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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28765-0.txt b/28765-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f91929 --- /dev/null +++ b/28765-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3888 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by +Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rafael in Italy + A Geographical Reader + +Author: Etta Blaisdell McDonald + Julia Dalrymple + +Release Date: May 12, 2009 [EBook #28765] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + The Vocabulary at the end of the book gives the Phonetic + pronunciation of the Italian words used in the book. + + The Unicode alphabets have been given wherever available. + But the following two Phonetic diacritical marks do not + have a Unicode representation. + + inverted "T" -- (uptack) + + "T" -- (downtack) + + + + + [Illustration: ON THE APPIAN WAY] + + + LITTLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE + + + RAFAEL IN ITALY + + A GEOGRAPHICAL READER + + + + + BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD + + Joint author of "Boy Blue and His Friends," + "The Child Life Readers," etc. + + + AND JULIA DALRYMPLE + + Author of "Little Me Too," "The Make-Believe Boys," etc. + + + + SCHOOL EDITION + + + + + + + BOSTON + + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + + 1910 + + + + + _Copyright_, _1909_, + + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +The very best way to understand the life and customs of a foreign +country is to visit it. If that is impossible one may still learn much +by reading a story of the people who live there. As this is true of +grown people, so is it true of children. They can become acquainted +with the children of other lands by reading stories of their simple, +daily life, and by living it for a little while within the pages of +the story-book. + +It is no longer the fashion for our school children to learn by rote +the facts written down in their geography about all the corners of the +earth; they must know rather the children in these foreign lands,--the +sights they see, their work and play, their festivals and holidays, +their homes, their ambitions. + +Such a tale is told in this little book about Italy. Rafael Valla, a +lad of fourteen, is seen first in Venice; he rows his boat on the +canals, hears the music of the band in the Square of St. Mark, goes to +the Rialto bridge for the serenade, and suddenly, through a chance +meeting with an American girl and her mother, the way is opened for +him to see Italy. He joins them in Florence, and they ride over the +Tuscan roads in an automobile, stopping to see the peasants gathering +grapes, and to visit an olive-farm. In Rome they see the ruins of the +ancient city under the direction of a guide, and they go to Naples, +and visit Pompeii and Vesuvius. + +The book is full of pictures of Italian life. One sees the children +feeding the pigeons in Venice, the Easter festival in Florence, the +vintage with its merry-making in Tuscany, the Roman ruins, the +picturesque street-life in Naples with its noise and gayety, and the +silent streets of Pompeii. There are many such pen pictures of Italian +life, and the story should appeal to the imagination of the child and +awaken his interest in Italy and its people. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I AN EVENING IN VENICE 1 + +II VIVA L'ITALIA! 6 + +III RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS 11 + +IV STREETS OF VENICE 16 + +V STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS 21 + +VI SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO 28 + +VII A CHAT ABOUT VERONA 36 + +VIII EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC 41 + +IX RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE 46 + +X GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY 51 + +XI A MARATHON RUN TO ROME 62 + +XII "THE GOLDEN MILESTONE" 72 + +XIII A RAMBLE IN ROME 76 + +XIV A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM 85 + +XV MERRY NAPLES 95 + +XVI THE BURIED CITY 103 + +XVII THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN 110 + + * * * * * + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +On the Appian Way _Frontispiece in Color_ + +The Grand Canal, Venice 2 + +Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of + St. Mark, Venice 11 + +Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome 68 + +Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct 78 + +The Colosseum at Rome 88 + +The boys of Naples eating macaroni 99 + +Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius 103 + +"The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from +the excavations of Pompeii" 106 + + * * * * * + + + + +RAFAEL IN ITALY + +CHAPTER I + +AN EVENING IN VENICE + + +It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of +Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a +golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon. + +The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every +window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in +the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of gold. + +There were no sounds save the calls of the boatmen, the soft lapping +of the waves against the marble walls and steps, and occasional +strains of music from the military band in the Piazza of St. Mark. + +No place in all the world shines with more brilliancy than Venice in +carnival time. The city is like a diamond, as it catches the myriad +rays from moonlight and starlight, and flashes countless answering +gleams into the shadows of the night. + +It is small wonder that people travel from the farthest corners of +the earth to watch the glitter and sparkle of this City of the Sea. + +It was on this summer evening that Rafael Valla, a Venetian lad of +fourteen, decided to become a soldier of the king. + +He was sitting in the water-gate of his mother's house, pointing with +his toe to the reflection in the canal of a particularly large and +brilliant star. "If the starlight moves to the right of my toe," he +said to himself, "I will go to the Piazza." + +He knew perfectly well that he would go to the Piazza. The music of +the band was calling to him, and the star was slowly shifting its +light, as it had done on many a night while Rafael sat waiting and +dreaming in the gateway. + +The tide was gently pulling his little boat away from the +orange-and-black mooring-post, at the foot of the steps, toward the +larger canal. + +"Perhaps my boat knows of all the gay sights that are waiting for it +in the Grand Canal," the boy thought idly. "It may well know," he +added in his thought; "it has been there times enough." + +The Grand Canal is the largest and finest of all the water-ways which +thread the city. It is spanned by three beautiful bridges, and, on +either side, rise the marble palaces of the ancient Venetian nobility; +those rulers of men whose names fill the "Golden Book of Venetian +History." + +[Illustration: THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE +Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola.] + +But Rafael lingered in the gateway. The music of the band was a +promise of something still better. Soon hundreds of gondolas would +gather at the bridge of the Rialto to hear the songs of the +serenaders, and that was what the boy loved best. + +As the bells in the square sounded the hour, he rose, reached for the +rope, and pulled his boat toward the stone landing steps. His motions +were alert and decisive, and made him seem a different boy from the +one who had been leaning so carelessly against the post of the +gateway. + +Rafael was good friends with his oar, and the little boat, which was +only large enough to seat three comfortably, hurried gladly toward the +lights of the Grand Canal, and the music in the beautiful Piazza of +St. Mark. + +Hundreds of black gondolas were moving up and down the canals, manned +by boatmen in white linen, for the night was very warm; and a melody +from an Italian opera, sung in a musical tenor voice, floated from one +of the boats. + +"I, also, would sing, if it were not pleasanter to listen," said +Rafael to his boat. Then it occurred to him that it might be most +pleasant of all to find his friend Nicolo and take him to hear the +singers at the Rialto bridge. + +He turned toward the steps of the Piazzetta, murmuring as he did so, +"These other boats are also moving toward the Rialto. I must find +Nicolo quickly, or we shall lose our favorite place at the bridge." + +The boy tied his boat in the shadow of the steps, and took his way +across the small square into the larger one in front of the Cathedral +of St. Mark. + +Numberless columns and pillars surround this square, and each one was +outlined with twinkling golden lights. From every ornament and statue +that grace the cathedral and palaces shone countless numbers of the +fairy flames. The crimson globes of the larger lamps in the square +added a different tone, and the silver light of the moon blended with +the whole, dazzling Rafael with the brilliancy. + +He shaded his eyes from the glare, as he searched rapidly among the +crowds for his friend. The polished stones of the pavement in front of +the cafés were covered with little tables, and hundreds of people were +sipping ices or drinking coffee. + +Nicolo was often to be found selling trinkets among the people at the +tables, but he was not there to-night. Nor was he seated on the back +of one of the two stone lions that crouch on their pedestals just +beyond the cathedral. + +It is from these convenient seats that the band sounds better than +almost anywhere else in the square. At least, the boys of Venice seem +to find it so, and so many years have they climbed up to watch the +crowds of people in the Piazza of St. Mark, that the backs of the +lions are worn smooth with much rubbing. + +A little bootblack and a water-boy held the places now, and +occasionally begged for custom from any one who happened to linger +near. + +Passing in and out among the crowds were pretty young girls selling +flowers, ragged boys carrying trays of fruit--crimson peaches, purple +grapes and ripe figs--and men selling bracelets and necklaces of +shells and colored beads. + +It was a gay scene. An officer, in the naval uniform of the United +States of America, stood in the central doorway of the cathedral, +watching the movements of the crowd and listening to the music. + +As Rafael gave up trying to find Nicolo and turned toward the canal, +the officer left his place and followed the boy. "Where away?" he +asked pleasantly, in English, as Rafael took his seat in the boat. + +"To the Rialto; to hear the serenade, Signore," the boy replied +courteously, also in English; and would have pushed away from the +steps, but the stranger asked, "Will you take a passenger?" + +"Si, Signore," answered Rafael, "I have been looking for one," and he +held the boat still while the officer found a seat. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +VIVA L'ITALIA! + + +"Do you like our lovely Venice?" Rafael asked, as the boat slipped +away with oar and tide toward the bridge. + +"Not well enough to stay here forever," answered the man, with a +smile. + +The boy opened his eyes in surprise. How could any one wish to leave +the city after once seeing it! As for himself, he adored the place. To +slip with his boat in and out of the canals and the lagoon, to dive +from the steps and bridges and chase the other boys through the water, +to listen to the music in the Piazza at night, seemed to him the only +life worth living. + +But the stranger was speaking again. "I could have been happy here +centuries ago, when the city was in the making," he said. "It would +have been glorious to fight for the right to live on these islands, +and to have a hand in building such palaces and churches. Those were +days of service for the men who loved their city." + +Rafael knew well the history of Venice. As the officer spoke, the +boy's eyes turned to the stately walls of the Doge's palace, and to +the domes of the great churches; and he thought of the early Venetians +who gave their lives in loving service for their country. + +The stranger continued, "Your good Doge Dandolo had a powerful navy +when he led the Venetians across the Mediterranean to conquer the +islands of Candia and Cyprus." + +Rafael nodded. "Si, Signore," he said. "There were many at home who +held the city safe while he was away," he added, "and there was need +enough of brave men then, both at home and abroad." + +"Venice was a rich and powerful state in those days," said the +stranger. "Now she has little left but her beauty, and that will fall +to ruin, as the great bell-tower in the Piazza fell not long ago. A +man likes to fight for something more than beauty." + +Rafael nodded again. He liked this stranger who spoke so easily of the +early life of Venice. + +Just then the boat slipped into a nook under the bridge, where it was +safe from the sweep of the gondolas which crowded near, and the two +became silent in watching the approach of the barge filled with +musicians and singers. + +This barge was surrounded by a solid mass of gondolas, closely wedged +together, each gondolier trying to push his boat as close as +possible, so that his patrons might see and hear well. + +Suddenly red lights flared up from the bridge and flooded everything +with radiance. Palace fronts shone with a magical beauty; crimson +banners waved from Moorish windows; statues and columns stood out +clearly and asked boldly to be admired. + +Rafael looked at his companion. "Did you ever see a more beautiful +sight?" he asked. + +But he could get no satisfaction from the stranger. "Beauty is not +everything," was his answer; and Rafael racked his brain to think what +more could be desired in this wonderland of marble and sky and water. + +Suddenly the music from the barge swelled into a great volume of +sound. "Viva l'Italia!" cried a voice from the bridge, and "Viva +l'Italia!" echoed from all the gondolas. + +Rafael waved his cap in the air. "Viva l'Italia!" he shouted in his +boyish voice, while his heart beat fast with the enthusiasm of the +moment. It seemed to his imagination that the singers were repeating +the words of the stranger; that they were telling of the glory of +battle, and of a life of service for one's country. + +It was of Italy they sang--not of Venice--of Italy, and of Italy's +king. "Viva l'Italia! Long live the King!" he shouted with the +others; and at that moment he felt that he must become a soldier of +the king, to live or die for Italy. + +After the singing was over and the gondolas had begun to disperse, +Rafael pushed his way down the canal; and at the steps where he had +embarked, the stranger rose to leave the boat. As he did so, he +stooped to place a coin in the boy's hand. "With thanks," he said. "I +have had an evening to remember." + +But Rafael pushed his hand away. "I never carry people for money, +Signore," he said proudly. + +The coin dropped from the American's hand to the bottom of the boat. +"For Italy, then," he said. "There are many in your country who need +it." + +The boy let his boat drift with the tide, while he thought over the +words of the stranger. + +He and his mother were all that was left of an old Venetian family. +Like many others, they had almost no means of support. They rented two +of the upper floors of their house to people poorer than themselves; +and might have rented the whole house to some of the foreigners who +often asked for it, but the mother held to it with a great love. It +was a link that kept alive the memory of the past, when her family was +one of importance, and Venice was a rich and powerful city. + +She would rather eat polenta and fish every day, if thereby she could +keep the fine house as it had always been, rich with old furniture and +the paintings of great artists. + +She had taught her son to speak French and English, and no guide in +the city knew every detail of its history so well as he. "Our history +is our pride," she often said, with much emphasis, and the boy felt +that she was right. + +At last Rafael picked up the coin and put it into his pocket; then he +took up the oar and pushed the boat back to his own mooring-post. + +He found his mother, and told her that he was tired of his life of +idleness. "I shall become a soldier of the king," he said. + +"Ah," she said, "every Italian should serve his king. There is need of +every one. Our country is very poor." + +Rafael looked disturbed. "It is not the country that is poor," he +answered. "Our good priest says that the country is rich, with all its +vineyards, and orchards, and wheat-fields. It is only the people who +are poor." + +"What wilt thou do about it, caro mio?" asked his mother, with a +laugh. + +"I shall earn some money," replied Rafael. "My boat has shown me +how." + +[Illustration: CHILDREN FEEDING PIGEONS IN THE PIAZZA OF ST. MARK, VENICE +Notice the three flag-poles, and the bronze horses over the central +doorway of the Cathedral.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS + + +It was early in the afternoon of the next day. The tide was low in the +canals of Venice. Hundreds of green crabs could be seen clinging +lazily to the stone walls of the houses, wherever there was a place +still cool and wet from the salt sea-water. + +At the base of the two great columns in the Piazzetta, groups of +Venetian beggars were soundly sleeping. The gondoliers call these +beggars "crab-catchers," because they cling about the mooring-steps of +the canals to beg centimes from the passengers in the gondolas. + +The Venetian pigeons were also sleeping. Their way of begging is more +pleasing than that of the crab-catchers, but they are beggars for all +that. They never wait for the sound of the bell which the good priest +rings every day when it is time for them to be fed, but fly down to +the pavement whenever they catch sight of a person with a bit of +grain. They flutter down by twos and threes, and beg with their best +coos for something to eat. + +But now they had all disappeared from the pavement, and might be +seen, dozing with their heads under their wings, up among the eaves of +the fine palaces and beautiful public buildings which surround the +Square of St. Mark. + +The children, who love to feed the pigeons, had disappeared, too, and +all Venice seemed to be taking its afternoon nap. + +An American lady and her daughter, paying no heed to the heat of the +sun, turned the corner of the Doge's palace and entered the Piazzetta, +meaning to cross to the farther end of the large square, where +wood-carvings are for sale in one of the shops. + +"Mother," said the girl suddenly, "I wish we knew of something to see +besides the buildings in this square. We have been here four days, and +have bought a lovely carved cherub, or a souvenir spoon of Venice, for +every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this +beautiful old city." + +"We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her +mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight +of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any +time." + +"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must +be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and +St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them." + +"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the +hotel windows," said her mother. + +"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the +Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't +we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?" + +Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully +out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we +do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer +islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a +single word of Italian." + +"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith; +"and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many +who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights +for the sake of earning some Italian lire." + +"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her +mother. + +As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from +a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to +the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of +boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great +church. + +English words floated across to the American people, although the +voice which spoke them was an Italian one. + +"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops," +said the voice. + +The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael--the boy of the +boat and the serenade--knelt in the center, with a collection of tops +on the pavement beside him. + +The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the +light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the +big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at +all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do +their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow +and an off-hand dash, as if to make room for the next on the program. + +At last Rafael took up one which was wrapped in gold-foil, and which +seemed to be both graceful and business-like, and wonderfully +accomplished. It hung balanced between two outer circles of steel, and +spun in every possible position--on the pavement, on the top of a +post, and at right angles to it--all at one spinning. + +"It is my golden spinner," said the boy, in Italian. "It has travelled +among all the great cities of the world, and never failed to keep an +engagement." + +The boys laughed, and Edith joined in the laughter, although she did +not know the meaning of the words. + +Rafael looked up into her face and smiled. It was the opportunity +which she had hoped for. She had noticed his unusual appearance, and +that he was dressed with care. + +"Speak to him, Mother," she urged, in English. "Perhaps he will tell +us where we may go to see the sights." + +The boy rose and took off his cap. "I speak English, Signora," he +said. "There are truly many things to see in Venice, if you wish to +see them." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +STREETS OF VENICE + + +Mrs. Sprague looked from one child to the other. The girl was eager, +the boy expectant. "He is no older than you are, Edith," she said at +last. "It isn't possible that he can be a good guide. There will be +three lost, instead of two as there were yesterday, if he tries to +pilot us through these crooked lanes." + +The day before, Edith had hired an Italian lad to act as a guide, when +she had wished to buy an Italian flag and could find none in the shops +near the Piazza. She had made her wish known, by signs, to one of the +young boys idling at the base of the Lion's Column. He could speak no +English, but Edith showed him a tiny American flag which she carried +in her purse. + +"Viva America!" she said, waving the flag with one hand. Then she +waved the empty hand, saying, "Viva l'Italia!" and asked very loudly, +as if he might be deaf, "Where to buy?" pointing to the flag. + +The boy nodded that he understood, and led the girl and her mother +across the Piazza and under the old Clock Tower, in which the clock +has been marking the hours ever since Columbus discovered America. +Beyond the tower he led them through short streets and narrow lanes to +a remote, wretched part of the city. + +Although Venice is called the City of the Sea, and has hundreds of +canals, there is also a network of narrow streets and lanes threading +the islands on which the city is built. It is possible to walk +anywhere by following these streets and crossing the bridges, and each +house has a land-gate as well as a water-gate. + +One of these lanes led at last into a small square. A low, narrow +doorway opened into a dark room, looking out upon a dirty little +canal,--far away from the rose-colored, marble-paved Square of St. +Mark--and here Edith found her Italian flag. + +The room was cluttered with old rubbish; and a dozen ragged, +hungry-looking men and women sat idly about on broken chairs. + +The boy told his errand in Italian to one of the men, who answered him +in an angry tone. They disputed together for several moments, and then +the man brought a small flag from a far corner of the room. The bright +red, green and white stripes of the flag were in good proportion, but +it was made of a cheap, flimsy material. + +"I don't care for it," said Edith, putting her hands behind her and +shaking her head. + +Immediately everybody in the room began to talk loudly, which so +frightened Mrs. Sprague that she took out her purse and asked, "How +much?" + +The boy held up four fingers. "Quattro lire," he said. + +"Four lire!" exclaimed Edith indignantly; "that is almost one dollar, +and it isn't worth ten cents." + +But the excited Italian voices were all speaking at once, and so +angrily that Mrs. Sprague dropped the money into an old chair, and +seizing the flag with one hand and Edith with the other, she backed +quickly out into the open air. + +She forgot that she knew nothing about the way to her hotel, and, +without waiting for the boy, crossed the first bridge she saw, and +struck into another narrow lane. She was too anxious as to her +whereabouts to notice the interesting sights in the streets through +which she hurried; but Edith, with a girl's curiosity, saw everything. + +In a small square at one end of a bridge, a woman leaned from an upper +window and lowered a basket to the pavement below. A man with a basket +of fried fish on his arm took a piece of money from the woman's basket +and put in its place a fish from his own. Then he returned to a +little shed near-by, where a woman was frying onions and fish in oil, +on several charcoal stoves. + +As they crossed another bridge, they saw a woman lean from a window to +splash her baby up and down in the canal for his daily bath. The baby +was tied to the end of a long rope which his mother gently raised and +lowered, and he laughed with glee every time he hit the water with his +chubby fists. + +Edith wished to stop and watch this curious bath, but Mrs. Sprague +hurried her along, and they soon reached a part of the city where many +people were moving toward a church. As they neared the building, the +leather curtain, which hangs at the entrance to Italian churches, was +pushed aside, and a stream of men, women and children began coming +out, each one carrying a candle. + +The children had little candles, the grown people carried larger ones; +and everyone stopped to buy cakes from old women seated near the +church door. + +After crossing many bridges, and passing many churches, Edith and her +mother suddenly entered the Piazza of St. Mark, which had grown so +familiar to them both that it was like walking into their own home. + +"I shall not go out of sight of it again," said Mrs. Sprague, with a +sigh of great relief. + +But Edith longed to explore those bewildering back lanes for more of +the strange foreign sights. "After we get home to America," she said, +"we shall see no more boys selling glasses of water at odd corners; +nor shall we see women frying cakes in the streets, and mothers +bathing their babies in the canals. If we can only find some one who +understands English, we shall have no more trouble." + +Now that she had found Rafael, she urged her mother to employ him. "He +can speak both English and Italian," she said, "and can be our +interpreter." + +Mrs. Sprague shook her head and was turning away, when the boy spoke, +and held her attention. "The golden spinner is the smallest of all my +tops," he said, "but it does the best work. Why not let me try?" + +The lady looked at his earnest face and smiled. "Very well," she said, +"we will go through the Doge's palace with you. We can't get lost +there." + +Rafael gathered his tops together and turned them over to one of the +boys. "Keep them for me, Nicolo," he said, and led the way at once to +the beautiful entrance just beyond the corner of the cathedral--the +entrance to the most magnificent of all the fine palaces in Venice. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS + + +Edith hurried along beside Rafael, and Mrs. Sprague followed slowly +into the courtyard of the palace, up the Giant's Staircase and through +great rooms, until they came out upon a balcony overlooking the square +which they had just left. + +"Is it not lovely?" Rafael asked simply. + +Without answering, Edith balanced her camera upon the railing of the +balcony and snapped a picture of the two columns in the Piazzetta, +near a landing place of the Grand Canal. + +"Everyone in the United States knows that picture," she said, "and +when they see that I have taken it, they will know that I was really +here once." + +"Is it that you will show it to everyone in the United States?" asked +Rafael with interest. + +Edith looked at him quickly, thinking that he was laughing at her; but +as she saw that he was serious she answered, "Oh dear! no; only to my +friends, who were glad to have me come to see Italy, so that I can +tell them about it." + +"Is that why so many people come to my country," he asked,--"to tell +others about it?" + +Edith laughed. "I came to buy a string of Venetian beads," she +answered roguishly. + +But the boy would not laugh in answer. "It may be that you will take +away with you a more precious necklace than your glass one, if you +will let me show you our wonderful pictures and buildings," he said. + +It was a pretty speech, and the girl answered him with another. "You +mean a necklace of memory pictures," she said. "Yes, I have begun to +string such a necklace. My memory of St. Mark's Cathedral is one of +the beads, and this splendid square is another. Then there is a bead +for the moonlight on the canals, and one for the fluttering pigeons at +their midday meal.". + +Mrs. Sprague then told Rafael how they had wandered off into a part of +the city where the canals were narrow and dirty, where the houses were +old and crumbling to ruins, and where the streets seemed hardly more +than cracks between the walls. + +"I don't wish to put that memory picture into my necklace," said +Edith. + +"It is not necessary," answered Rafael. "There will be many beautiful +beads. This afternoon we will climb the bell-tower of San Giorgio when +the sun is setting, and there you will get a picture of this 'pearl +of the world' that will make you forget every other." + +But Edith was turning her camera upon the pavement below, where three +flag-poles stand in front of St. Mark's. + +"The lazy pigeons in the square were lean and hungry when those three +masts were placed before the cathedral," Rafael told her. "The +Venetians were hardy sailors, bold adventurers, and rich merchants in +those days; and it was an honor for Morea and the eastern islands of +Candia and Cyprus to fly their banners in our city. All the vessels +from the East and the West stopped at our port, and the fame of Venice +spread far and wide." + +"You speak boastfully," said Edith saucily. + +"It is all true," Rafael said earnestly. "Four hundred years ago there +was no place in the whole world where so much pomp and magnificence +could be seen as in St. Mark's Square and on the Grand Canal. + +"Over in the museum at the arsenal"--Rafael's voice broke in his +excitement--"there is a model of a ship of state, in which, for +hundreds of years, the Doge used every year to go out to the entrance +of the lagoon and throw a jewelled ring into the waters of the +Adriatic, to make Venice the bride of the sea. + +"People from far and wide, by thousands and tens of thousands, came to +see the ceremony. It was a marvellous sight to see," he added proudly, +as if he had seen it many times. + +"Two or three hundred senators, in their scarlet robes, marched with +the Doge from this palace to the wharf, where the ship of state waited +for them; and thousands of magnificent gondolas followed it on its +journey to the Lido port, where the ceremony took place." + +"I thought all gondolas must be black," Edith objected. "A procession +of black gondolas would not be very magnificent." + +"It is the law now that all gondolas must be black," Rafael explained, +"because in olden times so many nobles wasted their fortunes in +decorating their gondolas extravagantly with rich carvings, gold +ornaments, and gorgeous draperies. You can see that such a procession, +reaching from here to the Lido port, would be a splendid sight. + +"There must be many rings out there," he added. + +Edith had listened, charmed with the sound of so much splendor. "Let +us go to the Lido for a sea bath," she said; "perhaps we can find a +ring." + +Rafael shook his head. "The last ring was thrown into the water more +than a hundred years ago," he said. "The sands have covered them all +too deeply by this time." + +Then he pointed to the four bronze horses which stand over the central +doorway of the cathedral. "They are the only horses in our whole +city," he said. "They are almost two thousand years old, and have +travelled hundreds of miles, by sea and land. + +"It is said that they first stood on a triumphal arch in Rome, but +they were taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine, where +they were kept many hundreds of years. Dandolo, a Doge of Venice, +conquered the city about seven hundred years ago, and brought the +horses to Venice as a sign of his victory. + +"They were placed over the door where they now stand, and have been +there ever since, except for a visit of eighteen years to Paris, to +please the Emperor Napoleon." + +"See how they paw the air," said Edith. "They look as if they were +eager to be off again to the ends of the earth." + +"No," said Rafael, "we Venetians love those bronze horses. No one will +ever take them away from us again. + +"We need them," he added with a laugh, "how else would we know what +horses are like, when we read about them in books?" + +"It is a great pity that the bell-tower in the square fell," said Mrs. +Sprague; "this new one that they are building in its place must be +very expensive." + +Rafael laughed merrily. "That is a queer thing about the Italians," he +said; "if it is a great piece of art which we wish to preserve, we do +not care what the expense may be." + +Then he added soberly, "The fishermen miss the old tower more than any +of us, because they used to find their way into the Lido port by it." + +"You say so much about the Lido," said Edith. + +"We will go over there after we have looked at some of the pictures +inside the palace, and at the dungeons, and the Bridge of Sighs," +answered Rafael. + +Edith shuddered. "I will look at the pictures, but not at the +dungeons," she said; "and I can look at the Bridge of Sighs every time +I come from our hotel into the Piazza." + +As they stepped back into the room behind them, she repeated the names +of three of the great painters whose works have helped to make Venice +a treasure-city. + +"Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto," she said over and over again, as she +looked at the pictures which Rafael pointed out to her in the long +rooms. "If I find more of their paintings in other cities of Italy, it +will seem like meeting old friends." + +Rafael smiled. "Italy is rich because of her artists," he said. "You +will find their works in every city. It may not always be the +paintings of those same three men, but there are others which are also +famous." + +Then his happy face grew serious. "It makes the heart sad to think +what wonderful dreams our great Italians have had," he said. "My +mother says that no dream, no thought of beauty, was ever felt +anywhere, that has not found expression here in Italy." + +As he spoke, he led the mother and daughter out of the palace and +across the Piazzetta to the steps where his little boat was tied, and +Edith wondered if his words were true. + +Before her sight-seeing in Italy was ended, she was very sure that +they were. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO + + +"It is not a good plan to leave the square from the steps in front of +the two great columns," Rafael explained, as he went toward the +landing-place opposite the Doge's palace, where he always moored his +boat. + +"Why is it not a good plan?" asked Edith. + +"Because it might later make us run into a mud-bank," he answered +merrily. "Whenever any one is executed in Venice, it has to be done +between those two columns, and that has made the spot most unlucky. +People used to gamble there before it was the place for executions, +but now, of course, no one thinks of such a thing." + +"I should hope not," said Mrs. Sprague, "nor anywhere else." + +"The only Doge that was ever beheaded, landed between those columns," +continued Rafael, "and since then there are people who would not dare +to use the steps, for fear it might bring them ill-luck." + +"I am going to get into your boat from those very steps," said Edith, +walking toward them. + +Her mother, who was already seated in the boat, looked troubled. "He +may be right, Edith," she called to her daughter. "You know that I am +afraid of the water, and you promised not to take any chances if I +would bring you to Italy." + +But Edith insisted that she should get into the boat from the steps, +or not at all. "There is no danger," she said. "These Italians are too +superstitious. See how they are always closing one hand and pointing +down two of its fingers to ward off the evil eye. I am going to show +Rafael how foolish all these notions are." + +The boy looked at her in anger. He had sometimes closed his own hand +in the way Edith described, when he met old Beppo, the brown monk from +one of the islands in the lagoon; and had often gone out of his way to +meet the hunchback, Tonio, because it is well-known in Venice that the +sight of a hunchback brings good luck. + +Now, when he heard Edith speak so contemptuously of his cherished +beliefs, he felt a flame of resentment. Standing quietly in his boat, +he said, "Signorina, we go not from those landing-steps in my boat." + +Edith saw that he meant what he said. "I am sorry that I hurt your +feelings," she said, with a pretty air of penitence; "but if you will +kindly take me from these steps, I will make a gift to the patron +saint of the fishermen, if we find a shrine at the Lido." + +Rafael melted at once. "It is not that I was afraid," he told her, as +she stepped into the boat from the unlucky steps, "but I cannot have +the ways of my country ridiculed." + +Then he pushed off from the landing, and the two great columns rose +above their heads in stately fashion. + +Edith looked from the winged lion on the top of one to the crocodile +and the figure of St. Theodore on the other. "There are many stone +lions in the city," she said, "but I have seen only one crocodile. Why +is that?" + +"The lion is the symbol of St. Mark," replied Rafael, "and must guard +the city, because St. Mark is our patron saint. St. Theodore, who +stands on the crocodile, was our first patron saint, before the body +of St. Mark was brought to Venice and placed in the little church +which once stood where you now see the cathedral." + +"Is it the St. Mark who wrote one of the books of the New Testament?" +asked Mrs. Sprague. + +"Yes, Signora," replied Rafael. + +"We have been into the cathedral many times," said Edith. "Mother +knows every picture and statue inside and out of it." + +"It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the whole world," said +her mother. "Some one has called it a jewel-box, because it contains +so many magnificent gems, precious stones, and golden mosaics; and it +seems so to me. Now that I have seen it, I am ready to leave Venice." + +"Oh, Mother," exclaimed the girl, "we haven't begun to see all that I +want to! I must buy some more Venetian glass, and a lantern, and some +flags and banners. I mean to make my room at home look like a bit of +Venice." + +Rafael looked pleased. "Our people were making beautiful things in +glass two hundred years before Christopher Columbus found his way to +your country," he said. He had no wish to seem boastful to these +people of a younger nation, so he tried to say it courteously. + +But Edith was impolite enough to say, "The men and women in your city +seem to do nothing now but make glass, and carve wood, and weave lace. +In so many hundred years they might have learned a good many new +things, it seems to me." + +The boy flushed. "Venice is old, it is true," he answered, "but Italy +is still young." Then he threw back his head and laughed with the +happy laugh of boyhood. "Viva l'Italia!" he cried joyously. "She will +soon be the greatest country in the world." + +"Viva Venice!" cried Edith, but Rafael was drawing his boat alongside +a flight of steps, and did not hear her. + +"Where is that lame crab of a steamer?" he muttered, looking off into +the lagoon. + +"What are we going to do?" questioned Mrs. Sprague anxiously. + +"We must go to the Lido in the steamer," answered the boy. "It is too +far for me to row there and back before sunset; and it will cost but a +small sum to buy round-trip tickets for the three of us. That will +take us all to the casino by the tram-car, and pay for our bath in the +salt-water." + +"Pay for our bath!" repeated Edith. "Surely we may go into the water +without paying for it." + +"Not if you wish to go in from the bathing-house at the casino," +Rafael replied; "and it is forbidden by law to take away even one +pailful of the water without paying a tax. There is a tax on salt in +our country, and it is feared that we may get the least bit of salt +from the water." + +"I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Sprague. + +"It is very hard," said the boy; "but what can one do? A tax is a tax, +and must be paid." + +"But it would not be so, if I could get hold of an oar of the +government," he added with a laugh, as he held the boat steady with +his own oar while his passengers landed. + +The little steamer was just drawing up to the pier from its trip +across the lagoon. This lagoon is a wide stretch of water, deep only +in those places where the ship-channels are kept constantly dredged. +When the tide is low, the city shows that it is built upon mud-banks. +Twice daily the waters move away from the lagoon, leaving the flats +covered with floating seaweed. The returning tide, flowing from the +Adriatic through several openings in the long narrow sand-bars, called +lidi, covers the seaweed and mud-flats, and forms the lagoon. + +The little steamer carried Rafael and his passengers to the Lido in a +quarter of an hour, giving them time for a bath in the salt water, and +a cup of tea at the casino; and also a moment at the little church +dedicated to the patron saint of the fishermen, where Edith left a +coin as she had promised to do. + +Then they returned across the water to the church of San Giorgio for a +view of the sunset, the sight in Venice which artists love most. It +was the most wonderful sunset that Edith had ever seen. The low sun +gave out a glory of color, and waves of golden light flooded the city, +crowning every tower and dome with a great radiance. + +"So much gold makes it seem like the Heavenly City," Edith said +softly. + +To the north lay the white-crowned Alps, to the east the blue +Adriatic; and Edith never forgot the glory of that hour. + +A fisher's boat swung slowly through the Lido port, and moved toward +its mooring-place at a group of rose-tinged piles. In just such a boat +Columbus must have sailed when he was a boy. The rounded prow was +decorated with a flying goddess blowing a trumpet; on the masthead +there was perched a weathercock and a little figure of a hump-backed +man, like the one hidden away in St. Mark's. A great sail, painted +deep red, caught the sea-breeze and carried the boat slowly over the +shimmering, rose-colored water. + +Edith drew a long breath of the salt air, and clasped her hands with +delight at the picture. + +Some workmen, driving piles to mark the ship channel, were chanting an +old song,--one that has been sung for centuries by the pile-drivers of +Venice,--and Rafael translated the words for her, as the men raised +the heavy wooden hammer:-- + + "Up with it well, + Up to the top; + Up with it well, + Up to the summit!" + +Each line of the Italian words ended with a long "e-e-e," or an +"o-o-o," and the American girl laughed at the strange song. + +"It is just the time and place to paint a picture, or write a poem +about the Venetian sunset," she said. + +"It is so different here from what I had imagined it to be," she +added. "I used to wonder what kept the sea from dashing against the +walls of the houses, and beating down the doors." + +"Then you knew nothing about the lidi which hold back the sea?" +questioned the boy. + +"No," replied the girl. "People who have been here speak only about +the Grand Canal, and the Piazza of St. Mark, and the Bridge of Sighs." + +She pointed out to her mother the long wharf which stretched along the +opposite bank of the lagoon, and their hotel, which was farther up the +canal. "There is plenty of space on the pavement near our hotel to +spread a sail," she said, "and I thought there was never a spot to set +foot in all the city, except in the squares." + +The sight of the hotel reminded Mrs. Sprague of home. "We must go back +and see if there are any letters," she said suddenly, and turned to go +down the spiral staircase. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A CHAT ABOUT VERONA + + +As they took their places in the boat, Edith said to Rafael, "Tell us +some of your Venetian legends. Is there not one about this lagoon?" + +"There are many," he answered, and he told her the story of the three +saints--St. Mark, St. George, and St. Theodore--who crossed the lagoon +one night, centuries ago, and drove back the evil spirits who would +have destroyed the city. + +"Our boatmen can tell you of many other strange things which have +happened on these canals," he concluded, as they reached the steps in +front of the hotel. + +Edith ran in, and soon returned with several letters for her mother +and herself, which they began reading while Rafael poled slowly back +into the canal. + +"Listen to this," exclaimed Mrs. Sprague suddenly. "Tom tells me to go +to Verona, where his chauffeur is waiting with the automobile, and +take it to Florence for him." + +"I don't like to leave Venice just as we have begun to enjoy it," +said Edith. Then seeing that Rafael looked wonderingly at them, she +added, "Tom is my cousin, who is seeing Italy with his friend in an +automobile. He said it would take too long to see it with Mother and +me." + +But Mrs. Sprague began reading aloud,--"We shall be gone into Austria +for more than a month, and I know you will enjoy a ride through the +Italian country." + +Looking up from the letter, she said, "We will go to-morrow." + +"How shall we find the chauffeur?" asked Edith. + +"He is at the 'Hotel of the Golden Dove,'" said Mrs. Sprague. "There +will be no trouble in finding him." + +"I prefer the winged lions of Venice to the golden dove of Verona," +said Edith, looking up at the column in the Piazzetta. + +"You will find a stone lion in the forum in Verona," said the boy. + +"In the forum!" exclaimed Edith, "that sounds like Rome." + +"Yes," said the boy rather proudly, "there is also an old forum in +Verona, but it is used now as a vegetable market. You can take a +picture of it with your camera." + +"Perhaps I may," answered the girl; "but I shall first take one of +Juliet's balcony." + +Rafael laughed. It seemed that he, too, had read "Romeo and Juliet," +for he said, "You will be much disappointed in that balcony." + +"Why so?" asked the girl, with a look of surprise. + +"Because the house is not a fine one. It is in a block of tall narrow +houses. The street leads from the market-place and is so narrow that +the tram-car almost rubs against one's knees. + +"Romeo had trouble enough, if he climbed to that balcony," he added. +"It is five stories above the sidewalk, and is hardly big enough for a +man to stand in." + +"Perhaps Juliet's balcony overlooked the courtyard," Mrs. Sprague +suggested. + +"As for the courtyard, that was full of worn-out carriages when I saw +it," Rafael answered, "It was not a good place for a lover to hide." + +"I don't want to go to Verona and have all my dreams shattered," +mourned the girl. "Shall I be disappointed in Juliet's tomb, too?" + +The boy laughed again. "You can pick an ivy leaf from the plant +near-by. Is not that what your country-women do?" he asked. + +Edith tossed her head. "Of course," she answered. "I have a large +collection of ivy leaves myself,--one from every castle in England and +Ireland." + +The boy looked mischievous. "One from Juliet's tomb will be most +precious of all," he told her, "because ivy grows not so easily in +Italy as in England." + +"Is there anything else to be seen in Verona?" asked Mrs. Sprague. + +"There is a colosseum in Verona which is second only to the one in +Rome, Signora," Rafael replied. + +But Edith shook her head. "That cannot be," she said. "We have one in +the United States which we think is next to the Roman one in +importance." + +It was the boy's turn to show surprise. "How can that be?" he asked +quickly. "The one in Verona is very old, and has seen many exciting +battles between gladiators." + +"Well," persisted the girl, "our stadium in Cambridge, where the men +of Harvard University fight their foot-ball battles with men of other +colleges, has seen just as interesting contests as any colosseum in +Europe. Thousands and thousands of people have cheered the victors in +our country as well as yours," and Edith's cheeks flushed, as she +thought of some of the stirring foot-ball games which she had +witnessed. + +The boy looked at her in amazement. "I did not know that you ever saw +such inspiring sights in your country," he said humbly. + +"Indeed we do," said Edith, glad to see that Rafael was impressed. + +"How long will it take to reach Verona from Venice?" asked Mrs. +Sprague. + +"If you leave here at the fifteen hours, you will arrive before +sunset," he answered. + +"At the fifteen hours," repeated Edith with a laugh. "What a funny way +to say three o'clock. Your way of counting time up to the twenty-four +hours is the queerest thing in Italy." + +"It seems the most natural thing in the world to me," said her mother. +"There are twenty-four hours in the day. Why should we not name each +one?" + +Then she arranged that Rafael should take them to the station in his +boat, on the next day, at the fifteen hours. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC + + +HOTEL NEW YORK, FLORENCE, ITALY. +October 10, 19--. + +TO SIGNOR RAFAEL VALLA, + +_My dear Sir:_--Can you leave your tops for a few moments and read a +letter from your American friends, the Spragues? + +Although we have been in Florence for more than a month, we have not +yet forgotten our visit in Venice and our journey to Verona. We sat by +the right-hand window in the train, as you told us to do; but I looked +often across the way to see what could take place on the opposite +side. Once I saw some storks that had flown down from Strassburg and +were standing on their long legs in the marshes. + +But our side of the train was truly the more pleasant one. There were +grape-vines and mulberry trees and wheat-fields; and also cypress +trees, which you did not mention, but which we were glad to see. Then +there were big fields of watermelons ripening in the sun, and women +gathering them in baskets which they carried on their heads across +the fields. + +In Verona we went to see the play in the colosseum by moonlight. I +have never seen such a performance in our stadium at Harvard, and you +have a right to be proud of the great colosseum. + +There were four hundred performers on the stage at one time, and the +play ended at "the twenty-three hours" with a gunpowder explosion that +destroyed the fort,--the play fort, I mean. + +And we looked at the tombs of the Scaligers, although I don't know any +good reason for doing so; and then we came through the most beautiful +country to Florence. + +Men and women, dressed in gayest colors, were reaping with sickles in +the wheat-fields. The grain was truly "golden grain," and there was +never a foot of ground anywhere, whether the grain was standing or had +fallen, without a flaming scarlet poppy. And every hill was green with +trees and crowned with a castle or a tower. + +We rode through miles and miles of vineyards, all arranged in +pictures, for our benefit, as it seemed. The vines hung in festoons +from long rows of mulberry trees. The trees were planted in rows that +crossed one another, forming hollow squares, and the square spaces +were filled with the scarlet poppies and the golden grain. + +The trees grew so regularly, and the vines hung so gracefully--a +single vine running from tree to tree--that we could not take our eyes +from the lovely sight; and we have promised ourselves to see the +gathering of the grapes, on our way from Florence to Rome. + +At the toll-gate we found that we could not enter Florence until after +our automobile and all our luggage had been examined. The officers +seemed to fear that we were trying to smuggle something to eat, either +fruit or vegetables, into the city. + +It was in the midst of a thunder-storm; and not until the official was +convinced that we were quite wet, and wished to enter in order to find +shelter, and that we were truly a foreign lady and her daughter, on a +sight-seeing tour, did he let us pass through the gates and enter the +city. + +And now, after our month's visit, I have a Florentine mosaic to take +to America with my Venetian necklace. + +The golden background of my mosaic is another sunset; one which we saw +from the Shepherd's Tower, with the sky a rosy-pink, the River Arno +taking its slow course through the city and reflecting the rosy light, +and the surrounding hills all deep blue and amethyst. + +The most precious stone of my mosaic is the glorious statue of David, +on the heights of San Miniato. Perhaps, if Michael Angelo could have +known, four hundred years ago, that I was going to have one minute of +such very great happiness as when I first saw his work, he would have +been very glad. + +What a splendid fashion the Italians have of placing beautiful statues +out of doors where everyone may see and admire them often! In America +we crowd them all together in museums and charge an admission fee, so +that one sees them but seldom, if at all. + +There are many stones in my mosaic. Florence is well called the "City +of Flowers." One sees flower-girls everywhere, and little Bianca, with +the tanned face and the big black eyes, who comes to our door every +morning with the sweetest and freshest of roses, is one of my friends. + +Every Friday we have been to the market-place to see the peasants, who +come in from the surrounding hillsides with loads of peaches, figs, +grapes, pumpkins, watermelons, squashes,--all kinds of beautiful +fruits and vegetables. + +But I like best the boys who carry trays of plaster images which have +been made in their little villages up among the mountains, and which +they bring here just as they sometimes take them to America. + +We saw also the straw market, and the women braiding the straw and +making hats. You shall see the one which Mother bought for me, and +which I wear every day. + +And this brings me to the reason for writing you this letter. We are +going to leave the music of the churches, the pictures, the +sculptures, the peasants and the market-place, and go into the country +to see the harvests. + +I shall miss hearing the constant ringing of the church bells, and +seeing the squads of soldiers marching to the sound of military music. +And perhaps I shall never again sleep in a room with barred windows +overlooking the blue waters of an Italian river, and look through +those same bars into the faces of sweet nuns and shaven monks as they +pass on the sidewalk outside. + +But we can have the automobile only a few days longer, and it is our +great wish that you join us in Florence and take the trip with us to +Rome. + +Then if you will but stay with us for a few weeks in Rome, we shall +not get lost again because of being unable to speak Italian. Mother +says that you will be tongue and eyes for us. + +Your American friend, +EDITH SPRAGUE. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE + + +It was a long letter. Rafael read it aloud to his mother, and at the +end he spoke without looking up at her. + +"May I go?" he asked simply. + +She did not answer for several moments, and he spoke again. "I know so +little of Italy, outside of Venice," he urged. "Those Americans go +everywhere and see the whole world." + +"That is true," his mother answered, "and you may never have such +another opportunity to see the Eternal City. You may go," she added +finally, to Rafael's great delight. + +"That is good! I will start as soon as you can pack some clothes for +me," he cried. He half thought she would go at once to pack them, but +she sat still, and began to talk about her girlhood. + +"I was born near the hotel where your friend is living," she said, +"and know every foot of ground in Florence. It is a pity you are not +going to be there on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Then you +would see a sight that is seen nowhere outside of Florence." + +"Tell me about it," said the boy. + +"It is called the 'Burning of the Car,'" she told him. "Back in the +time of the Crusaders, one of the men of old Florence who went to +Jerusalem brought from the Holy Sepulchre two pieces of the stone, and +also a torch lighted from the holy light that has been kept burning +there since the time Christ was crucified. + +"In order that the wind might not blow out his light, he rode the +whole distance back to Florence with his face toward Jerusalem. + +"The people of the cities through which he passed thought that this +man who was riding backwards must be crazy, and they cried out after +him, 'Pazzi! Pazzi!' which means mad-man. Finally he was called by the +name of Pazzi, and was the founder of the Pazzi family, which to this +day shares with the government the expense of burning the car at +Easter time. + +"The light and the two pieces of the stone sepulchre are treasured in +the oldest church in Florence. They are taken out once every year, and +the people are allowed to look at them, and are also permitted to +light their candles at the sacred flame. They count that a great +blessing. + +"The burning of the car is an interesting ceremony, and thousands of +people come from far and near to see it. Two yoke of pure white +Tuscan oxen are chosen to pull the car into the Piazza del Duomo for +the burning; and proud is that peasant whose oxen are chosen for the +ceremony. + +"They are driven into the city on the night of Good Friday when +everything is very still, and are taken early the next morning to the +enormous barn where the great car is kept. + +"The car is built of wood and is hung with festoons of colored paper +and garlands of flowers. Fireworks of many kinds are hidden among the +flowers and paper,--some which make loud noises, and others which burn +with a bright light. + +"The oxen are harnessed to the car and draw it slowly through the +street to its place in the square in front of the cathedral,--'the +very great heart of Florence.' A wire is then stretched from the high +altar of the cathedral to the car in the square, and everything is in +readiness. + +"In the meantime a priest takes the holy light, very early on Saturday +morning, and walks with it to the cathedral, lighting the candles of +the people as he goes. On either side he is accompanied by a servant +in livery from the house of Pazzi. + +"Crowds of men, women and children, dressed in holiday attire, collect +in the square in front of the cathedral, and there is a babble of +voices, with much merriment and laughter. + +"Just before the hour of noon a great silence falls upon the crowd, +and the priests begin the Mass. At the moment when the 'Gloria in +Excelsis' is reached, the Archbishop places a lighted taper in the +bill of an artificial dove, and sends the dove down the wire to the +car. Then all the bells in the city begin to ring. + +"Down to the car flies the dove, and the taper in its bill sets fire +to the fireworks. Then it flies back to the high altar, and if the +trip is successful and the fireworks go off with a great burning and +banging, there is rejoicing among the crowds in the square, for it +means that the autumn harvests will be plentiful. + +"Then the prize oxen, all beautifully decorated with garlands, and +with blankets embroidered with the arms of the Pazzi family, are again +harnessed to the car; it is refilled with fireworks, and the burning +is repeated in the square Victor Emanuele, near the Pazzi palace. + +"And afterwards all the men buy new hats, and wear them home in honor +of the event. + +"I have heard that it rained last Easter-time, and that the burning +was not so good as usual," she said with a smile, "perhaps your +friends will not find plentiful harvests." + +Rafael smiled in answer, and looked at Edith's letter, where his eyes +fell upon her words about the tomb of the Scaligers. + +"Why do foreigners always find it hard to understand our Italian +history?" he asked. + +"Because for many centuries Italy was made up of small states, each +one governed by a different ruler,--sometimes a family, and sometimes +a Doge, as here in Venice. The Scaligers were a famous family which +ruled Verona for many years during the middle ages. + +"When I was a girl, Cavour, one of Italy's greatest statesmen, brought +about the unification of the many states into one kingdom under one +king, and since then our people have become happier and more +prosperous. Italy is now one of the important nations in Europe." + +She would have said more, but Rafael was tired of listening to the +stories of the past, and wished to plan for his journey. + +"I must get ready to go to Florence at once," he said. + +"It cannot be done in one day," replied his mother. "Write to your +friends that you will come on Thursday." + +So on Thursday he bade his mother good-bye and started on his journey. +He was taken to the station in his little boat, poled by his friend +Nicolo; and his last words to Nicolo as he left the boat were, "I am +so glad to go!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY + + +TO MADRE MIA IN VENICE:-- + +I am still glad! Yet it would not be so if you were not also glad for +me. + +It was the joy of the morning to find a letter from you to-day. Two +letters have I now had in my life, and both from Italy. I had thought +we Italians had letters from nobody but "friends in America," as +Paolo, the fruit-man, always says. + +And you say that Nicolo wishes to buy my boat; and that he will pay +for it after he has carried many passengers under the three bridges of +the Grand Canal, and to the Lido. + +Well, say to him that I cannot sell my boat. Did I not make it myself, +from an old fisherman's boat, with only a little help from Carlo, in +his workshop on the canal of the chestnut trees? And of a truth I will +not sell it to Nicolo. But I shall give it to him for his birthday +gift, if in return he will carry old Grandmother Nanna every Sunday +morning to early Mass, so that she will not miss it because I am no +longer there. + +I shall never want the boat again, because I am going to become a +citizen of Florence. + +It is true that we leave to-day for our automobile ride to Rome, but I +shall come back again. That is what everyone does who has once been +here. + +Why did you not tell me about the Palazzo Vecchio with the wonderful +statues in the Loggia? Did you think that because we have so much +beauty in our old Venice I should care for none elsewhere? + +And the pictures in the Pitti and the Uffizi palaces,--you should have +warned me that I would wear my eyes out with much looking at them! And +it is one thing to hear of Michael Angelo, and quite another to see +his great works! + +The American lady, Mrs. Sprague, with her guide-book, follows the +English-speaking guide about, and continually interrupts him to ask, +"At what page have we arrived now?" + +But her daughter is different. She carries no guide-book. She has a +boy's mind and asks questions about everything. She asked me about the +tunnels through which my train came from Venice. Ah, those tunnels! +There were twenty-two of them in sixteen miles, and the train whizzed +in and out in the most exciting manner. + +More I cannot say, but that I am perfectly happy! And I shall sign my +name Benvenuto, because the American girl says I am welcome. + +A thousand greetings to you, from your absent crab of a boy in +Florence, + +RAFAEL VALLA. + + * * * * * + +During that wonderful automobile ride from Florence to Rome, Rafael +was glad that his mother had told him so many stories of her native +city. There was pointed out to him on one of the Tuscan hills not far +from Florence, the same yoke of oxen that had drawn the car through +the city streets on the previous Easter, and he was able to tell Edith +the whole story of the "Burning of the Car." + +The chauffeur, under Mrs. Sprague's directions, took them off the +highway and close to the oxen and their driver. The horns of the oxen +were decorated with garlands of flowers and gay paper streamers, +because they were again to take part in a festival,--the festival of +the vintage; and on the drag behind them rested a great tun for the +wine. + +Rafael spoke to the smiling contadino and asked if they might follow +him to the harvest. + +"Not follow," he answered; "the oxen move but slowly, and must first +drag the tun to the wine-cellar at the farm-house. But you may lead," +he added. "It is a straight road along the base of the hill and +across the brook, to the gate of the vineyard." + +So they sped along in the automobile, and soon reached the busiest, +merriest place that Edith had ever seen. Men and women, boys and +girls, all dressed in the brightest, gayest colors, were cutting +grapes from the vines which hung in long festoons from tall trees. +They were constantly coming and going, with full baskets or empty +ones, and some of the boys had climbed ladders to pick the grapes from +the tree-tops. + +There was much shouting and laughter, with happy calls to one another +about the number of baskets of grapes each had picked, and the number +of lire the work would bring. + +"See how carefully that boy is cutting the grapes from the vines," +observed Edith, pointing to a lad about Rafael's age, who sang as he +worked, and who lifted the luscious, purple clusters of fruit into his +basket as lovingly as if they could feel the touch of his hand. + +Mrs. Sprague called attention to some of the vines, which had already +been stripped of leaves as well as fruit. + +"Why do they pick the leaves also?" she had Rafael ask one of the men. + +He answered that the grapes grew so thickly that it was necessary to +pick off the leaves in order that the fruit might get the full +benefit of the sun. "There is much to do for the grapes before they +can be picked," he added. "We must see to it that neither hail nor +wind spoils the clusters before the vintage." + +Then he explained that the grapes would soon be taken to the house and +poured into great vats, where they would be made into wine. + +Before Edith could ask about this process, Rafael shouted, "The oxen! +Here come the oxen!" and she turned to see the gaily decorated, white +oxen moving slowly across the field, drawing a big wagon. + +The driver led the oxen to the farther end of the vineyard, and the +boys and girls climbed upon the wagon with their baskets, and were +carried under the festoons of vines, picking clusters of grapes here +and there as they rode slowly along. + +"I should like to help pick the grapes," said Edith wistfully, as she +watched the merry pickers at their task. + +Rafael asked one of the men if she might be allowed to do so. He +smiled and nodded, pointing to an empty basket on the ground, and soon +the two children were filling it together, and laughing and shouting +with the others. + +"This is like a moving picture," Edith said to Rafael, when at last +their basket was filled and they had climbed into the ox-cart to ride +with the overflowing baskets and grape-stained children to the +farm-house. + +As they passed under the vines, Edith cut off some of the trailing +ends and made crowns for the bareheaded, black-haired peasant girls, +and one of them, more daring than the others, crowned Edith's own +black hair. + +Mrs. Sprague had already found her way to the house, and to the heart +of the farmer's wife, by admiring the little baby that lay sleeping in +its cradle under a fig tree near-by. + +The baby was wrapped in a swaddling band, a piece of linen four or +five yards long, which is wound round and round the tiny body, +beginning just under the arms and ending at the toes. It is a curious +fashion the Italians have of dressing their babies, and has been +followed ever since the Mother Mary wrapped the infant Jesus in a +swaddling band, so many hundred years ago. + +"Pretty bambino," Mrs. Sprague had said, pointing to the baby, and the +mother had found a hundred things to say in reply, in her voluble +Italian fashion, not one word of which Mrs. Sprague could understand. + +The farmer's wife was still talking when the vintage procession swung +into the yard, the boys and girls lifting their voices in a festival +song and keeping time to the swinging of the horns of the great white +oxen. + +Then there was the merry confusion of emptying the grapes into the +huge vats, and the choosing of certain men and maidens to trample out +the purple juice. + +Two or three always stand together in a single vat and press the +grapes with their bare feet, thus forcing out the juice, which runs +through an opening in the base of the vat into a wooden bucket. + +Some of the farmers use a machine to press the grapes, but many think +it should be done, as it was in old Bible times, with the human foot. +It seems that the feet know how to avoid crushing the seeds and the +skins, as a machine cannot know. + +Rafael asked to be allowed to press the grapes in one of the vats, and +after permission had been given him, Edith suddenly asked to do it +also. + +The farmer shook his head doubtfully. "It is very hard work," he +objected. + +Edith bade Rafael say that she was an American girl, and not afraid of +hard work, and at last she was permitted to stand with the Italian boy +in the vat and tread until she grew tired. + +However, to stand in the midst of juicy grapes means to spoil one's +clothes, so the farmer's wife took Edith and Rafael into the house and +dressed them like peasant children. + +There was much laughing and shouting from the other boys and girls +over the sight of the two strange wine-treaders, and it reminded Edith +of something. "Doesn't the Bible speak of the singing and laughing +that go with the vintage?" she asked her mother. + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Sprague, "there are many references in the Bible +to the vineyard and the vintage; and also to the fig trees, which seem +always to be planted in the vineyard." + +"When I was learning in my Sunday-school lessons about the vine and +the fig tree, I never dreamed that some day I should be eating grapes +and ripe figs, and treading in the wine-press, as they did in olden +times," said Edith. + +"It will be the best wine in the whole country," said the farmer, when +at last Edith was lifted out, her feet crimson with the blood of the +grapes. + +"I must see where they put it," she said, and followed to the dark +wine-cellar, where the grape juice was poured into a tank and left to +ferment. + +It was late in the afternoon when they were once more in readiness to +continue their journey toward Rome. The farmer's wife, who had told +them all her family history, in Italian, would have been glad to keep +them over night, but Mrs. Sprague shook her head. + +"Tell her that the bambino is very cunning," she said to Rafael, "but +we must be far along on our journey to-night." + +Rafael's heart sang again, "I am so glad to go!" Every moment spent in +the automobile was one of joy to him. He barely noticed the queer old +streets and ancient buildings of the towns through which they passed. +He cared more for the rapid motion of the car, and the sensation of +flying through the air; and besides, he knew well the customs of the +people in the Italian towns, and there was nothing strange to him in +the sight of men and women sitting at tables outside the cafés, or +wandering up and down in the public promenades. + +But he chattered in gay delight over the country sights. "See the +haystacks!" he would cry, "and the golden pumpkins! and oh, the ears +of yellow corn!" + +A small flock of geese ran into the road, hissing at the big red +automobile, and Rafael laughed gaily. + +"You should not laugh at those geese," Edith reproved him. "No doubt +they are descendants of the sacred geese that saved Rome." Then after +a moment of silence, she added, "Saved Rome from what?" + +"From the enemy," Rafael answered, with another laugh. + +"I know that, of course," said Edith; "but Rome has had so many +enemies that I can never keep the different ones separated in my +mind." + +Mrs. Sprague overheard the conversation, and said, "That is one reason +why I brought you to Italy, Edith. I want you to understand all this +Roman history, so that you will be able to pass your examinations when +you return to school." + +Rafael was interested to hear something about the American school +examinations, and Edith told him of her troubles with history. + +Then Rafael told of the difficulty he always had in remembering +whether George Lincoln lived before Abraham Washington, or afterwards; +and while Edith was explaining to him his mistake in the names, they +arrived at one of the many olive-groves that dot the Tuscan hillsides. + +"I think the vineyards are much prettier," said Edith. "But the +twisted black trunks, and the gray branches of the olive trees are +very picturesque," she added. + +Boy-like, Rafael began at once to make friends with the farmer, and +soon learned the whole process of crushing the oil from the ripe black +fruit. + +The farmer led them all to the sheds where the great stones were set +up to crush the olives. He showed them just how the work was done, and +then explained about the different grades of oil. + +"We buy a great deal of your Italian oil in America," said Mrs. +Sprague; and when Rafael had repeated this in Italian to the farmer, +the man went into the house and soon returned with two bottles of his +very best oil, which he presented to Edith and her mother. + +"We Italians sell more oil than any other country," he said proudly to +Rafael, "and we use a great quantity ourselves. It is much better than +butter for cooking." + +Then he showed them the barrels of mammoth green olives which he had +sold on the trees to an American dealer the month before, and which +were soon to be shipped to Genoa. + +Mrs. Sprague looked at the setting sun, and advised that they hurry on +to the next town, where they were to spend the night; and Rafael +rejoiced once more in the speed of the automobile. + +But Edith was tired, and was glad to reach a comfortable bed in Siena, +and lay her head upon the pillow filled with live-geese feathers; +after which she knew nothing more of Italy, until the next morning's +sun wakened her, and she began another day's journey over the roads of +Tuscany. