Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-01-18
Eating Among the Lower Glasses In
Italy.

In Va Va SAS
very particular about his eating. What
he wants is something to eat, and he
cares very little about how it is prepared
or in what shape it comes to him.
One street leading off from the thea
ter San Carlo is for a mile a sort of
market devoted to the sale of comesti-
bles, and there are long rows of booths
for the preparation and sale of ready
made meals. The street itself and the
alleys leading from it are indeseribably
dirty. so dirty that to make q de.crip-
ton that will convey any idea of it is
as impossible as it would be to describe
| the hues of a rainbow. Imagine every
possible description of garbage, with
every other species of filth, thick on the
| streets, reeking, fermenting and fester-
ing under q tropical sun, and you may
have some idea of it. There are kinds
of filth mixed with this mass which may
not he describedin print, forthe Italians
of the lower classes, male and female.
have no sense of the commonest kind
of decency.
In the midst of all this stencil there
are booths for the sale of macaroni and
everything else edible that can come
within the compass of a cent a portion.
There are the hideous cuttle-fish, boiled
and cut into portions. The seller, with
a fist that is as black and grimy as orig
inal sin, places a portion Of the fish up
on a slice of brown bread. dashes some
of the hot water in which it was boiled
over it, the consumer with a hand
equally grimy seizes it and in a moment
it is gone. The macaroni eater takes
the long strings in his hand, throws
hack lis head that he may lose none Of
his pennyworth, and swallows it. There
are fish fried in loud-smelling oil, fish
boiled in filthy water in still more filthy
kettles, fish picked and fish in every
form, the only difference being that
some look more dirty than the others.
They are all on IN equality in this re-
spect, however, being all as dirty as
they can be. But nevertheless every
thing is eaten: and everybody seems to
be satisfied with it.
Vast quantities Of fruit are eaten in
1 these markets, as it is very cheap and
good. Oranges are worth next tt moth
ING, five for a cen and sometimes
cheaper, and other tropical fruits are
just as cheap. They ripen the year
around, and there never is Il lack of
them.
One article of foods plentifulin Italy,
and always good, namely, eggs. The
Italian takes naturally to hen culture, II
being a pursuit Just suited to their ma
ture. The hen is, unlike it's owner, an
enterprising being, and can skirmish
for her W living. The hen providing
for herself, the gathering Of the eggs is
exactly the Italians idea of labor. He
is equal to the picking up of eggs if they
are not too much out Of the way, and it
is a labor that precisely suits him, be-
cause the hen does all the work. There
fore, he cherishes the hen and looks up-
On her with great favor. He would like
the donkey better if the donkey would
only load himself, trot on without guild
ance, and unload himself. AS the hen
boards herself and requires no atten-
ton whatever, the Italian being put only
to the inconvenience of gathering the
eggs, the Italian loves the hen above
e. erything in animated nature. He not
only can get the product of her work
without any eNertion, but the egg. when
he has got it, "a be consumed without
labor. The Italian sells it when he is
not hungry, and when he needs the
nourishment he can eat it raw. The
hen is the Italian best friend.
The fondness for hen culture furnishes
the residents with fresh eggs always,
and their style of cooking them is really
appetizing. They Try them in oil, they
torture them into omelettes with oil,
and as in respectable restaurants, ho-
tells and families the oil is always good,
the result is entirely satisfactory. For.
tunatel.y, oil is very cheap, and there is
but little inducement to adulterate it,
and the hen is always present. So he
who can live on eggs can get on we'll in
ltaly.-D. r. Locke, IN Toledo Blade.