The Land Of Sunshine

rear Mr. Editor : Italy and Italians made lt nccessary lo eliange our tongue nga'n .md I wi not letray how lameiy and unrsih;onably we did so. The rldiculous makeshifts ani the perfect grav;ty with wW% tney are recelved, sLows the Italians to be very courteoiis indeed. We rather dreamed than rode the íirst few mi'e? of Italy. lt ísras üke entering Eden írom a po'ar ios lield. But we reached a town auil Italy's mask dropped. Dirty, white buildings, adorned with dirty Irescoes just under the eaves, lirty cliuiches with an outerageous picture oí a virgin or holy family or saini, done in dirty colors, and yel'ov- streaked by the weather. the campanile or bell tower always separate trom tl-.e church. always square and milite and dirty and, linaUy, i-thy ehlláron in raga, who ran -hrieking aftei us demanding a so'.do. Ilien as we were the town, crowds of maddened imps. minions oí Satan I au sure, pwsue and rain stones upOD us while they curse and sriraaoe liiüeouslyTHE KATIONAL COSTÓME. Alter that town, the valley rond was Hned by liouses and they were made of stone. I you kn nv l'OW th3 slone iences aiound a typ'caJ New York farm appeav- lic ped nv Btone and no mortar-you an imagine thes3 Ihey e nofc wtndowless but glass'ess and the interior, wherever vMb'e, La a masrs, of ölit. Crowds of workmen pass 1 y Kliijring furioudy. THe lal oring wonieu however are devoid of this lightfomc spirit. A lypical costume does 110 1 exist in this región. They. wear auything wliicli will partía ly rover tiicir nakednesf. Eags are fastened in paral'el strips running horizontai'y, y and Rags cVi t. and a poka-dot liandkercliief Ja tlie national co.stume. Strips c.f o'cth hang llke sta'acitiies from some of these wretchei--. TÜAT TIRE IS VET TIBB80ME. "White I was making these observ.it.o-.'.s. my lire burst in an alarminK nionner. It looked for a moment aa if all were over. but by( diut of saerlficlng our shoe s-trings and lacing the tt-oü.t'ghtly, we made the -wheel rideablu and decided to make one more dc.-perate efort at MÜan to sefc_a rew tire. On we -n-ent through queer l.illfi and more 1 edizened and painted tovrns until we reachecl Lake Magg:oie. Tliis is another magie lake fee in an enchan'eJ landscape. On its banks grow fig trees, pomgranites, and the myrtle- yes, even ihe foliled eypress. lts isl-.mds are ereetiens of a wlzard'8 wand ; I-ola Itclla with its terraces luxuiiant with magno'ias, lemon trees, cedars, ;aurela and oleanders of faliulous slze, Itolo Madre and (.translated üiipoetically) the is'e of the íistíers. Only iancy sucli a ride as ours along that lato shore !or 15 mile'. ■: i k, e'icl: of tlie statuary's chisel whose sliops l order the lake for miles, ilien tb-3 beautiful chateaus and villas built on the biV.side which s'.opes step y from tlie water'.s edge. While we vi re riding. a long stretch between two towns, a storm aio ie at the end of the lake. The sun was setting and out of the densly black c'ouds the llghtnlng burst in fan simpes wending fieree bo'ta in all directions í;oin a single point. "We were lighted upon our road by this pyroteohnic lUspío y and Just as the storm, burst we rea che d a and were put 10 led in a wondcrfully artiatic oom Fuc'h as we have since learnad to expeet in ItaHan houses. Dhe rain beatlng into the inner court of he liouse made us nervoua for fear the V bf would get wet but no one e'se eafed, fo we iinally 8 umbered and ;iol;o only onco to hear th:; .v:i ves Venting ou the beautiful shoi-c o! Uie li te and again intime lo ee the most g'ilous oï sunrue On we idde titiough hisloric towns wtiere we were direstéa and misdi etcl on ur ioaa 10 Milan unlil we stoppefl and Crew up ;i io'emn compact liati we ■i c-uld believe oio man In ï've and flip a coin to te ■ which cno of ihefive tbal ce should be. We have erown lucre charitab'e slnce. and beliere ft la ignorance. Italiana íre go despörately ignorant. A GOOD BAMAKITAN AVIIKIÍI.MAN. Time iifter iime. we lookcd back aii'ect:onately at the Alps where ihe ureat Mt. Blanc and Rosa and the JJ.