Show 0 ROME when I 1 go to salt lake city and look at her rapid growth at her streets throng nd d with a mixed and strange elet element neut at the new aud and bushings springing up in her midst nearly every day and when on the other hand I 1 contemplate the peace quietude and sanctity which once characterized this central city of the saints sai ante I 1 am reminded of rome the famous city of the emperors and the abode of the popes which today seems to undergo the same changes as does our beloved city on the salt lake it is not the explorers who have destroyed the beauty of rome the meu men who have done the real mischief are the speculating builders and contra the sudden influx of inhabitants which followed the revolution of 1870 gave them an opportunity which they were not slow to seize since then the numbers of the population have increased enormously and the price of land is said paid to have risen from a few c centimes cen times to more than a thousand francs a metre the cupidity of private owners and of public bodies could not resist the temptation thus offered them they have sacrificed their oldest traditions to fill their pockets pock crets ts and given up rome into ff the hands of speculators we see the results of their action in the new quarters which have sprung up with such inconceivable cei vable rapidity in all parts of the city everywhere the same glaring white boulevards are hewing their way and in their path the winding streets and the old houses with roofs of every shape and color and corners jutting out in all directions are fast disappearing from view aud and now in order to facilitate the construction of formal squares and rectangular streets the government has introduced a system known as the piano regulatory regu latore by which the seven bills are to be leveled and the valleys between them filled up so the very face of nature is to be changed and the most renowned feature of the eternal city is 13 1 3 to be done away with go where here you will in rome there is no escape from these new quarters you fl find nd them in the grass meadows at the back of castle santo angelo which made so pleasant a walk to st peters on the quiet slopes of the and the where you could ramble through monastery garde gardens fis full of mediaeval media medi eval veval memories and dream of gregory and augustine of dominic and the knights of malta wilhoit ever meeting a soul they stretch far out into the campagna and spoil all the charming districts beyond ports porta No mentana where anio aido used to wind between willow fringed banks and saint Agne seand saint costanza stood out in the lonely plains to the faintly as you looked across flushed hills of the sabine range and the blue peaks of foraste So on the other side it is still worse if there was a place which should have been sacred in the roman eyes it was the no church in rome basmore has more glorious memories here is the basilica founded by constantine the place which was for four hundred years the home borne of the popes the centre of mediaeval media medi eval veval christendom abw mater et caput pil grinn grim came here from all lands some to climb the santa scala seme to gaze on the chapel of the sancta sanctorum some for the sake of constantine Conet antine others for that of luther but all alike stood on an the steps at the west end of the basilica and looked out on the su sunny n ny terraces terra cea where the medi sevel popes took their daily walks and francis of assist Assi the german hero threw himself at the feet of pope innocent III the view from these ste steps was simply the grandest in bome borne and aad always beautiful in th the dim blueness of early mornin morning and in the rich glow or of evening evening light generations of poets and painters hive h ive celebrated its charms and looked out from this point on these plains spiritualized spi ritualized wrote sterling 1 ay apy endless recollections now the avenue of ilex treesia trees Js cut down the roses roam and presses cypresses cy are gone A block of factory looking houses shuts out the mountain and the cla ja and oat hat perfect view iri id for ever ruined the improvements of the municipality nici in this neighborhood did not end there two T wo years ago saw the destruction of the ghetto that curious mediaeval media eval quarter which had been the home of the jews for the last three hundred years the names of the via e piazza del bore witness to the wailing of this unhappy people on the day when they were driven from their homes by command of paul the fourth and forced to take up their abode in the limits of this narrow district every sunday for cantu ries they wore were compelled to bear a sermon in the church of saint angelo in pio nono none was the first pope to abolish this custom and to remove the barred gates of the ghetto which before his time had been closed every night and yetla spite of crowded its croci ed population in spite tolof the filth and squalor of many of its narrow lanes tile the jews quarter was the healthiest of the city and the death rate of this district was lower than that of any other A walk through the ghetto was a unique experience artists were attracted OF b by the quaint character of many of these old houses their round headed archways arch ways steep flights of stairs and gothic windows the courts and alleys teemed with life black eyed boys with curly heads and shining tooth teeth pursued the stranger clamoring for jew ish faced women sat on the doorsteps darning bits of silk and lace from the rag heaps at their the i r feet wid and vendors of old do clo 1 carried on a brisk bar bargain grID there was always the chance of finding some lovely bit of oriental br cade or rich damask some gem or cameo of rare workmanship under these piles of rubbish and as you treaded your way through some dark lane you might see the figure