Iron County register., 1891-10-15
From Over the Water.
PALLASzA, Saturday. Aug. s.


and eolors hung on the balconies an,
along the walks in the yard. The effee
is really very good The band has beef
stationed in front, just under our window
ever since supper. They play at inter
vais and are treated to wine betweei
times. 1t is really pleasant to hear
band again. lis a good one and tn,
music doesn't seem so loud and harsh a!
We often hear at home. They playee
America a few minutes ago. Itwas witt
variations, not just as we sing it, but i
never sounded so good to me. I tell yor
there was clapping of hands on all sides
when they finished, and they had to PLAY
| it again. We illuminated my American
flag by setting two candles behind it ant
| twas effective can assure you. I'm onl,
afraid it was so high up that the people
below do not get the full benefit.
Sunday morning. Aug. 9.-The day i:
still. clear, cool and perfectly delightful.
| This is a beautiful place to sleep, and the
past two nights have been most refresh
| ing. Not that | have any trouble about
| sleeping; since the first night on the
| sleeper from Ohio TO New York I've had
no difficulty, but sometimes dreams, mos.
quitos and other Interruptions prevent the
devotion Of the whole night 10 peaceful
slumbers. Every morning when wake
think of you. begin to wonder what you
are doing, and then it comes over me
| that It's still the middle of night. and
then | realize how far away am. Often
it seems imposs;ble that the great ocean
lies between us. For instance, as we
passed groups of sycamore trees, / was
carried home in thought, and as we rode
along in the darkness on our way TO Pisa,
it seemed, as L sat looking out the window
that | was on the way from Oberlin to
Missouri, and | could hardly put the i'm
preston from my mind: but 7 was going
TO tell something more of what we saw
and did in Rome. You see we were there
from Saturday noon until Wednesday
noon; considering the short time we had
think we saw great deal. Some pict-
ures we wanted to see were in private col
lections. which were closed for the sum-
mer, but we found great deal that was
of interest. Monday afternoon we drove
to the church of St. Paul's without the
walls "ad then visited the catacombs of
st. Sebastian. We were prepared and
wrought into state of ghostly anticipa-
ton by the priests in the damp old church
which we entered. They moved about
silently and mysteriously in their dark
robes and lighted long wax tapers and
gave one to each OF us. Then the priest
who was to be our guide opened a door.
and, speaking for the first time, request
ed that the last one close it as we came
through. Then down we went into an
arcled passage way hewn in the solid
rock, with innumerable turns and side
passages, th always that little cowled
figure al our head. His look was deeid-
edly wierd. but his bright eyes danced
when he pointed TO a dusty heap and
sai2, bones" He rather enjoyed trying
to frighten the girls. think. All along
the walls were rows of shelves or places
cut in to hold collins. Some were very
small, for little children. In none of
them could we see coffins, but often there
would be heap of bones or skeleton
reauy to cTumble at the faintest touch.
The catecombs were originally stone
quarries, it is thought. Then they were
the dwellings and places of worship of the
early Christians. Thousands of martyrs
were buried there, but many bodies have
been removed and taken to the churches
in home and shrine for some saint made
over it. In the wall on one side we saw
Il bit OF broken bottle which the monk
said once held the blood of the martyrs,
Upon coming up into the church again
the little monk showed us case of relics
in a case over one of the altars. Among
them was a stone bearing the prints of
two feet, our Lords, the Catholics be-
lieve. The drive out there and back was
most enjoyable. The ruins along the
Appian way aud out in the Campagna
were more like the Rome that had imag-
ined. Old bits of acqueducts, broken
walls. ruined columns and arches, stood
out in the twilight grim and bleak and
L
the golden, misty light on hills and plain
was beautiful. On Wednesday morning
we visited the church of the Capucini, |
which has the most ghastly cemetery in
the world. They have some holy ground |
brought from Jerusalem and all the monks |
Of that monastery must be buried in it. /
So when one dies they dig up the bones of |
he one who has been there longest and |
put the last one in his place. The bones
are arranged in artistic (?) fashion upon |
he walls and ceiling, and all sorts of
nosaics and decorations are made from |
he bones of these disinterred priests. |
There are four or five rooms, all different |
n design, but made in the same way |
There is a chandelier in one of them of
oones fastened together. One room is
almost entirely of jaw bones. another of
skulls, and one OF thigh bones. Heaps /
IF '.tibuias'' and 'tfibias'' are used 10 t
make grottos or cases whers whole skele-
ons are placed. Some are standing,
,thers lying with bony hands closed over t
he crucifix. All these have the cTum-
,ling remains of the brown robe and hood /
If the Capucin order. Tie hair and beard |
we're plainly visible on some of them. and
:ome of the bony hands had bits of dried |
fesh There was no odor, as Won might
suppose, but the sight of those grinning
skeleton figures was decidedly CHASTITY.
That Is the only adjective which can ap-