The Chilhowee echo. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1899-19??, 1900-04-21


E!Alka.H | seem to be no exception tt
the rule. This morning wher
some one knocked at my door, opened
it to find to my astonishment, charm
ing, elegantly dressed young man, who
-murmured something in French about
the Vatican, presenting me with {
ticket of admission to an audience
with the Pope tomorrow at II 80 a
m. I snatched the precious card anC
gave the tip he coolly demanded.
can never grow accustomed to gentle
manly looking men asking for tips.
flew down and begged the clerk to
translate the document to me- It only
stated that I was to appear at the Vat.
lean at the specified hour, dressed in a
plain, black dress and wearing a small
black veil. Even the painful necessity
of buying a square of Spanish lace
which is the regulation thing for the
head, did not dampen my ardor. !
,se> so"~f after breakfast ~n zap VIC
the church Of st. Eusebius, (some old
angel who was very fond of animals }
This happened to be his feast day, so
many animals are brought up for a
blessing from the Priest. He steps out
on the porch, sprinkles holy water
from little sprinkler like baby rat
tie with holes in it, toward the group
of animals; horses, dogs, sheep, etc,
that are gathered below, reads, prays
over them, and all is over. While we
were in the church, several ladies
came in with their pet dogs and held
them up while the Priest prayed and
sprinkled holy water in their direction.
We, of course, saw the ludicrous side,
but the devout look of the poor people,
really made me feel very solemn.
This afternoon we went to the Pan
theon, to see the old church decorated
for the funeral anniversary of Victor
Emanuel, Italy's first king. 1t was
very gorgeously decorated-certainly
the very grandest l ever saw. Hun
dreds, or I might say thousands of
candles, still burning, with many
torches of alchohol, added very
weird effect. The curtains, draperies,
etc, were all black with silver fringe.
A huge catafalque occupied the center
Of the church, almost to the ceiling, all
black cloth and gold trimmings. \ X
I broke off this letterlast night to tell
party of English people how to see
Rome in a day, and since then, of
course, have had my audience with the
Pope.
This morning I dressed very care
fully, with Spanish lace veil over my
head, and went down to ask the secre-
tary (clerk) if it were time to start.
He assured me it was an hour too
early, so I settled myself with paper
in the Salon. In a minute another
clerk rushed in and told me to 90 at
once. l hew-jumped into the first
cab and ordered the man to drive like
mad. When I reached the Vatican
there were already many Pilgrims
waiting at the closed door. We finally
went in and ranged ourselves on the
front row of the famous Sistine
Chapel. The Pilgrims were a poor
class of people, and out of special con-
sideration, were allowed to wear hats.
Many of them looked utterly unable to
buy veil. I had to stand one hour,
but as was in front, had rail to lean
on, and about the best view in the
house. First, were the ushers, digni-
fed gentlemen in full dress suits, with
their entire shirt front covered with a
magnificent assortment of medals and
chains and ribbons. Then the Swiss
Guards, a special company of men
guarding the Vatican. They wear low,
black shoes, orange and black perpen-
dicular-striped stockings; scarlet, black
and orange-striped knickerbockers,
(very full j coats of the same three