The Delta independent., 1907-03-07

Ing letter lTOH1 you Ioudy. "
had none since your letter of the 2lst.
The two Delta papers came today, and
was almost afraid to read them for
fear should read that you were sick.
worry a great deal for fear you will
be sick and not there to take care OF
you. hope you take extra good care
of yourself | should judge from the
papers that there is lot of illness in
Delta.
Yesterday being bright. sunny day
we drove out for several miles along
the Appian Way. 1t is bordered now
by heaps and mounds of brick. the
ruins of old tombs. But the road,
paved with stone. is still, as of old,
"a queen of roads," The huge round
tomb of Caecilia Metella with its bat
tlemented top, is very prominent OBJ
ject on the landscape. The views along
here are fine. across the Roman cam
pagna to the Alban mountains. We
left. the city by the Porta San Sebas-
tiono, add the Arch Of Drusus. 1t is
very picturesque gate. with huge watch
towers and battlements on top. The
old city walls stretch away on either
hand. A mile or two beyond the gate
is the entrance to the Catacombs. We
were taken down by Trappist monk
who observing the close attention | paid
to all he said, asked me if were a
Roman Catholic. He seemed quite dis
appointed when | told him ''No.' He
was a very nice monk, about your age,
with blue eyes. and quite jolly. He
spoke several languages and seemed
well informed. The Catacombs are
very extensive. know you have read
so many descriptions of them that !
car tell you nothing new. 1t was in
the Catacombs that the body of st.
Cecilia was found lying just as she does
in the beautiful statue of her. which we
have all seen pictures of. This statue
is in on her tomb in her church and we
will see it when we go there. Haw-
thorne says in the Marble Faun" that
she lay in the lowly burial niche in
the Catacombs for the centuries, until
sculptor saw her recumbent figure
and rendered it forever beautiful in
MARBLE There were three sword
strokes on the back of the neck they
were allowed to strike only three times,
and if the victim was not dead. they
must leave them. 1t is believed that
she lived for a day or two, from the
position of the body, or from some old
writings found near her. A plaster
caste of the statue lies in the burial
niche in the Catacombs.
We returned to Rome by the Porto
San Gioranua. Portal. or Gate of St.
john and visited St John the Lateran
1t is a very handsome church and in
some things takes precedence of ST
Peters. The Popes all are crowned in
St. Johns. 1t, with its adjoining pa
ace. was the residence of the PopeS
until the fight to Arignon. Leo XIII
is to be buried here. We saw part OF
his tomb. 1t is not all completed yet
and he lies in temporary tomb in ST.
Peters. There are some very beautiful
cloisters at St. Johns. bought posta
showing them. | have 1913 postals So
far to bring with me. Here we saw the
Holy Staircase, flight of y marble
steps brought from the House of Petatc
at Jerusalem by the Empress Helena.
No one is allowed to ascend them eN-
cept on their knees.
As - h., 1, IL, L,< H., H.,
ginning of Lent to-day is Ash Wednc>-
day, the beginning of Lent the Carnr-
val reached its elimination YESTERDAY
afternoon. The air was thick as SNOW
storm with the confetti (bits of bright
colored paper) thrown by the handful
from the balconies along the street
Maskcrs were everywhere, and there
was double string of carriages the
full length Of the corso. We could
hardly make our way thru the jam and
our hats and shoulders were covered
with confetti. 1t was very gay scene
the last afternoon of "A Roman carni-
val
We expected to 20 to Tivoli today
but it raincd again. SO instead we wen;
to "St. Paurs without the Walls"
very magnificent church, about two
miles beyond the Porta San Paolo, or
Gate of st. Paul. think it is ahead
of st. Peters. On either side of the
door are gigantic columns of oriental
alabaster and the beautiful canopy over
the tomb of the saint is borne by four
more alabsster columns. The ceiling is
supported by 50 mammoth columns of
Simplon granite. and the walls are in
laid with slabs and medalions of colorcd
marble. The alabastcr columns sup