Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 19, 1886, Page 9

THE PRIMITIVE RAILROADS. Bomes Recollections of Bygone Trav- elling, THE STORY OF HUDSON'S RISE. Laborers Who Work for Fifty Cents a Day—Parmer Greasers Who Took Their the Companies Revenge on Boston Globe: Hudson, N. Y., gettled in 1784 by a party of capitalists from Nantucket, which was then a larze whaling port, and up it fire of 1845 was a thriving and prosperous city From Nantucket came the Folgers, the Coffins and the Marcys. On the right bank of the Hudson, about thirty below Albany, in the township of Claver- ack, 1 out Hud<on, which in a few years after became a city. There were several whale s owned there, and as early ns 1800 it had 25,000 innabitants, and when steamboats eame 1 vogue on the North river or Hudson, it wasre- garded by some as the head of naviga- tion. Avout the year 1 when it was at its zenith of its prosperity it felt like trying titics with its wealthier city Al- bany, who boasted one of the old rail- ronds in the country. Everybody has seen the fac similesof the first railroad train on the Mohawk & Hudson railroad from Albany to Schenectady in which Thurlow Weed was one of the excursion- ists. Ten years later or just a or two before the great panic of 1837, the people of the city of Hudson thought they could have a railroad as wel buny ¥ thought it would b Idea to conncet with the contemp! road the Western, and thus bring travel and freight from the east to the alleged head of navigation, Hudson on the Hud- #on river. 5o the capitalists of Hudson was to the miles to_ Woest Stockbridge in Masss formed a railroad the Hudson From Hudson . ham is seventeen miles, There it met the Western railroad and crossed it ran parallel to the Western r had then been surveyed. It ran from reds to half a mile from the We road from Chatham to the state line. then went south to West Stockbridge, Mass., a distance of thirty-four miles Uhe road from Hudson to "West Stoe bridge completed about the 1838, and w marvel of engineering. It cost about §320,000, or not quite £10,000 WORKING FOR 50 CENTS A DAY. Plenty of men could then be found to work for three and four York shillings a day, that is thirty-seven and a halt and fifty cents a day. The men used to and throw dirt on wheelbarrows. later on one-lorse earts and then it down the embankment. There were no digging machines that now do the work in one-twentieth or one-thirtieth of the time Some of the Fcupl.- along the lines were very much obposed to ti enterprise. ‘Lhey sail that “their stoc would be run over and killed, that their barns and houses and fences would be set on fire and that the clothes that the busy housewives put on the lines after being washed on Mondays would be by smoke and soot. But when the s paid them good prices Lf 1wl they left the ot the kick- 1 beeame warm friends of the cor- poration, Often some thrifty farmer. wouid put $1,000 or §2,000 into stock and put on nivs. When the first trains were put on the road there were three locomotives, the Hudson, the Ber| and the Columbia. They were queer looking little machines but were in use mearly a quarter of a century. The Hudson in'the infancy of the road w ack machine. The old conches w n 1858 laid off on a switch in a car house at Hudson, and the not been used for nearly ten yea locomotive had only two four feet dri ers and asupporting truck of four wheels under the big black tinrlug smokestack, There was a four wheeled tender. In later years there was a cab put u‘y but in the younger days of t! engine, the engineer had to stand out in the weather an ke his chances. The engine weighed about v it tons only. On its side just bell, was the name *‘Hudson,” in brass block letters. The cars were on four wheeled trucks, and around the top was an iron railing, so that baggage and s could be earried on top without arred off. There were no doors in the end of the ¢ but entrance was through a door in the side : extended nearly across the car,with aisles . Passeng sut facing each and four could sit very comforta- by side. There were six scats 5 the ear, three facing the engine, iree the end of the There ) genor of the cars atiached to the engine. \ car would seat twenty-four persons, The conductor wounld walk around the car on the outside and collect his fare through the window in summer. In the winter he would got into the car and col- Jeet his fave, and then get out and shin into the other car. ‘There were no stoves in the cars, and in the winter people used to find that warm bricks ana old-fas 1oned wooden and tin foot stoves were mpaniments on a jour- st Stoekbridge. S W v much