Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-18
for 1t at the very low rate which pre-
walls in ecclesiastical Rome.
Fine Interiors in Hideous Exteriors.

Fine Interiors in Hideous Exteriors.
1t is not safe in going about in search
of church attractions. to be influenced
! by the exteriors Some of the most beau
tiful interiors are concealed by altogether
| ugly facades. The smaller churches here
| have an almost uniform style of front
highly deveoped baroque architecture
/, with forid curves and lamboyant sculp-
lures The passing centuries have Srayed
and craven these facades until they are
sometimes absolutely shabby; but within
a different spectacle is presented. AT TINS
season many flowers are in evidence on
the affairs. The Lenten veillnSs are re-
moved, and the affairs glow in color and
light.
No matter how noisy the street may be,
the church is quiet. 4 holy calm pre-
walls. Here and there are kneeling fig
Ures-a business man who has paused to
offer prayer. or mother with her in
FAINT, sad-faced peasant woman with
her head covered by the customary folded
handk eIchief. The incoming of the tour
list, red-bound book in hand. creates no
diversion.
Some tourists are not punctilious in
their approach to these shrines, but, on
the contrary, seem to ignore the fact
that they are designed for other purposes
than public exhibition. The other day at
st. John Lateran l saw a man with a
guidebook in his hand step over to a
young priest who had just kneeled before
one of the affairs to make his devotions.
and touching him on the arm. ask him
for direction. The priest smiled and
gave the information. turning again to
his prayers. While the tourist fastened
away. i am still trustful that he was not
an American
The Guidebook Tourist.
There are in general two kinds of
c;o
never venture beyond the pages of their
sudebooks and those who. after getting
their bearings. trust to their eyes and
open their minds to impressions. There
is something pathetic about the hurry
ing tourist who keeps ore eye on the
printed page and the other on the rapid
~ passing array of sculptures or paint
ings. affairs and tombs. Much real
beauty is lost to him. He is intent
upon Identifying everything he sees that
he fails to see much that is really good.
After all, the human mind is capable
of retaining only a limited number OF
impressions. and to see Rome does
not. properly speaking. mean to get the
greatest possible number of these i'm
pressions of individual objects. 1t
means to gain a concept of the trem"n-
dous vitality that has preserved this Won
derful city through many centuries,
through cataciysmic shocks. through
falls of empires. prosecutions, wars
revolutions and epochal changes of re-
iigious faith.
The ruins tell part of the story. but
for one who is seeking 10 acquire the
real Roman idea il is rather immaterial
| III gust what order tine various struc-
lures We're erected. To look a the ruins
as they stand, to sit in their shadows
! to visualize their former state. to people
the passageways and streets with
toqued Romans of twenty or twenty
! five centuries ago. to hear in Imagination
the voices of the orators in the forum,
to picture the splendor of the emperors
houses. built successfully. of materials
| wrested from earlier works-this is to
gain understanding of the wonderful
| background of history in the foreground
| of the picture of desolation now present
ed in the heart of modern Rome.
! Imperial Rome, papal Rome and mod
] ern Rome, These three blend into vast
/ unit today. each with its own atmos-
| phere, Yet combining in definite COM
munity with a quality differing from that
! of any other For there are no sharp
I lines of division here. Papal and I'M
/ perial Rome conceded for considerable
/ period ArchitecturallN there are on all
| sides tangible tokens of this merger
monuments erected by the emperors. now
| bearing ON their submits the statues Of
| saints: temples dedicated to the pagan
gods and goddesses transformed into
Christian churches; imperial tombs be-
come the forts and strongholds and
! churches of ecclesiastical Rome. These
| transformations reach into present-day
| business. Witness the Temple of Nep-
tune. now used as the chamber of COM
merce.
To See Rome Takes Time.
| To try to see all this in week is
! to attempt a conception Of the infinite.
! There are statues worthy Of an hour S
| study and buildings that demand full
| day each, merely to traverse their halls.
| Then. when the "sightseeing'' of the day
| is finished the hills on the edge of the
| city call insistently. and inasmuch as a
| smiling driver is certain to be close at
| hand with finger raised in question. there
| is nothing to do but to drive out for
! restful hour, to get sweeping glimpses
| Of tho hrou.r Sh =sray city of the ages and