SWINGING AROUND EUROPE.
This man of many parts, this unique exemplification of the
possibilities of human intellectual and physical development and
progress, had now passed through successive, and with all truth it
can be said, successful, gradations from the illiterate urchin of
the rough cabin on the plains to a great practical educator; and the
lessons taught in his magnificently illustrated lectures had for their
object the welding together of human interests and the enlarging
of the mutual sympathies of nations. I am aware that the selfish,
captious, and narrow-minded may see in the exhibitions and travels
of the Wild West under Colonel Cody’s leadership simply a scheme for
personal aggrandizement or for the accumulation of great wealth. With
the same foundation for truth, might not these same unworthy motives
be attributed to the magnetic Edison, whose discoveries and inventions
have startled the world into a wondering recognition of electric
power? to Stanley, through whose terrible trials, weary wanderings,
and persevering persistency the heart of Africa has been laid bare to
scientific and humane investigation? to Humboldt and scores of other
world-instructors? Such unworthy commentators, to whose eyes all
advancement in knowledge is veneered with a base coating of selfish
aims, are unworthy of serious consideration.
In pursuance of a resolve made during his visit to England in 1887,
Colonel Cody, in the spring preceding the Paris Exposition, set all of
his able lieutenants and coadjutors to work preparing another Wild West
for a trip to the French capital, thence through Continental Europe,
and, after another visit to Old England, back to dear America. Under
the spell of their leader’s energetic and systematic direction, these
trusted assistants soon had all things in complete readiness, and once
again on board the majestic Persian Monarch, and under the care of that
able seaman and popular officer Captain Bristow, the Wild West was
launched upon “the briny,” for Paris bound.
The Wild West camp in Paris was pitched on immense grounds near the
Porte Maillot, and the welcome extended to the Americans by the
people of the sister republic was hearty, spontaneous, and grand. It
was said that the audience which assembled on the occasion of the
opening exhibition equaled any known in the record of _premières_ of
that brilliant _capitale des deux mondes_. Early in the performance
the vast audience became thoroughly enthusiastic, and every act
attracted the closest attention and the most absorbing interest. It
was evident that the novel and startling display had won the fullest
approval of the experienced sight-seers of the gay capital; and in
France audiences rarely if ever take the middle ground. With them
approval or commendation comes promptly and is quickly manifested,
and the immediate triumph of the Wild West was a subject of hearty
congratulation. As in England upon his first appearance there Colonel
Cody was welcomed by those highest in authority and honor, so in France
the initial performance was graced by the presence of the notables of
the republic. President Carnot and wife, the members of his cabinet,
and families; two American ministers, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Hon. Louis
MacLean; the Diplomatic Corps, officers of the United States Marine,
and other prominent personages were among the auditors. It was an
audience thoroughly representative of science, art, literature, and
society, and the Wild West soon became second only in public interest
to the great Exhibition itself. Colonel Cody soon became the recipient
of especial social courtesies, the first of which was a breakfast
given in his honor on May 29th by the Vicomtesse Chaudon de Briailles,
at which the _haut ton_ of Paris was present. In recognition of the
courtesy of the Minister of War in granting the Wild West the use of
a large tract of land in the military district, Colonel Cody invited
fifty soldiers of the garrison of Paris to visit the show each day, a
courtesy that was duly appreciated.
Among the many incidents that occurred in Paris may be noted the fact
that Isabella, ex-Queen of Spain, with her companions enjoyed a ride in
the famous old Deadwood stagecoach.
Altogether the Wild West’s visit to Paris, which lasted seven months,
was a most thorough and emphatic success, and closed in a blaze of
glory.
It may seem strange to claim that the Wild West abroad was an incentive
to the introduction of American subjects for art illustration; but the
facts strongly warrant the assertion.
It became a fad to introduce curios and _bijouterie_ from the American
plains and mountains. Buffalo robes of Indian tanning, bear-skins
embroidered with porcupine quills, and mats woven in redskin camps
became fashionable; while lassos, bows and arrows, Mexican bridles and
saddles, and other things from the American borderland became most
popular as souvenirs.
[Illustration: ROSA BONHEUR’S PAINTING, “BUFFALO BILL ON HORSEBACK.”]
