CROSSING EUROPE.
Immediately after my arrival in Antwerp I left for a short trip over the
border to Rosendaal, Holland, where I saw but little more than
brick-houses, tile roofs, and wooden shoes. I then returned to Antwerp,
and went on to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The battlefield of
Waterloo is about nine and a half miles from Brussels, and I had an
enjoyable trip to this notable place. The field is farming land, and now
under cultivation. The chief object of interest is the Lion Mound, an
artificial hill surmounted by the figure of a large lion. The mound is
ascended by about two hundred and twenty-three steps, and from its
summit one has a good view of the place where the great Napoleon met his
defeat on the fifteenth of June, 1815. There is another monument on the
field, which, though quite small and not at all beautiful, contains an
impressive inscription. It was raised in memory of Alexander Gordon, an
aide to the Duke of Wellington, and has the following words carved on
one side: "A disconsolate sister and five surviving brothers have
erected this simple memorial to the object of their tenderest
affection."
From Brussels I went over to Aix-la-Chapelle, on the frontier of
Germany, where I spent but little time and saw nothing of any great
interest to me. There was a fine statue of Wilhelm I., a crucifixion
monument, and, as I walked along the street, I saw an advertisement for
"Henry Clay Habanna Cigarren," but not being a smoker, I can not say
whether they were good or not. In this city I had an amusing experience
buying a German flag. I couldn't speak "Deutsch," and she couldn't speak
English, but we made the trade all right.
My next point was Paris, the capital of the French Republic, and here I
saw many interesting objects. I first visited the church called the
Madeleine. I also walked along the famous street _Champs Elysees,_
visited the magnificent Arch of Triumph, erected to commemorate the
victories of Napoleon, and viewed the Eiffel Tower, which was completed
in 1889 at a cost of a million dollars. It contains about seven thousand
tons of metal, and the platform at the top is nine hundred and
eighty-five feet high. The Tomb of Napoleon is in the Church of the
Invalides, one of the finest places I had visited up to that time. The
spot where the Bastile stood is now marked by a lofty monument. The
garden of the Tuileries, Napoleon's palace, is one of the pretty places
in Paris. Leaving this city in the morning, I journeyed all day through
a beautiful farming country, and reached Pontarlier, in southern France,
for the night.
My travel in Switzerland, the oldest free state in the world, was very
enjoyable. As we were entering the little republic, in which I spent two
days, the train was running through a section of country that is not
very rough, when, all in a moment, it passed through a tunnel
overlooking a beautiful valley, bounded by mountains on the opposite
side and presenting a very pleasing view. There were many other
beautiful scenes as I journeyed along, sometimes climbing the rugged
mountain by a cog railway, and sometimes riding quietly over one of the
beautiful Swiss lakes. I spent a night at lovely Lucerne, on the Lake of
the Four Cantons, the body of water on which William Tell figured long
ago. Lucerne is kept very clean, and presents a pleasing appearance to
the tourist.
I could have gone to Fluelin by rail, but preferred to take a boat ride
down the lake, and it proved to be a pleasant and enjoyable trip. The
snow could be seen lying on the tops of the mountains while the flowers
were blooming in the valleys below. Soon after leaving Fluelin, the
train entered the St. Gothard Tunnel and did not reach daylight again
for seventeen minutes. This tunnel, at that time the longest in the
world, is a little more than nine miles in length. It is twenty-eight
feet wide, twenty-one feet high, lined throughout with masonry, and cost
eleven million four hundred thousand dollars. Since I was in Switzerland
the Simplon Tunnel has been opened. It was begun more than six years
ago by the Swiss and Italian Governments, an immense force of hands
being worked on each end of it. After laboring day and night for years,
the two parties met on the twenty-fourth of February. This tunnel, which
is double, is more than twelve miles long and cost sixteen millions of
dollars.
At Chiasso we did what is required at the boundary line of all the
countries visited; that is, stop and let the custom-house officials
inspect the baggage. I had nothing dutiable and was soon traveling on
through Italy, toward Venice, where I spent some time riding on one of
the little omnibus steamers that ply on its streets of water. But not
all the Venetian streets are like this, for I walked on some that are
paved with good, hard sandstone. I was not moved by the beauty of the
place, and soon left for Pisa, passing a night in Florence on the way.
