Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-02-06


un up to my Sunday school for a loving
ook and q song OF word of cheer-shake
lands with the same dear people that [ re-
dice to see are now comforting and help
ng Bro. Manly as they once helped me-
preach my sermon sometimes with the feel
ng | can never preach again, and anon
ceiling how blessed and glorious and de-
ightful a thing it is to preach hurry from
Inner to the Asylum, or a Teachers meet
ng-run over to chat with an alas inval-
d brother, rest few moments for the
light service, then preach again weary in
If the day-perhaps close with baptism,
md return home for a good talk with Bro
Hart.
Such have been my Sundays for these
years past-I scarcely dare to think of
Them now-such are substantially the Sun
lays of scores of pastors who will read
these lines. and can follow them through
their Sunday duties and seem to see their
faces and hear their voices as of yore. But
[ am to speak not of my past, but of my
present Sundays-of my Sundays in Rome
that many will read the account
with interest from the personal love they
feel even for one so unworthy as the
writer.
Often in past years have walked Sunday
morning oppressed with the feeling. 81
have to preach to-day" Now, the sad re-
lection which comes to me when | awake
is, 'sThis is dumb Sabbath for me.''-
Dear brother pastor, if you ever feel OPP
pressed with having to preach when per
haps you are sick or poorly prepared, do
think of your grief if from any cause the
privilege of preaching were taken from
you.
AS lie for a few moments, cheerful
bell greets my ear. 1t is the bell of the
''Scotch College," for the Pope has Col
lege here to train priests even for Scotland,
and the stately building is just opposite my
apartments. Breakfast over, l start on
MY WALK TO THE TRAsTEvERK,
where our mission school is conducted
The Quirinal is descended. Yonder waves
the flag of Victor Emmanuel's palace
An hour OF two earlier. might have met
+ i'm, for he is an early riser, and, despite
his present relation to the Pope, is a devo-
ted son of the church, and has gone betimes
this morning to his villa to hear mass
What crowded street is this, from the
Piazza Barbenini, by the magnificent foun-
tain of the Trevi, and across the Corso J.
Have care, or that wagon, top-heavy
with it's huge load Of furniture, or that
madly driven vettura will Craze or crush
YOU, for there is no sidewalk. 1t is very
painful to see these cafes and stores all
open, and the tide of business rushing on
even more than on other days. Broadway
on week day is not more crowded and
busy. Nor is it much relief to pass church
after church, and see the Roman ladies
with their rosaries and their gilt prayer
books. the crowds of black-robed priests,
and the brown-hooded, dirty-footed Capu-
chin monks Indeed. it is just the COM
of busy worldliness and of devoted
which makes ones heart ache
so in spending Sunday in Rome. pass
now through densely populated neigh
borhood, up a narrow, forbiddlng street,
half obscured by clothes heing hung out
from the houses to dry, and [ enter our
damp, dark, cherries
LOCALE OR MEETING-PLACE.
The girls room has it's quota of pupils,
and they are busy, and the little, boys, too,
are reciting; but the youth of the Bible
class are missing Having nothing special
to do, prefer to be in the sunlight, and
walk a few squares, just on the eve of feel
ing utterly discouraged and depressed,
when / recall the words addressed by my
father to Clopton and Pearcy Jour frs,
in 1916, in which he cautions
them against the fell influence of despon-
dency." They are words in season to me
now. 1 return to the hall with peaceful,
heart Meantime some of the
Bible class have gathered, and an hour is
spent in reading together Gods word, the
chapter for the day suggesting reflections
quite pertinent to the peculiar circumstan-
ces and surroundings of my hearers. At
length the school is assembled for
GENERAL EXERCISES.
See among the girls that old woman. She
always comes, and generally has, as now,
her pot of burning charcoal to warm her
hands, for we have no means Of making a
fire, and never have one. See that little
fellow, and join the school in laughing at
him. A curtain hangs at the doorway,
and he has rushed at it, expecting it to give
way and let him in, and instead he finds
his head and shoulders caught in a slit, and
for a moment he can neither advance nor
recede. But when, in the course Of the
question, describes Romish church as a
Santa Bottega" (holy shop, she not only
evokes laugh at the hit, but shows she
has appreciated certain explanations given,
which is peculiarly gratifying; for while
the Italian children memoriZe well and re-
eite in concert with a vim, they have a
great tendency to do both quite mechani-
cally, and [ have again and again to warn
them against being like the pappa-yallo
,parrot). We close with singing. 1t is
well done, and much of it sounds familiar,
being to the tunes we have at home. After
all else is over the children get a nOur-
shing
SOUP DINNER,
which is brought from IL neighh0ring este
ria in big pot, with ladle and plates and
spoons, and bowl of grated cheese to be
stirred in. 1t costs two cents per head,
md is cheap and most acceptable char
ty. Most of the schools give it daily land
hat is little compared with the inducement
offered by the priests), we only on Sunday.
A fter thinking good deal about it, | am
satisfied it is a legitimate expense Of the
Mission: but to avoid all possible COM
,laint, am expecting, with the aid Of
A GOOD SISTER in sTAUNToN,
who loves to feed the poor, to give this soup
% the children outside entirely of mission
money, am not above personally super
intending It's distribution and while there
IRE some things aR l5to9H it not pleasant, |
eel real satisfaction irl seeing the little
elbows kneeling before their chairs and
,ating with such eagerness; and in hearing
heir warm ,tgrazie" lthanks) as they pick
10 their tattered caps and run away
Vow, for variety. can return home
,n,..nngh
THE GHETTO
the Jews quarter), and have glance :, :.
he First market, and by going few steps
side, of the famous Cloaca Maximes.-
Veil, after this six miles walk and the
York of the morning, Il am quite ready to
tay at home the short afternoon, sending
he Older children alone to their Sunday
shool and helping the mother to care for
ne younger ones, and perhaps reading a
wv chapters in the Bible, OF tract or q
oil in Ito1ion-Qnd Coma