Well, what did he
do?"
"Discover America!--discover America--oh, ze diable!"
"Discover America? No,--that statement will hardly wash. We are just from
America ourselves. Christopher Colombo,--pleasant name,--is--is he dead?"
"Oh, corpo di Bacco!--three hundred year!"
"What did he die of?"
"I do not know. I cannot tell."
"Small-pox, think?"
"I do not know, genteelmen,--I do not know what he die of!"
"Measles, likely?"
"Maybe,--maybe. I do not know,--I think he die of something."
"Parents living?"
"Im-posseeble"
"Ah,--which is the bust and which is the pedestal?"
"Santa Maria!--zis ze bust!--zis ze pedestal!"
"Ah, I see, I see,--happy combination,--very happy combination, indeed. Is
--is this the first time this gentleman was ever on a bust."
That joke was lost on the foreigner,--guides cannot master the subtleties
of the American joke.
We have made it interesting for this Roman guide.
Yesterday we spent three or four hours in the Vatican again, that wonderful
world of curiosities.
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