The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-06-01

She is only standing amid the rye; =. :.
And pulling dasy-star, to try
Whether her love loves back again:
=, And WIN bendsc vrr the bars beside
Two heads are better than one, forsooth!-
Leaning and looking eager-eyei,
70 see If the daisy tells the truth, ....
-Adh <Stndm Osgood, in Scrtbner for June.
THE GULF OF FIRE.
"You are wrong, Captain, wrong! Old
women yonder," and as the crone spoke
casting out her wrinkled forefnger, in
token of disdain, toward the lowland
country at the base of the great spurs oil
Etna, she looked wierd and wild enough,
with her ragged gray hair and fiery eyes,
der; issy, may ifot Be worth listening TO.
But Twas cradied up here in the very lap
of fire.
"Well, we'll, mother!' l answered
soothingly; - am ,fars from doabymg
your skill. In the three mdnths spf my
stay haYe learned someshinEsof tie IN
certain humors Of the burning mountain,
and, trust me, I'll not venture too tai
from the safe track"
"Ah, Inglese! You. are just like the
rest fthe young men ,,.stsaid old Assunta
with somewhat of u rude pity in her tone
won't be warned! Had l not three
bold sons? Two were~ coral fishers 6ne
followed Garibaldi to Naples and aGaeta.
He, at any rate, is laid in dry earth, as a
Christian should be-not like Beppo and
Totti. Have care lest your grave be
not hot one" And with a nod Of her
head and wave Of her hand she was
gone.
The old woman's words made an i'm
preston on me Which 1 vainly, tried to
shake of. Let me explain how matters
stood. In the first place it was only un-
der the pressure of misfortune that l,
George Clements, lately second officer. of
first-rate clipper ship, had become a
Sub-lnspectpr, or, more correctly, an act
ing Sub-Inspector, in the Royal Sulphur
Works on Mount Etna. My ill-luck had
brought me there. In an evil hour had
been talked into investing my savings
some two hundred poun!s-in becoming
part owner Of Maltese. coasting vessel, on
board of which l was mate, the skipper
being Maltese named Antonio, a worthy
old fellow in his way, but obstinate as a
mule and niggardly to a degree.
SO long as We met with average weather
our voyages were prosperous and we
melted dollars. But three days storm,
Il rarity in the Mediterranean, sent us
staggering, dismasted, leaky and with a
frightened crew, under the cliffs of Siciiy.
l was the one Englishman on board, and
1t was only by the utmost exerliOns that l
could force the olive-skinned Southern
ers to leave off telling their beads and in
voking the saints, and keep the pumps
going. AS it was, the schooner laid her
bones on the bach near Catania, and
though no liyes' were lost the wreck of
property was complete. The skipper had
relations in Malta who would take him
in, but l, the English mate, who now
owned nothing but the sailors suit came
ashore in, might have starved, had not the
British Consul kindly recommended
me for the petty post | now filled, and
which insured me a bare subsistence, and
no more.
These sulphur mines, whence comes by
Tar the greater proportion Of the raw sui
phur OF commerce, have always been
Government monopoly, like the salt works
or the tobacco factories. Indeed I have
heard that King Bomba, at critical point
Of the Crimean war, had thoughts of pro.
hibiting the export of the Sicilian sui
phur, without which the powder mills of
England could not furnish ammunition,
aud the present rulers of the island could
not neglect such a source of revenue. The
collection OF the SULPHUR naturally de-
posted BY the volcanic forces, ever rest
less beneath the soil, does not require
much skill, but the occupation is toll
some and unhealthy one, poorly remune-
rated, and not always exempt from peril.
Sulphur gatherers are not, as a rule,
native Sicillans. The majority. were, at
the time of MY ssab-inspectorship, immi-
grants from the mainland, whose antece-
dents it was perhaps quite as we'll not to
pry into. A fierce-looking set of sallow,
ragged rutfians they were, with unkempt
hair and boards, and haggard. faces inno-
cent OF the touch of soap and water, al
ways gambling, now with pack. of
with dirty fingers upiifted. and quarreling
as savagely over intinitesimal stakes as
though fortune had been in Jeopardy.
AS for old Assunta, she was the widow OF
charcoal burner, and still. with the help
OF her grandchildren, managed to sell a
few ass loads of fuel in the city below.
The family, however, bore an ill repute
t)r poaching, pilfering and, believe,
sorceFy, and am afraid that Assunta her
self encouraged this last report as source
OF profit. Her regard for me was merely
due to the fact that had prevented some
Ot our rough wOrkmen, who insisted that
she was witch and had the evil eve, from
Ringing her, body and bones, into the
wintry torrent that rushed roaring past
our huts, and ever since that day she had
been patronizingly polite to II Captain,
as she called me.
Mine was not, as Sub Inspector, a very
desirable position. The Inspector. save
on y-day, did not often. show himself,
and when he did visit the ssc6ne of his
nominal duties, would have been power
less to enforce any sort of discipline
among our black sheep, but for me. By
the combined effects of coaxing, good
humored banter, and the occasional aryu.
ment of knock down blow, / had con-
trived to establish some ascendency over,
the wild spirits around me, and was rather
popular than otherwise, although At first
my orders had been met with scowlinS.
glancesf aud dngsring OF knives. The
work to be done was none of the pleasant.
est. The ;otnae sulphur .seldo d J; quite,
cold, and oi&sn glowing hot, had to be
raked with hoes and iron hookssfrom the
brink of some Attic numerous small cras
tiers on the crest of the volcano, in the
midst OF poisonous fumes and eddyinf
clouds of smoke, showers Of red hot
ashes, and even of stones.
1t was necessary to conxet the sulphur,
when Sufficient Quantity. had sbesh gath
ereo, to the plains, along tracks only tit
tor the goat or the hill-fox, by the aid of
rude hand arrows; or sledges constructed
OF boughs, through dense forests and over
broken and Jagged rocks.
Our'huts were mere booths, hastily built
of logs and branches, and ill. fitted to keen
out the rough weather, the snow, hail and
wind, which lash the bleak heights Of
Etna when t6caoIers cbunlry seems sill
to bask in hs golden sunshine. The nav
OF the workmen was small, enough to nro-
vide them with the black bread, garlic
and chestnuts. With perhaps a.Sundstre-
past OF stock-fish or eels, on which the