Nor was this all, for the artists took a turn at producing American
scenes, characters, and animals, and the Indian and cowboy were
chiseled in marble. Busts were made of Buffalo Bill, the illustrated
papers were full of pictures of the Wild West and its characters, and
the comic papers were constantly caricaturing Cody and his people, some
of their work being remarkably clever and artistic in execution.
Invited to the studios of artists in Rome, Berlin, Paris, and
elsewhere, Buffalo Bill extended the courtesies of his camp to many
whose names are known the world over by their works. The Wild West
became a central place of attraction to artists as well as to military
men and statesmen, and often painters and sculptors were seen going
about the camp looking for subjects for their brush and chisel.
Having accepted an invitation from Rosa Bonheur to visit her at her
elegant chateau, Buffalo Bill in turn extended the hospitalities of
his camp to the famous artist, who day after day visited it and made
studies for her pleasure, giving much time to sittings for a painting
of Colonel Cody.
The result was the superb painting that attracted so much comment
abroad, and which she presented to the great frontiersman, who prizes
it above all the souvenirs he has in his charming home at North Platte,
where it holds the place of honor.
The painting represents Buffalo Bill mounted upon his favorite horse,
and it is needless to say that where both man and animal are portraits,
it is a work of art coming from such a hand as that of Rosa Bonheur.
The fact of uniting man and beast in a painting, giving each equal
prominence, was never before done, I believe, by this great artist, yet
her hand did not lose its cunning in departing from the rule of her
life, as all can testify who have seen this superb picture.
[Illustration: INDIANS UNDER THE SHADOW OF ST. PETER’S, ROME.]
With America as a vast and grand field for the brushes of English and
European artists, there is little doubt that hereafter the foreign
academies will possess many works on American scenes and characters;
and with the example thus set them our own artists will find in their
own country material enough to prevent their going to other lands to
get artistic inspiration.
After a short tour in the south of France in the fall, a vessel was
chartered at Marseilles, the Mediterranean crossed at Barcelona,
landing the first band of Americans with accompanying associates,
scouts, cowboys, Mexican horses of Spanish descent, and wild buffaloes,
etc., on the very spot where on his return to Spain landed the
world’s greatest explorer Christopher Columbus. Here the patrons were
demonstratively eulogistic, the exhibition seeming to delight them
greatly, savoring as it did of an addenda to their national history;
recalling after a lapse of 400 years the resplendent glories of Spanish
conquests under Ferdinand and Isabella, of the sainted hero Cristobal
Colon (1492), Columbus in America (1890), “Buffalo Bill” and the native
American in Spain!
Recrossing the Mediterranean via Corsica and Sardinia (encountering a
tremendous storm), Naples (the placid waters of whose noble bay gave a
welcome refuge) was reached, and in the shadow of old Vesuvius, which
in fact formed a superbly grand scenic background, another peg in
history was pinned by the visit of the cowboy and Indian to the various
noted localities that here abound; the ruins of Herculaneum, Pompeii,
and the great crater of “the burning mountain” striking wonder and awe
as well as giving geological and geographical knowledge to the stoical
“red man.”
Then the “famed of the famous cities” of the world, Rome, was next
visited, to be conquered through the gentle power of intellectual
interest in, and the reciprocal pleasure exchanged by, its unusual
visitors; the honor being given to “the outfit,” as an organization,
of attending a dazzling fête given in the Vatican by his holiness
Pope Leo XIII., and of receiving the exalted pontiff’s blessing. The
grandeur of the spectacle, the heavenly music, the entrancing singing,
and impressive adjuncts produced a most profound impression on the
astonished children of the prairie. The Wild West in the Vatican!
The company were photographed in the Coliseum, which stately ruin
seemed silently and solemnly to regret that its famed ancient arena
was too small for this modern exhibition of the mimic struggle between
that civilization born and emanating from ’neath its very walls, and a
primitive people who were ne’er dreamed of in Rome’s world-conquering
creators’ wildest flights of vivid imaginings.
Strolling through its arena, gazing at its lions’ dens, or lolling
lazily on its convenient ruins, hearing its interpreted history
of Romulus, of Cæsar, and of Nero, roamed this band of Wild West
Sioux (a people whose history in barbaric deeds equals, if not
excels, the ancient Romans’), now hand-in-hand in peace and firmly
cemented friendship with the American frontiersman, once gladiatorial
antagonists on the Western plains. They, listening to the tale, on the
spot, of those whose “morituri te salutant” was the short prelude to a
savage death, formed a novel picture in a historic frame. The Wild West
in the Coliseum!
