far as eyes could do it; and closed the entertainment with an ice-cream

debauch. We do not get ice-cream every where, and so, when we do, we are

apt to dissipate to excess. We never cared any thing about ice-cream at

home, but we look upon it with a sort of idolatry now that it is so

scarce in these red-hot climates of the East.

We only found two pieces of statuary, and this was another blessing. One

was a bronze image of the Duc de Richelieu, grand-nephew of the splendid

Cardinal. It stood in a spacious, handsome promenade, overlooking the

sea, and from its base a vast flight of stone steps led down to the

harbor--two hundred of them, fifty feet long, and a wide landing at the

bottom of every twenty. It is a noble staircase, and from a distance the

people toiling up it looked like insects. I mention this statue and this

stairway because they have their story. Richelieu founded Odessa

-watched over it with paternal care--labored with a fertile brain and a

wise understanding for its best interests--spent his fortune freely to

the same end--endowed it with a sound prosperity, and one which will yet

make it one of the great cities of the Old World--built this noble

stairway with money from his own private purse--and--. Well, the people

for whom he had done so much, let him walk down these same steps, one

day, unattended, old, poor, without a second coat to his back; and when,

years afterwards, he died in Sebastopol in poverty and neglect, they

called a meeting, subscribed liberally, and immediately erected this

tasteful monument to his memory, and named a great street after him.

It reminds me of what Robert Burns' mother said when they erected a

stately monument to his memory: "Ah, Robbie, ye asked them for bread and

441

The Innocents Abroad