The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-02-21

Islands; the late sumptuous head
quarters of the defunct Canal company:
! the Colejio Esperanto, (Hope college,,
for girls, directed and taught by teach
ers from the United States; the Colejio
del Isthmo, for boys; and half a dozen
fine old churches. Among the latter,
that of santo Domingo is perhaps most
interesting, though now in ruins. 1t
was built soon after the founding Of the
city, and in its day was one of the
I richest sanctuaries in the new world.
| possessing extraordinary store of jew
| eled vestments, golden altar service,
! lamps and crucifiXes. The church it,
| self was built by the queen of Spain
and the ladies of her court, each con-
| tributing to the pious work what mon
! ey she could afford. When the time
came for casting bells for its tower
there was no money left to pay for the
metal they should contain. So the zeal
Gus queen invited not only the nobility,
| but people of all classes to come and
witness the casting of the bells and to
contribute thereto On the appointed
| day they came in crowds, high and low,
rich and poor. When all was ready the
queen threw a handful of gold into the
| great crucible, and the ladies and gen.
tlemen of her court did the same; and
then the poor followed with donations
of silver and copper greater in guam
| tity, but less in value. Thus the
amount of metal rapidly increa sed, but
| still there was not enough. Then the
queen threw in all the golden orna-
I che har ladies did the
same. The gallant courtiers cut the sill
yer buttons from their jackets, the
| buckles from their shoes, and the Off
GERS wrenched the jeweled handles from
| their swords. The excitement grew i'll
! tense. Rings. bracelets and valuableS
| of all sorts. some of them precious rel
| les and family heirlooms, together with
! brass and iron and the lneaner trinkets
of hoi polloi, all went into the crucibe.
And thus the bells of Santo Domingo
were made. Their tones were the
sweetest and clearest ever heard, and
whenever they were heard priests and
| people crossed themselves and said
| prayer. When the church for which
they were designed was burned, about
twenty years ago, they were not injured
| by their fall from the lofty tower and
were afterwards hung in the cathedral
but listening to the discordant, ear
| splitting, clatter that issues continually
from it's tower, one is inclined to doubt
the story of the sweet tones of the IA
nous bells.
Panama La Vieja, or all that remains
Of it, is six miles from the present city,
You take carriage near the main pla-
"a and turn into the street Of the
Nuns" Arrived at the city walls, you
should walk little distance in order to
| inspect The gate of the Monk" An
antique archway, quantity carved and
| crowned by watch-tower, which leads
through the moss-grown ramparts to
the beach. Following the path of the
Monks of old, you presently find your
| self on wide expanse of coral reef,
which, if the tide is out, is literally
| 'alive" with shrimp, hermit crabs, cut
! tie fish and other forms of deep sea life,
and strewn with kelp, marine ferns and
MOSES and shells of curious forms and
colors.
How are the mighty fallen!" is the
thought that is uppermost in mind
when you are searching the site Of Old
| Panama for traces of its former mag
| nifcencei Historians tell us that
among its seven thousand houses were
many palaces, furnished and adorned
with great magnificence; and that be-
yond the city far and wide stretched
the plantations which supplied the mar
kets with fruit and vegetables, and the
groves and pleasure gardens wherein
| the fair Panamains with their cabal-
| leros were wont to resort in the cool of
the day. There were churches ana
monasteries and converts, all wonder
fully rich in jeweled ornaments and al
tar-peces wrought by the foremost ar
fists of the time; long lines of buildings
used by the opulent Genoese as mar
ket-house for their slaves; and even the
kings stables, where the beasts were
kept that carried the gold and silver of
| Pedu and Mexico to Porto Bello, for
shipment to Spain, were more luXuri-
Gus in their appointments than any of
the weddings in the modern city. To-
day the place that was once the
brightest jewel in the Castilian crown,
where the conquest of an empire was
planned, is a dismal heap of ruins, in
the midst of a pestilential swamp, in
habited only by snakes, iguanas and
bit of wall overbrown to the top with
brushes and twined around and around