Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome. There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city.Gateway of San Sebastian, RomeThere are many gates in the walls which now surround the city.
"Were there no civilized people in those days?" asked Edith.
"Yes," replied Rafael, "there were the people of Egypt and Greece; and some of the Grecians had already wandered over into Italy before the time of Romulus.
"When he ploughed a trench for the strong wall which was to be built for a fortification, Romulus ploughed around a great altar to the Greek god, Hercules."
"Who was Romulus?" interrupted Edith.
"It is said that he was the founder of the city of Rome," Rafael told her. "He was a son of Mars, the god of war, and he founded the city 753 years before the birth of Christ. There are some parts of his wall still standing. He lifted his plough over the places where the gates were to be built."
"Why, Rafael?"
"Because the ground where the walls would stand was made sacred, but the gateways would be profaned by the passing of many feet."
"How many gates were there?" Edith asked.
"Three; but please don't ask me their names, for I never learned them. There are many gates in the walls which now surround the city."
Edith put down her wreath and laughed with glee. "I'm glad there is something you neverlearned about Italian history," she said. "But tell me what it was like, this early city of Rome."
"Romulus chose a hill for the site of his village, and soon men from the neighboring tribes came to join him, so that the town grew large and prosperous and covered two hills instead of one.
"Those early Romans lived in rude huts. They made their tools of flint, bone and bronze, and their dishes of clay. Beside each house was a garden and sheepfold. Every morning the peasants went to their work on the farms, and the shepherds drove their little flocks outside the city walls. Arched gateways were built in the walls, and through these gates everyone entering or leaving the city was obliged to pass."
"Think of having sheep and cattle inside the city," exclaimed Edith. "I suppose they had to be protected from the wild animals."
"Yes," replied Rafael, "and from the hostile tribes who were always ready to steal them. There are many stories about those tribes, and about the kings who governed the city after Romulus died. Some of the kings made wise laws and ruled in peace, but others led armies to conquer the neighboring tribes, and added small territories to their kingdom."
"And I suppose each king tried to do something to make his name famous," said Edith.
"Not for that reason," Rafael replied. "He did it for the good of the city. Many of the roads and canals and temples which are now famous ruins, were built by some of those old kings.
"As Rome was on the River Tiber, fifteen miles from the sea, one king built a seaport at the mouth of the river, and a long straight road leading down to it, which was laid so solidly that it is still in use to-day.
"The valleys between the hills of Rome were wet and marshy. A king named Tarquin drained those marshes by building immense stone sewers. One of them was so large that several yoke of oxen could pass through it side by side, and the work was so well done that it is in good condition now, although it is more than twenty-four hundred years old.
"One marsh which the sewer drained was used as a market-place. Shop-keepers set their stalls up there; temples and public buildings were erected, and it became known as the Roman Forum."
"The very Forum where we are going?" asked Edith eagerly.
"Yes," replied Rafael, "the very Forum where Augustus, several hundred years later, set up the Golden Milestone."
"What else did those old Romans do?" asked Edith.
"They were fond of amusements," said Rafael. "One of the valleys between two of the hills was a good place for races and other games. On the sloping hillsides on each side of the valley, seats were built for thousands of spectators, and the place was called the Circus Maximus.
"The same king who built the sewers built also a strong fortress on the top of one of the hills. This fortress was called the Capitol, and the hill was called the Capitoline Hill. He also ordered that a wall should be built all around the seven hills to enclose the city, but it was not finished during his lifetime."
"Let us get out the map and look at it," suggested the girl, who had finished plaiting the olive wreath.
So the wreath was put away in the hamper, and the two heads were soon bending over a great map of Rome; and Rafael traced the lines of the old wall which Romulus built.
Just then Mrs. Sprague looked up at the sun. "It is time for lunch," she said, and began unpacking the lunch-basket, while the car rolled steadily nearer and nearer to the Roman Forum.
"If we are to reach Rome at sunset, some one must lend a hand at the wheel," said the chauffeur, as the children finished eating their lunch. "There is not a moment to lose, and I, also, am hungry."
