The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-09-25
Como, AUGUST 6, 1891.

Have I already described in these
letters the funny way the Italians
have of dividing their farms up into
little bits of rectangular plots by rows
of trees, then training grape vines
from tree to tree and planting the lit
tie plots to hay or grain or vegetables?
The practice is universal over all the
level country of central and northern
Italy, and the effect is very pretty, as
if one were looking out over contin-
uous orchard. This part of Italy
from Rome to Florence, and from Flor
ence to Venice and. from Venice to
Milan and Como-is indeed very
rich and beautiful country, any
amount better than the western" and
southern portion Of the kingdom. Tt
is "fruited deep" with apples, peach
es, pears and grapes, and the cornand
grass look fine, all giving evidence
not only of a fertile soil, but of careful
and intelligent cultivation. The
country looks fresh and XIX Century
like, and if it were not for the occa-
sional sight of a gray and lonely tow
er OH some hill or OF a stretch of bat
tlemented and massive wall along
the side of some town, one would BE
likely to forget that it is nearly as old
as recorded history.
The strain i'm which this letter has
got itself started, the fact that here at
Como 1 am on the same track through
which passed into Italy and which
is therefore already familiar ground to
my readers, and the further fact that
this is my last stopping place in this
country, suggest that some general
observations on Italy and the Italians
Offered with the preparatory &C
acknowledgement that the impressions
made during hurried trip of three
weeks might be radically changed by
longer stay and deeper investigation
may not be out of order. Us
~
The first impression that every
American must receive, and the one
that must abide with him most con-
stantly, is that Italy is soldier-ridden
and priest-ridden. Soldiers are every
where and priests are everywhere.
They are the best fed, the best cloth
ed and the best housed of any class of
citizens-and they do the least work!
1 could stand the soldiers, for sour
poor Italy,''-as a very intelligent
Roman said to me-"is between two
big dogs, France and Austria, and she
must always be ready to bite" But
I wonder that Gods wrath does not
overtake the sanctimonious priests
and the "Holy Catholic Church" for
their age-long robbery of His poor.
One can never appreciate until he has
seen them, the enormous amount of
labor and money that has been put
into these italian churches. There
are so many of them-hundreds in
every city-and they are so stupen-
dous in size and built of such costly
material, and they are adorned with
such incredible prodigality of paint
ings and sculptures and gold and sill
yer and precious stones. Where did
all the money come FROM" "Wrung
from the hard hands of peasants"
One can of course respect the tremen-
dous religious zeal and devotion in
comparison with which we of to-day
are all atheists and infidels-which
these churches and inspired
the genius which designed and deco
rated them. But we cannot help re-
also that whole genera
tons of men have eaten black bread
and gone clothed in rags in order that
these costly piles might be erected.
What bitter irony to dedicate houses
erected at such cost to Him who said |
''Sell what thou hast and give to the
poor" If ] were only the Boss in
Italy for one little month I should not
tear down the churches now that they
are already built, but 1 would see
those life sized silver statues
hidden away in the sacristies at Milan