Show 1 t i i 1 I r. r i- i f THE IE SA SALT T LA LAKE E TELEGRAM TELEGRAM I I. I I lONDAY LUNDAY MORNING OR ING JANUARY JANUARY 15 I In I n THE EE n MARRIED LIFE OF HELEN HEIEN AND AND WARREN Warren Proves an Irreverent Sightseer of the Antiques of Rome The They Ther start at half haf past one Weve We've only rive five minutes Helen hurried on ahead Oh Im I'm afraid we wont won't make mak it Hope we do miss th the darn thing grumped Warren refusing to accelerate accelerate ate his leisurely stroll Ill I'll feel like a a 0 fool tool on that rubberneck wagon Dear I told you they have carriages carriages carriages car car- And its it's the only way to see Rome Rome ever everybody everybody bod says so Well Yell up to now weve we've got along alone pretty well welt on our own Turning into the Piazza di dl Termini they saw the four open carriages be before before before be- be fore the travel bureau Were ere Just in time jo joyfully full for forthe forthe forthe the seats were being assigned to the group of waiting tourists If It hed he'd only give giva us that single carriage To her delight the guide appraising Warren arren for a generous tip bowed them into the single barouche A brief delay to collect their tickets tickets tickets tick tick- ets and they started ot off Wheres the hearse grinned Warren Warren Warron War War- ren ron as they filed tiled out of the square their black horses black upholstery and black coated drivers suggesting a funeral procession But isn't it comfortable 7 Helen exulted Not a bit like those big sightseeing cars Now dont don't you wish wed we'd ed bought tl tickets for the whole three days No o I do dont don't t explosively One afternoon is all Ill I'll stand for Well this is the most interesting I trip trip the the Colosseum the Forum and the Golden House of Nero Nerol consulting consulting consulting consult consult- ing the leaflet which outlined each days day's Itinerary Fridays they do the Catacombs Oh dear we must go gothen gothen then Go alone if It you want to Take Taken Inthe in inthe the whole blooming show show but but dont don't count on me Their first stop was at an imposing fountain The guide standing In his seat neat b by the driver of the first carriage they could hear only part of his or oratorical oratorical ora ora- declamation Huh this towns town's peppered with fountains If hes he's going to stop and chew the rag at each one of em wont won't wont won't have much time t for far r anything else As they paused before almost every fountain monument and church en route it was three before they neared the Colosseum Helen saw it first from the broken side Ide the same view that had hung in one of her classrooms Through many dreary recitation hours she had faced that faded photogravure of The at Rome The very frame even the rusty wire was an indelible memory Leaving the carriages under some friendly shade trees the party of nine made their way over the moss grown stones Before the massive columns that had formed the main entrance the guide In his most grandiloquent manner manne paused to address them Ladles Ladies and Gentlemen your attention attention attention atten atten- tion please We are now on the threshold of the greatest structure in history Here have been witnessed the most brutal combats the world has ever known In this arena thousands of Christians have been slain by the sword or devoured by wild beasts A Munch and a Crunch and tle Lions are at Lunch quoted Warren arren under his breath SH SIr dear as two women of the prim schoolteacher type looked their disapproval Entering the arena they viewed the remains of the eighty encircling columns columns col col- col- col and the seats rising In tiers that had accommodated over spectators tors tore During the reign of bloodthirsty emperors emperors em era- explained the guide the original gladiatorial rial contests had degenerated Into wholesale slaughter Those old duffers wanted a show with some pep in n it grinned Warren Ignoring Helens Helen's silencing nudge Across the groat amphitheatre op opposite opposite op- op the royal rojal box was the gate where the victims were brought into the arena and nearby the Deaths Gate through which their mutilated bodies were dragged out Reveling in the gruesome as do all Italian guides he kept them waiting in the hot sun while he told harrowing tales of the martyred Christians The ground on which we are now standing has been by the blood of ot almost a million human beings slam in this arena And now Its It's the tourist who's soaked for being here mumbled Warren War War- ren Dear imagine Nero sitting up there therewith therewith with all his court looking court looking down on those bloody scenes scenes scenes' I huh nuh Nero ero wa we dead before this 1 Joint was built Better keep your trap shut and not air your ignorance In flushed disconcertion Helen turned to her guide book but as the party moved on she had not time to search through the labyrinth of dates They now entered the dungeons be beneath beneath beneath be- be neath where the tho Christians awaiting their fate tate had been imprisoned Near Nearby Nearby Nearby by were the caves in which the wild animals were kept for da days s 's without food before being loosed upon their I victims We will now proceed to the excavations excavations excavations excava excava- of Neros Nero's Golden House which is said to have contained 1000 rooms It H was on the site site of the sunken lake lak in his garden that the Colosseum was was built Then youre you're right whispered Helen It WAS AS built after Neros Nero's time But somehow Id I'd always associated asso asso- I elated dated him with