retained by two or more dams over which the water falls, giving it the ap- pearance of an artificial lake with cascades as outlets. It was the seat of government for Italy previous to 1871, when the capital was removed to Eome. The royal pal- ace is still maintained at Florence, and its roofs cover some of the world's richest treasures of art. There are paintings, sculptures, ceramics, precious stones and carvings, the like of which are hardly to be found in any place in the world outside of Florence. The whole city is surrounded by an atmosphere saturated, if I may use the term, with the spirit of art, history and romance and it enjoys a proud and unique position among, not the largest, but the greatest cities of the world. After the downfall of Rome, the entire civilization of the world went into a hopeless state of bankruptcy, without apparently enough in the whole estate to pay for a receivership. The time following was called the 93 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE dark ages, and it was the darkest and most discourag- ing time that the people of this world have ever expe- rienced. Then there came a sort of restoration of order. It was at this time that Florence came to the front and did more than any other place on earth to bring about a new era in the history of mankind. Among her citi- zens there were architects, painters, sculptors, poets, statesmen, scholars, orators, teachers, philosophers and other eminent men in all walks who have had no su- periors since their time. There were more of these characters in and about Florence than in any other place in the world. About this time Florence came un- der the rule of the great de Medici family who were devoted to art, and other leaders who did much to ad- vance the affairs of the world and start civilization on a higher plane than it had occupied even before its downfall. The buildings erected in Florence at that time, some of which are standing at present after centuries, look almost as well to-day as upon their completion and seem fair to bid defiance to the ravages of time for many years to come. The Vecchio palace, for instance, with a unique tower over 300 feet high, was commenced about the year 1298 and completed about 200 years later. The matter of 700 years has not had any appreciable effect upon it except that the stone floors are somewhat worn by the several million feet that have tracked over them. It is now used as a town hall. This building contains a number of sculptures, paintings, and works of art, frescoes, etc. 94 THE OLD MASTERS THE WORK OF THE OLD MASTERS Adjoining this palace is the Loggia Del Lanzia and the Uffizi gallery. They are so closely allied and con- nected by corridors and colonnades that they seem like one structure. They contain so much that is worthy of notice that a letter even mentioning each thing briefly would be long and monotonous. In the Loggia, which is an open vaulted building, the roof being supported by many columns, are a large number of statues, several of which are known to ail students of art, and are of inestimable value. Among them is the ''Rape of the Sabines," a group in marble by the great sculptor, Giovanni Da Bologna, which has stood here over five hundred years. It is a valuable group. What it is worth, I cannot say. Who can measure its price ? One American capital- ist might think it was cheap at one hundred thousand dollars. Another might be willing to give double that for it. But here they do not measure the value of such objects in dollars and cents. They do not guess at their money value. The only questions they ask are, "By whom were they created and how long have they stood the test of time?" These, after all, are the true test of the value of such works. I think these people have the right idea in measuring them that way. There are other pieces equally as good, perhaps, for they were made by the greatest of artists and have stood the test of time for centuries, and their glory has not diminished in the least. The Uffizi gallery contains a remarkable collection of both paintings and sculpture. It is counted one of the most valuable collections in the world. The works 95 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of such artists as Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, da Vinci, Titian, Correggio, Perugino, Bartolo- meo, Holbein, Giovanni, Durer, are so numerous that in spite of your best intention and of your appreciation of art, though it may be acute, you begin to pass them by as mere incidents and as quite commonplace, giving them no more attention than you bestow on miscella- neous articles displayed at a county fair. I guess, though, it may be just as well, as it would take a long time to do justice to each picture, and if you gave them more than a passing glance, you would be liable to have even then only an indiscriminate ad- mixture of angel wings, demon faces and expressions of agony and pleasure muddled in your memory that would be difficult to divide or properly classify. How- ever, this is a wonderful collection, and is worthy of more attention than an ordinary traveler can give to it even if he takes a long time. Before leaving this I must mention a few of the works known to those throughout the entire world who devote any considerable attention to art. They are "The Adoration of the Child," by Hugo Der Goes, "The Birth of Venice," by Botticelli, "Flora," by Ti- tian, statue of "Bacchus Satyr," restored by Michael Angelo, ' ' Coronation of the Virgin, ' ' by Fra Angelico — but why try to name them ? There are scores celebrated the world over, and copied everywhere, but the originals are all here. FEEDING THE PIGEONS As you step from this great palace of art, you come into a sort of court surrounded by colonnades, with a stone paved street running through it in which there 96 THE FORUM OF ROME. "Only a few columns are standing to tell of its beauty and greatness. Page 85. FEEDING THE PIGEONS is a most surprising number of pigeons. They are tame pigeons of all the usual colors and they surprise the visitors by their familiarity. Tame pigeons in Italian cities are not hounded to the death as they are with us in America. But on the contrary, they are great pets with everybody, and in all the plazas in Florence and Venice, feeding the pigeons is a matter of considerable interest to tourists. On some corner an old man or an old woman will sell shelled corn in little packages at one cent each, and people buy these packages and feed the pigeons from their hands. You can be surrounded at any time by a large flock, and it is amusing to see them crowd and even fight for advantageous places during the feeding. Sometimes cabmen waiting for business will have a row of pigeons resting on the dashboard of their carriages, which they feed grain by grain of the corn the horses have left in their eating bags, at the same time carrying on a pleasant conversa- tion with the birds. It is a good idea. I think the example could be fol- lowed in American cities. It is peculiar how birds and dumb animals soon place confidence in mankind when they are tenderly treated. The deer, the elk, and even the bears in Yel- lowstone Park in our country are almost as tame as domesticated animals on some farms. There are also lots of tame deer in Phoenix Park, Dublin. In Hyde Park, London, right in the center of the largest city in the world, there is a lake where people row boats and bathe. Of course there is no hunting and shooting there. The wild ducks seem to understand this and it is not an infrequent sight to see wild ducks alight 97 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE and enjoy themselves unmolested in the waters of this little lake. What a pity we cannot all be more friendly than we usually are with God's beautiful creatures. MORE WORKS OF ART But to return from feathers to art, there is another great edifice in Florence called the Pitti palace. It was built, or its construction was commenced, by Lucca Pitti, a powerful opponent of the Medici family. The first work was done previous to 1549 and it was added to at various times for two hundred years. It is now the palace of the king and is a most wonderful build- ing. It is nearly 700 feet in length and is a veritable storehouse of sculpture, painting and valuable relics. Its picture gallery is one of the finest on the face of the globe, while its museum contains articles of wonder- ful value. The greatest pictures in this gallery are "The Concert" by Giorgione, Raphael's "Madonna," Rubens' "Hay Harvest," etc. There are also some beautiful pieces of statuary. Perhaps the most in- teresting collection in this building are the valuable relics of state. Among them are presents that have been made to the rulers of Florence and Italy for sev- eral hundred years or more, including crowns, sceptres, jewels, swords, armor, glass, china, etc. I never saw more beautiful specimens of the arts in any shape than are kept for display in this building, which, after more than half a thousand years of time, stands as surely and squarely upon its foundation as though it were a modern building. There are crowns of gold that have been worn by kings who ruled a good part of the world, but are now numbered among the long ago dead. 98 . : MORE WORKS OF ART It would take a whole volume to describe the won- ders contained in this building, so I will not attempt it here. I must, though, say a word or two about the great tapestries and mosaics. Most of the walls of this building are covered with silk patterns woven expressly for the places they cover, while in addition many of the walls are embellished with pictures in tapestry. It takes a good many stitch- es to complete a tapestry picture 20x40 feet, and a long while to accomplish it when it is all done by hand, as these pictures are made. I afterwards saw one of these pictures incomplete, which gave me an opportunity to see how the work is done. First a complete picture is painted on canvas, which serves as the body of the work. It is painted in colors, the same as any large painting. I think water colors are used. Then the tapestry is made with the necessary colors of thread, which are filled in just as sofa pillows and other work of that kind is done in our country. The process is very simple. It is only a question of time and talent. As I have now described and told how it is done, any of my readers are at liberty to make a tapestry picture forty feet long, just like those of Florence. THE ROYAL COLLECTIONS It is surprising how many beautiful things are gathered into a royal palace when centuries are added to centuries. Presents come from all the world to kings and emperors, and they are added to the collection until these royal palaces are so filled with costly and valuable relics that the people like us who never enjoyed other than the simple life, can only stand and gaze in open LOFC. 99 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE mouthed astonishment at what is exposed to view as we pass through these great palaces. There are solid gold candlesticks, solid gold cruci- fixes, ornaments of all kinds embellished with gold and precious stones, until one wearies with the sight of such grandeur. Florence is renowned for its mosaic work, which is the finest the world produces. Florentine mosaic is largely used in the production of tables and furniture. There are cabinets and tables in the Pitti palace, hun- dreds of years old (that are just like new), that would excite the envy of anyone. They are the finest speci- mens the world has ever known. They are of all colors of stones, and are polished as smooth as glass. It seems as if it would be impossible to reproduce them in these times. THE PONTE VECCHIO One of the curiosities of Florence is the "Ponte Vecchio, " meaning the Vecchio bridge. It crosses the Arno and is of considerable length. The roadway of the bridge is flanked with goldsmiths' shops and jewelry stores. These stores are full of choice goods and have occupied their present stands under different owner- ships for centuries. As every shopkeeper has evidently been his own architect and frequently his own builder, the result is the oddest lot of adjuncts that have ever been attached to any bridge in the world, and as pecul- iar a lot of little stores as could well be imagined. THE VARIEGATED CATHEDRAL I almost forgot to mention the biggest thing in Florence and that is the Cathedral and its Campanile. 100 VARIEGATED CATHEDRAL The Cathedral is one of the most ornamental churches ever erected. It was built nearly five hundred years ago, of white and colored marble, and presents a wonderfully striking appearance, and is remarkably beautiful. It has many works of art within it, and its dome stands forth in bold and graceful form, and is considered one of the best pieces of architecture now in existence. The Campanile is the bell tower of the church. It is separate from the main building. It is 292 feet high, requiring 414 steps to reach its top. It is also of colored and white marble, and is as beautiful to- day as it was five hundred years ago, when it was first built. It is richly ornamented with statues and bas- reliefs. Among them are a series showing the develop- ment of mankind from the creation of Adam to the climax of science. In Italy it is a popular saying when trying to describe anything particularly beautiful, to say that it is as beautiful as the Campanile at Florence, which places it beyond any further comparison. Florence was the home and is the resting place of Alexander Salvini, who was a favorite actor in both Europe and America. I met him once in my home town when he played there. I tried to induce him to attend a reception, but he said he would not; he looked tired. He said he was tired — ' ' Oh, so weary, ' ' and a short time thereafter he went home to Florence to rest forever. It is also the resting place of Elizabeth Brown- ing, the English poetess and wife of Eobert Browning, the well-known poet, whose body lies in Westminster Abbey in London. We went to the little cemetery where her body rests, so far away from her old home. It is beneath a marble sarcophagus that bears only the 101 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE initials "E. B." The tomb is sublime in its simplicity and it is a shrine to which many English and Ameri cans find their way in this far-off, wonderful and fasci- nating Italian city, and pay their respects to the memory of this gifted and loveable lady. Mrs. Samuel L. Clemens, the loved and lovely wife of the great Amer- ican author, died here recently, but her body was brought to America and buried at her old home. SAVONAROLA There are many monuments in Florence, among them an impressive one erected to the memory of Giro- lamo Savonarola, and few monuments have been erected to more worthy men. Medallions of him are sold on the street at the present time, although he has been dead over five hundred years. He was a man of strong convictions, of honest pur- poses, and believed in the right at all times, and from a monk became a wonderfully successful preacher to the masses. He was unrelenting in his attacks, and re- buked publicly the highest as well as the lowest wrong- doers and aroused a deadly hostility against himself by attacking the rulers who were in power at that time. He opposed vigorously the great Lorenzo de Magnifico, one of the most powerful rulers in the world, but that prince turned to him for consolation in his last hours. He was a heroic reformer and fought tyranny and vice in the church, in the state and wherever he found it. He denounced the corruption of government and even of the pope himself, and threatened that the "vengeance of God would find them out if they did not repent." He would not be silenced either by threats or briberies and declined to be a cardinal on condition that he would 102 SAVONAROLA cease to oppose the rulers of the church. He disobeyed the mandates of Rome and was excommunicated there- for. But he still kept up the fight against corruption in and out of the church, was finally thrown into a dun- geon, and brutally tortured, but refused to admit any guilt, for he was pure in heart and earnest in his con- victions. He was finally tried, sentenced to death, and, with two of his fellow monks, was publicly hanged. His body was then burned in the Piazza della Signora, and his ashes thrown into the River Arno, that flows so calmly through the city of Florence to-day. After many years the judgment of history ac- quitted Savonarola of the charges brought against him in his own day, and the sincerity of his faith and the disinteredness of his aims have been proven as unques- tioned as the purity of his life. Later popes exonerated the memory and the work of Savonarola and Popes Paul V and Benedict XIV. declared that his works were irreproachable and they venerated him among the ser- vants of God. He was said to be of middle stature, of dark com- plexion, plain in feature, pallid and worn with absti- nence, his expression severely noble but benevolent, and when animated, his keen, dark eyes glowed like flames. He was a most wonderful man, and left his impress on the world. It makes no difference how long one stays in Flor- ence, he will be loth to leave, for it is fascinating to a wonderful degree. Its streets are granite. They are all crooked and many of them narrow, so very narrow that the houses are sometimes bigger above than they are below in order to let the traffic pass in the street. The 103 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE houses are of a class of architecture not known in our country. The city is circled with great walls of the medieval period and the walls are overgrown with moss and creeping ivy that suggest the days when knighthood was in flower. Many of the houses are palaces and the parks and plazas are dreams of beauty. Even its hotels are of marble and enclose fountains and palms that make them seem more like fairy palaces than like profit- making institutions for the landlord. 104 Chapter VIII VENICE "O Venice! "Venice! When thy marble walls Are level with the waters, there shall be A cry of nations o'er thy sunken halls, A loud lament along the sweeping sea." Venice is one of the most romantic, one of the most peculiar, and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In fact, I think it nearly reaches the climax in each of these three characteristics. It is different from any and all other cities. It has canals in place of streets; gondolas are used in place of carriages; steam launches are used for the service usually rendered by street cars, and bridges take the place of street cross- ings. Many of its houses are real palaces; its works of art are above the average ; its history is replete with interest; it has grand churches and its industries are varied and profitable. It has been the theme of romance and the subject of poetry for long, long years. It is the real or fancied home of Shakespeare's great character of Shylock, the home of Desdemona, and the scene of innumerable tragedies, -real and imaginary. Its hand-made laces have an enviable reputation throughout the world. Its mosaics, of which it can truthfully boast, are beautiful, and its ornate glassware and fragile glass pieces are the most beautiful that have ever been placed upon the markets of the world. With all these attractions, it is not to be wondered at that 105 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE every European traveler counts upon a visit to Venice as one of the greatest opportunities of a trip in this interesting part of the world. Sometime, along about the year 600, when the barbarians had overrun and taken possession of about everything and every place known to man, when Rome, which, in its former days, had ' ' sat upon its seven hills and from its throne of beauty ruled the world," was practically a "has been" and civilization was driven to its utmost effort to maintain a foot-hold upon the earth, then terror was enthroned where once had been the seat of learning and art. There was neither securi- ty for person nor property. There wasn't much room left for anyone but vandals, thieves and plunderers who roamed backward and forward over the face of the earth. At this time, the inhabitants of the coast- wise towns were driven further and further off of solid earth into the lagoons and nooks along the Adri- atic sea. They finally sought refuge in the islands and marshes that were even with or a little above the water. They got a foothold where they could, built their homes on such pieces of ground or on such foundations as they might invent and eked out an uncertain existence by such means as they could attain. One of these lodging places some two and one-half miles removed from the western shores of the Adriatic sea, which apparently had neither bottom nor founda- tion, became the rendezvous of quite a number of peo- ple and was called Riovalto. It was one of several such settlements, and they were all at the mercy of the waters surrounding them, the pirates with whom these waters were infested, the brigands and robbers on the 106 VENICE shores and all the elements and other peoples of the earth who might wish to plunder or murder them or carry them off into slavery. So in self-protection, they concluded to get together, and during the year 697, they all met and formed a naval confederation. I believe history does not locate the capital of this confederation until about a hundred years after its formation, when it was established at Riovalto, which, for some reason, was changed to Venice. And such was the early history of this city, which became in the course of time one of the greatest cities of the universe, and, like Rome of former days, it became the center of a considerable part of the world, and ruled a large portion thereof. It sent forth its armies and navies and subdued all of its rivals and took upon itself the government of an extensive empire, which was carried on, however, as a republic, having some forms of elec- tions. In later years, through reverses, in war and loss of trade, it lost much of its former prestige. But it would take a long chapter to tell of all its conflicts, all its victories, all its defeats, and its final overthrow, and it is not my purpose to write history, except what is necessary to show how the city came to be built as it was. Suffice it to say, therefore, that after many years and many wars, it was finally captured by the French and ceded by them to Austria, who, in turn, assigned it to Italy. Then the Austrians again made war upon it and recaptured it. In 1848, "Venice once more de- clared itself a republic and waged a war for independ- ence and a very good fight it made. Twenty years 107 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE later, however, it was united with Italy, and the prov- ince is now part of Italy, and Venice is an Italian city. It was ruled in the former days by a line of dukes called Doges, who were elected to the office. They occupied the Doges' palace, which is now used as a public building for the city, and as an art gallery and a museum. Other cities have left Venice far behind in the matter of population. Other cities have made more progress in the matter of trade and commerce, but Venice is still a considerable place, and its peculiar con- struction,, which is entirely different from any other city in the world, gives it a fascination and charm that few other cities possess. The population at the present time is about 150,- 000. It has 150 small canals that divide the city into 117 small islands. That is to say, there are that many irregular blocks in the city, being divided from each other by canals just as city blocks in other cities are divided from each other by streets. The blocks, how- ever, are connected with each other by nearly 400 bridges, so that in passing from one part of the city to another, it is not necessary at all times to take a gon- dola or any other kind of boat. Each one of these bridges is more or less a work of art. Usually they are constructed of stone, forming an arch over the canal high enough to let the floating craft pass beneath, while the foot passengers going over the bridge are compelled to ascend several steps at one side and descend a similar number of steps at the other side of the canal. Some of the more modern of these bridges are built of iron. 108 THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS THE OLD RIALTO The greatest of all these bridges, and, besides, a very beautiful piece of work, is the "Rialto," which spans the Grand Canal and is the main connection be- tween the two principal parts of the city. While it was built four hundred years ago, it is apparently in perfect condition to-day and seems likely to remain so for a long time yet to come. It is constructed of mar- ble; its foundations rest on 240 piles driven into the ground. It has a single arch of 74 feet and is 32 feet high in the clear. A peculiarity of this bridge is that it has two rows of stores fronting on its passage-way its entire length, so it is an active place for the trans- action of business. It has long been a place for busi- ness men to meet by appointment and arrange or settle their matters. Shakespeare makes it the meeting place of Shylock and Antonio, where they arranged the loan and fixed up the terms of the bond, which is so promi- nently brought out in Shakespeare's play, "The Mer- chant of Venice." This makes the Rialto a matter of considerable interest to all visitors to Venice, but aside from this, it is truly a remarkable piece of engineering or architecture and is one of the most beautiful bridges I have ever seen. THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS Another bridge in Venice has perhaps achieved a wider reputation and is more frequently alluded to than the Rialto. I presume it has been portrayed in more pictures than any other bridge in the world. It is the well-known "Bridge of Sighs." It is not a very large span. It connects the Doges' palace over a little 109 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE canal with, the prison in the rear of the palace. This bridge was built in the 16th century, and over it many a poor mortal after a so-called trial in the Doges' palace went to meet his death or to be cast into a dun- geon where his confinement was perhaps more horrible than death itself. This bridge leads to the old prison where Lord Byron underwent a voluntary confinement in a dun- geon for forty-eight hours to get the proper inspiration to write his wonderful poem, "The Prisoner of Chil- lon. ' ' This dungeon is a dark, uncanny place. I went into the same cell where Byron and other prisoners, real prisoners, in fact, and not in fancy as Byron was, had lain upon a stone cot. I got all the inspiration I wished for in about forty-eight seconds. I did not care to stay forty-eight hours as Byron did. Byron, as I understand it, was locked in the cell during the time he remained there. I was not locked in the cell and had no ambition to be locked in. I had so little desire to be locked in that I was careful to see that the man who showed me through the premises did not get be- tween me and the great door of the dungeon. A FEW NARROW STREETS Venice has a few streets as well as canals, that is if you can call such openings streets. They are pas- sages between buildings and are only used for foot passengers, as there are no horses or other beasts of burden in this city. I met one of the citizens of Venice who said he had never seen a horse other than the bronze horses on the church of St. Mark, until he was almost a grown man. 110 FEW NAEROW STREETS Some of these streets are only four or five feet wide. There is one main street which is about twenty feet wide. There is a plaza or public square in front of St. Mark's church nearly three hundred feet wide and six hundred feet long. These openings are all nicely paved, usually with cement or asphalt, and the grand plaza in front of St. Mark's is the center for all public events in the city. Band concerts are given by a magnificent band about three evenings a week on this square, at which time there are set hundreds of little cafe tables and chairs where the people assemble and drink coffee and wine and listen to the music. This plaza or square is surrounded by the best stores in the city, and several public buildings front thereon, besides the Doges' palace and St. Mark's church. At one corner is a large clock tower on which the time of the day is denoted in ordinary figures of large size that change every minute. Above on the platform is a large bell between two giants made of bronze who strike the hours on a bell with sledge hammers. This tower was erected about four hundred years ago. On the corner opposite this tower, they are rebuilding the Campanile, the same as the one which stood on the same place, but which collapsed and fell about five years ago. THE CAMPANILE The Campanile is a bell tower which was first erected in the year 888 A. D. It was then rebuilt about the year 1329, and stood until the year 1902. This is the large square tower that the reader will probably remember as being in evidence in almost every picture of Venice that he has seen. In the year 1902 this tower 111 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE collapsed and fell without warning. It came down with a noise like the mighty thunders of heaven and greatly alarmed the people of Venice. It is now being rebuilt at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars. The work, however, is rather slow. It has been going on for a matter of two or more years, and rises only about twenty feet above the surface. The old Cam- panile had a spiral roadway in place of stairs running from the top to the bottom, or, from the bottom to the top. NAPOLEON IN VENICE Napoleon I., when he captured Venice in his wars in the early part of the last century, accomplished the feat of riding his horse up this spiral foot-way to the top of the Campanile. I believe he is the only human being who ever performed the feat. I presume that when the new Campanile is completed it will be fitted with a modern elevator. In that event most any one could get a horse to the top of the tower more easily than Napoleon did. It is a wonder that more buildings do not fall in Venice. All houses are built on piles. I understand, however, that the piles are driven down to bed-rock through the sand and the loose soil on top and that stone and cement foundations are built on top of the piles. The wood being entirely below the water line, and not being affected by the heat and cold, by moisture and dry weather, is almost indestructible, and lasts for many ages. Most of the houses are 700 or 800 years old. Before work is commenced on a house a temporary wall is built out around the premises in the canal, and the water is pumped out of this enclosure before the 112 THE RIALTO IN VENICE. "Shakespeare makes it the meeting place of Shylock and Antonio where they fixed up the terms of the Bond." — Page 109. CHURCHES OF VENICE work is commenced. After the house is completed the temporary wall is removed and the house fronts on the canal, usually with a stairway leading down so that the occupants of the house can come and go in their gon- dolas. The tide rises and falls only some two or three feet each twenty-four hours, which is not a serious matter. One of the greatest attractions in the city of Venice is a group of four bronze horses over the doors of St. Mark's church. The horses are of about natural size and it is considered one of the best bronze groups in Europe. One of the early Doges of Venice got these horses from Rome or Constantinople, or one of the larger cities in that direction, probably by main force. I do not know how the Doge captured the horses, but, be that as it may, he brought them to Venice as an ornament for the great church. This was in the year 1204. When Napoleon came to Venice and saw these great horses, his heart was set upon them and he could not resist the yearning that came over him to possess them, so he took them down and sent them to Paris, along with a good deal of other plunder that he had gathered on the way, and set them up on his triumphal arch. This so aggrieved and angered the people of Venice that, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, the French government concluded to return the horses, and they were again brought back to Venice and placed over the door of St. Mark's. THE CHURCHES OF VENICE There are several fine old churches in Venice, the greatest of which is St. Mark's, named after the apostle and saint of that name. This church has more space 113 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE covered with mosaic pictures than any other building in the world. I do not pose as an expert- in this matter of mosaics, but to me these pictures in this church do not seem to be of so high an order as others I have seen in Rome and Florence. They are remarkable, however, for their immense size and the great number of them, and that is perhaps sufficient. The treasury of St. Mark's church, which is rigidly guarded, and to which you must pay a fee to be admitted, contains articles of very great value. Most of them are articles of jewelry or ornaments that have been presented to the church or to the officials in charge of the church. They embrace a magnificent collection of precious stones and gems of all kinds. Their value is beyond any money estimate. There are also some beautiful and costly crucifixes, swords and religious staffs, mitres, vestments, etc. The other churches in Venice are not so celebrated as St. Mark's, and yet to me they were extremely in- teresting. There was one on the other side of the town which we went through, and which is of very great size and contains a number of objects of interest. One thing that particularly attracted my attention was one wall where, instead of the ordinary pilaster between the openings, they use figures of human beings apparently carrying the upper part of the walls upon their shoul- ders. These figures are of African slaves, and are per- haps fifteen feet high. Their heads bend forward and as a foundation for the upper walls is a representation of a bag of grain which these African slaves are carrying on their shoulders. The statues are made of a combina- tion of white and black marble, the white representing the clothing, and the black the skin of the slaves. The 114 GONDOLAS AND GONDOLIERS clothing of the slaves is ragged and torn, and the black knees of the poor fellows protrude through rents in the white cloth of their trousers, and they are in their bare feet. I was reminded by this that the poor negro has always been the bearer of the white man's burdens, and these silent sentinels that have stood here many years, weighted down with their sacks of grain, show that the condition of the black man was rather a hard one in the long ago days. GONDOLAS AND GONDOLIERS But perhaps you are tired of churches and would like to hear of gondolas and other things that make Venice different from other places. Almost everybody has seen pictures of gondolas, and a great many persons have seen them in practical operation on the lagoons at the Chicago and St. Louis world's fairs. I will not, therefore, describe them here, except to say that they are all black and very sombre. This came about by a law that was passed in the fifteenth century, at which time gondolas were so highly ornamented and embellished with such extravagance that they frequently led their owners into bankruptcy. A law was then passed that they should all be painted black and no extravagance should be used upon their finish. I think any other color that might have been chosen would have been bet- ter than black, for, besides looking somewhat melan- choly, they cannot be distinguished on the waters very well after dark. But I did not think I could get the law changed during my short stay here, so I presume the black will prevail until my return here some other time. The rates for gondolas are fixed by law, just as 115 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE hack rates are fixed in any large city, and are quite reasonable, being one franc per honr in the daytime, and a trifle more at night. But the gondoliers are an un- conscionable lot of scamps and will rob you by over- charging every time they get a chance. They are hardly ever satisfied with what you pay them, whether it be much or little, and they always expect a tip besides. You can scarcely ever make a trip without having a wrangle with a gondolier at the end. Much of the pleas- ure of a ride is overcome by the strenuous negotiation you must carry on in order to obtain your rights. Nor is it any satisfaction to tell them what you think of them, as they do not understand what you say, and do not seem to care, either. THE GRAND CANAL The Grand Canal, which is much larger than any other canal in Venice, runs in about the form of the letter "S," and divides the city through the center into two nearly equal parts. All the leading hotels, as well as the palaces of Venice, front on the Grand Canal. There is no space between the buildings and the Grand Canal, except for little porches and steps leading down to the water. There are, in front of each building, poles standing in the water which are used as hitching posts to tie up the gondolas and to steady them while the people get in and out of them. These poles are striped spirally with the different colors that the several fam- ilies have chosen as their particular distinction. The stripes being painted spirally, gives these poles the same appearance as tonsorial totem poles in the United States, and one not knowing what the colors designated, might suppose that every house on the 116 DON CARLOS Grand Canal was a grand barber shop or a hair-dressing establishment. There is a line of small steamers on the Grand Canal that take the place and perform the service usu- ally done by street cars in other cities. They have landings in convenient places and the fare is two cents for each trip. They go frequently and run quite lively. "While they have been in operation several years, they are comparatively a new thing in Venice, and though quicker and cheaper than gondolas, they eliminate some of the poetry and romance of the city. In addition to these there are a number of boats carrying freight of all kinds — merchandise, fire-wood, charcoal, milk, eggs, butter and a thousand other things, just as freight is carried on wagons in other cities, and some people have small steam launches or motor boats for their own use as people on dry land keep automo- biles. DON CARLOS, THE PRETENDER Don Carlos, the pretender to the throne of Spain, who finds Spain too hot for him now, and who lives in a palace on the Grand Canal, has one of these little mo- tor boats. He rides on the canal as a recreation almost every day. One day we came by his palace just about the time he was to take his ride. Directly opposite the entrance to his residence is a little plateau of vacant ground from which there is a bridge which connects with his place. A number of people had congregated on this little plateau to see his majesty come forth. As a sort of footman on his trips, he has a small negro dressed in a very fanciful costume. This little fellow is so black that I think charcoal would look pale in com- 117 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE parison with his countenance. His presence on the front porch indicated that Don Carlos was soon to follow. As we went down the canal with our gondolier, Don Carlos in his motor boat soon overtook and passed us. He is a robust man of something over sixty years of age, sat up straight, wore a full but short gray beard and seemed to be smoking a cigar of very fine quality. His desire to be king of Spain, if sitting heavily upon him at this time, did not show in his appearance, as he seemed to be at peace wth himself, the world and the rest of mankind. His colored footman was dangling a small piece of rope in the water as the boat proceeded and his pilot or engineer was steering his craft in a business-like manner. He passed within a few yards of us, apparently not recognizing who we were, and as we knew who he was and he did not know who we were, I felt that we had that much the advantage of him. On our trip down the Grand Canal, we passed the house where Othello wooed and won the fair Desde- mona. In fact Desdemona's house was next door to the hotel in which we stopped, which had formerly been the palace of one of the great families of Venice. We also passed the house where Mr. Browning, the poet, died, and the palace where the great musician, Wagner, received his final summons while writing his last opera. FAREWELL TO VENICE We spent three days in Venice looking at its works of art, feeding the pigeons that followed and coquetted with us on the plaza of St. Mark and which begged us for corn which they would eat from our hands. We priced beautiful sets of glassware that we never could and never intended to buy. We watched the busy lit- 118 FAREWELL TO VENICE tie girls make lace that is as beautiful as woven snow and worth its weight in gold. "We rode through the grand and broad canals and through the dark and narrow water-ways under the " Bridge of Sighs" and between great buildings, and idled our time away in aimless fancy. When night came on and the merry lights twinkled on the waters in every direction and the moon and the stars shone down from heaven on the city, the scene was more beautiful than ever. Way out on the Grand Canal, where the great ships lie at anchor, were boats filled with serenaders. These boats were orna- mented with colored lanterns and fancy lights and every night there are several of them anchored on the Grand Canal and they render most excellent music. The boats are filled with good musicians from the opera troupes of Italy and they sing regular operatic selections. People, mostly visitors in the city, gather around the boats of the serenaders until there is an island of gondolas all so closely huddled together that men step from one to the other as they take up collec- tions to pay the musicians for their efforts. The last night we were in Venice, and in the center of one of these clusters, I requested the troupe to sing for us "Toreador," from the opera of Carmen. They responded cheerfully, a good baritone taking the solo and all the troupe joining in the chorus. "Toreador" is one of my favorite airs, and it was as well rendered as I have ever heard it from the stage. I think it was duly appreciated by all present, as it met with a very hearty applause. As the last strain ceased, we were reminded by 119 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the moon that was now hanging low near the sky line of the west, that it was time to retire, so we were soon gliding over the dark waters toward our hotel, the music of the several troupes, that was conveyed to us over the ripples made by our gondola, growing fainter and fainter as we neared our temporary home. There was something sad in contemplating the thought that perhaps we would never experience the pleasure of another night on the Grand Canal of Venice. For of all places there is only one Venice, with its wonderful canals, with its art, with its music, with its silent gon- dolas, its ancient palaces and its grand old houses; with its romances of the past; with its fancies of the future; with its seductive charms, and those surround- ings that bid you forget all the serious affairs of life and idle away your time in thoughtless leisure and profitless dreams. There is only one Venice after all, and that is this same old Venice of the past, this same old Venice of the present, the old time mistress of the world, different from all other cities and with a fasci- nation of its very own. 120 Chapter IX MILAN Milan is the most progressive and up-to-date city in Italy. It strikes yon as being entirely different from the other cities of this country, and as being a city of the present rather than of the past. It is the capital of that part of Italy called Lombardy, has a population of about 500,000 people, and appears to be growing quite rapidly. White it is apparently a new and up-to-date city, it was founded a long while ago, and has some old and valued associations. It is in the center of a fairly rich country and is in command of several of the old passes through the Alps and in close communication with the two great tunnels that pierce the Alps at the present time. It has always been prosperous. It was once the capital of the whole of Italy. It has passed through all the varying fortunes that have been the luck of the cities of this country. It has been captured and recaptured by nearly all the nations of the earth. At one time when nearly as large as it is now, in the year 1162, it was completely destroyed and wiped off the map and it has been bombarded and battered on a score or more of other occasions. It was here that Napoleon I. was crowned king when he made war on this part of the country, near the beginning of the last century. 121 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE One of the greatest pieces of architecture in Milan at the present time is the Arch of Triumph which Na- poleon erected in commemoration of the fact that he was crowned king of Lombardy at this place. This, however, is the only apparent evidence at present that such an occasion had ever been celebrated in Milan, for Napoleon's reign was short, and Milan and Italy soon returned to themselves. The buildings of Milan are quite substantial and very ornamental. While they have no sky-scrapers as we have in this country, I doubt if there is a city of the same size anywhere where the stores and public buildings are more beautiful than in this city. Its streets, although many of them are very nar- row and quite crooked, are well paved and kept clean. I think it is the greatest manufacturing city in Italy. There are large automobile and car factories here, and it is famous for its productions of silk, woolen and other fabrics. Its stores are well stocked and well kept, and, unlike other cities, Milan is free from beggars and peddlers, as neither are allowed on the streets. The largest gallery building devoted to commerce in Europe is in Milan. By a gallery building, I mean one of those build- ings which are peculiar to Europe and such as I de- scribed in a measure in my letter from Naples — an immense glass and steel structure with glass-covered dome and corridors, built in the shape of a Greek cross. The corridors here are as wide as ordinary streets and are lined on both sides with two or three story sales rooms facing on the corridors. This one at 122 MILAN Milan is an immense structure. The main corridor has a length of about five hundred feet. The stores in this structure, though not the largest in Milan, keep very expensive goods, such as jewelry, silk goods, etc. The main entrance to this structure is through an arch that would do justice to any large public building, being ornamented with statues and rivaling the fine stone work of the Cathedral which it faces. Next to this gallery, with its many small shops, is a large department store such as might be expected in a large American city. It is five or six stories in height, and, in addition to passenger elevators, it has traveling sidewalks that run at an incline and carry patrons from one floor to another without any exertion on their part. The reader can see from this that Milan is up on some things besides churches and art. We made an observation tour of Milan, seated in fine, rubber-tired victorias, drawn by good horses and with drivers in livery, and enjoyed a very pleasant ride while doing so. There is nothing in the way of modern machinery that we have in this country which cannot be found either on sale or in use in Milan. The Singer Sewing Machine company does a big business here. The Na- tional Cash Eegister is on sale. Eastman's kodaks can be purchased and safety razors, etc., are shown in the windows. Nearly all the passenger elevators used in southern Europe are made in Milan, and it carries on a very large business, both in manufacturing and in the sell- ing of goods. 123 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Among all these up-to-date things, it is peculiar in these cities to run onto relics of the by-gone ages. OLD TIME RELICS Near the center of one of the busiest streets of Mi- lan is a row of immense stone columns. There are about twenty-five in all, connected by arches or lintels the entire length. They stand between the double street car tracks and are a considerable hindrance to traffic. Tbey are in a rather bad state of repair, and are sup- ported and kept in place by iron braces connecting them with the adjoining buildings. However, being relics, they are retained, even at a considerable disad- vantage, and are preserved not for any good that they may do, but simply on account of the many years since their erection. They are what is left of an old pagan temple that stood here two hundred years before the commencement of the Christian era. There is also a church in Milan, the columns of which are those used in a pagan temple that stood where the church now stands long before Christ came on earth. There are a number of interesting things in this city. There is a library which contains 300,000 volumes. Milan is also the burial place of Verdi, the great composer of operas, who, at his death, left a large amount of money for the erection of a home for poor singers. It is a beautiful structure and is duly appreciated, no doubt, by those singers who have fallen down in the battle of harmony. When I was told that this was a home for poor singers, and reflected on my own efforts in the direction of music, I concluded that 124 A GREAT CEMETERY I was eligible to a membership in this institution, and might finally land there. A GREAT CEMETERY The grandest cemetery in all of Italy, perhaps in all of the world, is an adjunct to the city of Milan. This is an old cemetery, but of late years it has taken on a new glory of its own. Several years ago it was decreed that every one who could not afford an expensive monument should get out of this cemetery and stay out, so all the bodies of the poor were removed and only the rich were left here, and only the rich are buried here now. I think there is a greater display of statuary and of fine monu- ments in this cemetery than in any other city of the dead in the world. There are scores of statuary groups, any one of which would be considered remarkable in almost any other burial ground. Most of them are real works of art, and show that the sculptors of modern times are not so far behind in the matter of working in bronze and marble, when compared with the old masters. Most of the monuments are in good form and good taste, but some are weird, some are odd, and some are simply grotesque. I remember one, where the hus- band is clasping his wife, while death, in the form of a skeleton, is tearing the wife from the husband's arms. Another represents a door standing ajar and death coming in through the small opening after his victim. One piece that struck me as more weird, perhaps, than any other, was a bronze work over the graves of three grown sons of a woman, all of whom died of consump- tion. The group represents the three young men, full- grown, covered only with winding sheets about their 125 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE loins, with their heads lying in their mother's lap and the feet of the three extending in different directions. They are represented as being as thin and bony as they must have been at the time of their demise; and the work of the artist is so painfully well done that it looks as if the bones would break through the thin skin that covers them. I thought how much better it would have been to have taken the great sum of money that it required to complete this gaunt and uncanny collection of figures and used it to prevent the further spread of the white plague, commonly called consumption. I do not think there is the least doubt that consumption or, as the doctors call it, tuberculosis, is strictly a contagious or communicable disease; that it is a call of death passed along the line from one to another, and, with proper precaution, it could be practically eliminated within a few years. These figures collected over this grave seemed to me to represent an extravagant waste of the lives of the young men who died from this dread disease, and another extravagant waste of money after they were dead, which resulted in an altogether hideous represen- tation. A beautiful monument, close to this one just de- scribed, was over the resting place of a doctor who did much for the poor when living, and, when dying, left a large estate for the care of the poor children of the city. He was a general favorite with the children and loved them all. The monument, which is of pure white marble, represents the doctor in the center of a cluster of children, all of whom are offering him flowers or 126 A GREAT CEMETERY tributes of love, and near his feet is his faithful dog, apparently gratified by the presence of the children. In addition to the many fine individual or family tombs, there are huge mausoleums where thousands of bodies are entombed, the enclosures being built in tiers, one above the other, and the whole structure be- ing surmounted by domes or towers. There are a num- ber of such structures as these in the cities of Italy; the one at Florence being a magnificent structure, and housing innumerable bodies. There is also in this cemetery a large crematory where the bodies are reduced to ashes by fire, the ashes then being retained in small caskets or urns. In connection with these furnaces there are structures for the retention of these little caskets or urns, and a great many of them are deposited here, the name, age, etc., being placed on the panel when the ashes are sealed in. the structures. This establishment was presented to the city by a wealthy German who made his home in Milan. A pe- culiar coincidence in connection with this was the fact that when it was completed, all ready for operation, and turned over as a present to the city or cemetery association, the gentleman who paid for its construc- tion died quite suddenly and was the first person whose body was reduced to ashes in its furnaces. I do not mention this crematory here as being the only one in existence. There are a number in the United States. I mention it here to express my opinion that it is the best and most sanitary way to dispose of the bodies of the dead. They have very strict rules here, however, regarding the disposition of bodies in 127 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE this institution. I was informed that they did not cremate a body unless it was provided in the will of the deceased. I do not know but that is a general rule in connection with such institutions also in the United States. For this reason the system does not make very rapid headway, as there are not many of us that have sufficient courage to fly in the face of custom and in- sist that our bodies be consigned to the flames. In fact, the most of us are not very anxious to be disposed of in any manner whatsoever. "We are all sort of like the man in Missouri who attended a church where the minister preached a sermon on heaven and hell. At the conclusion he asked all persons who wanted to go to heaven to stand up. They all stood up but one man. He then asked all to stand up who wanted to go to the other place. This man did not stand up even then. On being asked by the preacher why he did not express a desire to go to heaven or the other place, he said he was not in a hurry just then to go any place, that Mis- souri was good enough for him for a while yet, any- way. HOW ABOUT IT I was discussing recently with some one whether the statues of the old rulers of Rome, which are usually clothed in what is ordinarily termed Roman costume, represented those old Romans as they dressed in their day or whether they wore tailor-made suits such as we do now. I must confess that I never was entirely clear on this point. The old Roman costumes look so much better in marble than a well-made tailor suit, that I thought perhaps they adopted that style of dress in bronze or marble in order to make their statues appear 128 CATHEDRAL OF MILAN. Ornamented with six thousand statues. Each pinnacle supports a figure larger than an ordinary person. — Page 129. CATHEDRAL OF MILAN more graceful. It seemed to be the consensus of opin- ion that these statues represented the Roman statesmen just as they appeared in public. Otherwise the statues would not be of much value in immortalizing the per- sons for whom they were made. This line of argu- ment, however, receives a severe jolt when you come to Milan, for here in the very center of this practically modern city is the statue of so modern a ruler as the great Napoleon, which was made by and under his own direction, and cast in bronze and set up in one of the most public places in this city. In this statue the modern emperor appears as naked as Adam was before his eyes were opened by eating apples in the Garden of Eden. So I am still at a loss to know who the tailors of the old Eoman emperors were and how they dressed the old fellows up for every day life. Another thing about this statue of Napoleon is that while the emperor was rather short and not of a very prepossessing figure, he was extremely vain withal. So he directed the artist who made this statue to make him in bronze tall and handsome. The artist carried out his orders to the letter, and Napoleon stands here to-day, a regular Apollo Belvidere, and I am certain he is better shaped and of better figure than most of the men of Belvidere, Illinois, at the present time. THE CATHEDRAL OF MILAN I have written so much of old churches and tombs in connection with this series of letters that I am get- ting rather tired of the subject. And yet the great- ness of Europe is in its old churches or cathedrals and its tombs or monuments to the dead. It is impossible, therefore, to write up any of these cities without pay- 129 —9 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ing considerable attention to their chief glories, which are almost invariably their churches and their tombs. One cannot, therefore, say mnch of the city of Milan without writing something of the great Cathedral that is located here. It is of the Gothic order of architecture and is the greatest example of that class of work on the face of the globe, besides being one of the grandest houses of worship ever erected. In fact it is one of the wonders of the world. While it is not so large as St. Peter's at Rome, it is large enough to accommodate 40,000 worshippers at one time. It has the largest stained glass windows in the world, and embraces in its ornamentation over 6,000 statues, all of life size or larger. Its tower is 360 feet high and even the roof is made of marble. Five hundred years' time was consumed in erecting this building and it is still being improved and brought up to date. Its architecture is a combination of the ideas of Italian, French, German and all other masters of their pro- fession, and a culmination of many ideas and the re- sult of all kinds of differences of opinion, and even of severe disputes and quarrels of the builders. How, under these circumstances, such a beautiful and artistic building was finally produced is almost as great a wonder as the building itself. The statues with which it is ornamented are in every place, inside and out, and when the moon shines down through its many pinnacles, the building is like a fairy palace. The pe- culiarities of some of these statues, which portray vari- ous ideas, are quite remarkable. For instance, there is one of St. Bartholomew which represents the saint as 130 CATHEDRAL OF MILAN being skinned and carrying the skin over his own shoulders, with that part representing his limbs and feet on one side of his body and the other part repre- senting his head, arms and neck on the other side of his body. He is carrying the skin as a woman would wear a fur boa. This, I believe, is founded on the tradition that this saint, while being tortured by the enemies of his religion, was skinned alive and compelled to carry his own skin over his shoulders in this manner. There are other statues, notably that of St. Sebas- tian, who came to his death by being shot full of ar- rows, and is thus represented here. The ceiling of the main auditorium of the Cathe- dral is supported by fifty-two massive fluted columns. They are said to be sixteen paces in circumference, which, I should judge, would make them about four- teen feet in diameter if they were reduced to a circle. They are artistically carved and are of tremendous height. They are certainly the grandest cluster of col- umns that I have ever seen, and, I believe, they carry with them the record of the world in this respect. There are tombs and memorials on all sides in this Cathedral, but its crowning glory is in its great stained and leaded glass windows and its thousands of statues. The windows portray in their pictures all of the Bible stories from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis to the last chapter of Eevelations. The statues are of all the holy men of all ages and those who have been canonized by the church. These statues represent many good men and, maybe, some bad ones. The na- tive gentleman who showed us around the church, and who spoke rather broken English, intimated that al- 131 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE most anybody could be canonized if they had money enough and said he would not be surprised some time in the future to find the saint-like form of Pierpont Morgan in marble in one of these niches. THE LAST SUPPER The most interesting work of art in Milan, which also is one of the most interesting pictures in the world, is the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, known as "The Last Supper." This is the original of the picture that is copied so extensively throughout the Christian world, and is held in such high esteem, both as a work of art and as a portrayal of one of the most pathetic events in our Savior's life. While this picture was painted some time previous to the year 1499, or over four hun- dred years ago, it seems not to have been duly appre- ciated until quite a recent date, as compared with its age. Unfortunately, it is now scaling off, and its end is inevitable. It is painted on the plastered wall across one end of a room which forms part of the old monas- tery of Santa Maria del Grazie. The room is about thirty by sixty feet, and the picture is about twenty- four feet the long way. The room was used as a dining room by the monks, and in order to get a shorter route to and from the kitchen, they cut a door through the wall in the lower part of the picture which greatly marred the work, and which, if it had been cut a little higher, would have eliminated the picture of the Savior, which appears directly in the center of this painting. This door is sometimes shown in copies of the picture, while other copies ignore the door and give the picture as it formerly appeared before this opening was made. 132 THE LAST SUPPER Another disaster that almost completed the de- struction of this magnificent work of art came about through the invasion of Italy by Napoleon in the early part of the last century. No matter where Napoleon went he and his forces "cried havoc and let loose the dogs of war." They had no respect for anything, either sacred or profane, and everything was utilized for the advancement of their vigorous campaigns. So, when Napoleon came to Milan, he took pos- session of this old monastary and stabled his horses in this particular room. In using it as a stable his horses did great damage to the picture and practically ampu- tated the lower part of the legs of all the apostles. The damage done was irreparable and time has now com- menced where these vandals left off, and before long only a dim outline will remain. But there are millions of copies of the picture in existence, so that the people of the earth in all time to come can cherish its memory. Of course any good painter could go over the picture again and restore it to its original colors, but it would then be only a copy and the original — the grand con- ception of the artistic mind of the great da "Vinci, would be no more. A statue was erected to Leonardo da Vinci in Mi- lan, but not until 1872, about three hundred and fifty years after his death, when his work became fully ap- preciated. It seems strange, though, that this picture should have finally acquired such an enviable popularity so long after it was painted. I do not suppose that any one assumes that it represents the scene of "The Last 133 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Supper" as it actually took place. It is an imaginative picture. It was painted nearly 1,500 years after the occurrence which it portrays, and was merely a fancy of the artist, worked out to accord with his own ideas. Other artists of as great repute and, perhaps, just as much skill, have created and completed many pictures of the same subject. They have painted them on wood, on canvas, on walls, in fresco, in oil, and even made them in mosaic. Some have used round tables, some square tables, and others oblong tables; some have sur- rounded the tables on all sides, and some have placed all the apostles on one side as they are in this picture by da Vinci. Yet all of these fine pictures are prac- tically unknown, unheard of and all of them together have not been accorded one hundredth part of the dis- tinction and glory that has been accorded to these col- ors that da Vinci spread upon an ordinary wall over four hundred years ago, perhaps with only a thought of covering the barren space and never thinking that his efforts would be heard of outside of the city of Milan. What is there in a picture, in a poem, in a song, that strikes a popular chord and makes the world akin ? What is there in this picture or what is there in the simple words of "Home, Sweet Home" or "The Last Rose of Summer" that awakens a response in the heart of any one who has a thought above the love of strata- gem and crime? What is there in the few simple colors used by da Vinci in his "Last Supper" that touches the hearts of the whole Christian world ; that calls forth a holy adora- tion, and that makes all men better ; that brings heaven 134 THE LAST SUPPER and earth nearer together, and that gives everyone a truer conception of the sorrows of the Savior who gave His life for the redemption of the world? 