AN ANCIENT TOWN
"I feel sorrier even than I expected," said Irma, as their train drew
out of the station at Rome. "No other city can be half as interesting."
"Just wait, my dear," replied Uncle Jim; "wherever you go in Italy you
will find more churches and pictures than you can properly grasp. You
are a pretty good sightseer, but in another month you will have had
enough."
"It isn't antiquities and pictures that I mind leaving," responded Irma
smiling; "but I was only beginning to realize how many pleasant people
there are in Rome."
"You and your aunt were certainly getting rather frivolous; teas and
calls and that kind of thing are a great waste of time in a city full of
churches. Remember, to improve your mind is your chief object in coming
abroad." Uncle Jim had assumed a mock-serious manner.
"To improve her health," interposed Aunt Caroline; "and I have written
her mother that she has gained six pounds and has recovered her red
cheeks."
"So you attribute this improvement to teas, and not to churches!"
"Our little bit of social life the past week or two has been good for us
both. Americans away from home often seem unexpectedly interesting, and
we have enjoyed hearing little things about the Roman winter that we
might not have heard if I had not met so many New York and Philadelphia
acquaintances. Then we have seen some of our artist friends at work in
their studios, and this has been entertaining."
"Don't forget the shops, Aunt Caroline. Even if I haven't had much money
to spend I have enjoyed shopping, and I think I have done very well with
Roman souvenirs. Sometimes I have wished I could spend just a little
more, and yet I have done very well."
If Irma had been looking at Marion, she might have seen that he was
observing her more closely than the pages of the book that earlier had
seemed to absorb him.
As they journeyed, Uncle Jim reminded Irma that they were travelling
toward the sources of the Tiber, and at one station he told her that
here she might go off to Perugia, the home of Perugino and Raphael.
"Orvieto," he added, "is a town set on a small mountain by itself, and I
hope you will like the funicular."
"By funicular!" cried Marion, in a tone of disgust; "that's the kind of
thing I particularly hate."
"You might go around by carriage. There is a winding road, as I
remember, but it takes much longer."
When they arrived at Orvieto, Marion, however, entered the strange
little train that was to be pulled up the steep ascent by underneath
cable.
"Look back at the view," urged Aunt Caroline, when they were almost at
the top. Turning her head Irma beheld a beautiful sight, the broad
valley lying far beneath and the distant hills. Then glancing toward
Marion she saw that he was leaning upon the seat in front and steadying
himself as if to brace himself against disaster.
"Sit up straight," called Uncle Jim, mischievously. "You cannot
possibly fall out, and if the car slips we shall all perish together."
Then Irma noticed that Marion bit his lip, as if angry, and made no
effort to look at the view.
A short drive from the end of the funicular brought them to an
old-fashioned hotel.
"A little rest, a little _dejeuner_, and then the cathedral!" exclaimed
Aunt Caroline. "I can hardly wait to see it. That is the only thing that
brings people to this queer little town."
"It is surely a queer little hotel, and we are the only Americans here,"
thought Irma, observing the guests at the other tables, a stout,
long-frocked priest, a uniformed officer, and two or three swarthy
Italians, apparently prosperous business men.
Soon after _dejeuner_ they set out, and a turn or two brought them to
the piazza of the Duomo, or cathedral.
For a moment all stood silent, as the sun shining full on the facade
showed them an enormous picture.
"Isn't it the most wonderful thing you ever saw?" cried Aunt Caroline,
and Irma thought it too beautiful for words. For those who had planned
and those who had carried out the plans had managed to give to the
little hill town a church that any city in the world might envy.
Beautiful pictures in mosaic in rich tones and gold backgrounds occupy
the upper part of the front. The marble pillars are exquisitely carved,
and around the large rose window are marble statues of apostles and
saints, while fine bronze emblems also form part of the decorations.
"I would really rather not go inside," said Irma, when Uncle Jim
proposed their seeing the interior. "I should like to sit here for an
hour and simply look at this beautiful, enormous picture," and she
raised her eyes to the high, pointed gables of the cathedral, far, so
far above her.
While she was speaking Uncle Jim had crossed the street to a group of
boys gathered on the cathedral steps.
"Yes," he said, as he returned, "they are actually playing cards, and
they didn't show the slightest signs of guilt when I looked over their
shoulders."
"Just think of being so intimate with this cathedral that you could play
games on its steps without thinking of the front."
"And those bareheaded women repairing the pavement never glance at the
church."
"Oh, Marion," protested Aunt Caroline, "don't give her a penny. Here are
two more old women hobbling along, and if you give to one you will have
the whole hospital at your back. I am sure there is some kind of an
institution there at the corner of the piazza."
Marion smiled good humoredly, and took his hand from his pocket, without
producing the bit of silver that the old woman evidently expected.
Two other old women came along, one leaning heavily on a crutch, the
other with a heavy woollen shawl over her head in spite of the heat of
the day.
"But just think what a fine time they could have with my half franc to
spend."
"You will find some more worthy cause, if you need a cause on which to
waste your money. There--there--go--go," cried Aunt Caroline to the
three old women, who had now come close up to her, mumbling and making
signs of hunger.
"Come, Irma, inside the cathedral," and laying her hand on Irma's arm,
Aunt Caroline crossed the street, while Uncle Jim and Marion followed:
and if the truth be told, as soon as Aunt Caroline's back was turned,
the very coin that had been burning Marion's pocket quickly transferred
itself to the hand of the most importunate of the old women. This, at
least, was Irma's impression, as she looked around before entering the
cathedral door, attracted by the rather peculiar striking of a clock.
