USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. I > Part 28
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One convenience of the Exposition was a traveling platform with seats upon it, which moved around a circle and would land you at whatever building you wished to go, within its radius. Other restful helps were cabs at forty cents an hour, no matter how many occupied them, and sedan chairs at sixty cents, which carried one anywhere, whether inside the buildings or outside.
It was with regret and sadness that we left the beautiful Paris Exposition of 1910 and the people who had been so cour- teous and kind.
LUCERNE TO MILAN IN 1894
From Lucerne to Milan, the route is the most beautiful in all the Alps, with peak upon peak cultivated to the very top. The small villages, with one church and its big square tower, are almost in sight of each other. Roads, smooth as asphalt, connect them either on the mountain sides or in the valleys. The first railroad was built by the united efforts of the four nations, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy, and is cut into the sides of the mountains or pierced through them, with tunnels almost innumerable. Its cost is incalculable. The cars are with an open passage on one side, so that the tourist can have an unobstructed view of this wonderful panorama of mountains, hung, as it were, between these once hostile nations.
St. Gothard, except for its crown of snow, does not appear as high as many other peaks. In one place as we ascended we could see the same little white church with red roof, four times, as we wound gradually up the mountain.
We passed Mingo, the summer home of the King of Italy, and the beautiful Italian lakes, Lugano and Como, and arrived in Milan about nine hours after leaving Lucerne. Milan is in a valley. The great Cathedral is near the busy mart called "The Arcade." It has many statues on the exterior, which do not appear life size, and are brown with the dust and grime of years. In the interior it is very dark, as the stained-glass windows are high and small. We descended to view the crypt of St. Charles, the architect, where lights are continually burning, and were served by an order of monks who have a small place shaven on the back of their heads about the size of an old fashioned copper.
The palace, which is opposite the cathedral, has thirty rooms open for reception, all of the regulation pattern, large and square and varying only in the color of their upholstering and the few statues or portraits of royalty.
The cemetery is said to be the best in Italy. It is a few miles from the center of the city and was crowded with graves. One tomb had a marble covering which represented a sheet spread over it. Some small ones had the photograph of the person buried attached to the small tombstone. We went some miles further to view the "Last Supper," by Leonarda de Vinci.
From Milan to Venice the country appears as a great garden irrigated by numerous canals, large and small. The forts were covered with earth and are thus more easily de- fended. Two officers of the Italian army occupied seats in our compartment, and our courier, who understood four languages, interpreted their gossip, which was not flattering to either their integrity or morals.
MALTA
Roma.
Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele I.
VICTOR EMANUEL'S MONUMENT, ROME
SIRACUSE, SICILY
VENICE, FLORENCE, ROME, THE PYRAMIDS
VENICE.
Venice, a city of the sea, was founded in 810 A. D. It was a republic formed of the aristocracy, who were elected to office for life. Its wealth was greatly augmented during The Crusades by transporting troops and merchandise. Samples of oriental industry, with splendor of color and delicacy of pattern served as models for their deft fingers. Ancient manuscripts were brought from Greece and a friendly asylum offered to men of learning and genius. The architecture and art show their origin. The Grand Canal, an arm of the sea, is the great highway, and the grand private residences are on either shore. Their peculiarity is the delicate and ornate window- sashes, similar to those of the Saracens, and sometimes a porch with pillars supporting it, of our colonial style. All smaller canals are branches of the Grand, so that the water is clean and fresh with the tides.
From the top of the Campanile we could see the few islands on which Venice is situated. There are 368 churches and about as many palaces. In the Doges' palace the frieze of one room is composed of the heads of the one hundred and sixty-eight Doges. They were elected by the senators, and ruled for life. The Council of Ten, to assist the Doge in his decisions, elected the three who decided the punishment of criminals. One Doge's head was covered with crape because he was a traitor to his trust.
We walked over the Bridge of Sighs, which leads from the Palace of Justice to the dungeons, and entered some of the rooms. There were blocks of wood that served as bed and seat,
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and the food was pushed through a grating. When the pris- oners were executed the body was dropped into the sea through a hole, covered with a large stone, and the blood let through two separate apertures. The Senate Chamber has four sides painted by Tintorreta. One was the battle with the Turks, with their quaint ships of many oars. The outer porch has busts of senators with name and date of birth and death. It is a record of them and worthy of emulation. The Campanile is a square tower built of brick and has a sloping ascent in the interior, turning at every corner, where there is a large window giving abundance of light. Napoleon rode up this ascent of 471 feet on horseback.
