Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-29
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By
C,N& A.M'WILlIAMSON

/
falling into beautiful decay. or apparitions
of white marble cathedrals. Then, over
and over again, that wonderful carved,
| ivory tower leaning against the golden
sky came back to me-so clean so unin-
| jured by the reverent centuries, and the
| sound of the angel-voiced echo in the Bap-
t1stry, and the strange shapes OF the s, Gear
beasts supporting the pulpit, just like
used to picture the beasts In Revelauons
when 1 was little girl. Next morning l
had another look at the Leaning rover
| before we started, and in a shop ! came
| across a delicious and beautifully written
book called In Tuscany" by the Enghsh
consul at Leghorn, so bought 1t, ana now
1 know as much as Brown does aoout tne
! country through which passed during
| several perfect days
| I'm not sure but 1 am being both bru-
tai and banal in saying that o ane 1 rsl
lively unnteresting. OF course, noun
ing can be really uninteresting IN
Italy. but I suppose those first Gays Gays
mile through marshy land. where tall mel
ancholy eucalyptus trees told their tale or
| a brave struggle against malaria. All the
windows and doors of the signal CABINS ny
| the railway stations were protected by wire
! gauze against mosquitoes. and we VINO
| have spent summers on Staten Island know
| what that means, don't we!
1 think if I were not in Rome l could
| have written you a better account of our
! fight through Italy; but the eternal city
has blurred all other impressions for me
now though 1 think afterward they Will
| come back as clear and bright as ever.
| Nevertheless I'm not going to write you
| much about Rome. It's too big for my
pen, too mighty and too marvellous
can only feel. You have been here, ana
Rome doesn't change. Only l wonder what
| you felt when you first saw the LAGOON
and the Apollo Belvedere? l used to think
1 didn't quite appreciate sculpture, but
me was waiting for the best, and refusing
| to be satisfied with what was less than
| the best. Why, 1 didn't even know what
marble could be till 1 saw the LAGOON. I
had meant to do a good deal of sght-see-
| ing that day when l began with the Vatt-
| can; but l sat for hours in front of those
writing figures in their eternal torture.
| l couldn't go away. The statue seemed to
| belong to me, and 1 had found it again,
after searching hundreds and hundreds of
years. l wonder II I was once a princess
state of existence, and if in those days I
| used to stand and worship the LAGOON?
! | shouldn't wonder bit. And the Apollo
Belvedere! What a gentleman.what
at me for such thought. 1t seems COM
monplace, but it isn't. Nobodys ever said
H. before. He's such a gentleman and so
graciously beautiful that you know he
must be a god. 1 shouldn't have minded
worshiping him a bit. Paganism had it's
points.
1 should love to come back to Rome on
my wedding trip if were married to ex-
actly the right man; but If he were not
exactly right l should kill him; whereas
in ordinary places l might be able to stand
him well enough, as we'll as most women
stand their husbands. Speaking of men |
who aren't exactly right reminds me of
Jimmy Payne. He is here. He seems to
have sort of instinct to tell him when one |
Is about to drive up to a hotel and then |
he stations himself in the door, expecting
the blessing which is for those who stand
and wait. We made a sensation driving |
down the narrow Corso at the fashionable
1no m rnf Of
of 1t when he stepped forward to welcome |
us. He had heard me say that we would |
stop here, because I'd been told it was
the only hotel in Rome with a garden and |
was close to the Pincian and Jimmy has |
such way of remembering things you |
say, If he thinks it's to his advantage. |
HIS first appearance was slightly marred, |
however. by sneeze which, like Lady
Macbeths etcetera spot, would "out" at |
the precise moment of shaking hands He |
says ne got influenza from the Duchessa
q! something or-other, upon whom he was |
obl1ged to call the instant he arrived or |
she would never have forgiven him; SO of /
common con, second-cisss influenza. 1t appears
that he was anxious to see dear LADY
Br1ghthelmston before she could get away
that he shed his automobile at Genoa. and |
hurried on by train, though whether on re-
celpt OF a telagra phic bidding from her |
ladyship or not don't know. Anyway, she |
didn't wait for him, else the influenza |
frightened her; for she has gone and an
rarently without leaving word for poor dis
and left word with the manager that she |
would wire when she was settled in some |
place where there was a little sunshine
for her letters to be forwarded. He is
waiting till that wire arrives.
Jimmy Is thick thieves with Aunt |
Mary, but frigid as a whole iceberg to |
poor Brown If they happen to run across
each other. do think, don't YOU. Dad, |
that it shows shocking bad breeding to be |
nasty to a person who, from the very ma |
ture of the case, can't answer back? When |
hear people speaking rudely to servants l |
always set them down as cads. Imagine
marrying man and then finding out that !
he was cadi One ought to be able to get |
divorce. The weather has suppose been |
terrible since came to Rome; at least |
l hear every one in our hotel grun1bing |
and certainly gardens haven't been of much |
use to us. But l am in a mood not to
mind weather am In Rome l say that |
over to myself and l read Lancani and |
Hare. and then I don't know whether it |
rains or not. Besides. yesterday was clear
on purpose for me to walk in the Pincian |
and Borghese Gardens. Brown had to go |
with me because Aunt Mary was afraid |
there would be another storm; and be- |
sides, some little English ladies she has |
met in our hotel had invited her to have |
tea with them in their bed ROOM They
make it themselves with their own things, |
because then you don't have to pay; and |
| If there aren't enough cups to go round |
among the ladies they've asked they take |
their tooth brush glasses for themselves |
And they bring in custardy cakes in paper |
pdsS anu cream III tlny pdllS winch they |
hide in their muffs, and try to look un- |
conscious. There are a lot here like that, |
and they stay all winter. None of them |
are married, and they all do and say exact |
ly the things you know they will before |
hand. Why, just to look at them you feel |
sure they'd have tatting on their stays, |
and make their own garters. But some |
Of them are titled or If they're not they |
talk great deal about being well con- |
nected;" and they do nothing on week |
days but read novels, work in worsteds,
and play bridge with the windows her.
metically scaled; on Sundays but go to |
the English church. Only think, and |
they're In Rome!
I haven't wasted one minute since we |
came, but. thank goodness, I'm not trying |
to do Rome scientifically and exhaus- |
lively like SO many poor wilted-lookfng |
Americans I've met here. They think they
must see every picture in every gallery. |
and put at least their noses inside every |
church; and then they scribble things down |
in their note books-things which will do |
them Just as much good afterward as |
Lizard Bills writings on his slate when the |
ink trickled over his nose, in Alice's Ad- |
ventures
One American lady in this hotel said her |
daughters had dragged her about so much |