The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-19


one half-leveled place is all hills and gorges
and arroyo. The streets are SO narrow
that, save one via or ROAD up the seashOTe
through the heart of the city. no wheels
pass. You may remember Dickens ac-
count of how an ERglishman brought a
carriage to Genoa, landed 1t and cot it fast
between the walls of he houses. where {
stuck till taken to pieces and put back on
the snip.
The houses here-palaces-were for cen
turtles the highest in the world, higher even
than the ffteen-stOry houses-fifteen story
on tn lower side Of the hill in "EdlnoOrO
town" These WOndrous palaces are all
covered with pictures, frescOes. These mu-
raj frescOes are centuries and centuries
old and still glorious 10 see. From this you
can guess something Of the mildness Of the
climate. i looks as II these lofty and
splendid old palaces were once so filled
with gorgeous paintings that they have
SMILED over and out and all about the out
side of the walls IN all their perfection OF
form and color.
Il was TO this isolated and restful old city
o. art that Byron came when worn out with
his own impoTtunate people and their gross
prosecutions. 1t was out IN yon-
der deep blue bay Of Genoa that
Byron boarded an American ship and
secured passage 10 America. where he
proposed 70 buy lands and build home.
But then came the Greek war Tor lndepend-
ence and so he died in Greece. 1t was
from this port he set sail, and il was from
this port, TWO miles out Of town TO the east,
that Garbaldi embarked with his fleet one
night 10 libeTate the farther Sicily. long
sharp shaft OF marble marks the place of
his embarkation. A little further along is
Spezzi a-OT Spessa. as it IS pronounced
here. where Shelley was drowned and
burned. Here Leigh Hunt came to rest,
and IrelaWDy and a whole lot OF weary
men from time TO time who wanted to
a uroT.1I tho world and them GlvpS
as we'll
Go to Genoa" said DR.. White Cooper to
me hen ! broke down in London. Good
place 10 pull up; not an American there"
/ believe the doctors said about the same
thing to Dickens. only substituting English
for American, for here be came when he
wanted 70 rest, aud took a house all by him.
self up in the newer part Of the old town
a hideoUsly ugly house and about the only
thing IF the kind to be found. You know
Dickens had no sense of beauty IN form or
color; could not even choose the pattern Of
a vest or a necktie without violating every
canon of beauty. But even he seems TO
had had some sense OF queeTness about this
house of his here, for all the time in bis
book he keeps calling it the Pink Jail"
The sea is deep, very deep, and blue and
still. Somehow the hay of Genoa seems TO
follow the sun like the head of a sur flower
from light till darkness; and the city too,
with all its cOncaye front 10 the south and
the sun continually. 1t is merely trick Of
tie gbt Of course, but it is curious.
Genoa is, and ever was. entirely OF the
sea Columbus came legitmately by his
daring and defiance Of waters. Here on
the stone wharf IS monument Of glittering
white marble TO the brave man. 1t is not
much, not SO much in the way of art for
Italy, aud might very well be in Washing
ton City; prOWs, kee.s, anchors and the
ausiere admiral surrounding the whole
pyramid of bric-a-brae and shipchandler's
wares. A strong smell OF fish, fresh fish
and fish not so fresh, crates Of
fruit from Sicily, coal oil from America,
hides from Brazil and it is in the heart Of
this aud all these fearful smells in the hot
italian sun that Genoa set her marble
Columbus. AND yet there is a touch Of
tenderness in it, for Genoese cannot con-
ceive Of any place or of anything worth see
ing or worth hearing that Is ten feet away
from the waters edge.
l once asked Genoese magistrate why
they had put their prison away back up
yonder In the high city walls.
'Ah, put bad man from the sea, punish
him very much"
Genoa, like all old go-as-you-please places
up and down old Italy, still elories in her
great sesfghts of ancient days. They seem
30 have been endless and bloody too. Once
she sent formidable fleet. a sort OF Armada
it must have been. both in purpose and re-
Suits TO destroy Venice. But Venice pulled
Up the poles and blew out the lights that
guided ships through the narrow channels
of mud. so the vast feet grounded here and
there as it came on to blow. and the Vene-
tians went about and boarded and butchered
all day till weary. and then took and sold
the rest into slavery. But the GenOese gen.
lily leave the Venetians to tell about this
The story which the old wateT-dOgs along
here on the narrow and loud-smeling wharf
Of Columbus love to tell best is of mighty
sea king who pillaged ali Sicily, swept
the seas even TO the doors and came
back to his port with his entire
armor made Of gold. And what a grand
reception he was TO hayel He as to come
ashore at sunrise glitteTing in his armOr of
gold, and all the world On the walls, the
high brown hlltops. everywhere, TO see
But alasl as he tTod the plank from ship to
shore, he lifted his face to salute the cheer
ing multitude. and so he lost his footing
fell, anG few little white bubbles were all
that the beauieOus blue bay of Genoa ever
gave back. The armor Of gold is the sea
kings coffin still.
The landmarks of Columbus are not
many here, although OF course every care
has been taken to preserve, if not even 10
add 10 them. The church where he wor-
SHIPPED, the high. narrow-fronted house
where he was born and carded wool a
little time after leaving the university
these are almost all. and these have been
made so familiar Of late that you will not
care to have more Of them here.
Genoa is very religious city OF the hard,