was in Switzerland the Simplon Tunnel has been opened. It was begun more than six years ago by the Swiss and Italian Governments, an immense force of hands being worked on each end of it. After laboring day and night for years, the two parties met on the twenty-fourth of February. This tunnel, which is double, is more than twelve miles long and cost sixteen millions of dollars.

At Chiasso we did what is required at the boundary line of all the countries visited; that is, stop and let the custom-house officials inspect the baggage. I had nothing dutiable and was soon traveling on through Italy, toward Venice, where I spent some time riding on one of the little omnibus steamers that ply on its streets of water. But not all the Venetian streets are like this, for I walked on some that are paved with good, hard sandstone. I was not moved by the beauty of the place, and soon left for Pisa, passing a night in Florence on the way. The chief point of interest was the Leaning Tower, which has eight stories and is one hundred and eighty feet high. This structure, completed in the fourteenth century, seems to have commenced to lean when the third story was built. The top, which is reached by nearly three hundred steps, is fourteen feet out of perpendicular. Five large bells are suspended in the tower, from the top of which one can have a fine view of the walled city, with its Cathedral and Baptistery, the beautiful surrounding country, and the mountains in the distance.

The next point visited was Rome, old "Rome that sat on her seven hills and from her throne of beauty ruled the world." One of the first things I saw when I came out of the depot was a monument bearing the letters "S.P.Q.R." (the Senate and the people of Rome) which are sometimes seen in pictures concerning the crucifixion of Christ. In London there are numerous public water-closets; in France also there are public urinals, which are almost too public in some cases, but here in Rome the climax is reached, for the urinals furnish only the least bit of privacy. One of them, near the railway station, is merely an indentation of perhaps six or eight inches in a straight wall right against the sidewalk, where men, women, and children are passing.

By the aid of a guide-book and pictorial plan, I crossed the city from the gateway called "Porto del Popolo" to the "Porto S. Paolo," seeing the street called the "Corso," or race course, Piazza Colonna, Fountain of Treves, Trajan's Forum, Roman Forum, Arch of Constantine, Pantheon, Colosseum, and the small Pyramid of Caius Cestus.

The Porto del Popolo is the old gateway by which travelers entered the city before the railroad was built. It is on the Flammian Way and is said to have been built first in A.D. 402. Just inside the gate is a space occupied by an Egyptian obelisk surrounded by four Egyptian lions. The Corso is almost a mile in length and extends from the gate just mentioned to the edge of the Capitoline Hill, where a great monument to Victor Emmanuel was being built. The Fountain of Treves is said to be the most magnificent in Rome, and needs to be seen to be appreciated. It has three large figures, the one in the middle representing the Ocean, the one on the left, Fertility, and the one on the right, Health. Women who are disposed to dress fashionably at the expense of a deformed body might be profited by a study of this figure of Health. Trajan's Forum is an interesting little place, but it is a small show compared with the Roman Forum, which is much more extensive, and whose ruins are more varied. The latter contains the temples of Vespasian, of Concordia, of Castor and Pollux, and others. It also contains the famous Arch of Titus, the Basilica of Constantine, the remains of great palaces, and other ruins. "Originally the Forum was a low valley among the hills, a convenient place for the people to meet and barter." The Palatine Hill was fortified by the first Romans, and the Sabines lived on other hills. These two races finally united, and the valley between the hills became the site of numerous temples and government buildings. Kings erected their palaces in the Forum, and it became the center of Roman life. But when Constantine built his capital at Constantinople, the greatness of the city declined, and it was sacked and plundered by enemies from the north. The Forum became a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish until it was almost hidden from view, and it was called by a name signifying cow pasture. It has been partly excavated within the last century, and the ruined temples and palaces have been brought to light, making it once more a place of absorbing interest. I wandered around and over and under and through these ruins for a considerable length of time, and wrote in my note book: "There is more here than I can comprehend."

I was in a garden on top of one part of the ruins where flowers and trees were growing, and then I went down through the mass of ruins by a flight of seventy-five stairs, which, the attendant said, was built by Caligula. I was then probably not more than half way to the bottom of this hill of ruins, which is honeycombed with corridors, stairways, and rooms of various sizes. The following scrap of history concerning Caligula will probably be interesting: "At first he was lavishly generous and merciful, but he soon became mad, and his cruelty knew no bounds. He banished or murdered his relatives and many of his subjects. Victims were tortured and slain in his presence while dining, and he uttered the wish that all the Roman people had but one neck, that he might strike it off at one blow. He built a bridge across the Bay of Baiae, and planted trees upon it and built houses upon it that he might say he had crossed the sea on dry land. In the middle of the bridge he gave a banquet, and at the close had a great number of the guests thrown into the sea. He made his favorite horse a priest, then a consul, and also declared himself a god, and had temples built in his honor." It is said that Tiberius left the equivalent of one hundred and eighteen millions of dollars, and that Caligula spent it in less than a year. The attendant pointed out the corridor in which he said this wicked man was assassinated.

Near one of the entrances to the Forum stands the Arch of Titus, erected to commemorate the victory of the Romans over the Jews at Jerusalem in A.D. 70. It is built of Parian marble and still contains a well-preserved figure of the golden candlestick of the Tabernacle carved on one of its walls. There is a representation of the table of showbread near by, and some other carvings yet remain, indicating something of the manner in which the monument was originally ornamented.

The Colosseum, commenced by Vespasian in A.D. 72 and finished by Titus eight years later, is a grand old ruin. It is an open theater six hundred and twelve feet long, five hundred and fifteen feet wide, and one hundred and sixty-five feet high. This structure, capable of seating eighty-seven thousand people, stands near the bounds of the Forum. It is the largest of its kind, and is one of the best preserved and most interesting ruins in the world. When it was dedicated, the games lasted one hundred days, and five thousand wild beasts were slain. During the persecution of the Christians it is said to have been the scene of fearful barbarities.

On the second day I entered the Pantheon, "the best preserved monument of ancient Rome," built by Marcus Agrippa, and consecrated to Mars, Venus, and others. It was burned in the reign of Titus and rebuilt by Hadrian, and in A.D. 608 Pope Boniface consecrated it as a church. The interior is shaped like a vast dome, and the only opening for light is a round hole in the top. Raphael, "reckoned by almost universal opinion as the greatest of painters," lies buried in the Pantheon behind one of the altars. I went to Hadrian's Tomb, now the Castle of St. Angelo, and on to St. Peter's. Before this great church-building there is a large open space