Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1903 — Another Letter From Europe. [ARTICLE]

Another Letter From Europe.

Luoerne, July 29,1903. We are now in Luoerne, Switzerland, after having seen Naples, Rome, Florenoe, Venioe and Milan. We landed at Naples on the morning of Jnly sixteenth, and our first impressions of the plaoe were varied. The bay was a disappointment as seen from our boat, but when we drove up the hills behind the oity we appreciated its beauty. The water is blue and is dotted with the white sails of the fishing boats. On one side of the bay is Vesuvius from which occasional pnffs of smoke arise; on the other side is the oity with its white buildings and green gardens. It is beautiful from a distance and of oourse there are many lovely villas on the hillsides but the oity itself is made up of narrow, crooked streets lined with tiny shops, and filled with a confusion of people and cabs. The lower classes live in the streets p rinoipally—at least they eat, sleep, dress, and buy and sell goods there. The washings are hung over the balcony railings or strung from wall to wall. We saw washings everywhere and yet the people looked dirty and untidy. The sanitation is very poor find the smells are fearful. We became hardened to smells in Italy for eaoh oity had its own peouliar kind and even Venioe otherwise so attractive, furnished an order of dead fish whioh at times was siokening. Rome is associated with long

lines of piotnre galleries and obnrohes—and Tty the way our party has turned etabbnrn on the sabjeot of churches. We have been led throngh so many and listened as guides in nnintelligable English, described mosaics, told ns the dates of the relics and praised the works of painters and sculptors whose names we in onr ignoranoe had never heard. \ Bnt we have come to the last of onr patienoe and when the sightseeing is planned the first question » “Any Churches?” and the irreverent boys in the party express the popular feeling when they say ‘ Cut ’em out.”

One rather interesting co inoi. denoe oooured in Borne. Our party was the last to go through the Vatican whioh is now closed, and it happened that at the time we were in St. John’s Lateran whioh is the Pope’s own ohapel and the ghide had just pointed out the looation ohosen by Leo XIII for his tomb. The bells began to toll announcing the Pope’s death. There was very little demonstration of mourning; notioea were put up, shops were closed for a few hours, and a few flags were hung at half mast, but otherwise the people went about as usual. The houses in Italy are almost entirely built of,tufa a white stone, which is plastered and painted to make it more, durable. The roofs are made of tile. The oountry is well cultivated and very pretty. Grapes and figs and tomatoes are grown in abundanoe. The grapevines are trained on small trees and are loaded with fruit. The tomatoes are very small. White oxen are seen everywhere and are used for plowing and hauling loads.

We are now among the Alps, but I oaught my fiist glimpse of them from the top of the oathedral of Milan. We climbed over four hundred steps up a narrow oorksorew staircase till we came out on a small baloony at the top., The view was fine but the wind was so oold and the height so terrifying that no one lingered long. There is a great deal to tell about Venice, which folly equalled our expectations, but I have not the time nor patience to write it all, and I shall leave Switzerland for my next letter, —■ Hxlkna Washburn.