The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-24

take along abundant shirts, under
clothes, dress suit, extra oyercoat,
even two nightshirts, pocket hand
kerchiefs and socks, allowing some days
TO pass between washings, and an iron
bootjack ;sthen a shawl and a blanket and
overshoes when the journey is long and
the season possibly inclement. But the
railroad administration in Europe charges
like fury for baggage. l sent trunk from
Genoa, containing impedimenta weighing
seventy-eight pounds, 10 Berlin. by the
hand yitesse, at an expense OF % francs, or
$3.50; and as this is written in Rome,
may say also that a trunk OF
less weight cost me nearly an equal
sum between Genoa and Rome.
parenthetical word about money.
An American lady at a hotel in Genoa Of
fered $50 note-a certificate for fifty sill
yer dollars"-and the financial wisdom OF
the institution was sorely tested. Why,
they said, this is note for fifty silver dol
lars, and silver is less valuable than gold;
therefore this note is not the equivalent OF
gold: what is it worth? There is your sill
yer question for you. The Lady, OF course,
said as much as Nonsensei you don't I'M
derstand our great country; the money is
all good as gold. | was Appealed to as an
American statesman and had the thing to
explain, and the Italian mind was not
perfectly prepared by historical association
for the explanation. or course l said:
another dollar, and all our American
money is as good as gold. We keep it SO
by q gold reserve maintained for that pur-
posen Then / undertook to explain the
''paritv of metals" and quoted the exam
pie of France, with her bI-metallic system,
saving ours was like unto that. Perhaps
nothing more interfered with the Italian
comprehension of the American money
situation than the fact that there is q
premium on gold in Italy. The
lady who paid her bill in gold
might have got premium of
/ per cent. on her gold coin if she had
known the fact and exacted it as part of
the payment. 1t was a surprise to the
Italians to tell them that there had not
been a premium on gold in our country
since the resumption of specie payments
An italian asked: What is this trouble
you have had about TOO much money?
How do you come to have the strange
fortune Of too much money!" | ex-
planned that, too--our growth--our sixty
millions of people-cotton, corn, wheat
oil and so on. and the duties that poured
in golden stream. And what did
you do with this money!" l was asked
and the reply that we had spent all we
could, and then paid off our national debt
by the hundred million per annum. was a
surprise. A country without great army
except OF pensioners-and that pays as
it goes, and, more than that, actually goes
into the market and gobbes up its own
bonds, is mystery that demands explana-
ton; and in explaining one fuifills the
destiny and exploits the vanity of the
American traveller in astonishing Euro
peans-one of the favorite exercises
abroad.)
The old city of Pisa Is but six miles
from the Mediterranean on the Arno.
The railroad that runs to it is a remark
able structure. / thought the Baltimore
d Ohio road, from Grafton to Parkersburg,
the champion for the number of tunnels.
Ny recollection is there are twenty-seven
of then-certalnly liberal supply. From
Genoa to Pisa is about the same distance,
and lady who counted them carefully is
authority for the statement that the num-
Der of tunnels is eighty-seven. The
mountains are close TO the sea, and all
their toes in the water have to be
tunneled. 1t occurs to me that it
might be well to wall up and arch
over the road that Is not in the tunnels
and convert 1t into huge pneumatic
tube. Seeing scenery on this line is diff
cult in broad daylight. The attempt TO
see il by moonlight, have to remark, is a
failure. Just as one gets glimpse of the
silvered sides of mountain, of the flash
ing surf of the Mediterranean, which roars
along this rocky coast in the true oceanic
style, and is beautifully expressive of
bafiied rage, there is harsh rattle of the
cars and the only light is the lamp over
head. This happens with such exasper-
ating frequency that it becomes tiresome,
and the study OF the picturesque, whether
by night or day, is disturbed.
Pisa has a depot that looks like business:
and | found an omnibus belonging to the
Hotel Victoria, with a light in the door
illuminating the name of that hotel. When
we started the conductor put that light
| out. The hotel was another with marble
| halls" The walls, floors, stairways, were
a Solid a a nd ha ua sch,
ing cold lunch, wanted to know whether
the preference of the customer was for
Vienna or Munich beer. The attractions
of Pisa are all together-the Tower, the
Cathedral, the Dome, the Campo Santo;
and the hotel folks expect the visitor to
stay but one day. The Arno runs through
the town, and IS a great feature. In the
| morning | asked the question, always
asked, | suppose-which way is the tower?
The answer was, follow the river until you
come to the street st. Mary; then take that
and go straight on. ''The day SO mild was
heavens own child" The solid streets
clean as the floor of neat housekeeper's
kitchen, were lined with houses, all of
which were old, and some of them bore
traces ofthe magnifcence of other days On
the street met two bits OF color that were
distinguished and characteristic. A Ia
borer driving cart had bright red
blanket spread over his horse and very
old man tottered along in the sunshine
carrying under his arm wildly green
umbrella, done up in the Horace Greeley
fashion. | had been on the lookout for
the first glimpse Of the tower that is the
feature of the decayed city, and just when
| was not looking for it / saw the top of il
over row of houses, and few steps
further brought it into tull view, and
$50 yards distant. There was at first not
exactly the emotion with which one be-
holds Tor the first time an object of extra
ordinary interest and attractiVeness
and venerable associations; but there was
the thrill of understanding that this OBJ
ject 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 construc-
ton, 1t was finished $40 years
ago. a century before Christopher Column
bus was born. While / stood, the incli-
nation OF the tower toward me, bell was
rung in the tower, and swung out Of the
window that | faced, sending its siiyery
noise over the city. So the tower was
not only new in appearance, though
the foundations were laid more than
six centuries ago, but serving the purpose
for which il was erected A close
approach showed the work of the
ages in the dIscoloratlon 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, "a you enter, siants about SIX
feet, and the effect IL to exaggerate the
impression the exterior gives. The tower
IS IN the highest sense, work of art.
The leaning Is daring trick 10
lead the Imagination captive, just as
has oil . hA