Newspaper Page Text
..-alatU; th. BUld (M* W>
bordered pMb adorning,
on w«bi open the lerer’e ero
* viilon hirer then morning.
nnhet Upped illghtly up or down,
Lj, to hor elr e piquant awtemeail
viiUlor'a art contrlred her gown,
jnTtia the vary pink of nentneaa.
K bai oo frill. or lurholowa,
Bat It la In laahlon a order,
lad dainty patent leather toee
hep 1“ and out beneath Ita border.
v.kn her cheer the eouth wind blowa,
ind hand to her the fragrant graaaeat
Un fragrant honeyanckle throwe
1. perfume on her « ahepaaaea.
r.sTABi.iaiii'.n :s2fi.
TheTelegraph Printing Co. Publishers. I
A CAPE COD BELLE.
From the Cape Cod Item.
The chorus of the feathered throng
When she is near is louder, sweeter;
The robin sings his gladdest song.
The oriole's richest carols greet hex.
The garden’s heart with J07 is stirred,
She’s welcomed by a myriad voices.
And grass and tree and flower and bird
Her footstep's melody rejoices.
Her smile the morning beautifies,
And eyery look a charm discloses!
Bht carries sunshine in her eyes.
And in her cheeks the red Jane rows.
So fair she looks, so sweet, so cool.
She's worthy ol all admiration;
No art has made hor beautiful;
She’s mother nature’s own creation.
The Street of Death.
Jftrrrase without love, if jou will, ) talons and claws nnd strange twistings
net love without respect," said tho of form, that Giovanni Bologna caught
lussa to me, as we turned the corner 1 one morning aa he waa flitting over hia
tbs Via Ricaaoh and saw before us tho favorite haunts, and fixed for ever hard
.t shadowy pile of the Duomo, half- by there at the corner of the wall, just
ihsd bare and there by some brilliant ere you come to the Palazzo Strozzl; you
|b of moonlight. know it all, I am aure, and have often
Is cent**** is beautiful, and aa charm* lingered there on some crisp winter’s
lush* *• beautiful—dark eyes and morning and been swayad hither and
' white teeth, and a face that ripples thither by the busv moving crowd, and
ir with every passing emotion. Her lived with their life and shared for the
d Well, you might oall her 20, but I; moment in their hurrying eager paae-
rcct that 30 years may be nearer to j ions. Yet, perhaps, though you know all
iDark—tha age, at any rats, when a this, you do not yet know the little
am such as her has the fullest power • church of Sant’ Andrea, the quaintest,
.’traction, when she has penetrated , quietest little shrine of departed mem**
tbs pleasure of life, aud yet has j ories. that stands hack, apart from all
:c ked something of its inscrutable mye- 1 the busy marketing of the Piazza, and
7 tad pain. seems to have dreamed on, undisturbed,
Wt had been together to the Teatro since those far-off days of the Trecento,
•to, to see la Duze in her creation of | "And here, without doubt, Uinevra
aore senza Stima," and when we left had often knelt—here beside the little
t»x my fried had sent her SJgnore j dim altar where the fresh lilies of the
jUoiT to supper with some of his ac- 1 spring-time enshrined some quaint By-
iiintsnce, Imd dismbeed liar carriage , znntine portrait of Our Lady, the had
•waited her at the entrance, and j heard tho solemn intoning of the morn-
d availed herself of my escort to walk
1$ across the Ponte Vocchio to her
C iltce in Oltr’ Arno,
trriage seems to me in itself to im-
ccntrad lotion,” I had answered, re-
more to the first part of her re-
iik than to the second; "it ia like vok-
winged Pegasus to some heavy lum*-
rug plough, or seeking to turn that
Bfhmg Faup of the Campidaglio into
•rebad and respectable member of
MtJ.
To come to a more prosaic setting, tho
• of marriage, as we conceive it in
m dart, implies two conceptions,
•ich are' often very far from identical:
t idea of lova—a heavenly ^ dream, a
Dtimental folly, a desire of the sense*,
union of the soul—call it aa you will,
twbich it in my case a reality, since
mkind have never ceased to acknowl-
{•itspower; and then, tied up with
ii Ttgui, this unfathomable, this over-
wring passion—a social contract- sane-
Sid and impressed by tho force of gon*
ii opinion, by which* two individuals
rw to unite their future under certain
legal conditions, which are to be
for the - rest of their natural
“la some countries, indeed, the one side
tk* picture may be more in the fore-
::od than in others; in France, for
lUnce, they look moro at the side of
• Isgal contract, and arrange society so
it, ibis once admitted, both parties
•ysnjoy their liberty afterward within
c: without— these limits. Chez nous,
my dear England, wo aim more loftily
the ideal of a marriage of affection,
our law courts have too often to an-
joce a dismal awakening to realities,
ifch you may bo euro in twenty casee to
1 had been moro wisely kept from
»rd.”
We had turned the corner of the piazza
I ipok* these words, and had passed
(0 the full view of the newly finished
ids of the cathedral In the clear
onlight it shone out like a polished
*el in its brilliant marble radiance,
i the figures of eainta and angels
crowd its portal* Ha-mad to Stoop
• *ard in lovo and blessing into the Bi
ll night.
Before ue rote the Campanile of Giotto,
filling toward the stars like a fair
lute lily, with a beauty pure and per-
ct that is all ita own; a few lamps
cos flickering down the Via Calzaioli,
>4 far off in the diatanoe we heard the
1 of voices and the touch of a
litir.
My companion was silent for a xno-
tnt, leaning on my arm aa she looked
to the beautiful night; then she said:
“You speak like a sceptic, caro mto.
>d a sceptic as 10 love, tho coldest and
sit cmel of all scepticisms. To pun
you for these your sine l have mind
you of an old story of my city, the
<ne of whose tragedy was this groat
dte cathedral and the little street that
oouches there, dark and mysterious—
1 *" lr#e t °f Death/ it has been called,
‘ 'Via della Morto/ that runs cloao be-
. the church of the Hisericordia.”
