Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-02

to know that the Duke of veragua, the
head OF the Columbus family, who came
over to the worlds fair at Chicago in 1898.
consulted friends concerning the ADVISABLE
ty of applying to our government for PEN
sion, but was persuaded not to do SO be-
cause they were confident 1t would never be
granted. Congress does not often act upon
sentimental considerations.
Who Vespucci Was.
Vespucci was the son of a Florence notary
and became commission merchant. In
1895 he was manager of the establishment
of Juanoto Berardi, Genoese merchant at
Seville, who obtained a contract for fur
nishing supplies for the ships which went
with Columbus on his third voyage. and
was afterward, from 1901 to 1905, employed
by the Spanish government as a sort of in
spector and purchasing agent for expedi-
tons to the new world In 1905 he went
himself with one of the fleets commanded
by Juan de laSCosa, who was the pilot OF
Columbus on his first voyage. Vespuccl
made several voyages afterward in the ca
pacity of purser or supercargo. but was no
sailor and never pretended to be an ex-
plorer He was a prolific writer, however,
and entertained his friends at his old home
in Florence with interesting, accounts OF
his observations and adventures. 1t was
these letters which, having been printed in
Florence, found their way, as / have de-
scribed, into the hands of Martin Waldsee-
muller, with the consequences which every
body knows.
vespucci died at Seville in 1912, highly
spected, never dreaming that he had visited
a new continent which was forever to bear
his name. Like Columbus, he supposed that
the newly discovered lands were part or
the coast of India.
The map which Professor Fischer has dis
covered in the old castle was made by
Wa1dseemuller three years after the PUBL
cation of his geography. but 1t is evident
that he had acquired no further informa-
ton.
To the general public the most interesting
part of the papal exhibit at St. Louis Will
be the personal relics of the late pope,
which will be loaned by his relatives. Count
Ludovico Pecci, the head of the family, as
1 wrote you the other day, has kindly con-
sented to intrust them to Father Ehrle, ana
they will be installed with the rest of the
exhibit from the Vatican. Count Peccl mas
told US that we can have anything we want
and can make our own selection, which Will
include a dozen or more sample OF the late
pope's handwriting, chosen from large
number of letters, poems, essays and other
papers written by him at different periods
of his life
His family must have foreseen the dis
tnguished position he was to occupy, be-
cause they preserved his letters from his
earliest boyhood with scrupulous care. The
earliest | was able to find was written when
he a schOolboy, nine years old, to ap
affectionate mother and in it he gives us
glimpse of a family characteristic He tells
her that it is absolutely necessary that he
should have portfolio for his correspond
ence, because all the other boys in school
have them except himself. 1t will not 90
for a member of the Pecci family to be be-
hind the times. This and others that 1 am
describing are signed Vincent, which | am
told was pet name
The Leo XIII Collection. ~
In the collection are numerous essays he
wrote while student in college and in the
divinity school. his thesis upon graduating
from the seminary, and history of the
Pecci family written by him when he was
about twenty-one years old. There are let
ters to his mother and father when he was
a priest. and the most interesting and in
portant is a description of the scenes at
Rome upon the death of Pope Plus VIII,
and the election of Gregory XIV, which oc-
CURED while he was acting private sec
rotary to a cardinal. His descriptive pow
ers would have mace him a valuable addi-
ton TO the staff of newspaper. His letters
were written with his own hand until about
six years before his death, when he appears
to have acquired the habit of dictation. Tie
physical labor of writing had become a bur-
den to him, and the body of the letters Is in
the penmanship of his secretary.
His manuscript is almost microscopic to
the very end. He always wrote a minute
hand and with remarkable neatness and &C
curacy. / examined page after page with
out discovering an erasure or correction.
Each letter was exact, and so small that /
counted 16S words upon q sample page five
by eight inches in size-forty-eight lines
and an average of sixteen words to a line.
He retained the habit to his DEATH
He was equally neat and methodca1 with
his correspondence. The letters preserved
by him are all folded in the same way and
properly Endorsed. Those received from
kings and other rulers We're kept by him in
a great portfolio, each king having a sep
arate cover inscribed with the name of the
writer and the dates of the correspondence
within. Among the autographs so pre-
served are the letters from Queen Victoria
quoted in his biography. He had several
also from King Edward, Kaiser Wilhelm
and from the Dowager Queen Margherita
of Italy. They include letters from nearly
every famous man Of his generation. From
these a selection will be made for the ex-
~