The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-07-06

By frequenting eating houses, where
a plate Of hash and bread may be had
for three cents, [ have met and fra
ternized with many strange people,
among whom was a middle-aged Swiss
Carlo Steiner by name, who bears
stamped upon his features the lndell-
bic mark of good birth and breeding,
who speaks four or five languages and
talks learnedly without pedantry OF
literature, music and philosophy, yet
who goes in rags. Ny conversations
with him were glimpses Of myster-
ious world, of the existence Of which
| was learning for the first time,
world without geographical borders,
because it is wider than any continent,
a world whose only limit is the great
gulf, which separates it forever from
all the commonplace things of life, the
only things which | had up to this
time known.
Carlo Steiner is only one of ANIL
lion. I have met and talked with and
learned from others like him-men
who have been everywhere, who have
sailed the Seven Seas from Suez to
the Golden Gate and back again, who
speak all languages. who know more
t.an | used TO think | knew, which IS
= rood deal. about art and letters, and
va5. VINO dress and live as tramps, as
ourcastS. My admiration for them Is
tinged with pity, for with all their
brilliant deviI-may-care diSdain Of the
hum-drum existence Of people who
have worn away their lives in one rut
lust to make, a iving::' with all
their careless freedom, there IS an
undercurrent of sadness beneath 1t
all, like the minor melody IN the Pll-
erim's Chorus, an inde6nable some
taing that reminds me of KlpEng. 5
terrible poem, "Gentlemen Rankers,
it is the ''legion Of the lost ones,
the cohort Of the damned,' yet the
least among them has drunk deeper
Of the cup of life than the richest and
wisest man Of that other upper world,
to which you and I belong, the world
in which We do today just what we
did yesterday, and knowing that we
will do the same tomorrow and day
after tomorrow till we die. l think
honestly. for | have had taste OF 1t
and know what it means, that man
who has never been hungry without
knowing where he could get loaf OF
bread: the man who has never been
weary without having place to lie
down beneath sheltering roof, has
never lived.
Some weeks ago, pushed to the
wall. desiring to 60 to Rome, with
the weather so vile that walking was
impossible. and without money to buy
a railroad ticket; realizing that l
must live until the arrival of my
blessed check from America, and yet
without money to pay for victuals or
bread. circumstances drove me to
adopt the most despicable of all I'M
perfectly honest trades in Europe
that Of the professional guide.
One morning I went down to the
water front and haunted the steam
boat landings, touching my cap DETER
entially and crying, "Want a guide,
sir?" to every pig Of an English
speaking traveller who landed, and
received many a chill refusal, until
a Young Scotchman, George Bogue, by
name, yho was on his way from New
Zealand to Rochester, n. Y, via Suez,
and found himself stranded tor a
week at Naples between boats, with
out being able to speak word OF
italian, agreed to employ me as guide
and Interpreter, at least long enough
to get him safely installed IN hotel
and show him a few Of the principal
sights of the city. He proved to be
an average sort Of chap, without any
general knowledge outside his own
business (that Of wall-decoratlng)
but he was decent and appreclatlVe;
So we got on we'll. He had vaguely
heard that there was a place some
where in Italy called 'Rome," and
shat it was the most wonderful city
in the world. Being decent las l
have said) he naturally wanted to get
out Of Naples, and when he found
that Rome was c1ly five hours dis
tant by rail, I managed to persuade
him to make the trip, thereby reach
ing the providential solution OF my