Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1903-08-13
letter Trcn, Rome.

received the following letter
from Mrs. S. II. DcVorc, who is
now touring Europe in company
with her husband:
Rome, judy %, 1903. Dear
Mrs. Robinson You desired
me to send you a letter from
Rome, and if | am TO comply
must get busy" for we are soon
leaving the Eternal City for our
tour of Florence.
We have had a perfectly de
lightful time ever since leaving
New York in fact the only un-
pleasant feature since we left
home was the tiresome trip from
Chicago to New York, the
weather being so warm and
it was so dusty that the journey
seemed unusually long.
Our voyage over could not
have been better, as we had a
calm sea the whole eleven days,
and neither the Doctor nor |
missed a meal or lunch three
CT each daily during our time
on board ship, and there were
very few seasick people among
the 500 passengers.
So far we have visited Gibral-
ter, Naples, the Island of Capri,
Sorrento, Pompeii and Rome.
At Capri we went into the IA
NOUS "Blue Grotto," which was
we'll worth coming thousands of
miles to see.
Naples is queer old town
but we enjoyed it thoroughly,
and the boat rides on the beau
tiful "Vesuvian Bay" could not
be surpassed, for the surface of
the water there is as calm and.
placid as a millpond with scarce
a ripple to disturb the stiffness,
and in color the most intense
sapphire blue Imaginable. We
arrived in Rome a few hours
after the Pope died, quite a lit
tie d~iscomforting to us, as now
we will not be admitted to the
Vatican, as of course everything
there is Theoretically closed UNI
til Pope Leo has a successor. but
tomorrow VIC will be p~er.litted
to view the remains as they lie
in state before being conveyed
to ST. Peters.
Rome is much different from
any of the Italian places we
have seen up to this time. In
Naples the streets are narrow,
dirty and simply swarming with
oeggars, while here the main
business thoroughfares are sha-
dy, wide and we'll swept, and
while there are sufficient beg
cars to keep up their reputa-
ton, you can't walk along with
out a dirty hand thrust into
your your face with the invari-
able call of "macaroni," mean
ing in their language a tip.
~ 49,
We went through that mag
nificent cathedral, st. Peters,
yesterday and | would not at
tempt to describe it further
than to say that however much
you have read of it, or the
length your imagination has
carried you, you are totally un-
prepared for the immensely and
grandeur of the structure. The
beautiful paintings, statues,
frescoes, and the dome over 400
feet high, with it's interior re-
splendant with the beautiful
mosaics and gliding. One is
filled with admiration for those
who designed so much beauty.
We have visited many other ca
thedrals and churches not
nearly all, for Rome has $50
churches and 10000 priests
and we have also seen most of
the places of interest. The Col
iseum, Forum, Pantheon, Gaia
combs, Picture Galleries, Capt.
tol Royal Palace, and many 9TH
er places. This afternoon we
went through the Royal Palace,
and the grounds and buildings
were immense. The rooms and
furnishings were simply gor-
geous in their splendor. There
is one thing that hourishes
abundantly here in the city that
| am so thankful we do not have
at home, and that is the most
abomniable of all insects, heas.
Our people are almost distract
ed with them they are so nu-
merous and they are very pois-
onous to me, so fare even
worse than the others do. Our
courier tells us we will find them
all through Italy, so we will