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A MARATHON RUN TO ROME + + +"All roads lead to Rome!" called Edith, from her seat in the +automobile, to Rafael in the door of the inn. The boy gave her a merry +salute in answer, and climbed to his place by her side. + +It was a lovely morning, and every peasant they passed waved a hand in +friendly greeting to the two happy young people, while Mrs. Sprague +leaned back and listened to their merry chatter, which never stopped +through the long hours. + +Rafael was constantly calling Edith's attention to this thing or +that,--to the gray oxen, to the flocks of sheep, to the donkey carts +which they passed. At last Edith said, "Rafael, why do you look always +at the road? Why don't you look instead of those distant mountains, +with the castles and monasteries crowning their peaks?" + +Rafael looked somewhat bewildered. "These animals are all so +foreign-looking to me," he said gently; "and it is a new thing for me +to see men digging in the fields, and women picking leaves from the +trees." + +"Why, of course!" said Edith, remembering that Rafael was used to +canals instead of roads, and the changing waters of a lagoon rather +than green meadows. "It is a new sight to me, as well," she added, +"that of women picking the mulberry leaves to feed to silkworms. We +have few silkworms in our country. + +"But neither do we have mountains crowned with castles. When I go +home, I shall have to imagine that the hotel on top of Mt. Washington +is a haunted monastery crowning the summit of a lofty peak." + +Although Rafael knew nothing about Mt. Washington and the hotel on its +top, he did know that Edith was a bright, observant girl who liked a +touch of the ideal, so he asked, "Do you know about the Marathon runs +of ancient Greece?" + +"Yes, indeed!" she answered. "We have them now once a year at my own +home in the United States, and there is great excitement over the +winning of the twenty-six mile run." + +Rafael shook his head in mock discouragement. "There is nothing in +Europe which you have not also in the United States,--except age," he +added. + +"And history," said Edith. + +"Yes, history," the boy repeated. "I like our history." Then he +laughed and said drolly, "You may have all the history you like from +my mother. She says it is better than salt. My own head is filled to +bursting with all the stories she has told me of the men of olden +times; of their wars and victories, their triumphs and their games. +Why can we not call this ride to Rome a Marathon run?" + +"A Marathon run! What fun!" exclaimed the girl. "How far away is +Rome?" + +"More than a hundred miles," he said. "Do you suppose we could +possibly reach the site of the Golden Milestone before sunset?" + +Edith's eyes sparkled at the thought, and she leaned forward to speak +to the chauffeur. "Is the machine running well?" she asked. "Can we +travel one hundred miles to-day?" + +The man shook his head doubtfully. "There are mountains between here +and Rome," he answered, "and it is not well to push the car too hard." + +Edith looked at Rafael imploringly. "You are a man; can you not +persuade him?" she asked under her breath. + +The boy was pleased to be called a man; but as he was in truth a +gallant Italian lad, he said courteously, "It is for you to persuade." + +Then to the chauffeur he said, "Please stop for a moment at the first +olive-garden." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Edith curiously. + +"Make it easy for you to persuade," he answered; and as the car +stopped he jumped out, sprang to the top of the wall, broke off a +branch of beautiful, silvery-green leaves, and presented it to Edith +with a graceful bow. + +"What can you make with the leaves?" he asked with a smile. + +Edith looked at the branch thoughtfully for a moment. + +"I know," she cried, "the victor's crown of olives!" and she clapped +her hands together with delight. "See," she said to the chauffeur, "if +you will reach the Golden Milestone in Rome by sunset, you shall have +a crown of olive leaves." + +She said it hesitatingly. The chauffeur was a quiet, business-like +man, and Edith, with a child's judgment, supposed him to be too old to +feel a single thrill of ambition. + +Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was only the desire to give pleasure to the +American girl that moved him to smile faintly and say, "Well! Well! We +will see what our car can do; but it is not at all likely that we +shall see Rome this night." + +However, he began at once to increase the speed, carefully to be sure, +but with purpose. + +Edith turned to the task of plaiting a wreath of leaves. As her +fingers twisted and arranged them to make the most of their dull green +upper surfaces, she asked Rafael, "What of this Golden Milestone? I +have never heard of it." + +"It was a gilded stone set up in the old Roman Forum by the Emperor +Augustus," Rafael replied. "He wished to make of the city a great +trading center; and so he built many roads radiating from the Forum to +all parts of ancient Italy. The distances of all the principal towns, +measured from the city gates, were recorded on the golden stone. +Although it is no longer there, its place is marked." + +Edith was disappointed. "I thought I was going to see it," she said, +twisting a leaf to show its gray under-side. + +"There are so many other ruins from the days, of ancient Rome, that +you will never miss the milestone," Rafael assured her. + +"How do you know?" she asked. + +"My mother has told me about them," he answered. "It was only by word +of mouth that much of the earliest history of the world was made +known, and I have learned it in the same way." + +"It may not be the most 'up-to-date' fashion," said the girl, "but it +is certainly more interesting. I wish you would try it now, and tell +me something about the Eternal City." + +The young Italian boy, who was making his first journey into the heart +of his native land, felt his own heart expand with joy as he looked +across the beautiful valleys to the distant blue mountains for +inspiration. + +"It was many hundred years before the birth of Christ that people +first came into Italy," he said. "My mother told me that they wandered +over here from Central Asia in search of good pastures for their +flocks, but it was so many centuries ago that very little is known +about them." + +Edith pointed to a roughly thatched hut in a distant field, and asked, +"Do you suppose they lived in huts like that?" + +"Not at first," the boy answered. "It was a long time before they +built even such good huts as that one. It was only little by little +that they learned to clear the ground and cultivate it with rude +tools; to make dishes out of clay and cook their food; to spin and +weave the wool from their sheep, and to live under shelter. + +"At first each family lived by itself, but after a time they began to +form tribes and choose the strongest and bravest of their number for a +chief. This chief governed them in times of peace and led them in +their wars with other tribes, becoming their leader or king. + +"There were many such tribes in Italy, and for centuries they lived +here, waging constant warfare with each other and with other tribes +and nations." + +"Were there no civilized people in those days?" asked Edith. + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "there were the people of Egypt and Greece; and +some of the Grecians had already wandered over into Italy before the +time of Romulus. + +"When he ploughed a trench for the strong wall which was to be built +for a fortification, Romulus ploughed around a great altar to the +Greek god, Hercules." + +"Who was Romulus?" interrupted Edith. + +"It is said that he was the founder of the city of Rome," Rafael told +her. "He was a son of Mars, the god of war, and he founded the city +753 years before the birth of Christ. There are some parts of his wall +still standing. He lifted his plough over the places where the gates +were to be built." + +"Why, Rafael?" + +"Because the ground where the walls would stand was made sacred, but +the gateways would be profaned by the passing of many feet." + +"How many gates were there?" Edith asked. + +"Three; but please don't ask me their names, for I never learned them. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city." + +[Illustration: GATEWAY OF SAN SEBASTIAN, ROME. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city.] + +Edith put down her wreath and laughed with glee. "I'm glad there is +something you never learned about Italian history," she said. "But +tell me what it was like, this early city of Rome." + +"Romulus chose a hill for the site of his village, and soon men from +the neighboring tribes came to join him, so that the town grew large +and prosperous and covered two hills instead of one. + +"Those early Romans lived in rude huts. They made their tools of +flint, bone and bronze, and their dishes of clay. Beside each house +was a garden and sheepfold. Every morning the peasants went to their +work on the farms, and the shepherds drove their little flocks outside +the city walls. Arched gateways were built in the walls, and through +these gates everyone entering or leaving the city was obliged to +pass." + +"Think of having sheep and cattle inside the city," exclaimed Edith. +"I suppose they had to be protected from the wild animals." + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "and from the hostile tribes who were always +ready to steal them. There are many stories about those tribes, and +about the kings who governed the city after Romulus died. Some of the +kings made wise laws and ruled in peace, but others led armies to +conquer the neighboring tribes, and added small territories to their +kingdom." + +"And I suppose each king tried to do something to make his name +famous," said Edith. + +"Not for that reason," Rafael replied. "He did it for the good of the +city. Many of the roads and canals and temples which are now famous +ruins, were built by some of those old kings. + +"As Rome was on the River Tiber, fifteen miles from the sea, one king +built a seaport at the mouth of the river, and a long straight road +leading down to it, which was laid so solidly that it is still in use +to-day. + +"The valleys between the hills of Rome were wet and marshy. A king +named Tarquin drained those marshes by building immense stone sewers. +One of them was so large that several yoke of oxen could pass through +it side by side, and the work was so well done that it is in good +condition now, although it is more than twenty-four hundred years old. + +"One marsh which the sewer drained was used as a market-place. +Shop-keepers set their stalls up there; temples and public buildings +were erected, and it became known as the Roman Forum." + +"The very Forum where we are going?" asked Edith eagerly. + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "the very Forum where Augustus, several hundred +years later, set up the Golden Milestone." + +"What else did those old Romans do?" asked Edith. + +"They were fond of amusements," said Rafael. "One of the valleys +between two of the hills was a good place for races and other games. +On the sloping hillsides on each side of the valley, seats were built +for thousands of spectators, and the place was called the Circus +Maximus. + +"The same king who built the sewers built also a strong fortress on +the top of one of the hills. This fortress was called the Capitol, and +the hill was called the Capitoline Hill. He also ordered that a wall +should be built all around the seven hills to enclose the city, but it +was not finished during his lifetime." + +"Let us get out the map and look at it," suggested the girl, who had +finished plaiting the olive wreath. + +So the wreath was put away in the hamper, and the two heads were soon +bending over a great map of Rome; and Rafael traced the lines of the +old wall which Romulus built. + +Just then Mrs. Sprague looked up at the sun. "It is time for lunch," +she said, and began unpacking the lunch-basket, while the car rolled +steadily nearer and nearer to the Roman Forum. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE GOLDEN MILESTONE" + + +"If we are to reach Rome at sunset, some one must lend a hand at the +wheel," said the chauffeur, as the children finished eating their +lunch. "There is not a moment to lose, and I, also, am hungry." + +Rafael sprang at once to his side. He had longed to drive the +automobile from the very moment they began the journey from Florence, +and had often sat on the seat beside the chauffeur, watching him, and +asking him questions about his work. + +There followed a glorious afternoon for the boy. He was a ready pupil, +the roads were good, and the friendly chauffeur a careful teacher. + +They passed peasant women in gay bodices, with folded handkerchiefs on +their heads and long earrings in their ears, carrying baskets of fruit +on their arms. They passed peasant men driving donkeys or oxen, who +smiled at them from under hats decorated with pompons of colored paper +and tinsel. Geese ran out to hiss at them as they flew by, and hens +and chickens fluttered out of their way; but Rafael had eyes only for +the road. + +They passed lemon groves and rose-gardens, and Edith was grieved +because Rafael could not enjoy with her every new and strange sight. + +"I wanted you to tell me more about the Roman ruins," she said. + +But the boy tossed a merry smile back at her for answer. "We will +speak more about those things when we are in Rome," he said. "I can +think of nothing now but flying," and he bent his eyes again to the +road. + +At last they began the descent of a lofty hill, and the car glided +into the road which is the old Flaminian Way, leading directly to the +city. + +Edith felt the thrill which always stirs the heart when one first +draws near to the Eternal City. She leaned forward and said to the +chauffeur, "How do you feel, to be riding toward Rome?" + +For answer the man pointed to the sun, which was low in the western +sky. "There is only another hour of sunlight," he said with a smile. + +"Oh, shall we fail to reach the Golden Milestone at sunset?" the girl +asked, as anxiously as if it were the most important thing in the +world to win their Marathon run. + +But Rafael suddenly lifted a hand from the wheel. "Ecco!" he said, +pointing to the distant South. + +Edith followed the direction of his finger. Far away she saw the +great dome of a cathedral rising toward the clouds. + +"Rome! St. Peter's!" she shouted. + +The boy nodded. The splendor of the ancient city flashed into his +mind. He saw as in a dream the magnificent temples and palaces, the +triumphal processions, the chariot-races, the games and combats of the +early Romans, about which his mother had told him so many stories. + +"It is a wonderful city," he said. "What tales those old walls could +tell!" + +As they crossed the River Tiber he heard Edith murmur behind him, "Oh, +Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray!" and then it seemed but +a moment before they were rolling through a massive stone gateway, and +the chauffeur had taken the wheel. + +As Rafael lifted his eyes to look about him once more, they looked +straight into the eyes of a man who was riding in the opposite +direction, and he smiled. He did not know that he had smiled, nor that +this man was the king of Italy. His thoughts were back again with the +conquerors of the early days, and the splendors of the ancient city. + +But the king had noticed the boy, and turned to look after him. "That +was the spirit of the old Romans looking from his eyes," he said to +his attendant. + +The last rays of the setting sun fell upon the scarred columns of the +ruined Forum, as the car rounded the base of the Capitoline Hill and +stopped at the spot where the Golden Milestone once marked the +beginning of the Roman roads. + +Rafael was speechless; but Edith took the olive wreath from the hamper +with exclamations of delight. + +"Where will you have it?" she asked the chauffeur, "on your head or +your wheel?" + +"It belongs to the car triumphal," he answered as they turned and +moved cautiously through the street-car tracks of modern Rome. + +"There could never have been such a record run made by your kings and +emperors of olden times," said the girl proudly to Rafael. + +But he was too happy with his thoughts to make any reply, and Edith +turned her attention to the conversation between her mother and the +chauffeur. + +"To the Continental Hotel," Mrs. Sprague was saying, and all too soon +they had crossed the city, and were welcomed and given rooms in the +hotel. The chauffeur bade them good-bye, and their Marathon run was a +thing of the past. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A RAMBLE IN ROME + + +"Did you see a picturesque-looking shepherd, dressed in shaggy skins, +driving his flock through the square at midnight?" + +Rafael asked the question at the breakfast table one morning, about +two weeks after their arrival in Rome. + +"No, indeed!" Edith answered. "I was fast asleep. How could you see +what he wore?" + +"It was bright moonlight," Rafael told her in reply. "I could see +plainly his sheepskin jacket and the long hair of his goatskin +leggins. He had a great white dog to help him guide the sheep, and +they entered the square and passed through it so silently that it +seemed almost like a dream." + +"Perhaps it was a dream," said Edith; but Rafael shook his head, and +the girl went on, "Now I had a dream about the geese that saved Rome; +but you will no doubt tell me that if I had looked out of the window I +should have seen them following old Mother Goose through the square." + +Rafael laughed. "I do not know your old Mother Goose," he said, and +left the table to telephone for the guide who was to take them to see +some of the famous ruins of ancient Rome. + +In a short time the guide arrived, and they were ready to drive +through the city streets. This guide was Professor Gates, a man who +had lived in Rome over twenty-five years, studying its history and +ancient ruins, and he had already taken Rafael, with Edith and Mrs. +Sprague, to see many interesting places. + +"Where are we going to-day?" Edith asked, as they took their seats in +the carriage. + +"I want you to drive a little distance along the Appian Way," replied +their guide; "but we will look first at some of the arches of the old +aqueduct which was built by Appius Claudius, many years before the +birth of Christ, to bring water to the city from the mountains sixty +miles away." + +It was a lovely morning for a drive, and Edith and Rafael saw many +sights to point out to each other. Near the foot of one of the arches +of the aqueduct they found a group of models picking flowers, and +Edith asked them to pose for a picture. + +It was a pretty little group. The boy wore a conical hat adorned with +a feather, a red jacket, and sandals which were bound upon his feet +with red cords that were interlaced up the legs as far as the knees. +His mother and sister wore bright red skirts and green aprons, and +they all smiled at Edith as she tossed them some coins for posing. + +"You will find such models all over the city," said Professor Gates. + +"Like all-over embroidery," said Edith with a merry laugh; but no one +saw her little joke, so she asked more seriously, "How did the water +flow through the arches?" + +"It did not flow through the arches, but through the aqueduct which +you see at the top," the guide explained. "If you remember your Latin +you will know that this word is formed from two others which mean +'water' and 'to lead.' In some places the aqueduct was laid upon the +ground, but here there was a valley to be crossed, as you see, and the +arches formed a bridge over which the pipe was laid." + +From the aqueduct they drove to the old Appian Way. + +"The Appian Way was named after Appius Claudius, who built a part of +it," Professor Gates explained. "It is three hundred miles long, and +crosses Italy to Brindisi, a seaport on the south-eastern coast." + +"I thought you said that Appius Claudius built the aqueduct," said +Mrs. Sprague. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. +The arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top.] + +"So he did," replied the professor. "The road is called 'Appian' +after one of his names, and the aqueduct 'Claudian' after the other." + +"Was he one of the kings of early Rome?" asked Edith, taking out her +note-book. + +"No," he answered, "the kingdom came to an end more than two hundred +years before this road was begun. This is one of the great works of +the republic." + +"What a glorious sight it must have been to see the Roman army come +marching home in triumph from some of its great victories," said +Rafael. "Think how thousands of soldiers, with spears and helmets +flashing in the sun, marched over this road, leading their prisoners +of war." + +"Yes," said Edith, "and think how the Roman women came hurrying +through that old gate to meet them, shouting with joy at their +return." + +The professor smiled at the children. He liked the way they had begun +to see pictures in their minds of the earlier days of Rome. He called +their attention to the ruins of tombs which are scattered along the +road on either side, and then pointed to three peasant children who +had been playing in the field, but had stopped to watch the strangers. +"There is ancient Rome and young Italy. You will find one quite as +interesting as the other," he said. + +"Most of what you see is historic," he told them as they rode back +into the city. "There is a story about every ruin along the Appian +Way. I have told you the legends of the kings, but there are also +tales to tell of the days of the republic and of the glorious empire." + +"Rafael likes those old kings," said Edith. "How did the kingdom +happen to come to an end?" + +"One of the Kings was such a cruel tyrant that the people rose in +rebellion, under the leadership of a man named Brutus, and drove the +king and his followers from the city," replied the professor. "Brutus +then persuaded the Romans never again to be ruled by a king, so two +men were elected each year to govern the people, and the kingdom +became a republic. That was about five hundred years before the birth +of Christ. + +"During the time of the republic, which lasted nearly five hundred +years, the Romans were waging constant warfare with other tribes and +nations, to gain wealth and power. One war followed another in rapid +succession, and there were many famous warriors who fought bravely for +the glory of Rome." + +"Horatius was one of those old warriors," said Rafael. + +"Yes," said Edith, "Horatius, who held back the army of the enemy from +crossing the bridge over the River Tiber. I learned a poem about it +once." + +"The bridge was a wooden one which crossed the river at a spot near +here," said the guide. "We will drive around to see the place where it +stood." + +They soon reached the bend of the river where Horatius called for +volunteers to aid him in defending the city. + +"Let me hear the story again," said Edith, "right here where he once +stood," and Rafael told it with shining eyes. + +"Horatius was a brave soldier who had already lost an eye in the +service of Rome," he began; "and now he was ready to lose his life if +need be. He crossed the bridge with two companions, and called for men +to come forward from the ranks of the enemy and fight. + +"While they fought, the Roman soldiers were cutting down the bridge +behind them. The two companions of Horatius turned and saw that, at +last, the bridge was about to fall, so they ran back to safety. But +Horatius was so brave that he remained alone, fighting until the +bridge crashed down. + +"Then there was no way for the enemy to cross the river and enter +Rome, so he jumped into the water with all his armor on, and swam +safely to the other side, where he was received with great +rejoicing." Edith jotted a few words down in her note-book, murmuring +as she did so:-- + + "Still is the story told, + How well Horatius kept the bridge + In the brave days of old." + +"Another hero of the days of the republic was Cincinnatus," said +Professor Gates. "He was an old soldier who was plowing in his fields +when he was called upon to lead a small company of brave men to aid +the Roman army, which was surrounded by the enemy and could not fight +its way out. + +"After Cincinnatus conquered the enemy and rescued the army, he +returned to Rome, where he was given a grand triumph." + +"I suppose our city of Cincinnati was named after him," said Edith, +and then without waiting for an answer, she asked, "What was a grand +triumph?" + +"Those triumphs were often granted to famous victors, and were times +of great rejoicing," the professor said. "The day was made a holiday, +the houses were decorated with garlands, the streets were filled with +throngs of people, and there was music and feasting throughout the +city. + +"Magnificent processions passed through the streets. Beautiful maidens +scattered flowers before the victor, who looked very fine, clad in +purple robes and riding in a triumphal car. + +"The prisoners of war followed the victor's chariot, to make his +triumph more of a spectacle, and soldiers carrying booty taken from +the conquered cities marched beside them singing hymns of victory, +while the shouts of the Roman populace called down blessings and +praises upon the head of their hero. + +"The procession passed through the Forum, and at the foot of the hill +the victor turned to the left to go to the Capitol, where +thank-offerings were made to the gods, while the prisoners turned to +the right and were led away to prison. + +"It must have been a magnificent sight, even in those old days of +splendor," he added, and turned to lead the way back to their +carriage. + +"Those triumphs must have cost a great deal of money," said Mrs. +Sprague. + +"There were enormous fortunes in old Rome, and the people spent +extravagant sums on amusements and public celebrations," their guide +told her. "One of the greatest of all the triumphs was given in honor +of Julius Cæsar, when he returned from conquering the Gauls. He wrote +an account of his wars with those barbarians which has been read by +many thousands of school children." + +"Is it in Latin?" Edith asked. + +"Yes," replied the professor. "That was the language of the Roman +people." + +"I have read it then," said the girl; and she sighed as she thought of +the tears she had shed over her Latin lessons and Cæsar's accounts of +his wars with the Gauls. + +"Julius Cæsar was one of the greatest generals the world has ever +known," said Professor Gates. "He was a powerful leader and ruler of +men, and it was this great power that made him ambitious to be called +Emperor of Rome, and to make the republic an empire. + +"Some of his friends feared he would be successful in this attempt, +and, joining his enemies, they assassinated him. They loved the +freedom of their country more than they did Cæsar. + +"His body was burned in the Roman Forum," added the professor. "But +not long after his death the republic did actually become an empire." + +"Tell us about the empire," begged Rafael, who always wished to know +everything at once. + +"Not to-day," said Mrs. Sprague, looking at her watch. "It is time for +luncheon and our afternoon rest." + +"That is true," said the professor, looking at the sun. "Some other +day, with Mrs. Sprague's permission, I will take you to the Colosseum +and then we will hear about the empire." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM + + +Edith was sitting at the hotel window with her note-book open before +her. "Professor Gates tells us so much," she said, "that it is all +mixed up in my mind. + +"But it is my dearest wish to get it straightened out," she added +quickly, as she saw the troubled look on her mother's face. "What is +your dearest wish?" she asked Rafael, who was reading a letter from +his mother. + +"I have none," he answered, "since the Signora has been so good as to +bring me to this wonderful city." + +"Oh, Rafael!" Edith said merrily, "you must have found an Italian +blarney stone somewhere." Then she went on more seriously, "Every one +always has a dearest wish. As fast as one is fulfilled, another takes +its place." + +He smiled. "Very well, since it must be so, I have a dearest wish," he +said, "and it is to serve the king." + +Edith looked at him with laughing eyes. "That is a very fine wish," +she said; "but I think mine is more likely to be granted first, +because Professor Gates is to take us to the Colosseum this very +morning, and I shall ask him every question about this history that I +can think of." + +Several days had passed since their excursion to the Appian Way, but +the children had found every one full to overflowing. The mornings had +been spent in the art galleries and churches, and the afternoons in +driving through the Campagna or the beautiful grounds of the Villa +Borghese. + +One whole day had been devoted to visiting St. Peter's Cathedral, +which is the largest church in the whole world, and to seeing the +treasures of the Vatican,--the home of the Pope. + +Mrs. Sprague was glad to sit quietly on her camp-stool and let the +children wander about the enormous buildings under the direction of +the guide. Of all the treasures, Rafael liked best the pictures in the +Vatican by the great painter Rafael, for whom he was named; but Edith +was more interested in the mosaics and statues in the cathedral, and +in the huts of the workmen who live on the roof, and spend all their +time in repairing the vast church. + +During the noon hours they had stayed in the hotel, where their rooms +had gradually taken on a most homelike appearance. Beautiful, +bright-colored Roman scarfs found their way from the shops to the +children's tables, and photographs of the places that they had visited +turned the walls into picture galleries. + +Rosaries, bought from old women on the church steps, and later blessed +by the Pope, hung over the mirrors. In their work-baskets Edith and +her mother always had a bit of sewing to catch up at odd moments, and +there were books, maps and papers everywhere. + +Rafael fitted into this cozy atmosphere with wonderful ease. He never +returned from a walk without a bouquet of flowers for the vases on the +tables, and he fell into a way of carrying a light camp-stool in their +excursions through the picture-galleries, so that Mrs. Sprague could +sit down when she was tired. + +But this morning Mrs. Sprague was to visit some friends who were +spending the winter in Rome, and Edith and Rafael were going alone +with Professor Gates to the Colosseum. + +"There is nothing new under the sun," said Rafael, as they stepped out +of the hotel elevator. "I have just been reading that there were +elevators in the Colosseum nearly two thousand years ago." + +"They couldn't have been much like this fine one," said Edith. "What +were they for?" she asked, taking out her note-book. + +"They were used to lift the fierce wild animals out of the underground +pits where they were kept until it was time for them to fight in the +arena," Rafael told her, and added, "You haven't much more room in +that note-book." + +"The only way I can remember all you tell me is by making a note of +it," Edith replied with a laugh, and turned to greet the guide, who +had a carriage waiting for them. + +There were many other tourists' carriages standing outside the great +ruin of the Colosseum, but as the professor led the two children under +the arches and into the arena they were hardly conscious of these +other sight-seers, so vast is this king of buildings. + +"The Colosseum was an enormous out-door theatre which seated over +eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for many +more," the guide told them. + +As Edith climbed up to sit on one of the stone seats, Rafael said, +"Think of all the old Romans who sat on these same stones, and who +looked down into that arena at the terrible battles between men and +beasts." + +[Illustration: THE COLOSSEUM AT ROME. +This enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people.] + +"Yes," added Professor Gates, "for four hundred years the Roman people +came here on holidays, and sometimes they had as many as one hundred +and twenty-five holidays in one year. They came to be amused and +entertained with games, contests, and combats between men and wild +beasts; and they saw with delight many scenes of bloodshed and death, +too horrible for me to describe to you." + +The children looked with him at the deep underground pits where the +animals--lions, tigers, elephants, and other savage beasts--were kept, +and at the places where two aqueducts led the water into the arena. + +"Those old Romans were always trying to find some new way of pleasing +the people," he told them, "and sometimes they made a large lake of +the arena, and had boats on the lake fighting terrible battles, in +which many men were killed just for amusement. There are no walls now +standing which have seen so much of the splendor and cruelty of +ancient days," he added. + +Edith sighed. "I shall never boast about the stadium at Cambridge +again," she said. + +"This Colosseum was built in the early days of the Roman Empire," the +guide continued. "The first and greatest of the Roman emperors was +Augustus, for whom our month of August was named. During his reign +many buildings were repaired which had begun to crumble to ruins in +the days of the republic, when the Romans had devoted most of their +time and money to wars, and many other beautiful buildings were +erected. It was said of this emperor that he found Rome brick and left +it marble. + +"It was during the reign of Augustus that the most important event in +the history of the world took place. Christ was born in Bethlehem. +Every event which happened before the birth of Christ is said to have +taken place so many years B. C. (before Christ). All dates after His +birth are given as so many years A. D.--Anno Domini--(two Latin words +which mean 'in the year of our Lord')." + +"I was born in 1893 A. D.," said Edith, "and that means that it was +eighteen hundred and ninety-three years after the birth of Christ." + +"Yes," said Rafael, "and Julius Cæsar was killed in 44 B. C., and that +means forty-four years before Christ was born." + +"True," said the professor, "and Julius Cæsar was born in 100 B. C., +which makes him fifty-six years old when he died. Can you puzzle that +out for yourselves?" + +Then without waiting for a reply, he continued, "The Roman Empire was +very large, with vast provinces, but it also had powerful enemies. +Among these enemies were the barbarians in Central Europe, and it was +necessary for Augustus to protect his northern frontier with strong +forces, to keep them out of the country. This he did, but we shall +see that later emperors failed to see the importance of this step, and +this was one of the causes that led finally to the destruction of the +city of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. + +"Augustus also encouraged trade, and built roads which radiated from +the Golden Milestone at the head of the Forum to all parts of the +Roman world. From this came the saying, 'All roads lead to Rome.'" + +"We came into Rome in an automobile on one of the roads which were +built so long ago," said Edith, "and we have seen the site of the +Golden Milestone; but I should like better to see an old Roman chariot +with four prancing horses go whirling around this arena." + +"My mother has told me that many Christians have died for their faith +in this same arena," said Rafael. + +"Yes," replied the guide, "after the birth of Christ people began, +little by little, to follow His teachings and to become Christians. In +the centuries before the Christian religion was the accepted religion +of Rome many hundreds, and even thousands, of men and women were put +to death both here and elsewhere. + +"During the reign of Nero, who was a very cruel emperor, a great fire +destroyed a large part of the city, and many Christians were tortured +and killed on the groundless suspicion that they had caused the fire. + +"Come," he added, looking at Edith's sad face, "let us think of +something more cheerful," and he led the way out of the Colosseum and +down the road to a great stone arch. + +"This arch commemorates the famous victories of Constantine," their +guide told the children. "He was the first emperor to become a +Christian." + +"How did he happen to become a Christian?" asked Edith. + +"Soon after he was declared emperor, he was leading his army to battle +one day, when a bright cross suddenly appeared in the sky. Surrounding +the cross were four words which mean, 'In this sign conquer.' On +seeing the vision, Constantine vowed to become a Christian if he +should win a victory over the enemy; and he ordered a new standard, +bearing the cross and the inscription, which was carried before him in +the battle. + +"He did win the victory, the enemy was defeated, and he entered Rome +in great triumph. In memory of the victory this very arch was called +the Arch of Constantine. He also kept his vow to become a Christian, +and for the first time the Christians were given equal liberty with +the pagans, who still worshipped the Roman gods." + +Edith, who had been writing again in her note-book, looked up at the +professor with a laugh. "If this Roman Empire doesn't come to an end +soon, I shall have to buy a new note-book," she said. + +Rafael laughed, too. "You will need a whole library of books to hold +all the history of the Roman Empire," he told her. + +"Are we going to hear it all?" Edith asked anxiously. + +"No," replied Professor Gates, "there is little more for me to tell +to-day. After the death of Constantine there were many more terrible +wars with the barbarians. At last the fierce Goths crossed the Alps +and marched down to the very walls of Rome. They besieged the city, +burst in by surprise, killed hundreds of the people, and destroyed +many of the buildings. As they also were Christians, they spared the +churches and all who took refuge in them." + +"I have heard of the Goths," said Edith, "and of the Vandals, too. +Where did they come from?" + +"They came over from Africa, captured Rome, and remained here fourteen +days, destroying the buildings and sacking the city. They carried away +whole ship-loads of booty, and took many of the Romans to be their +slaves. + +"The Roman Empire had already been divided into two parts, and +Constantinople was the capital of the Empire of the East. The Bishop +of Rome, who was called the Pope, now became the ruler of the Empire +of the West. He succeeded to the throne of the deposed emperor, and +held this position of power until 1870, when Victor Emanuele I. was +made king of Italy." + +"Viva l'Italia!" said Rafael, tossing up his cap. + +"Don't toss up your cap like that," Edith reproved him. "Those little +beggars may think you are tossing it for them. Ecco!" she called to +the boys, and threw a few coins to the funny little fellows who ran +along beside the carriage, begging for coppers even while they stood +on their heads. + +"I can buy photographs of all your famous ruins," she said to +Professor Gates, as she pointed her camera at the heap of boys +scrambling in the road for the coins, "but I shall always like best my +own pictures of these happy little Italian children." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MERRY NAPLES + + +Rafael wrote his mother joyful accounts of those happy days in Rome. + +And he saw the king! It happened upon an afternoon when all Rome, +dressed in gayest costumes for one of the festivals, crowded into open +carriages and drove out to the Villa Borghese. + +In the shade of a great tree, where a living spring bubbles up from +the ground, Rafael twisted a leaf into a cup, which he filled with +water and offered to Edith. + +As he looked beyond the girl, he met a piercing glance from a pair of +brilliant blue eyes. This time he knew the king at once, and saluted +him. + +The king smiled, saying to his aide, "I have seen that boy before. He +wore the look then of an older Italy, but now he has the promise of +the young country in his eyes." + +Rafael wrote his mother of that smile. "I could follow the king +anywhere for another like it," the letter said. + +Then he wrote of the heavy Roman faces; the hard, tiresome pavements, +and the noisy clang of the street cars,--all so different from his +bright, silent Venice. + +"But there are pleasant things," he wrote. "There are many beautiful +fountains where the water gushes all day; and I often go out of my way +for a sight of the Pope's soldiers, the Swiss Guard, standing at the +entrance to the Vatican. They make me think of our Venetian +mooring-posts with their many-colored stripes; and their stately +halberds are not unlike the prow of our gondolas. I am very grateful +to Michael Angelo for designing a costume which reminds me of home. + +"Often we meet schools of boys walking two by two, wearing black +dress-suits and high, stiff black hats, and I am glad I am not one of +them." + +His mother sighed as she read of his endless pleasure, and wondered if +it would estrange him from his quiet life in Venice. Then she wrote a +long letter in answer, in which she said, "Remember that the fine old +Roman character was weakened through ease and indulgence. Remember, +also, that our young king likes nothing so much as devotion to duty." + +Her letter ended with a quotation from an English poet,--"Live pure, +speak true, right wrong, follow the king." + +Rafael read between the lines that she feared he would learn to like +his happy life with the Spragues too well. He lifted his eyes from the +letter and acknowledged to himself that this freedom from care and +responsibility was very pleasant. Mrs. Sprague indulged him as she +indulged Edith. The treasures of the shops flowed into his own room as +well as hers, and no door which money could open remained closed to +them in this city of precious sights. + +His eyes fell again to the letter, and a choking feeling filled his +throat as he pictured his mother sitting alone in the home in Venice. +"The dear, lonely mother!" he said to himself. "My letters have given +her sad thoughts." + +Then, with a boy's carelessness, he said, laughing lightly at his +English joke, "I can write wrong, it seems; but can I follow the +king?" + +Just then Edith ran into the room crying, "Mother has decided to take +the noon train to Naples. Doesn't she do everything suddenly?" And +Rafael forgot his mother's letter in his pleasure over another +journey. + +The car ride to Naples always remained in the boy's mind as a +succession of pictures; but no picture could reveal the many phases of +his mind as he passed from one experience to another in the days that +followed. + +"The guide-book calls this the most fertile valley in Europe," said +Mrs. Sprague, as they rode along, catching glimpses of farmers plowing +in the fields. The distant hills were soft and blue, but on drawing +near to them, terraces and flights of steps were to be seen on the +slopes. + +At last Edith called, "I see Vesuvius!" and the wonderful volcano lay +before them. Its smoke rose in a straight column and then broke, +trailing off into the distance like the smoke from an ocean liner. + +"It makes the mountain look like a man-of-war," exclaimed Rafael, and +the two pairs of eyes hardly saw anything else until they reached +Naples. + +"Let us go to a hotel where we can see the fire at night, if it comes +out of the volcano," said Edith; and they took rooms from which they +could watch every mood of Vesuvius. + +Before they had been in the city three days Edith decided that she +liked it better than she did Rome. "The people there looked so +serious," she said, "while here they are very merry and sociable." + +Mrs. Sprague laughed. "They are certainly sociable enough," she said. +"Yesterday I heard a woman read a letter aloud from an upper window to +her friend on the sidewalk below." + +Edith laughed in her turn. "Was the window in the same house where we +saw the rooster and chickens in the upper balcony?" she asked. + +[Illustration: "IT IS A FUNNY SIGHT TO SEE THE BOYS OF NAPLES EATING + MACARONI" ] + +Rafael felt a touch of sadness at hearing their light talk. "The poor +people!" he said. "When they live upstairs there is no other way but +for them to keep their animals up there with them." + +"Many of them seem to live in the basements of the rich," observed the +girl. + +To Rafael, the sight of such great poverty was no new thing, but Edith +spoke of it constantly, and wrote of it to her father in America. + +"There seem to be nothing but happiness and laziness here among these +poor people," the letter said. "They live and eat upon the sidewalk, +and it is a funny sight to see the boys swallowing macaroni. + +"Many of the rooms in which the people sleep seem to be spaces left in +the foundation of a castle, with no windows or doors in the openings. +Often the castles seem to be ruined hills; and they have great holes +in their barren sides, like caverns in the sides of cliffs; and we see +barred doorways instead of windows, with dungeons beyond. + +"Then suddenly the hills blossom out into ramparts and parapets, so +that it is impossible to distinguish between hills and castles; and to +puzzle us still more, long flights of steps lead up between hilly +castles and castled hills. + +"Occasionally we see a group of basket-makers, or tailors, or +shoemakers on the sidewalks among the family groups of fathers, +mothers and children. A little beyond such a group we saw yesterday a +herd of goats resting comfortably in the shade, also on the sidewalk. + +"Early in the morning these goats are driven through the streets. They +stop in front of a doorway, a woman runs out with a cup, the man milks +her cup full and then drives on to the next doorway. Sometimes, if the +woman lives on an upper floor of the house, one of the goats is driven +up the stairs, to be milked at her very door. + +"We see rich people, also, driving in their splendid carriages on +their most beautiful boulevard, overlooking the blue bay; and in +contrast to them and their spirited horses, a contadino will come +bringing a load of produce to market from the country, driving a white +cow harnessed between a full-grown horse and a tiny mule." + +While the American girl was marvelling at the queer mingling of riches +and poverty in Naples, Rafael was drinking in the beauty of the bay, +and of the lovely villages which lie along its border. + +Mrs. Sprague stayed two or three weeks in Naples, although she said +that she did not like it at all. "The people are so shiftless," she +complained, picking up her skirts and walking round a group of girls +who were sitting on the sidewalk combing their hair. "It is the +dirtiest city in the world." + +"Oh, Mother!" Edith exclaimed, "how can you say so? When we go out on +the bay in the evening and I look back at the city, it seems to me +most beautiful. It is like an amphitheatre, with its tiers of lights +rising one above another. Then she sang softly:-- + + "My soul to-day is far away, + Sailing the Vesuvian Bay!" + +"Avanti!" exclaimed Rafael suddenly, and shook his head at a boy who +was offering a pair of pearl opera-glasses for Mrs. Sprague to buy. +Mrs. Sprague drew the back of her hand under her chin, tossing her +head at the same time. + +The little peddler laughed and showed his white teeth at the awkward +motion of the American lady, but he did not insist that she should +buy. + +As for Edith and Rafael, they looked plainly astonished. "Why, +Mother!" said the girl admiringly, "you are talking in a foreign +language when you use signs. How did you happen to find out such an +easy way to dismiss the little beggar?" + +"I was driven to it," answered her mother. "These foreigners have +cheated me out of half my money by asking me to pay so much for their +wares. They will never take 'no' for an answer. That same boy has been +trying to make me buy that same pair of opera-glasses for three days; +but at last I have found out a sign that will keep him away. I have +seen the others use it," she said with satisfaction. + +"What does it mean?" asked Edith curiously. + +"It means 'I will not take it at any price,'" said Mrs. Sprague. + +Rafael, who had been laughing with great amusement while she gave this +explanation, now said, "This language of signs is very convenient. We +Italians do half our talking by signs." + +Edith looked at him and shook her head decidedly. "Just listen!" she +said, pointing to the groups of people gathered along the quay. These +people were all talking in the liveliest manner imaginable, and there +was a great babble of excited voices. Street peddlers were crying +their wares, drivers were cracking their whips, and men in boats, on +the water below, were shouting to each other about the price of fish. + +"It is certainly the noisiest city in the world," Edith said; "but it +is also the jolliest. I am going now to the stand where the public +letter-writer sat waiting for customers yesterday. I will let him +write a letter for me." + +The three separated and Mrs. Sprague returned to the hotel, while +Rafael went down to the quay to watch the fishermen. The water with +its bustle and stir of life, its coming and going of boats, was like a +breath of home to the boy. + +[Illustration: POMPEII AND MOUNT VESUVIUS] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BURIED CITY + + +Edith and Rafael planned their trip to the top of Vesuvius for many +days before the right morning finally arrived. + +"The right morning is a bright morning," sang Edith one evening as she +looked out at the stars; "and to-morrow will bring a bright morning," +she added, so positively that Mrs. Sprague sent Rafael to buy the +tickets, in order that they might be ready for an early start. + +Although it was the last week in December the air was soft and warm, +and the sun shone with the brightness of summer. + +From Naples to the foot of Mt. Vesuvius there was first a drive of +several hours, after which they went up to the crater over an inclined +railway. + +"It is like looking at the entrance to the underworld," said Edith, as +they looked down into the great chasm which holds so much mystery and +terror; and she was glad to take the train back to the foot of the +mountain. + +As they stood looking at the great beds of lava which poured down the +sides of the mountain many years ago, Edith exclaimed, "How can any +one dare to live near the volcano?" + +Rafael turned to a peasant whose little farm was not far away, and +asked him if he ever felt free from danger. + +"Ah, no!" the man answered, lifting sad eyes and hands to heaven. +"When I go to sleep at night I think always, before the light of the +morning, the mountain, he may send his fire and stones to crush us +all; who knows?" + +"Why did the people of Pompeii live so near to Vesuvius, if they knew +it might bury them?" Edith asked impatiently. + +"They did not know it in the days when Pompeii was built," Rafael told +her. "Vesuvius was supposed to be an extinct volcano then. It had not +said a word for hundreds of years. Everything about it was green and +beautiful, and its slopes were covered with forests and vineyards. It +is not strange that people built the two cities near its base." + +"What other city was built, besides Pompeii?" asked the girl. + +"Herculaneum," answered Rafael. "None of the people felt any fear of +danger in the two cities, although an earthquake destroyed some of the +buildings in the reign of Nero. + +"But in the year 79 A. D., Vesuvius suddenly woke up, and there was a +fearful eruption. Ashes and rocks were thrown out of the crater with +great force, and hot lava poured down the side of the mountain. The +two cities at the foot were completely buried under the ashes, and +thousands of people were killed." + +"There was an eruption in 1906, which made many people homeless," said +Mrs. Sprague, "and no one knows when there may be another. + +"Pompeii lay buried for seventeen centuries, and people forgot that +there had been such a city; when, after a long time, a farmer who was +digging for a well discovered the ruins, and since then a part of each +city has been excavated." + +"I should like to know just how the people of Pompeii lived, and what +they were doing when the city was destroyed," said Edith. + +"You shall see the relics that were taken from the ruins and are now +in the museum at Naples," her mother told her. "The life of the old +Pompeiians has been studied from those relics and a guide can tell you +just how they did their housekeeping and what their life was like." + +Before she left America, Edith had looked forward to the smoking +mountain of Vesuvius and the city of Pompeii as being the most +wonderful part of her journey. The volcano, and the city which lay +buried under ashes for centuries, had been the goal of her desires. + +"Wait until we see Vesuvius and Pompeii!" had been her cry whenever +she wrote home. "Then I shall have something to tell you!" + +But she turned her face away from the forbidding crater and the +desolate beds of lava with a feeling of disappointment that was half +fear. + +"Perhaps I shall like better to go into the museum and see the curious +things that were found in Pompeii," she said, as she searched for a +bit of lava from which to have a piece of jewelry fashioned. + +"Just think of having the whole world interested to know how the +people baked their bread so long ago," said Rafael; and when they had +returned to Naples, the children found it very interesting to visit +the museum and imagine how the people lived in the time of Christ. + +Then one day they went down to the ruined city, riding in a small car +over a roadbed so loosely made that Rafael laughed about it, and Edith +said it was only a toy journey. + +But when they went through the sea-gate at Pompeii, passed the army of +boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations, and stood in the +silent streets, Edith drew closer to her mother, and Rafael walked +quietly beside them. + +[Illustration: "THE ARMY OF BOYS BEARING BASKETS OF EARTH FROM THE + EXCAVATIONS AT POMPEII" ] + +They followed the instructions of the guide and looked obediently +at the deep ruts made in the pavements of the narrow streets by the +old Roman chariot wheels. They walked through the forum, and stood in +the ruined amphitheatre. + +At last Edith drew Mrs. Sprague into the lonely angle of a wall where +they could see nothing of the crumbled houses all about them, the +pavements, or the great stepping-stones in the streets. + +"I want to go home," she said with a shudder. "I never want to see +Vesuvius again." + +She was plainly homesick. It was a sudden ending to the "long thoughts +of youth" which had filled so many hours with bright anticipations; +but she was in such a hurry to get away from the buried city that they +took the next train back to Naples without even stopping to buy +picture postcards of the ruins. + +When they reached their hotel in Naples they found a foreign war-ship +anchored in the bay. + +"There is the old man-of-war threatening us from the land, and here is +one in the bay," exclaimed Edith. "It makes me nervous!" + +Mrs. Sprague saw that her daughter was tired. "We will go back to Rome +to-morrow," she said. + +"But I want to buy a lottery ticket before we leave Naples," said the +girl. + +"Befana will fill your stockings with ashes if you do," said Rafael. + +"Everybody in Italy buys lottery tickets. Why should not I?" asked +Edith perversely. + +"I do it not," said Rafael shortly. + +"That is because your wonderful king does not believe in it," she +answered. + +"Is that not a good reason?" asked the boy. He looked at her with the +same expression he wore in Venice, when she spoke slightingly of the +superstitions of his country, and as she knew him better now, she +laughed and agreed with him. + +"I did not really mean to do it," she said, and added, "Tell me more +about Befana." + +"How I used to shake in my bed when I heard her bell ring!" he said +with a laugh. + +"Did you really hear it ring?" asked Edith. + +He looked at her drolly, answering, "Of course I heard her bell. And +often I heard the sheep talking to one another on Twelfth-night; or at +least I thought I did." + +"Truly?" asked Edith in great delight. + +He nodded, smiling mischievously at her unexpected pleasure in hearing +of the Italian superstitions. + +Befana is the Italian Lady Santa Claus. She is quite different from +the fat, jolly man who drives his reindeer over the roofs at Christmas +time. + +While Sir Santa is short and rosy, Befana is dark and tall; and while +the kind old gentleman leaves something in every stocking, good and +bad alike, this rather terrible old lady puts presents only in the +good children's stockings, and drops bags of ashes into the others. + +Instead of happening at Christmas, as with us, the Italian festival is +celebrated on the eve of Epiphany, the sixth of January. + +"Everyone is happy then," said Rafael, "and we shall forget Pompeii +and the man-of-war which is always threatening it." + +So the children began at once to plan for the Twelfth-night festival. + +"Mother and I will make some peasant costumes for us to wear," Edith +told Rafael, and added, "or you might wear a soldier's uniform and a +cocked hat. The soldiers look so fine and march so well in Italy!" + +"Come children, it is time to go to bed if we are to take the early +morning train to Rome," interrupted Mrs. Sprague, who had been +studying a time-table; and the children separated, little dreaming +that every plan would soon be changed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN + + +In the morning they wakened to find on every tongue the news of the +terrible earthquake at Messina, and for many days it was Italy the +desolate that filled their minds and kept their hands busy. + +People who saw it never forgot the dreadful misery of the country at +that time. + +Edith and Rafael stood silent, as when they had walked the streets of +the buried city of Pompeii, and watched the confusion of vessels +coming and going to the South. Boxes and bundles of all sizes and +shapes were piled high on the wharf, and supplies of food and clothing +were being hurried to the suffering city. + +Newspaper men, frantic to gather news which everyone wished to hear, +hurried back and forth on the quay, filling Edith with indignation. +"What difference does it make whether we know all the latest news or +not?" she asked hotly. "All those poor, starving people must be fed." + +Rafael watched the soldiers march through the streets, without the +music of the band, and go on board the ships to follow the king's boat +to the stricken island, and his heart yearned to go with them. + +"Italy is accursed," he heard the superstitious Neapolitans moaning, +but he shook his head. "Not while the king and queen live, and teach +us how to help," he said to himself, and then he went to find Mrs. +Sprague. + +"I cannot live this idle life any longer," he said, as he had said it +once before, in Venice. + +And as his mother asked then, so Mrs. Sprague asked now, "What will +you do?" + +"I will follow the king to Messina and ask him to make me one of the +patrol guard," the boy answered. + +They were standing on the quay as he spoke, and could see a +relief-ship which was getting up steam, ready to sail out of the +harbor. + +Mrs. Sprague was alarmed. She knew that the boy would not be allowed +to go into the ruined city, and she felt sure that his mother would +not permit him to go if she were there; but in the excitement it was +possible for him to slip away at any moment, under the mistaken idea +that he could be of service. + +She put her hand upon the boy's arm to detain him, if indeed he needed +to be detained, and said, "How can I make you see that it is not +possible for you to be of any use there?" + +A man in naval uniform, who was just about to step into a tender and +go out to the relief-ship, heard her words and turned, looking into +Rafael's face. + +He smiled suddenly and held out his hand. "We have met before, when +life was brighter," he said; and Rafael recognized with delight the +man who had listened to the serenade at the Rialto bridge with him, +that summer night in Venice. + +"May I go with you?" asked the boy impetuously. + +The officer looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Our ambassador +has sent me down to see what Messina needs most," he said, "and I +shall be gone but a day or two. I see no harm in taking you along; but +there must be no nonsense about doing patrol duty." + +So it came about that Rafael went to Messina and saw the ruin and +destruction caused by the greatest earthquake in the history of the +world. + +He was back in Naples a few days later with a face deeply saddened by +the suffering he had seen. "I could not do anything there," he told +Mrs. Sprague, who was glad to see him safely back again; "but my +friend, the naval officer, helped me to think of a way to be of +service." + +"I will help you. What are you going to do?" asked Edith. She had been +busy every day, helping her mother collect food, clothing and +medicine to send to Messina in the relief-ships; but she longed to do +still more. + +"I am going to make some tops," he told her. "I saw the king and queen +doing with their own hands whatever needed to be done to help the poor +people; and I can make tops and sell them. In that way I can raise a +little money for the sufferers." + +That was how it came about that, one evening a week later, a pair of +picturesque peasants stood among the booths in the Circus Agonale, in +Rome, selling tops. There were booths where peddlers sold whistles of +every kind and description; but they two, Edith and Rafael, were the +only peddlers of tops. + +In all the din of the crowds that passed and re-passed, nothing +attracted more attention and made more fun than the doll-tops which +Edith and her mother had dressed for Rafael. Edith blew a great blast +on her whistle, Rafael gave a piercing scream on his, and they had a +little crowd of merry-makers around them in a moment. + +Roman whistles are made of pewter, terra-cotta, or wood, in every +shape of bird, or beast, or fish. Rafael had a bird-whistle, Edith's +was a yellow butterfly, and the tops which they spun were dressed like +dolls, in many fantastic costumes. + +As he had said in Venice, so Rafael called to his audience in Rome, +when he had a little space cleared for the performance, "Signor Rafael +Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops!" + +"It is for the earthquake sufferers," he had taught Edith to say in +Italian, and she had no sooner said it than the tops were all as good +as sold. + +"It is a pity we had not time to make more," said Edith, when the last +one was gone, and they were counting their gains in their room at the +hotel. + +"You would make a good business man, Rafael," she said suddenly. "The +tops cost you only ten lire, and you have sold them for twenty times +as much." + +But the boy was tired and made no answer for a few moments. Perhaps +the tops reminded him of home. After a little, he said, "I think my +mother must be very lonely in Venice, when she reads of those who have +been made homeless in Messina." + +Mrs. Sprague looked at him wisely and nodded her head. "Edith and I +must go home to America," she said. "Our friends will be worried about +us, and will fear for our safety, after this terrible earthquake." + +So they began to plan for leaving Rome at once. The keepsakes and +treasures were all packed, the last calls were made, and the night +before their departure arrived. + +"Let us say good-bye to the Eternal City at the Fountain of Trevi," +Edith suggested to Rafael. "I have heard that whoever wishes to return +to Rome, should go to the fountain on the last evening of his visit, +take a drink out of the basin with his left hand, then turn and throw +a half-penny into the water over his left shoulder. I surely wish to +come back some day." + +"And I," said Rafael. "Let us find some half-pennies at once." + +It was a cold, clear, moonlight night, and the two children hurried +through the streets, chatting merrily over their errand. + +They passed an old woman carrying a scaldino under her shawl. "We +shall need a scaldino ourselves," Edith said, "to warm our fingers +after we have dipped them in the cold water." + +A scaldino is a little brazier for holding coals of fire. The Italians +carry one about with them in winter, and when they sit down they hold +it in their laps or put it on the floor at their feet. + +When they reached the fountain Edith stood still a moment, looking at +the water. "I have had such a good time in this historic old land that +I shall always be a good Italian," she said; "but I shall be a better +American also." + +"That is right," said Rafael. "And I shall read the foreign papers to +see if you become a famous woman." + +"I don't care so much about being famous as you men do," she answered. +"But I shall read the foreign news to see what the great patriot, +Rafael Valla, is doing for his country, and perhaps, some day, your +good king may send you to the United States as ambassador from Italy. + +"Let us wish it," she added, and dipped her hand into the fountain. +"To Rafael Valla, the ambassador," she said with a smile, and drank +the clear, cold water. + +"To the Signorina, my friend," said Rafael. "I wish her happiness." + +Tears sprang to Edith's eyes, and she held out her hand quickly for +the half-penny. "Over your left shoulder, remember," she said, as she +tossed the coin into the water. + +"Over my left shoulder," Rafael repeated, and added earnestly, "We +shall see Rome and the king again." + + + + +VOCABULARY + + +Ăp´pĭ [letter a with an uptack]n Way, a famous Roman highway. + +Ȃp´pĭ ŭs Clau´dĭ ŭs (clâ), a Roman statesman. + +ä̤ vän´ti (tē), begone. + +ƀăm bi´nō (bē), baby. + +Be fa na (b[letter a with an uptack] fä´nȧ), the Italian Lady + Santa Claus. + +Bi an ca (b[letter e with an uptack] ăṉ´kȧ), a girl's name. + +Brin di si (br[letter e with an uptack]n´d[letter e with an uptack] zē), + a seaport of south-eastern Italy. + +Cam pag na (cȧm pän´yȧ), a plain surrounding Rome. + +Căn´dĭ ȧ, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. + +Căp´ĭ tō līne, one of the seven hills of Rome. + +cä´rō, dear. + +Cȧ vour´ (vō͞or), an Italian statesman, died 1861. + +cen time (sän tēm´), a copper coin, the hundredth part of a franc. + +Çĭn çĭn nȧ´tŭs, a Roman soldier and hero. + +Çîr´ cŭs Ä gō näl´[letter e with an uptack], one of the squares + in Rome. + +Cŏl ŏs sē´ŭm, an out-door theatre of ancient Rome. + +Cŏn´stȧn tine (tēn), the first Christian emperor of Rome. + +cŏn´tä di´nō (dē), a peasant farmer. + +Çȳ´prŭs, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. + +Dän´dō lō, a Doge of Venice, died 1205. + +Doge (dōj), the chief ruler in the ancient republic of Venice. + +ĕc´cō, look; behold. + +Flā mĭn´ĭ a̤n Way, a highway of ancient Rome. + +fō´rŭm, a market-place or public meeting-place. + +Ġĕṉ´[letter o with an downtack] ȧ, a seaport of northwestern Italy. + +gŏn´dō lȧ, a boat used in the canals of Venice. + +gŏn dō lier´ (lēr), a man who rows a gondola. + +Hẽr cū lā´nē ŭm, a buried city near Naples. + +Hō rā´ti us (shĭ ŭs), a Roman legendary hero. + +Jul ius Cae sar (jūl´yŭs sē´zär), a famous Roman general, +statesman, orator, and writer; died 44 B. C. + +lȧ gō͞on´, a shallow sound or channel. + +li di (lē´dē), sand-bars in the lagoon of Venice. + +Li´dō (lē), the bathing-beach of Venice. + +li´rȧ (lē), a coin worth about nineteen cents. + +li re (lē´ra), plural of lira. + +l'Ĭ täl´ĭ ȧ, Italy. + +log gia (lŏd´jȧ), a roofed, open gallery. + +mäd´re (r[letter a with an uptack]), mother. + +Măr´ȧ thŏn run, a twenty-six-mile running race. + +Mer ce ri a (mãr ch [letter a with an uptack] rē´ [letter a with an + uptack]), a shopping district in Venice. + +Mĕs si´nȧ (sē), a city in Sicily, destroyed by earthquakes in 1908. + +mi a (mē´ȧ); mi o (mē´ō), my. + +Mi chael An ge lo (mī´kĕl ăn´j[letter e with an uptack] lō), an + Italian painter and sculptor; died 1564. + +M[letter o with an uptack] rē´ä, the southern peninsula of Greece. + +Nē a̤ pŏl´ĭ ta̤n, pertaining to Naples. + +Păl´ạ tīne, one of the seven hills of Rome. + +Pa laz zo Vec chi o (pä lät´sō vĕk´kē ō), a palace in +Florence. + +Pä´ō lō, a boy's name; Paul. + +Paz zi (pät´sē), an influential family of Florence. + +Pi az za (pē ät´sȧ), square. + +Pi az´za dĕl Dū ō´mō, the square in front of the cathedral +in Florence. + +Pi az zet ta (pē ät sĕt´tȧ), little square. + +Pit ti (pē´tē), a palace in Florence. + +pō lĕn´ta, a pudding made of meal boiled in milk. + +Pŏm pe ii (pā´yē), a buried city near Naples. + +quat tro (kwŏt´trō), four. + +Ri äl´tō (rē), a bridge over the Grand Canal of Venice. + +Sän Gior´ġĭ ō (jôr), Saint George; a church in Venice. + +Sän Min i a to (mē nē ä´tō), a cemetery on a hill southeast + of Florence. + +scal di no (skŏl dē´nō), a brazier. + +Scȧl´ĭ ġẽr[letter s with an downtack below], an Italian family of + medieval times. + +si (sē), yes. + +Si e na (sē ā´nȧ), a province and city in Italy. + +Si gnor (sē nyōr´); Si gnore (sē nyō´r[letter a with an uptack]), + Sir; Mr. + +Si gno ra (sē nyō´rȧ), Madam; Mrs. + +Si gno ri na (sē nyō rē´nȧ), Miss. + +Sträss´bu̇rg, a city in Germany. + +Tär´quin (kwĭn), a legendary king of ancient Rome. + +Tī´bẽr, the river on which Rome is situated. + +Tin tō rĕt´tō (tēn), an Italian painter, died 1594. + +Ti tian (tĭsh´a̤n), a famous Venetian painter, died 1576. + +Tre vi (trā´ve), a fountain in Rome. + +Tŭs´ca̤ ny̆, a province of Italy. + +Uf fi zi (öf fēt´s[letter e with an uptack]), a celebrated art-gallery + in Florence. + +Văt´ĭ ca̤n, the Pope's residence. + +Ve rō´ nȧ (v[letter a with an uptack]), a city in northern Italy. + +Ve ro ne se (v[letter a with an uptack] r[letter o with an uptack] + n[letter a with an uptack]´ z[letter a with an uptack]), an Italian + painter, died 1588. + +Vē sū´vĭ ŭs, an active volcano near Naples. + +Vīl´lȧ Bŏr ghe´se (gā z[letter e with an uptack]), a villa + near Rome. + +Vi´vä̤ (vē), "long live!" "hurrah for!" + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by +Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + +***** This file should be named 28765-0.txt or 28765-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/7/6/28765/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28765-0.zip b/28765-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c781809 --- /dev/null +++ b/28765-0.zip diff --git a/28765-8.txt b/28765-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bacefc --- /dev/null +++ b/28765-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3886 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by +Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rafael in Italy + A Geographical Reader + +Author: Etta Blaisdell McDonald + Julia Dalrymple + +Release Date: May 12, 2009 [EBook #28765] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + The Vocabulary at the end of the book gives the Phonetic + pronunciation of the Italian words used in the book. + + The Unicode alphabets have been given wherever available. + But the following two Phonetic diacritical marks do not + have a Unicode representation. + + inverted "T" -- (uptack) + + "T" -- (downtack) + + + + + [Illustration: ON THE APPIAN WAY] + + + LITTLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE + + + RAFAEL IN ITALY + + A GEOGRAPHICAL READER + + + + + BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD + + Joint author of "Boy Blue and His Friends," + "The Child Life Readers," etc. + + + AND JULIA DALRYMPLE + + Author of "Little Me Too," "The Make-Believe Boys," etc. + + + + SCHOOL EDITION + + + + + + + BOSTON + + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + + 1910 + + + + + _Copyright_, _1909_, + + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +The very best way to understand the life and customs of a foreign +country is to visit it. If that is impossible one may still learn much +by reading a story of the people who live there. As this is true of +grown people, so is it true of children. They can become acquainted +with the children of other lands by reading stories of their simple, +daily life, and by living it for a little while within the pages of +the story-book. + +It is no longer the fashion for our school children to learn by rote +the facts written down in their geography about all the corners of the +earth; they must know rather the children in these foreign lands,--the +sights they see, their work and play, their festivals and holidays, +their homes, their ambitions. + +Such a tale is told in this little book about Italy. Rafael Valla, a +lad of fourteen, is seen first in Venice; he rows his boat on the +canals, hears the music of the band in the Square of St. Mark, goes to +the Rialto bridge for the serenade, and suddenly, through a chance +meeting with an American girl and her mother, the way is opened for +him to see Italy. He joins them in Florence, and they ride over the +Tuscan roads in an automobile, stopping to see the peasants gathering +grapes, and to visit an olive-farm. In Rome they see the ruins of the +ancient city under the direction of a guide, and they go to Naples, +and visit Pompeii and Vesuvius. + +The book is full of pictures of Italian life. One sees the children +feeding the pigeons in Venice, the Easter festival in Florence, the +vintage with its merry-making in Tuscany, the Roman ruins, the +picturesque street-life in Naples with its noise and gayety, and the +silent streets of Pompeii. There are many such pen pictures of Italian +life, and the story should appeal to the imagination of the child and +awaken his interest in Italy and its people. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I AN EVENING IN VENICE 1 + +II VIVA L'ITALIA! 