Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-01
mo. So
What n Merchant saw i'm Europe.

read of Italy and not of Florence? The
chosen seat of art as it is the home of
the beggar. The old adage, Zone ex-
IRENE begets the other" could hardly
have better illustration Drive out the
Cascine amidst the crowd of gay equip
ages, roam through the miles of pictures
in the Florentine galleries, and then take
a pedestrian tour through the streets of
this modern Athens. Beggary on all
sides. Living IS very cheap here if one
chooses to avail himself OF it, but the first
class hotels have a way of bleeding ones
pocket-book as the BARRIERS phleboto-
mise. For almost every i'll to which
human flesh is heir, bleeding is resorted
to and is thought to be standard rene.
| dy. The BARRIERS are generally the
bleeders and, consequently, the BARRIERS
are the chief doctors of Florence.
Arnold says that many of the people
live almost entirely ON chestnuts and
bread, and never taste meat. Chestnuts
are as much the popular food as potatoes
in Ireland, and the failure of that crop
is bewailed as a public calamity. Il
believe they are the only articles in the
city, except pictures and statues, not sold
by the pound. If one buys a peach or
an apple 1t must be weighed One Of
| the Florentine peculiarities Is the flower
girl. They are not neat little sylphs,
with the air of having just foased out
! of some fairy tale, but stout old women,
wrinkled and brown with course straw
hats. Almost everything is eaten by
the poor of this city, and fat cat is re-
| garded as a dainty morsel. One favor
/ tie food is fried cakes OF coagulated
blood, which are eaten with avidity. A
Florentine almost invariably takes break
fast of simple roll, generally without
butter, and cup of coffee. If it were
not for poverty he would gladly, like
the ancients, ''brag of the madness of
delicious feasts, and that his kitchen
was running his patrimony" We have
been to the Duomo and have assembled
the bell tower, up 413 steps and at an
/ altitude of 275 feet Florence lay al
our feet. The Florence of the Medicis,
! the Florence Of Angelo, the Florence of
Dante, and here, on a stone let into the
wall. are engraven these words, ''Sasso
/ de Dante, the seat of Dante, where the
great poet and philosopher used to sit
and mediate. We have been to the
! great Uffizi gallery, and to its tribune,
/ where stands that world-famed piece
/ of statuary, the Venus de Nedici.
Incapable as | am TO judge, cannot
i withhold the comment that for grace Of
posture, exquisiteness of finish and COM
! pleteness of detail, It's the cbOiceSt piece
! of statuary | have seen. OF itself, the
! Venus de Medici would make the trib-
une famous But here is Young Apollo,
i the Dancing Faun, the Wrestlers, and
"A Slave whetting his knife - each
! one of which has been moulded in plas-
4 ter, and may be seen in each chief city
i of the civilized world. Raphael's Ma
i donna of the Goldfnch hangs on the
wall St. John preaching, and some of
/ Titians' choicest. / shall not attempt a
! description of the almost endless sue
4 cession of rooms and corridors which
+ compose the UffiZis; and crossing the
( Arno over the housetOps, and all the
+ while in the gallery, we come to the
/ Pitt palace. After several hours in the
/ galleries we went TO the kings gardens,
/ which have much natural beauty, but
I are poorly cared for. Our drive TO the
i central park Of Florence, the CdSciae,
proved a rare treat, for, not as hereto
/ fore, we saw much of Italian high life.
/ The drive consists of but two main ave
! aues, about two miles long. skirted on
either side by thickly wooded dells, only
penetrated by pleasure walks and eques-
/ trian roads Midway on the drive we
/ came to a circular area of probably
I 900 feet, and here at the evening hour
4 a band of music discourses sweet strains
from the favorite operas. lis here the
/ bon ton of Florence make their social
/ calls and carry on the amenities of the
social life of Italy, where homes are so
/ secluded and of such secondary consid-
! Grafton, and where parades and preten-
sion counts for much with the better
classes. 1t matters not if you live well
up toward the stars in scanty apart
| ments half starved by perjury, if Won
must, club with some similarly-situated
neighbor, sustain coach and pair, with
footman, and box at the opera. if you
would be accounted respectable In Flor
entine society, On the drive at the
/ Cascine you meet your friends, and Ia
the opera box you interchange calls
| Home nothing, society everything.
j Surely il is the greatest weakness of
! Italy next to the apostacy of her relig-
ious life, by which is propagated, and
under which Is nurtured, the foe 10
/ genuine home life. A carriage never
halts on the Cascine parade but what the
| knee-breeched or leggined footman dis
/ mounts instanter, rushes TO the rear, and
| there, with folded arms, motionless Is a
| statue, he stands until the retinue is
ready to move forward. OF the thou
sand or more carriages we saw tonight,
I cannot recall one that carried the gentle
unpretentious wife besides dotiDg hus-
bands but my recollection is viyidly
haunted by the profusion of laces and
trimmings, the pulled hairs, gaudy dress
and paraphranalia of high life In Flor.
ence.
At the church "Santa Cruel" we saw
the sepulchres of Florence's greatest
sons. Here the tomb of Michael Ange-
10, with its statues sYmbOliZing painting,
sculpture and architecture. The first
with an easel and brush, the second
holding chisel, and the last with a
| compass, and each of the figures a
mourning maiden. 4 colossal figure Of
Dante tells US where his dust lies; and
Michiayelli and the great Gallileo. You
NAV remember that ST. Bernardino was
the inventor of initials. Having taken
to severe censure one of his flock for
manufacturing playing cards, the offend
or demonstrated with the holy father,
and assured him that it was bis only
source of livelihood. The saint replies,
"Put these letters on your blank
cards, Il. A. S. which shall stand
for 'IeSus HomlinuE Salvator, =
Jesus the Savior of men.
The poor card maker did so and the
Saint bought them for the church, and
thus from this circumstance arose the
initials /. ii. S., which have gone TO the
utmost verge of Christendom. From
Palestine in the east TO the Rocky Noun
tain slopes in the west, l. II. =. may be
seen wherever missionary of the Rom
ieh faith has rnnn and where has he not