like those ona farm lumber wagon. The trains for n long time lett Hudson at 8 a. m and 8 p. m. They left West Stoekbridge at the same hours to make the trip of thirty-four miles. The freight trains left Hudson early in the morning and went to West Stockbridge in five hours, where the hands would get their dinner and then turn around and come back, arriv- ing at Hudson about 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening, if they had good luck. VHE TRACK was a euriosity. First an eight inch tim- ber about twenty feet long was laid down and then another parallel. Across these were laid the ties and then along tho ties were he: ouken joists about about four by tow ‘or six and on these were nailed lyoun strips like heavy wagon tires. Then the road was ballasted with dirt, and exéept in the spring of the yenr when the frost was coming out of the ground, the track was comparatively smooth, and the sensation of rding along was quite agr. The station at the river ws isit by the locomotives. They were kept the npper station because of a neavy erade of about 160 feet to the mile. oeomotives could ly go up this grade of their own nccord, 5o the com- pauy bought about forty large Pennsyl- vania horses, and these were used to draw u‘,.«.hu freight and passenger cars, About four horses used to draw the cars upin wbout liftcen minutes. Then the engine was hitched on, and after a great deal of fussing and ceremony the train would star fifty to 100 persons it star I for West Stockbridge with thirty or forty passengers. ‘The train used to manage 10 koop adong pretty well on time, unicss it bad huppened that some farmer had become indignant because his cows or l)igs had been kilied by the engine. In nat ease he would hiteh up and drive in 10 sec the superintendent of the road and eflect a scttlement HE GRE THE GRADE, It sometimes happencd that they could not agree, Then, if there was i grade The s ed t THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1886.-~TWEL E PAGES. GRAMMARCY PA It is what has long been known as the “Sheeley Farm,” and a'most joins Walnut Hill. ONILY 8500 With a small payment down, and the balance on the terms. 1 JDFL @) S B easiest possible It has all the advantages, such as churches, schools, Belt Line, et~., enjoyed by that and cther additions in North Omaha. There is not a poor lot in Grammarcy Park and no other property in the city can compare with it, either for beauty of location, prices or terms. Every lot slop=2s gradually; no grading being requ’red to make anylot as fine a homeas could be desired. You have your choice at $520. A charter has been granted for the extension of the STREET RAILWAY THROUGH GRAMMARCY PARK, Work on which will be begun in the next 60 days, six months by purchasing lots in Grammarcy par« now, while they ara cheap. All These Beautiful Lots For Sale By All These Beautiful Lots For Sale By You are sure to double your money in the next Al These Beait:ful Lots For Sale By AARON CAHN, SON & C0, |E- T- Peterson & Co.| T, B, WILDE, 8. E. Gor. (5th and Douglas Sts. {322 Farnam § more or less heavy in the vicin would steal thither in the dead of 1 would strike the lubricated wheels would spin around und would come to a dead stop. Then the train would back off quite @ picee and the engineer and firemen would s dirt and sand on the track, then tl would put on all the steam they could get. anif the track had not been greased over 100 feet the tram would not be de- tained more than ten or fifteen minutes Sometimes, though, if the grade was very steep and the farmer had had lots of rease or soap, the traum would be de- fi\ycd an hour or more. This was the cause of considerable profanjfy, and sometimes a eivil suit would be brought against the “‘greaser.’” But the company 1e train did not always prove the oficnse to the | war ) Reindeer, twin locomotives of about six satisfaction of the court and 'y, and they would have to pay The would hand over a good round price for the stock that had beenkilled, and there wounld be no more greasing for some time, unless it was done by vagrant boys out of pure cu; S T X used to be looked upon as superior be- ings. The conductors, too, were great wmen in their way,and they used to handle a great deal of money. Captauin Bag when he first went into the service of the roand, used to have a salary of $10 a month and the engincers from $85 to $10. The other hands, such as station ngents, firemen. switchtenders, at from 3 a month. Many of the pas road used to remember old C: 's peeuliarities and quaintness speech. When asked what the fare was from Hudson to Chatham he would reply, “Well, I shall