135 Chapter X THE RAILROADS OF ITALY The railroads of Italy do not rank with those of the United States. Between Naples and Rome there are some American cars with aisles running through the center. They are called first-class here, but would be about equal to second-class cars in our country. All the other cars that we have found here are of the com- partment order, usually with doors entering from the sides. The doors open outward and six people occupy each compartment, sitting three on each side of the compartment, facing each other, and the seats running crosswise in the car. Some of the cars are of good length, a corridor or diminutive hallway running down one side the full length of the car, but most of the cars are cut up into short suites; first-class passengers occu- pying one end of the cars and second-class the other end while the third-class passengers are crowded into a full size car by themselves. If there is any advantage in a compartment car over the American style of car, I have not discovered it, while to my mind there are several serious disadvantages. Before the train starts the compartments are locked or bolted on the outside. Sometimes they overlook this little formality and per- sons leaning against the doorway may spring it open and then stay in if they can. As they do not check any baggage free in Italy, and lots of people travel 136 RAILROADS OF ITALY over the continent without trunks, everybody is over- loaded with so-called hand-baggage. There are valises and suit cases almost as big as Saratoga trunks. By the time six people get their wraps and baggage into one of these little compartments, it presents an appear- ance similar to a checking room at a busy hotel, and then the six people get into the space that is just about big enough for one man to do checking. While there are some compartments for smokers and some for those who do not, there is usually some fashionable "Dago" with his moustache turned up at the ends, who ignores the rules and smokes bad-smelling cigarettes. As but few of the trains carry dining cars, the travelers stock with wine and eatables and the compartment is then turned into a dining car, and every man is his own steward. Tom Moore refers beautifully to the "ban- quet hall deserted," but a compartment less than seven feet square with six people, four hundred pounds of baggage, a lot of luggage, overcoats, cloaks, overshoes, field-glasses, traveling guide books, newspapers and with a full-fledged meal going on with wine and cigar- ettes, can hardly be classed, poetically or otherwise, as a deserted banquet hall. There is a dining car on the run between Naples and Eome. It is called a wagon restaurant. The dinner is served in courses. Before dinner time a gentleman passes through the train and assigns seats at the first and second sitting, and the meal is served with considerable formality. The short, or ordinary coaches, have only four wheels, one on each corner, and as the coaches are short and set up high on large wheels and have stiff springs and do not have rubber tires, the motion is somewhat 137 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE jerky. I have often heard of "jerk-water" trains and never knew what was meant by the expression, but it might be applied to these trains. We rode in one of these cars from Florence to Venice. From Venice to Milan the cars and roads were much better. The freight cars are small, have only fonr wheels each, and certainly wonld not carry more than one-fourth of what we would consider a load at home. The train- men do not announce the names of the stations as they approach them, but wait until the train stops, and then they run along the sides of the cars and yell out the names of the towns. If anybody wants to get off they unlock the cage and let him out. When the business at the station is completed, a bell that hangs to the side of the building is rung by the station agent. The con- ductor, taking his cue from this, with a little brass horn blows a good long note in the "Key of B-nat" and away the train goes. The engines do not have cow- catchers and do not need them, as almost all wagon roads go over or under the railroads, and all grade crossings have iron gates and watchmen, even out in the country. All lines that we have passed over here have double tracks and the trains run pretty fast, although they use more time at the stations than is usual in our country. The hardest ride we had was between Flor- ence and Venice, a distance by rail of about 120 miles. We left Florence at 14 :35 p. m. and arrived at Venice at 21 :45 the same night. The time is counted twenty- four hours in the day, commencing at midnight and running until midnight following, the hours being numbered consecutively from one to twenty-four. Dur- ing this time, however, we stopped forty minutes at 138 ITALIAN HOTELS Bologna, where a course dinner with an accompaniment of wine was served. There are probably other differ- ences between Italian and American railways, and they may have some good ideas that our railway men have overlooked, for American railway travel is not yet per- fection. THE ITALIAN HOTELS The hotels are remarkably good and there are many of them, and considering the elegance of their appoint- ments, their prices are reasonable. The meals, aside from breakfast, are quite sumptuous, and always served by high-toned gentlemen wearing claw-hammer coats, in dining rooms that are embellished with frescoes and statuary, and are frequently accompanied with orches- tra music. Hotel offices, corridors, etc., are always cov- ered with tile, and bedrooms sometimes have tile floors also. The hotels on the average are more artistic than American hotels. Prices in good hotels for double rooms, that is two persons in one room, average, in- cluding meals, about $3 per day for each person. Of course there are choice quarters in some hotels that run up to any price. For instance, at Naples some of the steamer people, who had ordered rooms in advance, found these quarters ready for them at $20 per day for each family of three people. That was $6.66 per day for each person without their meals. These, how- ever, were extraordinary. Ordinary travelers, if they go in pairs, can get along at about $3.00 per day and live well. Many average less than this. There are a good many extra charges and tips. Coffee and tea, etc., for breakfast, and wine are always charged for extra, and there is more wine ordered than either tea 139 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE or coffee. Wine and roses are very cheap, so an Ameri- can can indulge freely in two luxuries that are usually beyond his reach at home. The matter of baggage is a serious one, if the traveler is much encumbered with trunks. All trunks are weighed in at each station, and sent and charged for as express matter, and are a source of much profit to the railroad and terror to the traveler. Notwith- standing this, it is remarkable how much baggage some people carry. There were nearly three carloads on the train in which we left Venice. Some people send their baggage through by express or freight. Still this is ex- pensive. A young couple whom we met sent a good- sized trunk from Milan to Paris by freight. It cost them $17. It is, therefore, advisable to fly light in the way of baggage while traveling in this country. It is not absolutely necessary to speak any for- eign language in traveling here, although it would be con- venient to understand French, which everybody seems to use as well as Italian. All hotels have someone who can speak English as well as several other languages, and most stores that expect the trade of travelers have English-speaking clerks. It sort of takes the conceit out of a fellow who thinks he is pretty well educated, but who can speak only one language indifferently, to find a hack driver who speaks three or four and porters in a hotel shining shoes that can speak five or six. There are a great many German and French trav- elers here, so all notices about hotels, etc., are usually printed in four different languages, Italian, French, English and German. I should imagine the ordinary job printer must be a wise one, or be subject to con- 140 ANGLO-ITALIAN siderable trouble in reading proof on the work he turns out. ITALIAN MONEY The money of Italy is based on a unit of one lira, which is usually called a franc. Theoretically, the franc is divided into one hundred parts, but the small- est coin used is a five centime piece, and, as the franc has a value of twenty cents, the five centime is equal to the one cent piece of the United States. The franc is a trifle smaller than an American quarter and is made of silver. The five centime is made of copper and is about the same size as the franc. The ten centime, or the equal of two cents, is made of copper nearly as large as the American half dollar. Five and ten franc pieces are what we used to call ' ' shinplasters " during the war, being made of paper about two by four inches in size. The fifty and one hundred franc bills are about the size of cigar box labels and look consid- erably like them. All prices are made on the lira or franc basis, and bills seem extravagantly large. A hotel bill, for instance, that comes to $22.50 will be made out so that it foots f 112. 50, and it takes your breath some- times before you think of it being francs. Ten dollars in copper would be as much as a good strong man would want to carry. In this country, however, your big coppers do not last long, as you are expected to hand them out on every occasion as tips and gratuities. In order to meet these demands, you must go loaded with a pocket full of financial junk at all times. ANGLO-ITALIAN AND THE SIGN LANGUAGE The inability to speak a native language in a for- eign country sometimes leads to considerable delay and 141 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE frequently to ludicrous incidents. I have concluded, however, that a traveler, if he could tell exactly what he wanted, would miss a good many jokes, usually on himself, that break the monotony of the trip. At Rome we engaged a driver who wore a green neck-tie and spoke pretty fair English. In fact, his language was quite plain. When we asked him his name, he said that it was Stephen Kelley, and that he was born in Killar- ney. He was a treasure and we stuck to him. We did not have such good luck in Florence. It is further in- land and hasn't so many visitors and very few peo- ple there understand English. We selected, from a gang of cabmen, the worst looking one and asked him to drive us to the gallery. When we arrived there we found no one who could speak English in attendance, so we appealed to our driver to take us to where we could find an English speaking guide. He looked at us in blank bewilderment. We told him we wanted an English speaking guide. Then we repeated, "Guide! Guide ! ! Guide ! ! ! " " Guida, ala Anglaise. " " Guida Polevue de Franca," "Deutsche von Sproken English." "Show me, I'm from Missouri." "English!" "English!!" "English!!!" "Guida de Galleria An- glaise, de Americana," etc. We thought this was good enough Italian for anyone. After about fifteen min- utes of this sort of argument on our part, our driver concluded that we wanted something English so he answered, "Si, Senor, Anglishe, Anglishe, Senor, Ang- lishe, Si, Senor." Having thus come to a mutual un- derstanding with each other, the driver grabbed up the lines and dashed at break-neck speed about a mile down through the city. Knowing we were going in the 142 ON LAKE COMO wrong direction, I tried to stop him, but he would not have it. Finally he came up abreast of an English Episcopal church, where, it being Sunday, services were proceeding. There was a smile of satisfaction on the driver's face as he was sure he had found what we wanted. Getting out of the carriage I went into the church, and, calling one of the worshippers from prayer, I explained to him that we had been kidnaped and carried off by an Italian and wanted to get back to the gallery. The worshipper ex-translated our ideas and imparted them to the driver and we returned to the starting place and we were all right again. In another instance, having no napkin, I requested the waiter in Anglo-Italian and the sign language, to get me one. As I did so, I looked under the table to see if I had dropped it on the floor. After much searching, the waiter came back with a foot-stool. One night while stopping at a Swiss hotel, the weather being a little cool, we requested an extra blan- ket for each bed. The maid returned after due time with two feather beds which she kindly offered to us. There is one thing that you can rely upon, and that is whenever you ask for anything, whether they under- stand you or not, you are very likely to get something. ON LAKE COMO Leaving Milan one hot, bright afternoon, we took the cars for the town of Como on the lake of the same name, where we changed to a boat which runs on the lake. Lake Como is thirty miles long and six hundred and fifty feet higher than the ocean. It is one of the north- ern lakes of Italy and is a beautiful body of water. It is surrounded by high mountains, some of which, in 143 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the month of May, while we were here, were covered with snow. Below the timber line they were overgrown with evergreens, chestnut and walnnt trees, and vari- ous other trees and species of vegetation. There are lots of villages and cities on the borders of the lake, and innumerable hotels and summer cot- tages. It is really surprising to see the evidences of travel and recreation on this and other lakes in this lo- cality. The town or city of Oomo is considerable of a place ; has a silk factory, and some other industries, but is not of special interest to visitors. We therefore continued our journey on the lake. After having spent several weeks among old ruins, old cathedrals and the works of the old masters, it was really refreshing to get out on the bosom of this lake where its smooth waters presented a beautiful contrast to the many specimens of architecture which we had looked upon, and where the green mountains with their snow-capped tops made larger and really more beau- tiful pictures than either the old or the modern artists could create. The boat on which we sailed was a fairly good-sized craft; at least as large as some of the smaller passenger boats on the northern lakes of the United States. We stopped at several stations or landings on the way to our objective point, which was the town of Menaggio, where we intended to spend the night. At most of the landings there were beautiful hotels with broad piazzas and vine-clad trellises which presented a very inviting and restful appearance. I think, though, what really attracted most attention from the passengers was the 144 MEETING OLD FRIENDS number of women who were doing their family washing in close proximity to each landing we made. These women would lay their wash boards, which were simply a flat board like the lid of an ordinary packing box with a place near the top to hold the soap, down on the shore. Then they would lay the pieces that were to be laundered on this board and, after soaping them, would scrub them with a scrubbing brush. Some of them, who seemed to think that this was too slow a process, had a wooden paddle about as large as an ordin- ary scrubbing brush with a handle on one end perhaps a foot long, with which they would pound the pieces on the wash boards quite vigorously, as though they had a spite against the dirt. At one of the landings, there was a woman who had a small boy whom she was trying to teach to do wash- ing. The small boy did not take kindly to the profes- sion, and the woman had a very strenuous time with him in giving him apparently his first lesson. MEETING OLD FRIENDS After embarking on the boat we met the "twins'' and their father. I do not think, though, that I have mentioned the "twins" heretofore in this series of let- ters, so I will say at this time that they were two young ladies who crossed over from New York to Naples on the same steamer with us, and I found out on this trip on this little lake what I had not discovered before, that many years ago their father and the writer of these articles were in business within half a block of each other in a western city, and had been acquainted at that time, which now seemed in the long ago. The twins were very handsome young ladies, very lady-like and very 145 —10 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE agreeable, and on the ship they received considerable attention from the young men who were traveling in the same direction. It transpired that their birthday oc- curred while they were in Rome, and a number of the young men who had made their acquaintance tendered them a most elegant reception and banquet at one of the hotels near the home of the old Caesars. It is hardly necessary to say that people, on such trips as we were enjoying, become very fast friends, even on limited acquaintance. "We are all strangers in a strange land, and a community of interests brings us very close together and we willingly accommodate ourselves to each other's movements. So, when we met these folks, instead of stopping at Menaggio on Lake Como, as we had intended, we changed our trip to the extent of joining with the twins and their father to journey on a considerable distance farther this same night, and stop at the town of Paradiso, near Lugano, on another lake separated from Lake Como by a chain of mountains. The two lakes are about ten miles apart; the line of communication between the two being one of the most peculiar and interesting little railways that it has been my pleasure to encounter. It is a narrow-gauge insti- tution using cars which are hardly as large as street cars of an ordinary city line, which are drawn by small steam locomotives. While the railway runs through a pass in the mountains, the elevation between the two lakes is considerably higher than either of them. The lake to which we were going was something over two hundred feet higher than the lake which we had left. After being seated in the little cars, the train started up 146 MEETING OLD FRIENDS obliquely along the side of the mountain away from the town where we had taken the train. After running a distance of perhaps an eighth of a mile, the train stopped, a switch was turned, and the train was hauled back nearly parallel with the first track except at a much higher grade so that in a few minutes we could look down upon the housetops and the chimneys of the town we had just left. Lake Como was spread out at our feet like a map laid on the floor for examination, and it presented a very beautiful sight. The green waters reflected the mountains with which they were surrounded, and the little towns could be seen for miles in every direction. The steamboats and the row-boats dotted the surface of the lake and it was a real picture. It was lightened and made beautiful by the sun, which was just setting in the mountains to the west, and illumi- nated by electric lights that were just being turned on in the many settlements. At this place the little rail- way made a curve and the train started through the pass in the mountains, crawling higher and higher as it went, until it reached within a few miles an altitude of several hundred feet. Then there was a station where the train stopped and from that place it was down grade to the lake we were approaching. It was sort of like being drawn up by main force to the highest point of a scenic railway and then being let loose to run down to the end by the attraction of gravity and of our own volition. 147 Chapter XI INTO SWITZERLAND At the end we came to the town of Porlezza and em- barked on a little steamer on Lake Lugano. This lake is eight hundred and seventy-five feet above the ocean, so you will see that we were gradually working up in the world. It is twenty miles long and is another one of the beauties of this section. To make the place more at- tractive there was an old ruined castle near the landing. It had now grown late in the evening, and we were gratified to find on the lower deck of the boat a magnifi- cent hot supper awaiting us. Night was coming on and the full moon hung over the lake, and between bites of good meat and good bread and sips of good liquids, we looked out through the steamer windows at the moun- tain sides passing by and the cascades which were tumb- ling down over the rugged rocks. There were not many people on the steamer, and, as evening advanced and the stars glinted more brightly, the scene became more fasci- nating. In place of an orchestra on the boat there was one little old be-whiskered man sitting in the dark, evidently blind, who played a violin, or perhaps it would be more becoming, as he was so far behind the times in every other thing, to say that he was playing a "fiddle." He played with a very light stroke; you could scarcely hear him ten feet away, and I thought the violin spoke a 148 INTO SWITZERLAND low and plaintive language that told of the miseries and sorrows of the old man who manipulated the bow. With this accompaniment of melody, with the moon and the stars to light us from above, the lamps on the steamer to piek out our pathway on the waters, and the bright lights of the hotels and little villages along the shores to guide us, before we knew it we had slipped un- consciously from the great kingdom of Italy into the little republic of Switzerland. In fact, we would not have known we had changed from one country to another had it not been that a very polite gentleman explained to us through the interpretation of our fellow traveler, who spoke German, that he would be pleased to place a small label on our baggage without examination to show that it had passed through the custom house of Switzer- land and was entitled to go wheresoever it pleased in the model republic of the world. We soon came to the town of Lugano and next to it our stopping place for the night, a suburb called Paradiso, which was the next thing to Paradise, as its name implies. In close proximity to Paradiso are two high, sharp-pointed mountains. One is called Mt. Salvatore, which has an elevation of 2,980 feet, with a cable railway running to the top. We went up this cable line the next day. It was Saturday night when we arrived at Paradiso. We stopped at a small hotel and were soon lost to the troubles of earth and the changes of travel in a very de- lightful sleep. When we awoke the next morning it was with the song of birds, and we looked with pleasure out over the little lake over which we had passed the night previous and the mountain sentinels about it. 149 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Lugano, which, adjoins Paradiso, lies in a semi-circle around the end of the lake and presents a very charm- ing appearance from the lake as you approach the city, especially at night when the streets and all the hotels are lighted up. It must be the stopping place of a great many visitors and the resting place of a great many peo- ple who come here for recreation and pleasure, for while the town is accorded a population of something less than ten thousand, it has thirty-five hotels which are of suffi- cient importance to be named in the official guide as places for tourists to patronize. Some of them are great palaces and are brilliantly illuminated at night. The Sabbath morning opened out bright and beauti- ful and our breakfast was served on an enclosed porch adjoining a small garden full of flowers and overlook- ing the lake. "While we were partaking of our breakfast several steamboats passed in front of us and a number of smaller boats were moving to and fro over the water. From the top of Mt. Salvatore we could take in a large scope; could follow the outline of the larger lake and see a number of smaller lakes clustered among the mountains. Small towns, of which there were a number in view, were clustered upon the mountainsides in va- rious places, and the railway leading off in each direc- tion with its steel bands appeared to attach this fairy land in which we had rested to the balance of the world. At our feet the railway encircled Mt. Salvatore, and, after making a sweeping curve, crossed the lake on a long bridge, the train appearing like a miniature railway in a toy picture. A TRAVELING COMPANION Noon came, and our friends, with whom we had 150 A TRAVELING COMPANION spent the last day, took their leave of us and their de- parture from Paradiso to visit the home of their ances- tors somewhere in Germany, and we were again left alone. The little hotel at which we were stopping seemed somewhat lonely under these circumstances, so we con- cluded to take our noon-day lunch at one of the larger hotels down in the city of Lugano. We engaged a one- horse cab and took a ride down through the entire length of the city, which, being stretched out around the end of the lake, is about ten times as long as it is wide. We were shown several very delightful little crags and dells by the cab driver, who, not knowing a word of English, explained in sign language as he went by them. We re- turned to one of the great hotels which occupied a prom- inent location on the lake, and which had a marble en- trance that looked like the opening to some public build- ing, and which embraces, as a part of its possessions, a nice garden ornamented with palms, shade trees, etc. We were ushered into a large dining room where there were a lot of people already at the tables. We were somewhat gratified to see among the number a German- American friend of ours who had occupied a seat at the steamer table directly opposite us on our long ocean journey. He is connected with one of the great Ger- man dailies of New York city. He is a remarkably genial and pleasant gentleman, but, while he does not think so, he has a great number of eccentricities. He is a bachelor of several years' standing and expresses the determination not to change from his present condition in that respect. But he will. He was seated with a nice company of old friends whom he had known a long while, and who had been awaiting his arrival. He 151 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE greeted us cordially from beyond an embankment of good victuals, a bouquet of roses and a large bottle of wine. He introduced us to bis friends, who, it appeared, were Americans who had been spending about one year in travel in this country, and we soon felt as though we were among home folks again. Our German friend had supplied himself when he started with a large amount of baggage and a new com- plex photographing outfit, so on the start of the trip he had about all he could look after. He was as much of a stranger to the art of taking pictures as most of us would be to the art of walking a tight rope, but he was quite certain that he was making a great success of taking almost everything in sight, and was using up films as though they were as cheap as blotting paper. While he had considerable to look after when he started, he had less as he went along. At the first convenient station he had shipped his largest suit case to his objective point of visit in Ger- many. On the first train which he took in Italy he changed his hat to a traveling cap and then went off the train at a way station, leaving his hat to continue the journey. At some hotel he parted company with his umbrella and at the next station he shipped one more of his satchels on to Germany. I presume by the time he reached his relatives in the fatherland, whither he was going, he was about as destitute of baggage and para- phernalia as the prodigal son was when he returned to the home of his father. But he is a genial gentleman and no matter where I travel the rest of my life, I will always be pleased to remember the pleasant times we had with our German friend. 152 MUSIC ON THE WATER We arranged right there to leave Lugano on the same train the next morning and all of his friends were down to assist us with our baggage, and wave us a fond farewell as we were carried away from this charm- ing place. MUSIC ON THE WATER Sunday evening before leaving Paradiso, we con- cluded to enjoy a boat ride on the lake. Going down to the beach we met two or three boatmen who had very nice row-boats and who appealed to us in a mixture of French, German and Italian, to engage them. After some negotiation as to price, as they asked us three times what they should have demanded, we arranged with one of them at a fairly reasonable stipend. We were soon out on the lake. It was as lovely a moonlight night as anyone could imagine. There were a number of other people rowing on the lake and many of the boats were filled with people, song and laughter. The music from the hotel orchestras also floated out over the water, and the reflection of the lights on the mirror-like surface was magnificent. At one time a boat load of singers passed near us. They were singing an Italian air and were accompanied by some instrument. We listened to them with considerable pleasure and, as they reached the closing stanza and there was silence on the lake, I was impressed with the idea that it would be proper to return the compliment of their music, so I responded in a somewhat vigorous manner with a few verses of that old southern melody: "On the Tombigbee River so bright, was I born In a little thatched cot 'mid the tall yellow corn, It was there that I met my sweet Alice so true, And I rowed her about in my gumtree canoe." 153 SIXTY DAYS IN EUEOPE They seemed to listen attentively, but it is hardly necessary to say that this closed the singing for that evening on that part of the lake. But it was an enchant- ing scene, and, as the boatman lighted a little lamp and placed it in the bow of the boat and in so doing had his back turned in our direction, I felt that it was an oc- casion when a man might be justified in making love to and even kissing his own wife. CROSSING THE ALPS Our next stopping place was the wonderfully beau- tiful city of Lucerne on the famous lake after which the town is named. In order to reach Lucerne from Lu- gano, it is necessary to cross the Alps. The crossing of the Alps has now been made famous by the journey hav- ing been made by four distinguished individuals; the first of whom was Hannibal, the great general, who crossed in the year 219 B. C. The next was Albert von Stade, a Benedictine monk, who went over the Alps in the thirteenth century. The next was Napoleon I., who crossed with his armies about the year 1800, to subdue Lombardy, and the next was your humble servant, the writer of these lines, who crossed in the month of May of this year. It is recorded of Hannibal that his trip over the Alps was undertaken with 90,000 men on foot, 12,000 men on horses and 37 elephants; that at the end of his journey he could muster only 20,000 men on foot and 6,000 men on horses. The elephants and the other 76,000 men and 6,000 horses had been left in the snow and ice along the way. How many soldiers Napoleon lost on his campaign over the Alps I am unable to say. As the Benedictine 154 ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY monk went entirely by himself and had nothing to start with, nor acquired anything afterwards, he did not lose anything on the way. I am glad to record at this time that the fourth person mentioned above as having crossed the Alps came through in most excellent shape with all of his belongings. He had the advantage of the others, as the facilities have been improved. THE ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY In going from Lugano to Lucerne we took the St. Gothard railway from Lugano to a little town called Fluelen, and a steamer from there on the lake of Lucerne to the city. The building of the railroad was one of the most remarkable pieces of railway engineering that has ever been accomplished. I have traveled over the most picturesque railways in America and Mexico — railways that in their building seemed almost to overcome the insurmountable of obstacles. But it appears to me that the building of this double-track St. Gothard railway presented more problems than were encountered in any or all of the other ralways over which I have traveled. It follows rivers, ravines and mountain crevices. It penetrates great mountains of stone and is carried on spider-like bridges over immense chasms. It winds, twists and loops over itself as though it were some great serpent in distress and presents the most beautiful land- scapes and daring pictures that could possibly be im- agined. In less than two hundred miles it passes through seventy-six tunnels, crosses three hundred and twenty-four large bridges and many small ones and uses altogether one thousand, three hundred and eighty- four artificial structures. Five times on its way the tracks loop the loop. They leave what would appear to 155 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE be their proper route, dash into the dark, stony moun- tains, come around hundreds of yards, rise spirally, and come out over and above the same tracks in order to get a higher elevation on the mountain side. Sometimes the mountains are thousands of feet above the tracks on one side and the valleys almost as far below on the other. Beneath, as you look down, you see the green valley and the purling streams. Abreast of you are the great cas- cades, leaping hundreds of feet over the mountain ridges, and far above them are the eternal snows of the mountain tops. There are scores of these cascades that leap out over the mountain as though they were set up for your edification and operated for your pleasure as you go by. Away up on the hillsides are little Swiss cottages; beyond them are great hotels with their cable railways leading to them. Above them are the mountain tops and the only thing above them is the dome of heaven, for the mountains reach higher than the clouds. ST. GOTHARD TUNNEL The greatest work on this railway was the building of the St. Gothard tunnel below the pass, from which the road takes its name. This is nine miles long, accommo- dates a double track railway the entire length ; is twenty feet high, twenty-six feet wide and cost fifteen million dollars. It took ten years to build it and over two mil- lion pounds of dynamite was used in the necessary blast- ing. The history of the construction of this tunnel, if written out, would make a story that would be as roman- tic as though it were not the truth. This tunnel is im- mediately beneath the St. Gothard pass, where the old monks with their St. Bernard dogs saved so many lives 156 ST. GOTHARD TUNNEL before the tunnel was built, and are engaged in the same arduous and charitable work at this time. This tunnel is one thousand feet immediately beneath the village of Andermatt, three thousand feet beneath the Lake of Sella, and six thousand feet below the summit of the mountain. The old monks, while they do not have as much to do in the way of rescue as they had before this railway was completed, still find it necessary to maintain their hospice and their dogs to save the lives of people who get lost in the everlasting snows of the Alps. In Switzerland, I do not remember the exact lo- cation now, there is a somewhat pretentious monument erected to one of these dogs. This animal had a record of having saved the lives of fifty persons, but unfor- tunately came to his death by being stabbed by a man who had become delirious from his sufferings, and whose life this faithful dog was endeavoring to save at the time. Is it any wonder that people like dogs as well as they do? 157 Chapter XII ON LAKE LUCERNE Arriving at the little town of Fluelen, and our tickets being good either on the train or on the boat to Lucerne, we concluded to accept the latter alternative and enjoy a ride up this lake, which is justly cele- brated as one of the most beautiful of all lakes. Of course the water in one lake looks about the same as the water in any other lake, but Lucerne is so completely surrounded by majestic, snow-capped mountains, is so irregular in its shape, and so walled in by great preci- pices, that its beauty is peculiar to itself. It is also a place of considerable historical importance and its legends are based on the most extravagant fancies. At Fluelen are the remarkable roadways that are tunneled through the solid rock along the margin of the lake. The natural solid stone walls rise so abruptly from the water of the lake that there is no room for roadways between the water and the bluffs. To fa- cilitate travel, roadways are cut through these solid walls near the surface, and for light and ventilation openings are made through the walls looking Out onto the lake. When one contemplates the work of building such roads, he can have some idea as to the industry, thrift and staying qualities of the hardy natives of Switzerland. At several places back of this roadway, built in like manner, is the tunnel through which the 158 WILLIAM TELL railroad passes, so that as you pass up the lake on a steamer it is very interesting to see the carriages on the roadway and the railway trains pass in and out of these tunnels. They look as though they were playing hide and seek with each other or the people on the boat. I could not name all the mountains that can be seen from Lake Lucerne. Very few people can. But two of the most remarkable are Mt. Riga and Mt. Pilatus. Both of these have railways running to the top or nearly so, and large hotels are open there in the summer season. Mt. Pilatus is named after Pontius Pilate, and there is a legend that after the crucifixion of Christ, Pontius Pi- late, filled with remorse, came to this mountain and, go- ing to the top thereof, committed suicide. There used to be a good deal of superstition regarding this moun- tain, and people were not allowed to go up on Friday, but since the railroad has been built to the top and the hotel is opened up there, these superstitions have, to a considerable extent, disappeared, and people go up there and stay up there every day in the week. Soon after embarking on the boat we came to a lit- tle chapel close to the water's edge, which is called ' ' Tell 's Chapel. ' ' All over Switzerland you hear of Wil- liam Tell, and, while William Tell perhaps never lived, he still remains the one greatest man of Switzerland. I think it just as well, then, to stop here and tell a little of this remarkable character who is famous as having shot the apple from his son's head, and after whom a beautiful opera has been named, based upon Schiller's famous drama bearing this illustrious name. THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL It appears that, in the year 1307, Austria had con- 159 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE trol of Switzerland, and, as a representative of Austria in control of the subjugated country, was a governor by the name of Gessler, who, however, was known by the title of bailiff. Nowadays, in our country, that title is usually applied only to court sheriffs, but in those days it seems to have been an important designation. Gess- ler was not satisfied to administer the affairs of Switzer- land in even an overbearing and oppressive manner, but must go further and humiliate the citizens of the proud little country. He, therefore, placed a cap on a tall pole in one of the principal cities and ordered all of the na- tives to come in and pass by that cap on the pole and bow to the same in token of their submission to his rule and that of the emperor of Austria. "William Tell was a hunter that lived near Burglen in the canton of Uri, and was then a member of a con- spiracy against Austria to overthrow its usurpation and to gain the freedom of Switzerland. Tell was an inde- pendent patriot and a man of very strong convictions. He had ideas of his own, and one of these was that he would not surrender to Gessler, no matter whether he represented the emperor of Austria or any other poten- tate on the face of the globe. He therefore refused to make obeisance to Gessler 's cap. For this he was thrown into prison and condemned to death. Tell had achieved at least a local reputation as a good shot with a bow and arrow, which was the principal weapon of warfare in Switzerland at that time. Gessler heard of this and made a proposition to Tell that he would pardon him on one condition, that condition being that Tell should shoot an apple from the head of his own beloved son. This required such expert marksmanship that Gessler was 160 THE LION OF LUCERNE. 'One of the most impressive, dignified, beautiful and peculiar monuments that could have been designed." — Page 167. WILLIAM TELL sure that, if Tell should make the attempt, it would re- sult in shooting his son through the head. Tell, however, having confidence in his ability to hit the mark, accepted the proposition, and, on a certain day, before a large as- semblage, the test was undertaken. It was a wonder- ful shot. Tell's trustworthy arrow sped from the bow, struck the apple directly in the center, splitting it in two parts, which fell one on each side of his boy. Under the conditions Tell was entitled to his freedom. But just before it was granted, Gessler noted that Tell had placed two arrows in his quiver, the one of which he had used in shooting the apple, but the other remained unused. Gessler asked Tell why he had carried with him the sec- ond arrow. Tell answered that while he was certain that he would accomplish the difficult task of shooting the ap- ple off his boy's head, there was some chance that the arrow would fall short and pierce the head or heart of his son. In that event he would have used the second arrow to shoot Gessler and would have caused his death before anyone couid have interfered. This explanation, while true and likewise honest, did not please Gessler at all, and he refused to grant the par- don as agreed. So Tell was again placed in chains to be taken to the village of Kussnacht for a new trial, which, under the circumstances, would very like- ly have resuted in his again being condemned to death. "While they were crossing the lake the boat was over- taken by a severe storm and was in great danger of being wrecked. As Tell was a good sailor and the only good sailor on board, he was unchained in order that he might steer the craft to safety. He assumed the re- sponsibility, and, taking the helm of the boat, soon had 161 —11 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE it in a direct line for the shore. But as he reached the point where this little chapel now stands, he turned the rudder, swung the boat around, and, as it started for the center of the lake, Tell made a great leap, landed safely on the shore, and the boat went back into the raging storm. One might have supposed that Tell would have used his knowledge of the country and the sturdiness of his limbs to get away from Gessler, but not so. Tell was not satisfied with such a course and felt that he had a grievance against the foreign bailiff, and a duty to his country to perform. He therefore secreted himself at a certain point in the forest overlooking a defile through which it would be necessary for Gessler to pass on his way to his home in case he escaped from the storm on the lake. The devil usually takes care of his own, and so it was in this case, but only to a certain extent. Gessler managed to again bring the boat to shore and started with his followers through the wood, considerably chagrined that he had lost his prisoner. As he passed where Tell was concealed, the great forester arose, and, pulling back the string of his bow, sent an arrow through the heart of his hated foe and Gessler fell from his horse dead before his body- guard could reach him. The news of Gessler 's death spread like wild-fire over the country and was the occasion of a general up- rising in the cantons. An army was quickly raised and Switzerland thereby gained its freedom, and Tell be- came the greatest character that this part of the world has ever known. This happened nearly six hundred years ago, and almost all the time since that the historians and students 162 WILLIAM TELL have been carrying on a controversy as to whether Tell ever lived or whether he did not, or whether the whole story of William Tell, Gessler and the apple is only a myth. Be that as it may, this chapel represents the place where Tell made his famous leap, and a great leap it was. There is another Tell Chapel in the woods a few miles beyond Lucerne in the other direction. This chapel commemorates the death of Tell, who was supposed to have lost his life in the saving of a child in a great freshet which occurred in one of the mountain rivers of Switzerland. In this second chapel there are two rather crude pic- tures, one of which represents Tell and Gessler just as the arrow had pierced the latter and he is falling from his horse. The other picture represents Tell throwing a child to its mother as the torrent is carrying him over the cataract. "Whether Tell lived or whether he did not, his story is a good one, and in these latter years Tell has had many imitators. Buffalo Bill, when first posing as a sure shot in exhibitions, used to electrify his audience by shooting potatoes off the head of one of his assistants ; using a rifle, however, instead of a bow and arrow. Several other expert shots in vaudeville, with rifles, have repeated the act of Tell and have shot apples from the heads of other persons. A few years ago, a noted expert shot of this kind, whose wife held the apple on her head, sent a bullet crashing through her brain and she died almost in- stantly. Near the Tell Chapel, on the other side of the lake, is a natural stone obelisk, which stands high above the 163 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE water of the lake. It has been converted into a monu- ment to the immortal Schiller, who wrote the drama on the life of William Tell, and his name with appropriate dedication has been placed in letters of gold upon this natural monument. They evidently feel kindly toward Schiller in Switzerland for what he did for the fame of William Tell. Another peculiar monument on the banks of the Lake of Lucerne is near the city. It stands on a rocky point, the figure being clothed in a gown, with the hands outstretched as inviting the world to come. This stands near a large private villa, and, I was told, was erected by a wealthy woman who owns the villa, as a shrine and to commemorate her recovery from a very serious ill- ness. THE CITY OF LUCERNE After a few hours ride on this very beautiful lake, in which time we had passed a number of steamers similar to the one on which we were, and several towns, we came to that gem of municipalities, known through- out the civilized world for its own peculiar beauty and the magnificent surroundings which it enjoys. That place which almost everybody wants to see at least once, and, having seen it once, is sure to have a desire to re- turn and see it again. That Mecca of many travelers, that resting place of all, the lovely city of Lucerne. I know of few places that are more inviting and that look more substantial, and, at the same time, more fairy-like than this city. Where it is located the lake comes to an end and narrows into a river which is spanned by a peculiar bridge which is noted for the sa- cred pictures which ornament the cross braces and beams 164 GOOD PLACE TO REST the entire length of the bridge, and there is another bridge beyond. The town is on both sides of this river and bends around the end of the lake in a graceful horseshoe curve. There is a succession of villas, hotels, parks and churches along the lake front. All the houses seem to be ornamental, the old bridges are quaint, some great fortresses are in evidence with picturesque min- arets, towers and battlements. One church, larger than all the rest, has two tall steeples, and even the railway station, which is a large building, is of peculiar con- struction, and has a dome like some great public edifice. The city is backed on all sides by high hills, many of which continue up in peaks and points until they reach that line above which the snow and ice remain every day of the year, and Mt. Pilatus is the giant of them all. In looking at Lucerne as you approach it, it presents a view that is the most advantageous possible for the dis- play of a lovely picturesque city. A GOOD PLACE TO REST The hotels are numerous and some of them are very fine structures. The one which we selected as a stopping place suited me first-rate. It was a comparatively new .house, having been in operation only about one year. It was built of a nearly white stone with a French roof and was a very pleasing specimen of architecture from jthe outside. The main entrance was beneath a small arch, supported by large statues on each side. It had one of the new style revolving doors which was made almost entirely of plate glass, and set in a wall or par- tition made of plate glass with bevel edges, and each piece apparently cut in different shape. The floors were of marble and the halls were wainscoted with tile. 165 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE In addition to this all the walls were covered in the center with the finest of green velvet carpets. A mod- ern elevator carried people to the upper floors. At least one-half of the rooms were supplied with elegant hath compartments. The furniture was mahogany and the beds, besides the ordinary linen and coverlets, were supplied with soft swansdown comforts, two inches thick and covered with red satin or silk. The lounging rooms were very extensive and frescoed in the most deli- cate colors, and the furniture there was massive and expensive. The large dining room overlooked the lake and the extensive windows on that side were all fanciful in shape and made of cut glass with bevel edges. Ad- joining the dining room was a palm garden beyond which was a small pier for the use of sail-boats and row- boats, then came the lake, and beyond were the great Alps in full view, in all colors from the darkest green of the shrubbery on the shore line, above which were the more sombre colors of the stone, and above and be- yond that, the ice and snow that glistened in the sunlight. The attendants at the hotel all appeared in full dress, that is to say, were clothed with low-cut vests, starched shirt bosoms and claw-hammer coats. Everything was in keeping with the surroundings of a palace and the prices at this hotel were very reasonable considering the elegance of its appointments. One day while in Lucerne, we took dinner at an up- town restaurant. In addition to the dining rooms in the main building, there were tables in the garden which was enclosed on three sides. On these three sides were wide glass verandas under which some of the tables were set, while others stood out in the open. The gar 166 THE LION OF LUCERNE den was well filled with trees and vines and flowers were quite abundant. The young ladies who waited on the tables were dressed in the typical Swiss costume, their bodices being ornamented with large bright silver chains with heavy fastenings, and their aprons being of red silk. The bosoms of their dresses were filled in with a white, light, airy material which might be familiar to women, but which I am unable to name, and their waists were surrounded by black velvet bodices that made them look quite robust. There was an orchestra of several instruments, played entirely by young ladies in white, and they made good, cheerful music. I was somewhat amused by the audacity and forwardness of the little birds that were in evidence at this place. They appeared to be the same as our English sparrows in America, and while we were eating they camped around our tables waiting for the crumbs to fall, and, as small pieces of bread were thrown to them, they would fight for them greedily and devour them speedily. But they did not have things entirely to themselves, as there were two small rattan dogs which disputed the possession of the field with them and divided the crumbs and cheese which the guests tossed on the stone floor. THE LION OF LUCERNE The most remarkable work of art in the city of Lu- cerne is Thorwaldsen's statue of the "Dying Lion," usually called "The Lion of Lucerne." This is a monu- ment to the faithful Swiss guards, who gave up their lives in Paris for Louis XV. of France while defending his person. It is one of the most impressive, one of the most dignified, one of the most beautiful, and at the 167 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE same time, one of the most peculiar monuments that could have been designed. It represents a dying lion with the broken end of a spear piercing its body. It is a bas-relief cut on the edge of an immense ledge of nearly white sandstone of a quality for which Switzer- land is famous. The ledge is thirty or forty feet high, when measured vertically, and of great length the other way. Below the lion are the names of the guards for whom this monument was created. While the figure is referred to as a bas-relief, it is really more than that as its surounding background is cut so deep that it amounts practically to a reclining figure as it would appear if it were resting on a base instead of upon a vertical ledge of stone. The figure of the lion is over twenty feet long. Beyond it is a little lake of clear, blue water over which you look and which forms a fine prospect for the picture which is thereby presented with great dignity. The lion in its death is guarding the "Bourbon" shield and the "Lily of France." THE GREAT ORGAN One of the special attractions of Lucerne is the great organ in the church on which a recital is given nearly every evening during the traveling season. I do not know that this is considered one of the great organs of the world, but it is rather an extensive instrument. I should judge that an ordinary person could be dropped feet first down the main pipes if they did not hold on to the upper edges. While the instrument did not seem so very large, I have never listened to an organ that sent forth such a volume of sound. Among other se- lections at the recital which we attended, the organist gave one of his own compositions, entitled, "A Storm in 168 WHERE DOGS WORK the Alps." I never thought it possible to get so much music and so many different sounds out of an organ as emanated from this instrument in the rendering of this selection. The imitations of the quick reports of thun- der, its long, echoing rolls, the whistling of the winds, the crashing of avalanches, and the other sounds that accompany the great event of a storm in the Alps, I think must have been as near to those of a real storm as could have been produced. I have listened to several organ recitals, but this one was far and away ahead of anything that ever came to me in my experiences in that line. A printed program of the entertainment contained a complete history of the organ, which is as follows: "Die grosse Orgel der Hofkirche wurde im Jahre 1651 durch Geisler von Salzburg erstellt ; im Jahre 1862 wurde dieselbe durch Orgelbauer Haas van Luzern erweitert und im Jahre 1898-99 durch dessen Nachfolger F. Goll mit rohrenpneumatischem Betreib versehen." The reader can interpret this to suit himself. I guess it means that the organ was first built in 1651, enlarged in 1862 and pneumatic action added in 1898-99. WHERE DOGS WORK Lucerne was the first place where we found the dogs earning their keep by working, as is the custom in a large part of Europe. One evening as I was walking from the hotel toward the main part of the city I heard a noise that caused me to turn and look. It was made by a combination of a milk-cart, a man and a dog. The cart was filled with milk cans. It was a two-wheeled affair with handles or shafts. These shafts were held by the man, while the 169 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE dog was hitched on to one side. It was a little down hill at the time and as the combination came along I should judge the rate attained must have been something like a mile in two minutes. The man was taking strides which I should say would locate his tracks at least fif- teen feet apart. The dog was on a gallop and struck the ground only about as often as the man did. The wheels were rattling on the stones, the cans were rattling in the wagon, and the dog was barking in a loud tone and the man was shouting at every jump. I never saw a dog and a man that appeared any more happy than this man and this dog at that particular time. They passed me with a rush and without stopping for an introduc- tion, and, as far as I could see, were going at about the same rate that they made while passing me. After this, I saw many such teams. Sometimes they have two dogs ; one hitched on each side of the shafts, a man or woman between, and in some places they had dog teams alto- gether. I have seen some dogs with big carts hauling men, when, with the weight of the cart, I should judge, the load would outweigh the dog at least four to one. It is surprising how much and how hard dogs will pull when attached to a wagon. I really felt sorry for a team of dogs in Belgium which, with their master, were hitched to a lunch wagon nearly as large as an omnibus. They made an endeavor to scale an incline leading over a railway track. The man and the two dogs came with a great rush, they united in a long pull, a strong pull and a pull all together, and, with the momentum they had attained, had well nigh reached the top of the incline when the momentum they had acquired and the strength of the man gave out, and the big lunch wagon started 170 WHERE DOGS WORK backwards down the hill, up whence it had come. The two dogs sank their claws into the macadam, they surged on their collars, their tongues lolled out until they nearly reached the ground, but in spite of all their ef- forts, the wagon went on backward down the hill, dragging the dogs with it, and leaving marks where their claws dragged through the dust and the stones in trying to save the day. As they reached the bottom, they looked up at their master with a look of discourage- ment that was truly pitiful. Two or three men, how- ever, came to the rescue. The cart was started up again and the hill was scaled to the great satisfaction of the man who owned the lunch wagon and the evident de- light of the dogs who were assisting him on his way to his all night stand. 171 Chapter XIII TRAVELERS BY CLASSES There are three classes of people that travel in for- eign countries, that are somewhat different from each other. One class is made up of those people who have wealth and leisure, have probably retired from business and are in no hurry to get to any particular place, nor are they in any particular hurry to get home, and, hav- ing seen a great deal of the world, they are not particu- larly anxious to chase very furiously to see new sights and new surroundings. Another class of travelers is made up of people of moderate means who have but lit- tle time or little money to spend in traveling, and, not having seen much of the world, they are bent on seeing everything that presents itself, and those things which do not present themselves must be looked up rapidly and disposed of hurriedly. Between these two classes is a sort of middle class who try to enjoy travel as they go along and see as much as can be seen, at least with moderate exertion. There is no very well denned line where any of these several classes leaves off and where the others commence, but they all sort of drift along to- gether, and each class does the best they can. All of them are frequently confronted with the problem, "how long will I stay at this place V I guess we were along about the middle class and the same question was up to us again. 172 A STUDY OP SKULLS A STUDY OF SKULLS "We had spent two nights and more than one clay in Lucerne, and, while we would have liked to re- main longer and could have enjoyed ourselves many more days with those lovely surroundings, we concluded it would be best to go on to Interlaken, which was also one of the objective points of our trip. The train left Lucerne about 10 o'clock in the morning and we got to the station considerably before that time. "While we were waiting for the train I noticed a large building which had a sign designating it as a war museum, so I sauntered over there to see what there was on exhibition. Paying a small admission fee, I passed through the door and came upon a very creditable display of the imple- ments of war, consisting of machine guns, cannon, mus- kets, bayonets, swords, etc., that were very well ar- ranged. Then there was a sort of panorama of war scenes, most of which were battles among the stormy peaks of the Alpine mountains. These were arranged in such a manner as to represent battles wherein the background was painted and the fore- ground was made up of wax figures and forms some- what similar to the work of the battle of Gettysburg, which was on exhibition for several years in Chicago. After seeing almost everthing else on .exhibition, I came to a large case filled with human skulls, evi- dently collected from many battlefields and exhibited to show the effect of bullets upon them. There were ghastly gaps in the most of them. Some had small holes where the bullets had entered at one side and come out at the other, making as clean a hole as though bored with a drill. Others had large openings probably made 173 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE by larger shot or by bursting shells. Some had holes where- the bullets had gone inside the skull and had caused death without going further. Some were frac- tured and large sections gone. One that attracted more of my attention than almost any other seemed to have been broken in at least a hundred pieces, like a cracked egg shell. All the pieces had been perfectly fitted to- gether and were fastened with small staples of copper wire. Each piece appeared to fit its respective place, and the putting together of this broken vase of thought appeared to me a most remarkable and well done job. I could hardly imagine, though, how a skull could have been so completely broken and cracked unless it had been carefully done after the bone was duly seasoned, although I presume it was presented here as showing one of the evil effects of war, and was supposed to have been recovered from the battlefield in its present condi- tion. COG RAILWAY The route to Interlaken was by rail, through a mountainous country, several miles, until we came to Lake Brienz, where we took a boat for the rest of the journey. The railway route was quite picturesque, and somewhat of the same nature as the roads I have described heretofore. It was the first cog railway, how- ever, that we had come in contact with in this part of the country. The grade was so great on some portions of this trip, that the regular engines were switched to one side and cog engines were coupled to the train. A cog rack was attached to the cross ties midway be- tween the rails and a strong pinion or cog wheel placed between the drivers of the engine engaged with this 174 A LAKE RIDE rack. While the speed of these engines was not great, they could climb to a considerable elevation in rather a short time. A LAKE RmE After going up and down by the use of these cog engines a good part of the day, we came to the lake where a steamer was awaiting the approach of the train to complete the journey to Interlaken. It was a very nice little steamer, would accommodate a hundred or so of people, and was all ready to start on the arrival of the train. As the weather was pleasant, and I was anxious to see all there was to be seen, I selected a nice location on the upper deck very near the bow of the boat, and presumed if there was anything to be seen I would be about the first person to see it. When the boat was let loose and started out into the lake, I was somewhat sur- prised to find that I was riding with my back in the di- rection that the steamer was progressing, and it ap- peared to be running backward. On making an exami- nation as to the cause, I found that this boat was of peculiar construction, and that it had a bow at each end. It appears that some of the landings which it visits are in such narrow rivers or necks of the lake that there is not sufficient room to turn around, and as it must come out in the same channel that it went in, it is necessary to run it first one end to and then the other end to, as is the custom with some ferry boats in our country. So my pains in securing myself a seat near the bow of the boat had all been for naught. How- ever, the ride was very delightful until we came into the port of Interlaken. When the boat arrived there, a sudden rain storm had set in and the water was com- ing down in torrents. 175 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Interlaken is a great place for hotels and they have here a somewhat peculiar rule. There is a sort of dead line to which all of the busses back up, which is some distance from the boat landing. It is, therefore, neces- sary, in order to get into a bus, to go across a rather wide open space and you catch the rapidly descending rain as you go. By the time all the passengers had made this trip and were thoroughly drenched, most of the busses were pretty well filled and the matter of baggage was then looked after. "When the passengers are seated in the busses the baggage is placed on top and in order to load the baggage the busses drive down over the dead- line to the steamboat landing and take on the baggage. I could hardly see the necessity of compelling the pas- sengers to get drenched first and then have the busses drive down to the landing afterwards, but that appears to be the rule of the game at this landing and so we all submitted meekly and went up to the hotel wet enough for all ordinary purposes. A SWISS TOWN Interlaken is a real Swiss town. It is not a very- large place and is made up mostly of hotels and board- ing houses. It lies on a narrow piece of land between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun, the name Interlaken sig- nifying its location between lakes. It is surrounded in almost every direction by high snow-capped mountains and is really a charming little place. Many of the houses are of the utlra-Swiss pattern built of solid, square timbers, the ends overlapping each other and being locked together by being notched into each other thus making a sort of rustic corners. They all have the gable style of roof, that extends considerably over the 176 A SWISS TOWN side walls, somewhat like the pattern of a railway depot. Many of the houses are built in connection with the barn, the barn occupying probably the larger part of the house and the people living in the other part. Quite a number of them are fancifully carved and frequently some quotation from the Bible is carved or painted in the German language across the front. The yards and premises are usually in most excellent condition, for the Swiss are a very industrious people. Near the center of the city is a park or garden called the Kursaal, that is well kept and has a magnifi- cent display of flowers. I have never seen pansies of such large size and of such exquisite beauty as grow in this garden. One bed particularly, some eighteen or twenty feet in diameter and rounded up over the top, formed a bouquet of these flowers, each one nearly as large in diameter as the top of an ordinary drinking tumbler. In this garden, which has an entrance of towers, etc., somewhat after the nature of Luna Park in New York, is also a musical stage or pavilion, quite ornamental, and with an auditorium with a cement floor and partly open to the skies, capable of seating two or three thousand people. The principal feature of the concert the night we were there was the singing of a Maennerchor from Heidelberg. There were sixty or seventy people in the chorus and they were so much like the Maennerchors we have at home that if a person had not known that he was in Switzerland some five thousand miles from the center of the United States, he could hardly have told from the appearance and singing of these gentlemen whether they were from St. Louis, Milwaukee, Oshkosh 177 —12 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE or Kalamazoo. At the close of their singing they were presented with a large wreath of flowers about the size of a horse collar, which I understood was to be worn about the neck of the leader. A NEW GAME TO ME The audience that listened to the concert were mostly seated about small, round tables at which beer and wine was served by a number of young ladies. Nearly the whole town appeared to be present at this concert, besides many foreign visitors. Just back of the hall was a large room nicely furnished and carpeted with red velvet carpet, in the center of which was a sort of embryonic Monte Carlo. There was a large green- covered table in this room which had a depressed place in the center somewhat in the shape of what, I believe, is called in the United States a roulette table, in which were further depressions and each depression was named after one of the large cities of the world. There was Rome, Vienna, Paris, New York, London, etc. The table was surrounded by several men dressed in full evening dress who were the operators of the game. A number of players were circled about the table placing their money on the different cities named, while a man directly opposite the circle in the center of the table had a rubber ball which he rolled rather skillfully, without aim, and which, after traversing around and around, would locate in one of the holes or depressions named after the cities as stated above, in which event the persons who played on that particular city would have an increase of their venture in the proportion of about ten to one. I noticed that New York won out several times, and, while I felt a pardonable pride in 178 A NEW GAME TO ME the success of our home town, I rather resented the idea of using the American flag, which was next to New York, as the flag of each country was next to the city of the country named, for the purpose of gambling. I was more attracted, however, by the way a man at the table raked in the money with a little, long-handled wooden rake and the skill with which he could send a piece of silver across the table to anyone who might be a winner. He took great pride in the two actions, and, while he may have raked in the money with more satisfaction than he experienced in throwing it back, he apparently did the latter act as cheerfully and skillfully as he did the first. I think the way he could shoot a dollar to the mark, if applied to the game of base ball, would have made him a phenomenal pitcher. I understood that this was a licensed game, and, I think, if continued, it will have a very demoralizing influence on the sturdy and industrious people of Switzerland. "When we came to Interlaken, it was with the in- tention of scaling the Alps, as the trip up Mt. Jung- frau really commences from Interlaken. But the first morning we were there it was raining and the fog and the clouds were so thick that it would have been im- possible to see anything on the mountain tops. This gave me, however, a little time in the morning to do some work on my letters for publication at home. Be- sides this we inspected the shops, laid in some postal cards and some little trinkets and mementoes of this place. I remember particularly that we bought a nice little vase to hold flowers. It was so frail that we thought the safest way to carry it would be to drop it in the cover (which was turned down) of the carriage 179 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE in which we were riding, and if it has not been re- moved therefrom, it is there yet, for that is the last we saw of it, as we got out of the carriage and dis- charged the driver without thinking of the vase. A CAVE AND A RIVER Having an afternoon on our hands, we drove out along the shores of Lake Thun to see a rather remark- able cave and subterranean river. The road there led between a number of suburban houses and garden places until it came to Lake Thun. Adjoining the lake, the road had been blasted out of the solid stone along the hillside and in some places the rocks overhung the roadway nearly its entire width. At one or two places it was tunneled through the stone high above the lake with arches here and there to look out over the waters. As these mountains and hills are full of crevices through which the water leaks, these tunnels would have made a rather wet driveway had they not been shielded in a manner that was new to me. It appears that after cutting the tunnels through the rock, they had used a form in the shape of an arch within the tunnel and over the roadway by which they had made concrete roofs which were hung from the stone above so that the water in trickling through the crevices fell on this artificial roof and was carried down to gut- ters on each side of the roadway on which we traveled. Arriving at our destination, we found a stone building well up on the side of the mountain which served as a sort of lodge for the keepers of the cave and offices for the sale of tickets, etc. Part of this stone structure was in the shape of an arch from which burst forth a miniature river which had its origin away 180 A CAVE AND A RIVER in the recesses of the cave, and which followed its tortu- ous way through the cave in the mountain to this open- ing. Then it burst forth from its prison and by a suc- cession of falls and cascades found its way to the lake several hundred feet below. I should say in a general way that the stream was about twenty-five feet wide, the waters were as clear as crystal, and it presented a very beautiful and in- spiring sight as it went down in its great volume over the stones with a rush and a roar, leaping over every obstacle, weaving itself into a hundred lace curtains and many bridal veils, and finally pouring into the clear waters of the lake below. The ascent from the roadway to the mouth of the cave whence this river came forth leads up in a zigzag manner, crossing and recrossing the falling stream on its way and presenting some beautiful pictures. In addition to the cave from which the waters were burst- ing forth was another opening leading into the same to one side of the main entrance. This was formerly supposed to be the habitation of a school of monks, some of whom were said to be buried therein, and one or two skeletons were exposed in rude coffins dating back many years. In this opening is a wax figure of an old gray-haired hermit who formerly lived there and who was represented seated at a table in deep study; his table was lighted by a little old style lamp, and a primitive fire-place in which a pot hung from a hook in the chimney was illuminated by a very in- genious arrangement of modern electric lamps that made it appear nearly as natural as life and carried one back a long way in his ideas. 