Conservative *
IIAEIIEKERITES , OLI > I.A.DIES , AND
GIRLY-GIKLS.
Rome is full of pilgrims. There are
of two kinds guide-book pilgrims and
prayer-book pilgrims , or Baedeker pil
grims and St. Peter pilgrims. Of the
two , the Badekor pilgrims are certainly
the cleaner , though possibly less pious.
They are here in swarms I had almost
said streams , for at any converging
point in the Roman microcosm you see
tourists in cabs pouring through the
opening in streams , like water running
out of an irrigating ditch or grain out of
a hopper. The sight is amazing. Hour
after hour there streams by this curious
mass of humanity in cabs. Its general
tone is elderly , and women predominate
elderly women with gray hair and
spectacles. Mingled with these are
large numbers of young women , from
the girly-girl who has "finished her
education , " delivered her valedictory ,
and sallied forth to view the world
through her eighteen-year-old eyes , and
to express surprise and disapproval when
she finds manners and customs differing
from those in her native village. Then
there is the other type of young woman.
She is about thirty , has seen many social
seasons , is still unwed , and is now
beginning her education instead of
finishing it , like her eighteen-year-old
sister. She is painstaking in her study
of art , and is often an ardent art-lover.
I was going to say enthusiastic , but the
veteran maiden has but little enthu
siasm left. Yet she is a nice girl much
nicer than her. eighteen-year-old sister ,
more sensible ; not so prone to say that
Rome is "real nice , " and less inclined
to hysteric shrieks and girly-girl
giggles.
Among the Baedeker pilgrims there is
quite a sprinkling of hobbledehoy youths
of fifteen or sixteen ; men , however , are
in a notable minority.
The elderly women predominate. I
shall always carry away an indelible
impression of this visit to Rome that of
a stream of elderly women with gold-
rimmed spectacles rolling by me in cabs
trying to read Baedeker and see Rome
at the same time ; sitting uneasily and
one-sidedly in their cabs , like one who
is trying to catch a train with an
anxious look upon their elderly faces , as
if they feared that before they got there
Rome's seven hills might vanish or the
Colosseum might fall down.
Dear old ladies ! Millions of women
have been born , have borne yet other
millions , have lived upon the seven hills ,
and now their mouldering bodies make
up the soil which is bridging the spaces
between the Roman hills and making
both hills and valleys into a rolling
plain. And still the Colosseum stands
and still stands Rome.
Dear old ladies ! Let no one think
that because I repeat these adjectives
"old" and "elderly" that I am sneering
at their age. Not so. I am only
wondering that their years have not
made them wiser.
Lecturers ami Goriniin Tourists.
The tourist pilgrims are to be found
u groups as well as singly. In the
Colosseum , on the Palatine Hill , in the
Foruni , you will frequently see groups
composed generally of these three
classes the spectacled lady , the veteran
maiden , and the girly-girl , gathered
around some lecturer , listening atten
tively to his flood of words and making
careful notes. I wonder why they make
notes. Does anybody know why ?
These lecturers are French as well as
italian , but they generally lecture in
English at least I suppose it is English.
I hope the lectures are edifying and im
proving ; heard in passing , they are cer-
; ainly amusing.
There is still another kind of tourist
group. This is the German group.
Sere the men predominate. You are
seated , like Marius , on a broken column ;
yon are trying to think the common
place things that everybody thinks ;
suddenly a wild whirring noise falls
upon your ear like the "honk ! honk !
honk 1" of a flock of wild geese. You
look up in alarm. Toward you comes
V-shaped like the wild geese a triangu
lar mass of humanity , a German flying
wedge. It is headed by the Herr Pro
fessor. The Herr Professor wears large
round spectacles , and has long hair , long
mustache , long whiskers , long nails ,
and long teeth. He is talking. The
sides of the triangle are talking. The
base of the triangle is talking. Every
body is talking. The Herr Professor
gallops up to the Temple of Castor and
Pollux. He elevates his voice above the
babel to a roar , and declaims fiercely for
ten or fifteen seconds. The triangle
still talks. "With another shout the
professor darts toward the Basilica
Julia. The flying wedge follows him.
Ten seconds here. With a whoop the
professor turns toward the Arch of
Severus. Fifteen seconds. Then with
gabble and roar and rattle , like the noise
of a passing train , the wild-eyed Ger
man tourists whirl toward the exit. The
tip-touting guardian feebly tries to flag
them as they dash by , but fails. The
Germans are gone. But in a few
moments you hear the "honk ! honk ! "
again , borne back on the wings of the
wind. The Germans have reached the
Palatine Hill.
Train Lends of Pilgrims.
The large majority , of course , are
Italians , but there were among these
Belgians , French , Austrians , Hun
garians , Galicians , and Slovaks. The
large number in the trains is explained
by the fact that most of them ride in
fourth-class vans , something like our
cattle-cars.
There is an occasional pilgrimage
among them of the better classes. For
example , one arrived this week made up
entirely of members of the Viennese
aristocracy. This was headed by Mon-
signore the Count of Lippe , archbishop
of the Cathedral of St. Stephens in
Vienna ; and he is a member of the
reigning house of Lippe in Germany.
In this pilgrimage were the Princess
Lichtensteiu , the Princess Lobkowiz ,
; he Countess Szeoheny , and a number
of others bearing the proudest names of
Austro-Hungary. These pilgrims were
received by the Pope in private audi
ence , presented by the Austro-Hun-
garian embassador , and Rome is still
; alking of the magnificent gifts they
Drought as Peter's pence. This is the
only aristocratic pilgrimage here , and
there are very few pilgrims even of the
middle classes. In large majority , the
pilgrims are peasants.
The Pilgrims , If Godly , arc Not Cleanly.
Like the Baedeker pilgrims , the St.
Peter pilgrims are generally elderly.
Few young people are among them ,
although you occasionally see an elderly
woman carrying a new baby. Some of
these peasant women like Elizabeth ,
who bore John the Baptist when she
was "well stricken in years" apparent
ly defy the flight of time. But not in
visage , for they all are wrinkled and all
look old. If any one believes that
living near to nature , " as peasants do ,
makes fine physical types , a look at
these pilgrims would undeceive him. I
have never seen uo many physical
degenerates among people not actually
deformed. "With minor physical defects
they are very largely endowed. Among
them knock-kneed bowlegged
are - pilgrims , -
legged pilgrims , club-footed pilgrims ,
humped-back pilgrims , splay-footed pil
grims , one-eyed pilgrims , hare-lipped
pilgrims , ataxic pilgrims , epileptic pil
grims , and cock-eyed pilgrims for of
converging and diverging strabismus I
never saw so many cases in my life.
The St. Peter pilgrims are frightfully
dirty. There is little that is picturesque
about them , for only two or three groups
wear any distinctive costume the Cala-
brians , the Slovaks , and a few others.
They are so filthy that the terrified
Romans have abandoned the tram-cars
for insectivorous reasons. Even the
Papal authorities have become alarmed
at the bad sanitary condition of some of
the pilgrims , and have decided to forbid
the pilgrimages during the summer
months , fearing an outbreak of disease
at Rome.
If the pilgrims have driven the Romans
out of the trams , they have driven the
strangers out of the galleries at least
the free ones. Through the Vatican
there tramp ceaselessly hordes of these
filthy creatures , gazing goggle-eyed at
the pictures and statuary. The marble
floors are defiled by them ; the light is
rendered dim by clouds of dust from
their filthy clothing ; the air is befouled
by their fetid breath. The smells are
awful. The Vatican is an excellent