The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-02-20

nom ne Cornhm Mao1,re.
CHAPTER I.

Di tnc BNN OF Naples, WIN It's orange
groves and vineyards. its nlucs. olives, and
palms, its rocky hills, its white. piittering
towns, its deep blue sea, its bnrc-lcggcd
fishermen and graceful. datk-cypd girls,
mas always been the very Paradise Of tour
lists. Tho iaiut, heavy scent OF the orange
blossoms is waited 10 you rs you sit in
your balcony above the sea, on warm,
moonlight nights the tnklng OF guitar
is heard from the distance, where some
body Is singing santa Lucia" or " La
Bella Sorrentina" before the door OF one
of the hotels; II long line OF smoke Is
blown from Nosuvius toward the horizon /;
the lights Of Naples wink and glitter on
The other side OF the bay; and presently
OF you are inclined to pay for ~ a little
company of young men and maidens will
come and dance the Tarantela for you,
till you nrc weary OF watching so much ao-
tivity in such n slumberous atmosphere.
There is no disappointment about this
part OF Italy Pictures, poetry, books of
trnvel-lll that one has heard, seen or
read OF this country-cannot havo cxag-
geratcd its lovoliuess or idcalzed its per-
lection, The sky and sea are as blue and
deep, the mountains rs softly purple. and
the vegetation as luxuriant rs the most
fcrvid Imagination can have pictured
them; the people are laughing, dancing
singing and chattering from morning till
night; even when they work they seem TO
be only playing ut toll dragging up their
nets, or tending their vines, IA II only 10
make pretty foreground TO picture
Life at Sorrento and Castellamare is, TO
quote the opinion OF an enthusiastic
I...I. q.
scene AZ the opera, and even more agree
able, as being free from the Inconvenience
of gas.
Tourists generally are apt TO fall in, in
some sort, with this way OF thinking.
Everything in this charming, perfumed,
Bensuous land is so full of pleasure, so
fairylike and unreal, that il is difficult TO
believe that the cares aud troubles OF the
world can have any place there. or that
the inhabitants can have anything to do
but to look picturesque and dance and
sing from tn cradle to the grave.
Nevertheless, the Piano iii sorrento il n
country In which people love. hate. weep.
struggle, pinch, and suffer in the same way
rs mortals do in other parts Of this planet.
Here Is the history OF Il man ana n woman
born and bred IN Sorrento, to both OF
whom want aud suffering were familiar in
their earlier years; while one OF them. at
least, experienced more of the latter sem
sation than most people would hold to be
the fair share II lifetime.
The name OF AununZatn Vanniul, the
famous prima donna. has become well
known to the world, while that of Luigi
Rata Will convey no idea to tho mind OF
the reader, and would, probably. indeed.
never have been heard ten miles from his
uative village OF sorrento but for "A cir
cumstance which shall in due course be
related. But everybody has seen and
heard the Vannini; and even those who
cannot claim to be considered AS other
than nobodles-that is to say, people who
look IA guinea ana half as too large n price
10 pay for an evenings amuscment-must
have become familiar with her features
from her photographs in the shop win
dows, where she has figured in IA hundred
different costumes and attitudes any time
during the last fifteen years. Yet very
small prOport ION OF the adnlirinc and APP
piecintlve thGonEs who have upplaudcd |
her 10 the echo while bouquets, laurel |
wreaths, and even diamond bracelets. up |
on occasion, have been showered down |
upon her rs she stood smiling and curtsey-
ing upon the STAGES Of COvent Garden, st. |
Petersburg, ana Paris, L. aware that. not |
SO very long ago, she was u bare-foOtcd |
orphan girl, helping her aunt, old Marta |
Nannini, at the washtub, seldom tasting |
meat, sometimes getting cufed for care |
iessneSs, and not uuilequently going hum
cry TO bed
In those old days. from which she has
become 50 widely aud utterly removed, |
Aununzata Nannin was beautiful, |
laughing. happy, and eood-natured girl, |
whom everybody was fond of. and whom |
some notably Luigi Rattal loved so much |
That they WOlllI nave. TAX her nll |
poor aud dOwCrlesS as she WAS, to gladden. |
their homes permanently with her bright |
presence. Nowadays her beauty has lost |
something OF It's freshness, as Is but natu- |
Ial after fifteen years of constant labor
and excitement and contact with the |
world her laughter is perhaps neither so |
frequent nor SO hearty rs IL used TO be; |
and II Is proVerblal that wealth does not |
OF necessity confer happiness on its pos
SCISSOR GOod-natured the Nannlni has al |
ways been, and always will be, one may
suppose, TIL the end Of the chapter.
are peasants of sorrento gave her the |
sObriquet of LA bella Sorren,ina, after the |
wcll-kuown song that bears that title |
whether from her remarkable beauty or |
from the fact that Luigi, who played the |
guitar Il little, was tond of trolling out the
air at her garden gate, do not know. |
The name was AT ali events, sufficiently
appropriate one.
ing 10 her; but AT the age of eighteen she
had rs yet declined To have anything to
say TO amy of tnem--eVeu 10 Lui.l Rata,
whom perhaps she liked the best OF I'LL
and who had been constant to her ever
since the time when, rs children of ten
and eight years Old respectively, they had
broken a small coin together, each prom
ising TO keep IA hall III sign OF eternal
fidelity.
Lug, like herself, was, ut the time our
story opens, an orphan. His father had
died about two years before, leaving hin
a small sum of money carefully locked up
in cash box, share in "a good-szed fish
ing boat, u couple of nets, and Il little cot
tagc just outside sorrento. With tins
property Luigi, though not precisely we'll
to-do felt himself III position TO support
wife; nor need he have sought long or
far 10 find willing partner, for lie was
steady, handsome hard working and rs
strong lis an OK But there was only one
girl IN the world that Luigi felt any inci-
nation for; and she. when one spoke TO
her OF love, would only laugh; and If one
mentioned marriage, was apt TO retire III
10 the house and Slam the door III ones
thce. n Was provol,ng; but LUG was OF
long suffering and peisevering nature;
he doubted not hut thut, IN the end hlB