Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-01-14
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FASCINA TlONS or LIFE IN
ROME ra

4 But Of course we find II at last, the
home waiting for us in the heart Of
old Rome and our days of vexatious
house hunting are forgotten in it's cosy
comfort And as our sweet, lazy pa
drona Is not long married, she has not
had time to make such an overwhelm-
ing collection of furniture and brio a.
brac. Thcre are positively only four
pictures in The saloon, and gliding ID
Represented in two small candelabra
and a French clock. II our marble
topped bureaus only had handles TO
the drawers, and our easy chairs were
not SO poorly made that we are al
most afraid to sit down in them, we
should be quite content. AS Tor the
"daily bread, fresh rolls, milk and but
ter are delivered at our door every
morning; dinners come smoking hot
from q restaurant in tin trunk on a
mans head. How he manages to
mount safely our seventy.two steps
and never tip over the kettle of Goals
into the soup tureen we can't imagine.
With markets giving us fresh frnits,
does not il all seem like the perfection
of easy housekccping2 twill be van
4 ity and vexation of spirit in two
months, foresee and we shall change
from one restaurant TO another to get
a change Of fare, and throw ourselves
finally on the tender mercies Of our
padrona to cook our own dinners as
we like, and relieve US from such an
Italian combination as came only yes
terday-mush and sausages on the
same plate. N-
But the charm OF Italian life comes
on us even in these early days. 1t is
something, it, you must be so proslic
as to enter old Rome by railway, to
find that the depot is put down on the
map as part Of the old baths Of bio.
cletiang and house hunting, with hur.
ried glimpses as one goes from street
to street, of Trajan's forum, and the
fountain of Trevi, and the Tiber, is
calculated to stir strangely ones fan
cy. And the picturesqueness of the
streets strikes ono at once. What
with priests and soldiers and the pas
sion OF the woman for brightness, they
are all life and color. Priests in brown,
priests in white, priests in scarlet sol.
dlers with an opulent variety of uni
form, and plumes and tassels and sill
yer braid enough TO rum modest
Government Is il because war is in
itself so little alluring that soldiers are
always so gay2 Or is il the last rem
nant of the time when men rivalled
women in the splendor of their drcss ?
We are all getting of late years to
monotonous uniform of dark colors
We shrink even from too CAV flower
or ribbon to brighten our sombre
robes. But Roman women have no
such scruples and the rainbow searfs,
the bright plumes and ornaments they
wear, are pretty to see and seem suit.
ed 10 this sunny air. And the life and
variety of the streets is their charm to
a Northern mind. Even while | write
a band sounds in the distance and ]
see down the long street a troop of gay
soldiers A halt hour ago a vague,
sonorous chanting rose to our windows
and below was the long line of priests
bearing the dead TO his home. All in
brown robes, barefoot and bearing long
wax tapers, their chant, their dark
procession, had in it something weird
and impressive. tii la"
But the charm Of the dead city one
feels most, perhaps, from the public
pleasure grounds on the Pincian Hill.
The vision Of all these domes and spires
rising at ones feet, the picturesque
confusion Of majestic ruin and modern
shabbiness, and beyond all, back even
of the great dome of ST. Peters which
crowns the distance, the Alban bills
standing up against the blue-all this
is calculated TO touch the most pro.
saicj and the proper historic emotions
for which so often one pines in vain,
come OF themselves. - Good COmpaHy.