Omaha daily bee., 1888-12-29
FAIR, SUNNY ITALY.
Rev. w. j. Harsha's Lecture on the
Art Gallery of the World.

A fair-S2cd audience of refined ana we'll
dressed people greeted the Rev. Mr.. Harsha
Thursday evening at the Boyd
opera house, kindly offered gratis
by the proprietor, in aid of the
Women's Christian association. The attrac-
ton was Rev. w. }. Harsha and his lecture,
'Leisure Days in Italy"
The Union Pacific band, which also volun-
teered its services, discourscd some of its
choicest selections both outside and in the
hall.
Dean Gardner of Trinity cathedral in
short and felicitous speech, in the name of
the w. G. A., thanked all for their presence,
and paid an earnest tribute to the activity
and zeal of Mr. Harsha in all good works.
II shape myself to idenoss and take fools
pleasures. George Elliot.
'How much Ounce who has been sent to
Rome. excels a Ounce who has remained at
homen
Such were the opening remarks of the
speaker who, at first, seemed somewhat EN-
barrassed, as "a fish out of water and monk
out of his cell, might be, The theatre is not
as the church to preacher, even as Our
Own Mary hesitates to be bridesmaid at her
brothers forthcoming marriage.
Genoa was the starting point of the lee
turer on Italy. Its unique cemetery, the
prison of st. Andrea, the autograph of Chris
topher Columbus in his own native city, and,
by the way, the place where q great irish
man. Daniel O'Conncll, died. where
Wychoff, friend of Edwin Forrest, met
with a sad romance, and many other interest
ing events touched upon.
Here aggression was made, and, for some
time, the audience wandered in thought
through many places in Switzerland. They
returned through ST. Gothard, that mOnu-
ment to the genius of Louis Fabre. A long
extract was read from Charles Dickens de-
scriptve of the scenery in the vicinity.
Next they stopped in Milan, and were
treated to a humorous description of a Milu-
nese hotel porter and IA cabman. The por-
traits would serve for types Of most Italians
of those classes, a pathetic pOrtrature of "a
met his son lii America, who had been for
twelve years in Chill, was next given
The merry making Milanese the Italian
hurry, "a mile an hour" the fine shops
with large windows, the cathedral were rap
idly sketched. The pleasantest memory Of
Milan was that of its great saint, San Carlo
Borromeo, entombed in the great Gothic
cathedral. 81 honor his memory for his
sterling worth. He was great good man,
the founder of Sunday schools, the reformcr
of the clergy" Two monuments pleased the
speaker, one the resurrection Of young man
from the tomb, the other u widow with "A
nursing child at her breast.
A glide was then taken along the ran
through the marshes into Venice. No NOISE
of cab or Cabby, no trucks no busting hur-
rying, pushing, but quietly the desceht was
made on the long marble that stretches out
along the Lagune from the RlaltO. AS
quietly they entered the cushioned gOndola,
those black hearses of Venice, and quickly
the skillful oar of the gondolier brought
them through a black waterway amidst the
dwellings of the poor, short route to the
hotel. This backway called TO mind the Big
Muddy when 1t leaves her own bed, when
she wants to get into the beds of the denzens
of Council Bluffs.
Next they listened 20 a band of 200 pieces
playing as only Italians do play in
the Piazza San Marco Ttian's home,
the home of the "Merchant OF Venice"
bringing back TO mind Shylock and Portia,
the Rialto with its duns, when Venice was
the mistress of the seas and all that Ruskin
and Byron and Shelly and hosts of others
have written and sung of her l0yliness. The
of Sighs and "A thousand other thoughts
crowded the mind.
Turning backs on Venice they alight in
Florence And here the lecturer exclaimed,
Glow shall we commence to tell her story,
to name her poets, her painters, ler sculp-
torsH Michael Angelo and Dante, Sayona-
rOla and Lorenzo de Medc Guelph and
Ghibelline, Romola and Tito the DuOmO Of
GhiOttO, the Pitt Palace with its Venus de
Medici, the Marble lFaun, its thousands of
and the Old bridge over the ArnO,
on winch Michael Angelo Cant and Beatrice
pondered.
The art idea, he said was blended into the
everyday life of the Florentine. No wonder
the rich and cultured American loves
Florence. The very children OF the streets
are artists
Omaha has an art gallery" he continued, a |
to its noble-hearted founder, |
and his work will knit itself into