Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-06-18


frozen myrtles and frost-nipped olives. Alas /!
such things are seen in Rome; and yet, for a
dime, you are offered boquet of camelia ja-
ponicas. BY the way, the name camellia is
derived from CdmeJlaS, a learned Jesuit;
probably La Dame duJ CdmelliaS had not a
similar origin. You don't want the flowers
"Signore," said the man, "behold ruined
flower merchant"
You are unmoved. Have you not seen or
heard of, many time, the heaviest kind of
-four merchants ruined by too heavy specula-
tons, burst up so high the crows couldn't fly
to them; and heard this without changing a
muscle of your face?
'But, signore, do buy a bouquet to please
your lady"
Haven't one"
"AltrO i" answers the man, triumphantly
"whOm did | see the other day, with these
eyes (ponting at his OWN, in a magnificent
carriage, beside the most beautiful Donna
MgleSain Rome? Lddio giuSfo!'
AT this period he sees he has made ten strike
and at once follows it up by knocking down
the tenpin boy, SO as to clear the alley, thus T.:
'For her sake, signOre."
You pay paul (and give the bouquet to
your landlady's daughter), while the depart
ing merCante dt fort assures you that he new
er, no, never expects to make a fortune at
flowers; but if he gains enough to pay tor his
wine, he will be very upsy as long as he
lives
Then comes an old man, with chess board
of inlaid stone, which he hasn't an Idea of
selling, but finds it excellent to ''muve on"
without being checkmated as a beggar with
out visible means of support. The first time
he brought 1t round, and held it out square to
Caper, that cool young man, taking handful
of cOppers from his pocket arranged them as
checkers on the board, without taking any no.
tice of the man; and, after he had placed
them, began playing deliberately. He rested
his chin on his hand, and with knitted brows,
studied several intricate moves; he finally
jumped the men, so as to leave copper or
two on the board; and bidding the old man
good night, continued conversation with
Rocledn, commenced previous to his game OF
draughts.
Next approaches a hardware merchant, for
in imperial Rome the peddler of colder
cline is Il merchant, the shoemaker an artist,
the artist professor. The hardware man
looks us if he might be ''tuuter" to a broken
down brigand. All the razors in his box
couldn't keep the small part Of his face that
is shaved from wearing look as if it had been
blown up with gunpowder, while the grains
had remained embedded there. He tempts
you with Il wicked looking knife, the pattern
for which must have come from the litltuS
of Etruria, the land called the mother of SUI
pe7Stiti0HS, and have been welded for augu-
rles amid the h0wls and grOans of lucOmones
and priests. He tells you it is a Campaigns
knife, and that you must have one if you 20
into that benighted region; he says this with
mysterious shake of the head, as if he had
known Fra Diavolo in his childhood and Fra
in nc rim If,
shaped handle is OF black bone; the pointed
blade long and tapering; the three notches in
its back catch into the spring with noise like
the alarum of a rattlesnake You conclude
to buy One-fOr curiosity. You ask why
the blade at the point finishes off in Il circle.
He tells you the government forbids the sale
of sharp pointed knives; but, signore, if you
wish to use 1T, break off the circle under your
heel and you haeo point sharp onanph TO
make any man have an GCcidente d. tieddo
(death from cold-steeD.
Victor Hugo might have taken his charac-
ter of Quasimodo from the wild figure who
now enters the Greco, with pair of horns for
sale; each horn is nearly a yard in length
black and white in color; they have been pol
ishcd by the hunchhack until they shine like
glass. Now he approaches YOU, and with a
deep, rough voice, reminding you of the low
ing of the large grey oxen they once belonged
to, begs you 10 buy them. Then he facetuus-
ly raises one to each side of his head, and you
have figure that jerome Bosch would have
reJoiced to transfer to canvass. His portrait
has been painted by more than one artist.
Caper, sitting in the Omnibus one evening
with Rocjcan, was acc0sted by very seedy-
looking man, with very peculiar expression
of face, wherein an awful struggle OF humor
to crowd down pinching poverty cleaned
brightly. He offered for sale an odd volume
of one of the early fathers of the church. Its
probable value was a dime, whereas he wunt-
ed two dollars Tor it.
"Why do you ask such a price?' asked
Rocjean; you never can expect to sell it for
a II enueth part OF that.
''The moral of which," said the seedy man,
no longer containing the struggling humor,
but letting it out with hearty laugh, "the
moral of which is-giye me half baioCcItO I"
Ever after that, Caper never saw the man,
who henceforth went by the name of La No
raLe c IN Mez2O BdloCcItO without pointing
the moral with copper coin. Not content
with this, he once took him round to the Le-
pre- restaurant, and ordered a right good sup
per for him. Several other artists were with
him, and all declared that no one could do
better justice to food and wine. After he had
eaten all he could hold and drank a little
more tnan he could carry, lie arose from the
table, having during the entire meal sensibly
kept silence, and, wipng his mouth on his
coat sleeve spoke
"The moral, this evening, signori, shall
carry home in my stomach"
As he was going out of the restaurant, one
of the artists asked him why he left Two rolls
OF bread on the table; saying they were paid
for, and belonged to him.
81 left them," said he, tout of regard for
the correct usages of society; but, having
shown this, return to pocket them"
This he did at once, and Caper stood as
tonished at the seedy beggar's phraseology.
In addition to these characters, wandering
musicians find their way into the cafe, Jug
glers, peddlers of Roman mosaics and jewel
ry, plaster casts and sponges, perfumery, and
paint brushes. Or a peripatetic shoemaker,
with one pair of shoes, which he recklessly
offers for sale to giant or dwarf. One morn
ing he found purchaser-a French artist
who put them on, and threw away his old
shoes. Fatal mistake. Two hours afterward
the buyer was back in the Greco, with both
big toes sticking out of the ends of his new
shoes, looking for that cochon of shoemaker.