March, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
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The Champs Elysees, Paris, at the time of Dr. Henshall’s visit. 
bowed very graciously. As Dewey was 
in civilian garb, I think they recognized 
us as American tourists, inasmuch as 
others who uncovered as they passed 
met with no response. Although the 
king and queen were much beloved by 
the people, Humbert was assassinated 
by an anarchist three years later. 
Even under the guidance of several 
artist friends it took us a week to see 
but comparatively few of the celebrat- 
ed art treasures of Rome, which were 
good, bad and indifferent. We tired of 
many of the church pictures, which in 
some instances were mostly a display 
of crimson, yellow and blue garments 
ns adjuncts to shapeless limbs and ex- 
pressionless faces. Those of the Villa 
Borghese, however, and other palaces 
and galleries were beyond compare, and 
were greatly enjoyed. 
Among the many notable features of 
ancient Rome which deserve particular 
mention are Trajan’s Column, the Ves- 
tal Temple, the Pyramid, the Pantheon 
and the several memorial arches. There 
are a number of beautiful fountains, the 
most popular being the Fountain of 
Trevi, owing to the saying that if one 
throws a coin into its deep basin, he 
will be sure to return to Rome. As I 
had no desire to do so I declined to 
tempt the fates; but my companion, 
who had twice before visited the Eter- 
nal City, threw in his coin along with 
the temderfeet. The next day we went 
to Florence, after visiting Turin, Bo- 
logna and Verona. 
\ 
N otwithstanding that most 
artists, painters and sculptors 
have their studios in Rome, Flor- 
ence is really the art center of Italy. 
It has been called the fairest city of 
the earth, and to a great extent de- 
serves that distinction. It is situated 
on both banks of the river Amo, in a 
lovely valley, surrounded by verdure- 
clad hills, and has a genial and equable 
climate. It has been immortalized by 
Byron, and is renowned as the birth- 
place of Dante, Michelangelo, Leonardo 
da Vinci and other great painters, and 
of Petrarch, Galileo, Boccacio and oth- 
ers eminent in the arts, sciences and 
literature. It is the center of many 
beautiful gardens adorned with statues, 
fountains and vases. It also possesses 
numerous piazzas, palaces, fine public 
buildings, museums, libraries, some 
wonderful churches, and the finest col- 
lection of sculpture and paintings in 
the world. 
The renowned Duomo, or Cathedral, 
with its Campanile or bell-tower, is the 
grandest and most beautiful in Italy; 
Michelangelo used it as a model in 
building St. Peters in Rome. Adjoin- 
ing it is the famous Baptistry of St. 
John, octagonal in shape and built of 
black and white marble. It is espe- 
cially renowned for its great bronze 
doors; wonderful works of art, on 
which are depicted Biblical scenes in 
high relief; two of them were declared 
by Michelangelo to be fit to be the 
“gates of Paradise.” 
Florence has many noble and impos- 
ing palaces containing wonderful col- 
lections of art, science and literature. 
Among those most familiar and inter- 
esting to tourists are Vecchio, Uffizi 
and the Pitti palaces. In the Logia 
Lanzi adjacent to Vecchio are a number 
of celebrated groups of statuary, while 
the collection of paintings and statues 
in the Uffizi gallery is one of the rarest 
and most valuable in the world. There 
are a number of halls in the gallery re- 
plete with gems of art. One apartment 
known as the Tribuna contains the 
cream of the collection, wherein are ex- 
hibited the rarest and most priceless 
compositions of the old masters. 
On the opposite side of the Arno the 
Pitti palace also has a remarkable col- 
lection of valuable and interesting paint- 
ings and statuary. A two-story covered 
bridge spans the river, the lower story 
used for traffic, while the upper one 
forms a long and continuous apartment 
connecting the galleries of Uffizi and 
Pitti palaces, and being hung with pic- 
tures forms an uninterrupted gallery. 
Before leaving Florence we called on 
Mrs. Hiram Powers, widow of the emi- 
nent American sculptor whose fine crea- 
tion of the Greek Slave caused his name 
to become a household word. During 
his younger years Powers resided in 
Cincinnati, and became quite skillful in 
making manikins and wax figures. In 
the upper story of the old Western Mu- 
seum of Cincinnati was a representa- 
tion of the Infernal Regions, with mov- 
ing figures of Pluto and his satellites 
engaged in stirring up their victims 
amidst the lurid flames of Hades. That 
remarkable production was the handi- 
work of young Powers, who subsequent- 
ly went to Italy to study real art, and 
where he remained until his death. 
F ROM Florence we next went to Lu- 
cerne, Switzerland, by way of St. 
Gothard, from whose snowclad 
summit rise the Rhine and Rhone. St. 
Gothard and an adjoining spur rise 
sheer and precipitously with a cleft be- 
tween. As there is no level space on 
the sides of the chasm on which to 
build a railroad, the desired ascent is 
secured by a series of tunnels on the 
inside of the mountain, whereby the 
gradients are obtained by spiral curves 
running upward, emerging above the 
entrance, and thence crossing the chasm 
by a steel bridge, to where a corre- 
sponding tunnel is formed in the other 
spur. Coming out from one of these 
tunnels one could see the mouths of 
other tunnels, one above the other, con- 
nected by slender bridges, like spider 
webs, across the narrow gorge. It is a 
wonderful achievement of engineering. 
About two-thirds of the way up the 
mountain we entered the great St, 
Gothard tunnel, nearly ten miles long. 
Emerging from the tunnel on the Swiss 
side of the Alps the descent is made 
by a series of zig-zag railroads down 
the side of the mountain. A village 
with a curious steeple was passed and 
repassed several times during the 
descent. 
Lucerne is beautifully located on the 
lake bearing the same name, and tower- 
ing above are the two celebrated Alpine 
peaks of Rigi and old Pilatus. The 
summit of the latter can be reached by 
an inclined railroad. The lake is a fine 
body of water some twenty miles in 
length and a mile or more in width, 
somewhat in the shape of a cross, and 
is navigated by small steamers. It is 
considered the most beautiful lake in 
Switzerland. 
The most attractive feature of the 
town is Thorwaldsen’s Lion of Lucerne, 
carved on the face of a solid rock. It 
is a colossal figure about twenty by 
thirty feet and holds in its paws the 
fleur-de-lis of France in a protective 
manner, while blood oozes from a spear 
wound in its side. From an inscription 
above it is learned that it commemorates 
the massacre of the Swiss Guard at 
Paris, in 1792, while defending the royal 
cause. It is wonderful in design and 
execution. From the top of the huge 
rock depend ivy and other creeping 
plants, the whole being reflected in a 
pool of water at its foot as in a mirror. 
The Lake of Lucerne is celebrated 
not only for its great beauty, but for 
its historic associations, as its banks 
were the cradle of Swiss Democracy. 
Unterwalden was the scene of the ex- 
ploits of William Tell, the national hero 
of Switzerland and the champion of its 
independence. But while the lovely 
lake still reflects the sunset glory of 
Alpine peaks, the iconoclasts have 
snuffed out the glorious story of Wil- 
liam Tell and the apple, the erstwhile 
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