[Illustration: CAMPED IN THE COLISEUM.]
The following extracts from cablegrams sent to the New York _Herald_
by its special correspondent, tell of interesting occurrences that
happened during the visit of the Wild West to the historic city of Rome:
ROME, March 4, 1890.
All Rome was to-day astir over an attempt of Buffalo Bill’s cowboys
with wild horses, which were provided for the occasion by the
Prince of Sermoneta.
Several days past the Roman authorities have been busy with the
erection of specially cut barriers for the purpose of keeping back
the wild horses from the crowds.
The animals are from the celebrated stud of the Prince of
Sermoneta, and the prince himself declared that no cowboy in the
world could ride these horses. The cowboys laughed over this
surmise and then offered at least to undertake to mount one of
them, if they might choose it.
Every man, woman, and child expected that two or three people would
be killed by this attempt.
The anxiety and enthusiasm was great. Over 2,000 carriages were
ranged round the field and more than 20,000 people lined the
spacious barriers. Lord Dufferin and many other diplomatists were
on the terrace, and among Romans were presently seen the consort of
the Prime Minister Crispi, the Prince of Torlonia, Madame Depretis,
Princess Collona, Gravina Antonelli, the Baroness Reugis, Princess
Brancaccia, Grave Giannotti, and critics from among the highest
aristocracy.
In five minutes the horses were tamed.
Two of the wild horses were driven without saddle or bridle in
the arena. Buffalo Bill gave out that they would be tamed. The
brutes made springs into the air, darted hither and thither in all
directions, and bent themselves into all sorts of shapes--but all
in vain.
In five minutes the cowboys had caught the wild horses with the
lasso, saddled, subdued, and bestrode them. Then the cowboys rode
them round the arena, while the dense crowds of people applauded
with delight.
[Illustration: THE ARENA IN VERONA.]
* * * * *
BUFFALO BILL IN VENICE.
(By Telegraph, New York Herald.)
VENICE, April 16, 1890.
Buffalo Bill and his Wild West have made a big show in Venice.
This evening the directors have a special invitation on the Grand
Canal, where the whole troupe will be shown. Colonel Cody is taken
by the Venetian prefect in his own private residence. No one can
think them ordinary artistes after they have seen the gathering of
different Indians in gondolas, or seen the wonderful sight which
presents itself at the Venetian palace and in the little steamboats
that ply between the pier of St. Mark and the railway station.
Thousands of Venetians assembled yesterday in Verona, where the
company of the municipal authorities of justice have allowed the
use of the amphitheater, or the so-called arena, one of the most
interesting structures of Italy, and a rival of the Coliseum of
Rome itself.
Forty-five thousand persons can conveniently find sitting-room in
this arena, and for standing-room there is also extensive space. As
his royal highness Victor Emanuel was on a visit here once, 60,000
people were accommodated in it. It is, perhaps, interesting to know
that this building is the largest in the world, although the Wild
West Show quite filled it.
The amphitheater (arena) was built in the year 290 A. D., under
Diocletian, and is known in Germany as the Home of the Dietrich
of Bern. It is 106 feet high, 168 meters long, and 134 meters
broad (the arena itself is 83 meters long, 48 meters broad); the
circumference is 525 meters. In the surrounding amphitheater
(entering by the west side through arch No. 5, admission 1 franc,
Sunday free), are five-and-forty rows of steps 18 inches high, 26
inches broad, built of gray, or rather reddish-yellow, limestone,
where nearly 20,000 spectators can find places, and where many more
people can see by standing on the wooden benches behind them. From
an inscription on the second story it will be remembered that
Napoleon I. visited this place in 1805. The restoration of the
building was by recommendation of that emperor. A wonderful view is
obtained from the higher steps.
* * * * *
THE WILD WEST AT THE VATICAN.--BUFFALO BILL’S INDIANS AND COWBOYS
AT THE ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF LEO XIII.
New York Herald, March 4, 1890.--(From our Special Correspondent.)
ROME, March 3d.
