The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-07-04
Senatorial Shows In Palermo.

connected Win tne COuNcut vi N'2u'O
Spirito are two vaulted galleries in
which are kept the skeletons OF certain
noted persons. The anatomies are at
tired in the garments they wore in the
flesh, and exposed in cases and coffins
covered with glass. A ghastlier exhl>
bition could not be devised; and as you
come suddenly upon it, you are more
reyolted than if you had been gradually
led up to the dismal display. The
object is devotional, of course. 10
wean you from the living it is deemed
desirable to disgust you with the dead:
What is the good OF death, l should
like to know, if we are to have our re.
mains rendered repulsive? The ekeie'
tons are tricked out IN the tawdrlest
tinery, and the contrast between gay
clothes and grave plunder would De
shocking to mind not capable of see-
ing the grim humor Of the thing.
On one side is the remnant OF an
army officer gaudily adorned, his
osseous appearance clearly indicating,
notwithstanding his fine clothes, that
he is in no condition to receive COM
pany. Not far away is what was once
a woman-sadly out of repair at present
in a "loye Of a bonnet" the ribbons
living upon her cervical vertebr@, and
fine lace cap enwrapping her clavicie.
On the bosy fingers oil a late (very
late) leader of society are white kid
gloves, and her tibie and fibula are
covered with embroidered silk hose.
Some Of the grinuing skulls induce you
to believe they are enjoying the drollery
of the situation and lutimatiDg BY a
silent chuckle that they are vastly bet-
ter off than the spectators.
The Sicillians never suspect that
their show is funny and question II
its comic element would be detected by
apy one but an American. Palermo
is not the place for it. 1t ought to be
removed over here. 1t would draw 10
Sacramento and San Francisco, and
large bets would be taken on the rels-
tive ugliness OF the different skeletons,
leaving the question to be decided by
the gentlemen in the coffins.
Several OF the feminine departed may
suggest other decayed ladies, who not
only refuse TO be buried. but try to
hoodwink you to pretending they are
still Young. They may iusinuate they
are the counterfeits OF animated soclal
antiques of your external acqua'n-
tsnce, minus their toilet and the
artful marvels out Of which they are
created.
At the Capuchin Convent on the 9th.
er side of Palermo, near the Zlza Palace.
the mortuary specimens are still more
curious. great many bodies OF both
sexes are preserved there, having been
embalmed after death. by peculiar
process, part of which consists OF expo
sure to running water several mon tbs
Every monk OF St. Fransis who bad
died at Palermo is deposited in those
gloomy vaults, the light falling from
small upper windows across the grain
ed arches. The ghostly iriars are dres-
sed ip the habit OF their order, and
either laid away on shelves. or fastened
against the walls in upright position.
There is dreary sportiveness in the
dessicated old fellows which they never
suspect. Some of them wear their hoods,
Others are bare headed, showing the
tonsure that marks their priestly Of
fee. Death is rarely ludicrous, nor
are its surroundings and associations OF
q sort to inspire mirth. But defy any
man possessing the smallest vein oil
humor,: however unworked, to go
through those catacombs and examine
the mummified without Laughing in
wardly or outwardly. The mode OF EN-
balming has given many OF the monks
a decidedly queer and waggish look.
They are saturnists in lite, and they are
involuntary testers in death. Beyond
the grave they lost their gravity, after
sepulture they ceased to be sepu!chral.
None OF them are erect-indeed they
incline at as many angles as the houses
of Amsterdam-and they are grouped
together very grotesquely. A number
would serve as illustrations Of different
stages of ebrie,y, from the flush Of ele-
walton to staggeringly stupid intoxica'
ton. They lean on one another after
manner of incapacitated topers, they
pitch forward, they stretch backward
ike mousstic Toodleses, aud you ex-
pect every minute to hear them ask in
hollow tones for q dozen fiagons OF
of Lscryma Christi.-Harp1s Aaga-
zine. ss.E . -T7. 7.-rs-