*>* had paused for a moment while
• •poke, and then, moving along tho
ue 1 asiage that separates Campanile
"~ l the cathedral, lean againat the rail-
uat pass ulong its side. At midday
• piazza ia bright with ■unlight and
owded with flocks of nestling pigeons,
•t often sweep round the pinqaeloe
the cathedral and fill the
lole space with the rustle and glimmer
their moving wings. But now it was
‘•dent, full of darkness and myatery,
•ming to envelop us with the great
•rble walls of the cathedral, where we
fcd. looking across to the entrance of
• •twet that she had named.
oho lent her jeweled hand on my wrist,
in her rich passionate voice, with
•ccent of purest Tuican, she began at
®t moment the old Florentine story,
long ago, in these dim days of the
fecenio, when Florence rang with tho
a j°! Warr ing faction*, when the
Jundelmonti and Uberti reddened that
irble pavement with their blood, yet
t,a the forces of the future were al-
•ay striving within the strict limits of
miaant Catholicism, when the verse of
mte and the prose of Hoccarcio gave
Impulse to Italian thought, as
QMtttO or Simone Memmi
first awakening to Italian art, Ginevra
f}> Amieri lived with her parents in
•if old palazzo behind the little church
• wt Andrea in the Mercato Vecchio.
know our Mercato Vecchio, without
ubi, Q y friend?
M **y * time you ir< .-’.hare wandered
’ ‘kIi it, |>erh«ip# ( ,n ;j.rke*. roorn-
t sod have paueod m watch in the
,T ® ,r /tresis the Betsy, chattering !
°»d, the dark-eyeU, «w*rthy peasants.
• women with their o . /red kerchief*
• their oval faoe- ».nd their cleur
ing mas*, the rustling of the priest'*
heavy golden robes, and the rush of the
censers through the air as they filled the
whole building with their fragrance,
rich, overpowering, carrying away the
•enees Into some faint myaterioua rap
port with the unseen.
"Perhaps, ia that moment, another
dream came to her of a nearer, more
earthly sweetness; perhaps the first rotes
of the summer mingled their crimson in
her wandering thoughts with the pure
paleness of the lilies that wero before her?
and lent something of their color to the
blush that came, ouick and softly, into
the golden olive of her rounded cheek? p
"Or wae it tke memory of that etraa-
gar who but yesternight had met her uo-
observed in the riot and merriment of
the masque, whose dark eyes had looked
with such passionate pleading into her
own, whoso voice, had apokeuto her the
first, the coveted words of love?
"Yet what folly to let ber thoughts
thus wauder to that unhoped-for and yet
hopeless dream! What wero hie beauty,
his strength, Lis pjmpion to her, clasped
in tho relentless arms of a narrow caeta?
"Too well she knew the fierce pride of
her kinemen, the narrow oligarchy of
blood that would exclude every foreign
element from its presence, that would
stamp out all life and liberty beneath its
brutal heel; and then—as the hot, bitta*,
passionate tears rose into her eyes—with
a sob of despair she knew that Antonio
Boudfnelli could never hold her for hie
"Her thought! are broken bv the dang
of the great bell outelde, by the peal of
the organ that announces the closing
service; she ri-es from her knees, and,
beckoning her trusted maid, ihe wraps
her cloak cloeely round her, aud prepares
to leave tho church,
"Yet, as she rises, what is the thrill
that passes through her ns she sees that
form, closely muffled and masked, watch
ing her intently from a pillar near? The
mask is moved, and she sees— ye«, it is
her lover of the last night, his ayes bent
on her own with a deep and questioning
gaze.
"That was a short and hurried inter
view, yet how full of aweet memories to
them both! A few broken, whispered
words of love or reproof, of pleading, a
meeting, perchance, implored for that
evening beneath the safe shadows of the
great cathedral, a promise half given and
half retracted, a passionate glance of
farewell, aud they were parted; yet with
in two hearts there lived that day r
golden memory, making all life seem
richer and more radiant for its presence,
a golden hope that merged all the preen
ent into the earnest of future sweetness.
"Ah! sceptic that you are, wae this
then such folly?
"Ia this, then, naught but vanity that
makes a heaven when the dear one ia in
your presence, a weary, cold existence
wK*n ahe is withdrawn—that gives to
these mere triflu, the glove that ahe has
worn, the.note that has been perfnmed
by iior halt !, n. mutt.ing that in real aa 1
living, that touches your heart with an
exquisite melody, like the musio that
men once heard angels make, tinging into
the still night of ©‘Southern winter?
••Nay! I know y*>u then belter than
younelf, and when you would any such
words it ia not you 1 seem to hear, the
dear poet and dreamer that I have loved,
bat some echo of this flat and emptv
century, of its vain philosophies and
nausea of reatteeaseeking after gain.”
"Who could resist such a pleader, corn
tenia," I answered, looking into her beau
tiful eager face, that even In the dim
half-light seemed illumined by the pas>
sion of her words, "or who could inter*
pose the cold fiat of reason besido your
rich living images of passion and ro-
in mice
'‘Yet spare me for a while, ere you
drive me to terms, and lot me but hear
the conclusion of your story.
"I eeein to see already the secret meet
ing beneath the shadows that cloas u«
round, the paesionate words of love and
longing, the masked figures of the
Amieri in midnight ambuscade behind
yon projecting^ornice, the clash of steel
or the gleaming dagger that is
Klealthily raised, and then—the lover
lying here in tnat bright patch of moon
light, a yet warm and bleeding corpee,
tho girl hurried away, thrust into seme
chilly convent, her rich life and love
crushed into a cold blank of formal de
votion, 11 tint something of iu<
you have waiting me in this Florentine
tale of your*/’
"Not so, my friend," she answered,
"you have wrongly guested my riddle;
the sketch you gave me liar many at
tractions. but this weak point only, that
11 is noi my itoiy.
"And yet, 1 shall not linger over that
eting. If it ever took place,
hk-white teeth, and l/hind, in the the others, which certainly w
square, the line of »*npty deserted I trived; 1 shall not linger ever the long
uses, their walls dgube-* with rich, months of weary waiting, 0/ hoj>«less
“Ullo plgmanta, from which the in- longing, at least ot horrible despair. For
lus have been ere this expelled. You between them ro*e sv inai-r arable bar the
all that, without doubt, as well as difference of their/Auk, a bar winch in
u *aow the little demon of brouze, ell these days of democracy has loat, jwr*
haps, something of ita force, but then
waa overpowering anu merciless—a bar
which the girl's obedience to her parents,
the long habitude of touts of deference
to the clore ties of family, made her loth
to break.
'And then—some mistake of her
careless servant, some spying eye upon
their meetings—1 know not what—but
the secret of their love is discovered.
HI10 h kepi within tha j»alnoe a cicely
watched prisoner, and he, without, left
with no message or knowledge, lives aa
men iivo wlieu ih»> h«?o lost what is
dearest 10 them, when the springs of life
and action have boon removed.
Then, too, the family took counsel on
her fate; she must be married, and that
ipeodily, lost these foolish, girlish senti
ments lead her back to her folly.
"Is there not Francesco Agolanti, a
man of blood and liocage worthy to
share in that of the Amieri, advanced a
ittle, perhaps, in years and somewhat
tiern ot temper, yet all tho better indeed
for that to guide and govern this wild,
wandering dove of theirs?
"Ah, how she struggled, poor dove,
caught within that cruel cage, against
the fate they planned for her; how she
vainly begged and implored for pity, for
delay, how, when all was useless, she
vainly wept through the long, bitter
nights in her eiieni chamber, as the
pressing reality came nearer and more
near.
■ Ah! dear mother ot God/ she bad
cried, kneeling before the little image
where the night lamp dimly burned, clad
only iu her silken vest of white, with her
loose hair all tumbled about her beautiful
tear-stained eyes; 'dear mother hast thou
no pity, thou who has loved and suffered,
through whose aw h?art tho cruel sword
has paned?
" 'To loto my loved Antonio—never to
see him more, to hear hia voice, to feel
his kisses on my che.k, to long for him
vainly, vainly, day and night, i* not that
to?
But spare me this more horrible
torment, to give myself to this man.
whose touch, whose very presence has
become hatefnl to me—to yield all that
should be my dearest’*, and his alone, to
one whom I detest,
'Ah, how may I live through this
sacrilege, this profanation of all that ii
moat sacred in my being? How can I
believe the counsel of my parent*, the
reproof of even my mother, the injunc
tions of the hojy priest himself, that
obadience is full of blessing and of peace?
"But 4 4s not full of blessing, but full
of loathsome profaoity, of foul and hide
ous thoughts. Horrid forme pre*s around
me; my life ia seized by doubt and mis
ery; justice and right seem to Inn Into
but mockery and made
"Ah, men? men! men! within your nar
row system of right and wrong all items
raise and iickie and foul, 7** »u»tr!y my
heart whispers to me that somotvhere
beyond the far clonds there ia a God of
justice and of trutb/hst somewhere even
here there might bs a Ufa in which res-
on and religion were at one with the
deepest cravings of my being? 1
"Shall 1 detain you longer over this
horrible spectacle—the frightful analysis
of a soul and body thus outraged aud
abandoned by man and his church?
"For it is by the church with its for
mal ministratione,i’tuiockory of bl* .-sing
that this vile compact is to be accom
plished.
"See the stately procession, the retafn-
ers of the two great families assembled,
U.ft soifiiin niu>.i<\ the richly robed
priests, all the gorgeous ceremonial of
religion.
"And society will coldly turn ita back
on the woman'who In some moment of
passion has listened to the voice of lore,
and does not see that such a union as
this was yal the deeper profanity.
"For -Ginevra had yielded, wearied
out with suffering, with physical ex
haustion, with the pressing reiterated
commands of her parents; the wedding
waa hastily accomplished — and then,
month after month, year after year, she
lived on liko one whose deepost source of
being had been snapped, dying as it were
by Inches every day,
"And 10 it happened that, at length,
somo four years after her wedding, she
fell into what seemed a deep sieep, but a
•feep so sound that no wakening waa
possible, that her pulse ceasod to beat or
her breath to come again, and that she
wae laid out in her coffin, with white
flowers about her hair, looking herself
most like some fair, pure lily, so white,
so cold, so still was she.
"Then her body was taken in great
state, aa became a lady of the Agdanti
and a daughter of Bernards degli Amieri.
to the Duomo for its burial, and there,
wiih weeping and prayers, was laid in
the vault of her family and among those
who followed were maov who had known
her in happy youth, and perchance some
who blamed her cruel marriage. But
not among these, we may believe, were
her husband or her father, hard men and
steru, whose love and pity lay locked
with the stern laws of their caste."
PART IL
"And it came to pass at midnight,
when all waa still within that horrid
vault, that Ginevra awoke to life; for
this waa uot death that had seized her,
but a deep trance, caueed by the weak
ness of her body and the Buffering of her
mind; and behold, ahe was wrapped all
about liar face and body with loose white
grave cloth, and pressed into a coffin,
whose lid was closed upon her face."
"Half dazed and scare* knowing what
ahe did, she obeyed her flrht impulse to
free herself from this strange reitraint,
and, as she pressed upward with her
hands, the lid, which was not fastened,
fell to the ground and she stepped forth,
/Then the found heraelf in a deep
vault, lightad only by a grating in the
roof, and ail scattered with coffins, and
here and there with bones lying in the
duet,the relice of men and women.of her
race; and among these hideous women
toes of humanity a faw flowers that had
dropped from her coffin aa sho moved,
lay. white and odorous, flowars of the
early spring, a strange contrast to the
death and decay around her.
"Slowly she sought her way, ahudder-
fng, up the steps at the side, grouping
with her hand against the damp walls,
till she could push aeide the door and
enter the vast shadowy Basilica that lay,
mysterious, wrapped in gloom; with sortie
Hint gleams of light from the outer win
dows, and, at‘H f ao still that no noun>l
met her ear save the erz-.h cf the heavy
door that slammed behind her aud woke
some strange, confuted echo that
tered hoarsely round th« bail ding and
then sank again into a dead eilcr
"Somet..nee I have wandered in there
at aven—into this old Duomo of ours
juat at the Min bad eet and the shade
were dvrkeom^, and then I hare *e«tned
most to feel the beauty and the mj
of the place; for then the growing *
ness m2:*- tho great spAces of th*
and the vaultings of the dome aeem
nd thi
buried th<
t< and be
and who
1 ton
i had bs
■ lined Ih.
fill the great building with their pres- 1
•nee, impalpable, indefinable, yet felt by {
the Boeing spirit,
"For indeed, between the dead and the |
living perhaps no such barrier exists ns •
in our coarse, common life of dally nerds \
as we might suppose; and there, kneel- j
ing before the altar ot Madonna, u little
space of wondrous light and color in the I
encircling gloom, I have felt their pres- j
once near, aud have seen their shadowy j
forms hover around me, pitying, sorrow- j
ing, end with some rtrange. incuncum<*.|
municable sidnes of their lore.
