Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-05-02
I4tfTEIt
BILL Y
He Visits Verona and Relates It's Won.
ders and Greatness.

we arrived IN Verona day before
yesterday. Most everyone has heard
of the 1.-TWO Gentlemen of Verona"
This is the place they came from.
They have returned. Verona is
not noted for its gentlemen now. Per-
haps that is the reason I was regarded
as such a curiosity when l came here.
Verona is a good deal older than
Chicago, but the two cities have points
of resemblance after all. When the
southern simeon from the stock-yards
is waited across the vinegar orchards
of Chicago, and a load of Mormon
emigrants get out at the Rock Island
depot and begin to move around and
squirm and emit the fragrance of
crushed Limburger cheese, It reminds
one of Verona.
The sky is similar, too. At night,
when it is raining hard, the sky of
Chicago and Verona is not dissimilar.
Chicago is the largest place, however,
and my sympathies are with her.
Verona has about sixty-eight thousand
people now, aside from myself. This
census includes foreigners and Indians
not taxed.
Verona has al ancient skating-rink,
known in history as the amphitheater.
1t is 4044 feet by SIG in size. and the
wall is still one hundred feet high in
places. The people of Verona wanted
me to lecture there, but l refrained. I
was afraid that some late might
elbow their way in and leave one end
of the amphitheater open and then
there would be a draft. l will speak
more fully on the subject of amphi-
theaters in another letter. There isn't
room in this one.
Verona is noted for the Capitular
library, as it is called. This is said to
be the largest collection of rejected
manuscripts in the world. l stood in
with the librarian and he gave me an
opportunity to examine this wonderful
store of literary work. I found a Virgil
that was certainly over 1000 years old.
l also found a wcll-preserved copy of
beautiful Snow" I read it. 1t was
very touching indeed. Experts say it
was l, 200 years old, which is no doubt
correct. am nc Judge of the age of
manuscript. Some can look at the
teeth of a literary production and tell
within two weeks how old it is, but l
can't. You can also fool me on the
age of wine, but this rule l find is not
infallible. One time | found myself
feeling the next day as though l might
be 1873 years old. but ON Investigation
we found that the wine was extremely
new, having been made at a drug store
in Cheyenne that same day.
Looking these venerable MSS. over,
] noticed that the custom of writing
with a violet pencil on both sides Of
the large foolscap sheet and then fold
ing it in sixteen directions and carry
ing it around in the pocket for two or
three centuries is not a late American
invention, as l had been led to
They did it in Italy fifteen centuries
ago. was permitted also to examine
the celebrated institutes of Gains.
Gains was a poor penman, and l am
convinced from a close examination of
his work that he was in the habit of
carrying his manuscript around in his
pocket with his smoking tobacco. The
guide said that was. impossible, for
smoking tobacco was not introduced
into Italy until a comparatively late
day. That's all right, however. You
can't fool me much on the odor of to-
bucco.
Tho churches of Verona are numer-
Gus, and although they seem to me a
little different from our own in many
ways, they resemble ours in others.
One thing that pleased me about the
churches of Verona was the total alb.
sence of the church fair and festival as
conducted in America. Salvation seems
to be handed out in Verona without, ice
cream and cake, and the odor of sanctity
and stewed oysters do not 20 1nevita.
bly, hand in hand. l have already been
in the place more than two days and
have not yet been invited to help lift
the old church debt on the cathedral.
Perhaps they think l am not wealthy,
however. In fact, there is nothing in
my dress and name that would be.
tray my wealth. have been in Europe
now six weeks and have kept my secret
we'll. Even my most intimate travel.
ing companions do not know that l an
the Laramie City postmaster in dis
guise.
The cathedral is a most imposing
and massive pile. l quote this from
the guidc-book. This beautiful struct-
ure contains a baptismal font cut out
of n solid block of stone and made
for immersion, with an inside diameter
of ten feet. A man nine feet high could
be baptized there without injury. The
Venetians have a great respect for wa.
ter. They believe it ought not to be
used for anything else but to wash
away sins, and even then they are very
economical about it.
There is a nice picture here by
Titan. 1t looks as though it had been
left in the smoke house nine hundred
years and overlooked. Titan painted
a great deal. You find his works here
ever and anon. He must have had al
he could do in Italy in an early day,
when the country was new. l like hi:
pictures first-rate, but / haven't found
one yet that l could secure at anything
like bedrock price.-BW Nye IN Tie
Burlington Hawkeye.