The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-05-19

repr1Sal. Hhat we need 10 &c III lle
United States is to hang few tood-
contractors, as Wellington in the
Pensula swing up some commissarles
improving the quality of the ratlons
immensely, as we are told.
4 journey through Italy is-well, it
is trying-it is trying to the eyeslght
with its constant succession of pic
! lures. trying to the nerves with its
eternal suavity and mendicancy, try
ing to the sense of smell and to the
digestive organs. The scenic displays
are enchanting, the food is monoton-
Gus, the drink-particularly the cot
fee-is execrable. Coffee! Why, that
which they serve you tastes like cock
reaches and lightning bugs, toasted
and brayed in mortar. Long ago the
dead buried their dead. They that
| dwell here tread over dead mems
bones and trade upon dead mems
memory. On every hand, wherever
the tourist rambles, rise exhalatlore
Of the dead; and palaces are tenant
less and church doors hang on rusty
hinges, and from Genoa round to
Naples and back through Rome and
Florence to Venice. Tombs, only
ron1bs, of Virgil, on Dante, OF juliet;
and, speaking OF Juliet, is it not a
trife odd that the bard Of Avon
should have made Verona the stage
for two completed dramas? 1t IS d
little old town, split in twain by the
swift flowing Adige, with nothing to
distinguish it from many another, bur,
bearing the Shakespearan imprint, it
| has for three centuries lived on thc
ear-marks CT Two Gentlemen who
never lived at all, to say nothing
a5u"t the ,Mon.agucs and the Capn-
lets. who, like the Hathelds and the
McCoys, the Bill Smoots and the
Hargises, had way peculiar to ther1~
selves of making things hot and live
ly, and very uncomfortable, for all
the euitar-twanging and gold lace,
| he rope-ladders and the moonshlne,
oi which I dare say more ado is made
by the poets than the actual facts
would warrant. John Fox has told
us a deal about the "moonshine' OF
the Kentucky Mountains, and James
Lane Allen and Harrison Robertson
have peopled the Bluegrass country
with heorines who could take the tuck
out of the calico dress Of any Vero-
nese in the bunch; nor centuries OF
haze to dim the perspective and
heigl1ten the romance. Italy has
merely the trade-mark-holds the
age" so to say-on Kentucky
though maybe Mr.. Robertson. Mr..
.\llen and Mr.. Fox would be willing
20 make some concessions as to
Shapespeare! To each OF them. Italy
and Kentucky included, but not in
Chianti, Carpi. or Coffee. there's
howl"
One goes from Italy gladly, reluc.
tantly: rejoiced to get away from so
much that is unclean, sorry to quit
50 much that is beautiful. We have
had in Venice the most delightful
apartments, the most a6omlnaole
'wittles." The same at Florence. The
same at Rome. 1t would have been
the same at Naples. except that a
friend came to the rescue. Whatever
the aesthetic sensibilitv, the creature
comforts may not be ignored. Romeo
and Juliet, I fancy, had they been per-
.nitted to take a bridal trip and got
as ;,.r as ;lc Plazzo San Marco,
would have enjoyed a square meal.
Floating in a gondola under lattlced
windows and hanging balconies, lis
tening to rather queer music as you
glide through high walls and darkling
waterways, may made food for the
gods, but won't support even hon.
cy-moon beyond the claims OF nature.
So, goodbye to Venice, as we slip
past the Bridge Of Sights, to take the
Train for the TYrolese Alps, for Inns