Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-22
SECOND SiGHT TOURS.
WRITTEN ron THE prspArcH.,

Of Europe is that you have more leisure for
details. The first time one gets a general
impression. He sees the outside. He gets
an idea of the looks Of streets and OF the
shape of roofs. He remembers how the spires
and towns stand out against the sky, When
one comes again all that is in n measure
familiar, and there is inclination and, oppor-
tunity to look closer.
The quick look has its compensations. The
hasty visitor who "sees" Rome in day may
get a very vivid and even true impression.
Anyhow, he will probably be able to tell
other people more about Rome than he will
after a second visit, when he has seen more
There is profound philosophy in the remark
OF the man who complained that he
could not see the city for the
houses. He wanted to see the city but,
whatever way he looked, the houses OBJ
structed sight. 1t often happens that people
talk best about the subjects of which they
know little. They are not embarrassed by
details.
The hasty tourist may often look at city
with a truer sense OF perspective than the
Oldest inhabitant. He is apt to recognize
better the relative importance of the sights
OF the town. He can stay only six hours, and
he wants to get all he can into those six
hours. So he discriminates. He singles out
the most important, the most Interesting
sights and sees them. People who live
within touch of these interesting places and
may see them any day, sometimes-for that
reason-do not see them, or, il they do see
them, they grow. accustomed to the sight
and it loses its importance.
Everybody who reads Stockton's stories
will remember how in "The House of
Martha" the hero comes back from Europe
full OF the most delightful memories of
interesting sights and romantic adventures,
here he has been and there, this and chat
great man has he seen, and he wants to tell
everybody he knows But behold! the
people of the little town in which he lives
are far moro interested IN the parochial
measles than they are in the Pope of Rome
They care a great deal more about the
chronicles of the sewing society than about
the scenery of Switzerland. And the un-
fortunate traveller is forced ut last to hire
somebody to sit still and hear him tell his
tales. 1t is a great thing to have an ap-
probation of perspective. Often those who
are acquainted with many details lose that.
Pittsbure's Neglected Treasure.
Il WAS talking the other day with men,
Der of Parliament who had once made a
visit to Pittsburg. 'What," said he. "do you
suppose 1 went to look at first?" Well,
what was it7 The Court House? The great
mills along the rivers? The palaces of the
East End? No, bnt the site of Fort Du-
quesne, and the Old Block House! And had
to confess that had lived n good many
years in Pittsburg and vet have never made
my pilgrimage to that historic shrine. Really,
suppose, the ground where that old fortress
stood is the most interesting spot between
the Allegheney and Monongahela rivers, but
yet If there should be a law made disfran-
chising all our unpatriotic citizens who had
never seen that historic building, what
small vote would be polled in Pittsburg next
November!
Yet balanced that by happening to know
more about a certain tomb in Worcester Ca
thedral than the vicar of neighboring
parish. King John is buried in Worcester
Cathedral in the choir in a very conspicu-
Gus tomb in front of the high altar. That
old reprobate, now that he is dead, lies there
in the church like saint and martyr
There is an ancient effigy of him on top of
the tomb, and on either side are carved two
smaller figures in monastic Dress and
King John lies between them. And found
great satisfaction in assuring my good
friend, the vicar of Grimley. four miles from
Worcester. that even as far away as Pitts
burg we knew how King John, when he
came to die, being greatly-and quite natur-
of the eternal burnings caused
himself to be wrapped up in a monks gown
and cowl, the cowl being drawn over his
face, and ordered that he should be buried
between two saints On the Day of Judg-
ment the old sinner thought they would all
rise up together there in Worcester choir,
and John being in such excellent COM
pany and in such penitential dress, St.
Peter would think that birds of q feather
had f1ocked together, and would take him
for q saint. The vicar, unless he was de-
ceptively courteous-as people sometimes
are when they hear old stories told over
again-had never bothered his head to
think what a satire upon medieval religion
was written in stone on that old tomb which
he had seen O thousand times.
Rare Relics in Ancient Chester.
IT is the delight of second journey that
there is leisure for such quaint details. At |
Chester found that 1 cared less this time
for the cathedral than l did for the Roman |
relics in the museum. Here were stones
which we're hewn out and handled by men
who lived along these same old streets SO long |
ago that st. Peter and St. Paul and St. John |
were alive then! Here was a town that had |
been continuously inhabited and of i'm |
portance for more than eighteen hundred |
years! 1 remember especially an altar there |
which was erected by physician. The doc
tor was Greek and he had journeyed up |
from Rome in the train of the Emperor in |
the days when Britain was a pleasant, |
though somewhat insecure, place of summer |
resort for the aristocracy OF the capital 1t |
had been a long journey, not without |
perils by the way, and the good doctor, get |
ting safely to the end of it, devoutly re-
turned thanks to the god Terminus or what |
ever his name was in Greek, for his protec- |
ton. He had this altar made, and had an |
inscription cut into it in Greek letters, and |
to-. 1,ktl.
had poured out an ablution and said his |
on his Journey. st. Paul was no doubt upon |
one of his journeys setting on foot a new |
order of things which should one |
day make the old gods obsolete, and leave |
the old affairs to be broken and buried and |
inherit the strength of the empire! One |
thinks such thoughts in front of such a |
piece of stone. Such stones are impressive |
in any museum. We must get some one OF |
these da,s for the Carnegie Library. But |
here upon the spot where it all happened |
there is wonderful addition of interest.
Unbeaten Paths The Most Charming.
ON second journey, too, one is more apt |
to stray OF the route of the tourists, and to |
see sights which are made doubly delightful |
by certain sense of discovery. Thus 1 re- |
round tower at Aghadoe, beside |
the Lower Lake of Killarney. There are sew |
eral hundreds of round towers In Ireland, |
built, some say, in the old days when men |
had to be on the watch against the piratical |
Danes The way up to the Aghadoe tower |
lies along stoney lane, bordered with |
hedges. Few people visit it. But the |
ivy grows picturesquely over the |
broken walls, and you can see |
out over the fair lake, and it |
is all so still up there, and so untouched by |
the irreverent hands OF later civilization, |
that the old past seems to come back, and |