One of the strangest spectacles ever seen within the walls of the
Vatican was the dramatic entry of Buffalo Bill at the head of his
Indians and cowboys this morning, when the ecclesiastical and
secular military court of the Holy See assembled to witness the
twelfth annual thanksgiving of Leo XIII. for his coronation. In the
midst of the splendid scene, crowded with the old Roman aristocracy
and surrounded by walls immortalized by Michael Angelo and Raphael,
there suddenly appeared a host of savages in war-paint, feathers,
and blankets, carrying tomahawks and knives.
A vast multitude surged in the great square before St. Peter’s
early in the morning to witness the arrival of the Americans.
Before half-past 9 o’clock the Ducal Hall, Royal Hall, and Sistine
Chapel of the Vatican were packed with those who had influence
enough to obtain admittance. Through the middle of the three
audiences the pathway was bordered with the brilliant uniforms of
the Swiss Guards, Palatine Guards, papal gendarmes, and private
chamberlains. The sunlight fell upon the lines of glittering steel,
nodding plumes, golden chains, shimmering robes of silk, and all
the blazing emblems of pontifical power and glory.
THE WILD WEST MAKE THEIR ENTRÉE.
Suddenly a tall and chivalrous figure appeared at the entrance,
and all eyes were turned toward him. It was Col. W. F. Cody,
“Buffalo Bill.” With a sweep of his great sombrero he saluted the
chamberlains, and then strode between the guards with his partner,
Mr. Nate Salsbury, by his side.
Rocky Bear led the Sioux warriors, who brought up the rear. They
were painted in every color that Indian imagination could devise.
Every man carried something with which to make big medicine in the
presence of the great medicine man sent by the great spirit.
Rocky Bear rolled his eyes and folded his hands on his breast as
he stepped on tiptoe through the glowing sea of color. His braves
furtively eyed the halbreds and two-handed swords of the Swiss
Guards.
The Indians and cowboys were ranged in the south corners of the
Ducal Hall. Colonel Cody and Mr. Salsbury were escorted into the
Sistine Chapel by chamberlains, where they were greeted by Miss
Sherman, daughter of General Sherman. A princess invited Colonel
Cody to a place in the tribune of the Roman nobles.
He stood facing the gorgeous Diplomatic Corps, surrounded by
the Prince and Princess Borghesi, the Marquis Serlupi, Princess
Bandini, Duchess di Grazioli, Prince and Princess Massimo, Prince
and Princess Ruspoli, and all the ancient noble families of the
city.
THE PAPAL BLESSING.
When the Pope appeared in the _sedia gestatoria_, carried above
the heads of his guards, preceded by the Knights of Malta and a
procession of cardinals and archbishops, the cowboys bowed, and
so did the Indians. Rocky Bear knelt and made the sign of the
cross. The pontiff leaned affectionately toward the rude groups and
blessed them. He seemed to be touched by the sight.
As the papal train swept on the Indians became excited, and a squaw
fainted. They had been warned not to utter a sound, and were with
difficulty restrained from whooping. The Pope looked at Colonel
Cody intently as he passed, and the great scout and Indian fighter
bent low as he received the pontifical benediction.
After the thanksgiving mass, with its grand choral accompaniment
and now and then the sound of Leo XIII.’s voice heard ringing
through the chapel, the great audience poured out of the Vatican.
[Illustration: POPE LEO XIII.]
* * * * *
Among the many verses written of and to the noted scout, the following
may be given as a poet’s idea of his visit to Rome:
BUFFALO BILL AND THE ROMANS.
I’ll take my stalwart Indian braves
Down to the Coliseum,
And the old Romans from their graves
Will all arise to see ’em;
Pretors and censors will return
And hasten through the Forum,
The ghostly Senate will adjourn
Because it lacks a quorum.
And up the ancient Appian way
Will flock the ghostly legions,
From Gaul unto Calabria,
And from remoter regions;
From British bog and wild lagoon,
And Libyan desert sandy,
They’ll all come, marching to the tune
Of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
Prepare the triumph car for me
And purple throne to sit on,
For I’ve done more than Julius C.--
He could not down the Briton!
Cæsar and Cicero shall bow,
And ancient warriors famous,
Before the myrtle-bandaged brow
Of Buffalo Williamus.
We march, unwhipped, through history--
No bulwark can detain us--
And link the age of Grover C.
