National Republican., 1881-10-29
THE ETERNAL CITY.
FUN AT TREBLE HOLIDAY IN ROME.
fhe Popc's Friends Deereasing-The Wlne-Tnsting
Nonth-Amusemsnts In October-The Of
tobrate Meetings Described-The
National Costume.

ROME, Oct 5.-sunday, the I'd of Octo-
ber, was treble holiday in Rome. Firstly, II was
the festival of the Madonna Of the Roses then II
was the anniversary Of the Plcbiscite, and finally,
twas the first Sunday in October aud this was
not the least important Of the three holidays. as l
will explain by-and-by; but let me proceed by
order The Madonna of the Roses Is very great
festival Of the Roman Church in Rome, although
1t passes almost unnoticed elsewhere. In Rome,
however, when the Popes held sovereign power
here, the papal government expected every house
and every window OF every house to be lit up in
some way or another. and thisuniversal illumlna-
ton proved sort of attraction to foreigners, who
flockcd hither like moths, lured by the blaze of
light or late years this religious illumination
has been strictly confined to the Jealous (as Father
Curci calls them) to the black clericals, as the
public in general calls tho remaining friends OF
the Vatican To judge by these illuminatlons
THE PoPEs FRIENDS
considerably decrease every year. every year the
displays grow less. Now II so happens that the
italian government celebrates the anniversary OF
the Pleblscite precisely In the same manner that
the clerical party celebrates the festival OF the Ma
donna of the Roses-that is, by public illumina-
tons at night And by an odd coincidence the
anniversary of the Plebiscitc and the festival of
the Madonna Of the Roses happened on the same
day this year-tha is, on the ID of october, the first
Sunday in October. This was an ugly pill for the
Vatican, and orders were Immediately issued to
the clerical party not to illuminate n single house
or window, for fear that the people might consruo
the illumination as a tribute TO the Italian PIE
blsclte. Consequently clerical houses remained
In sullen blackness.
WHILE THE REST OF ROME
was blaze Of lights of every color This little
Incident will give you trihing idea OF the peace
and good will which still exists between the Vau-
can and the Quirinal So much for Buckingham.
mean for the two festivals Of the Madonna Of the
Roses and OF the anniversary Of the Plebiscite,
which so strangely met each other this year, but
without even the courtesy OF bow. The third
event OF the same day-that Is, of the second Sun
day in october-rcquires longer explanation.
October Is the wine tasting month OF Italy. The
new wine is all made, and those who have but the
very smallest vineyard invite their friends on Sun
days
TO TASTE OF THE NEW WINE.
The meetings are always merry as you may be
sure, and when there are any young people pres.
ent there Is sure TO be dancing and romps Of vnri-
Gus kinds. But as 1t Is not every ono who has
vineyard, those who are not thus privileged go out
of town and taste the new wine OF the year at
country inns aud eating houses; nor these the
least merry parties. On the contrary they are
generally the most amusing, and they are known
in Roman language under the name of Ottobrate,
being, in fact, nothing else but II relic of the Bac
ottobrate amongth Roman people that girls, lads,
and whole families put aside few coppers every
week all through the year to be devoted to
THE ADJUSTMENTS OF THIS MONTH.
Sometimes societies formed of several families
or friends, and the money collected each week for
the purpose is put In the savings bank until the
time to employ 1t comes round Then a large
cart or wagon is hired, and Is decked with
branches Of trees, flowers, and colored ribbons,
and the cart Is filed with school-lke benches
generally covered with red cloth or cotton. The
cart is filed with girls, dressed In all the colors of
the rainbow, with bright aprons and bright neck
erchiefs, and chains around their necks and rings
in their ears, and gold pins and flowers in their
hair. few matrons accompany the girls, for
proprietys sake, and the cart is drawn proudly
through the Streets amid the delight and cheers of
crowd of children who follow as long as they
can and then return, ayowing that they, too, will
have an ottobrate the following year. They will
begin at once TO up their soldi. In the mean
time they go and play at an ottobrate
on A PLANK or LOG
of wood, which stands in lieu of the cart and If
any one will give them few hard biscuits and
sugar plums they will be as happy as If they went
TO a real Celebrate. The cart however, with its
merry occupants, continues its journey, followed
by cheers along the whole road. They go thus to
nn inn little way out of town, where they are
Joined by the men of the company, and the day
At dusk the party, or rather parties return bome-
ward. The carts are lit up with colored lamps
and the girls take care to secure an outside seat
from which they can talk to their admirers who
walk by the side OF the cart The matrons resign
themselves to the centre seats, remembering that
they once had the outside seat; and they fain won't
see when two hands meet on the outside of the
cart, and If a black mustache touches the fingers
held out to II.
THESE oTToBRATE MEETINGS
are as old as Rome itself; older for the Romans
learned them from the Greeks. Every Sunday and
Thursday of the month of October are devoted to
these merry makings and people of every rank
take part in them, though In different way, ac-
cording to their means; some go in hired car
riages some in rich carriages of their own, but all
spend one or more Sundays of October ont of town
to make merry at some private or public vineyard,
with the plea of taking the new wine of the year.
But the prees otobrate of all is that of the lower
classes, which 1 have just outlined. A genuine
Roman would sooner pawn his shoes than forego
his ottobrate, and the first Sunday in October is
one of thegreatest ottobrate of ALL 1t being equaed
only by the last Sunday or Thursday of the month.
1T Is CUSTOMS SUCH AS THESE
which make Rome difierentsfrom any other city In
Italy. II Is fill Of old customs, inherited from an
cient Rome, and all are still religiously kept by
modern Rome. Consequently we now in the
month of Roman ottobrate, and it is quite pretty
TO see the gayly-bcdecked carts wend their way
through the streets and filled with bright and
handsome girls, who know nothing of French
fashions, but dress rs their mothers dressed before
them and as their own daughters will dress after
them and who look twenty times pretlier In their
bright and gnudy colors than If attred In min.
icry of the French, If every country would do
this how much more picturesque its streets and
landscapes would be, how much handsomer the
women would look, and how much more money a
poor man, with wife and daughters, could put
IN AMERICA ALONE
itwould be difficult to dress In Il national costume,
as we could scarcely expect the poorest woman to
would gain considerably to dress In old English
costumes which they know how to wear, instead
oftrying TO copy Parsians, which they but carica-
makers of fashion In Paris, as they are pretler
than any dress invented by modern dressmakers /;
md YET they are despised by English women, who
oflooking easy and natural In their own national
dress. Ofcourse only aude to the lower classes,
countryman, leads the worlds fashions But am
srayng from my subject. crave your pardon.
You now understand. however, why last SUNDAY y
was
TREBLE HOLIDAY IN ROME
In October, also begins bird catching and shooting
IN the Roman provinces. For the bird catching
light to field he has hired for the season. He
takes with him several tame birds, which he places
under net on the ground. The birds, provided
with plenty of food aud water chirp and hop about
merriy, while the sportsman whistles 10 the birds
in the air, who are gulled 10 come down from the
nelghborlng trees TO join the happy little birds
below, ehirping and hopping under the net, OF
course they are taken by hundreds In this way
and this Is called SPORT Why, Il is unworthy Of
man blush. But those who take part In this
wholesale bird slaughter say y Is great fun. Per
haps II is TO them but wonder what the birds
the month Of October. Ks You @ see, the month Of
remarkably W eoid We have had S no medium sea.
son from the most scOrching sun we have jumped