Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-04-07

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Tower The Prospect from its
SummIt-The View at Night from
the Bridge of Ghe ArnO-A Pleas
ant Reminiscence of a Persistent
Little Cab Driver.
Pisa, March 15.- Editor Morning Nelcs: We
have lately passed from the rnsh and reveIry
Of carnival time in Rome, and find ourselves
amid the placid life of quiet. gentle Pisa
There seems to me to pervade its peaceful
streets premonitory hush, as who should say,
I'VE are leading, wind as we may about the
bright Arne, to the silent Campo Santo.n
Surely very holy, restful. lovely place to lead
to, its very soil conveyed by many ship loads
hither from the Holy Land to consecrate by
some fictitious magic the sleep OF its dead.
Painters and sculptors have We'd with each
other fitly to adorn the walls and corridors
enclosing with q square the holy earth and
when that earth had received them from the
cares and tolls and ambitions of life came
others to stand in those corridors and to learn
from the rich glories of the paintings on the
walls how to become in their turn true artists
to enlighten and purify mems souls drawing
them upward, even while their own steps were
tending nearer to the holy SOIL whittier their
works would not need to follow them.
The far-famed tower without,i all its won
drous leaning majesty, bends its bright angle
away from the sacred resting place of the
dead. and, through six centuries OF impending
fall has never had one threatening hour for
the Campo Santo or its sister buildings.
Upon those four sister buildings Pisa's orna-
ment and pride-the Campo Santo, Cathedral,
Baptistery, and Campanile or leaning tower
one loves fondly to dwell, with the same tender
emotions that are kindled by the gentle radi-
ance from the memorial windows of the Five
Sisters of York. Like them, these buildings
nlaC6d tOpathar in and innividnQl
characteristics serve but TO intensity the bonds
Of relationship.
The Cathedral is. to my fancy, the eldest sis
ter, the motherly spirit, within whose loving
arms are welcomed faithful worshipers at its
abundant shrineS There, strengthened and
sustained through life, it Is also in the spacious
courts that churchly offices attend them to
their final rest What time the stately sister
In sweet marble purity, there on one side,
seems to sway with the tolling of her bells and
to bend in all deep sympathy of spirit toward
the hearts which mourn, while it Is the prov
ince of the loveliest sister of them ALL the Bap-
tistery, to give voice to the Campnailes yearn-
ing sympathy, echoing at once the solemn
tolling OF her high swinging bells, and the
grand cathedral So would the procession
wend Its way, mid types OF ineffable
beauty, toward the courts of the Silent Sister,
upon her holy bosom to find eternal rest.
have called the Baptistery the loveliest of
them all, the Alice" of this group. Not that
it commands attention as soon as seen, as does
the leaning tower; not that it can boast of
sweeping aiSles and naveS, broad transepts
or grand choir. glttering mosaics and carved
stalls, as does the Cathedral; not that Mount
Calvary has yielded the tribute of her soil as
to the Campo Santo, but simply because its
own form is that of the divineSt grace so
rounded in all fair proportions that It might
have beer erected by the greatest of architects
in the age when art was nearest perfection as
shrine to the Goddess of Beauty. And the
combined glories of all the farfamed statues
of Venus would be needed to grace it, and yet
would not be necessary as an adjunct to its
own perfect beauty.
1t stands there, Pantheon of spotIess mar
Bile, in its chaste simplicity of column and
domel The pulpit of exquisite marble cary
ing, small altar and the font in the centre are
all that good taste has allowed, or that the
mind will suffer towards its adornment
But it has another gift, this favored sister.
the gift OF wondrous, echoing song. So that
when her earthly minister, q mortal of baauti-
tul voice, hits up his tones within her walls.
they are instantly caught up and waved amid
the lofty dome, to pass away in ecstasy. Let
them be tones sonorous, they first receive
Sonorous response, as echo bears them upward
on her nutterlng wings; and it is above aught
that is terrestrial that whatever is of dross Is
eliminated, and the spirit of pure devotion
alone is suffered to pass out and upward.
Is it not place for heartfelt orisons! Could
there be conceived spot more sancti1ed to
prayer and praise! As l stood there listening
to those notes thus grandly deifled, methought
this should be the Pantheon wherein sho1ld
rest the bodles or all the musical spirits which
have blessed, and win bless, the world with
their genius.
