The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-09-11
ROME, Aug. s. 1891.

II am in Rome! Oft as the morning ray
Visits these eyes, waking, at once cry,
Whence this excess Of jOyP What has befaIle
me?
And from within thrilling voice replies,
Thou art in Romel A Thousand busy thought
Rush on my mind, A thousand images,
And spring up, as girt to run q race.
Thou art in Rome! The city that SO long
Reigned absolute, the mistress OF the world;
The mighty vision that the prophets saw
And trembled: that from nothing, from the least
The lowliest (what but here and there
4 reed-rooied cabin by the river sidel
Grew into everything; and year by year.
Patiently fearlessly working her way
Ger brook and field. DER continent and sea-
Not, like the merchant with his merchandise,
Or traveller with stan and script exploring
But hand to hand and foot to foot, through hosts
Through nations numberless, in battle array,
Each behind each when the other fell,
Up and in arms, at length subdued them all.
Thou art in Rome! the city where the Gauls,
Entering at sunrise through her open gates,
And through her streets, silent and desolate,
Marching TO slay, thought they saw gods, no
men;
The city that by temperance. fortitude,
And love of glory, lowered above the clouds,
Then fell; but falling kept the highest seat,
And in her loneliness, her pomp OF woe,
where now shedyells, withdrawn into the wild
Stll Per the mind maintains from age to age
Her empire undiminished.
~
do not know who wrote the lines
but they say SO well what 1 would say
if had the wit that 1 set them down
here. think there has never been a
time since 1 came to years of discre,
ton when, if asked what one city OF
all the world / most desired to visit,
I should not have made instant ans
wer. "Ronle!" And now that am
here, although Florence and Venice
and the stored Rhine and Brussels
and Antwerp are still before me, feel
that the climax, the elimination of my
journey has been reached. 1 am
ready now to start homeward. For
my feet have trodden the worn pave
ments of Old Rome, and my eyes have
seen the glory, past and present, of
the Eternal City; the city of Romulus
and the Kings, of Brutus and the Con-
suls, of Caesar and the Emperors; the
city of Scipio and the Gracchi and Ca
to; the city of Cicero and Virgil and
Horace; of st. Paul and the Christian
martyrs; the city of the Popes; the
''lone mother of dead empires" the
city toward which the eyes of all the
race have turned for the last two
thousand years; the mighty city of the
seven hills, splendid in the vigor of
her fresh youth, Incompatible in the
strength of her full maturity, magnif-
icent in the pathetic desolation of her
old age; "giant, god-like fallen Rome"
whose like there never was and never
will be!
a.
In outward appearance Rome is the
most modern city in Italy. Does the
statement surprise you? The fact sur
prised me. After seeing Milan and
Genoa and Naples 1 was prepared to
find Rome like them, only more so;
ugly yellow houses, narrow and jum-
led streets filthy and foul smelling. r
found it in all but the parks and boul-
eyards, another Paris. Houses high and
white and new looking, streets clean
and broad and straight, air sweet and
pure and wholesome. There are sec
tions, of course, along the Tiber where
the ancient city used to lie, where the
streets are narrow and tortuous, the
houses are old and ugly; the shops
dark and dirty. But one might wan
der for days and not find them, so re-
strieted are they in comparison with
the great extent of the modern city.
i had expected to find ruins every
where, remnants of walls, and broken
columns and pieces of arches. But 1
walked and drove about the city al
most day without a glimpse of these
things. They are here, but they have
to be sought for. I have sought for
them these past three days and found |
them, some of them at least, and here
Is brief catalogue.
-
The Colosseum comes first, of course. |
q While stands the Colosseum Rome shall stand, |
When falls the Colosseum Rome shall fall,
When falls Rome, then falls the worid -
Thus runs the old saw. And if the
Colosseum had been let alone one
might easily believe that the saying
might prove a tue one. For it was a
mighty and massive structure. Not