The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1909-05-20


much smaller.
At the height of its glory the begin
ming of the second century-Rome
boasted of a million people. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century it
was under 100000; in 1870, 100000;
and now is something over 400. 900. To
a casual observer it seems'a prosperous
city. There are whole streets OF splen-
did modern buildings and no end of fine
modern hotels. The street car service
is excellent, hotels generally good and
rates reasonable. Our hotc! was bad
one. They seemed to be carrying on
an exhaustion series of experiments
r(at least they were .exhausting to us)
as to how TO SUSTAIN human life with
out food.
Is: Our breakfasts al the regular con-
| tir,eS<al4 kind, brea,l and colf e. The
bsd dk bad, the coEee is worse, so we
ta|N Bread and hot aater for breakfast
6tesiisread is so bad ,ge cut that out at
III Each andtsat the irlioitesima' portions
ct meat ahd VegeCat les, and at dinner
we eut out all of tnl n and nhble few
nuts and eat scraw 4ey oranges. An
other week would dt.abtless cure us of
the eating habit.
This week Rome is celebrating the
| identification OF Joan ot Arc, and there
are nearly 40, 600 strangers in the city,
more than half said to be priests and
students largely from France and two
opportunities were al orded to see the
Pope, which were eagerly sought.
This is the most Interesting city in
Italy. l think in tl,4 world, from the
stand point of the to,iri3t The student
of art, architecture and history could
spend months here, eachday full Of new
8! interest, pleasure aru instruction. 1t
Is not for me co pui Oh paper story
of the wonders of Bone or what is to
be seen here. 1t, is d strange combina-
ton OF the old and new. The Forum,
the Colliseums, the Pantheon, castles
and palaces almost uruumbered, stu
pendous piles of masonry and marble,
many having been burica by the dust
of ages and their own debris, now eX-
humed and standing as colossal Oh sts
Of their fermer splandor; art galleries
and Museums are flied with treasures,
paintings, marble statues, bronzes and
! endless relics of ages gone by precious
beyond the wealth even OF our time.
What shalt say OF the cathedral Of
St. Peter, and for that matter of st.
John, and st. Paul Only this unit
he has seen them the mind of no mar
can conceive their stl,.-i.t!ous dignity
and solemn beauty and grandeur, anc
having seen them it is hard to believe
that the mind of man planned them anC
! the hands of men wrought them.
1t is said there are five hundred
churches in Rome and have no reason
to doubt it. There are also five thou
, sand cabmen, not one of whom has the
churches reformed. They are as choice
lot of rascals and robbers as eve!
preyed on an innocent public.
We drove on the Appeon way, mil
taly road constructed more than three
hundred years before Christ and We
met the king in an automobile but he
did not recognize us. We visitec
tllirty-two acres of catacomhs, story
under story of vaults and underground
passages where Christians worsbippet
and were entombed. But there is NJ
use to try mere list of what we have
seen. 1t would be tiresome in length
We sat in the beautiful parks ant
gard ens and listened to the mlitar.
! band while the swells Of Rome paradet
round and round in their grand car
riages drawn by the largest and mos
l beautiful horses we ever saw. Beggar
are fewer here than in Naples, or an.
part of Spain which we visited.
We are busy from morning unit
3 night and l am surprised that l hav
found time to send these hasty notes
We are off for Florence tomorrow
q after which comes Venice, from whic
& we will gladly turn towards home vi
! Paris and possibly London.
! Thomas F. Marshall.