| Show DEAD KING A CHANCE VISIT TO THE ETERNAL CITY RECALLED victor im inn nuel stricken by a coming of i Ref ineil ly by soiree tg log tiie the giusti lb ruu cial it IV was is ly by till nn odd series cries of chances that I 1 found myself 1 fit romo ionic in ill the lie early of the ho ye year ir 1879 the most eventful roar jear for the eternal 1 city since that ehst season when victor emmanuel and liis his court came to take up their abode in the place of the Cic sars whit what a time of oe c it was 11 II ito ilo gallant amo lay dying at the quirinal at the vatican his old enemy pius IX was stricken itric kei too by a mortal disease the king always a good catholic etwas it was said sad b biad ad sent bent to ask the holy father for liis ills blessing and all rome held its breath and waited would the lie head of tho the fallen power forgive ills his victorious torio usi enemy now nov that both were mere so soon to yield to the universal conqueror would the great soldier and tle be good and gentle priam AN alio lie hall had wasco such bitter war die at al pence peace with one another messenger after messenger was dispatched front from the chamber ot of death on quirinal insl hill to the sick room of the prisoner of the Nat vatican ican they all came back silent till at last one lin humble nible monk who had prayed long beside the dying king was sent and came back bringing with him a promise of peace it was not lie king victor emanuel who asked aorl locae s tor for his heroic life for liis ills glorious action the iho freeing of italy but it was the hie man inan human and faulty askin asking absolution at the hands ot of the high priest of liis his religion all this ruay may be history it may inny be fable I 1 cannot vouch for it but it was N what hat was said whispered his rather at every street corner in rome the city was shaken to its dounda tion the heart of the people was stirred to its inmost depth lien tile the indifferent foreign colonies of expatriated Enli english sli and americans I 1 were ere swayed bytha by the tremendous passion of the moment the kings hour came the great captain passed away and the city sat and mourned in sackcloth and ashes A great wail went up from the party of the lie whites and even I 1 alie lie blacks were magnanimous anti and silent they too I 1 were soon to lose the good man who hall had so long I 1 stood at their lead head A COMPANION IN ar ARMS VS italy mourned her fallen hero but when the time bad come to lay away what was mortal of the beloved son she rose and clad herself in garments of somber splendor and made for him a funeral the like of which the world has not often seen it was rumored that liis his old lieutenant garibaldi was coming from rocks rock caprera to take part in the obsequies the estrangement between the two of later years it had never been of the heart but of the hend head was utterly forgotten will be forgotten in history and garibaldi avilo had set the crow n of italy upon the head of victor emmanuel wag coming to look once more upon the fice face f ice of his old companion in arms arins this was whispered on the corso but few people gave credence to the rumor it was said that garibaldi would never walk or stand again lie ile too was laid low lov 6 by a ous illness and his death could not be tar far off it was by a very singular series of chances that I 1 happened to go on that soft afternoon when the air was full of the whispers of the up to the great railroad station somewhere in fit the new part of the city some friends were going to meet a young lady who was about to arrive on oil an all incoming train As we drew near the depot we nye found it surrounded by a dense mass of humanity policemen and soldiers were on oil every side to maintain an order which no one seemed in the least inclined to disturb it was vas a very quiet serious herious faced crowd and no one laughed or jested for more than a w eck iu in all that great city I 1 nener heard a laugh we asic asked I 1 an all officer of the der ber celi elichi eli cri crl who stood near us what the people nvere w ero all waiting for some people say tie be answered that garibaldi 1 is to arrive on the train which is now due but who cantell can tella they have been w ai ailing ting tor for him for two days past and lor looking kill tor for him on ell every train we 0 decided to wait until the train should arri arric le and a place was made for me on oil a step inside home rail jugs ings where I 1 stood a better chance of if keeping a little breath in my body those who were nearest caught the roar of if the incoming locomotive and the tidings spread that the train hall had arrived A oliver of excitement shook the crowd which stirred and swayed and then blood silent again and wailed IV all eyes were fixed on oil the impassive front of the iho great greak brono station A man mail who must have been a sailor had bad clambered I 1 high up to a place from which lie could command a view of the station ile ho it was who hall had announced the coming ot of the train it was lie he who from hia high place could overlook the leads heads of the people and ill alio lie cried aloud in ili a hoarse whisper whis per ile he lias has comel come THE OLD RED BED the news diews was felt rather than heard and when the gens darmes and the military guard of lionor appeared and the ho order was given to malie make room the crowd shrank silently back on either side of the roadway leaving a path wide enough ch tor for the line of horsemen four deep W to pass these went on saluted im though there were officers among them who were the hier heroes cies of tile the people but when tile carriage appeared the crowd forward and a murmur was heard which sounded like a great high A few men shouted out the patri patriot otla name daniel but for the most part there thera was a grieved silence broken only by sighs and exclamations ot of pity men fen and women wf pt as the large carriage carri ge made its way slowly past them I 1 was standing on boink steps a litto higher than the mass maso of tac people and a young woman who was tangling sl ta noling below me with her child apor apol lier her shoulder asked me to lift the little fel lovil up lip that hat lie he might look upon tile the fo fio 0 o of oc Gilb Gai baldi alolf tho the officer who had befriended us lifted tile child who was waa tuo too much awed to cry over tho the failings railings rai lings aal 1 into my arms I 1 remember tile tho mother stretched her hand I 1 brough tho the grato and patted the tat fat little leg reassuringly the carriage was almost I 1 on oil a line with our vision and in a moment mome n t more had ii crossed it Lying upon I 1 a pillowed billowed pill owed litter with closed acs and clasped hands I 1 saw for the first and only time garibaldi unworn the old red shirt an anz the II 11 wide ide sott soft gray felt hat and there was a sash about hi hint wit cef it just as I 1 had seen it in a bbous thons till nd chures cl ures but the beauty of the fico face I 1 hall never seen been su suggested and was all unprepared for foll ahr features refined by suffering were faultlessly and delicately molded tho the hair and beard were of the color of silver an and tho the NN white hito and rose complexion was as delicato as that of it child the expression was I 1 very N w ond wonderful erful ul and ana moved me st strangely langely rangely ran gely I 1 the mother turned and lost lose sight sigh t of that faco face ou on which every eye was fixed in osacr to make sure thal tha iler her child child was seeing look she said with an awed face look on garibaldi loomand look and never never never forget that you hive have seen him f when silo turned to the street again the I 1 carriage had gone by and the people who 1 had stood bareheaded and silent where the liero hero passed put on their hats again and the great crowd melted away we vc followed in in our own minds t tho he progress of the sail sad cortege through the thronged thron ged hushed streets to the place to the chapel where the conqueror lay as we live hall had seen him a few hours before with ills his ermine robe about liim him his crown and scepter at ills ilia licad lead liis ills good sword at his side the chapel was lighted by a blaze of waxen tapers and in fit each of tile tho four corners cornera kneeled a monk praying for the newly fledged soul this was vas what the patriot saw but of what he be felt one ran can but imagine all the wonderful ceremonies that tha t follow ell cd in quick succession the funeral of the hin king the death of the pope and ilia his lying in fit state at st peters Peter ls the crowning of the new king tho the advent of the new pope I 1 saw with I 1 liese hese eyes but as I 1 look back upon these acts act of the great drama draina of italy what I 1 see most clearly is that wonderful white face of garibaldi ith tile the heroic past stamped upon its features as it lay among the cushions of the litter boston transcript |