of a seven branched candlestick carved on the wall a relic of the departed glories of jerusalem and of the old f lith filth to which the exiles clung through ages of persecution anti and misery on the outskirts of the ghetto abo tto a street led to the portico of octavio Oct avlo where titus celebrated his triumph and syrian captives bore the s spoils th 11 of thu the temple in his train the sight was strikingly picturesque the many storied houses of the narrow street almost shut out the blue sky overhead and the sunshine streamed through the aeeti a ng q roofs on the glittery glit teri ng scales of nub and the worn marble slabs which had been in use sirce the days of the cairs A few steps further on was the theatre which augustus built in honor of the young marcellus here we are met by another of those strange contrasts over which ampire ire loved to moralize under the aric doric arches of the lowest tier artesiano arte bad their shops and the light of the forge glowed flowed upon piles of green vegetables and water melons and of meat which dangled from the travertine blocks of the augustan age above the ionic arches of the upper story rose the grim walls of the savelli palace built in tile the middle ages on a lofty heap of debris within the theatre this was the home of when he lived in rome borne as prussian ambassador from these windows he looked down on the fountains the orange trees and flowering jessamine of liis his little gar denand fur far away across the tiber to st i eters a and nd mento mario this district has undergone a thorough cleansing the ancient fish market and the shops have been rem removed ovea and the ghetto levelled bevelled level led to the ground whole streets were carted away during the last three years amid clouds of white dust and mortar only the fortress looking the portico politico of octavio and the theatre of marcellus remain isolated and stripped of their surroundings in short the whole of this remarkable quarter has disappeared to make room for boulevards and jerry built houses there to is no saying where the work of destruction will end three or four years ago villa deste dE up at tivoli was on the point of being sold and turned into a foundry and villa borghese narrowly escaped the same fate even the apathetic romans were stirred when they heard prince borghese announce his intention of selling his villa the oldest and most famous in rome borne founded three hundred years ago by cardinal scipio borghese this time the municipality protested the case was taken into court and the sale stopped by judicial decree for the present at least villa Bor borghese gliese has been saved for a little while longer the romans may roam through these gardens where once had its home and see the scarlet ano menes and abd blue violets come out in the grass under the trees for fora a little while the tall stone pines of villa doria may lift their heads against the golden sky where the waters of the fonto fonte paoline flash in the sunset gunset but who can tell for how long tile the breath of the destroying angel ange is in the air and at any moment he may pause in his flight over these fair scones scenes and turn all this beauty to dust and ashes ambes it seems strange arrange and almost in credible that the romans should sit quietly by and see thew these things happen and not one inclined to stand up aad and speak a word for the view or the ludovisi gardens here and there a voice has been lifted a protest raised an article or two has appeared in the papers there has been ft a little stir a good deal of talk then the subject has been allowed to drop and the vork ork of spoliation has continued it is idle to ask whether the guilt rests on the head of the government or the municipality in most cases I 1 am inclined to think the blame may be very evenly divided between the two but in point of fact it is the italian nation that is responsible for the ruin ruin of rome borne i the same thing is happening in florence at this moment there too the oldest parts of the city the cradle of her liberties the home of dante is about to be destroyed to gratify the greed of speculators and the hankering of the florentines florentinus Floren tines after broad streets and empty squares once more we are reminded that cc history repeats itself rome it is said has always lived at the expense of the past one age has invariably risen on tile the ruins of its predecessor so in the middle ages a new rome rose out of t the ashes of the im imperial aerial cit yand the temples of the forum and the colosseum became the quarries which supplied marbles for the churches and palaces of the renaissance and now modern rome ts to but following their example and making her future of the debris of the past but at least the middle ages and the renaissance left us monuments worthy of admiration in the place of the city they destroyed and we of the nineteenth century 7 what shall we have to allow which can justify our acts of vandalism in the eyes of posterity the via Naz lonale and the piazza or the ponte garibaldi will compare but ill III with st peter peters s or the sistina ristina and the greatest admirers of the new quarters will hardly put tem t em on a level with the farnese palace or the borghese gardens and ana when we ask of what profit has all this been to ahe he roman people are they happier or better off than they were before this is the answer we receive at the present time ther them is 13 more distress more crime more abomination and greater poverty v in rome than evet ever before bre taxes are high food is dear failures are frequent while last winter the discontent of the working classes led to riots which at one time threatened to assume very serious proportions may we hope that our loved city on the beautiful lake rome notwithstanding will by its growt hand improvements do better DR DB ED |