Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-04
coRs1cAN HOSPITALITY.

Tie pleasantest time of all the year was
the month Of October, when the chestnuts
began to fall. II would not do to let them
lie on the ground, as the goats would soon
eat them up. The girls from different cot
tages 60 outin the morning to the trees on
the hillside, where they spend the day.
When dinner.time came they would call to
each other, Come up to us, or Come
down, as the case might be. They would
all meet under some shady tree and MUNICH
their bread and sausage and cheese, while
they merrily ehatted. When evening
came they carried the chestnuts into
small underground cellars close to
the trees, and, going home, they
each found that good basin of soup had
been got ready for them against their
return. a stranger, she said, was
always welcome to help himself to
as many chestnuta as he could eat, or to
bunch or two of grapes. One morning
che lad found a company of soldiers, who
were on the march, rapidly clearing the
ground of all the chestnuts that had fallen
In the night. II ne fault pas prendre
toutes," she cried out I'll fault les par
tager." The officer In command offered to
pay for what his men had taken; but her
father, who had comeup, refused TO take any
money. They were passing by; they had
chosen TO help themselves to his food, and
he did not sell his hospitality. A poor
Italian woman, to whom her mother used
to give now and then meal, was caught
stealing the potatoes. She told her
daughter not to mention it to any of their
neighbors, as the woman was so poor. They
would have nothing more to dowith her, but
they must not spread abroad their shame.
Sc Ellie etai5 une pauvre malheureuse.
They had no fear Of robbery, except by the
italian iaborers who every year pass over
into Corsica in search of work, Just as the
Irish pass over, or used to pass over, into
England. One Christmas-time they stole
the pigs in her village that had been
fattened up for the feast. The feast. for
all bat the Italians, was turned into q fast.
The bripands on the mountains troubled
them but little. Now and then they de-
manded food: One night, however, Just
before the elections, her father had been
reused from his sleep by knock at the
door. He went down, and found man
fully armed. He was an outlaw, and
he had come to tell MIN that he must
vote for the Bonapartist candidate, or it
would be the worse for him. Another
time man came into their cottage in the
garb of priest, asking for food and shelter
for the night. They had their suspicious
about him, and began to ply him
with questions. At last he owned
that he was q runaway prisoner.
He had stolen the dress OF priest. He
was hopeless of escape, and ne urged them
to give him up, and so to gain the large
reward that is always paid for the cap
ture of prisoner. lie would go
with them, ne said, to the near
est geudaTme This they would not
do. he had come under their roof,
and had eaten their food, and they would
not be suspected of betraying him. In the
moraing he went away very early, and
they never learned what became OF him.
A priest who came from one of the inland
villages spoke in much the same way of
the hospitality of the peasantry. "Wher-
ever you 20, he said TO US. " if you are in
need of food, you can ask for it at the first
cottage Won come to. Ii the cottager has
only enough for himself, he viii give it 10
you, and give it with pride. Only be
careful about one thing. Do not insult
him by Offering him money. Offer him
your hand, aud nothing more. Should he
accompany you on your way, and should
you pass az inn, you may invite him to
share with you a bottle Of wine. Be-
yond that you must on no account go. "
A friend OF ours once stopped at little
roadside inn and asked for some wine
and water The hostess refused all pay
ment. What he had had was so trifing
in itself, and was he not stranger p
Saturday Review.