The chief point of interest was the Leaning Tower, which has eight
stories and is one hundred and eighty feet high. This structure,
completed in the fourteenth century, seems to have commenced to lean
when the third story was built. The top, which is reached by nearly
three hundred steps, is fourteen feet out of perpendicular. Five large
bells are suspended in the tower, from the top of which one can have a
fine view of the walled city, with its Cathedral and Baptistery, the
beautiful surrounding country, and the mountains in the distance.
The next point visited was Rome, old "Rome that sat on her seven hills
and from her throne of beauty ruled the world." One of the first things
I saw when I came out of the depot was a monument bearing the letters
"S.P.Q.R." (the Senate and the people of Rome) which are sometimes seen
in pictures concerning the crucifixion of Christ. In London there are
numerous public water-closets; in France also there are public urinals,
which are almost too public in some cases, but here in Rome the climax
is reached, for the urinals furnish only the least bit of privacy. One
of them, near the railway station, is merely an indentation of perhaps
six or eight inches in a straight wall right against the sidewalk, where
men, women, and children are passing.
By the aid of a guide-book and pictorial plan, I crossed the city from
the gateway called "Porto del Popolo" to the "Porto S. Paolo," seeing
the street called the "Corso," or race course, Piazza Colonna, Fountain
of Treves, Trajan's Forum, Roman Forum, Arch of Constantine, Pantheon,
Colosseum, and the small Pyramid of Caius Cestus.
The Porto del Popolo is the old gateway by which travelers entered the
city before the railroad was built. It is on the Flammian Way and is
said to have been built first in A.D. 402. Just inside the gate is a
space occupied by an Egyptian obelisk surrounded by four Egyptian lions.
The Corso is almost a mile in length and extends from the gate just
mentioned to the edge of the Capitoline Hill, where a great monument to
Victor Emmanuel was being built. The Fountain of Treves is said to be
the most magnificent in Rome, and needs to be seen to be appreciated. It
has three large figures, the one in the middle representing the Ocean,
the one on the left, Fertility, and the one on the right, Health. Women
who are disposed to dress fashionably at the expense of a deformed body
might be profited by a study of this figure of Health. Trajan's Forum is
an interesting little place, but it is a small show compared with the
Roman Forum, which is much more extensive, and whose ruins are more
varied. The latter contains the temples of Vespasian, of Concordia, of
Castor and Pollux, and others. It also contains the famous Arch of
Titus, the Basilica of Constantine, the remains of great palaces, and
other ruins. "Originally the Forum was a low valley among the hills, a
convenient place for the people to meet and barter." The Palatine Hill
was fortified by the first Romans, and the Sabines lived on other hills.
These two races finally united, and the valley between the hills became
the site of numerous temples and government buildings. Kings erected
their palaces in the Forum, and it became the center of Roman life. But
when Constantine built his capital at Constantinople, the greatness of
the city declined, and it was sacked and plundered by enemies from the
north. The Forum became a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish until
it was almost hidden from view, and it was called by a name signifying
cow pasture. It has been partly excavated within the last century, and
the ruined temples and palaces have been brought to light, making it
once more a place of absorbing interest. I wandered around and over and
under and through these ruins for a considerable length of time, and
wrote in my note book: "There is more here than I can comprehend."
I was in a garden on top of one part of the ruins where flowers and
trees were growing, and then I went down through the mass of ruins by a
flight of seventy-five stairs, which, the attendant said, was built by
Caligula. I was then probably not more than half way to the bottom of
this hill of ruins, which is honeycombed with corridors, stairways, and
rooms of various sizes. The following scrap of history concerning
Caligula will probably be interesting: "At first he was lavishly
generous and merciful, but he soon became mad, and his cruelty knew no
bounds. He banished or murdered his relatives and many of his subjects.
