The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-03-20
THE PEOPLE OFTHE ROMAN CAM
PAGNA.
BIZ JOAQUIN MILLER.

l strolled out at the north base of the
| Cspitoline Hill, under the Tarpeian
Rock, early on Sunday morning to see
the peasants pour into Rome. They
came to buy their bread Tor the week,
; for all the bread that is consumed for
many miles around is baked in Rome.
What crowd Of people! And such
people! They were as wild as Indians.
They we're clad in sheepskins and blue
wooden clothes spun and woven on the
primitive looms that were IN use ere
RouIe had a name or place al the Pala-
tine.
The tight blue blouses Of the men
reached down to the knee. There they
were met BY long hose wound and bound
tight as drums by cords and thongs that
showed the muscle to fine advantage.
The feet were bound in sandals made of
the buffalo skin. The hair hung leng
and bushy down the back or about the
shoulders, and the head was coyered By a
tall bell crowned hat, with braid, black,
and ornamented by ut least one feather.
This hat was placed jauntily on the side
of the head, and you ieit certain that the
man had just come upon the boards be-
fore you, and you always kept suspect
inc him TO begin 10 say MS piece. There
was, too. a long. large cloak ms the pos.
session Of each of these wild actors, but
YOU could never see them wearing T."
article, which WAS generally hung oyrr
the lett shoulder, sometimes out on tn
arm 10 soldier wears a shield. 1t Is
safe to say that nine hundred and nine
ty-nine in any thousand Of these men
mad knife up his sleeve or down his
leg.
What splendid lot Of savsges they
were, TO be sure!
Tall, supple, nervous, bright eyes and
restless, they swayed, crowded, pushed
through the streets together, talked,
laughed, bsntered the black eyed women
and seemed quite at home in the dirty
narrow little piazza OF Montensre.
But thess men never ventured into
the new and civilized part oi the city.
Even where they were, they kept close
together, looked warily al every man
dressed in The modern style, and did not
81 ali mix with the people OF Rome.
aud of the lower Tiber. They poured in
tu the city from seven in the morning
till two in the afternoon; and then the
tide began 10 set back. Before the sun
was down there was not ono OF their
nuinber 10 be found IN the city.
fhey seemed to be Innumerable.
They filled up. the narrow roads and
streets Tor miles and miles. They g.
WAYS poured into the city by the gate Of
ST. Paul. They would not enter by any
other. The wrongs and expressions OF
the city for two thousand years cannct
be forgotten. These wild men still be.
lieve that Rome is Rome. Tdey cannot
understand that there Is any law or
obedience TO law in the city. That Is
the reason they carry knives in their
! sleeves, and carry their cloalIs on their
arms like shields, and always enter at
tho same gate, and pour in ike sn army
o.: barbarisns about to sack the city, snd
stick together in solid mass, and always
return before nigbttall and In. a close
body as they come,
You see them only on Sunday, and al
these certain hours, and in this certain
street, and under the dark and solemn
shadows Of the Theatre Of Marcei,uS
If YOU remain on the Corso and IN new
Rome. You will not sac one OF these poo
pic In lifetime.
Sometimes, amid the crowd, you will
see woman laden very heavily with
produce for traffic, and YOU will see also
hundreds OF little mules and asses NOV
ing with only their legs below and their
ears above, visible from out the load OF
fruit or vegetables being borno into the
CITY for sac. But the Ren, like true In
dams, refuse to bear load. They step
high and free, their heads thrown back
as if they walked the stage, and are
about TO act tragedy; their hand ara
on their knives; their shields are on
their arms.
As they return YOU will SEQ every ass
and every mule loaded with bread. Al
the bread for miles and miles around the
CITY. as | have said is baked In Rome
This bread for the peasants Is oiacE
s7du,ly .our and. IL is baked in hoop oi
circle with hole in the middle hke
grindiug-stone. Through this hole
rope is passed and twenty. thirty. forty
cakes are strung together, and then
swung around the neck OF mule or over
mans shoulders.
There is nothing in Rome or out OF
Rome so wild, SO picturesque, so inter
e.ting, as this herd ot hali-tamed people
pouring out Of Rome on their way &c
their little hu;> and their homes in the
caves and old ruins, away out on the des'
oIated and desert-like Campagna
Where did these people come from
Who are they and what did they accom-
plish? Isthis the blood of Brutus YOU
see here in this stern proud face? l,
that woman in gay and beautiful color
a daug hter Of Cornelia? Did that man Z
fsther found the city vi London, or over
throw Jesusslem7
They sntsdste the Caesars IN thei'
genesiogy. There are some among TN
mass of moving savages that were ~
us,rious before RoHulus organized nj
band of robbers and sat down to pIlIlas'
with bis camp upon the Psiitsne. How
idle it seems for the Saxon to boast o
ancient blood and achievements IN to'
presence of these stored people!
= nd Eagle,