"Fcr it i* >0 old—this Duomo—ao
changeless and ao old; after all these cen
turies of change and sorrow and passion,
as beautiful and calm aa when Ginerav
entered thnt night into it# darknrse, with
a great nnmbiug horror nt her heart.
"For all seemed dark bafore her eyes
and before bar mind. What were thrso
strange wrappings of white about her
body, these flowers wreathed round ber
hair, the dead bones mouldering at her
feet, the vast shadowy expanse on which
aha looked? Was this then death that
■be now knew, or some atrange mid-con
dition of the souk
"Ah! how she had .longed for -’oath,
and now that it hsd come, bow strange
and terrible it seemed; bow far off she had
suddenly become from all those dear
familiar thinge of her daily life, from her
mother, from her memories of her lover,
whom she had not seen for so long, whom
■he would never look on again with liv
ing eyes.
"And as ahe remembered him, .slowly
it all came back to her; the first meeting,
the passionate embraces, the long agony
of separation, tha weary years of married
iife, the last illness, the weeping facet
around her, the elow forgetfnines* of all,
und now—how far ou it seemed, how sue
mourned over the weakness and selfish
ness of her life that waa forever passed
awarl
’For her husband had been just to
her sod kind in his manner and had
given her such love ae was left to him to
offer; aod she,—ah! ahe Raw it all now it
was too late—She had all the while been
dead and cold to bit life, her soul locked
up in a passionate memory and a pas
sionate regret of the past,
"If she could go to him, could kneel
before him. could tell him all, could |let
him aee how it waa that she could not
lore him surely now that she was dead
he would see it ns she did, and would
hear her without the anger she had
dreaded. And in her half dazed mind
this had became fixed Impulse, to seek
him out ami to tell him how she sor
rowed for the past
"Instinctively she groped her way
through the silent church, waking fains
cohoes wiih her fain; and feeble steps;
she turned slowly the great key that had
been left within the side Juor an«l came
forth into Ian utuoulight, a
tral thing, with staring, lustrious eyas
and a pale, cold face crowned with pule
lilies, and about her body a whito grave-
cloth wrapped. Near whore we stend
she passed, looking lee* liko a woman
than a spectre of the night, and walked
with slow feeble steps across the square,
into that little street SlhOSS dark ea*
tranoe we aee from here, a mere msec of
black shadow, called the "Street of
Death" to thi* very day, from the tale 1
t .11 you.
"Up the street she went slowly, pa*t
where is now the little church of Miseri-
cordfs, and then Into the Via detie prho.
that runs^at right angles to the Via Cal
zaioli, and so, step by stop, scarce know
ing what aba did, she reached her hue-
band’s palace, where he dwelt in the
Corso degli Adimafi, nor in that dead
hour of night did she meet any human
soul upon her path. The great house lay
above her. wrapped in darkness, closely
barred and bolted against midnight ma
rauders—one of those stern Florentine
palaces, we may fancy, such as still sur
vive in those of tha Riccardi or Strozzi,
more fortresses than dwelling housei,
with window* barred with iron and
torohreats of solid iron set without.
"She raised the great knockor, the
lion’e head moulded m Lrouz j, ami smot'»
with all the force that remained to
!>•> <i|.un tlie solid i>;»k*n doo..
"And thero was silence- for a while,
and then light* naif yammering abov*
in one of the topmoat windows, and the
sound of confused voices, of stepe that
drew near from within.
"Then a voice cried to her, •Who art
thou, whether friend or foe, that contest
at this desd of night, to a house of
mourning and of death?'
"And she answered, 'A friend, and one
that knew and loved you well*
JJJ"Then ahe haard the bolts withdrawn,
the dour was uj-surd nod within »ne
could see the old seneschal and tho serv
ants in the entrance, half-dreesed and
half-armed—a white sea of terrified
face* looking at her with horror aod
fear. And she cried bitterly: 'I seek not
you, but vour master, for ray time Is
ahorl, and I would bid him come to me
quickly/ And evan ae ahe spoke the
servants gave way, and aha saw' him
come near, armed from head to loot,
with his great sword in hia hand, nod
when he saw her he turned deathly pale,
and shook with terror within hia plated
mail.
'Then she cried: 'Hear me, Francesco,
and grant ma thy pity and pardon; lest
my soul live ever thus, resile... confined
within this earthly priion, unable to soar
up into the wider life.
‘"For in my life I never prized thy
love, and waa dead aud cold to thy em
braces, and it is this thought that tor
ments me even now.
"Ah! why didst thou force me to wed
thee, when I loved another, my first and
only love, seeing ray heart wae everSet
ou Antonio Itondtnelli, and that tho soul
and body are not two, but one subtle
essence, which lives with their mutual
life, indefinable, strange, touched with
the lips of the Divinity.
'"Yet, I come now to forgive thee the
great wrong thou did*: me, perhapv not
knowing, perhaps not seeing all that 1
aee now, and to ask thy pirdon and pity
for me. a sinful soul that stands now io
the strict presence of thn angels of Gol/
"But as he heard her words, and
heard bar lover’s name, m great hardne*-*
came over his stern fare, and he cried
li**r**ly to h»r: -Fsuh^.s wiIm end
ed jlt« toms woman! Thou haU wed in»>
with Hit Io\r o! so-.tiier in thv h *rt sn-t
ha* dwelt with mo four yett* with that
passion in thy soul, and now thou art
come to haunt me, a prliid, hateful
ghost, as thy pt'*. r*pw*rhml fees was
wont to hnuni me in thy lifetintat
" 'See, now, how 1 curie th^L end bid
thee hence from BIT door! G* then gone
to where the hot fires of hell shell Luro
out thy unregenerate -oul, ih.u hast lived
in unlawful desire within y house and
by my side.'
"Andes he spoke he eet hit nuild
back on it* hin^’-*, and loft I
walls, uaeeen ‘n the darkness, e*«med to
kindness. Yet p- rhepa hrr father would
receive her—won ! trivo her the pardon
that she jjotido.i that her weary soul
might at length have re-K.
