The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-04-29
THE RUINS OF ROME
And It's Ancient Churches De-
cribed by Mr.. Campbell.
A VISIT TO THE CATACOMBS
Aud tho Scenes Where tic EARLY
Christians Mct-.-Rclics that Tux tho
Crcdulity OF Visitors...Whcrc ST..
Peter was Cruclilcd, aud Ills Burial
Placc...G rnphic Description OF In.
tcrcsting aud Historic Scenes.
ptcid, Correspondence Of he l~n,dlio.ncsr.

lsoME, April l2.-When Mr.. Frow
and myself were in Paris We fell in at
tho hotel with a colonel from Texas
who had been doing Europe in n wild
western way and who in enumcrating
tho places he had been and the sights
he had seen finally touched upon this
city OF Rome. 1t was amusing to hear
tho colonel upon Rome. A few days
had been quite enough for him in Rome
and he was relieved and glad when the
timc came Tor him to leave 1t. All that
there was to DO seen here could be sum-
med up in 4 few words and rs | now re-
call the summaryit WIS something like
this, Il few old ruins, q lot OF old musty
churches and al army OF priests aud
bcggars. l was just thinking in sitting
down to send you this letter prior
to packing up to leave Rome, after
n three. months ~sojourn within
its walls, what the redoubtablc colonel
would say were | now TO meet with him
and tell him TINT even after this long
~sojourn I was not leaving Rome with
any particular sense OF buoyancy, but
rather with 4 tingc OF regret, and this,
too, because had found n good deal to
interest mo i'll tho old ruins and in tho
musty churches despite the priests
and the beggars) and in the continual
acquaintance OF pleasant people. L pre-.
sumo, were l to tell the colonel this he
would simply look upon mo as lie did
upon others whom he met, rs one OF
those travelling lunatics who have no,
higher or more practical object in life
than to waste their time in reading in
scriptions on broken columns and arches
that tell what kings. and consuls, and
Caesars, and popes did at time in
Rome, a matter that to him as u ranch.
man and a hustler from Texas, and q
live man generally, is Of no consequence
whatever.
Perhaps 1 should remark that. the
colonel is the same man who stopped
within n few miles OF Waterloo and yet
wouldn't waste his valuable time in 60
ing to see the historic battlefield. One
wonders, OH meeting with such people
rs the colonel, what they cone to- E,,-
rope ior. 1t must be for q mere change
OF sky and air. Children like to trayel
for mere locomotion's sake, and so do
children OF q larger growth. They get
positively restless and nervous il they
stop for any length OF time at any par
ticuIar place. The thing to do is to
keep moving-to get over the ground
to cover spacc-to not be botheredswith
books or maps or any kind OF study, but
TO give yourself up to the excitement of
motion and panorama OF Kaleidoscope
views OF town and country. After do
ing Europein this style the next thing
in order is 10 return home and dcscant
upon it and serve for y typical sketch
from the pen OF the satirist who wrote
those verses about
GLOW much the fool that's been to Rome
Exceeds the fool that stayed at home"
TILE coLoHEL's 1MAGISAr1oN.
There was nothing small about the COL
onel in the matter OF Imagination. He
told us for instance that he reckoned
that he had seen at least stem thousand
priests" during the few days he was in
Rome. ] lave been looking for those
ten thousand priests ever since l have
been here and have dcspaired OF ever
S meeting them. l had really, after
q proper discount, put some faith
in the colonel's estimate, the. more
SO because 1 c read what Mark Twain
said he told the i%ncredulous Romans
when there, which was that strange as it
might seem to them, there were aciu-
ally cities in America where if q man
were to rise in his sleep and fall out OF
the window of his hotel he would not
fall on tho top OF a single priest. lie
remarked that after they had heard
this statement, they had no further con-
iidence in anything he said. He had
given himself clear away. Mark, OF
course, gets up his jokes to sell, but
am inclined to think that the colonel
really believed that he had actually seen
several thousand priests; at least avery
great many.
The ordinary and very transient and
cvanescent tourist, stopping in Rome
fora few days, is prone, l should say, to.
come to the same conclusion, especially
If he stops in or near what the Italians
call the "1nsleso Gh~ctto"-thc plaza Of
square known as the Plaza di. Sposna,
wherein is located the famous theolog-
n ~" .' J, Nno"n Us li.e i~[opasanua'
nmu "m ~ aLe ssuuen.s OF semlna:
thn , t nv sarp iron. ~. parts OF
,no W.. hncte Mfe .Mo VI tnese col
;ssea ~ nonic' ana INC student wear,
Lug Or nd eaoMi.eu a u proau prillnleu
nI.s nlu soMns VI Nll colots are seher-
ais sIlposeI Wy s.inaGeis 70 T pe press
~ ofTeLs anu on uutE mere. mere are
ho., ! NV peca 'oiu, Oyer I'VE or SIX
nunatou " .ileni ail tolu, as they
a'e scGit seNei"t times u u"V tlley are