Rafael sprang at once to his side. He had longed to drive the automobile from the very moment they began the journey from Florence, and had often sat on the seat beside the chauffeur, watching him, and asking him questions about his work.
There followed a glorious afternoon for the boy. He was a ready pupil, the roads were good, and the friendly chauffeur a careful teacher.
They passed peasant women in gay bodices, with folded handkerchiefs on their heads and long earrings in their ears, carrying baskets of fruit on their arms. They passed peasant men driving donkeys or oxen, who smiled at them from under hats decorated with pompons of colored paper and tinsel. Geese ran out to hiss at them as they flew by, and hens and chickens fluttered out of their way; but Rafael had eyes only for the road.
They passed lemon groves and rose-gardens, and Edith was grieved because Rafael could not enjoy with her every new and strange sight.
"I wanted you to tell me more about the Roman ruins," she said.
But the boy tossed a merry smile back at her for answer. "We will speak more about those things when we are in Rome," he said. "I can think of nothing now but flying," and he bent his eyes again to the road.
At last they began the descent of a lofty hill, and the car glided into the road which is the old Flaminian Way, leading directly to the city.
Edith felt the thrill which always stirs the heart when one first draws near to the Eternal City. She leaned forward and said to the chauffeur, "How do you feel, to be riding toward Rome?"
For answer the man pointed to the sun, which was low in the western sky. "There is only another hour of sunlight," he said with a smile.
"Oh, shall we fail to reach the Golden Milestone at sunset?" the girl asked, as anxiously as if it were the most important thing in the world to win their Marathon run.
But Rafael suddenly lifted a hand from the wheel. "Ecco!" he said, pointing to the distant South.
Edith followed the direction of his finger. Faraway she saw the great dome of a cathedral rising toward the clouds.
"Rome! St. Peter's!" she shouted.
The boy nodded. The splendor of the ancient city flashed into his mind. He saw as in a dream the magnificent temples and palaces, the triumphal processions, the chariot-races, the games and combats of the early Romans, about which his mother had told him so many stories.
"It is a wonderful city," he said. "What tales those old walls could tell!"
As they crossed the River Tiber he heard Edith murmur behind him, "Oh, Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray!" and then it seemed but a moment before they were rolling through a massive stone gateway, and the chauffeur had taken the wheel.
As Rafael lifted his eyes to look about him once more, they looked straight into the eyes of a man who was riding in the opposite direction, and he smiled. He did not know that he had smiled, nor that this man was the king of Italy. His thoughts were back again with the conquerors of the early days, and the splendors of the ancient city.
But the king had noticed the boy, and turned to look after him. "That was the spirit of the old Romans looking from his eyes," he said to his attendant.
The last rays of the setting sun fell upon the scarred columns of the ruined Forum, as the car rounded the base of the Capitoline Hill and stopped at the spot where the Golden Milestone once marked the beginning of the Roman roads.
Rafael was speechless; but Edith took the olive wreath from the hamper with exclamations of delight.
"Where will you have it?" she asked the chauffeur, "on your head or your wheel?"
"It belongs to the car triumphal," he answered as they turned and moved cautiously through the street-car tracks of modern Rome.
"There could never have been such a record run made by your kings and emperors of olden times," said the girl proudly to Rafael.
But he was too happy with his thoughts to make any reply, and Edith turned her attention to the conversation between her mother and the chauffeur.
"To the Continental Hotel," Mrs. Sprague was saying, and all too soon they had crossed the city, and were welcomed and given rooms in the hotel. The chauffeur bade them good-bye, and their Marathon run was a thing of the past.
"Did you see a picturesque-looking shepherd, dressed in shaggy skins, driving his flock through the square at midnight?"
Rafael asked the question at the breakfast table one morning, about two weeks after their arrival in Rome.
"No, indeed!" Edith answered. "I was fast asleep. How could you see what he wore?"
"It was bright moonlight," Rafael told her in reply. "I could see plainly his sheepskin jacket and the long hair of his goatskin leggins. He had a great white dog to help him guide the sheep, and they entered the square and passed through it so silently that it seemed almost like a dream."
