The Portland daily press., 1886-09-01
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.
Especial Correspondence.of the PREss.)
cJv.rnAU r DnNfE

L
On our first Sunday morning in Rome we
sought DR.. Gray's church, and ever after
wards on the Sabbath we found unspeakable
comfort and rest to turn into this modest,
cheerful room and join in the simple service
of Presbyterian church. One gets so sur
feited with the pomp, the swinging of cen
sers, the rustling of crimson robes, and the
monotonous chantings in an unknown
tongue, in the cathedrals, that one wonders
more and more how the multitudes have been
kept satisfied so long. One Sabbath morning
DR.. Prochet, representative of the Walden
sian Missionary Society, gave the people
most interesting account of the labors OF its
preachers and Bible readers, and of the en-
couragements for its future extension. This
society makes a special work of establish
ing churches among the soldiers. He took
occasion, as this is the bcentennial of the
expulsion of the Waldenses from Italy,
to relate some incidents in their
history and their prosecutions. He re-
ferred to little book containing an ac-
count of these events which he said he had
many times tried to read through, but had
always thrown the book down, the details of
such suffering would make his blood boil so,
even at this late day, that he could not re-
view them calmly, and he felt he was hap
pier not to know the whole truth.
1t is two hundred years since the Duke Of
Savoy, Victor Amadeus I'LL, gave the Wald-
enses fourteen days to renounce their relig
ion or be exiled from the land. When they
did not recant about three hundred were
massacred and twelve thousand imprisoned;
of this number nearly ten thousand died
from the privations of their confinement, and
the remainder were driven like beasts on
the 31st of January through sleet and snow
across the Alps In this decree of banish-
ment this form Of heresy was declared, "now
and forever blotted out" Doubtless the
Duke of Savoy felt he had achieved great
victory in crushing this band of hereties, and
in the year 1859 thanks went up in the Sis
tine Chapel, on the other side of the Tiber,
to God that the Waldenses were blotted out.
1t is recorded that in the spring the noun
taineers could trace their path by the corpses
of men, women and children who had fro
zen by the way. In spite of these suferings,
they longed for home; and when change
came in the throne they began to straggle
back to the little hamlets in the mountain
Businesses. AS it was proved impossible for
tyranny to crush out their spiritual life, al
though the verbal prohibition was not re-
moved, they were suffered to worship as their
consciences dictated, if they would content
themselves in their own borders.
Today is the golden opportunity for the va
rious protestant denominations to make a
united effort to elevate Italy from the igno-
rance and superstitions of her ancestry, when
her wise and humane King Humbert, a de-
scendant of Victor Amadeus IL, puts no re-
ligious restrictions upon his subjects. There
are many who are dissatisfied with the old
ways and are cropping hepelessly about for
the true light. If these are not led into the
truth. they naturally fall into skepticism or
agnosticism.
We gave one day to the study of the Coli
scum, in which 100000 Romans used to as
semble, to witness the gladiatorial and naval
combats ArchaologistS have made SO thor
ough comparative study of this structure
and the written accounts of the games, that
they can show visitor exactly where the
emperor entered, where the senators, the
soldiers and the princely merchants were
seated, and then they will climb with him to
the very top, where the great stood
to look down upon the arena, from height
so near the stars that they were nicknamed
the gods. We walked out by the way of
death, where the dying gladiator was carried
out. Often his life might have been spared,
but for some unaccountable prejudice, the
spectators would turn their thumbs down
when he held up his hands for mercy, after
receiving his first wound, and his antagonist
would triumphantly deal him fatal blow.
The committee of archaeology have plan to
reduce the level of the road and remove some
buildings which will bring the Coliseum into
better view as it is approached from the
city. Rome has twofold life, and while we
lived only in its past, and took little knowl-
edge of its active life, its fashion or its living
heroes, the residents enjoy all the luxuries OF
modern society, and are quite up with other
European cities in worldly ways. The old
adage of the prophet being dishonest at home
applies to the wonders of Rome, to see which
we face the perils of the deep. When we
appealed to resident for suggestions about
seeing some of the mummies and muSty old
places. he smiled and said courteously,
"Why! / live in Rome, | don't know any
thing about such things" On the Piazza di
Spagna the old and the new blend and make
gay pictures. Here everybody goes every
morning to get their letters and have chat
with their own countrymen, and gaze at the
fantastic groups scattered about the square.
AT all hours of the day, as business was dull
and no man hath hired them, we saw these
odd specimens of dark-eyed humanity lolling
on the stairs, posing about the old fountain,
and leaning heavily against the pillars and
in the niches The mother with her sleep
ing babe, the barefooted urchin with his
knees fortified with diverse patches and Jack