River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1875-04-23

ence Of the Pope; but he believed that he
saw before him Signor Cozzi, to wi n, as
he thought, his letter Of introduction mad
been delivered. Never having seen Plus
Ninth, he had not the remotest idea of
the identity of the individual whom he
was addressing. II he had, we may per-
haps doubt whether he would have acted
very differently. But yet, here he was,
in the very chamber which Kings and
Emperors have entered with Bonded knees,
in order to kiss the sacred signet on the
finger of him whom they regarded as the
vicegerent Of heaven upon
earth. Other and less exalted
personages, in accordance with the re-
quirements of the papal court, are not adj.
mitted to this privilege, They, too, are
expected to advance upon their knees,
but not to venture upon saluting the
hand of the pontiff. 1t is theirs to press
their lips upon the emblems embroidered
Oh the point Of His Holiness slippcr-a
performance which is vulgarly known as
kissing the Pope's toe
They who have seen the wonderful
picture by Healey, recently exhibited in
the art gallery of the Chicago Exposition,
can form just conception of the sweet
ness and benevolence that beam in the
countenance of this primate of the
Church OF Rome. Whatever NAV be
said by those who disagree with him, re.
specting his doctrnal belief, his firm ad-
herence to the ancient prerogatives Of his
office, and his unmitigated hatred of those
wheme he considers the spoilers of the
church's heritage, certainly there is but
one opinion respectiong his private char
acter. He is universally admitted to be
kind-hearted, urbane, Christian gentle
man.
1t must be confessed that he was not a
little surprised at the manner in which
he was approached by his visitor ON this
occasion. Dixon strobe into the roem as
though he were pacing the quarterback
| of a frigate, and, advancing to his Holt
ness, seized the hand of the latter, and
shook it with all the unaffected earnest
ness of sincerity. 'Sir,' said he, la his
execrable French, 81 am delighted to see
you. am proud to make your acquain-
tance-upon my word am Permit me
to hand you my card. Mr.. Bella was
very kind in giving me the letter ofintro-
duction. If he hadn't, think | should
have dipped my colors, and introduced
myself. You seem to be pretty much at
home here. Private Office, suppose, and
all that sort of thing. Not much of a
run, after all, down to your house on the
Corso. Well. you don't do much more
in the way of style here than did, when
| entered midshipman's steerage and
babe goodbye to the corner grocery in
Oshkosh ~
The Pope was at first startled. then
shocked, and finally convinced that an
error had been committed somewhere. He
accordingly rose from his official seat,
and, extending three fingers of his soft
white hand, in the manner according to
which it is customary to give the papal
benediction, pronounced the following
words in Latin: "Pax tecum-in pace
demitto, filio!' Now this was a polite
intimation to his visitor to terminate the
interview.
But the young gentleman had never
enjoyed the advantages of a classical ed
ucation, and was therefore not to be
blamed for supposing that his host pointed
to the vacant chair in the room, with a
request for him to be seated. He accord
lngly deposited his cooked hat on the
floor, placed himself in the chair, tipped
it back till his head rested against the
adjacent wall, and regarded his companion
with look of the most bland and cheer
full serenity.
"That servant of yours, he continued,
''the one that showed me in here, hasn't
got COMPOUNDED nonsense about him. He
introduced me with about as little
ceremony as Folder did, when
he made sam acquainted with the
ward-room mess. Folder is one
of our lieutenants on the Muskaloosa, and
Sam is the name which the sailors have
given to a ring-tailed monkey we've got
on board ship. You see the other day,
when all the officers were seated at mess,
the monkey took it into his head to sus-
pend himself in ar open hatchway, just
over the mess-table. To make himself
fact, he had taken two or three turns of
his tail around the lanyard of the next
windsail. There he swung, much to his
own delight, and unperceiyed by those
beneath, when Folder, who was officer of
the deck happened to be passing, and
noticed the ANIMALS position. Well, sir,
I'm blamed if he didn't then and there
cast that tail loose from the lanyard; and,
in less than jiffy, the animal landed
plump into a bowl of red hot bean soup.
on the stable below. The next in.
slant the provisions for that meal were
distributed about the ward-room as if it
had been the corner grocery in Oshkosh
with row at the bar, and the monkey
was busting up through the hatchway,
with look Of determination in his coun.
tenance, and all the hair off one side of
his body. And it took as much as ten
minutes to convince the chief engineer,
who had received full charge Of soup in
each eye, that the steam.hcater had not
exploded"
By this time the Pope was walking to
and fro in the apartment, rubbing his
head occasionally with his hands, and
moving with that quiet ease which is
familiar to all who have seen him in his
promenades rpon the Pincian Hill. His
facial muscles had first reiaxed.-.then a
smile rippled over his face, and, finally,
laying aside all restraint, he burst into a
genuine and hearty laugh...the first,
nrnkaI lv that had oxyaL anod ,ha achaoe