St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-02
BEAUTIFUL FLORENCE.
Rev. Dr.. Conway Supplies a
Tonic for the Nausea Of
Monte Carlo.
A Ramble Through the FaS-
chatting City Situated on
the Filthy Arno.
Interesting Comment on the
GlopieS Of the Pride OF
Tuscany.
Criticism, Legend and Remin-
ise5neo--The Disgrace Of
Florence.


enough away from the garish light of
the roulette rooms of Monte Carlo. The
soul which waNders amid the scenes of
sin and splendor of Monaco's capital
needs special tonic to bring it back to
its normal condition of freshness. 9th
erwise it will become contracted as the
soul of Judas Iscariot and withered as
the face of that faded beauty who sits
sadly by the gambling table buoyed up
by the vain but glittering hope of re-
gaining her lost rupees.
We must Try to forget for the present
the princeiy rake who presides over the
principality of Monaco; we must dis
miss for the nonce from our thoughts
his degraded subjects and the far too
accommodating clergy; we must make
an effort to look upon the myriads of
Monte Carlos rich rascals as though we
had but peopled the gambling halls
with creatures OF the Imagination; we
must not now cOajure up thoughts of
the broken hearts and ruined homes of
the gamblers relatives; nor must we
allow the mind to meander through the
desOlate ways brought about by the de-
graded suicides and the raving maniacS
made in Albert Honore's dominions.
For the present, at all events, let these
and such as these be as forgotten as the
dishonored graves of the Self-destrOyed
who, in the blossom of their sin, flung
themselves into the great unknown,
"unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled,"
and whose sole requiem is that which
the Mediterranean in its. cruel, cold
charity chooses to chant over them.
Florence.
The tonic | mentioned will be found
in sunny Italy, away down among the
vineyards of Tuscany, in the far-famed
this queenly city every prospect pleaseS,
and man is not vile, as is the case at
Monte Carlo. Nature and art have for
many century made common cause in
making Florence beautiful, and so we'll
have they succeeded that the Tuscan
capital has solid claims to its rather
ambitious tltle-the fairest city in the
world. TO decide The question of the
relative fairness Of Florence is rather
too big subject for even peripatetic
Journalist to solve, but have nj. hest /
tation in saying that Tuscany'Schi
city, whether viewed by borrowed
moonlight or by scorching sunlighA is
always 4 thing of beauty. WhaT
favored country Italy is after all, with
such cities as Rome, Florence, Venice,
Milan, any of which throws the average
European capital in the shade.
But must be discriminating in my
admiration. The river Arno is an
abomination. Have you ever seen that
ugly river which flows through Phila-
delphia and gives plea TO the people
for drinking beer instead of water? Or
have you ever laid eyes upon the MAS
e +
through Dublin? Multiply the muddi-
ness of these waters fiYefold and you
will have faint idea of how hideOus is
the river Arno. Indeed, the Italian
rivers, unless we except some red
shirted Sici 'ians. are the least beauti-
full things in the whole peninsula. The
yellow Tiber, Of Titus Livius, has
great fascination for a callow student
of classics, but the real Tiber of modern
Rome is only an unclean river.
Florence. the city where Giotto and
Dante We're born, where Da Vinci and
Michael Angelo studied, has long been
one of the chief intellectual centers of
Italy.
The Duomo.
1t is a recognized rule among expert
enced travellers in Europe that Ii you
want to see an old European city most
advantageOusiy you will visit the
cathedral first. 1t is always wor tn a
visit Oh its own account. 1t usually oc-
cupies vantage ground, and it gives
the key to the best understanding of the
city. think it is John Ruskin who
gives to tourists the sage advice to pay
the sacristan well and also to ire at him
courteously. This kindly suggestion
has special significance In Italy, for
an Italian is thankful for money, and
yet more thankful for Christian
courtesy. He may look wretched and
ragged, but such an aspect is not sure
indication for lower civilization in
land of street-boy Salvinis and peasant
girl PATHS.
The rudely prosperous merchant of
Liverpool or Kansas City may point the
finger of scorn at the weatherbeaten
Sicilian working on our streets; he
little knows that the busy anvil of q
Perugian smithy gives forth sweetest
music, and nature has given him no
sense by which he could understand
that the whiteWash brush OF a Tuscan
peasant still scratches the walls of his
humble home in EtruScan patterns.
The purse proud plutocrat upon whose
soul vulgarity has broken out i'll bulky
eXcre SCIENCES looks with the dull eyes Of
bovine contempt upon the poor bow
usefulness the rude and ruling official
sums up in the phrase-he can cast
vote. Upon whose side. after all. is the
advantage? The Persian plutocrat re-
joices in his money, the Perugian peas
ant finds pleasure in his art. The latter
is the most lasting, for it is less earthly,
less mortal, more soulful.
But | was talking of the cathedral
sacriStan, a parsonage whose import
ance should not be undervalued. and
whose good graces should never be lost
by a traveller among the Latin races.
Courtesy and Cash
the latter i'll no very large amount
will induce him 70 reveal the rich treas
ures of these grand old pillared temples
whose beauty centuries have not faded.
And he will point them out to you, not
in aperfunctorv manner, but with an
intelligent freshness compared with
which the monotonouS explanation of
the Westminster abbey verger is only
as the fat prose of Gen. Booth to the
brilliant rhetoric of Robert 1ngersoll.
Should you refuse to assent to some
pious legend that is particularly absurd,
the sacristan may call you a Protestant,
a genial impeachment which you can
afford to stand, even if Dr.. Luther never
led away your ancestors from the old
historic church.
Christianity had a long time in which
to work itself out so as to present itself
i'm the gorgeous shape of the beautiful
cathedral of Florence. For that re-
ligion was planted there in the days of
Nero, who tiddied whilst Rome burned,
Just as Grover Cleveland fishes whilst
the country goes to the devil, as hor-
rid Republican would say. The many
colored marble of this cathedral gives
rich glow of beauty in the light of an
Italian sun; the interior is so dark that
the Impractical eye will not see its
beauties at once. The world-famed
dome is the work of Brunelleschi, and is,
l believe. the largestin the world, being
larger than that of st. Peters though
not quite so high from the pavement.
1t was a model for Michael Angelo
when working on the dome Of St.
Peters. Aud when some one said to