have ix shil- " (equal to soventy-fi s “'I shall have to_tax 50 Hudson to West Stock- 50, which . those h us things went. At y, when the old captamn surer's ofllce to s he wonld ha shot bag half full Spanish sixpences, shillings and quarters. and a large sprinkling of the old fash- ioned red cent_nearly us large a Iy half-dolla 4y than American silver in those days, o 1 it was not worn it was handsomely coine the end of the went into the tre PRDMITIVE FREIGHT CARS, ho freight cars wera four-wheeled af- s. They had a swinging door that ened with apeg and staple T were painted slate-colored and pink. ears were an ordinary freight train, and only when the road was in good con- dition conld the little machine Columbia take nine freight cars up and down the rades and around the curves. Butin the winter—then it was that they could not keep down the accumulation of ve 5ht. In wintry months it was as much as the little teakettle could do to keep going, and the cars were never ex- peeted to be on time. When the western railroad began to be of some importance and the Hudson & Berkshire had passed through the winter of bankrap! it was sold to the Western railroad and is now the Boston & Albany railroad, Hudson branch. It isa very valuable piece of rond, both for freight and pa The little machines have totally disappeared and the engines now are sixty and soventy-ton n i from the great works of the states, Some two or three years aftorward the Housatonic Ruilrond “company began to build their voad from Bridgeport to the stete line. The appliances for building th 1 were only & little better than those of the Hudson & Berkshire railroad But the inhabitants along the line con- gratulated themselves on the new enter- prise that would obviate the necessity of cartlng the produce across the eastern part of the state of New York to the {udson river and thenee to New York. Before that along the Columbia turnpike from Great Barrlngton to Hudson, N. Y., long lines of farmer's teams might be found in the fall carrying butchered pork, cheese, butter, grain, ete., to the North river towns and steamboats. About 18il the road was completed and thi¢ Jocowmotives were a little beavier and , Ground Flssr. a more modern type than the Huason and Ber| The tirst machines were the with four-feet drivers, furnished with » coweate The machine with the four-wheeled tender vei ut eleven tons. Anim ment was placed on the frame of the locomotive consisting of large splint brooms firmly fastened in holes which were about an inch wbove the track in order to clear the snow from the track. There was also a eab built on this engine. Then there was the littie two-driver en- i any, that very much resembled u of the Hudson and Boston s put on. wo larger mac| foilowed, the Litchfield and Ber b Thes d tenders with six_wheels, and they weighed twelve tons. These ran the nger engines. Then came the lousatonic and Pequonnock, and after- wards, in about 1845, the Antelope and and teen tons, were put on for the passe; train service. THE FIRST EXCURSION TRAIN. Shortly after the road was completed the company nssenger e and there we about seventy-five pas- sengers on the train. A Mrs. Bishop wus killed by one of the rails piercing the floor of the cx T i cast a gloom rsion party, and some of them predicted the downfall of railroads on account of such aceidents, After this nceident cach engineer carried ou his engine a bag pf spikes and a larg sledge hammer, and when rail was discovered, known as head,” the engineer would get down and nail it fast, and leave word at the first ion to have men go and ballast the ago there was no such thing known an_express train, They stopped at all stations, and they never went at u rate of speed er than fifteen miles an hour,including stoppages. The Western railroad had a hard stint to get its rond over the Gr mountain tange in Berkshire county. On the heavy grades at Dalton and \"Ilhllil!glllll for & great many years it Was necessary to lave an eungine to help |nu.