Victims were tortured and slain in his presence while dining, and he
uttered the wish that all the Roman people had but one neck, that he
might strike it off at one blow. He built a bridge across the Bay of
Baiae, and planted trees upon it and built houses upon it that he might
say he had crossed the sea on dry land. In the middle of the bridge he
gave a banquet, and at the close had a great number of the guests thrown
into the sea. He made his favorite horse a priest, then a consul, and
also declared himself a god, and had temples built in his honor." It is
said that Tiberius left the equivalent of one hundred and eighteen
millions of dollars, and that Caligula spent it in less than a year. The
attendant pointed out the corridor in which he said this wicked man was
assassinated.
Near one of the entrances to the Forum stands the Arch of Titus, erected
to commemorate the victory of the Romans over the Jews at Jerusalem in
A.D. 70. It is built of Parian marble and still contains a
well-preserved figure of the golden candlestick of the Tabernacle carved
on one of its walls. There is a representation of the table of showbread
near by, and some other carvings yet remain, indicating something of the
manner in which the monument was originally ornamented.
The Colosseum, commenced by Vespasian in A.D. 72 and finished by Titus
eight years later, is a grand old ruin. It is an open theater six
hundred and twelve feet long, five hundred and fifteen feet wide, and
one hundred and sixty-five feet high. This structure, capable of seating
eighty-seven thousand people, stands near the bounds of the Forum. It is
the largest of its kind, and is one of the best preserved and most
interesting ruins in the world. When it was dedicated, the games lasted
one hundred days, and five thousand wild beasts were slain. During the
persecution of the Christians it is said to have been the scene of
fearful barbarities.
On the second day I entered the Pantheon, "the best preserved monument
of ancient Rome," built by Marcus Agrippa, and consecrated to Mars,
Venus, and others. It was burned in the reign of Titus and rebuilt by
Hadrian, and in A.D. 608 Pope Boniface consecrated it as a church. The
interior is shaped like a vast dome, and the only opening for light is a
round hole in the top. Raphael, "reckoned by almost universal opinion as
the greatest of painters," lies buried in the Pantheon behind one of the
altars. I went to Hadrian's Tomb, now the Castle of St. Angelo, and on
to St. Peter's. Before this great church-building there is a large open
space containing an obelisk and two fountains, said to be the finest in
the city, with a semi-circular colonnade on two sides containing two
hundred and eighty-four columns in four rows, and on the top of the
entablature there are ninety-six large statues. There are large figures
on the top of the church, representing Christ and the apostles. The
interior is magnificent. There are three aisles five hundred and
seventy-five feet long, and the middle one is eighty-two feet wide. The
beautifully ornamented ceiling is one hundred and forty-two feet high.
In this building, which was completed three hundred and fifty years
after it was begun, is the reputed tomb of the Apostle Peter, and many
large marble statues. There are figures representing boy angels that
are as large as a full-grown man. The Vatican is not far from St.
Peter's, and I went up to see the Museum, but got there just as it was
being closed for the day. I had a glimpse of the garden, and saw some of
the Pope's carriages, which were fine indeed.
One of the most interesting places that I visited about Rome was the old
underground cemetery called the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. The visitors
go down a stairway with a guide, who leads them about the chambers,
which are but dimly lighted by the small candles they carry. The
passages, cut in the earth or soft rock, vary both in width and height,
and have been explored in modern times to the aggregate length of six
miles. Some of the bodies were placed in small recesses in the walls,
but I saw none there as I went through, but there were two in marble
coffins under glass. In one of the small chambers the party sang in some
foreign language, probably Italian, and while I could not understand
them, I thought the music sounded well. The Circus of Maxentius, fifteen
hundred feet long and two hundred and sixty feet wide, is near the
Catacombs, as is also the tomb of Caecilla Metella, which is said to
have been erected more than nineteen hundred years ago. It is probably
as much as two miles from the city walls, and I walked on a little way
and could see other ruins still farther in the distance, but I turned
back toward the hotel, and some time after sundown found myself walking
along the banks of the yellow Tiber in the old city. Two days of
sight-seeing had been well spent in and around the former capital of the
world, and I was ready to go on to Naples the next day.
