Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1896-02-28
STRANGE CONTRASTS IN Rc,ME
All Sorts and Conditions of Men Josti,
One Another In tho Strecta.

All Sorts and Conditions of Men Josti,
One Another In tho Streets.
Perhaps it is true that the impress
sions which Rome makes upon 8
thoughtful ma, vary more according
to the wind and the time of day than
those he feels in other cities. Perhaps,
too, there is no capital in all the world
which has such contrasts to show with
in mile of each other--one might
almost say within dozen steps.
One of the most crowded thorough
fares of Rome, for instance, is the Via
del Trltone, which is the only passage
between the Pincian and the Quirinal
hills, from the region Of Piazza Colon
ma toward the railway station aud the
new quarter. During the busy hours
of the day carriage can rarely move
through its narrower portions any fas-
ter than at foot-pace, and the insult
ficient pavements are thronged with
pedestrians. In measure, the Tritone
of Rome corresponds to Galata bridge
in Constantinople. In the course of a
week most of the population of the
city must have passed at least once
through the crowded little street,
which somehow, in the rain of millions
that lasted for two years, did not man,
age to attract to itself even the little
sum which would have sufficed to widen
it by few yards. 1t is as though the
contents of Rome were daily drawn
through keyhole. In the Tritone are
to be seen daily magnificent equipages,
iammed in the string, between milk
carts, omnibuses and dustmen's bar
rows, preceded by butchers vans and
followed by miserable cabs, small dog
carts, and high-wheeled country vehi-
cles driven by rough. booted men wear
ing green-lined cloaks and looking like
strange bandits; even saddle-horses are
sometimes led that way, to save time;
and on each side flow two streams OF
human beings Of every type to be found
between Porta Angelica and Porta San
Giovanni.
A prince of the Holy Roman empire
pushes past a troop of dirty school chill
dren, and is almost driven into an open
barrel of salt Goldfish, in the door of q
poor shop, by black-faced charcoal
man carrying sack on his head more
than half as high as himself. A party
of jolly young German tourists in loos'
clothes, with red books in their hands
and their field-glasses hanging by
straps across their shoulders, try to rio
themselves of the flower girls dressed
in sham Sabine costumes, and utter eX
CARNATIONS of establishment and admir-
alton when they themselves are almos
run down by couple of the giant Roa
grenadiers, each six feet five or there
abouts, beside nine inches, or so, o
crested helmet aloft, gorgeous, gigan
tic and spotless.
Clerks by the dozen and liveried mes
sengers of the ministries struggle il
the press; ladies gather their skirt
closely, and try to pick dainty wa.
where, indeed, there is nothing "dain
Ga word which DIR. johnson confesse
that he could not find in any dictionary
but which he thinks might be very use
fuD; servant girls, smart children witt
nurses and hoops going up to the Pin
clio, black browed washerwomen wit
big baskets of clothes on their heads
stumpy little infantry soldiers in gra
uniforms, priests, friars, vendors O
boot-laces and thread, vegetable seller
pushing handcarts of green things i
and out among the horses and vehicle
with amazing deXterity, and yellin
their cries in superhumanly high voice
there is no end to the multitude.
If the day is showery, it is sigh
to see the confusion in the Triton
when umbrellas of every age, materia
and color are all opened at once, Will
the people who have none crowd int
the Goldfish shop and the liquor-seller
and the tobacconist's, with the trad
tional con permesso of excuse for Ell
tering when they do not mean to bu
anything; for the Romans are mostl
civil people and fairly good-nature'
But rain or shine, at the busy hours, tn
place is always crowded to overfowin
with every description of vehicle an
] every type of humanity.-Marion Crav
} ford, in Century.