"Perhaps it was a dream," said Edith; but Rafael shook his head, and the girl went on, "Now I had a dream about the geese that saved Rome; but you will no doubt tell me that if I had looked out of the window I should have seen them following old Mother Goose through the square."
Rafael laughed. "I do not know your old Mother Goose," he said, and left the table to telephone for the guide who was to take them to see some of the famous ruins of ancient Rome.
In a short time the guide arrived, and they were ready to drive through the city streets. This guide was Professor Gates, a man who had lived in Rome over twenty-five years, studying its history and ancient ruins, and he had already taken Rafael, with Edith and Mrs. Sprague, to see many interesting places.
"Where are we going to-day?" Edith asked, as they took their seats in the carriage.
"I want you to drive a little distance along the Appian Way," replied their guide; "but we will look first at some of the arches of the old aqueduct which was built by Appius Claudius, many years before the birth of Christ, to bring water to the city from the mountains sixty miles away."
It was a lovely morning for a drive, and Edith and Rafael saw many sights to point out to each other. Near the foot of one of the arches of the aqueduct they found a group of models picking flowers, and Edith asked them to pose for a picture.
It was a pretty little group. The boy wore a conical hat adorned with a feather, a red jacket, and sandals which were bound upon his feet with red cords that were interlaced up the legs as far as the knees.His mother and sister wore bright red skirts and green aprons, and they all smiled at Edith as she tossed them some coins for posing.
Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct. The arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top.Ruins of the Claudian AqueductThe arches were built to support the Aqueduct which is at the top.
"You will find such models all over the city," said Professor Gates.
"Like all-over embroidery," said Edith with a merry laugh; but no one saw her little joke, so she asked more seriously, "How did the water flow through the arches?"
"It did not flow through the arches, but through the aqueduct which you see at the top," the guide explained. "If you remember your Latin you will know that this word is formed from two others which mean 'water' and 'to lead.' In some places the aqueduct was laid upon the ground, but here there was a valley to be crossed, as you see, and the arches formed a bridge over which the pipe was laid."
From the aqueduct they drove to the old Appian Way.
"The Appian Way was named after Appius Claudius, who built a part of it," Professor Gates explained. "It is three hundred miles long, and crosses Italy to Brindisi, a seaport on the south-eastern coast."
"I thought you said that Appius Claudius built the aqueduct," said Mrs. Sprague.
"So he did," replied the professor. "The roadis called 'Appian' after one of his names, and the aqueduct 'Claudian' after the other."
"Was he one of the kings of early Rome?" asked Edith, taking out her note-book.
"No," he answered, "the kingdom came to an end more than two hundred years before this road was begun. This is one of the great works of the republic."
"What a glorious sight it must have been to see the Roman army come marching home in triumph from some of its great victories," said Rafael. "Think how thousands of soldiers, with spears and helmets flashing in the sun, marched over this road, leading their prisoners of war."
"Yes," said Edith, "and think how the Roman women came hurrying through that old gate to meet them, shouting with joy at their return."
The professor smiled at the children. He liked the way they had begun to see pictures in their minds of the earlier days of Rome. He called their attention to the ruins of tombs which are scattered along the road on either side, and then pointed to three peasant children who had been playing in the field, but had stopped to watch the strangers. "There is ancient Rome and young Italy. You will find one quite as interesting as the other," he said.
"Most of what you see is historic," he told themas they rode back into the city. "There is a story about every ruin along the Appian Way. I have told you the legends of the kings, but there are also tales to tell of the days of the republic and of the glorious empire."
"Rafael likes those old kings," said Edith. "How did the kingdom happen to come to an end?"
"One of the Kings was such a cruel tyrant that the people rose in rebellion, under the leadership of a man named Brutus, and drove the king and his followers from the city," replied the professor. "Brutus then persuaded the Romans never again to be ruled by a king, so two men were elected each year to govern the people, and the kingdom became a republic. That was about five hundred years before the birth of Christ.