6 + +III RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS 11 + +IV STREETS OF VENICE 16 + +V STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS 21 + +VI SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO 28 + +VII A CHAT ABOUT VERONA 36 + +VIII EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC 41 + +IX RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE 46 + +X GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY 51 + +XI A MARATHON RUN TO ROME 62 + +XII "THE GOLDEN MILESTONE" 72 + +XIII A RAMBLE IN ROME 76 + +XIV A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM 85 + +XV MERRY NAPLES 95 + +XVI THE BURIED CITY 103 + +XVII THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN 110 + + * * * * * + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +On the Appian Way _Frontispiece in Color_ + +The Grand Canal, Venice 2 + +Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of + St. Mark, Venice 11 + +Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome 68 + +Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct 78 + +The Colosseum at Rome 88 + +The boys of Naples eating macaroni 99 + +Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius 103 + +"The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from +the excavations of Pompeii" 106 + + * * * * * + + + + +RAFAEL IN ITALY + +CHAPTER I + +AN EVENING IN VENICE + + +It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of +Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a +golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon. + +The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every +window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in +the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of gold. + +There were no sounds save the calls of the boatmen, the soft lapping +of the waves against the marble walls and steps, and occasional +strains of music from the military band in the Piazza of St. Mark. + +No place in all the world shines with more brilliancy than Venice in +carnival time. The city is like a diamond, as it catches the myriad +rays from moonlight and starlight, and flashes countless answering +gleams into the shadows of the night. + +It is small wonder that people travel from the farthest corners of +the earth to watch the glitter and sparkle of this City of the Sea. + +It was on this summer evening that Rafael Valla, a Venetian lad of +fourteen, decided to become a soldier of the king. + +He was sitting in the water-gate of his mother's house, pointing with +his toe to the reflection in the canal of a particularly large and +brilliant star. "If the starlight moves to the right of my toe," he +said to himself, "I will go to the Piazza." + +He knew perfectly well that he would go to the Piazza. The music of +the band was calling to him, and the star was slowly shifting its +light, as it had done on many a night while Rafael sat waiting and +dreaming in the gateway. + +The tide was gently pulling his little boat away from the +orange-and-black mooring-post, at the foot of the steps, toward the +larger canal. + +"Perhaps my boat knows of all the gay sights that are waiting for it +in the Grand Canal," the boy thought idly. "It may well know," he +added in his thought; "it has been there times enough." + +The Grand Canal is the largest and finest of all the water-ways which +thread the city. It is spanned by three beautiful bridges, and, on +either side, rise the marble palaces of the ancient Venetian nobility; +those rulers of men whose names fill the "Golden Book of Venetian +History." + +[Illustration: THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. +Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola.] + +But Rafael lingered in the gateway. The music of the band was a +promise of something still better. Soon hundreds of gondolas would +gather at the bridge of the Rialto to hear the songs of the +serenaders, and that was what the boy loved best. + +As the bells in the square sounded the hour, he rose, reached for the +rope, and pulled his boat toward the stone landing steps. His motions +were alert and decisive, and made him seem a different boy from the +one who had been leaning so carelessly against the post of the +gateway. + +Rafael was good friends with his oar, and the little boat, which was +only large enough to seat three comfortably, hurried gladly toward the +lights of the Grand Canal, and the music in the beautiful Piazza of +St. Mark. + +Hundreds of black gondolas were moving up and down the canals, manned +by boatmen in white linen, for the night was very warm; and a melody +from an Italian opera, sung in a musical tenor voice, floated from one +of the boats. + +"I, also, would sing, if it were not pleasanter to listen," said +Rafael to his boat. Then it occurred to him that it might be most +pleasant of all to find his friend Nicolo and take him to hear the +singers at the Rialto bridge. + +He turned toward the steps of the Piazzetta, murmuring as he did so, +"These other boats are also moving toward the Rialto. I must find +Nicolo quickly, or we shall lose our favorite place at the bridge." + +The boy tied his boat in the shadow of the steps, and took his way +across the small square into the larger one in front of the Cathedral +of St. Mark. + +Numberless columns and pillars surround this square, and each one was +outlined with twinkling golden lights. From every ornament and statue +that grace the cathedral and palaces shone countless numbers of the +fairy flames. The crimson globes of the larger lamps in the square +added a different tone, and the silver light of the moon blended with +the whole, dazzling Rafael with the brilliancy. + +He shaded his eyes from the glare, as he searched rapidly among the +crowds for his friend. The polished stones of the pavement in front of +the cafs were covered with little tables, and hundreds of people were +sipping ices or drinking coffee. + +Nicolo was often to be found selling trinkets among the people at the +tables, but he was not there to-night. Nor was he seated on the back +of one of the two stone lions that crouch on their pedestals just +beyond the cathedral. + +It is from these convenient seats that the band sounds better than +almost anywhere else in the square. At least, the boys of Venice seem +to find it so, and so many years have they climbed up to watch the +crowds of people in the Piazza of St. Mark, that the backs of the +lions are worn smooth with much rubbing. + +A little bootblack and a water-boy held the places now, and +occasionally begged for custom from any one who happened to linger +near. + +Passing in and out among the crowds were pretty young girls selling +flowers, ragged boys carrying trays of fruit--crimson peaches, purple +grapes and ripe figs--and men selling bracelets and necklaces of +shells and colored beads. + +It was a gay scene. An officer, in the naval uniform of the United +States of America, stood in the central doorway of the cathedral, +watching the movements of the crowd and listening to the music. + +As Rafael gave up trying to find Nicolo and turned toward the canal, +the officer left his place and followed the boy. "Where away?" he +asked pleasantly, in English, as Rafael took his seat in the boat. + +"To the Rialto; to hear the serenade, Signore," the boy replied +courteously, also in English; and would have pushed away from the +steps, but the stranger asked, "Will you take a passenger?" + +"Si, Signore," answered Rafael, "I have been looking for one," and he +held the boat still while the officer found a seat. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +VIVA L'ITALIA! + + +"Do you like our lovely Venice?" Rafael asked, as the boat slipped +away with oar and tide toward the bridge. + +"Not well enough to stay here forever," answered the man, with a +smile. + +The boy opened his eyes in surprise. How could any one wish to leave +the city after once seeing it! As for himself, he adored the place. To +slip with his boat in and out of the canals and the lagoon, to dive +from the steps and bridges and chase the other boys through the water, +to listen to the music in the Piazza at night, seemed to him the only +life worth living. + +But the stranger was speaking again. "I could have been happy here +centuries ago, when the city was in the making," he said. "It would +have been glorious to fight for the right to live on these islands, +and to have a hand in building such palaces and churches. Those were +days of service for the men who loved their city." + +Rafael knew well the history of Venice. As the officer spoke, the +boy's eyes turned to the stately walls of the Doge's palace, and to +the domes of the great churches; and he thought of the early Venetians +who gave their lives in loving service for their country. + +The stranger continued, "Your good Doge Dandolo had a powerful navy +when he led the Venetians across the Mediterranean to conquer the +islands of Candia and Cyprus." + +Rafael nodded. "Si, Signore," he said. "There were many at home who +held the city safe while he was away," he added, "and there was need +enough of brave men then, both at home and abroad." + +"Venice was a rich and powerful state in those days," said the +stranger. "Now she has little left but her beauty, and that will fall +to ruin, as the great bell-tower in the Piazza fell not long ago. A +man likes to fight for something more than beauty." + +Rafael nodded again. He liked this stranger who spoke so easily of the +early life of Venice. + +Just then the boat slipped into a nook under the bridge, where it was +safe from the sweep of the gondolas which crowded near, and the two +became silent in watching the approach of the barge filled with +musicians and singers. + +This barge was surrounded by a solid mass of gondolas, closely wedged +together, each gondolier trying to push his boat as close as +possible, so that his patrons might see and hear well. + +Suddenly red lights flared up from the bridge and flooded everything +with radiance. Palace fronts shone with a magical beauty; crimson +banners waved from Moorish windows; statues and columns stood out +clearly and asked boldly to be admired. + +Rafael looked at his companion. "Did you ever see a more beautiful +sight?" he asked. + +But he could get no satisfaction from the stranger. "Beauty is not +everything," was his answer; and Rafael racked his brain to think what +more could be desired in this wonderland of marble and sky and water. + +Suddenly the music from the barge swelled into a great volume of +sound. "Viva l'Italia!" cried a voice from the bridge, and "Viva +l'Italia!" echoed from all the gondolas. + +Rafael waved his cap in the air. "Viva l'Italia!" he shouted in his +boyish voice, while his heart beat fast with the enthusiasm of the +moment. It seemed to his imagination that the singers were repeating +the words of the stranger; that they were telling of the glory of +battle, and of a life of service for one's country. + +It was of Italy they sang--not of Venice--of Italy, and of Italy's +king. "Viva l'Italia! Long live the King!" he shouted with the +others; and at that moment he felt that he must become a soldier of +the king, to live or die for Italy. + +After the singing was over and the gondolas had begun to disperse, +Rafael pushed his way down the canal; and at the steps where he had +embarked, the stranger rose to leave the boat. As he did so, he +stooped to place a coin in the boy's hand. "With thanks," he said. "I +have had an evening to remember." + +But Rafael pushed his hand away. "I never carry people for money, +Signore," he said proudly. + +The coin dropped from the American's hand to the bottom of the boat. +"For Italy, then," he said. "There are many in your country who need +it." + +The boy let his boat drift with the tide, while he thought over the +words of the stranger. + +He and his mother were all that was left of an old Venetian family. +Like many others, they had almost no means of support. They rented two +of the upper floors of their house to people poorer than themselves; +and might have rented the whole house to some of the foreigners who +often asked for it, but the mother held to it with a great love. It +was a link that kept alive the memory of the past, when her family was +one of importance, and Venice was a rich and powerful city. + +She would rather eat polenta and fish every day, if thereby she could +keep the fine house as it had always been, rich with old furniture and +the paintings of great artists. + +She had taught her son to speak French and English, and no guide in +the city knew every detail of its history so well as he. "Our history +is our pride," she often said, with much emphasis, and the boy felt +that she was right. + +At last Rafael picked up the coin and put it into his pocket; then he +took up the oar and pushed the boat back to his own mooring-post. + +He found his mother, and told her that he was tired of his life of +idleness. "I shall become a soldier of the king," he said. + +"Ah," she said, "every Italian should serve his king. There is need of +every one. Our country is very poor." + +Rafael looked disturbed. "It is not the country that is poor," he +answered. "Our good priest says that the country is rich, with all its +vineyards, and orchards, and wheat-fields. It is only the people who +are poor." + +"What wilt thou do about it, caro mio?" asked his mother, with a +laugh. + +"I shall earn some money," replied Rafael. "My boat has shown me +how." + +[Illustration: CHILDREN FEEDING PIGEONS IN THE PIAZZA OF ST. MARK, VENICE. +Notice the three flag-poles, and the bronze horses over the central +doorway of the Cathedral.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS + + +It was early in the afternoon of the next day. The tide was low in the +canals of Venice. Hundreds of green crabs could be seen clinging +lazily to the stone walls of the houses, wherever there was a place +still cool and wet from the salt sea-water. + +At the base of the two great columns in the Piazzetta, groups of +Venetian beggars were soundly sleeping. The gondoliers call these +beggars "crab-catchers," because they cling about the mooring-steps of +the canals to beg centimes from the passengers in the gondolas. + +The Venetian pigeons were also sleeping. Their way of begging is more +pleasing than that of the crab-catchers, but they are beggars for all +that. They never wait for the sound of the bell which the good priest +rings every day when it is time for them to be fed, but fly down to +the pavement whenever they catch sight of a person with a bit of +grain. They flutter down by twos and threes, and beg with their best +coos for something to eat. + +But now they had all disappeared from the pavement, and might be +seen, dozing with their heads under their wings, up among the eaves of +the fine palaces and beautiful public buildings which surround the +Square of St. Mark. + +The children, who love to feed the pigeons, had disappeared, too, and +all Venice seemed to be taking its afternoon nap. + +An American lady and her daughter, paying no heed to the heat of the +sun, turned the corner of the Doge's palace and entered the Piazzetta, +meaning to cross to the farther end of the large square, where +wood-carvings are for sale in one of the shops. + +"Mother," said the girl suddenly, "I wish we knew of something to see +besides the buildings in this square. We have been here four days, and +have bought a lovely carved cherub, or a souvenir spoon of Venice, for +every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this +beautiful old city." + +"We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her +mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight +of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any +time." + +"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must +be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and +St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them." + +"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the +hotel windows," said her mother. + +"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the +Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't +we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?" + +Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully +out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we +do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer +islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a +single word of Italian." + +"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith; +"and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many +who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights +for the sake of earning some Italian lire." + +"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her +mother. + +As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from +a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to +the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of +boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great +church. + +English words floated across to the American people, although the +voice which spoke them was an Italian one. + +"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops," +said the voice. + +The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael--the boy of the +boat and the serenade--knelt in the center, with a collection of tops +on the pavement beside him. + +The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the +light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the +big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at +all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do +their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow +and an off-hand dash, as if to make room for the next on the program. + +At last Rafael took up one which was wrapped in gold-foil, and which +seemed to be both graceful and business-like, and wonderfully +accomplished. It hung balanced between two outer circles of steel, and +spun in every possible position--on the pavement, on the top of a +post, and at right angles to it--all at one spinning. + +"It is my golden spinner," said the boy, in Italian. "It has travelled +among all the great cities of the world, and never failed to keep an +engagement." + +The boys laughed, and Edith joined in the laughter, although she did +not know the meaning of the words. + +Rafael looked up into her face and smiled. It was the opportunity +which she had hoped for. She had noticed his unusual appearance, and +that he was dressed with care. + +"Speak to him, Mother," she urged, in English. "Perhaps he will tell +us where we may go to see the sights." + +The boy rose and took off his cap. "I speak English, Signora," he +said. "There are truly many things to see in Venice, if you wish to +see them." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +STREETS OF VENICE + + +Mrs. Sprague looked from one child to the other. The girl was eager, +the boy expectant. "He is no older than you are, Edith," she said at +last. "It isn't possible that he can be a good guide. There will be +three lost, instead of two as there were yesterday, if he tries to +pilot us through these crooked lanes." + +The day before, Edith had hired an Italian lad to act as a guide, when +she had wished to buy an Italian flag and could find none in the shops +near the Piazza. She had made her wish known, by signs, to one of the +young boys idling at the base of the Lion's Column. He could speak no +English, but Edith showed him a tiny American flag which she carried +in her purse. + +"Viva America!" she said, waving the flag with one hand. Then she +waved the empty hand, saying, "Viva l'Italia!" and asked very loudly, +as if he might be deaf, "Where to buy?" pointing to the flag. + +The boy nodded that he understood, and led the girl and her mother +across the Piazza and under the old Clock Tower, in which the clock +has been marking the hours ever since Columbus discovered America. +Beyond the tower he led them through short streets and narrow lanes to +a remote, wretched part of the city. + +Although Venice is called the City of the Sea, and has hundreds of +canals, there is also a network of narrow streets and lanes threading +the islands on which the city is built. It is possible to walk +anywhere by following these streets and crossing the bridges, and each +house has a land-gate as well as a water-gate. + +One of these lanes led at last into a small square. A low, narrow +doorway opened into a dark room, looking out upon a dirty little +canal,--far away from the rose-colored, marble-paved Square of St. +Mark--and here Edith found her Italian flag. + +The room was cluttered with old rubbish; and a dozen ragged, +hungry-looking men and women sat idly about on broken chairs. + +The boy told his errand in Italian to one of the men, who answered him +in an angry tone. They disputed together for several moments, and then +the man brought a small flag from a far corner of the room. The bright +red, green and white stripes of the flag were in good proportion, but +it was made of a cheap, flimsy material. + +"I don't care for it," said Edith, putting her hands behind her and +shaking her head. + +Immediately everybody in the room began to talk loudly, which so +frightened Mrs. Sprague that she took out her purse and asked, "How +much?" + +The boy held up four fingers. "Quattro lire," he said. + +"Four lire!" exclaimed Edith indignantly; "that is almost one dollar, +and it isn't worth ten cents." + +But the excited Italian voices were all speaking at once, and so +angrily that Mrs. Sprague dropped the money into an old chair, and +seizing the flag with one hand and Edith with the other, she backed +quickly out into the open air. + +She forgot that she knew nothing about the way to her hotel, and, +without waiting for the boy, crossed the first bridge she saw, and +struck into another narrow lane. She was too anxious as to her +whereabouts to notice the interesting sights in the streets through +which she hurried; but Edith, with a girl's curiosity, saw everything. + +In a small square at one end of a bridge, a woman leaned from an upper +window and lowered a basket to the pavement below. A man with a basket +of fried fish on his arm took a piece of money from the woman's basket +and put in its place a fish from his own. Then he returned to a +little shed near-by, where a woman was frying onions and fish in oil, +on several charcoal stoves. + +As they crossed another bridge, they saw a woman lean from a window to +splash her baby up and down in the canal for his daily bath. The baby +was tied to the end of a long rope which his mother gently raised and +lowered, and he laughed with glee every time he hit the water with his +chubby fists. + +Edith wished to stop and watch this curious bath, but Mrs. Sprague +hurried her along, and they soon reached a part of the city where many +people were moving toward a church. As they neared the building, the +leather curtain, which hangs at the entrance to Italian churches, was +pushed aside, and a stream of men, women and children began coming +out, each one carrying a candle. + +The children had little candles, the grown people carried larger ones; +and everyone stopped to buy cakes from old women seated near the +church door. + +After crossing many bridges, and passing many churches, Edith and her +mother suddenly entered the Piazza of St. Mark, which had grown so +familiar to them both that it was like walking into their own home. + +"I shall not go out of sight of it again," said Mrs. Sprague, with a +sigh of great relief. + +But Edith longed to explore those bewildering back lanes for more of +the strange foreign sights. "After we get home to America," she said, +"we shall see no more boys selling glasses of water at odd corners; +nor shall we see women frying cakes in the streets, and mothers +bathing their babies in the canals. If we can only find some one who +understands English, we shall have no more trouble." + +Now that she had found Rafael, she urged her mother to employ him. "He +can speak both English and Italian," she said, "and can be our +interpreter." + +Mrs. Sprague shook her head and was turning away, when the boy spoke, +and held her attention. "The golden spinner is the smallest of all my +tops," he said, "but it does the best work. Why not let me try?" + +The lady looked at his earnest face and smiled. "Very well," she said, +"we will go through the Doge's palace with you. We can't get lost +there." + +Rafael gathered his tops together and turned them over to one of the +boys. "Keep them for me, Nicolo," he said, and led the way at once to +the beautiful entrance just beyond the corner of the cathedral--the +entrance to the most magnificent of all the fine palaces in Venice. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS + + +Edith hurried along beside Rafael, and Mrs. Sprague followed slowly +into the courtyard of the palace, up the Giant's Staircase and through +great rooms, until they came out upon a balcony overlooking the square +which they had just left. + +"Is it not lovely?" Rafael asked simply. + +Without answering, Edith balanced her camera upon the railing of the +balcony and snapped a picture of the two columns in the Piazzetta, +near a landing place of the Grand Canal. + +"Everyone in the United States knows that picture," she said, "and +when they see that I have taken it, they will know that I was really +here once." + +"Is it that you will show it to everyone in the United States?" asked +Rafael with interest. + +Edith looked at him quickly, thinking that he was laughing at her; but +as she saw that he was serious she answered, "Oh dear! no; only to my +friends, who were glad to have me come to see Italy, so that I can +tell them about it." + +"Is that why so many people come to my country," he asked,--"to tell +others about it?" + +Edith laughed. "I came to buy a string of Venetian beads," she +answered roguishly. + +But the boy would not laugh in answer. "It may be that you will take +away with you a more precious necklace than your glass one, if you +will let me show you our wonderful pictures and buildings," he said. + +It was a pretty speech, and the girl answered him with another. "You +mean a necklace of memory pictures," she said. "Yes, I have begun to +string such a necklace. My memory of St. Mark's Cathedral is one of +the beads, and this splendid square is another. Then there is a bead +for the moonlight on the canals, and one for the fluttering pigeons at +their midday meal.". + +Mrs. Sprague then told Rafael how they had wandered off into a part of +the city where the canals were narrow and dirty, where the houses were +old and crumbling to ruins, and where the streets seemed hardly more +than cracks between the walls. + +"I don't wish to put that memory picture into my necklace," said +Edith. + +"It is not necessary," answered Rafael. "There will be many beautiful +beads. This afternoon we will climb the bell-tower of San Giorgio when +the sun is setting, and there you will get a picture of this 'pearl +of the world' that will make you forget every other." + +But Edith was turning her camera upon the pavement below, where three +flag-poles stand in front of St. Mark's. + +"The lazy pigeons in the square were lean and hungry when those three +masts were placed before the cathedral," Rafael told her. "The +Venetians were hardy sailors, bold adventurers, and rich merchants in +those days; and it was an honor for Morea and the eastern islands of +Candia and Cyprus to fly their banners in our city. All the vessels +from the East and the West stopped at our port, and the fame of Venice +spread far and wide." + +"You speak boastfully," said Edith saucily. + +"It is all true," Rafael said earnestly. "Four hundred years ago there +was no place in the whole world where so much pomp and magnificence +could be seen as in St. Mark's Square and on the Grand Canal. + +"Over in the museum at the arsenal"--Rafael's voice broke in his +excitement--"there is a model of a ship of state, in which, for +hundreds of years, the Doge used every year to go out to the entrance +of the lagoon and throw a jewelled ring into the waters of the +Adriatic, to make Venice the bride of the sea. + +"People from far and wide, by thousands and tens of thousands, came to +see the ceremony. It was a marvellous sight to see," he added proudly, +as if he had seen it many times. + +"Two or three hundred senators, in their scarlet robes, marched with +the Doge from this palace to the wharf, where the ship of state waited +for them; and thousands of magnificent gondolas followed it on its +journey to the Lido port, where the ceremony took place." + +"I thought all gondolas must be black," Edith objected. "A procession +of black gondolas would not be very magnificent." + +"It is the law now that all gondolas must be black," Rafael explained, +"because in olden times so many nobles wasted their fortunes in +decorating their gondolas extravagantly with rich carvings, gold +ornaments, and gorgeous draperies. You can see that such a procession, +reaching from here to the Lido port, would be a splendid sight. + +"There must be many rings out there," he added. + +Edith had listened, charmed with the sound of so much splendor. "Let +us go to the Lido for a sea bath," she said; "perhaps we can find a +ring." + +Rafael shook his head. "The last ring was thrown into the water more +than a hundred years ago," he said. "The sands have covered them all +too deeply by this time." + +Then he pointed to the four bronze horses which stand over the central +doorway of the cathedral. "They are the only horses in our whole +city," he said. "They are almost two thousand years old, and have +travelled hundreds of miles, by sea and land. + +"It is said that they first stood on a triumphal arch in Rome, but +they were taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine, where +they were kept many hundreds of years. Dandolo, a Doge of Venice, +conquered the city about seven hundred years ago, and brought the +horses to Venice as a sign of his victory. + +"They were placed over the door where they now stand, and have been +there ever since, except for a visit of eighteen years to Paris, to +please the Emperor Napoleon." + +"See how they paw the air," said Edith. "They look as if they were +eager to be off again to the ends of the earth." + +"No," said Rafael, "we Venetians love those bronze horses. No one will +ever take them away from us again. + +"We need them," he added with a laugh, "how else would we know what +horses are like, when we read about them in books?" + +"It is a great pity that the bell-tower in the square fell," said Mrs. +Sprague; "this new one that they are building in its place must be +very expensive." + +Rafael laughed merrily. "That is a queer thing about the Italians," he +said; "if it is a great piece of art which we wish to preserve, we do +not care what the expense may be." + +Then he added soberly, "The fishermen miss the old tower more than any +of us, because they used to find their way into the Lido port by it." + +"You say so much about the Lido," said Edith. + +"We will go over there after we have looked at some of the pictures +inside the palace, and at the dungeons, and the Bridge of Sighs," +answered Rafael. + +Edith shuddered. "I will look at the pictures, but not at the +dungeons," she said; "and I can look at the Bridge of Sighs every time +I come from our hotel into the Piazza." + +As they stepped back into the room behind them, she repeated the names +of three of the great painters whose works have helped to make Venice +a treasure-city. + +"Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto," she said over and over again, as she +looked at the pictures which Rafael pointed out to her in the long +rooms. "If I find more of their paintings in other cities of Italy, it +will seem like meeting old friends." + +Rafael smiled. "Italy is rich because of her artists," he said. "You +will find their works in every city. It may not always be the +paintings of those same three men, but there are others which are also +famous." + +Then his happy face grew serious. "It makes the heart sad to think +what wonderful dreams our great Italians have had," he said. "My +mother says that no dream, no thought of beauty, was ever felt +anywhere, that has not found expression here in Italy." + +As he spoke, he led the mother and daughter out of the palace and +across the Piazzetta to the steps where his little boat was tied, and +Edith wondered if his words were true. + +Before her sight-seeing in Italy was ended, she was very sure that +they were. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO + + +"It is not a good plan to leave the square from the steps in front of +the two great columns," Rafael explained, as he went toward the +landing-place opposite the Doge's palace, where he always moored his +boat. + +"Why is it not a good plan?" asked Edith. + +"Because it might later make us run into a mud-bank," he answered +merrily. "Whenever any one is executed in Venice, it has to be done +between those two columns, and that has made the spot most unlucky. +People used to gamble there before it was the place for executions, +but now, of course, no one thinks of such a thing." + +"I should hope not," said Mrs. Sprague, "nor anywhere else." + +"The only Doge that was ever beheaded, landed between those columns," +continued Rafael, "and since then there are people who would not dare +to use the steps, for fear it might bring them ill-luck." + +"I am going to get into your boat from those very steps," said Edith, +walking toward them. + +Her mother, who was already seated in the boat, looked troubled. "He +may be right, Edith," she called to her daughter. "You know that I am +afraid of the water, and you promised not to take any chances if I +would bring you to Italy." + +But Edith insisted that she should get into the boat from the steps, +or not at all. "There is no danger," she said. "These Italians are too +superstitious. See how they are always closing one hand and pointing +down two of its fingers to ward off the evil eye. I am going to show +Rafael how foolish all these notions are." + +The boy looked at her in anger. He had sometimes closed his own hand +in the way Edith described, when he met old Beppo, the brown monk from +one of the islands in the lagoon; and had often gone out of his way to +meet the hunchback, Tonio, because it is well-known in Venice that the +sight of a hunchback brings good luck. + +Now, when he heard Edith speak so contemptuously of his cherished +beliefs, he felt a flame of resentment. Standing quietly in his boat, +he said, "Signorina, we go not from those landing-steps in my boat." + +Edith saw that he meant what he said. "I am sorry that I hurt your +feelings," she said, with a pretty air of penitence; "but if you will +kindly take me from these steps, I will make a gift to the patron +saint of the fishermen, if we find a shrine at the Lido." + +Rafael melted at once. "It is not that I was afraid," he told her, as +she stepped into the boat from the unlucky steps, "but I cannot have +the ways of my country ridiculed." + +Then he pushed off from the landing, and the two great columns rose +above their heads in stately fashion. + +Edith looked from the winged lion on the top of one to the crocodile +and the figure of St. Theodore on the other. "There are many stone +lions in the city," she said, "but I have seen only one crocodile. Why +is that?" + +"The lion is the symbol of St. Mark," replied Rafael, "and must guard +the city, because St. Mark is our patron saint. St. Theodore, who +stands on the crocodile, was our first patron saint, before the body +of St. Mark was brought to Venice and placed in the little church +which once stood where you now see the cathedral." + +"Is it the St. Mark who wrote one of the books of the New Testament?" +asked Mrs. Sprague. + +"Yes, Signora," replied Rafael. + +"We have been into the cathedral many times," said Edith. "Mother +knows every picture and statue inside and out of it." + +"It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the whole world," said +her mother. "Some one has called it a jewel-box, because it contains +so many magnificent gems, precious stones, and golden mosaics; and it +seems so to me. Now that I have seen it, I am ready to leave Venice." + +"Oh, Mother," exclaimed the girl, "we haven't begun to see all that I +want to! I must buy some more Venetian glass, and a lantern, and some +flags and banners. I mean to make my room at home look like a bit of +Venice." + +Rafael looked pleased. "Our people were making beautiful things in +glass two hundred years before Christopher Columbus found his way to +your country," he said. He had no wish to seem boastful to these +people of a younger nation, so he tried to say it courteously. + +But Edith was impolite enough to say, "The men and women in your city +seem to do nothing now but make glass, and carve wood, and weave lace. +In so many hundred years they might have learned a good many new +things, it seems to me." + +The boy flushed. "Venice is old, it is true," he answered, "but Italy +is still young." Then he threw back his head and laughed with the +happy laugh of boyhood. "Viva l'Italia!" he cried joyously. "She will +soon be the greatest country in the world." + +"Viva Venice!" cried Edith, but Rafael was drawing his boat alongside +a flight of steps, and did not hear her. + +"Where is that lame crab of a steamer?" he muttered, looking off into +the lagoon. + +"What are we going to do?" questioned Mrs. Sprague anxiously. + +"We must go to the Lido in the steamer," answered the boy. "It is too +far for me to row there and back before sunset; and it will cost but a +small sum to buy round-trip tickets for the three of us. That will +take us all to the casino by the tram-car, and pay for our bath in the +salt-water." + +"Pay for our bath!" repeated Edith. "Surely we may go into the water +without paying for it." + +"Not if you wish to go in from the bathing-house at the casino," +Rafael replied; "and it is forbidden by law to take away even one +pailful of the water without paying a tax. There is a tax on salt in +our country, and it is feared that we may get the least bit of salt +from the water." + +"I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Sprague. + +"It is very hard," said the boy; "but what can one do? A tax is a tax, +and must be paid." + +"But it would not be so, if I could get hold of an oar of the +government," he added with a laugh, as he held the boat steady with +his own oar while his passengers landed. + +The little steamer was just drawing up to the pier from its trip +across the lagoon. This lagoon is a wide stretch of water, deep only +in those places where the ship-channels are kept constantly dredged. +When the tide is low, the city shows that it is built upon mud-banks. +Twice daily the waters move away from the lagoon, leaving the flats +covered with floating seaweed. The returning tide, flowing from the +Adriatic through several openings in the long narrow sand-bars, called +lidi, covers the seaweed and mud-flats, and forms the lagoon. + +The little steamer carried Rafael and his passengers to the Lido in a +quarter of an hour, giving them time for a bath in the salt water, and +a cup of tea at the casino; and also a moment at the little church +dedicated to the patron saint of the fishermen, where Edith left a +coin as she had promised to do. + +Then they returned across the water to the church of San Giorgio for a +view of the sunset, the sight in Venice which artists love most. It +was the most wonderful sunset that Edith had ever seen. The low sun +gave out a glory of color, and waves of golden light flooded the city, +crowning every tower and dome with a great radiance. + +"So much gold makes it seem like the Heavenly City," Edith said +softly. + +To the north lay the white-crowned Alps, to the east the blue +Adriatic; and Edith never forgot the glory of that hour. + +A fisher's boat swung slowly through the Lido port, and moved toward +its mooring-place at a group of rose-tinged piles. In just such a boat +Columbus must have sailed when he was a boy. The rounded prow was +decorated with a flying goddess blowing a trumpet; on the masthead +there was perched a weathercock and a little figure of a hump-backed +man, like the one hidden away in St. Mark's. A great sail, painted +deep red, caught the sea-breeze and carried the boat slowly over the +shimmering, rose-colored water. + +Edith drew a long breath of the salt air, and clasped her hands with +delight at the picture. + +Some workmen, driving piles to mark the ship channel, were chanting an +old song,--one that has been sung for centuries by the pile-drivers of +Venice,--and Rafael translated the words for her, as the men raised +the heavy wooden hammer:-- + + "Up with it well, + Up to the top; + Up with it well, + Up to the summit!" + +Each line of the Italian words ended with a long "e-e-e," or an +"o-o-o," and the American girl laughed at the strange song. + +"It is just the time and place to paint a picture, or write a poem +about the Venetian sunset," she said. + +"It is so different here from what I had imagined it to be," she +added. "I used to wonder what kept the sea from dashing against the +walls of the houses, and beating down the doors." + +"Then you knew nothing about the lidi which hold back the sea?" +questioned the boy. + +"No," replied the girl. "People who have been here speak only about +the Grand Canal, and the Piazza of St. Mark, and the Bridge of Sighs." + +She pointed out to her mother the long wharf which stretched along the +opposite bank of the lagoon, and their hotel, which was farther up the +canal. "There is plenty of space on the pavement near our hotel to +spread a sail," she said, "and I thought there was never a spot to set +foot in all the city, except in the squares." + +The sight of the hotel reminded Mrs. Sprague of home. "We must go back +and see if there are any letters," she said suddenly, and turned to go +down the spiral staircase. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A CHAT ABOUT VERONA + + +As they took their places in the boat, Edith said to Rafael, "Tell us +some of your Venetian legends. Is there not one about this lagoon?" + +"There are many," he answered, and he told her the story of the three +saints--St. Mark, St. George, and St. Theodore--who crossed the lagoon +one night, centuries ago, and drove back the evil spirits who would +have destroyed the city. + +"Our boatmen can tell you of many other strange things which have +happened on these canals," he concluded, as they reached the steps in +front of the hotel. + +Edith ran in, and soon returned with several letters for her mother +and herself, which they began reading while Rafael poled slowly back +into the canal. + +"Listen to this," exclaimed Mrs. Sprague suddenly. "Tom tells me to go +to Verona, where his chauffeur is waiting with the automobile, and +take it to Florence for him." + +"I don't like to leave Venice just as we have begun to enjoy it," +said Edith. Then seeing that Rafael looked wonderingly at them, she +added, "Tom is my cousin, who is seeing Italy with his friend in an +automobile. He said it would take too long to see it with Mother and +me." + +But Mrs. Sprague began reading aloud,--"We shall be gone into Austria +for more than a month, and I know you will enjoy a ride through the +Italian country." + +Looking up from the letter, she said, "We will go to-morrow." + +"How shall we find the chauffeur?" asked Edith. + +"He is at the 'Hotel of the Golden Dove,'" said Mrs. Sprague. "There +will be no trouble in finding him." + +"I prefer the winged lions of Venice to the golden dove of Verona," +said Edith, looking up at the column in the Piazzetta. + +"You will find a stone lion in the forum in Verona," said the boy. + +"In the forum!" exclaimed Edith, "that sounds like Rome." + +"Yes," said the boy rather proudly, "there is also an old forum in +Verona, but it is used now as a vegetable market. You can take a +picture of it with your camera." + +"Perhaps I may," answered the girl; "but I shall first take one of +Juliet's balcony." + +Rafael laughed. It seemed that he, too, had read "Romeo and Juliet," +for he said, "You will be much disappointed in that balcony." + +"Why so?" asked the girl, with a look of surprise. + +"Because the house is not a fine one. It is in a block of tall narrow +houses. The street leads from the market-place and is so narrow that +the tram-car almost rubs against one's knees. + +"Romeo had trouble enough, if he climbed to that balcony," he added. +"It is five stories above the sidewalk, and is hardly big enough for a +man to stand in." + +"Perhaps Juliet's balcony overlooked the courtyard," Mrs. Sprague +suggested. + +"As for the courtyard, that was full of worn-out carriages when I saw +it," Rafael answered, "It was not a good place for a lover to hide." + +"I don't want to go to Verona and have all my dreams shattered," +mourned the girl. "Shall I be disappointed in Juliet's tomb, too?" + +The boy laughed again. "You can pick an ivy leaf from the plant +near-by. Is not that what your country-women do?" he asked. + +Edith tossed her head. "Of course," she answered. "I have a large +collection of ivy leaves myself,--one from every castle in England and +Ireland." + +The boy looked mischievous. "One from Juliet's tomb will be most +precious of all," he told her, "because ivy grows not so easily in +Italy as in England." + +"Is there anything else to be seen in Verona?" asked Mrs. Sprague. + +"There is a colosseum in Verona which is second only to the one in +Rome, Signora," Rafael replied. + +But Edith shook her head. "That cannot be," she said. "We have one in +the United States which we think is next to the Roman one in +importance." + +It was the boy's turn to show surprise. "How can that be?" he asked +quickly. "The one in Verona is very old, and has seen many exciting +battles between gladiators." + +"Well," persisted the girl, "our stadium in Cambridge, where the men +of Harvard University fight their foot-ball battles with men of other +colleges, has seen just as interesting contests as any colosseum in +Europe. Thousands and thousands of people have cheered the victors in +our country as well as yours," and Edith's cheeks flushed, as she +thought of some of the stirring foot-ball games which she had +witnessed. + +The boy looked at her in amazement. "I did not know that you ever saw +such inspiring sights in your country," he said humbly. + +"Indeed we do," said Edith, glad to see that Rafael was impressed. + +"How long will it take to reach Verona from Venice?" asked Mrs. +Sprague. + +"If you leave here at the fifteen hours, you will arrive before +sunset," he answered. + +"At the fifteen hours," repeated Edith with a laugh. "What a funny way +to say three o'clock. Your way of counting time up to the twenty-four +hours is the queerest thing in Italy." + +"It seems the most natural thing in the world to me," said her mother. +"There are twenty-four hours in the day. Why should we not name each +one?" + +Then she arranged that Rafael should take them to the station in his +boat, on the next day, at the fifteen hours. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC + + +HOTEL NEW YORK, FLORENCE, ITALY. +October 10, 19--. + +TO SIGNOR RAFAEL VALLA, + +_My dear Sir:_--Can you leave your tops for a few moments and read a +letter from your American friends, the Spragues? + +Although we have been in Florence for more than a month, we have not +yet forgotten our visit in Venice and our journey to Verona. We sat by +the right-hand window in the train, as you told us to do; but I looked +often across the way to see what could take place on the opposite +side. Once I saw some storks that had flown down from Strassburg and +were standing on their long legs in the marshes. + +But our side of the train was truly the more pleasant one. There were +grape-vines and mulberry trees and wheat-fields; and also cypress +trees, which you did not mention, but which we were glad to see. Then +there were big fields of watermelons ripening in the sun, and women +gathering them in baskets which they carried on their heads across +the fields. + +In Verona we went to see the play in the colosseum by moonlight. I +have never seen such a performance in our stadium at Harvard, and you +have a right to be proud of the great colosseum. + +There were four hundred performers on the stage at one time, and the +play ended at "the twenty-three hours" with a gunpowder explosion that +destroyed the fort,--the play fort, I mean. + +And we looked at the tombs of the Scaligers, although I don't know any +good reason for doing so; and then we came through the most beautiful +country to Florence. + +Men and women, dressed in gayest colors, were reaping with sickles in +the wheat-fields. The grain was truly "golden grain," and there was +never a foot of ground anywhere, whether the grain was standing or had +fallen, without a flaming scarlet poppy. And every hill was green with +trees and crowned with a castle or a tower. + +We rode through miles and miles of vineyards, all arranged in +pictures, for our benefit, as it seemed. The vines hung in festoons +from long rows of mulberry trees. The trees were planted in rows that +crossed one another, forming hollow squares, and the square spaces +were filled with the scarlet poppies and the golden grain. + +The trees grew so regularly, and the vines hung so gracefully--a +single vine running from tree to tree--that we could not take our eyes +from the lovely sight; and we have promised ourselves to see the +gathering of the grapes, on our way from Florence to Rome. + +At the toll-gate we found that we could not enter Florence until after +our automobile and all our luggage had been examined. The officers +seemed to fear that we were trying to smuggle something to eat, either +fruit or vegetables, into the city. + +It was in the midst of a thunder-storm; and not until the official was +convinced that we were quite wet, and wished to enter in order to find +shelter, and that we were truly a foreign lady and her daughter, on a +sight-seeing tour, did he let us pass through the gates and enter the +city. + +And now, after our month's visit, I have a Florentine mosaic to take +to America with my Venetian necklace. + +The golden background of my mosaic is another sunset; one which we saw +from the Shepherd's Tower, with the sky a rosy-pink, the River Arno +taking its slow course through the city and reflecting the rosy light, +and the surrounding hills all deep blue and amethyst. + +The most precious stone of my mosaic is the glorious statue of David, +on the heights of San Miniato. Perhaps, if Michael Angelo could have +known, four hundred years ago, that I was going to have one minute of +such very great happiness as when I first saw his work, he would have +been very glad. + +What a splendid fashion the Italians have of placing beautiful statues +out of doors where everyone may see and admire them often! In America +we crowd them all together in museums and charge an admission fee, so +that one sees them but seldom, if at all. + +There are many stones in my mosaic. Florence is well called the "City +of Flowers." One sees flower-girls everywhere, and little Bianca, with +the tanned face and the big black eyes, who comes to our door every +morning with the sweetest and freshest of roses, is one of my friends. + +Every Friday we have been to the market-place to see the peasants, who +come in from the surrounding hillsides with loads of peaches, figs, +grapes, pumpkins, watermelons, squashes,--all kinds of beautiful +fruits and vegetables. + +But I like best the boys who carry trays of plaster images which have +been made in their little villages up among the mountains, and which +they bring here just as they sometimes take them to America. + +We saw also the straw market, and the women braiding the straw and +making hats. You shall see the one which Mother bought for me, and +which I wear every day. + +And this brings me to the reason for writing you this letter. We are +going to leave the music of the churches, the pictures, the +sculptures, the peasants and the market-place, and go into the country +to see the harvests. + +I shall miss hearing the constant ringing of the church bells, and +seeing the squads of soldiers marching to the sound of military music. +And perhaps I shall never again sleep in a room with barred windows +overlooking the blue waters of an Italian river, and look through +those same bars into the faces of sweet nuns and shaven monks as they +pass on the sidewalk outside. + +But we can have the automobile only a few days longer, and it is our +great wish that you join us in Florence and take the trip with us to +Rome. + +Then if you will but stay with us for a few weeks in Rome, we shall +not get lost again because of being unable to speak Italian. Mother +says that you will be tongue and eyes for us. + +Your American friend, +EDITH SPRAGUE. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE + + +It was a long letter. Rafael read it aloud to his mother, and at the +end he spoke without looking up at her. + +"May I go?" he asked simply. + +She did not answer for several moments, and he spoke again. "I know so +little of Italy, outside of Venice," he urged. "Those Americans go +everywhere and see the whole world." + +"That is true," his mother answered, "and you may never have such +another opportunity to see the Eternal City. You may go," she added +finally, to Rafael's great delight. + +"That is good! I will start as soon as you can pack some clothes for +me," he cried. He half thought she would go at once to pack them, but +she sat still, and began to talk about her girlhood. + +"I was born near the hotel where your friend is living," she said, +"and know every foot of ground in Florence. It is a pity you are not +going to be there on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Then you +would see a sight that is seen nowhere outside of Florence." + +"Tell me about it," said the boy. + +"It is called the 'Burning of the Car,'" she told him. "Back in the +time of the Crusaders, one of the men of old Florence who went to +Jerusalem brought from the Holy Sepulchre two pieces of the stone, and +also a torch lighted from the holy light that has been kept burning +there since the time Christ was crucified. + +"In order that the wind might not blow out his light, he rode the +whole distance back to Florence with his face toward Jerusalem. + +"The people of the cities through which he passed thought that this +man who was riding backwards must be crazy, and they cried out after +him, 'Pazzi! Pazzi!' which means mad-man. Finally he was called by the +name of Pazzi, and was the founder of the Pazzi family, which to this +day shares with the government the expense of burning the car at +Easter time. + +"The light and the two pieces of the stone sepulchre are treasured in +the oldest church in Florence. They are taken out once every year, and +the people are allowed to look at them, and are also permitted to +light their candles at the sacred flame. They count that a great +blessing. + +"The burning of the car is an interesting ceremony, and thousands of +people come from far and near to see it. Two yoke of pure white +Tuscan oxen are chosen to pull the car into the Piazza del Duomo for +the burning; and proud is that peasant whose oxen are chosen for the +ceremony. + +"They are driven into the city on the night of Good Friday when +everything is very still, and are taken early the next morning to the +enormous barn where the great car is kept. + +"The car is built of wood and is hung with festoons of colored paper +and garlands of flowers. Fireworks of many kinds are hidden among the +flowers and paper,--some which make loud noises, and others which burn +with a bright light. + +"The oxen are harnessed to the car and draw it slowly through the +street to its place in the square in front of the cathedral,--'the +very great heart of Florence.' A wire is then stretched from the high +altar of the cathedral to the car in the square, and everything is in +readiness. + +"In the meantime a priest takes the holy light, very early on Saturday +morning, and walks with it to the cathedral, lighting the candles of +the people as he goes. On either side he is accompanied by a servant +in livery from the house of Pazzi. + +"Crowds of men, women and children, dressed in holiday attire, collect +in the square in front of the cathedral, and there is a babble of +voices, with much merriment and laughter. + +"Just before the hour of noon a great silence falls upon the crowd, +and the priests begin the Mass. At the moment when the 'Gloria in +Excelsis' is reached, the Archbishop places a lighted taper in the +bill of an artificial dove, and sends the dove down the wire to the +car. Then all the bells in the city begin to ring. + +"Down to the car flies the dove, and the taper in its bill sets fire +to the fireworks. Then it flies back to the high altar, and if the +trip is successful and the fireworks go off with a great burning and +banging, there is rejoicing among the crowds in the square, for it +means that the autumn harvests will be plentiful. + +"Then the prize oxen, all beautifully decorated with garlands, and +with blankets embroidered with the arms of the Pazzi family, are again +harnessed to the car; it is refilled with fireworks, and the burning +is repeated in the square Victor Emanuele, near the Pazzi palace. + +"And afterwards all the men buy new hats, and wear them home in honor +of the event. + +"I have heard that it rained last Easter-time, and that the burning +was not so good as usual," she said with a smile, "perhaps your +friends will not find plentiful harvests." + +Rafael smiled in answer, and looked at Edith's letter, where his eyes +fell upon her words about the tomb of the Scaligers. + +"Why do foreigners always find it hard to understand our Italian +history?" he asked. + +"Because for many centuries Italy was made up of small states, each +one governed by a different ruler,--sometimes a family, and sometimes +a Doge, as here in Venice. The Scaligers were a famous family which +ruled Verona for many years during the middle ages. + +"When I was a girl, Cavour, one of Italy's greatest statesmen, brought +about the unification of the many states into one kingdom under one +king, and since then our people have become happier and more +prosperous. Italy is now one of the important nations in Europe." + +She would have said more, but Rafael was tired of listening to the +stories of the past, and wished to plan for his journey. + +"I must get ready to go to Florence at once," he said. + +"It cannot be done in one day," replied his mother. "Write to your +friends that you will come on Thursday." + +So on Thursday he bade his mother good-bye and started on his journey. +He was taken to the station in his little boat, poled by his friend +Nicolo; and his last words to Nicolo as he left the boat were, "I am +so glad to go!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY + + +TO MADRE MIA IN VENICE:-- + +I am still glad! Yet it would not be so if you were not also glad for +me. + +It was the joy of the morning to find a letter from you to-day. Two +letters have I now had in my life, and both from Italy. I had thought +we Italians had letters from nobody but "friends in America," as +Paolo, the fruit-man, always says. + +And you say that Nicolo wishes to buy my boat; and that he will pay +for it after he has carried many passengers under the three bridges of +the Grand Canal, and to the Lido. + +Well, say to him that I cannot sell my boat. Did I not make it myself, +from an old fisherman's boat, with only a little help from Carlo, in +his workshop on the canal of the chestnut trees? And of a truth I will +not sell it to Nicolo. But I shall give it to him for his birthday +gift, if in return he will carry old Grandmother Nanna every Sunday +morning to early Mass, so that she will not miss it because I am no +longer there. + +I shall never want the boat again, because I am going to become a +citizen of Florence. + +It is true that we leave to-day for our automobile ride to Rome, but I +shall come back again. That is what everyone does who has once been +here. + +Why did you not tell me about the Palazzo Vecchio with the wonderful +statues in the Loggia? Did you think that because we have so much +beauty in our old Venice I should care for none elsewhere? + +And the pictures in the Pitti and the Uffizi palaces,--you should have +warned me that I would wear my eyes out with much looking at them! And +it is one thing to hear of Michael Angelo, and quite another to see +his great works! + +The American lady, Mrs. Sprague, with her guide-book, follows the +English-speaking guide about, and continually interrupts him to ask, +"At what page have we arrived now?" + +But her daughter is different. She carries no guide-book. She has a +boy's mind and asks questions about everything. She asked me about the +tunnels through which my train came from Venice. Ah, those tunnels! +There were twenty-two of them in sixteen miles, and the train whizzed +in and out in the most exciting manner. + +More I cannot say, but that I am perfectly happy! And I shall sign my +name Benvenuto, because the American girl says I am welcome. + +A thousand greetings to you, from your absent crab of a boy in +Florence, + +RAFAEL VALLA. + + * * * * * + +During that wonderful automobile ride from Florence to Rome, Rafael +was glad that his mother had told him so many stories of her native +city. There was pointed out to him on one of the Tuscan hills not far +from Florence, the same yoke of oxen that had drawn the car through +the city streets on the previous Easter, and he was able to tell Edith +the whole story of the "Burning of the Car." + +The chauffeur, under Mrs. Sprague's directions, took them off the +highway and close to the oxen and their driver. The horns of the oxen +were decorated with garlands of flowers and gay paper streamers, +because they were again to take part in a festival,--the festival of +the vintage; and on the drag behind them rested a great tun for the +wine. + +Rafael spoke to the smiling contadino and asked if they might follow +him to the harvest. + +"Not follow," he answered; "the oxen move but slowly, and must first +drag the tun to the wine-cellar at the farm-house. But you may lead," +he added. "It is a straight road along the base of the hill and +across the brook, to the gate of the vineyard." + +So they sped along in the automobile, and soon reached the busiest, +merriest place that Edith had ever seen. Men and women, boys and +girls, all dressed in the brightest, gayest colors, were cutting +grapes from the vines which hung in long festoons from tall trees. +They were constantly coming and going, with full baskets or empty +ones, and some of the boys had climbed ladders to pick the grapes from +the tree-tops. + +There was much shouting and laughter, with happy calls to one another +about the number of baskets of grapes each had picked, and the number +of lire the work would bring. + +"See how carefully that boy is cutting the grapes from the vines," +observed Edith, pointing to a lad about Rafael's age, who sang as he +worked, and who lifted the luscious, purple clusters of fruit into his +basket as lovingly as if they could feel the touch of his hand. + +Mrs. Sprague called attention to some of the vines, which had already +been stripped of leaves as well as fruit. + +"Why do they pick the leaves also?" she had Rafael ask one of the men. + +He answered that the grapes grew so thickly that it was necessary to +pick off the leaves in order that the fruit might get the full +benefit of the sun. "There is much to do for the grapes before they +can be picked," he added. "We must see to it that neither hail nor +wind spoils the clusters before the vintage." + +Then he explained that the grapes would soon be taken to the house and +poured into great vats, where they would be made into wine. + +Before Edith could ask about this process, Rafael shouted, "The oxen! +Here come the oxen!" and she turned to see the gaily decorated, white +oxen moving slowly across the field, drawing a big wagon. + +The driver led the oxen to the farther end of the vineyard, and the +boys and girls climbed upon the wagon with their baskets, and were +carried under the festoons of vines, picking clusters of grapes here +and there as they rode slowly along. + +"I should like to help pick the grapes," said Edith wistfully, as she +watched the merry pickers at their task. + +Rafael asked one of the men if she might be allowed to do so. He +smiled and nodded, pointing to an empty basket on the ground, and soon +the two children were filling it together, and laughing and shouting +with the others. + +"This is like a moving picture," Edith said to Rafael, when at last +their basket was filled and they had climbed into the ox-cart to ride +with the overflowing baskets and grape-stained children to the +farm-house. + +As they passed under the vines, Edith cut off some of the trailing +ends and made crowns for the bareheaded, black-haired peasant girls, +and one of them, more daring than the others, crowned Edith's own +black hair. + +Mrs. Sprague had already found her way to the house, and to the heart +of the farmer's wife, by admiring the little baby that lay sleeping in +its cradle under a fig tree near-by. + +The baby was wrapped in a swaddling band, a piece of linen four or +five yards long, which is wound round and round the tiny body, +beginning just under the arms and ending at the toes. It is a curious +fashion the Italians have of dressing their babies, and has been +followed ever since the Mother Mary wrapped the infant Jesus in a +swaddling band, so many hundred years ago. + +"Pretty bambino," Mrs. Sprague had said, pointing to the baby, and the +mother had found a hundred things to say in reply, in her voluble +Italian fashion, not one word of which Mrs. Sprague could understand. + +The farmer's wife was still talking when the vintage procession swung +into the yard, the boys and girls lifting their voices in a festival +song and keeping time to the swinging of the horns of the great white +oxen. + +Then there was the merry confusion of emptying the grapes into the +huge vats, and the choosing of certain men and maidens to trample out +the purple juice. + +Two or three always stand together in a single vat and press the +grapes with their bare feet, thus forcing out the juice, which runs +through an opening in the base of the vat into a wooden bucket. + +Some of the farmers use a machine to press the grapes, but many think +it should be done, as it was in old Bible times, with the human foot. +It seems that the feet know how to avoid crushing the seeds and the +skins, as a machine cannot know. + +Rafael asked to be allowed to press the grapes in one of the vats, and +after permission had been given him, Edith suddenly asked to do it +also. + +The farmer shook his head doubtfully. "It is very hard work," he +objected. + +Edith bade Rafael say that she was an American girl, and not afraid of +hard work, and at last she was permitted to stand with the Italian boy +in the vat and tread until she grew tired. + +However, to stand in the midst of juicy grapes means to spoil one's +clothes, so the farmer's wife took Edith and Rafael into the house and +dressed them like peasant children. + +There was much laughing and shouting from the other boys and girls +over the sight of the two strange wine-treaders, and it reminded Edith +of something. "Doesn't the Bible speak of the singing and laughing +that go with the vintage?" she asked her mother. + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Sprague, "there are many references in the Bible +to the vineyard and the vintage; and also to the fig trees, which seem +always to be planted in the vineyard." + +"When I was learning in my Sunday-school lessons about the vine and +the fig tree, I never dreamed that some day I should be eating grapes +and ripe figs, and treading in the wine-press, as they did in olden +times," said Edith. + +"It will be the best wine in the whole country," said the farmer, when +at last Edith was lifted out, her feet crimson with the blood of the +grapes. + +"I must see where they put it," she said, and followed to the dark +wine-cellar, where the grape juice was poured into a tank and left to +ferment. + +It was late in the afternoon when they were once more in readiness to +continue their journey toward Rome. The farmer's wife, who had told +them all her family history, in Italian, would have been glad to keep +them over night, but Mrs. Sprague shook her head. + +"Tell her that the bambino is very cunning," she said to Rafael, "but +we must be far along on our journey to-night." + +Rafael's heart sang again, "I am so glad to go!" Every moment spent in +the automobile was one of joy to him. He barely noticed the queer old +streets and ancient buildings of the towns through which they passed. +He cared more for the rapid motion of the car, and the sensation of +flying through the air; and besides, he knew well the customs of the +people in the Italian towns, and there was nothing strange to him in +the sight of men and women sitting at tables outside the cafs, or +wandering up and down in the public promenades. + +But he chattered in gay delight over the country sights. "See the +haystacks!" he would cry, "and the golden pumpkins! and oh, the ears +of yellow corn!" + +A small flock of geese ran into the road, hissing at the big red +automobile, and Rafael laughed gaily. + +"You should not laugh at those geese," Edith reproved him. "No doubt +they are descendants of the sacred geese that saved Rome." Then after +a moment of silence, she added, "Saved Rome from what?" + +"From the enemy," Rafael answered, with another laugh. + +"I know that, of course," said Edith; "but Rome has had so many +enemies that I can never keep the different ones separated in my +mind." + +Mrs. Sprague overheard the conversation, and said, "That is one reason +why I brought you to Italy, Edith. I want you to understand all this +Roman history, so that you will be able to pass your examinations when +you return to school." + +Rafael was interested to hear something about the American school +examinations, and Edith told him of her troubles with history. + +Then Rafael told of the difficulty he always had in remembering +whether George Lincoln lived before Abraham Washington, or afterwards; +and while Edith was explaining to him his mistake in the names, they +arrived at one of the many olive-groves that dot the Tuscan hillsides. + +"I think the vineyards are much prettier," said Edith. "But the +twisted black trunks, and the gray branches of the olive trees are +very picturesque," she added. + +Boy-like, Rafael began at once to make friends with the farmer, and +soon learned the whole process of crushing the oil from the ripe black +fruit. + +The farmer led them all to the sheds where the great stones were set +up to crush the olives. He showed them just how the work was done, and +then explained about the different grades of oil. + +"We buy a great deal of your Italian oil in America," said Mrs. +Sprague; and when Rafael had repeated this in Italian to the farmer, +the man went into the house and soon returned with two bottles of his +very best oil, which he presented to Edith and her mother. + +"We Italians sell more oil than any other country," he said proudly to +Rafael, "and we use a great quantity ourselves. It is much better than +butter for cooking." + +Then he showed them the barrels of mammoth green olives which he had +sold on the trees to an American dealer the month before, and which +were soon to be shipped to Genoa. + +Mrs. Sprague looked at the setting sun, and advised that they hurry on +to the next town, where they were to spend the night; and Rafael +rejoiced once more in the speed of the automobile. + +But Edith was tired, and was glad to reach a comfortable bed in Siena, +and lay her head upon the pillow filled with live-geese feathers; +after which she knew nothing more of Italy, until the next morning's +sun wakened her, and she began another day's journey over the roads of +Tuscany. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A MARATHON RUN TO ROME + + +"All roads lead to Rome!" called Edith, from her seat in the +automobile, to Rafael in the door of the inn. The boy gave her a merry +salute in answer, and climbed to his place by her side. + +It was a lovely morning, and every peasant they passed waved a hand in +friendly greeting to the two happy young people, while Mrs. Sprague +leaned back and listened to their merry chatter, which never stopped +through the long hours. + +Rafael was constantly calling Edith's attention to this thing or +that,--to the gray oxen, to the flocks of sheep, to the donkey carts +which they passed. At last Edith said, "Rafael, why do you look always +at the road? Why don't you look instead of those distant mountains, +with the castles and monasteries crowning their peaks?" + +Rafael looked somewhat bewildered. "These animals are all so +foreign-looking to me," he said gently; "and it is a new thing for me +to see men digging in the fields, and women picking leaves from the +trees." + +"Why, of course!" said Edith, remembering that Rafael was used to +canals instead of roads, and the changing waters of a lagoon rather +than green meadows. "It is a new sight to me, as well," she added, +"that of women picking the mulberry leaves to feed to silkworms. We +have few silkworms in our country. + +"But neither do we have mountains crowned with castles. When I go +home, I shall have to imagine that the hotel on top of Mt. Washington +is a haunted monastery crowning the summit of a lofty peak." + +Although Rafael knew nothing about Mt. Washington and the hotel on its +top, he did know that Edith was a bright, observant girl who liked a +touch of the ideal, so he asked, "Do you know about the Marathon runs +of ancient Greece?" + +"Yes, indeed!" she answered. "We have them now once a year at my own +home in the United States, and there is great excitement over the +winning of the twenty-six mile run." + +Rafael shook his head in mock discouragement. "There is nothing in +Europe which you have not also in the United States,--except age," he +added. + +"And history," said Edith. + +"Yes, history," the boy repeated. "I like our history." Then he +laughed and said drolly, "You may have all the history you like from +my mother. She says it is better than salt. My own head is filled to +bursting with all the stories she has told me of the men of olden +times; of their wars and victories, their triumphs and their games. +Why can we not call this ride to Rome a Marathon run?" + +"A Marathon run! What fun!" exclaimed the girl. "How far away is +Rome?" + +"More than a hundred miles," he said. "Do you suppose we could +possibly reach the site of the Golden Milestone before sunset?" + +Edith's eyes sparkled at the thought, and she leaned forward to speak +to the chauffeur. "Is the machine running well?" she asked. "Can we +travel one hundred miles to-day?" + +The man shook his head doubtfully. "There are mountains between here +and Rome," he answered, "and it is not well to push the car too hard." + +Edith looked at Rafael imploringly. "You are a man; can you not +persuade him?" she asked under her breath. + +The boy was pleased to be called a man; but as he was in truth a +gallant Italian lad, he said courteously, "It is for you to persuade." + +Then to the chauffeur he said, "Please stop for a moment at the first +olive-garden." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Edith curiously. + +"Make it easy for you to persuade," he answered; and as the car +stopped he jumped out, sprang to the top of the wall, broke off a +branch of beautiful, silvery-green leaves, and presented it to Edith +with a graceful bow. + +"What can you make with the leaves?" he asked with a smile. + +Edith looked at the branch thoughtfully for a moment. + +"I know," she cried, "the victor's crown of olives!" and she clapped +her hands together with delight. "See," she said to the chauffeur, "if +you will reach the Golden Milestone in Rome by sunset, you shall have +a crown of olive leaves." + +She said it hesitatingly. The chauffeur was a quiet, business-like +man, and Edith, with a child's judgment, supposed him to be too old to +feel a single thrill of ambition. + +Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was only the desire to give pleasure to the +American girl that moved him to smile faintly and say, "Well! Well! We +will see what our car can do; but it is not at all likely that we +shall see Rome this night." + +However, he began at once to increase the speed, carefully to be sure, +but with purpose. + +Edith turned to the task of plaiting a wreath of leaves. As her +fingers twisted and arranged them to make the most of their dull green +upper surfaces, she asked Rafael, "What of this Golden Milestone? I +have never heard of it." + +"It was a gilded stone set up in the old Roman Forum by the Emperor +Augustus," Rafael replied. "He wished to make of the city a great +trading center; and so he built many roads radiating from the Forum to +all parts of ancient Italy. The distances of all the principal towns, +measured from the city gates, were recorded on the golden stone. +Although it is no longer there, its place is marked." + +Edith was disappointed. "I thought I was going to see it," she said, +twisting a leaf to show its gray under-side. + +"There are so many other ruins from the days, of ancient Rome, that +you will never miss the milestone," Rafael assured her. + +"How do you know?" she asked. + +"My mother has told me about them," he answered. "It was only by word +of mouth that much of the earliest history of the world was made +known, and I have learned it in the same way." + +"It may not be the most 'up-to-date' fashion," said the girl, "but it +is certainly more interesting. I wish you would try it now, and tell +me something about the Eternal City." + +The young Italian boy, who was making his first journey into the heart +of his native land, felt his own heart expand with joy as he looked +across the beautiful valleys to the distant blue mountains for +inspiration. + +"It was many hundred years before the birth of Christ that people +first came into Italy," he said. "My mother told me that they wandered +over here from Central Asia in search of good pastures for their +flocks, but it was so many centuries ago that very little is known +about them." + +Edith pointed to a roughly thatched hut in a distant field, and asked, +"Do you suppose they lived in huts like that?" + +"Not at first," the boy answered. "It was a long time before they +built even such good huts as that one. It was only little by little +that they learned to clear the ground and cultivate it with rude +tools; to make dishes out of clay and cook their food; to spin and +weave the wool from their sheep, and to live under shelter. + +"At first each family lived by itself, but after a time they began to +form tribes and choose the strongest and bravest of their number for a +chief. This chief governed them in times of peace and led them in +their wars with other tribes, becoming their leader or king. + +"There were many such tribes in Italy, and for centuries they lived +here, waging constant warfare with each other and with other tribes +and nations." + +"Were there no civilized people in those days?" asked Edith. + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "there were the people of Egypt and Greece; and +some of the Grecians had already wandered over into Italy before the +time of Romulus. + +"When he ploughed a trench for the strong wall which was to be built +for a fortification, Romulus ploughed around a great altar to the +Greek god, Hercules." + +"Who was Romulus?" interrupted Edith. + +"It is said that he was the founder of the city of Rome," Rafael told +her. "He was a son of Mars, the god of war, and he founded the city +753 years before the birth of Christ. There are some parts of his wall +still standing. He lifted his plough over the places where the gates +were to be built." + +"Why, Rafael?" + +"Because the ground where the walls would stand was made sacred, but +the gateways would be profaned by the passing of many feet." + +"How many gates were there?" Edith asked. + +"Three; but please don't ask me their names, for I never learned them. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city." + +[Illustration: GATEWAY OF SAN SEBASTIAN, ROME. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city.] + +Edith put down her wreath and laughed with glee. "I'm glad there is +something you never learned about Italian history," she said. "But +tell me what it was like, this early city of Rome." + +"Romulus chose a hill for the site of his village, and soon men from +the neighboring tribes came to join him, so that the town grew large +and prosperous and covered two hills instead of one. + +"Those early Romans lived in rude huts. They made their tools of +flint, bone and bronze, and their dishes of clay. Beside each house +was a garden and sheepfold. Every morning the peasants went to their +work on the farms, and the shepherds drove their little flocks outside +the city walls. Arched gateways were built in the walls, and through +these gates everyone entering or leaving the city was obliged to +pass." + +"Think of having sheep and cattle inside the city," exclaimed Edith. +"I suppose they had to be protected from the wild animals." + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "and from the hostile tribes who were always +ready to steal them. There are many stories about those tribes, and +about the kings who governed the city after Romulus died. Some of the +kings made wise laws and ruled in peace, but others led armies to +conquer the neighboring tribes, and added small territories to their +kingdom." + +"And I suppose each king tried to do something to make his name +famous," said Edith. + +"Not for that reason," Rafael replied. "He did it for the good of the +city. Many of the roads and canals and temples which are now famous +ruins, were built by some of those old kings. + +"As Rome was on the River Tiber, fifteen miles from the sea, one king +built a seaport at the mouth of the river, and a long straight road +leading down to it, which was laid so solidly that it is still in use +to-day. + +"The valleys between the hills of Rome were wet and marshy. A king +named Tarquin drained those marshes by building immense stone sewers. +One of them was so large that several yoke of oxen could pass through +it side by side, and the work was so well done that it is in good +condition now, although it is more than twenty-four hundred years old. + +"One marsh which the sewer drained was used as a market-place. +Shop-keepers set their stalls up there; temples and public buildings +were erected, and it became known as the Roman Forum." + +"The very Forum where we are going?" asked Edith eagerly. + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "the very Forum where Augustus, several hundred +years later, set up the Golden Milestone." + +"What else did those old Romans do?" asked Edith. + +"They were fond of amusements," said Rafael. "One of the valleys +between two of the hills was a good place for races and other games. +On the sloping hillsides on each side of the valley, seats were built +for thousands of spectators, and the place was called the Circus +Maximus. + +"The same king who built the sewers built also a strong fortress on +the top of one of the hills. This fortress was called the Capitol, and +the hill was called the Capitoline Hill. He also ordered that a wall +should be built all around the seven hills to enclose the city, but it +was not finished during his lifetime." + +"Let us get out the map and look at it," suggested the girl, who had +finished plaiting the olive wreath. + +So the wreath was put away in the hamper, and the two heads were soon +bending over a great map of Rome; and Rafael traced the lines of the +old wall which Romulus built. + +Just then Mrs. Sprague looked up at the sun. "It is time for lunch," +she said, and began unpacking the lunch-basket, while the car rolled +steadily nearer and nearer to the Roman Forum. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE GOLDEN MILESTONE" + + +"If we are to reach Rome at sunset, some one must lend a hand at the +wheel," said the chauffeur, as the children finished eating their +lunch. "There is not a moment to lose, and I, also, am hungry." + +Rafael sprang at once to his side. He had longed to drive the +automobile from the very moment they began the journey from Florence, +and had often sat on the seat beside the chauffeur, watching him, and +asking him questions about his work. + +There followed a glorious afternoon for the boy. He was a ready pupil, +the roads were good, and the friendly chauffeur a careful teacher. + +They passed peasant women in gay bodices, with folded handkerchiefs on +their heads and long earrings in their ears, carrying baskets of fruit +on their arms. They passed peasant men driving donkeys or oxen, who +smiled at them from under hats decorated with pompons of colored paper +and tinsel. Geese ran out to hiss at them as they flew by, and hens +and chickens fluttered out of their way; but Rafael had eyes only for +the road. + +They passed lemon groves and rose-gardens, and Edith was grieved +because Rafael could not enjoy with her every new and strange sight. + +"I wanted you to tell me more about the Roman ruins," she said. + +But the boy tossed a merry smile back at her for answer. "We will +speak more about those things when we are in Rome," he said. "I can +think of nothing now but flying," and he bent his eyes again to the +road. + +At last they began the descent of a lofty hill, and the car glided +into the road which is the old Flaminian Way, leading directly to the +city. + +Edith felt the thrill which always stirs the heart when one first +draws near to the Eternal City. She leaned forward and said to the +chauffeur, "How do you feel, to be riding toward Rome?" + +For answer the man pointed to the sun, which was low in the western +sky. "There is only another hour of sunlight," he said with a smile. + +"Oh, shall we fail to reach the Golden Milestone at sunset?" the girl +asked, as anxiously as if it were the most important thing in the +world to win their Marathon run. + +But Rafael suddenly lifted a hand from the wheel. "Ecco!" he said, +pointing to the distant South. + +Edith followed the direction of his finger. Far away she saw the +great dome of a cathedral rising toward the clouds. + +"Rome! St. Peter's!" she shouted. + +The boy nodded. The splendor of the ancient city flashed into his +mind. He saw as in a dream the magnificent temples and palaces, the +triumphal processions, the chariot-races, the games and combats of the +early Romans, about which his mother had told him so many stories. + +"It is a wonderful city," he said. "What tales those old walls could +tell!" + +As they crossed the River Tiber he heard Edith murmur behind him, "Oh, +Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray!" and then it seemed but +a moment before they were rolling through a massive stone gateway, and +the chauffeur had taken the wheel. + +As Rafael lifted his eyes to look about him once more, they looked +straight into the eyes of a man who was riding in the opposite +direction, and he smiled. He did not know that he had smiled, nor that +this man was the king of Italy. His thoughts were back again with the +conquerors of the early days, and the splendors of the ancient city. + +But the king had noticed the boy, and turned to look after him. "That +was the spirit of the old Romans looking from his eyes," he said to +his attendant. + +The last rays of the setting sun fell upon the scarred columns of the +ruined Forum, as the car rounded the base of the Capitoline Hill and +stopped at the spot where the Golden Milestone once marked the +beginning of the Roman roads. + +Rafael was speechless; but Edith took the olive wreath from the hamper +with exclamations of delight. + +"Where will you have it?" she asked the chauffeur, "on your head or +your wheel?" + +"It belongs to the car triumphal," he answered as they turned and +moved cautiously through the street-car tracks of modern Rome. + +"There could never have been such a record run made by your kings and +emperors of olden times," said the girl proudly to Rafael. + +But he was too happy with his thoughts to make any reply, and Edith +turned her attention to the conversation between her mother and the +chauffeur. + +"To the Continental Hotel," Mrs. Sprague was saying, and all too soon +they had crossed the city, and were welcomed and given rooms in the +hotel. The chauffeur bade them good-bye, and their Marathon run was a +thing of the past. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A RAMBLE IN ROME + + +"Did you see a picturesque-looking shepherd, dressed in shaggy skins, +driving his flock through the square at midnight?" + +Rafael asked the question at the breakfast table one morning, about +two weeks after their arrival in Rome. + +"No, indeed!" Edith answered. "I was fast asleep. How could you see +what he wore?" + +"It was bright moonlight," Rafael told her in reply. "I could see +plainly his sheepskin jacket and the long hair of his goatskin +leggins. He had a great white dog to help him guide the sheep, and +they entered the square and passed through it so silently that it +seemed almost like a dream." + +"Perhaps it was a dream," said Edith; but Rafael shook his head, and +the girl went on, "Now I had a dream about the geese that saved Rome; +but you will no doubt tell me that if I had looked out of the window I +should have seen them following old Mother Goose through the square." + +Rafael laughed. "I do not know your old Mother Goose," he said, and +left the table to telephone for the guide who was to take them to see +some of the famous ruins of ancient Rome. + +In a short time the guide arrived, and they were ready to drive +through the city streets. This guide was Professor Gates, a man who +had lived in Rome over twenty-five years, studying its history and +ancient ruins, and he had already taken Rafael, with Edith and Mrs. +Sprague, to see many interesting places. + +"Where are we going to-day?" Edith asked, as they took their seats in +the carriage. + +"I want you to drive a little distance along the Appian Way," replied +their guide; "but we will look first at some of the arches of the old +aqueduct which was built by Appius Claudius, many years before the +birth of Christ, to bring water to the city from the mountains sixty +miles away." + +It was a lovely morning for a drive, and Edith and Rafael saw many +sights to point out to each other. Near the foot of one of the arches +of the aqueduct they found a group of models picking flowers, and +Edith asked them to pose for a picture. + +It was a pretty little group. The boy wore a conical hat adorned with +a feather, a red jacket, and sandals which were bound upon his feet +with red cords that were interlaced up the legs as far as the knees. +His mother and sister wore bright red skirts and green aprons, and +they all smiled at Edith as she tossed them some coins for posing. + +"You will find such models all over the city," said Professor Gates. + +"Like all-over embroidery," said Edith with a merry laugh; but no one +saw her little joke, so she asked more seriously, "How did the water +flow through the arches?" + +"It did not flow through the arches, but through the aqueduct which +you see at the top," the guide explained. "If you remember your Latin +you will know that this word is formed from two others which mean +'water' and 'to lead.' In some places the aqueduct was laid upon the +ground, but here there was a valley to be crossed, as you see, and the +arches formed a bridge over which the pipe was laid." + +From the aqueduct they drove to the old Appian Way. + +"The Appian Way was named after Appius Claudius, who built a part of +it," Professor Gates explained. "It is three hundred miles long, and +crosses Italy to Brindisi, a seaport on the south-eastern coast." + +"I thought you said that Appius Claudius built the aqueduct," said +Mrs. Sprague. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. +The arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top.] + +"So he did," replied the professor. "The road is called 'Appian' +after one of his names, and the aqueduct 'Claudian' after the other." + +"Was he one of the kings of early Rome?" asked Edith, taking out her +note-book. + +"No," he answered, "the kingdom came to an end more than two hundred +years before this road was begun. This is one of the great works of +the republic." + +"What a glorious sight it must have been to see the Roman army come +marching home in triumph from some of its great victories," said +Rafael. "Think how thousands of soldiers, with spears and helmets +flashing in the sun, marched over this road, leading their prisoners +of war." + +"Yes," said Edith, "and think how the Roman women came hurrying +through that old gate to meet them, shouting with joy at their +return." + +The professor smiled at the children. He liked the way they had begun +to see pictures in their minds of the earlier days of Rome. He called +their attention to the ruins of tombs which are scattered along the +road on either side, and then pointed to three peasant children who +had been playing in the field, but had stopped to watch the strangers. +"There is ancient Rome and young Italy. You will find one quite as +interesting as the other," he said. + +"Most of what you see is historic," he told them as they rode back +into the city. "There is a story about every ruin along the Appian +Way. I have told you the legends of the kings, but there are also +tales to tell of the days of the republic and of the glorious empire." + +"Rafael likes those old kings," said Edith. "How did the kingdom +happen to come to an end?" + +"One of the Kings was such a cruel tyrant that the people rose in +rebellion, under the leadership of a man named Brutus, and drove the +king and his followers from the city," replied the professor. "Brutus +then persuaded the Romans never again to be ruled by a king, so two +men were elected each year to govern the people, and the kingdom +became a republic. That was about five hundred years before the birth +of Christ. + +"During the time of the republic, which lasted nearly five hundred +years, the Romans were waging constant warfare with other tribes and +nations, to gain wealth and power. One war followed another in rapid +succession, and there were many famous warriors who fought bravely for +the glory of Rome." + +"Horatius was one of those old warriors," said Rafael. + +"Yes," said Edith, "Horatius, who held back the army of the enemy from +crossing the bridge over the River Tiber. I learned a poem about it +once." + +"The bridge was a wooden one which crossed the river at a spot near +here," said the guide. "We will drive around to see the place where it +stood." + +They soon reached the bend of the river where Horatius called for +volunteers to aid him in defending the city. + +"Let me hear the story again," said Edith, "right here where he once +stood," and Rafael told it with shining eyes. + +"Horatius was a brave soldier who had already lost an eye in the +service of Rome," he began; "and now he was ready to lose his life if +need be. He crossed the bridge with two companions, and called for men +to come forward from the ranks of the enemy and fight. + +"While they fought, the Roman soldiers were cutting down the bridge +behind them. The two companions of Horatius turned and saw that, at +last, the bridge was about to fall, so they ran back to safety. But +Horatius was so brave that he remained alone, fighting until the +bridge crashed down. + +"Then there was no way for the enemy to cross the river and enter +Rome, so he jumped into the water with all his armor on, and swam +safely to the other side, where he was received with great +rejoicing." Edith jotted a few words down in her note-book, murmuring +as she did so:-- + + "Still is the story told, + How well Horatius kept the bridge + In the brave days of old." + +"Another hero of the days of the republic was Cincinnatus," said +Professor Gates. "He was an old soldier who was plowing in his fields +when he was called upon to lead a small company of brave men to aid +the Roman army, which was surrounded by the enemy and could not fight +its way out. + +"After Cincinnatus conquered the enemy and rescued the army, he +returned to Rome, where he was given a grand triumph." + +"I suppose our city of Cincinnati was named after him," said Edith, +and then without waiting for an answer, she asked, "What was a grand +triumph?" + +"Those triumphs were often granted to famous victors, and were times +of great rejoicing," the professor said. "The day was made a holiday, +the houses were decorated with garlands, the streets were filled with +throngs of people, and there was music and feasting throughout the +city. + +"Magnificent processions passed through the streets. Beautiful maidens +scattered flowers before the victor, who looked very fine, clad in +purple robes and riding in a triumphal car. + +"The prisoners of war followed the victor's chariot, to make his +triumph more of a spectacle, and soldiers carrying booty taken from +the conquered cities marched beside them singing hymns of victory, +while the shouts of the Roman populace called down blessings and +praises upon the head of their hero. + +"The procession passed through the Forum, and at the foot of the hill +the victor turned to the left to go to the Capitol, where +thank-offerings were made to the gods, while the prisoners turned to +the right and were led away to prison. + +"It must have been a magnificent sight, even in those old days of +splendor," he added, and turned to lead the way back to their +carriage. + +"Those triumphs must have cost a great deal of money," said Mrs. +Sprague. + +"There were enormous fortunes in old Rome, and the people spent +extravagant sums on amusements and public celebrations," their guide +told her. "One of the greatest of all the triumphs was given in honor +of Julius Csar, when he returned from conquering the Gauls. He wrote +an account of his wars with those barbarians which has been read by +many thousands of school children." + +"Is it in Latin?" Edith asked. + +"Yes," replied the professor. "That was the language of the Roman +people." + +"I have read it then," said the girl; and she sighed as she thought of +the tears she had shed over her Latin lessons and Csar's accounts of +his wars with the Gauls. + +"Julius Csar was one of the greatest generals the world has ever +known," said Professor Gates. "He was a powerful leader and ruler of +men, and it was this great power that made him ambitious to be called +Emperor of Rome, and to make the republic an empire. + +"Some of his friends feared he would be successful in this attempt, +and, joining his enemies, they assassinated him. They loved the +freedom of their country more than they did Csar. + +"His body was burned in the Roman Forum," added the professor. "But +not long after his death the republic did actually become an empire." + +"Tell us about the empire," begged Rafael, who always wished to know +everything at once. + +"Not to-day," said Mrs. Sprague, looking at her watch. "It is time for +luncheon and our afternoon rest." + +"That is true," said the professor, looking at the sun. "Some other +day, with Mrs. Sprague's permission, I will take you to the Colosseum +and then we will hear about the empire." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM + + +Edith was sitting at the hotel window with her note-book open before +her. "Professor Gates tells us so much," she said, "that it is all +mixed up in my mind. + +"But it is my dearest wish to get it straightened out," she added +quickly, as she saw the troubled look on her mother's face. "What is +your dearest wish?" she asked Rafael, who was reading a letter from +his mother. + +"I have none," he answered, "since the Signora has been so good as to +bring me to this wonderful city." + +"Oh, Rafael!" Edith said merrily, "you must have found an Italian +blarney stone somewhere." Then she went on more seriously, "Every one +always has a dearest wish. As fast as one is fulfilled, another takes +its place." + +He smiled. "Very well, since it must be so, I have a dearest wish," he +said, "and it is to serve the king." + +Edith looked at him with laughing eyes. "That is a very fine wish," +she said; "but I think mine is more likely to be granted first, +because Professor Gates is to take us to the Colosseum this very +morning, and I shall ask him every question about this history that I +can think of." + +Several days had passed since their excursion to the Appian Way, but +the children had found every one full to overflowing. The mornings had +been spent in the art galleries and churches, and the afternoons in +driving through the Campagna or the beautiful grounds of the Villa +Borghese. + +One whole day had been devoted to visiting St. Peter's Cathedral, +which is the largest church in the whole world, and to seeing the +treasures of the Vatican,--the home of the Pope. + +Mrs. Sprague was glad to sit quietly on her camp-stool and let the +children wander about the enormous buildings under the direction of +the guide. Of all the treasures, Rafael liked best the pictures in the +Vatican by the great painter Rafael, for whom he was named; but Edith +was more interested in the mosaics and statues in the cathedral, and +in the huts of the workmen who live on the roof, and spend all their +time in repairing the vast church. + +During the noon hours they had stayed in the hotel, where their rooms +had gradually taken on a most homelike appearance. Beautiful, +bright-colored Roman scarfs found their way from the shops to the +children's tables, and photographs of the places that they had visited +turned the walls into picture galleries. + +Rosaries, bought from old women on the church steps, and later blessed +by the Pope, hung over the mirrors. In their work-baskets Edith and +her mother always had a bit of sewing to catch up at odd moments, and +there were books, maps and papers everywhere. + +Rafael fitted into this cozy atmosphere with wonderful ease. He never +returned from a walk without a bouquet of flowers for the vases on the +tables, and he fell into a way of carrying a light camp-stool in their +excursions through the picture-galleries, so that Mrs. Sprague could +sit down when she was tired. + +But this morning Mrs. Sprague was to visit some friends who were +spending the winter in Rome, and Edith and Rafael were going alone +with Professor Gates to the Colosseum. + +"There is nothing new under the sun," said Rafael, as they stepped out +of the hotel elevator. "I have just been reading that there were +elevators in the Colosseum nearly two thousand years ago." + +"They couldn't have been much like this fine one," said Edith. "What +were they for?" she asked, taking out her note-book. + +"They were used to lift the fierce wild animals out of the underground +pits where they were kept until it was time for them to fight in the +arena," Rafael told her, and added, "You haven't much more room in +that note-book." + +"The only way I can remember all you tell me is by making a note of +it," Edith replied with a laugh, and turned to greet the guide, who +had a carriage waiting for them. + +There were many other tourists' carriages standing outside the great +ruin of the Colosseum, but as the professor led the two children under +the arches and into the arena they were hardly conscious of these +other sight-seers, so vast is this king of buildings. + +"The Colosseum was an enormous out-door theatre which seated over +eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for many +more," the guide told them. + +As Edith climbed up to sit on one of the stone seats, Rafael said, +"Think of all the old Romans who sat on these same stones, and who +looked down into that arena at the terrible battles between men and +beasts." + +[Illustration: THE COLOSSEUM AT ROME. +This enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people.] + +"Yes," added Professor Gates, "for four hundred years the Roman people +came here on holidays, and sometimes they had as many as one hundred +and twenty-five holidays in one year. They came to be amused and +entertained with games, contests, and combats between men and wild +beasts; and they saw with delight many scenes of bloodshed and death, +too horrible for me to describe to you." + +The children looked with him at the deep underground pits where the +animals--lions, tigers, elephants, and other savage beasts--were kept, +and at the places where two aqueducts led the water into the arena. + +"Those old Romans were always trying to find some new way of pleasing +the people," he told them, "and sometimes they made a large lake of +the arena, and had boats on the lake fighting terrible battles, in +which many men were killed just for amusement. There are no walls now +standing which have seen so much of the splendor and cruelty of +ancient days," he added. + +Edith sighed. "I shall never boast about the stadium at Cambridge +again," she said. + +"This Colosseum was built in the early days of the Roman Empire," the +guide continued. "The first and greatest of the Roman emperors was +Augustus, for whom our month of August was named. During his reign +many buildings were repaired which had begun to crumble to ruins in +the days of the republic, when the Romans had devoted most of their +time and money to wars, and many other beautiful buildings were +erected. It was said of this emperor that he found Rome brick and left +it marble. + +"It was during the reign of Augustus that the most important event in +the history of the world took place. Christ was born in Bethlehem. +Every event which happened before the birth of Christ is said to have +taken place so many years B. C. (before Christ). All dates after His +birth are given as so many years A. D.--Anno Domini--(two Latin words +which mean 'in the year of our Lord')." + +"I was born in 1893 A. D.," said Edith, "and that means that it was +eighteen hundred and ninety-three years after the birth of Christ." + +"Yes," said Rafael, "and Julius Csar was killed in 44 B. C., and that +means forty-four years before Christ was born." + +"True," said the professor, "and Julius Csar was born in 100 B. C., +which makes him fifty-six years old when he died. Can you puzzle that +out for yourselves?" + +Then without waiting for a reply, he continued, "The Roman Empire was +very large, with vast provinces, but it also had powerful enemies. +Among these enemies were the barbarians in Central Europe, and it was +necessary for Augustus to protect his northern frontier with strong +forces, to keep them out of the country. This he did, but we shall +see that later emperors failed to see the importance of this step, and +this was one of the causes that led finally to the destruction of the +city of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. + +"Augustus also encouraged trade, and built roads which radiated from +the Golden Milestone at the head of the Forum to all parts of the +Roman world. From this came the saying, 'All roads lead to Rome.'" + +"We came into Rome in an automobile on one of the roads which were +built so long ago," said Edith, "and we have seen the site of the +Golden Milestone; but I should like better to see an old Roman chariot +with four prancing horses go whirling around this arena." + +"My mother has told me that many Christians have died for their faith +in this same arena," said Rafael. + +"Yes," replied the guide, "after the birth of Christ people began, +little by little, to follow His teachings and to become Christians. In +the centuries before the Christian religion was the accepted religion +of Rome many hundreds, and even thousands, of men and women were put +to death both here and elsewhere. + +"During the reign of Nero, who was a very cruel emperor, a great fire +destroyed a large part of the city, and many Christians were tortured +and killed on the groundless suspicion that they had caused the fire. + +"Come," he added, looking at Edith's sad face, "let us think of +something more cheerful," and he led the way out of the Colosseum and +down the road to a great stone arch. + +"This arch commemorates the famous victories of Constantine," their +guide told the children. "He was the first emperor to become a +Christian." + +"How did he happen to become a Christian?" asked Edith. + +"Soon after he was declared emperor, he was leading his army to battle +one day, when a bright cross suddenly appeared in the sky. Surrounding +the cross were four words which mean, 'In this sign conquer.' On +seeing the vision, Constantine vowed to become a Christian if he +should win a victory over the enemy; and he ordered a new standard, +bearing the cross and the inscription, which was carried before him in +the battle. + +"He did win the victory, the enemy was defeated, and he entered Rome +in great triumph. In memory of the victory this very arch was called +the Arch of Constantine. He also kept his vow to become a Christian, +and for the first time the Christians were given equal liberty with +the pagans, who still worshipped the Roman gods." + +Edith, who had been writing again in her note-book, looked up at the +professor with a laugh. "If this Roman Empire doesn't come to an end +soon, I shall have to buy a new note-book," she said. + +Rafael laughed, too. "You will need a whole library of books to hold +all the history of the Roman Empire," he told her. + +"Are we going to hear it all?" Edith asked anxiously. + +"No," replied Professor Gates, "there is little more for me to tell +to-day. After the death of Constantine there were many more terrible +wars with the barbarians. At last the fierce Goths crossed the Alps +and marched down to the very walls of Rome. They besieged the city, +burst in by surprise, killed hundreds of the people, and destroyed +many of the buildings. As they also were Christians, they spared the +churches and all who took refuge in them." + +"I have heard of the Goths," said Edith, "and of the Vandals, too. +Where did they come from?" + +"They came over from Africa, captured Rome, and remained here fourteen +days, destroying the buildings and sacking the city. They carried away +whole ship-loads of booty, and took many of the Romans to be their +slaves. + +"The Roman Empire had already been divided into two parts, and +Constantinople was the capital of the Empire of the East. The Bishop +of Rome, who was called the Pope, now became the ruler of the Empire +of the West. He succeeded to the throne of the deposed emperor, and +held this position of power until 1870, when Victor Emanuele I. was +made king of Italy." + +"Viva l'Italia!" said Rafael, tossing up his cap. + +"Don't toss up your cap like that," Edith reproved him. "Those little +beggars may think you are tossing it for them. Ecco!" she called to +the boys, and threw a few coins to the funny little fellows who ran +along beside the carriage, begging for coppers even while they stood +on their heads. + +"I can buy photographs of all your famous ruins," she said to +Professor Gates, as she pointed her camera at the heap of boys +scrambling in the road for the coins, "but I shall always like best my +own pictures of these happy little Italian children." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MERRY NAPLES + + +Rafael wrote his mother joyful accounts of those happy days in Rome. + +And he saw the king! It happened upon an afternoon when all Rome, +dressed in gayest costumes for one of the festivals, crowded into open +carriages and drove out to the Villa Borghese. + +In the shade of a great tree, where a living spring bubbles up from +the ground, Rafael twisted a leaf into a cup, which he filled with +water and offered to Edith. + +As he looked beyond the girl, he met a piercing glance from a pair of +brilliant blue eyes. This time he knew the king at once, and saluted +him. + +The king smiled, saying to his aide, "I have seen that boy before. He +wore the look then of an older Italy, but now he has the promise of +the young country in his eyes." + +Rafael wrote his mother of that smile. "I could follow the king +anywhere for another like it," the letter said. + +Then he wrote of the heavy Roman faces; the hard, tiresome pavements, +and the noisy clang of the street cars,--all so different from his +bright, silent Venice. + +"But there are pleasant things," he wrote. "There are many beautiful +fountains where the water gushes all day; and I often go out of my way +for a sight of the Pope's soldiers, the Swiss Guard, standing at the +entrance to the Vatican. They make me think of our Venetian +mooring-posts with their many-colored stripes; and their stately +halberds are not unlike the prow of our gondolas. I am very grateful +to Michael Angelo for designing a costume which reminds me of home. + +"Often we meet schools of boys walking two by two, wearing black +dress-suits and high, stiff black hats, and I am glad I am not one of +them." + +His mother sighed as she read of his endless pleasure, and wondered if +it would estrange him from his quiet life in Venice. Then she wrote a +long letter in answer, in which she said, "Remember that the fine old +Roman character was weakened through ease and indulgence. Remember, +also, that our young king likes nothing so much as devotion to duty." + +Her letter ended with a quotation from an English poet,--"Live pure, +speak true, right wrong, follow the king." + +Rafael read between the lines that she feared he would learn to like +his happy life with the Spragues too well. He lifted his eyes from the +letter and acknowledged to himself that this freedom from care and +responsibility was very pleasant. Mrs. Sprague indulged him as she +indulged Edith. The treasures of the shops flowed into his own room as +well as hers, and no door which money could open remained closed to +them in this city of precious sights. + +His eyes fell again to the letter, and a choking feeling filled his +throat as he pictured his mother sitting alone in the home in Venice. +"The dear, lonely mother!" he said to himself. "My letters have given +her sad thoughts." + +Then, with a boy's carelessness, he said, laughing lightly at his +English joke, "I can write wrong, it seems; but can I follow the +king?" + +Just then Edith ran into the room crying, "Mother has decided to take +the noon train to Naples. Doesn't she do everything suddenly?" And +Rafael forgot his mother's letter in his pleasure over another +journey. + +The car ride to Naples always remained in the boy's mind as a +succession of pictures; but no picture could reveal the many phases of +his mind as he passed from one experience to another in the days that +followed. + +"The guide-book calls this the most fertile valley in Europe," said +Mrs. Sprague, as they rode along, catching glimpses of farmers plowing +in the fields. The distant hills were soft and blue, but on drawing +near to them, terraces and flights of steps were to be seen on the +slopes. + +At last Edith called, "I see Vesuvius!" and the wonderful volcano lay +before them. Its smoke rose in a straight column and then broke, +trailing off into the distance like the smoke from an ocean liner. + +"It makes the mountain look like a man-of-war," exclaimed Rafael, and +the two pairs of eyes hardly saw anything else until they reached +Naples. + +"Let us go to a hotel where we can see the fire at night, if it comes +out of the volcano," said Edith; and they took rooms from which they +could watch every mood of Vesuvius. + +Before they had been in the city three days Edith decided that she +liked it better than she did Rome. "The people there looked so +serious," she said, "while here they are very merry and sociable." + +Mrs. Sprague laughed. "They are certainly sociable enough," she said. +"Yesterday I heard a woman read a letter aloud from an upper window to +her friend on the sidewalk below." + +Edith laughed in her turn. "Was the window in the same house where we +saw the rooster and chickens in the upper balcony?" she asked. + +[Illustration: "IT IS A FUNNY SIGHT TO SEE THE BOYS OF NAPLES EATING + MACARONI"] + +Rafael felt a touch of sadness at hearing their light talk. "The poor +people!" he said. "When they live upstairs there is no other way but +for them to keep their animals up there with them." + +"Many of them seem to live in the basements of the rich," observed the +girl. + +To Rafael, the sight of such great poverty was no new thing, but Edith +spoke of it constantly, and wrote of it to her father in America. + +"There seem to be nothing but happiness and laziness here among these +poor people," the letter said. "They live and eat upon the sidewalk, +and it is a funny sight to see the boys swallowing macaroni. + +"Many of the rooms in which the people sleep seem to be spaces left in +the foundation of a castle, with no windows or doors in the openings. +Often the castles seem to be ruined hills; and they have great holes +in their barren sides, like caverns in the sides of cliffs; and we see +barred doorways instead of windows, with dungeons beyond. + +"Then suddenly the hills blossom out into ramparts and parapets, so +that it is impossible to distinguish between hills and castles; and to +puzzle us still more, long flights of steps lead up between hilly +castles and castled hills. + +"Occasionally we see a group of basket-makers, or tailors, or +shoemakers on the sidewalks among the family groups of fathers, +mothers and children. A little beyond such a group we saw yesterday a +herd of goats resting comfortably in the shade, also on the sidewalk. + +"Early in the morning these goats are driven through the streets. They +stop in front of a doorway, a woman runs out with a cup, the man milks +her cup full and then drives on to the next doorway. Sometimes, if the +woman lives on an upper floor of the house, one of the goats is driven +up the stairs, to be milked at her very door. + +"We see rich people, also, driving in their splendid carriages on +their most beautiful boulevard, overlooking the blue bay; and in +contrast to them and their spirited horses, a contadino will come +bringing a load of produce to market from the country, driving a white +cow harnessed between a full-grown horse and a tiny mule." + +While the American girl was marvelling at the queer mingling of riches +and poverty in Naples, Rafael was drinking in the beauty of the bay, +and of the lovely villages which lie along its border. + +Mrs. Sprague stayed two or three weeks in Naples, although she said +that she did not like it at all. "The people are so shiftless," she +complained, picking up her skirts and walking round a group of girls +who were sitting on the sidewalk combing their hair. "It is the +dirtiest city in the world." + +"Oh, Mother!" Edith exclaimed, "how can you say so? When we go out on +the bay in the evening and I look back at the city, it seems to me +most beautiful. It is like an amphitheatre, with its tiers of lights +rising one above another. Then she sang softly:-- + + "My soul to-day is far away, + Sailing the Vesuvian Bay!" + +"Avanti!" exclaimed Rafael suddenly, and shook his head at a boy who +was offering a pair of pearl opera-glasses for Mrs. Sprague to buy. +Mrs. Sprague drew the back of her hand under her chin, tossing her +head at the same time. + +The little peddler laughed and showed his white teeth at the awkward +motion of the American lady, but he did not insist that she should +buy. + +As for Edith and Rafael, they looked plainly astonished. "Why, +Mother!" said the girl admiringly, "you are talking in a foreign +language when you use signs. How did you happen to find out such an +easy way to dismiss the little beggar?" + +"I was driven to it," answered her mother. "These foreigners have +cheated me out of half my money by asking me to pay so much for their +wares. They will never take 'no' for an answer. That same boy has been +trying to make me buy that same pair of opera-glasses for three days; +but at last I have found out a sign that will keep him away. I have +seen the others use it," she said with satisfaction. + +"What does it mean?" asked Edith curiously. + +"It means 'I will not take it at any price,'" said Mrs. Sprague. + +Rafael, who had been laughing with great amusement while she gave this +explanation, now said, "This language of signs is very convenient. We +Italians do half our talking by signs." + +Edith looked at him and shook her head decidedly. "Just listen!" she +said, pointing to the groups of people gathered along the quay. These +people were all talking in the liveliest manner imaginable, and there +was a great babble of excited voices. Street peddlers were crying +their wares, drivers were cracking their whips, and men in boats, on +the water below, were shouting to each other about the price of fish. + +"It is certainly the noisiest city in the world," Edith said; "but it +is also the jolliest. I am going now to the stand where the public +letter-writer sat waiting for customers yesterday. I will let him +write a letter for me." + +The three separated and Mrs. Sprague returned to the hotel, while +Rafael went down to the quay to watch the fishermen. The water with +its bustle and stir of life, its coming and going of boats, was like a +breath of home to the boy. + +[Illustration: POMPEII AND MOUNT VESUVIUS] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BURIED CITY + + +Edith and Rafael planned their trip to the top of Vesuvius for many +days before the right morning finally arrived. + +"The right morning is a bright morning," sang Edith one evening as she +looked out at the stars; "and to-morrow will bring a bright morning," +she added, so positively that Mrs. Sprague sent Rafael to buy the +tickets, in order that they might be ready for an early start. + +Although it was the last week in December the air was soft and warm, +and the sun shone with the brightness of summer. + +From Naples to the foot of Mt. Vesuvius there was first a drive of +several hours, after which they went up to the crater over an inclined +railway. + +"It is like looking at the entrance to the underworld," said Edith, as +they looked down into the great chasm which holds so much mystery and +terror; and she was glad to take the train back to the foot of the +mountain. + +As they stood looking at the great beds of lava which poured down the +sides of the mountain many years ago, Edith exclaimed, "How can any +one dare to live near the volcano?" + +Rafael turned to a peasant whose little farm was not far away, and +asked him if he ever felt free from danger. + +"Ah, no!" the man answered, lifting sad eyes and hands to heaven. +"When I go to sleep at night I think always, before the light of the +morning, the mountain, he may send his fire and stones to crush us +all; who knows?" + +"Why did the people of Pompeii live so near to Vesuvius, if they knew +it might bury them?" Edith asked impatiently. + +"They did not know it in the days when Pompeii was built," Rafael told +her. "Vesuvius was supposed to be an extinct volcano then. It had not +said a word for hundreds of years. Everything about it was green and +beautiful, and its slopes were covered with forests and vineyards. It +is not strange that people built the two cities near its base." + +"What other city was built, besides Pompeii?" asked the girl. + +"Herculaneum," answered Rafael. "None of the people felt any fear of +danger in the two cities, although an earthquake destroyed some of the +buildings in the reign of Nero. + +"But in the year 79 A. D., Vesuvius suddenly woke up, and there was a +fearful eruption. Ashes and rocks were thrown out of the crater with +great force, and hot lava poured down the side of the mountain. The +two cities at the foot were completely buried under the ashes, and +thousands of people were killed." + +"There was an eruption in 1906, which made many people homeless," said +Mrs. Sprague, "and no one knows when there may be another. + +"Pompeii lay buried for seventeen centuries, and people forgot that +there had been such a city; when, after a long time, a farmer who was +digging for a well discovered the ruins, and since then a part of each +city has been excavated." + +"I should like to know just how the people of Pompeii lived, and what +they were doing when the city was destroyed," said Edith. + +"You shall see the relics that were taken from the ruins and are now +in the museum at Naples," her mother told her. "The life of the old +Pompeiians has been studied from those relics and a guide can tell you +just how they did their housekeeping and what their life was like." + +Before she left America, Edith had looked forward to the smoking +mountain of Vesuvius and the city of Pompeii as being the most +wonderful part of her journey. The volcano, and the city which lay +buried under ashes for centuries, had been the goal of her desires. + +"Wait until we see Vesuvius and Pompeii!" had been her cry whenever +she wrote home. "Then I shall have something to tell you!" + +But she turned her face away from the forbidding crater and the +desolate beds of lava with a feeling of disappointment that was half +fear. + +"Perhaps I shall like better to go into the museum and see the curious +things that were found in Pompeii," she said, as she searched for a +bit of lava from which to have a piece of jewelry fashioned. + +"Just think of having the whole world interested to know how the +people baked their bread so long ago," said Rafael; and when they had +returned to Naples, the children found it very interesting to visit +the museum and imagine how the people lived in the time of Christ. + +Then one day they went down to the ruined city, riding in a small car +over a roadbed so loosely made that Rafael laughed about it, and Edith +said it was only a toy journey. + +But when they went through the sea-gate at Pompeii, passed the army of +boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations, and stood in the +silent streets, Edith drew closer to her mother, and Rafael walked +quietly beside them. + +[Illustration: "THE ARMY OF BOYS BEARING BASKETS OF EARTH FROM THE + EXCAVATIONS AT POMPEII" ] + +They followed the instructions of the guide and looked obediently +at the deep ruts made in the pavements of the narrow streets by the +old Roman chariot wheels. They walked through the forum, and stood in +the ruined amphitheatre. + +At last Edith drew Mrs. Sprague into the lonely angle of a wall where +they could see nothing of the crumbled houses all about them, the +pavements, or the great stepping-stones in the streets. + +"I want to go home," she said with a shudder. "I never want to see +Vesuvius again." + +She was plainly homesick. It was a sudden ending to the "long thoughts +of youth" which had filled so many hours with bright anticipations; +but she was in such a hurry to get away from the buried city that they +took the next train back to Naples without even stopping to buy +picture postcards of the ruins. + +When they reached their hotel in Naples they found a foreign war-ship +anchored in the bay. + +"There is the old man-of-war threatening us from the land, and here is +one in the bay," exclaimed Edith. "It makes me nervous!" + +Mrs. Sprague saw that her daughter was tired. "We will go back to Rome +to-morrow," she said. + +"But I want to buy a lottery ticket before we leave Naples," said the +girl. + +"Befana will fill your stockings with ashes if you do," said Rafael. + +"Everybody in Italy buys lottery tickets. Why should not I?" asked +Edith perversely. + +"I do it not," said Rafael shortly. + +"That is because your wonderful king does not believe in it," she +answered. + +"Is that not a good reason?" asked the boy. He looked at her with the +same expression he wore in Venice, when she spoke slightingly of the +superstitions of his country, and as she knew him better now, she +laughed and agreed with him. + +"I did not really mean to do it," she said, and added, "Tell me more +about Befana." + +"How I used to shake in my bed when I heard her bell ring!" he said +with a laugh. + +"Did you really hear it ring?" asked Edith. + +He looked at her drolly, answering, "Of course I heard her bell. And +often I heard the sheep talking to one another on Twelfth-night; or at +least I thought I did." + +"Truly?" asked Edith in great delight. + +He nodded, smiling mischievously at her unexpected pleasure in hearing +of the Italian superstitions. + +Befana is the Italian Lady Santa Claus. She is quite different from +the fat, jolly man who drives his reindeer over the roofs at Christmas +time. + +While Sir Santa is short and rosy, Befana is dark and tall; and while +the kind old gentleman leaves something in every stocking, good and +bad alike, this rather terrible old lady puts presents only in the +good children's stockings, and drops bags of ashes into the others. + +Instead of happening at Christmas, as with us, the Italian festival is +celebrated on the eve of Epiphany, the sixth of January. + +"Everyone is happy then," said Rafael, "and we shall forget Pompeii +and the man-of-war which is always threatening it." + +So the children began at once to plan for the Twelfth-night festival. + +"Mother and I will make some peasant costumes for us to wear," Edith +told Rafael, and added, "or you might wear a soldier's uniform and a +cocked hat. The soldiers look so fine and march so well in Italy!" + +"Come children, it is time to go to bed if we are to take the early +morning train to Rome," interrupted Mrs. Sprague, who had been +studying a time-table; and the children separated, little dreaming +that every plan would soon be changed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN + + +In the morning they wakened to find on every tongue the news of the +terrible earthquake at Messina, and for many days it was Italy the +desolate that filled their minds and kept their hands busy. + +People who saw it never forgot the dreadful misery of the country at +that time. + +Edith and Rafael stood silent, as when they had walked the streets of +the buried city of Pompeii, and watched the confusion of vessels +coming and going to the South. Boxes and bundles of all sizes and +shapes were piled high on the wharf, and supplies of food and clothing +were being hurried to the suffering city. + +Newspaper men, frantic to gather news which everyone wished to hear, +hurried back and forth on the quay, filling Edith with indignation. +"What difference does it make whether we know all the latest news or +not?" she asked hotly. "All those poor, starving people must be fed." + +Rafael watched the soldiers march through the streets, without the +music of the band, and go on board the ships to follow the king's boat +to the stricken island, and his heart yearned to go with them. + +"Italy is accursed," he heard the superstitious Neapolitans moaning, +but he shook his head. "Not while the king and queen live, and teach +us how to help," he said to himself, and then he went to find Mrs. +Sprague. + +"I cannot live this idle life any longer," he said, as he had said it +once before, in Venice. + +And as his mother asked then, so Mrs. Sprague asked now, "What will +you do?" + +"I will follow the king to Messina and ask him to make me one of the +patrol guard," the boy answered. + +They were standing on the quay as he spoke, and could see a +relief-ship which was getting up steam, ready to sail out of the +harbor. + +Mrs. Sprague was alarmed. She knew that the boy would not be allowed +to go into the ruined city, and she felt sure that his mother would +not permit him to go if she were there; but in the excitement it was +possible for him to slip away at any moment, under the mistaken idea +that he could be of service. + +She put her hand upon the boy's arm to detain him, if indeed he needed +to be detained, and said, "How can I make you see that it is not +possible for you to be of any use there?" + +A man in naval uniform, who was just about to step into a tender and +go out to the relief-ship, heard her words and turned, looking into +Rafael's face. + +He smiled suddenly and held out his hand. "We have met before, when +life was brighter," he said; and Rafael recognized with delight the +man who had listened to the serenade at the Rialto bridge with him, +that summer night in Venice. + +"May I go with you?" asked the boy impetuously. + +The officer looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Our ambassador +has sent me down to see what Messina needs most," he said, "and I +shall be gone but a day or two. I see no harm in taking you along; but +there must be no nonsense about doing patrol duty." + +So it came about that Rafael went to Messina and saw the ruin and +destruction caused by the greatest earthquake in the history of the +world. + +He was back in Naples a few days later with a face deeply saddened by +the suffering he had seen. "I could not do anything there," he told +Mrs. Sprague, who was glad to see him safely back again; "but my +friend, the naval officer, helped me to think of a way to be of +service." + +"I will help you. What are you going to do?" asked Edith. She had been +busy every day, helping her mother collect food, clothing and +medicine to send to Messina in the relief-ships; but she longed to do +still more. + +"I am going to make some tops," he told her. "I saw the king and queen +doing with their own hands whatever needed to be done to help the poor +people; and I can make tops and sell them. In that way I can raise a +little money for the sufferers." + +That was how it came about that, one evening a week later, a pair of +picturesque peasants stood among the booths in the Circus Agonale, in +Rome, selling tops. There were booths where peddlers sold whistles of +every kind and description; but they two, Edith and Rafael, were the +only peddlers of tops. + +In all the din of the crowds that passed and re-passed, nothing +attracted more attention and made more fun than the doll-tops which +Edith and her mother had dressed for Rafael. Edith blew a great blast +on her whistle, Rafael gave a piercing scream on his, and they had a +little crowd of merry-makers around them in a moment. + +Roman whistles are made of pewter, terra-cotta, or wood, in every +shape of bird, or beast, or fish. Rafael had a bird-whistle, Edith's +was a yellow butterfly, and the tops which they spun were dressed like +dolls, in many fantastic costumes. + +As he had said in Venice, so Rafael called to his audience in Rome, +when he had a little space cleared for the performance, "Signor Rafael +Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops!" + +"It is for the earthquake sufferers," he had taught Edith to say in +Italian, and she had no sooner said it than the tops were all as good +as sold. + +"It is a pity we had not time to make more," said Edith, when the last +one was gone, and they were counting their gains in their room at the +hotel. + +"You would make a good business man, Rafael," she said suddenly. "The +tops cost you only ten lire, and you have sold them for twenty times +as much." + +But the boy was tired and made no answer for a few moments. Perhaps +the tops reminded him of home. After a little, he said, "I think my +mother must be very lonely in Venice, when she reads of those who have +been made homeless in Messina." + +Mrs. Sprague looked at him wisely and nodded her head. "Edith and I +must go home to America," she said. "Our friends will be worried about +us, and will fear for our safety, after this terrible earthquake." + +So they began to plan for leaving Rome at once. The keepsakes and +treasures were all packed, the last calls were made, and the night +before their departure arrived. + +"Let us say good-bye to the Eternal City at the Fountain of Trevi," +Edith suggested to Rafael. "I have heard that whoever wishes to return +to Rome, should go to the fountain on the last evening of his visit, +take a drink out of the basin with his left hand, then turn and throw +a half-penny into the water over his left shoulder. I surely wish to +come back some day." + +"And I," said Rafael. "Let us find some half-pennies at once." + +It was a cold, clear, moonlight night, and the two children hurried +through the streets, chatting merrily over their errand. + +They passed an old woman carrying a scaldino under her shawl. "We +shall need a scaldino ourselves," Edith said, "to warm our fingers +after we have dipped them in the cold water." + +A scaldino is a little brazier for holding coals of fire. The Italians +carry one about with them in winter, and when they sit down they hold +it in their laps or put it on the floor at their feet. + +When they reached the fountain Edith stood still a moment, looking at +the water. "I have had such a good time in this historic old land that +I shall always be a good Italian," she said; "but I shall be a better +American also." + +"That is right," said Rafael. "And I shall read the foreign papers to +see if you become a famous woman." + +"I don't care so much about being famous as you men do," she answered. +"But I shall read the foreign news to see what the great patriot, +Rafael Valla, is doing for his country, and perhaps, some day, your +good king may send you to the United States as ambassador from Italy. + +"Let us wish it," she added, and dipped her hand into the fountain. +"To Rafael Valla, the ambassador," she said with a smile, and drank +the clear, cold water. + +"To the Signorina, my friend," said Rafael. "I wish her happiness." + +Tears sprang to Edith's eyes, and she held out her hand quickly for +the half-penny. "Over your left shoulder, remember," she said, as she +tossed the coin into the water. + +"Over my left shoulder," Rafael repeated, and added earnestly, "We +shall see Rome and the king again." + + + + +VOCABULARY + + +Appi [letter a with an uptack]n Way, a famous Roman highway. + +Appi us Claudi us (cl), a Roman statesman. + +a vnti (te), begone. + +bam bino (be), baby. + +Be fa na (b[letter a with an uptack] fna), the Italian Lady Santa Claus. + +Bi an ca (b[letter e with an uptack] anka), a girl's name. + +Brin di si (br[letter e with an uptack]nd[letter e with an uptack] ze), + a seaport of south-eastern Italy. + +Cam pag na (cam pnya), a plain surrounding Rome. + +Candi a, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. + +Capi to line, one of the seven hills of Rome. + +caro, dear. + +Ca vour (voor), an Italian statesman, died 1861. + +cen time (san tem), a copper coin, the hundredth part of a franc. + +in in natus, a Roman soldier and hero. + +r cus A go nal[letter e with an uptack], one of the squares in Rome. + +Col os seum, an out-door theatre of ancient Rome. + +Constan tine (ten), the first Christian emperor of Rome. + +cont dino (de), a peasant farmer. + +yprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. + +Dando lo, a Doge of Venice, died 1205. + +Doge (doj), the chief ruler in the ancient republic of Venice. + +ecco, look; behold. + +Fla mini an Way, a highway of ancient Rome. + +forum, a market-place or public meeting-place. + +Gen[letter o with an downtack] a, a seaport of northwestern Italy. + +gondo la, a boat used in the canals of Venice. + +gon do lier (ler), a man who rows a gondola. + +Her cu lane um, a buried city near Naples. + +Ho rati us (shi us), a Roman legendary hero. + +Jul ius Cae sar (julyus sezar), a famous Roman general, +statesman, orator, and writer; died 44 B. C. + +la goon, a shallow sound or channel. + +li di (lede), sand-bars in the lagoon of Venice. + +Lido (le), the bathing-beach of Venice. + +lira (le), a coin worth about nineteen cents. + +li re (lera), plural of lira. + +l'i tali a, Italy. + +log gia (lodja), a roofed, open gallery. + +madre (r[letter a with an uptack]), mother. + +Mara thon run, a twenty-six-mile running race. + +Mer ce ri a (mr ch [letter a with an uptack] re [letter a with an + uptack]), a shopping district in Venice. + +Mes sina (se), a city in Sicily, destroyed by earthquakes in 1908. + +mi a (mea); mi o (meo), my. + +Mi chael An ge lo (mikel anj[letter e with an uptack] lo), an Italian + painter and sculptor; died 1564. + +M[letter o with an uptack] rea, the southern peninsula of Greece. + +Ne a poli tan, pertaining to Naples. + +Pala tine, one of the seven hills of Rome. + +Pa laz zo Vec chi o (pa latso vekke o), a palace in +Florence. + +Pao lo, a boy's name; Paul. + +Paz zi (patse), an influential family of Florence. + +Pi az za (pe atsa), square. + +Pi azza del Du omo, the square in front of the cathedral +in Florence. + +Pi az zet ta (pe at setta), little square. + +Pit ti (pete), a palace in Florence. + +po lenta, a pudding made of meal boiled in milk. + +Pom pe ii (paye), a buried city near Naples. + +quat tro (kwottro), four. + +Ri alto (re), a bridge over the Grand Canal of Venice. + +San Giorgi o (jr), Saint George; a church in Venice. + +San Min i a to (me ne ato), a cemetery on a hill southeast + of Florence. + +scal di no (skol deno), a brazier. + +Scali ger[letter s with an downtack below], an Italian family of + medieval times. + +si (se), yes. + +Si e na (se ana), a province and city in Italy. + +Si gnor (se nyor); Si gnore (se nyor[letter a with an uptack]), Sir; Mr. + +Si gno ra (se nyora), Madam; Mrs. + +Si gno ri na (se nyo rena), Miss. + +Strassburg, a city in Germany. + +Tarquin (kwin), a legendary king of ancient Rome. + +Tiber, the river on which Rome is situated. + +Tin to retto (ten), an Italian painter, died 1594. + +Ti tian (tishan), a famous Venetian painter, died 1576. + +Tre vi (trave), a fountain in Rome. + +Tusca ny, a province of Italy. + +Uf fi zi (of fets[letter e with an uptack]), a celebrated art-gallery + in Florence. + +Vati can, the Pope's residence. + +Ve ro na (v[letter a with an uptack]), a city in northern Italy. + +Ve ro ne se (v[letter a with an uptack] r[letter o with an uptack] + n[letter a with an uptack] z[letter a with an uptack]), an + Italian painter, died 1588. + +Ve suvi us, an active volcano near Naples. + +Villa Bor ghese (ga z[letter e with an uptack]), a villa near Rome. + +Viva (ve), "long live!" "hurrah for!" + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by +Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + +***** This file should be named 28765-8.txt or 28765-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/7/6/28765/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rafael in Italy + A Geographical Reader + +Author: Etta Blaisdell McDonald + Julia Dalrymple + +Release Date: May 12, 2009 [EBook #28765] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> + + <p class="figcenter">The <a href="#VOCABULARY">Vocabulary</a> at the end of the book gives the Phonetic + pronunciation of the Italian words used in the book.</p> + + <p class="center">The Unicode alphabets have been given wherever available. + But the following two Phonetic diacritical marks do not + have a Unicode representation.</p> + + <p class="center">inverted "T" -- (uptack)</p> + + <p class="center">"T" -- (downtack)</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" width="500" height="756" /></div> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_1" id="pic_1"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="500" height="793" alt="ON THE APPIAN WAY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ON THE APPIAN WAY</span> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Little People Everywhere</span></h4> +<h1>RAFAEL IN ITALY</h1> +<h4>A GEOGRAPHICAL READER</h4> +<p> </p> +<h2>BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD</h2> + +<h4> + Joint author of "Boy Blue and His Friends,"<br /> +"The Child Life Readers," etc.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h2>AND JULIA DALRYMPLE</h2> +<h4>Author of "Little Me Too," "The Make-Believe Boys," etc.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h3><span class="smcap">School Edition</span></h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>BOSTON</h3> +<h3>LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY</h3> +<h3>1910</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h5><i>Copyright</i>, <i>1909</i>,</h5> +<h4><span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company</span>.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The very best way to understand the life and customs of a foreign +country is to visit it. If that is impossible one may still learn much +by reading a story of the people who live there. As this is true of +grown people, so is it true of children. They can become acquainted +with the children of other lands by reading stories of their simple, +daily life, and by living it for a little while within the pages of +the story-book.</p> + +<p>It is no longer the fashion for our school children to learn by rote +the facts written down in their geography about all the corners of the +earth; they must know rather the children in these foreign lands,—the +sights they see, their work and play, their festivals and holidays, +their homes, their ambitions.</p> + +<p>Such a tale is told in this little book about Italy. Rafael Valla, a +lad of fourteen, is seen first in Venice; he rows his boat on the +canals, hears the music of the band in the Square of St. Mark, goes to +the Rialto bridge for the serenade, and suddenly, through a chance +meeting with an American girl and her mother, the way is opened for +him to see Italy. He joins them in Florence, and they ride over the +Tuscan roads in an automobile, stopping to see the peasants gathering +grapes, and to visit an olive-farm. In Rome they see the ruins of the +ancient city under the direction of a guide, and they go to Naples, +and visit Pompeii and Vesuvius.</p> + +<p>The book is full of pictures of Italian life. One sees the children +feeding the pigeons in Venice, the Easter festival in Florence, the +vintage with its merry-making in Tuscany, the Roman ruins, the +picturesque street-life in Naples with its noise and gayety, and the +silent streets of Pompeii. There are many such pen pictures of Italian +life, and the story should appeal to the imagination of the child and +awaken his interest in Italy and its people.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tocch f1">CHAPTER</td> + <td></td> + <td></td><td class="tocpg f1">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">I</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">An Evening in Venice</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">II</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Viva l'Italia!</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">III</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Rafael's Trained Tops</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">IV</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Streets of Venice</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">V</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Stringing Venetian Beads</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">VI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Sunset from the Tower of San Giorgio</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">VII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">A Chat about Verona</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">VIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Edith's Florentine Mosaic</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">IX</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Rafael Leaves Venice</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">X</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Gathering Grapes in Tuscany</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">A Marathon Run to Rome</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">"<span class="smcap">The Golden Milestone</span>"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">A Ramble in Rome</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XIV</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">A Morning in the Colosseum</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XV</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Merry Naples</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XVI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">The Buried City</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XVII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">The Magic of the Fountain</a></span></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td></td><td class="tocpg"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_1">On the Appian Way</a></td> +<td><i><a href="#pic_1">Frontispiece in Color</a></i></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_2">The Grand Canal, Venice</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_2">2</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_3">Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_4">Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_5">Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_6">The Colosseum at Rome</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_7">The boys of Naples eating macaroni</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_8">Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><a href="#pic_9">"The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from the +excavations of Pompeii"</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2>RAFAEL IN ITALY</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2>AN EVENING IN VENICE</h2> + + +<p>It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of +Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a +golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon.</p> + +<p>The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every +window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in +the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of gold.</p> + +<p>There were no sounds save the calls of the boatmen, the soft lapping +of the waves against the marble walls and steps, and occasional +strains of music from the military band in the Piazza of St. Mark.</p> + +<p>No place in all the world shines with more brilliancy than Venice in +carnival time. The city is like a diamond, as it catches the myriad +rays from moonlight and starlight, and flashes countless answering +gleams into the shadows of the night.</p> + +<p>It is small wonder that people travel from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> farthest corners of +the earth to watch the glitter and sparkle of this City of the Sea.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_2" id="pic_2"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_01.jpg" width="500" height="684" alt="The Grand Canal, Venice. Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola. + +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Grand Canal, Venice<br /> +Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola. + +</span></div> +<p>It was on this summer evening that Rafael Valla, a Venetian lad of +fourteen, decided to become a soldier of the king.</p> + +<p>He was sitting in the water-gate of his mother's house, pointing with +his toe to the reflection in the canal of a particularly large and +brilliant star. "If the starlight moves to the right of my toe," he +said to himself, "I will go to the Piazza."</p> + +<p>He knew perfectly well that he would go to the Piazza. The music of +the band was calling to him, and the star was slowly shifting its +light, as it had done on many a night while Rafael sat waiting and +dreaming in the gateway.</p> + +<p>The tide was gently pulling his little boat away from the +orange-and-black mooring-post, at the foot of the steps, toward the +larger canal.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps my boat knows of all the gay sights that are waiting for it +in the Grand Canal," the boy thought idly. "It may well know," he +added in his thought; "it has been there times enough."</p> + +<p>The Grand Canal is the largest and finest of all the water-ways which +thread the city. It is spanned by three beautiful bridges, and, on +either side, rise the marble palaces of the ancient Venetian nobility; +those rulers of men whose names fill the "Golden Book of Venetian +History."</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Rafael lingered in the gateway. The music of the band was a +promise of something still better. Soon hundreds of gondolas would +gather at the bridge of the Rialto to hear the songs of the +serenaders, and that was what the boy loved best.