181 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE This cave is now in control of a company who have extended wires all through its various openings, and placed in the stream a turbine water wheel that is operated by the force of this subterranean river and generates electricity, so that the cave is brilliantly illuminated far into the interior. This company have also built, where necessary, good, substantial footways above the roaring waters so that the visitors can go a considerable distance into the cave and follow the course of this peculiar little river. The general direction from the entrance trends upward something over a thousand feet. The ceiling of the cave is sometimes as much as twenty-five or thirty feet above your head and the river roars, tum- bles and gurgles that far beneath your feet. The ap- pearance of the waters at some places is exceedingly angry and the roar is so intense that conversation can only be carried on in a loud voice. There were a number of other visitors in the cave at the time we were there, and the passing of them on the bridges was sometimes a matter that required considerable care and some patience, for if one by any chance should fall off the bridge, that raging torrent would certainly do the rest. The lights are arranged so as to show the beauties of the cave. Sometimes a remote light is placed way back at the end of a crevice and shines out with a pure and fascinating glint. At other times they are placed beneath the cascades or in such a direction that the waters seem like molten streams of silver or crystal as they hurry along; some have green globes and globes of 182 OLD CASTLES other colors that enhance the peculiar beauty of this natural wonder. There are some odd formations in the cave which, by a little stretch of imagination, can be turned into animals and other objects, which lends an added interest to a visit. There are some formations of crystals by the action of the water, but the cave is not very remarkable on this account. Taken altogether, however, the visit is very interesting, and we felt well repaid for the time we had devoted to it. It is peculiar how many natural wonders there are throughout the length and breadth of the earth. Every country on the globe has something interesting for visit- ors from some other part of the world, but Interlaken and Switzerland seem to have more than their share. OLD CASTLES After concluding our visit to the cave, we drove through thick woodlands and by a small river, by several mountains where many lives had been lost in an at- tempt to reach the top, and to the old wooden village of Unterseen, this designation having been given to it on account of the old style houses which crowd clear into the roadway and which are of peculiar construction. Then we visited the old ruined castles of Unsprunnen and Weissenan, old structures whose lords and ladies have been dead many hundreds of years, and green vines are now crawling over the crumbling stone walls. Then we came by a church with a moss-covered tower on which was a clock with a very large face, from which rang out a chime of bells, calling our attention to the 183 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE fact that it was now time to go back to the city where cheer and comfort awaited us at a fine hotel. After a good dinner we sat out in the garden and wondered if the sun the next morning would shine bright on the everlasting snowy crystals of the beautiful mountain of Jungfrau which had hidden itself from view in the mists for two days. 184 Chapter XIV THE LAUTERBRUNNEN VALLEY The second morning in Interlaken was vastly differ- ent from the stormy weather of the morning previous. The sun shone out brightly, the fogs lifted, the sky was a clear blue, and, looking up the Lauterbrunnen valley, the saw-toothed edges of the upper rim of the Alps stood out in bold relief like great mountains of broken ice, reminding one of the pictures of immense ice floes of the Arctic regions. Over a dozen great peaks stood up high in the sky line as irregular in their shapes as could well be imagined. They were all covered with ice and snow, and presented a very brilliant but very cold appearance. The valley of Lauterbrunnen is one-half mile wide with immense stone walls, almost vertical, on both sides. Looking up this valley, which was as green as the cloth of a billiard table, except where the stone walls stood out in sombre brown, could be seen one mountain greater than all the rest. It was the mountain immortalized in history, romance and song as the "Jungfrau." It was 14,000 feet to the top. On the sides of the other moun- tains could be seen several villages, and each one of the villages had hotels, besides stores and small houses. To stand at Interlaken and look up the valley of Lauterbrunnen, to see the stone walls, the green hill- sides, the scattered villages, and the great piles of snow 185 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE and ice beyond, is a scene that photographs itself upon one's mind, there to remain indelibly as a beautiful and awe-inspiring picture. SCALING THE ALPS The fact that the ascent of Jungfrau is one of the chief objects of a visit to Interlaken and that the moun- tain had been hidden behind the fogs or clouds for two days, caused a large number of people who had been awaiting clear weather to assemble at the station to make the ascent the same day that we had selected. There are two ways of scaling the Alps. Almost everybody has read of the old way, where a group of men, armed with ropes, grappling hooks, picks, snow shoes, dinner satchels, etc., tie themselves together and climb, dig, cut, scramble and sometimes reach a high altitude only to be carried down with some immense ava- lanche and their bodies be buried in cold storage, never to be seen again. That is the old way of scaling the Alps. The new way is so much easier, safer, more rapid and more pleasant that most people nowadays select this way. We preferred the new way. Jungfrau means in English young frau, or, more properly speaking, young woman. It is so called on account of its continually wearing white habiliments of snow which are supposed to represent a young lady dressed in white. In the olden days the ascent of the Jungfrau was supposed to be an impossibility and nobody ever ac- complished the feat until two brothers made the ascent in 1811, nearly thirty years after other parties had reached the top of Mt. Blanc, which is still counted a great feat, and is the envy of many climbers of the 186 HOW THE TRIP IS MADE Alps. Since 1811, a number of people have gone to the top of the Jungfrau. Some have attempted the feat and have had to give it up, while others who have attempted it never lived to know whether they gave it up or whether they did not. While we did not reach absolutely the highest point on the Jungfrau, we did reach a very high place where we could look out over almost unlimited fields of ice, and if we return to Switzerland within a few years, we can go to the absolute apex of the mountain as easily and safely as we made this trip while here. HOW THE TRIP IS MADE Leaving Interlaken by train at 9 o'clock in the morning, we passed up the valley of Lauterbrunnen, going by a rapidly flowing river until we came to the town of the same name as the valley. Just at one side of the town are the celebrated falls of Staubbach or "Dust Brook. " I think the falls or the stream is called "Dust Brook" on account of the fact that the water leaps from the top of a precipice and has a sheer de- scent of a thousand feet to the bottom of the cascade. The fall is so great that the water lashes itself to a fury and seems more like dust than spray when it strikes the bottom. Just above these falls is the little town of Murren, about thirteen hundred feet above the valley below, and which is reached by a cable railway that hauls the cars in a roundabout way up to the village. Murren, like all other places in the Alps, has its hotels where they entertain visitors and have their gay season like other resort places. When we reached Lauterbrunnen we found a num- 187 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ber of small engines, each one hitched to a single car and ready for the ascent of the mountain. The rail- road leading to the mountain was one of those cog railways for which the country is noted, and the cars were hitched in front of the locomotives, which, by their cogs, pushed the cars up the hill ahead of them. The road wound backward and forward up Mt. Mann- lichen, and as there were several of these engines and cars, it seemed like a sort of procession of miniature trains as they followed each other up the curves and wound backward and forward following the sinuos- ities of the track. We finally reached the little town of Scheidegg, and were surprised to find a town of several hotels and business houses and rather a large station building. We had now just reached the edge of the snow line. We again changed trains here to another set of cars somewhat similar to those we had left, but each car, instead of being pushed by a steam locomotive, was attached to an electric engine which went in the rear of the ear, pushing it forward up the mountain. As we progressed the snow became more plentiful. Still there were great patches from which the snow had been removed by the warm sun and winds of sum- mer, and flowers and grass had sprung up quite pro- fusely, and some very pretty flowers. I noticed in some places that the flowers grew within ten or twelve inches of solid snow banks. As we proceeded farther up the road the banks of snow became higher until we ran through cuts which had been made in the drifts where the snow was as high on each side of the track as the tops of the cars. 188 GREAT TUNNELS GREAT TUNNELS About this time we came to a tunnel three or four hundred feet long, and as we emerged from the other end of this tunnel we were surrounded by acres and acres of ice and snow, more than we had ever seen before. A little farther on we entered another tunnel, where the incline was considerably more than any incline we had yet reached in our upward ascent, and this tunnel was continuous as long as our journey lasted. Here and there the train would stop and, get- ting out of the car, we would find cross-tunnels that were cut to the outer surface of the mountain, where we could stand in what was apparently a solid frame of ice, and as far as the view could reach the only variety was the odd shapes and the indescribable im- mensity of the great quantities of snow and ice that had been piled upon itself year after year, generation after generation and century after century. I remember one of these tunnels to the outward world, where we stood and looked down at least a thou- sand feet immediately below us to where we could see the first level and then the valley led off thousands of feet below that. It would make almost any one tremble to think what would become of him if, by one false step, he should go down into that bed of ice from whence no mortal yet has ever returned alive. "While we were ex- amining this odd and inspiring landscape, there was a little fall of ice and snow from overhead into the deep valley below and a sound as if rolling thunders had disturbed the world. I longed and wished that one of those great avalanches of this majestic part of the world would occur, for we felt perfectly safe standing 189 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE in our circle of ice, with the solid stone hundreds of feet thick above our heads. It is hardly necessary to say that at this altitude the air was cool and crisp, but there was a powerful spy- glass standing here convenient for the use of visitors and, turning its objective glass down the valley, we could take in a view of about five miles, where, focusing it on a village, we could see the houses and trees, and the ladies dressed in their summer dresses, carrying red, green and white parasols to keep off the hot sun. It is the intention to continue this tunneled rail- way a little further on, until it will end directly under the highest peak of Jungfrau. Then a modern elevator will be put in that will carry people five hundred feet higher, where they will be at the very apex of this won- derful mountain. EASY FOR THE TRAVELER These Swiss people have lots of enterprise and lots of industry, and the idea of blasting and building this railway through the solid rock of this great mountain, so that it will not be interfered with by the ice and snow, is a most wonderful undertaking. The great storms of the Alps may fight their fiercest battles on these peaks, the great avalanches may come down through the val- leys with their thousands of tons of ice and stone, and they will no more disturb the running of this railway than will the gentlest breeze of a summer day. It is dry, warm and comfortable in this tunnel. The cars are brilliantly illuminated, are nicely upholstered, and you may sit and read a newspaper and be carried to the top of the Alps with as much comfort as you could be carried to your home in the suburbs of your own home 190 AMONG THE CLOUDS city on the best trolley system that might be imagined. As we were carried higher and higher into the heavens, and among the everlasting snow-drifts, and I thought how poor Alpine climbers for years have battled among these giant glaciers and climbed with imminent danger and faltering steps to the altitude that I had now reached so rapidly and so pleasantly, I sort of felt as though things were coming too easy to me and that I should share in some way in the toils and struggles of these poor devils who had made this trip long before this railway had been constructed, and some of whom had attempted it and had never lived to achieve the goal of their ambition. I might get out and push the car or do something to assert my courage. A person feels sort of inconsequential while being carried up by an electric current without any exertion on his part over a journey which others have accomplished by clear grit, labor and toil and without any outside help whatever. It was al- together too easy. Mentally I resented it, and there occurred to my mind those words of Watts ' hymn which are familiar to almost all religious people : "Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?" AMONG THE CLOUDS I have often looked up at the clouds when they seemed to be made of great mountains of snow and wished that I could be up among them. I guess most of us have felt that desire to cut loose from earth and climb among these white gorges of ethereal creation. I know of nothing that comes so near fulfilling one's de- 191 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE sires in this respect as to stand here nearly at the top of one of the highest peaks of the Alps and gaze for miles and miles, and all about him are the everlasting snows that seem almost as light, as fleecy and as fanciful as the clouds that sail over the broad prairies of the state of Illinois. I cannot describe the beauties of the sur- roundings nor the feelings that will naturally possess one under such circumstances. There was one sad thought, however, and that was the absolute death with which we were surrounded. Not a flying bird nor even a green twig nor a thing except the people around us suggestive of life. Death reigns supreme in the majestic Alps. Having stood for a considerable time looking out over the fields of ice which had been hammered into their fantastic shapes by a thousand stormy battles, we could figure out some forms and faces in the fanciful designs as some people can figure out the man in the moon or as you can figure out rocks, animals and birds in the clouds, for the shapes of the snow drifts on the mountains are just as odd and peculiar as the forma- tions of the clouds in the sky. DOWN TO EARTH "We again seated ourselves in the cars and went as far down as the commencement of the first tunnel men- tioned before. Here was a little station called Eismeer. There was a stone house here in connection with the station, in which a most excellent meal was served at a moderate price. "We selected a table near the window hanging over a deep valley and enjoyed a hearty meal while drinking in with our eyes the pure scenes of the everlasting snow-clad mountains around us. I noticed 192 DOWN TO EARTH that the water and milk were exceedingly cool, while there was no refrigerator in the room, but looking out through the door I saw that an artificial cooler was not necessary as the milk, water, etc., were conveniently shoved into the sides of a great bank of snow. After our dinner was over we returned to Schei- degg. Between changes of cars here I noticed Mrs. R. treading her way in a somewhat rapid manner through passage-ways cut between huge snow drifts. As the train was about ready to leave for the downward jour- ney, I followed her rapidly in an endeavor to bring her back. It appeared, however, there was no stopping her, as the reason of her mad rush was the fact that she had discovered a store where they sold real hand-made Swiss lace and she had already consummated a purchase of a fine piece of lace for about three dollars, which certainly would have been a bargain at home for $2.98. When this business transaction was completed, we took a train in a different direction from the one we had come and circled the other side of Mt. Mannlichen up which we had ascended, and again came down into the valley of Lauterbrunnen, passing precipices, falls, cataracts and cascades on the way, and finally rolled into Interlaken in time for a good hearty supper, and we brought with us appetites that would do it justice. And this is the new way of scaling the Alps, and, while there are still some people who prefer to take the chances and put in the exertion and do it in the good old way, I think the new style is altogether better, although it may lack a little of the excitement and daring usually credited to those who scale the Alps. 193 —13 Chapter XV CAPITAL OF SWITZERLAND The city of Berne is the capital of the Swiss repub- lic. It has a population of 65,000 people and is built upon the hills of about the crookedest part of the fast- flowing river Aare. The inequality of the ground on which it is built, the serpentine bends of the river, and the probable lack of a preliminary survey have resulted in giving it about the crookedest lot of streets that were ever huddled together within the boundaries of one city. If it was ever laid out by any corps of engineers, they must have been badly intoxicated at the time they did their work. There is one advantage, however, in the city of Berne. You can not get lost in it. No matter what direction you start out, all you have to do is to fol- low the street and you are certain to turn up pretty soon at the exact spot from whence you started. There are some broad, handsome streets, but most of them are very narrow, and nearly all the business houses project over the sidewalks to the outer edge, and the people walk up and down the street in the arcades formed by the projecting buildings. The construction of the houses is the same as would be the case if, in an American city, you should extend all the upper stories of the business houses and support them by heavy columns of stone along the outer edge of the sidewalks, allowing the sidewalks to remain where they 194 CAPITAL OF SWITZERLAND are now with the entrance to the stores the same as now, thus forming an arcade or arched covering over the sidewalks. While the streets are straight enongh so that yon can see any considerable distance nnder the ar- cades, it seems as though you were looking through a tunnel. The residence portion of the city, the best part of which lies across the river from the business part and on a high hill overlooking a park, is just as irregular in its ground level and the direction of the streets as any other part of the city, but as there are many fine resi- dences with nice yards and surrounded by stone walls, overgrown with ivy, and every house sits at a different altitude and a different angle and in a different direc- tion from every other house, they present a wonderfully picturesque appearance. The Cathedral, which is, per- haps, the most conspicuous object in the city, overlooks a little plaza whose outer edge near the river is sup- ported by a stone wall at least fifty feet high and which might be mistaken even now for a fortress, for which purpose it was formerly used. While most of the town is what we would call old in America, that part which is pointed out by the residents as the old part of Berne, is upon the river front beneath this huge stone wall ad- joining the church. Here is as peculiar and quaint a set of houses as you can find any place, even in this quaint country. They are built in rows, from two to four stories high, and ten to twenty feet in width. No two of them are alike, and scarcely any one of them is the same width its entire length. The roofs are all pointed and at such sharp angles that if it were necessary to repair the slate with which 195 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE they are mostly covered, the workman would have to be let down on a rope to hang onto his job. There are a number of these little, old style houses squeezed in all through the business section of the city; some of them not even as wide as ten feet in the front. ODD CONSTRUCTIONS There are other odd things in the city of Berne. The city is remarkable for the number of its public fountains and the oddity of their construction. These fountains were made for the purpose of supplying the population of the city and the horses with drinking water and were, no doubt, built long before any general system of water service was conducted through the houses of the town. The architects of these fountains had just as queer ideas as the architects of the other old edifices of Berne. One represents a bear standing erect on a high column in full knightly apparel, having a sword hang- ing by his side, carrying a huge banner above his hel- meted head and guarding a little baby bear between his feet. Another represents a big ogre on the top of a fluted column with his arms full of small children whom he is eating greedily, tearing them limb from limb as he does so. The column is also surrounded by other children waiting their turn to supply his voracious ap- petite. Another represents the omnipresent William Tell with his bow and arrow with which he shot the famous apple and slew his enemy, Gessler. Another fountain represents a bag-piper, evidently playing music by water power. Another fountain is called the Moses fountain, and represents the gentleman who wrote the first five books of the Bible. There are several others. 196 ODD CONSTRUCTIONS Most of these odd fountains date back to the middle of the sixteenth century, so it would appear that the people of those days had some ideas of humor which they ap- plied to these necessary institutions in their community. Besides the fountains there are a number of statues scattered about the city, and one striking piece of archi- tecture is the great clock tower, which nearly closes up the street at one of the principal corners of the city. This clock tower was formerly the entrance gate of the town and, in its present form, dates from the fifteenth century, the clock itself dating back to 1530. I did not mean to use the phrase, "a striking piece of archi- tecture, ' ' because the clock strikes, but, having used it, I might as well work that joke in right here, for, ordi- narily, the clock does strike each hour, and, as it does so, it performs several functions not usual with ordinary clocks. Among other movements there is a procession of the twelve apostles that circle or march around to the music of the bells each hour. We stood in front of this clock when it struck the hour, but it appears that at this time the apostles were also on a strike and re- fused to work. The face of the clock is very large and it is considered quite a wonderful timepiece. One of the interesting places in Berne is the Ar- mory in the Historical Museum, where there is a display of old armor, cannons, bayonets and swords that are woven into columns and pictures. Another interesting place is the "Old Kornhaus Keller," or, in English, corn-house cellar. This is a sort of underground roof garden, if such a term might be used. It was built away back in the year 1711, and is quite a pretentious building which arches over a 197 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE street, the traffic passing through the opening. The up- stairs is used as an art industrial museum, and there is a cellar and a deep sub-cellar still below that, composed of arches and arcades, which is used for a restaurant and a beer hall. The walls are decorated with some re- markable wall paintings and there is an enormous cask, capable of holding many thousand litres of beer or wine. They have music and it is a jolly place when the Swit- zers are at their best. GOOD PUBLIC WORKS There are several fine bridges over the river uniting the different parts of the city (one of which dates back to the year 1461), and the public buildings, both of the city and the republic, are extremely creditable. The old town hall was built in the middle ages and has two broad stairways leading upon the outside to the second story, presenting a very odd appearance in its main approach. The state or federal buildings are comparatively new structures, and, while not rivaling those of the United States at Washington, are ample and reflect credit upon the little republic of the Alps. The main building, answering to our capitol building in Washington, and which is the most modern of all, be- ing constructed only a few years ago, is about as large as the state house of Illinois, and cost about three mil- lion dollars. It appears to represent a good, honest job of building and, owing to the rigid economy and hon- esty of the Swiss people, is probably as good a house as the state of Pennsylvania recently had foisted upon it at a cost of about thirteen million dollars. Everything about it is plain and substantial and in good taste un- less we except a large mural decoration in the way of a 198 THE BEARS OF BERNE picture of lakes and mountains that covers the whole wall behind the speaker's desk in the hall of represen- tatives. This scene represents the place where the treaty was made that settled the troubles between Switzerland and Austria. The criticism is made that this picture is in such bright colors and so dazzling that it is absolutely unfit to decorate any wall, but the answer to this is that it represents only the actual sur- roundings in their natural colors. If there is any ob- jection to the picture it is that the colors are so true to nature, the blue lakes of Switzerland are so blue, the green foliage surrounding them so green, the sun's re- flection so yellow, and the mountains beyond are por- trayed so faithfully and the realism is so intense, that the picture may be too bright and not good from an ar- tistic standpoint. In other words, the scenery of Switz- erland is too bold or too striking for artistic reproduc- tion. THE BEARS OF BERNE Everywhere you go in Switzerland you come up abreast and against some kind of a bear, usually a wooden one. The bear is the emblem of the town of Berne, the capital of the republic, and from it the town is supposed to have derived its name. According to an old legend, one Duke Berchtold slew a bear on the spot where the town was afterwards founded, and, from that occurrence, the bear became the emblem of that city. The most ancient town signets carry a bear on their coat of arms, and in the town of Berne and other parts of Switzerland, you find the bear carved in stone, cast in bronze, chiseled in wood, formed in gingerbread, made into cakes, and in every other form in which you 199 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE could imagine a bear could be made, even including the Teddy bears of the present day. It has been the custom ever since the year 1480 to keep live bears in Berne and a great bear pit surrounded by stone was constructed in the year 1857, in which a number of live bears are kept at this time. This bear pit is one of the chief attractions of the capital city, and all visitors go to see the bears among the first things that they do after arriving in town. We went, of course, and made our call upon the bears. There were several of them and they were as lively as a set of boys in a school house yard during the recess hour. The bear idea, as exemplified in the city of Berne, has spread over the whole republic and every curiosity shop is a sort of bear exposition and has bears for sale of all sizes from the little fellows small enough to stand on a silver dime to great big fellows larger than a man. I was much taken with a collection of these bears in one of the towns where we stopped. Besides all the wooden bears made of black walnut and finished in a very artistic manner, were two bears covered with shaggy hides of real bear skin that interested me very much. One of them was almost as big as a live bear and was arranged so as to walk around the room, and when he went after anybody he looked so natural and life-like, setting down one paw after another and swinging his head from side to side as he walked, that everybody in his path gave him full sway. There was another one that stood up on his hind feet about four feet high, covered with as nice a coat of fur as you could select out of a thousand skins. Hanging from his neck was a nice little snare drum about twelve inches in diame- 200 OTHER ANIMALS ter and in each fore paw, which he nsed as hands, were the sticks that went with the dram. He had bright eyes, a red tongue, and a wide smile on his open lips. He was contrived so that when yon touched a bntton he would put those drum sticks in operation very vigorously and skillfully. The way he could beat the long roll on his drum would have been the envy of many amateur drummers. He was supposed to be for use in some large dwelling to call people to their meals. When supper was ready all you would have to do would be to press the button and the bear would do the rest. OTHER ANIMALS It seems there are other animals besides bears in Switzerland. One evening after dinner in Berne, while walking in the flower garden adjoining the hotel, for all hotels in this country have gardens, we noticed on the second story porch a couple of small monkeys. They were unrestrained except by a shield preventing them from getting out into the street, and were about as lively as monkeys usually are. Having an orange with us, we tore -it into sections and, throwing the pieces up to the monkeys, they caught them very cleverly and devoured them apparently with considerable relish. An English lady, who was stopping at the hotel, stepped up to Mrs. R. and asked her if the monkeys liked oranges. Mrs. R. intimated that they seemed to like them. The woman then asked Mrs. R. how she liked monkeys. Mrs. R. intimated that she had no particular animosity towards them. The English lady then asked her how long she had had monkeys, to which Mrs. R. responded that she never had monkeys at all. The English lady, somewhat embarrassed, said : ' ' Oh, excuse me, I thought that they 201 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE were your monkeys." "Oh, no," said Mrs. E., "they are not mine. I never saw them before," This ended the conversation, and we reflected that while we had been probably suspected of a good many things while on our trip, this was the first time that anybody had assumed that we were traveling with monkeys. INDUSTRY AND INGENUITY These Swiss people are great carvers of wood. It will be remembered they are the people who make a good many of the cuckoo clocks that are found in all parts of the world, and which, besides possessing all the intricate machinery that tells the time of day and announces the time each hour by little birds that flap their wings and say ' ' cuckoo, ' ' are wonderful specimens of wood carving. The people of Switzerland are very ingenious, too, and, in addition to making the cuckoo clocks, they turn out a great number of watches, and, up to a few years ago, when America came to the front in the manufac- ture of watches by machinery, Switzerland led the world in the making of time pieces. One of the peculiarities, however, of the watch business in Switzerlannd, is the fact that Geneva watches are not made in Geneva. Another peculiar thing about Switzerland is that while Switzer cheese is known in all English-speaking countries, when you call for Switzer cheese in this country they don't know what you are talking about, for all cheese here is Switzer cheese, no matter by what other name it may be known. One of the principal places in Switzerland is Neu- chatel, from whence originates the name of Neuchatel cheese, which is almost as popular in America as Switzer 202 DOGS AND WOMEN WORK cheese. It is hardly necessary, however, to say that in America we try to digest a large amount of Switzer and Neuchatel cheese, which never came from the places after which they are named. EVEN DOGS AND WOMEN WORK. Switzerland is a country where dogs and women work, as well as men. In fact, I think the dogs and women have the hardest part of the proposition, for while the men wait on the tables in the hotels, play in the orchestra, serve in the army and bask in the brilliant uniforms of policemen and guards, the dogs haul the carts and the milk wagons and the women work in the fields, sweep the streets, saw wood and carry loads up stairs. While we were standing in the front door of the hotel a group of old ladies swept the entire block in front of the premises. They had brooms made of a brush with very small limbs or fibres and they worked, I think, more industriously than most men street- sweepers that I have seen, and, I believe, did a better job than most men do in sweeping the streets. Not far from the hotel was a group of men and women sawing wood, which two young women were carrying up several flights of stairs. They had a sort of basket made of strips of wood nearly as large as a good sized laundry basket, which they would fill to the top and running over, and then, strapping it on their backs, would walk off upstairs with it. They were girls of ordinary size and the loads which they carried were as large as would be expected to be borne by a good- sized man. All the railroads in Switzerland are owned by the 203 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE government and they have some methods which are dif- ferent from anything we have in this country. They sell a number of different sorts of tickets. For about fifteen dollars you can buy a ticket that is good for ten days' travel and on any train. You may travel contin- uously every hour of the day if you so desire. When a person has such a ticket, however, in order to get as much as he can for his money, he is liable to travel so fast that he is not able to see anything as he goes along, for every time that he stops he is out just that many miles of travel; but it makes, for the ordinary person, very cheap car fare. THE REPUBLIC OF SWITZERLAND Switzerland has a total area of 16,000 square miles, which is a little less than one-third the size of the state of Illinois. It is divided into twenty-two can- tons which, though much smaller, answer somewhat, in their relation, to the various states in our union. The total population of the republic is a little over 3,000,000. Considering the fact that there is hardly a square mile of level ground in the whole republic, that it is al- most all mountainous, that a large part of the limited area is solid stone, and as devoid of vegetation as a paving brick, and that another large portion of it is inaccessible on account of its altitude, or the fact that the surface of the ground stands on edge, and that a good deal more of it is eternally hidden beneath moun- tains of ice and snow, the position which Switzerland occupies in the world, and its development, is truly re- markable. Its people are industrious and their valor and bravery have never been questioned. In hotels it practically leads the world. Its attractions are so won- 204 THE GOVERNMENT derful that they induce a large number of visitors year after year and Switzerland has almost become a nation of hotel keepers. They not only have hotels in every ac- cessible location in their native country, on the lakes, in the towns, in the valleys, and on the mountains, but they own and manage many hotels in Italy, France, Ger- many and other countries in Europe. The important cities of Switzerland are Zurich with a population of 150,000; Basel, 112,000; Geneva, 104,000; Berne, 64,000 and a number of cities of lesser size. THE GOVERNMENT The national government is carried on by a council of seven ministers. The highest salary, as I remember it, that any government officer receives, is $3,000.00 per year. Of the seven ministers, one of them is elected chairman for one year at a time, at intervals of not less than seven years, and he is called the president of the republic. The American ambassador offered to arrange an interview with the president for my benefit, but I could not stay over another day, which would have been necessary in order to meet him. These seven ministers are elected by the representatives of the cantons, who meet in congress the same as the members of our con- gress at Washington or members of the legislature in any state capital. I regretted that the congress was not in session at the time we were in Berne, for it is said that it is a very interesting body. The chief language of Switzerland is German, or rather a Swiss-German, although it is not compulsory, and nearly all the schools teach German and one other language. While in some of the cantons German and 205 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE English are spoken, it appears that those cantons adjoin- ing Italy use Italian and those adjoining France use French, so that four languages have their representa- tion and quite a number of people speak all four lan- guages more or less fluently, and the more intelligent people of the country understand all of them, even if they can not speak them all well. It frequently occurs that some of the members in the congressional body can speak some other language better than they can German, so that while one member will make a speech in German, another member will answer him in Italian, while a third member may take a part in the discussion in French, each man choosing the particular vehicle in the way of language which he can handle best. HISTORY AND CIRCUMSTANCE Switzerland is almost completely surrounded by high mountain chains which make it nearly impregnable to foreign attack. It has had some great wars, but, owing to its strong natural position and the undaunted bravery of its sons, it has been many years since it was overcome by any other nation. It is connected now with the outer world by three great tunnels, two of them leading through the Alps to Italy and one leading through the mountains to Germany. Switzerland was under the domain of the Romans in the palmy days of the empire. In the fifth century it came under the rule of the French and finally under the rule of the Teutons. In 1798 the republic was es- tablished under the influence of France. "With the wan- ing of Napoleon's power the republic was in danger. Austrian and Russian troops crossed the frontier and 206 ITS FOUR GREAT RIVERS took the affairs of the cantons in hand, but in 1815, Austria, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia and Russia in a congress at Vienna called off the dogs of war and guaranteed perpetual neutrality with Switzerland. Since then the little republic has been master of itself and has rested as a shining light of free popular gov- ernments surrounded on all sides by kingdoms, monarch- ies and empires. Following the Franco-Prusian war in 1871, France became a republic and Switzerland has had that much to support it in the fight that it is making for universal liberty and popular self-government. ITS FOUR GREAT RIVERS As small as Switzerland is it has within its bound- aries the sources of four of the greatest rivers of Europe; the Rhine, which is formed by the confluence of the Boden and Heinton-Rhein ; the Rhone, and the tributaries of the Po, and the waters that unite and make up the Danube. The river Rhine flows northward and, tumbling over the great falls of Shauffhausen, goes on its rapid way through Germany to the North sea, while the Dan- ube leads eastward through Germany, Austro-Hungary, Roumania and Bulgaria and empties into the Black sea away over near Constantinople. The river Rhone flows westward and becomes one of the greatest rivers of France, and empties, after traversing a considerable dis- tance through the latter republic, into the Mediterra- nean sea. The river Po flows southward, becomes the greatest river of Italy, and empties into the Adriatic sea south of the city of Venice. So that the clear waters of Switzerland find their way to the north, east, south 207 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE and west and empty into four great seas remote from each other, just as the economic and patriotic example of Switzerland's popular government has a far reaching influence. Switzerland has cause for being proud of the unique position it has maintained among the govern- ments of nations. Its affairs are managed with honesty and economy. Being confronted by the prob- lem of scanty soil, precipitous mountains and many nat- ural obstacles, its people have utilized their opportuni- ties to the fullest extent, and have become a hardy, fear- less, industrious and liberty-loving people, who maintain themselves with honor and credit and are able to say to the rest of the world, "You must keep your hands off of us." 208 STRASSBURG. "The dress of the girls is particularly interesting to the ladies of America." — Page 218. Chapter XVI THE DANCE OF DEATH Taking a train at Interlaken we started north, stopping a little while at the large city of Basel. We had time for only a hurried glimpse at the new railway station which they are just completing at this point, and at the parks and avenues leading away therefrom. We would have liked to stop here long enough to see the great fresco of the "Dance of Death" in the Cathedral at this place. This was painted in the fifteenth century. In the old days they used to enact a drama called the "Dance of Death," which illustrated the uncertainty of life and the conquest of death over all. Death was represented as a skeleton clothed in a loose-fitting gown and the quickness of his motions, and the apparent pleasure with which he came and carried off his victims from all ranks, was supposed to give him the appear- ance of dancing away with them, and hence the drama was called the "Dance of Death." This great mural decoration at Basel is based on that drama and is a series of pictures in which death makes its unwelcome call upon the members of all classes, and invites them to accompany him in such a persuasive manner that they cannot refuse. This picture represents death calling respectively upon the king, the queen, the professional man, the musician, the man of wealth and the lowliest peasant. No one escapes his 209 —14 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE call. There is the artist, the priest, the workingman, the wife, the mother, the father, the daughter and the son, and so on all through the various grades and ages of mankind. We seriously regretted losing the opportunity of seeing this picture, but copies of it are portrayed 011 postal cards, of which we brought several away with us. INVADING GERMANY Not long after we had left Basel, a tall man in uni form, wearing a fiery red cap, and having his breast ornamented with several badges and crosses hanging from ribbons, with florid complexion, snow white hair, and a white moustache, came into the apartment which we were occupying in the car. He pointed to our heavy pieces of baggage resting on the upper shelf, looked us square in the eyes and gave us a nod. I was somewhat overcome with the magnificence of the man's dress and his height and military bearing. But as all the railroads in this country belong to the government, and all the trainmen are dressed in uniforms and look like soldiers, I supposed that he was one of the numerous railway employes. As he pointed at my suit case, I said. "Yes, that's my baggage. ' ' Then he pointed at the other case which we carried, and I said, "Yes, that is mine, too," but that did not appear to pacify him, and there was a sort of awkward pause while he waited for me to do something, and I waited for him to demonstrate what was necessary to be done. As there was no headway being made ex- cept by the train, after a moment, our visitor said in a somewhat stern manner, "I am der gusdom haus and makes examinations." This brought me to an under- 210 ALSACE-LORRAINE standing of the situation. I knew then that we had passed over the line and were within the boundaries of the German empire. I took down my baggage, un- strapped it, and, after a perfunctory examination, the officer placed the custom house labels upon the various pieces, and, in a dignified manner, bowed himself out and went on his way. ALSACE-LORRAINE We soon came to Strassburg, the capital of Alsace- Lorraine. Alsace-Lorraine is that little piece of terri- tory lying between France and Germany which has been the bone of contention and the cause of war between these two nations on one or more occasions. It belonged to Austria or was independent until the year 1681, when Louis XIY. captured it and attached it to France. The Teutons never forgave France for this, and the Germans long waited an opportunity to grab the Alsace- Lorraine country from France. This was no light un- dertaking and it required one hundred and ninety years for Germany to bring about its culmination. All that time the German states were figuring on the recovery of this lost territory and every move during that one hundred and ninety years was made with the intention of finally retaking that which had been lost to the ,German interests and taken over by the French. In the year 1870 Germany concluded that the time had arrived when it could and should assert its right or at least its might in the Alsace-Lorraine territory, and King William I. began to mobilize his army upon the French frontier to such an alarming extent that Napo- leon III. began to take notice of it and in order to allay a revolution at home he declared war against Germany. 211 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Germany had raised probably the greatest army ever organized in the world's history, under those skill- ful soldiers and statesmen, Emperor William, Bismarck, Von Moltke, the crown prince and other great generals who composed a remarkably brilliant galaxy of the world's famous military leaders. France having declared war, the whole German army, which was ready and waiting, was put in motion in an instant as the machinery of some immense world's fair is started all at once by the pressing of an electric button. There was war all along the line. There were bat- tles at Strassburg, at Sedan and several other places in rapid succession. Germany had a million men in the field and, within a few months, the Prussian troops had battered down every defense of France and had sur- rounded Paris, which they soon starved into an uncon- ditional surrender. Even before reaching Paris the German army had captured over 400,000 prisoners, in- cluding Emperor Napoleon himself. It is not our purpose here to review the whole his- tory of the Franco-Prussian war. France suffered the most thorough defeat that any great nation has ever met with, and Germany demanded a billion dollars indem- nity and the surrender of the Alsace-Lorraine country, which it then attached to itself. This was the largest in- demnity ever paid by one nation to another in the his- tory of modern warfare, and it was the last really great war that this world has suffered. The victory of Ger- many was complete; the defeat of France was over- whelming. The monarchy crumbled. Napoleon III. was driven from the throne, and France became a re- public. 212 STRASSBURG It might have been better for the empire of Ger- many if the victory had not been so thorough as it was, for, in crushing the monarchy of France, it established a republic which, by economical methods, soon paid off the war indemnity and left France more prosperous than it had ever been before. GERMANY TO BE A REPUBLIC The mills of the gods grind slowly and when Ger- many destroyed the monarchy of France and allowed a republic to be built upon the ruins of its former self, it induced a system of government that will stand out as a shining example until its influence will reach over the boundary line dividing Germany and France and will make of Germany a greater republic than France is to- day. It may take some time to bring this about. It took one hundred and ninety years of intrigue and war for Germany to regain the Alsace-Lorraine country and crush the monarchy of France, and, in a less time than that will the example of France, by its peace and pros- perity, make a republic of Germany. The handwriting is on the wall and the time is sure to come. But we appear to be wandering from our point of discussion, as these letters are supposed to cover only what we saw on our short trip in Europe. STRASSBURG Strassburg is a city of a little over 150,000 popula- tion. Many of the streets are narrow, very crooked, with limited sidewalks and old-style buildings. It is an old-style sort of town and appears to be calculated more for the purposes of war than for the vocations of peace. Some ten thousand soldiers are kept under arms here all 213 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the time by the German nation, and the town is very strongly fortified. The old city is surrounded by walls. In addition to this, there is a new line of fortifications farther out, embracing fourteen large forts. There is space between these forts and the city walls for a whole army to encamp. There is an arrangement of moats connected with canals and rivers so that the city can at any time be flooded and surrounded by deep waters, as they used to surround castles in the days antedating modern methods of war. There are barracks in every direction, cannons on every elevation, guards at all city gates, and, when you arrive in Strassburg, if you did not know that there was peace, you might suppose that there was a great war in operation and that Strassburg was a military center, for the military appears to pre- dominate everywhere. GERMANY'S GREAT ARMY Strassburg is not the only place, however, where soldiers can be found in Germany. The military organ- ization of Germany is one of gigantic proportions, and is stronger than that maintained by any other nation on the face of the globe. Ever since the Franco-Prussion war, Germany has been strengthening its army and navy with redoubled vigor, and none of the other countries have been able to keep pace with it. Every able-bodied citizen has to serve at least three years in the regular army, and some of them serve much longer than that. Germany has a standing army of about two and a half million men. The reserves, which can be called at any time, would swell the army three million more, mak- ing between five and six million available fighting men 214 GERMANY'S GREAT ARMY on land which can be mobilized at any time, besides the navy on the seas. Considering that the whole area of Germany is only 208,830 square miles, which is less than three and one- half times the size of Illinois, and considerably less than the single state of Texas, it gives a pretty thick sprinkling of soldiers. It is a great burden on the people of Germany to support this vast army and that is one reason why a large number of Germans leave the fatherland and come to America to live. This large number of non- producing men, who are supported by the people who work and pay the taxes, makes existence in Germany just that much harder for those who do the work. The large number of men who are in the army being with- drawn from the ordinary avocations of life, makes it necessary for women to do much of the work in Ger- many that otherwise would be done by men. A great part of the field work is done by the women, and it is no unusual sight to see women in the fields, hard at work with a rake, hoe or spade, with young children in baby carts to be attended to and taken care of during the day. Women are also largely employed in stores and small shops. It is rather repulsive to an American to see women labor at such heavy work as they are expected to do in these foreign countries. I did not see it, but I am told that it is very common for women to carry hods of mor- tar and brick in the construction of new buildings. However, it may be that women work harder at play- ing bridge in America than even these women do in carrying hods in Germany, for I am under the impres- 215 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE sion that some of our women in America work very hard on the game of bridge and other social pastimes. Sunday is a sort of off day for the soldiers, and, there being a general suspension of business, the sol- diers and the girls appear to have possession of the city on that day, and the streets are full of the boys escort- ing young ladies. On Sunday nights the beer gardens are all open. A good many of them have music and many soldiers and other people, men and women, meet therein, and, between drinks, make the night ring with the songs of old Germany. The people of Strassburg, and of the Alsace-Lor- raine country, are not all Germans and many of them think more of France even at the present time than they do of Germany. For this reason and the probable fear that France may at any time overrun and try to retake the old territory, Germany thinks it necessary to main- tain a considerable army in this locality, which accounts for Strassburg being so prominent as a military head- quarters. QUAINT OLD STRASSBURG Strassburg is situated on a small river called the 111, not far distant from the rivers Rhine and Ehone. Between these various rivers is a system of canals which float good sized boats, so that the ground around Strass- burg being cut deep with canals and piled up with fortifications, requires a number of bridges that are well built and of ample proportions. The quaintness of some of the buildings in Strass- burg makes them quite fascinating. A number of these houses face on the river which passes through the city. Some of them were evidently framed up first and then 216 QUAINT OLD STRASSBURG the brick walls laid in betwen the timbers and braces, somewhat in the manner that we construct club houses or fashionable country residences in America, in what is sometimes called the ' ' Queen Anne ' ' style. Nearly all of the houses have the walls plastered on the outside and some of the beams or braces showing through the plaster, as described in this paragraph. A great many of the houses are built with the point of the roof toward the street and a wall coming to a point by a succession of steps from the eave line to the apex of the roof. Some of them show great age, but that they were evidently well constructed at the time they were put up. Along the river are some houses built in the stream where large numbers of women of the city do laundry work. They are fitted up with permanent wash tubs or troughs and women come from every quarter, bring their washing with them, and have apparently free ac- cess to the facilities offered. When we speak of narrow and crooked streets in connection with these foreign cities, we do not know whether people who have grown up in the western states, where our towns are laid out almost as squarely and precisely as checkerboards, know just how irregular the street geography of one of these cities like Strass- burg actually is. There are a number of streets in Strassburg not more than ten or twelve feet wide, and so crooked that you cannot see more than a block in one direction. In the center of the city it is not likely that there are two blocks of the same size or the same shape, but every here and there there are open spaces or plazas. Our room at the hotel in Strassburg opened out on 217 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE a plaza of irregular shape about half as large as an or- dinary city block. Near the center of this square is a large fountain, and it is surrounded by grass and shade trees. On one side of this plaza is the hotel; on two sides are a number of stores, and on the other side the whole space is occupied by a military garrison or barracks. The houses on the square are, most of them, four or five stories high and several of the buildings are quite narrow. One or two are as narrow as ten feet or less, while being four stories high. These sights become quite commonplace after you have traveled in Europe for a while, but they strike you as being very odd at first. Strassburg is noted for its breweries and for several manufacturing specialties, and its pate de foi gras has a wide reputation. Even the encyclopedias say that Strassburg is noted for its goose-liver pie. The city is also noted for its storks, which build their nests on the tops of unused chimneys and are as tame as pigeons in other places. There are a number of things about Strassburg that are peculiar to this locality. The dress of the girls is particularly interesting to the ladies of America who happen to visit here. On Sunday, when at their best, the peasant girls wear white aprons with velvet girdles, white waists and a headdress of an immense Alsatian bow of black ribbon. The ribbons are eight or nine inches wide and two huge loops stand up, one on each side of their heads, and they have long ends hanging down their backs. They present a very striking appear- ance, and some of the young ladies look remarkably handsome in such a dress. 218 THE OLD CATHEDRAL THE OLD CATHEDRAL The Kaiser's palace is one of the principal points of interest in Strassburg, and so, also, is the very beau- tiful park. But the greatest thing in Strassburg, as in most of these old towns, is the immense Cathedral with its tower and clock. The Cathedral was first erected in the year 510, but was destroyed by lightning in 1007. The foundation of the present structure was laid in the year 1015; the tower was commenced in the year 1277, and was finished in 1439. How such a frail looking structure could with- stand the wear and tear of time for so many years, is in- comprehensible to me. It is so light and airy and its work is so ornamental that you can look through the va- rious openings and it seems so like a fairy palace one might think that it would not stand the ordinary storms of a few years, let alone the several hundred years since its erection. The spire is 465 feet high, and from its top can be had a view, reaching to the Jura mountains in Switzerland. It has some of the most remarkable colored glass windows in existence, some of them dating back even to the twelfth century. One magnificent specimen of these windows is what is called a rose win- dow, being somewhat in the shape of a rose and carrying pictures made of all colors of glass. This rose window is forty-five feet in diameter and of incalculable value. In one side of this magnificent structure are those beau- tiful windows ; in the other side there is nothing but plain glass. The windows in that side were all de- stroyed durng the bombardment of the city by the Ger- mans in the year 1870. 219 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE THE GREAT STRASSBURG CLOCK Almost everyone has heard of the great Strassburg clock. It is located in this Cathedral. It dates back to the sixteenth century, having been commenced in 1547 and finished abont forty years later. It is forty feet high, the main clock standing in the center; on one side is a spiral stairway leading to a pulpit, which is part of the structure, and is nearly as high as the clock, on the other side is the case carrying the weights by which the clock is operated. It is a wonderful piece of mechanism. At every hour the clock performs some function in addition to simply telling the time. At the quarter hour an angel strikes a bell, indicating whether it is the first, second, third or fourth quarter. On the even hour, death, in the shape of a skeleton with a cross-bone in its right hand, strikes the time of the hour on a larger bell. At 12 o'clock mid-day, all the apostles pass in . procession before the Savior and around the face of the clock. In addition to this, the clock shows the rising and setting of the sun, the position of the moon and the stars, the signs of the zodiac and the relation each planet in our system bears to the central orb. Some of the planets, like Jupiter, for instance, take twelve years to make the circuit. Thousands of people go to see this clock every year, and it is well worth a visit at any time. It is the greatest clock that has ever been built. This is the second clock that has stood in this Strass- burg Cathedral. A story or legend is handed down in relation to the first clock, which is somewhat pathetic. It is said that the man who built it, when it was com- pleted, was brought before a commission which had 220 GREAT STRASSBURG CLOCK charge of affairs, and, for fear he might build another clock that would be a rival to this one, he was con- demned to blindness, and, by order of the commission, his eye sight was destroyed, his eyes being punched out. "Whether this story is true or not, I am unable to say, but it appears that even the blind man had his own measure of revenge, for the story continues that after his eye sight had been destroyed, he told the persons who had charge of the clock that there was one little matter in relation to the clock that needed adjustment, and that he was the only man who could attend to it properly, and that he could do it even in his blindness. Being brought to the clock he went to work at it, and, by a little movement which was unobserved, made some change which effectually stopped the clock and nobody else could ever put it in motion again, so that it became necessary to remove the old clock, and this clock, which is now called the new clock, was built in its place. This clock is no clap-trap affair. It is a magnificent specimen of architecture, and, if it were made in the best shop in America, or any other country, at the pres- ent time, it could be no better made than this clock is apparently constructed. There is another old church in Strassburg, called the Church of St. Thomas, which contains a magnificent statue of Marshal Saxe. And these embrace all the things we saw in Strassburg which were worthy of note, al- though in a longer stay we might have found many other things of interest. 221 Chapter XVII OLD HEIDELBERG Did you ever hear of Heidelberg and its famous old castle? Almost everybody has, and, if you have not, I will tell you what I can about it. We were anxious to visit one of these famous old castles which were constructed away back in the middle ages, and have withstood in some degree the ravages of war and time since then. The grandest of all these old ruins in Germany is the castle of Heidelberg at the city of the same name, so we concluded to make a visit to this old and interesting place. Heidelberg is not a very large city, having a popu- lation of something over 35,000 people. As its history dates from the year 1196 and it is supposed the town was settled before that, its growth has not been very rapid and it could hardly be classed as a boom town, at the present time. It has had about all the experiences that could come to a town, even with so long a history. It appears to have been the center of a kingdom at a remote period and to have waged war against both its friends and enemies and to have been victorious or unsuccessful on a score or more of occasions. It has been captured and recaptured by most of the nations of the earth, even in- cluding the Swedes, and appears to have been visited with the special animosity of the French. 222 THE UNIVERSITY It lies along the river Neckar, the most of it being on the south side of the river. Both sides of the river here are banked with high hills. The Neckar is one of the principal feeders of the river Rhine with which it unites a few miles west of Heidelberg. As the hills or mountains rise very abruptly near the river on each side, the town skirts close to the river and is very long and thin on that account. The high hills, which might be called mountains, present beautiful scenery and mag- nificent views in every direction. The river Neckar is crossed by two bridges, one of them having been built in the olden time, while the other, which was built within the last half century, is called the new bridge. They are beautiful structures and are ornamented with statues. In the construction of bridges and other public works in these old countries, much more attention is paid to the beautiful and picturesque than is accorded them in the United States, so that most bridges, besides being works of utility, are works of art and ornament as well. THE UNIVERSITY The life of Heidelberg centers around the great university which was established here in the year 1386, and is a prosperous institution at the present time. It has an attendance of about fifteen hundred students and a library with three hundred and fifty thousand volumes. The students who attend this university are gathered from all parts of the world and are an odd and reckless set of fellows, and the pranks and devil- try which they concoct and carry on in and about the 223 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE old city of Heidelberg calls for genius that is worthy of more serious matters. One of the traditions of Heidelberg is that every student must fight a duel. This is a sort of hazing which is accorded the new members of the classes as other indignities are heaped upon students at almost every college in the world. No student is supposed to be a first-class, up-to-date gentleman here unless he has a big scar across his cheek as the result of a duel. These duels are brought about between the younger men by concocted schemes of the older students who in- duce one of the younger classes in some manner to in- sult or heap some indignity upon some other young member which can only be expatiated by a challenge and a duel. The challenge having been issued, the neces- sary friends voluntering their assistance, a room is cleared and the two antagonists are dressed for the fray. The duel is always with swords. Each antagonist has the right arm wrapped from the hand to the shoulder to prevent injury to that member, and, under a regular code, they go at each other, rattling their blades together, cutting and slashing the air and slapping their forward foot on the floor like the star and his first assistant in a theatrical tragedy, until one, with a quick movement, slashes his antagonist across the cheek. Blood having been shed, the amend honorable has been concluded, and two more heroes are elevated to the platform of fame. The student who is slashed exhibits his cut, which he is proud of, to all his friends, and from that time carries with him a scar on his cheek which is only effaced by the worms that gnaw his flesh from his bones in the grave. 