~l‘ the pa and freight trains up the grade. put through about the year 1841, and at once it began to be regarded as one of the most import- s in the country. At that time bably more than 500 railroad in th country. tern road in 1812 adopted the od passenger carthat was Englandroads. Chicago ng little city of 6,250 in- There was then Do big T road ¢ r where nearly two dozen roads congregate, 1t took from two weeks to a month to get there. In all the west there was not over fifty miles of railroad, although all the large eities began to talk of them. ‘The Catskill & Canajoharie was in op- eration about the year 1835. The cars and locomotives were of the smallest and most primitive character. The freight curs were simply open wagons, and the freight was, 1n rainy weather, covered with tarpaulins, There was but little traflic or travel. The man in a New Eng- land village who had been to Boston and New York on the cars was a man to be looked up to as one of the fast men of the place he honored with his residence. Should there be as greatimprovements in the next half century as in the last, this country will be a wonderful place to live in. uck. orty year: —— In a Doubtful State. _Texas Siftings: Lawyer—''Are singlet" Female witness—'‘No," hen you are a married woman?"’ No," “So you are a widow?" “Nom “But, my dear madam or miss, must belong to one of these classes. what shall I put you down?” “1 am~—an—engaged woman," you you As e Herr Richini, one of the ‘“‘mimics” of the Vienna opeda house, still appears in pantomiime at the sge of eighty. He has been for more than forty years a member of that theatre, o | UP STATITRS, {512 Fairam St.,, Up Stairs. HE R0LD HIS WIFE. From the French of Guy d> Maupsgant by C. Waggoner, A peculiar case wes on trial before the court of Assizes of the Lower Sien Caesar Isador Brumomb:_un[ Prosper Napolcon Cornu had:bgen summotied to answer the charge of trying to drown by immersion Mme. Bfumont, the lawful wife of the first named prisoner. The two nccused were seated side by side on the beneh, They were both peasants; the first one, small, fat and with short arms, short legs, and a round red head planted direetly on his back, also round and and short, without any appearance of neck. He was a raiser of pork and lived at Cachville, near Criquetor. The other, Cornu, was his opposite in appearance, thin, with long arms, long legs, and a head set awryon his shoulders. He had also a horrible squint in one eve. A blue blouse as long as o shirt fell to his knees, his yellow hair s cut ghort, and he had a dirty, worn-out look that was positivel; rightful, They had, nicknamed him th rate,” because he imitated to perfe tion the chants of the church. "T'his ac- complishment drew to his cafe, for he was a wine-sller at Criquetot, & great number of clients, who much preferred the m of Cornu to the mass ot the good priest. Mme. Brumont was seated upon the witness bench. She was tall and thin and scemed hulf asleep, so motionless did she sit, with her hands crossed upon her knees and her eyes fixed and vacant The judge contmued his interrogations: “So, you say, Mme. Brumont, they came to'your house and threw you intc barrel full of water, Get up and tell us the facts in detail.” Mume. Brumont rose, looking as high as a mast, with the flaps of her headdress flying like sails, and began her story in a whing voice: I was shelling beans when they en- d she, “and I said to mysclf, t is the matter?’ They are not nat- they look wicked.” 1hey watched me crossways, for you know, your Honor, Cornu squints.” 1 did not like to sce them together, for they are no great things in each other's society. “I'said to them, *‘What do you want?’ And when they did not reply 1 was sure that some deviltry was afoot.’’ Here the oner Brumont interrupted the witness, erying omut: *'I was drunk, your honor, drunk as a lord.’ Th Jornu turned to his companioin and said n a deep voice like the notes of an organ we were both drunk and you will not lie “What do you say?” asked the judge sternly, ‘‘that you were drunk?” “No use to ask that question, your honor,” said Brumout. “Everybody could see that," said Cor- Tig “Cu nu. *'Continue, Mme. Brumont,” said the judge to the victim, *Then Brumount gaid to me, ‘Do you want to earn a hundred sous,’ ‘Yes,’ I said, for you see a hundred sous is not pickcd ub under a horse's foot everyday. Then he said, ‘Open your eye and do what 1 tell f'ou.' And he went out and got a barrel that stood under the gutter at the corner of the house. When he had emptied it he brought it into my kitchen and put it in ghe middle of the floor. ‘Now,’ said: ‘go and bring enough water to fill it.’ I went to the spring with two buckets and Ibrought water for an hour, for you see this barrel was as big as a boiler, save your honor, Monsieug le Judge. All this time Brumont and Carnu were drinking cup after cup. until they were full, full as the barrel. "When I spoke of it Brumont said, ‘Don’t worry yourself—your turn will come.” I paid no attention to him, for I saw he was drunk. When the bar- rel was even full I said: ‘There, itis done.” Then Cornp gave me the hun- dred sous; it was nat Brumont but Cornu who gaye them to me. Brumont then said: ‘Do yon want to earn another hun- dred sous?’ Of course I said yes. You see I am not used ta getting presents like that. ‘Then take off your skirt and ce, a hundred sous is a hundred sous, so [ thought. 1 took off my eap, my sacque, my skirt and my sabots. Then Brumont 1d: ‘We are zood boys,” and Cornu added, ‘Yes, we are good boys.” “They both then got up and tried to stand straight, but they were too drunk, wve your honor, Monsicu Judge; and I said to myself, ‘What are they plot- ting?’ Then Brumont said: ‘That'’s all right. And Cornu_said: “That's all right,’ And they took me—Brumont by the head and Cornu by the heels—as they would a sheet from: the wash. [ sereamed and yelled, and Brumont cried, ‘Hush, wretch?” They raised me up in their arms and threw me 1nto the barrel of water. My blood stopped runnin, was frozen to the bone. ““Then Brumont sad, ‘Is that all?’ And Cornu answered, ‘Yes, that’s all.” ‘But,’ said Brumont, ‘the head is not in; that coun! *Put the head in, then,’said Cornu; and Brumont pushed down my heéad until I was nearly drowned; the water ran in my eyes and es until I thought I already saw paradise. He pushed me under once more and I isappeared, when he got frightened and pulied me out. ‘Go, dry yourself,” he s¢id, and I ran for my lifé to the house of Monsieur the Cure, who loaned me a skirt of hisservant's, for you see 1 was un- presentabie, Then,with Monsiur Chicot, the gatekeeper, 1 went to Criquetot for o gendarme to £o with me to the house. “There we found Brumont and Cornu as drunk as two rams. Brumont was yelhing, ‘It isnot true, 1 tell you; there was at least a cubic metre; it’s not right!?” And Cornu was yelling in reply, ur bucketsful will not make lml} a cubic metre!’ “Then the gendarme put his hands on their shoulders, and_that's all,” sat _down. The people langhed, the jurors looked at each other stupidly, while the judge sad, **Cornu, you seem to have been the instigator of this out- rage; what have you to s ! Cornu got up” and said, Save your honor, I was drunk.” I'm going to. You see, Bru- e tomy house about 8 o'clock morning and ordered a tip of One for you, Cornu, said he, t down and drank with him for politencss. “[offered him one, and he another to me, and so we went on tip for tip, until by 12 o’clock we both had a roof on. Then Brumont began to cry. That softened me, and I asked him what wus the matter: He said: ‘I must have a 1,000 franes by Thursday.’ At this I stiffened up again; you understand, your bonor Suddenly ho- oried, I wil I sell you my wife! was drank, and I am a widower—that touched me, I dida't know his wife, but a woman is a woman; you know that, your honor. So asked him how much he would sell her for, He thought a moment, or he seemed to think;for you know when oneis drunk thiuffl are not very clear., Then he re- plied: ‘I will sell her by the cubic metr: ‘hat did not astonish me in the least, for I was as drunk as he, and selling by the cubic metre is my business. Bo 1 said: ‘“That’s all right;' only the price remained to be fixed. ‘How much a metre?’ s ‘Two thousand francs,’ he re- plied. I made a jump liks a rabbit; then irellected that a woman couldn't weigh more than thirty metres, but all the same I'said: ‘It {s too dear,’ ‘I won't take any less,” said he; ‘I would lose by it.” You understand that one is not & pork-mer- chant for nothing—they know their busi- ness: and this seller of grease might be a rascal—1 must see what I bought. “Then I said, ‘She 18 not new, she is second-hand, so I will not give you 2,000 franes; [ will give you 1,500 francs cubic metre; not another sou; will do? ‘Yes,’ ne said, and we went arm in arm, for you know we must help each other {u this life. “Suddenly I stopped. ‘How can you measure her by the litre unless you liquidize her?' 1 asked. “Then he explained his 1dea, not with- out trouble, for he was very drunk. ‘I will take a barrel,’ said he, ‘and fill it even full; T will then put her in it, and the water that runs out will be her mes ure.” ‘Yes, said ‘but how will you get up this water that runs ont? *Then he dooked at mefas if I were a chitterling, and lain the barrel must be filled sgain atter his wife was taken out and the waterput m would he her reckoning—he thouglit about ten buckets would be a cubic metre. He was nu[t]stupi(l if he was drunk, the old ras- cal! “Well, we wentto his house, and [ looked upon my bargain. For a beautiful woman it was not a bad one, but she was not a beautiful woman; every body can see that. Look there, and see for your- self, your honor. But I said to myselt I must do it, pretty or ugly; a bargain’s a gain; and when 1 saw how thin she was Iknew see wouldn’t measure 300 litres. She has told you of the operation. I even let her keep on her clothing, to my loss, and when we measured the water, your honor, it was not four buck- etsful, ha!ha! ha!” The witness laughed so loud thut a gendarme had to slap him on the back. When quiet was restored he continued: “Brumont declared that it would do; that it wasn’t enough. 