</p> + +<p>As the bells in the square sounded the hour, he rose, reached for the +rope, and pulled his boat toward the stone landing steps. His motions +were alert and decisive, and made him seem a different boy from the +one who had been leaning so carelessly against the post of the +gateway.</p> + +<p>Rafael was good friends with his oar, and the little boat, which was +only large enough to seat three comfortably, hurried gladly toward the +lights of the Grand Canal, and the music in the beautiful Piazza of +St. Mark.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of black gondolas were moving up and down the canals, manned +by boatmen in white linen, for the night was very warm; and a melody +from an Italian opera, sung in a musical tenor voice, floated from one +of the boats.</p> + +<p>"I, also, would sing, if it were not pleasanter to listen," said +Rafael to his boat. Then it occurred to him that it might be most +pleasant of all to find his friend Nicolo and take him to hear the +singers at the Rialto bridge.</p> + +<p>He turned toward the steps of the Piazzetta, murmuring as he did so, +"These other boats are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> also moving toward the Rialto. I must find +Nicolo quickly, or we shall lose our favorite place at the bridge."</p> + +<p>The boy tied his boat in the shadow of the steps, and took his way +across the small square into the larger one in front of the Cathedral +of St. Mark.</p> + +<p>Numberless columns and pillars surround this square, and each one was +outlined with twinkling golden lights. From every ornament and statue +that grace the cathedral and palaces shone countless numbers of the +fairy flames. The crimson globes of the larger lamps in the square +added a different tone, and the silver light of the moon blended with +the whole, dazzling Rafael with the brilliancy.</p> + +<p>He shaded his eyes from the glare, as he searched rapidly among the +crowds for his friend. The polished stones of the pavement in front of +the cafés were covered with little tables, and hundreds of people were +sipping ices or drinking coffee.</p> + +<p>Nicolo was often to be found selling trinkets among the people at the +tables, but he was not there to-night. Nor was he seated on the back +of one of the two stone lions that crouch on their pedestals just +beyond the cathedral.</p> + +<p>It is from these convenient seats that the band sounds better than +almost anywhere else in the square. At least, the boys of Venice seem +to find it so, and so many years have they climbed up to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> watch the +crowds of people in the Piazza of St. Mark, that the backs of the +lions are worn smooth with much rubbing.</p> + +<p>A little bootblack and a water-boy held the places now, and +occasionally begged for custom from any one who happened to linger +near.</p> + +<p>Passing in and out among the crowds were pretty young girls selling +flowers, ragged boys carrying trays of fruit—crimson peaches, purple +grapes and ripe figs—and men selling bracelets and necklaces of +shells and colored beads.</p> + +<p>It was a gay scene. An officer, in the naval uniform of the United +States of America, stood in the central doorway of the cathedral, +watching the movements of the crowd and listening to the music.</p> + +<p>As Rafael gave up trying to find Nicolo and turned toward the canal, +the officer left his place and followed the boy. "Where away?" he +asked pleasantly, in English, as Rafael took his seat in the boat.</p> + +<p>"To the Rialto; to hear the serenade, Signore," the boy replied +courteously, also in English; and would have pushed away from the +steps, but the stranger asked, "Will you take a passenger?"</p> + +<p>"Si, Signore," answered Rafael, "I have been looking for one," and he +held the boat still while the officer found a seat.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2>VIVA L'ITALIA!</h2> + + +<p>"Do you like our lovely Venice?" Rafael asked, as the boat slipped +away with oar and tide toward the bridge.</p> + +<p>"Not well enough to stay here forever," answered the man, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>The boy opened his eyes in surprise. How could any one wish to leave +the city after once seeing it! As for himself, he adored the place. To +slip with his boat in and out of the canals and the lagoon, to dive +from the steps and bridges and chase the other boys through the water, +to listen to the music in the Piazza at night, seemed to him the only +life worth living.</p> + +<p>But the stranger was speaking again. "I could have been happy here +centuries ago, when the city was in the making," he said. "It would +have been glorious to fight for the right to live on these islands, +and to have a hand in building such palaces and churches. Those were +days of service for the men who loved their city."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rafael knew well the history of Venice. As the officer spoke, the +boy's eyes turned to the stately walls of the Doge's palace, and to +the domes of the great churches; and he thought of the early Venetians +who gave their lives in loving service for their country.</p> + +<p>The stranger continued, "Your good Doge Dandolo had a powerful navy +when he led the Venetians across the Mediterranean to conquer the +islands of Candia and Cyprus."</p> + +<p>Rafael nodded. "Si, Signore," he said. "There were many at home who +held the city safe while he was away," he added, "and there was need +enough of brave men then, both at home and abroad."</p> + +<p>"Venice was a rich and powerful state in those days," said the +stranger. "Now she has little left but her beauty, and that will fall +to ruin, as the great bell-tower in the Piazza fell not long ago. A +man likes to fight for something more than beauty."</p> + +<p>Rafael nodded again. He liked this stranger who spoke so easily of the +early life of Venice.</p> + +<p>Just then the boat slipped into a nook under the bridge, where it was +safe from the sweep of the gondolas which crowded near, and the two +became silent in watching the approach of the barge filled with +musicians and singers.</p> + +<p>This barge was surrounded by a solid mass of gondolas, closely wedged +together, each gondolier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> trying to push his boat as close as +possible, so that his patrons might see and hear well.</p> + +<p>Suddenly red lights flared up from the bridge and flooded everything +with radiance. Palace fronts shone with a magical beauty; crimson +banners waved from Moorish windows; statues and columns stood out +clearly and asked boldly to be admired.</p> + +<p>Rafael looked at his companion. "Did you ever see a more beautiful +sight?" he asked.</p> + +<p>But he could get no satisfaction from the stranger. "Beauty is not +everything," was his answer; and Rafael racked his brain to think what +more could be desired in this wonderland of marble and sky and water.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the music from the barge swelled into a great volume of +sound. "Viva l'Italia!" cried a voice from the bridge, and "Viva +l'Italia!" echoed from all the gondolas.</p> + +<p>Rafael waved his cap in the air. "Viva l'Italia!" he shouted in his +boyish voice, while his heart beat fast with the enthusiasm of the +moment. It seemed to his imagination that the singers were repeating +the words of the stranger; that they were telling of the glory of +battle, and of a life of service for one's country.</p> + +<p>It was of Italy they sang—not of Venice—of Italy, and of Italy's +king. "Viva l'Italia! Long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> live the King!" he shouted with the +others; and at that moment he felt that he must become a soldier of +the king, to live or die for Italy.</p> + +<p>After the singing was over and the gondolas had begun to disperse, +Rafael pushed his way down the canal; and at the steps where he had +embarked, the stranger rose to leave the boat. As he did so, he +stooped to place a coin in the boy's hand. "With thanks," he said. "I +have had an evening to remember."</p> + +<p>But Rafael pushed his hand away. "I never carry people for money, +Signore," he said proudly.</p> + +<p>The coin dropped from the American's hand to the bottom of the boat. +"For Italy, then," he said. "There are many in your country who need +it."</p> + +<p>The boy let his boat drift with the tide, while he thought over the +words of the stranger.</p> + +<p>He and his mother were all that was left of an old Venetian family. +Like many others, they had almost no means of support. They rented two +of the upper floors of their house to people poorer than themselves; +and might have rented the whole house to some of the foreigners who +often asked for it, but the mother held to it with a great love. It +was a link that kept alive the memory of the past, when her family was +one of importance, and Venice was a rich and powerful city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>She would rather eat polenta and fish every day, if thereby she could +keep the fine house as it had always been, rich with old furniture and +the paintings of great artists.</p> + +<p>She had taught her son to speak French and English, and no guide in +the city knew every detail of its history so well as he. "Our history +is our pride," she often said, with much emphasis, and the boy felt +that she was right.</p> + +<p>At last Rafael picked up the coin and put it into his pocket; then he +took up the oar and pushed the boat back to his own mooring-post.</p> + +<p>He found his mother, and told her that he was tired of his life of +idleness. "I shall become a soldier of the king," he said.</p> + +<p>"Ah," she said, "every Italian should serve his king. There is need of +every one. Our country is very poor."</p> + +<p>Rafael looked disturbed. "It is not the country that is poor," he +answered. "Our good priest says that the country is rich, with all its +vineyards, and orchards, and wheat-fields. It is only the people who +are poor."</p> + +<p>"What wilt thou do about it, caro mio?" asked his mother, with a +laugh.</p> + +<p>"I shall earn some money," replied Rafael. "My boat has shown me +how."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2>RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_3" id="pic_3"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_02.jpg" width="500" height="681" alt="Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice. Notice the three flag-poles, and the bronze horses over the central +doorway of the Cathedral. + +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice<br /> +Notice the three flag-poles, and the bronze horses over the central doorway of the Cathedral. +</span> +</div> + + +<p>It was early in the afternoon of the next day. The tide was low in the +canals of Venice. Hundreds of green crabs could be seen clinging +lazily to the stone walls of the houses, wherever there was a place +still cool and wet from the salt sea-water.</p> + +<p>At the base of the two great columns in the Piazzetta, groups of +Venetian beggars were soundly sleeping. The gondoliers call these +beggars "crab-catchers," because they cling about the mooring-steps of +the canals to beg centimes from the passengers in the gondolas.</p> + +<p>The Venetian pigeons were also sleeping. Their way of begging is more +pleasing than that of the crab-catchers, but they are beggars for all +that. They never wait for the sound of the bell which the good priest +rings every day when it is time for them to be fed, but fly down to +the pavement whenever they catch sight of a person with a bit of +grain. They flutter down by twos and threes, and beg with their best +coos for something to eat.</p> + +<p>But now they had all disappeared from the pave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>ment, and might be +seen, dozing with their heads under their wings, up among the eaves of +the fine palaces and beautiful public buildings which surround the +Square of St. Mark.</p> + +<p>The children, who love to feed the pigeons, had disappeared, too, and +all Venice seemed to be taking its afternoon nap.</p> + +<p>An American lady and her daughter, paying no heed to the heat of the +sun, turned the corner of the Doge's palace and entered the Piazzetta, +meaning to cross to the farther end of the large square, where +wood-carvings are for sale in one of the shops.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said the girl suddenly, "I wish we knew of something to see +besides the buildings in this square. We have been here four days, and +have bought a lovely carved cherub, or a souvenir spoon of Venice, for +every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this +beautiful old city."</p> + +<p>"We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her +mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight +of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any +time."</p> + +<p>"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must +be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and +St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them."</p> + +<p>"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the +hotel windows," said her mother.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the +Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't +we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?"</p> + +<p>Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully +out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we +do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer +islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a +single word of Italian."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith; +"and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many +who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights +for the sake of earning some Italian lire."</p> + +<p>"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her +mother.</p> + +<p>As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from +a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of +boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great +church.</p> + +<p>English words floated across to the American people, although the +voice which spoke them was an Italian one.</p> + +<p>"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops," +said the voice.</p> + +<p>The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael—the boy of the +boat and the serenade—knelt in the center, with a collection of tops +on the pavement beside him.</p> + +<p>The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the +light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the +big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at +all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do +their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow +and an off-hand dash, as if to make room for the next on the program.</p> + +<p>At last Rafael took up one which was wrapped in gold-foil, and which +seemed to be both graceful and business-like, and wonderfully +accomplished. It hung balanced between two outer circles of steel, and +spun in every possible position—on the pavement, on the top of a +post, and at right angles to it—all at one spinning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is my golden spinner," said the boy, in Italian. "It has travelled +among all the great cities of the world, and never failed to keep an +engagement."</p> + +<p>The boys laughed, and Edith joined in the laughter, although she did +not know the meaning of the words.</p> + +<p>Rafael looked up into her face and smiled. It was the opportunity +which she had hoped for. She had noticed his unusual appearance, and +that he was dressed with care.</p> + +<p>"Speak to him, Mother," she urged, in English. "Perhaps he will tell +us where we may go to see the sights."</p> + +<p>The boy rose and took off his cap. "I speak English, Signora," he +said. "There are truly many things to see in Venice, if you wish to +see them."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2>STREETS OF VENICE</h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Sprague looked from one child to the other. The girl was eager, +the boy expectant. "He is no older than you are, Edith," she said at +last. "It isn't possible that he can be a good guide. There will be +three lost, instead of two as there were yesterday, if he tries to +pilot us through these crooked lanes."</p> + +<p>The day before, Edith had hired an Italian lad to act as a guide, when +she had wished to buy an Italian flag and could find none in the shops +near the Piazza. She had made her wish known, by signs, to one of the +young boys idling at the base of the Lion's Column. He could speak no +English, but Edith showed him a tiny American flag which she carried +in her purse.</p> + +<p>"Viva America!" she said, waving the flag with one hand. Then she +waved the empty hand, saying, "Viva l'Italia!" and asked very loudly, +as if he might be deaf, "Where to buy?" pointing to the flag.</p> + +<p>The boy nodded that he understood, and led the girl and her mother +across the Piazza and under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> the old Clock Tower, in which the clock +has been marking the hours ever since Columbus discovered America. +Beyond the tower he led them through short streets and narrow lanes to +a remote, wretched part of the city.</p> + +<p>Although Venice is called the City of the Sea, and has hundreds of +canals, there is also a network of narrow streets and lanes threading +the islands on which the city is built. It is possible to walk +anywhere by following these streets and crossing the bridges, and each +house has a land-gate as well as a water-gate.</p> + +<p>One of these lanes led at last into a small square. A low, narrow +doorway opened into a dark room, looking out upon a dirty little +canal,—far away from the rose-colored, marble-paved Square of St. +Mark—and here Edith found her Italian flag.</p> + +<p>The room was cluttered with old rubbish; and a dozen ragged, +hungry-looking men and women sat idly about on broken chairs.</p> + +<p>The boy told his errand in Italian to one of the men, who answered him +in an angry tone. They disputed together for several moments, and then +the man brought a small flag from a far corner of the room. The bright +red, green and white stripes of the flag were in good proportion, but +it was made of a cheap, flimsy material.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't care for it," said Edith, putting her hands behind her and +shaking her head.</p> + +<p>Immediately everybody in the room began to talk loudly, which so +frightened Mrs. Sprague that she took out her purse and asked, "How +much?"</p> + +<p>The boy held up four fingers. "Quattro lire," he said.</p> + +<p>"Four lire!" exclaimed Edith indignantly; "that is almost one dollar, +and it isn't worth ten cents."</p> + +<p>But the excited Italian voices were all speaking at once, and so +angrily that Mrs. Sprague dropped the money into an old chair, and +seizing the flag with one hand and Edith with the other, she backed +quickly out into the open air.</p> + +<p>She forgot that she knew nothing about the way to her hotel, and, +without waiting for the boy, crossed the first bridge she saw, and +struck into another narrow lane. She was too anxious as to her +whereabouts to notice the interesting sights in the streets through +which she hurried; but Edith, with a girl's curiosity, saw everything.</p> + +<p>In a small square at one end of a bridge, a woman leaned from an upper +window and lowered a basket to the pavement below. A man with a basket +of fried fish on his arm took a piece of money from the woman's basket +and put in its place a fish from his own. Then he returned to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +little shed near-by, where a woman was frying onions and fish in oil, +on several charcoal stoves.</p> + +<p>As they crossed another bridge, they saw a woman lean from a window to +splash her baby up and down in the canal for his daily bath. The baby +was tied to the end of a long rope which his mother gently raised and +lowered, and he laughed with glee every time he hit the water with his +chubby fists.</p> + +<p>Edith wished to stop and watch this curious bath, but Mrs. Sprague +hurried her along, and they soon reached a part of the city where many +people were moving toward a church. As they neared the building, the +leather curtain, which hangs at the entrance to Italian churches, was +pushed aside, and a stream of men, women and children began coming +out, each one carrying a candle.</p> + +<p>The children had little candles, the grown people carried larger ones; +and everyone stopped to buy cakes from old women seated near the +church door.</p> + +<p>After crossing many bridges, and passing many churches, Edith and her +mother suddenly entered the Piazza of St. Mark, which had grown so +familiar to them both that it was like walking into their own home.</p> + +<p>"I shall not go out of sight of it again," said Mrs. Sprague, with a +sigh of great relief.</p> + +<p>But Edith longed to explore those bewildering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> back lanes for more of +the strange foreign sights. "After we get home to America," she said, +"we shall see no more boys selling glasses of water at odd corners; +nor shall we see women frying cakes in the streets, and mothers +bathing their babies in the canals. If we can only find some one who +understands English, we shall have no more trouble."</p> + +<p>Now that she had found Rafael, she urged her mother to employ him. "He +can speak both English and Italian," she said, "and can be our +interpreter."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague shook her head and was turning away, when the boy spoke, +and held her attention. "The golden spinner is the smallest of all my +tops," he said, "but it does the best work. Why not let me try?"</p> + +<p>The lady looked at his earnest face and smiled. "Very well," she said, +"we will go through the Doge's palace with you. We can't get lost +there."</p> + +<p>Rafael gathered his tops together and turned them over to one of the +boys. "Keep them for me, Nicolo," he said, and led the way at once to +the beautiful entrance just beyond the corner of the cathedral—the +entrance to the most magnificent of all the fine palaces in Venice.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2>STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS</h2> + + +<p>Edith hurried along beside Rafael, and Mrs. Sprague followed slowly +into the courtyard of the palace, up the Giant's Staircase and through +great rooms, until they came out upon a balcony overlooking the square +which they had just left.</p> + +<p>"Is it not lovely?" Rafael asked simply.</p> + +<p>Without answering, Edith balanced her camera upon the railing of the +balcony and snapped a picture of the two columns in the Piazzetta, +near a landing place of the Grand Canal.</p> + +<p>"Everyone in the United States knows that picture," she said, "and +when they see that I have taken it, they will know that I was really +here once."</p> + +<p>"Is it that you will show it to everyone in the United States?" asked +Rafael with interest.</p> + +<p>Edith looked at him quickly, thinking that he was laughing at her; but +as she saw that he was serious she answered, "Oh dear! no; only to my +friends, who were glad to have me come to see Italy, so that I can +tell them about it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is that why so many people come to my country," he asked,—"to tell +others about it?"</p> + +<p>Edith laughed. "I came to buy a string of Venetian beads," she +answered roguishly.</p> + +<p>But the boy would not laugh in answer. "It may be that you will take +away with you a more precious necklace than your glass one, if you +will let me show you our wonderful pictures and buildings," he said.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty speech, and the girl answered him with another. "You +mean a necklace of memory pictures," she said. "Yes, I have begun to +string such a necklace. My memory of St. Mark's Cathedral is one of +the beads, and this splendid square is another. Then there is a bead +for the moonlight on the canals, and one for the fluttering pigeons at +their midday meal.".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague then told Rafael how they had wandered off into a part of +the city where the canals were narrow and dirty, where the houses were +old and crumbling to ruins, and where the streets seemed hardly more +than cracks between the walls.</p> + +<p>"I don't wish to put that memory picture into my necklace," said +Edith.</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary," answered Rafael. "There will be many beautiful +beads. This afternoon we will climb the bell-tower of San Giorgio when +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> sun is setting, and there you will get a picture of this 'pearl +of the world' that will make you forget every other."</p> + +<p>But Edith was turning her camera upon the pavement below, where three +flag-poles stand in front of St. Mark's.</p> + +<p>"The lazy pigeons in the square were lean and hungry when those three +masts were placed before the cathedral," Rafael told her. "The +Venetians were hardy sailors, bold adventurers, and rich merchants in +those days; and it was an honor for Morea and the eastern islands of +Candia and Cyprus to fly their banners in our city. All the vessels +from the East and the West stopped at our port, and the fame of Venice +spread far and wide."</p> + +<p>"You speak boastfully," said Edith saucily.</p> + +<p>"It is all true," Rafael said earnestly. "Four hundred years ago there +was no place in the whole world where so much pomp and magnificence +could be seen as in St. Mark's Square and on the Grand Canal.</p> + +<p>"Over in the museum at the arsenal"—Rafael's voice broke in his +excitement—"there is a model of a ship of state, in which, for +hundreds of years, the Doge used every year to go out to the entrance +of the lagoon and throw a jewelled ring into the waters of the +Adriatic, to make Venice the bride of the sea.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"People from far and wide, by thousands and tens of thousands, came to +see the ceremony. It was a marvellous sight to see," he added proudly, +as if he had seen it many times.</p> + +<p>"Two or three hundred senators, in their scarlet robes, marched with +the Doge from this palace to the wharf, where the ship of state waited +for them; and thousands of magnificent gondolas followed it on its +journey to the Lido port, where the ceremony took place."</p> + +<p>"I thought all gondolas must be black," Edith objected. "A procession +of black gondolas would not be very magnificent."</p> + +<p>"It is the law now that all gondolas must be black," Rafael explained, +"because in olden times so many nobles wasted their fortunes in +decorating their gondolas extravagantly with rich carvings, gold +ornaments, and gorgeous draperies. You can see that such a procession, +reaching from here to the Lido port, would be a splendid sight.</p> + +<p>"There must be many rings out there," he added.</p> + +<p>Edith had listened, charmed with the sound of so much splendor. "Let +us go to the Lido for a sea bath," she said; "perhaps we can find a +ring."</p> + +<p>Rafael shook his head. "The last ring was thrown into the water more +than a hundred years ago," he said. "The sands have covered them all +too deeply by this time."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he pointed to the four bronze horses which stand over the central +doorway of the cathedral. "They are the only horses in our whole +city," he said. "They are almost two thousand years old, and have +travelled hundreds of miles, by sea and land.</p> + +<p>"It is said that they first stood on a triumphal arch in Rome, but +they were taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine, where +they were kept many hundreds of years. Dandolo, a Doge of Venice, +conquered the city about seven hundred years ago, and brought the +horses to Venice as a sign of his victory.</p> + +<p>"They were placed over the door where they now stand, and have been +there ever since, except for a visit of eighteen years to Paris, to +please the Emperor Napoleon."</p> + +<p>"See how they paw the air," said Edith. "They look as if they were +eager to be off again to the ends of the earth."</p> + +<p>"No," said Rafael, "we Venetians love those bronze horses. No one will +ever take them away from us again.</p> + +<p>"We need them," he added with a laugh, "how else would we know what +horses are like, when we read about them in books?"</p> + +<p>"It is a great pity that the bell-tower in the square fell," said Mrs. +Sprague; "this new one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> that they are building in its place must be +very expensive."</p> + +<p>Rafael laughed merrily. "That is a queer thing about the Italians," he +said; "if it is a great piece of art which we wish to preserve, we do +not care what the expense may be."</p> + +<p>Then he added soberly, "The fishermen miss the old tower more than any +of us, because they used to find their way into the Lido port by it."</p> + +<p>"You say so much about the Lido," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"We will go over there after we have looked at some of the pictures +inside the palace, and at the dungeons, and the Bridge of Sighs," +answered Rafael.</p> + +<p>Edith shuddered. "I will look at the pictures, but not at the +dungeons," she said; "and I can look at the Bridge of Sighs every time +I come from our hotel into the Piazza."</p> + +<p>As they stepped back into the room behind them, she repeated the names +of three of the great painters whose works have helped to make Venice +a treasure-city.</p> + +<p>"Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto," she said over and over again, as she +looked at the pictures which Rafael pointed out to her in the long +rooms. "If I find more of their paintings in other cities of Italy, it +will seem like meeting old friends."</p> + +<p>Rafael smiled. "Italy is rich because of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> artists," he said. "You +will find their works in every city. It may not always be the +paintings of those same three men, but there are others which are also +famous."</p> + +<p>Then his happy face grew serious. "It makes the heart sad to think +what wonderful dreams our great Italians have had," he said. "My +mother says that no dream, no thought of beauty, was ever felt +anywhere, that has not found expression here in Italy."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he led the mother and daughter out of the palace and +across the Piazzetta to the steps where his little boat was tied, and +Edith wondered if his words were true.</p> + +<p>Before her sight-seeing in Italy was ended, she was very sure that +they were.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2>SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO</h2> + + +<p>"It is not a good plan to leave the square from the steps in front of +the two great columns," Rafael explained, as he went toward the +landing-place opposite the Doge's palace, where he always moored his +boat.</p> + +<p>"Why is it not a good plan?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"Because it might later make us run into a mud-bank," he answered +merrily. "Whenever any one is executed in Venice, it has to be done +between those two columns, and that has made the spot most unlucky. +People used to gamble there before it was the place for executions, +but now, of course, no one thinks of such a thing."</p> + +<p>"I should hope not," said Mrs. Sprague, "nor anywhere else."</p> + +<p>"The only Doge that was ever beheaded, landed between those columns," +continued Rafael, "and since then there are people who would not dare +to use the steps, for fear it might bring them ill-luck."</p> + +<p>"I am going to get into your boat from those very steps," said Edith, +walking toward them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> + +<p>Her mother, who was already seated in the boat, looked troubled. "He +may be right, Edith," she called to her daughter. "You know that I am +afraid of the water, and you promised not to take any chances if I +would bring you to Italy."</p> + +<p>But Edith insisted that she should get into the boat from the steps, +or not at all. "There is no danger," she said. "These Italians are too +superstitious. See how they are always closing one hand and pointing +down two of its fingers to ward off the evil eye. I am going to show +Rafael how foolish all these notions are."</p> + +<p>The boy looked at her in anger. He had sometimes closed his own hand +in the way Edith described, when he met old Beppo, the brown monk from +one of the islands in the lagoon; and had often gone out of his way to +meet the hunchback, Tonio, because it is well-known in Venice that the +sight of a hunchback brings good luck.</p> + +<p>Now, when he heard Edith speak so contemptuously of his cherished +beliefs, he felt a flame of resentment. Standing quietly in his boat, +he said, "Signorina, we go not from those landing-steps in my boat."</p> + +<p>Edith saw that he meant what he said. "I am sorry that I hurt your +feelings," she said, with a pretty air of penitence; "but if you will +kindly take me from these steps, I will make a gift to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> patron +saint of the fishermen, if we find a shrine at the Lido."</p> + +<p>Rafael melted at once. "It is not that I was afraid," he told her, as +she stepped into the boat from the unlucky steps, "but I cannot have +the ways of my country ridiculed."</p> + +<p>Then he pushed off from the landing, and the two great columns rose +above their heads in stately fashion.</p> + +<p>Edith looked from the winged lion on the top of one to the crocodile +and the figure of St. Theodore on the other. "There are many stone +lions in the city," she said, "but I have seen only one crocodile. Why +is that?"</p> + +<p>"The lion is the symbol of St. Mark," replied Rafael, "and must guard +the city, because St. Mark is our patron saint. St. Theodore, who +stands on the crocodile, was our first patron saint, before the body +of St. Mark was brought to Venice and placed in the little church +which once stood where you now see the cathedral."</p> + +<p>"Is it the St. Mark who wrote one of the books of the New Testament?" +asked Mrs. Sprague.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Signora," replied Rafael.</p> + +<p>"We have been into the cathedral many times," said Edith. "Mother +knows every picture and statue inside and out of it."</p> + +<p>"It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> whole world," said +her mother. "Some one has called it a jewel-box, because it contains +so many magnificent gems, precious stones, and golden mosaics; and it +seems so to me. Now that I have seen it, I am ready to leave Venice."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother," exclaimed the girl, "we haven't begun to see all that I +want to! I must buy some more Venetian glass, and a lantern, and some +flags and banners. I mean to make my room at home look like a bit of +Venice."</p> + +<p>Rafael looked pleased. "Our people were making beautiful things in +glass two hundred years before Christopher Columbus found his way to +your country," he said. He had no wish to seem boastful to these +people of a younger nation, so he tried to say it courteously.</p> + +<p>But Edith was impolite enough to say, "The men and women in your city +seem to do nothing now but make glass, and carve wood, and weave lace. +In so many hundred years they might have learned a good many new +things, it seems to me."</p> + +<p>The boy flushed. "Venice is old, it is true," he answered, "but Italy +is still young." Then he threw back his head and laughed with the +happy laugh of boyhood. "Viva l'Italia!" he cried joyously. "She will +soon be the greatest country in the world."</p> + +<p>"Viva Venice!" cried Edith, but Rafael was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> drawing his boat alongside +a flight of steps, and did not hear her.</p> + +<p>"Where is that lame crab of a steamer?" he muttered, looking off into +the lagoon.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do?" questioned Mrs. Sprague anxiously.</p> + +<p>"We must go to the Lido in the steamer," answered the boy. "It is too +far for me to row there and back before sunset; and it will cost but a +small sum to buy round-trip tickets for the three of us. That will +take us all to the casino by the tram-car, and pay for our bath in the +salt-water."</p> + +<p>"Pay for our bath!" repeated Edith. "Surely we may go into the water +without paying for it."</p> + +<p>"Not if you wish to go in from the bathing-house at the casino," +Rafael replied; "and it is forbidden by law to take away even one +pailful of the water without paying a tax. There is a tax on salt in +our country, and it is feared that we may get the least bit of salt +from the water."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Sprague.</p> + +<p>"It is very hard," said the boy; "but what can one do? A tax is a tax, +and must be paid."</p> + +<p>"But it would not be so, if I could get hold of an oar of the +government," he added with a laugh, as he held the boat steady with +his own oar while his passengers landed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<p>The little steamer was just drawing up to the pier from its trip +across the lagoon. This lagoon is a wide stretch of water, deep only +in those places where the ship-channels are kept constantly dredged. +When the tide is low, the city shows that it is built upon mud-banks. +Twice daily the waters move away from the lagoon, leaving the flats +covered with floating seaweed. The returning tide, flowing from the +Adriatic through several openings in the long narrow sand-bars, called +lidi, covers the seaweed and mud-flats, and forms the lagoon.</p> + +<p>The little steamer carried Rafael and his passengers to the Lido in a +quarter of an hour, giving them time for a bath in the salt water, and +a cup of tea at the casino; and also a moment at the little church +dedicated to the patron saint of the fishermen, where Edith left a +coin as she had promised to do.</p> + +<p>Then they returned across the water to the church of San Giorgio for a +view of the sunset, the sight in Venice which artists love most. It +was the most wonderful sunset that Edith had ever seen. The low sun +gave out a glory of color, and waves of golden light flooded the city, +crowning every tower and dome with a great radiance.</p> + +<p>"So much gold makes it seem like the Heavenly City," Edith said +softly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>To the north lay the white-crowned Alps, to the east the blue +Adriatic; and Edith never forgot the glory of that hour.</p> + +<p>A fisher's boat swung slowly through the Lido port, and moved toward +its mooring-place at a group of rose-tinged piles. In just such a boat +Columbus must have sailed when he was a boy. The rounded prow was +decorated with a flying goddess blowing a trumpet; on the masthead +there was perched a weathercock and a little figure of a hump-backed +man, like the one hidden away in St. Mark's. A great sail, painted +deep red, caught the sea-breeze and carried the boat slowly over the +shimmering, rose-colored water.</p> + +<p>Edith drew a long breath of the salt air, and clasped her hands with +delight at the picture.</p> + +<p>Some workmen, driving piles to mark the ship channel, were chanting an +old song,—one that has been sung for centuries by the pile-drivers of +Venice,—and Rafael translated the words for her, as the men raised +the heavy wooden hammer:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Up with it well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> Up to the top;<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> Up with it well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> Up to the summit!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Each line of the Italian words ended with a long "e-e-e," or an +"o-o-o," and the American girl laughed at the strange song.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is just the time and place to paint a picture, or write a poem +about the Venetian sunset," she said.</p> + +<p>"It is so different here from what I had imagined it to be," she +added. "I used to wonder what kept the sea from dashing against the +walls of the houses, and beating down the doors."</p> + +<p>"Then you knew nothing about the lidi which hold back the sea?" +questioned the boy.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the girl. "People who have been here speak only about +the Grand Canal, and the Piazza of St. Mark, and the Bridge of Sighs."</p> + +<p>She pointed out to her mother the long wharf which stretched along the +opposite bank of the lagoon, and their hotel, which was farther up the +canal. "There is plenty of space on the pavement near our hotel to +spread a sail," she said, "and I thought there was never a spot to set +foot in all the city, except in the squares."</p> + +<p>The sight of the hotel reminded Mrs. Sprague of home. "We must go back +and see if there are any letters," she said suddenly, and turned to go +down the spiral staircase.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2>A CHAT ABOUT VERONA</h2> + + +<p>As they took their places in the boat, Edith said to Rafael, "Tell us +some of your Venetian legends. Is there not one about this lagoon?"</p> + +<p>"There are many," he answered, and he told her the story of the three +saints—St. Mark, St. George, and St. Theodore—who crossed the lagoon +one night, centuries ago, and drove back the evil spirits who would +have destroyed the city.</p> + +<p>"Our boatmen can tell you of many other strange things which have +happened on these canals," he concluded, as they reached the steps in +front of the hotel.</p> + +<p>Edith ran in, and soon returned with several letters for her mother +and herself, which they began reading while Rafael poled slowly back +into the canal.</p> + +<p>"Listen to this," exclaimed Mrs. Sprague suddenly. "Tom tells me to go +to Verona, where his chauffeur is waiting with the automobile, and +take it to Florence for him."</p> + +<p>"I don't like to leave Venice just as we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> begun to enjoy it," +said Edith. Then seeing that Rafael looked wonderingly at them, she +added, "Tom is my cousin, who is seeing Italy with his friend in an +automobile. He said it would take too long to see it with Mother and +me."</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Sprague began reading aloud,—"We shall be gone into Austria +for more than a month, and I know you will enjoy a ride through the +Italian country."</p> + +<p>Looking up from the letter, she said, "We will go to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"How shall we find the chauffeur?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"He is at the 'Hotel of the Golden Dove,'" said Mrs. Sprague. "There +will be no trouble in finding him."</p> + +<p>"I prefer the winged lions of Venice to the golden dove of Verona," +said Edith, looking up at the column in the Piazzetta.</p> + +<p>"You will find a stone lion in the forum in Verona," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"In the forum!" exclaimed Edith, "that sounds like Rome."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the boy rather proudly, "there is also an old forum in +Verona, but it is used now as a vegetable market. You can take a +picture of it with your camera."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I may," answered the girl; "but I shall first take one of +Juliet's balcony."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rafael laughed. It seemed that he, too, had read "Romeo and Juliet," +for he said, "You will be much disappointed in that balcony."</p> + +<p>"Why so?" asked the girl, with a look of surprise.</p> + +<p>"Because the house is not a fine one. It is in a block of tall narrow +houses. The street leads from the market-place and is so narrow that +the tram-car almost rubs against one's knees.</p> + +<p>"Romeo had trouble enough, if he climbed to that balcony," he added. +"It is five stories above the sidewalk, and is hardly big enough for a +man to stand in."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Juliet's balcony overlooked the courtyard," Mrs. Sprague +suggested.</p> + +<p>"As for the courtyard, that was full of worn-out carriages when I saw +it," Rafael answered, "It was not a good place for a lover to hide."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go to Verona and have all my dreams shattered," +mourned the girl. "Shall I be disappointed in Juliet's tomb, too?"</p> + +<p>The boy laughed again. "You can pick an ivy leaf from the plant +near-by. Is not that what your country-women do?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Edith tossed her head. "Of course," she answered. "I have a large +collection of ivy leaves myself,—one from every castle in England and +Ireland."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>The boy looked mischievous. "One from Juliet's tomb will be most +precious of all," he told her, "because ivy grows not so easily in +Italy as in England."</p> + +<p>"Is there anything else to be seen in Verona?" asked Mrs. Sprague.</p> + +<p>"There is a colosseum in Verona which is second only to the one in +Rome, Signora," Rafael replied.</p> + +<p>But Edith shook her head. "That cannot be," she said. "We have one in +the United States which we think is next to the Roman one in +importance."</p> + +<p>It was the boy's turn to show surprise. "How can that be?" he asked +quickly. "The one in Verona is very old, and has seen many exciting +battles between gladiators."</p> + +<p>"Well," persisted the girl, "our stadium in Cambridge, where the men +of Harvard University fight their foot-ball battles with men of other +colleges, has seen just as interesting contests as any colosseum in +Europe. Thousands and thousands of people have cheered the victors in +our country as well as yours," and Edith's cheeks flushed, as she +thought of some of the stirring foot-ball games which she had +witnessed.</p> + +<p>The boy looked at her in amazement. "I did not know that you ever saw +such inspiring sights in your country," he said humbly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Indeed we do," said Edith, glad to see that Rafael was impressed.</p> + +<p>"How long will it take to reach Verona from Venice?" asked Mrs. +Sprague.</p> + +<p>"If you leave here at the fifteen hours, you will arrive before +sunset," he answered.</p> + +<p>"At the fifteen hours," repeated Edith with a laugh. "What a funny way +to say three o'clock. Your way of counting time up to the twenty-four +hours is the queerest thing in Italy."</p> + +<p>"It seems the most natural thing in the world to me," said her mother. +"There are twenty-four hours in the day. Why should we not name each +one?"</p> + +<p>Then she arranged that Rafael should take them to the station in his +boat, on the next day, at the fifteen hours.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2>EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC</h2> + + + +<p class="f2"><span class="smcap">Hotel New York, Florence, Italy.</span></p> +<p class="f3">October 10, 19—.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To Signor Rafael Valla,</span></p> + + +<p><i>My dear Sir:</i>—Can you leave your tops for a few moments and read a +letter from your American friends, the Spragues?</p> + +<p>Although we have been in Florence for more than a month, we have not +yet forgotten our visit in Venice and our journey to Verona. We sat by +the right-hand window in the train, as you told us to do; but I looked +often across the way to see what could take place on the opposite +side. Once I saw some storks that had flown down from Strassburg and +were standing on their long legs in the marshes.</p> + +<p>But our side of the train was truly the more pleasant one. There were +grape-vines and mulberry trees and wheat-fields; and also cypress +trees, which you did not mention, but which we were glad to see. Then +there were big fields of watermelons ripening in the sun, and women +gathering them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> in baskets which they carried on their heads across +the fields.</p> + +<p>In Verona we went to see the play in the colosseum by moonlight. I +have never seen such a performance in our stadium at Harvard, and you +have a right to be proud of the great colosseum.</p> + +<p>There were four hundred performers on the stage at one time, and the +play ended at "the twenty-three hours" with a gunpowder explosion that +destroyed the fort,—the play fort, I mean.</p> + +<p>And we looked at the tombs of the Scaligers, although I don't know any +good reason for doing so; and then we came through the most beautiful +country to Florence.</p> + +<p>Men and women, dressed in gayest colors, were reaping with sickles in +the wheat-fields. The grain was truly "golden grain," and there was +never a foot of ground anywhere, whether the grain was standing or had +fallen, without a flaming scarlet poppy. And every hill was green with +trees and crowned with a castle or a tower.</p> + +<p>We rode through miles and miles of vineyards, all arranged in +pictures, for our benefit, as it seemed. The vines hung in festoons +from long rows of mulberry trees. The trees were planted in rows that +crossed one another, forming hollow squares, and the square spaces +were filled with the scarlet poppies and the golden grain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>The trees grew so regularly, and the vines hung so gracefully—a +single vine running from tree to tree—that we could not take our eyes +from the lovely sight; and we have promised ourselves to see the +gathering of the grapes, on our way from Florence to Rome.</p> + +<p>At the toll-gate we found that we could not enter Florence until after +our automobile and all our luggage had been examined. The officers +seemed to fear that we were trying to smuggle something to eat, either +fruit or vegetables, into the city.</p> + +<p>It was in the midst of a thunder-storm; and not until the official was +convinced that we were quite wet, and wished to enter in order to find +shelter, and that we were truly a foreign lady and her daughter, on a +sight-seeing tour, did he let us pass through the gates and enter the +city.</p> + +<p>And now, after our month's visit, I have a Florentine mosaic to take +to America with my Venetian necklace.</p> + +<p>The golden background of my mosaic is another sunset; one which we saw +from the Shepherd's Tower, with the sky a rosy-pink, the River Arno +taking its slow course through the city and reflecting the rosy light, +and the surrounding hills all deep blue and amethyst.</p> + +<p>The most precious stone of my mosaic is the glorious statue of David, +on the heights of San<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> Miniato. Perhaps, if Michael Angelo could have +known, four hundred years ago, that I was going to have one minute of +such very great happiness as when I first saw his work, he would have +been very glad.</p> + +<p>What a splendid fashion the Italians have of placing beautiful statues +out of doors where everyone may see and admire them often! In America +we crowd them all together in museums and charge an admission fee, so +that one sees them but seldom, if at all.</p> + +<p>There are many stones in my mosaic. Florence is well called the "City +of Flowers." One sees flower-girls everywhere, and little Bianca, with +the tanned face and the big black eyes, who comes to our door every +morning with the sweetest and freshest of roses, is one of my friends.</p> + +<p>Every Friday we have been to the market-place to see the peasants, who +come in from the surrounding hillsides with loads of peaches, figs, +grapes, pumpkins, watermelons, squashes,—all kinds of beautiful +fruits and vegetables.</p> + +<p>But I like best the boys who carry trays of plaster images which have +been made in their little villages up among the mountains, and which +they bring here just as they sometimes take them to America.</p> + +<p>We saw also the straw market, and the women<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> braiding the straw and +making hats. You shall see the one which Mother bought for me, and +which I wear every day.</p> + +<p>And this brings me to the reason for writing you this letter. We are +going to leave the music of the churches, the pictures, the +sculptures, the peasants and the market-place, and go into the country +to see the harvests.</p> + +<p>I shall miss hearing the constant ringing of the church bells, and +seeing the squads of soldiers marching to the sound of military music. +And perhaps I shall never again sleep in a room with barred windows +overlooking the blue waters of an Italian river, and look through +those same bars into the faces of sweet nuns and shaven monks as they +pass on the sidewalk outside.</p> + +<p>But we can have the automobile only a few days longer, and it is our +great wish that you join us in Florence and take the trip with us to +Rome.</p> + +<p>Then if you will but stay with us for a few weeks in Rome, we shall +not get lost again because of being unable to speak Italian. Mother +says that you will be tongue and eyes for us.</p> + +<p class="f4"> +Your American friend,</p> +<p class="f5"><span class="smcap">Edith Sprague.</span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2>RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE</h2> + + +<p>It was a long letter. Rafael read it aloud to his mother, and at the +end he spoke without looking up at her.</p> + +<p>"May I go?" he asked simply.</p> + +<p>She did not answer for several moments, and he spoke again. "I know so +little of Italy, outside of Venice," he urged. "Those Americans go +everywhere and see the whole world."</p> + +<p>"That is true," his mother answered, "and you may never have such +another opportunity to see the Eternal City. You may go," she added +finally, to Rafael's great delight.</p> + +<p>"That is good! I will start as soon as you can pack some clothes for +me," he cried. He half thought she would go at once to pack them, but +she sat still, and began to talk about her girlhood.</p> + +<p>"I was born near the hotel where your friend is living," she said, +"and know every foot of ground in Florence. It is a pity you are not +going to be there on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Then you +would see a sight that is seen nowhere outside of Florence."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Tell me about it," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"It is called the 'Burning of the Car,'" she told him. "Back in the +time of the Crusaders, one of the men of old Florence who went to +Jerusalem brought from the Holy Sepulchre two pieces of the stone, and +also a torch lighted from the holy light that has been kept burning +there since the time Christ was crucified.</p> + +<p>"In order that the wind might not blow out his light, he rode the +whole distance back to Florence with his face toward Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>"The people of the cities through which he passed thought that this +man who was riding backwards must be crazy, and they cried out after +him, 'Pazzi! Pazzi!' which means mad-man. Finally he was called by the +name of Pazzi, and was the founder of the Pazzi family, which to this +day shares with the government the expense of burning the car at +Easter time.</p> + +<p>"The light and the two pieces of the stone sepulchre are treasured in +the oldest church in Florence. They are taken out once every year, and +the people are allowed to look at them, and are also permitted to +light their candles at the sacred flame. They count that a great +blessing.</p> + +<p>"The burning of the car is an interesting ceremony, and thousands of +people come from far and near to see it. Two yoke of pure white +Tuscan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> oxen are chosen to pull the car into the Piazza del Duomo for +the burning; and proud is that peasant whose oxen are chosen for the +ceremony.</p> + +<p>"They are driven into the city on the night of Good Friday when +everything is very still, and are taken early the next morning to the +enormous barn where the great car is kept.</p> + +<p>"The car is built of wood and is hung with festoons of colored paper +and garlands of flowers. Fireworks of many kinds are hidden among the +flowers and paper,—some which make loud noises, and others which burn +with a bright light.</p> + +<p>"The oxen are harnessed to the car and draw it slowly through the +street to its place in the square in front of the cathedral,—'the +very great heart of Florence.' A wire is then stretched from the high +altar of the cathedral to the car in the square, and everything is in +readiness.</p> + +<p>"In the meantime a priest takes the holy light, very early on Saturday +morning, and walks with it to the cathedral, lighting the candles of +the people as he goes. On either side he is accompanied by a servant +in livery from the house of Pazzi.</p> + +<p>"Crowds of men, women and children, dressed in holiday attire, collect +in the square in front of the cathedral, and there is a babble of +voices, with much merriment and laughter.</p> + +<p>"Just before the hour of noon a great silence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> falls upon the crowd, +and the priests begin the Mass. At the moment when the 'Gloria in +Excelsis' is reached, the Archbishop places a lighted taper in the +bill of an artificial dove, and sends the dove down the wire to the +car. Then all the bells in the city begin to ring.</p> + +<p>"Down to the car flies the dove, and the taper in its bill sets fire +to the fireworks. Then it flies back to the high altar, and if the +trip is successful and the fireworks go off with a great burning and +banging, there is rejoicing among the crowds in the square, for it +means that the autumn harvests will be plentiful.</p> + +<p>"Then the prize oxen, all beautifully decorated with garlands, and +with blankets embroidered with the arms of the Pazzi family, are again +harnessed to the car; it is refilled with fireworks, and the burning +is repeated in the square Victor Emanuele, near the Pazzi palace.</p> + +<p>"And afterwards all the men buy new hats, and wear them home in honor +of the event.</p> + +<p>"I have heard that it rained last Easter-time, and that the burning +was not so good as usual," she said with a smile, "perhaps your +friends will not find plentiful harvests."</p> + +<p>Rafael smiled in answer, and looked at Edith's letter, where his eyes +fell upon her words about the tomb of the Scaligers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why do foreigners always find it hard to understand our Italian +history?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Because for many centuries Italy was made up of small states, each +one governed by a different ruler,—sometimes a family, and sometimes +a Doge, as here in Venice. The Scaligers were a famous family which +ruled Verona for many years during the middle ages.</p> + +<p>"When I was a girl, Cavour, one of Italy's greatest statesmen, brought +about the unification of the many states into one kingdom under one +king, and since then our people have become happier and more +prosperous. Italy is now one of the important nations in Europe."</p> + +<p>She would have said more, but Rafael was tired of listening to the +stories of the past, and wished to plan for his journey.</p> + +<p>"I must get ready to go to Florence at once," he said.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be done in one day," replied his mother. "Write to your +friends that you will come on Thursday."</p> + +<p>So on Thursday he bade his mother good-bye and started on his journey. +He was taken to the station in his little boat, poled by his friend +Nicolo; and his last words to Nicolo as he left the boat were, "I am +so glad to go!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h2>GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">To Madre Mia in Venice:</span>—</p> + +<p>I am still glad! Yet it would not be so if you were not also glad for +me.</p> + +<p>It was the joy of the morning to find a letter from you to-day. Two +letters have I now had in my life, and both from Italy. I had thought +we Italians had letters from nobody but "friends in America," as +Paolo, the fruit-man, always says.</p> + +<p>And you say that Nicolo wishes to buy my boat; and that he will pay +for it after he has carried many passengers under the three bridges of +the Grand Canal, and to the Lido.</p> + +<p>Well, say to him that I cannot sell my boat. Did I not make it myself, +from an old fisherman's boat, with only a little help from Carlo, in +his workshop on the canal of the chestnut trees? And of a truth I will +not sell it to Nicolo. But I shall give it to him for his birthday +gift, if in return he will carry old Grandmother Nanna every Sunday +morning to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> early Mass, so that she will not miss it because I am no +longer there.</p> + +<p>I shall never want the boat again, because I am going to become a +citizen of Florence.</p> + +<p>It is true that we leave to-day for our automobile ride to Rome, but I +shall come back again. That is what everyone does who has once been +here.</p> + +<p>Why did you not tell me about the Palazzo Vecchio with the wonderful +statues in the Loggia? Did you think that because we have so much +beauty in our old Venice I should care for none elsewhere?</p> + +<p>And the pictures in the Pitti and the Uffizi palaces,—you should have +warned me that I would wear my eyes out with much looking at them! And +it is one thing to hear of Michael Angelo, and quite another to see +his great works!</p> + +<p>The American lady, Mrs. Sprague, with her guide-book, follows the +English-speaking guide about, and continually interrupts him to ask, +"At what page have we arrived now?"</p> + +<p>But her daughter is different. She carries no guide-book. She has a +boy's mind and asks questions about everything. She asked me about the +tunnels through which my train came from Venice. Ah, those tunnels! +There were twenty-two of them in sixteen miles, and the train whizzed +in and out in the most exciting manner.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>More I cannot say, but that I am perfectly happy! And I shall sign my +name Benvenuto, because the American girl says I am welcome.</p> + +<p>A thousand greetings to you, from your absent crab of a boy in +Florence,</p> + +<p class="f5"><span class="smcap">Rafael Valla.</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>During that wonderful automobile ride from Florence to Rome, Rafael +was glad that his mother had told him so many stories of her native +city. There was pointed out to him on one of the Tuscan hills not far +from Florence, the same yoke of oxen that had drawn the car through +the city streets on the previous Easter, and he was able to tell Edith +the whole story of the "Burning of the Car."</p> + +<p>The chauffeur, under Mrs. Sprague's directions, took them off the +highway and close to the oxen and their driver. The horns of the oxen +were decorated with garlands of flowers and gay paper streamers, +because they were again to take part in a festival,—the festival of +the vintage; and on the drag behind them rested a great tun for the +wine.</p> + +<p>Rafael spoke to the smiling contadino and asked if they might follow +him to the harvest.</p> + +<p>"Not follow," he answered; "the oxen move but slowly, and must first +drag the tun to the wine-cellar at the farm-house. But you may lead," +he added. "It is a straight road along the base of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> hill and +across the brook, to the gate of the vineyard."</p> + +<p>So they sped along in the automobile, and soon reached the busiest, +merriest place that Edith had ever seen. Men and women, boys and +girls, all dressed in the brightest, gayest colors, were cutting +grapes from the vines which hung in long festoons from tall trees. +They were constantly coming and going, with full baskets or empty +ones, and some of the boys had climbed ladders to pick the grapes from +the tree-tops.</p> + +<p>There was much shouting and laughter, with happy calls to one another +about the number of baskets of grapes each had picked, and the number +of lire the work would bring.</p> + +<p>"See how carefully that boy is cutting the grapes from the vines," +observed Edith, pointing to a lad about Rafael's age, who sang as he +worked, and who lifted the luscious, purple clusters of fruit into his +basket as lovingly as if they could feel the touch of his hand.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague called attention to some of the vines, which had already +been stripped of leaves as well as fruit.</p> + +<p>"Why do they pick the leaves also?" she had Rafael ask one of the men.</p> + +<p>He answered that the grapes grew so thickly that it was necessary to +pick off the leaves in order that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> the fruit might get the full +benefit of the sun. "There is much to do for the grapes before they +can be picked," he added. "We must see to it that neither hail nor +wind spoils the clusters before the vintage."</p> + +<p>Then he explained that the grapes would soon be taken to the house and +poured into great vats, where they would be made into wine.</p> + +<p>Before Edith could ask about this process, Rafael shouted, "The oxen! +Here come the oxen!" and she turned to see the gaily decorated, white +oxen moving slowly across the field, drawing a big wagon.</p> + +<p>The driver led the oxen to the farther end of the vineyard, and the +boys and girls climbed upon the wagon with their baskets, and were +carried under the festoons of vines, picking clusters of grapes here +and there as they rode slowly along.</p> + +<p>"I should like to help pick the grapes," said Edith wistfully, as she +watched the merry pickers at their task.</p> + +<p>Rafael asked one of the men if she might be allowed to do so. He +smiled and nodded, pointing to an empty basket on the ground, and soon +the two children were filling it together, and laughing and shouting +with the others.</p> + +<p>"This is like a moving picture," Edith said to Rafael, when at last +their basket was filled and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> they had climbed into the ox-cart to ride +with the overflowing baskets and grape-stained children to the +farm-house.</p> + +<p>As they passed under the vines, Edith cut off some of the trailing +ends and made crowns for the bareheaded, black-haired peasant girls, +and one of them, more daring than the others, crowned Edith's own +black hair.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague had already found her way to the house, and to the heart +of the farmer's wife, by admiring the little baby that lay sleeping in +its cradle under a fig tree near-by.</p> + +<p>The baby was wrapped in a swaddling band, a piece of linen four or +five yards long, which is wound round and round the tiny body, +beginning just under the arms and ending at the toes. It is a curious +fashion the Italians have of dressing their babies, and has been +followed ever since the Mother Mary wrapped the infant Jesus in a +swaddling band, so many hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>"Pretty bambino," Mrs. Sprague had said, pointing to the baby, and the +mother had found a hundred things to say in reply, in her voluble +Italian fashion, not one word of which Mrs. Sprague could understand.</p> + +<p>The farmer's wife was still talking when the vintage procession swung +into the yard, the boys and girls lifting their voices in a festival +song and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> keeping time to the swinging of the horns of the great white +oxen.</p> + +<p>Then there was the merry confusion of emptying the grapes into the +huge vats, and the choosing of certain men and maidens to trample out +the purple juice.</p> + +<p>Two or three always stand together in a single vat and press the +grapes with their bare feet, thus forcing out the juice, which runs +through an opening in the base of the vat into a wooden bucket.</p> + +<p>Some of the farmers use a machine to press the grapes, but many think +it should be done, as it was in old Bible times, with the human foot. +It seems that the feet know how to avoid crushing the seeds and the +skins, as a machine cannot know.</p> + +<p>Rafael asked to be allowed to press the grapes in one of the vats, and +after permission had been given him, Edith suddenly asked to do it +also.</p> + +<p>The farmer shook his head doubtfully. "It is very hard work," he +objected.</p> + +<p>Edith bade Rafael say that she was an American girl, and not afraid of +hard work, and at last she was permitted to stand with the Italian boy +in the vat and tread until she grew tired.</p> + +<p>However, to stand in the midst of juicy grapes means to spoil one's +clothes, so the farmer's wife took Edith and Rafael into the house and +dressed them like peasant children.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was much laughing and shouting from the other boys and girls +over the sight of the two strange wine-treaders, and it reminded Edith +of something. "Doesn't the Bible speak of the singing and laughing +that go with the vintage?" she asked her mother.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Mrs. Sprague, "there are many references in the Bible +to the vineyard and the vintage; and also to the fig trees, which seem +always to be planted in the vineyard."</p> + +<p>"When I was learning in my Sunday-school lessons about the vine and +the fig tree, I never dreamed that some day I should be eating grapes +and ripe figs, and treading in the wine-press, as they did in olden +times," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"It will be the best wine in the whole country," said the farmer, when +at last Edith was lifted out, her feet crimson with the blood of the +grapes.</p> + +<p>"I must see where they put it," she said, and followed to the dark +wine-cellar, where the grape juice was poured into a tank and left to +ferment.</p> + +<p>It was late in the afternoon when they were once more in readiness to +continue their journey toward Rome. The farmer's wife, who had told +them all her family history, in Italian, would have been glad to keep +them over night, but Mrs. Sprague shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Tell her that the bambino is very cunning," she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> said to Rafael, "but +we must be far along on our journey to-night."</p> + +<p>Rafael's heart sang again, "I am so glad to go!" Every moment spent in +the automobile was one of joy to him. He barely noticed the queer old +streets and ancient buildings of the towns through which they passed. +He cared more for the rapid motion of the car, and the sensation of +flying through the air; and besides, he knew well the customs of the +people in the Italian towns, and there was nothing strange to him in +the sight of men and women sitting at tables outside the cafés, or +wandering up and down in the public promenades.</p> + +<p>But he chattered in gay delight over the country sights. "See the +haystacks!" he would cry, "and the golden pumpkins! and oh, the ears +of yellow corn!"</p> + +<p>A small flock of geese ran into the road, hissing at the big red +automobile, and Rafael laughed gaily.</p> + +<p>"You should not laugh at those geese," Edith reproved him. "No doubt +they are descendants of the sacred geese that saved Rome." Then after +a moment of silence, she added, "Saved Rome from what?"</p> + +<p>"From the enemy," Rafael answered, with another laugh.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know that, of course," said Edith; "but Rome has had so many +enemies that I can never keep the different ones separated in my +mind."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague overheard the conversation, and said, "That is one reason +why I brought you to Italy, Edith. I want you to understand all this +Roman history, so that you will be able to pass your examinations when +you return to school."</p> + +<p>Rafael was interested to hear something about the American school +examinations, and Edith told him of her troubles with history.</p> + +<p>Then Rafael told of the difficulty he always had in remembering +whether George Lincoln lived before Abraham Washington, or afterwards; +and while Edith was explaining to him his mistake in the names, they +arrived at one of the many olive-groves that dot the Tuscan hillsides.</p> + +<p>"I think the vineyards are much prettier," said Edith. "But the +twisted black trunks, and the gray branches of the olive trees are +very picturesque," she added.</p> + +<p>Boy-like, Rafael began at once to make friends with the farmer, and +soon learned the whole process of crushing the oil from the ripe black +fruit.</p> + +<p>The farmer led them all to the sheds where the great stones were set +up to crush the olives. He showed them just how the work was done, and +then explained about the different grades of oil.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We buy a great deal of your Italian oil in America," said Mrs. +Sprague; and when Rafael had repeated this in Italian to the farmer, +the man went into the house and soon returned with two bottles of his +very best oil, which he presented to Edith and her mother.</p> + +<p>"We Italians sell more oil than any other country," he said proudly to +Rafael, "and we use a great quantity ourselves. It is much better than +butter for cooking."</p> + +<p>Then he showed them the barrels of mammoth green olives which he had +sold on the trees to an American dealer the month before, and which +were soon to be shipped to Genoa.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague looked at the setting sun, and advised that they hurry on +to the next town, where they were to spend the night; and Rafael +rejoiced once more in the speed of the automobile.</p> + +<p>But Edith was tired, and was glad to reach a comfortable bed in Siena, +and lay her head upon the pillow filled with live-geese feathers; +after which she knew nothing more of Italy, until the next morning's +sun wakened her, and she began another day's journey over the roads of +Tuscany.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h2>A MARATHON RUN TO ROME</h2> + + +<p>"All roads lead to Rome!" called Edith, from her seat in the +automobile, to Rafael in the door of the inn. The boy gave her a merry +salute in answer, and climbed to his place by her side.</p> + +<p>It was a lovely morning, and every peasant they passed waved a hand in +friendly greeting to the two happy young people, while Mrs. Sprague +leaned back and listened to their merry chatter, which never stopped +through the long hours.</p> + +<p>Rafael was constantly calling Edith's attention to this thing or +that,—to the gray oxen, to the flocks of sheep, to the donkey carts +which they passed. At last Edith said, "Rafael, why do you look always +at the road? Why don't you look instead of those distant mountains, +with the castles and monasteries crowning their peaks?"