Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-10-16
"Noac yield thee" he turned as not de

'Oh TIber. father Tiber.
To whom the Romans prav,
a Romans life, Romans arms,
Take thou in charge this dayr'
And how he then plunged headong in
to the tide" and "father Tiber" heard hi:
prayer, and bore him safe to the landing
place; and how call Rome sent forth rap.
turous cry'' when he gained the Shore
Oh, those rare, "brave days Of old!'
Monday, Apra 7h-M. staid at home
to write to-day, but Lima; the dearest little
creature that ever prattled Italian-and ]
started forth on a delightful exploring ex-
pedition. l had my map, and 50 all We
had to do was to choose the place we would
like to visit. Both strong and good walk
ers. distance was no object; we therefore
decided for the Fountain of Egeria, three
miles from the Pincian Hill. Soon after
leaving the gate Of St. Sebastian, our way
turned down shaded pathway between
vineyards, which led by the loveliest,
windings to the Vale of the Almo, in one
of whose green hills is the Grotto of Eye
ria. There was towering wild-vine
climbing over clump of low trees on one
side of the path, which sent forth the sweet
est fragrance | ever inhaled we could
scent it for great distance Lima could
not tell me its name, and the flowers with
cred and lost their exquisite perfume the
moment they were exposed to the sun, SO
did not try to preserve any ofthem, which
| now regret. But the little vale, how
beautiful is it and its surroundings
Clasped by 4 circlet of hills. watervd by
the slender Almo, with view beyond of
the white villages Of Frascati and Albano,
perched Oh the sides Of the AL
ban hills. The grotto has six empty Mich
es, and a seventh with a statute, much de-
faced, SO much SO that its subject cannot
be known with certainty. Three Jets of
crystal water issue from the walls, and
from the fountain And when Lima had
told me in her soft, musical lingua Romano,
that it was Roman Custom to drink of
these pure streams to the happiness of
friends, | made cup of leaves, and, were
wishes only prophesies, those 1 mingled
with every bright draught would bless ma
ny dear one across the far blue sea, in the
HOMELAND.
On leaving The grotto we met an English
bridal party-the happy Bridegroom was
quoting Juvenal to his lady, who smiled
sweetly in return, though You could see
she did not pretend to understand a word
We gathered great many of the early Al
mo violets mentioned in Byron's lines
1.-The sweetness the violets deep blue eyes,
Kiss'd by the bre ath of heaven, seemed color'd
by its skies
Climbing the hill above the grotto. with
fern, flowers, and ivy" twining round its
sides We walked across the fields on the
other side, and came out on the Appian
Way, near the tomb of Cecilia Metalla 1t
occupies slight eminence; Rome, with her
turreted walls and myriad monuments, lay
before us, beneath the evening beauty of
her clear, soft April sky. Our way home
led along the Way of Tombs, through the
Porta San Sebastiano. past the sepulchre
of the Scipios with its lone cypress tree,
and along some scores of curious old streets
to the Via Gregoriana. As | write | hear
Lima giving her 'madre" a description of
our happy day But | begin to feel little
in need of rest;-good night. my little
Journal. S. \. B.