The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-05-16

urious people, I went out on another
quest round. the next r which,
however, like tho first one, resulted In
no success. Tho uuwearicd effort OF my
now friend 10 fix nc financially some
where excited my admiration and graft.
tude, and feeling that | had already
trespassed enough on his politeness |
touched my hat 10 him and extended
my hand to give him n cordial recogni-
ton OF my sense OF obligation to q
strangcr-a stranger who had not even
been able to DO sociable with him IN n
conversational way. l was struck ut
once with tho very commercial charac-
ter OF his rcciprocation. Ills shake
had IN unmistnkablc quarter dollar
suggcstivcncss, md yet lIe was such n
banker looking sort OF n %pcrson-so
wholcsomely got up and so becomingly
atiircd-that | felt he must be OF social
kinship 10 tho custodian OF tho manu-.
scripts, and so once moro l signilod tho
polite dissolution OF our temporaryrco
partnership and my desire to grant him
m honorable discharge from further
duty. 10 my establishment no seemed
unwilling 10 dissolve; he 'made MS II no
would 20 farther" TO caScriptural OK.
preston and ] realized that l hadiound
ono OF those friends that "stickoth
closer than q BROTHER" and that my
ideal banker, or broker, or shipping
merchant-be no one or DO no all OF
thcse-was In the business OF ~poljtencss
for pay; so l paid him of and cancelled
my sense Of obligation: which is whyI
remark that tho thrifty and somewhat
mcrccnary Genoose Of tho middle ages
still does business for n valuable con.
sideration at the old stand Of his ances-
tors.
USED TO TIE ANTIQUE.
It was on the 18th Of October, 1402,
that Columbus sighted land Mt San Sal.
vador and discovered 4 now world.
That seems to us in 'America a very long
time ago. Over hereit seems modern.
Everything Ia relative in this world.
Many years ago the sight OF IN old fort
on Short Creek challenged my yenera-
ton, while now l hardly 20 out OF my
way 10 sec anything less than five hun
dred years old. l can 20 up, for in
stance, on the top Of thcgreat cathedral
here-tho "Duomo"-and SEGA whole
city full OF houses and monuments TINT
out-date Columbus and America. ] can
take a seat up there On n bright day
800 feet above the pavemcnt-and see
the original homo OF the Medici family
still standing-the famous Medici who
became rs bankers the Rothchilds OF
Italy in tho l4th century, and from Roth
childs grew to be dukes and popes, and
finally to be grasping and intolerabie
despots, who held on here oil and on for
oyer 800 years and during that time pro-
duced that monstrous woman known US
Catherine dc Medici, who married n
French king and instigatcd tho st. Bar
tholemew massacre. Their former mag
nificent home ls now public property
and is known as the palace Riccardi.
I can look straight down almost and
see the spot where Dante-the Shakes
peare OF 1tafy-used o'sit In his chair
550.ycars ago and watch the building Of
this cathedral. Tcan, see the convent
where Savonarola was q, Dominican
friar and where he began preaching the
reform in politics and religion that cost
him his life. There is no character in
Florentino history that Is held in high
er regard to-day than Savonarola. I
can also see the house where Galileo
lived and laboredj where Machiavelli
1.-THE author Of a code Of morals in poll
tics that is called Satanic died, and the
homes in which Michael Angelo and
Raphael sojourned; and, lastly, l can
see the residence OF that very Amerigo
Vespucci ["who was native here and to
the manner born" referred to in the
outset OF this letter.: =.-.. "a.
ILiUSTRIoUs NAMES. w
Florence is rich in illustrious names,
such as the above; authors, poets, ar
lists, statesmen, popes, cardinals, war
riors and the like; individuals who were
either born hero or sojourned here; and
the local guidn books are full;of tradi-
tons concerning them. l could fill out
all my space with "reminiscences OF Cali
leo, Machiavelli and Savonarola alone,
saying nothing OF such characters US
Dante, Petrarch, Boccacio, Rossini,
Michael Angelo, Raphael and many,
many others. gE
l have spoken OF what I could see
from the topof the Observation-Disclosures,
and it was really worth while to stop at
Florence for the sake OF that view and
one other one, the one from the heights
OF Fiesole, the originaltown Of Florence.
They are second only to tho view from
st. leter's at Rome. / saw, few things
in Rome more truly Interesting than
the cathedral here and its adjoining
Baptistery and Bell Tower, three differ
ent buildings, all over, 800 wears old, all
covered with white and bl0ck mosaics
OF marble and lookinSns fresh; as ii they
belonged to'thls century instead OF the
fourteenth.
Those buildings were old when st.
Peters was frstthought of, long;before
Michael Angelo, came here TO study the
dome as his model for the croTn.of the
Roman basilica, and very old indeed
when St. Paul's in London was conse-
Grated. You must rememberthat Flor
ence is. q very old place, that they
claim to have had hhiEh degree Of civ
ilization here $500 years ago; that oven
in the middle ages they had learning
and scholarship here, that the great re-
vival Of letters and ,nrt, known as the
Renaissance (the rcbirth) originated
here, and that here philosophy, science
and the classics held sway when ignor-
ance and bigotry were dominant every
where else. Florence was and is tho
Athens of Italy and her galleries and
museums are the richest in Europe.
J. ". c.
MS Personal Experience.