Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1895 — LEO IS FAILING FAST. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LEO IS FAILING FAST.

ALAJfeMING REPORT OF THE POPE'S CONDITION. >JOdiction Blade that He will NotUr* I • Winter Out—How the Pontile tym Are Spent-Vitality Centered a Hie Brain. Day with the Pope. Although it is not true that the Pope k dying, it is learned that his strength has rapidly declined during the last few months. His entourage is of the opinion that he will not survive the winter, and it is added that -all his vitality seems to be centered in his brain. In speaking of the pontiff’s falling health, It is well to give a brief review of his daily life. The Pope usually rises at 7 o’clock, his chamber door having been previously unlocked by

his faithful body servant, Centra. At night Leo XIII. locks the door of his bedroom with a key which never passes out of his hands, a second door being locked by Centra when his holiness Is In bed. The Pope is thus practically a prisoner at night, but Centra Is generally within call. This servant la a person of the greatest influence at tbe Vatican; the pontiff relies upon him implicitly, and his trust is well placed. As soon as the Pope Is dressed by his valet in his white woolen cassock and wadded silk gown, he recites the prayers in his bedroom, passing directly afterward into a neighboring

apartment, which has been arranged as an oratory. Here he is robed in sacerdotal garments by his private; chamberlains, Mgr. Cagiano da Azevedo and Mgr. Bisletti. Mass is then celebrated, to which no strangers are admitted save on Sundays. The service occupies three-quarters of an hour, at the end of which time Leo XIII. returns to hla bedroom, where Centra brings him the first of the numerous meals of soup and ehocolate upon which he sustains a body described by a French writer as “so thin and meager that It seems to have escaped from one of the passions with which Crivelli and Mantegna decorated the walls of the Vatican.” If he has decided to give audience to any •f the numerous pilgrims always in Rome, he receives them in the library after his frugal dejeuner. Supporting himself against a long table In the middle of the room, the Pope talks for some minutes with each of his visitors, asking their name, their country, and the history of their family. Although his manner of speaking is slow. Its tone betrays the keen interest he bestows upon the veriest trifle. In addition, hls memory is marvelous. He never forgets a face, and remembers the name of every Roman Catholic who has done the church signal service. To American and to English visitors he talks of the well-known men of their countries with the same certaiflty of his facts that would mark his conversation with one of his compatriots of Carplneto. In the course of the morning Cardinal Rampolla, the pope’s secretary of state; brings his master the political news of the day. This being discussed ami arranged, if it be Tuesday or Friday, the household accounts are gone Into and paid. The expenses at the Vatican are very heavy, one authority estimating them at £I,OOO a day, but, when the Immense number of cardinals, cfaam- ~ berlalns, servants and the personnel of the many papal institutions who live within the walls of the palace are remembered, It does not seem to be an outrageous cost The pope Is a keen man of business; not one Item of expenditure escapes his eye, and he pays the bills from a coffer the key of which never leaves him. In the matter of carrying keys about with him. the pope Ars reminded more than one person of Goetbe, who invariably had hls keys, especially those of his library, hung round his waist like a gaoler. At midday the audience is given to crowpei heads or distinguished men. If the visitor is a sovereign the pope receives him in the throne room, surrounded by his cardinals, who retire as soon as the potentate has been ihtroduced. Lunch of the simplest fare follows, the menu consisting chiefly of eggs. This ended, the pope takes the air in the gardens of the Vatican In a ear-, riage, being carried to the garden in • chair through the galleries of the Bbrary. Escorted by two gewUrmm .

•rr r ** . v i '<r ■ at ynahtf hy a» officer, the carriage) yraaaaAa a* a alow trot through tha dsMama following on foot, as best thag an, aatll a cascade overlooking St > agate reached. Here the pope aHgfcta nd leaning on the arm of a Hhamhartala, or supporting himself with a caaa, Inspects a vine planted fay hiawilf at the foot of the Citta Leonine tower, the new battlements upon which have recently been added by the architect Veapi guana by the pope’s order* 'Hria vine is said to be dearer to the pope than all the wonders of the Vatican. He gathers its fruit with bis own hands, and last year it yielded a fair quality of wine. Next to the vine the cultivation of roses is the pope’s greatest pleasure. Hia holiness frequently spends the better part of his day in the tower, reserving the upper story for himself. Ka one Is allowed to enter it save hlmself, and ifcumJd cardinals or princes desire ursrext audience, they are received In a lower room luisg with red silk. Leo, despite hia advanced age, takes Utfla rant, and works as industriously in the cool upper chamber of the Leontoa tower during the hot hours of the Roman, afternoon as he does in his study during the morning. From his windows ho can see the city, lying beyond tha walks and alleys of tbe Vatican gardens, la the slumberous beat tier upon tier, with the San Angelo fronting the Tiber, a relic of the temporal power once wielded by the pontiffs

With sunset the pope’s airing Is over. As day slowly fades from the sky the chair-hearers In their red liveries appear at the door of the tower and carry him back to his carriage, and thence through the Raphael chambers and the galleries of the library to his private apartments, away from his vine and his roam, from the sunlight and fresh air, to the gloominess and seclusion of the palace. Having recited the rosary tat company with one of his domestic prelates the tireless pope sits down at fate writing table and works until Centra attends him to bed, and the long day la done. Such Is the major portion of the pontiff’s life.

LEO XIII. AS HE IS TO-DAY.

THE POPE’S BEDROOM. THE POPE’S DINING-ROOM. THE POPE'S STUDY.