-itterhorn displayed their snowy peaks. many chapela "-ve passed all painted inordinale'y -vith iull leugth saint s, iramalcate conceptiotis and scènes from the life of (luist. Milan at last and the great orcl. which terminates the famous iiinp'on road. Soon alter passing it, a wheelman approached us, He was eourteous in marnier and panlly dressed, Quite unobstrusively he learned our purpose, conducted üs to a large wheel establishment liere we learned that no tire :ouW posrfbly he secure for my peculiar l.eel. and then guideil us tö all the attractions: thé íamous Leonardo d.i Vinci's, "Last Supper," Brera art aallery. the great arcade, the ] ral (whlch I assure you I nm In .ove v itl. and want one just like it, but car.'t pause 1 o describe) the Corso e nd many minor attraction?. A mo e Weai gentleman I have never met tlar. our seU-appointed Milanese gmide. He evidently entertainel us, u-avel-stained and unpreposseselng as vvo. were, merely tiecause of the Jdiidcsr in nis heart. He ccorted us to the city wa'.ls, shook haoös, touched lus hat, wished us a p'easant journey f.ni left us. In a lewi minutes unothcr 1ire-burst delayeil us until too lo.tr: to ride out of the city. At a cciiDCil of war held that night,. we to continue our P'e c Uied route as far as Rome if we liad i o rlde on the bare rlms. THE FINEST ROAD EVER SEEN. Kext day we started out with a vergeance and in two days, apon the inesb ronds we had yet seen, w, rode to Tenice a distance oí 200 miles. I can only drag your fancy furiously along that voad. tel you fcow we crossed ths bridge of I,odi where Napoleon showed such consuniinate bravery. in'om you ihat tue vhole territory la a low pain Nsatered by irviiiaiiou ritrhes, whlch ;,vo neiitly liidden by overhanging wlllows relate that we did nofc sieal atermODB tecanse tho owners lia ve I, Ulo wicker house? where they sit Md watch the tields and sell to whoRAer wlll bny and, lastly, xell .ovf H-ullan boys try to stick pin? in our tli-fci and we have to take our wheels -1P tic restaurants with us. Brescia Yeiora, Vicenza and Padua were tb% cities through ivliicli we passed. At, Brescia was an amusing sighb in ti. mai-ket placo. A small sideshow tioif had an enormous palnted sin : liarnum'B Exposttion !" As we entoieO Veiona we met an Italian funo o'. AU were dressed in black and cariled a white wand five íeet !ong. Tiiiec prlesta !ed and while they c-)iante.lin a !ow hypocri.ical mono1OIH-. they looke:l at us, at each otter ,r,(i smüd. We went into the Piaz■in Erbe or f; uit market and wended ou way amoñg the tomba o; the Scaügers and stared at the lamous o d aiupltheatre and visited innumerable catliedrals. juliet's hombin vekona. Tliere was something so otiereal at out the beauty of Lago di Garda thal I can not now íeaüze that i.t is a real lake and lay between Bvecia cnú Yeiona, thereo.e I nearly forgot it. Let me say to malte amends tbal over 110 scène in Europe nave ive euoizsd so mucU and I thinli .10 thii.g can surpass its I eauty un a bilght bimimer day. Olí, how discui-ave auü wanderiDg I am becomlng ! I passed Verona and iaüed to lell now vo searched out Juüd-'s lióme. lt vvas about twiügüt, and ii it was Ju'iet wlio sac in the windowj oí the oíd Capulet mansión, then -she has loa beauty. We slept in Veiona thal. n:ghlt and I resalí fanciíuily l.ow the moonüght shone in my lace iinü woke me. le is hard. to ueüeve tbal in fair Yeiona the fairer Rosamonöe drank wine írom her iathei'8 hiu: ; but legend says so and I leave ■(oo to medítate till my nexfa letter.