224 DOUBLE-HEADED CHURCH Ordinarily, there is not any serions damage result- ing from these duels, but it is a devilish practice and has existed for many years, and is liable to continue notwithstanding the authorities of the university claim they have tried to break it. It is no uncommon sight, therefore, to meet young men on the streets of Heidelberg, or, in fact, any other place in Germany (for this practice is not entirely con- fined to Heidelberg), with big scars across their faces. These scars and some of the odd caps which the students wear, make them very conspicuous in Heidelberg and it does not take many hours here to know that you are in a university town. They have in connection with the university a students' prison, where the young men are incarcerated for misdemeanors from time to time. Some of these students are great artists and the walls of the prison attest their remarkable handiwork in the matter of por- traits, caricatures, etc. It is an odd dungeon and is frescoed with odd pictures. A DOUBLE-HEADED CHURCH One of the peculiar things about Heidelberg is a large church or Cathedral. Ordinarily this is not con- sidered odd in any of these cities of the old world, but this one is a little different in one particular from al- most any other that came within our notice. It is the " Heiliggeistkirche, " meaning the Church of the Holy Ghost. It was founded in the year 1400, and is half Protestant and half Catholic. In the six- teenth century, when Luther was tearing up the earth and operating the reformation, he visited Heidelberg and had a very strong following here, and this church 225 —15 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE became divided against itself and appears to be, even at the present time, an exception to the proposition that a house divided against itself cannot stand. For it has stood since the year 1400 and is still standing in a very substantial condition. The church was for a long while the object of bitter strife, and, in the year 1705, it was divided into two parts by a wall, that part of the church called the choir being assigned to the Catholics, and that part called the rave being given to the Protestants. Once the Catholics tore the wall out and took possession of the whole church, but were overruled by the diet and the partition wall was again restored. Then the Catholics pulled out and the Protestants had it all to themselves. Then they got together again and each denomination took its share. Id 1886 the wall was again pulled down in order to get a large hall for the festivities for the jubilee of the uni- versity, but the wall was rebuilt in the year 1893, and, as far as I was able to learn, peace reigns under the roof of the Church of the Holy Ghost in Heidelberg at this time, and the devotees of the two forms of religion are worshiping under the same roof with only a wall divid- ing them. THE OLD CASTLE For so small a town Heidelberg possesses a large number of public buildings, but there is nothing here now and, perhaps, never will be anything that will com- pare with the grand old castle which makes Heidelberg celebrated throughout the civilized world. This old structure, of which much still remains as it originally appeared, stands on a hill about three hun- dred feet above the river. It can be seen for a long dis- 226 THE OLD CASTLE tance from almost any direction and presents a magnifi- cent effect. It is surrounded by a wooded park and is approached by several roads and footways. In its palmy days it must have been a grand edifice, for even now its towers, its battlements, its angles, curves and many styles of architecture bespeak the glory of its past. The oldest part of it was built in the thirteenth century, but it was added to and rebuilt for several hun- dred years following that time. It also suffered from wars and fires, was deserted, overrun, pillaged, bom- barded and blasted, restored and rebuilt time and again. In its best days it was built so that the king could retire within its walls, lift up the drawbridge, flood the moat by which it was surrounded, and, with its well-stocked stores, could laugh a siege to scorn. In the thirty years' war the castle suffered much abuse and was made abso- lutely uninhabitable. One Carl Ludwig at that time completely restored and fortified it, but the French, during the Orleans war in 1689 to '93, destroyed much of the castle by blowing up and pulling down the best part of it. It was again entirely restored in 1764, but in that year was struck by lightning and the whole in- terior was burned out. Since that time, only a portion of it has been restored, but since 1830, the greatest care has been taken to protect the ruins from further de- cay, and it is now in the hands of a wealthy man who has it well guarded, has a number of competent guides to show people around, and charges an admission fee which keeps the place in excellent order. Concerts are given daily in a beautiful grove inside the grounds. We visited the old castle but I cannot begin to de- scribe all its wonders and all its old-time beauties. We 227 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE went hurriedly through the grounds, entered through the old portcullis with its drawbridge, and went through seme of the old towers, examined the dungeons, went down into the old wine cellar, listened to the music of the band, and enjoyed the beautiful views up and down the river. The structure is composed of a brown sandstone, nearly terra cotta in color. Many parts of the building are ornamented with bas-reliefs and statues; some of angels, some of men and others of women. In one sec- tion, overlooking the court, is a very ornamental part with statues in the panels between all the windows and larger statues on the cornice above, but there are so many statues and figures that even a mention of all of them would be uninteresting. They must have done good work on this building for one of the towers which was blown up by the French and thrown clear off its base, down into the moat, re- mains to-day, after nearly one hundred and fifty years, in perfect shape, the stones being held together by the mortar between them, instead of crumbling into the sepa- rate stones of which it was built. In connection with the castle is an old chapel for worship, and in the yard is a very large well which, in case of the castle being surrounded by the enemy, would furnish water for a large army inside. THE BIG WINE CASK In the wine cellar are two large casks, the larger being the most extensive wine cask ever built in the world. It was built in the year 1751. It was first filled in the year 1752, and twice after that. It is over twenty feet high and about thirty feet long. Its capac- 228 THE CALIFORNIA TREE ity is forty thousand gallons, or about two hundred and fifty thousand bottles. On top of it is a dance platform on which dances were given when the cask was filled. It was last filled near the close of the century in which it was built, but has never been used since the great fire, when the glory of the Heidelberg castle went out in flames, never to return. Standing opposite the head of this large cask is a statue of Perkeo, the dwarf and court jester, who amused the king at the time the great cask was in use. It is said of Mr. Perkeo that he was not only a great wit and a great joker, but, notwithstanding his limited stature, he drank daily from fifteen to eighteen bottles of strong wine. Next to the statue of Perkeo is a little box on the wall with a sign on the outside that induces most people to open the door in order to see what is on the inside. As the latch is released the door of the box flies open and to the door is attached the tail of a fox that strikes the curiosity seeker fair in the face. I do not know that this is a necessary adjunct of the castle, but it appears to go along and be handed out to every visitor to the wine cellar. We climbed the ladder to the top of the big cask and rattled our feet on the platform there in imitation of dancing. The sound of our feet was re-echoed in the empty recess of the great barrel and it seemed to us to be an echo rather of the past than of our own making. THE CALIFORNIA TREE After spending a considerable time about the old castle, we passed out through the excellent woods with which it is surrounded, and, among a lot of trees our 229 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE attention was called to one which was a giant among its fellows, and the guard told us that this was a California redwood tree, brought from its native soil many years ago and planted in this for-off country, where it is ex- ceeding in growth all of its companions. A tree ordinarily does not seem to amount to much, but when you are four or five thousand miles from home in lands where you see many flags other than the stars and stripes, when you are wandering among the ruins of ancient history and meeting few people that speak your native tongue, to come upon an evergreen tree from one of the states of your own dear country touches your heart in a peculiar sort of way and you feel that its great protecting arms are stretching out to shield you and take care of you in your loneliness. As we came away from the old castle and took a last look at it, we saw how kindly the green ivy had crawled over it and covered up its scars. The old Hei- delberg castle may never see its former brilliancy, may never again entertain lords and chiefs like those of other days, but for centuries yet to come it will lend a beauty to the old city, more tender than it did in its best days, and will make it the objective point of many a traveler. "Old Heidelberg! Thy beauty Is crowned with honors rare, No town on Rhine or Neckar Can unto thee compare, Thou home of merry comrades, Of wisdom deep, and wine, Within thy streams' clear water Blue eyes reflected shine." MAINZ If you ever take a trip to Europe do not lose the opportunity of going down the Rhine. We counted this 230 GUTENBERG one of the most enjoyable features of our pilgrimage and for that purpose we came to the city of Mentz in English, Mainz in German, or Mayence in French, where big boats start for the down-river trip. I think Mainz is the most popular name. This city is situated on the left bank of the Rhine near the influx of the river Main, after which the city appears to be named. It has a pop- ulation of a little less than 100,000. It is "very much like other old German cities in this neighborhood, and its history is somewhat the same. It was founded in the second century by the Romans, destroyed in the fifth century by Attila, the Hun, restored by Charlemagne, had a stormy existence during the thirty years ' war, was taken by the Swedes in 1631, was captured by the Im- perialists, whoever they were, in 1635, and by the French in 1644, but finally got into the hands of the Germans. It was always considered a strategic place and is strongly fortified on both sides of the Rhine. The old part of the town has crooked and narrow streets, but there was a great fire here in 1857, and that part of the city was rebuilt with wider streets, and is quite modern. It has, like all of these other cities, a great old Cathedral and, something the others have not, a splendid new church. GUTENBERG One of the chief inventions to bless mankind ap- pears to have been brought about within the boundaries of this old city. It was the invention of movable or separable type. On one of the squares of the city of Mainz is a bronze statue to Johann Gutenberg, the man who is accorded the honor of the idea. Previous to his time 231 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE printing had been done, but the work was done with blocks or engravings. If a book was to be printed each page would be engraved separately, and the forms, hav- ing been used for that purpose, were of no further value except for the reprinting of the same work. Guten- berg conceived the idea of casting each type in a sepa- rate piece so that any form could be set up, the work printed therefrom, and the type distributed in cases and used over and over for any other purpose. So in case a book of 1,000 pages was to be printed it would not be necessary to engrave 1,000 separate pages, nor was it necessary to have type enough to set up 1,000 separate pages. Enough type to set up one or more forms was all that was necessary, the same type being used again for subsequent forms, as has been done ever since. Gutenberg, who took his name from his mother's family instead of his father's, was born about the year 1420. I am not certain that he was born at Mainz, for he first carried on business at Strassburg. He after- wards moved to Mainz where he formed a partnership with a man by the name of Faust, Fust or Faustus, as it is variously written. The first books from moveable type were turned out in the year 1450. Gutenberg and Faust did not get along very well together, and, after dissolving partnership, Faust sued Gutenberg for 1,550 gilders, which he had loaned him for the purpose of helping him out in the work of making paper and type and printing books, and it seems that Faust must have been right for he got judgment from Gutenberg for that amount. Gutenberg then took his son-in-law, Schoffer, into partnership with him and carried on a considerable bus- 232 GUTENBERG iness. However, Gutenberg retired from the business, which Schoffer and somebody else continued. Their manner of doing printing was kept a profound secret and Dr. Faust, Fust or Faustus was supposed to be in league with the devil. I presume the drama of ' ' Faust ' ' is taken somewhat from that incident. In the year 1462, when Mainz was sacked and al- most entirely destroyed by an invading army, Schoffer 's printing office was broken up, his workmen were scattered and the art of making moveable types and printing therefrom became common property throughout the world. Gutenberg died at Mainz in the year 1468, twenty-four years before Columbus discovered America. The statue of Gutenberg, which occupies a conspicu- ous position in this city, was the work of the great Danish sculptor, Thorwaldsen, who was also the sculptor of the "Lion of Lucerne." The statue of Gutenberg is in keeping with this great artist's work. It represents the old printer with his long beard, in heroic size, dressed in the costume of his day which con- sisted of a cap, skin-tight trousers, and a coat or gown with a wide collar and with wide lapels down the front, and reaching nearly to his ankles, very much in the sliape of the long ulsters or rain coats of the present day. On fine jobs of printing and on some fine books, you frequently see a medallion with three faces over- lapping each other. It is a sort of general emblem of the printing business. Those three faces on this medal- lion are those of of Gutenberg, Faust and Schoffer. As I stood before the great statue of Gutenberg, the father of the modern idea of printing, I felt like taking off my hat and making a profound bow to him, for, 233 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE from his invention, the world has received more en- lightenment than from any other single invention that has ever been presented to it by a master mind. Gutenberg, with extreme modesty, never made a single claim to being the inventor of this great device, but it has been accorded him, after the most thorough investigation by the most illustrious historians, in the face of many others who have claimed the honor. It is a little peculiar that, after Gutenberg's inven- tion had illuminated the world, and made printing easier and more practical than it ever had been before, in these later years changes have been made in the art of printing that, while superseding Gutenberg's inven- tion, have to a certain extent returned to the principle from which Gutenberg broke away. The modern so- called tpye-setting machines, the ones which are used most in this country, do not use separable type, but cast type in a solid, single line, and plates, from which all the great newspapers of America are printed, are stereo- type blocks of an entire solid page. But this is another story. The great art of printing took a start at the time of Gutenberg's invention and spread over the entire civil- ized world. It brought a new era of intelligence to mankind. More books have been printed in each suc- ceeding year since that time till the volumes now issued each year might be numbered by the millions, if it were not for the fact that there are so many of them turned out that they cannot be numbered at all. The copies of the daily newspapers that are issued from the press each and every day are almost as count- less as the leaves of the forest, and reading matter, 234 GUTENBERG which, before the days of Gutenberg, was a luxury, con- fined to a little band of wealthy or aristocratic people, has now been placed within the reach of the multitude in such quantities that there is no excuse for ignorance in any quarter of the globe at the present time. 235 Chapter XVIII DOWN THE RHINE The river Rhine is the most important river, com- mercially, of the continent of Europe, and the largest river of Germany. It is also exceedingly picturesque and of great historic interest. The Rhine trip is so easy to make, consumes so little time and is so wonderfully fascinating that it appears to me that in making any trip through Europe, the Rhine should be included. It impressed me as being one of the finest river trips that I have ever experienced, and I might lay claim to being somewhat of a judge of water navigation, having traversed the Hudson river, the St. Lawrence river, the Mississippi river, the Columbia river, the Ohio river, the Missouri river, the St. Johns and Indian rivers of Florida, the Saguenay river of Canada, the Thames river of England, the Seine of France, the lakes of Kil- larney, all the northern lakes of this country, Puget sound, the Atlantic ocean, the Pacific ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the canals of Venice, Holland and Mexico, and several other bodies and streams of water, not failing to mention the Sangamon river on which Lincoln floated his first flat-boat. They all have their peculiarities and their particular charms, but none of them have the old castles with their legends that so much increase the in- terest of a ride on the famous Rhine. It was a sort of dreary, rainy day and a cloudy 236 THE MASCOT GOAT evening when we were in Mainz, and when we retired at night we wondered what the morning would bring forth. Our room in the hotel overlooked the river front, adjoining a park between, from whence we could hear the music of a classical concert through even the murky atmosphere in the evening. Adjoining this park was the river bank, its line of demarkation being outlined by a solid stone wall several miles in length. The boat land- ing was directly in front of our room. It appeared that Providence was with us, for with the morning light came warm weather and beautiful sunshine. The boat lay at the landing with its flag waving from its staff. The distance from the hotel is so short that nobody ever thinks of taking a con- veyance. The porter took our heavier pieces of bag- gage and at 9 o'clock we were ready for the trip down the Ehine. Of course the boat was fully manned by a German crew, but we found one man who could speak very good English. THE MASCOT GOAT On the pier among the passengers was a good-sized goat, which was a sort of mascot of the place and ap- peared to be very familiar in his manners with the boat hands and the passengers who were embarking. The goat was busily engaged in looking for something to eat and was ready to pay its attention to either a tin can, a lady's shawl or the numerous labels with which the passengers' baggage was illuminated. You know it is the custom in Europe for every hotel to place a big label of the most flashy combination of red, green, blue and yellow on everybody's baggage. Mainz being about the center of Europe, the tour- 237 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ists meet each other coming and going, and by the time each stream of travel is ready to rendezvous at this point the baggage of all travelers is so completely frescoed with labels of all shapes and colors that each and every piece absolutely glows in its glory like Joseph's coat of many colors. The side of an ordinary suit case looks like a miniature billboard and it might be supposed that every traveler was the traveling agent of some show printing house and that he carried the samples of the most brilliant specimens they could do in billboard work on the side of his grip. As these labels are put on with flour paste, they presented a very great temptation to this goat, who carried with him his usual appetite. A steamboat land- ing in this part of the country is a very interesting place for one of these animals, if he can get at the baggage. As the boat shoved out into mid-stream and the goat was left behind, I think he felt sort of sorry that he could not stay with that baggage till it reached its desti- nation, or till he had all the labels off of it. GOOD BOATS The boats, which are made somewhat after the pat- tern of the Hudson river boats in our country, are long and narrow, do not set very high, but have remarkable speed qualities, which, with the fast current, makes the trip somewhat exciting. Two long tables in the dining room accommodate all the passengers at one sitting, there being facilities for the whole three hundred to eat at one time. The boat made only short stops at the va- rious landings, just long enough to take on and discharge the passengers and their baggage. There were about three hundred people on the boat 238 BRIDGES ON THE RHINE with us and among them was a jolly crowd of Germans who appeared to be members of some club. They came on at Mainz or Wiesbaden and left the boat at Coblentz about noon. They sat around the table and drank wine and joined with the musician of the boat, who sang and played a guitar. They made the hills ring with the "Watch on the Ehine" and other German airs. They, however, did not neglect the drinking of Rhine in order to sing of the Rhine, for, as that party of fifteen left the boat at Coblentz, I counted twenty-five large empty wine botttles on the table around which they had sat while singing. GREAT BRIDGES ON THE RHINE Directly opposite from Mainz is the town of Castel with several bridges connecting the towns, and the mag- nificence of these bridges with their great towers pre- sents an impressive sight. They seem to have been built with three ideas in view. One, the utilitarian idea, as they carry the railway trains and other traffic ; the sec- ond, the architectural idea of beauty and impressive- ness, and the third idea seems to embrace the lasting qualities, for they look as though they were intended to stand a thousand years and be in good condition at the end of that time. And such bridges as these cross over the Rhine, in many places being high enough for the boats to pass under without having draws of any kind. I was surprised, however, as we approached the town of Cologne to find a pontoon bridge, and I had noticed that we had passed one or two others on the river. A pontoon bridge, you understand, is a bridge composed of boats anchored side by side, reaching clear across the river and with a roadway laid on top and con- 239 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE necting all of them. The bridge has no piers but the weight rests on the floating boats which are anchored in mid-stream. They are usually temporary institutions and are not often used, although there are one or two on the Mississippi river, and perhaps in other places in the United States. I was surprised to find such temporary institutions in use in this old settled country, and especially near the other great permanent structures. On inquiry I found there were two reasons assigned for the continued maintenance of these bridges. One was that they could be used in case any of the permanent bridges were dis- abled and out of condition, but the most important use of these bridges is for military practice. Pontoon bridges are frequently used in military campaigns and these bridges are kept on the Rhine to give the soldiers of the German army practical experience in handling them. THE OLD CASTLES The greatest interest in a trip on the Rhine is in the old castles which adorn its hills on either side. There are many of these in all states of preservation, from com- plete order down to the last stages of decay. How many there are of them I am unable to say, but between Mainz and (Joblentz you are in sight of one or more of these castles almost all of the time. Nearly all of these date back into the middle ages, some of them being very, very old. These castles were built by baron chiefs in the days before society was fully organized after the dark ages and when each one of these old chiefs had around him a following who lived with him and joined in his ex- 240 THE OLD CASTLES ploits. They located along the Rhine because there was very rich picking along the grand old river. They levied tribute or blackmail on every boat that passed up and down the river in those days, long before steam and electricity had been thought of and when the mariner had to depend on sails, oars and ropes for the progress of his vessel. I can hardly conceive how, with their primitive methods, they ever got much of a boat up the stream against the swift current, but they did it some way. As they passed by, each one of the robber barons who lived in these old castles would swoop down on them and levy blackmail to an uncertain extent of their cargo, and, by the time the poor mariner completed his trip, if he had as much left as the hull of his boat and a very small amount of his freight, and had preserved his life, he would immediately repair to some shrine, cross his bosom and thank the Lord that he was still here and able to make another trip for the benefit of the robbers. These barons were no weak brothers, either, for their castles were great fortresses, with their moats and drawbridges, and they had hundreds and perhaps thou- sands as reckless devils as ever existed, to support them. Their exactions in the course of time became so severe that several cities along the Rhine were nearly ruined by their oppression, being unable to get any goods in or out of their places on account of the tolls levied by these robbers. A number of cities finally formed a coalition and it was through this that these conscienceless scoun- drels were overthrown, their castles destroyed and left to make the melancholy but entertaining pictures which we find here to-day. A castle called the Rheinfels was the worst center 241 —16 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of the whole lot, its lord being the most greedy and un- relenting of all of his fellows. Such men as these, however, who exceed in cruelty and greed, also gather about them the largest bands to share their ill-gotten gains, so when the league was formed and made war on the lord of Eheinf els, it had a considerabe fight on hand. The baron and his band held at bay an army estimated at twenty-five thousand, for a matter of fifteen months, and, on more than one occasion, defeated them in battle. The castle finally succumbed, but it presents a wonder- ful picture of stone and defeated strength even at the present day. All of these old castles are overgrown with ivy, which makes them very pretty, notwithstanding their ruined and broken parts. THE LEGENDS OF THE RHINE Every one of the old castles on the Rhine has a legend of its own and there are legends connected with certain points on the river. For instance, there is St. Goar, which takes its name from the legend of the ferryman who claimed to be a saint — and, in a strictly original way, converted all of his passengers, especially when he received them one at a time. He was a very devout man and, as soon as he would get his lone passenger in mid-stream he would throw him overboard and hold him down and give him a cleansing baptism. Then, as he would let the victim up, he would ask him if he had repented. If he had not he would souse him under the water again and drown him then and there, but if the victim declared that he had repented and was converted by his baptism, then the old ferryman would drown him anyhow for fear he would be a backslider in case he got back on shore. 242 SENSELESS STONES THE LORELEI At one place the river makes a sharp bend around a magnificent point 450 feet high, called the Lorelei, di- rectly opposite considerable rapids in the stream. In late years the stone has been blasted from the bed of this dan- gerous passage, and, while the current is very swift, the boats go by in safety. But in the olden time it was a very dangerous place and many a boat went to its de- struction in rounding this point. It was supposed that a siren sang her beautiful songs that lured the mariners to the destruction of their vessels and to their death, and in the eddies and foam the natives imagined they saw the form of the enchanting but wicked super- natural beauty. But science punctures all superstition in the course of time and Lorelei has ceased to be an object of super- stition, for the railroad that was built down the eastern side of the Rhine river found it impossible to go around the Lorelei, so it went straight through with a magnifi- cent tunnel, big enough to accommodate two tracks. And, as the rapids have been made safe, the legend of Lorelei is but a recollection of the past. SENSELESS STONES Peeping from the surface of the Ehine at one place are seven irregular, rugged stones of large proportions. There is a legend in connection with these, and that is that a wealthy gentleman had seven beautiful daughters and they were much given to flirtation and deceived many men who had true and good hearts and who sought the hands of the young ladies and, also, incidentally, their father's fortune. The fairies finally interfered and punished the girls for their cruel flirtation by turn- 243 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ing them into stones and placing them in the bed of this river projecting a little above the water line. They are called the Seven Senseless Stones. A bachelor friend of ours, upon hearing this story, suggested that if all the girls in our country who flirted were turned into rock and placed in the streams of the United States, navigation in our rivers might be rather difficult and somewhat dangerous. THE CASTLES OF THE BROTHERS On one of the hills, which has two prominent points and a narrow passage between, there are two castles, one on each point. They are called the Castles of the Brothers. The legend in connection with these is that the two castles were built by two brothers who lived in complete harmony, one with the other and each with each, until they both, unfortunately, fell in love with the same lady. There was no compromise in the situa- tion and the ill feeling grew stronger and stronger be- tween them until one day they met on the narrow pas- sage connecting the two castles, with swords in hand, and fought until each brother pierced the other brother through the heart, and both fell from the cliff, one on one side of the divide, the other on the other side, both sharing victory and defeat at the same instant. THE SILVER BELL The Castle of Falkenberg has its legend that the lord thereof once stole a silver bell from a church, and, when the bishop called on him for the return of the bell, instead of restoring it, he tied it about the bishop 's neck and threw him, so encumbered, into the bottom of the deep well of the castle. The bishop was never again heard from, but in a few days the lord of the castle fell 244 THE DRAGON'S ROOK under the weather. He grew steadily worse and sent for the medicine man. Every attention was given him but the medicine did not improve his condition, and, in spite of all that could be done, his life ebbed swiftly away, and along about midnight those who stood about him heard the death knell sounded on a bell. There was an unearthly peculiarity about the subdued tones of the bell, different from any tones of a bell that had ever been heard before. They could not tell whence the sounds came, but, after much search, they found the sound of the bell came from the deep recesses of the well, and, at the dread hour of midnight as the last stroke of the bell sounded, Lord Falkenstein, the baron of the castle, breathed his last and his soul was wafted to that unknown bourne from whence no mortal has ever yet returned. And every year since then, at ex- actly the same midnight hour, the sounds of the bell re- verberate from its deep grave through the hills around about the castle of Falkenberg. THE DRAGON'S ROCK Then there is the Drachenfels or Dragon's Rock, the castle and rock being named from a legend connected with a dragon which was the terror of the world. There is a story about the dragon, but it is too long to give here. Suffice it to say that it finally came to its death when it attacked a young woman who was a true Chris- tian and who raised in front of the monster a crucifix, at the sight of which the dragon raised itself high in the air and fell backwards over the great cliff and was dashed to its destruction on the stones below. But I cannot tell all the legends in connection with 245 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the castles on the Rhine. There were too many for me to recollect. THE RAT OR MOUSE TOWER There is one legend, however, that cannot very well be omitted in connection with an account of the Rhine, and that is the legend of the "Rat" or "Mouse" tower. This tower has been completely restored of late. It is near to the river and presents a wonderfully impressive view. It is said that in the olden time, when dogs ate lime, and pigs went around with forks in their backs saying, "Who'll eat me? who'll eat me?" — this tower was the home of one Bishop Hatto, a religious man with a heart of stone, who, in a year of famine, took a lot of women and children and, placing them in his barn, set it on fire, remarking that they did not amount to anything anyhow as they were only a lot of miserable rats eating corn, and it was a good way to get rid of them. No sooner had he set the barn on fire and made his heartless statement than the servants announced that there was something coming that looked like an army of rats marching in his direction. Taking only one look he got into his tower as quick as he could for he saw the rats coming sure enough. But it appeared that neither bricks nor stone nor mortar could withstand the on- slaught of the rats. They came through cracks, crevices and solid blocks of stone, and, within a few hours, not- withstanding a strenuous battle on the part of the bishop, they had overcome him and they gnawed him meat and bone. And thus the name of the Rat or Mouse tower has been applied to this edifice ever since. 246 THE EMPEROR'S CASTLE THE TOLL HOUSE An odd construction stands at one place directly in the middle of the river on a solid base. It is quite large and strongly built. It might be imagined a castle, a prison or a fortress. The doors or openings are high from the base and are reached only by a ladder. It is said that it was formerly used as a toll house where every boat had to pay tribute before passing. It was built strong that it might withstand a siege, and, in the base, is an immense well, so that it could be supplied with pure filtered water. That it was used for a prison is evidenced by its dungeons and the windows that are high from the floor so that prisoners confined in the in- terior could not escape. It is an odd and striking struc- ture, but has evidently outlived its days of usefulness, for it is neither a prison, a fortress nor a toll house at the present time. THE EMPEROR'S CASTLE A beautiful castle is the Stolzenf els. It has been in existence a thousand years, but was restored in more re- cent times and belongs to Emperor William. It was a favorite resort of his grandmother, the Empress Au- gusta. Another great castle on this river is called the Rheinstein. It is at least six hundred years old, but is entirely restored and is now the summer residence of Emperor William. There are a number of other castles on the Rhine which have fallen into the hands of wealthy men and have been restored and are used as residences at the present time. These old castles are wonderful edifices. They 247 SIXTY DAYS IN EUEOPE carry one back into the dark ages before the governments of this era were organized, and when each robber baron, surrounded by his band of cut-throats and brigands, ruled in a fashion to suit himself. His castle was his stronghold; his rights rested only upon his might to enforce them, and his conscience rested entirely on the problem of self-preservation and aggrandizement. The baron knew no code of law but his own whim, and his followers knew no duty but obedience and loyalty to the leader, looking to their reward for faithful per- formance and suffering fear and trembling at his disap- proval. Each castle was the center of a little kingdom of its own, built upon blood and rapine and existing on its ill-gotten gains and defying the rest of mankind by its almost impregnable strength. But there came a restoration of order. There came a time when civiliza- tion asserted itself again and these old castles are now but the evidence of a mistaken age. But they are wonderfully interesting in their legends, beautiful in their locations and sad in their de- caying state. They lend a wonderful enchantment, too, to the great river Rhine, which, with their at- tractions, is hardly equalled by any stream on the face of the globe. VINEYARDS OF THE RHINE Soon after leaving Mainz we came to Wiesbaden, where we took on more passengers. We soon found our- selves between the mountains or hills on each side, covered with the vineyards which have made the Rhine famous, not only in the matter of beauty, but in the matter of producing wine. The hills, which sometimes reach a height of nearly a thousand feet, are terraced 248 VINEYARDS ON THE RHINE with stone walls, one above the other, in irregular steps, each one containing a little green vineyard which, by the formation of the wall, is hung onto the side of the slope. In some of these places as many as forty of these terraces rise one above the other, and, when one con- templates the work that was necessary to lay up the miles and miles of these terraces, it seems incomprehensible that it is the work of man done altogether by hand. The labor and patience that has been exerted on these terraces year after year, and generation after gen- eration, speaks in a silent language of the sturdiness of the German people who have laid them up. If it were not for these walls, however, few vineyards could be found along the Rhine, for the mountain slopes are so abrupt that no soil could remain upon them very long unless it were held there by these retaining walls. The most renowned of all these works are the cele- brated slopes of Johannesberg, from whence comes the popular Johannesberg Rhine Wine. These vineyards, held in place by their retaining walls, are valuable property. They are closely culti- vated and not a foot of the ground is allowed to go to waste. As you float down the middle of the river and these vineyards rise on both sides, cut up by their stone walls, they present a wonderfully beautiful picture. The shapes of the various pieces are as different as could well be imagined, and very much resemble the crazy quilt formation that was such a fad for the ladies of the United States a few years ago. Close by the margin of the river on each side is a double railway track ; there are also most excellent car- riage drives, so that all day long the scene is enlivened 249 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE by the rapidly passing trains, and by people riding in automobiles, carriages, wagons, on bicycles, etc. There are a number of cities and villages along the river and the traffic that is carried on the water was really a revelation to me. On our great Mississippi river steamboat traffic is almost a thing of the past, and there are hours and even days when you scarcely see a boat on this stream. There is a good deal of freight carried on the Hudson river between Albany and New York city, and it is counted a very lively highway of traffic, but it is my honest opinion that there are at least five times as many boats on the river Khine between Co- logne and Mainz as there are on the Hudson river be- tween Albany and New York city. The activity along the river, made up of the numer- ous boats, the railway trains, the roadway traffic, is so in contrast with the quiet, peaceful fields beyond, and so up-to-date as compared with the old ruined castles, that one is between the ancient and the modern, the present and the past, to such an extent that it carries with-it a great diversion of one's feelings. One of the interesting points passed on the river, soon after the beginning of the trip, is the little town of Bingen, ' ' Fair Bingen on the Ehine, ' ' which has become famous from being associated with that most touching poem which was familiar to all of us in our school-boy days: "A soldier of the legion Lay dying at Algiers, There was lack of woman's nursing, There was dearth of woman's tears." GERMAN NATIONAL MONUMENT Nearly opposite Bingen stands the German National monument. It is on a striking prominence called the 250 NATIONAL MONUMENT Niederwald Hill, seven hundred and forty feet above the river, and commemorates the victories of the Franco- Prussian war. From the boat it hardly looks as large as it is, for it is a long way off, but it is of colossal size and a magnificent work of art, being one of the greatest war monuments ever erected. It is composed of stone and bronze. It is more than one hundred feet high and is surmounted by a statue of a bronze figure representing Germania, the idea being the same as our statue of the Goddess of Liberty. This statue of Germania, which caps the whole structure, is thirty-three feet high. On each corner of the base below are colossal figures of angels or heralds with sword in hand and blowing a blast of victory on long trumpets. In bas-relief on the pedestal are the portraits of Emper- or William and the great generals of the German army One of the bronze tablets represents the "Watch on the Rhine," and the words of that song are said to be en- graved beneath, although we could not see them from the boat. This great monument is located in such a po- sition that it can be seen for a considerable distance from either direction on the river. In our day's journey, in addition to the other towns and cities named, we passed Bacharach, which is fa- mous for the ruins of an old chapel almost as large as a castle, and the junction of the Mosel river with the Rhine, with a beautiful village on each side of the latter river, and Coblentz, the old Roman town formerly called ' •' Confiuento " from being where another river joins the Rhine, a city remarkable for its nice houses and its fine bridges ; the old city Ems, which hugs the river on both sides, and the town of Andernach, and the city of Bonn, 251 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE where the great musical composer, Beethoven, was born. After passing many other towns, we came to our jour- ney's end at the old city of Cologne. END OF THE RHINE Almost every river has its own characteristics. Hardly any of them are similar. The river Rhine is different in one particular from most other great rivers of the world. Almost all great rivers flow into some larger body of water, and increase in size as they finally reach their destination. Contrary to this, the river Rhine is a much greater river in the middle than it is at either end. Rising at its source up in the Alps, it is not much of a stream, but that part which runs through Germany is entitled to be classed among the great rivers of the world, being of good proportions and carrying a large amount of traffic. But it does not increase in size after leaving Cologne. On the contrary, after passing Emerich, a few miles below Cologne, it enters the Nether- lands, and, almost immediately, subdivides into two smaller rivers. These rivers further subdivide and com- pose a number of streams to which a dozen different names are applied, and the name Rhine is lost track of as the river passes through this low country. The waters finally enter into the Zuyder Zee and the North Sea, the several mouths being scattered over a distance of one hundred miles on the seashore. The Nile and the Mississippi have their deltas, where they divide into smaller streams, but none of them comes to so inglorious a finish as does the magnificent river Rhine. I felt sorry that the Rhine did not continue on its proud way with undiminished volume to the sea. So we left it with sorrow and took up our lodging in a 252 CITY OF COLOGNE convenient location in the Rhine's greatest city, the city of Cologne. CITY OF COLOGNE Cologne is an old, old city. It was a town of con- siderable size before the Roman conquest and many of its buildings are of great historical interest. It was named by Emperor Claudius of Rome, who is given the credit of establishing it. In A. D. 51, the name Cologne was given in honor of his wife, Colonia Agrippina. Its streets are many of them so narrow and so crooked that it reminds one of one of those puzzle laby- rinths in a public park, where you get in and can't get out. But it is wonderfully interesting withal, and be- sides doing a very large business in many lines, for it is a large city, it has some very attractive places. "We engaged an automobile, of which there were a large number, and rode all about the city, examining its great walls and fortresses, went through its parks, and threaded its crooked and narrow streets as well as its wide and elegant boulevards, and it impressed us as having many charming residences and good store houses. It is a walled city and its geography conforms to that old idea of being built to fit the wall or the wall being built to fit the city. When you get to Cologne, about one of the first things that you encounter is a chance to buy a bottle of "perfumery called Eau de Cologne, and if you stay there a little while you have an opportunity to buy another and another bottle, and if you remain there very long it seems to me that you could buy enough cologne water to sprinkle the streets of an ordinary city. And yet Cologne is not such a sweet-smelling place after all, as 253 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE might be expected. One million five hundred thousand bottles of cologne are exported from this city every year. I have often heard that it was a bad-smelling town, but it struck me as being remakably well kept and in good condition and I will file no complaint in that line. The new part of the city has been built around the original city and the line of demarkation is a circular boulevard three and a half miles long, called the "Ring- Strasse. ' ' But the greatest thing in Cologne, as in all of these other towns, is its Cathedral. I have described so many churches and Cathedrals that I will pass over this edifice more lightly than it deserves, for, while it is not so large as the Gothic Cathedral of Milan, it is the finest Gothic building in the world and might be the subject of an en- tire letter. By Gothic is meant that pointed style of architecture as exemplified in church steeples and church windows, running to a point at the top, and pinnacles, etc., of the same nature. This Cathedral was begun in the year 1248 and was not completed until the year 1880. There was more than three million dollars spent on this edifice in its completion between the years 1842 and 1880, when it was consecrated with imposing ceremonies. The total length of the church is about five hundred feet, and it has two magnificent towers exactly alike, each being five hundred and twenty-five feet high and as ornate as towers could well be built. In one of them there is a grand chime of bells which was placed there in 1447, and in 1874, after the Franco-Prussian war, a thirty ton bell, which was made from the French can- nons which were captured in the war, was added to this 254 HUNGARIAN ORCHESTRA collection. It is a huge bell and its sonorous tones shake the earth when it is sounded. But we cannot go into further description at this time, although the edifice is worthy of more attention than we are giving it. The heart of Marie de Medici, who died in exile and poverty in Cologne, is buried in this Cathedral, and there are a number of wonderful, valuable and interesting relics in its treasury. There is another church in Cologne that contains the bones of eleven thousand virgins who were massa- cred by the Huns during their invasion. There are also many statues and ornaments and over the great bridge are equestrian statues of Fred- erick William IV. and Emperor William I. There is a remarkable statue of Bismarck in Co- logne. It is in the shape of a tower with the old prince sitting with his back against it, and being surrounded by a sort of stone frame. The position is very much the same as the seated statues of Egypt, which are shown as being along the river Nile. If one did not know that Bismarck was a comparatively modern per- sonage, he might suppose that this odd monument had been here hundreds of years, it looks so old. It is a singular tribute to a great man. A HUNGARIAN ORCHESTRA At the hotel where we stayed in Cologne there is a large garden in the center of the block, brilliantly illu- minated and with porches under cover, where they set the tables, and where, in the summer time, the evening meals are served. Music was furnished by a band of four or five artists called a Hungarian orchestra. It differed from any ordinary orchestra only in the fact . 255 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE that the main instrument of the combination was a Hungarian piano. This was somewhat in the shape of an instrument formerly used in our country called a dulcimer. The instrument this artist played was of greater proportions than any instrument of this nature that I have seen in America. It was about like a small piano would be if you should take off the key-board and remove the upper casing, leaving the sound-board and exposing the strings to view, on which the per- former made music by thumping them with little balls made of wood or leather on the ends of elastic steel wires which he handled in place of the ordinary keys of a piano. As this particular performer got nearly as much music out of this instrument as is produced by the ordinary piano, where the performer uses ten fingers, you can well imagine that he thumped in a remark- ably lively manner. I doubt if I have ever seen a man who could hit anything as often and as fast as this gentleman could strike the strings of his instrument. He certainly must have attained his proficiency by long and active practice. I had no arrangement, of course, by which I could keep time on him, but I should imagine he could thump about eight hundred and sixty thumps a minute with each hand, and his motions were as eccentric and grotesque as those of the great Crea- tore when he leads his famous Italian band. The music he and his associates made was remarkably well exe- cuted, wonderfully pleasing to the ear and entertain- ing and interesting to the eye. A WELSH RAREBIT At noon-time of the day we were in Cologne, and 256 ■ - - ~ BRWk I, . ff BISMARCK MONUMENT, COLOGNE. "If one did not know, he might suppose this odd monument had been here hundreds of years." — Page 255. A WELSH RAREBIT as we were passing along a small, narrow street well crowded with stores with most excellent stocks of goods, a brisk rain storm came up quite suddenly. Just at that time we came opposite an opening between the stores with a glass-covered roof, that led in an irregu- lar way through the block and was lined on both sides by small shops, where souvenirs, postal cards, etc., were sold. This was a most excellent haven in case of a sud- den rain, so we turned in and amused ourselves by looking at the goods displayed in the different show windows till, unexpectedly, we came to the door of a small restaurant. As it was more enjoyable to eat than to walk in the rain, we stepped into the restaurant for a lunch. Quite a number of very respectable looking peo- ple were circled around the little tables. The rooms were nicely furnished and carpeted and there was a general air of coziness and comfort about the place. The menu card was all printed in German except one line which caught our fancy and which was printed in most excellent English as follows: "Welsh Rarebit." As this was the only thing on the bill of fare that we could make out, we directed the waiter in the sign lan- guage to bring on the "Rabbit." After a short wait we got what we had called for and there was hardly a meal in Germany that we enjoyed better than we did this one which we came upon so unexpectedly and which we finished up just as the rain was over and the clouds rolled by. And soon thereafter we were on the train and whirling away to Amsterdam in Holland. 257 —17 Chapter XIX AMONG THE DUTCH In going from Cologne to Amsterdam we passed through a part of Germany in which there are a large number of factories, I certainly never saw so many chimneys in so close proximity to each other, unless it was during a visit to Pittsburg, Pa, A good part of our route lay through Westphalia, a province of Prussia or Germany, and bordering on the Netherlands. As we passed over the line from Westphalia into Holland, it was not long before the characteristics of this peculiar old country came into view. There were the men with their wooden shoes, there were the spotted cows, the many canals, and the innumerable long-armed windmills that always go with Holland pic- tures. Holland proper is made up of North Holland and South Holland, two of the provinces of the Nether- lands, which includes several other provinces besides these two. Since Belgium has withdrawn from the rest of that part of the country known as the Netherlands, the name Holland is given to all of the provinces left, al- though properly belonging to the two named here. The name Netherlands signifies "low lands." Webster gives the definition of nether as being akin to downward, below, beneath, down, etc., as the quotation 258 DIKES AND CANALS from Milton reads, ' ' 'Twixt upper, nether and sur- rounding fires," and this word well describes this part of the world, as 1 a good deal of it is actually below sea level and if it were not for the great work that has been done in the building of the dikes and dams in Holland, what we call levees in this country, it would be almost entirely under water at this time. The whole country was evidently once the bed of the ocean and most of it has been reclaimed by the everlasting industry and dogged determination of the undaunted Dutch. GREAT DIKES AND CANALS The country is intersected by the deltas of the rivers Ehine, Maas, Shelt and a number of other streams, lakes, seas and lagoons, and the only things that reach above the tide-water lines are the immense sand dunes that have been raised by the action of the winds, and the dams or dikes that have been built by the people. Some of these dikes are as high as thirty feet, are seventy feet broad at the base, and a number of them are built of Norwegian granite. Frequently they have paved roads along the upper ridge. It is claimed that there are one million, nine hun- dred thousand miles of canals through the Netherlands and a large proportion of these are in the two little provinces of Holland. There are two ship canals, one from the North Sea, and the other from the Zuyder Zee, leading to Amsterdam, which, at the time they were opened, were the greatest undertakings of this kind the world had ever seen. One of these is fifty miles long and the other is fifteen. The latter is from two hundred to over three hundred feet in width and thirty feet deep, and will float ocean vessels drawing eighteen feet of water. 259 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE The canals of Holland usually intersect each other and are laid out in a regular system, just as the country roads are laid out in the flat parts of our western states, except that there are more canals in Holland than there are public highways in any part of the United States. Where large canals intersect each other they have dams and locks, and the water is continually pumped by the large, long-armed, old-style windmills. The country being very flat there is always more or less of a breeze, at least enough to keep the windmills in motion. The work of these mills is very important to the people of Holland. They not only keep the water in the various canals from becoming stagnant, but they pump it from the lower to the higher levels, and from the lowlands to the sea. While some of the canals are large enough to float ocean steamers, others are only of sufficient size to carry small schooners or boats that are towed by horses or men, and there are even lesser canals, which we would call in our country "drainage ditches." The system of canals has been in course of construction for several centuries and is being further improved from year to year. There are a number of dikes built in the North Sea, which has an immense height of tide, and severe storms, and, if it were not for these dikes, which are among the wonders of the world, the whole country would be fre- quently inundated in times of storm. As it is, the country seems to be safe, notwithstanding you can stand behind these great walls and hear the waters of the North Sea beating against the outer side, sixteen feet above the ground on which you stand. 260 DUTCH HAVE TAKEN HOLLAND The two provinces claim an area of only 2,236 square miles, which would be about the size of two of the largest counties of Illinois. There is a population of a little over 2,000,000. The principal cities are Amster- dam, Harlam, Altmae, The Hague, Lieden, Rotterdam and Gouda. THE DUTCH HAVE TAKEN HOLLAND I have often heard it said that "the Dutch have taken Holland," but this is not so much of a joke as most people imagine, for the Dutch have had to take Holland. On several occasions away back in the early history, they had to wrest their little country from the control of much larger and more formidable enemies and they usually succeeded. They were overcome, how- ever, by Napoleon I., but were one of the first nations to rise in revolt and to succeed in attaining their inde- pendence after the battle of Waterloo. In addition to their own little kingdom, they con- trol some important possessions in other parts of the world, notably the Islands of Java and New Guinea, some parts of Sumatra, and the Island of Borneo, be- sides some islands in the Carribean Sea on this conti- nent. Previous to the war in South Africa it was the Hollanders or Boers, as they were called, who had set- tled and had possession of nearly all of the south part of Africa. The little country has had several severe ordeals to pass through and the people have always been equal to any emergency that has arisen in connection with their civil and political affairs. They had much to do with the early settlement of New York city in our country, which was at first called New Amsterdam. 261 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE OLD AMSTERDAM The principal city of Holland is Amsterdam, with a population of one-half million. Most of the cities of Holland take their names from some dam, and Amster- dam is no exception to the rule, as it is named after a dam on the Amstel river. The name in Dutch is "Am- steldamme," which has finally been contracted to the present form. Amsterdam is sometimes called the "Venice of the North," as it is built on some ninety different islands and has miles of canals in addition to its streets. These canals are spanned by three hundred bridges. Although it resembles Venice with its canals and bridges, it is en- tirely different from Venice in its poetic side, for it has no poetic side, and, it appears to me, that there is much hard work and very little poetry about the Dutch any- how. The boats are heavy vehicles of traffic, and not the pleasure gondolas of Venice. All appeared to be for business and not for pleasure. It is said that the street levels of Amsterdam are considerably below the water of the Zuyder Zee or the North Sea, and this appears to be the case, for when you go out in a boat from Amsterdam, instead of going down to the sea in ships, as the Bible says, you do not pro- ceed very far before you come to dikes, dams and locks where your vessel is raised several feet to a higher level before you can proceed out into the open water. The city of Amsterdam, which has beautiful as- phalt streets, lovely parks and yards, and is pleasant to the eye, is located upon an almost bottomless bog and the houses are all built on piles driven into the sand and muck beneath them. Sometimes these piles are 262 JOKE ON THE FOREIGNER spliced end to end and must be driven from 50 to 75 feet in the earth to make any foundation whatever. Under these circumstances it seems strange that any- building in the city should stand upon its foundation. While some of them stand firm and square as they were built, hundreds of others do not, but, on the contrary, lean almost every direction. In passing along the business streets where the houses are four or five stories high, there is scarcely one of them that stands plumb. Some lean forward, some backward, some to one side and some to the other. They seem, however, to be well built, and very few of them display any cracks or crevices. Sometimes they are sunk from one to three feet below the level of the side- walk, and, in other places, they are built above the side- walk and apparently never have gone down at all. It was a surprise to me to see how out of plumb they stood and yet they stood so well. Probably the greatest building in the city is the Royal Palace, which stands upon fourteen thousand piles and, although it has stood since the year 1655, ap- pears to be as level and square upon its foundation as it could have been when it was built. This is a re- markable building, by the way, and its grand reception hall, they claim, is the finest room in all Europe. It is fifty-seven feet by one hundred and seven feet, the ceiling is one hundred feet high and the entire room is lined with fine Italian marble. It is a magnificent room and the Hollanders have reason to be proud of it. A JOKE ON THE FOREIGNER They have a fine zoological garden in Amsterdam, with quite an aquarium, which is one of the attractions 263 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of the place. They have a good collection of animals and the main avenue from the entrance is lined on both sides with a number of cockatoos in all colors that rest on roosts on top of short posts, and welcome visitors as they pass down the avenue. These people appear to have a peculiar idea that should be entirely satisfactory to those who live in Amsterdam, but is hardly so to visitors from other places. When we approached the entrance I noticed there were two gates; one had a sign indicating that it was for foreigners and the other that it was for resi- dents of the city. Being foreigners, we naturally passed in at the entrance so designated. After passing through the gate I found that the only difference between the two entrances was that those who went in the citizens' gate went in free of charge, while at the foreigners ' gate each person was compelled to buy a ticket, which cost about twenty-five cents. It was some satisfaction, how- ever, to find that when we came to pass out we could go through the same gate that was open to the Dutch with- out paying an additional fee. THE HOME OF REMBRANDT Amsterdam was the home of Rembrandt and a very creditable statue of the artist occupies a position in a little place known as Eembrandt Square, which is sur- rounded by trees and flowers. In the gallery there are a number of Rembrandt pictures, including, among others, one of his most celebrated called "The Night Watch." Rembrandt's pictures all possess the same general characteristics. They are remarkable for their lights and shades. The principal colors he used were chrome yellow and dark brown. Whenever you see one 264 JEWS OF AMSTERDAM of Rembrandt's pictures you always see the bright glare of yellow that is supposed to come from the rays of the sun. No artist has used so few colors as Rembrandt and used them so effectively. "The Night Watch" does not, as might be sup- posed from the name, represent any man or number of men watching in the night for burglars or trespassers, but, as I understand it, shows a rollicking set of fellows wlo clubbed together and enjoyed themselves after night and only watched for new adventures. In this picture the bright rays of the sun are superseded by the bright rays of some artificial light, but the same Rem- brandt idea illuminates this great picture. There is hardly any painter whose works are so universally pop- ular in all countries as those of the immortal Rembrandt. Another one of his great pictures, which is dis- played in a gallery at The Hague, is "The School of Anatomy." It represents a professor and his students in the act of dissecting a human corpse. It is a sort of uncanny picture, but it must be regarded as a wonder- ful painting. THE JEWS OF AMSTERDAM There are a great many Jews living in Amsterdam. Several years ago when the Jews were persecuted in Russia and the other countries of Europe, Holland of- fered them religious freedom and a haven of safety, so that many of them took up their residence in Amster- dam at that time, and their descendants are a thrifty part of the population now. There are two synagogues, one for the Orthodox Jews, the other for the Reformed Jews. These buildings are located near to each other and on Saturday, which 265 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE is the Sabbath with our Jewish brothers, there are many people in the vicinity of these two places of worship. We happened to be there at that time and found the Jewish people in their best clothes — the women well dressed and the men mostly walking beneath high-topped silk hats. CUTTING AND POLISHING DIAMONDS Amsterdam has long been the center of the diamond cutting and polishing business. Ninety-eight per cent of all the diamonds of commerce produced at the present; time come from the mines near Kimberly in South Africa. Somehow or other the English appear to have gotten these mines away from the Dutch, but it appears that, before they could do so, the business of cutting and polishing the diamonds was very largely developed in Amsterdam, and, notwithstanding in late years a good deal of this work is done in London and Paris, and some in the United States, Amsterdam still holds its own in this industry. There are ten thousand people en- gaged in the cutting and polishing of diamonds in Amsterdam. The finishing of a diamond is not a complicated undertaking, but it requires skill. The factories where the diamonds are finished are not very pretentious structures. The work is usually done in old style houses which, evi- dently, were built as tenement houses. They are three or four stories high, and are usually built in blocks some- what after the fashion of tenement houses on the East Side of New York or in the poorer districts of any large city. As the workmen are divided up into groups of about eight or ten persons, the partitions and rooms appear to be left in the houses just as they were at the time they 266 CUTTING DIAMONDS were occupied as living rooms. The American idea of a factory is a large, airy building with big rooms where hundreds of people work amid flying belts and whirling machinery. These diamond factories are the reverse of this. As before stated, the men work in small groups in small rooms. In the factory we visited we were shown into one of these small rooms where there were six diamond polishers working under the direction of one foreman. Each man sat before a steel disc a foot in diameter which turned horizonally, at the rate of about three thousand revolutions per minute, being driven by an electric motor. The foreman had a little box of dia- monds which had been counted out, weighed up, and charged to him. He operated a little gas furnace in which he heated pieces of lead, about an inch in diameter, in iron receptacles until they were warm enough to be pliable, then with his fingers, with the skill that a plumber uses in making a lead joint, he would work the chunk of lead into about the shape of a large straw- berry, and would imbed the diamond in the point thereof. It was peculiar how he could bring this lead to just the degree of heat which left it neither solid nor melted, but about as soft as putty, how skillfully he could shape this with his fingers, and how nicely he could set the diamond in the point of his creation. After thus setting the diamond he would allow the little receptacle with its lead setting to cool ; it was then placed in a small frame of iron which he would turn over to the grinder or polisher. The polisher would have about four of the diamonds prepared in this way resting on his disc at one time, and would keep constant 267 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE watch on them to see when the stone had been ground down to a proper level. As the stone rested on the disc and the disc revolved, the surface was covered with oil mixed with diamond dust, and, in the course of time, a flat surface resulted from the grinding on that part of the diamond which came in contact with the disc. The work is apparently simple, and, in fact, would be so if there were only one place on a diamond to be flattened and polished. But as the ordinary diamond, cut in what is known as the brilliant form, has a flat table sur- face surrounded by thirty-two facets on the upper side or face, and twenty-four facets on the back, all brought to a point, it appears that the diamond must be set and reset, ground and reground fifty-six different times before it is completed. It will be realized, therefore, that to finish the dia- mond in a proper shape with all the facets in exact pro- portion, one to the other, requires wonderful skill on the part of the man who sets the little stone in its lead holder and the polisher who grinds it just enough to make it exactly right. It is a wonder, under the circum- stances, how the work can be done and diamonds sold at as low prices as they bring even at the present time. Diamonds finished in the rose form are much cheaper for the same diameter than those cut in the bril- liant form, for the rose diamonds require only about half the grinding that is given to a brilliant diamond, and, being flat on the back, have only about one-third the weight of a brilliant of the same diameter. Even some of the diamonds cut in the brilliant form are quite shallow, and, while of as good quality, should be sold at a lower rate than those which are perfectly formed, and which are much thicker through the center. 268 IN THE COUNTRY A great many Americans buy diamonds in Amster- dam and some of them pay more for them than they would be asked for them at home. Perhaps if we had reached Amsterdam during the early part of our trip, we might have bought diamonds, but, as we had been several weeks on our travels before we came to this city, we had almost reached that point where we were more likely to sell diamonds than to buy them, so we only looked at them in their purity and brilliancy and left them just where we found them. The houses of Amsterdam are somewhat pictur- esque, have fancy fronts, high-peaked roofs, nice cur- tains and clean windows. The city is an interesting place to visit, and we were glad that we found our way thither. OUT IN THE COUNTRY The large cities of all countries are somewhat simi- lar. The conveniences of travel and the exchange of ideas nowadays are such that any innovations adopted in one part of the world soon find their way into the larger cities of every civilized portion of the globe, so that the same styles prevail largely in the metropolitan cities of all countries. To study the manners and cus- toms of any country and to see the people as they are pictured in their native haunts, one must leave the larger centers and go into the interior. If we had not known this already, we certainly would have discovered it in a short excursion which we enjoyed into the interior of Holland and over to the island of Marken, which is located in the Zuyder Zee. We left the wharf at Amsterdam on a little steamer which carried us to the farther side of the river where 269 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE we embarked on a miniature railway train that ran along the embankment of a canal, and carried us to a town called Broek. This is a center where they make a great deal of Edam cheese. Edam is another village which we went through during the same day, but, for some reason or other, the industry of making Edam cheese nourishes to a greater extent in Broek than it does in the town from which it takes its name. We took advantage of our opportunity and saw how the Hol- landers make cheese. COUNTRY HOUSES The place where it is turned out is an institution embracing a residence, a barn, a dormitory for the la- borers and a cheese factory, all in one building. The family live in the front, the cows live in the back, and the laborers sleep in the loft. In summer the cows are sent into the fields, where they make their permanent home until the cold weather of the autumn. In the meantime, the barn is arranged for the reception of the visitors, of which they have a great many during the summer season. We entered the front of the house into a little hall on one side of which were the living rooms, which were scrupulously clean. All Hollanders in the country wear wooden shoes and when they come into the house the shoes are kicked off and left outside the door, so that there is never any mud tracked into the living rooms. The natives all go in with their feet enclosed only in their heavy woolen stockings. As. their names are usually painted on their shoes, they can tell whose are which when they come out. We did not go through the formality of removing our leather shoes 270 COUNTRY HOUSES but walked right into the house with them on just the same as we would in our own country. A Dutch residence is very oddly "architected" and contrived, and the display of blue porcelain in the shape of plates and saucers with pictures on them, is the chief pride of the women. It seemed that every house we went into had enough of these old-style plates to stock up a good sized boarding house. It is a recent fad in America to run a plate rail around the dining room on which fancy plates, which are never used, are displayed, but the people in the most humble houses in Holland can give our people pointers on the plate rail, for they have maintained them for generations in nearly every one of their houses, there sometimes being two or three of the rails, one above the other, and all crowded with picture dishes in grand display. In this house and in the other houses which we visited in this part of Holland, we found no bedrooms such as are found in the ordinary dwelling, but in the place of them are little niches or receptacles built in the sides of the rooms about as large as a lower berth in a Pullman sleeping car. They are cut off from the living room by lace curtains and drapery, and at first sight one of them might be taken for a miniature stage for a children's playhouse. It appeared to me that there was not much chance for ventilation in one of these berths, but as the winters are always cold in Holland and it never gets hot in summer, and the Dutch do not appar- ently need much fresh air, they seem to get along all right. The walls are papered with highly colored figured wall paper and adorned with quaint pictures of "ye olden times." 