St. Marks, also on the Plaza, is brilliant in the interior with paintings in mosaics set in gold, only detected when the sun shines upon them. Service was being held, and we there- fore did not see the pillars said to have been brought from Solomon's Temple. On the Plaza outside a band of music was discoursing and tables were filled with those partaking of re- freshments. Theodore was formerly the patron saint, but in 1336 St. Mark was brought from Egypt, and the winged lion placed on a pillar, an dthat of Theodore on another pillar to guard, as it were, the entrance to this public square. It was here that, that Sabbath morning, the doves flew to us in great numbers to receive the corn proffered, which we bought in cornucopias. They sat on our shoulders, head and hands and gathered around our feet, and would fly away in flocks as quickly as they came. The gondolas are all black, a command of the city government, for when in colors the rivalry to outdo each other prevented any profit. They are neat and furnished with easy seats and cushions.
THEBES, EGYPT
ARABIAN VILLAGE NEAR CAIRO, EGYPT
GATE AT APPIAN WAY, ROME
ARCH OF TITUS, ROME
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FLORENCE.
Florence, the home of Savonarola, Dante, and other noted men, is on the River Arno. We visited the art stores, where we found the cheapest and most artistic pieces of statuary suitable for private residences. One, of Michael Angelo as a boy with a mallet in his hand, bringing out the angel enclosed in the block of marble; another, a girl with a handful of grapes; another with Gainsborough hat shading an innocent- looking face; and yet another, of two girls reading from a large book. Prices were from eight to twenty-five dollars each. There is a great deal of life in Florence. In the large depot the floor was of marble. There was a pillar in the center, and seats around it. Soldiers, priests and newsboys jostled each other in hearty good nature.
ROME.
Rome, the Eternal City, is built on seven hills so graded that they are not discernible except as you approach the Coliseum. The houses are of plastered brick, their yellow tone giving a cheerful aspect even on a cloudy day. St. Peter's church, the great attraction, is connected with the prison Castle Angelos by a private passage to be used by the Popes in case of danger, and is approached by a bridge over the muddy Tiber, guarded by many statues with flowing robes, the work of Michael Angelo; hence its name of Angelos. The church of St. Peter has a large leather door, which swings inward. Beggars who had tortured themselves to excite sympathy, some having red eyes, armless sleeves and other deformities. Within the church all was light, brilliant and beautiful beyond de- scription. Various arches surrounded the great dome, and under each was the statue of a pope in sitting posture and of
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heroic size, with the name written above. In the center of the church is St. Peter's tomb. Under a canopy above it some candles as big as a man's arm were burning.
Old Rome is being preserved; the Coliseum has many of its arches renewed with brick or strengthened with iron clasps. The underground passages are laid bare, moss has grown over the stones, but as you look at tier upon tier of seats you under- stand the reason for the frenzy of the actors in the arena.
The Arch of Titus is near the Coliseum, and through it we rode to the Roman Gate that opens on the Appian Way. This Appian Way is narrow, with a wall on one side built of cobble stones and cement and protected by a plaster coping. The tomb of Metella is the best preserved. It is of circular shape and of great height. We passed the Catacombs and saw in the distance the Sabine hills and the summer residence of the Pope.
St. Paul's church is outside of the city limits. It is next to St. Peter's in magnificence. It has a rich facade and a porch on three sides where are statues of the apostles and other scriptural personages. Forty-six marble pillars divide the nave into five aisles, and here we saw a frieze composed of the heads of all the popes. The tomb of St. Paul and St. Peter is covered by a canopy, and steps lead below to the tomb of Timothy. At each side of the steps were statues of St. Peter and St. Paul in heroic size, St. Peter holding the keys, and St. Paul ad- dressing the multitude. The hall at the entrance has a large painting depicting the conversion of St. Paul as he hears the words, "Why persecutest thou Me?" Five chapels open from this room, with doors having gratings, so that we could ob- serve the interior.