"During the time of the republic, which lasted nearly five hundred years, the Romans were waging constant warfare with other tribes and nations, to gain wealth and power. One war followed another in rapid succession, and there were many famous warriors who fought bravely for the glory of Rome."
"Horatius was one of those old warriors," said Rafael.
"Yes," said Edith, "Horatius, who held back the army of the enemy from crossing the bridge overthe River Tiber. I learned a poem about it once."
"The bridge was a wooden one which crossed the river at a spot near here," said the guide. "We will drive around to see the place where it stood."
They soon reached the bend of the river where Horatius called for volunteers to aid him in defending the city.
"Let me hear the story again," said Edith, "right here where he once stood," and Rafael told it with shining eyes.
"Horatius was a brave soldier who had already lost an eye in the service of Rome," he began; "and now he was ready to lose his life if need be. He crossed the bridge with two companions, and called for men to come forward from the ranks of the enemy and fight.
"While they fought, the Roman soldiers were cutting down the bridge behind them. The two companions of Horatius turned and saw that, at last, the bridge was about to fall, so they ran back to safety. But Horatius was so brave that he remained alone, fighting until the bridge crashed down.
"Then there was no way for the enemy to cross the river and enter Rome, so he jumped into the water with all his armor on, and swam safely to the other side, where he was received with great rejoicing."Edith jotted a few words down in her note-book, murmuring as she did so:—
"Still is the story told,How well Horatius kept the bridgeIn the brave days of old."
"Still is the story told,How well Horatius kept the bridgeIn the brave days of old."
"Another hero of the days of the republic was Cincinnatus," said Professor Gates. "He was an old soldier who was plowing in his fields when he was called upon to lead a small company of brave men to aid the Roman army, which was surrounded by the enemy and could not fight its way out.
"After Cincinnatus conquered the enemy and rescued the army, he returned to Rome, where he was given a grand triumph."
"I suppose our city of Cincinnati was named after him," said Edith, and then without waiting for an answer, she asked, "What was a grand triumph?"
"Those triumphs were often granted to famous victors, and were times of great rejoicing," the professor said. "The day was made a holiday, the houses were decorated with garlands, the streets were filled with throngs of people, and there was music and feasting throughout the city.
"Magnificent processions passed through the streets. Beautiful maidens scattered flowers before the victor, who looked very fine, clad in purple robes and riding in a triumphal car.
"The prisoners of war followed the victor's chariot, to make his triumph more of a spectacle, and soldiers carrying booty taken from the conquered cities marched beside them singing hymns of victory, while the shouts of the Roman populace called down blessings and praises upon the head of their hero.
"The procession passed through the Forum, and at the foot of the hill the victor turned to the left to go to the Capitol, where thank-offerings were made to the gods, while the prisoners turned to the right and were led away to prison.
"It must have been a magnificent sight, even in those old days of splendor," he added, and turned to lead the way back to their carriage.
"Those triumphs must have cost a great deal of money," said Mrs. Sprague.
"There were enormous fortunes in old Rome, and the people spent extravagant sums on amusements and public celebrations," their guide told her. "One of the greatest of all the triumphs was given in honor of Julius Cæsar, when he returned from conquering the Gauls. He wrote an account of his wars with those barbarians which has been read by many thousands of school children."
"Is it in Latin?" Edith asked.
"Yes," replied the professor. "That was the language of the Roman people."
"I have read it then," said the girl; and she sighed as she thought of the tears she had shed over her Latin lessons and Cæsar's accounts of his wars with the Gauls.
"Julius Cæsar was one of the greatest generals the world has ever known," said Professor Gates. "He was a powerful leader and ruler of men, and it was this great power that made him ambitious to be called Emperor of Rome, and to make the republic an empire.
"Some of his friends feared he would be successful in this attempt, and, joining his enemies, they assassinated him. They loved the freedom of their country more than they did Cæsar.
"His body was burned in the Roman Forum," added the professor. "But not long after his death the republic did actually become an empire."
"Tell us about the empire," begged Rafael, who always wished to know everything at once.