There is a saying, "See Naples and die," but I did not feel like
expiring when I beheld it, although it is very beautifully located. The
ruins of Pompeii, a few miles distant, had more interest for me than
Naples. I went out there on the tenth of September, which I recollect as
a very hot day. Pompeii, a kind of a summer resort for the Roman
aristocracy, was founded 600 B.C. and destroyed by an eruption of Mt.
Vesuvius in A.D. 79. It was covered with ashes from the volcano, and
part of the population perished. The site of the city was lost, but was
found after the lapse of centuries and the Italian Government began the
excavations in 1860. Some of the old stone-paved streets, showing the
ruts made by chariot wheels that ceased to roll centuries ago, have been
laid bare. Portions of the houses are still standing, and the stone
drinking fountains along the streets are yet to be seen, as are also the
stepping stones at the crossings, which are higher than the blocks used
in paving. Some of the walls still contain very clear paintings, some of
which are not at all commendable, and others are positively lewd. One
picture represented a wild boar, a deer, a lion, a rabbit, some birds,
and a female (almost nude) playing a harp. There was also a very clear
picture of a bird and some cherries. At one place in the ruins I saw a
well-executed picture of a chained dog in mosaic work. It is remarkable
how well preserved some things are here. In the Museum are petrified
bodies in the positions they occupied when sudden and unexpected
destruction was poured upon them, well nigh two thousand years ago. Some
appear to have died in great agony, but one has a peaceful position.
Perhaps this victim was asleep when the death angel came. I saw the
petrified remains of a dog wearing a collar and lying on his back, and a
child on its face. One of the men, who may have been a military officer,
seemed to have a rusty sword at his side. There were skeletons, both of
human beings and of brutes, bronze vessels, and such articles as cakes
and eggs from the kitchens of the old city.
Mt. Vesuvius is a very famous volcano, standing four thousand feet high,
and has wrought a great deal of destruction. In the eruption of 472, it
is related that its ashes were carried to Constantinople; in 1066, the
lava flowed down to the sea; in 1631, eighteen thousand lives were lost;
and in 1794 a stream of lava more than a thousand feet wide and fifteen
feet high destroyed a town. From my hotel in Naples I had a fine view of
the red light rising from the volcano the evening after I visited
Pompeii.
Leaving Naples, I went to Brindisi, where I took ship for Patras in
Greece. A day was spent in crossing Italy, two nights and a day were
taken up with the voyage to Patras, and a good part of a day was
occupied with the railroad trip from there to Athens, where the hotel
men made more ado over me than I was accustomed to, but I got through
all right and secured comfortable quarters at the New York Hotel, just
across the street from the Parliament Building. From the little balcony
at my window I could look out at the Acropolis. The principal places
visited the first day were the Stadium, Mars' Hill, and the Acropolis.
Leaving the hotel and going through Constitution Square, up Philhellene
Street, past the Russian and English churches, I came to the Zappeion, a
modern building put up for Olympic exhibitions. The Arch of Hadrian, a
peculiar old structure, twenty-three feet wide and about fifty-six feet
high, stands near the Zappeion, and formerly marked the boundary between
ancient Athens and the more modern part of the city. Passing through
this arch, I soon came to what remains of the temple of the Olympian
Jupiter, which was commenced long before the birth of Christ and
finished by Hadrian about A.D. 140. Originally this temple, after that
of Ephesus said to be the largest in the world, had three rows of eight
columns each, on the eastern and western fronts, and a double row of one
hundred columns on the northern and southern sides, and contained a
statue of Jupiter, overlaid with gold and ivory. Its glory has long
since departed, and only fifteen of the columns are now standing. A
little farther on is the Stadium, with an arena over five hundred and
eighty feet long, and one hundred and nine feet wide. It was originally
constructed by the orator Lycurgus, about three hundred and fifty years
before Christ, but was being rebuilt when I was there. The seats are on
both sides and around the circular end of the arena, being made on the
slope of the hill and covered with clean, white, Pentelic marble, making
a beautiful sight.
On the way to Mars' Hill and the Acropolis I passed the monument of
Lysicrates, the theater of Bacchus, and the Odeon. This first-mentioned
theater is said to have been "the cradle of dramatic art," the
masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and others having been rendered
there. The Odeon of Herod Atticus differed from other ancient theaters
in that it was covered.
