Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-10

on the floor, the stands are piled high
with iacuueminot roses, moss roses,
rich, dark, velvet roses, vast quantities
of tea and marchalneil roses, which are
the cheapest of all; blush roses, every
kind of pink and carnation, punches or
heliotrope aud white jasmine, orange
blossoms, fleur de lis, and l know not
what else, but back of this fragrant
mass there towers up long stalks OF whlte
aununciatiOn lilies i'll vases. l bought
stalk with five open lilies on it for three
cents, and bunch of tea roses large
enough to I'LL O small wash bowl for two
cents, but that was on the street where
the flowers are sold cheaper, especially |
in the afternoon. Old ladies run after |
YOU on the streets Offering double hands
full of roses for few cents. But Delns |
TEXAS GIRL
l am not so amazed at these Things as |
our pension companions from the North. |
1t seems to me l have said good deal
about fascinating shops in Naples and !
Rome. Whatever have said take 1t |
all back, Compared to the fascination
of Florentine shops, other Italian shops |
are nothing. The goldsmiths OF
Florence have been celebrated ever since
ANYBODY ever heard of Florence, and 1t
is certainly true now that they show
the prettiest and daintiest things we
have seen anywhere. They make q
specially of pretty and comparatively
inexpensive things 20 catch the tourlSL
trade In the windows along the
Arno and on the Ponte Necchlo we
see the most artistic designs IN pins and
rings and necklaces and bracelets, made
with coral, turquoise, seed pearls, ana
mooustones. Then there are the ex-
uuisite mosaics, silver work, maJollca
manufactures, and beautifully carved
picture frames. 1t is curious to observe
how distinctly different are the manu-
features of each Italian city: Neapolftan
tortoise shell and coral, Roman gold and
pearls are represented by only one small
shop in Florence. Things seem very
cheap here, and l suppose that means
badly paid workmen, though l don
like TO think it, for it is SO nice to buy
things cheap.
The Arno is an improvement on the
Tiber. for it is not quite so muddy
minded and has far more beautiful
banks; then too it has the Pente Vecchio,
which means old bridge. You walk into
it all uucOnsciously till you come to an
opening in the close row of stores and
there you are in the
MIDDLE OF THE RIVER,
looking down the house-liued Arno with
| the hills rising up on either side, or on
| the right hand looking up toward the
hill of Flesole 1t is as nice view as
any body wants to see, particularly at sun
setting. From the outside the Ponte
| Vecchio looks like q lot of little two-story
| houses stuck together and stretched over
! the water, The shops seem to be fastened
| onto the outside of the bridge, for they
stick out over the water behind in the
| most delightfully."- quaint and droll fash
| ion.
| Florence Is such a lovaole place. 1t
| was the home of so many great ana low
| able people who filled it so full OF the at
mosphere of their noble lives the fra
GRANGE of their living can never entirely
leave the place they lived IN; then too,
thew have left the marks of their indi-
viduality everywhere. The very hills
love Florence and snuggle close up to
her. Naples Is too dirty and Rome too
big and diffuse to love, but Florence Is
respectfully clean and she is just the right
size to go into your heart in lump as 1t
were. She is concentrated; she and her
history all mean one thing; she is n
CRYSTAL IN THE ROCK BED OF ITALY.
Our pension, the pension Michel, is
delightfully."- situated because you nave TO
go past the cathedral and the oampanile
in order to get anywhere, and one can
not go past there too often. We see
that marvellous tower of GIotto's, as
Ruskin always calls the campanile, from
our room; it rises up above
intervening roofs like shaft
of pink tlnged light. The
whole cathedral aud the clock tower be-
side il are built of white marble, out
lined in black marble, and garnished
with many panelliugs OF pink marble.
Can you imagine what that cathedral Is,
. that carved aud turretted. and bestatued
creation in black, white and pink,
and the tall square tower beside il,
strong and yet graceful, dainty, yet
magnificent The front of the cathe-
dral does strike one at first as being like
the gigantic creation Of q pastry cook,
but that impression passes of. IL the
| exterior Is like this, what will the
interior lie, 1 thought reasoning from
our experience with Roman churches
We entered the dazzling, fairy like
thing, and behold darkness and
, emptiuessl There is scarcely painting
on the plain grey walls; scarcely q
|, | carving or a statue to be seen. IL Is
Italian gothic, which seems TO NEAR
gothic without its beautiful character
istcs. To really love the duomo on'
. wants to read up freshly about thu
building of it, and TO realize what
wonderful thing it was in those days u
| build such q dome rs that. and what
! time Brunslleschi had to convince tn
. | sienoria that he could build suoh 9
: | dome. You zee different architects hat
, | brought the building to the roof, ant
A | they were all puZzling their heads about
. WHAT WAS TO BE DONE NEXT
, | and all sorts of absurdities were sug
| gested, when this smart Florertine wn'
. had been studying old Roman ruins cam
: forward with what seemed most impos
I sibIs plan, for no such dome had eve