Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-02

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border found Italian customs officers awaiting
US. 1t required an hours debate to settle the
question that we must pay eighty-four Ira
Cabout Sl6.So) apiece refundable duty on our
! bicycles and must elect, then and there. at
what point We would take them out of the
country. Twas pathetic impressive scene.
this debate. The other side took the floor
hrst, then our side went into action. and so on
to the end advances to the assault and retreat.
with exhausted ranks following upon each
OF Ter in interminable succession In vain the
Italian host strove to penetrate our understand
ing. Again and again their chief orator. a
short little fellow with q kindly expression,
! planted himself before us. repeated with arm
/ beat measured accents the facts he would have
I understood. but only to retire to the main
| body dlScomtittcd. few moments consulta-
tlon ana ne AGAIN emerGes. Now. them once
more. ray OF light-noi all is dark. that don't
| understand look again. and he sinks helpless
| INTO his sympathetic comrades arms The
! French on both sides of The question was
! equally bad and didn't seem to match very
| Wen ana We reached no conclusion until fell
! low arrived who could speak German As we
mounted and rode away H-,who until this mo-
| ment had been too stupefed with amazemrnt
| to express himself the subject. recovered
| his presence of mind and addressed TO the
| group of officials a few remarks concerning
Italy. We forbear to mention what he said
! but the officials, not understanding English
mlstook the tenor of this farewell salutation
and politely touched their caps in response
HOTEL EXPERIENCE.
! 1t was dark when we reached Como. three
miles beyond the border. and felt our way
down winding descent into the city. The
first place we found that looked at all promis-
| ing as haven for the night was ..trattorio
con allogio, sort of combined saloon. restau-
rant and lodging house. In we went and after
waiting around for long time in the back
room n rendezvous for the rubbish and odds
| and ends of the establishment we're summoned
| to supper unwashed, dusty and dirty from our
| long days ride. This appeared to be the
| Italian way. Our arrival created quite a COM
| motion in the household. We seemed to have
| taken them completely by surprise. They had
never had guests of our description before and
hardly knew what to do with u.s. There must
have been much to be done to render our
| rooms habitable, for even after leisurely dis
| posing of our supper and going for a stroll we
were still obliged to wait.
| AT last we were ushered up several flights of
stone stairs by a little dwarf whose deformity
gave him the appearance of parenthesis and
stupidity shown into the wrong place. the room
Oh young lady, who thereupon relieved our
parenthetical guide of command and set us
| right. Our rooms, bare and cell-like. but re-
deemed by great windows extending to the
hoor, were entered by doorways closely
akin to those of bank vaults, and
| there were two sets of doors outer
and inner, the latter double and ironclad and
| locked with an enormous bolt. The next morn
| ing we detected our breakfast being run in
from outslde-even to the coffee cups and
spoons. Evidently 1t was not usual for the
| mousse TO serve such fare-very plain and sim
pie, too-as we wished, and our meals we're
procured from the larder-we think it may
have been the leavings-of some more angi-
clzed establishment. All this luxury cost US
much money, as we found when the returns,
the bill, came in.
TO MILAN AND BEYOND.
We were now bound for Milan Twas hot and
dusty, and the road bad; even the foot path, to
which we were obliged to resort much of the
time, was bad. There was nothing to see save
dust-laden grass and foliage on either side of
| the road The towns aud villages we're quite
| similar In general appearance to the Italian
Swiss towns, but the tinted stucco-covered
walls OF the houses were more disfgured with
| CRIME. OF water we found practically none
| that was accessible, and OH we were SO thirsty
Fruit, however, was quite plentiful and cheap
| watermelon We had at the rate of one cent a
slice, while little, ragged. bare-headed children
| stood about and scrambled in the dirt for the
| rlnd We threw away. We reached the city early
| In the afternoon, and certain it is that never
before had we attracted 80 much attention.
Everybody stopped to stare, and if we paused
but for moment there was a crowd around US
Our chief recollections of Milan are that we de-
| voted large part of two DAYS to regaininQ pos
| session of that bane of our existence our extra
baggage; and that when we were about to de-
| part even the cook of the hotel mercenarily
came out of his den to bid US gooI-by. This
latter proceeding went away ahead of anything
| we mad yet encountered, but We got off without
| serious loss.
| IN COLUMBUS OLD HOME.
Our wheeling thus far in Italy had not been
so replete with joy but that we felt we could
dispense with much Of it without experiencing
any great feeling of regret. To Genoa we went
| by rail to consult the American consul there
| with reference to our difficulties with the GUS
| toms regulations as applied to our bicycles
| Genoa Is always associated with the name Of
Columbus. There is a monument erected to
him which represents him in a standing posture,
| with America personified by the figure of a
woman seated or crouching at his feet. Amer
| lea seems to have just been discovered and to
| be trying to make up her mind what she had
best do about it. Until quite recently house.
duly marked, was customarily pointed out as a
| former dwelling place of the great navigator
but the owners became conscience-stricken
at last and took down the sign. So one must
now content himself with examining the
| Photographic copies of our national discoyerer
exhibited at tho city hall. The originals are
under lock and key and not to be seen by the
| ordinary tourist since one enterprising Ameri-
can managed in some way to get at one of the
| letters and surreptltlously tear of and carry
| away a corner of it. Four hours IN a hot close
| railway car compartment, from Milan to Genoa
| had made us of one opinion, that we should
not care for more of that mode of travelling
| than We could avoid. We were glad of an op-
portunity to go to Naples by steamer bound
| for India and fastened to avail ourselves of it.
| Incidentally in going aboard found the
| "Genoese navigators" to be still thriving and
| enterprising race. The representative who
took us and our bikes in his boat out to where
! the vessel lay at anchor was eloquent in his
| petition for more money than he had bargained
| fora failing common to his kind, it appears.
AN ORIENTAL SCENE.
| Our slumbers on the steamer were shat
tered in the early morning by thump, thump,
] humping on the main deck directly over our
state room. We held q grudge against the
knave responsible for the disturbance and
went on deck to seek him out and crush him
with look if nothing else was handy. 1t was
| only gaunt, lathy, sickly looking Indian-not
| one of our American Indians" of course but
| the genuine native of India-pounding with an
iron pestle some curry ingredients in a rude
| mortar. There we're about a dozen of these
| Indians OH board who seemed to be employed
in some capacity or other. All were very sim
liar in appearance, Of exceedingly slight build,
| barefoot and wearing loose, once white, trous-
ers and jackets, with little round skull caps
| Curry, dish composed of q mixture of eight
| or nine different ingredients stewed together.
seemed to be their only article Of diet. Seated
| han ka ~,