Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-12-19

mony at the little church of San Roccio.
The walls opposite Mario's house were cow
cred with faring announcements of Blanca
Donadio's last appearance in La Sonndm-
buld.
The death chamber was on the second
floor, where still a very small group Of the
great tenor's old friends assembled. The
room had hardly been touched. In one
corner stood Mario's little iron bed, close
to which hung bronze relief portraits OF
two dead children, and an English text in
a frame, "She is not dead, but sleepeth."
The text may have had some connection
with the portrait of Grisi, facing it over
the m~antelpiece, or may have been con-
nected with that of his mother, a strik-
ingly beautiful brunette, hanging beside
his fathers portrait in an adjoining din
fng-room.
The five or six rooms composing Mario's
apartments were furnished with extreme
simplicity. Indeed, only half of them
could be said to be furnished, but the pic
lures and curios and trifies with which the
whole place is crowded saved it from hav-
in a poverty-stricken appearance, and
stamped it as the home of an artist.
The dead singer must have loved his
children passionately, three of whom are
living, ortheit Portraits meet one at every
turn, and in one room alone fou see at
iaast four of them.
Toward the emo y. aus NE Marlo amused
himself with artistic carpentering. Us
Workshop adtoined his bedroom, and when
yottf correspondent visited 1t this morning
1t was still Uttered with a perfect arsenal
Of hammers: chisels and Carrying tools.
Es Was an amatebf decorator, TOD, as the
paint-pots and brushes standing on the
table beside. a quantity. carved cabinet,
which he had hegun for an English friend
srascient,+ testified. furthet cn Nas d
yelled bust of Grisi, crowned with a dusty
laurel wreath, and scattered here and
there at haphazard were books, engravings,
manuscripts, piles of music, photographs
of King Umberte and Queen Margaret, a
cnJicifX and a wooden escutcheon with the
Di Cardia arms upon them, and in the
middle the Di Cardia motto in Greek,
"AgapO." Mario was a marquis.
When on his death-bed Mario expressed
a wish to be cremated. 1t would be easier,
he said, to convey his remains to Sardinia
but his nephew, who was summoned to
Rome some days ago, persuaded him to
give up the idea.
Two singers from the Costanza nailed
down his plain deal coffin-lid yesterday
before they were called away to h thea,
ter by Mile. Donadio's benefit. They used
Mario's own tools; the very tools he had
himself been using three days earlier
Mario was making his will when he died,
He did not live long enough to sign it. :.
An hour before, Mr.. Cusins, the English
composer, who happened to be in Rome,
called upon him, by the express desire 81
Queen Victoria, to ask after. his health,
At that time he was still strong enough to
rise from his bed and ask his visitor to
convey his thanks to her majesty for hel
kindness. When Mr.. Cusins heard of his
death he at once telegraphed the news t.
the Queen, and one Of the few wreaths
laid upon his bier to-day bore the in
scription, "To Mario, from the Queen O
England"
At Mario's own request, the service a
San Roccio was of the simplest kind. The
draperies, incense, singing, and silvel
candlesticks, which make the mise en- seen
Of great Catholic funerals SO impressing
were wanting. A few lighted tapers,
few flowers, a few friends-that was all
You saw from the funeral that he was no
known much in Rome, a bystander said.
At IL o'clock, an hour late, the funera
cortege entered the building. At its heaC
walked the Marquis Royck, the deceased
nephew, and Prince Odescalclii. Be1iint
came the Marquis of Montereno, repre-
senting Queen Margaret; Mr.. Cusins
representing Queen Victoria; Prince Dc
ria, Signor Mancini, five. OF six journalist
taking notes, some English and American
tourists, Mr.. Errington, the priest, anc
about a dozen Brothers OF the Order o
Mercy in hideous costumes of faded greer
and black. The whole procession woulc
have disgraced the boards of a third-rat'
provincial theater in Rome-this city o
art. 1t was a scandal.
After the ceremony there was a long de
lay before the arrival of the hearse tina
was to carry the body to the cemetery
and the friends of the dead singer gradu
ally vanished. When at length the hears
arrived the church was a bowling wilder
ness. Outside l saw Prince Odescalchi an
the Marquis Royck. 1t was a sad endini
for such a brilliant story. The last act O
Mario's life was played to empty benches