</p> + +<p>Rafael looked somewhat bewildered. "These animals are all so +foreign-looking to me," he said gently; "and it is a new thing for me +to see men digging in the fields, and women picking leaves from the +trees."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, of course!" said Edith, remembering that Rafael was used to +canals instead of roads, and the changing waters of a lagoon rather +than green meadows. "It is a new sight to me, as well," she added, +"that of women picking the mulberry leaves to feed to silkworms. We +have few silkworms in our country.</p> + +<p>"But neither do we have mountains crowned with castles. When I go +home, I shall have to imagine that the hotel on top of Mt. Washington +is a haunted monastery crowning the summit of a lofty peak."</p> + +<p>Although Rafael knew nothing about Mt. Washington and the hotel on its +top, he did know that Edith was a bright, observant girl who liked a +touch of the ideal, so he asked, "Do you know about the Marathon runs +of ancient Greece?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed!" she answered. "We have them now once a year at my own +home in the United States, and there is great excitement over the +winning of the twenty-six mile run."</p> + +<p>Rafael shook his head in mock discouragement. "There is nothing in +Europe which you have not also in the United States,—except age," he +added.</p> + +<p>"And history," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Yes, history," the boy repeated. "I like our history." Then he +laughed and said drolly, "You may have all the history you like from +my mother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> She says it is better than salt. My own head is filled to +bursting with all the stories she has told me of the men of olden +times; of their wars and victories, their triumphs and their games. +Why can we not call this ride to Rome a Marathon run?"</p> + +<p>"A Marathon run! What fun!" exclaimed the girl. "How far away is +Rome?"</p> + +<p>"More than a hundred miles," he said. "Do you suppose we could +possibly reach the site of the Golden Milestone before sunset?"</p> + +<p>Edith's eyes sparkled at the thought, and she leaned forward to speak +to the chauffeur. "Is the machine running well?" she asked. "Can we +travel one hundred miles to-day?"</p> + +<p>The man shook his head doubtfully. "There are mountains between here +and Rome," he answered, "and it is not well to push the car too hard."</p> + +<p>Edith looked at Rafael imploringly. "You are a man; can you not +persuade him?" she asked under her breath.</p> + +<p>The boy was pleased to be called a man; but as he was in truth a +gallant Italian lad, he said courteously, "It is for you to persuade."</p> + +<p>Then to the chauffeur he said, "Please stop for a moment at the first +olive-garden."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Edith curiously.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Make it easy for you to persuade," he answered; and as the car +stopped he jumped out, sprang to the top of the wall, broke off a +branch of beautiful, silvery-green leaves, and presented it to Edith +with a graceful bow.</p> + +<p>"What can you make with the leaves?" he asked with a smile.</p> + +<p>Edith looked at the branch thoughtfully for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I know," she cried, "the victor's crown of olives!" and she clapped +her hands together with delight. "See," she said to the chauffeur, "if +you will reach the Golden Milestone in Rome by sunset, you shall have +a crown of olive leaves."</p> + +<p>She said it hesitatingly. The chauffeur was a quiet, business-like +man, and Edith, with a child's judgment, supposed him to be too old to +feel a single thrill of ambition.</p> + +<p>Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was only the desire to give pleasure to the +American girl that moved him to smile faintly and say, "Well! Well! We +will see what our car can do; but it is not at all likely that we +shall see Rome this night."</p> + +<p>However, he began at once to increase the speed, carefully to be sure, +but with purpose.</p> + +<p>Edith turned to the task of plaiting a wreath of leaves. As her +fingers twisted and arranged them to make the most of their dull green +upper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> surfaces, she asked Rafael, "What of this Golden Milestone? I +have never heard of it."</p> + +<p>"It was a gilded stone set up in the old Roman Forum by the Emperor +Augustus," Rafael replied. "He wished to make of the city a great +trading center; and so he built many roads radiating from the Forum to +all parts of ancient Italy. The distances of all the principal towns, +measured from the city gates, were recorded on the golden stone. +Although it is no longer there, its place is marked."</p> + +<p>Edith was disappointed. "I thought I was going to see it," she said, +twisting a leaf to show its gray under-side.</p> + +<p>"There are so many other ruins from the days, of ancient Rome, that +you will never miss the milestone," Rafael assured her.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"My mother has told me about them," he answered. "It was only by word +of mouth that much of the earliest history of the world was made +known, and I have learned it in the same way."</p> + +<p>"It may not be the most 'up-to-date' fashion," said the girl, "but it +is certainly more interesting. I wish you would try it now, and tell +me something about the Eternal City."</p> + +<p>The young Italian boy, who was making his first journey into the heart +of his native land, felt his own heart expand with joy as he looked +across the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> beautiful valleys to the distant blue mountains for +inspiration.</p> + +<p>"It was many hundred years before the birth of Christ that people +first came into Italy," he said. "My mother told me that they wandered +over here from Central Asia in search of good pastures for their +flocks, but it was so many centuries ago that very little is known +about them."</p> + +<p>Edith pointed to a roughly thatched hut in a distant field, and asked, +"Do you suppose they lived in huts like that?"</p> + +<p>"Not at first," the boy answered. "It was a long time before they +built even such good huts as that one. It was only little by little +that they learned to clear the ground and cultivate it with rude +tools; to make dishes out of clay and cook their food; to spin and +weave the wool from their sheep, and to live under shelter.</p> + +<p>"At first each family lived by itself, but after a time they began to +form tribes and choose the strongest and bravest of their number for a +chief. This chief governed them in times of peace and led them in +their wars with other tribes, becoming their leader or king.</p> + +<p>"There were many such tribes in Italy, and for centuries they lived +here, waging constant warfare with each other and with other tribes +and nations."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_4" id="pic_4"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_03.jpg" width="500" height="660" alt="Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome. There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city. + +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome<br /> +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city. +</span> +</div> + +<p>"Were there no civilized people in those days?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Rafael, "there were the people of Egypt and Greece; and +some of the Grecians had already wandered over into Italy before the +time of Romulus.</p> + +<p>"When he ploughed a trench for the strong wall which was to be built +for a fortification, Romulus ploughed around a great altar to the +Greek god, Hercules."</p> + +<p>"Who was Romulus?" interrupted Edith.</p> + +<p>"It is said that he was the founder of the city of Rome," Rafael told +her. "He was a son of Mars, the god of war, and he founded the city +753 years before the birth of Christ. There are some parts of his wall +still standing. He lifted his plough over the places where the gates +were to be built."</p> + +<p>"Why, Rafael?"</p> + +<p>"Because the ground where the walls would stand was made sacred, but +the gateways would be profaned by the passing of many feet."</p> + +<p>"How many gates were there?" Edith asked.</p> + +<p>"Three; but please don't ask me their names, for I never learned them. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city."</p> + +<p>Edith put down her wreath and laughed with glee. "I'm glad there is +something you never <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>learned about Italian history," she said. "But +tell me what it was like, this early city of Rome."</p> + +<p>"Romulus chose a hill for the site of his village, and soon men from +the neighboring tribes came to join him, so that the town grew large +and prosperous and covered two hills instead of one.</p> + +<p>"Those early Romans lived in rude huts. They made their tools of +flint, bone and bronze, and their dishes of clay. Beside each house +was a garden and sheepfold. Every morning the peasants went to their +work on the farms, and the shepherds drove their little flocks outside +the city walls. Arched gateways were built in the walls, and through +these gates everyone entering or leaving the city was obliged to +pass."</p> + +<p>"Think of having sheep and cattle inside the city," exclaimed Edith. +"I suppose they had to be protected from the wild animals."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Rafael, "and from the hostile tribes who were always +ready to steal them. There are many stories about those tribes, and +about the kings who governed the city after Romulus died. Some of the +kings made wise laws and ruled in peace, but others led armies to +conquer the neighboring tribes, and added small territories to their +kingdom."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose each king tried to do something to make his name +famous," said Edith.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not for that reason," Rafael replied. "He did it for the good of the +city. Many of the roads and canals and temples which are now famous +ruins, were built by some of those old kings.</p> + +<p>"As Rome was on the River Tiber, fifteen miles from the sea, one king +built a seaport at the mouth of the river, and a long straight road +leading down to it, which was laid so solidly that it is still in use +to-day.</p> + +<p>"The valleys between the hills of Rome were wet and marshy. A king +named Tarquin drained those marshes by building immense stone sewers. +One of them was so large that several yoke of oxen could pass through +it side by side, and the work was so well done that it is in good +condition now, although it is more than twenty-four hundred years old.</p> + +<p>"One marsh which the sewer drained was used as a market-place. +Shop-keepers set their stalls up there; temples and public buildings +were erected, and it became known as the Roman Forum."</p> + +<p>"The very Forum where we are going?" asked Edith eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Rafael, "the very Forum where Augustus, several hundred +years later, set up the Golden Milestone."</p> + +<p>"What else did those old Romans do?" asked Edith.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They were fond of amusements," said Rafael. "One of the valleys +between two of the hills was a good place for races and other games. +On the sloping hillsides on each side of the valley, seats were built +for thousands of spectators, and the place was called the Circus +Maximus.</p> + +<p>"The same king who built the sewers built also a strong fortress on +the top of one of the hills. This fortress was called the Capitol, and +the hill was called the Capitoline Hill. He also ordered that a wall +should be built all around the seven hills to enclose the city, but it +was not finished during his lifetime."</p> + +<p>"Let us get out the map and look at it," suggested the girl, who had +finished plaiting the olive wreath.</p> + +<p>So the wreath was put away in the hamper, and the two heads were soon +bending over a great map of Rome; and Rafael traced the lines of the +old wall which Romulus built.</p> + +<p>Just then Mrs. Sprague looked up at the sun. "It is time for lunch," +she said, and began unpacking the lunch-basket, while the car rolled +steadily nearer and nearer to the Roman Forum.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h2>"THE GOLDEN MILESTONE"</h2> + + +<p>"If we are to reach Rome at sunset, some one must lend a hand at the +wheel," said the chauffeur, as the children finished eating their +lunch. "There is not a moment to lose, and I, also, am hungry."</p> + +<p>Rafael sprang at once to his side. He had longed to drive the +automobile from the very moment they began the journey from Florence, +and had often sat on the seat beside the chauffeur, watching him, and +asking him questions about his work.</p> + +<p>There followed a glorious afternoon for the boy. He was a ready pupil, +the roads were good, and the friendly chauffeur a careful teacher.</p> + +<p>They passed peasant women in gay bodices, with folded handkerchiefs on +their heads and long earrings in their ears, carrying baskets of fruit +on their arms. They passed peasant men driving donkeys or oxen, who +smiled at them from under hats decorated with pompons of colored paper +and tinsel. Geese ran out to hiss at them as they flew by, and hens +and chickens fluttered out of their way; but Rafael had eyes only for +the road.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<p>They passed lemon groves and rose-gardens, and Edith was grieved +because Rafael could not enjoy with her every new and strange sight.</p> + +<p>"I wanted you to tell me more about the Roman ruins," she said.</p> + +<p>But the boy tossed a merry smile back at her for answer. "We will +speak more about those things when we are in Rome," he said. "I can +think of nothing now but flying," and he bent his eyes again to the +road.</p> + +<p>At last they began the descent of a lofty hill, and the car glided +into the road which is the old Flaminian Way, leading directly to the +city.</p> + +<p>Edith felt the thrill which always stirs the heart when one first +draws near to the Eternal City. She leaned forward and said to the +chauffeur, "How do you feel, to be riding toward Rome?"</p> + +<p>For answer the man pointed to the sun, which was low in the western +sky. "There is only another hour of sunlight," he said with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Oh, shall we fail to reach the Golden Milestone at sunset?" the girl +asked, as anxiously as if it were the most important thing in the +world to win their Marathon run.</p> + +<p>But Rafael suddenly lifted a hand from the wheel. "Ecco!" he said, +pointing to the distant South.</p> + +<p>Edith followed the direction of his finger. Far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> away she saw the +great dome of a cathedral rising toward the clouds.</p> + +<p>"Rome! St. Peter's!" she shouted.</p> + +<p>The boy nodded. The splendor of the ancient city flashed into his +mind. He saw as in a dream the magnificent temples and palaces, the +triumphal processions, the chariot-races, the games and combats of the +early Romans, about which his mother had told him so many stories.</p> + +<p>"It is a wonderful city," he said. "What tales those old walls could +tell!"</p> + +<p>As they crossed the River Tiber he heard Edith murmur behind him, "Oh, +Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray!" and then it seemed but +a moment before they were rolling through a massive stone gateway, and +the chauffeur had taken the wheel.</p> + +<p>As Rafael lifted his eyes to look about him once more, they looked +straight into the eyes of a man who was riding in the opposite +direction, and he smiled. He did not know that he had smiled, nor that +this man was the king of Italy. His thoughts were back again with the +conquerors of the early days, and the splendors of the ancient city.</p> + +<p>But the king had noticed the boy, and turned to look after him. "That +was the spirit of the old Romans looking from his eyes," he said to +his attendant.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>The last rays of the setting sun fell upon the scarred columns of the +ruined Forum, as the car rounded the base of the Capitoline Hill and +stopped at the spot where the Golden Milestone once marked the +beginning of the Roman roads.</p> + +<p>Rafael was speechless; but Edith took the olive wreath from the hamper +with exclamations of delight.</p> + +<p>"Where will you have it?" she asked the chauffeur, "on your head or +your wheel?"</p> + +<p>"It belongs to the car triumphal," he answered as they turned and +moved cautiously through the street-car tracks of modern Rome.</p> + +<p>"There could never have been such a record run made by your kings and +emperors of olden times," said the girl proudly to Rafael.</p> + +<p>But he was too happy with his thoughts to make any reply, and Edith +turned her attention to the conversation between her mother and the +chauffeur.</p> + +<p>"To the Continental Hotel," Mrs. Sprague was saying, and all too soon +they had crossed the city, and were welcomed and given rooms in the +hotel. The chauffeur bade them good-bye, and their Marathon run was a +thing of the past.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h2>A RAMBLE IN ROME</h2> + + +<p>"Did you see a picturesque-looking shepherd, dressed in shaggy skins, +driving his flock through the square at midnight?"</p> + +<p>Rafael asked the question at the breakfast table one morning, about +two weeks after their arrival in Rome.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" Edith answered. "I was fast asleep. How could you see +what he wore?"</p> + +<p>"It was bright moonlight," Rafael told her in reply. "I could see +plainly his sheepskin jacket and the long hair of his goatskin +leggins. He had a great white dog to help him guide the sheep, and +they entered the square and passed through it so silently that it +seemed almost like a dream."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it was a dream," said Edith; but Rafael shook his head, and +the girl went on, "Now I had a dream about the geese that saved Rome; +but you will no doubt tell me that if I had looked out of the window I +should have seen them following old Mother Goose through the square."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rafael laughed. "I do not know your old Mother Goose," he said, and +left the table to telephone for the guide who was to take them to see +some of the famous ruins of ancient Rome.</p> + +<p>In a short time the guide arrived, and they were ready to drive +through the city streets. This guide was Professor Gates, a man who +had lived in Rome over twenty-five years, studying its history and +ancient ruins, and he had already taken Rafael, with Edith and Mrs. +Sprague, to see many interesting places.</p> + +<p>"Where are we going to-day?" Edith asked, as they took their seats in +the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I want you to drive a little distance along the Appian Way," replied +their guide; "but we will look first at some of the arches of the old +aqueduct which was built by Appius Claudius, many years before the +birth of Christ, to bring water to the city from the mountains sixty +miles away."</p> + +<p>It was a lovely morning for a drive, and Edith and Rafael saw many +sights to point out to each other. Near the foot of one of the arches +of the aqueduct they found a group of models picking flowers, and +Edith asked them to pose for a picture.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty little group. The boy wore a conical hat adorned with +a feather, a red jacket, and sandals which were bound upon his feet +with red cords that were interlaced up the legs as far as the knees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +His mother and sister wore bright red skirts and green aprons, and +they all smiled at Edith as she tossed them some coins for posing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="pic_5" id="pic_5"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_04.jpg" width="600" height="480" alt="Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct. The arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top. +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct<br /> +The arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top. +</span> +</div> + +<p>"You will find such models all over the city," said Professor Gates.</p> + +<p>"Like all-over embroidery," said Edith with a merry laugh; but no one +saw her little joke, so she asked more seriously, "How did the water +flow through the arches?"</p> + +<p>"It did not flow through the arches, but through the aqueduct which +you see at the top," the guide explained. "If you remember your Latin +you will know that this word is formed from two others which mean +'water' and 'to lead.' In some places the aqueduct was laid upon the +ground, but here there was a valley to be crossed, as you see, and the +arches formed a bridge over which the pipe was laid."</p> + +<p>From the aqueduct they drove to the old Appian Way.</p> + +<p>"The Appian Way was named after Appius Claudius, who built a part of +it," Professor Gates explained. "It is three hundred miles long, and +crosses Italy to Brindisi, a seaport on the south-eastern coast."</p> + +<p>"I thought you said that Appius Claudius built the aqueduct," said +Mrs. Sprague.</p> + +<p>"So he did," replied the professor. "The road <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>is called 'Appian' +after one of his names, and the aqueduct 'Claudian' after the other."</p> + +<p>"Was he one of the kings of early Rome?" asked Edith, taking out her +note-book.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered, "the kingdom came to an end more than two hundred +years before this road was begun. This is one of the great works of +the republic."</p> + +<p>"What a glorious sight it must have been to see the Roman army come +marching home in triumph from some of its great victories," said +Rafael. "Think how thousands of soldiers, with spears and helmets +flashing in the sun, marched over this road, leading their prisoners +of war."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Edith, "and think how the Roman women came hurrying +through that old gate to meet them, shouting with joy at their +return."</p> + +<p>The professor smiled at the children. He liked the way they had begun +to see pictures in their minds of the earlier days of Rome. He called +their attention to the ruins of tombs which are scattered along the +road on either side, and then pointed to three peasant children who +had been playing in the field, but had stopped to watch the strangers. +"There is ancient Rome and young Italy. You will find one quite as +interesting as the other," he said.</p> + +<p>"Most of what you see is historic," he told them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> as they rode back +into the city. "There is a story about every ruin along the Appian +Way. I have told you the legends of the kings, but there are also +tales to tell of the days of the republic and of the glorious empire."</p> + +<p>"Rafael likes those old kings," said Edith. "How did the kingdom +happen to come to an end?"</p> + +<p>"One of the Kings was such a cruel tyrant that the people rose in +rebellion, under the leadership of a man named Brutus, and drove the +king and his followers from the city," replied the professor. "Brutus +then persuaded the Romans never again to be ruled by a king, so two +men were elected each year to govern the people, and the kingdom +became a republic. That was about five hundred years before the birth +of Christ.</p> + +<p>"During the time of the republic, which lasted nearly five hundred +years, the Romans were waging constant warfare with other tribes and +nations, to gain wealth and power. One war followed another in rapid +succession, and there were many famous warriors who fought bravely for +the glory of Rome."</p> + +<p>"Horatius was one of those old warriors," said Rafael.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Edith, "Horatius, who held back the army of the enemy from +crossing the bridge over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> the River Tiber. I learned a poem about it +once."</p> + +<p>"The bridge was a wooden one which crossed the river at a spot near +here," said the guide. "We will drive around to see the place where it +stood."</p> + +<p>They soon reached the bend of the river where Horatius called for +volunteers to aid him in defending the city.</p> + +<p>"Let me hear the story again," said Edith, "right here where he once +stood," and Rafael told it with shining eyes.</p> + +<p>"Horatius was a brave soldier who had already lost an eye in the +service of Rome," he began; "and now he was ready to lose his life if +need be. He crossed the bridge with two companions, and called for men +to come forward from the ranks of the enemy and fight.</p> + +<p>"While they fought, the Roman soldiers were cutting down the bridge +behind them. The two companions of Horatius turned and saw that, at +last, the bridge was about to fall, so they ran back to safety. But +Horatius was so brave that he remained alone, fighting until the +bridge crashed down.</p> + +<p>"Then there was no way for the enemy to cross the river and enter +Rome, so he jumped into the water with all his armor on, and swam +safely to the other side, where he was received with great +rejoicing."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> Edith jotted a few words down in her note-book, murmuring +as she did so:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Still is the story told,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How well Horatius kept the bridge<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the brave days of old."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Another hero of the days of the republic was Cincinnatus," said +Professor Gates. "He was an old soldier who was plowing in his fields +when he was called upon to lead a small company of brave men to aid +the Roman army, which was surrounded by the enemy and could not fight +its way out.</p> + +<p>"After Cincinnatus conquered the enemy and rescued the army, he +returned to Rome, where he was given a grand triumph."</p> + +<p>"I suppose our city of Cincinnati was named after him," said Edith, +and then without waiting for an answer, she asked, "What was a grand +triumph?"</p> + +<p>"Those triumphs were often granted to famous victors, and were times +of great rejoicing," the professor said. "The day was made a holiday, +the houses were decorated with garlands, the streets were filled with +throngs of people, and there was music and feasting throughout the +city.</p> + +<p>"Magnificent processions passed through the streets. Beautiful maidens +scattered flowers before the victor, who looked very fine, clad in +purple robes and riding in a triumphal car.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The prisoners of war followed the victor's chariot, to make his +triumph more of a spectacle, and soldiers carrying booty taken from +the conquered cities marched beside them singing hymns of victory, +while the shouts of the Roman populace called down blessings and +praises upon the head of their hero.</p> + +<p>"The procession passed through the Forum, and at the foot of the hill +the victor turned to the left to go to the Capitol, where +thank-offerings were made to the gods, while the prisoners turned to +the right and were led away to prison.</p> + +<p>"It must have been a magnificent sight, even in those old days of +splendor," he added, and turned to lead the way back to their +carriage.</p> + +<p>"Those triumphs must have cost a great deal of money," said Mrs. +Sprague.</p> + +<p>"There were enormous fortunes in old Rome, and the people spent +extravagant sums on amusements and public celebrations," their guide +told her. "One of the greatest of all the triumphs was given in honor +of Julius Cæsar, when he returned from conquering the Gauls. He wrote +an account of his wars with those barbarians which has been read by +many thousands of school children."</p> + +<p>"Is it in Latin?" Edith asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the professor. "That was the language of the Roman +people."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have read it then," said the girl; and she sighed as she thought of +the tears she had shed over her Latin lessons and Cæsar's accounts of +his wars with the Gauls.</p> + +<p>"Julius Cæsar was one of the greatest generals the world has ever +known," said Professor Gates. "He was a powerful leader and ruler of +men, and it was this great power that made him ambitious to be called +Emperor of Rome, and to make the republic an empire.</p> + +<p>"Some of his friends feared he would be successful in this attempt, +and, joining his enemies, they assassinated him. They loved the +freedom of their country more than they did Cæsar.</p> + +<p>"His body was burned in the Roman Forum," added the professor. "But +not long after his death the republic did actually become an empire."</p> + +<p>"Tell us about the empire," begged Rafael, who always wished to know +everything at once.</p> + +<p>"Not to-day," said Mrs. Sprague, looking at her watch. "It is time for +luncheon and our afternoon rest."</p> + +<p>"That is true," said the professor, looking at the sun. "Some other +day, with Mrs. Sprague's permission, I will take you to the Colosseum +and then we will hear about the empire."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h2>A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM</h2> + + +<p>Edith was sitting at the hotel window with her note-book open before +her. "Professor Gates tells us so much," she said, "that it is all +mixed up in my mind.</p> + +<p>"But it is my dearest wish to get it straightened out," she added +quickly, as she saw the troubled look on her mother's face. "What is +your dearest wish?" she asked Rafael, who was reading a letter from +his mother.</p> + +<p>"I have none," he answered, "since the Signora has been so good as to +bring me to this wonderful city."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rafael!" Edith said merrily, "you must have found an Italian +blarney stone somewhere." Then she went on more seriously, "Every one +always has a dearest wish. As fast as one is fulfilled, another takes +its place."</p> + +<p>He smiled. "Very well, since it must be so, I have a dearest wish," he +said, "and it is to serve the king."</p> + +<p>Edith looked at him with laughing eyes. "That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> is a very fine wish," +she said; "but I think mine is more likely to be granted first, +because Professor Gates is to take us to the Colosseum this very +morning, and I shall ask him every question about this history that I +can think of."</p> + +<p>Several days had passed since their excursion to the Appian Way, but +the children had found every one full to overflowing. The mornings had +been spent in the art galleries and churches, and the afternoons in +driving through the Campagna or the beautiful grounds of the Villa +Borghese.</p> + +<p>One whole day had been devoted to visiting St. Peter's Cathedral, +which is the largest church in the whole world, and to seeing the +treasures of the Vatican,—the home of the Pope.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague was glad to sit quietly on her camp-stool and let the +children wander about the enormous buildings under the direction of +the guide. Of all the treasures, Rafael liked best the pictures in the +Vatican by the great painter Rafael, for whom he was named; but Edith +was more interested in the mosaics and statues in the cathedral, and +in the huts of the workmen who live on the roof, and spend all their +time in repairing the vast church.</p> + +<p>During the noon hours they had stayed in the hotel, where their rooms +had gradually taken on a most homelike appearance. Beautiful, +bright-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>colored Roman scarfs found their way from the shops to the +children's tables, and photographs of the places that they had visited +turned the walls into picture galleries.</p> + +<p>Rosaries, bought from old women on the church steps, and later blessed +by the Pope, hung over the mirrors. In their work-baskets Edith and +her mother always had a bit of sewing to catch up at odd moments, and +there were books, maps and papers everywhere.</p> + +<p>Rafael fitted into this cozy atmosphere with wonderful ease. He never +returned from a walk without a bouquet of flowers for the vases on the +tables, and he fell into a way of carrying a light camp-stool in their +excursions through the picture-galleries, so that Mrs. Sprague could +sit down when she was tired.</p> + +<p>But this morning Mrs. Sprague was to visit some friends who were +spending the winter in Rome, and Edith and Rafael were going alone +with Professor Gates to the Colosseum.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing new under the sun," said Rafael, as they stepped out +of the hotel elevator. "I have just been reading that there were +elevators in the Colosseum nearly two thousand years ago."</p> + +<p>"They couldn't have been much like this fine one," said Edith. "What +were they for?" she asked, taking out her note-book.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="pic_6" id="pic_6"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_05.jpg" width="600" height="460" alt="The Colosseum at Rome. This enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people. +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Colosseum at Rome<br /> +This enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people. +</span> +</div> + +<p>"They were used to lift the fierce wild animals out of the underground +pits where they were kept until it was time for them to fight in the +arena," Rafael told her, and added, "You haven't much more room in +that note-book."</p> + +<p>"The only way I can remember all you tell me is by making a note of +it," Edith replied with a laugh, and turned to greet the guide, who +had a carriage waiting for them.</p> + +<p>There were many other tourists' carriages standing outside the great +ruin of the Colosseum, but as the professor led the two children under +the arches and into the arena they were hardly conscious of these +other sight-seers, so vast is this king of buildings.</p> + +<p>"The Colosseum was an enormous out-door theatre which seated over +eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for many +more," the guide told them.</p> + +<p>As Edith climbed up to sit on one of the stone seats, Rafael said, +"Think of all the old Romans who sat on these same stones, and who +looked down into that arena at the terrible battles between men and +beasts."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Professor Gates, "for four hundred years the Roman people +came here on holidays, and sometimes they had as many as one hundred +and twenty-five holidays in one year. They <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>came to be amused and +entertained with games, contests, and combats between men and wild +beasts; and they saw with delight many scenes of bloodshed and death, +too horrible for me to describe to you."</p> + +<p>The children looked with him at the deep underground pits where the +animals—lions, tigers, elephants, and other savage beasts—were kept, +and at the places where two aqueducts led the water into the arena.</p> + +<p>"Those old Romans were always trying to find some new way of pleasing +the people," he told them, "and sometimes they made a large lake of +the arena, and had boats on the lake fighting terrible battles, in +which many men were killed just for amusement. There are no walls now +standing which have seen so much of the splendor and cruelty of +ancient days," he added.</p> + +<p>Edith sighed. "I shall never boast about the stadium at Cambridge +again," she said.</p> + +<p>"This Colosseum was built in the early days of the Roman Empire," the +guide continued. "The first and greatest of the Roman emperors was +Augustus, for whom our month of August was named. During his reign +many buildings were repaired which had begun to crumble to ruins in +the days of the republic, when the Romans had devoted most of their +time and money to wars, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> many other beautiful buildings were +erected. It was said of this emperor that he found Rome brick and left +it marble.</p> + +<p>"It was during the reign of Augustus that the most important event in +the history of the world took place. Christ was born in Bethlehem. +Every event which happened before the birth of Christ is said to have +taken place so many years B. C. (before Christ). All dates after His +birth are given as so many years A. D.—Anno Domini—(two Latin words +which mean 'in the year of our Lord')."</p> + +<p>"I was born in 1893 A. D.," said Edith, "and that means that it was +eighteen hundred and ninety-three years after the birth of Christ."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Rafael, "and Julius Cæsar was killed in 44 B. C., and that +means forty-four years before Christ was born."</p> + +<p>"True," said the professor, "and Julius Cæsar was born in 100 B. C., +which makes him fifty-six years old when he died. Can you puzzle that +out for yourselves?"</p> + +<p>Then without waiting for a reply, he continued, "The Roman Empire was +very large, with vast provinces, but it also had powerful enemies. +Among these enemies were the barbarians in Central Europe, and it was +necessary for Augustus to protect his northern frontier with strong +forces, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> keep them out of the country. This he did, but we shall +see that later emperors failed to see the importance of this step, and +this was one of the causes that led finally to the destruction of the +city of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire.</p> + +<p>"Augustus also encouraged trade, and built roads which radiated from +the Golden Milestone at the head of the Forum to all parts of the +Roman world. From this came the saying, 'All roads lead to Rome.'"</p> + +<p>"We came into Rome in an automobile on one of the roads which were +built so long ago," said Edith, "and we have seen the site of the +Golden Milestone; but I should like better to see an old Roman chariot +with four prancing horses go whirling around this arena."</p> + +<p>"My mother has told me that many Christians have died for their faith +in this same arena," said Rafael.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the guide, "after the birth of Christ people began, +little by little, to follow His teachings and to become Christians. In +the centuries before the Christian religion was the accepted religion +of Rome many hundreds, and even thousands, of men and women were put +to death both here and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"During the reign of Nero, who was a very cruel emperor, a great fire +destroyed a large part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> the city, and many Christians were tortured +and killed on the groundless suspicion that they had caused the fire.</p> + +<p>"Come," he added, looking at Edith's sad face, "let us think of +something more cheerful," and he led the way out of the Colosseum and +down the road to a great stone arch.</p> + +<p>"This arch commemorates the famous victories of Constantine," their +guide told the children. "He was the first emperor to become a +Christian."</p> + +<p>"How did he happen to become a Christian?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"Soon after he was declared emperor, he was leading his army to battle +one day, when a bright cross suddenly appeared in the sky. Surrounding +the cross were four words which mean, 'In this sign conquer.' On +seeing the vision, Constantine vowed to become a Christian if he +should win a victory over the enemy; and he ordered a new standard, +bearing the cross and the inscription, which was carried before him in +the battle.</p> + +<p>"He did win the victory, the enemy was defeated, and he entered Rome +in great triumph. In memory of the victory this very arch was called +the Arch of Constantine. He also kept his vow to become a Christian, +and for the first time the Christians were given equal liberty with +the pagans, who still worshipped the Roman gods."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>Edith, who had been writing again in her note-book, looked up at the +professor with a laugh. "If this Roman Empire doesn't come to an end +soon, I shall have to buy a new note-book," she said.</p> + +<p>Rafael laughed, too. "You will need a whole library of books to hold +all the history of the Roman Empire," he told her.</p> + +<p>"Are we going to hear it all?" Edith asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Professor Gates, "there is little more for me to tell +to-day. After the death of Constantine there were many more terrible +wars with the barbarians. At last the fierce Goths crossed the Alps +and marched down to the very walls of Rome. They besieged the city, +burst in by surprise, killed hundreds of the people, and destroyed +many of the buildings. As they also were Christians, they spared the +churches and all who took refuge in them."</p> + +<p>"I have heard of the Goths," said Edith, "and of the Vandals, too. +Where did they come from?"</p> + +<p>"They came over from Africa, captured Rome, and remained here fourteen +days, destroying the buildings and sacking the city. They carried away +whole ship-loads of booty, and took many of the Romans to be their +slaves.</p> + +<p>"The Roman Empire had already been divided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> into two parts, and +Constantinople was the capital of the Empire of the East. The Bishop +of Rome, who was called the Pope, now became the ruler of the Empire +of the West. He succeeded to the throne of the deposed emperor, and +held this position of power until 1870, when Victor Emanuele I. was +made king of Italy."</p> + +<p>"Viva l'Italia!" said Rafael, tossing up his cap.</p> + +<p>"Don't toss up your cap like that," Edith reproved him. "Those little +beggars may think you are tossing it for them. Ecco!" she called to +the boys, and threw a few coins to the funny little fellows who ran +along beside the carriage, begging for coppers even while they stood +on their heads.</p> + +<p>"I can buy photographs of all your famous ruins," she said to +Professor Gates, as she pointed her camera at the heap of boys +scrambling in the road for the coins, "but I shall always like best my +own pictures of these happy little Italian children."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h2>MERRY NAPLES</h2> + + +<p>Rafael wrote his mother joyful accounts of those happy days in Rome.</p> + +<p>And he saw the king! It happened upon an afternoon when all Rome, +dressed in gayest costumes for one of the festivals, crowded into open +carriages and drove out to the Villa Borghese.</p> + +<p>In the shade of a great tree, where a living spring bubbles up from +the ground, Rafael twisted a leaf into a cup, which he filled with +water and offered to Edith.</p> + +<p>As he looked beyond the girl, he met a piercing glance from a pair of +brilliant blue eyes. This time he knew the king at once, and saluted +him.</p> + +<p>The king smiled, saying to his aide, "I have seen that boy before. He +wore the look then of an older Italy, but now he has the promise of +the young country in his eyes."</p> + +<p>Rafael wrote his mother of that smile. "I could follow the king +anywhere for another like it," the letter said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he wrote of the heavy Roman faces; the hard, tiresome pavements, +and the noisy clang of the street cars,—all so different from his +bright, silent Venice.</p> + +<p>"But there are pleasant things," he wrote. "There are many beautiful +fountains where the water gushes all day; and I often go out of my way +for a sight of the Pope's soldiers, the Swiss Guard, standing at the +entrance to the Vatican. They make me think of our Venetian +mooring-posts with their many-colored stripes; and their stately +halberds are not unlike the prow of our gondolas. I am very grateful +to Michael Angelo for designing a costume which reminds me of home.</p> + +<p>"Often we meet schools of boys walking two by two, wearing black +dress-suits and high, stiff black hats, and I am glad I am not one of +them."</p> + +<p>His mother sighed as she read of his endless pleasure, and wondered if +it would estrange him from his quiet life in Venice. Then she wrote a +long letter in answer, in which she said, "Remember that the fine old +Roman character was weakened through ease and indulgence. Remember, +also, that our young king likes nothing so much as devotion to duty."</p> + +<p>Her letter ended with a quotation from an English poet,—"Live pure, +speak true, right wrong, follow the king."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rafael read between the lines that she feared he would learn to like +his happy life with the Spragues too well. He lifted his eyes from the +letter and acknowledged to himself that this freedom from care and +responsibility was very pleasant. Mrs. Sprague indulged him as she +indulged Edith. The treasures of the shops flowed into his own room as +well as hers, and no door which money could open remained closed to +them in this city of precious sights.</p> + +<p>His eyes fell again to the letter, and a choking feeling filled his +throat as he pictured his mother sitting alone in the home in Venice. +"The dear, lonely mother!" he said to himself. "My letters have given +her sad thoughts."</p> + +<p>Then, with a boy's carelessness, he said, laughing lightly at his +English joke, "I can write wrong, it seems; but can I follow the +king?"</p> + +<p>Just then Edith ran into the room crying, "Mother has decided to take +the noon train to Naples. Doesn't she do everything suddenly?" And +Rafael forgot his mother's letter in his pleasure over another +journey.</p> + +<p>The car ride to Naples always remained in the boy's mind as a +succession of pictures; but no picture could reveal the many phases of +his mind as he passed from one experience to another in the days that +followed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The guide-book calls this the most fertile valley in Europe," said +Mrs. Sprague, as they rode along, catching glimpses of farmers plowing +in the fields. The distant hills were soft and blue, but on drawing +near to them, terraces and flights of steps were to be seen on the +slopes.</p> + +<p>At last Edith called, "I see Vesuvius!" and the wonderful volcano lay +before them. Its smoke rose in a straight column and then broke, +trailing off into the distance like the smoke from an ocean liner.</p> + +<p>"It makes the mountain look like a man-of-war," exclaimed Rafael, and +the two pairs of eyes hardly saw anything else until they reached +Naples.</p> + +<p>"Let us go to a hotel where we can see the fire at night, if it comes +out of the volcano," said Edith; and they took rooms from which they +could watch every mood of Vesuvius.</p> + +<p>Before they had been in the city three days Edith decided that she +liked it better than she did Rome. "The people there looked so +serious," she said, "while here they are very merry and sociable."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague laughed. "They are certainly sociable enough," she said. +"Yesterday I heard a woman read a letter aloud from an upper window to +her friend on the sidewalk below."</p> + +<p>Edith laughed in her turn. "Was the window in the same house where we +saw the rooster and chickens in the upper balcony?" she asked.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_7" id="pic_7"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_06.jpg" width="500" height="674" alt=""It is a funny sight to see the boys of Naples eating macaroni" +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"It is a funny sight to see the boys of Naples eating macaroni" +</span> +</div> + +<p>Rafael felt a touch of sadness at hearing their light talk. "The poor +people!" he said. "When they live upstairs there is no other way but +for them to keep their animals up there with them."</p> + +<p>"Many of them seem to live in the basements of the rich," observed the +girl.</p> + +<p>To Rafael, the sight of such great poverty was no new thing, but Edith +spoke of it constantly, and wrote of it to her father in America.</p> + +<p>"There seem to be nothing but happiness and laziness here among these +poor people," the letter said. "They live and eat upon the sidewalk, +and it is a funny sight to see the boys swallowing macaroni.</p> + +<p>"Many of the rooms in which the people sleep seem to be spaces left in +the foundation of a castle, with no windows or doors in the openings. +Often the castles seem to be ruined hills; and they have great holes +in their barren sides, like caverns in the sides of cliffs; and we see +barred doorways instead of windows, with dungeons beyond.</p> + +<p>"Then suddenly the hills blossom out into ramparts and parapets, so +that it is impossible to distinguish between hills and castles; and to +puzzle us still more, long flights of steps lead up between hilly +castles and castled hills.</p> + +<p>"Occasionally we see a group of basket-makers, or tailors, or +shoemakers on the sidewalks among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> the family groups of fathers, +mothers and children. A little beyond such a group we saw yesterday a +herd of goats resting comfortably in the shade, also on the sidewalk.</p> + +<p>"Early in the morning these goats are driven through the streets. They +stop in front of a doorway, a woman runs out with a cup, the man milks +her cup full and then drives on to the next doorway. Sometimes, if the +woman lives on an upper floor of the house, one of the goats is driven +up the stairs, to be milked at her very door.</p> + +<p>"We see rich people, also, driving in their splendid carriages on +their most beautiful boulevard, overlooking the blue bay; and in +contrast to them and their spirited horses, a contadino will come +bringing a load of produce to market from the country, driving a white +cow harnessed between a full-grown horse and a tiny mule."</p> + +<p>While the American girl was marvelling at the queer mingling of riches +and poverty in Naples, Rafael was drinking in the beauty of the bay, +and of the lovely villages which lie along its border.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague stayed two or three weeks in Naples, although she said +that she did not like it at all. "The people are so shiftless," she +complained, picking up her skirts and walking round a group of girls +who were sitting on the sidewalk combing their hair. "It is the +dirtiest city in the world."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother!" Edith exclaimed, "how can you say so? When we go out on +the bay in the evening and I look back at the city, it seems to me +most beautiful. It is like an amphitheatre, with its tiers of lights +rising one above another. Then she sang softly:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"My soul to-day is far away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sailing the Vesuvian Bay!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Avanti!" exclaimed Rafael suddenly, and shook his head at a boy who +was offering a pair of pearl opera-glasses for Mrs. Sprague to buy. +Mrs. Sprague drew the back of her hand under her chin, tossing her +head at the same time.</p> + +<p>The little peddler laughed and showed his white teeth at the awkward +motion of the American lady, but he did not insist that she should +buy.</p> + +<p>As for Edith and Rafael, they looked plainly astonished. "Why, +Mother!" said the girl admiringly, "you are talking in a foreign +language when you use signs. How did you happen to find out such an +easy way to dismiss the little beggar?"</p> + +<p>"I was driven to it," answered her mother. "These foreigners have +cheated me out of half my money by asking me to pay so much for their +wares. They will never take 'no' for an answer. That same boy has been +trying to make me buy that same pair of opera-glasses for three days; +but at last I have found out a sign that will keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> him away. I have +seen the others use it," she said with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean?" asked Edith curiously.</p> + +<p>"It means 'I will not take it at any price,'" said Mrs. Sprague.</p> + +<p>Rafael, who had been laughing with great amusement while she gave this +explanation, now said, "This language of signs is very convenient. We +Italians do half our talking by signs."</p> + +<p>Edith looked at him and shook her head decidedly. "Just listen!" she +said, pointing to the groups of people gathered along the quay. These +people were all talking in the liveliest manner imaginable, and there +was a great babble of excited voices. Street peddlers were crying +their wares, drivers were cracking their whips, and men in boats, on +the water below, were shouting to each other about the price of fish.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly the noisiest city in the world," Edith said; "but it +is also the jolliest. I am going now to the stand where the public +letter-writer sat waiting for customers yesterday. I will let him +write a letter for me."</p> + +<p>The three separated and Mrs. Sprague returned to the hotel, while +Rafael went down to the quay to watch the fishermen. The water with +its bustle and stir of life, its coming and going of boats, was like a +breath of home to the boy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h2>THE BURIED CITY</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_8" id="pic_8"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_07.jpg" width="500" height="631" alt="Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius +</span> +</div> +<p>Edith and Rafael planned their trip to the top of Vesuvius for many +days before the right morning finally arrived.</p> + +<p>"The right morning is a bright morning," sang Edith one evening as she +looked out at the stars; "and to-morrow will bring a bright morning," +she added, so positively that Mrs. Sprague sent Rafael to buy the +tickets, in order that they might be ready for an early start.</p> + +<p>Although it was the last week in December the air was soft and warm, +and the sun shone with the brightness of summer.</p> + +<p>From Naples to the foot of Mt. Vesuvius there was first a drive of +several hours, after which they went up to the crater over an inclined +railway.</p> + +<p>"It is like looking at the entrance to the underworld," said Edith, as +they looked down into the great chasm which holds so much mystery and +terror; and she was glad to take the train back to the foot of the +mountain.</p> + +<p>As they stood looking at the great beds of lava<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> which poured down the +sides of the mountain many years ago, Edith exclaimed, "How can any +one dare to live near the volcano?"</p> + +<p>Rafael turned to a peasant whose little farm was not far away, and +asked him if he ever felt free from danger.</p> + +<p>"Ah, no!" the man answered, lifting sad eyes and hands to heaven. +"When I go to sleep at night I think always, before the light of the +morning, the mountain, he may send his fire and stones to crush us +all; who knows?"</p> + +<p>"Why did the people of Pompeii live so near to Vesuvius, if they knew +it might bury them?" Edith asked impatiently.</p> + +<p>"They did not know it in the days when Pompeii was built," Rafael told +her. "Vesuvius was supposed to be an extinct volcano then. It had not +said a word for hundreds of years. Everything about it was green and +beautiful, and its slopes were covered with forests and vineyards. It +is not strange that people built the two cities near its base."</p> + +<p>"What other city was built, besides Pompeii?" asked the girl.</p> + +<p>"Herculaneum," answered Rafael. "None of the people felt any fear of +danger in the two cities, although an earthquake destroyed some of the +buildings in the reign of Nero.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But in the year 79 A. D., Vesuvius suddenly woke up, and there was a +fearful eruption. Ashes and rocks were thrown out of the crater with +great force, and hot lava poured down the side of the mountain. The +two cities at the foot were completely buried under the ashes, and +thousands of people were killed."</p> + +<p>"There was an eruption in 1906, which made many people homeless," said +Mrs. Sprague, "and no one knows when there may be another.</p> + +<p>"Pompeii lay buried for seventeen centuries, and people forgot that +there had been such a city; when, after a long time, a farmer who was +digging for a well discovered the ruins, and since then a part of each +city has been excavated."</p> + +<p>"I should like to know just how the people of Pompeii lived, and what +they were doing when the city was destroyed," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"You shall see the relics that were taken from the ruins and are now +in the museum at Naples," her mother told her. "The life of the old +Pompeiians has been studied from those relics and a guide can tell you +just how they did their housekeeping and what their life was like."</p> + +<p>Before she left America, Edith had looked forward to the smoking +mountain of Vesuvius and the city of Pompeii as being the most +wonderful part of her journey. The volcano, and the city which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> lay +buried under ashes for centuries, had been the goal of her desires.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_9" id="pic_9"></a> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_08.jpg" width="500" height="671" alt=""The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations at +Pompeii" +" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations at +Pompeii" +</span> +</div> + +<p>"Wait until we see Vesuvius and Pompeii!" had been her cry whenever +she wrote home. "Then I shall have something to tell you!"</p> + +<p>But she turned her face away from the forbidding crater and the +desolate beds of lava with a feeling of disappointment that was half +fear.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I shall like better to go into the museum and see the curious +things that were found in Pompeii," she said, as she searched for a +bit of lava from which to have a piece of jewelry fashioned.</p> + +<p>"Just think of having the whole world interested to know how the +people baked their bread so long ago," said Rafael; and when they had +returned to Naples, the children found it very interesting to visit +the museum and imagine how the people lived in the time of Christ.</p> + +<p>Then one day they went down to the ruined city, riding in a small car +over a roadbed so loosely made that Rafael laughed about it, and Edith +said it was only a toy journey.</p> + +<p>But when they went through the sea-gate at Pompeii, passed the army of +boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations, and stood in the +silent streets, Edith drew closer to her mother, and Rafael walked +quietly beside them.</p> + +<p>They followed the instructions of the guide and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>looked obediently +at the deep ruts made in the pavements of the narrow streets by the +old Roman chariot wheels. They walked through the forum, and stood in +the ruined amphitheatre.</p> + +<p>At last Edith drew Mrs. Sprague into the lonely angle of a wall where +they could see nothing of the crumbled houses all about them, the +pavements, or the great stepping-stones in the streets.</p> + +<p>"I want to go home," she said with a shudder. "I never want to see +Vesuvius again."</p> + +<p>She was plainly homesick. It was a sudden ending to the "long thoughts +of youth" which had filled so many hours with bright anticipations; +but she was in such a hurry to get away from the buried city that they +took the next train back to Naples without even stopping to buy +picture postcards of the ruins.</p> + +<p>When they reached their hotel in Naples they found a foreign war-ship +anchored in the bay.</p> + +<p>"There is the old man-of-war threatening us from the land, and here is +one in the bay," exclaimed Edith. "It makes me nervous!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague saw that her daughter was tired. "We will go back to Rome +to-morrow," she said.</p> + +<p>"But I want to buy a lottery ticket before we leave Naples," said the +girl.</p> + +<p>"Befana will fill your stockings with ashes if you do," said Rafael.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Everybody in Italy buys lottery tickets. Why should not I?" asked +Edith perversely.</p> + +<p>"I do it not," said Rafael shortly.</p> + +<p>"That is because your wonderful king does not believe in it," she +answered.</p> + +<p>"Is that not a good reason?" asked the boy. He looked at her with the +same expression he wore in Venice, when she spoke slightingly of the +superstitions of his country, and as she knew him better now, she +laughed and agreed with him.</p> + +<p>"I did not really mean to do it," she said, and added, "Tell me more +about Befana."</p> + +<p>"How I used to shake in my bed when I heard her bell ring!" he said +with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Did you really hear it ring?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>He looked at her drolly, answering, "Of course I heard her bell. And +often I heard the sheep talking to one another on Twelfth-night; or at +least I thought I did."</p> + +<p>"Truly?" asked Edith in great delight.</p> + +<p>He nodded, smiling mischievously at her unexpected pleasure in hearing +of the Italian superstitions.</p> + +<p>Befana is the Italian Lady Santa Claus. She is quite different from +the fat, jolly man who drives his reindeer over the roofs at Christmas +time.</p> + +<p>While Sir Santa is short and rosy, Befana is dark and tall; and while +the kind old gentleman leaves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> something in every stocking, good and +bad alike, this rather terrible old lady puts presents only in the +good children's stockings, and drops bags of ashes into the others.</p> + +<p>Instead of happening at Christmas, as with us, the Italian festival is +celebrated on the eve of Epiphany, the sixth of January.</p> + +<p>"Everyone is happy then," said Rafael, "and we shall forget Pompeii +and the man-of-war which is always threatening it."</p> + +<p>So the children began at once to plan for the Twelfth-night festival.</p> + +<p>"Mother and I will make some peasant costumes for us to wear," Edith +told Rafael, and added, "or you might wear a soldier's uniform and a +cocked hat. The soldiers look so fine and march so well in Italy!"</p> + +<p>"Come children, it is time to go to bed if we are to take the early +morning train to Rome," interrupted Mrs. Sprague, who had been +studying a time-table; and the children separated, little dreaming +that every plan would soon be changed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h2>THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN</h2> + + +<p>In the morning they wakened to find on every tongue the news of the +terrible earthquake at Messina, and for many days it was Italy the +desolate that filled their minds and kept their hands busy.</p> + +<p>People who saw it never forgot the dreadful misery of the country at +that time.</p> + +<p>Edith and Rafael stood silent, as when they had walked the streets of +the buried city of Pompeii, and watched the confusion of vessels +coming and going to the South. Boxes and bundles of all sizes and +shapes were piled high on the wharf, and supplies of food and clothing +were being hurried to the suffering city.</p> + +<p>Newspaper men, frantic to gather news which everyone wished to hear, +hurried back and forth on the quay, filling Edith with indignation. +"What difference does it make whether we know all the latest news or +not?" she asked hotly. "All those poor, starving people must be fed."</p> + +<p>Rafael watched the soldiers march through the streets, without the +music of the band, and go on board the ships to follow the king's boat +to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> stricken island, and his heart yearned to go with them.</p> + +<p>"Italy is accursed," he heard the superstitious Neapolitans moaning, +but he shook his head. "Not while the king and queen live, and teach +us how to help," he said to himself, and then he went to find Mrs. +Sprague.</p> + +<p>"I cannot live this idle life any longer," he said, as he had said it +once before, in Venice.</p> + +<p>And as his mother asked then, so Mrs. Sprague asked now, "What will +you do?"</p> + +<p>"I will follow the king to Messina and ask him to make me one of the +patrol guard," the boy answered.</p> + +<p>They were standing on the quay as he spoke, and could see a +relief-ship which was getting up steam, ready to sail out of the +harbor.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague was alarmed. She knew that the boy would not be allowed +to go into the ruined city, and she felt sure that his mother would +not permit him to go if she were there; but in the excitement it was +possible for him to slip away at any moment, under the mistaken idea +that he could be of service.</p> + +<p>She put her hand upon the boy's arm to detain him, if indeed he needed +to be detained, and said, "How can I make you see that it is not +possible for you to be of any use there?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>A man in naval uniform, who was just about to step into a tender and +go out to the relief-ship, heard her words and turned, looking into +Rafael's face.</p> + +<p>He smiled suddenly and held out his hand. "We have met before, when +life was brighter," he said; and Rafael recognized with delight the +man who had listened to the serenade at the Rialto bridge with him, +that summer night in Venice.</p> + +<p>"May I go with you?" asked the boy impetuously.</p> + +<p>The officer looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Our ambassador +has sent me down to see what Messina needs most," he said, "and I +shall be gone but a day or two. I see no harm in taking you along; but +there must be no nonsense about doing patrol duty."</p> + +<p>So it came about that Rafael went to Messina and saw the ruin and +destruction caused by the greatest earthquake in the history of the +world.</p> + +<p>He was back in Naples a few days later with a face deeply saddened by +the suffering he had seen. "I could not do anything there," he told +Mrs. Sprague, who was glad to see him safely back again; "but my +friend, the naval officer, helped me to think of a way to be of +service."</p> + +<p>"I will help you. What are you going to do?" asked Edith. She had been +busy every day, help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>ing her mother collect food, clothing and +medicine to send to Messina in the relief-ships; but she longed to do +still more.</p> + +<p>"I am going to make some tops," he told her. "I saw the king and queen +doing with their own hands whatever needed to be done to help the poor +people; and I can make tops and sell them. In that way I can raise a +little money for the sufferers."</p> + +<p>That was how it came about that, one evening a week later, a pair of +picturesque peasants stood among the booths in the Circus Agonale, in +Rome, selling tops. There were booths where peddlers sold whistles of +every kind and description; but they two, Edith and Rafael, were the +only peddlers of tops.</p> + +<p>In all the din of the crowds that passed and re-passed, nothing +attracted more attention and made more fun than the doll-tops which +Edith and her mother had dressed for Rafael. Edith blew a great blast +on her whistle, Rafael gave a piercing scream on his, and they had a +little crowd of merry-makers around them in a moment.</p> + +<p>Roman whistles are made of pewter, terra-cotta, or wood, in every +shape of bird, or beast, or fish. Rafael had a bird-whistle, Edith's +was a yellow butterfly, and the tops which they spun were dressed like +dolls, in many fantastic costumes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>As he had said in Venice, so Rafael called to his audience in Rome, +when he had a little space cleared for the performance, "Signor Rafael +Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops!"</p> + +<p>"It is for the earthquake sufferers," he had taught Edith to say in +Italian, and she had no sooner said it than the tops were all as good +as sold.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity we had not time to make more," said Edith, when the last +one was gone, and they were counting their gains in their room at the +hotel.</p> + +<p>"You would make a good business man, Rafael," she said suddenly. "The +tops cost you only ten lire, and you have sold them for twenty times +as much."</p> + +<p>But the boy was tired and made no answer for a few moments. Perhaps +the tops reminded him of home. After a little, he said, "I think my +mother must be very lonely in Venice, when she reads of those who have +been made homeless in Messina."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sprague looked at him wisely and nodded her head. "Edith and I +must go home to America," she said. "Our friends will be worried about +us, and will fear for our safety, after this terrible earthquake."</p> + +<p>So they began to plan for leaving Rome at once. The keepsakes and +treasures were all packed, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> last calls were made, and the night +before their departure arrived.</p> + +<p>"Let us say good-bye to the Eternal City at the Fountain of Trevi," +Edith suggested to Rafael. "I have heard that whoever wishes to return +to Rome, should go to the fountain on the last evening of his visit, +take a drink out of the basin with his left hand, then turn and throw +a half-penny into the water over his left shoulder. I surely wish to +come back some day."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Rafael. "Let us find some half-pennies at once."</p> + +<p>It was a cold, clear, moonlight night, and the two children hurried +through the streets, chatting merrily over their errand.</p> + +<p>They passed an old woman carrying a scaldino under her shawl. "We +shall need a scaldino ourselves," Edith said, "to warm our fingers +after we have dipped them in the cold water."</p> + +<p>A scaldino is a little brazier for holding coals of fire. The Italians +carry one about with them in winter, and when they sit down they hold +it in their laps or put it on the floor at their feet.</p> + +<p>When they reached the fountain Edith stood still a moment, looking at +the water. "I have had such a good time in this historic old land that +I shall always be a good Italian," she said; "but I shall be a better +American also."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is right," said Rafael. "And I shall read the foreign papers to +see if you become a famous woman."</p> + +<p>"I don't care so much about being famous as you men do," she answered. +"But I shall read the foreign news to see what the great patriot, +Rafael Valla, is doing for his country, and perhaps, some day, your +good king may send you to the United States as ambassador from Italy.</p> + +<p>"Let us wish it," she added, and dipped her hand into the fountain. +"To Rafael Valla, the ambassador," she said with a smile, and drank +the clear, cold water.</p> + +<p>"To the Signorina, my friend," said Rafael. "I wish her happiness."</p> + +<p>Tears sprang to Edith's eyes, and she held out her hand quickly for +the half-penny. "Over your left shoulder, remember," she said, as she +tossed the coin into the water.</p> + +<p>"Over my left shoulder," Rafael repeated, and added earnestly, "We +shall see Rome and the king again."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VOCABULARY" id="VOCABULARY"></a>VOCABULARY</h2> + + +<p> +<b>Ăp´pĭ [letter a with an uptack]n Way</b>, a famous Roman highway.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Ȃp´pĭ ŭs Clau´dĭ ŭs</b> (clâ), a Roman statesman.<br /> +<br /> +<b>ä̤ vän´ti</b> (tē), begone.<br /> +<br /> +<b>ƀăm bi´nō</b> (bē), baby.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Be fa na</b> (b[letter a with an uptack] fä´nȧ), the Italian Lady Santa Claus.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Bi an ca</b> (b[letter e with an uptack] ăṉ´kȧ), a girl's name.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Brin di si</b> (br[letter e with an uptack]n´d[letter e with an uptack] zē), a seaport of south-eastern Italy.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Cam pag na</b> (cȧm pän´yȧ), a plain surrounding Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Căn´dĭ ȧ</b>, an island in the Mediterranean Sea.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Căp´ĭ tō līne</b>, one of the seven hills of Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>cä´rō</b>, dear.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Cȧ vour´ (vo͞or)</b>, an Italian statesman, died 1861.<br /> +<br /> +<b>cen time (sän tēm´)</b>, a copper coin, the hundredth part of a franc.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Çĭn çĭn nȧ´tŭs</b>, a Roman soldier and hero.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Çîr´ cŭs Ä gō näl´[letter e with an uptack]</b>, one of the squares in Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Cŏl ŏs sē´ŭm</b>, an out-door theatre of ancient Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Cŏn´stȧn tine</b> (tēn), the first Christian emperor of Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>cŏn´tä di´nō</b> (dē), a peasant farmer.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Çȳ´prŭs</b>, an island in the Mediterranean Sea.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Dän´dō lō</b>, a Doge of Venice, died 1205.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Doge</b> (dōj), the chief ruler in the ancient republic of Venice.<br /> +<br /> +<b>ĕc´cō</b>, look; behold.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Flā mĭn´ĭ a̤n Way</b>, a highway of ancient Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>fō´rŭm</b>, a market-place or public meeting-place.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Ġĕṉ´ [letter o with an downtack] ȧ</b>, a seaport of northwestern Italy.<br /> +<br /> +<b>gŏn´dō lȧ</b>, a boat used in the canals of Venice.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span><br /> +<b>gŏn dō lier´</b> (lēr), a man who rows a gondola.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Hẽr cū lā´nē ŭm</b>, a buried city near Naples.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Hō rā´ti us</b> (shĭ ŭs), a Roman legendary hero.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Jul ius Cae sar</b> (jūl´yŭs sē´zär), a famous Roman general, +statesman, orator, and writer; died 44 B. C.<br /> +<br /> +<b>lȧ go͞on´</b>, a shallow sound or channel.