Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-01-31

Cor. Louisville Post and News.l
In Rome, envy, Ignorance and in
iauity 6lch from better neighbcrs their
good name, and lap and slake them
selves in the bleeding and fainting
regulations they have butchered.
Everything is personal in the Eter-
nal City, and from the time Cesar lay
weltering in his own blood at the foot
Of Pompey's statue, struck to death by
conspirRtors representing superior vir-
tue, till, now, everything that takes
place here is envenomed by personal
ambition and works to accomplish its
purpose by defamation and betrayal.
There is something in the treacher-
Gus sweetness and peace of the air OF
Rome, something in the ghostly and
elusive beauty of its landscape which
engenders malaria, and morally as
physically malaria must have its an
nual victims. The whitening and
blasting, and blighting fever, which
comes from the soil, comes also from
its society, and something sanguinary
and piratical periodically actuates
the Roman, and the same finds
expression in foreign colonists, in
a disposition and temper | will not
characterize, but which is injurious to
them, and sometimes whitening in
ducing a social malaria which settles
upon some one spot, to make a help
less victim who is an interesting ex-
ample of the palsying effects Of evil
tongues.
But enough of this flashing light
upon the baser aspects of Roman life.
There are phases NOR attractive, and
just now its peaceful, sun inundated
sky, its wide campagna, all copper and
gold and gray, between the classic
mountains and the classic sea of Italy,
are irresistibly beautiful. 1t is this
which brings the lover of beauty here,
while art and religion, and antiquity,
maintain and instruct and enrich his
mind within the walls of Rome.
To one sitting by a far off Preside,
or by the scholars lamp, this name of
Rome is perhaps the most mighty Of
all the vocal sounds of history. But
it is only after years of study, after
actual life here, after walking in this
cemetery of an empire and of a re-
public, after walking where one great
religion has given place to another,
after having seen the last yield to the
secular force of a new nation, and now
keeping its own by the liberation OF
the State, while yet its own power is
undiminished in, but rather spreads
through, all the members of national
tiles outside, distant or near; one sees
that in this the very seat OF its brain,
it is secure Of an eternal lease of life,
because its mighty and perfect organi-
cation is nourished and supported by
the devotion Of women and the social
needs of a great race-the Latin one
which can never dispense with the
sacramental rites of its religious
being. And l see no reason why il
should do so. Unfinching Protestant
as / am, | know the form of q religion
must correspond with the moral and
intellectual condition Of a great race.
| do not forget that in this very
Rome the religion of Egypt lodged
itself, and that here Isis and her child
Horus were worshipped, as to-day
Roman women worship the Virgin
and her child Jesus. The Romans
have always felt the need of this myth
of the sacred mother and the sacred
redeeming child; and though the wor
ship Of Isis was accompanied by abom-
nations, not now practiced as a part Of
the religion Of Rome, the sentiment
and worship which takes the Roman
matrnn to the Virgin Mary is the same
as that which in more Pagan times
took the Roman matron to the temple
of Isis and HOrus.
regret to turn him from the higher
aspects of this interesting subject to
repeat what rumor gives voice to, but
1t is, if true, a proof that the Romans
have not changed their habits aid
predictions in substituting the sane
| titication Of the Virgin mother to that
of Isis.
The most recent bit of Roman talk
is to the effect that in the innermosl
sanctuary of the Palatine, as in the
days Of Isis, when her temple was the
rendezvous for secret and tender in
te%rcOurse between man and maid. the
sanctuary which has replaced the
temple Of Isis is again the rendezvous
for tender intercourse, the closest
conversation, the tenderest talks.
But as the Popolo Romano puts it
neither liberals nor clericals, those
censors of Public conduct, think oil
initiating the example of Tiberias
who. when he heard of an affair be-
Duciu Mundus and Mrs. Paolina
erueifed the priests Of Isis, anC
drownened the image of the GOODIES,
in the waters of the Tiber. Liberals
and clericals do we'll to do as they dc
"a free church in a free State"
Aud of such is Rome-Pagan, sec
ular and religious; Christian only il
its adoption Of the idea of charity
Christian only in its embodiment 0
the sanctity ofpity and pardon. Ii
everything else Pagan and profane.
OVerwOrked and Underpait
Teachers.
It's asserted by the Philadelphia
nanars that ifs oitv tooobaro IRA or;ov