271 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Passing through the little hall we had entered, we eame to the cows' barn on the ground floor, with stalls on one side and the cheese factory on the other. The whole interior of the place was whitewashed and pre- sented a very neat and clean appearance. The main floor of the barn was carpeted with a substantial ingrain carpet in which a bright red predominated. In con- nection with the loft, which was devoted to the storing of hay, were the sleeping bunks for the workmen of the place. The gentleman in charge informed us that when the barns were occupied by the cows the carpets were taken up and put away for the next season, when they are put down again for the benefit of visitors such as we. We felt some pride in the fact that we were given this additional compliment above that bestowed upon the cows, which are the chief pride of the Hollanders. NOW FOR THE CHEESE The making of cheese is rather a complicated under- taking, and requires considerable skill and patience. What interested me most, however, was the formation of that pattern of Edam cheese which resembles a pine- apple. I presume there are not many people in the United States that know how this luscious cheese is brought to the perfect shape and covered with the deli- cate carving which it bears when it is on sale in our country which makes it resemble so much the fruit of the tropics. The process of shaping it, however, is rather simple. There are two patterns in which Edam cheese is sent to the market, one is the round ball of a pink color, and the other is the pineapple form in the natural color of the cheese. When the cheese is made and before fully so- 272 ISLAND OF MARKEN, HOLLAND. "Here we came upon a people more picturesque than any we had met previously." — Page 274. NOW FOR THE CHEESE lidified, it is placed in a mold which shapes it into a round ball. A considerable pressure is put upon the mold so that the cheese comes out firm and round. With a delicate dye it is then colored to the pink shade which appears to be so popular. As there is always a demand for the pineapple form, some of these round balls are taken when they are in a pliable state and placed in a netting bag made of rather coarse twine woven the same as that used in the making of a hammock or a fish net. This little netting or satchel, as it might be called, just fits the cheese. After the cheese is placed in it a draw-string at the top is drawn up just as ladies draw up the top of a little work bag. It is then hung on a hook in the wall and a chunk of iron is hung onto the bottom of the net. The weight of this iron being considerable, draws down the bottom of the net and presses the cord, of which it is made, into the surface of the cheese, and it is allowed to hang that way until it has become sufficiently solidi- fied to hold its own, when it is taken out of its little satchel, the rough corners trimmed off, and you have the bright yellow pineapple that is so well liked by people in all parts of the world. I was delighted to see this process, for I had long wondered how they formed these so symmetrically as they do. I was sorry, after seeing this process, and seeing how simple it was, that I had not visited a maca- roni factory while in Italy to learn how they bored the holes lengthwise through the long macaroni sticks which they turn out in that country. Maybe the process is just as simple. After leaving Broek we went on through the country 273 —18 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE where there were thousands of spotted cows which also are always seen in pictures of Holland. These cows are covered with black and white spots in all sizes and shapes, the black part of their coat of the very deepest dye, and the white part as white as could be imagined. These cows must be famous for the quality of the milk they produce for making cheese, as cheese-making ap- pears to be a very important industry in Holland. They turn out all kinds of cheese in Holland, and just a little below Holland is the province of Limburg, the home of the greatest of all cheeses, which is known as Limburger. I will not stop here to say anything about Limburger cheese, as those who have had any experience with it will know that it is able to speak for itself. WHO'S YOUR TAILOR? We came to Monnickendam and took a boat for Marken. The island of Marken is just above the sur- face of the sea, and, in high water times, is entirely covered except within the levees or dikes around the little village of the same name as the island. Here we came upon a people that were more pictur- esque than any we had met previously. They all wore wooden shoes and the men wore full-legged trousers which were held up by suspenders attached by big solid silver buttons as large around and as heavy as Ameri- can silver dollars. The only thing these men appear to be proud of in the way of dress is their shining silver buttons and the number of patches on their trousers. The more patches and the more different colors and the more conspicuous these patches are on the trousers of a man, the louder they sing the praises of his good wife A man who has no patches on his trousers advertises 274 WHO'S YOUR TAILOR? to the world that his wife is not properly taking care of him, but if he has a hundred patches, it is an evidence to the world that his wife is just twenty-five per cent better than that of his neighbor who has only seventy- five patches on his trousers. The men wear faded blue or red tight fitting shirts or Jersey sweaters and as their trousers are wider in each leg than they are around the waist, they present an odd appearance, but they are no more odd in their dress than the women. The women wear very full wool skirts and close fitting waists with tight sleeves. They wear caps that fit their heads almost as closely as the scalp and their waists fit the upper part of their body like an eel skin, but from the waist down there is a surplus of stock that is remarkable. It would appear that each woman wears at least a dozen petticoats which leave off about eight inches above the ground, and which show to the best pos- sible advantage the two wooden shoes, each one about the size of a canal boat. The slight differences in the caps which they wear are the distinguishing features of different communities. The Marken caps have four layers, a white cotton foun- dation with a cheap lace frill in front, over which is a strip of coarse lace, and on top of all this the back and sides are covered with red Persian patterns of calico. Girls under fourteen years of age. wear their long hair down their backs and also in front of their ears. After they are fourteen years old the back hair is cut off even with the back of the cap and a long curl or plait is left hanging on the outside of the cap on each side of the face. 275 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Boys up to eight years of age dress the same as girls, but after they have reached that age they wear the wide-legged trousers. The only difference between the dress of the girls and the dress of the boys before the age of eight years is that the boys wear a little rosette on the back of their tight-fitting caps. Nearly all the people who live on the island of Marken follow the industry of fishing for a living, and a large number of sail-boats rendezvous at this place. It seems to me that life on this island and under these circumstances would be very monotonous, but it is very fortunate that there are people who are content to live under such unromantic circumstances, that will go out into the ocean and gather fish, or go out into the fields and gather grain, or go into the mines and bring up coal and other necessities for the comfort of the rest of the world. The Hollanders are now engaged in a movement to drain the Zuyder Zee, a lake two-thirds as large as Lake Michigan, and which has floated some of the greatest war fleets of history. It will throw four thousand fisher- men out of a job, but will make homes for a million peo- ple, who will live, like many other Hollanders, below the level of the ocean. Cows will graze where fish now swim. Railroads will take the place of steamships, cities will arise where sea weeds now grow, and parks with brass bands will be found where frogs now croak their mid- night songs. THE ARTISTS' MECCA After spending a short time on the island of Mar- ken, we took a little steamer that was run by a gasoline engine, and came back to the mainland, and stopped at the village of Valendam for our dinner. 276 ON THE RAGING CANAL Valendam is a favorite place for all artists who go to Holland to paint pictures of the funny-looking Dutch, and the hotel at this place is a reflection of their many efforts in this line. The walls of the dining rooms and public parlors are almost completely covered with pic- tures of all shapes, sizes, colors and characteristics. While some of them are remarkably good, others are equally bad. Some of them were left there for sale and have never found a market, others, perhaps, were left there for unpaid board bills, and others were left out of compliment to the good people who keep the tavern, for they set a most excellent meal, ending it off with a bountiful portion of cheese of a very good quality. ON THE RAGING CANAL Between Valendam and Edam, which was our next stop, the means of transportation was by houseboats. As the party numbered by this time some thirty or forty people, and these houseboats were about the size of an ordinary dry goods box, it took several of them to transport us along the way. The little cabins, which were painted white with green trimmings, looked very cozy, but their roofs were so low that it was impossible for a tall man to sit up straight, and a woman who wore a hat with high trimmings on it had to rest in a very devotional and subdued attitude as the trip progressed. A few of us sat on top of the cabin, but as the boats were so small there was some danger of capsizing them. Each boat was towed through the canal by two husky men and in this manner our fleet proceeded on its watery bed until we came to Edam. Aside from the cramped position of the people inside of the boats, the little houseboats proved a very comfortable mode of 277 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE travel, but it seemed to me pretty hard on the fellows that pulled them through the canal. I offered to get off and walk but they would not hear to that and, I think, had a suspicion that I wanted to walk in order to avoid giving them a tip for their labor at the end of their journey. WHO'S A-KNOCKING AT THE DOOR? We tracked over the village of Edam, which, by the way, is a good sized town, and came up in front of the principal hotel of the place, which had a sign designat- ing it as the "Dam Hotel." This appeared a startling name for a hotel, but it is offset by a rather pretentious hotel in the city of Amsterdam called the ' ' Bible Hotel ' ' and which has as a sign an open Bible carved in stone over the front door. It may be a source of satisfaction to my religious readers to know that the "Bible Hotel" is about five times as big as the ' ' Dam Hotel. ' ' There is one peculiarity that I noticed in Edam that seems general in the Holland towns. Nearly every house in this village has a small looking glass which ex- tends from the window frame of the window adjoining the front door. The houses have knockers on the doors and it appears that the persons who are living in the house go to the front window of the parlor and, by peer- ing through it, gaze into the little looking glass which extends out several inches from the window frame and see who is knocking at the door, and then they can be "at home" or not, just as they please. I should judge, from this arrangement, that the society ladies of Edam do not keep hired girls for, if they did, it would not be necessary to keep the looking glass extended from the window. They could just send the maid of all work to 278 ALL HARD WORKERS the front door, as I understand is sometimes done in our country, to inform an unwelcome visitor that the '"missus" of the house is not at home ALL HARD WORKERS In our trip we passed through a number of villages, most of which followed the Holland custom of ending with the word "dam." There are Edam, Monnicken- dam, Valendam, and some, the names of which are now faded from my memory. On our way through the country we passed hundreds of the great windmills which are continually working for the people of Holland and which every year raise a great amount of water out of the lowlands and send it out into the open sea, mak- ing Holland a dry country instead of a dismal swamp, which it would be if it were allowed to stand in its nat- ural state. Next to the windmills, the most wonderful workers of the Hollanders are the dogs. They have all kinds of dog teams and dog carts, and, while the Hollanders work pretty hard themselves, I believe, in the long run, they give the dogs the worst of it. When they have loads to haul they make the dogs haul the loads, and when they do not have loads to haul, they sit up in the carts and ride while the dogs work just the same. There is no more interesting place to visit that I know of than the villages and the rural people of Hol- land. You are among people who are picturesque to a considerable degree; a people who have contended for every day's existence from the time they were old enough to enter into the battle of life ; a people that are remarkably economical and very industrious. They are noted for their patience and untiring capacity for labor 279 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE and for having made much of the little part of the world which has been given to them for their home. My advice to anybody who has the time would be to make a trip into Holland, and, if you ever go to Hol- land, do not go only to the large cities, but make a trip through their interior, through their villages, and to the island of Marken, for it is here that you will see these people as they are pictured in books and as they are known in history. You will see them in their native quaintness and in the glory of their dress of many colors, and you will always congratulate yourself that you did not pass by on the other side without stopping to mingle with them. THE HAGUE After finishing our visit at Amsterdam we went by rail to The Hague, the capital of Holland. This name, with its prefix, always struck me as being particularly odd, and yet there seems to be some reason for the name being in its present shape. The Dutch name of the place was formerly 'S Gravenhaag, which signifies "the Count's hedge, grove, or wood." The location of the city was formerly a hunting seat belonging to the Counts of Holland, and was overgrown with a grove or timber, called a hedge, hence the name The Hague, as now used, would be in English The Hedge. It was made the residence of the court and the seat of government of the Netherlands about the beginning of the last century, and the town has risen to great im- portance since that time, being a beautiful place with a population of about a quarter of a million people. It has a low temperature, averaging 65% degrees in sum- mer and about 38 degrees in winter. It is a quaint and, 280 THE HAGUE at the same time, a very beautiful city and is very much, up-to-date. It has a library containing four hundred thousand volumes and on Saturday night the display of electric lights in the business center is as brilliant as that of any town of its size, even in America. It has a remarkable display of paintings and art works in the Royal Gallery by Rembrandt, Paul Potter and other celebrated artists. The two most celebrated paintings are the "School of Anatomy" by Rembrandt, and the "Young Bull" by Paul Potter. This thing of art is peculiar and it is hard to tell just how a picture achieves so great a value as some of them do. I have had something to say along this line in previous letters, and this is another case where it struck me as being somewhat remarkable. This picture by Potter is the picture of an ordinary bull of a little less than the average size of such animals. I should judge from looking at the picture of this bull, which seems to be copied from nature, that the original animal would not in the open market sell for more than forty dollars, and yet, I presume this picture of it would be considered cheap and snapped up quickly at a price of forty thousand dollars. Isn't it a little odd that a picture would bring a thousand times as much as the article itself is worth, and yet, this may be the same in regard to other things and persons. I guess- there are some people that are not worth one-thousandth part of what their pictures would cost, and, even then, the pictures would not have to be valued at a very high rate. In the center of the city, in place of a park, there 281 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE is a large body of water surrounded by a stone wall. There is a little island in the center of this, .and a few boats for pleasure are used on its surface. At the time we were there the surface of the little lake was sprinkled with wild ducks, or tame ducks that could fly equally as well as wild ones, which, I presume, would amount to about the same thing. THE PALACE IN THE WOODS Adjoining the city is the Eoyal Palace, commonly alluded to as "The Palace in the "Woods." It is sur- rounded by flowers, vines, trees, lakes and lagoons, and presents a beautiful appearance, but is not considered a very healthy place to live, and for that reason is only occupied by the royal family occasionally. The park or woods surrounding it is one of the best pieces of timber land that we came into in all Europe. It is crowded with large trees and is traversed by well-kept sandy roads. It makes a beautiful drive and the palace makes it an interesting place, for it was here that the first international peace conference was held. The first congress was called at the instance of the czar of Russia. Things seem to go by contraries, for about the close of the first conference Nicholas, the czar, engaged in his war with Japan, and, between that and the revolutions that have followed in Russia since then, the czar has had about all he could do to look after peace at home, as exemplified by the sword, but the other nations have taken up the work, and several conferences have been held in The Hague since that time. These conferences have brought The Hague into more promi- nence than anything else in connection with its history, and, as the corner stone has been laid for the new 282 A HAGUE HOTEL Temple of Peace, which is being erected in this city, The Plague may be proud of its position in this great step in advance in the affairs of nations. If a system of international arbitration and universal peace can be es- tablished for the world in this old town, the birth of such a movement will confer an honor upon the capital of the Dutch republic second only to that birth which occurred nearly two thousand years ago in Bethlehem of Judea. A HAGUE HOTEL We stopped at an odd hotel in this city. It was full of odd nooks and corners, the windows were draped with many curtains, the floors were covered with several thicknesses of carpets and rugs, and we were given little feather beds to sleep under. The furniture was hand- carved, of the vintage of several centuries ago, but the eating and drinking were as good as the hotel was odd. The dining room was a large porch enclosed with glass, filled with flowers, and over it vines trailed beautifully and the garden adjoining it was full of bright flowers and singing birds. The hotel was three stories high and we were located on the top story. I called the landlord 's attention to the fact that he had no elevator. He said that he was aware of that, but that he had not had time yet to put it in, as he was pretty busy and the house was only opened five hundred years ago. He thought, however, that within a few centuries more he would probably put in an up-to-date elevator and some other modern conven- iences. WORSE THAN DEATH The museum at The Hague has some instruments in it that are a striking contrast as compared with the 283 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE movement of the angel of peace that is now trying to alight in this place. Among the things shown in the museum we noted a number of instruments of torture which were used in Holland in the long ago. One of them is one of those contrivances all full of sharp points, a sort of suit of armor with the spikes on the inside, in which a human being was placed and then the thing was wound up gradually and the spikes driven into the body by slow degrees until torture became un- bearable and the sweet rest of death commenced where the torture of life left off. Another instrument of torture was one into which the hands and feet were both locked and then by a process of screws and levers that all pulled in opposite directions the limbs were torn from the body. There were quite a number of instruments displayed here equally as bad as these. The people who live at the present time hardly realize the inconvenience of living in the good old days which are made famous in history by such tortures as were used centuries ago. A SEASIDE RESORT White at The Hague we drove out to Scheveningen. This is the great bathing place of all Holland, and is patronized by the people of Germany, England and other countries. It is reached by a drive through a beau- tiful wooded park which has roads for carriages, auto- mobiles and bicycles, beautiful footpaths and electric car lines. It is one of the finest drives which I have ever enjoyed and I was surprised when I reached the bath- ing resort to see the remarkably fine hotels and the number of people who were enjoying the place. Scheveningen holds the same relation, I presume, 284 A SEASIDE RESORT to Holland that Newport does to the United States. A substantial levee protects the town and the hotels from the North Sea. Between this levee and the water of the sea, especially when the tide is low, there is a wide, level beach of clean sand. There were hundreds of people enjoying the bathing at this place and hundreds more enjoying the view, being protected from the sun and the wind by peculiar willow woven chairs with backs enclosing them all around except the front. For about a mile along the front these coops were located with their faces toward the sea and the back toward the levee, along which we passed, and they presented an odd and interesting picture. It was a pleasant Sunday when we were there, and it looked as though half the people from The Hague had come over to enjoy the beauties of the place and the comfort of the magnificent sea bathing which is afforded here. The people of these countries have a great idea of recreation on the Sabbath. While the Sabbath was given to us as a day of rest, these people make the best of it in resting from labor by indulging in pleasure, which to them seems to answer the definition of rest. In any event, no matter how they figure it, they appear to have an awful good time on Sunday, and you would be convinced of this if you visited the Holland seashore on a warm Sabbath morning. 285 Chapter XX "There was a sound of revelry by night, And Belgium's capital had gathered then." So Byron said, and so say we all, for, in the capital of Belgium, which is the city of Brussels, there seems to be a great many ' ' sounds of revelry. ' ' "We arrived in Brussels on a pretty Sunday evening and found the streets full of brilliant electric lights and numerous cafes where the tables were set along the sides of the pavement and hundreds of people were sitting at them eating and drinking. After fixing up and getting supper at a restaurant where there was not one waiter who understood the English language, and where we had great difficulty in directing them as to what our wants were, we retired for the night in a hotel on the main street of the city. Near midnight there was a greater sound of revelry than ever, and, being moved by curiosity, I arose from my bed and took a position in the little balcony where I could overlook almost the entire length of the street. The long lines of street lights shone resplendently, and, as the number of people on the street was remarkable for that time of night, it seemed like a very lively place. The particular sound that attracted my attention was made by a brass band, the musicians being seated on bicycles, and wending their way through the streets, fol- lowed by two or three hundred people singing songs in 286 IN BELGIUM loud voices. I think it was the first time I had ever seen a band riding on bicycles, but this appeared to be a pe- culiarity of Belgium and the city of Brussels, for in the Floral Procession, which took place the next day, there were five bands mounted in this manner. On general principles I should think that a bicycle would be about the poorest conveyance for a man en- gaged in blowing a horn that could well be imagined, yet they handled themselves in better shape and made bet- ter music than would seem probable. The musicians who played the small horns rode on ordinary bicycles which they guided with one hand, while with the other they held the horn and played it as a bugler does when mounted on a horse in a cavalry regiment. In the mat- ter of the very large horns and drums, the musicians were supplied with tandem bicycles on which one man occupied the front seat and guided the conveyance, while the other man, seated on the back, beat the drum or blew the horn as well as though he had been walking or riding in a band chariot. It was a jolly, lively scene, and, as they passed the hotel, I think they aroused nearly all the foreigners, who were not used to such processions at midnight, and, after it had passed and I took occasion to examine my surroundings, I found that I was not the only Romeo located in the balcony, for at the window next to me was a fleshy Juliet, dressed in the same late style that I chanced to wear at that hour of the night. As I looked at her she looked at me and we both realized the situation at the same time and we both retired in a hasty manner through our open windows. "We were not the only ones, however, as there were a number of others in about the same costumes. 287 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Several of these singing processions passed during the night and the particular hotel in which we were lo- cated seemed a better place for the study of music than for the purpose of sleeping, if one happened to have a front room. A BIG LITTLE COUNTRY Belgium is a little country of big things. It is from here that we get the heavy Belgium draft horses which are quite popular in all parts of the world, and the prominence which they give live stock, both in the way of horses and cattle, places it well in the front rank in those particulars. Its greatest length is only one hundred and seventy- four miles and its area is 11,373 square miles, or about one-fifth the size of the state of Illinois. Being bounded by Holland, Germany, Luxemburg and France, it is difficult to place the nationality of the people by their appearance, as they seem to partake of all the character- istics of the several peoples named. Ordinarily in Bel- gium the French language is spoken. BRUSSELS THE CAPITAL The city which we call Brussels, but which is spelled Bruxelles, is the capital, and has a population of over 500,000. It is a pretty town and is sometimes alluded to as ' ' The Little Paris, ' ' for the houses and the customs of the people are similar to those of the capital of the French Eepublic. It is remarkable for some very fine buildings, and its Grande Place, which is an open square in front of the city hall, is said to be one of the finest centers in Europe. On the other side of this square are the ancient royal palace and a number of houses with dates showing 288 BRUSSELS that they were erected several centuries ago. Their fronts are embellished with pure gold leaf that has defied the elements all these years. Band concerts are given on this plaza by a magnificent musical organiza- tion. There are many fountains and monuments in the city of Brussels, and the monument to Leopold I. is one of the grandest ever erected to a single individual. There is a Palace of Justice of modern architecture here, having been built a few years ago, which is one of the finest and, perhaps, the very finest building on the face of the globe devoted to the administration of justice. The Palace of Justice is said to have cost nearly ten millions of dollars. It is full of law courts and, of course, is the rendezvous of many lawyers. The lawyers, or barristers, when they appear in court, wear black gowns such as are worn by the Justices of the Supreme Court in Washington, D. C, and caps shaped with bands around the head with a larger top above, similar to the coverings ordinarily worn by Greek priests. While they look odd to us, it must be confessed that it gives the Court considerable dignity and it is quite likely that a lawyer who appears to argue a case with such a garb can charge a larger fee with an easier conscience than one who enters into Court as they do in our country, wearing no insignia of their profession, and usually dressed with a bob-tail coat. I presume that the Brussels carpet originated in the capital of Belgium, and yet, for some years, that city has not exported to the United States more than a few thousand dollars ' worth of carpets, but we get from this country large quantities of plate glass, cement, linens and laces. 289 —19 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE THE STONY STREETS Nearly all the streets of Brussels are paved with granite blocks, there being but a small amount of asphalt pavement. These streets are probably in the same con- dition they were in at the time Byron wrote his poem, from which the first lines of this article are a quotation, for, it will be remembered, further down in that same poem it reads something like this: "Did ye not hear it? No, 'twas but the wind, or the cars Rattling o'er the stony streets; On, on with the dance, Let joy be unconfined." I should think that the cars, the carts or the cabs rattle in the stony streets of Brussels to-day just as they rattled in those days, and they do rattle, for few of the vehicles have rubber tires, and riding is particularly un- comfortable. Just at the outskirts of the city is the more modern royal palace and the grounds surrounding it, which is the residence of the present king of Belgium, Leopold III. In additon to the palace, which is a large mansion, well guarded by soldiers, the king has erected a Chinese pagoda in which it is said he has a large number of Chinese and Japanese works of art. The pagoda is an immense structure and, if one were not acquainted with its purpose, it might be sup- posed that he had captured one of the attractions of the midway or pike at some world's fair, and placed it near his palace for his own amusement. THE FLOWER PARADE The second day after our arrival in Brussels was 290 HOTELS AND CAFES the annual Flower day, on which there is a grand floral procession in the public park and the awarding of prizes. I never have seen so many flowers at one time as were exhibited that day. Some of the carriages were beautifully decorated and other attractions of the pro- cession were very interesting. They awarded a great many prizes for, as the procession came away from the judge's stand, those who had won a prize displayed a flag on their vehicles as evidence of their victory. The first prize carriage was trimmed and ornamented with white ostrich feathers, being nearly covered with them, in addition to some natural flowers. Besides the car- riages, there were pony carts, people riding on horse- back, bicycles, tricycles, etc. Some of the bicycles were fixed up in the shape of floral ships, with one or two per- sons riding in the center, and were ingenious and pretty contrivances. A small Jap, a member of the Japanese envoy, riding on a pony, captured a prize, but the driver of our rig said, after looking it over, that he thought it was awarded more as a matter of policy than because the young man deserved it because of his decorations. There were a large number of bands in the proces- sion, some walking, some in band wagons, and, as I stated before, five of them were mounted on bicycles. HOTELS AND CAFES The hotels of Brussels as well as the cafes are bril- liant and rather fast centers of style. The custom which prevails in all European countries of occupying a large portion of the sidewalks, and even the streets, with tables on which refreshments are served, is largely in- 291 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE dulged in in this city. On the main thoroughfares of the city the sidewalks in front of the hotels are very wide, and there is a repast or drinking bout going on all the time, and especially during the hours of the night, and when the band plays in the Grande Place, which is paved with stone, there are hundreds of people at tables occupying the square even to the exclusion of the horses and carriages. Around the restaurants and hotels there are many finely dressed women, and in the parlor or reading room of one of the hotels, I was somewhat startled by seeing a very fashionably dressed woman sit down nearby, open her case, take out a cigarette, which she lit and smoked evidently with great relish. This is not uncommon, however, in the hotels of Belgium or Paris. The disposal of wines in the hotels of Europe, and especially of Brussels and cities of its class, comprises a large part of the hotel business. The publisher of the "Hotel World," who has recently made a trip through Europe, in which he paid particular attention to the hotels, wrote regarding Belgium that one of the hotels there carried an average stock of wines and liquors amounting to $125,000. I should think that this was not an overestimate, because the way things were proceeding when we were in Brussels, even this much stock would not last a great while. Most of the streets in Brussels are well laid out, and are wide enough for all ordinary purposes, but some of them are very narrow and crooked. I think some of them are so narrow that when you want to turn around in them you have to back into a store to do so, and they are so crooked that you do not know where you are go- ing until you get there. 292 CRAZY MAN'S GALLERY The buildings of the city comprise all schools of architecture, all ages of construction, and all national- ities in their characteristics, making of Brussels one of the most interesting cities in the whole of Europe. THE CRAZY MAN'S GALLERY There are several art galleries in Brussels, but one of them, called the Wirts Gallery or the Crazy Man's Gallery, contains the oddest and most grotesque collec- tion of pictures that we found in all Europe. I think all the pictures in this gallery are the product of one artist, who patiently toiled year after year so that he might leave this odd collection to the public. They are evidently works of very high art, but the oddity of some of them and the intensity of others causes the spectator to laugh and shudder at very close intervals. There are men tearing and eating each other, drinking blood, the devil scourging people into hell, and war scenes among the devil and the angels. Some of them are so true to life that you can almost imagine that they move while you are looking at them; others are surrounded in dark corners and the wonderful effects of light and shade are intensified by the arrangement for looking at them through little peep-holes in the sides of the stalls in which the pictures are located. I do not know whether the artist was crazy when he painted these pictures or not, but he painted them so vividly and was so wonderful in his conceptions, that almost everybody thinks he is crazy. However, it is better to be thought crazy if you are running in the right direction than to have people think you are sane when you are doing nothing. This thing of thinking people crazy is a peculiar 293 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE idea. I remember once of asking about a man that lived in a neighboring town, who, owing to the number of troubles he had, was sometimes said to be crazy. I asked one of the citizens of the town if that man was crazy. He answered by saying, "I do not think he is crazy, but he is so absolutely mean that most of the peo- ple think he is crazy, which amounts to about the same thing. ' ' There is one thing certain, whether this artist was crazy or not, he certainly knew how to paint pictures, for of all the galleries which we visited while in Europe, I think this one collection of pictures made the most lasting impression upon me. THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO The battlefield of Waterloo is a few miles south of Brussels, and we paid a visit to it while stopping in that city. It was here that Napoleon met his final defeat and the battle of Waterloo is counted one of the great decisive battles of the world's history, and was practi- cality the end of the first Napoleon's regime. Where the battle was fought, with the exception of a small piece of ground which is owned by the government of Belgium, the grounds are now used for farms just as they were in the year 1815, when the battle took place. A large artificial mound which requires two or three hundred steps to reach its top, has been erected, and on its apex is a large figure of a lion, made of iron or bronze, resting on a stone base. This mound was built by direction of the English, the labor being done by women who worked for a few cents a day, and carried all the earth of which the great mound is constructed. From the top of this mound a magnificent view of the 294 WATERLOO battlefield can be had. There are a few unpretentious monuments which have been erected to commemorate the valor of certain armies that took part in this great battle. Aside from these there are only a few structures upon the field, most of which are brick or stone houses, that stood amid the wreck and ruin when these fields were the center of the scene of carnage. Napoleon and his troops made two serious blunders in the fighting of this battle, which did much to bring about their defeat. Sunning between the fields was a narrow road which was cut deep, with the sides almost perpendicular. The French troops, not being familiar with this road, and assuming that the ground was level, made a mad charge at the enemy who were located be- yond this depression. When the advance line reached the bank of the roadway they were forced forward by their comrades in the rear and fell into the break by the thousands. It is said that the roadway at one or more places was filled with the struggling army until the soldiers in the rear could pass over to the other side on the bodies of the fallen. The loss of life was deplor- able. Another mistake on the part of the French was caused by a brick wall standing among some timber. The English were entrenched behind this brick wall through which they had cut port holes for the purpose of picking off the enemy and of meeting any charge which might be made upon them. As the timber and underbrush was somewhat thick and clustered, the French mistook the red brick for the red coats of the English soldiers and wasted much ammunition upon this invincible barricade. 295 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE A peculiar incident, however, in regard to this wall is brought to mind by a single grave covered with a heavy slab, in which the body of a soldier has rested all these years. It appears that this is the body of the soldier who suggested to the English commander the idea of cutting port holes in the brick wall and mak- ing that a line of defense. His suggestion was carried cut to great advantage, but during the battle he lost his life by being shot by a bullet which passed through one of these holes which he had suggested. There is an old brick farm house or chateau at the further end of the battle ground which was one of the storm centers of the battle. The same bricks are in the wall now that were there at that time, and they are badly chipped and broken by the bullets which were wasted upon them. An old lady with gray hair, who seemed to be French, but who spoke the English lan- guage fairly well, showed us about the premises. This house has been immortalized by being the central figure in one of the most intense and popular pictures ever made of the battle of Waterloo. The old lady explained the various incidents in connection with the battle; showing us where the cannon had mowed down the men and where they had destroyed portions of the old chateau. She also showed us the great well which, during the battle, was completely filled with the bodies of the soldiers who were slain. Nor was the old lady so slow to see a point as might have been imagined. Coming to the grove she said that right here was where Napoleon made one of his most se- rious blunders, just under, as she explained, "a large horse chestnut tree." A gentleman in our party re- 296 WATERLOO marked that that was a "horse on Napoleon," to which she responded very quickly, "The American man he make great joke. No flies on the American man." There is an old retired English officer who de- livers a lecture on the battle of Waterloo at the mon- ument, whenever he has an audience. He grows quite eloquent as he describes the charges and counter charges and the great climax of the battle. It is a very inter- esting story that he tells, and one cannot but be im- pressed as he listens to what seems to be a true version of the great struggle that brought about Napoleon's overthrow. As darkness came down on the evening of June 18, 1815, at the conclusion of the battle of Waterloo, some- thing like fifty thousand men lay dead or dying upon these plains. It was a sorrowful scene. The marks of the wicked shell and shot were in evidence in every di- rection. But the day we were there the scene was so dif- ferent, it was calm and peaceful and beautiful. The fields were overgrown with the greenest of coverings, beautiful hedges marked the divisions of the farms and the borders of the roads. The trees were in full foliage. The little white houses dotted here and there presented a marked contrast to the verdure with which they were surrounded. It does not seem possible that these fields could have at one time been the scene of such terror; that they had echoed and re-echoed to the crack of mus- ketry and the boom of cannon that sent so many to the death, and that these green carpets of nature had ac- tually been stained crimson with the blood of the dead 297 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE and wounded. With the contemplation of the history of the great struggle, and with the speech of the old English major fresh in our minds, the scene of beauty and peace was very impressive. The fields seemed more lovely than I can describe in this letter in the few words at my command. 298 Chapter XXI PARIS Next to Rome I regard Paris as the most interesting city on the face of the globe, and, in some respects, it is more interesting than Rome. Paris has been the center of a good deal of history and has had much to do with shaping the affairs of the world. It is a more lively city than Rome, has more points of interest, and its great buildings, palaces and castles are in the best con- dition and not in a state of decay. There are more pleasing things to be seen in Paris than in Rome, more beautiful things to be seen in Paris than in Rome, and more life in Paris, perhaps, than in any other city in the world. There is so much to see in Paris and there are so many places to go, that, while we stayed there a matter of eight days, we felt when we left that we had hardly seen enough of Paris to say we had been there at all. "We left so many things untouched, we felt our ■visit was a failure, and yet, on further reflection, we would not have missed our stay in Paris for a good deal. Our introduction or entrance into Paris was hardly up to what might be expected as to the way any one would enter what is said to be the most aesthetic and the most beautiful city in the world. "We left Brussels on a good train in remarkably pleasant weather and at a very rapid rate came into Paris at one o'clock in the daytime. I think there are 299 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE few trains in the United States that are very much bet- ter or that run any faster than this train on which we made the journey from Brussels to the capital of the French republic. We rolled into a large train shed, rather smoky and dingy, and possessing about the same characteristics as the ordinary train shed of any large railway station. One of the station ushers took our bag- gage in charge and, while we could not understand his language or he ours, we had no difficulty in following him to the cabstand. Our party at this time consisted of us two and a gentleman and his wife from California with whom we had traveled a considerable part of our time while in Europe. "We had the addresses of two or three hotels to which we had been recommended. When we arrived at the cabstand we found a most disreputable looking lot of little cabs of the Victoria pattern. They are called in this country taximeters, as the amount of the fare or tax is calculated by a little meter which is attached to the seat. Our French baggage hustler proceeded to the most dilapidated looking outfit in the lot and deposited our luggage therein. I would certainly be ashamed to be seen riding in such an outfit in my home town as that in which we started our journey for the hotel in the city of Paris. The horse was evidently old, very thin, with crooked, knotty legs, and presented a very woebegone appear- ance. While the vehicle was bad enough, the driver was no better. He was a little old man with bushy hair, his face so completely covered with whiskers tht he might have taken the part of "Jo- Jo, the Dog-Faced Man," in a county fair exhibition. He wore an overcoat and 300 PARIS a straw hat which had evidently weathered several seasons and which was tied to the button hole of his coat by a shoe string. His little vehicle was overcharged with ragged blankets, stuffy cushions and a feed bag for feeding his horse while waiting for business. In leaving the station for the hotel, the California people took the lead in another cab, and, by the use of a station interpreter, we directed our little man to fol- low the forward rig. "We struck out of the station onto the open street and, as it appears to be the rule in Paris for all cab horses to start on a jump, we went out in a very rapid manner. As we did so, the forward rig dashed down a street where a pavement was being re- paired and, as our driver started to follow, he was stopped by an officer of the law, who, I believe, in this country is called a gendarme. He persuaded our driver to start out another street. As I did not observe the officer and presuming that we would be lost in short order, I grabbed the driver over the seat by the shoulders and, by signs, directed him to follow the other rig. He made an effort to do so but was again prevented by the officer. As I could not see the officer from my seat, I grabbed the little man once more and tried to shake him into a realization of the fact that we wanted to follow our companions. He re- plied with many gesticulations and all kinds of funny words, which we could not understand, but positively refused to run over the gendarme or policeman who had intercepted his way, but went up the street as he was di- rected by the officer instead of by me. In the shake-up his hat came off and hung down his back and remained streaming in the air the entire distance to the center of 301 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the city, his irregular and bushy hair cutting the air as he went. About this time a sudden rain came on and, as the top of the carriage only half covered us, the rain covered the other half. The little man seemed determined to beat the other rig to the hotel or to earn his money in the quickest time, and was so in earnest that he tried to pass everything on the way. THE BUSY STREETS The streets of Paris are the busiest streets of any city in the world. We talk much of the jam of vehicles on the streets of Chicago and on Broadway in New York, but, it seems to me, the streets of Chicago and New York are peace and quietude as compared with those of Paris. As we dashed along through the streets or boule- vards, as they are called, we were surrounded by the most conglomerate set of rigs that it has ever been my experi- ence to witness. There were hundreds of little Victoria cabs such as we were riding in ; all kinds of wagons and carts; automobiles, sounding their horns; three and four horse busses, two stories high, with dozens of people on both stories; big automobile busses, two-story affairs, with people both inside and on top ; hand push carts and almost every other imaginable thing that could be pulled, pushed or run through the street. The streets are so congested that traffic in one di- rection is confined entirely to one side, while the traffic in the other direction is confined to the other side of the same street. A row of fancy lamp posts down the center marks the line of demarkation between the two currents of traffic, and under no circumstances is a vehicle allowed to go on the wrong side of these lamp posts. 302 HOTEL EXPERIENCES Our little driver who, with his flying hair and flying hat, looked more like the "old man of the sea" than a modern cab driver, was so bent on winning out at the end of the line that he insisted on taking advantage of every opening and in almost every instance tried to get around on the wrong side of the lamp posts, where he was met by one of the street gendarmes and shoved back into line. He kept swearing and talking to himself all the way along, laying his whip on his horse and urging it to its utmost speed. At every dash his head seemed to be going further down between his shoulders. The horse was continually on a gallop and, as he would strike at this gait into such a congested lot of ve- hicles as described above, Mrs. R. would grab onto the seat and appear as though she was suffering from a new attack of nervous prostration. It is hard to tell whether the driver knew where he was going or whether he had lost his senses and was rushing us on to certain destruc- tion. While I assured my wife that the man was all right, I must confess I began to lose some confidence in his movements myself, but I think the extreme tension of Mrs. E. 's feelings came near giving way as we swept around the corner onto an asphalt pavement which, by the action of the rain had become as slick as glass, and the horse 's feet went out and he came down broadside on the street. "With the assistance of some bystanders the horse was put back on his legs, and, strange as it ap« pears, he fell down only once more on the entire jour- ney. We finally got to the hotel, but we had a preju- dice against Paris cab drivers from that time. OUR HOTEL EXPERIENCES s When we arrived at the hotel that had been the most 303 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE strongly recommended, we found it snch a disreputable looking place and the squad of servants who ran out to relieve us of our money and baggage looked so squalid and dirty that we concluded to go on to the second hotel to which we had been directed. This was one of the finest and highest priced houses in the city of Paris, but, as the great Derby races were to take place the Sunday following, all the fine hotels were crowded and they could not promise us a room in this hotel until the Tuesday following. As it was only Thursday when we arrived, we hardly felt like riding with our little cabman four days longer, so we drove then to the Grand Hotel, a very large, magnificent and expensive proposition, the ren- dezvous of most fresh Americans, where we found fairly good rooms for the time being. The Grand hotel is one of the gayest hotels in Europe. It stands on a triangular block about four or five hundred feet long on each side, and fills the entire block, being about seven stories high, which is the extreme height of any of the houses of Paris. It is a very busy place. The dining room or cafe covers a large area and is magnificently ornamented. It is full of flowers. Con- certs are given by an orchestra during meal time and at other hours. It is lighted by thousands of electric lights and is altogether a brilliant and very unsatis- factory place to stop. It is surrounded on all sides by streets that are so busy with traffic and occupied by such reckless drivers that it is worth one's life to get to or from it. The sidewalks in front of it are occupied by hundreds of 304 EIFFEL TOWER people eating and drinking from little marble top tables, and are infested by all of the professional guides and peddlers in the city of Paris. Every time one steps out of the door he is intercepted by these guides and peddlers who insist upon taking him to the most disreputable places in the city or on selling him the most disreputable pictures imaginable. The ex- pense of stopping at this house, together with its un- satisfactory surroundings, was such that, after a day or two, we concluded to move on. We then hunted up a reasonable and comfortable hotel near the Vendome place where we stayed the rest of our time in Paris. While there is much to see in this city, it is almost all easy of access. Every public place is free. In almost every public place in Italy and in some other countries you have to pay an admittance fee for entrance. In Paris the finest museums, galleries and everything else are open to the general public at nearly all times, with- out money and without price. THE EIFFEL TOWER As soon as I could after reaching Paris, I made a trip to the top of Eiffel tower. This is the highest structure ever built by man, being but a little less than one thousand feet. It is nearly twice as high as the Washington monument at the capital of the United States. I was anxious to go to the top of this tower, not only to enjoy the sensation of being lifted to such a great altitude and being that much nearer Heaven than most people, but I wanted to enjoy the opportu- nity of getting a bird's eye view of Paris and its en- virons. 305 —20 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE The Eiffel tower was constructed as one of the at- tractions of the French International Exposition of 1889, and was designed by a civil engineer named Gus- tave Eiffel, who had already achieved a world's repu- tation as a civil engineer and had constructed the fa- cade of the main building of the exposition held in Paris twenty-one years previous. The tower is of open steel construction similar to the steel frame work of fire-proof buildings. As it is broad at the base and continues with a graceful taper to the top, it makes nearly every piece of steel used in its construction of a different shape or length. It is said to have taken forty draftsmen two years to de- sign the various parts that went into the structure. It is fitted with elevators and has two or three landings between the base and the highest point reached by vis- itors. These landings are occupied by theatres, cafes and small shops or stores. The elevators are of sufficient capacity to raise twenty-three hundred persons per hour to the first land- ing and seven hundred and fifty persons per hour to the uppermost landing. It is claimed that ten thousand peo- ple can be accommodated in the various parts of the tower at one time so it would seem that the biblical tower of Babel, which appears to have been a failure in the days when sacred history was made, has become a realiza- tion of the present age. However, the confusion of tongues among the visitors to the Eiffel tower must be nearly equal at the present time to the confusion of tongues which resulted in the failure of the tower of Babel, for visitors come from all parts of the world and ride to the top of this tower, and no matter what 306 GRAND PANORAMA language a person speaks, he is likely at any time to be addressed in his own native tongue in this tower. When you reach the top, the platform on which you stand, which, from the ground, seems like a small enclosure, you find is of sufficient capacity to hold three hundred people at one time, and you are im- pressed with the magnitude of this wonderful con- struction of man. After all, it is but a gigantic toy, for it was built only as a speculation and without any practical value, except the novelty of its ascent and the view from its top, which is one long to be remembered. A GRAND PANORAMA From the top of the tower the great city of Paris lies at your feet with all its irregular but harmonious streets, with all its parks and gardens, with all its present glory and with all its historical past. One thousand feet beneath where you stand the river Seine, bordered by the green foliage of many trees and vines, meanders like a brilliant serpent from the green fields on one side to the green fields beyond, dividing the city into two parts. It is spanned by the grandest collection of ornamental and useful bridges gathered together in any place in the world. The scores of little steamboats used as street cars, which carry the great population backward and forward through the busy city, give the river an air of activity that is interesting and delightful. Although the streets of Paris are somewhat irregu- lar, there is a certain system to them, which induces some people, whose judgment is entitled to consider- able respect, to make the claim that Paris is the best laid out city in the world, unless it be our own city of 307 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Washington. At the time Napoleon I. came into power the streets were very irregular and narrow, and mobs could easily assemble and, by tearing up the street pavement and bringing obstructions, easily barricade the streets so that the regular troops were at a disad- vantage. Napoleon concluded that this was a menace to a monarchy and that streets should be straight enough so that a cannon carrying grapeshot or canister could disperse or cut down any mob that might be assembled. He, therefore, tore the city into shreds and laid out the great system of avenues that prevails at this time so that a cannon planted at any corner can usually have co m mand of several streets or boulevards. The com- pletion of this system, while carried out for the pur- pose of mowing down the unorganized populace of Paris, has made it one of the best and most artistic street ar- rangements that is possessed by any city, modern or ancient. To stand at the top of Eiffel tower and look down over this great city and contemplate the wonderful things that lie beneath him and within the walls of this old capital, gives one plenty of material, if he should follow it up, to write a large amount of history and a great number of descriptive articles. If I should attempt to handle one-quarter of the material which is repre- sented under these circumstances, I am afraid this series of letters would stretch out to such an intolerable length that many of my readers might be called to their reward by the onward flight of time before I would reach a con- clusion. 308 THE PAST A GLIMPSE OF THE PAST Next to London and New York, Paris is the largest city in the world. It was a place of some importance when Caesar invaded this northern country. The old city, at that time, was on an island in the Seine, which is now called the Island of la Cite, and is occupied principally by the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It was then the chief town of the Gallic tribe of Parissi, from which the city obtains its present name of Paris. It is said that the people who occupied the island and made up the little city at that time were a brave and valorous tribe, and surrendered to the Romans only in death ; that when they were overcome there were none left to tell the history of themselves or the legends of their forefathers. Paris rose into prominence under the Roman emper- ors, and Clovis made this his capital as early as the year 508, and about the end of the tenth century Paris became the capital of France. The English took possession of Paris in 1420, and held possession of the city for thir- teen years. After that Paris had all kinds of experi- ences. Louis Phillipe, about 1830 to 1848, surrounded the city with a strong wall and a great system of fortifica- tions. The defenses of Paris were considered almost im- pregnable, and it was captured by the Germans in 1871, at the close of the Franco-Prussian war, only after a campaign of starvation. The Germans at that time did not attempt to take the city by storm, but caused its surrender by surrounding it with their hosts and starv- ing them into submission. Its fortifications were too formidable for the attack of even such a well organized army as that which King William, Bismarck and Von 309 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Moltke brought with them, but they had a large enough force to entirely surround the city outside of its line of defenses, and camped patiently and waited for starva- tion to do the rest. No city can long exist when cut off from its source of supplies from the rural districts, and so it was only a question of time before all Paris would have to surrender to the German troops. It was a sort of cold-blooded proposition for the Germans to lie around and idly wait for the French to become so starved and emaciated that they would forego their national pride and surrender to the German banner, but it was more merciful, both to the French populace and to the German army, than it would have been for the Germans to sacrifice the lives of thousands of their men in charges against almost im- pregnable walls, and it was more merciful to the French than it would have been to destroy their city and mas- sacre their defensive army. The Germans, however, kept up a gentle reminder to the French that they should surrender for, at intervals of about every hour, they would send a big shell over the line of fortifications which would land somewhere in the French capital, and, no matter where it alighted, its explosion would present a new scene of death and de- struction. The French kept up a communication with the outer world by the use of balloons, which sailed out in the air and passed over the lines of the German army to the outside, but there was not much advantage in this except to let the outer world know how deplorable the condition was within the enclosure and to take out car- rier pigeons, which brought back news of how hopeless the struggle had become. In the course of time the French surrendered and the German army took posses- 310 THE LOUVRE sion of Paris, which was a sad day for the proud-spirited Parisians. Napoleon I. did much for the beauty and advance- ment of Paris, and Napoleon III. continued the good work, and on the establishment of the republic, which oc- curred about 1871, a system of improvements was inaugu- rated and is being carried on even to the present time. The population now is about 3,000,000, and it is a very lively, enterprising and beautiful city. THE LOUVRE The Louvre is about the greatest thing in Paris or in almost any other place. It is an ancient palace of the kings, although used at the present time chiefly as a museum of art. The name Louvre signifies ''The She- Wolf, ' ' and the members of the court hunted the wolf in the timber where this great palace now stands. That was a long while ago, for, it is said, the construction of this building known as the Louvre was begun in the year 1217. The first building, however, was destroyed and the foundations which were the commencement of the present building were laid by Francis I. in the year 1541. The structure was added to by Catherine de Medici, Henry IV., Napoleon L and others, and finally was completed in its present form by Napoleon III. just previous to his dethronement. I do not know just what the dimensions of the building are. It is an odd construction, there being a court in its interior, and to the west side have been added two long wings, surrounding a large opening called the Place de Carrousel. The form of the building is ir- regular, but, I should judge, without being able to obtain actual measurements, that it will cover in its greatest 311 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE length at least a quarter of a mile. It passes over one or two streets, but does not impede the street traffic very much because it is arched over the streets by tunnels, several of them being side by side, so that the cabs and buses pass through the building in different directions. It was formerly connected with the palace of the Tuileries, which was the later palace of the kings of France, but this was destroyed by the Commune in the year 1871, and has never been rebuilt. The Commune at the same time attempted the destruction of the Louvre. They undermined it with great quantities of powder, saturated the building with oil and attempted to destroy it, but before it could be lighted the mob was dispersed and this storehouse of valuable art and antiquities was saved by the prompt action of the regular troops. The museum of the Louvre is the most extensive collection of the kind in the whole of Europe. It has everything that could be found in such a collection, gathered for the benefit of the public, and is open, free of admission, at all times. It embraces wonderful varie- ties of paintings, both modern and ancient, and repre- sents the schools of all countries and all epochs. It con- tains a splendid collection of drawings by the greatest masters, Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Eoman, Medieval, Eenaissance and modern sculpture, and has Greek and Etruscan vases in great numbers. It contains the finest collection of cups and vases in the world, and all kinds of objects in carved wood, majolica, bronze, etc., and its collection of tapestries represents the best. There is no commercial estimate that could be placed upon the objects that are found in the Louvre. Some things therein are beyond computation as measured in 312 VENUS DE MILO dollars and cents. There are other things, however, the value of which can be guessed at. One of the prettiest little objects among the collection is the sword of Napo- leon with its diamond-studded hilt. The entire handle of the sword is completely covered with diamonds of a very good size, and the value is placed at $400,000. Next to this is the regent diamond, with a value of $3,000,000, and there are many other objects that are more wonder- ful and just as valuable as these little keepsakes. VENUS DE MILO One of the celebrated works of art in the Louvre is a statue of Venus called Venus de Milo, which, I pre- sume, interpreted into English would be the Venus of Melos. This statue was dug up on the Island of Melos, a possession of Greece, by a peasant in the year 1820, and was purchased by the French government for the insig- nificant sum of about 6,000 francs, or about $1,200. France could get a good deal more for this statue now than she paid for it. No one knows, of course, who carved this statue, nor when it was made. It may have lain dormant in the earth where it was found for fourteen or fifteen hundred years. It was evidently buried to preserve it from the Vandals who overran the southern country and com- mitted so much destruction in those days. Both arms of the statue are gone, so we can only conjecture as to what attitude it assumed or what idea it was supposed to rep- resent when it was made. It is said, however, to repre- sent the most beautiful female form possible and to be perfect in that respect. I do not know whether the American women would concede that this Venus was perfect in shape or not. I 313 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE examined the statue pretty thoroughly and observed that there was a good expanse of waist line and that the toes extended freely and did not interfere with each other, and it would have taken a good size shoe to cover the foot. I doubt whether all American women would agree as to the decision that this statue is perfect in form, for there is no evidence that the waist had ever been squeezed into a six-inch circle by a pair of corsets, or the toes lapped over each other by spike-toed shoes, which appears to be the idea of good form carried out by some of our people. I think, though, the average person who views this silent messenger that comes to us from the remote ages will agree that it speaks in words more convincing and lasting than the human tones and tells us that the wo- men of those days and the people of those days had good ideas of beauty and of good physical form. No matter what our opinion of the French may be, no matter whether we like their frivolous ways, or whether we think that they are a superior or inferior lot of people, we must all take off our hats and figura- tively, at least, make a bow of sublime respect to them for the building, maintenance and preservation of the Louvre. They are entitled to the fullest meed of praise for getting together the best of all ages, the best of all climes, the richest that the earth can offer in sculpture, in art, in tapestry, in the handiwork of man, and in placing it where it can be conveniently inspected without money and without price, and can be copied or used for inspection, or used for suggestion in furthering the ex- tension of the elevated ideas which it preserves. It would have been a world's calamity had this 314 ST. MARK'S HORSES wonderful building, with its magnificent collection, been destroyed when the attempt was made in 1871, and the world can give thanks that it did not happen. No end of time could be spent advantageously in the Louvre. It is too bad, there are so many good things to see in this world that we cannot spare more time to each of them. One never visits this place without wishing that he had weeks and weeks to spend in examining its beauties, its wonders and its superb works of art. THE TROCADERO Nor is the Louvre the only place in France where they have choice collections. There is a building called the Trocadero, which is named after a Spanish fort cap- tured by the French in a battle many years ago. This building, however, does not represent a fort, but is a very graceful structure with two towers, each 270 feet high. It is directly across the river from the Eiffel tower. A street and a bridge lead from the base of the tower to an immense flight of stairs that rises to the front door of the Trocadero, which is located on rather high ground. It is a picturesque building and can be seen from a long dis- tance. It is embellished with statuary of a high order and has a choice collection representing the arts and sciences, and a concert hall capable of seating six thousand. It is surrounded by spacious grounds, and makes a valuable ornament to the great city of Paris. There are many beautiful structures and beauty spots in Paris. ST. MARK'S HORSES In the Place de Carrousel is a well-built Arch of Triumph. It was erected by Napoleon I. to commemo- rate one of his victories. While it is the general opinion 315 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE that Napoleon spent all of his time in war and carnage, it must be remembered that he was a very active man, and a man of many parts. With him, art and war went hand in hand, and whenever he won a great victory he erected a monument to commemorate it. He would take a million or so men out somewhere and meet an army of about the same number, slaughter a few hundred thousand, put the others in irons, and direct his archi- tects and builders to build a great arch or monument some place to commemorate the mighty victory. This arch in the Place de Carrousel is ornamented with some bronze horses, but they are not just the ones that Napoleon placed there. You may remember that when I wrote from Venice I spoke of the bronze horses which stand over the doors of St. Mark's church at that place, which Napoleon at one time appropriated. He used these horses to ornament this arch in Paris when he erected it, and it was after the battle of Waterloo and the overthrow of Napoleon that these horses were taken down and returned to the people of Venice, who had mourned their loss. JEANNE D'ARC Just to one side of the palace of the Louvre is a little open square and in the center of it is a statue of one of France's most remarkable leaders. It is a statue of Jeanne d'Are, the little woman who, at one time, led the army of France to victory when the king and all the great generals had failed. We assume that the sad story of Jeanne d'Are or "Joan of Arc," as she is called in this country, is familiar to almost all of the readers of history. After her great victory she was beloved and almost worshipped by the people of France, but her 316 JEANNE D'ARC enemies pursued her, she was convicted of heresy or treason, and was finally burned at the stake. Notwithstanding her body went up in fire, even those hot flames did not efface the memory of the affec- tion which the French had for this little woman and this monument is a tribute to her devotion to France. Very frequently the humble people of France bring wreaths and place them at the foot of this monument. I do not know of what material it is made, but it has been gilded with pure gold, which shines brightly, though somewhat marred by the weather. The figure of the young woman is astride of the horse which forms part of the monu- ment, and does not, in her military garb, appear at all improper. 