<br /> +<br /> +<b>li di</b> (lē´dē), sand-bars in the lagoon of Venice.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Li´dō</b> (lē), the bathing-beach of Venice.<br /> +<br /> +<b>li´rȧ</b> (lē), a coin worth about nineteen cents.<br /> +<br /> +<b>li re</b> (lē´ra), plural of lira.<br /> +<br /> +<b>l'Ĭ täl´ĭ ȧ</b>, Italy.<br /> +<br /> +<b>log gia</b> (lŏd´jȧ), a roofed, open gallery.<br /> +<br /> +<b>mäd´re</b> (r[letter a with an uptack]), mother.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Măr´ȧ thŏn run</b>, a twenty-six-mile running race.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Mer ce ri a</b> (mãr ch [letter a with an uptack] rē´ [letter a with an uptack]), a shopping district in Venice.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Mĕs si´nȧ</b> (sē), a city in Sicily, destroyed by earthquakes in 1908.<br /> +<br /> +<b>mi a (mē´ȧ); mi o (mē´ō)</b>, my.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Mi chael An ge lo</b> (mī´kĕl ăn´j[letter e with an uptack] lō), an Italian painter and sculptor; died 1564.<br /> +<br /> +<b>M[letter o with an uptack] rē´ä</b>, the southern peninsula of Greece.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Nē a̤ pŏl´ĭ ta̤n</b>, pertaining to Naples.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Păl´ạ tīne</b>, one of the seven hills of Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Pa laz zo Vec chi o</b> (pä lät´sō vĕk´kē ō), a palace in Florence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Pä´ō lō</b>, a boy's name; Paul.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Paz zi</b> (pät´sē), an influential family of Florence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Pi az za</b> (pē ät´sȧ), square.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Pi az´za dĕl Dū ō´mō</b>, the square in front of the cathedral in Florence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Pi az zet ta</b> (pē ät sĕt´tȧ), little square.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span><br /> +<b>Pit ti</b> (pē´tē), a palace in Florence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>pō lĕn´ta</b>, a pudding made of meal boiled in milk.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Pŏm pe ii</b> (pā´yē), a buried city near Naples.<br /> +<br /> +<b>quat tro</b> (kwŏt´trō), four.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Ri äl´tō</b> (rē), a bridge over the Grand Canal of Venice.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Sän Gior´ġĭ ō</b> (jôr), Saint George; a church in Venice.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Sän Min i a to</b> (mē nē ä´tō), a cemetery on a hill southeast of Florence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>scal di no</b> (skŏl dē´nō), a brazier.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Scȧl´ĭ ġẽr[letter s with an downtack below]</b>, an Italian family of medieval times.<br /> +<br /> +<b>si</b> (sē), yes.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Si e na</b> (sē ā´nȧ), a province and city in Italy.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Si gnor</b> (sē nyōr´); <b>Si gnore</b> (sē nyō´r[letter a with an uptack]), Sir; Mr.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Si gno ra</b> (sē nyō´rȧ), Madam; Mrs.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Si gno ri na</b> (sē nyō rē´nȧ), Miss.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Sträss´bu̇rg</b>, a city in Germany.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Tär´quin</b> (kwĭn), a legendary king of ancient Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Tī´bẽr</b>, the river on which Rome is situated.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Tin tō rĕt´tō</b> (tēn), an Italian painter, died 1594.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Ti tian</b> (tĭsh´a̤n), a famous Venetian painter, died 1576.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Tre vi</b> (trā´ve), a fountain in Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Tŭs´ca̤ ny̆</b>, a province of Italy.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Uf fi zi</b> (öf fēt´s[letter e with an uptack]), a celebrated art-gallery in Florence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Văt´ĭ ca̤n</b>, the Pope's residence.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Ve rō´ nȧ</b> (v[letter a with an uptack]), a city in northern Italy.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Ve ro ne se</b> (v[letter a with an uptack] r[letter o with an uptack] n[letter a with an uptack]´ z[letter a with an uptack]), an Italian painter, died 1588.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Vē sū´vĭ ŭs</b>, an active volcano near Naples.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Vīl´lȧ Bŏr ghe´se</b> (gā z[letter e with an uptack]), a villa near Rome.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Vi´vä̤</b> (vē), "long live!" "hurrah for!"<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/endpaper.jpg" alt="End paper" width="600" height="432" /></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by +Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + +***** This file should be named 28765-h.htm or 28765-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/7/6/28765/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rafael in Italy + A Geographical Reader + +Author: Etta Blaisdell McDonald + Julia Dalrymple + +Release Date: May 12, 2009 [EBook #28765] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + The Vocabulary at the end of the book gives the Phonetic + pronunciation of the Italian words used in the book. + + The Unicode alphabets have been given wherever available. + But the following two Phonetic diacritical marks do not + have a Unicode representation. + + inverted "T" -- (uptack) + + "T" -- (downtack) + + + + + [Illustration: ON THE APPIAN WAY] + + + LITTLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE + + + RAFAEL IN ITALY + + A GEOGRAPHICAL READER + + + + + BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD + + Joint author of "Boy Blue and His Friends," + "The Child Life Readers," etc. + + + AND JULIA DALRYMPLE + + Author of "Little Me Too," "The Make-Believe Boys," etc. + + + + SCHOOL EDITION + + + + + + + BOSTON + + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + + 1910 + + + + + _Copyright_, _1909_, + + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +The very best way to understand the life and customs of a foreign +country is to visit it. If that is impossible one may still learn much +by reading a story of the people who live there. As this is true of +grown people, so is it true of children. They can become acquainted +with the children of other lands by reading stories of their simple, +daily life, and by living it for a little while within the pages of +the story-book. + +It is no longer the fashion for our school children to learn by rote +the facts written down in their geography about all the corners of the +earth; they must know rather the children in these foreign lands,--the +sights they see, their work and play, their festivals and holidays, +their homes, their ambitions. + +Such a tale is told in this little book about Italy. Rafael Valla, a +lad of fourteen, is seen first in Venice; he rows his boat on the +canals, hears the music of the band in the Square of St. Mark, goes to +the Rialto bridge for the serenade, and suddenly, through a chance +meeting with an American girl and her mother, the way is opened for +him to see Italy. He joins them in Florence, and they ride over the +Tuscan roads in an automobile, stopping to see the peasants gathering +grapes, and to visit an olive-farm. In Rome they see the ruins of the +ancient city under the direction of a guide, and they go to Naples, +and visit Pompeii and Vesuvius. + +The book is full of pictures of Italian life. One sees the children +feeding the pigeons in Venice, the Easter festival in Florence, the +vintage with its merry-making in Tuscany, the Roman ruins, the +picturesque street-life in Naples with its noise and gayety, and the +silent streets of Pompeii. There are many such pen pictures of Italian +life, and the story should appeal to the imagination of the child and +awaken his interest in Italy and its people. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I AN EVENING IN VENICE 1 + +II VIVA L'ITALIA! 6 + +III RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS 11 + +IV STREETS OF VENICE 16 + +V STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS 21 + +VI SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO 28 + +VII A CHAT ABOUT VERONA 36 + +VIII EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC 41 + +IX RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE 46 + +X GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY 51 + +XI A MARATHON RUN TO ROME 62 + +XII "THE GOLDEN MILESTONE" 72 + +XIII A RAMBLE IN ROME 76 + +XIV A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM 85 + +XV MERRY NAPLES 95 + +XVI THE BURIED CITY 103 + +XVII THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN 110 + + * * * * * + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +On the Appian Way _Frontispiece in Color_ + +The Grand Canal, Venice 2 + +Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of + St. Mark, Venice 11 + +Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome 68 + +Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct 78 + +The Colosseum at Rome 88 + +The boys of Naples eating macaroni 99 + +Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius 103 + +"The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from +the excavations of Pompeii" 106 + + * * * * * + + + + +RAFAEL IN ITALY + +CHAPTER I + +AN EVENING IN VENICE + + +It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of +Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a +golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon. + +The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every +window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in +the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of gold. + +There were no sounds save the calls of the boatmen, the soft lapping +of the waves against the marble walls and steps, and occasional +strains of music from the military band in the Piazza of St. Mark. + +No place in all the world shines with more brilliancy than Venice in +carnival time. The city is like a diamond, as it catches the myriad +rays from moonlight and starlight, and flashes countless answering +gleams into the shadows of the night. + +It is small wonder that people travel from the farthest corners of +the earth to watch the glitter and sparkle of this City of the Sea. + +It was on this summer evening that Rafael Valla, a Venetian lad of +fourteen, decided to become a soldier of the king. + +He was sitting in the water-gate of his mother's house, pointing with +his toe to the reflection in the canal of a particularly large and +brilliant star. "If the starlight moves to the right of my toe," he +said to himself, "I will go to the Piazza." + +He knew perfectly well that he would go to the Piazza. The music of +the band was calling to him, and the star was slowly shifting its +light, as it had done on many a night while Rafael sat waiting and +dreaming in the gateway. + +The tide was gently pulling his little boat away from the +orange-and-black mooring-post, at the foot of the steps, toward the +larger canal. + +"Perhaps my boat knows of all the gay sights that are waiting for it +in the Grand Canal," the boy thought idly. "It may well know," he +added in his thought; "it has been there times enough." + +The Grand Canal is the largest and finest of all the water-ways which +thread the city. It is spanned by three beautiful bridges, and, on +either side, rise the marble palaces of the ancient Venetian nobility; +those rulers of men whose names fill the "Golden Book of Venetian +History." + +[Illustration: THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. +Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola.] + +But Rafael lingered in the gateway. The music of the band was a +promise of something still better. Soon hundreds of gondolas would +gather at the bridge of the Rialto to hear the songs of the +serenaders, and that was what the boy loved best. + +As the bells in the square sounded the hour, he rose, reached for the +rope, and pulled his boat toward the stone landing steps. His motions +were alert and decisive, and made him seem a different boy from the +one who had been leaning so carelessly against the post of the +gateway. + +Rafael was good friends with his oar, and the little boat, which was +only large enough to seat three comfortably, hurried gladly toward the +lights of the Grand Canal, and the music in the beautiful Piazza of +St. Mark. + +Hundreds of black gondolas were moving up and down the canals, manned +by boatmen in white linen, for the night was very warm; and a melody +from an Italian opera, sung in a musical tenor voice, floated from one +of the boats. + +"I, also, would sing, if it were not pleasanter to listen," said +Rafael to his boat. Then it occurred to him that it might be most +pleasant of all to find his friend Nicolo and take him to hear the +singers at the Rialto bridge. + +He turned toward the steps of the Piazzetta, murmuring as he did so, +"These other boats are also moving toward the Rialto. I must find +Nicolo quickly, or we shall lose our favorite place at the bridge." + +The boy tied his boat in the shadow of the steps, and took his way +across the small square into the larger one in front of the Cathedral +of St. Mark. + +Numberless columns and pillars surround this square, and each one was +outlined with twinkling golden lights. From every ornament and statue +that grace the cathedral and palaces shone countless numbers of the +fairy flames. The crimson globes of the larger lamps in the square +added a different tone, and the silver light of the moon blended with +the whole, dazzling Rafael with the brilliancy. + +He shaded his eyes from the glare, as he searched rapidly among the +crowds for his friend. The polished stones of the pavement in front of +the cafes were covered with little tables, and hundreds of people were +sipping ices or drinking coffee. + +Nicolo was often to be found selling trinkets among the people at the +tables, but he was not there to-night. Nor was he seated on the back +of one of the two stone lions that crouch on their pedestals just +beyond the cathedral. + +It is from these convenient seats that the band sounds better than +almost anywhere else in the square. At least, the boys of Venice seem +to find it so, and so many years have they climbed up to watch the +crowds of people in the Piazza of St. Mark, that the backs of the +lions are worn smooth with much rubbing. + +A little bootblack and a water-boy held the places now, and +occasionally begged for custom from any one who happened to linger +near. + +Passing in and out among the crowds were pretty young girls selling +flowers, ragged boys carrying trays of fruit--crimson peaches, purple +grapes and ripe figs--and men selling bracelets and necklaces of +shells and colored beads. + +It was a gay scene. An officer, in the naval uniform of the United +States of America, stood in the central doorway of the cathedral, +watching the movements of the crowd and listening to the music. + +As Rafael gave up trying to find Nicolo and turned toward the canal, +the officer left his place and followed the boy. "Where away?" he +asked pleasantly, in English, as Rafael took his seat in the boat. + +"To the Rialto; to hear the serenade, Signore," the boy replied +courteously, also in English; and would have pushed away from the +steps, but the stranger asked, "Will you take a passenger?" + +"Si, Signore," answered Rafael, "I have been looking for one," and he +held the boat still while the officer found a seat. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +VIVA L'ITALIA! + + +"Do you like our lovely Venice?" Rafael asked, as the boat slipped +away with oar and tide toward the bridge. + +"Not well enough to stay here forever," answered the man, with a +smile. + +The boy opened his eyes in surprise. How could any one wish to leave +the city after once seeing it! As for himself, he adored the place. To +slip with his boat in and out of the canals and the lagoon, to dive +from the steps and bridges and chase the other boys through the water, +to listen to the music in the Piazza at night, seemed to him the only +life worth living. + +But the stranger was speaking again. "I could have been happy here +centuries ago, when the city was in the making," he said. "It would +have been glorious to fight for the right to live on these islands, +and to have a hand in building such palaces and churches. Those were +days of service for the men who loved their city." + +Rafael knew well the history of Venice. As the officer spoke, the +boy's eyes turned to the stately walls of the Doge's palace, and to +the domes of the great churches; and he thought of the early Venetians +who gave their lives in loving service for their country. + +The stranger continued, "Your good Doge Dandolo had a powerful navy +when he led the Venetians across the Mediterranean to conquer the +islands of Candia and Cyprus." + +Rafael nodded. "Si, Signore," he said. "There were many at home who +held the city safe while he was away," he added, "and there was need +enough of brave men then, both at home and abroad." + +"Venice was a rich and powerful state in those days," said the +stranger. "Now she has little left but her beauty, and that will fall +to ruin, as the great bell-tower in the Piazza fell not long ago. A +man likes to fight for something more than beauty." + +Rafael nodded again. He liked this stranger who spoke so easily of the +early life of Venice. + +Just then the boat slipped into a nook under the bridge, where it was +safe from the sweep of the gondolas which crowded near, and the two +became silent in watching the approach of the barge filled with +musicians and singers. + +This barge was surrounded by a solid mass of gondolas, closely wedged +together, each gondolier trying to push his boat as close as +possible, so that his patrons might see and hear well. + +Suddenly red lights flared up from the bridge and flooded everything +with radiance. Palace fronts shone with a magical beauty; crimson +banners waved from Moorish windows; statues and columns stood out +clearly and asked boldly to be admired. + +Rafael looked at his companion. "Did you ever see a more beautiful +sight?" he asked. + +But he could get no satisfaction from the stranger. "Beauty is not +everything," was his answer; and Rafael racked his brain to think what +more could be desired in this wonderland of marble and sky and water. + +Suddenly the music from the barge swelled into a great volume of +sound. "Viva l'Italia!" cried a voice from the bridge, and "Viva +l'Italia!" echoed from all the gondolas. + +Rafael waved his cap in the air. "Viva l'Italia!" he shouted in his +boyish voice, while his heart beat fast with the enthusiasm of the +moment. It seemed to his imagination that the singers were repeating +the words of the stranger; that they were telling of the glory of +battle, and of a life of service for one's country. + +It was of Italy they sang--not of Venice--of Italy, and of Italy's +king. "Viva l'Italia! Long live the King!" he shouted with the +others; and at that moment he felt that he must become a soldier of +the king, to live or die for Italy. + +After the singing was over and the gondolas had begun to disperse, +Rafael pushed his way down the canal; and at the steps where he had +embarked, the stranger rose to leave the boat. As he did so, he +stooped to place a coin in the boy's hand. "With thanks," he said. "I +have had an evening to remember." + +But Rafael pushed his hand away. "I never carry people for money, +Signore," he said proudly. + +The coin dropped from the American's hand to the bottom of the boat. +"For Italy, then," he said. "There are many in your country who need +it." + +The boy let his boat drift with the tide, while he thought over the +words of the stranger. + +He and his mother were all that was left of an old Venetian family. +Like many others, they had almost no means of support. They rented two +of the upper floors of their house to people poorer than themselves; +and might have rented the whole house to some of the foreigners who +often asked for it, but the mother held to it with a great love. It +was a link that kept alive the memory of the past, when her family was +one of importance, and Venice was a rich and powerful city. + +She would rather eat polenta and fish every day, if thereby she could +keep the fine house as it had always been, rich with old furniture and +the paintings of great artists. + +She had taught her son to speak French and English, and no guide in +the city knew every detail of its history so well as he. "Our history +is our pride," she often said, with much emphasis, and the boy felt +that she was right. + +At last Rafael picked up the coin and put it into his pocket; then he +took up the oar and pushed the boat back to his own mooring-post. + +He found his mother, and told her that he was tired of his life of +idleness. "I shall become a soldier of the king," he said. + +"Ah," she said, "every Italian should serve his king. There is need of +every one. Our country is very poor." + +Rafael looked disturbed. "It is not the country that is poor," he +answered. "Our good priest says that the country is rich, with all its +vineyards, and orchards, and wheat-fields. It is only the people who +are poor." + +"What wilt thou do about it, caro mio?" asked his mother, with a +laugh. + +"I shall earn some money," replied Rafael. "My boat has shown me +how." + +[Illustration: CHILDREN FEEDING PIGEONS IN THE PIAZZA OF ST. MARK, VENICE. +Notice the three flag-poles, and the bronze horses over the central +doorway of the Cathedral.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS + + +It was early in the afternoon of the next day. The tide was low in the +canals of Venice. Hundreds of green crabs could be seen clinging +lazily to the stone walls of the houses, wherever there was a place +still cool and wet from the salt sea-water. + +At the base of the two great columns in the Piazzetta, groups of +Venetian beggars were soundly sleeping. The gondoliers call these +beggars "crab-catchers," because they cling about the mooring-steps of +the canals to beg centimes from the passengers in the gondolas. + +The Venetian pigeons were also sleeping. Their way of begging is more +pleasing than that of the crab-catchers, but they are beggars for all +that. They never wait for the sound of the bell which the good priest +rings every day when it is time for them to be fed, but fly down to +the pavement whenever they catch sight of a person with a bit of +grain. They flutter down by twos and threes, and beg with their best +coos for something to eat. + +But now they had all disappeared from the pavement, and might be +seen, dozing with their heads under their wings, up among the eaves of +the fine palaces and beautiful public buildings which surround the +Square of St. Mark. + +The children, who love to feed the pigeons, had disappeared, too, and +all Venice seemed to be taking its afternoon nap. + +An American lady and her daughter, paying no heed to the heat of the +sun, turned the corner of the Doge's palace and entered the Piazzetta, +meaning to cross to the farther end of the large square, where +wood-carvings are for sale in one of the shops. + +"Mother," said the girl suddenly, "I wish we knew of something to see +besides the buildings in this square. We have been here four days, and +have bought a lovely carved cherub, or a souvenir spoon of Venice, for +every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this +beautiful old city." + +"We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her +mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight +of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any +time." + +"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must +be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and +St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them." + +"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the +hotel windows," said her mother. + +"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the +Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't +we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?" + +Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully +out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we +do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer +islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a +single word of Italian." + +"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith; +"and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many +who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights +for the sake of earning some Italian lire." + +"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her +mother. + +As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from +a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to +the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of +boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great +church. + +English words floated across to the American people, although the +voice which spoke them was an Italian one. + +"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops," +said the voice. + +The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael--the boy of the +boat and the serenade--knelt in the center, with a collection of tops +on the pavement beside him. + +The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the +light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the +big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at +all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do +their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow +and an off-hand dash, as if to make room for the next on the program. + +At last Rafael took up one which was wrapped in gold-foil, and which +seemed to be both graceful and business-like, and wonderfully +accomplished. It hung balanced between two outer circles of steel, and +spun in every possible position--on the pavement, on the top of a +post, and at right angles to it--all at one spinning. + +"It is my golden spinner," said the boy, in Italian. "It has travelled +among all the great cities of the world, and never failed to keep an +engagement." + +The boys laughed, and Edith joined in the laughter, although she did +not know the meaning of the words. + +Rafael looked up into her face and smiled. It was the opportunity +which she had hoped for. She had noticed his unusual appearance, and +that he was dressed with care. + +"Speak to him, Mother," she urged, in English. "Perhaps he will tell +us where we may go to see the sights." + +The boy rose and took off his cap. "I speak English, Signora," he +said. "There are truly many things to see in Venice, if you wish to +see them." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +STREETS OF VENICE + + +Mrs. Sprague looked from one child to the other. The girl was eager, +the boy expectant. "He is no older than you are, Edith," she said at +last. "It isn't possible that he can be a good guide. There will be +three lost, instead of two as there were yesterday, if he tries to +pilot us through these crooked lanes." + +The day before, Edith had hired an Italian lad to act as a guide, when +she had wished to buy an Italian flag and could find none in the shops +near the Piazza. She had made her wish known, by signs, to one of the +young boys idling at the base of the Lion's Column. He could speak no +English, but Edith showed him a tiny American flag which she carried +in her purse. + +"Viva America!" she said, waving the flag with one hand. Then she +waved the empty hand, saying, "Viva l'Italia!" and asked very loudly, +as if he might be deaf, "Where to buy?" pointing to the flag. + +The boy nodded that he understood, and led the girl and her mother +across the Piazza and under the old Clock Tower, in which the clock +has been marking the hours ever since Columbus discovered America. +Beyond the tower he led them through short streets and narrow lanes to +a remote, wretched part of the city. + +Although Venice is called the City of the Sea, and has hundreds of +canals, there is also a network of narrow streets and lanes threading +the islands on which the city is built. It is possible to walk +anywhere by following these streets and crossing the bridges, and each +house has a land-gate as well as a water-gate. + +One of these lanes led at last into a small square. A low, narrow +doorway opened into a dark room, looking out upon a dirty little +canal,--far away from the rose-colored, marble-paved Square of St. +Mark--and here Edith found her Italian flag. + +The room was cluttered with old rubbish; and a dozen ragged, +hungry-looking men and women sat idly about on broken chairs. + +The boy told his errand in Italian to one of the men, who answered him +in an angry tone. They disputed together for several moments, and then +the man brought a small flag from a far corner of the room. The bright +red, green and white stripes of the flag were in good proportion, but +it was made of a cheap, flimsy material. + +"I don't care for it," said Edith, putting her hands behind her and +shaking her head. + +Immediately everybody in the room began to talk loudly, which so +frightened Mrs. Sprague that she took out her purse and asked, "How +much?" + +The boy held up four fingers. "Quattro lire," he said. + +"Four lire!" exclaimed Edith indignantly; "that is almost one dollar, +and it isn't worth ten cents." + +But the excited Italian voices were all speaking at once, and so +angrily that Mrs. Sprague dropped the money into an old chair, and +seizing the flag with one hand and Edith with the other, she backed +quickly out into the open air. + +She forgot that she knew nothing about the way to her hotel, and, +without waiting for the boy, crossed the first bridge she saw, and +struck into another narrow lane. She was too anxious as to her +whereabouts to notice the interesting sights in the streets through +which she hurried; but Edith, with a girl's curiosity, saw everything. + +In a small square at one end of a bridge, a woman leaned from an upper +window and lowered a basket to the pavement below. A man with a basket +of fried fish on his arm took a piece of money from the woman's basket +and put in its place a fish from his own. Then he returned to a +little shed near-by, where a woman was frying onions and fish in oil, +on several charcoal stoves. + +As they crossed another bridge, they saw a woman lean from a window to +splash her baby up and down in the canal for his daily bath. The baby +was tied to the end of a long rope which his mother gently raised and +lowered, and he laughed with glee every time he hit the water with his +chubby fists. + +Edith wished to stop and watch this curious bath, but Mrs. Sprague +hurried her along, and they soon reached a part of the city where many +people were moving toward a church. As they neared the building, the +leather curtain, which hangs at the entrance to Italian churches, was +pushed aside, and a stream of men, women and children began coming +out, each one carrying a candle. + +The children had little candles, the grown people carried larger ones; +and everyone stopped to buy cakes from old women seated near the +church door. + +After crossing many bridges, and passing many churches, Edith and her +mother suddenly entered the Piazza of St. Mark, which had grown so +familiar to them both that it was like walking into their own home. + +"I shall not go out of sight of it again," said Mrs. Sprague, with a +sigh of great relief. + +But Edith longed to explore those bewildering back lanes for more of +the strange foreign sights. "After we get home to America," she said, +"we shall see no more boys selling glasses of water at odd corners; +nor shall we see women frying cakes in the streets, and mothers +bathing their babies in the canals. If we can only find some one who +understands English, we shall have no more trouble." + +Now that she had found Rafael, she urged her mother to employ him. "He +can speak both English and Italian," she said, "and can be our +interpreter." + +Mrs. Sprague shook her head and was turning away, when the boy spoke, +and held her attention. "The golden spinner is the smallest of all my +tops," he said, "but it does the best work. Why not let me try?" + +The lady looked at his earnest face and smiled. "Very well," she said, +"we will go through the Doge's palace with you. We can't get lost +there." + +Rafael gathered his tops together and turned them over to one of the +boys. "Keep them for me, Nicolo," he said, and led the way at once to +the beautiful entrance just beyond the corner of the cathedral--the +entrance to the most magnificent of all the fine palaces in Venice. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS + + +Edith hurried along beside Rafael, and Mrs. Sprague followed slowly +into the courtyard of the palace, up the Giant's Staircase and through +great rooms, until they came out upon a balcony overlooking the square +which they had just left. + +"Is it not lovely?" Rafael asked simply. + +Without answering, Edith balanced her camera upon the railing of the +balcony and snapped a picture of the two columns in the Piazzetta, +near a landing place of the Grand Canal. + +"Everyone in the United States knows that picture," she said, "and +when they see that I have taken it, they will know that I was really +here once." + +"Is it that you will show it to everyone in the United States?" asked +Rafael with interest. + +Edith looked at him quickly, thinking that he was laughing at her; but +as she saw that he was serious she answered, "Oh dear! no; only to my +friends, who were glad to have me come to see Italy, so that I can +tell them about it." + +"Is that why so many people come to my country," he asked,--"to tell +others about it?" + +Edith laughed. "I came to buy a string of Venetian beads," she +answered roguishly. + +But the boy would not laugh in answer. "It may be that you will take +away with you a more precious necklace than your glass one, if you +will let me show you our wonderful pictures and buildings," he said. + +It was a pretty speech, and the girl answered him with another. "You +mean a necklace of memory pictures," she said. "Yes, I have begun to +string such a necklace. My memory of St. Mark's Cathedral is one of +the beads, and this splendid square is another. Then there is a bead +for the moonlight on the canals, and one for the fluttering pigeons at +their midday meal.". + +Mrs. Sprague then told Rafael how they had wandered off into a part of +the city where the canals were narrow and dirty, where the houses were +old and crumbling to ruins, and where the streets seemed hardly more +than cracks between the walls. + +"I don't wish to put that memory picture into my necklace," said +Edith. + +"It is not necessary," answered Rafael. "There will be many beautiful +beads. This afternoon we will climb the bell-tower of San Giorgio when +the sun is setting, and there you will get a picture of this 'pearl +of the world' that will make you forget every other." + +But Edith was turning her camera upon the pavement below, where three +flag-poles stand in front of St. Mark's. + +"The lazy pigeons in the square were lean and hungry when those three +masts were placed before the cathedral," Rafael told her. "The +Venetians were hardy sailors, bold adventurers, and rich merchants in +those days; and it was an honor for Morea and the eastern islands of +Candia and Cyprus to fly their banners in our city. All the vessels +from the East and the West stopped at our port, and the fame of Venice +spread far and wide." + +"You speak boastfully," said Edith saucily. + +"It is all true," Rafael said earnestly. "Four hundred years ago there +was no place in the whole world where so much pomp and magnificence +could be seen as in St. Mark's Square and on the Grand Canal. + +"Over in the museum at the arsenal"--Rafael's voice broke in his +excitement--"there is a model of a ship of state, in which, for +hundreds of years, the Doge used every year to go out to the entrance +of the lagoon and throw a jewelled ring into the waters of the +Adriatic, to make Venice the bride of the sea. + +"People from far and wide, by thousands and tens of thousands, came to +see the ceremony. It was a marvellous sight to see," he added proudly, +as if he had seen it many times. + +"Two or three hundred senators, in their scarlet robes, marched with +the Doge from this palace to the wharf, where the ship of state waited +for them; and thousands of magnificent gondolas followed it on its +journey to the Lido port, where the ceremony took place." + +"I thought all gondolas must be black," Edith objected. "A procession +of black gondolas would not be very magnificent." + +"It is the law now that all gondolas must be black," Rafael explained, +"because in olden times so many nobles wasted their fortunes in +decorating their gondolas extravagantly with rich carvings, gold +ornaments, and gorgeous draperies. You can see that such a procession, +reaching from here to the Lido port, would be a splendid sight. + +"There must be many rings out there," he added. + +Edith had listened, charmed with the sound of so much splendor. "Let +us go to the Lido for a sea bath," she said; "perhaps we can find a +ring." + +Rafael shook his head. "The last ring was thrown into the water more +than a hundred years ago," he said. "The sands have covered them all +too deeply by this time." + +Then he pointed to the four bronze horses which stand over the central +doorway of the cathedral. "They are the only horses in our whole +city," he said. "They are almost two thousand years old, and have +travelled hundreds of miles, by sea and land. + +"It is said that they first stood on a triumphal arch in Rome, but +they were taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine, where +they were kept many hundreds of years. Dandolo, a Doge of Venice, +conquered the city about seven hundred years ago, and brought the +horses to Venice as a sign of his victory. + +"They were placed over the door where they now stand, and have been +there ever since, except for a visit of eighteen years to Paris, to +please the Emperor Napoleon." + +"See how they paw the air," said Edith. "They look as if they were +eager to be off again to the ends of the earth." + +"No," said Rafael, "we Venetians love those bronze horses. No one will +ever take them away from us again. + +"We need them," he added with a laugh, "how else would we know what +horses are like, when we read about them in books?" + +"It is a great pity that the bell-tower in the square fell," said Mrs. +Sprague; "this new one that they are building in its place must be +very expensive." + +Rafael laughed merrily. "That is a queer thing about the Italians," he +said; "if it is a great piece of art which we wish to preserve, we do +not care what the expense may be." + +Then he added soberly, "The fishermen miss the old tower more than any +of us, because they used to find their way into the Lido port by it." + +"You say so much about the Lido," said Edith. + +"We will go over there after we have looked at some of the pictures +inside the palace, and at the dungeons, and the Bridge of Sighs," +answered Rafael. + +Edith shuddered. "I will look at the pictures, but not at the +dungeons," she said; "and I can look at the Bridge of Sighs every time +I come from our hotel into the Piazza." + +As they stepped back into the room behind them, she repeated the names +of three of the great painters whose works have helped to make Venice +a treasure-city. + +"Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto," she said over and over again, as she +looked at the pictures which Rafael pointed out to her in the long +rooms. "If I find more of their paintings in other cities of Italy, it +will seem like meeting old friends." + +Rafael smiled. "Italy is rich because of her artists," he said. "You +will find their works in every city. It may not always be the +paintings of those same three men, but there are others which are also +famous." + +Then his happy face grew serious. "It makes the heart sad to think +what wonderful dreams our great Italians have had," he said. "My +mother says that no dream, no thought of beauty, was ever felt +anywhere, that has not found expression here in Italy." + +As he spoke, he led the mother and daughter out of the palace and +across the Piazzetta to the steps where his little boat was tied, and +Edith wondered if his words were true. + +Before her sight-seeing in Italy was ended, she was very sure that +they were. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO + + +"It is not a good plan to leave the square from the steps in front of +the two great columns," Rafael explained, as he went toward the +landing-place opposite the Doge's palace, where he always moored his +boat. + +"Why is it not a good plan?" asked Edith. + +"Because it might later make us run into a mud-bank," he answered +merrily. "Whenever any one is executed in Venice, it has to be done +between those two columns, and that has made the spot most unlucky. +People used to gamble there before it was the place for executions, +but now, of course, no one thinks of such a thing." + +"I should hope not," said Mrs. Sprague, "nor anywhere else." + +"The only Doge that was ever beheaded, landed between those columns," +continued Rafael, "and since then there are people who would not dare +to use the steps, for fear it might bring them ill-luck." + +"I am going to get into your boat from those very steps," said Edith, +walking toward them. + +Her mother, who was already seated in the boat, looked troubled. "He +may be right, Edith," she called to her daughter. "You know that I am +afraid of the water, and you promised not to take any chances if I +would bring you to Italy." + +But Edith insisted that she should get into the boat from the steps, +or not at all. "There is no danger," she said. "These Italians are too +superstitious. See how they are always closing one hand and pointing +down two of its fingers to ward off the evil eye. I am going to show +Rafael how foolish all these notions are." + +The boy looked at her in anger. He had sometimes closed his own hand +in the way Edith described, when he met old Beppo, the brown monk from +one of the islands in the lagoon; and had often gone out of his way to +meet the hunchback, Tonio, because it is well-known in Venice that the +sight of a hunchback brings good luck. + +Now, when he heard Edith speak so contemptuously of his cherished +beliefs, he felt a flame of resentment. Standing quietly in his boat, +he said, "Signorina, we go not from those landing-steps in my boat." + +Edith saw that he meant what he said. "I am sorry that I hurt your +feelings," she said, with a pretty air of penitence; "but if you will +kindly take me from these steps, I will make a gift to the patron +saint of the fishermen, if we find a shrine at the Lido." + +Rafael melted at once. "It is not that I was afraid," he told her, as +she stepped into the boat from the unlucky steps, "but I cannot have +the ways of my country ridiculed." + +Then he pushed off from the landing, and the two great columns rose +above their heads in stately fashion. + +Edith looked from the winged lion on the top of one to the crocodile +and the figure of St. Theodore on the other. "There are many stone +lions in the city," she said, "but I have seen only one crocodile. Why +is that?" + +"The lion is the symbol of St. Mark," replied Rafael, "and must guard +the city, because St. Mark is our patron saint. St. Theodore, who +stands on the crocodile, was our first patron saint, before the body +of St. Mark was brought to Venice and placed in the little church +which once stood where you now see the cathedral." + +"Is it the St. Mark who wrote one of the books of the New Testament?" +asked Mrs. Sprague. + +"Yes, Signora," replied Rafael. + +"We have been into the cathedral many times," said Edith. "Mother +knows every picture and statue inside and out of it." + +"It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the whole world," said +her mother. "Some one has called it a jewel-box, because it contains +so many magnificent gems, precious stones, and golden mosaics; and it +seems so to me. Now that I have seen it, I am ready to leave Venice." + +"Oh, Mother," exclaimed the girl, "we haven't begun to see all that I +want to! I must buy some more Venetian glass, and a lantern, and some +flags and banners. I mean to make my room at home look like a bit of +Venice." + +Rafael looked pleased. "Our people were making beautiful things in +glass two hundred years before Christopher Columbus found his way to +your country," he said. He had no wish to seem boastful to these +people of a younger nation, so he tried to say it courteously. + +But Edith was impolite enough to say, "The men and women in your city +seem to do nothing now but make glass, and carve wood, and weave lace. +In so many hundred years they might have learned a good many new +things, it seems to me." + +The boy flushed. "Venice is old, it is true," he answered, "but Italy +is still young." Then he threw back his head and laughed with the +happy laugh of boyhood. "Viva l'Italia!" he cried joyously. "She will +soon be the greatest country in the world." + +"Viva Venice!" cried Edith, but Rafael was drawing his boat alongside +a flight of steps, and did not hear her. + +"Where is that lame crab of a steamer?" he muttered, looking off into +the lagoon. + +"What are we going to do?" questioned Mrs. Sprague anxiously. + +"We must go to the Lido in the steamer," answered the boy. "It is too +far for me to row there and back before sunset; and it will cost but a +small sum to buy round-trip tickets for the three of us. That will +take us all to the casino by the tram-car, and pay for our bath in the +salt-water." + +"Pay for our bath!" repeated Edith. "Surely we may go into the water +without paying for it." + +"Not if you wish to go in from the bathing-house at the casino," +Rafael replied; "and it is forbidden by law to take away even one +pailful of the water without paying a tax. There is a tax on salt in +our country, and it is feared that we may get the least bit of salt +from the water." + +"I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Sprague. + +"It is very hard," said the boy; "but what can one do? A tax is a tax, +and must be paid." + +"But it would not be so, if I could get hold of an oar of the +government," he added with a laugh, as he held the boat steady with +his own oar while his passengers landed. + +The little steamer was just drawing up to the pier from its trip +across the lagoon. This lagoon is a wide stretch of water, deep only +in those places where the ship-channels are kept constantly dredged. +When the tide is low, the city shows that it is built upon mud-banks. +Twice daily the waters move away from the lagoon, leaving the flats +covered with floating seaweed. The returning tide, flowing from the +Adriatic through several openings in the long narrow sand-bars, called +lidi, covers the seaweed and mud-flats, and forms the lagoon. + +The little steamer carried Rafael and his passengers to the Lido in a +quarter of an hour, giving them time for a bath in the salt water, and +a cup of tea at the casino; and also a moment at the little church +dedicated to the patron saint of the fishermen, where Edith left a +coin as she had promised to do. + +Then they returned across the water to the church of San Giorgio for a +view of the sunset, the sight in Venice which artists love most. It +was the most wonderful sunset that Edith had ever seen. The low sun +gave out a glory of color, and waves of golden light flooded the city, +crowning every tower and dome with a great radiance. + +"So much gold makes it seem like the Heavenly City," Edith said +softly. + +To the north lay the white-crowned Alps, to the east the blue +Adriatic; and Edith never forgot the glory of that hour. + +A fisher's boat swung slowly through the Lido port, and moved toward +its mooring-place at a group of rose-tinged piles. In just such a boat +Columbus must have sailed when he was a boy. The rounded prow was +decorated with a flying goddess blowing a trumpet; on the masthead +there was perched a weathercock and a little figure of a hump-backed +man, like the one hidden away in St. Mark's. A great sail, painted +deep red, caught the sea-breeze and carried the boat slowly over the +shimmering, rose-colored water. + +Edith drew a long breath of the salt air, and clasped her hands with +delight at the picture. + +Some workmen, driving piles to mark the ship channel, were chanting an +old song,--one that has been sung for centuries by the pile-drivers of +Venice,--and Rafael translated the words for her, as the men raised +the heavy wooden hammer:-- + + "Up with it well, + Up to the top; + Up with it well, + Up to the summit!" + +Each line of the Italian words ended with a long "e-e-e," or an +"o-o-o," and the American girl laughed at the strange song. + +"It is just the time and place to paint a picture, or write a poem +about the Venetian sunset," she said. + +"It is so different here from what I had imagined it to be," she +added. "I used to wonder what kept the sea from dashing against the +walls of the houses, and beating down the doors." + +"Then you knew nothing about the lidi which hold back the sea?" +questioned the boy. + +"No," replied the girl. "People who have been here speak only about +the Grand Canal, and the Piazza of St. Mark, and the Bridge of Sighs." + +She pointed out to her mother the long wharf which stretched along the +opposite bank of the lagoon, and their hotel, which was farther up the +canal. "There is plenty of space on the pavement near our hotel to +spread a sail," she said, "and I thought there was never a spot to set +foot in all the city, except in the squares." + +The sight of the hotel reminded Mrs. Sprague of home. "We must go back +and see if there are any letters," she said suddenly, and turned to go +down the spiral staircase. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A CHAT ABOUT VERONA + + +As they took their places in the boat, Edith said to Rafael, "Tell us +some of your Venetian legends. Is there not one about this lagoon?" + +"There are many," he answered, and he told her the story of the three +saints--St. Mark, St. George, and St. Theodore--who crossed the lagoon +one night, centuries ago, and drove back the evil spirits who would +have destroyed the city. + +"Our boatmen can tell you of many other strange things which have +happened on these canals," he concluded, as they reached the steps in +front of the hotel. + +Edith ran in, and soon returned with several letters for her mother +and herself, which they began reading while Rafael poled slowly back +into the canal. + +"Listen to this," exclaimed Mrs. Sprague suddenly. "Tom tells me to go +to Verona, where his chauffeur is waiting with the automobile, and +take it to Florence for him." + +"I don't like to leave Venice just as we have begun to enjoy it," +said Edith. Then seeing that Rafael looked wonderingly at them, she +added, "Tom is my cousin, who is seeing Italy with his friend in an +automobile. He said it would take too long to see it with Mother and +me." + +But Mrs. Sprague began reading aloud,--"We shall be gone into Austria +for more than a month, and I know you will enjoy a ride through the +Italian country." + +Looking up from the letter, she said, "We will go to-morrow." + +"How shall we find the chauffeur?" asked Edith. + +"He is at the 'Hotel of the Golden Dove,'" said Mrs. Sprague. "There +will be no trouble in finding him." + +"I prefer the winged lions of Venice to the golden dove of Verona," +said Edith, looking up at the column in the Piazzetta. + +"You will find a stone lion in the forum in Verona," said the boy. + +"In the forum!" exclaimed Edith, "that sounds like Rome." + +"Yes," said the boy rather proudly, "there is also an old forum in +Verona, but it is used now as a vegetable market. You can take a +picture of it with your camera." + +"Perhaps I may," answered the girl; "but I shall first take one of +Juliet's balcony." + +Rafael laughed. It seemed that he, too, had read "Romeo and Juliet," +for he said, "You will be much disappointed in that balcony." + +"Why so?" asked the girl, with a look of surprise. + +"Because the house is not a fine one. It is in a block of tall narrow +houses. The street leads from the market-place and is so narrow that +the tram-car almost rubs against one's knees. + +"Romeo had trouble enough, if he climbed to that balcony," he added. +"It is five stories above the sidewalk, and is hardly big enough for a +man to stand in." + +"Perhaps Juliet's balcony overlooked the courtyard," Mrs. Sprague +suggested. + +"As for the courtyard, that was full of worn-out carriages when I saw +it," Rafael answered, "It was not a good place for a lover to hide." + +"I don't want to go to Verona and have all my dreams shattered," +mourned the girl. "Shall I be disappointed in Juliet's tomb, too?" + +The boy laughed again. "You can pick an ivy leaf from the plant +near-by. Is not that what your country-women do?" he asked. + +Edith tossed her head. "Of course," she answered. "I have a large +collection of ivy leaves myself,--one from every castle in England and +Ireland." + +The boy looked mischievous. "One from Juliet's tomb will be most +precious of all," he told her, "because ivy grows not so easily in +Italy as in England." + +"Is there anything else to be seen in Verona?" asked Mrs. Sprague. + +"There is a colosseum in Verona which is second only to the one in +Rome, Signora," Rafael replied. + +But Edith shook her head. "That cannot be," she said. "We have one in +the United States which we think is next to the Roman one in +importance." + +It was the boy's turn to show surprise. "How can that be?" he asked +quickly. "The one in Verona is very old, and has seen many exciting +battles between gladiators." + +"Well," persisted the girl, "our stadium in Cambridge, where the men +of Harvard University fight their foot-ball battles with men of other +colleges, has seen just as interesting contests as any colosseum in +Europe. Thousands and thousands of people have cheered the victors in +our country as well as yours," and Edith's cheeks flushed, as she +thought of some of the stirring foot-ball games which she had +witnessed. + +The boy looked at her in amazement. "I did not know that you ever saw +such inspiring sights in your country," he said humbly. + +"Indeed we do," said Edith, glad to see that Rafael was impressed. + +"How long will it take to reach Verona from Venice?" asked Mrs. +Sprague. + +"If you leave here at the fifteen hours, you will arrive before +sunset," he answered. + +"At the fifteen hours," repeated Edith with a laugh. "What a funny way +to say three o'clock. Your way of counting time up to the twenty-four +hours is the queerest thing in Italy." + +"It seems the most natural thing in the world to me," said her mother. +"There are twenty-four hours in the day. Why should we not name each +one?" + +Then she arranged that Rafael should take them to the station in his +boat, on the next day, at the fifteen hours. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +EDITH'S FLORENTINE MOSAIC + + +HOTEL NEW YORK, FLORENCE, ITALY. +October 10, 19--. + +TO SIGNOR RAFAEL VALLA, + +_My dear Sir:_--Can you leave your tops for a few moments and read a +letter from your American friends, the Spragues? + +Although we have been in Florence for more than a month, we have not +yet forgotten our visit in Venice and our journey to Verona. We sat by +the right-hand window in the train, as you told us to do; but I looked +often across the way to see what could take place on the opposite +side. Once I saw some storks that had flown down from Strassburg and +were standing on their long legs in the marshes. + +But our side of the train was truly the more pleasant one. There were +grape-vines and mulberry trees and wheat-fields; and also cypress +trees, which you did not mention, but which we were glad to see. Then +there were big fields of watermelons ripening in the sun, and women +gathering them in baskets which they carried on their heads across +the fields. + +In Verona we went to see the play in the colosseum by moonlight. I +have never seen such a performance in our stadium at Harvard, and you +have a right to be proud of the great colosseum. + +There were four hundred performers on the stage at one time, and the +play ended at "the twenty-three hours" with a gunpowder explosion that +destroyed the fort,--the play fort, I mean. + +And we looked at the tombs of the Scaligers, although I don't know any +good reason for doing so; and then we came through the most beautiful +country to Florence. + +Men and women, dressed in gayest colors, were reaping with sickles in +the wheat-fields. The grain was truly "golden grain," and there was +never a foot of ground anywhere, whether the grain was standing or had +fallen, without a flaming scarlet poppy. And every hill was green with +trees and crowned with a castle or a tower. + +We rode through miles and miles of vineyards, all arranged in +pictures, for our benefit, as it seemed. The vines hung in festoons +from long rows of mulberry trees. The trees were planted in rows that +crossed one another, forming hollow squares, and the square spaces +were filled with the scarlet poppies and the golden grain. + +The trees grew so regularly, and the vines hung so gracefully--a +single vine running from tree to tree--that we could not take our eyes +from the lovely sight; and we have promised ourselves to see the +gathering of the grapes, on our way from Florence to Rome. + +At the toll-gate we found that we could not enter Florence until after +our automobile and all our luggage had been examined. The officers +seemed to fear that we were trying to smuggle something to eat, either +fruit or vegetables, into the city. + +It was in the midst of a thunder-storm; and not until the official was +convinced that we were quite wet, and wished to enter in order to find +shelter, and that we were truly a foreign lady and her daughter, on a +sight-seeing tour, did he let us pass through the gates and enter the +city. + +And now, after our month's visit, I have a Florentine mosaic to take +to America with my Venetian necklace. + +The golden background of my mosaic is another sunset; one which we saw +from the Shepherd's Tower, with the sky a rosy-pink, the River Arno +taking its slow course through the city and reflecting the rosy light, +and the surrounding hills all deep blue and amethyst. + +The most precious stone of my mosaic is the glorious statue of David, +on the heights of San Miniato. Perhaps, if Michael Angelo could have +known, four hundred years ago, that I was going to have one minute of +such very great happiness as when I first saw his work, he would have +been very glad. + +What a splendid fashion the Italians have of placing beautiful statues +out of doors where everyone may see and admire them often! In America +we crowd them all together in museums and charge an admission fee, so +that one sees them but seldom, if at all. + +There are many stones in my mosaic. Florence is well called the "City +of Flowers." One sees flower-girls everywhere, and little Bianca, with +the tanned face and the big black eyes, who comes to our door every +morning with the sweetest and freshest of roses, is one of my friends. + +Every Friday we have been to the market-place to see the peasants, who +come in from the surrounding hillsides with loads of peaches, figs, +grapes, pumpkins, watermelons, squashes,--all kinds of beautiful +fruits and vegetables. + +But I like best the boys who carry trays of plaster images which have +been made in their little villages up among the mountains, and which +they bring here just as they sometimes take them to America. + +We saw also the straw market, and the women braiding the straw and +making hats. You shall see the one which Mother bought for me, and +which I wear every day. + +And this brings me to the reason for writing you this letter. We are +going to leave the music of the churches, the pictures, the +sculptures, the peasants and the market-place, and go into the country +to see the harvests. + +I shall miss hearing the constant ringing of the church bells, and +seeing the squads of soldiers marching to the sound of military music. +And perhaps I shall never again sleep in a room with barred windows +overlooking the blue waters of an Italian river, and look through +those same bars into the faces of sweet nuns and shaven monks as they +pass on the sidewalk outside. + +But we can have the automobile only a few days longer, and it is our +great wish that you join us in Florence and take the trip with us to +Rome. + +Then if you will but stay with us for a few weeks in Rome, we shall +not get lost again because of being unable to speak Italian. Mother +says that you will be tongue and eyes for us. + +Your American friend, +EDITH SPRAGUE. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +RAFAEL LEAVES VENICE + + +It was a long letter. Rafael read it aloud to his mother, and at the +end he spoke without looking up at her. + +"May I go?" he asked simply. + +She did not answer for several moments, and he spoke again. "I know so +little of Italy, outside of Venice," he urged. "Those Americans go +everywhere and see the whole world." + +"That is true," his mother answered, "and you may never have such +another opportunity to see the Eternal City. You may go," she added +finally, to Rafael's great delight. + +"That is good! I will start as soon as you can pack some clothes for +me," he cried. He half thought she would go at once to pack them, but +she sat still, and began to talk about her girlhood. + +"I was born near the hotel where your friend is living," she said, +"and know every foot of ground in Florence. It is a pity you are not +going to be there on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Then you +would see a sight that is seen nowhere outside of Florence." + +"Tell me about it," said the boy. + +"It is called the 'Burning of the Car,'" she told him. "Back in the +time of the Crusaders, one of the men of old Florence who went to +Jerusalem brought from the Holy Sepulchre two pieces of the stone, and +also a torch lighted from the holy light that has been kept burning +there since the time Christ was crucified. + +"In order that the wind might not blow out his light, he rode the +whole distance back to Florence with his face toward Jerusalem. + +"The people of the cities through which he passed thought that this +man who was riding backwards must be crazy, and they cried out after +him, 'Pazzi! Pazzi!' which means mad-man. Finally he was called by the +name of Pazzi, and was the founder of the Pazzi family, which to this +day shares with the government the expense of burning the car at +Easter time. + +"The light and the two pieces of the stone sepulchre are treasured in +the oldest church in Florence. They are taken out once every year, and +the people are allowed to look at them, and are also permitted to +light their candles at the sacred flame. They count that a great +blessing. + +"The burning of the car is an interesting ceremony, and thousands of +people come from far and near to see it. Two yoke of pure white +Tuscan oxen are chosen to pull the car into the Piazza del Duomo for +the burning; and proud is that peasant whose oxen are chosen for the +ceremony. + +"They are driven into the city on the night of Good Friday when +everything is very still, and are taken early the next morning to the +enormous barn where the great car is kept. + +"The car is built of wood and is hung with festoons of colored paper +and garlands of flowers. Fireworks of many kinds are hidden among the +flowers and paper,--some which make loud noises, and others which burn +with a bright light. + +"The oxen are harnessed to the car and draw it slowly through the +street to its place in the square in front of the cathedral,--'the +very great heart of Florence.' A wire is then stretched from the high +altar of the cathedral to the car in the square, and everything is in +readiness. + +"In the meantime a priest takes the holy light, very early on Saturday +morning, and walks with it to the cathedral, lighting the candles of +the people as he goes. On either side he is accompanied by a servant +in livery from the house of Pazzi. + +"Crowds of men, women and children, dressed in holiday attire, collect +in the square in front of the cathedral, and there is a babble of +voices, with much merriment and laughter. + +"Just before the hour of noon a great silence falls upon the crowd, +and the priests begin the Mass. At the moment when the 'Gloria in +Excelsis' is reached, the Archbishop places a lighted taper in the +bill of an artificial dove, and sends the dove down the wire to the +car. Then all the bells in the city begin to ring. + +"Down to the car flies the dove, and the taper in its bill sets fire +to the fireworks. Then it flies back to the high altar, and if the +trip is successful and the fireworks go off with a great burning and +banging, there is rejoicing among the crowds in the square, for it +means that the autumn harvests will be plentiful. + +"Then the prize oxen, all beautifully decorated with garlands, and +with blankets embroidered with the arms of the Pazzi family, are again +harnessed to the car; it is refilled with fireworks, and the burning +is repeated in the square Victor Emanuele, near the Pazzi palace. + +"And afterwards all the men buy new hats, and wear them home in honor +of the event. + +"I have heard that it rained last Easter-time, and that the burning +was not so good as usual," she said with a smile, "perhaps your +friends will not find plentiful harvests." + +Rafael smiled in answer, and looked at Edith's letter, where his eyes +fell upon her words about the tomb of the Scaligers. + +"Why do foreigners always find it hard to understand our Italian +history?" he asked. + +"Because for many centuries Italy was made up of small states, each +one governed by a different ruler,--sometimes a family, and sometimes +a Doge, as here in Venice. The Scaligers were a famous family which +ruled Verona for many years during the middle ages. + +"When I was a girl, Cavour, one of Italy's greatest statesmen, brought +about the unification of the many states into one kingdom under one +king, and since then our people have become happier and more +prosperous. Italy is now one of the important nations in Europe." + +She would have said more, but Rafael was tired of listening to the +stories of the past, and wished to plan for his journey. + +"I must get ready to go to Florence at once," he said. + +"It cannot be done in one day," replied his mother. "Write to your +friends that you will come on Thursday." + +So on Thursday he bade his mother good-bye and started on his journey. +He was taken to the station in his little boat, poled by his friend +Nicolo; and his last words to Nicolo as he left the boat were, "I am +so glad to go!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GATHERING GRAPES IN TUSCANY + + +TO MADRE MIA IN VENICE:-- + +I am still glad! Yet it would not be so if you were not also glad for +me. + +It was the joy of the morning to find a letter from you to-day. Two +letters have I now had in my life, and both from Italy. I had thought +we Italians had letters from nobody but "friends in America," as +Paolo, the fruit-man, always says. + +And you say that Nicolo wishes to buy my boat; and that he will pay +for it after he has carried many passengers under the three bridges of +the Grand Canal, and to the Lido. + +Well, say to him that I cannot sell my boat. Did I not make it myself, +from an old fisherman's boat, with only a little help from Carlo, in +his workshop on the canal of the chestnut trees? And of a truth I will +not sell it to Nicolo. But I shall give it to him for his birthday +gift, if in return he will carry old Grandmother Nanna every Sunday +morning to early Mass, so that she will not miss it because I am no +longer there. + +I shall never want the boat again, because I am going to become a +citizen of Florence. + +It is true that we leave to-day for our automobile ride to Rome, but I +shall come back again. That is what everyone does who has once been +here. + +Why did you not tell me about the Palazzo Vecchio with the wonderful +statues in the Loggia? Did you think that because we have so much +beauty in our old Venice I should care for none elsewhere? + +And the pictures in the Pitti and the Uffizi palaces,--you should have +warned me that I would wear my eyes out with much looking at them! And +it is one thing to hear of Michael Angelo, and quite another to see +his great works! + +The American lady, Mrs. Sprague, with her guide-book, follows the +English-speaking guide about, and continually interrupts him to ask, +"At what page have we arrived now?" + +But her daughter is different. She carries no guide-book. She has a +boy's mind and asks questions about everything. She asked me about the +tunnels through which my train came from Venice. Ah, those tunnels! +There were twenty-two of them in sixteen miles, and the train whizzed +in and out in the most exciting manner. + +More I cannot say, but that I am perfectly happy! And I shall sign my +name Benvenuto, because the American girl says I am welcome. + +A thousand greetings to you, from your absent crab of a boy in +Florence, + +RAFAEL VALLA. + + * * * * * + +During that wonderful automobile ride from Florence to Rome, Rafael +was glad that his mother had told him so many stories of her native +city. There was pointed out to him on one of the Tuscan hills not far +from Florence, the same yoke of oxen that had drawn the car through +the city streets on the previous Easter, and he was able to tell Edith +the whole story of the "Burning of the Car." + +The chauffeur, under Mrs. Sprague's directions, took them off the +highway and close to the oxen and their driver. The horns of the oxen +were decorated with garlands of flowers and gay paper streamers, +because they were again to take part in a festival,--the festival of +the vintage; and on the drag behind them rested a great tun for the +wine. + +Rafael spoke to the smiling contadino and asked if they might follow +him to the harvest. + +"Not follow," he answered; "the oxen move but slowly, and must first +drag the tun to the wine-cellar at the farm-house. But you may lead," +he added. "It is a straight road along the base of the hill and +across the brook, to the gate of the vineyard." + +So they sped along in the automobile, and soon reached the busiest, +merriest place that Edith had ever seen. Men and women, boys and +girls, all dressed in the brightest, gayest colors, were cutting +grapes from the vines which hung in long festoons from tall trees. +They were constantly coming and going, with full baskets or empty +ones, and some of the boys had climbed ladders to pick the grapes from +the tree-tops. + +There was much shouting and laughter, with happy calls to one another +about the number of baskets of grapes each had picked, and the number +of lire the work would bring. + +"See how carefully that boy is cutting the grapes from the vines," +observed Edith, pointing to a lad about Rafael's age, who sang as he +worked, and who lifted the luscious, purple clusters of fruit into his +basket as lovingly as if they could feel the touch of his hand. + +Mrs. Sprague called attention to some of the vines, which had already +been stripped of leaves as well as fruit. + +"Why do they pick the leaves also?" she had Rafael ask one of the men. + +He answered that the grapes grew so thickly that it was necessary to +pick off the leaves in order that the fruit might get the full +benefit of the sun. "There is much to do for the grapes before they +can be picked," he added. "We must see to it that neither hail nor +wind spoils the clusters before the vintage." + +Then he explained that the grapes would soon be taken to the house and +poured into great vats, where they would be made into wine. + +Before Edith could ask about this process, Rafael shouted, "The oxen! +Here come the oxen!" and she turned to see the gaily decorated, white +oxen moving slowly across the field, drawing a big wagon. + +The driver led the oxen to the farther end of the vineyard, and the +boys and girls climbed upon the wagon with their baskets, and were +carried under the festoons of vines, picking clusters of grapes here +and there as they rode slowly along. + +"I should like to help pick the grapes," said Edith wistfully, as she +watched the merry pickers at their task. + +Rafael asked one of the men if she might be allowed to do so. He +smiled and nodded, pointing to an empty basket on the ground, and soon +the two children were filling it together, and laughing and shouting +with the others. + +"This is like a moving picture," Edith said to Rafael, when at last +their basket was filled and they had climbed into the ox-cart to ride +with the overflowing baskets and grape-stained children to the +farm-house. + +As they passed under the vines, Edith cut off some of the trailing +ends and made crowns for the bareheaded, black-haired peasant girls, +and one of them, more daring than the others, crowned Edith's own +black hair. + +Mrs. Sprague had already found her way to the house, and to the heart +of the farmer's wife, by admiring the little baby that lay sleeping in +its cradle under a fig tree near-by. + +The baby was wrapped in a swaddling band, a piece of linen four or +five yards long, which is wound round and round the tiny body, +beginning just under the arms and ending at the toes. It is a curious +fashion the Italians have of dressing their babies, and has been +followed ever since the Mother Mary wrapped the infant Jesus in a +swaddling band, so many hundred years ago. + +"Pretty bambino," Mrs. Sprague had said, pointing to the baby, and the +mother had found a hundred things to say in reply, in her voluble +Italian fashion, not one word of which Mrs. Sprague could understand. + +The farmer's wife was still talking when the vintage procession swung +into the yard, the boys and girls lifting their voices in a festival +song and keeping time to the swinging of the horns of the great white +oxen. + +Then there was the merry confusion of emptying the grapes into the +huge vats, and the choosing of certain men and maidens to trample out +the purple juice. + +Two or three always stand together in a single vat and press the +grapes with their bare feet, thus forcing out the juice, which runs +through an opening in the base of the vat into a wooden bucket. + +Some of the farmers use a machine to press the grapes, but many think +it should be done, as it was in old Bible times, with the human foot. +It seems that the feet know how to avoid crushing the seeds and the +skins, as a machine cannot know. + +Rafael asked to be allowed to press the grapes in one of the vats, and +after permission had been given him, Edith suddenly asked to do it +also. + +The farmer shook his head doubtfully. "It is very hard work," he +objected. + +Edith bade Rafael say that she was an American girl, and not afraid of +hard work, and at last she was permitted to stand with the Italian boy +in the vat and tread until she grew tired. + +However, to stand in the midst of juicy grapes means to spoil one's +clothes, so the farmer's wife took Edith and Rafael into the house and +dressed them like peasant children. + +There was much laughing and shouting from the other boys and girls +over the sight of the two strange wine-treaders, and it reminded Edith +of something. "Doesn't the Bible speak of the singing and laughing +that go with the vintage?" she asked her mother. + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Sprague, "there are many references in the Bible +to the vineyard and the vintage; and also to the fig trees, which seem +always to be planted in the vineyard." + +"When I was learning in my Sunday-school lessons about the vine and +the fig tree, I never dreamed that some day I should be eating grapes +and ripe figs, and treading in the wine-press, as they did in olden +times," said Edith. + +"It will be the best wine in the whole country," said the farmer, when +at last Edith was lifted out, her feet crimson with the blood of the +grapes. + +"I must see where they put it," she said, and followed to the dark +wine-cellar, where the grape juice was poured into a tank and left to +ferment. + +It was late in the afternoon when they were once more in readiness to +continue their journey toward Rome. The farmer's wife, who had told +them all her family history, in Italian, would have been glad to keep +them over night, but Mrs. Sprague shook her head. + +"Tell her that the bambino is very cunning," she said to Rafael, "but +we must be far along on our journey to-night." + +Rafael's heart sang again, "I am so glad to go!" Every moment spent in +the automobile was one of joy to him. He barely noticed the queer old +streets and ancient buildings of the towns through which they passed. +He cared more for the rapid motion of the car, and the sensation of +flying through the air; and besides, he knew well the customs of the +people in the Italian towns, and there was nothing strange to him in +the sight of men and women sitting at tables outside the cafes, or +wandering up and down in the public promenades. + +But he chattered in gay delight over the country sights. "See the +haystacks!" he would cry, "and the golden pumpkins! and oh, the ears +of yellow corn!" + +A small flock of geese ran into the road, hissing at the big red +automobile, and Rafael laughed gaily. + +"You should not laugh at those geese," Edith reproved him. "No doubt +they are descendants of the sacred geese that saved Rome." Then after +a moment of silence, she added, "Saved Rome from what?" + +"From the enemy," Rafael answered, with another laugh. + +"I know that, of course," said Edith; "but Rome has had so many +enemies that I can never keep the different ones separated in my +mind." + +Mrs. Sprague overheard the conversation, and said, "That is one reason +why I brought you to Italy, Edith. I want you to understand all this +Roman history, so that you will be able to pass your examinations when +you return to school." + +Rafael was interested to hear something about the American school +examinations, and Edith told him of her troubles with history. + +Then Rafael told of the difficulty he always had in remembering +whether George Lincoln lived before Abraham Washington, or afterwards; +and while Edith was explaining to him his mistake in the names, they +arrived at one of the many olive-groves that dot the Tuscan hillsides. + +"I think the vineyards are much prettier," said Edith. "But the +twisted black trunks, and the gray branches of the olive trees are +very picturesque," she added. + +Boy-like, Rafael began at once to make friends with the farmer, and +soon learned the whole process of crushing the oil from the ripe black +fruit. + +The farmer led them all to the sheds where the great stones were set +up to crush the olives. He showed them just how the work was done, and +then explained about the different grades of oil. + +"We buy a great deal of your Italian oil in America," said Mrs. +Sprague; and when Rafael had repeated this in Italian to the farmer, +the man went into the house and soon returned with two bottles of his +very best oil, which he presented to Edith and her mother. + +"We Italians sell more oil than any other country," he said proudly to +Rafael, "and we use a great quantity ourselves. It is much better than +butter for cooking." + +Then he showed them the barrels of mammoth green olives which he had +sold on the trees to an American dealer the month before, and which +were soon to be shipped to Genoa. + +Mrs. Sprague looked at the setting sun, and advised that they hurry on +to the next town, where they were to spend the night; and Rafael +rejoiced once more in the speed of the automobile. + +But Edith was tired, and was glad to reach a comfortable bed in Siena, +and lay her head upon the pillow filled with live-geese feathers; +after which she knew nothing more of Italy, until the next morning's +sun wakened her, and she began another day's journey over the roads of +Tuscany. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A MARATHON RUN TO ROME + + +"All roads lead to Rome!" called Edith, from her seat in the +automobile, to Rafael in the door of the inn. The boy gave her a merry +salute in answer, and climbed to his place by her side. + +It was a lovely morning, and every peasant they passed waved a hand in +friendly greeting to the two happy young people, while Mrs. Sprague +leaned back and listened to their merry chatter, which never stopped +through the long hours. + +Rafael was constantly calling Edith's attention to this thing or +that,--to the gray oxen, to the flocks of sheep, to the donkey carts +which they passed. At last Edith said, "Rafael, why do you look always +at the road? Why don't you look instead of those distant mountains, +with the castles and monasteries crowning their peaks?" + +Rafael looked somewhat bewildered. "These animals are all so +foreign-looking to me," he said gently; "and it is a new thing for me +to see men digging in the fields, and women picking leaves from the +trees." + +"Why, of course!" said Edith, remembering that Rafael was used to +canals instead of roads, and the changing waters of a lagoon rather +than green meadows. "It is a new sight to me, as well," she added, +"that of women picking the mulberry leaves to feed to silkworms. We +have few silkworms in our country. + +"But neither do we have mountains crowned with castles. When I go +home, I shall have to imagine that the hotel on top of Mt. Washington +is a haunted monastery crowning the summit of a lofty peak." + +Although Rafael knew nothing about Mt. Washington and the hotel on its +top, he did know that Edith was a bright, observant girl who liked a +touch of the ideal, so he asked, "Do you know about the Marathon runs +of ancient Greece?" + +"Yes, indeed!" she answered. "We have them now once a year at my own +home in the United States, and there is great excitement over the +winning of the twenty-six mile run." + +Rafael shook his head in mock discouragement. "There is nothing in +Europe which you have not also in the United States,--except age," he +added. + +"And history," said Edith. + +"Yes, history," the boy repeated. "I like our history." Then he +laughed and said drolly, "You may have all the history you like from +my mother. She says it is better than salt. My own head is filled to +bursting with all the stories she has told me of the men of olden +times; of their wars and victories, their triumphs and their games. +Why can we not call this ride to Rome a Marathon run?" + +"A Marathon run! What fun!" exclaimed the girl. "How far away is +Rome?" + +"More than a hundred miles," he said. "Do you suppose we could +possibly reach the site of the Golden Milestone before sunset?" + +Edith's eyes sparkled at the thought, and she leaned forward to speak +to the chauffeur. "Is the machine running well?" she asked. "Can we +travel one hundred miles to-day?" + +The man shook his head doubtfully. "There are mountains between here +and Rome," he answered, "and it is not well to push the car too hard." + +Edith looked at Rafael imploringly. "You are a man; can you not +persuade him?" she asked under her breath. + +The boy was pleased to be called a man; but as he was in truth a +gallant Italian lad, he said courteously, "It is for you to persuade." + +Then to the chauffeur he said, "Please stop for a moment at the first +olive-garden." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Edith curiously. + +"Make it easy for you to persuade," he answered; and as the car +stopped he jumped out, sprang to the top of the wall, broke off a +branch of beautiful, silvery-green leaves, and presented it to Edith +with a graceful bow. + +"What can you make with the leaves?" he asked with a smile. + +Edith looked at the branch thoughtfully for a moment. + +"I know," she cried, "the victor's crown of olives!" and she clapped +her hands together with delight. "See," she said to the chauffeur, "if +you will reach the Golden Milestone in Rome by sunset, you shall have +a crown of olive leaves." + +She said it hesitatingly. The chauffeur was a quiet, business-like +man, and Edith, with a child's judgment, supposed him to be too old to +feel a single thrill of ambition. + +Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was only the desire to give pleasure to the +American girl that moved him to smile faintly and say, "Well! Well! We +will see what our car can do; but it is not at all likely that we +shall see Rome this night." + +However, he began at once to increase the speed, carefully to be sure, +but with purpose. + +Edith turned to the task of plaiting a wreath of leaves. As her +fingers twisted and arranged them to make the most of their dull green +upper surfaces, she asked Rafael, "What of this Golden Milestone? I +have never heard of it." + +"It was a gilded stone set up in the old Roman Forum by the Emperor +Augustus," Rafael replied. "He wished to make of the city a great +trading center; and so he built many roads radiating from the Forum to +all parts of ancient Italy. The distances of all the principal towns, +measured from the city gates, were recorded on the golden stone. +Although it is no longer there, its place is marked." + +Edith was disappointed. "I thought I was going to see it," she said, +twisting a leaf to show its gray under-side. + +"There are so many other ruins from the days, of ancient Rome, that +you will never miss the milestone," Rafael assured her. + +"How do you know?" she asked. + +"My mother has told me about them," he answered. "It was only by word +of mouth that much of the earliest history of the world was made +known, and I have learned it in the same way." + +"It may not be the most 'up-to-date' fashion," said the girl, "but it +is certainly more interesting. I wish you would try it now, and tell +me something about the Eternal City." + +The young Italian boy, who was making his first journey into the heart +of his native land, felt his own heart expand with joy as he looked +across the beautiful valleys to the distant blue mountains for +inspiration. + +"It was many hundred years before the birth of Christ that people +first came into Italy," he said. "My mother told me that they wandered +over here from Central Asia in search of good pastures for their +flocks, but it was so many centuries ago that very little is known +about them." + +Edith pointed to a roughly thatched hut in a distant field, and asked, +"Do you suppose they lived in huts like that?" + +"Not at first," the boy answered. "It was a long time before they +built even such good huts as that one. It was only little by little +that they learned to clear the ground and cultivate it with rude +tools; to make dishes out of clay and cook their food; to spin and +weave the wool from their sheep, and to live under shelter. + +"At first each family lived by itself, but after a time they began to +form tribes and choose the strongest and bravest of their number for a +chief. This chief governed them in times of peace and led them in +their wars with other tribes, becoming their leader or king. + +"There were many such tribes in Italy, and for centuries they lived +here, waging constant warfare with each other and with other tribes +and nations." + +"Were there no civilized people in those days?" asked Edith. + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "there were the people of Egypt and Greece; and +some of the Grecians had already wandered over into Italy before the +time of Romulus. + +"When he ploughed a trench for the strong wall which was to be built +for a fortification, Romulus ploughed around a great altar to the +Greek god, Hercules." + +"Who was Romulus?" interrupted Edith. + +"It is said that he was the founder of the city of Rome," Rafael told +her. "He was a son of Mars, the god of war, and he founded the city +753 years before the birth of Christ. There are some parts of his wall +still standing. He lifted his plough over the places where the gates +were to be built." + +"Why, Rafael?" + +"Because the ground where the walls would stand was made sacred, but +the gateways would be profaned by the passing of many feet." + +"How many gates were there?" Edith asked. + +"Three; but please don't ask me their names, for I never learned them. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city." + +[Illustration: GATEWAY OF SAN SEBASTIAN, ROME. +There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city.] + +Edith put down her wreath and laughed with glee. "I'm glad there is +something you never learned about Italian history," she said. "But +tell me what it was like, this early city of Rome." + +"Romulus chose a hill for the site of his village, and soon men from +the neighboring tribes came to join him, so that the town grew large +and prosperous and covered two hills instead of one. + +"Those early Romans lived in rude huts. They made their tools of +flint, bone and bronze, and their dishes of clay. Beside each house +was a garden and sheepfold. Every morning the peasants went to their +work on the farms, and the shepherds drove their little flocks outside +the city walls. Arched gateways were built in the walls, and through +these gates everyone entering or leaving the city was obliged to +pass." + +"Think of having sheep and cattle inside the city," exclaimed Edith. +"I suppose they had to be protected from the wild animals." + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "and from the hostile tribes who were always +ready to steal them. There are many stories about those tribes, and +about the kings who governed the city after Romulus died. Some of the +kings made wise laws and ruled in peace, but others led armies to +conquer the neighboring tribes, and added small territories to their +kingdom." + +"And I suppose each king tried to do something to make his name +famous," said Edith. + +"Not for that reason," Rafael replied. "He did it for the good of the +city. Many of the roads and canals and temples which are now famous +ruins, were built by some of those old kings. + +"As Rome was on the River Tiber, fifteen miles from the sea, one king +built a seaport at the mouth of the river, and a long straight road +leading down to it, which was laid so solidly that it is still in use +to-day. + +"The valleys between the hills of Rome were wet and marshy. A king +named Tarquin drained those marshes by building immense stone sewers. +One of them was so large that several yoke of oxen could pass through +it side by side, and the work was so well done that it is in good +condition now, although it is more than twenty-four hundred years old. + +"One marsh which the sewer drained was used as a market-place. +Shop-keepers set their stalls up there; temples and public buildings +were erected, and it became known as the Roman Forum." + +"The very Forum where we are going?" asked Edith eagerly. + +"Yes," replied Rafael, "the very Forum where Augustus, several hundred +years later, set up the Golden Milestone." + +"What else did those old Romans do?" asked Edith. + +"They were fond of amusements," said Rafael. "One of the valleys +between two of the hills was a good place for races and other games. +On the sloping hillsides on each side of the valley, seats were built +for thousands of spectators, and the place was called the Circus +Maximus. + +"The same king who built the sewers built also a strong fortress on +the top of one of the hills. This fortress was called the Capitol, and +the hill was called the Capitoline Hill. He also ordered that a wall +should be built all around the seven hills to enclose the city, but it +was not finished during his lifetime." + +"Let us get out the map and look at it," suggested the girl, who had +finished plaiting the olive wreath. + +So the wreath was put away in the hamper, and the two heads were soon +bending over a great map of Rome; and Rafael traced the lines of the +old wall which Romulus built. + +Just then Mrs. Sprague looked up at the sun. "It is time for lunch," +she said, and began unpacking the lunch-basket, while the car rolled +steadily nearer and nearer to the Roman Forum. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE GOLDEN MILESTONE" + + +"If we are to reach Rome at sunset, some one must lend a hand at the +wheel," said the chauffeur, as the children finished eating their +lunch. "There is not a moment to lose, and I, also, am hungry." + +Rafael sprang at once to his side. He had longed to drive the +automobile from the very moment they began the journey from Florence, +and had often sat on the seat beside the chauffeur, watching him, and +asking him questions about his work. + +There followed a glorious afternoon for the boy. He was a ready pupil, +the roads were good, and the friendly chauffeur a careful teacher. + +They passed peasant women in gay bodices, with folded handkerchiefs on +their heads and long earrings in their ears, carrying baskets of fruit +on their arms. They passed peasant men driving donkeys or oxen, who +smiled at them from under hats decorated with pompons of colored paper +and tinsel. Geese ran out to hiss at them as they flew by, and hens +and chickens fluttered out of their way; but Rafael had eyes only for +the road. + +They passed lemon groves and rose-gardens, and Edith was grieved +because Rafael could not enjoy with her every new and strange sight. + +"I wanted you to tell me more about the Roman ruins," she said. + +But the boy tossed a merry smile back at her for answer. "We will +speak more about those things when we are in Rome," he said. "I can +think of nothing now but flying," and he bent his eyes again to the +road. + +At last they began the descent of a lofty hill, and the car glided +into the road which is the old Flaminian Way, leading directly to the +city. + +Edith felt the thrill which always stirs the heart when one first +draws near to the Eternal City. She leaned forward and said to the +chauffeur, "How do you feel, to be riding toward Rome?" + +For answer the man pointed to the sun, which was low in the western +sky. "There is only another hour of sunlight," he said with a smile. + +"Oh, shall we fail to reach the Golden Milestone at sunset?" the girl +asked, as anxiously as if it were the most important thing in the +world to win their Marathon run. + +But Rafael suddenly lifted a hand from the wheel. "Ecco!" he said, +pointing to the distant South. + +Edith followed the direction of his finger. Far away she saw the +great dome of a cathedral rising toward the clouds. + +"Rome! St. Peter's!" she shouted. + +The boy nodded. The splendor of the ancient city flashed into his +mind. He saw as in a dream the magnificent temples and palaces, the +triumphal processions, the chariot-races, the games and combats of the +early Romans, about which his mother had told him so many stories. + +"It is a wonderful city," he said. "What tales those old walls could +tell!" + +As they crossed the River Tiber he heard Edith murmur behind him, "Oh, +Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray!" and then it seemed but +a moment before they were rolling through a massive stone gateway, and +the chauffeur had taken the wheel. + +As Rafael lifted his eyes to look about him once more, they looked +straight into the eyes of a man who was riding in the opposite +direction, and he smiled. He did not know that he had smiled, nor that +this man was the king of Italy. His thoughts were back again with the +conquerors of the early days, and the splendors of the ancient city. + +But the king had noticed the boy, and turned to look after him. "That +was the spirit of the old Romans looking from his eyes," he said to +his attendant. + +The last rays of the setting sun fell upon the scarred columns of the +ruined Forum, as the car rounded the base of the Capitoline Hill and +stopped at the spot where the Golden Milestone once marked the +beginning of the Roman roads. + +Rafael was speechless; but Edith took the olive wreath from the hamper +with exclamations of delight. + +"Where will you have it?" she asked the chauffeur, "on your head or +your wheel?" + +"It belongs to the car triumphal," he answered as they turned and +moved cautiously through the street-car tracks of modern Rome. + +"There could never have been such a record run made by your kings and +emperors of olden times," said the girl proudly to Rafael. + +But he was too happy with his thoughts to make any reply, and Edith +turned her attention to the conversation between her mother and the +chauffeur. + +"To the Continental Hotel," Mrs. Sprague was saying, and all too soon +they had crossed the city, and were welcomed and given rooms in the +hotel. The chauffeur bade them good-bye, and their Marathon run was a +thing of the past. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A RAMBLE IN ROME + + +"Did you see a picturesque-looking shepherd, dressed in shaggy skins, +driving his flock through the square at midnight?" + +Rafael asked the question at the breakfast table one morning, about +two weeks after their arrival in Rome. + +"No, indeed!" Edith answered. "I was fast asleep. How could you see +what he wore?" + +"It was bright moonlight," Rafael told her in reply. "I could see +plainly his sheepskin jacket and the long hair of his goatskin +leggins. He had a great white dog to help him guide the sheep, and +they entered the square and passed through it so silently that it +seemed almost like a dream." + +"Perhaps it was a dream," said Edith; but Rafael shook his head, and +the girl went on, "Now I had a dream about the geese that saved Rome; +but you will no doubt tell me that if I had looked out of the window I +should have seen them following old Mother Goose through the square." + +Rafael laughed. "I do not know your old Mother Goose," he said, and +left the table to telephone for the guide who was to take them to see +some of the famous ruins of ancient Rome. + +In a short time the guide arrived, and they were ready to drive +through the city streets. This guide was Professor Gates, a man who +had lived in Rome over twenty-five years, studying its history and +ancient ruins, and he had already taken Rafael, with Edith and Mrs. +Sprague, to see many interesting places. + +"Where are we going to-day?" Edith asked, as they took their seats in +the carriage. + +"I want you to drive a little distance along the Appian Way," replied +their guide; "but we will look first at some of the arches of the old +aqueduct which was built by Appius Claudius, many years before the +birth of Christ, to bring water to the city from the mountains sixty +miles away." + +It was a lovely morning for a drive, and Edith and Rafael saw many +sights to point out to each other. Near the foot of one of the arches +of the aqueduct they found a group of models picking flowers, and +Edith asked them to pose for a picture. + +It was a pretty little group. The boy wore a conical hat adorned with +a feather, a red jacket, and sandals which were bound upon his feet +with red cords that were interlaced up the legs as far as the knees. +His mother and sister wore bright red skirts and green aprons, and +they all smiled at Edith as she tossed them some coins for posing. + +"You will find such models all over the city," said Professor Gates. + +"Like all-over embroidery," said Edith with a merry laugh; but no one +saw her little joke, so she asked more seriously, "How did the water +flow through the arches?" + +"It did not flow through the arches, but through the aqueduct which +you see at the top," the guide explained. "If you remember your Latin +you will know that this word is formed from two others which mean +'water' and 'to lead.' In some places the aqueduct was laid upon the +ground, but here there was a valley to be crossed, as you see, and the +arches formed a bridge over which the pipe was laid." + +From the aqueduct they drove to the old Appian Way. + +"The Appian Way was named after Appius Claudius, who built a part of +it," Professor Gates explained. "It is three hundred miles long, and +crosses Italy to Brindisi, a seaport on the south-eastern coast." + +"I thought you said that Appius Claudius built the aqueduct," said +Mrs. Sprague. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. +The arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top.] + +"So he did," replied the professor. "The road is called 'Appian' +after one of his names, and the aqueduct 'Claudian' after the other." + +"Was he one of the kings of early Rome?" asked Edith, taking out her +note-book. + +"No," he answered, "the kingdom came to an end more than two hundred +years before this road was begun. This is one of the great works of +the republic." + +"What a glorious sight it must have been to see the Roman army come +marching home in triumph from some of its great victories," said +Rafael. "Think how thousands of soldiers, with spears and helmets +flashing in the sun, marched over this road, leading their prisoners +of war." + +"Yes," said Edith, "and think how the Roman women came hurrying +through that old gate to meet them, shouting with joy at their +return." + +The professor smiled at the children. He liked the way they had begun +to see pictures in their minds of the earlier days of Rome. He called +their attention to the ruins of tombs which are scattered along the +road on either side, and then pointed to three peasant children who +had been playing in the field, but had stopped to watch the strangers. +"There is ancient Rome and young Italy. You will find one quite as +interesting as the other," he said. + +"Most of what you see is historic," he told them as they rode back +into the city. "There is a story about every ruin along the Appian +Way. I have told you the legends of the kings, but there are also +tales to tell of the days of the republic and of the glorious empire." + +"Rafael likes those old kings," said Edith. "How did the kingdom +happen to come to an end?" + +"One of the Kings was such a cruel tyrant that the people rose in +rebellion, under the leadership of a man named Brutus, and drove the +king and his followers from the city," replied the professor. "Brutus +then persuaded the Romans never again to be ruled by a king, so two +men were elected each year to govern the people, and the kingdom +became a republic. That was about five hundred years before the birth +of Christ. + +"During the time of the republic, which lasted nearly five hundred +years, the Romans were waging constant warfare with other tribes and +nations, to gain wealth and power. One war followed another in rapid +succession, and there were many famous warriors who fought bravely for +the glory of Rome." + +"Horatius was one of those old warriors," said Rafael. + +"Yes," said Edith, "Horatius, who held back the army of the enemy from +crossing the bridge over the River Tiber. I learned a poem about it +once." + +"The bridge was a wooden one which crossed the river at a spot near +here," said the guide. "We will drive around to see the place where it +stood." + +They soon reached the bend of the river where Horatius called for +volunteers to aid him in defending the city. + +"Let me hear the story again," said Edith, "right here where he once +stood," and Rafael told it with shining eyes. + +"Horatius was a brave soldier who had already lost an eye in the +service of Rome," he began; "and now he was ready to lose his life if +need be. He crossed the bridge with two companions, and called for men +to come forward from the ranks of the enemy and fight. + +"While they fought, the Roman soldiers were cutting down the bridge +behind them. The two companions of Horatius turned and saw that, at +last, the bridge was about to fall, so they ran back to safety. But +Horatius was so brave that he remained alone, fighting until the +bridge crashed down. + +"Then there was no way for the enemy to cross the river and enter +Rome, so he jumped into the water with all his armor on, and swam +safely to the other side, where he was received with great +rejoicing." Edith jotted a few words down in her note-book, murmuring +as she did so:-- + + "Still is the story told, + How well Horatius kept the bridge + In the brave days of old." + +"Another hero of the days of the republic was Cincinnatus," said +Professor Gates. "He was an old soldier who was plowing in his fields +when he was called upon to lead a small company of brave men to aid +the Roman army, which was surrounded by the enemy and could not fight +its way out. + +"After Cincinnatus conquered the enemy and rescued the army, he +returned to Rome, where he was given a grand triumph." + +"I suppose our city of Cincinnati was named after him," said Edith, +and then without waiting for an answer, she asked, "What was a grand +triumph?" + +"Those triumphs were often granted to famous victors, and were times +of great rejoicing," the professor said. "The day was made a holiday, +the houses were decorated with garlands, the streets were filled with +throngs of people, and there was music and feasting throughout the +city. + +"Magnificent processions passed through the streets. Beautiful maidens +scattered flowers before the victor, who looked very fine, clad in +purple robes and riding in a triumphal car. + +"The prisoners of war followed the victor's chariot, to make his +triumph more of a spectacle, and soldiers carrying booty taken from +the conquered cities marched beside them singing hymns of victory, +while the shouts of the Roman populace called down blessings and +praises upon the head of their hero. + +"The procession passed through the Forum, and at the foot of the hill +the victor turned to the left to go to the Capitol, where +thank-offerings were made to the gods, while the prisoners turned to +the right and were led away to prison. + +"It must have been a magnificent sight, even in those old days of +splendor," he added, and turned to lead the way back to their +carriage. + +"Those triumphs must have cost a great deal of money," said Mrs. +Sprague. + +"There were enormous fortunes in old Rome, and the people spent +extravagant sums on amusements and public celebrations," their guide +told her. "One of the greatest of all the triumphs was given in honor +of Julius Caesar, when he returned from conquering the Gauls. He wrote +an account of his wars with those barbarians which has been read by +many thousands of school children." + +"Is it in Latin?" Edith asked. + +"Yes," replied the professor. "That was the language of the Roman +people." + +"I have read it then," said the girl; and she sighed as she thought of +the tears she had shed over her Latin lessons and Caesar's accounts of +his wars with the Gauls. + +"Julius Caesar was one of the greatest generals the world has ever +known," said Professor Gates. "He was a powerful leader and ruler of +men, and it was this great power that made him ambitious to be called +Emperor of Rome, and to make the republic an empire. + +"Some of his friends feared he would be successful in this attempt, +and, joining his enemies, they assassinated him. They loved the +freedom of their country more than they did Caesar. + +"His body was burned in the Roman Forum," added the professor. "But +not long after his death the republic did actually become an empire." + +"Tell us about the empire," begged Rafael, who always wished to know +everything at once. + +"Not to-day," said Mrs. Sprague, looking at her watch. "It is time for +luncheon and our afternoon rest." + +"That is true," said the professor, looking at the sun. "Some other +day, with Mrs. Sprague's permission, I will take you to the Colosseum +and then we will hear about the empire." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM + + +Edith was sitting at the hotel window with her note-book open before +her. "Professor Gates tells us so much," she said, "that it is all +mixed up in my mind. + +"But it is my dearest wish to get it straightened out," she added +quickly, as she saw the troubled look on her mother's face. "What is +your dearest wish?" she asked Rafael, who was reading a letter from +his mother. + +"I have none," he answered, "since the Signora has been so good as to +bring me to this wonderful city." + +"Oh, Rafael!" Edith said merrily, "you must have found an Italian +blarney stone somewhere." Then she went on more seriously, "Every one +always has a dearest wish. As fast as one is fulfilled, another takes +its place." + +He smiled. "Very well, since it must be so, I have a dearest wish," he +said, "and it is to serve the king." + +Edith looked at him with laughing eyes. "That is a very fine wish," +she said; "but I think mine is more likely to be granted first, +because Professor Gates is to take us to the Colosseum this very +morning, and I shall ask him every question about this history that I +can think of." + +Several days had passed since their excursion to the Appian Way, but +the children had found every one full to overflowing. The mornings had +been spent in the art galleries and churches, and the afternoons in +driving through the Campagna or the beautiful grounds of the Villa +Borghese. + +One whole day had been devoted to visiting St. Peter's Cathedral, +which is the largest church in the whole world, and to seeing the +treasures of the Vatican,--the home of the Pope. + +Mrs. Sprague was glad to sit quietly on her camp-stool and let the +children wander about the enormous buildings under the direction of +the guide. Of all the treasures, Rafael liked best the pictures in the +Vatican by the great painter Rafael, for whom he was named; but Edith +was more interested in the mosaics and statues in the cathedral, and +in the huts of the workmen who live on the roof, and spend all their +time in repairing the vast church. + +During the noon hours they had stayed in the hotel, where their rooms +had gradually taken on a most homelike appearance. Beautiful, +bright-colored Roman scarfs found their way from the shops to the +children's tables, and photographs of the places that they had visited +turned the walls into picture galleries. + +Rosaries, bought from old women on the church steps, and later blessed +by the Pope, hung over the mirrors. In their work-baskets Edith and +her mother always had a bit of sewing to catch up at odd moments, and +there were books, maps and papers everywhere. + +Rafael fitted into this cozy atmosphere with wonderful ease. He never +returned from a walk without a bouquet of flowers for the vases on the +tables, and he fell into a way of carrying a light camp-stool in their +excursions through the picture-galleries, so that Mrs. Sprague could +sit down when she was tired. + +But this morning Mrs. Sprague was to visit some friends who were +spending the winter in Rome, and Edith and Rafael were going alone +with Professor Gates to the Colosseum. + +"There is nothing new under the sun," said Rafael, as they stepped out +of the hotel elevator. "I have just been reading that there were +elevators in the Colosseum nearly two thousand years ago." + +"They couldn't have been much like this fine one," said Edith. "What +were they for?" she asked, taking out her note-book. + +"They were used to lift the fierce wild animals out of the underground +pits where they were kept until it was time for them to fight in the +arena," Rafael told her, and added, "You haven't much more room in +that note-book." + +"The only way I can remember all you tell me is by making a note of +it," Edith replied with a laugh, and turned to greet the guide, who +had a carriage waiting for them. + +There were many other tourists' carriages standing outside the great +ruin of the Colosseum, but as the professor led the two children under +the arches and into the arena they were hardly conscious of these +other sight-seers, so vast is this king of buildings. + +"The Colosseum was an enormous out-door theatre which seated over +eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for many +more," the guide told them. + +As Edith climbed up to sit on one of the stone seats, Rafael said, +"Think of all the old Romans who sat on these same stones, and who +looked down into that arena at the terrible battles between men and +beasts." + +[Illustration: THE COLOSSEUM AT ROME. +This enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people.] + +"Yes," added Professor Gates, "for four hundred years the Roman people +came here on holidays, and sometimes they had as many as one hundred +and twenty-five holidays in one year. They came to be amused and +entertained with games, contests, and combats between men and wild +beasts; and they saw with delight many scenes of bloodshed and death, +too horrible for me to describe to you." + +The children looked with him at the deep underground pits where the +animals--lions, tigers, elephants, and other savage beasts--were kept, +and at the places where two aqueducts led the water into the arena. + +"Those old Romans were always trying to find some new way of pleasing +the people," he told them, "and sometimes they made a large lake of +the arena, and had boats on the lake fighting terrible battles, in +which many men were killed just for amusement. There are no walls now +standing which have seen so much of the splendor and cruelty of +ancient days," he added. + +Edith sighed. "I shall never boast about the stadium at Cambridge +again," she said. + +"This Colosseum was built in the early days of the Roman Empire," the +guide continued. "The first and greatest of the Roman emperors was +Augustus, for whom our month of August was named. During his reign +many buildings were repaired which had begun to crumble to ruins in +the days of the republic, when the Romans had devoted most of their +time and money to wars, and many other beautiful buildings were +erected. It was said of this emperor that he found Rome brick and left +it marble. + +"It was during the reign of Augustus that the most important event in +the history of the world took place. Christ was born in Bethlehem. +Every event which happened before the birth of Christ is said to have +taken place so many years B. C. (before Christ). All dates after His +birth are given as so many years A. D.--Anno Domini--(two Latin words +which mean 'in the year of our Lord')." + +"I was born in 1893 A. D.," said Edith, "and that means that it was +eighteen hundred and ninety-three years after the birth of Christ." + +"Yes," said Rafael, "and Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B. C., and that +means forty-four years before Christ was born." + +"True," said the professor, "and Julius Caesar was born in 100 B. C., +which makes him fifty-six years old when he died. Can you puzzle that +out for yourselves?" + +Then without waiting for a reply, he continued, "The Roman Empire was +very large, with vast provinces, but it also had powerful enemies. +Among these enemies were the barbarians in Central Europe, and it was +necessary for Augustus to protect his northern frontier with strong +forces, to keep them out of the country. This he did, but we shall +see that later emperors failed to see the importance of this step, and +this was one of the causes that led finally to the destruction of the +city of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. + +"Augustus also encouraged trade, and built roads which radiated from +the Golden Milestone at the head of the Forum to all parts of the +Roman world. From this came the saying, 'All roads lead to Rome.'" + +"We came into Rome in an automobile on one of the roads which were +built so long ago," said Edith, "and we have seen the site of the +Golden Milestone; but I should like better to see an old Roman chariot +with four prancing horses go whirling around this arena." + +"My mother has told me that many Christians have died for their faith +in this same arena," said Rafael. + +"Yes," replied the guide, "after the birth of Christ people began, +little by little, to follow His teachings and to become Christians. In +the centuries before the Christian religion was the accepted religion +of Rome many hundreds, and even thousands, of men and women were put +to death both here and elsewhere. + +"During the reign of Nero, who was a very cruel emperor, a great fire +destroyed a large part of the city, and many Christians were tortured +and killed on the groundless suspicion that they had caused the fire. + +"Come," he added, looking at Edith's sad face, "let us think of +something more cheerful," and he led the way out of the Colosseum and +down the road to a great stone arch. + +"This arch commemorates the famous victories of Constantine," their +guide told the children. "He was the first emperor to become a +Christian." + +"How did he happen to become a Christian?" asked Edith. + +"Soon after he was declared emperor, he was leading his army to battle +one day, when a bright cross suddenly appeared in the sky. Surrounding +the cross were four words which mean, 'In this sign conquer.' On +seeing the vision, Constantine vowed to become a Christian if he +should win a victory over the enemy; and he ordered a new standard, +bearing the cross and the inscription, which was carried before him in +the battle. + +"He did win the victory, the enemy was defeated, and he entered Rome +in great triumph. In memory of the victory this very arch was called +the Arch of Constantine. He also kept his vow to become a Christian, +and for the first time the Christians were given equal liberty with +the pagans, who still worshipped the Roman gods." + +Edith, who had been writing again in her note-book, looked up at the +professor with a laugh. "If this Roman Empire doesn't come to an end +soon, I shall have to buy a new note-book," she said. + +Rafael laughed, too. "You will need a whole library of books to hold +all the history of the Roman Empire," he told her. + +"Are we going to hear it all?" Edith asked anxiously. + +"No," replied Professor Gates, "there is little more for me to tell +to-day. After the death of Constantine there were many more terrible +wars with the barbarians. At last the fierce Goths crossed the Alps +and marched down to the very walls of Rome. They besieged the city, +burst in by surprise, killed hundreds of the people, and destroyed +many of the buildings. As they also were Christians, they spared the +churches and all who took refuge in them." + +"I have heard of the Goths," said Edith, "and of the Vandals, too. +Where did they come from?" + +"They came over from Africa, captured Rome, and remained here fourteen +days, destroying the buildings and sacking the city. They carried away +whole ship-loads of booty, and took many of the Romans to be their +slaves. + +"The Roman Empire had already been divided into two parts, and +Constantinople was the capital of the Empire of the East. The Bishop +of Rome, who was called the Pope, now became the ruler of the Empire +of the West. He succeeded to the throne of the deposed emperor, and +held this position of power until 1870, when Victor Emanuele I. was +made king of Italy." + +"Viva l'Italia!" said Rafael, tossing up his cap. + +"Don't toss up your cap like that," Edith reproved him. "Those little +beggars may think you are tossing it for them. Ecco!" she called to +the boys, and threw a few coins to the funny little fellows who ran +along beside the carriage, begging for coppers even while they stood +on their heads. + +"I can buy photographs of all your famous ruins," she said to +Professor Gates, as she pointed her camera at the heap of boys +scrambling in the road for the coins, "but I shall always like best my +own pictures of these happy little Italian children." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MERRY NAPLES + + +Rafael wrote his mother joyful accounts of those happy days in Rome. + +And he saw the king! It happened upon an afternoon when all Rome, +dressed in gayest costumes for one of the festivals, crowded into open +carriages and drove out to the Villa Borghese. + +In the shade of a great tree, where a living spring bubbles up from +the ground, Rafael twisted a leaf into a cup, which he filled with +water and offered to Edith. + +As he looked beyond the girl, he met a piercing glance from a pair of +brilliant blue eyes. This time he knew the king at once, and saluted +him. + +The king smiled, saying to his aide, "I have seen that boy before. He +wore the look then of an older Italy, but now he has the promise of +the young country in his eyes." + +Rafael wrote his mother of that smile. "I could follow the king +anywhere for another like it," the letter said. + +Then he wrote of the heavy Roman faces; the hard, tiresome pavements, +and the noisy clang of the street cars,--all so different from his +bright, silent Venice. + +"But there are pleasant things," he wrote. "There are many beautiful +fountains where the water gushes all day; and I often go out of my way +for a sight of the Pope's soldiers, the Swiss Guard, standing at the +entrance to the Vatican. They make me think of our Venetian +mooring-posts with their many-colored stripes; and their stately +halberds are not unlike the prow of our gondolas. I am very grateful +to Michael Angelo for designing a costume which reminds me of home. + +"Often we meet schools of boys walking two by two, wearing black +dress-suits and high, stiff black hats, and I am glad I am not one of +them." + +His mother sighed as she read of his endless pleasure, and wondered if +it would estrange him from his quiet life in Venice. Then she wrote a +long letter in answer, in which she said, "Remember that the fine old +Roman character was weakened through ease and indulgence. Remember, +also, that our young king likes nothing so much as devotion to duty." + +Her letter ended with a quotation from an English poet,--"Live pure, +speak true, right wrong, follow the king." + +Rafael read between the lines that she feared he would learn to like +his happy life with the Spragues too well. He lifted his eyes from the +letter and acknowledged to himself that this freedom from care and +responsibility was very pleasant. Mrs. Sprague indulged him as she +indulged Edith. The treasures of the shops flowed into his own room as +well as hers, and no door which money could open remained closed to +them in this city of precious sights. + +His eyes fell again to the letter, and a choking feeling filled his +throat as he pictured his mother sitting alone in the home in Venice. +"The dear, lonely mother!" he said to himself. "My letters have given +her sad thoughts." + +Then, with a boy's carelessness, he said, laughing lightly at his +English joke, "I can write wrong, it seems; but can I follow the +king?" + +Just then Edith ran into the room crying, "Mother has decided to take +the noon train to Naples. Doesn't she do everything suddenly?" And +Rafael forgot his mother's letter in his pleasure over another +journey. + +The car ride to Naples always remained in the boy's mind as a +succession of pictures; but no picture could reveal the many phases of +his mind as he passed from one experience to another in the days that +followed. + +"The guide-book calls this the most fertile valley in Europe," said +Mrs. Sprague, as they rode along, catching glimpses of farmers plowing +in the fields. The distant hills were soft and blue, but on drawing +near to them, terraces and flights of steps were to be seen on the +slopes. + +At last Edith called, "I see Vesuvius!" and the wonderful volcano lay +before them. Its smoke rose in a straight column and then broke, +trailing off into the distance like the smoke from an ocean liner. + +"It makes the mountain look like a man-of-war," exclaimed Rafael, and +the two pairs of eyes hardly saw anything else until they reached +Naples. + +"Let us go to a hotel where we can see the fire at night, if it comes +out of the volcano," said Edith; and they took rooms from which they +could watch every mood of Vesuvius. + +Before they had been in the city three days Edith decided that she +liked it better than she did Rome. "The people there looked so +serious," she said, "while here they are very merry and sociable." + +Mrs. Sprague laughed. "They are certainly sociable enough," she said. +"Yesterday I heard a woman read a letter aloud from an upper window to +her friend on the sidewalk below." + +Edith laughed in her turn. "Was the window in the same house where we +saw the rooster and chickens in the upper balcony?" she asked. + +[Illustration: "IT IS A FUNNY SIGHT TO SEE THE BOYS OF NAPLES EATING + MACARONI"] + +Rafael felt a touch of sadness at hearing their light talk. "The poor +people!" he said. "When they live upstairs there is no other way but +for them to keep their animals up there with them." + +"Many of them seem to live in the basements of the rich," observed the +girl. + +To Rafael, the sight of such great poverty was no new thing, but Edith +spoke of it constantly, and wrote of it to her father in America. + +"There seem to be nothing but happiness and laziness here among these +poor people," the letter said. "They live and eat upon the sidewalk, +and it is a funny sight to see the boys swallowing macaroni. + +"Many of the rooms in which the people sleep seem to be spaces left in +the foundation of a castle, with no windows or doors in the openings. +Often the castles seem to be ruined hills; and they have great holes +in their barren sides, like caverns in the sides of cliffs; and we see +barred doorways instead of windows, with dungeons beyond. + +"Then suddenly the hills blossom out into ramparts and parapets, so +that it is impossible to distinguish between hills and castles; and to +puzzle us still more, long flights of steps lead up between hilly +castles and castled hills. + +"Occasionally we see a group of basket-makers, or tailors, or +shoemakers on the sidewalks among the family groups of fathers, +mothers and children. A little beyond such a group we saw yesterday a +herd of goats resting comfortably in the shade, also on the sidewalk. + +"Early in the morning these goats are driven through the streets. They +stop in front of a doorway, a woman runs out with a cup, the man milks +her cup full and then drives on to the next doorway. Sometimes, if the +woman lives on an upper floor of the house, one of the goats is driven +up the stairs, to be milked at her very door. + +"We see rich people, also, driving in their splendid carriages on +their most beautiful boulevard, overlooking the blue bay; and in +contrast to them and their spirited horses, a contadino will come +bringing a load of produce to market from the country, driving a white +cow harnessed between a full-grown horse and a tiny mule." + +While the American girl was marvelling at the queer mingling of riches +and poverty in Naples, Rafael was drinking in the beauty of the bay, +and of the lovely villages which lie along its border. + +Mrs. Sprague stayed two or three weeks in Naples, although she said +that she did not like it at all. "The people are so shiftless," she +complained, picking up her skirts and walking round a group of girls +who were sitting on the sidewalk combing their hair. "It is the +dirtiest city in the world." + +"Oh, Mother!" Edith exclaimed, "how can you say so? When we go out on +the bay in the evening and I look back at the city, it seems to me +most beautiful. It is like an amphitheatre, with its tiers of lights +rising one above another. Then she sang softly:-- + + "My soul to-day is far away, + Sailing the Vesuvian Bay!" + +"Avanti!" exclaimed Rafael suddenly, and shook his head at a boy who +was offering a pair of pearl opera-glasses for Mrs. Sprague to buy. +Mrs. Sprague drew the back of her hand under her chin, tossing her +head at the same time. + +The little peddler laughed and showed his white teeth at the awkward +motion of the American lady, but he did not insist that she should +buy. + +As for Edith and Rafael, they looked plainly astonished. "Why, +Mother!" said the girl admiringly, "you are talking in a foreign +language when you use signs. How did you happen to find out such an +easy way to dismiss the little beggar?" + +"I was driven to it," answered her mother. "These foreigners have +cheated me out of half my money by asking me to pay so much for their +wares. They will never take 'no' for an answer. That same boy has been +trying to make me buy that same pair of opera-glasses for three days; +but at last I have found out a sign that will keep him away. I have +seen the others use it," she said with satisfaction. + +"What does it mean?" asked Edith curiously. + +"It means 'I will not take it at any price,'" said Mrs. Sprague. + +Rafael, who had been laughing with great amusement while she gave this +explanation, now said, "This language of signs is very convenient. We +Italians do half our talking by signs." + +Edith looked at him and shook her head decidedly. "Just listen!" she +said, pointing to the groups of people gathered along the quay. These +people were all talking in the liveliest manner imaginable, and there +was a great babble of excited voices. Street peddlers were crying +their wares, drivers were cracking their whips, and men in boats, on +the water below, were shouting to each other about the price of fish. + +"It is certainly the noisiest city in the world," Edith said; "but it +is also the jolliest. I am going now to the stand where the public +letter-writer sat waiting for customers yesterday. I will let him +write a letter for me." + +The three separated and Mrs. Sprague returned to the hotel, while +Rafael went down to the quay to watch the fishermen. The water with +its bustle and stir of life, its coming and going of boats, was like a +breath of home to the boy. + +[Illustration: POMPEII AND MOUNT VESUVIUS] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BURIED CITY + + +Edith and Rafael planned their trip to the top of Vesuvius for many +days before the right morning finally arrived. + +"The right morning is a bright morning," sang Edith one evening as she +looked out at the stars; "and to-morrow will bring a bright morning," +she added, so positively that Mrs. Sprague sent Rafael to buy the +tickets, in order that they might be ready for an early start. + +Although it was the last week in December the air was soft and warm, +and the sun shone with the brightness of summer. + +From Naples to the foot of Mt. Vesuvius there was first a drive of +several hours, after which they went up to the crater over an inclined +railway. + +"It is like looking at the entrance to the underworld," said Edith, as +they looked down into the great chasm which holds so much mystery and +terror; and she was glad to take the train back to the foot of the +mountain. + +As they stood looking at the great beds of lava which poured down the +sides of the mountain many years ago, Edith exclaimed, "How can any +one dare to live near the volcano?" + +Rafael turned to a peasant whose little farm was not far away, and +asked him if he ever felt free from danger. + +"Ah, no!" the man answered, lifting sad eyes and hands to heaven. +"When I go to sleep at night I think always, before the light of the +morning, the mountain, he may send his fire and stones to crush us +all; who knows?" + +"Why did the people of Pompeii live so near to Vesuvius, if they knew +it might bury them?" Edith asked impatiently. + +"They did not know it in the days when Pompeii was built," Rafael told +her. "Vesuvius was supposed to be an extinct volcano then. It had not +said a word for hundreds of years. Everything about it was green and +beautiful, and its slopes were covered with forests and vineyards. It +is not strange that people built the two cities near its base." + +"What other city was built, besides Pompeii?" asked the girl. + +"Herculaneum," answered Rafael. "None of the people felt any fear of +danger in the two cities, although an earthquake destroyed some of the +buildings in the reign of Nero. + +"But in the year 79 A. D., Vesuvius suddenly woke up, and there was a +fearful eruption. Ashes and rocks were thrown out of the crater with +great force, and hot lava poured down the side of the mountain. The +two cities at the foot were completely buried under the ashes, and +thousands of people were killed." + +"There was an eruption in 1906, which made many people homeless," said +Mrs. Sprague, "and no one knows when there may be another. + +"Pompeii lay buried for seventeen centuries, and people forgot that +there had been such a city; when, after a long time, a farmer who was +digging for a well discovered the ruins, and since then a part of each +city has been excavated." + +"I should like to know just how the people of Pompeii lived, and what +they were doing when the city was destroyed," said Edith. + +"You shall see the relics that were taken from the ruins and are now +in the museum at Naples," her mother told her. "The life of the old +Pompeiians has been studied from those relics and a guide can tell you +just how they did their housekeeping and what their life was like." + +Before she left America, Edith had looked forward to the smoking +mountain of Vesuvius and the city of Pompeii as being the most +wonderful part of her journey. The volcano, and the city which lay +buried under ashes for centuries, had been the goal of her desires. + +"Wait until we see Vesuvius and Pompeii!" had been her cry whenever +she wrote home. "Then I shall have something to tell you!" + +But she turned her face away from the forbidding crater and the +desolate beds of lava with a feeling of disappointment that was half +fear. + +"Perhaps I shall like better to go into the museum and see the curious +things that were found in Pompeii," she said, as she searched for a +bit of lava from which to have a piece of jewelry fashioned. + +"Just think of having the whole world interested to know how the +people baked their bread so long ago," said Rafael; and when they had +returned to Naples, the children found it very interesting to visit +the museum and imagine how the people lived in the time of Christ. + +Then one day they went down to the ruined city, riding in a small car +over a roadbed so loosely made that Rafael laughed about it, and Edith +said it was only a toy journey. + +But when they went through the sea-gate at Pompeii, passed the army of +boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations, and stood in the +silent streets, Edith drew closer to her mother, and Rafael walked +quietly beside them. + +[Illustration: "THE ARMY OF BOYS BEARING BASKETS OF EARTH FROM THE + EXCAVATIONS AT POMPEII" ] + +They followed the instructions of the guide and looked obediently +at the deep ruts made in the pavements of the narrow streets by the +old Roman chariot wheels. They walked through the forum, and stood in +the ruined amphitheatre. + +At last Edith drew Mrs. Sprague into the lonely angle of a wall where +they could see nothing of the crumbled houses all about them, the +pavements, or the great stepping-stones in the streets. + +"I want to go home," she said with a shudder. "I never want to see +Vesuvius again." + +She was plainly homesick. It was a sudden ending to the "long thoughts +of youth" which had filled so many hours with bright anticipations; +but she was in such a hurry to get away from the buried city that they +took the next train back to Naples without even stopping to buy +picture postcards of the ruins. + +When they reached their hotel in Naples they found a foreign war-ship +anchored in the bay. + +"There is the old man-of-war threatening us from the land, and here is +one in the bay," exclaimed Edith. "It makes me nervous!" + +Mrs. Sprague saw that her daughter was tired. "We will go back to Rome +to-morrow," she said. + +"But I want to buy a lottery ticket before we leave Naples," said the +girl. + +"Befana will fill your stockings with ashes if you do," said Rafael. + +"Everybody in Italy buys lottery tickets. Why should not I?" asked +Edith perversely. + +"I do it not," said Rafael shortly. + +"That is because your wonderful king does not believe in it," she +answered. + +"Is that not a good reason?" asked the boy. He looked at her with the +same expression he wore in Venice, when she spoke slightingly of the +superstitions of his country, and as she knew him better now, she +laughed and agreed with him. + +"I did not really mean to do it," she said, and added, "Tell me more +about Befana." + +"How I used to shake in my bed when I heard her bell ring!" he said +with a laugh. + +"Did you really hear it ring?" asked Edith. + +He looked at her drolly, answering, "Of course I heard her bell. And +often I heard the sheep talking to one another on Twelfth-night; or at +least I thought I did." + +"Truly?" asked Edith in great delight. + +He nodded, smiling mischievously at her unexpected pleasure in hearing +of the Italian superstitions. + +Befana is the Italian Lady Santa Claus. She is quite different from +the fat, jolly man who drives his reindeer over the roofs at Christmas +time. + +While Sir Santa is short and rosy, Befana is dark and tall; and while +the kind old gentleman leaves something in every stocking, good and +bad alike, this rather terrible old lady puts presents only in the +good children's stockings, and drops bags of ashes into the others. + +Instead of happening at Christmas, as with us, the Italian festival is +celebrated on the eve of Epiphany, the sixth of January. + +"Everyone is happy then," said Rafael, "and we shall forget Pompeii +and the man-of-war which is always threatening it." + +So the children began at once to plan for the Twelfth-night festival. + +"Mother and I will make some peasant costumes for us to wear," Edith +told Rafael, and added, "or you might wear a soldier's uniform and a +cocked hat. The soldiers look so fine and march so well in Italy!" + +"Come children, it is time to go to bed if we are to take the early +morning train to Rome," interrupted Mrs. Sprague, who had been +studying a time-table; and the children separated, little dreaming +that every plan would soon be changed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MAGIC OF THE FOUNTAIN + + +In the morning they wakened to find on every tongue the news of the +terrible earthquake at Messina, and for many days it was Italy the +desolate that filled their minds and kept their hands busy. + +People who saw it never forgot the dreadful misery of the country at +that time. + +Edith and Rafael stood silent, as when they had walked the streets of +the buried city of Pompeii, and watched the confusion of vessels +coming and going to the South. Boxes and bundles of all sizes and +shapes were piled high on the wharf, and supplies of food and clothing +were being hurried to the suffering city. + +Newspaper men, frantic to gather news which everyone wished to hear, +hurried back and forth on the quay, filling Edith with indignation. +"What difference does it make whether we know all the latest news or +not?" she asked hotly. "All those poor, starving people must be fed." + +Rafael watched the soldiers march through the streets, without the +music of the band, and go on board the ships to follow the king's boat +to the stricken island, and his heart yearned to go with them. + +"Italy is accursed," he heard the superstitious Neapolitans moaning, +but he shook his head. "Not while the king and queen live, and teach +us how to help," he said to himself, and then he went to find Mrs. +Sprague. + +"I cannot live this idle life any longer," he said, as he had said it +once before, in Venice. + +And as his mother asked then, so Mrs. Sprague asked now, "What will +you do?" + +"I will follow the king to Messina and ask him to make me one of the +patrol guard," the boy answered. + +They were standing on the quay as he spoke, and could see a +relief-ship which was getting up steam, ready to sail out of the +harbor. + +Mrs. Sprague was alarmed. She knew that the boy would not be allowed +to go into the ruined city, and she felt sure that his mother would +not permit him to go if she were there; but in the excitement it was +possible for him to slip away at any moment, under the mistaken idea +that he could be of service. + +She put her hand upon the boy's arm to detain him, if indeed he needed +to be detained, and said, "How can I make you see that it is not +possible for you to be of any use there?" + +A man in naval uniform, who was just about to step into a tender and +go out to the relief-ship, heard her words and turned, looking into +Rafael's face. + +He smiled suddenly and held out his hand. "We have met before, when +life was brighter," he said; and Rafael recognized with delight the +man who had listened to the serenade at the Rialto bridge with him, +that summer night in Venice. + +"May I go with you?" asked the boy impetuously. + +The officer looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Our ambassador +has sent me down to see what Messina needs most," he said, "and I +shall be gone but a day or two. I see no harm in taking you along; but +there must be no nonsense about doing patrol duty." + +So it came about that Rafael went to Messina and saw the ruin and +destruction caused by the greatest earthquake in the history of the +world. + +He was back in Naples a few days later with a face deeply saddened by +the suffering he had seen. "I could not do anything there," he told +Mrs. Sprague, who was glad to see him safely back again; "but my +friend, the naval officer, helped me to think of a way to be of +service." + +"I will help you. What are you going to do?" asked Edith. She had been +busy every day, helping her mother collect food, clothing and +medicine to send to Messina in the relief-ships; but she longed to do +still more. + +"I am going to make some tops," he told her. "I saw the king and queen +doing with their own hands whatever needed to be done to help the poor +people; and I can make tops and sell them. In that way I can raise a +little money for the sufferers." + +That was how it came about that, one evening a week later, a pair of +picturesque peasants stood among the booths in the Circus Agonale, in +Rome, selling tops. There were booths where peddlers sold whistles of +every kind and description; but they two, Edith and Rafael, were the +only peddlers of tops. + +In all the din of the crowds that passed and re-passed, nothing +attracted more attention and made more fun than the doll-tops which +Edith and her mother had dressed for Rafael. Edith blew a great blast +on her whistle, Rafael gave a piercing scream on his, and they had a +little crowd of merry-makers around them in a moment. + +Roman whistles are made of pewter, terra-cotta, or wood, in every +shape of bird, or beast, or fish. Rafael had a bird-whistle, Edith's +was a yellow butterfly, and the tops which they spun were dressed like +dolls, in many fantastic costumes. + +As he had said in Venice, so Rafael called to his audience in Rome, +when he had a little space cleared for the performance, "Signor Rafael +Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops!" + +"It is for the earthquake sufferers," he had taught Edith to say in +Italian, and she had no sooner said it than the tops were all as good +as sold. + +"It is a pity we had not time to make more," said Edith, when the last +one was gone, and they were counting their gains in their room at the +hotel. + +"You would make a good business man, Rafael," she said suddenly. "The +tops cost you only ten lire, and you have sold them for twenty times +as much." + +But the boy was tired and made no answer for a few moments. Perhaps +the tops reminded him of home. After a little, he said, "I think my +mother must be very lonely in Venice, when she reads of those who have +been made homeless in Messina." + +Mrs. Sprague looked at him wisely and nodded her head. "Edith and I +must go home to America," she said. "Our friends will be worried about +us, and will fear for our safety, after this terrible earthquake." + +So they began to plan for leaving Rome at once. The keepsakes and +treasures were all packed, the last calls were made, and the night +before their departure arrived. + +"Let us say good-bye to the Eternal City at the Fountain of Trevi," +Edith suggested to Rafael. "I have heard that whoever wishes to return +to Rome, should go to the fountain on the last evening of his visit, +take a drink out of the basin with his left hand, then turn and throw +a half-penny into the water over his left shoulder. I surely wish to +come back some day." + +"And I," said Rafael. "Let us find some half-pennies at once." + +It was a cold, clear, moonlight night, and the two children hurried +through the streets, chatting merrily over their errand. + +They passed an old woman carrying a scaldino under her shawl. "We +shall need a scaldino ourselves," Edith said, "to warm our fingers +after we have dipped them in the cold water." + +A scaldino is a little brazier for holding coals of fire. The Italians +carry one about with them in winter, and when they sit down they hold +it in their laps or put it on the floor at their feet. + +When they reached the fountain Edith stood still a moment, looking at +the water. "I have had such a good time in this historic old land that +I shall always be a good Italian," she said; "but I shall be a better +American also." + +"That is right," said Rafael. "And I shall read the foreign papers to +see if you become a famous woman." + +"I don't care so much about being famous as you men do," she answered. +"But I shall read the foreign news to see what the great patriot, +Rafael Valla, is doing for his country, and perhaps, some day, your +good king may send you to the United States as ambassador from Italy. + +"Let us wish it," she added, and dipped her hand into the fountain. +"To Rafael Valla, the ambassador," she said with a smile, and drank +the clear, cold water. + +"To the Signorina, my friend," said Rafael. "I wish her happiness." + +Tears sprang to Edith's eyes, and she held out her hand quickly for +the half-penny. "Over your left shoulder, remember," she said, as she +tossed the coin into the water. + +"Over my left shoulder," Rafael repeated, and added earnestly, "We +shall see Rome and the king again." + + + + +VOCABULARY + + +Ap'pi [letter a with an uptack]n Way, a famous Roman highway. + +Ap'pi us Clau'di us (cla), a Roman statesman. + +a vaen'ti (te), begone. + +bam bi'no (be), baby. + +Be fa na (b[letter a with an uptack] fae'na), the Italian Lady Santa Claus. + +Bi an ca (b[letter e with an uptack] an'ka), a girl's name. + +Brin di si (br[letter e with an uptack]n'd[letter e with an uptack] ze), + a seaport of south-eastern Italy. + +Cam pag na (cam paen'ya), a plain surrounding Rome. + +Can'di a, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. + +Cap'i to line, one of the seven hills of Rome. + +ca'ro, dear. + +Ca vour' (voor), an Italian statesman, died 1861. + +cen time (san tem'), a copper coin, the hundredth part of a franc. + +Cin cin na'tus, a Roman soldier and hero. + +Cir' cus A go nal'[letter e with an uptack], one of the squares in Rome. + +Col os se'um, an out-door theatre of ancient Rome. + +Con'stan tine (ten), the first Christian emperor of Rome. + +con'tae di'no (de), a peasant farmer. + +Cy'prus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. + +Dan'do lo, a Doge of Venice, died 1205. + +Doge (doj), the chief ruler in the ancient republic of Venice. + +ec'co, look; behold. + +Fla min'i an Way, a highway of ancient Rome. + +fo'rum, a market-place or public meeting-place. + +Gen'[letter o with an downtack] a, a seaport of northwestern Italy. + +gon'do la, a boat used in the canals of Venice. + +gon do lier' (ler), a man who rows a gondola. + +Her cu la'ne um, a buried city near Naples. + +Ho ra'ti us (shi us), a Roman legendary hero. + +Jul ius Cae sar (jul'yus se'zar), a famous Roman general, +statesman, orator, and writer; died 44 B. C. + +la goon', a shallow sound or channel. + +li di (le'de), sand-bars in the lagoon of Venice. + +Li'do (le), the bathing-beach of Venice. + +li'ra (le), a coin worth about nineteen cents. + +li re (le'ra), plural of lira. + +l'i tal'i a, Italy. + +log gia (lod'ja), a roofed, open gallery. + +mad're (r[letter a with an uptack]), mother. + +Mar'a thon run, a twenty-six-mile running race. + +Mer ce ri a (mar ch [letter a with an uptack] re' [letter a with an + uptack]), a shopping district in Venice. + +Mes si'na (se), a city in Sicily, destroyed by earthquakes in 1908. + +mi a (me'a); mi o (me'o), my. + +Mi chael An ge lo (mi'kel an'j[letter e with an uptack] lo), an Italian + painter and sculptor; died 1564. + +M[letter o with an uptack] re'a, the southern peninsula of Greece. + +Ne a pol'i tan, pertaining to Naples. + +Pal'a tine, one of the seven hills of Rome. + +Pa laz zo Vec chi o (pa lat'so vek'ke o), a palace in +Florence. + +Pa'o lo, a boy's name; Paul. + +Paz zi (pat'se), an influential family of Florence. + +Pi az za (pe at'sa), square. + +Pi az'za del Du o'mo, the square in front of the cathedral +in Florence. + +Pi az zet ta (pe at set'ta), little square. + +Pit ti (pe'te), a palace in Florence. + +po len'ta, a pudding made of meal boiled in milk. + +Pom pe ii (pa'ye), a buried city near Naples. + +quat tro (kwot'tro), four. + +Ri al'to (re), a bridge over the Grand Canal of Venice. + +San Gior'gi o (jor), Saint George; a church in Venice. + +San Min i a to (me ne a'to), a cemetery on a hill southeast + of Florence. + +scal di no (skol de'no), a brazier. + +Scal'i ger[letter s with an downtack below], an Italian family of + medieval times. + +si (se), yes. + +Si e na (se a'na), a province and city in Italy. + +Si gnor (se nyor'); Si gnore (se nyo'r[letter a with an uptack]), Sir; Mr. + +Si gno ra (se nyo'ra), Madam; Mrs. + +Si gno ri na (se nyo re'na), Miss. + +Strass'burg, a city in Germany. + +Tar'quin (kwin), a legendary king of ancient Rome. + +Ti'ber, the river on which Rome is situated. + +Tin to ret'to (ten), an Italian painter, died 1594. + +Ti tian (tish'an), a famous Venetian painter, died 1576. + +Tre vi (tra've), a fountain in Rome. + +Tus'ca ny, a province of Italy. + +Uf fi zi (of fet's[letter e with an uptack]), a celebrated art-gallery + in Florence. + +Vat'i can, the Pope's residence. + +Ve ro' na (v[letter a with an uptack]), a city in northern Italy. + +Ve ro ne se (v[letter a with an uptack] r[letter o with an uptack] + n[letter a with an uptack]' z[letter a with an uptack]), an + Italian painter, died 1588. + +Ve su'vi us, an active volcano near Naples. + +Vil'la Bor ghe'se (ga z[letter e with an uptack]), a villa near Rome. + +Vi'va (ve), "long live!" "hurrah for!" + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by +Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** + +***** This file should be named 28765.txt or 28765.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/7/6/28765/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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