"80 ahe turned her way to tho Mercato
Vecchio, growing leehier withovery step,
stumbling over fBe rou’h pavement and
bruising her col i naked feet; and at
length sho reached tha old palace that
stood behind tt 0 (Lurch of bant 1 Andrea,
where her happy {thll^odhad been si ent,
and she sank ax'itolled upon the step*,
with just etrengiii to raise her hand and
beet feeMv on the door.
"Then it f.eeme 1 to her that, after long
ages of waiting, tl.edoor was opened, and
■he raw faces that she knew within
looking at her with terror and alarm—
her father and her mother and the old
nurse that had loved her so well.
And ahe kue'.t at their feet upon the
cold stops there, and cried: 'Ob, father
and mother mine, 1 come to ask your par
don, in that in my married life 1 never
loved Francesco, r ut my heart was alto
gether set on Antonio Rondinelli, my
true and dearest love, and for that my
aoul is tormented now, aud wanders rest
less, tied to this cruel prison of earth till
it gain forgiveness.’
But it a»emo.i that they all drew back
from her as iruin some foul, polluted
thing, and ber father cried aloud:
" 'Begone, faithless, evil, woman, who
hest lived in law!*-™ and Tam desires and
bait broken the laws of God and man,
the revorenc* due to thy parents’ will,
and the sacrament of holy church. Be
hold, I charge iliee strictly that thy sin
ful spectre come no more to haunt tble
thy forner Abode.’
"And the great door was closed, and
she was left kneeling and sobbing and
praying for * mercy, for mercy, lying on
■ And in her niii ery she bethought her
of her uncle, who lived hard by, a kindly
man and genial, who had loved her much
as a child. Perhape he would recJre
her and let her rest in warmth and quiet,
it but for &n hour, till this cruel
fever that she felt to gain on her had
paeaod away.
"Yet when she sought him and told
him her tale he deemed her some spectre,
and fled terrified, barring the door againat
her.
'Then in her despair ahe saw no hope,
indeed, since uien bid cast her from their
homes and Goa would uot jot receive
her; and. very weak and weary, ahe wan
dered, not knowing whoro she went,
through the narrow streets that surround
tha old market, till the found herself in
front of the rathodral, and sat there,
nobbing and shivering with the strong
fever that was on her, beneath the shel
ter of tho little login that is at the corner
of the Via r*lzaioli—the login that is sa
cred to St. Bartholomew.
"And there amid her eobe eh« preyed:
" 'Oh, God. who art nailed the God of
mercy, hour my prayer in thy great
mercy now, and, since all tuen have cast
me from their k me, oh! do theu receive
me, ami gratif me a quick end to my mis
ery in this death ihut is ao long in coming!’
"And even as she prayed a thought
came into her mind—the thought of An
tonio, how near he usu been to her and
how faithful.
"For never since she Fail deserted him
by that cruel marriage had he sought
another head, but had been
faithful evel'%* her (lea* usemo >. An'
then she thought—strange, confused
working of the weary, broken mind—
perhaps though the others all turned
from hor, he surely would not. And,
scarce knowing whether ehe were alive
or dead, ehe reasoned that if they dis
owned her and rejected ber, their claim
in her waa dead;, that if her life wors
really past she was free—free to seek him
whom she loved.
"Ah! was this life or death she folt,
this horrible throbbing of her head, this
shivering ague that shook her whole
weak frame?
"She would seek him. ahe said to her
self, and toil him all, and beg At )pa*t to
know from his lips, whether ehe lived
iudeod, <>r was ruiiii foul, sinful spectre,
from which all good men turned away.
"How she foun t her way ehe never
knew; but at length sue h»w hii open
door, and Antonio, her dear Antonio,
■iauulug 1b tbs or.trsr.es, older, p*rh?p*.
and sadder, bat still tho same loved face;
and he looked at her with pity and sym
pathy in hia eyes and bado her say what
•he sought from him in thiaetrange hour
and this strange attire—ahe who** dead
body he had wept over the day before.
Then ahe told him how she wandered
from the tomb, and had sought hnaband
and her father and her uncle, and by nil
bad been cast forth, shivering and
weary, into the cruel night, and how aha
knew not rightly if ehe were alive
dead, or some horrid spectre that
all good men should hat a And it scorned
that shews* an immense pity In her
lover's face, and a great deep love
his eyes; and that instead of kneeling at
lilt feet she found herself caught up into
his breast, and heard hia dear voice whic-
per in her ear: ‘Barling, wnetiuu you
bo hated or beloved of others, whether
you be alive or deid, through death and
life I have loved you ever with ray deep
est soul, and I love you—l love you still/
Then a mist came over her eyes and
great warmth and peace over her frozen
htrui. and. u sank bank fsto^^^H
sciouinesa locked in that dear embrace,
she knew at length, she knew that eh*
lived once more. • • •
"That is all my tale, my friend, or at
least what remains wilt not take [Hi
many words to tell. For with rare and
tender watching Ginevra was restored in
somo fow days to health of body and
mind, and remaiuad there with the inan
who hsd saved her life; And it is told
that ehe refosed to return to the husband
and parent who had desorted her, and
that abo petitioned th* tribunate of the
church, who decided in euch matters, for
a divorce from Francesco Ag ltnii.
"An l this petition was granted on the
ground—a straog* piece of legal theology
—that, having once died and been duly
buried, she wm free from hor earthly
lira and free to contract any new mar-
riaga Then alio married Anionio lb n li
ber radiant life tha memory
rows became in limo ef*
pared only •• giving a
the happiness that now
of her past
faced, or reme
draper color
ehe knew.
“So that no*
i* ended—lbu
grown so dost*
y tale of thi* old c:ty
car old city ibat has
my heart
. recent life aro minglrd
all the quaint dear memories of the i^vt,
that f,ai>* ungt-r-d <>n i..r>. : .c
in tli«s<* old •tainiiiar haunts, nnd reacu
no jvrring sense of discord
‘And beneath on the steps county
women are soiling flowers—great nv’Mto*
of lilies nnd carnation and jessamin*—
and children aro playing, and n far-
haired girl, porhap* somo pretty ibgl*-v\
Is laughing and sotting the violets ot tue
•west season in tho hcs«m 0/ her the.- .
Tne contrast of that steru palace of the
Trecento, untouched in ail theso yearc—
speaking of theetrong. narrow fauh, the
intense love* and hatred, tho fletce ven
dettas of thedav when it was built—and
benea.u it of this our modern life, cos
mopolitan, restless, perturbed, aeoking
ever some new and fleeiinic form nf ct:F«
turo. aonie divorce aspect of /eii jiou,
some vaster and greater scope «-f pro
gressive humanity—ia what mow touches
my inner sentiment—is what ha.- lin
gered most in my heart wheu l have
been for uway in London or in F.-.rie.
