The Portland daily press., 1886-09-08

duced ourselves to fifty or more mothers with
their babes II was indeed massacre OF ln-
pocants if one could Judge from the stream
ing eyes and wry faces OF the boiogleSe uai-
lings. as one plump arm after announcer was
held ND to the young doctor, VINO thrust III
his lancet in the most matter OF lact way
They had comical look, like little heathen
idols. with their bodies and legs sWatheo so
straight and tight that they couldn't KICK
against the pricks, but their rosy cheeks anu
bright eyes peeping out OF their Droad irilieo
caps, looked qnite as sweet and klssaDle as
any crowd of infantiles you could gather IN
America. When we picked out one as the
prize baby, and chucked it under the chin'
we noticed how quickly the other mothers
hushed the cries and held theirs up for our
admiration; and we concluded there was as
great similarity in the mothers all over the
world as in the babies.
st. Stephens church is one of the curious
antiques of Bologna. 1t contains seven dis
tinct churches; several of the more recent OF
these are built on top of the others. In one
of the ancient chapels is a column, on which
is line drawn, and an inscription stating
that this mark measures the exact height OF
our Lord Jesus Christ, which represented
his stature as several inches less than that of
a well developed man. These chapels are
full of relics, such as tin hearts, flowers, tiny
jewels, ribbons, notices and crutches. Most
of these are votiye offerings for blessings of
restored health, the recovered use of disabled
limbs and the like. We saw many bones of
tortured saints and some more drops of Je-
sus's blood. Here, too, we stood before a
sepulchre representing the tomb of the Sa-
viour, of which the door was ajar. where the
angels were looking in On one side was
placed box with an inscription on the lid
which was plea for money to pay for the
candles that burn without ceasing to dispel
the gloom of death.
In the academy of paintings there is the
usual procession of saints, with halos about
their heads, which must have been patterned
after the brass saucers which hang out of
BARRIERS doors, and were used in old times to
catch the lather as it dripped from the chins
OF the citizens when undergoing the process
of shaving. There are a few good pictures ;
of these Raphael's st. Cecilia is most cele-
brated; but it was one of many paintings
whose blemishes have been concealed in the
engraved copies. We have sometimes no.
ticed in pictures, where the coloring is crude
and the contrasts harsh, that the fault is cor
rected when the same subject is worked out
in black and white, and the engraving is far
superior to the colored canvas. In this way
we had our ideals of many famous pictures
raised,so high that we met with some sore
disappointments when we came to see the
originals.
osTIA.
Between Rome and Ostia lie the Pontine
Marshes, whose weary wastes present most
forsaken aspect. The traveller takes the old
Roman road across these swamps to Ostia,
which formerly lay at the mouth of the Ii
Der, but which today is three miles from the
sea. The iron rings are still in the walls of
the warehouses, to which the merchants
used to chain their galleys when unloading
their wares. For miles we see nothing but
reeds or flags, ten or twelve feet high, grow
ing in the mud and mire, and swaying to and
fro like immense prairies of blighted grain.
No decent person dares to pitch tent in
this deadly atmosphere, and only a few of
the most debased mortals dwell here in the
waffle houses. These houses are made en-
tirely of mats of these reeds, a foot thick,
and supported by a slight frame of sticks.
They are black as SCOT with mildew and
smoke, and have no windows or chimneyS,
but at each end is a small opening for air and
light, and the entrance and exit of the con-
glomerate household. Some of them are
twenty feet long; making one large room, in
which thirty people live like Barnum's hap
ply family. The sleeping accommodations
are hung upon the sides, like steamer berths.
We did not venture in, for fear of breathing
pestilential fumes or taking away with us
some of those pertinacious little midgets
which might keep the memory Of Ostia green
longer than we wished.
1t CHANGED to be St. Joseph's day, when
the women and children were tolerably clean,
and were dressed in their holiday suits. We
met the men all the way with strings of little
birds slung over their backs. 1t seems as if
there could not be bird left in Italy, when
you see the quantities that are served on the
hotel tables. The air was resonant that
morning with the sweet tones of the lark,
and we felt it was cruel thing TO destrnr
God sweetest messengers OF his love for
he fieeting pleasure of eating one morsel of
of meat. When we read in your columns an
appeal for the preservation of the humming
birds, so plaintively and irresistibly present
ed in 'Alicia's Bonnet" we wished that an
Audubon Society, like that which is doing
such good work in protecting the lives of our
innocent warblers at home could be estab-
lished in all the European cities. At Christ
mas time, in London, a dealer in fancy goods
exhibited on his counter large cases filled
with English robins. 1t shocked us to see
the dear little Dickies slaughtered in this
wholesale way for the vanity of personal
decoration.
While this city looks today very much like
Pompeii, its burial came about by the slow
processes of nature Ostia was gradually
depopulated and fell into decay when the
glory of Rome declined, and then it was left
to the mercy of the Tiber and the winds,
which, each in its own peculiar way, went
steadily to work to hide the desolation. At
each inundation of the river a sediment of
fine sand was deposited in the streets. The
winds which blew fercely across these
plains, added perseveIingly to this accumu-
lation, until nothing is visible but a stray
column here and there, and the invincible
temple of Vulcan, where we lunched, whose
walls today, five feet thick, and hundred
feet high teem to defy destruction. A few
columns are left which held up the roof of
the temple of Castor and Pollux, the patron
gods of the sailors There was formerly
another temple dedicated to Ceres, to whom
the grain merchants offered libations to Sc
cure the blessing of abundant harvests.
There was yet fourth in this little city,
where was enshrined the last and most adj
vanced type of the pagan worship which
was consecrated to the gods of Mithias. The
priests and devotees of this superstition
were the most formidable opponents of the
Christian religion, as their conceptions of
Deity possessed more of the supernatural
and mystical than the gross and sensual per-
sonifcations of earlier times, and in this way
appealed to the refined and reflective minds
of the cultured people. In this temple were
found some fine groups of statuary, and in
the centre the altar still stands upon which
was kept burning eternal fire, which of
course the people were taught came down
from the sun, or the heaven of heavens; but
in a corner, behind the scene, is a small ter
ra-cotta furnace, where the fire might have
haa,, lyind1ad ond ylarnot,o 1v rap1anicba1