1 yelled, and he yelled;- T thumped, and he knocked—and this would have gone on until judgment day, for we were both drunk, if the gendarme hadn’t come and carried us off to ;)rifion. Idemand damages!” Brumont acknowledged that the story nd the jury retired in great to deliberate. In two y returned with a verdict of ae- quital, accompanied with severe remarks upon the majesty of marriage and the limitations of business transactions, but Cornu got no damages, all was true, T Some Idiotic Lawsnits, A sait has recently been tried in Mar count, which Th: Robins intiff and q Nine y siys the Moberly Monitor, Dave man stole a mare from Robinson sold her to a man named Blair, who sold her to Mrs, Queally. The thief was wght, trie convicted, and served a 1 the ypenitentiavy. T e not found, Iy remained in quiet possession for n number of years. Robinson eventaally found where his mure was and brouglit suit to recover her. How the suit re- sulted wo are not advised, but the case reminds us of some othe In 1848 & Mrs. Gatewood, in Boone county, Georgia, losc o sheep’ bell, the price” of which was | conts, Her neighbor, Coleman Reid, found it, or eame into possession of it some w; 4 very honorable man, as she was re- spectable woman. Bat the discovery of where the bell was occasioned some neighborhood gossip, and finally a seandal. The neighborhood took up the quarrel, and finally a suit was nstituted, It grew gradually untd Mus. tewood and her three securities were bankrupted. Coleman Reid and his two brothers lost all their property, and besides that Reid met James Arnold, one of Mrs, Gate- od’s securities, on the road and cut nim up savagely, The costs of the suit, including attorneys’ fees, were said to have been about $18,000, In Montgomery county, Georgi Talbot was sued for the recovery of a bull calf said to be worth §6.2: I'albot was wealthy, and so were his fricnds. They defended his suit, which went through the magistrate’s court, and cir- cuit court, and the supreme court several times. The costs alone were something over §8,000, In Boone county two neighbors had a colt, each very similariy marked. One of the colts was cs i apevine and hung. Before it was vered the bad mutilated the hind legs so badl y couldnot be distinguished. , ran together in orest and the sur- was first with one and ¢ r, & dispute arose about the o ip. Over 200 witnesses were subpang ,.Poonu of them estimated the wao( ther colt at more than §15. Before the ease was coucluded it cost over §16,000, J[sham A DAY'S VISIT TO BERGAMO, Ono of the Most Interesting Places in Italy. A BEAUTIFUL CITY ON A HILL, The Opera, the Requiem Mase, and the Annual Fair—A Grand Oid Church - An Operatio Performance, Bercayo, August 31 [Correspond- ence of the Beg]—Yesterday we arrived here at 11:30 a. m., having come up from Milan, principally for the opera, the requiem mass at the Santa M nd the annual ‘“‘fiera,” s traveler overlooks Bergamo, 0 small town of little interest or im- portance, when in reality there are fow places in Italy that offer more varied ats ons, both of nature and of art, than city on a hill." BERGAMO is most picturesquely simated, and is really city within a cit, the old or “high town, ™ with its irregular walls and quaint gates, being on the summit of the steep, and the new or “Lower Bergamo™ circling the base of the hill and gradus~ ally creeping out of its modern confines to spread itself on the beautiful plaing and valleys before it. A magnificent background of mountains finishes a8 lovely a peture as one would care to see, and the feeling of enchantment that one succumbs to at the fiest glimpse of Bergamo and its environs is in no wise dispelled upon entering the gutes of the city vroper. The exuberant growth of folinge of all kinds 1mmediately atteacts one's attention, and the great love of the Italians for flowers and plants is shown atevery turn, The windows of all the houses, from the pala or villa to the wnt's hut, are fil with flowering nd long mas; of delicate ivies and rose branches hang from the baleo- nies, softening the oftentimes cold aspect of the ight stone or brick houses, We drove through beautiful shaded streetg to the open squares and market places, where the gaily decorated tents and booths, wretched brass bands and ani- ated groups of peasants