The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-25

nave, which was held on either side by
 the Swiss guards.
 Each, person claimed barely standing room for his two feet and stood wedged l into a solid wall of humanity. Yet all endured this jamming patiently for three hours. Mothers and fathers held
 i'll. their arms children they had brought ! to receive the pope's blessing. Young student priests, rough as college boys, | were having a holiday. Relentlessly
 they. dug sharp elbows into the sides of | all those in their path and laughingly i cleared way to the front. The ltal- ians chattered excitedly, uttering fre- I quently the words Fl pape." An Eng | lishman near me, remarking to his companion that the king and queen of 1 Italy had made it convenient to be ab-
 sent in Sicily at the time of this mass, an impetuous southerner turned toward him angrily and growled, ''Il pape re- The pope is king.
 l At 12 precisely the joyful blare of bu-
 gles from a balcony far down the great | length of St. Peters was the signal for I the pope's appearance. The wild huz- i zagin of human voices took up the sound as the papal cortege entered the l church through a side door connecting | with the vatican. Although strained l my eyes, from my position near the l middle of the church, I could distin- l guish little in the slowly-moying pro-
 cession coming down he long nave, But the Italians perfect abandon of I rapture at the sight of their aged pope was enough to compensate cold west erner for this experience. When at
 last knew by the increasing force of l each successive wave, of excitement l that passed over my vicinity that the procession was nearing this part of the church I stood on tiptoe and saw the, I most impressive sight of my life. l Upon al throne that rested upon the l shoulders of four soldiers sat the ] shriveled, corpse-like figure of the pope,
 clothed all in deathly white, with huge
 mitre flashing with diamonds upon the.
 head. He looked like the image of death borne aloft for mortals to wor- lship But no! The eyes! 0verflooded'
 with life, they flashed upon the people
 with magnetc power. The long, trans lparent hand with the immense ruby
 was alive, too, and rained down bene-
 dictions increasingly upon the pope's
 children
 t There were church dignitaries in gor-
 geous robes and plumed soldiers and at tendants bearing on high white, fan
 shaped insignia; but all this was noth- ling-unnoticed. No one had eyes but l for the white clad pontiff.
 The shouting did not cease until the procession reached St. Peters chair on I the altar. The silence that now sud- l denly fell in the next instant quivered
 and pulsated into the sweetness of
 song-the ravishing melody of a Pales- trina mass. Above all the blended har- mony of voices scared clear and sweet a
 woman's soprano tones, which all knew,
 however, belonged to a big, burly man
 of 35, known in Rome as the .spope's
 angel.'
 I A cardinal celebrated a short mass, to which no one paid heed. All eyes were
 strained toward the motionless, small form swallowed up in the big papal
 chair. But even from the middle of the
 church one could only distinguish as l through a blur white mass of dra- l peries and the shimmer of the jeWeled ] mitre. From further back the people could see nothing, and they. waited iln-, I patiently for the return of the process l sion.
 When the pope was once more seated I on his throne and brought down the aisle between the lines of soldiers the \ electrical enthusiasm sprang into life l again like a palpable thing. It was ir- resistible. I was the daughter of a re
 public and bowed to no king, and my creed knew no popes, but, quite apart j from my volition I waved and cheered for I'll Pape Rre.' Mothers held high the little ones for the potent blessing. I The men waved handkerehiefs, threw up hats, stamped and yelled, Holy \ father! Holy father! Long live the i pope, the kingt" The excitement re- l bounded and seized it's author. Leo suddenly rose on his unstable support
 and extended the hand with the crossed l fingers. Then those excitable Italians \ lost all semblance of sanity and did not come to themselves until the red cur
 tains of the vatican door closed behind l the, pope's throne.
 Finally an everyday department re
 stunned its sway over the crowd. re- l leased my hold of the tall man over I whose shoulder had been gazing. The l little, short man who had placed him I self on shaky eampstool and held on I to me to see over the heads folded his I pedestal and moved off, And so, ad-
 justing itself, the crowd slowly stream I ed through the great bronze doors,
 while host of figured popes and
 apostles and painted angels and the l giant bronze St. Peter, with great toe
 almost worn away by kisses, looked
 down, as they had so often done, on the
 close of a mortal pageant. Mrs. I Charles N. Crewdson in St. Louis l lobe Democrat, @.. E.