Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-07-05

v
intelleck. It's fabby. It won't survive
me long. PETROLEUM V. NAsBY,
Despairin
TWILIGHT AT NAPLES.
Scene from the Balcony of a Neopolitan
Hotel--a Delightful Picture.
r. b. Aldrich in Atlantic.
The great squares of shadow cast up
on the street by the hotel and adjoining
buildings were deepening by degrees
Fitful puffs of air came up from the
bay--the early precursors Of that re-
freshing breeze which the Mediterran-
can sends to make the summer twilight
of Naples delicious. Now and then a
perfume was waited to the balcony, as
if the wind had stolen a handful of
scents from some high walled inclosure
Of orange trees and acacias, and flung at
me. The white villas, set in their mo-
sale Of vines on the distant hillside, had
cooler look than they wore earlier in
the day. The heat was now no longer
oppressive, but it made one drowsy,
that and the sea air. An hour slipped
away from me unawares. Meanwhile
the tide Of existence had risen so imper-
ceptibly at my feet that I was surpris-
ed, on looking down, suddenly to find
the strada flooded with streams of car
riages, and horemen, and pedestrians
The gay life of Naples that had lain
dormant through the heavy noon, had
awakened, like the princess in the en-
chanted palace, to take up the laugh
where it left off, and order fresh ices at
the cafes.
| had feeling that Masaniello-he
was yet there-was somehow at the bot
tom of this; that by some diablerie Of
his, maybe with the narcotic fumes of
that cigar, he had thrown the city into
the lethargy from which it was now re-
covering.
The crowd, which flowed in two. op-
posing currents past the hotel, was a
gayer and more smartly dressed throng
than that of the morning Certain shah
by aspects, however, were not wanting,
for donkey carts mingled themselves
jauntily with the more naughty equip
ages on their way to the Riviera di
Chiaia, the popular drive. There were
beautiful brown women, with heavy
fringed eyes, in these carriages, and
now and then a Neopolitan dandy-a
creature sui generis-rode alongside on
horseback. Every human thing that
can scrape a vehicle together goes to
the Riviera di Chiaia Of a fine after
noon. 1t is magnificent, wide avenue,
open on one side to the bay, and lined
on the other with palaces and villas and
hotels. The road leads to the Grotto
of Posilippo, and to endless marvels be-
yond-the tomb of Virgil, Lake Aver
us, Baia, Cuma, Hellenic region
among whose ruins wander the sorrow
full shades of the gods. But the after
noon idler is not apt to get so far; after
turn or two on the promenade, he is
content. to sit under the trees IN the
garden of the Villa Nazionale, slipping
his sherbet dashed with snow, and lis
tening to the band
| saw more monks this day than
met in week at Rome, their natural
headquarters; but in Naples, as in the
Eternal City, they are not generally
in busy thoroughfares. | think some
religious festival must have bee,.2 ;ag
on in church near the ChiatamC I
solemn, dark-robed figure gliding in AT
out among the merry crowd had aqueer
pictorial effect, and gave me an incon-
gruous twelfth-century sort of sensa-
ton. Once file of monks-I do not
remember ever seeing so many together
outside passed swiftly un-
der the balcony. | was near tumbling
into the middle ages, when their ton
sured heads reminded me of that
row of elderly gentleman one always
sees in the front orchestra chairs at
the ballet, and was thus happily drag
ged back into my own cycle.
The twilights in southern Italy fall
suddenly, and are of brief DURATION
While l was watching the darkening
shadow of the hotel on the opposite
seawall, the dusk closed in, and the street
began rapidly to empty itself. A cur
tain of mist was stretched from head
land to headland, shutting out the dis
tant objects. Here and there on jut-
ting point light blossomed, its dupi-
cate glassed in the water, as if the fiery
flower had dropped petal. Presently
there were hundred lights, and then
a thousand, fringing the crescented
shore.
On our leaving Rome, the landlord
had pathetically warned usof the fatal
effects of the night air in Naples, just
as our Nepolitan host, at a later date,
let fall some disagreeable hints about
the Roman malaria. They both were
right In this delicious land death
shrouds himself in the dew and turks
in all gentle things. The breeze from
the bay had sudden chill in it now;
the dampness of the atmosphere was as
heavy as fine rain. | pushed back my
chair on the balcony, and then l llnger-
ed moment to see the moon rising ov-
er Capri. Then 1 saw how that bay,
with its dreadful mountain, was lovelier
than anything on this earth. l turned
from it reluctantly, and as l glanced
into the silent street beneath, there
was Masaniello, silhouette against the
silvery moonlight.
Rocky Mountain Ne,es: There is now