Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-07-05
dGluttester Daily Spy
The Story of an Italian Heroine.
From tba o,d,, k.t..,

From the London Atheneum
One of those long and picturesque torch
light funerals, which are so striking to a stran-
gers eye, as they wind up to the new extram,
ural burial ground of Florence, among the
olves and expresses of the steep hill of San
inmate, issued from the Duomo a few even
ngs since, and took its way at the Ave Maria
towards the Porta San Nicolo, followed by a
great concourse of all ranks of persons. 1t
was the funeral of Tonina Marinello, young
Venetian woman in the bloom of lIfe, who had
fought bravely by her husbands side in the
ranks of Garibaldis gallant thousand, when
they swept VIGOROUSLY through Sicily, from
Marsala to Messina, and thence to Naples and
Capua, carrying all before them.
The carrying home of the poor GGg'i6aldt-
ma, whose short life had ended sadly in Flor
ence, amid the straits of pinching poverty,
would at any time have called forth a manifes-
taton of public respect and sympathy. Now
of course, the crowded following of the pro-
cession was swelled by those of the ultra-red
party, who would fain have given it the APP
pearance of demonstration.
The little story of Tonina is a moving
touch of romance in real life, yet is simple
and winning, as were her slender figure and
fair pale face, shaded with the golden-brown
hair which so often shines out from the can
OF assumption, nothing of unfeminine or the
atrical sternness contributed to shape the at
tltude of her quiet courage. Her husband,
who in his early youth had fought the battle of
1913, was employed when the war of 1859
broke out, and the youth Of Venice emigrated
by hundreds into the neighboring liberated
provinces, III the dangerous service of guide
to these fugitives from Austrian vengeance.
across the desolate tract of country laid waste
by the capricious foundations of the Pc. which
lies between them and the longed-for river
bank, from which they steered across into
land OF safety. The secret liberal committees
OF the Venetian territory had in their employ
many such trusty servants, ready to dare all
risks to convey the ardent young volunteers,
pennileSs and friendless, across the perilous
ground, and to pass them from one to another
under cover of night, unscathed by Austrian
bullets, to the frontier. Marinello and his
wife were among the bravest and trustiest of
their guides, until, after many months exer-
else of their dangerous profession, the suspi-
cions of their Austrian authorities fell on them
and they too were forced to fly with their only
child, a little girl of tender age, and take re-
fuge at Modena.
Garbaldi's noble forlorn hope was Just then
setting forth for Sicily. Marinello quilted
his temporaryrefu and hurried to Join it. and
his wife, refusing to be separated from him,
left her little one to the care of dear friend
who promised to adopt her as his own, and
went to Genoa, where, finding that the expe-
dition had already started, they set sail in the
first tishing-bOat that left the port for Marsa-
la.
Once there, Marinello joined the Sacchi
brigade of volunteers; but through both he
and his were well known for bravery and
pOo1 nOplunt 70 - II.
manded it, the stringent orders issued from
headquarters against the admission of women
into the ranks, rendered it a matter of no
small difficulty for Tonina to remain at her
husbands side. She did, however, at length
prevail with the colonel, and her name was
entered on the rolls as that of Antonio Miri-
nello, the boy-brOther of her husband; nor
did any individual in the corps in which she
served during the whole campaign guess her
sex, which was known only to Coils. Ferraci-
nj and Bossi. Her slight form and youthful
appearance tailed well with that of a number
of the striplings who fought in the ranks be-
side her; she wore the common Garibaldi un-
form, and endured fatigue and hardship to
the full as well as her comrades-and the
hardships and fatigues of that campaign were
neither slight nor few.
Her commanding officers give high testi-
W IilS lllC uiSClplluc anu Jle UNI
tagging spirit of this unassuming little Vene.
tan heroine, who was decorated by the gener-
ais own hand on the field of battle. They
say she was ever the first to volunteer for
some dangerous duty. and the last to quit her
post while that duty was unfulfilled; and all
agree that she gained the affection respect
and admiration Of her fellow soldiers. by her
bravery in the field, and her good-humored
helpfulness in camp life.
Ionlna fought through the campaign I'M
scathed, though her husband received several
but not severe wounds. When Capua was
taken, and the volunteer corps were disband-
ed, husband and wife turned their stems again
towards Modena, and, finding the friend dead
who had given home to their child brought
her on with them to Florence, and their lived
poorly on from day to day, partly on their
own small earnings, and partly on the assis-
lance given to them by the committee for the
Venetian emigration. 1t was not before the
wife was far gone in wasting disease of the
lungs that the extreme distress Of the poor
household was fully known to those who had
means to relieve it. Succor was immediate
ly and generously given; the dying mother
was placed under the best medical care, and
the delicate little girl sent to the sea side and
admitted into the admirable Ospizij Mag1ni,
or hospital for sickly children, at Via Reggie.
But the help so much needed came too late
for poor Tonina, though the same care two
or three months earlier might have saved her
life. She died as meekly as she had lived, in
the home where she had struggled through
her last suffering year of existence. The
arms she had borne in battle and her faded
red Garlbaldi shirt were laid among the gar
2 lands on her coffin; and a simple gravestone
will be placed above her at San Miniato
where the beautiful church terrace looks ont
over the towers and domes of Florence to the
sunlit hills.