THE CAPITOL ROME USED AS A MUSEUM
NEW PALACE OF THE CAESARS, ROME
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The Vatican has more than four thousand rooms, and twenty court yards. The paintings of Raphael are most ad- mired, and are Bible history on canvas. The Sixtine Chapel, built by Pope Sixtus VI, in 1473, is 50 by 150 feet. On the wall facing the entrance is "The Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo. The frescoes of Moses and others, on the ceiling, must be viewed by a mirror held in the hand. On the sides are scenes in the life of Christ.
The Capitol is now used as a museum. As you ascend the stairs, to the right is a room with the art of Pompeii, and to the left, the hall of Philosophy, where are busts of Seneca, Socrates, Homer Caesar Augustus, Alexander the Great, and others. The Pantheon, a circular building, is in the heart of the city, and was built in 27 B. C. by Agrippa. It was destroyed by Titus, and restored by Hadrian. In 608 A. D. it was dedicated to the virgins and martyrs, by Boniface IV. It is lighted only from above. Within among others was the tomb of Victor Emanuel, with the inscription in Latin, "Father of His Country." As we left the city for Naples, the old aqueduct was to be seen above ground, and gave a historical meaning to an otherwise barren plain. We passed the birth place of Cicero. Windows of dwelling houses are on hinges, and were thrown open to let in the air, giving the houses a deserted appearance. Some had curtains flapping in the wind. No smoke arose from Vesuvius as we approached the beautiful city by the sea. We stopped at Hotel Continental, in the Bay, and close to the soldiers' barracks, which was once a fort.
At ten the next morning we started for Pompeii, passing the long street of Giovanni, which follows the Bay. Macaroni was hanging out on boards to dry, much as we would dry apples. Street cars had a division across them for first and
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second-class seats. At the entrance to Pompeii we stopped at Hotel Diomede for luncheon. We had Scotch lemonade, which is pure lemon juice in water; small black oysters and macaroni soup, Sicily oranges, grapes and pears. We passed through a lane with immense cacti, orange and lemon trees, and through an old gateway and entered a yard paved with blocks of lava. At the right is the Museum, with models of what has been un- earthed in Pompeii. The most striking were the preserved bodies of persons, which were contorted as only their appalling death would warrant. Shelves contained cups, lamps and utensils of all kinds.
The streets of Pompeii were narrow and the crossings were of three stones the size of small grindstones, with spaces be- tween for wheels of chariots. The sidewalks were of beau- tiful mosaic, preserved by a coat of ashes, and extended to the doors of the residences. The houses were roofless, but showed many apartments. The temples of Mercury and Venus are large and filled with pedestals on which once stood statues of eminent men of Rome. Pompeii was a seaside resort, for the wealthy of that city. There is a hill of lava reaching from Pompeii to Vesuvius, six miles away.
The next morning we secured three horses and a carriage and rode over the same ground to the great volcano. The lava fields looked like deep plowing of wet land, the furrows having taken all sorts of fantastic shapes and hardened into stone. The road was wide, hard and smooth, and steep. Olive trees, like our crab apple trees, lined the way or stood in gardens with fig trees, which have very twisted and large branches. Our guide brought us olives on a branch of the tree.
At the cable railway was one of Cook's hotels, where we had lunch. We waited two hours for our opportunity to ride, as
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the cars would carry but twelve, and a company of anthro- pologists then in convention in Naples, were crowding the cars. When we alighted we had a steep ascent to climb, either by be- ing carried in a Sedan chair, or by holding to a loop on the end of a pole and being led or pulled up by a boy. Some were examining a place where smoke was rising, and we did the same, only to have our nostrils filled with sulphurous odors. The crater has large rocks in its center, and outside of them the soft lava was being deposited. Here we had three coppers thrown into the lava and covered with it, looking like eggs in a nest, and paid a franc each. Our guide, who led us from the cable to the crater, rode a donkey beside us to the city. It was dark as we returned, and the lights of Naples blended with that of the stars. The black lava of the roadway gave no reflection, and we asked our driver to light the lamps of the carriage. But they went out for lack of oil, and when halted by a policeman in the city, he gave the excuse of his long ride to Vesuvius, we paid his fine, and passed on.
