The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-10-08
IN SUNNY ITALY.
A LAND OF LEAOEN-HUEO CLOUDS
AND FlRELESS HOTELS.

Drear and silent Milan-No Stove or
Fireplace in the Hotel Chamber-A
Pot of Charcoal-Snow in April-After
Clouds the Sunshine.
/ had an idea in my head although how it
got there, like the fly in the amber, is more
than can tell that Italy CLINE where
clouds were unknown and where the sun was
eternally shining. Imagine my surprise last
April, after the usual railway run from Luz
cerne through the st. Gothard tunnel, on dis
covering what n huge mistake had been lab
oring under, for, although found myself in
the plains of Lombardy, looked in vain for
the sun, and, as for the clouds-meherculel l
never behold such dark, leaden-hued, forbid
ding monsters as they seemed 20 be. The
stupefaction in which l was plunged by this
rude reality of things was further intensified
when reached Milan.
The city was as drear and silent as the Val
ley OF the Shadow of Death. Deserted streets
and closed windows-like those of Coventry
when Lady Godiva rode over its pavements
met my gaze eve, ywhcre. 4 chilly sensa-
ton crcpt through every vein and fiber of
my body, and il was some time before l dis
covered that my garments were literally as
white as one of the Dover cliffs. Flakes of
snow were actually falling ON all sides around
me, and, to my utter amazement, a sledge,
tenanted by a fur-clad signor, flashed noise
leSsly by. Snow in Italy in the pleasant
month of April! And sledge to boot! The
thing seemed utterly impoSsible-a weird,
morbid, fantastic dream which might proba-
bly, be accounted for by an overstudy of
Berkeley, but at the flag end of the evening
had, after all, to acknowledge that was suf-
fering from no hideous nightmare whatever,
and that what was witnessing was a living,
palpable reality, which no jugglery of the
senses could afford to ignore
ALLEGED FIRES.
Sadly and diSconsolately picked my steps
through the snowdrifts and made my way to
hotel in the Via Principe Umberto.
Werther's sorrows were but the spluttering
fanfaronades of petty grief compared to mine
on that occasion; yet / comforted myself
somehow with one consolation = when I
reached my room could sit down to a coy
fire and make myself much at home as
used to do in the inns and chalets of Switzer-
land Here again, however, was miserably
disappointed. There was neither n stove nor
a fireplace in my chamberl L asked to see
the hotel keeper, and requested the use of
another room where l could have proper fire
accommodation.
Il have no such room on my premises" was
the reply, NOR are you likely to find such a
room in all MilanI We never keep stoves or
build hearths in this country" he added, "but
l can provide you with something that may
suit" 4 few minutes afterward ona of the
walters brought in pot of red charcoal and
deposited it in the middle of the apartment
as this the way you keep the cold off in
Italyl' l asked.
"Yes, sir" was the response, "and L know
of no better"
NEVER SAW 4 STOVE.
Some time subsequently happened TO meet
with persons who confessed that they never
saw a stove or firegrate in their lives; and
even in princely and ducal palaces in this city
it is only in this primitive fashion that they
are provided with proper heat.
have assisted at two or three tea parties,
exclusively attended by Italians of middle
class society. The weather was so intensely
cold that the company could not dispense
with some means of warming the apartment.
In every case | saw the pot of Goals placed on
a stool and forming the center of a circle of
ladies and gentlemen, who gazed fondly and
admiringIy ON the little article, just as weary
| pilgrims would on an oasis in n bowling will
| derness. | need hardly tell you that, with
| such experiences, l felt that Italy had lost
| for me much of that glamour with which a
| lifetime's perusal of the poets had invested
| her; but | soon began to have a kind of sneak
! ing belief again in the old theory when l saw
| the snow melt away and the clouds look less
/ grueSome, or utterly disappear to make room
| for the respondent sunlight, and those i'm
| menSities of azure blue on which Carlyle has
| so many tTanscendental things to say in his
| "Sart0r Rcsartus. Milan Cor. San Fran
cisco Chronicle