34;My dear little Francesca." Tired as he was, he took the two children in his arms and embraced them as if he had been gone many days. Let Tessa wear her broad straw hat and her old clothes; that is all he asks. ". Be good children.” The father kissed them lovingly and left with Pietro to sell his fruit.
34;My wife will be happy, because Lucy and Arthur are lonely and need playmates their own age.". But mother won't let me kill them when they come into the house, because they eat the flies and spiders.". I pretend to crown them as the heroes in Italy were crowned long ago." Lucy forgot her Italian and immersed herself in English before she was half finished.
THE STORY OF ÆNEAS
But think, we have not much weather like this, and it will soon be spring." The soft Italian words now used are pleasing to the ear, but not so strong and grand as the old Latin tongue.". It was because he was so good to his old father and honored the gods he believed in."
Let's play for a while, and then, little ones, to bed and sweet dreams."
CHRISTMAS
The children had already been told that on this occasion they would carry a piece of the cradle in which Jesus lay through the church. Indeed, they could hardly see him or any other part of the procession because of the great crowd. Shortly after breakfast, an open carriage appeared at the palace gates and everyone was driven off to see the largest church in the world.
34;Tessa, you may be proud when you think of the people who come here from all parts of the world to see the great buildings." 34;Do you know the name of the river over which this bridge was built?" Arthur asked his sister. 34;You must remember, Arthur, that a few days ago father read us the poem about guarding the bridge.
34;I should think that his enemies would have killed him before he could get out of the range of their weapons.' They love it as much as I love America, but they don't know much about the history of its great countries. men as I do now." They dismounted and when they entered they soon found themselves in the courtyard in front of the church.
The church itself is built in the shape of an enormous cross, and where the four lines of the cross meet, there is a large dome over the top. 34;If I were far away in another part of the world, I am sure I should picture it in my mind whenever I thought of Rome."
SAINT PETER'S
However, there are a number like that that lead from the main part of the cathedral. And so many visitors have come here to pay their respects to him that one toe of the statue has become very worn." It is thought quite appropriate to kiss the toe of the statue of St.
They went through a door in the side of the church and entered a corridor that went around and around, and up and up, until they reached a balcony around the base of the dome. Looking down from the balcony, the people in the body of the church seemed like little dolls, they were so far below. The Pope's Palace was nearby, with its beautiful library and art treasures.
Further on, across the Tiber, lay the great city, with its palaces, fountains, temples, and the ruins of the largest and most beautiful buildings in the world; some of them two thousand years old. I love hearing him, he sings so sweetly.' The boy's face lit up as he said this. The eagle has been chosen, but I think it should be the turkey, for my country has given that glorious fowl to the world. .".
The turkey truly belongs to us, while the eagle is not only found in many other countries but has also been the national emblem of several countries.” We will ask the kind artist and his wife, as well as our own friends, to come."
THE CHRISTENING
When the baby was placed back in the cradle, Tessa went to her mother's bedside and told her of her lovely visit to the great American home. After some time, he is placed on a stage with wax figures of the Virgin and Joseph and the three wise men. But lately, a lot of things have happened to prevent that.” She sighed as she thought of the illness and hard work of the past few years.
The next morning everyone woke up bright and early, and a crowd of villagers took the father and baby to the small village church. It was just a symbol of the love and friendship of these simple peasants for each other. This is how Tessa and Beppo decided to return to Rome with the artist's family.
34;I believe it was not far from here that Agrippa told the fable which has been so often repeated since that time." There were two great classes of the people, the patricians, who were rich and owned most of the land, and the plebeians, who had little power and were mostly poor. Finally, when they could no longer bear this unfair treatment, they gathered and marched out of the city.
34; It was a time of danger for the city, as there were more poor than rich. The stomach seemed useless to us before, but now we see that we were wrong."'.
THE TWINS
34;More than once my father and I stayed all night in just such a place when a storm overtook us and we could not get home." Take your hats, children; we can come here tomorrow to enjoy the picture again.". He is carrying such a great load of hay that the rest of his body cannot be seen.'
As they drove in front of the Colosseum, they saw before them one of the largest ruins in the world. 34;After the spectators had taken their seats, a signal was given and the cage doors were thrown open. The creatures were pitted against each other or against men sentenced to death."
But he went to death cheerfully, he was happy to be a martyr for his faith. See the beautiful vines growing between the stones in the wall; and listen to the screams of those boys as they run and jump among the stones. ruins.". Their mother was a Vestal Virgin, that is, she was a girl who tended the sacred fire in the temple of the goddess Vesta.
So the poor girl was buried alive, while the helpless babies were put into a trough and washed ashore in the Tiber River.” She named them Romulus and Remus and raised them to be shepherds like her husband."
THE CARNIVAL
Beppo and Tessa had gathered loads of wild flowers to use at the carnival, so Tessa and her mother looked like they were in the middle of traveling gardens. 34;If these give out," Beppo had told his sister, "we can go over to the Colosseum and get wallflowers and some other beautiful flowers that grow in the crevices of the walls. Happy revelers had already taken their seats on the balconies, for it was one o'clock on the first day of the carnival.
Tessa and Beppo went with the rest of the family to their cousin's home on the ground floor of a tall stone building. 34;Your mother and I will stay and talk to our friends for a while before we go out.” They didn't have to be told twice and soon they were in the middle of a happy crowd on the Corso, one of the main streets. from Rome is called.
34;There are Lucy and Arthur with their father and mother, in the middle of a merry party. Tessa and her brother now moved on, but not before they were covered in a shower of candy. 34;We can see this sport every night of the carnival,” his father told him as they slowly walked home, taking in the sights on the way.
In the afternoon they found themselves near Arthur and Lucy, who were in an open carriage. He was going to write to them if he didn't see them before the end of the carnival.
THE BURIED CITY
There were beautiful gardens to walk in and beautiful buildings to visit, in addition to rowing and sailing on the blue waters of the bay. They stopped to buy some delicious yellow oranges and some coral and lava ornaments from stalls along the street. 34;Now that it is active again, it must remind them of the way Pompeii was destroyed.
34; Look at that red lava stream flowing down the mountainside,” Arthur said. It wasn't that far away, but the children could see men working next to it. After three kilometers or more of hard climbing they reached the mountain. side of the crater.
She trembled as she looked at the red-hot stones flying upward amidst the slags and flames. It was as if a terrible creature was an angry prisoner in the volcano, trying to free itself. When they reached the hotel, the children went straight to bed to dream of the pleasure tomorrow, - for they were to visit the buried city of Pompeii.
Although everyone felt a little tired after the excitement of the night before, they were all ready for the day's journey. After a while, earth formed above the ashes, grass began to grow and the rest of the world forgot about the city, which was once so beautiful, with its stately palaces and grand buildings.
