The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-11-13

y
miles distant. The chapel of the Ma
donna Di San Luca was built in the year
1160 to contain the picture of the Virgin,
painted by the Greek physician and
artist, the apostle st. Luke. 1t became
chapel of pilgrimage, and to accommo-
date the immense throngs who visited |
the sacred picture the church was en-
larged and beautified, and this arcade |
constructed at an enormous expenditure
Of money and hundred years of time.
Among the many magnificent paintings
which adorn the walls of this church is
beautiful one by Elizabeth Sirani, paint
ed in her Goth year, representing the
baptism of Christ. The arcade is built
with two stories, the upper one for foot
passengers and the lower one for car
riages, and consists of 635 arches of
brick and stone and twice as many col
umns OF marble. At intervals along
this curious way fifteen chapels are con-
structed, each bearing upon its wall
fresco representing the fifteen mysteries
of the rosary. At the foot of the hill
upon which the church is situated is
magnificent arch very appropriately
cslled II Arco Meloacello the portico of
melancholy from which the arcade
branches off to the Convent Of Certosa,
built in 1885 and suppressed in 1871,
and now used as o cemetery. This
unique and beautiful burying place oc-
cupies the convent which was built upon
the ancient site of an Etruscan cemetery,
and the cloisters have been enlarged and
and added to until it has become vast
metropolis, filed with toombs, statues,
tablets, busts, and inscriptions of the
most interesting character, The dead
are deposited in the massive walls
through openings made in the outside,
which are closed up with cement, and
the monuments and works of art are
placed in secure position upon the in
side, sheltered from the weather, where
they remain for ages. Many of the finest
| pieces of statuary and antique monu-
ments have been removed from churches
and cemeteries in the city and vicinity,
and productions OF many of the best
medern artists, both in painting and
sculpture, are found in the nu-
merous ehapels and long gall
leries of this strange sepulchral
city of the dead. Here we pause to adj
mire beautiful fnll-length statue by
Canova or Scandeliari, and there before
bust by Bartolini or Salyini. We are
deeply impressed with the appropriate
gracefulness and beauty of a white
marble female figure set in relieve against
black marble background, representing
the psnsive sorrow of young girl at the
tomb of her lover the work of young
Bolognese sculptor. A noble statue of a
woman with her finger to her lips,
representing silence, stands before the
tomb of q gallant young officer killed in
duel. The story is that the officer was
| the brother-in-law of the silent lady, and
that another gentleman, who had also
conceived passion for her, imagined he
stood in the way of his success, and in
his insane jealousy challenged and shot
him. The real history OF the affair was
never certainly known, as the lady pre-.
served strict silence in regard to it;
but, as the rumors and gossips we're very
unpleasant to herself and husband, they
removed from the country, and another
brother caused this singular monument
to be erected. Everywhere we see por-
| traits on canvas. and frescoes, and
mosaies, on the walls, and one can wan
der here for hours listening to the gossip
of the loquacious custodian, relating to
the private and romantic histories of the
quiet sleepers beneath these lofty arches
OF stone, supported by long rows
of cleaning white marble columns.
Altogether, it is the most APP
propriate and agreeable receptacle for
the dead known to our humanity. There
is something repulsive in the idea of the
ancient Egyptian caves filed with in
Vulnerable bandaged and shriveled inn
ages of the dead. The Roman catacombs
are dark and gloomy store-houses Of
nameless bones; and even the modern
metropolis of Paris, the famous Pere la
Chaise, has the repulsive feature of deep
and narrow wells, into which the remains
of loved ones are lowered and placed one
upon another until the grave" is filed
Even our modern park cemeteries, en-
bellished with walks and trees, grass and
flowers, beautiful as they seem, are redo
lent with worms and decay, not to men
ton the unpleasant suggestion of res
direction before the time and o possible
dissecting-room; and many Of them seem
like immense mai BILE yards, filed as they
are with fiat head and foot stones, lines
OF crumbling curbstoncs, decaying
wooden fences, or black and rnsting iron
Enclosures. The disgusting collection of
bones in churches in Rome, and in many
rural chapels in Switzerland and the Ty-
rol, labeled "Here lies the bones OF our
beloved daughter" etc., are simply hor-
rible. If the dead are to be sepulchred
and preserved to await resurrection to
new life, commend us to the cloister
! system Of Bologna. The open area
which is surrounded by all these
! galleries and cloisters is reserved for
the burial Of the poor, and burned
to make room for new comers, the ashes
being deposited in urns and placed un-
der the open porticos. This seems bar
barous, indeed, when compared with the
care taken of the bodies of the rich; but
il is no worse than the custom at Pere le
Chaise of evicting the tenants of rented
! graves who are in arrears for rent, and
tumbling them into common trenches
outside the city; or the Spanish custom
OF stripping the dead before casting
them into pit with quicklime to hasten
decomposition; or even the practice of
the Parrees, of Persia, who deposit the
bodies Of their dead at the summit of
tall towers that the birds of prey may
pick the flesh from the bones, which
then drop through the gratings into the
dead charnel pit beneath. Surely there
is some better, wiser, moro economical.
and more philosophical, as well as more
natural and agreeable method of dispos-
ing OF the dead than any OF those yet
practiced upon this changing and alter
mating footstool of the Almighty by His
darksned and cropping children.
Turning from this subject, by an easy
| transition we are reminded of the COM
ing meeting of the ssvants OF the world
who are investigating the history Of the
dead past by study Of the inscriptions
written BY nature upon her rocks and
minerals, preserved In her strata, and re-
vealed by the upheaval of her earth
quakes, the eternal eorrosion OF the eIe-
ments by the constant action of frost and
snow, BY the ever changing yet sure and
consistent action Of her laws. The sec
ond international congress of geologists
is TO be held at Bologna during the COM
ing year. The first congress was held at
Paris IN 1878. One of the main objects
of The conference is TO devise method
for the unifeation Of geological names
and figures, and the formation Of some
identical geological nomenclature. If Is
also proposed 20 establish an information
Il systam Of colors and figures adapted TO
tie representation of geological maps.
All scientists aud philosophers ard OBJ
SERVERS d tho laMS Of nature, will
npbraei6te this nloYeusint. and b strnof
With ~ magnitude and Importance.
80. ~ a