Show ff Ti D Ds mm s s Irr m H I Arezzo the tiny town In Tuscany in la n which h was born has never nev- nev never er r forgotten the obligation the great Italian poet and man of letters put upon her by first opening his eyes in inthis inthis inthis this world in the tho midst of her red red- tiled lIed r roofs and as that event occurred Just GOO years ago Arezzo has seen seena a ko to It that due honor was paid to the occasion t t There was a week of ceremony lor or an event like this must be celebrated cele- cele rated with due solemnity and in a comprehensive manner There was wasa wasa a a congress literary congress literary persons from various parts parte of the earth were there tourists too dropped in to see the show there was a banquet a gala performance at the theater a 8 tablet unveiled and finally a reproduction o of f J I Ir 1 I r I- I r l I r r f. f zo fJ r r V y v i famous triumphal entry Into nto Arezzo in the height of his fame The little mUe town was was absolutely absolutely ma mad d with delight When atrain a train rolled into the the- station of Q-f Arezzo a a 8 genial and and and- progressive rc Te member of the town co committee com m. m would rush up to each stranger strange r whom he be suspected of coming for th the e celebration I i Petrarca 1 he be would ask eagerly y Yes replied the tourist hardly y knowing g what to say But that was enough Arezzo was delighted again The committeeman n Representing th that t commendable pride would take possession of the newcomer newcom newcom- er er r rush him into a side room at th the e station elation and there bear him down with wit h tickets Rickets badges pamphlets and what wha t hot cot Arezzo had bad not been so much alive since that day in 1350 when Pet parch arch astride his white horse d his birthplace As a s ter er of fact fac all all ever did rezzo was s to to be born there and pass pass through the pity Fitt sIx forty forty six years later But could coul d a h great man do anything more for fo dr r any city t J Arezzo was cleaned In honor of the Ue event It celebrated and from gaa gala posts erected in the city banners cf ot fired jred ed and yellow fluttered in the occa- occa l occa al breeze From FroIO e every house pieces leces of ot red and yellow stuffs stutts bung hung from rom windows and even garlands of ot flowers festooned picturesque walls The part of the festival to which all an looked forward with the greatest amount of ot interest was anything but disappointing This ThIs' was the representation representation of ot the festivities with appropriate tp ap- costuming given In honor o Pet arch when he arrived at ot h hs s native native na na- tive city in the year 1350 as he was returning from the jubilee In Rome Romo The magistrates went out to meet him and ordered that no DO alterations should be made ade in the humble house which he be was born At that time Ie was at the height of ot his fame fane he Thad had ad received the laurel crown re rc c I Rome had written his great work Africa which Is la ao iO longer read I and anel nd wa was was on his way to Vaucluse original triumphal entry into Arezzo was in December but as the sixth centenary of ot his birth W was 3 being celebrated ted it was advisable advisable ad ad- and not anomalous to include this feast for the eyes and so not only lend that color so dear lear to the Tuscan Tuscan but but that spectacular element beloved by every human buman being The festa fester was given toward evening for the sun had been extremely hot Fifteen thousand persons per sons had gathered to witness the culminating culminating cul cul- point of ot the centenary celebration cele cele- bration on the great prato or field Just at the edge 01 of the town They The had come come from everywhere in th the e surrounding co country for the tho Italians Italian s not only know their great men o of ot f antiquity but are proud of them The spectators sat in rows rows on benches which surrounded the prato which has always been used for games and shows and was more than likely the th e scene of triumph nearl nearly y six six centuries centuries t r es ago ago 80 In the center of the field E Mood a n p huge wooden figure representing the head and body of a Saracen This Thi s turned on a pivot and was the object of ot attack by byC bythe C the soldiers who were e dressed as knights in armor The Therode They y rode through the entrance of ot he in inclosure inclosure in in- closure at full gallop but waited t to o begin their begin their exhibition until all an the m mediaeval mediaeval me me- figures had made a circuit o othe of f the field field and had bad seated es s in the ther r appointed places Th Then n the leader rode to the center cents r of th the field an and l at a signal from r h Ms c JY ar i auar J b i with wan aen a wood d- d en lance Jance In hand rode at the Saracen Sara Sar cen their object being to strike the figure and nd break their lances against again st It it Some of the horses objected vi via vio o- o lenity to to their unprepossessing a an ln a- a but in general the knights knight s acq acquitted themselves as worthily a as s any of bt the Round Table and spoiled the countenance of the Saracen th the e enemy of all aU the Christians This Thi s so game called Giostra del Saraceno Saracen o was very popular long ago and continued con con- in favor for several centuries being considered most useful i In n strengthening the young men and making them adroit and quick Having finished the game with tLe tL e Moor the knights gave