Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-08-13
GARIBALDpS IDIOT.
The Story Of One Of the Italian Patriots
Wards.
from an Exchanged

The Story Of One Of the Italian Patriots
Wards.
from an Exchanged
Luca Spano was an idiot. One day
Menotti Garibaldi and Achille Fazzari
met with the unhappy youth at NADIA
lena-a youth of eighteen years, an Or
phan, famished, ugly, and trembling with
cold. They had compassion and took
him to Caprera, where the general fed
him, warmed him at good fire, and Of
fered him home. Luca was delighted
He remained in the generals place,
washed the plates, and took care Of the
geese and goats. With the geese he was
on capital terms. They followed him
about like dogs, and pecked his bands in
a friendly manner In winter they
pressed closely around him TO keep him
warm, and he and they understood each
other SO well that they seemed like AMI
mails of the same species. AS l said,
Luca arrived at Caprera almost naked,
and the cold was intense 1t was neces-
sary to clothe him. Garibaldi possessed
only one pair Of trousers and one pCncho,
and his sons and guests were no richer
| than himself. What was to be done!
in memory of the glorious campaign of
1859. Having nothing else, he gave it to
Luca, not because he despised it, but
from pure kindness of heart, and because
he thought that to clothe the naked was
better than to keep memento of mill
tary glory. So Luca, clad in a generals
uniform, with silver stripes On his trous-
ers, herded the goats and washed the
dishes.
Luca was cretin, not in the scientific
sense of the word, but in our sense-that
| is, he was Obtuse, obstinate and idiotic.
But still the general was determined to
teach him, and said that by dint of prac-
| tice and perseverance he would make the
| impossible possible. So at II o'clock
| every morning Luca went to the general
and received an hours lesson. Ii was
never missed, and Luca could not escape
| 1t. To him 1t was a torture, and when
the hour arrived he was always in a bad
| temper, and kissed and said good by to
| his geese as if he was on the way 10 the
guillOtine. Then, pale and trembling,
| he went to the general. Garibaldi EN-
ployed the first half hour in teaching
| Luca to read and write, the other in
arithmetic. All went pretty we'll with
the reading lesson: in eig hit months Luca
had conquered it. There was also some
hope as to the writing; the progress
made was such that it seemed possible
that Luca would be able to write decently
after about ten years steady persever-
ance. But the case was desperate with
the arithmetic. Never mind" Carl
baldi said to Luca, ~ will make a math-
ematician of you" General" replied
poor Luca, in a melancholy voice, eff
you do not actually open my head and
put the book in it | shall never make any
thing of these figures"
Then came the war of 1866, and the
| general was on the point of leaving the
island in the cutter, when he saw Luca
crying. "Why do you weep, Luca?'
because l want to go, too" "Well,
come then-but perhaps we go to die
$50 much the better, general, IN para
disc we shall not need to study figures. y
The general laughed and made Luca
come on board. Luca became a soldier
The mountains of Tyrol were terrible. A
battalion with two cannon repulsed an
army in one of the rayines, and Garibald
advanced. Then came the day of Monte
Suello. In the evening, after the bloody
battle, the roll was called and Luca Spanc
was missing. The day after, on visiting
the field of battle, Menotti Garibaldi land
Achille Fazzari saw Garibaldian soldier
and TyrOlese lying dead almost in ar
embrace, for each was pierced through
by the others bayonet. The Garibaldian
was Luca SpanO. His dead face wore the
same idiotic smile that was wont to ap-
pear on the living cOuntenance when
Luca came from the generals room, riC
of the burden Of the lesson just finished.
Now Luca was freed from arithmetic
forever. When MenOtti told his father
how he had found Luca on the field OF
battle the general bent his head and re-
manned silent for space. When the list
of those soldiers of the First regiment, O
the TryOlean army to whom it was pro
posed to give medal was presented for
approval to Garibaldi, he silently took
his pen and added the single name-Luca
Spano. The medal was sent to the dead
soldiers sister, and she, a servant maid
still preserves it, and still asks whether
it was really her brother who died fight
ing with exemplary valOr in the ravine:
of Tyrol.