The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-05-08
ROME. Italy. April 30. 1909.

and indicate posture, and, while the grey
haired Psychologists of the National Museum
were gravely tearing each others boards out by
the roots In the course of polemic discussion as
to whether the unfortunate young lady was a
Venus or a Diana, fiippant young student from
Columbia University cut the cordian knot and
settled the question, at least far as the Roman
public is concerned, by glibly quoting:
"Took header.
"And a deader,
"Was Ophelia!n
The pasquinade was keenly relished, and while
the statue has finally been classified and labeled
as Diana" by the savants, it will henceforth
be known in the local unwritten history, in the
gossip of the Roman studios. as the "Ophelia."
Apropos of this same ''fnd," Roman archeol
ogist has declared that the bed of the Tiber con-
tains more treasures and works of art than any
single museum in the world and he leaves out
of consideration the golden candlestick. brought
by Titus from the temple at Jerusalem, placed
in the Temple of Peace at Rome, and afterward,
according to some authorities, thrown into the
Tiber. 1t is sculptured on the Arch of Titus,
which stands so proudly against the sky at the
summit of the Sacred Way, near the great
forum. The Jews of Rome once asked permits
sion to drag the river bed for the missing candle
stick. The Pope refused, but reliable authority
states that it was taken from the river by Gen
seric, who afterward carried it to Carthage
Later it was heard of at Constantinople, and was
eventually melted down to be made into can
delabra for the Holy Sepulchre.
But the golden candlestick, the "Ophelia," and
the numerous other marvels which have been
fished out of the Tiber are as nothing compared
to those which still lie beneath its waves. Ma
poleon and his engineers once conceived the
gigantic plan of damine the stream above the
city, turning it from its course for length of
three miles and laying bare the bed for excava-
ton, but the all-absorbing struggles with the
allied powers left them no time to carry the idea
into effect, and the mobile river that rolls by
the gates of Rome will probably guard its won
drous secrets for centuries to come as the gov
eminent of modern Italy has neither the capt.
tai nor the initiative necessary for the revival
of such herculean enterprise. And. besides.
the Roman museums and churches are already
so rich in classic masterpieces that people think
whats the use p
The Evolutionary guardian and tuteary genius
of all these antique treasures is the wolf of Ro
mulus, or rather one of her lineal female de-
scendants, kept in small cage on the Capito-
line Hill. She looks cross and cramped like the
Roman eagle which is chained to the branch of
tree close by. Children love the wolf, and
even grown-ups often stop to gaze on the his
torc animal. One of these latter once asked
Roman friend
"Why are there no geese on the Capitol?"
"Oh, there are, in the German Embassy ~ was
the reply. The embassy occupies the spot where
the sacred geese cacked their legendary warn
| ing and saved the citadel
The staircase, a little further down, where
| Rienzi once stood to harangue the populace, is
| now the haunt of postcard boys. who know just
] enough English to be annoying amusing. ac-
| cording to the hearers humor at the moment.
| A lady, who recently refused to have greatness
in the shape of picture postals thrust upon her,
| was addressed by the exasperated vendor as
Rascal English womanr He had learned from
| experience that rascal was term of reproba-
ton. The highest fight of conversational power
was reached one morning by an imp, who gravely
announced: VERY cheap today; I'm in liquida-
tion," and when his cards were refused he
promptly added: "All right, skidoo for your
But the Italians facility for expression in the
cold, unknown Northern tongue, is naturally
not to be compared with his vituperative elo-
quence in his own musical, flowing lingo. His
profanity is classical. Not for nothing is he
countryman of the immortal Cicero. The only
person on earth who can outcurse an italian sig
more is an italian signora. Not long ago wo-
man, whose husband was dying. went to the
window to throw bunch of faded flowers into
the street. A beggar standing below asked aims
of her, and when she refused, the mendicant
called up:
"May he be much worse than he is ~
This naturally enraged the perspective widow,
and she replied:
"Brutto villanzona ~ (horrid brute) loathsome
animal, may you be covered with shame De-
part hastily and die from accident May you be
murdered May seven thunderbolts strike your
bloody corpse as it is being carried home to your
wife May your soul scorch in hell!' The beg
gar hurried away terrified, while passing coach
man, who had heard the TRADE, stopped to raise
his hat deferentially and cry bravo, Sig
nora -
AS for the fugitive, he probably lodged into
the nearest church to neutralize the vitriolic
potency of the curse by sprinkling himself with
holy water. The Italians are as a race supersti-
tious to degree and live in constant dread that
some ill-disposed neighbor will cast spell upon
Them either by formula of magic words or by
the power of the ''evil eye," of which mention
was briefly made in former letter. Nine -tenths
of them keep charms or amulets constantly upon
their bodies, and sometimes one sees even an
Anglo-Saxon wearing a small hand of gold or
silver on his watch chain, a fairly sure protec-
ton against the jettatura. The wearing of this
miniature hand, however, is merely compro
mise, growing from the belief that in the pres
ence of jettatore one must cross the fingers
(the sign of the cross or close the second and
third fingers while the index and little fingers
are extended in the mystic sy mbol of the horns;
the miniature metal hand is always cast in one
or the other of these positions. But the most
effcacious protection. the really sacred charm
which foreigners scarcely ever see and which
Italians wear secretly beneath their clothing
next to the heart, is the ancient pagan amulet
of coral, the Latin "fascinum," the Identical
form that their ancestors wore long, long ago.
in prehistoric times, when Venus and the wrath
full Juno were still quarreling over the safe ar
rival of Aeneas in Latium, when the fauns still
dwelt in the forests. and the walls of Rome were
wooden palisades.
Today in Rome there is a well known prince,
man prominent in the social and political life
of the capital, who is always greeted when he
appears in public by the sign of the cross or the
mystic horns. The signs, of course, are made
secretly, and it is possible that the poor noble
man does not know he isaccredited by the popu-
lace with the malevolent power of jettatore.
What stories one hears of the Roman princes
One of them, acting on motive that was said to
have been in some obscure way religious, re-
Gently had his saddle horse painted green and
vanished. The poor beast died of suffocation
in few hours, but the gods we're appeased.
One might almost fancy that the sun had stood
still on Gideon since Joshuas time, and that
Rome is pagan city in the twentieth century.
if this were all of Rome. SEABRooK.
AN ORDER has been received from the gov
eminent zoo at Copenhagen for dozen of the
heetest specimens of the Kansas jackrabbt.
Denmark must be contemplating a change
from profound deiberation to intense activity.
SOME OF the cherries on feminine bats are
said to have been originally ping pong balls
when that game was fad. The millinery
artist of today is clearly convinced that moth
ing was made in vain.
A Brooklyn doctor denounces the habit of
using salt on potatoes. The boy who defined
salt as the stuff that spols potatoes if you don't
put any on seems to have started right, but lost
his way.
THE NEW sultan of Turkey, Mehemmed v,
has but two wives. AT the present price of
of Paris hats this change at the palace is an
immense stroke of imperial economy.
REVIEW of the business outlook says 1.-THE