The sun., 1908-05-17


VIC may not enter II without danger Of
Icing promptly lost In It. There is the
Rome Of the visiting nationalisies. soverally
and collectively; there Ia especially the
Anglo-American Rome, which u not 80
populous us tho German, for instance. 10
more important to tho Anglo-Saxons. II
sees great deal OF itself socially, but not
to the exclusion Of the sympathetic southern
temperaments hich seem to have o strange
but not unnatural affinity with II. So far
as we might guess II was little more
Clerical than Liberal in its Roman politics.
If you were very liberal II was we'll to be
careful. for Conversion lurked under many
exteriors which gave no outward sisn OF
it: the White Of the monarchy and the
Black OF the papaoy divide the best Roman
families, and Of course foreigners are more
intensely one or the other than the natives,
But Anglo-Saxon life was easy for one not
self-obliged to be Of either opinion or party;
and it was pleasant in most Of Its conditions.
In Rome our oonnationalities seemed to
have certain quarters largely to-. them-
selves In spite Of our adherence Of the
destruction and construction which have
made modern Rome so wholesome and
delightful. most Of us had our. habitations In
the new quarters; but certain pleasanter OF
the older streets. like the Via Sistina. Via
del Babuino, Via Capo 10 Sasa. Via Gre
goriana, were our sojourr or our resort.
Especially in the two hiaG our language
filed the outer air to the exclusion Of other
conversation, and within doors the shopmen
spoke il at least as well as the English think
the Americans speak it. It was pleasant to
meet the honest English faces. to recognize
the English fashions. to note the English
walk and II these were oftener present
than their American counterparts, it was
not from our habitual minority but from
our occasional sparsity through the panic
that had frightened us into housekeeping
foreign to our natures.
In like manner our hyphenated nationaIi-
ties have the Piazza di Spagna for their
own. There are the two English book
storee and the circulating libraries. in each
Of which the books are SO torn and dirty
that you think they cannot be quite so bad
in the other till you try it; there seems
nothing for IL. then, but TO wash and iron
the different Tauohnitz authors and after
ward darn and mend them. Tha books on
sale are of course not 30 bad; they are even
quite clean; and except for giving out on
the points of interest where you could most
wish them to abound there is nothing in
them to complain of. There is less than
nothing to complain OF in the tea room
which divides our connational attention
except that at the most psychological mo-
ment Of the afternoon you cannot get a
table, in spite Of the teas going on in the
fashionable hotels and the friendly houses
everywhere. The toast is exceptional. the
mullins so far from home are at least rem
iniscent OF their native island. the tea and
butter are alike blameless. The company.
10 the eye Of the friend Of man. 10 still more
acceptable, for il the Americans have
dwinded the English have increased; and
there is nothing more endearing than the
sight Of roomful of English people at their
afternoon tea in strange land. No type
seems to predominate; there bohemians are
as obvious as clerics; there are old ladies
and young. alike freshly fair; there are the
white boards Of age and the clean shaven
faces Of youth among the men; some are
fashionable and some outrageously not;
peculiarities Of all kinds abound without
conflicting. Some talk. frankly audible.
and others are frankly silent. but deep.
wide purr tacit or explicit, close upon q
iHutt prayer Vi ihS III tiiht d5oCuf-
bage OF mutual repellent personalities for
the nonce united, would best denote the
universal content.
Hard by this tea room there is a public
elevator by which the reader will no doubt
rather ascend with me than climb the Span
sh Steps without me; after the first time.
I never climbed them. The elevator costs
but ten centimes, and will pay for both;
there is sometimes drama thrown in that
is worth twice the money; for there is war.
more or less roaring, set between the old
man who works the elevator and the young
man who sells the tickets to it. The law
is that the elevator will hold only eight
persons, but one memorable afternoon
the ticket seller insisted upon giving ticket
10 tall young English girl who formed an
unlawful ninth. The elevator man. @ pre-
cisian of the Old school. expelled her; the
ticket seller came forward and reinstated
her; again the elder stood upon the letter
Of the law: again the younger demanded
its violation. The Tuscan tongue in their
RoInan mouths flew into unintelli gibility.
while the poor girl was put into the elevator
and out OF it; and the respective parties to
he quarrel were enjoying 1t 90 much that
il might never have ended il she had not
taken the affair into her own hands. She
followed the ticket seller back to his desk,
to which he retired after each act Of the
meodrama, and threw her ticket violently
down. Here is your ticket!' she said in
English 80 severe that he could not help
understanding and covering before it.
"Give me back my money! He was too
much stupefied by her decision OF charac-
ter TO speak; and he returned her centimes
in silence while we got into our cage and
mounted TO the top while the elevator man
furiously repeated to himself his side OF the
recent argument. This did not prevent
his touching his hat to each OF US in parting,
and assuring us that he revered us; thing
that only old fashioned Romans seem to
do nowadays. in the supposed decay OF
manners which the comfortable Glasses
everywhere like to note in the uncomfort-
able Then. some ladies OF our number
went of on platform across the house.
tops to which the elevator had brought us.
as IL they expected to 60 down the Chin
neys to their apartments; and the rest OF us
expanded into the Piazza Trinita de'Monti;
and I stopped to lounge against the upper
most balustrade Of the Spanish Steps.
It is notable, but not surprising, how soon
one fornns the habit of this for seen from