317 Chapter XXII THE TUILERIES GARDEN Adjoining the Louvre palace is the Tuileries garden. One side of this magnificent garden or park rests on the banks of the river Seine, and the other on a street called the Rue de Eivoli. All the houses on this street are of the arcade pattern, that is, sidewalks lie within the line of the buildings, which are supported on the outer edge of the sidewalks by columns. There are many very rich stores along this street fronting on the park, which, by the way, is one of the finest openings or pleasure centers in all Europe. The garden is about one-half mile in length, and in summer is a most delightful resort and is always thronged with people. The garden is interspersed and surrounded with very pleasant promenades. Carlyle, the great English writer, gives an account of the attack on the Tuileries, which was the palace adjoining this garden, in the year 1792. It is said that there were forty thousand rioters in the mob at that time. PLACE DE LA CONCORDE Adjoining the Tuileries garden is the Place de la Concorde. The word Concorde signifies peace or har- mony, and yet, this has not always been a place of con- cord or harmony. In the center of this place, which is a large, open square, stands an Egyptian obelisk which was 318 CHAMPS-EL YSEES brought here from Egypt. It is seventy-six feet high and weighs two hundred and forty tons, and is similar to the obelisk which was brought by Vanderbilt and placed in Central Park in New York city. On each side of this obelisk are handsome fountains, and surrounding it are eight stone statues representing the chief cities of France. One of these statues represents the city of Strassburg, but this was wrenched from France by the Germans in the settlement of the Franco-Prussian war. There is frequently a mourning wreath hanging on it. This place, with its surroundings, is also among the finest squares in the world, and it made a magnificent camping ground for the Germans who bivouacked here in 1871, after taking the capital of France. This Place de la Concorde, dedicated to peace and harmony, has had its bloody scenes, for it was here in the latter part of the eighteenth century three thousand people had their heads severed from their bodies by the bloody guillotine, among whom were Louis XVI., Marie An- toinette and many other distinguished royal personages. It is now a center of gaiety and life, and the scene which it now presents is in great contrast to the ex- periences which were enacted where this obelisk of an almost forgotten age stands among the beautiful stat- ues representing the queen cities of La Belle France. THE CHAMPS-ELYSEES Leading off from the Place de la Concorde is the great Champs-Elysees. I think about the correct pro- nounciation of this name would be ' ' Chaum-E-Lee-See. ' ' I am not certain that this is right, but this is about as near as I could get it, except that it has an addition of that peculiar nasal tone that sounds like a short note 319 SIXTY DAYS IN EUEOPE from a trombone, which only the French seem to know how to make when they talk. This is a magnificent drive, said to be the finest in the world. It commences at the Place de la Concorde and continues for one mile and a half to the great tri- umphal Eoman arch of Napoleon. As a matter of fact, the avenue extends far beyond this, but I think after passing the arch it bears another name. It is a magnificent boulevard. I would not attempt to say how wide it is, but it is wide enough for all prac- tical purposes, and is lined with beautiful palaces, hotels, cafes, theatres, etc. It is paved with asphalt as smooth as a board floor, is lined on either side with beautiful shade trees, is ornamented with fancy lights and statues, and is certainly up to the expectations of any person who has ever heard of it, no matter how extravagant his anticipations may be. On this great drive can be seen the life, style and quality of Paris. In the evening it is crowded with all sorts of vehicles which are intended to transport people. I don't think wagons of traffic are al- lowed to move over its surface. While I was not disappointed in this great thorough- fare itself , I was somewhat disappointed in the class of many of the vehicles that use it as a thoroughfare. From what I had heard of the Champs-Elysees, I supposed that it would be occupied and used only by the most magnificent equipages in the way of carriages that one could see anywhere on earth. In place of that, it is largely the thoroughfare for as cheap a lot of little Vic- toria hacks, or taximeters, as can be found any place. I think they are as bad or worse than the hacks of Na- ples and other Italian cities. Many of the horses are 320 PARIS. The Tuileries Garden adjoining the Louvre Palace. — Page 318. CHAMPS-ELYSEES bony, bob-tailed and spavined, and many of the cabs are almost as badly worn and dilapidated as the one which presented itself when we made our fantastic en- try into Paris. It was one of these dilapidated cabs, the horse that went with it, and the driver, who was the captain of the outfit, that left with me one of the most painful regrets of my stay in Paris, and which, perhaps, prejudiced me to a certain extent against this beautiful drive, over which most writers rave with enthusiasm. It was our last night in Paris. We had arranged to take a seven o 'clock dinner at one of the most fashionable hotels in the city, where we were to meet some people from New York, and we dressed so that we would make at least a respectable appearance and not embarrass our metropolitan countrymen. While most people are al- ways late to a dinner it was a peculiar incident that on this occasion we had about one hour to spare, so, as a sort of farewell treat, we thought how nice it would be to join in the great, never-ending procession that passes along the French boulevard. We depended upon our hotel man to select us a proper conveyance for the auspicious occasion, when, to our disappointment, he supplied us with the outfit to which I have alluded above. The horse had evidently seen more service that particular day than it was en- titled to, and appeared to be entirely fatigued. It would get in motion only when the driver would strike it with his whip, which he did with such vigor that the stroke echoed from both sides of the boulevard. Then the poor animal would break into a gallop which would last for about seventy-five yards, then it would setttle down into 321 —21 / SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE a walk and get slower and slower nntil the driver yelled and whacked it once more. If there is anything I can't stand it is a horse of that kind. So, after thirty minutes of this doleful per- formance, during which time we were passed by many of the elite and fashionable of Paris, with their drivers and footmen, we presented such a sad contrast that we asked as a favor that our cabman would dump us at the hotel in the shortest possible time. This drive left me with a prejudice against the Champs-Elysees, the great fashion- able drive of France, which I cannot well shake off. "While there are many handsome turnouts and beau- tiful equipages, with liveried drivers and footmen, on this drive, the pleasure of a drive thereon is greatly marred by these poor little Victoria cabs, with their bony horses and their drivers who are not up-to-date either in time, style or fit of the garments they wear. There is also a large number of automobiles which carry passengers backward and forward in the thickest of this crush, and they are of all patterns and sizes, and they run so recklessly and keep up such a tooting that a ride on this celebrated drive, instead of being a treat and a pleasure, is a nerve-straining, strenuous epoch of time. THE ARCH DE TRIOMPHE He who rides out the Champs-Elysees to see the great arch which stands at its terminus, while not al- ways enjoying the ride, must certainly be impressed with this monument to the great Napoleon, which, in its way, stands without a peer on the face of the globe. It is an immense pile of stone one hundred and sixty feet high, one hundred and forty-six feet wide and seventy-two feet through, with a vast tunnel forty-six feet wide and 322 VENDOME COLUMN seventy-six feet in height passing through it. It was commenced in the year 1806 by Napoleon to commemo- rate his victories, but, before its completion, Napoleon was brushed from the scene of action and it was finished by Louis Philippe during his reign, at a total cost of $2,000,000. It is ornamented with groups representing the Napoleonic campaigns. The names of nearly one hun- dred and fifty battles are engraved upon it, and it has a spiral staircase of two hundred and sixty-one steps leading to the platform at the top, from whence a grand view is had. It stands in the center of a star which is formed by twelve boulevards, which branch out from the Triumphal Arch like the spokes of a wagon wheel. With its surroundings and this arrangement of streets or ave- nues, it presents to the visitor one of the most magnifi- cent examples of municipal geography that he will ever have the pleasure of seeing. There are many triumphal arches in the world. The old Romans built several in the city of Rome, which still stand; Napoleon erected one in the city of Milan and another besides this in Paris; there are one or two in New York city, and there are others in other parts of the world,' but there are none that can compare with this arch in its gigantic proportions and the massive statu- ary and figures with which it is ornamented. But with all its size and grandeur, it seems to me that it commem- orates the downfall of Napoleon perhaps more eloquently than it does his victories, and shows how vaulting may be the ambition of man and how futile may be his efforts. THE VENDOME COLUMN One of the most remarkable monuments in Paris is 323 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the Vendome column, which stands near the center of a large opening called the Place Vendome. This column is one hundred and forty-three feet high, about twenty feet in diameter and is built after the pattern of the Trajan column in Rome. A spiral procession, representing a marching army, in bas-relief, circles round and round the column to the top. This procession commemorates Napoleon's campaign and victories in Austria and Rus- sia. It is a wonderful piece of art work, being remark- able not only for its size, but for the high class of work on the various scenes which it depicts. It is made of cannons mostly captured at Austerlitz. Napoleon cap- tured so many cannons from the Austrians that he did not know what to do with them, so he melted them up and moulded them into this magnificent column to com- memorate the great victories in which they were cap- tured. Things seem to go by contraries in this world, for, after the war of 1871, the Germans turned over to the people of Cologne enough French cannons to make the huge bell that swings in one of the towers of the Cathedral at that place and it, perhaps, took as many French cannons to make this great bell as it did Aus- trian cannons to complete the Vendome column. This column, by the way, has had some history. When Napoleon completed it he placed his own statue on the top, but after his defeat, when the throne of France passed into the hands of the Bourbons, they lifted the figure of Napoleon down and put in its place a large fleur-de-lis, the emblem of the Bourbon family. It was a sort of ridiculous proceeding. The three 324 VENDOME COLUMN plumes making up the ornament did not appear to fit their lofty position. During the Commune, the mob, who were wreaking their vengeance on almost everything in sight, concluded that this column, which represented monarchy, should be removed. They, therefore, hitched a big, long rope to it and a thousand men pulled it over. It came down with a "dull, sickening thud." The French, however, are great lovers of art, and, previous to the mad work of bringing down this column, it appears that they thought it would be a pity to spoil the figures which stood in bas-relief on its exterior, and for that reason they put a thick layer of tan bark where it was to fall, and let it down as easily as they could. After the work of the Commune was over the monument was restored without apparent injury, and stands to-day just where Napoleon built it, with his statue of heroic size crowning the top. The French are great for erecting monuments and statues. I could hardly stop to describe all of them, there are so many it would take a long while. They com- memorate all events with statues, monuments or foun- tains. There is a colossal statue of a lion in a location called the Place Denfert. This immense figure symbol- izes the defense of Paris against the Germans in 1871, but, as the Germans won out, it seemed to me that it was not necessary for the French to call attention to their defeat by the erection of this statue and yet this is not without precedent in our own country. I suppose that thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people have looked upon the Bunker Hill monument, and their bosoms have swelled with pride as 325 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE they assumed that it marked the particular spot where the Yankees licked the English, but a greater mistake could hardly be made. History tells us that this is where the English defeated the Americans, and this monument is erected in honor of the soldiers of the colonies who laid down their lives in the defense of Bunker Hill that liberty might live, though they them- selves died. GEORGE WASHINGTON In passing through one of the parks of Paris one day, I was both surprised and pleased to come abreast of a magnificent statue of George Washington. It is a bronze statue showing the father of our country on a magnificent horse, the bronze work being supported By a granite base, the whole monument being about thirty feet high. It represents Washington taking command of the army at Cambridge, his arm upraised dedicating his sword to the cause of freedom. This statue was presented to Paris by one of the pa- triotic societies of the United States as a sort of recipro- cation of the gift by the French people of the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, designed by Bartholdi, which stands in a prominent place in New York harbor, and welcomes all people to the United States. The statue of Washington in Paris was designed by Daniel C. French, an American artist, who, it appears, had a very appropriate name to design a statue to be presented to our cousins of France. Mr. French was also the archi- tect of the statue known as "The Minute Man" at Con- cord, Mass., which is considered one of the finest works of art in the United States. 326 THE GREAT BOULEVARD THE MADELEINE Not far from the Place de la Concorde is the Church of the Madeleine, said to be the most beautiful edifice in Paris, and if it is the most beautiful edifice in Paris, it must be nearly the most beautiful in the world. It is built after the style of a Greek temple, the roof ex- tending over the main body of the building and being supported around the entire structure by huge Corin- thian columns. The structure is one hundred and thirty feet wide by three hundred and thirty feet long and in the colon- nade are niches containing figures of the saints. It is the best example of Greek architecture extant. The por- tico is supported by a double row of columns, and is reached by a magnificent flight of stairs as wide as the entire building. The roof is of copper, which has now turned green with age, and, while the building is not striking in its appearance, architects, particularly, re- gard it as a most perfect piece of work. THE GREAT BOULEVARD There are many avenues, streets and boulevards in Paris, but the principal one is the boulevard which, un- der various names and with a number of bends, angles and curves, reaches from the Madeleine church to the site of the old Bastile. It is three miles long and is said to be the busiest and most fashionable business thoroughfare in the world. It varies in width, as do also the sidewalks. At some places the walks are as wide as thirty to forty feet. Thousands of people occupy these sidewalks while eating and drinking, and the stores do a large amount of business with people who never get inside of their doors. In some places they have cashiers, 327 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE cash registers, bookkeepers, etc., and a large display of goods outside of the buildings and much of the business is transacted with people who are too busy to go inside. This is the busy thoroughfare which we encountered as we came into Paris. It appears that, in this city, foot passengers have no rights that drivers of vehicles are bound to respect, so it is rather a difficult problem to walk across this street or boulevard with safety. As we have stated before, all the travel in one direction is con- fined to one side of the street, and that in the other direction to the other side. At the base of each of the ornamental lamp posts, which are located down the center of this great boulevard, are little patches raised about six inches above the surface of the street, and surrounded by curbs, and called "islands." In cross- ing the street, it is usual for foot passengers to spy out one of these islands, and when there is sufficient lull in the traffic, make a dash from the sidewalk and land on the island. Then they take their bearings, set their compass, and watch for an opening through the tide of traffic which is moving in the other direction, and, after a reasonable length of time, they can make a break for the sidewalk in that direction. The busiest place on this whole thoroughfare, I think, is where the avenue from the Grand Opera House to the Louvre crosses the boulevard of which we are writing. Officers are stationed at such corners as these and regulate the travel by stopping traffic and letting vehicles on the other thoroughfare avail themselves of the right of way. Then, after a reasonable time, the traffic is suspended on that boulevard, and the traffic on the other one is allowed to proceed. 328 RATIFIED There are very busy scenes on these boulevards and it is surprising that there are as few accidents as there are. In our country, drivers learn to look out for foot- passengers, but in Paris and the other countries of Europe, footpassengers learn to look out for themselves and they learn pretty well. RATIFIED Along the sides of this great boulevard, even in the business centers, there is a regular line of shade trees. To give these trees a chance to grow, a circle some five or six feet in diameter is left in the cement pavement around the roots of each tree. These openings are covered on a level with the pavement by a circular grating of iron work with an opening in the center large enough for the trunk of the tree. I was somewhat amused one day, while waiting at one of the busiest corners in Paris for a chance to make a dash across the great boulevard, on looking down one of these iron gratings to see a big, husky rat looking up through the grating and taking in the busy situation. He had a hole underneath the pavement that led to some place in the interior of the city, and at this time had come out of that hole to see how the affairs of Paris were progressing. Hundreds of people were passing by, and his ratship semed to enjoy the scene very much. When I approached him he went back into his hole with- out stopping to even bid me good-day, but when I re- treated a little ways, Mr. Rat came out to take another look at his surroundings. He appeared to enjoy the scene of activity and seemed to be "at peace with the hole world and the balance of mankind." 329 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE A LIVELY RIDE But to return to the boulevard. It appears that I was making my trip down this great thoroughfare, and somehow I got sidetracked. I took several rides between the Madeleine and the Bastile, sometimes on the top of the huge omnibuses, sometimes on the upper story or top of huge automobiles, sometimes in the little taxi- meter cabs, and one time, at least, in a little taximeter automobile. All the experiences were novel and enjoyable. To sit on the top of a huge bus or a huge two-story automo- bile, with fifteen or twenty other people, the large ve- hicles careening from side to side like a ship at sea, the horses on the buses always on the trot, and the automo- biles moving even faster, the skillful drivers threading in and out, and apparently meeting with a hundred nar- row escapes, is entertaining, to say the least. But I think the ride we enjoyed the most was in the little automobile. I do not think that I ever saw a chauffeur who was so skillful with his guiding wheel, and who could work the various parts of his machine so gracefully as the gentleman who took us on this memo- rable ride. "We engaged him for one hour, and, having a taximeter in his automobile which, I think, determined his charges by the distance which he traveled, he cer- tainly made his machine earn all the money he could in the sixty minutes that he had under the arrangement. He not only traveled the whole boulevard from the Madeleine to the Bastile, but I think he covered about all the other principal streets and boulevards in Paris in the short time at his disposal. While steering his little car he could work all the other attachments as a skillful organist pulls and pushes the stops of a well- 330 A LIVELY RIDE equipped church organ, while the music is going right along. He could thread his way through the surging banks of carriages and horses as a weasel can slip through cracks that would seem to crowd a knitting needle. He seldom had to stop, and if he ever did stop, he was in motion again before we found it out. There was no position too cramped for him to wiggle into and no congestion too close for him to wiggle out again. He could not talk a word of English, and if he could he certainly would not have had time to avail himself of this desirable accomplishment, but he could run an auto- mobile, and run it better and faster than any man whom I ever saw. I like a man who understands his business, and this man certainly did. I looked for him all the rest of the time I was in Paris, but failed to get his number, and if I had I guess he would always be going so fast that I could not count him. If I could have found him I would have spent all my allowance for Paris in riding with him, and would have insisted that he should take me in the most dangerous and most thickly congested portions of this busy city, for I had entire confidence in his ability to take care of himself and his passengers. Under his guidance the houses and stores of Paris seemed to pass by us as though they were being trans- ported on a limited railway train, and when we got back to the hotel we had to sit down and wait a while for our breath, which was scattered all along the way, to catch up to us, and while we were waiting there about twenty- five or thirty toots of his horn, that he had run away from on the ride, came loitering up to us after we had stopped. 331 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE THE BASTILE One of the most interesting points in Paris, con- sidered from a historical standpoint, is the "Place de Bastile." This is where stood the famous prison which was known by that name. Previous to the year 1369, there were two towers which flanked one of the city gates known as Saint Antoine. By the order of Charles V. the provost of Paris was directed to convert these two towers into a fortress with eight towers. This fortress, when com- pleted, was surrounded by a deep moat, which was al- ways kept filled with water, had a drawbridge and all the characteristics of the old-time prisons. For a while it was used as a fortification, but later on it was used more particularly for the incarceration of state or polit- ical prisoners. It was an immense structure, but the accommoda- tions were overcrowded in time. Nobody can tell of the cruelties, the heartbreaking scenes, and the heart- breaking periods of restraint with which the walls of this old building became familiar. Stories and romances without end have been written about this old structure, and many more will follow yet. It was here that the mysterious "Man of the Iron Mask" was confined. It numbered among its other pris- oners Fouquet, Voltaire, Cardinal Rohan, and men of all professions and degrees of culture. It stood for a term of five hundred years as a symbol of oppression and despotism. Its style of architecture was massive and it was, apparently, almost indestructible. It was considered the greatest obstacle to liberty in the whole of France. For whoever moved against tyranny landed in the Bastile. The prejudice of the 332 THE BASTILE people against it was intensified year after year, but it was so formidable in its defences that it overawed all the patriots of France and entrenched despotism in so strong a position that it appeared beyond the power of ordinary men to break its bonds. There is another power, however, in France, or has been in the past, not so certain in its movements, but which, on many occasions, has proven itself stronger than monarchy, despotism, or even organized armies, and that is the rule of the mob. This power attacked the Bastile on July 14, 1789, killed Delaunay, the keeper, and his assistant officers, and captured the prison and released the prisoners. ■ The next day the mob commenced a demolition of the grim old structure and did not cease their work until it was leveled to the ground, not allowing one stone to rest up- on another. And so the Bastile became a thing of his- tory, and it has never been restored. The moat was filled to the level of the surrounding grounds with the debris of the Bastile, and it is now eevered with a smooth asphalt pavement. In the center of the place where the prison stood is a high column on which stands a statue of Liberty, holding a broken chain in one hand and a torch in the other, which well symbolizes the destruction of the Bastile and the difference between the conditions of the past and those of the present in the city of Paris. In the old days the country was governed by monarchy and prisons; in the present day France is a republic, and columns and statues have taken the place of prisons and dungeons. Tears and sighs have given place, under the new regime, to songs and laughter, and France is now a happy country. 333 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE A RIDE ON THE SEINE One day when the rest of the folks were too tired to go any farther, I concluded to take a ride on the river Seine. I went down to one of the landings, which are numerous, and took one of the little steamboats that ply backward and forward through the city. I do not know what disposition is made of sewage in Paris, but the river Seine appears to be quite clear and its waters uncontaminated, so that a ride on this river through this great city is a pleasure without fear of contagion. I think Paris has the best collection of bridges of any city in the world, and, as I have intimated before, they are ornamented and beautified by elaborate statues and tablets. A number of them have been built to commemorate historic events. There are something like thirty of them in all, and a ride on this little boat gave me an excellent opportunity to see them as I went along. The river varies in width from four hundred to five hundred feet, and is protected by stone walls on each side. One of the most important bridges is called the Pont d'Austerlitz, the word "Pont" meaning bridge. It is inscribed with the names of the principal officers killed in the battle for which it is named. It was first built in 1808 and then rebuilt in 1858. There is another bridge called the Pont Neuf, completed 275 years ago, which is ornamented by an equestrian statue of Henry IV. A great bridge opposite the Place Carrousel has four colossal stone statues, one representing Abundance, another Industry, a third the river Seine and the fourth the city of Paris. There are several other bridges which have stood from two to three hundred years, so they must have 334 A RIDE ON THE SEINE built them with the idea in mind that they were to re- main there permanently. There is a bridge called the Pont d'Solferino, ornamented with the names of the principal victories in the campaign of 1859. Then there is another opposite Napoleon's tomb with statues repre- senting France's victories by land and sea. The Pont d'Alma has statues between its arches representing the different types of French soldiers. Another one has colossal statues of men and horses, the meaning of which I was unable to determine. But the greatest of all Parisian bridges is a new one completed in 1899 and called the Pont Alexander III., or the Alexander bridge. I think this is the only one on the whole river which spans the stream with a single arch. The roadway is very wide and the bridge is adorned with columns and statues. These bridges are all stationary, and are built just high enough for the little boats to pass underneath them, and present, in their ornamentation, a marked contrast to the bridges which are usually built in America. I enjoyed the ride in the little boat more particularly because it gave me such a good opportunity to see these bridges at close range and the trip was well worth the time and trouble. It is a pity that so little regard is given to the ar- tistic arrangement of such works as these in America. Would anybody ever think of taking a ride up the river in Chicago to examine the beauties of those connecting links of rusty steel rods and miscellaneous junk, with their double backacting draws, which we have as excuses for bridges over the river of the second city in the United States? In this country we have not risen to the degree of taste that is displayed in matters of orna- 335 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE mentation of this kind in the city of Paris, or any of the older countries of Europe. Even the news stands in Paris are nice, little eight- cornered structures, with panels filled with colored glass of all shades, and are usually presided over by little, dark-eyed misses whose faces smile out through the open windows like rich paintings set about with elaborate frames. ST. CLOUD But to get back into the river. I continued my journey on through the busy parts of Paris out into its suburbs, and along to where the wooded islands and the green fields bade me a hearty welcome to the country. Just near the last bridge and on a little island is a statue of Liberty, designed by Bartholdi, being the orig- inal of the statue of Liberty which stands in the New York harbor. It is about half the size of the one in New York harbor, but in all other respects is just the same. A little farther on I came to the town of St. Cloud. This town stands on the left bank of the river as you go upstream, on high bluffs. The streets are paved with stone and some of them stand almost on end. It is con- nected with a highway leading into Paris by a bridge with many arches, over which those two-story interur- ban cars run into Paris every few minutes. In front of the city along the bluff is a very pretty park, and a band of musicians and a company of singers give this little city an appearance of having an open door to all strangers. This city was bombarded by the Prussians in 1871 until of a similar appearance to that of Chicago at the close of the great fire of the same year. There was not 336 GRAND OPERA much the pictures of it at that time present left in St. Cloud at that time, except battered and broken walls and foundations of houses that had been. But it is thirty-six years since then and the town has practically outgrown all the scars of that lamentable conflict, and, with its many children, its green trees and its lovely parks, presents a very beautiful appearance at this time. THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE Adjoining the Grand hotel in Paris is the Grand Opera house. This is the finest theatre in the world. This gorgeous building was begun in 1861, but in the meantime the Franco-Prussian war broke out and it was not completed until the year 1874. It cost thirty-six million francs, or a little over seven millions of dollars. It occupies nearly three acres, but with its entrances, wide corridors, great stage, etc., it seats only two thou- sand, two hundred people. It is owned, I think, by the government. At least, it is a government institution, and grand opera is a regular thing at this magnificent play house. We were fortunate in securing exceptionally good seats and enjoyed the performance greatly. The troupe that gave the opera was made up of many artists, some of whom were people of world-wide reputation. The scenery and electrical effects were magnificent. The audience was made up of people mostly in full dress, the ladies with low-neck dresses and the gentlemen nearly all wearing "claw hammer" coats and high top hats. The display of diamonds worn by the women in the boxes was so dazzling that, I think, by the reflection of the electric lights, they helped illuminate the house. Some of the ladies wore hair ornaments, sort of imita- 337 —22 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE tion crowns, and others wore necklaces, besides rings, bracelets and bosom ornaments. One of the things that struck me as the most pe- culiar in connection with the attendance at this opera house was the style of high top hats the gentlemen wear, and the way they used them. In the United States men who wear evening dress and high top hats usually wear those hats that are made of silk cloth that have wire frames and springs inside of them which allow them to collapse, and, as soon as they enter a theatre or any other enclosure, they remove the hat and walk in bare- headed. Nearly all of these hats used in America are made in France, and are ordinarily called French opera hats. I saw but few of this style of hat while in Paris, as the French men invariably wear the real shiny silk hats which ordinarily are extremely tall with a very narrow brim, and, I think, smaller at the top than at the bottom. They never take their hats from their heads until they walk clear into the theatre and sit down in the seat which they are to occupy. When the curtain falls, instead of picking up the hat and carrying it in the hand to the outer door, the very first thing they do is to reach down under the seat where the hats are hanging by the wires, pull them out and place them on their heads. They then rise from their seats and walk out in great squads, with their hats on. This may not appear strange to the French, but it appears particularly odd to an American who is not used to seeing high hats except at very rare intervals and never sees a man with such a hat on inside of a house. The opera commenced a little after eight o'clock 338 PARIS GOWNS and continued until midnight. There were about one hundred musicians in the orchestra and about that num- ber of actors on the stage. The opera was rendered in French or Italian, and the show closed with a gorgeous display of red fire illuminating a grand finale. Alto- gether, I should say, the entertainment was a thorough success and we certainly enjoyed it very much. PARIS GOWNS In passing down the street one day near the center of Paris, I came opposite an archway in rather an un- pretentious looking building. The archway was par- tially filled with lumber and some other building mater- ial, and, in order to go upstairs, it was necessary to pass through this archway and go up an inside stairway. Over the top of this opening was a name that is almost as well known as any other name on earth, and espec- ially is it familiar to the people of fashion. A little gilt sign in English letters spelled out Worth. This, then, was the establishment of the famous dressmaker of the world. Mr. Worth, who formerly conducted this establish- ment, but who died a few years ago, was not a French- man, as most people imagine, but was an Englishman. Whether he could make dresses any better than any- body else or not, I do not know, but I do know that he achieved a great reputation in that line and made gowns for the finest dressed people in the world, and charged enormous prices for them. I never thought it necessary to go to Paris to get a dress made, and yet, when I got to that city, I thought a man who had his wife there and who could afford to have a dress made for her, and didn't have it done, 339 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE might be considered a very mean man when he got home, so I laid aside my prejudices against foreign trade, and, with a streak of unexpected generosity, told my wife that she could have a dress built in Paris, which I would be glad to have her accept as an anniversary present. I think from that time on the matter of the archi- tecturing and the building of that garment prevented the recipient from having any peace of mind or pleasure during the remainder of her visit in the capital of France. It was promised in two days. Finally the garment was done as far as the fitting, and on that oc- casion I was called in as the past master and critical judge. I imagined that some of the streets which I have described were the busy places in Paris, but I found out now that the real busy places are the dressmaking es- tablishments when they have an American victim in hand. The establishment was reached from the street by a wide stairway covered by a velvet carpet. The parlors were fixed up in old style, but very elaborately, with long mirrors, a piano and various articles of fur- niture, and the walls were hung with pictures of thin- waisted women with highly-colored dresses with long trains. I was shown into the main parlor where I was asked to take a seat and wait, and was given a French paper that I could not read, to entertain myself with while the madam was being prepared. There appeared to be a door in every foot of space of every wall of this room, and the cutters and fitters and models found it neces- sary to continually dart into this room through one of these doors on one side, and out through a door on the other side. I do not know just how many women were 340 PARIS GOWNS connected with the overseer department of this small dressmaking establishment, but, I think, at least a dozen of them passed through the room while I was waiting for the entry of the star of the occasion. Finally two folding doors were thrown open and I was informed in some fragmentary English that ''Mon- sieur could see the madame in the new gown." I must confess that I hardly ever saw my wife look more beau- tiful than she did then, standing there among a bevy of French women, taller than any of them, with the same smile she wore on our wedding day. She was dressed in a sky-blue silk creation, covered with lace as light and airy as the meringue on a lemon pie, with basting stitches up on one side and down on the other, and pinned up the front and down the back with a various assortment of pins. One sleeve had beautiful frills which were gently waving in the pleasant summer breeze and the other arm was bare clear to the shoulder, like the statue of Liberty in a Fourth of July procession, and, above all, a hat bearing many plumes of snowy white quivered responsive to her every movement. There was a red, pink and gold ribbon crisscrossed through little openings in the upper part of the bosom, and I had to confess, while receiving the smiles of the most beautiful model I had ever seen, that the garment was a recherche affair and it was passed upon without fur- ther argument as being satisfactory. From that time on Mrs. E. was in a state of com- plete terror during every waking hour and suffered from nightmare every moment that she slept for fear that the garment would not be done by the time we were ready to leave the city. At the last hour and the last possible moment, a young man came along with a wooden 341 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE box about as big as a Saratoga trunk, which he set down on the floor of the hotel and unstrapped and opened up the cover, but before lifting out the fragile garment he presented a bill which was ' ' cash on delivery, ' ' and, be- ing made out in francs, it looked as big as a person would expect a bill of sale to be which would cover the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York city. Mrs. R. carefully wrapped up the garment and, for lack of room in the trunk, shoved it into a suit case all by itself, where it could not help being filled with wrinkles. Then she began to worry about custom duties. Then she brought it to New York where a custom house officer pulled it out, examined it, consulted with his su- perior, and finally decided that it was not worth assess- ing for custom taxes. He passed it along. Mrs. R. heaved a sigh of relief, which appeared to be the' first pleasure she had experienced since ordering the Paris gown. 342 Chapter XXIII THE BONES OF THREE MILLIONS Another day, when the female portion of my family wanted to do some shopping and see how they made dresses in Paris, I took another stroll by myself, and this time went to vist the catacombs. All the houses of Paris, or nearly all of them, are made of a light-colored stone. This stone is quarried from a ledge about one hundred and fifty or two hun- dred feet below the surface of the earth, and when Paris was a small town, these quarries were opened in close proximity to the center of the city, just as the coal mines are now taking out the foundations of the earth only a short distance from the state house in Illinois. In the course of time, as th? city of Paris grew larger, it became necessary to prevent the further quarrying of stone under the surface where the houses were being built, and the city soon spread over the quarries that were already opened. In the course of its onward march it also encroached upon several of the cemeteries which had received the bodies of the departed for many centuries. As a solution of the problem it was decided to take up all the bones from the various ceme- teries and deposit them in these several caves from which the stone had been removed to build the city of Paris. This idea having been carried out, the so-called cata- combs have become an interesting, but grewsome, part of the make-up of Paris. 343 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE At first the bones were just carted over to the open- ings and deposited in the caves below in a miscellaneous sort of manner, with not much attention to order, but afterward it was ordered that they should be put in better shape. It is said that the bones of about three million people now rest in these caverns, and the care with which they have been arranged and the time ex- pended upon their arrangement must have been con- siderable. There are only certain days in the month when a visit can be made to the catacombs. When I came to the entrance I found about one hundred other people there prepared to make the pilgrimage. Each person was supplied with a candle held in a little candlestick. The descent was made by a spiral stone stairway going straight down some two hundred and fifty steps. Arriving there, we found the bones arranged in solid walls on each side of the pathway, and, I should judge, the corridor which they formed between them, extending in various directions and coming back to the starting point, reached something over a mile in length. The cavern was about seven feet high ;' that is, the ledge of stone which had been removed was ap- parently seven feet thick. The wall of bones on each side extended from the floor to the height of an ordinary person. They were regularly laid up like a rough stone wall, there being about eighteen inches of thigh bones, arm bones and other straight bones, or ribs, then a layer of skulls, then the wall would continue with the smaller bones for about twenty inches or two feet, and then there would be another layer of skulls, and so on, until in the six or seven feet high there were about three or four layers of skulls, which extended a little from the face of 344 BONES OF THREE MILLIONS the walls, the appearance being the same as would be made by laying up an ordinary stone wall of small broken stone, and about every two feet placing a layer of boulders, the size of the human skull, so that in look- ing down the corridor, these grinning skulls made three stripes along the entire wall. Every here and there the skulls are worked into the wall in the shape of a cross, and in some places the corridors are widened out and converted into chapels where a considerable number of people can meet for re- ligious worship at any time. Here the bones and skulls are worked into altars and crosses. In many places the skulls and cross-bones are arranged in the shape that they are usually printed in pictures. The corridors are usually dry, although in some places they were dripping water. They are kept remarkably neat, but once in a while a person would find his feet down in the dark mixed up with a miscellaneous lot of skulls and bones. A French guide, who was along with our party, was very attentive to me, as I appeared to be one of the people who asked the most questions, and, as a special compliment, extracted a couple of teeth from the skulls that were sticking out, and insisted that I should take them with me and have them made into scarfpins. But, as I never was much taken with jewelry and do not wear much anyway, he felt rather disappointed that 1 did not appreciate the compliment and left the teeth with him. On one occasion, in trying to extract the molar from the skull in the wall, he unfortunately pull- ed the skull from its setting and had it left on its hands, and hardly knew what to do with it. The condition of the atmosphere appeared to be fairly clear, and yet I could hardly recommend this as a 345 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE desirable promenade for persons suffering from weak lungs or any pulmonary disease. The bones seem to be classified into different groups, and, I think, signs designate where the different ones are located. For instance, one section is devoted to the bones of the revolutionists who fell in the uprising of 1788; another to those who fell in the revolution of 1848; another section is filled with the bones of those who fell in the Napoleonic wars, and so they are classified into civic and military groups, and by differ- ent ages and epochs. It is rather a somber scene, and is not well calcu- lated to elevate the spirits of the visitors, and yet the crowd, which was largely made up of Americans and English, appeared to be quite jolly and indulged in about as much levity as they would if they were on an ordinary picnic. I think, however, that the levity was rather forced, and it was a sort of case of whistling while going through the dark woods, to keep up cour- age. To stand among all that is left of three million of your fellowmen and, if one falls into reverie and con- templation, and considers all the tragedies of life which these unidentified remains have passed through, or thinks of all the sorrow and tears that have gone with their deaths and burials, one cannot but have a feeling of depression take possession of him, no matter how happy he may pretend to be. THE PANTHEON One of the finest buildings of the dome pattern in Paris is the building called the Pantheon. It was built during the years from 1764 to 1790, but looks new and 346 NAPOLEON'S TOMB modern. It stands upon high ground on the spot where Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, was buried in 512. I think it was built as a church. The portico is sup- ported by twenty-two Corinthian columns, each eighty- two feet high. While it is a beautiful building with a noble dome, it is more celebrated as the resting place of some of the distinguished men of France, among whom are Voltaire, Rousseau, Lannes, Bougainville, Cardinal Eichelieu and Victor Hugo. I think the most celebrated tomb is that of Cardinal Richelieu, which is surmounted by a recumbent figure depicting the death of the cardinal, his head resting in the lap of a woman, and another woman, typi- cal of France, weeping at his feet. Cardinal Riche- lieu had a stormy and tempestuous time during his life, and it is hoped he sleeps peacefully in death. With all the greatness and glory surrounding the tomb and the recollections of Cardinal Richelieu, I must confess that I took more interest in the tomb of Victor Hugo than I did in that of Richelieu, and I felt that it was an especial privilege to be allowed to stand and look upon the casket that held the remains of this wonderful writer. NAPOLEON'S TOMB While in Paris we visited the tomb of Napoleon, which is located in the Hotel des Invalides. A hotel in French means any sort of a building, and is not confined to the meaning which we give it in the United States. The Hotel des Invalides was formerly a hospital with a large cathedral in connection. In the main part of the building, surmounted by a spacious gilded dome, rests the tomb of the great Napoleon. 347 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE The construction of the tomb of Napoleon is much like that of the General Grant tomb in the Riverside Park in New York city. There is a circular opening in the center of the main floor, surrounded by a railing, and a view of the sarcophagus is had from the main floor looking over the railing to the floor below. The remains of the great general are encased in a huge, polished granite sarcophagus. It is one of the most impressive tombs, I think, in the entire world, and, as one stands and looks down upon this casket that con- tains the remains of one of the greatest characters the world has ever produced, no matter what the opinion may be of the man, a person is very likely to look upon his final resting place with a considerable feeling of awe. Around the sarcophagus, engraven in the floor, are the names of the great battles in which he achieved vic- tory. About the interior of the great rotunda are a wonderful display of marble statues and an arrangement of magnificent stained glass windows casts a beautiful blue light over the whole interior, which is very effective. In the niches there are a number of caskets made of stone or bronze, containing the remains of Napoleon's relatives, and, perhaps, other illustrious persons. One of these contains the remains of Jerome Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, once king of "Westphalia and grandfather of Charles J. Bonaparte, now the at- torney general of the United States. We being Amer- icans, this tomb was pointed out to us by a man who acted as guide while showing us through this part of the city. AN OLD LOVE STORY This calls to mind the sad story of the marriage of the beautiful Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, Md., to 348 AN OLD LOVE STORY Jerome Bonaparte, which occurred in the United States in the year 1803. Jerome Bonaparte, who was a captain in the French service, visited the United States at that time and met Miss Patterson at a party given at the house of Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It seemed to be a case of love at first sight, but Miss Patterson's father strenuously objected to the marriage of his daughter to a titled foreigner. In these days some fathers and mothers strive and succeed in bringing about these undesirable matches, but Miss Patterson's father seemed to be a man of sense, and so objected to this marriage, and sent his daughter to Virginia. It is said that love laughs at locksmiths, etc., and it appeared to be so in this case, for the young lovers contrived to correspond and in a short time be- came engaged to each other without anybody's consent, and Jerome even procured a marriage license. The event, however, was postponed until the 24th of Decem- ber, 1803, when Jerome would have passed his nine- teenth birthday. All legal formalities were carefully complied with, and the marriage took place at the young lady's home in the presence of the mayor of Baltimore and other distinguished citizens. It was the intention to make an American citizen of Jerome, and he was to be naturalized and live in the United States. Jerome Bonaparte was a brother of Napoleon I., who was then in his glory, and who seriously objected to the marriage, and sent Jerome a message that if he would come back home and leave the "young person" in America, his youthful indiscretion would be forgiven, but if he brought her with him she would not be allowed to enter any part of the French domain. Captain Bonaparte and his wife, notwithstanding 349 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE this edict, sailed in March, 1805, in a ship belonging to Mr. Patterson, the father of the wife, but when they reached Lisbon, Spain, they found a French frigate there to prevent their landing. Jerome then went to Paris to plead the cause of his young wife with his brother, while the vessel, by a round-about circuit, pro- ceeded to Amsterdam. At the mouth of the Texal they were confronted by two French men-of-war awaiting her, and the young Mrs. Bonaparte was forced to give up landing at that place, and, instead, went to Dover, England. The news of her treatment had spread over the country, and the English commander, Pitt, was com- pelled to send a regiment to Dover to quell a riot, owing to the great interest and the large crowds of people gathered there to witness her arrival at that place. A few days after her landing a son, whom she called Je- rome Napoleon Bonaparte, was born to her. She resided at Camberwell, England, and received many letters from her husband protesting his fidelity and affection. Napoleon applied to the pope to dissolve the mar- riage, but the pope steadfastly refused to do so, and, at the instigation of Napoleon, a decree of divorce was passed by the imperial council of France. The emperor offered the young wife a pension of sixty thousand francs «, year providing she would return to America and drop the name of Bonaparte. It appears that she refused the offer and refused to give up the name of Bonaparte, but did return to this country, and contin- ued to use the name of Bonaparte as the name of the new family established, and this son, who was born in England, was the father of the present attorney general of the United States. 350 AN OLD LOVE STORY After much persuasion, it appears that Jerome Bonaparte was induced to forswear his wife and accept the decree of divorce passed by the French council, and as a reward for his desertion he was created a prince of the empire, was promoted to the rank of admiral, and subsequently to the rank of general. In 1806 he was made by the senate successor to the imperial throne in the event Napoleon left no male heir, and in 1807 he was created king of Westphalia, and, on August 12 of that year, he married Catherine Fredericka, princess of Wurtemberg. Jerome Bonaparte, the son who was born in England, was offered, when he attained his majority, the hand of a princess of the royal blood, but he de- clined the same, and, as his mother desired, married an American girl by the name of Williams, who lived in Roxbury, Mass. Mrs. Bonaparte, formerly Miss Patter- son, through the advance of the property her father had left her in Baltimore, became very wealthy, and the Bonaparte family, of which the present attorney-gen- eral is a member, is one of the most distinguished fami- lies in Maryland now. With her many trials, the beautiful Elizabeth Pat- terson had a sad and melancholy life, notwithstanding her. royal marriage and her possession of great wealth, and became much embittered in her old age. Jerome Bonaparte gained a kingdom, but lost the love of a good wife and the respect of the whole world, and finally went down in the wreck and ruin of the Napoleonic regime. Like all other mortals he died and his body now rests in a rich marble sarcophagus be- neath the same dome that covers the remains of his illus- trious brother. While he may have had the glitter and 351 . SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE glare that surrounds a king, and lived in glory, and rests between walls of marble, his memory is to be pitied that he did not have the will and stamina to pursue a more honorable course with his American wife. He should have had the courage of his convictions and de- fied the persuasions of his brother and not given up a lovely and beautiful wife for the little pittance of worldly glory which has faded forever, and is no ad- vantage now either to him or to his memory. THE GRAND PRIX One of the greatest events of the year in Paris is the Grand Prix, pronounced "Gran Pree," which means "grand prize," and refers to the grand running horse races of the year, similar to Derby day in England, or the Derby races in Chicago. As this occurred on the Sunday while we were in the city, we concluded to take advantage of the opportunity and attend these races. On this day the hotels are crowded to their utmost capacity. All rigs are engaged beforehand, and it is a gala day for the people of Paris. While there is an ordinance regulating the price of vehicles in Paris, the lid appears to be lifted on this occasion and the drivers ask and get whatever they want. We arranged for seats in one of the big tallyhos owned and controlled by an excursion association, and, in company with two or three of our friends and a lot of other people, made the trip to the race course. The ride was to start at eleven o'clock, but, in order to get as many passengers as they could, the conductor de- layed the starting until twelve o'clock and then went the shortest route. One of the great sights of the race day is the procession of people that go to the course, 352 THE GRAND PRIX the main avenue for this purpose being the Champs Elysees and through the Bois de Boulogne park. As this fashionable drive was so crowded, our conductor ordered our rigs to shoot off the main thoroughfares into the side streets, and thus we missed many of the scenes and sights of the occasion. We presented a very picturesque appearance as we went along in three big tallyho coaches or drags, four horses on each one, a driver with a shiny silk hat about three inches across the top and sloping out across the bottom to fit his head, a red vest, a green jacket, knee pants, and also a footman wearing about the same uni- form. We had paid a good deal of money to go in style and we wanted both to see and be seen. I felt very much disappointed that we were dragged out of the regular line of travel and missed seeing all the military, all the elite, all the fashion, the president and his staff, and the king of Denmark and his court, and all the other great people who went with them. After we had trotted gingerly along through a back street for about a mile where we could neither see nor be seen by anybody, I took it upon myself to or- ganize an indignation meeting, and brought the whole cavalcade to a stop while I vehemently expressed in English, the best I knew how, my opinion of the treat- ment that was being accorded us. The man who had charge of the excursion told me if I did not like the way things were going he would be glad to return my money and let me get down and walk. This I declined to do, but insisted more vigorously on our rights, and, after considerable parley, we were promised better treat- ment, which we did not receive on the way out, but which was kindly accorded to us on the way back. As 353 —23 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE there were about fifty people who were being subjected to the same treatment, I had the satisfaction of re- ceiving their congratulations on the immense roar which I made. It is the necessity of continually fighting for your rights that is the most serious drawback to the pleasure of foreign travel. You will always be imposed upon if you do not assert yourself, and frequently you are im- posed upon if you do. To get what one is entitled to in a foreign land is like the price of liberty, which requires eternal vigilance and a fight all along the line. THE RACES The grand races are run on a magnificent course called the Longchamps. There is a considerable con- trast in the price of admission and the price of desir- able seats. The general admission to the course is only one franc, or twenty cents ; to secure a seat on the ordi- nary grandstand one must pay five francs, or one dollar ; and to secure a seat on the principal grandstand, the price is twenty-five francs, or five dollars. The conse- quence of this scale of prices is that there are but few people occupying the grandstand as compared with the great number of people who attend the races. "We managed to secure a very good seat directly op- posite the start and finish of the great race, and the finish of all the other races, which were started from the farther side of the track. "We often allude to running races in this country, and even to trotting races, as turf events, but I never have seen a race run on the turf in America. They are always run on soft dirt tracks about as dusty as country roads. In these races here the horses run on 354 THE RACES as beautiful a field of grass as could be grown any place in the world. The track measures one and seven-eighths miles and lies between two white fences, as is ordinary on race tracks, and the races are run on the turf in fact as well as in name. The grass is evidently cut close with a lawn mower. This green track added much to the beauty of the scene, and the lack of dust much to the pleasure of the event. The track was not entirely level on the farther side, but in front of the grandstand and for a considerable distance in each direction, it was of a very level nature. From our seat in the grandstand we could look across the track and see the streams of humanity that came in from the city on the opposite side. We were in the stand an hour and a half or two hours before the races commenced, and during all that time there were several continuous processions which came through the woods beyond the track, there being a park on that side. The whole of Paris seemed to have turned out for the event. There were all kinds of vehicles, all kinds of uniforms, all kinds of people, and several bands. When the races were finally called it was estimated that there were two hundred and sixty thousand people on the grounds. The most of these were scattered over the en- closure inside of the track, and I am certain there were over one hundred thousand people present who did not see the races. They could not by any manner of means see either the horses or the riders, and didn't even know when the races were taking place. But, I guess as a matter of fact, they didn't care whether they saw any- thing at all or not, except the crowd. There is something magnetic about a great gather- 355 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ing of people, and, while many persons complain of a crowd, they always appear to be anxious to break into it, and so I presume this great assemblage was brought together more by this magnetism of a crowd and to see each other than to see the races. In the grandstand the president of France was entertaining the king of Denmark and some of the dis- tinguished people of France and other countries. The president is a rather thin, elderly gentleman, and wears a grey beard and a high silk hat. He was pointed out to me, but, as for the king of Denmark, there didn't ap- pear to be anybody who could tell him from the other flunkies by whom he was surrounded. There were six races in all, the Grand Prix being number five, as I remember. The starter, who had the same trouble as is always experienced in getting horses started on the track, sent off two of the races with very bad starts, especially one where the horses were scattered at least fifty yards when they were given the word to go. Every time, after the horses were given the word, the starter would come from the starting place back to the president's box, diagonally across the track, being sur- rounded by a dozen policemen as a bodyguard. "When he made the bad send-off he was roasted as vigorously and as unmercifully as a baseball umpire in America when he makes a bad decision. I could not tell what the wild waves of the French were saying, but I could very easily recognize the trouble from the tone of their voices. There were twelve or fifteen horses in each race, and the grand prize, which amounted to $55,715, was awarded to Baron de Eothschild, and was won by the horse called Sans Souci II., which, as I understand it, was ridden by an American jockey. 