"Not to-day," said Mrs. Sprague, looking at her watch. "It is time for luncheon and our afternoon rest."
"That is true," said the professor, looking at the sun. "Some other day, with Mrs. Sprague's permission, I will take you to the Colosseum and then we will hear about the empire."
Edith was sitting at the hotel window with her note-book open before her. "Professor Gates tells us so much," she said, "that it is all mixed up in my mind.
"But it is my dearest wish to get it straightened out," she added quickly, as she saw the troubled look on her mother's face. "What is your dearest wish?" she asked Rafael, who was reading a letter from his mother.
"I have none," he answered, "since the Signora has been so good as to bring me to this wonderful city."
"Oh, Rafael!" Edith said merrily, "you must have found an Italian blarney stone somewhere." Then she went on more seriously, "Every one always has a dearest wish. As fast as one is fulfilled, another takes its place."
He smiled. "Very well, since it must be so, I have a dearest wish," he said, "and it is to serve the king."
Edith looked at him with laughing eyes. "Thatis a very fine wish," she said; "but I think mine is more likely to be granted first, because Professor Gates is to take us to the Colosseum this very morning, and I shall ask him every question about this history that I can think of."
Several days had passed since their excursion to the Appian Way, but the children had found every one full to overflowing. The mornings had been spent in the art galleries and churches, and the afternoons in driving through the Campagna or the beautiful grounds of the Villa Borghese.
One whole day had been devoted to visiting St. Peter's Cathedral, which is the largest church in the whole world, and to seeing the treasures of the Vatican,—the home of the Pope.
Mrs. Sprague was glad to sit quietly on her camp-stool and let the children wander about the enormous buildings under the direction of the guide. Of all the treasures, Rafael liked best the pictures in the Vatican by the great painter Rafael, for whom he was named; but Edith was more interested in the mosaics and statues in the cathedral, and in the huts of the workmen who live on the roof, and spend all their time in repairing the vast church.
During the noon hours they had stayed in the hotel, where their rooms had gradually taken on a most homelike appearance. Beautiful, bright-colored Roman scarfs found their way from the shops to the children's tables, and photographs of the places that they had visited turned the walls into picture galleries.
Rosaries, bought from old women on the church steps, and later blessed by the Pope, hung over the mirrors. In their work-baskets Edith and her mother always had a bit of sewing to catch up at odd moments, and there were books, maps and papers everywhere.
Rafael fitted into this cozy atmosphere with wonderful ease. He never returned from a walk without a bouquet of flowers for the vases on the tables, and he fell into a way of carrying a light camp-stool in their excursions through the picture-galleries, so that Mrs. Sprague could sit down when she was tired.
But this morning Mrs. Sprague was to visit some friends who were spending the winter in Rome, and Edith and Rafael were going alone with Professor Gates to the Colosseum.
"There is nothing new under the sun," said Rafael, as they stepped out of the hotel elevator. "I have just been reading that there were elevators in the Colosseum nearly two thousand years ago."
"They couldn't have been much like this fine one," said Edith. "What were they for?" she asked, taking out her note-book.
The Colosseum at Rome. This enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people.The Colosseum at RomeThis enormous out-door theatre seated eighty-seven thousand people.
"They were used to lift the fierce wild animals out of the underground pits where they were kept until it was time for them to fight in the arena," Rafael told her, and added, "You haven't much more room in that note-book."
"The only way I can remember all you tell me is by making a note of it," Edith replied with a laugh, and turned to greet the guide, who had a carriage waiting for them.
There were many other tourists' carriages standing outside the great ruin of the Colosseum, but as the professor led the two children under the arches and into the arena they were hardly conscious of these other sight-seers, so vast is this king of buildings.
"The Colosseum was an enormous out-door theatre which seated over eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for many more," the guide told them.
As Edith climbed up to sit on one of the stone seats, Rafael said, "Think of all the old Romans who sat on these same stones, and who looked down into that arena at the terrible battles between men and beasts."
