Away Up On The Appenines

Dear Mr! Editor : We feel so proud of the marmer in which we climbed the Appenines that I am going to teil you first and impressively that we reached the highest point of the pass -without doing onv walking - we rode in the saddle 51 miles of up grade and the last 10 miles. Avere very steep. Of course jeu don't care if we rode with one leg and with both eyes shut. Editor are so far above interest in physical feats ! Well, we had both pjes open. Ye saw sunburned liills drieC up mountain courses, remains oí oíd Roman acqueducts and the plain and ugly mountalns on all sides ; none cf the grandeur or beauty of the Alps. TAEYHAVE CIIESTNUTS. About noon we passed mountain f-oirne ivliere the whole populations verr lying lazily upon the mountaineide, smoking, eating and sleeping Li the shade. "We saw mountain-vallej -sides completely covered with cliestnut trees, and from the summit of the pass we saw Pistoja lying thousands of of feet below: us in the vallev and from that height we began ono of tli ose exciting plunges down inte the valley. Tlie road 's like the track of lightnlng and our peed w ah only a few knots an hour less thar that same phenomenoi:. ijoon wt, reached the luxuriant vines and ■vegetation of the Tusean valley. Pistoja is a quaint, time-stained ':ity, so dusty that it might have traveled a long journey itself, but :is it is guarded by a wall and inoat and many soldiers, I suspect it got its Oust from other travelers. ON THE ROAD TO FLORENCE. It was nearly sunset when we iefü that city for Florence. The road v. as lined with the houses of the contadinie, and many a beautiful Tessa walked among her companions, and movc hats and other things in straw. Only by using superhuman eloquence did I persuade Harry that he did not need a straw nat. But darkness fíime to my aid and "we could not see tho beau'tiful signoras any more. We wanderet) in the gloom through innumerable Buburban towns, pushiug cur way among throngs of revellers tl' the lower classes. In Italy everyone lives out oí doors In the svening. Italiana like to exercise their iungs am. the discordant cries made us feel a ery strangely indeed. Tendere were hooting, small urehins yelling, girls giggling, .inothers screaming, ehüdren snrieking. Lamps were very rare and ilared in bizarre and grotesque corners. Florence at last and the mooi1 just rising over it. We passel the good guardsman at the gate and were riding in the enchanted city. 'J 'hu music and crowd in a piazza attracted us and in that piazza we :ound a desirable hotel where we rested gladly from our t)0 inile ridey Vfc staid two days in Florence, and. saw- I have half a niind to make you lead 'Tiomola" to learn what we saw - but I wiU catalogue a lew thinge. 'Jhere is the old palace with its airy tcwer which rises, a slender mast anc!. the superb dome of the cathedral, anc that massive stone prison of art. the Pitti palace, and, linked with it by the coiodor over the old bridge, the Uifizi palaco. Then the doors of the Baptistry, one oí which Hiohael Angelo eaid, was worthy to be at the entiance of Paradise ; Santa Croce, the cathedral where Florence has buried her famous dead. Jlost charming oi all are the inging girls with iheir guitars. These fair muslcians liaunt the cafes and are real sirena to atliact custom. PISA AND ITB LEANING TOWEKS. lelt Florence oue hot afternoon &nc iollowed the course of the Arno down to Pisa. The river was small snu muddy and the hills whieh shaped it course were dry and parched. It was on the following morning that wo reached Pisa after passing ihe uighl in a wayside inu which was discouragtng on the exterior but vontained a surprise bedroom with freecoee snti Jace curtains and a cauopled bed a;i very clean. Pisa has all of its altractions in one out of the way corner. We rode eagerly to that corner and after the i'irst glimpse at tho leaning tower, I iound myself iivoluntarily "scorching," for fear the tower would lose its equllibrium Leloro we should reach it. We stood and marveled for a time and then entereö the cathedral near by. When we came out, there were several Capucinian monks and three blind beggara examining our wheels. I had to repair my tire soYme and the blind men, in spite of their infirmity watched the operation with breathless interest, j TUE MEDITTEliAXEAN IN VIEW. We extricated ourselves from Pisa onú began a ride tö Home which I I shall never repeat. I heartily ïccommend to bicycle riders all of the roadg and cüniate and countries tlirough whieh we had previously paesed, but whoever undertakes lliat ride to Eome should have the epidermis of a salamander and bicycle ' tii et, as impervioue as an armadillo'. Ak my iriend expressed it : 'Every egetating thing In this infernal country ecrows a thora." The roads are so dusty that the tires rolling in tnem souncUike flapping sails, and the heat is as if the air above was burning glass. We first saw the Mediterránea ii at about sunset. I can see vividly now the lignt green of the shore, the dark green of the waters, j and the deep blue of the isle "óf Elba, j v.uxi whicli was the red of the setting sun, flanked by dark gray clouds with brazen edges. AYc purged our minde oí one popular ïallacy. All roaos do nol lead to lïome. Most of them leaC anywhere else. My reeoüeciiowt, aré a mixture of the horrible .'nu' the beautiful. I see little fishüifc villages where the sallors are BQuabbling with market women about the prlce of pears. I see the flashinfe' waters of harbors dotted with v hite sails and that visión gives place t chalk-white roads filled with Iliorns and no shade in which to mend punetures, except the shade of milc stones. Tlien rises the l)lue outline of the Appenincs and while admiring that we come to a sandy, cgly river with no bridge and ve have to stand and scorch until the ferryman arrivés. This is ioliowcd ï.y a blurr of dust, heat and blackberries. NO ÖOAT MII.K FOK US. One night we rode too late, and at last in desperation we sought lodgluL Ir. a eastie situated high on a hill to whose summit we toiled. "We found several men there who1 said in answer to our plea foi' a bed that we must ask tke captaLn. The "captain" came out and said it was imposslble, we must go on. "We Jragcur wheeLs down to the plain and pedaled laboriously on until we iound a house at a railroad crossing. Our pleadihgs finally secured us a bed bere and a promise of milk In the morning. At dawn I heard a knock and ba de the visitor to enter. He did. It was our host Ieading a goal into our bedchamber. He seemed greatly injured because we refused th(; goatfeh beverage. We rode on OAei waste lands whlch look much hke our Colorado deserts. 3y the rcac1. sides are remains oí massive ga tes which have outlasted their walls. and they are overgrown with vines. On these plains roam herds oí white, long-horned cattle- very pieturesque. Near the sea are occasionai lemon orchards and cork trees. The mountains are very near the shore at times and old mediaeval citiet are seen perched on a Mll-top and the houses built closely together aiound the edge of the liill so they n:ay serve as a wall. In one more letter I wiU relate the remainder oí t ui adventure.