Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-10-30
HOMEWARD BOUND.
From Italy to New York.--.Kikins
Il at a Lively pace---"No Place
Like Home"
editorial Correspondsnce)

editorial Correspondsnce)
Wearied with Pompeii and Vesuvius
and all else in Italy now, knowing that
our roamings are at an end, we long for
home. The homing instinct is upper
most in the minds of this pair of Vir-
ginians, and actually the pleasure of go
ing nome is stronger and sweeter than
was the start when leaving cares behind.
We have no thought Of but the quickest
way to get home, and q strange Oblivion
to all else left to attract US on foreign
shore creeps over US.
Trusting to our proverbial good luck.
we did not book" passage back. We
didnot know when setting out where or
when we would take up. 1t was risky
thing to do, for September is the month
for the return of Americans home, ard
for months most of the big steamers
passenger lists had been booked
up We had hoped to sail from Naples
for America, touching by the Azores,
but now find that there is no steamer
due for week, putting US in New
York IL days later, the 18th of Sep
ternber. So the midnight hour of the
Sth found us taking fast train at this
jumping-off-point in Italy, bound up the
long peninsula of nearly thousand
miles, en- route to Paris again, thence
to London, and then home. So far we
had been able to do with one grip"
apiece and a shawl-strap bundle of
coats. Now we lay in an extra suitcase
for trinkets and other accumulations.
One case was considerably lightened by
our big kodak and a few pieces of
jewelry gone. appropriated by some
menial at the hotel through failure to
lock it. With the camera also went our
roll of films of the Swiss and Italian
lake scenes. The other scenes were un-
molested.
Morning saw US breakfast again in
Rome. Out of Rome we whirl, skirt
ing the ancient walls, and, crossing
the Tiber, we follow the sacred rivers
course for.a ways. On our right are the
Alban mountains and on the left are
the Sabine mountains. For a long
while we glide through the land of the
ancient Etruscans, now an uninviting
country, till we come to Civiti Vecchia,
the ancient seaport for Rome; thence
into a town Of several centuries before
Christian Etruscan metropolis; another
town in the hilly country where the
Roman legions disastrously defeated
the Gauls. Presently the hills give way
and the seacoast is of marshy, miasmic
land. where peoples have never thrived.
OF yonder is the island oflElbs, whence
Napoleon escaped and, carrying all Italy
northwest with him, again became the
conqdering hero. We cross the river
Arno, and Pisa looms up before us.
At Pisa we look at the Campanile, or
bell-tower, the famous Leaning Tower
of Pisa. Like many other wonders,
the traveller is somewhat disappointed in
this tower. It is only 179 feet high and
is IA feet out of perpendicular. There
is no marvel that it does not topple,
for the heavy foundation prevents the
line of gravity falling without its base.
1t is circular, with many colonades or
porches around it in tiers, and its white
ness makes very pretty effect. The
Cathedral of Pisa and the Baptistry are
both worth visit.
From Pisa to Genoa (the birthplace
of Columbus) is a beautiful trip. We
now for the most part cling to a rock
bound seacoast, the west coast of Ita-
ly. Mountains on our right, or east,
bend down to, and then away from, the
sea. Tunnel after tunnel, cutting
through rocky promentory after prom
entory, the azure sea on one side and
the olive-clad hills on the other, partly
hiding the pretty country homes that
nestle there; castle or monastery. high
above, here and there giitters in the SUM-
light. We are now in the heart of
Italy's marble industry. The mountain
ranges on each side are bare; they no
longer show the jagged, sombre peaks
of the limestone region, but glare white
in the sunlight. Our travelling COM
panion got the laugh on us when, walk
ing from a doze, we first beheld the
marble cliffs. Possibly it was the Sc
we're experience on old Jungfrau that
caused the break, but anyway we for
got our location and in startled exclam-
alton called attention to the glaciers on
the mountain sides! 1t was our next
treat, and we have rigidly refused to
allude to glaciers and snow and ice
since. That reminds one that no ice
to speak of is to be seen in Europe
until you get to Italy, and even here the
ice-man is not so important parsonage
as in America. The marble mountains
are fortune to the people of this poor
land-for we have not yet gotten into
the rich fields of Piedmont, or northwest
Italy. Agriculture is neglected and
Everybody is engaged in some branch of
the marble industry. This is not far
from the coast, and so the marble is ex-
ported by water. We have struck here
in dry season, and marble-dust covers
Everything, fields, trees, houses, cat
tie and people. just as -four covers the
miller's coat. This is exceedingly disa-
agreeable. Where other roads were
macadamed with limestone rock the
roads here are built of crushed marble,
or marble scraeninos cart 0oino