Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-24

of houses, and few steps further brought
it into full view, and $50 yards distant
There was at first not exactly the emotion
with which one beho,ds for the first time an
object of extraordinary interest and attrac-
tiveness and venerable associations; but
there was tho thrill of understanding that
this object was strangely beautiful. The
first view had was the best. The tower
looked as fresh in the morning light as if it
had been yesterday carved in ivory. 1t
seemed new, and yet, while it was more than
100 years in course of construction, it was
finished $40 years ago, century before
Christopher Columbus was born.
While I stood, the inclination Of the
tower toward me, a bell was rung in the
tower, and swung out of the window that 1
faced, sending its silverv noise over the
city. So the tower was not only new In APP
pearance, though the foundations were laid
more than six centuries ago, but serving the
purpose for which it was erected. close
approach showed the work of the ages in the
discoloration of some of the material, and
the peculiar roughness that rains and
winds and frost and sunshine make In the
slow process of the magical chemistry OF
half thousand years. The inclination of
the tower is clearly not accidental. 1t Is
artistic. The first floor, as you enter, slants
about six feet, and the effect is to e1agger-
ate the impression the exterior gives. The
tower is in the highest sense work OF art.
The Leaning Is a Daring Trick.
The leaning is a daring trick to lead the
imagination captive just as it has done, for
all the generations 1t is very easy to
climb the tower, and it is only 1I9 feet high.
The material is volcanic rock, hard as iron
and white flint. There was for me mo-
mentary sensation of giddiness at the top,
and felt there for the first time the sense
of the rocking of the ship that generally fol-
lows sea voyage for day or two. I did
not think the tower was about to take the
opportunity to fall, but the feeling that it
was swaying was frightfuL 1t would be
very easy to tumble off, for the space out
side of the she'll of the stairway and inside
the the circles of pillars is unguarded. Gal
lileo must have had steady head to have
experimental with pendulum on this dizzy
tower, after watching the silver lamp that
in the cathedral hangs on a rope $50 feet
long.
The Cathedral is adorned with some of
the spoils of the Crusaders, captured from
the Spanish Moors and from Constantinople.
The Pisans made fame and laid the founda-
ton of their high fortunes during the Cru
sades, and transported a number of ship
loads OF earth from Mount Calvary 10 use
in their burial ground. The guidebook says
the number of ships loaded with this earth
was 3d. There have been no burials in it
for more than century, and upon it shrub
berry and grass are green, and over 1t sigh
tall and dismal cypress trees.
The only thing humorous saw at Pisa
was a fresco of the last judgment, repre-
senting the devils and snakes tormenting
God the Father and His Son, look
ing on complacently. The grandeur of the
fun is that the metal work is prodigious;
and yet do not care to display a spirit of
levity. There are some things even the
high old artists should have let alone.
suspect the artist in this case to have
meant to be grotesque, and to have played
it handsomely on great folks of dull under
standing and indurated solemnity.
MURAT HALSTEAD.