The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

THE STORY OF MY LIFE.

and prayer. It was a relief to emerge from the damp, cold
horror of this underground prison into the light of day, to
breathe once more the genial air; and to gaze again on the
heavenly sky of Italy.
No one can have any conception of ancient Roman
baths, nor the use made of them, and the luxury connected
with them, except by a visit to the ruins of Caracalla's
Baths, in the company of a good guide, or some one perfectly familiar with their history. The ruins are a mile in
circumference. The floors were of mosaic throughout in
the days of their perfection, the walls were frescoed, the
ceilings were lofty, there were baths of porphyry for private
use, a swimming bath open to the sky where a thousand
could swim at once, marble statues, elegant carvings and
bas-reliefs, with vases of alabaster and marble artistically
arranged, wherever they would create pleasing effect. Sixteen hundred bathers could be accommodated at one time,
and the smallest Roman coin was the price of a bath.
In addition to baths of different temperatures, there was
a disrobing room, and a perfuming and anointing room,
where the bather was perfumed or anointed with fragrant
oil. Not only were the baths for ablution and cleansing,
but for amusement, entertainment, and luxurious enjoyment. There were gardens, fountains, libraries, rooms for
discussion, theatres for athletic games, shady and pleasant
walks, refreshment shops, perfume and fancy bazars, halls
in which poets recited their verses, lecture rooms, and
theatres for comic performances, with seats for spectators.
But it is impossible to give an idea of this wonderful
city by any description, or even by a series of pictorial
illustrations. It must be seen leisurely and studied to be
comprehended. Even those who have lived in Rome for
years are continually making new discoveries in localities