"Yes," added Professor Gates, "for four hundred years the Roman people came here on holidays, and sometimes they had as many as one hundred and twenty-five holidays in one year. Theycame to be amused and entertained with games, contests, and combats between men and wild beasts; and they saw with delight many scenes of bloodshed and death, too horrible for me to describe to you."
The children looked with him at the deep underground pits where the animals—lions, tigers, elephants, and other savage beasts—were kept, and at the places where two aqueducts led the water into the arena.
"Those old Romans were always trying to find some new way of pleasing the people," he told them, "and sometimes they made a large lake of the arena, and had boats on the lake fighting terrible battles, in which many men were killed just for amusement. There are no walls now standing which have seen so much of the splendor and cruelty of ancient days," he added.
Edith sighed. "I shall never boast about the stadium at Cambridge again," she said.
"This Colosseum was built in the early days of the Roman Empire," the guide continued. "The first and greatest of the Roman emperors was Augustus, for whom our month of August was named. During his reign many buildings were repaired which had begun to crumble to ruins in the days of the republic, when the Romans had devoted most of their time and money to wars, andmany other beautiful buildings were erected. It was said of this emperor that he found Rome brick and left it marble.
"It was during the reign of Augustus that the most important event in the history of the world took place. Christ was born in Bethlehem. Every event which happened before the birth of Christ is said to have taken place so many years B. C. (before Christ). All dates after His birth are given as so many years A. D.—Anno Domini—(two Latin words which mean 'in the year of our Lord')."
"I was born in 1893 A. D.," said Edith, "and that means that it was eighteen hundred and ninety-three years after the birth of Christ."
"Yes," said Rafael, "and Julius Cæsar was killed in 44 B. C., and that means forty-four years before Christ was born."
"True," said the professor, "and Julius Cæsar was born in 100 B. C., which makes him fifty-six years old when he died. Can you puzzle that out for yourselves?"
Then without waiting for a reply, he continued, "The Roman Empire was very large, with vast provinces, but it also had powerful enemies. Among these enemies were the barbarians in Central Europe, and it was necessary for Augustus to protect his northern frontier with strong forces, tokeep them out of the country. This he did, but we shall see that later emperors failed to see the importance of this step, and this was one of the causes that led finally to the destruction of the city of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire.
"Augustus also encouraged trade, and built roads which radiated from the Golden Milestone at the head of the Forum to all parts of the Roman world. From this came the saying, 'All roads lead to Rome.'"
"We came into Rome in an automobile on one of the roads which were built so long ago," said Edith, "and we have seen the site of the Golden Milestone; but I should like better to see an old Roman chariot with four prancing horses go whirling around this arena."
"My mother has told me that many Christians have died for their faith in this same arena," said Rafael.
"Yes," replied the guide, "after the birth of Christ people began, little by little, to follow His teachings and to become Christians. In the centuries before the Christian religion was the accepted religion of Rome many hundreds, and even thousands, of men and women were put to death both here and elsewhere.
"During the reign of Nero, who was a very cruel emperor, a great fire destroyed a large part ofthe city, and many Christians were tortured and killed on the groundless suspicion that they had caused the fire.
"Come," he added, looking at Edith's sad face, "let us think of something more cheerful," and he led the way out of the Colosseum and down the road to a great stone arch.
"This arch commemorates the famous victories of Constantine," their guide told the children. "He was the first emperor to become a Christian."
"How did he happen to become a Christian?" asked Edith.
"Soon after he was declared emperor, he was leading his army to battle one day, when a bright cross suddenly appeared in the sky. Surrounding the cross were four words which mean, 'In this sign conquer.' On seeing the vision, Constantine vowed to become a Christian if he should win a victory over the enemy; and he ordered a new standard, bearing the cross and the inscription, which was carried before him in the battle.
"He did win the victory, the enemy was defeated, and he entered Rome in great triumph. In memory of the victory this very arch was called the Arch of Constantine. He also kept his vow to become a Christian, and for the first time the Christians were given equal liberty with the pagans, who still worshipped the Roman gods."
