The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-05

LunHelS aS III ILdlys WI hSPL elHCSl4H
 ing, creeping very slowly and 1t was
 delightful to view historic, nay heaven ly Italy, as it spread it's beauties before
 us in it's varied aspects. Such gor-
 geous sunlight, why, it fairly painted bare gray rocks and barren hillsldes with a golden hue, and the purpling of
 hills, plains and valleys far below us was something which seemed to be- long to another sphere. The glorles of
 Italian landscape cannot be described,
 the blue of the Italian sky, those fleecy
 clouds which drift athwart the heaY-
 ems, and the genial glow of the golden
 orb of day shedding his influence upon
 Italy, is simply to be half explained by
 one adjective and that conveys every
 thing lovely, everything beautiful, ev-
 erything gorgeous, nay glorious, and
 that adjective is all that is meant by
 the word Italian and that is all l pro- pose to say about it.
 We ascended to Praochia, over two
 thousand feet high, then began the de-
 scent to the plain country below us, As we sped rapidly down the steep in- cline we were more than delighted with fresh landscapes of extraordinary wide range at every advance. Vineyards
 were all about us, and every tree trunk supported a separate vine; those fields have been planted with vines ever since the days of the. ancient Etruscans, and I suppose the whole land which opened itself so beautifully before us presented that same appear ance to Hannibal and his dusky Car thaginians, for here was his great pa rade ground. St. Marcello, which we passed here, is 2130 feet high Boscun- glo rears his rocky head, peeping over the top of it's magnificent forest of pine and oak at height of nearly five thou sand feet.
 Just beyond Pracchia we crossed the watershed of the Adriatic as we rushed through tunnel two miles long, and enter the sweet valley of the Ombrone; this we crossed by viaduct built at a dizzy height and we passed over many viaducts and through twenty-two tun- nels before we arrived at Pistoja Many of my readers no doubt have travelled over this same route, and they will call to mind those panoramic views which spread out before us; the view just after passing the little station known as Pitecco is the one I refer to. Those lovely and thickly settled plains of Tus cany are worth crossing two oceans to behold. They seemed to me as not belonging to the every day globe upon which we live, so lovely were they. We drew aside the curtain as we looked out of the lattice, and we. seemed to be traveling on the rocky outer crust of the universe; on all sides were the huge gray rocks, just as they were left at the creation, and far down below appeared the shining fields like those deleetable lands over against Bye path meadow, of which John Bunyan wrote. They suggested to us the bright fields arrayed in living green belong ing to another and a brighter world, which offers rest to the weary ones of this earth and extends perfected hope to those who vainly look for that bless ing in this earthly pilgrimage. Tusca- ny, for that is the land of which I am writing, contains nearly ten thousand square miles, and has a population of 2,500,000. Here dwelt that very power ful nation known in the ancient times as the Tusci GtruscD; they were a fa- nous race. They were great city build CTS, famous navigators, great workers in iron, bronze and copper; their skill in working these metals is shown in the remains preserved in European muse- ums, and Etruscan is a synonym for all that is intricate. perfect, beautiful Civilizers too were those Etruscans who laid stable foundations, which for many centuries rendered Tuscany glo- rious. Near Corsica the Etruscans fought against the Creeks in the ear Hest naval battle recorded as having taken place in the western part of the Mediterranean nearly 2500 years ago. It is a long and interesting page of his tory that of the Etruscans They at tained their zenith of power in the sixth century B, C., and their history from that remote period to the fifth century A. D., through the middle ages, even down to 1860, when Tuscany be- came united to the Kingdom of Italy, forms the most intensely interesting pages of Italian history.
 We arrived at Pistajo at 6 p. m. Cat aline, the great conspirator CIste Cat alina,) was defeated and slain near this l city in the year 62 B. e., and l could picture to myself the great orator Cice- TO as he thundered out in his famous 0ration at Rome, "Quosque tandem" &c, Sc. This is an historic place; in the middle ages it was the very center of the struggles between the Guelphs and Ghibbelines, and at that time Pls- -oja held an important rank in the his- lory of art It is a city full of interest and possesses palaces and churches rich n pictures and marbles.
 Pistols were first made at Pistoia and received their name from the name of | he city. Not far from Pistoja is Prato. l ln ancient town with a grand cathe- | lral containing many bas reliefs mar ,les, carvings and paintings of celebra- ed masters; there are also some fine | works in terra cotta by Andrea della | 3obbia.
 We continue our journey through Ca | passing Mt, Marcello rearing ts lofty peak high in air, and as the citing sun casts its rays against that | ,urpling mountain we rush rapidly | yer a broad plain, through countless lelds of grapevines dotted with little 1 Iuts of the ine-dressers, who lounge bout staring idly at us; they make a retty picture as they stand with fold q arms, dressed in their multi-colored arb. Each one has a look bordering pon the romantic and is quite fit to tep into the frame of a grand picture.
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