The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-05-03

are going to pull them down and put up
modern houses, with the hope Of modern
rants, but again | do not know. More
than once the fortuities Of hospitality found
one the guest OF dwellers in such stately
domleiles, and / could honestly join In the
anxiety with which they heard Of these
rumors; but there are a great many vast
cdifces OF the sort, and ! should not be
surprised II / went back TO Rome after
another forty-three years to find most
OF them standing in 1851 where they now
stand in 1908, Rome was not built In a
day. and II will not be unbuilt or rebuilt
within the brief period that will make
10 III years old. By that time / shall
have outlived most Of the mediev Waists, and
can say 10 the few survivors. There,
you see that new Rome never went half so
far as you expected
But no doubt II will 60 farther than II
has yet gone, in the way that is for the good
and comfort OF mankind. In one Of the
newer quarters Of which the Baths Of
Diooletian form the classic centre my
just American pride wa hattered by the
sign on a handsome apartment house
going up in gardened grounds. which ad-
vertised that it was to be finished with a
lit and steam heating. Many Of the newer
houses are already supplied with lifts, but
central heating Ia as yet only beginning TO
spread from the hotels, where steam has
heen installed in compliance with the i'm
FASHIONED American demand to be warm
all round when one lie indoors.
New Rome il not going so fast and 90
far but that It will keep, TO whatever end
It reaches, one Of the characteristic charms
II the old and older Rome. shall expect
70 see when | come back in 1851 the same
or the like corners OF wall, with the tops Of
shining foliage peering over them, that
now enchant the passer in the street; from
the windows Of my electric elevatored,
steam heated apartment | shall look down
into the ~seclusion OF gardens, with the
golden globes Of orange espaliers mellow
ing against the walls, and the fountain in
the midst Of oleanders and Of laurels
shaking It's loosened silver In the sun.
Slim Expresses will then as now blacken
through the delicate air against the blue
SKY, and n stone pine will spread its UNI
hrella over some sequestered corner. BY
that time the craze for the eucalyptus
which now possesses all Italy will he over
and every palm tree will be cut down, while
the lex will darken in its place and help the
eternal youth OF the marbles to a greener
old age " moss and mould in the gloom Of
liz spreading shade. All these things beau
titllly abound in Rome now, as they always
have aboInded, and there is no reason to
fear that they will cease TO abound, Rome
grows. and as Italy prospers 1t will grow
more and more, for there must forever be
a great and famous capital where there has
always been one. The place IL so perfectly
The seat Of an eternal city that II might well
seem to have been divinely chosen because
81 the earth and heaven which are more in
sympathy there than anywhere else in the
world. The climate Is beyond praise, for a
winter which is mild without being weak,
there is a summer OF tOlerable MONDAY
heat, and Of nights deliciously cool; the
spring ia scarcely earlier than in our rude
attitudes. but the fall ia a long slow decline
from the temperature Of October to the
lowest level Of January without the vicissi-
tldes Of other autumns. The embrowning
or reddening or following leaves turn sere,
hut drop or cling 10 their parent boughs as
they choose, for there ia seldom a frost to
loosen their hold, and seldom a storm to
tear them away.
So it is said by those who profess a more
intimate acquaintance with the Roman
meteorology than | can boast. but from the
little | know | can believe anything OF 1t
that is Of good report, Everywhere the
prevalence OF the lick, the orange, the laurel,
the pine. fatters the illusion Of June in
January; and under our hotel windows !
vas witness Of the success OF the sycamore
leaves in keeping a grip Of their native
tvigs even after the new buds came TO push
them away. In the last days Of March a
plum tree hung it's robe Of white blossoms
over the wall Of the Capuchin convent from
the garden within; but the almond trees had
e., been in bloom for six weeks before, and the
deeper pink OF the peach had more warmly
flushed the suburbs for fully afoTtnight.
Still. a mild winter and a possible sum
NOR will not Of themselves make a great
capital, and il was probably the Romans
Who in the past made Rome the capital Of
the world, first politically and then re-
l~ieiously. Whether they will make It 30
hereafter remains to be seen. In the sense
of all the Italians being Romans, ! believe,
with my profound faith in the race, that
they are very capable Of doing It; and they
will have the help Of the whole world in
the work, or what is most liberal and
enlightened in the whole world. As It is
Rome has a pull with Occidental civilization
which forever constitutes her It's head city.
The only European capitals comparable
with her are London, Paris and Berlin; one
cannot take account Of New York, which
is merely the commercial metropolis OF
America. with a possibility Of becoming
the business centre OF both h~emispheres.
Washington ia still in its homage and OF a
numerical u~nimportance in which 1t must
long remain almost ludicrously inferior to
other capitals, not to dwell upon it's want
~ anything like artistic, literary, scientific
and historical primacy. II is the voluntary
political centre OF the greatest republic OF
eny time and Of a nation which is already
unrivalled in its claim upon the future.
But il is not Of the involuntary and I'M
conscious growth Of a capital like London,
which is the centre Of a mighty state, deep
rooted in the past, and the capital Of that
Anglo-saxon,race OF which we are ourselves
a condition, and Of a colonial empire with
out a present equal. Paris is France in