The Republican journal., 1899-08-17
A Letter from Italy.

To THE EDITOR OF THE REPUBLICAN
JOURNAL: You requested me to write
something about our trip abroad, and |
will try to tell you little Of the strange
people and wonderful places we have
have seen. This must be in very discon-
nected form, for time, not inclination or
material, is lacking.
The good ship 'Mesaba'' Of the Allan
tic Transport line gave us a most delight
full voyage across the ocean. Neptune,
too, was kind and we had no cause to make
offerings at his shrine. The "Mesaba"
is new steamship Of ten thousand tons
displacement and is nearly five hundred
feet long; very large, as you can judge,
large enough almost to lose oneself in her
many winding passage ways; in fact, for
several days | felt very much cat sea-
on her
We arrived in London on the Fourth
and were overjoyed to see our Stars and
Stripes floating over many buildings. At
night of the same day we took a little
steamer across the North Sea to Rotter-
dam and thence proceeded by rail direct
ly to Cologne. The hurried glimpses Of
Holland which we could catch from the
car windows were like the old Dutch
pictures, SO quaint and new was it all
Among the most noticeable features of
the landscape were the beautifully kept
hedges and rows of trees which take the
places of fences. We shall return to
Holland in August for a stay of ten days.
At Cologne we had our first taste of
European life and manner. Cologne is
chiefly interesting for its wonderful Gothic
cathedral, the most perfect and beautiful
example of that style of architecture. 1t
rises above the surrounding buildings like
large marble cliff The spires tower
five hundred and ten feet above the pave
ment, being the highest in the world.
From Cologne we sailed up the Rhine,
that fairyland Of romance, every portion
of whose banks abounds in beauties of
nature and of art. During our days sail
on that historic river we saw the pic
turesque ruins of more than one hundred
and fifty castles.
At Heidelberg we spent our first Sunday
in Europe and had delightful drive to
the famous castle. Thence we proceeded
to Lucerne, from which place we made a
number of trips among the Swiss noun
tains. 1t is useless to attempt to describe
the grandeur of the mountains or the
loneliness of the lakes of that little coun-
try of Switzerland. 1t is absolutely be-
yond the power Of words or of painters
brush to picture them. Among our most
interesting excursions in Switzerland was
the ascent of one peak of the Alps at
world. 1t has a rise of fifty five feet in
every hundred. From the summit we
had near view of the snow capped
peaks and rocky sides of the Jungfrau,
and of the beautiful valley with its silver
stream and nesting Swiss chalets, at our
feet.
Our journey from Lucerne to Milan
took us through the grand Saint Goth
ard Pass. At many places the grade
was exceedingly steep and the road ran
in great curves up the mountain side. In
one place we could see below US four
tracks which we had traversed. OF the
fifty six tunnels which we passed through
| during that afternoon, the Saint Gothard
! tunnel was the longest. This is the
miles long.
See Venice and die. See Venice on the
night of festival and you will think that
you are already in Paradise. We arrived
in Venice last Saturday evening at a very
commonplace railroad station, but as
soon as we passed through its doors, be-
hold we were in the city of our dreams,
the realm of poetry and romance. Eight
or ten gondolas met us, and after some
confusion and fiery ItalaR oaths on the
part of the gondoliers they took us to our
hotel.
Late in the evening the palaces and
bridges were gaily illumlned and there were
magnificent fireworks on the Grand Canal
in honor of the Feast of the Redentori.
We saw the celebration from a gondola
On every side of us we're gondolas, thous-
ands of gondolas, literally thousands Of
them. Many contained small but elabo-
rately decorated dinner tables with parties
seated around them; from many others
came songs and the music Of the mando-
lin and guitar. Nearly all the gondolas
were trimmed with flowers and brightly
colored lamps. On both sides of us rose
the old palaces, brilliantly illuminated.
Behind us was temporary bridge Of
boats, beautifully decorated with colored
llamps: on every side in a pavilion outlined