The Opelousas courier., 1896-04-04
A VISIT TO THE ETERNAL CITY.
A Young LOuisianinu i'm Rome. The
Sights He Saw and How They HM-
pressed Him--NapIes, POmpeii, &C.

A letter from one of the Annapolis cadets,
now on board the cruiser Minneapolis, address
ed to his parents in Opelousas and dated off
laramie. Italy, March 18th, says:
AS soon as we reached this place after leav-
ing Turkey, we requested leave of absence for
one week Ill order to visit the CITY of Rome.
Wien we interviewed the captain he said lie
would allow us to go three at IL time. because
the cadets were too valuable aboard ship to be
spared all together. The captain is very sar-
castle.
Probably Il very good way to describe my
visit there would he simply to write down
ROME in large capital letters and add a few
thousand exclamation points; but this might
not be explicit enough, so 1 shall try to tell you
briefly about some of the things We saw.
st. Peters of course stands transcendentiy
first. Imagine a ~uilding-leavin the dome
entirely out of Observation-Disclosures feet long, $50
feet wide and $50 feet high, with all lis cllapels
and affairs, each one containing its particular
WORKS OF arr, ITS " peculiar ornaineEtatio!
its own choir; all opening INTO the grand basi-
lica, where are found paintings, frescoes, mo-
safes and statuary from many artists such as
Angelo and Raphael, and where everything is
choice and beautiful at the same time that 1t is
colossal; where, i'll the BaptiStery, " the angels
are enormous giants and the doves huge birds
of prey" and still look in perfect proportion.
Directly in the centre, in a crypt, is the tomb
of st. Peter, and above it IS the great dome,
over 400 feet high and 1873 feet in diameter at
the base. From below, the ~frescoes look like
delicate paintings; but on climbing way up i'll
to the dome and getting near them, they are
found to be mosaics made up of bits OF stones,
OF sizes varying all the way from a ten to a
twenty-five cents piece; and the quill with
which st. Bartholomew is represented as writ
ing. is nine feet long and looks perfectly natu-
raj from below.
There is nothing mediocre here; everything
is a masterpiece; everything is grand, beauti-
full, sublime.
The Vatican, which has been the residence
of the Popes since the latter part of the 14th
century, Is the most extensive palace i'll the
world, and contains the largest and most valu-
able art collection some of the most celebrated
being the SCULPTURES of the Apollo Belyidcrc
and LAGOON, Raphael's painting of the Trans
tiguratiOn, DomenichinO's Last Communion of
st. Jerome, Michael Angeles Last Judgment,
and the works OF many other artists whose ac-
qualntance We have made only recently. With
Michael Angelo, however, it was different; We
saw so many of his works that we felt. before
we were through, as though we were old clurns
together; ana when we saw a painting we
thought particularly good we would assume IL
careless air and ask our guide if that was one
Of Mikes" If tho painting happened to be
one of the old masters he would excuse our
mistake and what lie seemed to think Il sacri-
legious abhreviatlon otherwise he would be
come pIously Indignant and give us one OF those
llsh, meant How horelessly uncultivatea i'll
art you must be!'
We next visited The catacombs of st. CaliXtus
on tile outskirts Of Rome. There are others,
but this one alone contains "a miles of Gaia
combs. After having wandered around about
an hour along these subterranean passages, %
OF 80 feet below the surface of the earth. on"
commences to realize how helpless the whole
party would be without that genial Old monk
who is showing them around and explaining
all about tie mumlnics, and fancy sarcopiiaE,
ana. inscriptions, and skulls, TIL you IolNe
what he is talking about and suddenly cYcl
yourself wondering il perchauce he may Not
be subject to apoplexy. 1t was pleasant& get
out into the open air again.
On our way back WI visited the Colosseum
which is decidedly gigantic, when we consider
that it was capable OF seating nearly O 10000
persons. 1t was here that the gladiators, Chris
tIaOS and tigers all used TO make merry with
one another.
We saw also the ruins of the Roman Forum,
the Pantheon, the Palace of the Vestal Virgins.
the Temple OF Venus. the site OF the bridge that
Horatius kept so well, the Capitoline Museum,
which is principally noted for its sculptures
executed by<:teeian artists; the Dying Gladi-
ator and the Fan1 of Praxiteles being perhaps
the two most celebrated ones; st. John Lateran
church, which contains a flight of % marble
steps from the house of PLATE and said to have
been trodden by the feet of Jesus. No one is
allowed to ascend them except on his knees.
On Sunday afternoon we attended veSperS in
one OF the chapels of st. Peters and heard the
famous choir of the Sistine Chapel. 1t was
magnificent!
We were obliged to divide our time, however,
because we wished to spend two days seeing
Naples, Pompeii and Vesuvius on our return.
Naples is larger than Rome, but is not SO his
torically important nor so interesting. 1t is Il
fine city though, and is said to be one Of the
gayest in Europe. 1t is DELIGHTFULLY."- situated,
and has the most splendid suburbs in Italy
Sorrento and Castle-Mare being the most fam
GUS, and correspond to our American Newports.
1t took a whole day to visit the ruins of Pom
peii and Vesuvius. The Italian government is
still pushing on the work = excavation i'll Pom
pei, and many valuable 'inds are still being
made. The houses of Glaucus and lone are, for
the most part. standing yet-that is, the houses
that are said to have been theirs-and the Tenn
pie of Isis, so famous for its oracles, is very
well preserved.
Eight miles away is Vesuvius. 1t is a long
journey over lava beds and ashes; very steep
climbing, and about as laborlOus for the rider
as for the horse that carries him. About half a
mile from the top OF tho crater is the Funlcular
station, and the remaiHfer OF the ascent is per-
up and DOWN.
When once at the top, however, in order to be
able to breathe the strong sulphureous smoke
that comes out of the crater and at the same
time between coughs and gasps express the be-
lief that the view from up there is well worth
the d~iscomforts of the journey, one must have
either a very strong will and vivid imagina-
ton or a most elastic conscience.
We are aboard ship again. 1t is like coming
back from Italy to a miniature United States.
Still, even a miniature OF such is not bad.