Edith, who had been writing again in her note-book, looked up at the professor with a laugh. "If this Roman Empire doesn't come to an end soon, I shall have to buy a new note-book," she said.
Rafael laughed, too. "You will need a whole library of books to hold all the history of the Roman Empire," he told her.
"Are we going to hear it all?" Edith asked anxiously.
"No," replied Professor Gates, "there is little more for me to tell to-day. After the death of Constantine there were many more terrible wars with the barbarians. At last the fierce Goths crossed the Alps and marched down to the very walls of Rome. They besieged the city, burst in by surprise, killed hundreds of the people, and destroyed many of the buildings. As they also were Christians, they spared the churches and all who took refuge in them."
"I have heard of the Goths," said Edith, "and of the Vandals, too. Where did they come from?"
"They came over from Africa, captured Rome, and remained here fourteen days, destroying the buildings and sacking the city. They carried away whole ship-loads of booty, and took many of the Romans to be their slaves.
"The Roman Empire had already been dividedinto two parts, and Constantinople was the capital of the Empire of the East. The Bishop of Rome, who was called the Pope, now became the ruler of the Empire of the West. He succeeded to the throne of the deposed emperor, and held this position of power until 1870, when Victor Emanuele I. was made king of Italy."
"Viva l'Italia!" said Rafael, tossing up his cap.
"Don't toss up your cap like that," Edith reproved him. "Those little beggars may think you are tossing it for them. Ecco!" she called to the boys, and threw a few coins to the funny little fellows who ran along beside the carriage, begging for coppers even while they stood on their heads.
"I can buy photographs of all your famous ruins," she said to Professor Gates, as she pointed her camera at the heap of boys scrambling in the road for the coins, "but I shall always like best my own pictures of these happy little Italian children."
Rafael wrote his mother joyful accounts of those happy days in Rome.
And he saw the king! It happened upon an afternoon when all Rome, dressed in gayest costumes for one of the festivals, crowded into open carriages and drove out to the Villa Borghese.
In the shade of a great tree, where a living spring bubbles up from the ground, Rafael twisted a leaf into a cup, which he filled with water and offered to Edith.
As he looked beyond the girl, he met a piercing glance from a pair of brilliant blue eyes. This time he knew the king at once, and saluted him.
The king smiled, saying to his aide, "I have seen that boy before. He wore the look then of an older Italy, but now he has the promise of the young country in his eyes."
Rafael wrote his mother of that smile. "I could follow the king anywhere for another like it," the letter said.
Then he wrote of the heavy Roman faces; the hard, tiresome pavements, and the noisy clang of the street cars,—all so different from his bright, silent Venice.
"But there are pleasant things," he wrote. "There are many beautiful fountains where the water gushes all day; and I often go out of my way for a sight of the Pope's soldiers, the Swiss Guard, standing at the entrance to the Vatican. They make me think of our Venetian mooring-posts with their many-colored stripes; and their stately halberds are not unlike the prow of our gondolas. I am very grateful to Michael Angelo for designing a costume which reminds me of home.
"Often we meet schools of boys walking two by two, wearing black dress-suits and high, stiff black hats, and I am glad I am not one of them."
His mother sighed as she read of his endless pleasure, and wondered if it would estrange him from his quiet life in Venice. Then she wrote a long letter in answer, in which she said, "Remember that the fine old Roman character was weakened through ease and indulgence. Remember, also, that our young king likes nothing so much as devotion to duty."
Her letter ended with a quotation from an English poet,—"Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the king."
Rafael read between the lines that she feared he would learn to like his happy life with the Spragues too well. He lifted his eyes from the letter and acknowledged to himself that this freedom from care and responsibility was very pleasant. Mrs. Sprague indulged him as she indulged Edith. The treasures of the shops flowed into his own room as well as hers, and no door which money could open remained closed to them in this city of precious sights.
His eyes fell again to the letter, and a choking feeling filled his throat as he pictured his mother sitting alone in the home in Venice. "The dear, lonely mother!" he said to himself. "My letters have given her sad thoughts."