From Naples to Port Said the sea was very rough. A sailor came to our state-room to fasten the window, but we asked him to leave it open for air, and within a half hour a lurch of the vessel brought a wave of the sea upon us. We received not only a reprimand, but a fine of a pound sterling for the disaster. We passed Mount Ætna in the day time and saw it smoke, and were also near the hills of Greece. On reach- ing Port Said, many went on shore, but we preferred to spend the money in the purchase of embroidery, made of gold thread on white kid, and jewelry, brought on board by the natives. Ismalia is forty miles above, on the canal, and for the first time we saw a view so often pictured of oriental countries. Hills of yellow sand against the bright blue sky, tall palms, and the
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acacia, so like our locust trees, with pendent pods of seed. Here is the summer residence of Ismail Pasha, also one of M. De- Lesseps, and many other noted men. They are of one story with wide verandas, and near the street, with yards at the sides and back of them, filled with shrubs and flowers.
At Cook's hotel we met thirty persons from England, going to their winter home at Cairo. One lady said they had come there for thirty-five years. She had two grown daughters, and a husband who ended each sentence with "ah!"
The railroad to Cairo from Ismalia passed through several villages where young girls sold us dates or oranges. We saw the buffalo cows with bent horns, large in size, of a dun color, and which are used for plowing. The people use the same plow as of scriptural times, which is a stick with a pointed end; hut this soil is soft as sand and easily worked. Shepard's Hotel, D'Angleterre, and others were full. We went to the Geezarah Hotel, the former residence of Ismail Pasha.
CAIRO AND THE PYRAMIDS
In 1894, during the Christmas holidays, Mr. Rose and I spent two weeks in Cairo, Egypt.
The residences are great square buildings, made of marble and stucco, three stories high and set back from the road in groves of the date palm, acacia and the banana shrub; only glimpses of the roof and upper story can be seen from the street. These homes are in the busy center of the city sur- rounded by a high fence or wall.
As we entered the enclosed area to see our physician, a sense of retirement and coolness, away from the view of all strangers, is very complete and in striking contrast to our Amer- ican front door yards, so useless because open to the public.
The wife of the physician was ready to take her daily ride on an Arabian horse, but said to us: "Come in for a little while; I want to become acquainted with you." We went up a flight of steps and entered a long hall which opened into a large room covering the whole first floor. A shelf was near the ceiling filled with all sorts of bowls, busts and bric-a-brac. The win- dows that reached from floor to ceiling were draped with Madras curtains in colors.
The lady was a native of Alexandria whose father was a Scotchman. Her husband was a graduate of Glasgow Medical College and filled the request of the "expert surgeon" to reside in Alexandria. Six years after his marriage he removed to Cairo and had a very extensive practice.
We stopped at the Gezerah Hotel, the former residence of Israel Pasha, a mile from the center of the city. It was in a square, adorned with rock work, fountains and blooming plants.
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It had a reading room that contained the best European and American magazines; among them were Harper's, The Atlantic, and the New York Herald, published in Paris by Mr. Bennett, with only a few advertising pages.
We visited the mosques, both Moslem and Egyptian. The latter have many domes around a central dome open from the first floor to the ceiling, fifty feet above. One was built by Abra- ham Pasha, who fled to Constantinople because of Egypt's debt to England for the money to build the Suez canal. It stands on the Mokhotton Hills, which are of yellow sandstone under the clear blue sky. The soldiers' quarters surround it; a large ceme- tery is in the rear. Our Arabian ponies took us up the steep hill to the wide porch with its alabaaster pillars, fifty feet high and eight in circumference. We were given heeless yellow slip- pers by an old man, who tied them on over our own shoes. We went through a gate to the yard of the fountain; its eight sides had each three faucets through which water was flowing into a trough.
We entered the mosque from the side. The interior was one vast room reaching from the floor to the numerous domes that surrounded one large dome, built after the pattern of St. Sophia of Constantinople. Around the upper part were windows of green, yellow or red, each of one color, opening on a hall with a railing, that the guide said was "where the women of the harem could view the people below." At one end of the mosque was a pulpit and at the right of the entrance was the tomb of Israel Pasha, behind a screen painted in white and gold. The floor was covered with immense rugs, either all red, or all yellow, or all green, dotted with black. There were no chairs or seats. As we stood, admiring the chaste and costly interior, an old man entered with his yellow slippers on and touched his head
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to the floor, repeated some words, and slowly retreated backward to the door.
