The innocents abroad; . in stunning costumesof centuries ago. But, of course, the folks were all out in thecountry for the summer, and might not have known enough toask us to dinner if they had been at home, and so all thegrand empty salons, with their resounding pavements, theirgrim pictures of dead ancestors, and tattered banners with thedust of bygone centuries upon them, seemed to brood solemnlyof death and the grave, and our spirits ebbed away, and ourcheerfulness passed from us. We never went up to the elev-enth story. We always began to suspect ghosts. There was AMONG THE PALACES. 163 a
The innocents abroad; . in stunning costumesof centuries ago. But, of course, the folks were all out in thecountry for the summer, and might not have known enough toask us to dinner if they had been at home, and so all thegrand empty salons, with their resounding pavements, theirgrim pictures of dead ancestors, and tattered banners with thedust of bygone centuries upon them, seemed to brood solemnlyof death and the grave, and our spirits ebbed away, and ourcheerfulness passed from us. We never went up to the elev-enth story. We always began to suspect ghosts. There was AMONG THE PALACES. 163 always an undertaker-looking servant along, too, who handedus a programme, pointed to the picture tliat began the list ofthe salon he was in, and then stood stiff and stark and unsmil-ing in his petrified livery till we w^ere ready to move on to the next chamber, where-upon he marched sadlyahead and took up anothermalignantly respectful posi-tion as before. I wasted somuch time praying that theroof would fall in on these. PETRIFIED LACKEY. dispiriting flunkeys that I had but little left to bestow uponpalace and pictures. And besides, as in Paris, we had a guide. Perdition catchall the guides. This one said he was the most gifted linguistin Genoa, as far as English was concerned, and that only twopersons in the city beside himself could talk the language atall. He showed us the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, 164 CHURCH MAGNIFICENCE. and after we had reflected in silent awe before it for fifteenminutes, he said it was not the birthplace of Columbus, butof Columbuss grandmother! When we demanded an expla-nation of his conduct he only shrugged his shoulders andanswered in barbarous Italian. I shall speak further of thisguide in a future chapter. All the information we got out ofhim we shall be able to carry along with us, I think. I have not been to church so often in a long time as I have in the last few people in these oldlands seem to makechurches their
Size: 1543px × 1619px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels
