, 1877-07-27
The ROumanians at Home.

Although the weather along the Prutb
where the Russians are massed. has boor'
horrible for few days, and the roads
there are said still to be beds of Eonid
mud, the sun shines here with oppressive
heat. The populations gather under tbe
awnings every afternoon to sin coffee~
here prepared in the Turkish fashion,
and to read the newspapers. The Rou-
manian constitution guarantees the lib
erty OF the press in the most emphatic
manner, and the result is that the news-
boy calls his wares on the street in the
same manner that he does in New York
and Boston. "Telegraphul," +" "Romanul y
shout the dark-faced urchins, and crowds
flock up to buy. Ones first impression
In trying to read Roumanian is that
some whimsical deity, in fit of malice
such as the god Pan 10 said now and then
to have had has mixed Latin, French
Spanish and Italian in u kind of barbar'
GUS compound, and has compelled these
people to take it and write it. The stran-
ger fancies that he can read the telegraph
lc dispatches straight through without
interruption, when suddenly he comes
upon termination which floors him. a
word that misleads him so utterly that he
gains an impression exactly contrary to
the true meaning. The language is de.
rived directly from the Latin, the vulgar
Latin which Trsjan's cOlonists spoke, and
as these colonists came from all parts of
the then Roman empire they brought with
them copious collection of expressions
which are Gallic or Spanish in origin, and
which glare upon one from the Rouma-
nian of to-day. At every phase in the
language one can see the Latin forms
crop out. The Roman characters have
been used in printing in Roumania since
an early period of the present century.
but even to this day the photography of
many words has not been decided upon.
The most curious things in the language,
which are at once apparent to a strangers
observation, are the placing of the arti-
Gle after the noun-as, for instance, "Tel-
egraphul," meaning "the telegraph
the letter 81" being the article; and the
thickening in the pronunciation of Ger
tain words-for example, the Roumanian
capital is called "Bucuresci," which is
pronounced "Boocoareschi." The Ian
guage sounds soft and pleasant when
spoken by cultivated people, aud the
Roumanians have a wonderful talent for
acquiring foreign tongues. They enun-
ciate French with faultiess accent, and in
Bucharest there are large numbers of
persons who speak English elegantly and
correctly.
The sky this evening is italian in its
splendor; warm breezes rustic the leaves,
and birds sing pleasantly in little thick
cts in the parks before settling themselves
to sleep Here and there, 10 courts or
by the wall of some old gray church,
groups of girls listen to the wild, plain
tive music of gypsy singers, who are too
lazy to work by day, and who come out
only when the sun is gone in. Other
groups, squatted on the curbstones, or
in the open lots which are so numerous
in Bucharest chat pleasantly among
themselves. An old Greek priest pass
ing along the now half obscure streets,
meets a peasant who humbly dofs his
Wallachian hat and bows bis head to re-
ceive the blessing. The old man places
his hand fervently on the upturned brow,
murmurs a few words, then msjestically
resumes his promenade. On the Chausee
"a fine promenade outside the city limits
"a few elegant Roumanian ladies and
gentlemen lounge in their carriages, gaz-
ing listlessly at the browh-faced water
carrier, who has fallen asleep by the
roadside, after his fatiguing days round,
or at the little merchants, who, with
trays of Turkish sweetmeats, tempt the
luxurious passers-by. A few gray coated
soldiers sit crouched sleepily on benches
in front of the public buildings. The
carriages still rattle noisily in some
streets; but in the others everything Is
peaceful. Bucharest is so quiet that one
feels disposed to forget the great silent
river, flowing solemnly between its green
banks, only few miles away, the great
solemn river upon whose shores an hun
dred thousand dark-faced, yellow-eyed
Asiatics are sleeping on their arms to-
night, awaiting the signal for bloodshedy
rapine and countless nameless vindictive
atrocities.