Then, with a boy's carelessness, he said, laughing lightly at his English joke, "I can write wrong, it seems; but can I follow the king?"
Just then Edith ran into the room crying, "Mother has decided to take the noon train to Naples. Doesn't she do everything suddenly?" And Rafael forgot his mother's letter in his pleasure over another journey.
The car ride to Naples always remained in the boy's mind as a succession of pictures; but no picture could reveal the many phases of his mind as he passed from one experience to another in the days that followed.
"The guide-book calls this the most fertile valley in Europe," said Mrs. Sprague, as they rode along, catching glimpses of farmers plowing in the fields. The distant hills were soft and blue, but on drawing near to them, terraces and flights of steps were to be seen on the slopes.
At last Edith called, "I see Vesuvius!" and the wonderful volcano lay before them. Its smoke rose in a straight column and then broke, trailing off into the distance like the smoke from an ocean liner.
"It makes the mountain look like a man-of-war," exclaimed Rafael, and the two pairs of eyes hardly saw anything else until they reached Naples.
"Let us go to a hotel where we can see the fire at night, if it comes out of the volcano," said Edith; and they took rooms from which they could watch every mood of Vesuvius.
Before they had been in the city three days Edith decided that she liked it better than she did Rome. "The people there looked so serious," she said, "while here they are very merry and sociable."
Mrs. Sprague laughed. "They are certainly sociable enough," she said. "Yesterday I heard a woman read a letter aloud from an upper window to her friend on the sidewalk below."
Edith laughed in her turn. "Was the window in the same house where we saw the rooster and chickens in the upper balcony?" she asked.
"It is a funny sight to see the boys of Naples eating macaroni""It is a funny sight to see the boys of Naples eating macaroni"
Rafael felt a touch of sadness at hearing their light talk. "The poor people!" he said. "When they live upstairs there is no other way but for them to keep their animals up there with them."
"Many of them seem to live in the basements of the rich," observed the girl.
To Rafael, the sight of such great poverty was no new thing, but Edith spoke of it constantly, and wrote of it to her father in America.
"There seem to be nothing but happiness and laziness here among these poor people," the letter said. "They live and eat upon the sidewalk, and it is a funny sight to see the boys swallowing macaroni.
"Many of the rooms in which the people sleep seem to be spaces left in the foundation of a castle, with no windows or doors in the openings. Often the castles seem to be ruined hills; and they have great holes in their barren sides, like caverns in the sides of cliffs; and we see barred doorways instead of windows, with dungeons beyond.
"Then suddenly the hills blossom out into ramparts and parapets, so that it is impossible to distinguish between hills and castles; and to puzzle us still more, long flights of steps lead up between hilly castles and castled hills.
"Occasionally we see a group of basket-makers, or tailors, or shoemakers on the sidewalks amongthe family groups of fathers, mothers and children. A little beyond such a group we saw yesterday a herd of goats resting comfortably in the shade, also on the sidewalk.
"Early in the morning these goats are driven through the streets. They stop in front of a doorway, a woman runs out with a cup, the man milks her cup full and then drives on to the next doorway. Sometimes, if the woman lives on an upper floor of the house, one of the goats is driven up the stairs, to be milked at her very door.
"We see rich people, also, driving in their splendid carriages on their most beautiful boulevard, overlooking the blue bay; and in contrast to them and their spirited horses, a contadino will come bringing a load of produce to market from the country, driving a white cow harnessed between a full-grown horse and a tiny mule."
While the American girl was marvelling at the queer mingling of riches and poverty in Naples, Rafael was drinking in the beauty of the bay, and of the lovely villages which lie along its border.
Mrs. Sprague stayed two or three weeks in Naples, although she said that she did not like it at all. "The people are so shiftless," she complained, picking up her skirts and walking round a group of girls who were sitting on the sidewalk combing their hair. "It is the dirtiest city in the world."
"Oh, Mother!" Edith exclaimed, "how can you say so? When we go out on the bay in the evening and I look back at the city, it seems to me most beautiful. It is like an amphitheatre, with its tiers of lights rising one above another. Then she sang softly:—