Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-01-11

On summons from Carmela's uncle went
again to Ravello. The priests books were
now all arranged, and formed an attractive
collection. A few precious Aldnes which were
wanting to my set ! bought at once, but after
looking over some scores of other rare edi-
tions and Of ancient manuscripts. ] asked the
priest if he could not give me priced cata-
logue of the best of them. Yes, he had such
a catalogue, which he had made year before,
and should have il. II was soon found and
the priest was about to hand it to me, when
some doubt seemed to enter his mind and
cause him to withhold it, II was best, he said,
to reify it first. Accordingly. he laid the
document on the desk before him. and as he
read out the title Of each book that was indi-
Gated, he handed me the volume and request
cd me to see if it answered the description.
| soon discovered that while | was occupied
with title-pages and dates my companion was
busy with the prices marked down in the cat
aloguc. altering them to suit the quality of
the present customer. Just look at that
beautiful margin :" he would cxclaim what
n rare old binding" And as looked q stroke
of the pen would change 10 to 80. or 80 to 50,
or set down a modest little ] in the hun
dreds column. Never have seen prices rise
so rapidly. In half an hour the value of the
library was tripled, and all the while the good
mans face was the picture of innocence and
honesty.
The climax of this singular scene was
reached when We came to the Bible which
Silyio Polico had used during his long i'm
prisonment in Austrian dungeons This pre-
cious memento of hero's sufforings had been
marked at one hundred aud fifty francs but
this was no price at all for rich foreigner,
and especially for one who had expressed, ns
/ had, warm sympathy for italian patriots.
See there" said the priest reverently,
handing over the book with his left hand
while he held the pen ready in his right
that is the very text in which poor Silyio
found his chief consolation, and there are
some of the hairs which doubtless foll from
his head as he was bending over these pages.
Dear mc! what suiferings, what devotion ~
As bent my eyes on these interesting OBJ
iects a zero was boldly added to the hundred
and fifty
And what is the price Of this relic; =
asked
oh the price Of il - exclaimed the priest
in a tone which ntnnated that the thought
was quite II W to him Let M see :" and
he looked very closely ut the figures 1T
seems to be marked at fifteen hundred yes,
fifteen hundred. How does that strike you :"
| iutimatrd that | thought il extremely
dear
Really" said he with evident disappoint-
mcnt. "Well. let me see Ii is quite posi-
BILE that mistake has crept in here. Yes
think that is a mistake. so | will scratch it
ont. The price. YOU see. is five hundred"
When the catalogue had been in this way
completely rerjf,d. it was put in my hands.
and still keep it as monument Of Italian
priastcraft.
Carmcla was the busy one Of the household
and vet always found time to attend to my
wants. II WAS she who waited on me at ia
bic. who answered whenever rang inshort.
il wa, She who in one way OF another was
serving me all day long. Now that her un-
cle's library was in order. her afternoons were
generally free. and I was often glad to have
her 90 into town with me to act as Interpreter.
Whenever went alone could converse only
bv means of gestures with the common pco-
pie none of whom could read Now. there
is no country in the world where gestures are
more used to convey ideas than in the
Neapolitan provinces: almost any simple ac-
tiou or feeling can there be EXPRESSED as pre-
ciselv hy a motion Of the hand or arm as by
word Still. this language of signs failed me
20 often tha, IN INV visits TO the town | WAS
bappy only when Carmela was bv INV side
Within doors. there was hardly an hour of
the day when was not with one or another
of Carmcla's family. In the loneliness Of my
forlorn condition the companionship of these
humble friends was most grateful TO me To
help pass the evenings agreeably. / learned
10 play with them scopd. the only game of any
sort which they knew. OF the curious Nea-
politan cards with which we PLAYED this game
there are only forty in pack Spades are
reprssented on them bv the SBddd or short
sword clubs by ycritablc bludgsons. diamonds
by yellow coins and hearts by cups The
Queen wears brooches. aud is inferior in val
Ne to the Kuave; who rides ON horseback
One evening. when Sropa had become mo-
notonous. it occurred to me- to have Carmela
read aloud to us The proposal took the old
father and mother by surprise. Up to that
moment reading had been to them only a mys-
terious branch OF arithmetic 10y which ac-
count, and rtc,ipts were dccipher.d. They
had u v,r thought Of it As a means Of amuse-
meut They Welded. however. to my in
stances. and Carmeas library was brought
out from "A corner Of the cupboard and search
ed for material. The only secular book that
could be fo1nd was the poems of Leopard.
the melancholy poet of Naples. With these
Calrnala WAS so familiar that she rather recited
than read them. To me. too. they were old
friends and vet hardly recognized them, for
never could the printed page convey to the
eve such fir, and pathos as fell from Carmela's
lips. The old people seemed not inseusible
TO the beauties of some passages. while Bep-
head between his hands, pretended to listen
attentively but soon fell asleep.
The next day | bought .Manzoni's Prom
es,j Cposi, the best of all Italian novels 1t was
new both to Carmela and to me, and was
much more to the taste Of the family than Le-
opardi's poetry From the first page it fixed
the attention Of us all, and the reading of it
WAS continued evening after evening until a
late hour. Beppo kept awake and the old
couple became so deeply interested in the
characters of the book that they could talk of
scarcely ANYTHING else all day long than the
fears of Don Abbondio. the resources of Per
petua. the trials of Lucia and the adventures
of Reuzo.
But of all the books which in this way we
read together in the course of the winter,
none took such hold on the imagination of my
friends as tn, Leather-Stocking tales of Coop
er This was partly because the lively nara
tive pleased them and the details of savage
life filed them with wonder, but partly too
because these books spoke to them of Ameri-
ca for to the poor of Europe the name amer
ica is charmed word It conveys to them,
...t. I.