The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-08-28
JOAQUIN ABROAD.
The Roaming Poet of the Sierras on the
APpian Way.

The Roaming Poet of the Sierras on the
Appian Way.
Joaquin Miller has an article in last
weeks Independent on a drive on the
Appian Way. 1t is written in an eccen-
trio, off-hand manner, and is very char
acteristic. We give some extracts be-
low:
'When a man from the far, far West,
from the under world, as it were, makes
his way around the globe end comes
first upon the footprints of the apostles,
he is thrilled by sort of awethat moth
ing else can produce. He feels some
how that he has come upon the confines
of another world, better world and a
fairer one, and he, for the day at least,
is better man for the fact.
"You get tired of Rome III a month
or two, in spite of yourself-ruins and
galleries, towers and churches (365
churches-if there had been more days
in the year there would have been more
churches in Rome) land you want to
get outside the great brick walls some
where and sit down and rest. You are
q sort of anaconda, that has at last swal-
lowed an OK, and you want to steal away
and lie down and digest it.
"I had kept the Appian Way as some
thing sacred, a sort of dessert to be
taken when all else had pailed and
grown dull.
1.-THE road by which Saint Paul first
entered Rome, and by which the Cath
Ole tradition says Saint Peter attempted
to escape crucifxfon in the Eternal
City, still lay under the mantle of i'm
agination, and now, at last, when deter
mined to leave Rome for a little rest,
my chum and my chum for day, a
sour, one-eyed old rufian; reformed or
perhaps unreformed pirate; man
whom had met in Rome, and melted
into and liked because he was so hated
by all others, and was very homely and
plain with his big forked teeth and hol-
low eyes-well, this man and had res
olved to take carriage and drive along
the Applan Way, to the first railway sta
ton on our way to Naples.
"We were cheerful over the prospect
of doing a Gypsy business, tumbliDg
over grassy tombs of the Caesars, pick
ing up few skulls by the way, and
above all seeing this road-the road of
all the roads that lead to Rome-and so
talked cheerily over the matter at break
fast.
''The Appian Way is dreadfully dis
appointing. 1t is not more than twenty
or swenty-five feet wide, and there is
not shade tree to be seen along the
way.
''On either hand lift great walls, that
hide the gardens and the peasants at
their labor; and but for the interesting
relics which compose these walls in part
you would find but little to amuse you.
"These walls in many places have
been repaired, or we're originally built
of broken marble plundered from heaven
knows what ruined city or place, for
these Romans Seem to have had no re-
spect whatever for antiquity. The
great st. Peters church, fol- example, is
built for the most part, out of stones
taken from their most picturesque
ruins.
" You will notice broken arm reach
ing helplessly out of this wall on the
Appian Way in one place, as you pass,
and in another you will see a pretty
cluster of flowers. A part of a giant
serpent is also to be seen, along with a
hundred other like fragments of art,
where the storms of time have laid
bare thd rough masonary of the wall.
"Latterly, however, these gentle
Romans have come 20 preserve all these
things and stick them up in the stucco
walls of the houses all along the roads.
This, of course, soils the effect, and you
take less interest in the broken marbles
when you find they are posted up for
exhibition.
"Capuchin monks, in brown gowns
and sandals, go by, indolent-looking
and filthy, though they are said to be
about the best of their kind and very
attentive to the sick in times of the
plague.
"Now we meet family of peasants
going into town. They all have loads
on their heads, and chat and sing and
seem very happy. I have never yet
seen a monk carry anything heavier
than his little basket, wherein to put
whatever may be given him in charity.
Imay add, however, that that is just
one basket more than I have seen any
clergyman here carry.
virgins and holy families look down
at us from inches in the walls, and now
and then we pass a Madonna, with
burning lamp.
can Eoglish party, returning in car
riages, meet US here /; and a lot of carts |
bearing fruit and wheat for town and |
we find the great Appian road so narrow |
that it is with difficulty that we can
pass.
"Here is little church to the left,
in which the guide-book says are the |
two footprints of our Savior in the
stone. We step in, and find two monks
at the door stringing beads.
"This is the story of the footprints.
est. Peter had been condemned in
Rome to be crucified; but his heart had
failed him, and having met with an OPP
portunity to escape, he was now making
his way at night on the Appian way
towards the sea. But suddenly here,
on the site of this church, which is
built over the old road, so that the new
road has to pass around it, he came face
to face with his master.
"Peter said Master, whittier goest
ihou?"
"I go to Rome to be crucifed.'
cat this Peter returned to Rome and
lied at the hands of the Romans, on
he site of st. Peters church.
1.-The very paving stones of the old
Dad are still here and form the floor of
he church. But the good priest tells
is that this is only a copy of the stone
n which the feet of the Savior pressed
IS he spoke to Peter and we pass on
owards the church of st. Sebastian,
where we hope to see the original foot
PRINTS"