Mars' Hill is a great, oval-shaped mass of rock which probably would not
be called a hill in America. The small end, which is the highest part of
it, lies next to the Acropolis, and its summit is reached by going up a
short flight of steps cut in the limestone, and well preserved,
considering their age. The bluff on the opposite side from these steps
is perhaps thirty or forty feet high and very rugged. The rock slopes
toward the wide end, which is only a few feet above the ground. I
estimate the greatest length of it to be about two hundred yards, and
the greatest width one hundred and fifty yards, but accurate
measurements might show these figures to be considerably at fault. I
have spoken of the hill as a rock, and such it is--a great mass of hard
limestone, whose irregular surface, almost devoid of soil, still shows
where patches of it were dressed down, perhaps for ancient altars or
idols. The Areopagus was a court, which in Paul's time had jurisdiction
in cases pertaining to religion.
A vision called Paul into Macedonia, where Lydia was converted and Paul
and Silas were imprisoned. In connection with their imprisonment, the
conversion of the jailer of Philippi was brought about, after which the
preachers went to Thessalonica, from whence Paul and Silas were sent to
Berea. Jews from Thessalonica came down to Berea and stirred up the
people, and the brethren sent Paul away, but Silas and Timothy were left
behind. "They that conducted Paul, brought him as far as Athens," and
then went back to Berea with a message to Silas and Timothy to come to
him "with all speed." "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his
spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols."
Being thus vexed, and having the gospel of Christ to preach, he reasoned
with the Jews and devout people in the synagogue and every day in the
marketplace with those he met there. He came in contact with
philosophers of both the Epicurean and Stoic schools, and it was these
philosophers who took him to the Areopagus, saying: "May we know what
this new teaching is which is spoken by thee?"
The Athenians of those days were a pleasure-loving set of idolaters who
gave themselves up to telling and hearing new things. Besides the many
idols in the city, there were numerous temples and places of amusement.
Within a few minutes' walk was the Stadium, capable of holding fifty
thousand persons, and still nearer were the theater of Bacchus and the
Odeon, capable of accommodating about thirty and six thousand people
respectively. On the Acropolis, probably within shouting distance, stood
some heathen temples, one of them anciently containing a colossal statue
of Athene Parthenos, said to have been not less than thirty-nine feet
high and covered with ivory and gold. In another direction and in plain
sight stood, and still stands, the Theseum, a heathen temple at that
time. Take all this into consideration, with the fact that Paul had
already been talking with the people on religious subjects, and his
great speech on Mars' Hill may be more impressive than ever before.
"Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are very religious.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found
also an altar with this inscription, To an unknown God. What therefore
ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you. The God that made
the world and all things therein, he being Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is he served by men's
hands as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all
life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men
to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed
seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God,
if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far
from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being;
as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his
offspring. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver or stone, graven by art and device
of man. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked, but now he
commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead."
The Acropolis is a great mass of stone near Mars' Hill, but rising much
higher and having a wall around its crest. At one time, it is said, the
population of the city lived here, but later the city extended into the
valley below and the Acropolis became a fortress. About 400 B.C. the
buildings were destroyed by the Persians, and those now standing there
in ruins were erected by Pericles. The entrance, which is difficult to
describe, is through a gateway and up marble stairs to the top, where
there are large quantities of marble in columns, walls, and fragments.
The two chief structures are the Parthenon and the Erectheum. The
Parthenon is two hundred and eight feet long and one hundred and one
feet wide, having a height of sixty-six feet. It is so large and
situated in such a prominent place that it can be seen from all sides of
the hill. In 1687 the Venetians while besieging Athens, threw a shell
into it and wrecked a portion of it, but part of the walls and some of
the fluted columns, which are more than six feet in diameter, are yet
standing. This building is regarded as the most perfect model of Doric
architecture in the world, and must have been very beautiful before its
clear white marble was discolored by the hand of time and broken to
pieces in cruel war. The Erectheum is a smaller temple, having a little
porch with a flat roof supported by six columns in the form of female
figures.