If purgatorial pains be theirs. here is a
shrine wherein every whisper will be converted
into prayer for their release from penance.
and the good works which follow men conId
never so nearly follow to another world as a
masters own creations waited upward here in
strains serenely beautiful
In short, not further to pursue a suhiect 60
beautifully suggestive, will say that if Mount
Calvary itself stood intact in the Campo Santo
it would not have for me one 1.-THE the interest
that is centred in the Fair Temple Of Divine
Sound.
How full of enchantment the view from the
summit of the Campanile on perfect day in
early spring, we can never forget. The sky an
azure vault without cloud; below the green
Sward in all the luStre of a new life: and i'm.
mediately beyond, the patient streets of the
city, branching OF amidst it's quiet houses
Glimpses are caught of the castellated citv
walls, as the eye turns to the meadows
with their brown soil ridges, alternating with
yellow squares of peeping grain Throuph
them lnnumerable roads, that glisten with the
sheen OF alabaster, lead to the mountains and
they seem to chase the Changing shadoy7S &C
they wind and glide to the summit
The aQuedEcGs that tread their stateli ar
cour9e across the adjoining plain, form q
sCrong contrast to the Stealthy twistings of
those mountain roads, and seem to thsnF 94od
that they are not as other ways are Bound
ing the horizon on that side the majestic snoyg
capped ridges Of the Apennines, and on The
a.
ture has channeled through gradual plain the
graceful course of the winding Arno The
shipping in the Gulf Of Leghern is distinctly
visible, ana to the right of its lighthouse tow
able amid the deep blue waters
Again that night we stand upon the Amos
brldge. and watch the solemn coursing of the
peaceful river A deeper blue is the vault above
us now, and the Queen of Night is panoplied in
silver The tiny church upon the right hank. SO
hke beautiful cluster of marble pIaythings, is
wrapt IN child own untIoubled sleep, and
VIII wake to the morn with a child's own smile
And down the sweeping banks the lamps cast
lurid shadows in the waters, and seem 10 exuIt
over the too distant stars above Meanwhile
those lights OF Heaven are softly busy amid
the closters of the Campo Santo. and are roh
ing them with a celestial peace.
One incident of our charming stay at Pisa
will linger long in memory. We had strolied
out for quiet walk about the city and de-
cided that we did not care to drive No sooner
did we set foot upon the pavement however
than up drives little cab, with frisky little
horce and jolly little driver
mo, no--don'h, want to drive - We
shout to him, as ne draws up beaida us But
Whatever that may mean ia English or i'm
French, he is positively certain that it has no
such meaning ia italian; and So as we wall
along with our heads on constant shake he
drives beside us, calculating and pestionlat-
ing heaven knows what.
. However, on we stride with grim determine
ton, and turning sharp corner congratulate
ourselves on having gotten rid of Friskv. but.
hardly are we out into an open square, before
there comes Frisly sailing along bv another
way and making the widest ADMINISTRATIONS of
delight at this reunion =
II is impossible not to laugh, and Frisky
joins in 1t as il the best Joke in the world had
Just been perpetrasod somehow by somebody,
ana when we Surn TO assure him gravely that
we 40 not want to drive up comes a little
army OF beggars and joins its chattering, an
1ntelEgible Jargon to the general hubbub. Sud
denly we turn upon them with several healthy
English phrases, and then comes Frislzys op-
portuniCy. AligDing himself with u.s. he pours
volley Of Italian into the ranks of the die
comhted beggarS, and then, addressing US
says in cleer-cut English: Yes, come on-yes,
come onl'
There is no YiSnstanding this appeal and all
through that ridiculous drive, which we did not
want TO take at all. and in which we are con-
stantly going nowhere in particular, and vet
seeing great many pleasant things. When
ever we como to deadlock of English and
Italian, which happens as often as Frisky takes
part in the conversation, we all look dreadfully
puzzled for moment, and then Frisky gives
us merry glance, says ''Yes. come on % and
dashes of again nowhere. / think he happens
to take us to the house where Calico was born,
and near it is very curiousi raised avenue or
walk, whose name and object we ara anxious
to ascertain. On this point Trisky positivelv
exhausts himself in Italian. and then
pausing awhile in despair, finally utters
tho words, principal sduatir Where
he got those words from, or exactly what
they mean, Is Of little consequence to us con.
vulsed with laughter (Frisky is equally con
vulsed, II not more so); but i al ends In the
customary appeal Of "Xes, come onr, And SO
we do come OF until he takes us to the hotel,
where We come off and make FrislSy happy
with his fee: and last