told of the co THE FAIR SEASON, The *‘fiern’’ usnally ts from the r 25th of August to” the 10th of Sept nd at Verona, Brescia, P mo, ete., is especially important a8 an opera s At noon we drove out of Lower Bergamo and up the well kept hill road to T Beautiful gro one the ic garden, and a fitting tern: Was the half-ruined, ivy-covered gata, through which we sed into “High Bergamo.” The contrast in architecture and are between the two parts of the cit naturally verv great, and as one winds through the 1 OW, uneven streets of the hill town, eatehing ghimpses of grim old towers, cool, picturesqua , worn shrines and_ tountiins of traditional tritons, mterest in the antique supersedes all else for the moment. An immense monument to ribaldi stands in the arched counrt of the ancient town 1, while the campanile or bell towenaf the Latter easts its shadow over the grand old ehurch of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the richest and most interesting ok thy small eathedrals of Italy. P t to 1% y. Parts of it are wid to have becn built a thousand yenrs 0go, a valls are at least ninoe immense pieces of goblindwpestry, Only two or three have preserved their ovige inal rich coloring, for the uthers werp washed during the invesion of Napoleon 1 have faded greatly. N awany the HIGIL ALTAR CROSS, 50 exquis ed in gold and’ sivor and ornamented with precious stones, the whole valued at 500,000 francs. I&* was returned, however, and oceupies its former position. The wood carving of the choir stalls around the high altar is considered the finest work of its kind Ttaly, iand represents, with the delicucy of etching, the “*Creation and Fali of Man.”” The monuments to Donizetti and his old master, Mayer, are in the south trunsept of the church, The bantistry is a gem, built of the finest marble and ornamented with rich mosuics and: rare alabaster columns. We next visited the new white marble Duomo, in the same pinzza. It is costly, but not pleasing. I'hen we dre rather out of towa to lunch at a curions little inn, celebrated for the magnificent view it commands. The house was built on the extreme edgn of a high bouider, and being considerably above Bergamo, overlooks tne city, the beautiful valley (Inid out like u park with mulberry trees and grapevine yards), the Swiss Italian Alps in the distunce on one side, and the domes and pinnaelus of Milan on the other. Until4 o'elock we spent the time the Carrara mu- seum, where they have a splendid collees old paintings. Luini, Corregio, Titian, Tintoretto and many other ms rs of the old Italian school are well :nted, as as some of the nous Duteh painters, such as Rubens, Vandyck, Holbein and Jordaen, At 4:15 the for the peace of the soul of commenced ut the Santa and seldom, I 0 heard than that given th leszw and Lo orzans accom- panied barge choir and a cliorus of ono hundrze. The tenor h 1 an operatic sspir mass given was Pouchielli's We returned to the Hotel d’ Italin dined in the gurden, and of course tried the “svecial’” dish of Bergamo enlled “polenta con uecelli,” 1t is a pudding nde of fine chestnut flour and 1-(,\'en-h ith tiny birds, which nirs, on sticks the size of matehes, birds are cooked with claws and heads on, and the Italinns look upon the he as the dmnticst bit of their repast, opera “Giocondn” commenced at 8:18, and was one of the finest performanees we had ever heard, THE OPER is said to be second in to the Scala of Milan, and every piace was occupiod lasy night. The ladies in the fivetiers of bo were in ful] dress, as were also many in the parguet. T purt of Gioconda wag ken by Pauling Hossin u young Hun- ian_firl, sbout twenty-five, who hag een singing very succ in Spal and Sicily. Her splendid d 0+ prazo showed to the best advantage in the passionate role she assumed, and, though the ope; A alveady b S five or six tunes, vehemen! applause throughout. tralto hud not only an unususlly fine voice, bu, like Rossini, was a finished actress. ‘Tha ten0r, Mezzo-so po and baritone werq all young, but sang with tuste and euse, wlly the baritone, who divided the honors of the evenipg with Giocends. The mise-cnreene was very rich, snd the repeated “seven or eighe “fiera’ is over. On out y hotel we stopped in the fair ground atched the gaily dressed pe The women wear & bluck eashmere shawl, gracofully draped over head and shouldets, instead of tha lnce veil, and their neek kerchiefs ara much more brilliant in_color than thoss of the peas: ound Milug. Many of the men we: reeches of corduray, with a shor! jacket like that of tha Spanish loafer stuck in one side of the tivped-back hat, Miian Crask, WOUSE ope: times before