The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-09-24

Michael Angelo is beautiful. Also his
painting the. altar wall me LAST
Judgment, 64x12 feet.
In the picture gallery are founa
RaphaeTs The TRANSPORTATION ana
many other noted pictures. The
Raphael tapestry. and collection q
antiquities are other valuable coliec-
lions. The latter contains several OF
the original celebrated sculptures.
In the afternoon we saw the Pantheon
(about 125 A d. which contains the
tornbs of Victor Emmanuel II, HUM
bert and Raphael 1t is IN spleno1o
preservation considering its age Ihen
the church Of the Cappuccins with its
very interesting burial vaults. In the
basement are several chapels fIled with
earth brought from the Holy Land ana
around the walls are piled up (like core
woods) bones and skulls very artlstl-
! cally arranged in which are ntcnSA
where whole bodies are seen dressed UP
/ in the robes of the order. The system
is when one dies he Is buried in the
ground, then later to make room the
body is taken out and placed IN tne
niche in the walls, and one OF them ls
/ dismembered and the bones are placed
upon the piles From there I took
long walk around the royal palaces.
That evening I walked on top Of Pincton
| hill, which is on level with the TOD o.
a seven story building and IS laid out
| very beautifully with parks, etc Ine
! view from II is one of the best IN Rome
August g. in the morning I went
| through the National Gallery OF Mod
! A
\ afternoon drove out to the cataconDs
of st. Calixtus where with a taper IN
| our hands we went down into tbs
catacombs accompanied by an old Trap
pist monk. We were lucky this time as
our guide spoke English. These cata~
combs are four stories down and about
| ,000, 600 people were buried there. TO
give you an idea of their size, 1t takes
three days to go all through them. Here
are the tombs of several pOpes or otsn-
ops and the tomb of st. Cecilia, Some
Of the tombs were beautifully frescosd
and lined with marble. A good many
of the recesses are empty, but Few
are still intact.
These catacombs date from the
third and fourth centuries and to one
who has never seen anything OF the
kind, it is extremely interesting. In
the afternoon drove to the Borghese
garden and around the city
Rome has some of the prettiest
spots in the heart of the city that I
have ever seen within the borders Of
any city. The water being very plen-
tifuI, there are large fountains every
where and very picturesque grotto ef-
fects with large beautiful statuary. In
one street intersection there are four
| foun tains built in the corners and one
would think they were in a beautiful
park. Then the fountain of Trivf Is
/ beautiful with its green shrubbery- To
me it looked finer than any at the st.
Louis worlds fair. There is 1egen-
elers throw coin into this fountain to
insure good luck.
ION August "a we drove around to
eight or ten of the old churches and
| by other points that we had not seen,
so by noon when we left for Naples
we had seen enough of Rome to have
a fair idea of what it was like al
though one could spend months there
and then not see it all To me It was
the most interesting place I have seen
I
have written in Naples not having
been able to finish 1t in Rome. we
reached Naples at o'clock in the
evening. Hot weather, the first we
have experienced, mosquitoes and
f1eas. They say see Naples and then
die. But I would rather die first. OF
course this IS out of the season he<e,
but it is something awful. Very noisy,
dirty, hot, and the worst kind Of ho-
tells. with eating bad. The people are
so different from the interior, Rome,
Florence, etc. Here one sees more
distress. scantily dressed, dirty ana
ragged people. and all want money.
Even the hack drivers follow YOU along
the streets wanting trade The first
evening I thoroughly enjoyed listening
to ten Neopolitan singers who came to
the hotel and sang all evening.
1T is certainly music one hears, ana
there are many out in the streets that
would star any grand opera. And the
small children, behind their dirt, are
! beautiful.
yesterday afternoon. the 25th. We
took train to Pompeii about half an
hours ride. We spent the morning
viewing the old ruins which are very
interesting. The streets being very
narrow and houses having storeroonas
in front of them. Going In from the
street they have large court back Of
which is another court and their gar
dens. Living apartments on the first
floor and servants quarters are NJ
stairs There is so very much to see
here that It would be impossible to
even try to describe It We then took
a carriage and drove to the foot az
Vesuvius to see the lava from the last
eruption In one old house we went
into the lava nearly flied the base
ment and the heat was SO intense that
we could hardly stay in there We
picked up some of the lava which was
so hot We couldn't hold It in orr
hands. We then went back to NAMES
and sail tomorrow for the I5nftsd
States which is the greatest country
I in the world"