The Theseum, an old temple erected probably four hundred years before
Christ, is the best preserved ruin of ancient Athens. It is a little
over a hundred feet long, forty-five feet wide, and is surrounded by
columns nearly nineteen feet high. The Hill of the Pynx lies across the
road a short distance from the Theseum. At the lower side there is a
wall of large stone blocks and above this a little distance is another
wall cut in the solid rock, in the middle of which is a cube cut in the
natural rock. This is probably the platform from which the speaker
addressed the multitude that could assemble on the shelf or bench
between the two walls.
Some of the principal modern buildings are the Hellenic Academy, the
University, Library, Royal Palace, Parliament Building, various church
buildings, hotels, and business houses. The University, founded in 1837,
is rather plain in style, but is ornamented on the front after the
manner of the ancients, with a number of paintings, representing
Oratory, Mathematics, Geology, History, Philosophy, and other lines of
study. At one end is a picture of Paul, at the other end, a
representation of Prometheus. The museum is small and by no means as
good as those to be seen in larger and wealthier countries. The Academy,
finished in 1885, is near the University, and, although smaller than its
neighbor, is more beautiful. On the opposite side of the University a
fine new Library was being finished, and in the same street there is a
new Roman Catholic church. I also saw two Greek Catholic church houses,
but they did not seem to be so lavishly decorated within as the Roman
church, but their high ceilings were both beautifully ornamented with
small stars on a blue background. I entered a cemetery near one of these
churches and enjoyed looking at the beautiful monuments and vaults. It
is a common thing to find a representation of the deceased on the
monument. Some of these are full-length statues, others are carvings
representing only the head. Lanterns, some of them lighted, are to be
seen on many of the tombs. There are some fine specimens of the
sculptor's art to be seen here, and the place will soon be even more
beautiful, for a great deal of work was being done. In fact, the whole
city of Athens seemed to be prosperous, from the amount of building that
was being done.
The Parliament Building is not at all grand. The Royal Palace is larger
and considerably finer. At the head of a stairway is a good picture of
Prometheus tortured by an eagle. The visitor is shown the war room, a
large hall with war scenes painted on the walls and old flags standing
in the corners. The throne room and reception room are both open to
visitors, as is also the ball room, which seemed to be more elaborately
ornamented than the throne room. There is a little park of orange and
other trees before the palace, also a small fountain with a marble
basin. The highest point about the city is the Lycabettus, a steep rock
rising nine hundred and nineteen feet above the level of the sea, and
crowned with a church building. From its summit a splendid view of the
city, the mountains, and the ocean may be obtained.
I spent five days in this city, the date of whose founding does not seem
to be known. Pericles was one of the great men in the earlier history of
the old city. He made a sacred enclosure of the Acropolis and placed
there the masterpieces of Greece and other countries. The city is said
to have had a population of three hundred thousand in his day,
two-thirds of them being slaves. The names of Socrates, Demosthenes, and
Lycurgus also belong to the list of great Athenians. In 1040 the Normans
captured Piraeus, the seaport of Athens, and in 1455 the Turks,
commanded by Omar, captured the city. The Acropolis was occupied by the
Turks in 1826, but they surrendered the next year, and in 1839 Athens
became the seat of government of the kingdom of Greece. With Athens, my
sight-seeing on the continent ended. Other interesting and curious
sights were seen besides those mentioned here. For instance, I had
noticed a variety of fences. There were hedges, wire fences, fences of
stone slabs set side by side, frail fences made of the stalks of some
plant, and embryo fences of cactus growing along the railroad. In Italy,
I saw many white oxen, a red ox being an exception that seems seldom to
occur. I saw men hauling logs with oxen and a cart, the long timber
being fastened beneath the axle of the cart and to the beam of the yoke.
In Belgium, one may see horses worked three abreast and four tandem, and
in Southern France they were shifting cars in one of the depots with a
horse, and in France I also saw a man plowing with an ox and a horse
hitched together. Now the time had come to enter the Turkish Empire, and
owing to what I had previously heard of the Turk, I did not look forward
to it with pleasure.