The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-02-25
Il he Streels ina GenOa.

A very great number of the streets in Cen
GA are footways merely, and these are as mar
row, as dark, as full of juttlng chimney-places.
balconies. and opened window-shutters and
as picturesque, as the little alleys in Venice.
Ihey wander at will around the bases OF the
gloomy old stone palaces, and seem to have
va9abond fondness tor creeping down to the
port, and losing themselves there in certain
cavelnous arcade which curves round the
water with the Election of the shore, and
makes itself twilight at MONDAY. Under
it are dangerous shops OF iron-smiths, and
sizzling shops of marine cooks, and,
looking down its dim perspective, one beholds
chiefly sea-legs coming and going, more OF
less affected by strong waters; and as the
faces to which these sea-legs belong draw near,
one discerns sailors from all parts OF the
world.-tawny men from Sicily and Norway,
as diverse in their tawniness as olive and train
oil. sharp faces from Nantucket and from the
Pireus, likewise nightly different in their
sharpness; blond Germans and blond En-
elishmen; and now and then colored broth
er, also IN the seataIing line, with sea-legs, al
so more or less affected by strong waters like
the rest.
What curious people are these sea-farers
They coast the whole world, and know moth
ing of it, being more ignorant and helpless
than children on shore. l spoke with the
and asked him how he liked the city.
Well he had not been ashore yet.
He was told he had better 90 ashore; That
the Piazza San Marco was worth seeing.
Well he knew it he bad seen pictures of it !;
but he guessed he wouldn't go.
Why not now he was here
Well he laid out to go ashore the next time
he came to Venice.
And 80, bless his honest soul, he Law three
Of with aFto
of two months, and he sailed away without
ever setting his loot on that enchanted
ground --.
should have liked to stop some of those
seatarers and ask them what they thought of
Genoa -
1t must have been in the little streets, inn
passable Tor horses, that the people sat and
talked as Heine tabled, in their doorways, and
touched knees with the people sitting and
talking on the thresholds of the opposite side.
But we saw no gossippers there on Sunday in
Genoa; and think the domestic race of
Heine's day no longer lives in Genoa, for ev-
cry body we saw on the streets was gayly
dressed in the idea of the last fashions, and
was to be met chiefly in the promenades-
The fashions were French; but here still lin
gers the lovely phantom OF the old national
costume OF Genoa, and snOw-white wells fiut-
tered from many dark head, and caressed
iuduy Oh OllNc Cucek. LII Is tut. kllueSG anu
most charitable OF attirements, this white
VEIL and, while decking beauty to the most
perilous effect, befriends and modifes age and
uslinass.
The pleasure with which l look at the
splendor Of an Italian crowd in winter is al
ways touched with melancholy. know that
at the time OF its MONDAY promenade, it has
nothing but cup of coffee in its stomach;
that it has emerged from house as cold and
dim as cellar; and that it will presently &c
home to dine on rice and boiled beef / know
that cailblains secretly gnaw the hands inside
OF its kid gloves, and see In the rawness OF
its faces the anguish of winter-long suffering
from cold But also look at many IN this
crowd with the eye OF the economist, and
wonder how people practicing even SO great
self-denlal as they can contrIve to make such
display on their little means, how those clerks
OF public offices, who have rarely an income
OF tive hundred dollars year, can dress with
such peerless gorgeousness. l suppose the
national instinct teaches them ways and
means unknown to us. The passion for dress
is universal; the men are as fond of it as the
women; and happily, clothes are compare
lively cheap. 1t is no great harm in itself,
this display; it is only pity that there is Oft
en- nothing, or worse than nothing, under the
shining surface.-Attantic Monthly for
March,