And Scipio Africanus.
I’ll take my stalwart Indian braves
Down to the Coliseum,
And the old Romans from their graves
Will all arise to see ’em.
Artistic Florence, practical Bologna, grand and stately Milan, and
unique Verona were next added to the list. Verona’s superb and
well-preserved Arena, excelling in superficial area the Coliseum and
holding 45,000 people, was especially granted for the Wild West’s use.
The Indians were taken by Buffalo Bill to picturesque Venice, and
there shown the marvelous results of the ancient white man’s energy and
artistic architectural skill. They were immortalized by the camera in
the ducal palace, St. Marc’s Piazza, and in the strange street vehicle
of the Adriatic’s erstwhile pride--the gondola; contributing another
interesting object lesson to the distant juvenile student members of
their tribe, to testify more fully to their puzzled senses the fact
of strange sights and marvels whose existence is to be learned in the
breadth of knowledge.
[Illustration: BUFFALO BILL AND HIS INDIANS IN VENICE.]
Moving via Innsbruck through the beautifully scenic Tyrol, the Bavarian
capital, Munich, with its naturally artistic instincts, gave a grand
reception to the beginning of a marvelously successful tour through
German land, which included Vienna (with an excursion on the “Blue
Danube”), Berlin, Dresden, Leipsic, Magdeburg, Hanover, Brunswick,
Hamburg, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, along the Rhine past Bonn,
Coblentz, “Fair Bingen on the Rhine,” to Frankfort, Stuttgart, and
Strasburg. These historic cities, with all their wealth of legendary
interest, art galleries, scientific conservatories, educative edifices,
cathedrals, modern palaces, ancient ruins, army maneuverings,
fortifications, commercial and varied manufacturing and agricultural
industries, and the social, genial, friendly, quiet customs of its
peoples, should form good instruction to the rugged rovers of the
American plains--heirs to an empire as much more vast in extent and
resources as is the brightness of the diamond--after the skill expended
by the lapidary--in dazzling brilliancy to the rude, unpolished stone
before man’s _industry_ lends value to its existence.
At Strasburg the management decided to close temporarily this
extraordinary tour and winter the company. Although in the proximity
of points contemplated for a winter campaign (southern France and the
Riviera), this was deemed advisable on account of the first and only
attack from envious humanity that the organization had encountered.
This matter necessitated the manly but expensive voluntary procedure
of taking the Indians to America to meet face to face and deny the
imputations of some villifiers, whom circumstances of petty political
“charity” and “I-am-ism” and native buoyancy permit at times to float
temporarily on the surface of a cosmopolite community, and to whose
ravings a too credulous public and press give hearing.
The quaint little village of Benfield furnished an ancient nunnery
and a castle with stables and good range. Here the little community
of Americans spent the winter comfortably, being feasted and fêted
by the inhabitants, whose esteem they gained to such an extent that
their departure was marked by a general holiday, assisting hands, and
such public demonstrations of regret that many a rude cowboy when
once again careering o’er the pampas of Texas will rest his weary
steed while memory reverts to the pleasant days and whole-souled
friendships cemented at the foot of the Vosges Mountains in disputed
Alsace-Lorraine.
In Alsace-Lorraine! whose anomalous position menaces the peace not
only of the two countries interested but of the civilized world; whose
situation makes it intensely even sadly interesting as the theater of
that future human tragedy for which the ear of mankind strains day
and night, listening for detonations from the muzzles of the acme
of invented mechanisms of destruction. The lurid-garbed Angel of
Devastation hovers, careering through the atmosphere of the seemingly
doomed valley, gaily laughing, shrieking exultingly, at the white-robed
Angel of Peace as the latter gloomily wanders, prayerful, tearful,
hopelessly hunting, ceaselessly seeking, the return of modern man’s
boasted newly created gods--Equity, Justice, Reason!
What a field for the vaunted champions of humanity, the leaders of
civilization! What a neighborhood wherein to sow the seeds of “peace on
earth and good-will to men.” What a crucible for the universal panacea,
arbitration! What a test of the efficacy of prayer in damming up the
conflicting torrents of ambition, cupidity, passion, and revenge,
which threaten to color crimson the swift current of the Rhine, until
its renown as the home of wealth and luxury be eclipsed by eternal
notoriety as the Valley of Death!