The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in EuropeWashington, Booker T.
History
The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe
Washington, Booker T.
Poor -- Europe; Working class -- Europe
Fortunately the journey was not a long one, and after the vessel found
itself in the shelter of one of the beautiful green islands which are
stationed like sentinels along the Dalmatian coast, it was possible to
go on deck and enjoy the view of the rugged and broken coast line. It
was indeed a splendid sight, in the clear light of the late afternoon,
to watch the great blue-gray clouds roll up over the green and
glistening masses of the islands, which lifted themselves on every side
out of the surrounding sea.
What I had heard and read of the Dalmatian coast had led me to look
for the signs of an ancient civilization, not unlike that which I had
left in Italy. What impressed me at first sight about Fiume, however,
was the brand-new and modern character of everything in view. I do not
mean that the city had any of the loose-jointed and straggling newness
of some of our western American towns. It had rather the newness and
completeness of one of those modern German cities, which seem to have
been planned and erected out of hand, at the command of some higher
authority. In that part of Germany which I visited I noticed that
nothing was allowed to grow up naturally, in the comfortable and
haphazard disorder that one finds in some parts of America. This is
particularly true of the cities. Everything is tagged and labelled, and
ordered with military precision. Even the rose-bushes in the gardens
seem to show the effect of military discipline. Trimmed and pruned,
they stand up straight, in long and regular rows, as if they were
continually presenting arms.
The impression which I got of modern Hungary at Fiume was confirmed
by what I saw a few days later at Budapest, the capital. There was
the same air of newness and novelty, as if the city had been erected
overnight, and the people had not yet grown used to it.
A little further acquaintance with the cities of Fiume and Budapest
made it plain, however, in each case, that the new city which filled
the eye of the stranger had been, as a matter of fact, built over, or,
rather, added to, a more ancient one.
In Fiume, for example, somewhat hidden away behind the new buildings
which line the broad avenue of the modern Magyar city, there is still
preserved the outlines of the ancient Italian town, with its narrow,
winding streets, crowded with all the quaint and vivid life, the petty
traffic, and the varied human sights and sounds with which I had become
familiar during my journey through Italy.
So in Budapest, across the river from the modern Hungarian, or, rather,
Magyar city of Pest, there is the ancient German city of Buda, with its
castle and palace, which dates back into the Middle Ages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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