On the porch we were offered pieces of alabaster of which the mosque is built (at a shilling each). On our return, we rode past old Cairo, where the narrow streets are shaded all day from the sun, and saw a boy carrying water in a pigskin, such as was very usual in the last century, but seldom seen now.
The Boolak museum is nine miles from the city. In the yard are four lions couchant. The room of the mummies is at the right of the entrance. The first is that of Rameses II in a casket; his Roman nose and narrow face suggest his ambi- tion. What a wonder is this preservation of the actual body and contour of the person who lived five thousand years ago. His statue was also at Ismalia in a reclining position. The one next to Rameses II was Set I-his face broad and eyes far apart in direct contrast to Rameses. In one corner was a wooden statue, the oldest of any in Egypt, made of a tree of which I have a photograph. There are forty or more rooms in the museum. In one were cases of jewelry which were flat and poorly engraved, cheap and tawdry compared with those of to- day. At the end of this room I could see a stairway-this room was "No. 23." I descended to see a sarcophagus like a huge chest, made of red clay, whitewashed and figures drawn in the sides, real hieroglyphics-this also was a disappointment. I went on to another room to see a boat like the galleys of the Nile, with three sets of oars. It was partly decayed. I was asked by an attendant to view the Labyrinth, but feared to enter, as I was alone-my husband remained at the entrance to the museum. There was a door to the yard but it was locked. As I began to feel that I was lost, a couple appeared, who took me to the stajr- way that led to "No. 23" and with great thankfulness I re- turned to the entrance and to the carriage.
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All relics are now to go to the Egyptian museum and not to foreign countries as heretofore. Maratta Bey, a Frenchman, has these things in charge.
The next day we visited Cheops. The small gray Arabian ponies were full of life. We passed through Gaza and saw the Sphinx at a distance, so near the color of the dark sand it was not easily discerned. Israel Pasha had built the road and on one side were camels with baskets on each side filled with sand, which weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. This is thrown on the soft mud deposited by the Nile when it recedes. Poor camels, if they think at all, they would welcome the drift of sand that comes in from the desert when the great simooms occur.
At the Meza Hotel at the foot of Cheops, they said "Often the sand penetrated the rooms until it hides from view the car- pets and cushions. "When you come here you must come on a clear day." Our day was bright. At the foot of the pyramid our ponies refused to climb the steep smooth track; they would just whirl around. At last our dragoman caught hold of their bridle and they lifted him from his feet and plunged forward. He dropped his hold but the horses galloped the spiral road un- til they stopped at the entrance of the pyramid. In ten minutes the dragoman arrived breathless and angry.
A party were in the interior, so arrangements at once were made to enter. The Arabs believed gold was deposited in the pyramids and made an entrance to it. After digging sixty- seven feet they discovered the real entrance, and now you have to go down that sixty-seven feet to get to the gallery or inclined plane that connects the Queen's Chamber with the King's Cham- ber. Three of the Sheik guides, one on each side and one before, were necessary. Soon they began to ask for money, for the old
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sheik got the pay, but they did the work. The darkness could be felt; the lack of air made every pore of the body open, not a dry thread on the garments next to the skin.
When we arrived at the foot of the inclined plane, they said: "Do you want stalactites? This is the place to get them." "Yes." They brought two, a shilling each. "We want money," but I said: "Not until we get outside the pyramid." From there to the foot of the gallery we walked, half bent, then came to a square room 16 x 16 with a pointed roof. The three guides had tapers lighted for us to see the names, in red chalk, on the walls -Rawlinson, Wilkinson and Hume. A place for the casket was on one side but that had been removed to the British museum. We returned to the foot of the gallery and the visitors were descending from the King's Chamber. We asked: "Does it pay to go to the King's Chamber?" The lady said in German: "It is difficult." The gentleman said: "Yes, it pays." We at once started up that slippery steep, with one on each side and one behind. We told him to go in front of us. Indeed, the push he gave hurt for years. Their bare feet could cling to the smooth marble.
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