The Portland daily press., 1886-07-07
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.
Especial Correspondence of the PREss.)


| Especial Correspondence of the PREss.)
/ ROME.
/ We had seen something of the Carnival at
Rom, and Naples, the hotbeds of culture and
| refinement in the 2omish Church, where the
type of its festivities should be calculated to
CRAFTY the sense of he beautiful and elevate
popular sentiment. It appears to have no
other meaning or purpose than license of
the ecclesiastical poweA to its subjects. to
| exhaust their animal sprits. as a kind of
safety valve, to prevent EXPLOSIONS against
the rigor of self-denial imposed upon them
| in the Lenten season.
| We started on our ride from pompeii on the
morning of the grand finale of he Carnival.
andmet the tag-rag-and- bobtail oAthe demon
| STATIONS in each little town. 1t hat not even
| the elements of burlesque and satire of our
American antiques and horribles, bit was in
truth the same fuss and nonsense bat we
see at home when the boys in the neiglbor-
hood black their faces, put their shirtsout-
side their jackets, and tip knocked-in steve
pipe hats on their heads-and the girls wear
old petticoats and their grandmothers' cal
ashes, and in these costumes pair off under
topsy turyy umbrellas for promenade in
the street. OF course the populace in rags
and tatters hooted and flung brickbats.
While we could see neither sense nor fun in
such hilarity on week day, we cannot i'm
agine what apology their spiritual fathers
can make for encouraging or winking at such
performances on the Sabbath, unless they
set aside or peryert the meaning of the whole
Mosaic law, as they have that of the second
commandment. They surely cannot call
such displays keeping the Sabbath day holy
or rejoicing in the Lord. Abiding to the
second commandment reminds us of an incl
dent which made an indelibly painful i'm
preston upon our memories. Just before
leaving Rome we snatched few hours from
other sights to take a long, last look at the
sublimities of st. Peters. We went full of
enthusiasm, but we came away heartsick
and sorry we had not rested satisfied with
our remembrance of its monumental magnif-
cenee rather than to heva erte-ea i..tv a fun
conception of the emptiness of the souls who
worship amid those gorgeous surroundings.
1t CHANGED to be Annunciation Day, and we
listened to the choral singing of the priests.
all of whom were dressed in purple and lace
robes and wore either ermine or gray fur
capes. We do not pretend to understand
this day st. Peters great toe should receive
special homage, we are too ignorant to i'm
agine 1t may be a daily performance,
but we had not seen it before. After the
priests retired, hundreds of the scum from
the cutters and cellars of Rome crowded
about the seated bronze statue of the Apos-
tie knelt kissed the toe, rubbed their fore
heads on it, and wiped it with their hand
kerchiefs or sleeves, if they had not attained
to the luxury of a mouchoir, to carry away
some of the blessed influence. We do not
vouch for the story that it has undergone re-
repairs several times, but anyone can see
that it will soon need cobbling. The stump
that is left shines like new tin, and shows
that the organ has suffered slow process of
amputation by the friction of the lips of |
these idolaters. Looking into the faces of |
this throng, one could not pick out five in |
hundred 'Tho eyinced intellect enough to |
master the multiplication table, if haply they |
could write their Names A few of the mid
die classes led up their wives and children
to bow the knee to the great saint and crave
his blessing on their households Thetod-
ding babies were lifted on high, and they
laughed as if it were great fun to kiss the
black image. AS we stood and wondered at
this crowd we involuntarily repeated the
words of the Divine lawgiver, to be sure we
had not given them undue weight rom habit
of early education: "Thou shalt not make