"But *ee, the moonlight be^ina 10 pour
into the piazza i.nd to touch even the
dark entrance of tho Street of Death,and
the night wind is growling chilly, and
my Paolo will br awaiting me at home.
"Let us w dk homewards, and tell me.
as we go, what you think of tho old
legend of Boccaccio that I have tried to
bring back to life for yon in the half
hour we have spent beneath the shadows
of the Duomo."
"I think,” I answered her, as wo
turned away and left the shadowy piazza
where I had listened for ao long to the
music of her rich Southern voice, wak
ing old memorie* and dreams that I
thought had long since passed out of my
life—"I think, contoseina mia, that such
lor* ns this that you have tola me was
worth all the sorrow and suffering; beau
tiful as the dawn of summer’s morn
ing, strong and yet stronger than tho
cruel prcsonco 01 the grave. Yet not to
oil ho* thsteweer vision of mutual trust
been given; and there be some who,
thinking they had grasped ft, have found
it slip away from them in life's com
plex currents, or have found—moet cruel
mockery of all—that its dear hope was
but a cold deceit and its fruition the ashes
of a vain regret. It is for them I would
reservo my saddest sympathy, and feel
for thi m the deepest pity. —London So
ciety.
The Decline of Oratory,
From the 81. ilouit Globe-Democrat
It ia a manifest and significant fact
that oratory is declining in tble country.
Wo have an abundance of fluent and
agreeable public speakers, but as for real
orators our supply is decidedly limited.
The leaders of our political parties are
noted for their eloquence, nnd do not cul
tivate the art of swaying men by such
means. They deliver speeches that are
intended to 'nspire enthusiasm anti to
influence elejtfoaf, but these efforts t*fe
not oratorical In the definite sonsr of the
term. That is tf say. they are not re-
markablo for fine diolloti. for original
thoughts, for lufij «u*l iuip;sss:?> :cali
ment*. It seldom happens that one
them presents an fsauo or advocates
doctrine in n new way or with particular
effect. As a rule, they merely rrpvat
what has already been said by tho news
papers. They secure notice only because
they are expressions of men who occupy
prominent positions, and net because
they are in themselves interesting ~
valuable. There are a few men w!
spe*< he* are nlways read. I nc iihn '
Lavs the faculty of makiug repetit
attractive by a hippy etc 1 «>/ «*
and phrases; but the repetition i» 1
all tha aame, and th' listener is 110%
moved by it, having previously road and
considered it. The fact is that .t is
hardly poeiibie for thosiateiman to make
his speech in time to anticipate tho press;
he ie alwnya at the mercy of a power
that delights to tny all of his beat things
before he can get a chance to ntter them.
The greatest orators belocged to ih*>
ages preceding tho invention of prlnt'ng.
In those times the orator had no com
petition, and was not in constant danger
of being deprived of hie opportunity. He
could repeat bia arguments and illustra
tions ae often as Lo pleased, since they
would be new to each •eparato crowd
that heard them; one speech was suf
ficed for ot long s period a* a given
question was under discussion. It was
not necessary for a man to furntih fresh
matter ov«ry time ho addressed * J,#
ferent audience. There were no
papers to take the words out of his mouth
end speak them in advance of his ap
pointments. The people obtained In
formation entirely from the oratoia. It
wae through the latter that all issues
were first promulgated and all policies
flr«t declared and defined. This con
tinued to be the case throughout all ot
tha last rentury and during tho early
part of the present one. There are nr
eons now living who can remember whi
the press hid not invaded the field of
political discussion iu any perceptible der
gree. 'Hie orators wero left practically
free to control and direct public opinion.
A speech by Webster or Calhoun, Ciayor
Benton was a national event, and tha
people talked of it with profound interest
for weeks and months. The newspaper*
had not yet s-cerlained their true pro
vince, and bad yet »cquired the facilities
for performing their proper service. That
was a matter of evolution, and it came
gradually, but the timo finally arrived
when the orators bad to accept a subord
in ate place.
There is room for regret, perhape, that
oratory has apparently become a lost art,
since the nation baa certainly derive 1
much pleasure and profit from it; but wo
may console our*elv*e with tne reflection
that toe buiiueea of government is as
well managed as it was when the orators
had thing* their own way. The
conspicuous statesmen of our time nr
quite equal to tlwee ot former periods in
point of practical into|llgenc* and famil-
iararity with the cunoitione of national
safetv and progress. Th*v art* not capa
ble, a« A r!a*«, of staling th» fr views in
terras of true eloquence, but they ki.
how to bring things to p**** and that »
tb* main thing alter aiL We are in the
habit of disparaging our political leaders
by comparison with their prececiMMir*;
but this tendency is not ear ran ted by the
facts (wrtamtag to the welfare and pros
perity of the country in the poet aim .a
present. If we have lost in the way of
oratory, we have not forfeited aaytuin^
io tb* way ot abi'ity to conduct m:r ; f-
fairs with shining succors. It can not («•
■aid that tbe statesmen of any other
country ere any nure eflic «nt ihnnour< i ,
»o far as the general work of carrying « n
a government is concerned. Our situa
tion U oar sufficient d«f«aa * in that ro-
spw. *Y« ££4 sc; bear: c! the !**««!
eloquent pnUic si eiker* in the wcrhl,
but we can properly claim that our politF
when t
sh* ItM 1
mi of tha
past
Fearful That the Lltile Party Now In
Melville Bay Wilt Never Ite-
lurn Alive—Tbe Danger*
to lie Faced.
From the Boston Herald.
WAgHOKTOff, D. C„ SepL 8. -John
Kenney of the Proteua expedition is out
in another card, in which he expresses
the opinion that Liaut. Parry's danger is
greater than has been thought.
The trouble is this: Peary being laid
p at this Urns, when the birds are mi
grating South, bia men may, in their ig-
noranceofthe necessity ot preserving
game while still timo to get ft—ho not
being on deck to superintend things—
becomo slothful and neglect to lay in
supplies. Whale sound ie full of "sea
unicorns" (white whales), aaya Mr. Ken-
nay. We saw schools of them as we
left Northumberland Bland in 1883, but
to canture them requires harpoons and
lance*, and men who understand tboir
use.
