The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-04-13
ON THE BACK
TRACK OF COLUMBUS
tFrom Our Special Correspondent

rU begins with 1892. At least
for those who began the
study in the fourth grade of
the public schools. OF course there
were some things that happened be-
fore that date, but they had to do
with foreign nations, and so were
of comparatively small Importance.
Being a rampant American, driven
abroad by Providence, | chose the
historic route to Europe, the back
track of Christopher Columbus. to
Genoa. My first purchase for the
journey was a small American flag,
to be worn in the buttonhole and
my next ticket for an Italian
steamer. My first reading was the
life of the Admiral
The name of the steamer was not
very democratic, "The King of
Italy" Unfortunately the clerk in
the shipping office wrote down the
name as Regina d'ltalia," and un-
til the day of sailing | supposed it so
to be. In consequence, more than
a score of friends wrote steamer
letters variously addressed to the
pier in Jersey City to the agents,
to the line of steamships and to the
queen of Italy. Not one was cor
dectly addressed, through this
blunder, and yet so far as 1 know,
all sent were delivered. 1t is good
to be an American citizen and to be
served by an intelligent Postoffice
Department.
If you would leave the United
States by the quickest route, step
aboard an Italian steamer. (This
is not an ADVERTISEMENT. "Velo-
cissima," the sailing card calls it,
but that has reference to the fact
that only eleven days are consumed
in the passage from New York, to
Genoa. But | mean something far
more significant than mere speed
through the water. You are in a
foreign country from the moment
your foot strikes the pier in Jersey
City, for practically every one you
see is an Italian, and after you have
stepped aboard the steamer, English
is spoken only as a matter of grace
for the sake of the American.
OF course we did not travel all
the way on the course of the dis
civerer, although the wintry sea af-
ter the first few days was as vacant
of sail as in 1892, but to learn the
meaning of the life of the man Co.
lumbus is more than to look upon
islands or cities. | found the secret
on shipboard. There were several
hn af
Italy on board and from them and
the sailors l tried to reconstruct the
life of the Great Explorer.
These countrymen of Columbus
are quite different from the men of
southern Italy. We do not have so
many of them as we do of the sons
of Sicily and the south. These are
the men of the Piedmont, who have
mixed their blood with the French,
and the Lombards, whose fair hair
shows the Germanic strain. l found
them gentle hammered, enterprising,
patriotic, and above ALL democratic
Perhaps this is one of all great mer-
camille cities and Genoa is emphati-
cally a great commercial center.
They are very proud of Column
bus, these Genoese. While the aver
age Spaniard swells with Importance
over the fact that CASTLE & Aragon
gave a new hemisphere to the world,
the man from North Italy quietly
reminds you that it was only an ac-
cident that he sailed under the
Spanish flag and believes that he
would have discovered America
anyhow. Perhaps the most striking
difference is the way they look upon
him; in Spain they think of him
as the Admiral and invest him with
titles, orders, swords, jewelry and
millinery; in Genoa they remember
that he was. the son of a wool-com-
ber, Strip away the gold lace and
diamond hilted sword, forget the
titles and honors, yes, and the chains
and dungeon too, and you come at
last to the plain Genoese sailor, the
idealist who executes, the thinker
who does things.
By the time we had reached the
Azores, | began to feel quite at home
with the Admiral and his fellow
countrymen. Some of them had
told me their stories. Some were
going back in search of the health
thew had lost i'm Our Amarican SlumS