Looking in the direction of the sound she gave an exclamation of
surprise that led Aunt Caroline to turn also. There on a building at the
corner stood a life size figure of a small man hitting a bell with a
hammer, and thus informing the town of the hours and quarter hours
without the need of a clock face.
The cool, white interior of the cathedral was a pleasant change from the
hot piazza. The pillars were of marble, striped black and white like the
outside. The young people admired some of the old frescoes by Fra
Angelico and Signorelli, and watched the priest copying the head of
Virgil, one of several poets of the future life chosen to decorate one
chapel. But when Aunt Caroline drew out her book to sketch some
architectural details Irma sighed audibly.
Only Marion, however, heard and understood the sigh.
"Aunt Caroline," he said, "while you are drawing, Irma and I might
ramble around the town. The streets are so narrow that there would be no
fun driving, and you never care to walk in the sun."
"Certainly, children. Run off by yourselves. You needn't apologize for
tiring of the society of your elders. As we have so little time here I
intend to devote myself to the cathedral inside and out. Only remember
what you see, and please don't get lost."
So Irma and Marion set off by themselves. Although they had been
informed that the little Municipal Museum contained many interesting
vases and ornaments found in the ancient Etruscan tombs so numerous in
this neighborhood, they decided to omit the museum.
"We saw so many of those things in the National Museum at Rome," sighed
Irma, "and these cannot be any finer. Aren't you tired of museums? There
must be much to see here, for Orvieto is such an old, old town."
"Yes," assented Marion, "and we might as well begin to set ourselves
against museums, for Uncle Jim says that all the Italian towns, no
matter how small, are stuffed full of local pride, and have municipal
museums, and even art galleries that they tax the poor people heavily to
support. If no one should visit them then taxes would be lighter, and
the poor Italians would be happier, and not so many would be driven to
emigrate to America."
While Irma laughed at the absurdity of his reasoning she also thought
that Marion was a very clever boy.
Then they wandered through the narrow streets of Orvieto, passing under
stone arches, looking in at various shops, where shoemakers or tinsmiths
or tailors were working in rather primitive fashion. Irma photographed
one or two old churches, and at last they came to a wall that seemed to
hold the town from tumbling down the high hill. There they had a wide
view across a lovely valley.
While they stood there, three or four well-dressed children surrounded
them, asking for money, and going through the usual form of speech, "We
are dying of hunger." Far from sympathizing, Marion and Irma only
laughed as they drove the children away, and finally the children, too,
burst into loud laughter as they retreated.
"I never imagined an Italian town as clean as this," said Irma, as they
walked over the big cobblestones of a sidewalkless thoroughfare. "It
looks as if it had been swept and scrubbed, and yet I am sorry for the
people so near the beautiful country, who yet must live in a closely
built town."
"Oh, many probably work in the fields below there, young as well as old.
Though they don't need the protection of a fortified town, as they did
in the Middle Ages, they still love to huddle together."
Before returning to the hotel, the two went to another edge of the town.
A public garden covered the site of the old fortress, but from a ruin of
the ancient castle they formed an idea of what it had been in its days
of usefulness.
"Give me your camera for a moment," cried Marion, as Irma leaned against
the wall looking over the Valley of the Tiber, toward the Umbrian hills.
"Now, stand still, just as you are," and when she heard the click she
turned to thank Marion.
"You must be a thought reader. I was wishing I might have a picture
taken here to send home, but----"
"You weren't afraid to ask me?"
"Well--you might have thought I was vain--or something. It always seems
so silly to wish to have one's own picture taken. But this is for
Gertrude. She tried to make me promise to have one taken in every town
we visited."
"I really believe you'd rather please Gertrude than any one else. I am
almost sorry I took the photograph." Marion turned away half angrily,
and Irma could not tell whether or not he was in earnest, as they
followed the custodian of the garden, who had been insisting that they
must see the _pozzo_, or old well.
When they had looked down into its gloomy depths of a couple of hundred
feet the man seemed rather disappointed that neither of them would
descend part way.
"The remarkable thing about it is that the spiral staircase is so built
that donkeys with buckets went down on one side, and came up on the
other with water."
"But who cares about that now?" cried Irma impatiently.
As they turned away from the well, they saw a hotel omnibus approaching,
and a moment later Aunt Caroline was calling to them.
"We were so afraid we might miss you. They insisted on bringing us down
early for the funicular, and here are your bags. But this is better than
being late, and it will give your uncle and me a chance to visit the
famous well." Whereat Irma and Marion exchanged smiles, though it did
not seem worth while to dissuade their elders from seeing one of the few
sights of the old town.
"It will be a quarter of an hour before the train starts for Siena, and
they ought to have some way of killing time."
"By the way," continued Marion, as they waited for the train, "you may
be glad to hear that you were right and I was wrong, the other day about
my purse."
"The one that was stolen?"
"Yes. I ought to have reported it, as you said. It contained a piece
of--well--something that I wouldn't have lost for anything. I only found
it out when I came to pack this morning. I had thought it was in its
box. But when to-day I found the box empty, I remembered that I had it
in my purse to take to a jeweler's to repair."
"Can't you report it now?"
"Oh, it's absolutely too late, now that we have left Rome."
At this moment the train came in.