Walrus are very numeroui during this
month, bat .if not fust on an iron they
will sink on being that. They leave tbe
sound and waters nbovo as the ice makes
Is tho fall of the year. At Littleton
island, 100 miles northweet of McCer-
mtek bay, situated on the northwest
point of the island, are &0 rations in
barrel© On tho southern end of the
Island nre six tons of coal, left by Maj.
Beebe, in 1882, from the steamship Nep
tune. I saw thorn in 1883,
Liaat. I'eary can draw from these, ii
short, but it will require doga and'
sledges. He would have nearly £00
miles to travel there and baek over the
ice on foot, as his men do not know how
to drive dogs. Only one whits man in
twenty is ever successful in managing
these doge. They are like big timber
wolves, and just as eavaga I expect ho
inteuds falling back on the cache at Lit-
tloton island, if abort, on hia way back
from tho interior.
Tha country 40 miles back of Peary’s
present position is as liitls known as tbe
moon. Ilow a man with a weak leg ex
pects to clamber up to the cliffs of rocks
and ice to tho ice cap ia to me a puzzle.
To reach the tea cap ie his only chance
of travelling north. Tha coast line is a
fumbled up mass of peaks of (tons and
let, rising thousands of fast, like a per
pendicular wall. After gening the sum
mit. by steering a northeast couno he
will be ab!e to ciit of 20(1 mflve of coast
line, going entirely east of Prndboeland
peninsula, reaching ths southern edge of
lhe*Uumboldt glacier SO miles east of
Pci body fc-y.. From there
AFTZA CROSSIXO THP. GLACIER,
sixty miles at its narrowest point, be hi
many hundred miles to travel to reach
tbe known limit of the northern coast at
th* 84th degree, reachod by the Greety
party from Lady Franklin bay in 1882,
Ho wiH meet immense crevices in the ice
cap, Impossible to cross, and requiring
day* to go around. Fearful storms sweep
over the icecsp, and as they do not know
how to build snow igloos they will, if not
careful, perish.
If.iu* thing should happen to Peary
during the trip, who will be competent
among his men to guide the others back
to McCormick hay?
Tboy have no furs to make sleeping
bags, aod nothing but furs will keep a
man alive during the terrifle storms on
the icocap, A but vyon’t stand while you
coupt three. Igloos, with floors three
feet below !bo surface, are tbe only
thingo they can oxist in. It requires skill
to build th*m properly.
I am afraid retry wiil never get back
to McCormick bay if ho mskee any
northern journey. But the neighboring
country, being unknown, ie rich for sci
entific discovery, and if he live* to get
back, even if unable to go any farther
north, ho will have much worth ebowiug
and telling.
Darkness beglm October 27 and lost*
until February 15, or 115 daya From
February 15 to October 27—254 days—it
is iigni aii of iu* i»uif.
If careful of hie boat, it will be in fair
condition next ipring for bie return
Sooth to Cape Y'ork. Not having any
certainty of a relief party rescuing him.
ho will, no doubt, make an early start
South. From McCormick bay he will
cross Murchison sound to Herbert island,
nud fiorn thero to • 'ape I’euy by nnr of
Rsdcliffe point, nearly 100 mile* Due
bouthweat from Cap© I'eary lie Car j
islande, the Southwestern one ot which
contains the cache of tho Nares expedi
tion. Poary has sixty miles of water to
cross in n heavily laden boat—a job we
hadn't nerve to undertake In 1888; for,
to mias and to go to the leeward of the
island* in a gale meant death in the
"North water." On Ibis .Southeast Cary
island aro a clinker built lifeboat and
gear and ration* for several montha for
bis men, if In good condition. When we
examined them in 1883 previous to tho
loss of tho Proteus, we found 75 per cent,
•f them in good condition.
AVm SEVEN YEARS’ EXPOSURE.
It is now fifteen years since they were
landed.
LlouL Peary will m*ke from thero
either Saundere inland or Wolstenhohn
island and then Cape Atbot, From Cape
Athol until the Itetowik glacier is passed
he will be unable to mako a landing for
fifty miles. A solid glacier face, many
feet Hi height, constantly discharging
Leary islands of ice, heavy currents
filled with ice, will be met, and with fog
and bad weather the outlook will be
pelled to leave us to our fate and go to
the southward to esespo wreck.
Lieut; Peary will have SCO mile* ol sea
to cross before getting to Upernavik.
Mrs Peary will be for day* in tho . at
before getting aehore. You know wiar
her mind will be during that tlm*. After
leaving the cape, steering by a southeast
oourae, ha may touch at eorao of
islands. We were eixtv-one hour* bo-
fore reaching Thorn’s Wand. It ia ex-
tremaly hazardous to enter the floe* too
far, although tbe only chance for eafety,
u to
fll Up TU the ILK
in case of heavy weather. Being to lee
ward of heavy ice flattens the hp3, and
by quick work a boat may live it ou; as
we did.
If driven nlong the bergs their chants
are email. They can, it strong enough,
pull out on the floes, but I am afraid
they era,too weak to handle a heavy
boat with gear and cargo. For hours at
a time it is acomlant fight for Ilf© when
among the pack ice. For miles around
were pieces too small to bear a man’s
"•Ulhf. yet big enough to stave in a boat,
r ighting to keep it off iu a sea—wet, cold
and hungry—it makes me shudder to
think of Mrs. Peary having to go through
1. * I had space to tell you all they
wi.l have to go through if forcod to cro»*
Melville bay noxt spring.
ffOBC TICHTI TtflLFB TRASS.
Hat Never «*• Ashamed Until Mar
Little Sow Caught ll*r.
New York Letter in Washington Star.
Another interesting talker whs a bur
lesque actreei, personally a quite irra-
proachable woman, no matter what the
public may think of her.