356 AUTOMOBILING AROUND PARIS After the races were over the ride back to the city through the park and among the thousands of foot pas- sengers and the great concourse of vehicles and people lining each side of the streets by thousands, was a spirited and entertaining experience, and the conductor of our party this time stuck to the principal drive. He brought us down through the congested strata of the elite, the beauty and the fashion of France, and, at the end of the trip, came to me and asked me if I was satis- fied with the return drive. I expressed my entire satis- faction, and we parted on good terms. AUTOMOBILING AROUND PARIS There are a great many capitalists traveling through Europe in automobiles, and it is a delightful, though ex- pensive, way, to tour the country. The roads are so good and the restraints on speed so lax that it makes the nicest way imaginable to get over the country, if one can afford it. We could not afford to take an automobile and chauffeur with us, but concluded that, with the financial assistance of a couple of friends who were traveling our way, we could stand the expense of an automobile for at least half a day. We engaged one of the best machines in Paris to go to Versailles and St. Germain and see some of the suburbs and environs of Paris. In addition to the chauffeur, who could not speak a word of English, we took along a guide who could not do much better. How- ever, he could tell us almost everything we wanted to know, and some things that we did not care whether we knew or not. We struck out up the beautiful boulevards of Paris, among its palaces and by the great Arch of Triumph, 357 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE across the bridge over the Seine, and passed through the city of St. Cloud and several other towns and villages on the way. Almost all the cities or villages in Europe have a sort of customs duty which they impose upon various articles that come within their limits. They have city gates, not great, heavy barricades of the port- cullis pattern, but light iron gates that reach across the highway where it comes into the town, and must be opened before anybody can enter. I remember that in one of the first towns that we came to, the chauffeur had to stop his automobile at the gate, take up the cushion, untwist the coverings of the tank, and a man with a foot rule measured the depth of his gasoline to see whether he was bringing into the city more gasoline than he was entitled to bring without paying a special tax. We had to stop at the gates of several settlements and go through some performance of this kind. The little towns were quaint, and, as we bowled along the roadways, which were made of macadam or gravel and sometimes saturated with oil to prevent the dust, it made a most delightful ride. I remember one place more particularly beautiful than any other, where the highway was bordered with two rows of trees, and the driveway for miles was practically one long park. I was surprised to find how much timber land there is near the city of Paris. Just outside of the walls in one direction there is a large forest which is a govern- ment reserve, and which has as fine a lot of forest trees as could be found any place. Through this great forest are beautful, hard, smooth roads and, as there appears to be no law against speed, we went over them, I think, at the rate of nearly fifty miles an hour. 358 PALACE OF VERSAILLES We met along the way other parties of automobil- ists, and many peculiar old style carts, some of them drawn by long eared donkeys and some by very nice horses. The circuit that we made covered about sixty miles, and it gave me the best idea of the country of France and the condition of the roadways that it was possible to obtain. I do not know whether I should make a comparison or not, for comparisons are said to be odious, but the roads around Paris are just about as much better than we have through the central west as could well be imagined. THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES The main object of our ride was to visit Versailles, the former home of the rulers of France. This city con- tains about 60,000 people. The city itself is of small im- portance to a visitor, but the great object of interest is the palace built by Louis XIV. at an estimated cost of $200,000,000. It was from this palace that Marie An- toinette and Louis XVI. were taken to Paris to meet the bloody fate of having their heads severed from their bodies by the guillotine. I cannot undertake to describe Versailles — it would take many columns, and even then the work would not be completed. The palace itself is nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and some of the great saloons are from two hundred to four hundred feet long. It has been a long time since the rulers of France lived here, and it is now a museum, as is stated in its inscription, "devoted to all the glories of France." It contains statues and art works without number and without price. There is not a place where one dollar could have been expended that ten dollars have not been used in the creation of 359 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE this great establishment. Its art works are more par- ticularly devoted to great battle pictures, and every one of these shows battles in which France was victorious, or at least, at the time, had the advantage of the situa- tion. There is a queen's chamber where the three queens, Maria Theresa, Marie Leczinska and Marie An- toinette, made their homes. But, while this building is devoted to all the glories of France, there was at least one time in its history when that inscription was hardly appropriate. In the grand saloon in the palace of Versailles old King Wil- liam of Prussia, after capturing Paris in 1871, was crowned emperor of United Germany, and this was cer- tainly not to the glory of France. The park adjoining the palace of Versailles, with its numerous fountains, seems more like the creation of a dream than the handiwork of man, and, in looking back as I now write this feeble description, I can only remem- ber it as a collection of beautiful statues, lakes, cascades, green grass, well-trimmed trees and bright flowers, and it seems there were a hundred fountains, whose waters were ever in motion and reflected in the sunlight the most varied hues of the rainbow. Near the other end of the park is the residence or chateau of Marie Antoinette called "la petit Trianon," In this house at the present time are the bed, the tables and the little pieces of bric-a-brac that were used by Marie Antoinette and, with its present quietness and its unpretentious surroundings, it tells a sort of silent and sad story. Anna Gould, who married a French count, built a replica of this house in Paris, for her residence. Near the Trianon is the house that contains the great carriages of state, and the saddles and harness 360 PALACE OF VERSAILLES which were used by the former rulers of France. There are single sets of harness with gold and silver mount- ings, which represent a value of at least $25,000. There are great carriages, one of which required sixteen horses to draw it from Paris to Versailles, and all of which are like great cages of fantastic, ornamental gold on wheels. Those were extravagant rulers that managed the affairs of France before the time of Napoleon, and when you think of the glory of their living and the poverty of the people who paid the bills, you can hardly wonder that a revolution was brought into existence that cried for the steady work of the guillotine until thousands of heads were sacrificed to allay the feelings of hatred and revenge which had been engendered. It is hardly necessary for me to try to describe the scenes of grandeur and faded glory that surround Ver- sailles. The ordinary person cannot put such a descrip- tion in language that even an extraordinary person could thoroughly understand. They present, however, a les- son that should not be overlooked or go unheeded by those who have a regard for the good and welfare of present and future generations. They speak to us si- lently and yet in words more forcible than can be writ- ten with pen or sounded by tongue, and tell us that the true greatness of a nation is in the contentment of its people, and not in the extravagance and grandeur of its aristocratic classes. These magnificent ruins are like signposts along the way, to admonish all to be just, to be honest, to be charitable, to be merciful, and, no matter what opportunities may come to rob or plunder and live in elegance and leisure on the sweat and toil of the pro- ducers of the land, that the favored ones should not take advantage of these opportunities, but should remember 361 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE that he lives best who lives not for himself, but for his fellowmen. GOOD-BYE TO PARIS We had now gone over Paris in a hnrried sort of way. We had seen some of its great buildings, some of its wonderful art treasures, had looked at it from the top of its great tower, and had passed through its many busy and intersecting streets. We had spent a little time in its old Cathedral, which, at one period in its his- tory, had ceased to be a house of divine worship and had been dedicated to the reign of so-called reason, and then again restored to the worship of God. We had ridden on its beautiful little river, had been passengers on the roofs of its crowded 'buses, had gone through its great subway in electric cars, which pass under the en- tire city, and had finally encircled the city in a swift- moving automobile, had visited its tombs and catacombs, had feasted in its brilliant restaurants where frog legs are served a la francaise, and where snails are eaten from the shells, and we had also taken meals in meager little cafes where we steered clear of its black roast beef for fear we would be getting horse meat. We had run the gamut from its emporiums of fashion to its most humble marts of trade, and had seen a considerable va- riety in the way of amusements and people. We had not seen all that was of interest, nor all that we might have seen, but we had taken in enough to give us a gen- eral idea of the great city. While in some particulars Paris was perhaps not up to our entire expectations, in other ways it was so lively, so fascinating, so graceful, so charming, and so interwoven with the most intense phases of the world's 362 GODD-BYE TO PARIS history, that we were more than pleased with our stay. "We had already tarried longer than we intended to, but had found it more of an undertaking to see all of Paris than we had calculated, and were even now loath to leave it. But, as time was pressing, and we had England and Ireland before us, we concluded to move on, so gathering our belongings together, we took the rapid train for London, the great city of England and the metropolis of the world. 363 Chapter XXIV IN LONDON And we came to London in "merrie old England." I will not go into detail as to the long ride from Paris, but will only say that we came on a very rapid train, that our baggage was checked from the station in Paris to the Charing Cross station in London, and that we crossed the English channel between Calais and Dover. The English channel has a reputation for always presenting a stormy and tempestuous voyage, and in this we were not altogether disappointed. Although it was considered a smooth passage the day we went over, the waters were rough enough to break in sprays clear over the top of the boat on which we traveled, and a number of people were well saturated. The boats which make the passage are side-wheel affairs, and are not built very high above the water. They fight the waves and the storms quite strenuously. It frequently transpires that practically everybody on board is sick, and on this voyage there were a number in this condition. As we braved the storm and stood out on the hurricane deck and took our share of the salt spray which came over the boat, we managed to weather the gale and came on to England 's shores in good health and good spirits. When we arrived at the landing in Dover, we found a long train drawn up for London. There was a red 364 IN LONDON carpet laid along the pier from the boat to the train. It was flanked on each side by a cordon of soldiers and was kept clear by a number of distinguished looking gentlemen, wearing Prince Albert coats and silk hats. We felt highly honored by being accorded such a re- ception, as we passed down between the lines of people, of which there appeared to be great numbers. We were somewhat disappointed, however, to find that this extra- ordinary preparation, while being lavished upon us, was really intended for the king of Siam and his seventeen wives, who had kept in pretty close touch with us along the route clear from Rome to London. We arrived at the Charing Cross station in London at about five o'clock in the evening, and, as the baggage is examined by the custom house officers here instead of at the frontier, there was considerable delay in getting out of the station. This place was much like any other large station, with the lots of noise, the smoking and snorting of engines, the bumping cars and the general clamor of hotel and cabmen. To get a proper convey- ance, get all your hand baggage together and get your trunk out of custody, requires considerable engineering and battling with the great crowd of people who are all trying to do the same thing. I was extremely fortunate at this time in falling under the wing of a very active gentleman. He was tall, fairly good looking and wore a short, cropped beard, a derby hat, and had very few of the characteristics that we usually attribute to Englishmen. He assisted me from the start, coming to my rescue when my wife had left her portmanteau in the coach, going with me to the customs officer, getting the number of my trunk, getting it passed without examination and shoving me out 365 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE through the great doors of the station ahead of almost everybody else, besides giving me the names and stand- ing of all the hotels in the neighborhood. He was kind in his attentions and apparently knew exactly what he was about, and his assistance was greatly to my bene- fit in the scramble for trunks and luggage and carriages. I finally asked him his name and business, to which he replied that his name was Smith and that he was the chief detective at the station for the railway company from whose train I had just alighted. I could hardly figure out why, of all that great as- semblage of people, he selected me as the one to whom he devoted practically all of his attention. I could not determine whether it was because I had a more distin- guished air than the most of them, or whether it was be- cause I had a look of greater innocence, of unsophistica- tion, which is commonly summed up in the indefinable expression of "Hey Rube," but he told me that he had lived all of his life in London, had seen a good many people come and go from that station, and usually knew a good man when he saw him. I thanked him, bade him good-day, and was soon carried to our hotel, which was not at a great distance from the station, and where we were given a good room overlooking the Victoria embankments on the Thames river, and from which we could see the river, St. Paul's church, the great bridges of London and the other old landmarks that are famous in history and romance. IMMENSITY OF THE CITY We were now in London, the largest city in the world, as well as the greatest city, in many respects. Within what is called the city of London, there are from 366 CHARING CROSS 5,000,000 to 7,000,000 people. It has been a settlement for more than two thousand years, and was a city of considerable size when Julius Caesar came over here at about the beginning of the Christian era to see what he could lay his hands on. 1 It embraces in its history every epoch from ancient civilization through the dark ages and the modern his- tory of the world. There are more native inhabitants than are to be found in any other city on earth; there are enough Irish to make a great metropolis; enough Germans to make a large city ; enough Italians to people a whole colony, and more Jews than there are in all Palestine. Its architecture embraces the ancient, the modern, the medieval. Its streets are probably the most crowded in the world. Its bridges are among the most wonderful ever constructed in any place, and afford passage for more human beings than the bridges of any other city in the world. In the former days Eome ruled the world; in the latter days London, with her grime and smoke, occupies, in a political and commercial way, nearly the same distinction. All of these ideas forced themselves upon my mind when we were fully settled in our hotel and ready to start out and see the city. CHARING CROSS That part of London called Charing Cross, near where we stopped, is one of the busiest centers of the world. In connection with it are the station named after this place, the hotel and other important establish- ments. The place takes its name from an affectionate circumstance. There is a beautiful but begrimed mon- 367 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE ument standing in a court in front of the Charing Cross hotel. It is surmounted by a cross, and although the monument has been rebuilt, a cross was built originally at this place by Edward I. more than six hundred years ago in memory of his wife, Eleanor, who accompanied him on his last crusade which was made for the capture of Palestine. She afterwards died in Lincoln, in Eng- land, and her body was conveyed to Westminster Abbey, where her ashes now rest. The cortege, on its way from Lincoln to "Westminster Abbey, rested at nine different points, and, at each stopping place, Edward erected a cross to her memory. Charing Cross was one of the stopping places, and that gave it the name it has gone by ever since. I pre- sume the place may have been known as Charing before the cross was erected, but the construction of this cross at this point completed the name as we find it to-day. There are some busy streets that meet and pass each other at Charing Cross. The Strand, Whitehall, Cockspur, Charing Cross Eoad and St. Martin street all meet here, while the Mall, Piccadilly, Pall Mall and a number of others are in close proximity. Adjoining Charing Cross is Trafalgar Square, which is called the nucleus of London. The square is an irregular opening with stone pavements covering it. There are several fountains in the opening, and in the center is a tall, fluted column surmounted by a statue of Admiral Nelson, who won his great victory at Trafalgar off the west coast of Spain in the year 1805. The base of the monument is square and on each of the four cor- ners are large bronze lions, and the whole design pre- sents an impressive and beautiful appearance. 368 THE LONDON BRIDGE. 'The greatest of all is the one called the London bridge." — Page 369. GREAT BRIDGES Admiral Nelson, it will be remembered, was the English commander who, when he went into his great naval battle against France and Spain, signalled from his own flagship those immortal words, ''This day Eng- land expects every man to do his duty. ' ' Every man did do his duty, the battle was won, but Nelson fell in the engagement, and ever since the English people have re- membered him and his bravery with deep respect. GREAT BRIDGES The river Thames is wider than the river Seine of Paris, and, while its bridges are not so numerous, they are larger, heavier and accommodate more people than those of Paris, and, I believe, are more famous and better known in literature. The greatest of all these bridges is the one called the London bridge, which re- placed the old one of the same name. It was opened in 1831, and cost eight million dollars. The lamp posts along the sides of this bridge are made of cannon cap- tured from the French in Spain. I think it is safe to say that this bridge accommodates more traffic than any other bridge in the world. The millions of people that pass over it in a year and the unestimated wealth that is hauled over it in the way of merchandise would amount, if known, to extremely large figures. There is another bridge not very far from this called the Tower bridge, which is conspicuous on ac- count of four very large and high towers, two on each side of the river, and a draw which is raised and lowered in the center between them. Crossing the river in the neighborhood of the house of parliament and the abbey is another great bridge, known as Westminster bridge, which is almost as famous 369 —24 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE as the two just named. Then there is Blackfriars bridge and the Waterloo bridge, both famous in stories of London. WELL KNOWN STREETS There are a number of streets in London which are pretty well known wherever the English language is spoken and wherever Dickens' novels are read. Among them are Piccadilly, which runs east from Hyde Park to Piccadilly Circus. In the irregular lay-out of London, there are a number of places where several streets meet, and where there are open circles, sometimes of irregular shape, that connect the streets that run in the various directions. These open spaces are called circuses, so when people speak of going to the circus in London they are not go- ing to see the elephant, the trick mule or the old clown, but are probably going to one of these open spaces to take a 'bus or some other conveyance for some other place. Piccadilly street has elegant mansions on one side and the green park on the other. Then there are Ox- ford, Regent and Bond streets, which are the shopping streets. There is the Strand, of which one always hears. While it is a busy street, one hundred yards or more from the river, its name is taken from the fact that it was once the shore line of the Thames, and for three hundred years the abode of the aristocracy of London, whose gardens sloped to the river, but it is now a busi- ness street, connecting a little farther on with Fleet street, which comes up to St. Paul's Cathedral. One of the odd sights in London is a little old church that stands in the center of Fleet street. The street at this place is widened out, and the 'buses and 370 THE 'BUS DRIVERS traffic in one direction go on one side of the church, and in the other direction on the other side. It is not a very large structure and is made of white stone. It stands on a raised piece of pavement which is pointed at both ends like a ship. The sidewalk on either side of the church is not over four feet in width, and on a muddy, wet day, this church, with its old style, odd tower, looks more like a modern battleship with its lookout towers, floating in the sea of mud and humanity surging and waving around its base, than it does like a house of worship. It is hard to imagine why this obstruction to the busy stream of traffic should stand as it does. Very few things, though, change in London, and the fact that this church has been here for several hundred years is likely to keep it here for several hundred years yet to come. Even St. Paul's Cathedral occupies an island similar to the one which I have just described, and is in the center of a great mass of traffic. THE 'BUS DRIVERS The street car systems of these older cities are not so complete as those of cities of similar size in America, and passengers are conveyed through the busy streets in omnibuses, which have seats on the roof as well as on the inside. There are hundreds and perhaps thou- sands of these omnibuses in use in London, and to oc- cupy a seat on top of one is a very pleasant mode of conveyance through the throngs that fill the busy thoroughfares. You can sit on one of these and, as far as the eye can reach, see processions of them in every di- rection which makes it appear as though the city had turned out and was enjoying one grand picnic. The horse 'buses, however, are being rapidly superseded by 371 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE the automobile 'buses, which are more powerful, carry more passengers and are more rapid. While this has given the city an appearance of more hustle and busi- ness it has taken away much of the poetical side, if it may be so termed, of the conveyances of London. The 'bus driver of London is a character different from almost any other personage on the face of the earth. To sit next him on a trip and get the benefit of his knowledge is worth an extra fare, which he usually expects if he gives you much attention. He is always accommodating and pleased to call one's attention to the various points of interest on his route, all of which he has time to explain no matter how busy he may be, and he is usually pretty busy in threading his way among the other conveyances that occupy the street. But he is doomed, like the other institutions of a past generation which he represents, and is gradually giving way to the new regime. One of the last nights that we were in London, as we rolled down the broad thoroughfare under a bright moon, we sat next to the driver, and had quite a con- versation with him. It was late at night and the great throng had largely disappeared from the street. The driver was in a talkative mood and told us that for many years he had driven over that route, but that this was his last week, as the automobiles were taking the place of the 'buses, and at the end of this week he and his 'bus and horses would be displaced by one of the devil wagons which are now filling up the streets and taking the place of him and his kind. He had saved a little money, and, having read of the beauties of farm- ing and the advantages of Canada, at the end of that week he was going to bid farewell to his old home in 372 HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT London and go way out into western Canada to make a new start in a new life. There was a sort of sadness in his melancholy story of having to leave his old home, but he was full of optimism and hope for the future, away off in the new country, where his environs would be so different. After all, I could not help thinking it was probably best for him, because there would still be plenty of people left in London, and I sincerely wished in my heart that he would meet with the success which he anticipated. BREAKING INTO PARLIAMENT One of the first places I visited in London was the House of Parliament. The building in which the governing bodies of England hold their sessions is a wonderfully peculiar structure. It is built more in the style of church architecture than what we usually expect to find in a public state building. It is scat- tered for one thousand feet along the river bank and embraces, I guess, about all styles and schools of ar- chitecture. It has two great towers, one called the Victoria tower, three hundred and forty feet high, at one end, and at the other end the Clock tower, almost as high, and which carries somewhere in it the great bell, weighing thirteen tons, which is nicknamed "Big Ben." For many years this bell had no rival on the face of the globe. This great building contains eleven courts or open spaces, one hundred staircases, two miles of cor- ridors, and one thousand, one hundred apartments. It is full of statues, carved woodwork and many works of art, antiquity and glory. It is full of offi- cials and enough policemen to make up a force for 373 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE a large city. The chief business of these policemen appears to be to keep people out of the hall of parlia- ment and the House of Lords, and they are scattered along clear from the arched door, which is the en- trance from the street, to the doors of that house, and protect the statesmen when in session. I went to the House of Parliament when there was considerable excitement in both branches. A resolution had been introduced which practically elim- inated the House of Lords, and the discussion on that subject elicited much interest and many people were anxious to get into the galleries of the lower house at that time. I was met at the street door by two policemen. Upon informing them that I wanted to see the House of Parliament in session, they told me that it was against the rules for visitors to pass through except by invitation, but, as I invited myself, they allowed me to go on to the next bevy of police officers. I was here intercepted by another one of the officers and asked my business, which I explained, telling him that I was a newspaper man from Spring- field, 111. He said he didn't know about that, but that they would lift the lid enough to let me go on to the next set of police. Here I was stopped by a bigger policeman than I had yet seen, who said I could not proceed farther unless I had business with some of the members of parliament or had a card from one of the members. But he added that if I wished to have my card put in the hands of any particular member, he would be pleased to send it in for me, but I would have to name the member to whom I wanted my card 374 HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT delivered. As I could not think of any member of parliament of whom I had ever heard except Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who was then making a great address, I was somewhat taken back. This offi- cer told me, however, that there would be no use in sending in a card, as the interest in the movement now before the house was so great that the galleries were overflowing and no permits could be issued, and that all the members except a few from some remote Irish districts were overwhelmed with applications. About this time this officer was called in some other direction, and, catching on to the suggestion conveyed by his information, I immediately deter- mined to put myself in communication with some member from a remote Irish district. I stepped up to another officer and asked him if he had seen any Irish member of parliament going down the long cor- ridor recently, on which we were now standing. He replied that he thought he had recently seen the Hon. Mr. 'Ogan, of North Tipperary, going that way. Thanking him for his information, I stepped up the line to a still taller policeman than any I had met be- fore and asked him if he would kindly take my card to Mr. Hogan, of North Tipperary, now in the House of Parliament. He disappeared and in a few minutes a little, old- fashioned Irish gentleman, with short-cropped, stub- by, gray whiskers and wearing a plug hat that would do full justice to a St. Patrick's day parade, came out of the doors of the forbidden land, stopped and hand- ed a small card, which I thought I recognized, to one of the policemen who were holding back the crowd. 375 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE The little old man then straightened up, pnlled a snuff- box from his pocket, took a pinch of snuff, and, as he did so, the officer called out twice in a loud voice my sure enough name. I stepped forward and said, "Mr. Hogan, I be- lieve." He said, "Yes, sir." I then handed him a very cordial letter of introduction that had been pre- , sented to me by Governor Deneen before leaving home. Mr. Hogan took the letter, read it through from start to finish, and said, "So you are from Illi- ni? Do you know where Chicago is in that state?" and when I told him "Very well," he replied: "I have a brother living in Chicago, and I am right glad to see a man from your state and if you ever go to Chicago I want you to tell my brother that you saw me, ' ' to all of which I assented. But another thought occurred to him, and he said, "How did you come to send for me?" to which I responded in a very truthful manner, that I had heard of him as a member of parliament. Of course, I did not mention how recently, nor just where or when I had happened to hear of him. How- ever, he appeared to feel considerably elated to think that his reputation probably had spread out as far as Illinois. The old gentleman then took me in charge, showed me all through the House of Parliament, and, while we could not get in the galleries, owing to the crowd, he took me in on the ground floor of the House of Lords, pointed out all the distinguished characters there, and showed me the lord high chancellor, who sits on the woolsack and controls the destinies of Eng- land. Mr. Hogan was extremely cordial and invited 376 HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT me to come back the next day with all of the friends I had in London, promising me the best treatment the house could afford. I have always regretted that a severe storm prevented me from taking advantage of this kind offer, and when I go to Chicago I am going to make it a point to hunt up Mr. Hogan's brother. 377 Chapter XXV ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL Eight in the whirlpool of business near the bank of London, the Royal Exchange and the postoffice — dignified and massive in its architectural proportions, but begrimed by smoke and soot, and bare and cheer- less in both its exterior and interior, stands St. Paul's Cathedral. It is an immense building, constructed in the form of a Latin cross. It is over five hundred feet in length and two hundred feet through at the widest part. It has a dome similar to that of the national capitol at Washington, which is one hundred and eighty feet in diameter and measures, to the top of the cross with which it is surmounted, four hundred and four feet. There are few churches in the world larger than St. Paul's. In addition to being used as a place of worship, it is the resting place of the bodies of a number of great men of England, mostly military heroes, although there are the ashes of professional men and poets as well. Among those who rest in this great church are the Duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson, General Pakenham, Sir John Moore, Lord Rodney, Dr. Johnson and others. The hearse in which Wellington's body was transported is in the basement of this church, and there are a num- ber of other things of interest, including a considerable library and a great organ. We attended worship in this edifice, but, as we were 378 THE BANK OF LONDON so far away from the minister and the person who read the lesson, we could not hear what either of them said, but a service in this church cannot but be impressive. You sit or stand among people from all parts of the world, and the stone coffins of the departed heroes of England lie close to you along the sides and in the crypts. It is such a somber performance to worship in either Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's that after at- tending services in both, I resolved not to go to any other church for some time, and I can say that I have almost kept that promise. St. Paul's has a great bell, and Dickens, in his stories, has much to say of this bell and this church. It was built about the end of the seventeenth century by levying a tax on every ton of coal that came to Lon- don. No doubt the government, for this is of the Church of England, thought it was proper to punish the coal barons for bringing coal in to smudge and smoke up London, but the coal people have got even with St. Paul's, for they have smeared it with soot and grime ever since the first day that it was built, until it looks woefully tearful at the present time. It appears that the rain always comes from one direction in London, so that the columns of St. Paul's and other public build- ings are washed white on one side, while being black on the other. I noticed this peculiarity in all the buildings of London and the white contrast makes the dark soot look that much blacker. THE BANK OF LONDON Going from St. Paul's a short distance, I came to the Bank of London. This great financial institution is housed in a stone building with fluted columns, but is 379 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE not a very pretentious looking affair. There were some uniformed guards at the main entrance which I passed and, without announcing my business, of which I had none, I walked hurriedly through the main corridors and offices of the institution. There were not so many people in the bank, nor was there such an air of rush business as I expected to find. In the interior of the building is an open court, in the center of which is a fountain, and around the fountain there are some small, scrubby trees, that look as though they were fighting for an existence in the center of this financial world. TUPPENCE AND THREPPENCE The pronunciation of the various money terms which are used by the thoroughbred Londoners is very confusing to an American visitor. For instance, when they mean two pennies they say "tuppence," the u in tuppence having the same sound as it has in the word cup, and the two words, two and pence, being thrown so close together that a stranger ean hardly recognize the word "tuppence" as having any meaning in common with the word two pence, or two pennies. There is a song very popular in Italy called "Funi- culi Funicula." It is also sung in America, but it was drummed into my ears so persistently when I was in Italy that I concluded to get a copy of it if I could. I was told that I could procure it in a certain store in London. This store was on Paternoster Eow, which is famous for its book trade, and is located near the Cathedral of St. Paul. I found the little street by go- ing through a narrow alley about six feet wide between two big buildings. Entering the store, which was full of sheet music, 380 MY FATHER'S HOUSE that was being handed out by several clerks, I stepped up to one of the counters and asked the gentleman be- hind it if he could furnish me with the Italian song with the above title. Without making a move, he replied very promptly, " One-an-threppence. " I asked again if he had the song, to which he again made the same reply. I then asked him to tell me in English exactly what he meant, and he explained that he meant that he had the song, that he would get it for me immediately if I wanted it, and that the price was one shilling and three pence. This is very simple when you know it, but it is very difficult when you ask a man if he has got a thing to understand what he means when he comes back at you with the simple proposition, "one-an-threppence." MY FATHER'S HOUSE My father was born near St. Paul's Cathedral and I thought while I was in London, I would visit his old home. The house stands on Finnsbury Square, which is a small park surrounded by an iron fence. As the park is the property of the owners of the houses which front on that square, in former days each family that lived fronting on the park had a key to the iron gate which enclosed it. The houses are built in rows as they are in resi- dence districts of most large cities. They are all alike, are each four stories high, besides a basement half above ground, and are numbered clear around the square, commencing with Number 1 and ending with about Number 60. The house where my father was born was Number 45. Of course I got off at the wrong corner of the square, and had to follow clear around the block to come to the number which I wanted to find. 381 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE As I came up to the somber old house that had stood there over a century, I naturally had some peculiar feel- ings which would likely come upon persons when they have found a place of which they have always heard with reverence and have never seen. I went up the few stairs on the outside to the main landing to the parlor floor. There was a number of push buttons and speak- ing tubes that connected with the upper apartments, one of which was marked "The Housekeeper." I pushed the button indicated by this label and imme- diately in the parlor at my left was heard the sound of music from a brass band of considerable proportions. I was both surprised and delighted to think that I was welcomed to my father's old home with such a genuine display of melody and musical enthusiasm. About this time a little, old, gray haired man, who seemed to belong to a past generation, came down the upper stairs in response to my signal on the bell. I asked him if he was the housekeeper, to which he re- plied no, that he was the janitor, that the housekeeper was out and that the building was an office building oc- cupied by lawyers, doctors and real estate men, but that none of them were in at that hour of the day. I told him that my father was born in that house, but instead of meeting me cordially, he looked at me with apparently considerable suspicion and I do not think he believed what I said, and, evidently thinking I had some designs on the house, he backed off upstairs, and that was the last I saw of him. The door from the hallway into the parlor from which the sounds of music continued with unabated fury, was of the double-spring pattern, having spring 382 MY FATHER'S HOUSE hinges which allowed the door to swing either in or out. I took the handle of the door and started to open it, but as I did so, a man on the other side grabbed it and jerked it shut more violently than I had opened it. I narrowly escaped having my head caught between the door and the jamb, and I returned the compliment by giving the door a jerk back and came about as near catching the other fellow as he had me. After a slight tug-of-war between us, dur- ing which the door vibrated actively back and forth, he finally slipped through the crack and got out into the hallway and asked me what I wanted. I told him that I did not want anything, but that my father was born in that house, and that I would like to thank him for the grand serenade on my home-coming. He did not seem pleased and informed me that he was not serenading me but was operating a company for the making of records to use in phonographs, and that it required absolute silence in order to get perfect rec- ords. He presumed already the slamming of that door and our conversation would be found in the middle of one of the most superb marches that had ever been produced for phonographic instruments. This ended the conversation, the gentleman re- treated into the music room, while I went on upstairs, found all the offices locked and all of the tenants probably out to lunch. I think by this time the jani- tor was fully armed and ready to call the police to rid the premises of my presence, so I came away. I find, after all, there is not much satisfaction in looking for the house of your father in this world and I have concluded it is better to look for your father's house in the world to come than in this one, for there, 383 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE we are told, are many mansions, while in my father's house in London there are only lawyers, doctors, real estate men, and other people bent on commercial pur- suits. WESTMINSTER ABBEY While I have this religious streak on me, I might as well take up Westminster Abbey. Next to St. Peter's, of Kome, Westminster Abbey is, perhaps, the best-known church in the world. It has been a place of worship for thirteen hundred years, and parts of the present structure date from the year 1065. It is just across the street from the House of Parliament. It was founded on the site of a temple to Apollo. All the sovereigns of England since the days of Harold have been crowned in Westminster Abbey. It is not such a large structure, being only four hundred and sixteen feet in length, and its towers two hundred and twenty feet high, but it is a good specimen of Gothic architecture and its vaulted stone ceiling is a very re- markable work. It is the resting place for either the bodies or the ashes of more of the world's illustrious dead than can be found at any one place. Even a list of those rest- ing here would be so long it would become tiresome to follow it through. There are tombs and stone re- ceptacles in every niche and corner. Every foot of the stone paving in its floors covers the body of someone who has helped to make the world's history. In this church I have walked over the graves of such men as Gladstone, Dickens, Dr. Watts, Livingstone, Darwin, Macaulay, Addison, Thackeray, Garrick, Milton, Dry- den, Disraeli, Tennyson, Goldsmith, Handel and kings and queens innumerable, stepping from the grave of 384 POETS CORNER. "Westminster Abbey is the resting place of more of the world's illus- trious dead than any other one place." — Page 384. WESTMINSTER ABBEY one of these illustrious men onto that of another, as they were so closely associated that sometimes I would have one foot treading on the grave of one of them be- fore the other foot had been lifted from the last. There are statues without number. The chapel of Henry VIIL, built in 1502, alone is made up of five smaller chapels containing one thousand statues. One part of this church is closed off by an iron railing, and guides are employed to show people through. It is filled with the stone enclosures or sar- cophagi of the kings, queens and princes of England, and the guide tells a long and pathetic story, full of blood-curdling recitals, of the tragedies that have been connected with the royal families of England. In these tombs are the bodies of the greatest murderers that England can boast, for the greatest murderers of England have not been brigands and highwaymen but have been those who occupied its throne. There are also the bodies of the murdered, as well as the bodies of those who did the work. Year after year, and cen- tury after century, grim death brought these royal personages here under many and varied circumstances, where they await the final trump of Gabriel's horn. One of the interesting curiosities of Westminster is the so-called ' ' Stone of Destiny. ' ' England got this stone in 1297 and before that it was used by the kings of Scotland in the coronations. Every ruler of Eng- land since 1297 has been crowned in the chair which encloses this stone. It appears to be a chunk of sand- stone of irregular shape, about ten inches thick and two feet square. It is in the base of a chair that has been built around it, and both the stone and the chair are sort of unfinished and uncouth-looking affairs. 385 —25 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE How it gained the degree of superstition which sur- rounds it, I am not prepared to say, but it has been used now for over six hundred years in the crowning of the kings and queens of England. I have my serious doubts as to whether it will be used for that purpose six hundred years hence. The king of England is a very useless and expensive piece of official furniture, and I think that before many years the people of England will find this out. In fact, they know it already, and it is only a question of when they will act on the knowledge which they have gained by a vast expenditure of money and patience. There are better uses that this stone could be put to than for the crowning of the sovereigns of Great Britain. It has outlasted its usefulness in that re- spect, and with the demise of the present ruler of this country, or even before that time, it might be used to advantage as one of the foundation stones for build- ing a monument to liberty, and become the corner- stone of one of the greatest republics on the face of the globe. HYDE PARK AND KENSINGTON Near the center of London is Hyde Park, adjoining Kensington Gardens, surrounding the palace of that name. There is practically no difference between the so-called gardens and the park, the gardens being the large grounds, with green sward and natural forest trees, surrounding the royal palace. Running through these two pieces of ground is a small lake, elongated and some- what irregular in its shape, usually called the Serpen- tine. The two pieces of ground embrace about six hun- dred acres, and it is a great relief to come upon such a beautiful open space in the heart of this immense city. 386 HYDE PARK AND KENSINGTON Running along on one side of Hyde Park is the famous drive known as Eotten Row. As there is noth- ing rotten in that locality and no row except the shrub- bery along the edge of the drive, it is difficult to asso- ciate the peculiar name and the beautiful drive in your mind at the same time. I presume, however, that this name may have aptly described, at some time in its history, what it so misappropriately perpetuates at the present time. In the Kensington Gardens, near the park, is the memorial erected by the late Queen Victoria, to her husband, Prince Albert. It is one of the richest monu- ments in the world. It is of the Gothic style, being a tall structure similar to an ornamental church spire, and is one hundred and seventy-five feet high, and deco- rated with mosaics of many colors. The base is in the shape of a canopy and under this is a most excellent statue of the prince, which is made of marble and stands fifteen feet high. Around the base of the monument are one hundred and sixty-nine life size marble statues in bas-relief of the great men in all walks of life, art, mili- tary, literature, invention, etc. On the corners of the landing surrounding the monument are four splendid groups of statuary in marble, representing Europe, Asia, Africa and America. This monument was a trib- ute from the Queen and could hardly be considered a national monument of England, for Prince Albert figured in England only as Queen Victoria's husband, being a German by birth. At the Victoria entrance to Kensington Gardens is a little building called a lodge, which, I presume, has been erected for the gate keeper's use. Adjoining this is the Dog Cemetery. It appears that one of the 387 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE princes of England, who was very fond of dogs, suf- fered the loss of one of his favorites, which he buried in the lot adjoining this Lodge. Some of his friends and other admirers of dogs asked permission to bury their dogs there, and the practice has continued until there is a considerable dog cemetery there now. Each dog is allowed a little space, ordinarily about one foot by three feet, and at each grave there is a little head- stone, which, however, is usually made of wood and painted white, to represent marble, on which the name, the age, some of the history of the dog, and some ap- propriate sentiment are usually recorded. It is the most touching tribute of love to man's faithful friend that I have ever encountered, and no doubt the sod covering the remains of some of them has been watered by the tears of the owners of the dogs that are buried here. OLD CURIOSITY SHOP Not very far from Kensington Gardens is the Old Curiosity Shop made famous by Dickens' story of "Little Nell." This is a little coop on an irregular cor- ner not over ten or twelve feet wide by twenty or twenty-five feet in length, and is now devoted to the sale of photographs of the premises and the collection of old paper, rags and junk. Probably as many visit- ors find their way to the Old Curiosity Shop as go to almost any other point in London, for Dickens has made this little shop a part of the common heritage of man- kind. I was informed that the little house is likely to be torn down and replaced by modern buildings. I truly hope that this will not be done, for the loss of the Old Curiosity Shop would be an almost irreparable ca- 388 LONDON THEATRES lamity. The people of London can afford to pay what- ever the little shop is worth, and let it stand as it is, and just as it was in the days when Dickens wrote so pathetically the story of "Little Nell." LONDON THEATRES The theatres in London, at the time we were there, were nearly all crowded. Their prices are about the same as the prices at any of the first-class amusement houses in New York or Chicago. All the theatres in Europe employ young lady ushers and all of them sell their programmes, the proceeds of which go to the ushers who take care of the seating. In London these programmes sell for six pence each, which is the equiva- lent of twelve cents in our money, and, as they contain only the names of the actors and the characters which they represent, without even a synopsis, and are filled with advertising matter, it makes the price at least as much as they are worth. We went one night to a performance at the Savoy theatre. The Savoy theatre adjoins the hotel of the same name. The hotel is among the most fashionable in London and this house has the reputation of being among the best. I think the opinion in general of the house, however, is better than it deserves. The main au- ditorium cannot be much more than forty feet in dimen- sions in either direction, and above the main floor there are four galleries or balconies, so that a person in the top gallery looks almost straight down on the heads of the actors on the stage. It is one of the most unsatisfac- tory places to enjoy an entertainment that could well be devised, nor is it particularly elaborate, and yet, it was so completely filled that we could only secure seats in the balcony. J 389 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE This house is operated by a woman and presents only Gilbert and Sullivan operas, which appear to be very popular in England, although the basis of nearly all of them is ridicule of the English system of govern- ment. Just in front of the hotel and opera house, in the park on the Victoria embankment, is a bronze statue of the late Sir Arthur Sullivan, the Irish wit, who was the joint author, with Mr. Gilbert, of these operas. The opera house is reached by a little street leading from the Strand with a very steep decline toward the river Thames. The night we attended the opera at this house was stormy and the rain had come down in a driz- zle all day. The street leading down by the opera house was paved with asphalt and a film of mud on it made it quite slippery. As we came out from the performance a driver with a hansom cab came rapidly down this little street in an endeavor to secure us or somebody else for a trip. He was in such a hurry to get ahead of all rivals, as he came down the hill, that when he came to the opera house door and jerked up his horses, the momentum was so great that the horses simply sat down and the rig, horses, driver and all went as though they were on a toboggan slide all the rest of the way down the little street and nearly to the bank of the river. It is hardly neces- sary to say that he didn't catch a passenger as he went by. UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS London has a very complete system of underground railways. It was the first city in the world to adopt this means of transportation, but, while it was the pioneer in this line, and while the system may embrace more mile- age and be more complete in that respect, it is not nearly 390 FAMILIAR SIGNS so clean nor are the trains operated so rapidly as they are in the subway in New York city. The stations are badly disfigured with all kinds and shapes of billboards and advertising matter put up in a slovenly and irregu- lar manner. The subway in New York skims along just under the surface of the streets. In most places I do not think the surface of the street is more than two or three feet above the arch of the underground tunnel. I was sur- prised, therefore, on alighting from an underground, or subway, train in London, to find that they had great elevators to carry the people to the surface of the street. I thought it was hardly necessary to take an elevator to get from an underground railway onto the street sur- face, so I started up the steps, but I found, before I reached daylight, that I climbed a stairway built in circles round and round, that would have brought me, if it had been an ordinary building, to at least the fifth or sixth story. After that when I saw an elevator leading up from an underground railway station, I availed my- self of the opportunity to ride in it, which privilege was accorded without any additional fare. FAMILIAR SIGNS, ETC. A great many of the mercantile houses of America have branches in all the large cities of Europe, and all the leading Chicago and New York papers have offices along Fleet street in London, so it makes one feel quite at home while riding along the street, to come in front of the office of the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Trib- une, the Chicago Record-Herald, the Brooklyn Eagle, the New York World, the New York Journal, the New 391 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE York Herald, or other names that are so familiar to us in the United States. The drinking habit appears to be quite prevalent in London. There are many drinking saloons, a large pro- portion of them being of a rather low order. Women frequent these saloons and stand up at the bar and drink along with the men. I saw more women engaged in drinking in London in the few days that I was there than I would see in America in the same number of years, and it was not necessary to go into the saloons to see them step up to the bar and take their drinks, for most of the bars are open and exposed to view from the streets. There are a large number of policemen in London, but they are not so good looking as our policemen, their uniforms are not made of as good cloth and the style of their dress is not nearly equal to that of the metropoli- tan police in the larger cities of America. They look more like the members of amateur military companies than they do like full-fledged city policemen. They do not wear the elegant Prince Albert coats with the shiny brass buttons that we are used to in our country. They are, however, exceedingly well informed, and are al- ways courteous and ready to impart information in a respectful and painstaking manner. 392 Chapter XXVI THE TOWER OF LONDON Everybody who visits London goes to see the Tower, which, by the way, is not a tower in the singular sense, as the name might imply, but is a cluster of fortifica- tions, barracks, a palace and a prison, with a great number of towers. It is surrounded by a moat, outside of which is a narrow strip of grass, which serves to give the whole institution a somewhat restful appearance. The tower was erected in 1078 by William the Con- queror as a fortification for the purpose of protecting and controlling the city. It stands on the banks of the Thames river and covers in all an area of eighteen acres, so it is readily seen that it is more than would be implied simply by the name, "the Tower of London." The different parts of the structure are designated as the Bloody tower, the White tower, the Wakefield tower, the Waterloo bar- racks, the Chapel, the Casemate, the Flint tower, Bow- yers tower, the Brick tower, Martin tower, the Constable tower, Salt tower, Brassmount battery, North bastion, Site of the Scaffold, Armory, etc. The place was used as a palace by all of the kings and queens of England down to Charles II. It was the old custom of the monarchs to lodge in the Tower before their coronation and to ride in procession to West- minster to be crowned. It frequently occurred that those who would be monarchs of England rested within these 393 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE walls in irons and were taken forth, not to the corona- tion, but to the chopping block, where their heads were severed from their bodies. I do not propose, at this time, to give a list of all those who were beheaded within the walls of these fortifications. It would be too long and too sad, and, in some respects, too unreliable, but it is known that among the victims who suffered here were Queen Anne Boleyn; Margaret, countess of Salisbury; Queen Catherine, Lady Jane Grey, Robert Devereux, Lord Hastings, the Duke of Northumberland, Lord Guil- ford Dudley, Cromwell, the Earl of Essex and a large number of others. The tower is largely used at the present time as a museum for the display of armor and other things that have more or less connection with the history of England. One of the most interesting collections is the crown jewels. The so-called king's crown is on exhibi- tion in a glass case with the other jewels. It was made in 1838 for her majesty, the late Queen Victoria. The principal jewels were taken from older crowns and from the royal collection. Among the gems of which it is made there is the large ruby given to the Black Prince in Spain in 1367. Henry V. wore it in his helmet at Agincourt. This, with seventy-five large diamonds, forms a Maltese cross on the front of the diadem. Below this is a splendid sap- phire purchased by George IV. Seven other sapphires and eight emeralds, all of large size, with hundreds of diamonds, decorate the band and arches and the sum- mit of the cross is formed by a rose-cut sapphire and four very large diamonds. The whole contains two thousand, eight hundred and eighteen diamonds, two hundred and ninety-seven fine pearls and many other 394 OLD ARMOR jewels, and weighs over two and a half pounds. The crown was enlarged to fit the head of the present king of England, which would seem to indicate that the king probably at the time of his coronation was suffering from enlargement of the head. There are other crowns that were used to decorate the heads of other monarchs at the time of their coro- nation. There are coronets and orbs of gold, and Sir Edward's scepter, a staff of gold four feet seven inches in length, which is surmounted by an orb said to contain a fragment of the true cross. There are many other jewels and pieces of gold bric-a-brac which were used either in the coronations or religious services connected with the royal family of England ; enough of them alto- gether to stock up a pretty good sized jewelry store. OLD ARMOR What interested me more than almost anything else in the Tower of London was the display of ancient armor. The amount of work put upon these suits of steel worn by the warriors of old is truly remarkable, and how anybody could do any fighting to any ad- vantage while encased in one of these sword-proof suits is something that I could hardly figure out. Take the suit of Henry VIII. for instance, that weighs ninety- three pounds and is composed of two hundred and thirty-five separate pieces of metal, and there are others probably heavier and more complicated. The making of one of these to fit the individual for whom it was designed required great skill. When you consider how difficult it is to get a tailor to make you a suit of clothes that will fit you perfectly when all he has to do is to take a piece of flexible cloth and a pair 395 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of scissors and cut it out and sew it together, you will realize how difficult it must have been for those old me- chanics or boiler-plate tailors, to make a suit of sheet steel, joined together with rivets, hinges and links of chain, and make it fit the body perfectly, but they did it, and did it mighty well, as these suits that have remained here all these years will testify. Every now and then one of these warriors would get fat, just as the colonels in the regular army do at the present time, and would outgrow his suit of armor just as we society fellows outgrow our dress suits in modern times. In that event, the boiler-plate tailors would have to be brought in and either enlarge the old suit or make a new one in its place, so that there are on display here sometimes three or four suits of three or four sizes that were made for the same fellow. I should judge, how- ever, that after some of the humiliating defeats which they suffered, no matter how big or how fat they were when they went into battle they would foel so small when they came out that they could crawl back into the smallest suit of armor that was ever made for them. This armor is kept in excellent condition, is polished until it shines, is oiled and rubbed almost every day in the year, and is apparently in just as good condition now as it was when made. Each suit is numbered or named for the person who wore it and the arrangements for taking care of them show the thoroughness of the English manner of doing things. BOUQUETS OF BAYONETS Another interesting sight in the Tower of London is a display of swords, bayonets and pieces of guns. These are woven into bouquets and mural decorations 396 THE BRITISH MUSEUM and display the very greatest skill in their arrangement. A cluster of swords stands up like a sheaf of wheat, or a lot of bayonets like some great flower from the prairies. Borders are constructed of gun hammers, and the va- rious pieces of rifles are arranged in such an ingenious manner that one can stand and look at them by the hour in open-mouthed astonishment. There are also objects of torture displayed in the museum, the sight of which would freeze the marrow in your bones or stop the blood in your veins. But we can- not describe in detail all the objects of interest in the Tower of London; as they say in the advertisements of department stores in our country, ' ' These goods must be seen to be appreciated." THE BRITISH MUSEUM We spent several interesting hours in the British museum, and I must confess that we did not see every- thing in this valuable collection. We did, however, see some remarkable specimens of art, architecture, bronze, antiques, and the handiwork of people who lived many years ago. There apparently were enough mummies from Egypt to stock up a considerable graveyard. There were the portrait heads of Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Nero, Titus and other distinguished Romans. There were Greek sculptures from the great Temple of Diana at Ephesus, built three hundred and thirty years before Christ, and standing when Paul went to preach in that city. Then a certain man named Deme- trius, a silversmith, who made shrines for Diana, seeing that his business would go to pieces if the Christian re- ligion became general, called the other silversmiths together and formed a trust and caused the people 397 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE to cry out, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." And the Scriptures tell us that at the second outbreak of the people, for a period of two hours, they continually cried out, ' ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians, ' ' and Saint Paul thereafter called the disciples to him and embraced them and departed to go into Macedonia. But, as they say, that is another story, and we will return to the museum. We stood before the statue of the great Rameses, who reigned in his glory thirteen hundred years before Christ, and who was one of the Pharaohs who oppressed the children of Israel ; and near this is the great Rosetta stone, the finding of which unlocked the mysterious and hitherto unknown hieroglyphics of Egypt and gave to the present generations practically a history of that ancient and remarkable country, which had been locked up against mankind for a matter of two thousand years. We examined sculptures from the ancient cities of Assyria, from the palace of King Ashur-nasir-pal, and the sculptures from Nineveh, and feathers and buckskin suits that had been worn by the wild Indians of North America, and many other objects dating from the present age to four thousand years or more agone. There are in one of the rooms of the British museum two especially valuable little pieces. One is the cele- brated Portland vase, which is made of glass of two colors, the ground being carved away, showing a black ground with white raised figures standing out similar to the figures on cameo pins. A few years ago a fellow knocked this vase over and broke it into more than a score of pieces, but it was put together with cement and is still considered one of the most valuable vases on the face of the globe. 398 MARK TWAIN Near this is a little gold cup that was formerly used in the coronations of the kings of England. A card at- tached to this shows that it was purchased for the museum at an expenditure of over sixty thousand dol- lars in gold. The specimens of book-work, old Bibles, printed centuries ago, ornamented and illuminated by hand, and the book bindings are truly wonderful. But I again fall down, lacking words and time to describe what can be seen in the British Muesum, so I will leave the rest for my friends to go and see when they have the time. MARK TWAIN The most talked of person in London at the time we were there was our fellow-countryman, America's great humorist, Samuel L. Clemens, ordinarily known as Mark Twain. He was being entertained by Whitelaw Reid, King Edward and other capitalists of America and royalists of England. He was, apparently, having a very pleasant time. I did not have the pleasure of meet- ing him here, although I enjoyed that honor once in the city of Springfield. I always felt considerable interest in Mark Twain because it so happened that my father and my oldest brother had something to do with starting him on a ca- reer that has brought him to his present high and en- viable position. In 1856 my father and my oldest brother, George Rees, now living in St. Joseph, Mo., were running a daily paper in Keokuk, Iowa. Orion Clemens, a brother of Samuel L. Clemens, was running a job printing office in that town at that time, and Samuel came up from Hannibal and spent considerable time in Keokuk. I think he worked there as a printer. 399 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE The firm of Eees & Son arranged with the young man to write some articles for publication in the Keokuk Post, which they mutually agreed would be worth five dollars each. Mr. Clemens started out and took a trip to St. Louis, Quincy, Chicago and Cincinnati. After writing the first, he concluded that he ought to have seven dollars and a half apiece for his articles, and the publishers met him at that price, so he wrote the second article, which was published, after which he thought his talent was worth ten dollars per article. As the pub- lishers had reached the limit, having already invested twelve dollars and a half, which I am certain was the first money ever paid Mr. Clemens for writing, and which represented the profits of about two years' publi- cation of that daily paper, the negotiations were broken off and the series of articles ended at that point. But it seemed either the starting of the letters or the stopping of them had a disastrous effect for, in a short time, the sheriff came along and took what Mr. Clemens left, and the daily paper ceased to appear thereafter. At the present time I have, locked up in the safe in my office, typewritten copies of these two articles, taken from the files of my father's paper. Each one has an affidavit attached showing the genuineness of the publication and the circumstances under which it was written by Mr. Clemens. They were written under the nom de plume of "Jonathan Snodgrass," for this was ten or fifteen years before Mr. Clemens knew that his real name should be "Mark Twain," by which happy cognomen he is now known. I thought that I would insert these two articles in this letter, but they are such crude attempts at humor 400 MARK TWAIN and are of such inferior composition as compared with Mr. Clemens' more recent writings, that, notwithstand- ing the affidavits, some persons might imagine that I had written them myself, and after all these long years even Mr. Clemens himself would, perhaps, doubt that he was the author of them. With these associations I have always felt con- siderable interest in Mr. Clemens, and when, a few years ago, he came with Mr. Cable to give a reading in our opera house, I called upon him at his hotel. After my card had been taken up to his room he told the clerk to send me up. I found him and Mr. Cable in adjoining rooms with an open door between them. They had just gotten off a dusty train and each was stripped to un- dergarments, and was industriously trying to remove the dust which they had accumulated. Mr. Clemens, on that occasion, expressed his opinion of the railroad which had brought him to the capital city of Illinois, in a forcible manner, and, between times, gave me a very cor- dial greeting. Orion Clemens published a city directory of Keokuk about the time his brother entered the field of literary journalism, and, in addition to printing enough to supply all his subscribers to the work, he printed several hundred more which he expected to sell after the work was completed. It is the experience of most directory publishers that if they get rid of as many books as they have orders for they are doing pretty well, and Mr. Clemens found this to be his experience. The conse- quence was that these several hundred extra books in some manner got into a store house along with a lot of other goods. There was finally an auction sale of all unclaimed 401 —26 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE goods and among the various lots offered was a large box full of books. My father was a great lover of books, and when such a lot was offered, he outbid everybody in order to be sure that he would get all of them. When he got home and opened the box to examine his purchase, he found that he had bought several hundred copies of Orion Clemens ' out-of-date city directory, which was not a very valuable acquisition to a classical library. ON THE THAMES While in London we took a ride to Windsor Castle and Henley on the Thames river. An excursion was advertised to leave Paddington station under the direc- tion of a guide, and we bought tickets for it. When we got to the station we found the guide all ready for the people who were to make the excursion, and when the train was ready to start we found that the whole excur- sion consisted of two, myself and wife, so we had the excursion and guide all to ourselves. We first went to Richmond, which is a suburb of London, and which is famous as the location of the Kew Gardens. This is a sort of horticultural and. botanical park which is owned by the government. It is a beauti- ful place and has specimens of trees and plants from all parts of the world. All the trees are labeled with their names and the part of the world from whence they came. It is used for park purposes as well as a garden for the development of trees, and is one Of the most beautiful parks I have ever had the pleasure of getting into. It lies along the banks of the river and the little passenger boats of the Thames enliven the scenery as they pass by full of excursionists. 