an exhibition of ot horsemanship for which the Ital Ital- ian hn cavalry are famous It should be stated that all aU these knights knights' are in the cavalry and came from Florence Flor Flor- ence enco especially to take part in the celebration After their withdrawal all aU the characters characters char char- taking part in the show walked walked walk walk- ed around the field Their costumes of cf to trezzo Arzo in m 30 were vere wonderfully good reproductions from the old pictures and in color and form every everyone one of them might have come ome to life after a sleep of several centuries Every class was represented ju Just Justas t as 36 six eJ ag ago every class turned turned turn turn- ed out at Arezzo to do honor to the city's greatest son There were nobles and knights In tn armor moving bits of color and flashIng bits of steel Judges and priests prest were wera tb there ere too toe I and little boys in the most engaging g clothes and the populace tl the e tradesmen tradesmen trades trades' tradesmen men the workers all were there a as s vividly portraying the year of grace grac 1050 as is possible in the unromantic year of 1904 But it t was the s schol scholars hol are ars in the procession those somber somber- robed figures figures' with crimson hoods with faces which haunt one like that tha t of ot Dante or Giotto or Cimabue wh who o gave the mediaeval character to th the e procession Messer Francesco himself va was nearly near ly Iy at the end of the procession Seated Seats upon a white horse led by pages the th e hero of ot the occasion slowly passed in view This man was a good actor He seemed to be a himself with his self self conscIous conscious and self satin fied fled manner took eve every honor as a matter of course he knew know he was a great man and thought i it t t anything but immodest to appreciate e himself athis true value So with th the e in the was the old scholar scholar humanist ri 8 and poet to the life lite Finally the mediaeval mediaeval- cortege halted baited halted halt bait ed and a chorus selected from among among those in the procession sang a hymn hymns hymn's in praise of ot the poet Begun late inthe Inthe in Is the day the twilight had now envelop envelop- ed the fantastic procession in lu a poetic indistinctness like an an attractive vinion vision viI vis ion lon of the tile past the music sounded sounded sounded- old and distant an and darkness closed l in inon Inon on n a scene such as as one ne could could find find nowhere save In Italy Francesco who has been called the first modern scholar and j 7 r a of letters was born Jorn born tn In Ar t Lra came caught n aJ Tuscany July 20 1304 His whole life I like that of ot Balzac whom he resembled bled in no other way was a fight for for tor I fame and a desire to be loved oAt L. L At the time of at his birth his parents were living in Arezzo in exile his father who was Ivas a po notary ry ba having baying he been n banished from Florence Florenc in 13 1302 2 at th the time Dante was also banished for his sympathy with the Blacks When ho he was seven years old his father removed remove ed his little f family to Avignon then the city of the Holy See These early years jears were not spent In Arezzo but buton buton buton on the estate of his bis father at consequently he had no early of his big birthplace At 14 he I was sent to ter to study law and later Ister followed the same pursuit at Bologna He was 23 when he firs first saw the Mad Madonna nna Laura his love for whom expired orly only with his bis death She Inspired In Jn- those sonnets for which Pet Pet- is now best remembered but the sincerity sincerity-of of his passion has been qu questioned and even even een the existence of the lady was doubted in hIs hie own day clay It appears however that she I i. i dId did exist being th the wife Z t a certain Ugo do Sade a gentleman who in IA said said- to have been very cross to h her r at it times yet she never neTer failed in 10 lather h her r wifely devotion and was the nother nether mother of ten children children- In his bis youth was 1 hand band a id home dome and affected affected- the dr dress ss and nd manners mane man man manners f ners of a fop His genius and labors labore la la- bors bore li however wever form one of the most rem remarkable able rl chapters In the l of Italian literature He e a accumulated u books and had hada a corps of at transcribers const constantly working for him for he be l lived Jived before the days of the printing t J press Some works he copied him him- self and there is recorded the fact that Boccaccio sent him Dantes Dante's Divine Dl DJ vine Comedy that he might Ight read it and change his poor opinion of that great poet 1 was a great traveler for tor forhia his hia time and he liked to see himself i as as another Ulysses He lIe composed a great poem on Africa which te he dedicated dedi dedI- i cited to the king of Naples and then theD b bota botu til Paris and Rome hearing of big hi 2 d desire to be crowned with the laurels laurela laurel r rafter t I after the manner of the ancients offered offered of ot- to grant him the distinction He Do l chose to go to Rome and there thero won r the bays having first at his t wn request re se- I quest passed a a- severe examination Twice he was sent by Florence aa ae UI ambassador to Venice and it was waD 7 soon after his return from that embassy embassy em em- bassy that he died July 3 3 1374 withIn withe within with with- in two days of his seventieth birt i birtI l I J y Art day v 1 I |