"The first time I ever put on tights,"
ehe said. "I was notgreatly emharrHHsed.
bat tuts Weak I uml mu eXpOIiiugv Of
utter and absolute shame. You s-e, I
have been wearing tfguta now for twelv©
years, I was 10 when I first donned
them. I had always lupposed it was a
proper thing to do, for I had been
brought up among theatrical people,
and I doubt if* I bed ever heard a word
said about the immodosty of it. 1 /«lt
awfully awkard and had aorne fear about
the thing* holding together on thnt fir*t
occasion, but there was uo aharao what
ever. Indeed, I was conscious of looking
lovely, and was glad of the chance of
showing how well I was planned. Well,
I married, j Ou know m iitt.0 white after
this, and had a child—a fine boy. The
boy, eir, was tho pride of my heart, and
ie atill. 1 brought him up as wed as a
roaming gypsy like myself can bring up
1 lnl.ir.-u. A k-cat part of tho timo im
has lived quietly with hia aunt in New
Jorsey, and for tho last two yearn he
want to a boarding school fa New Hamp
shire. Now, in all hia life h'l never saw
me on the stage. Ho knew that [win
im ni trons, but had an idoa that 1 played
in tragedy or something serious. Re
cently he came to seo me, and pestered
me to lot him go to the theatre and so©
mo act. 1 refused, and ho cried a littlo.
Ile’e 9 years old» you know, and I cave
him 50 cents a week for pocket money.
1 thought no more about his going to the
theatre, but when 1 made my entrance on
the stags c=s sfteiSOQB ih© fire! face my
eyes fell upon waa my boy’s.
"There he sat, pale, upright, with hia
eyea fixed on me in my burlesque cos
tume. 1 had a stage fright, and only re
covered my seif by 'a supreme effort
For the fir:t time in my life I felt the
shame of wearing tights Could 1 have
foreseen that moment, could I have an
ticipated that sousation in s<y girlhood,
I would have never put them on. Dur
ing all that performance I woe misera
ble. the moro ao because my boy got up
and ran out of the theatre ae noon as he
■aw the spectacle I was making of my
self. when I went home I found him
almoat broken hearted. Now, I've got to
give up my old line of business. I’m
looking for a chanoa where I can wear
skirts. 1 don’t blame the boy a bit
Ilow would you feel if you saw your
mother skipping round in pale blu*
fleshings before a theatre full of people?’
KKMINISCKNCKS OF THK ATACH*
AmnelNg Incident* of By«o«e Day*
Itrlilnd th* Footllghte.
from the Watcrbury American.
After the performance of "Mgasy
Mad” on Monday night several mem Dora
of tbe company were regailing them
selves with incidents of the summer vaca
tion and rnuinLccacert of amusing hap
penings of stage life, among them Harry
li. Hudson, who plays the millionaire in
the play. Mr. Hudson is a veteran ef
the stage and has been ia this world a
long time. "I wae a youngster then,"
eatd he, "thirty year* ago aud a member
of a elock company playing at tke old
Drury Lane in Pittsburg. G 'W.Couid-
ock, who plays here with F.ftie F.llsler
next week, was the manager of the com
pany aud his word was Jaw, his very
look to be remembered with awe. We
were playing "Richelieu.” Couldo»,'k in
the title role sad I aa tha king, lx»>ii#
XIII. Bo anxious was I to raakr an im
pression on Couldock, that I became
"rattled ’ aud succeeded in making nn
impression much different then I had
anticipated.
"Klcholieu was dying and l, ae the
king, entreated him to live, with the fol
lowing line*: 'Live, Richelieu, Jive,
Live, »Ire.’ Richelieu replies. ‘Live,
lire/ and I amwer a* follows: ‘Yes, with
power most absolute Live! if not for n.e
for France!’ in speaking this lMt sen
tence I .lost my head altogether and said:
‘live? If not for France for we!' 'For
you?* replied Couldock with p« B *' u P
race. ‘For you? Why, who in the
blankety-blank blank are you, you blank
blanked fool? Tho audience heard every
ordcf thin decidedly interesting <Jia-
ruug down
at to
de
ad tha
frorr
the
oil
shi'
how ebe longed for 1
lost—but do not
1 some morning of epring time,
"What’s that thero atatue supposed
be:” asked su old lady Unking' throi
cue of ti e public buiblingj.
"That? Why, that Is a reprtccLti.
of jnitlo
that's it.
’ tU
11 Chugwater, “nut darn me i
* to grin, ’—Chicago Tribune,
1 iV“ ; could get uo -r t
.ilea of it. Ihe Yantic. hun
1 August of the same yea^i
A public, died today.
ar.u uau woaiucr • tl /4 ths curtain was ru
iBdMd, to h l*ram. howl, of .,pt,u~.
It U out . »«*£ “»• » .. Al ,’ alher una,- ..id u>. old
Conjr.sl rock, Ijrln. (tirtr bum* on. pl.rlng tbe •Willow Cop..'
CO..I, to Cpo York. wbrr. h. -Ill p Couldock
hu.klM»dwh.r. h. «P«U to m«t wttk ^ ^
thowhJ.rk 1 y&toi SklbI pi»7»d th, port of Mr Arthur
Cipe ^ork if avoided J Analev a wealthy young squire. It wea
bound for Jon.i Mud “ lh,r 1 ^’ a nL*rv>l .o i l. .. a c.od.d.ie for
ing grounds. Th.r »'don , PP ro»ch.d Couldock for lb. pur-
! nearer to ths ci[* thin tw«nty mil-, on on , l r (, f< a. 1 Jr.n
.ceounlof th. h«»»7 Ie. .nd b. «rol»i«i<d I. thond.rlng ion..:
nnaten of Icbrn. dUctor»d from | ”SL“‘^rt^Tk<d Don't you
III., hundred. «F ] know u„t th. p.n c.il. for kid glor-T
^rgat Mer <ie Glaco. team Imliwtt o»r , . . k e ro#< to crUt h
K>lied head, the ice is. »• A rule, solid os mn^red ‘How can I get kid
JjK5.rldklr.Mlh.VwJ ««■»«• ‘firen do,Ur. »
wmns driring th. b»rgi in tb. high! I j,* cr ied. '>«*«n doll.ri . w..kl
the bay. , t-unwinf. Go on naked, my boy, and I won t #ay a
We found A record in1I888 belong!nglo , on uu , j
Sir John lfou thnt *>«d Ulo undmiurM word,
nn Ilrown’i iijan l »inre lMf, th rtr-tiro
nan. C»p« York I. kept urtnd o.
st.rho.rd bow, .nd wt.lcn f 'fult. 1 ir„
reward, to Induce them to ri.if: -sm* *"
**ntiro ship’s company fo mating a close
call to tbe cape.
The party cannot lire at the csF«.