tho the Colosseum Well Yell dont don't shoot off any more com corn ments You You seen see n that old girl with the Baedeker when yo you spouted about Nero sitting in the Colosseum Colos Cobs seum scum Further up the hill they entered a series of gloomy excavations The Tho guide carrying a lantern led led them into Neros Nero's bedroom To the mouldy stone walls still clung bits of the polished marble with which they had been veneered A raised marble dais showed where the bed had stood Adjoining was his wife's room with the same curious platform Through a secret passage to the banquet hall ball the scene of so so many wild orgies Then the where Nero had pronounced sentence on St. St Paul On and on through the mouldy deso desolation lation of other tunneled chambers their t footsteps echoing in the ghostly silence they came out on a crumbling stone stono arch which had overlooked the garden From this balcony Nero Neo had watched the human torches Christians covered with pitch and burned alive that had often otten illumined his garden at night Here also had he viewed the burning of Rome Rome ignited ignited by his orders that the spectacle might inspire him to write an epic To burn a city Just to write a poem shuddered Helen Yes and a bum burn poem at that grunted Warren He was a rotten rotte poet The guide pointed out a fenced Inclosure Inclosure inclosure In- In closure with the sign Im I'm- gresso where excavations were still being made The work had to be done slowly and with great care to destroy j nothing of historic Interest Descending by some ancient steps they made their way back through the Colosseum and on over fallen columns to The Forum The great Square that had once been the glory of ot Rome was now but a field of crumbling desolation Here and there a few isolated columns marked the site of some triumphal arch or temple With rhetorical effusion the guide dwelt on the history of the most fa famous famous fa- fa amous a- a structure the Senate the tho Stadl- Stadl urn um the House of the Vestal Virgins the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of ot Constantino Constantine all all graves of the past past past- slumberous ruins of their former dor dot Slumberous ruins snorted Warrent Warrent Warrent War- War rent vigorously scratching scratching- his angles Theres one thing not slumbering around here the here the fleas They're damned lively I Wish Vish hed he'd cut short the elocution But Helen listening with rapt absorption ab absorption absorption ab- ab sorption to the guides guide's flowery rendition rendition rendi rendi- rendition tion of ot the greatness of ot the Roman re republic republic republic re- re public was oblivious to mere physical discomfort There stands all that remains of the Temple of Julius Caesar his tireless voice boomed on It was there that Mark Anthony delivered his Immortal oration over oyer the body of the murdered statesman Helen thought of her bId old thumbed copy of Caesars Caesar's Commentaries over which she had spent so o many rebellious hours n a Gallia est omnis divisa 1 I partes tres was all she remembered j I of tho the masterpiece Further on stood the Church of St. St Guiseppe beneath which was as the subterranean subterranean subterranean sub sub- Prison where St. St Peter before his crucifixion had be been n confined It was there in a dungeon i icell cell that he had caused fresh water to gush from the tho solid rock that he might baptize a a. fellow prisoner In the tho samo same cell Simon the gallant defender deCender of ot Jerusalem had died and I Jugurtha had been starved to death To Helens Helen's disappointment It was now too late lato to explore the underground underground underground under under- j ground prison but as they strolled back to the carriages the guide related further fur ther gruesome stories of prisoners tortured tortured tortured tor tor- within those walls The drivers who had been dozing on the boxes flecked th their lr whips to o arouse I the horses and they were ready to start backWell back Well Vell have to give this this' Johnny something Warren felt in his hig pocket as the guide came up for the name of their hotel to have them driven n there direct He lie worked pretty hard playing playing play play- ing lag up those horrors How lIow grateful wt wo ought to be were we're not living in that cruel time shivered Helen n nestling against him as they drove off otto Think of being thrown into that arena to be devoured by wild wile beasts Just because of your religion Well Weli V ell youre you're too skinny not skinny not much of ofa a meal for a hungry lion pinching her arm Ought to fatten up with althe all al the oil and spaghetti youre you're getting over here Dear you were perfectly horrid You Kept making Irreverent remarks those those two women were shocked Hope they were grimly again Intent in intent intent In- In tent on his ankles Its the last time you'll drag me inc to a lot of mouldy ruins with a bunch of schoolmarms You Just tried to be facetious Those are the greatest ruins of history his his- I. I tory tory Graves Graves of the Past ho he called callei them yet et you hadn't the least respect for forI for for- Now dont don't start beefing Here I give me that guidebook Lets Let's see what wha It says about restaurants Weve We've go goto gotto got to gun up some place for dinner Althis All Al this tramping round works up an ap appetite ap- ap petite Those man eating lions lions after after the they'd d been dieted a week week week-hadn't hadn't anything anything anything any any- thing on me Copyright 1922 by Mabel Herbert Harper Next week week A A Dinner Served by Royalty |