402 THE KING'S PALACE WINDSOR CASTLE I will not attempt to describe Windsor Castle very- minutely. I will say, however, that it is the king's resi- dence and that the castle, like the Tower of London, is more of a cluster of buildings than would be implied by the term of castle. It takes about one thousand people to run the king's household, and they reside in the build- ings that make up the so-called castle. One structure is connected with the other, making a sort of continuous wall of buildings around the grounds. There are towers and battlements at various points, and some of the most excellent lookouts and the most beautiful views can be had from the battlements and promenades. "We were shown through the king's stables, which are open at certain hours of the day, and had an in- troduction to all the king's and queen's horses. One thing that surprised me probably more than any thing else was the fact that few of the carriages had rubber tires, which are considered so essential to any well-regu- lated vehicle in America. Another peculiar thing was the fact that many of the carriages are made to be drawn by four horses. Postilions or drivers ride on the horses and guide them from the saddle. The carriages have no outside seat, or driver's box, as is used on the ordinary vehicle. The young man who showed us through the king's stable spoke a rather broad English dialect, and he dropped so many of his h's as he went along that once or twice I stumbled over them in the pathway, and when I emerged from Windsor Castle I pronounced heaven without any h, and 'ell with the omission of the same letter. 403 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE THE CAPTAIN AND THE TEA From Windsor Castle we took a little steamboat up the river Thames to Henley, and I would say right here, if you ever go to England, do not fail to take an excur- sion up this river, which the English usually pronounce as though it were spelled Temz. It is one of the most enjoyable rides we had during our entire visit in Europe. There were a large number of small steamers, if they may be called steamers, for I am under the impres- sion that their motive power was furnished by gasoline engines. The boat we made the trip on was one of a fleet of six belonging to the same company, and they have magnificent boats. Each boat is large enough to carry about one hundred people, and you can either sit down in the cabin or up on the hurricane deck on top of the cabin, which presents an excellent opportunity to see the scenery as you go along. The crew of this boat consisted of the captain, another man who acted as pilot and engineer, and one deck hand. Owing to the difference in altitude between the scource and mouth of the Thames, there are twenty or twenty-five locks between London and Henley, so that every few miles the boat runs into one of these locks and is lifted five or six feet before it can proceed on its voyage up stream. "We embarked on the boat about two o 'clock and at four o 'clock tea was served, as is the cus- tom all over England. The so-called tea consisted of a cup of tea, good white bread and butter and some light cakes or wafers. When the captain and the crew were not raising the steamer through one of "the locks between the hours of four and six, they were continually spread- ing butter on bread and pouring tea. When I was a small boy and was exceptionally good, 404 CAPTAIN AND THE TEA my mother used to reward me by giving me thin slices of well-buttered bread. In order to get the bread thin enough for my entire liking, she would first cut the loaf in two in the middle, and would then spread the butter on the newly exposed surface of the bread, and, then, with a very sharp knife, would cut the slice exceedingly thin and turn out a slice of buttered bread thinner than would be practicable under the ordinary system. The captain did not cut the slices quite as thin as my mother used to, but he pursued the policy of spread- ing the loaf first and cutting the slice afterward. I greatly enjoy bread turned out under these circum- stances, especially if it is good bread and covered with good butter, which was the case on this little boat. I always wanted to be captain of a vessel, and even in my boyhood I imagined the time when I would sail the wide seas in command of a brig, and hang a few men from the yardarm every day or place a few men in irons and throw them into the dungeon of the ship, but I have become more merciful as I have become older, and, as I sat and watched the busy captain in his neat blue uni- form, with his gray mustache and pointed beard, hoist- ing his little boat through the locks, shoving some passen- gers off and collecting the tickets or money from the new ones that came on, and then saw him sit down between times and vigorously butter and cut bread, as though his life depended upon it, and noted the expressions of ap- preciation on the faces of the well-pleased passengers, I still thought what a glorious thing it would be to com- mand a vessel, and what an enviable and lofty position the captain holds in any place in the world, and espe- cially on the river Thames. 405 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE AYE, 'TIS A DREAM The upper Thames is a dream; it is lined with many of the summer cottages or castles of the wealthy people of England. These places have yards teeming with flowers, and about them are stone walls overgrown with flowering vines. There are many houseboats moored along the banks of the Thames, with porches ex- tending their full length and with baskets of growing flowers hanging from their eaves. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of little row-boats and small flat bottom boats, in which people row on the river or pro- gress by punting them or poling them along through the waters. The king of England and a number of people of London have numerous swans which are seen floating gracefully in the river. There are a great many people fishing, and every now and then you will come upon a party of young folks playing music and singing songs. The bluffs are covered with green fields, and cattle and sheep graze upon their rich grasses. There are great landed estates with acres and acres of forest, and at some places on the Thames you might imagine that you were a long ways from the teeming population of what most people think is overcrowded England. One of the prettiest country places on the Thames is Clivenden Woods, the country place of one of the Astors, who has the questionable distinction of being one of the few Americans to renounce his allegiance to the United States and become a citizen and subject of Great Britain. The castle is a large white mansion standing on the hill, with beautiful drives leading down to the river, and with thousands of acres of timber land in its wild and native state. There is a long, straight stretch of the river coming 406 AYE, 'TIS A DREAM into the city of Henley, which is the great rowing course for the college teams that contest with their shells for the championship. . The river is fenced off at this point with a row of posts connected by timbers, defining the course, and a number of oarsmen were practicing in their boats when we arrived at that place. A ride up the Thames is an experience long to be remembered. It is accentuated by historical ruins, beau- tified by castles and flowers, and intensified by the evi- dences of wealth and extravagance with which its banks are lined. It is a streak of beauty amidst an old and commercially inclined country, and it is an especial privilege to any one to have the opportunity of travel- ing upon its waters. 407 Chapter XXVII IN IRELAND We left London, going northwest and leaving England by the way of Liverpool. The country between London and Liverpool is rolling, is largely used for graz- ing purposes, and is intersected by several small streams, some of which are almost large enough to be called rivers. There are several substantial towns on the way and the appearance of the country impressed me quite favorably. The hills and hollows were mostly covered with green sward, the roads were well built and the streams were spanned by substantial bridges. It seems that flowers and vines grow more profusely in England than in almost any place in the United States, and the old, moss-covered stone fences and solidly built houses give the country landscapes a scenic effect which is very pleasing. Although the weather was clear and bright when we left London, by the time we had reached Liverpool darkness was intermingled with a fog and a drizzling moisture that was just at that disagreeable stage between mist and rain. We were dragged through Liverpool in a stuffy, dark omnibus which was over-crowded with passengers and baggage, and took passage on a steamer which runs across the Irish sea to Dublin. We had been so shaken up on coming over the English channel that we expected that an all-night ride on the Irish waters would be a sorry experience. 408 DUBLIN The boat on which we took passage was not particu- larly inviting, as it was apparently built more for the accommodation of freight than of passengers. The cabin and state rooms were at the back end of the boat and the whole institution smelled pretty strongly of fish, which seemed to be one of the chief articles which it carries. "We were assigned a state room which was close and stuffy, and near the water line, and so near the screw of the boat that it seemed likely that the machinery would break through the floor underneath us, as it kept up such a continual thumping all night long. We retired before the boat was in motion, and after it had started and I woke up in the night, before I could thoroughly realize where I was, there was such a rattling of machinery underneath me that it was a while before I could figure out whether I was riding on a ship or on a railway train, and I finally fell into a sleep, hardly realizing which it was. As the water was very smooth, and I could not positively figure out but that I was on a railway train, I had no excuse for being seasick, and so got through the night in the most comfortable way. We got our breakfast, which consisted of ham and eggs and bread with exceedingly yellow butter, on the boat. I have seldom seen butter so yellow as this was, but it was better than it looked, so we got along very well. DUBLIN We arrived in Dublin about eight o'clock in the morning. A little river runs down through the city of Dublin, which widens out at the mouth into a bay, and, with its breakwater, makes a splendid harbor. The ships run between two huge walls of finished stone that are 409 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE smoothly built, and extend at least a mile or more on each side of the river. As the ship moved up slowly be- tween these two great walls, I could not but contemplate the immense amount of work that had been bestowed upon their building. A street lay along the side of the river and several drivers with jaunting cars trotted along just even with the boat and solicited the patronage of the passengers who were arriving. Coming to a substantial stone dock well up in the heart of the city, we went ashore and se- lected one of the nicest jaunting cars, with a good-look- ing driver and a good horse. A jaunting ear is particularly an Irish institution. I have never seen them used in any other part of the world where I have been, and I am somewhat divided in my opinion as to whether they are an entire success, es- pecially for a country where it rains as much as it does in Ireland, but they appear to be in general use through- out the Emerald Isle, and I would not think of riding in any other vehicle in Dublin or Cork. They are a two-wheel cart on which the passengers sit back to back with their feet hanging over the wheels, being protected by an enclosed solid back foot rest. The driver sits in the center in front, and while the cars are ordinarily occupied by only one or two persons besides the driver, they can accommodate four passengers, or five, with the driver. The wheels are large and some have rubber tires, and they are remarkably stylish look- ing rigs. Some of them sell for as high as two hundred dollars, which, for a two-wheel cart, indicates remarkably fine trimmings and good workmanship. Dublin is the largest city in Ireland, and seems to be a substantial place. The chief points of interest are 410 SOME CHURCHES the Bank of Ireland, which occupies the old house of parliament, Trinity college, Dublin castle, Christ church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Nelson monu- ment, the custom house, the Four Courts, O'Connell's monument, the Wellington monument, and Guinnes' brewery, where they make the celebrated Dublin Stout. There are a number of good stores in Dublin, and they sell very fine linens. There are no people on the face of the globe that can hold their own with the Irish when it comes to making linens, and the women always find plenty of entertainment in buying or, at least, in examining the beautiful specimens in the stores of Dublin. The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, was an Irishman and lived in Dublin. His fellow- townsmen erected in Phoenix park in that city a magnificent testimonial to his worth in the shape of a monument, which cost a matter of one hundred thousand dollars. On this monument the battles in which the Duke of Wellington took part are inscribed in bas- relief made from cannon which he captured in some of his most famous battles. SOME CHURCHES The St. Patrick's Cathedral is named after the parton saint of Ireland, the gentleman who has the repu- tation of having driven all the snakes out of the Emer- ald Isle, and whose anniversary is celebrated on the 17th of March all over the world. The present Cathedral stands on the site of the original edifice built by Saint Patrick himself, near the well in which he baptized his converts. It is quite a church at the present time and has recently been restored by Sir B. L. Guinnes, the 411 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE big brewery man, who expended one hundred and forty thousand pounds or about seven hundred thousand dol- lars in the repairing and fixing up of the church. There is another edifice called Christ church Cathe- dral, which also owes its present good condition to a vendor of strong drink, who expended two hundred thousand pounds, or a million dollars, in putting it in shape. One of these organizations is conducted by the Church of England. There is one trouble with all of Ireland, which is more or less common to other parts of the world, and that is the men who make and sell the drinkable goods have more money than they need, while those who drink the drinkable goods have too little. The Irish International Exposition was in operation at the time of our visit to Dublin. It was on the grounds, as I understood it, of the old Donnybrook fair, which is made famous in legend and song as being a place where anybody could be accommodated with a ''rough and tumble" on very short notice, and with slight provocation. This exposition, while having some very fair buildings, was hardly as much of a show as we expected to find, and, of course, did not anywhere near rank with the world's fairs that have been held in the United States. However, there was a fine display of Irish linens, laces, homespuns, and other handiwork of the people of Ireland, besides exhibits and art works for sale from Italy, Japan, and some other foreign countries. America was not very well represented and had no special build- ing. Canada had a fine exhibit in a building of its own. There was a fair display of art in the way of pictures 412 TOM MOORE and a number of ancient relics and more recent objects that attracted considerable attention. TOM MOORE The one thing that touched my heart more espe- cially than anything else was the harp of Tom Moore, the Irish poet. It is of the usual pattern of the Irish harp as shown in pictures, and not like the Italian harps which we are used to seeing in America. The longest side of the frame measures hardly three feet in length. It is painted green and is ornamented with a continuous chain of shamrock. Shamrock is similar to our field clover, with very small leaves, and made a pretty border around the entire frame of the harp. The strings have given way to the touch of time, the enemy of all things, and nearly all of them are broken, and, if not gone alto- gether, hang loose in the frame, and reminded me of that poem by this famous poet, one verse of which reads : "No more to chiefs and ladies bright The harp of Tara swells; The chord alone that breaks at night Its tale of ruin tells." Dublin is famous for a number of things, but more particularly as being the birthplace of the Duke of Wel- lington, the residing place of Daniel O'Connell, and the birthplace of Tom Moore, who loved the harp and wrote not only the exquisite lines quoted above, but more verses of poetry that touch the feelings of mankind in a tender spot than, perhaps, any poet who ever lived. He was a man of remarkably brilliant parts, well educated, and had the faculty of writing apparently directly from the heart to the heart. Tom Moore was probably not the greatest poet who ever lived, but in many respects he was certainly the 413 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE most pleasing and wherever the love of sociability, the love of liberty, the love of art, music and song are known, Tom Moore's name will be reverenced as having given to poetry some of its gems. The Irish melodies which are usually credited to him, it appears, were written with no claim to original- ity as to the music. There were a number of familiar airs played by the wandering minstrels and others of Ireland, some of which had not been set to regular music, nor attached to words, and were gradually be- ing lost by not being governed by any fixed rules. In order to give these tunes a more abiding existence, Moore, who was quite a musician, undertook the task of writing words adapted to them, and putting them in permanent form. He first played the airs on a piano and then wrote down the notes on a score card, then he composed verses to go with them. From this undertaking he went farther and wrote many other pieces which, in my opinion, place him in the front rank as a writer of simple verse based on the emotional side of life. He was the author of ' ' The Last Rose of Summer, ' ' "The Harp that Once Through Tara's Hall," "Believe Me If all These Endearing Young Charms," "Lalla Eookh, " " Araby 's Daughter, " " Those Evening Bells, ' ' etc. BALFE Dublin was also the birthplace of Michael Balfe, the musical composer who wrote the exquisite air that has made the lakes of Killarney so famous, and who was also the author of that most popular of all English operas, "The Bohemian Girl," who lay down in her gypsy tent and "dreamed that she dwelt in marble halls." If Dublin were not the great town that it is; if it 414 DUBLIN TO KILLARNEY did not have the great monuments which it has; if it did not have the great Bank of Ireland, Dublin Castle and Trinity College, it should be celebrated as the birth- place of several of the world's most brilliant and love- able characters. DUBLIN TO KILLARNEY We went from Dublin on a very good line of rail- way, passing through Kildare and Limerick, to Kil- larney. This enabled us to get a glimpse of the rural parts of the Emerald Isle. Aside from the general air of poverty that exists in Ireland, the landscapes present pretty pictures. The ground is somewhat undulating, the fields at this time of the year were especially green, and the old stone walls, overgrown with vines, gave the picture a finished appearance which was different from what we are accustomed to seeing in the central west of the United States. There are many whitewashed stone cottages with thatched roofs, which stand out on the vel- vet green like scenery in painted pictures. The Irish in the rural districts use a great deal of whitewash and they appear to make it whiter than almost anybody else. While the country of Ireland is considered moun- tainous, and there are many peaks and elevations, a good deal of the central part is lowland, and there is a considerable amount of swamps or bogs. The mountains are mostly around the borders. It is said that if the ocean should rise five hundred feet seventy per cent of Ireland would be beneath the surface of the water, and over one hundred peaks would make just that many stony, precipitous islands. For so small a country, Ireland has several rather important rivers and a number of charming lakes, some 415 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE of them of considerable size. It is called the "Emerald Isle" on account of the intense green with which it is usually clothed. I think the fields and hills are greener than they are in most countries, but one must remember that it takes lots of rain to keep any country clothed in bright green, so that Ireland is naturally a cold, wet country. The town of Killarney is about two miles from the lake of the same name, which is supposed to be so beau- tiful that "Angels stop their wings to rest By this Eden of the West." There is a very fine hotel at Killarney. It is owned by the railroad company but is operated by Germans. The Germans and Swiss, as I have mentioned before, are great hotel keepers, and the Irish are apparently not much given to that occupation. I think the handsomest men in Europe are the German and Swiss hotel men, and this reminds me of a little incident in which I re- ceived, I think, the only genuine compliment that was thrust upon me during my visit on the Old Sod. The Irish are proverbial for that use of language or- dinarily called "Blarney," and no matter where you go in this country you are complimented so continually that if you believed everything that is said to you, you would become too proud to recognize yourself even when gaz- ing into a looking glass. You become so accustomed to being told that you are such a fine looking man, and that your wife is such a handsome lady, and that you are looking so well, etc., that it soon tires upon you because you are convinced that the compliments are not genuine but are made for the purpose of lifting the shillings from your pockets. 416 JAUNTING CAR. "Is particularly an Irish institution — I would not think of riding in any- other vehicle in Dublin or Cork." — Page 410. GAP OF DUNLOE It is refreshing, therefore, when you receive a com- pliment that you know is really sincere. This was my experience in the hotel at Killarney. As I was emerging from the dining room on a Sunday morning, preparing to go out with the angels and rest my wings on the mar- gin of the lake of Killarney, I was stopped in the pas- sageway by a gentleman who said he would like to have a couple of oranges for his wife. After I had explained to him that I had nothing to do with oranges, he apolo- gized by saying, "Excuse me, sir; I thought you were the head waiter. ' ' Considering that the head waiter was the best looking man in Killarney, I have felt rather stuck up ever since. THE GAP OF DUNLOE There is a very nice day's journey from the town of Killarney through the woods to the Gap of Dunloe, through the three lakes comprising the three lakes of Killarney, by the Ross Castle and back to the hotel. Queen Victoria made this trip once, and thousands of other people made it before and have made it since. You go in coaches from the hotel, pass the reputed birthplace of Robert Emmet, close to the residence of the grand nephew of the great O'Connell, the formid- able champion of Irish rights, by a little church that was built about the year 55 A. D., but which looks somewhat older and is still small for its age, pass over the river Laune, and finally come to Kate Kearney's cottage. Kate Kearney has passed away long since, but her reputation for beauty and her little stone cottage with its thatched roof still remain. Kate Kearney was so be- witching that a warning was sent forth which read, "From the glance of her eye, Shun danger and fly, For fatal's the glance of Kate Kearney." 417 —27 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE This is the beginning of the passage through the Gap of Dunloe. The Gap of Dunloe is a deep gorge, or, as we would call it in the western part of the United States, a canon. In order to pass through it it is neces- sary to hire a pony. You will find at Kate Kearney's cottage about seventy-five native Irishmen with about that many ponies for the use of tourists. They are a good natured, ragged, saucy, aggressive set of fellows of almost all sizes and ages, and they make their living year in and year out by the hiring of these ponies to the excursionists who wish to go through the Gap of Dunloe, and incidentally to the Lakes of Killarney. This is one place where Thomas Cook & Son don't go. There is a rough, irregular road leading through the gap, and Thomas Cook & Son, who run excursions all over the world, have made several attempts to get their coaches through the gap, but so far have not been successful. A few years ago they had the road put in fine shape and the bridges, which cross and recross the little stream w"khich runs through the gap, were well built, and, I think, the Thomas Cook coaches made one trip over the road. The night following it was given out that the fairies had come and destroyed the bridges. There is no doubt of the truth that the bridges were destroyed, for the arches and their abutments were scattered, but I think the fairies that did the work might have been found congregated around Kate Kearney's cottage the next morning with their ponies, ready to hire them as they had before. This year the roads were repaired and Cook's coaches were again started through the Gap, but there is always considerable rain in Ireland, and on this occa- 418 GAP OF DUNLOE sion the driver and passengers found that the rain in the Gap of Dnnloe was mixed with rifle bullets that were sent down by the fairies that were hidden behind the rocks along the way. The first excursion of the season was given up as a failure and there has been no attempt made to run excursion coaches through the gap since that time. So we followed the present style of hiring horses for the trip, which is about four miles. What bothered me more, however, than paying for the horses, was a fee of one shilling which I was compelled to pay for each of us for walking about one hundred yards over the estate of some lord who lived in a big castle all covered with vines. This fee was put down against us as the ' ' estate charge. ' ' I think that some of those lords that control es- tates in Ireland will soon tax every native and every visitor so much a breath for breathing God's pure air. In the Gap of Dunloe there are several small lakes, some beautiful mountain elevations and some remarkable echoes. People are scattered all along the pathway to in- crease the interest in the trip and decrease the money in your pockets. Some of these fellows fire off little can- nons at so much "per" that echo and re-echo so exten- sively and continuously that one report sounds like the discharge of a whole battery. Other people run beside you and sound calls on bugles which echo and re-echo on the mountain sides until the music made by one man is almost equal to that of an ordinary brass band. There are many fiddlers and all kinds of beggars, so that if you do not enjoy looking at the scenery, there is still plenty to interest you in the Gap. Coming to the lakes you are served with a nice din- ner, which has been sent from the hotel to intercept 419 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE you, and you take your seat in a long row-boat that is manned by four sturdy oarsmen. THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY The lakes consist of three bodies of water con- nected by short rivers. The mountains in all directions are very high and very beautiful, but they are deserted. There are few signs of life. But there could scarcely be anything said about the beauty of the lakes that would be an exaggeration. I think, however, the song of ' ' Kil- larney" has done as much to impress the idea of the beauty of the Lakes of Killarney as their own natural charms. We did not have a very good day for our voyage for it was too stormy and reminded one much of the fabled April showers which we are supposed to have in the United States. The weather would alternate, and, I think, during the day we had five or six different rain storms and about the same number of glimpses of the sun. Every time it would clear up it looked as though it had cleared up for all day and, in less than thirty minutes, we would again be in the midst of a drenching rain. When we reached the lower lake, which is much the largest of the three, there was strong wind and the waves were very high. Despite the best efforts of our men at the oars, it was almost impossible to make head- way against the elements, but we had in the boat a jolly crowd of people from Wales, who were quite musical, and they sang their native songs, notwithstanding the wind and the rain, in that peculair tone which they seem to have a patent right upon. After pulling against the wind for a matter of an hour or so, and making little headway, the men in charge 420 COACHING IN IRELAND of the boat evidently gave up the struggle and deter- mined to strike for the nearest point of land. In so doing they turned the bow of the boat, which had been cutting straight through the waves directly in line with them, so that the waves struck the boat sideways in- stead of endways. The first big breaker went clear over the side of the boat. There was a scream from the wo- men, the Welsh song was broken off right in the middle of a line, and I caught an overcoat pocket full of Kil- larney water. This, however, was the worst experience we had and we soon came to the old deserted cottage of ''Danny Man," and the rock of Colleen Bawn. Near where we landed are the ruins of Ross Castle, a picturesque ruin of the fourteenth century, and for- merly a stronghold of one 'Donoghue, who exercised a feudal or kingly jurisdiction in these parts. It is a sad and wierd looking old ruin, almost in its original shape and overgrown with ivy. It is the most prominent orna- ment of the lakes and is a wonderfully impressive and beautiful old building. There are a thousand legends that are based upon places surrounding the Lakes of Killarney. There are also the ruins of the old Muckross Abbey, and other evidences of an age of grandeur that has long since passed away. COACHING IN IRELAND Leaving Killarney on a bright, cheerful morning, we took a four-horse coach which carried us, with about sixteen passengers, down the west coast of Ireland. We came at noon-time to a little town called Kenmare, in which there was a sort of public sale or fair progressing. It is a small town, made up of stone houses all fronting on one street. The principal stock in trade for sale ap- 421 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE peared to be pigs and calves. The pigs were in one-horse carts that were backed np to the pavement. They were all white pigs, washed clean, and the hair was so thin on them that their pink hides showed through. I thought they looked remarkably beautiful for pigs, and pigs are not so bad looking after all. They all seemed to be of one size and would weigh, probably, about one hundred pounds each. There was cartful after cartful of these animals on sale. It looked to me a good deal like the blooded hog sales in our country, where all the dealers and breeders come to sell to each other, There were also a good many cattle, but the most of them were of the younger generation, ordinarily called calves. Our stage ride carried us through some beautiful timberland, through glens where the branches of the trees met overhead, and where there were great beds of ferns and the greenest of moss overgrowing things, which struck me as being quite beautiful. Then we wound out on the side of the mountains, the road twisting here and there, to conform with the irregular hillsides. We passed through great tunnels way up near the top of the moun- tains, and finally came out where we could see the blue waters of Bantry Bay, stretching away to the Atlantic ocean. English warships at target practice came into view and we could see the flash of the cannons, but they were so far off that we could make a count of fifty or sixty before we could hear the report. Then we wound around over a peculiar suspension bridge with a great tower in mid-stream and cables anchored on each side of the river instead of a tower be- ing on each side of the river, as is the usual custom in building suspension bridges. "We came down through the hills and hollows over a stream spanned by the 422 COACHING IN IRELAND arches of Cromwell's bridge, and by churches overgrown with ivy, to the little village of Glengariff, where the hotel was so completely wrapped in green ivy vines that it looked like a great bundle of vegetation. As I looked over the beautiful bay, whose waters run up almost to the porch of the hotel, my eyes rested on the lofty mountains around and the proud ships floating on the waters. I thought I had hardly ever come upon a place more enchanting, and I do not wonder that, while the sons of Erin are scattered in all parts of the world, their hearts so frequently turn to the land of their birth. Taking another coach at Glengariff, we drove to the city of Bantry, which is on the other side of the bay, a distance of several miles. The waters of Bantry Bay run into the mountains in an irregular formation a good deal in the shape of the fingers on one's hand, and, in order to reach the point of our destination, it was neces- sary to follow these indentations. The road, however, was well built, and the driving on it was very pleasant. When we left the hotel at Glengariff an old gentle- man and a young man, who looked so much alike that we took them to be father and son, were standing on the porch. The old gentleman wore a hat with a very flat crown and a wide brim, and appeared to be dressed in the garb of a high church bishop. His legs, which were none too thick, were wrapped from the ankles up to the knees in heavy cloth wound spirally. It was about a three hours' ride from Glengariff to Bantry, and how long in advance of these two we left I am unable to say, but when we were four or five miles from Bantry they caught up to us. The old gentleman was riding on a tricycle and the young man on a bicycle, 423 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE each vehicle being supplied with a receptacle for carry- ing baggage. They passed our stage and, at a pace con- siderably faster than ours, went on down the winding road and evidently got into Bantry some time before we did. This illustrated the fact that going through the country on wheels is not such a slow way to travel. When we arrived at Bantry, we found it to be a little, old-fashioned town built of stone and brick. Each store had an Irish name over the door, and I am under the impression that there are a number of Irish people living in that city. We found at the station a peculiar little railway train in which the first-class coach had seats around the sides of the main cabin as they are in a steam launch. They were covered with red plush and there was a very nice carpet on the floor. On this train were several young ladies, evidently school teachers from England, who had been making a tour of Ireland. It appears that the English require a lower temperature than the Americans, and, while we were very comfort- able in the car, these young ladies, who were dressed in heavy clothing, complained greatly of the heat, and be- fore we had proceeded very far on the way, were per- spiring like African politicians at an American election, and one or two of them had cheeks and faces nearly as red as boiled lobsters, but they were a jolly set withal, and had a good time on the ride. 424 Chapter XXVIII THE CITY OF CORK At Cork we put up at the best hotel, which charged us the highest rates for the quality of their accommo- dations of any house that we found in all Europe. We asked for a room with a bath, but they said they had no rooms with baths, that if we wanted a bath we could apply to the chambermaid. When we became settled in our room and I applied to the chambermaid for a bath, she directed my attention to some big sheet iron pans, about as large as cart wheels, that were hanging up in one end of the corridor, and said that any time I wanted to take a bath I could have one of those basins and she would fill it with water for me. This appeared to be the only accommodation they had in the way of baths at that house. This, however, is an established custom in Ireland and England, and Englishmen sometimes carry this sort of bath tub with them when they travel. Cork, which the natives pronounce as though it were spelled C-a-r-k, is considerable of a city. It is built on both sides of the river Lee, and ocean steamers come to its landing. It has some good stores, some very pretty residences, a college, a lunatic asylum, and several other institutions, including a very handsome Episcopalian Cathedral. The driver of the jaunting car in which we rode called our attention to the large steeples, one of which 425 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE he said was built by a brewer and the other by a distiller, and were called the Beer Tower and the Whiskey Tower. In close proximity to this is a magnificent monu- ment erected to the memory of Father Matthew, the apostle of temperance, and I was gratified to hear that the temperance societies were making great headway all over Ireland. This is a consummation devoutly to be wished, for it is a well known fact that Ireland has suf- fered much from the cause of intemperance. IRISH WIT We engaged a jaunting car here, one of the finest that I rode in in all Ireland. It was splendidly finished, was in the best of condition, and had good, elastic rubber tires. The driver was well dressed, wore a tan colored Prince Albert coat and a white plug hat, and had a good horse. We took a ride with him to Blarney Castle. The road followed alongside of the river Lee, and between that stream and the bluffs. On the bluffs were several mansions with spacious grounds completely filled with green trees, green vines and green grass, and orna- mented with an abundance of flowers. The walks and driveways were of gravel and the grounds were sur- rounded by stone walls covered with ivy and shamrock. Just outside of the city is the insane asylum with its stone wall along this driveway and very close to the river bank. The Irish jaunting car drivers are very lo- quacious and are always ready to talk and tell you good stories. As we passed the lunatic asylum, our driver called attention to the institution and said that, while an Irishman sometimes loses his senses it is very seldom that he ever loses his wit. He said, "There are some 426 BLARNEY CASTLE bright fellows up in that place, and they have an answer for you every time. ' ' Among other stories he told us that' there was a man fishing right on the river bank where we were then passing and one of the inmates who had strayed out was lying on the top of the stone wall, which we could see on our right. He watched the man with the fishing rod for some time, and, as the visitor didn't appear to be having much luck, the patient shouted down at him, "Hi, there, what are you doing there?" to which the man with the rod replied, "I am fishing." He was asked, "How long have you been there?" to which the man replied that he had been there about four hours. The patient then asked, "Have you had a bite yet?" "No," said the man, "haven't had any bite yet," to which the patient responded, "The trouble with you is that you ought to be on the other side of the wall. ' ' He continued that no matter what you have to say up in that institution you always get a ready and appro- priate answer. He said the physician of the institution came down through the hallway where there was a large clock of the Grandfather pattern standing at the head of the stairway. He was surprised that time had gone so rapidly, and, turning to one of the inmates, asked him, "Is that clock right?" to which the patient replied very promptly, "Of course not, if it was, it wouldn't be here." BLARNEY CASTLE We passed two or three villages and came to the Blarney castle. The Blarney castle was built in the fif- teenth century and was formerly the residence of one McCarthy, who was king of that part of Ireland. It was used as a sort of residence and fortress, and was sup- 427 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE posed to have been very richly adorned and magnifi- cently finished. When it was finally overcome and the McCarthys were defeated and the new masters took possession of it, they expected to find a large amount of solid silver plate, which was famous previous to that time. The story is that they found no silver plate. Before the surrender of the castle the lord of the mansion took his silver plate and sunk it in the bottom of Blarney lake, a pretty sheet of water nearby. The location of this place was known only to three of the McCarthy family, and has been a secret of that family ever since. In the long years that have passed the secret has been kept inviolate in the McCarthy family, being transmitted to only three of the family at any one time, and when any one of the three dies, the secret is imparted to another member in his place. A large amount of money and effort has been ex- pended in dredging the lake where this silver plate is supposed to be and in searching for it in other places but it has never been found, and it is the determination that its location shall never be made known until the McCarthy family comes into possession of the estate again, when it will be brought forth from its hiding place. Blarney castle is a large, square structure in a beautiful piece of ground surrounded by the greenest of trees. At a short distance from this old castle, which is now a ruin, stands the new castle of the present landlord of the place. Around the top of the old building is a heavy cornice or battlement of stone, which is supported by stone brackets, and, on the lower edge of this cornice, is the celebrated Blarney stone, which is so famous for 428 BLARNEY CASTLE endowing those who kiss it with the faculty of bestowing irresistible compliments upon the rest of mankind. It is a considerable undertaking to kiss the Blarney stone, and it is said that several fatal accidents have occurred from the attempt. It used to be that people would crawl up over the top of the cornice and, while two persons would hold the aspirant for the honor of kissing the Blarney stone by the legs, he would hang head downward and kiss the stone. On one or two occa- sions the persons who were doing the holding were not equal to the effort and let go their "leg holt" and the victim fell to the walk one hundred feet below, where his brains, if he had any, were smashed out on the stone flagging. To prevent the danger connected with this mode of getting at the Blarney stone, an iron cap with big iron spikes in it has been placed on the upper edge of the cornice, so that people cannot get over it, and the stone is held in place by two iron rods which keep the spikes in position. The act of kissing the stone is now accom- plished by the person who undertakes it lying prone on his back on the roof of the castle, reaching out over these two rods, which are about two feet from the castle proper, as the battlement or cornice stands that far from the main wall, and, while two persons hold the feet of the aspirant, he lets himself down on the iron rods until his lips come under the lower edge of the cornice and he kisses the stone. The puzzle is, then, to find the two men who are strong enough to pull the lunatic back. It is still a difficult and dangerous per- formance, as there is nothing between the man who kisses the stone and the stone pavement below where those mentioned above were dashed to death. Especially 429 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE would it be dangerous for a man of my shape and size so I was willing to leave it out. It happened, however, that a couple of young Amer- icans who had ridden with us on the stage down through Ireland, came along at the time we were there, and they were both extremely anxious to kiss the Blarney stone. I can hardly imagine how they could have been better built for the undertaking, for they were each about six feet tall, and, although of slender build, were real athletes. I volunteered to hold one leg of each of them, one at a time, while each companion held the other leg while they went through the fool performance. While the two of us held onto the legs of the first young man, he lay down on his back, grasped the iron rods and reached for the stone, but, as we were extremely cautious, we held him about twelve inches too far back, and with all his efforts he could not reach far enough to accomplish the kissing act. He was so determined to do it that he kicked and scrambled and twisted like an eel. The more he twisted and squirmed, the more firmly we held on, as we certainly thought he had got beyond his own and our control, and we expected that in a few moments we would have to go down below and gather his remains up and get them ready to ship home in a bag, but he was game, and pulled and kicked until he almost got away from us, and finally smacked the stone, secured his share of microbes, and yelled for us to pull him up, which we did with great alacrity. With this practice, and our experience and know- ledge of the situation, we handled the next victim more gracefully, and the two young men went away supremely happy, but I think instead of complimenting me in the urbane manner which kissing the stone was supposed to 430 . SHANDON CHURCH impart to them, they rather expressed the idea that I did not know how to hold a man while he was kissing the Blarney stone. There is a large, flat stone on the Tower called the Wishing stone, and there were two young ladies sitting on this and making wishes. What those wishes were I am unable to tell, as they refused to inform me. I kindly offered, however, to hold them by the feet while they kissed the Blarney stone; in a polite manner they refused my offer. I think, however, they went away somewhat disappointed. SHANDON CHURCH Going from Blarney back to Cork, we came in by the old church of Shandon. Among the most beautiful pieces of poetry I can call to mind are the lines regard- ing the chimes in the tower of this old church: "Those bells of Shandon, That sound so grand on The pleasant waters of the River Lee." We stopped at the church of Shandon, which was erected in 1722, and which has a curious steeple, three sides of which are of white limestone, while the fourth is red. We went up in the tower from which the bells of Shandon have so long sent out their sweet music. The bells are a complete chime, each note of the musical scale being represented by a different bell. The musician of the church kindly offered to ring the chimes for us, and upon our request to do so, he played for us a number of Irish melodies, among which were "The Bells of Shandon," "The Last Rose of Summer," "Be- lieve Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, " " The Harp That Once Through Tara's Hall," "The Lakes of 431 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE Killarney" and then "Home, Sweet Home." He per- formed very skillfully, and there were few experiences that we enjoyed while in Europe that were more inspir- ing than to hear played, entirely and exclusively for us, those historic bells, "Those bells of Shandon, That sound so grand on The pleasant waters of the River Lee." There was a fair in progress at Cork while we were there, and we took occasion to visit it. "While it was sup- posed to be a general fair, it appeared to me that it was mostly a show of hunting horses and hunting dogs. The horses jumped over high board fences and the dogs kept up a continual barking and howling. I do not know how many horses or dogs there were, but I think they were of almost equal numbers, and there were more hunting horses and more hunting dogs than I had ever seen at one place. I could hardly understand why, when Ireland needs so many things in the way of industries and for the betterment of her people and is suffering such extreme poverty, they could devote so much atten- tion as this would indicate, to the pastime of hunting and training horses and dogs. There was a butter making contest going on at this fair. Twenty or thirty robust girls were churning butter in patent barrel churns. They were working strenuously, and about every so often they would open the heads of the churns and look in to see how the butter was coming. As I looked at the young ladies and saw their muscular arms, which were bare to the elbows, and the expression of determination upon their faces, the roses in their cheeks, and the pearls that showed occasionally 432 BLARNEY CASTLE. Over the window in the front is the famous Blarney stone, held in place by two rods of iron.— Pafle 427. p FOOD FOR THOUGHT between their lips, I thought that any young man of Cork could not make much of a mistake even if he shut his eyes and picked out any one of the bevy. I was so im- pressed with these young ladies that I think I could have looked at the butter making contest for the next hour and have left that much time out of seeing the horse and dog department. As it was getting time for our departure, we re- turned to the hotel, took our baggage, and were soon on our way to Queenstown, where we were to take the steamer for home the next day. The next day was the glorious Fourth of July which, though not much of a day in Ireland, is a great day for us people in America, and an exceedingly appropriate day for all Americans to sail for home. FOOD FOR THOUGHT While there does not seem to be a great surplusage of food for the body in Ireland, there is plenty of food for reflection while making a trip through this country. The extreme poverty of most of the people, their struggle for existence, the great wealth of the chosen few, and the charms of the landscape all impress themselves upon one's mind. Ireland is one of the most beautiful spots on the earth, and its soil, where not overworked and worn out, is very productive. It is clothed with the greenest of verdure. Ferns, moss, ivy and holly grow abundantly, and everything seems to betoken a land of pleasure and of plenty. There is one thing that Ireland is extremely fortu- nate in having, and that is its almost inexhaustible peat bogs. Every place you travel in this country you see people digging up with long spades what seems to be ordinary soil, and cutting it into pieces that look like 433 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE large bricks. This is peat, which, is almost the only fuel used in Ireland, and it is peculiar how abundant this stuff is. "When it is first taken up it is moist and is stacked up and left to dry. As it dries out the blocks shrink considerably in size, and when thoroughly dry it is ready to use, and it makes a very warm and cheerful fire. The area of Ireland is 32,000 square miles, or about three-fifths that of the state of Illinois. Within one hundred and fifty years, between 1750 and 1900, Ireland had the most remarkable gain in population, followed by the greatest decline in the history of any civilized country of the world within the same length of time in modern times. The population in 1750 was given as 2,372,000. In 1841 it had increased to 8,145,000. Then occurred the great potato famine, when thousands died of starvation, and a great impetus was given to emigra- tion. In ten years the population had decreased to 6,552,000. By 1871 it had fallen to 5,412,000, and in 1901 it was only 4,456,000. In the meantime the sons of Erin have been scattered to all parts of the world, the largest number, however, coming to the United States to make their homes. It is an old joke, and about the truth, that England does not consider the Irish capable of ruling Ireland, and yet they come very near ruling all the rest of the earth. They are a peculiar and aggressive people and are usually heard from wherever they happen to locate. I might, at this point, write an eloquent tribute to the Irish, how their voices and arms are always upraised in the cause of liberty, and how their dead bodies have strewn the field of every great battle that has been waged for freedom or the betterment of mankind, but it 434 TROUBLE WITH IRELAND is not the purpose of these articles to extend laudations, but rather to cover a few things that may be of interest to my readers, which came to my attention in foreign lands. THE TROUBLE WITH IRELAND There certainly must be a cause for the wonderful depopulation of Ireland. Such radical changes do not take place in any country unless there is something the matter with the system, and there are a great many things wrong in reference to Ireland. This country has long struggled for home rule, and that, if brought about, would certainly have a tendency to better the conditions that exist. But it is not so much a question of home rule as it is a question of existence. The chief difficulties with Ireland, as far as I am able to judge, lie in the land question and the relations existing between landlord and tenant. While the great majority of people are struggling for an existence and are each year being pressed more closely to the wall of extremity, there are the other people living in affluence in Ireland, and many people living in England like the lords of creation, who ''toil not, neither do they spin," and yet they live upon the blood money of Ireland. Adjoining the lakes of Killarney where the evi- dences of poverty are so extreme that you can feel them in the air as you ride along the roads, there is a great estate which is called Lord Kenmare 's, I believe. It em- braces thousands of acres, is surrounded by stone walls, is ornamented with a castle, has gate-keepers' lodges at all the gates, and employs a retinue of servants. There deer graze upon the hillsides as plentifully and with more freedom than the cattle do in other parts of Ireland, men in knee pants play golf, beautiful women swing in 435 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE hammocks, swans disport themselves on artificial lakes, and sportsmen with breech-loading guns hunt game. Other estates like this are scattered all over this country, many of which are owned and controlled by non-resi- dents or absent landlords. Then again, the government of Ireland is extrava- gant in the extreme. The Lord Lieutenant, who is ap- pointed by the crown, gets a salary of one hundred thousand dollars per year, and, I presume, many per- quisites besides. Then there are twenty-three judges who are paid from ten to forty thousand dollars per year each. They nearly always convict, for in the year 1899, out of one thousand, nine hundred and fifty-three arrests made, there were one thousand, three hundred and ninety-nine convictions. How can the people of a little, impoverished country like Ireland, about half the size of one of our ordinary states, keep up" the extravagance of such a government, and such a judicial system, keep lords dressed in purple and fine linen, and pay thousands and even millions of dollars per year rental to absent landlords, without suf- fering the pangs of poverty, and sweating drops of blood for an existence? There was a man named Henry George, who died in New York a few years ago, who had some theories in regard to the land question. He was considered a theorist and many people thought his ideas impractica- ble, and yet, I am sure, those ideas were so far in ad- vance of the ordinary, that if his theories were applied in practice in Ireland at the present time, this island would soon become the garden spot of the earth. The declining population would increase to its former mag- nificent numbers, and poverty would be unknown. 436 LOOKING FORWARD A new law has been recently passed by parliament which proposes to remedy the existing conditions in Ireland, but, nnder its terms, it will take a long time to bring about any noticeable improvement. It provides that, under certain conditions, the tenant in the course of sixty years can buy the farm on which he lives, that is, if he lives that long and can keep up the payments, but, as the probabilities are that about ninety-nine out of every hundred will be dead before the sixty years is up, and the remaining one will meet with such misfortunes that he can't keep up his payments, it is pretty hard to figure out how the new law will give any immediate relief or help the present generation very much. Still, anything is better than the old system, and a trial of the new arrangement is at least worthy of at- tention. But if the best lands in Ireland are to be turned over in large tracts to absent or even resident landlords for pleasure grounds, for deer parks and hunting preserves, and all the expense of keeping up this luxury is squeezed out of the poor people who have nothing to start with, how can there be anything but continued and increasing poverty in this unfortunate island ? LOOKING FORWARD It would be well for the people of the United States to look ahead and see if we are not drifting into the same conditions that have brought Ireland to its present low level. Every year in this country there are more landlords, more tenants, higher rents, and fewer free and independent farmers than in the year previous, and it looks now as though the same conditions which de- stroyed Rome, brought on the French revolutions, and 437 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE which prevail in Ireland to-day, unless the system under which we are now operating is changed, will, in the course of time, prevail in the United States. Not only are our own landlords getting pretty large tracts of land, but the same English land barons that have squeezed Ireland until it is an exhausted lemon, are moving upon the United States where they are continu- ing the same system that has impoverished that island. Lord Scully of Ireland or England, who died re- cently, left an estate of three million acres in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, and on that three million acres there is scarcely an improvement that is a fit habitation for either man or beast. All improvements are made by the tenants, and if there are any that are good enough for a white man to exist in, they were produced, not by the system -that was carried on by Lord Scully, but in spite of that system. A few years ago, and we presume the conditions have not changed since except that the holdings are now probably larger, an investigation showed that the Texas Land Union, composed of Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Earl Cadogan and a number of other English hereditary capitalists, owned three million acres in Texas. Sir Edward Eeed and the Duchess of Marlborough, and Lady Eandolph Churchill owned a tract of two million acres in Florida. The Marquis Dalhousie, Viscount Cholmondeley, Lady Hamilton-Gordon and others had one million, eight hundred thousand acres in Mississippi. William, Marquis Montague, famed in Scotland as the "rack-rent" landlord, has one million and seventy-five thousand acres in this country. Another syndicate of peers has a tract of one million, three hundred thousand acres. The Anglo-American syndicate of London had 438 A JOLLY FAREWELL seven hundred thousand acres in Mississippi, and there are many others. It is a safe estimate that not less than forty million acres of land in the United States are owned by English, Scotch and Irish landlords, and the rent each year is used to buy more and add to that which is already owned by these people, or is spent in riotous living in foreign countries. So, it seems to me, that taking Ireland as an example and the start the same system has in this country, it is almost time for us to sit up and think. A JOLLY FAREWELL However, it is not my purpose to preach a sermon on abstract propositions, but rather to tell what a jolly time we had as we went along, and you will see what a jolly time we had getting away from Ireland. We got into Queenstown late in the afternoon, and found it a city lying against the hillside, with the houses built in steps one above the other. The biggest thing in town is a church on the main elevation, for it seems that in this world the people of any community never get too hard up to build fine churches, and it looks as though the poorer the people are the better the churches they build. And now for the pleasant time we had in Queens- town. "We were to leave the next morning at 9 o'clock on a tender to go out into the ocean and intercept the steamer on its way to New York. The morning came. It was Fourth of July, but the day was cold, wet and dis- agreeable as one could wish to be spared from. A misty rain was falling, the air was filled with fog, and it was so cold that we all huddled around a little fireplace in the hotel, which had an electric light behind a piece of 439 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE red isinglass to make the room appear warm, and waited to start on the trip. The steamer had been befogged somewhere between Plymouth in England and Queens- town in Ireland, and was behind time. We could not find out how far behind time it was, but sat shivering with our wraps on in momentary expectation of being called upon to proceed to the landing. The call finally came and we took the tender, two or three hours late, and started out through the islands in the Bay of Queenstown. The little tender was full of passengers, their baggage and about twenty-five hundred bags of mail. The waves rocked the boat to and fro and the rain came down in torrents. Even standing room was at a premium and everybody was crowded, wet and grouchy. It was a tearful farewell to Ireland. The day was as little like Fourth of July as anybody could well imagine. Getting out into the main ocean we found that there had been a miscalculation in the time and that the steamer had not arrived, so we spent another hour or so beat- ing around on the waves in the rain, waiting for the steamer to come. About two o'clock the Adriatic, the largest ship that up to this time had ever floated upon the ocean, came majestically through the waves, cast anchor and invited us on board. We climbed up a long stairway that had been let down the side of the ship, and were only too glad to leave the tender on which we had come from Queenstown. After a considerable time spent in transferring the baggage and the mail, the Adriatic was put in motion and, late in the afternoon, we passed the last point on the Irish coast. It is an abrupt promontory sur- mounted by a light house tower of pure white with black 440 HOMEWARD BOUND stripes around it. And this was the last we saw of Ire- land. How fast history is made nowadays ! For while we eame home on the largest boat that had ever floated upon the ocean at that time, before this article is pub- lished, two other boats, each nearly one-half larger than the Adriatic, have taken their places in the regular ocean trade and they make the trip in two days less time than this boat on which we secured passage. HOMEWARD BOUND • We were on our way home. As we have said before, the larger the steamer the more steady it is, but while we were now upon the largest steamer afloat, we found that no boat was ever made of such dimensions that it could bid defiance to the waves of the ocean, but would rise and fall with the long sweep across the face of the mighty deep. But there were no storms on our home- ward journey, and old tourists who had crossed the ocean many times said that it was certainly the smooth- est voyage they had ever experienced. We were thank- ful for this, we were thankful for the bright sunshine, and the broad expanse of blue waters, we enjoyed the re- freshing air and, more than anything else, we enjoyed the thought that we were on our way home, and we looked anxiously for the time when we should see old places, and should have the pleasure of meeting our old friends face to face. It is only after an absence in foreign countries that you can really appreciate the true, full meaning of those lines, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." After spending weeks and months looking into the faces of those you have never seen before and listening to a 441 SIXTY DAYS IN EUROPE jargon of incomprehensible foreign languages and sounds made by voices that are strange to you, it is grand to feel that soon you will see familiar faces and hear voices that you recognize, and listen to speech that you are sure you will understand. There was an outline map upon the wall. It was a map of the Atlantic ocean, and each day at noon, when the pilot and the captain would take the time and set the compass, they would locate a little flag on the map to show how far we had traveled since noon of the day before, and where the boat was at the time of the sun's meridian that day. These flags marked in a straight line a journey to our own beloved home. Finally the Statue of Liberty, which stands in New York harbor, came into view. The government officers in their yachts, flying the American flag, came out to meet us and the great buildings of New York, the high- est structures of the kind ever erected by man, loomed up in the sky line, and we felt that we were near our journey's end. And then we came up abreast of the pier and, before the boat touched, people on the landing exchanged words of greeting with those on board, and then stages were thrown out and the people went down and met those who were waiting for them. Husbands met wives, wives met husbands, fathers and mothers met their children, and children met their parents, and brothers and sisters met each other, and perhaps there were some whose hearts were otherwise joined who met each other and some were so glad that they fell upon each other's necks and clasped each other in their arms, and wept for joy, and many, like the prodigal son, came home with a good deal less than what they had when they started away, and they were ready to be blessed and 442 HOMEWARD BOUND enjoy the feast of the fatted calf. And so our journey to foreign lands was over, and henceforth would be stored in memory, which we hope will grow more roseate as time goes by. And now, a word to our readers. Some of you, perhaps, have had the patience to go along with us in this series of articles, on our long journey, and have shared with us our joys, our sorrows, our trials, pleas- ures and tribulations. We say, with some feeling on our part and, perhaps, some relief on yours, that this is the last of this long series of letters, but, while bidding you good-bye as far as these articles are concerned, we hope to meet every one of you face to face and heart to heart each day for many years to come, and may you live long and prosper is our earnest wish. The End. 443 SPAIN'S LOST JEWELS CUBA AND MEXICO. A Book of Travel covering Cuba and Mexico, by Thomas Rees, 400 pages, companion book to Sixty Days in Europe. Published by Illinois State Register, Springfield, Illinois. SIGNOR OJEDA, MAYOR OF MATANZAS, CUBA. Senator Thomas Rees, Springfield, 111. I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your book entitled "Spain's Lost Jewels," which I highly appreciate and will keep it in my library as a treasure of invaluable wealth. As I have lived four years in the City of Mexico, I can vouch that all that is written in its pages about Cuba and Mexico is true and genuine in every detail. CHICAGO RECORD-HERALD. A wide range of fact and fancy is covered by the book's pleasant pages, and the author's bubbling humor enhances his gift of seizing and presenting the most striking features of each subject of attack. 444 1-79 A V - <=* -ft? ° y *°' - ft". %* ^ * y » a v *>Tv <*^ ' . . * < & V ° " ° •» "^ ^ v > „N * H°, < V .*» % 4 o A •' .^V vot- : ^ : .l LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 657 416 1 m vm ■■ m m ■■■ ■ w Warn IfiH B&fl ■■I ■ hi •ui j ■H