Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-05-08

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..Cne bestiei" (what beasts y
If the weather is fine and the NUNS
cipal or military band be playing in
the principal square of the city or
town (every Italian city has band
music In the evening), he promenaaes
to and fro in the Corso. Should he
meet his sister or other lady acquain-
tances after sundown ne may not
salute them. That is against etiquette.
| I have asked several well informed
gentlemen the reason of this singular
custom, but they could give me none.
| At The cafe, then, or may hap at club,
or in theeter, our friend passes his
time until toward midnight. His
father likewise Meantime mis- sisters
array themselves in their best about
an. hour before shutdown, and, with
the everlasting mother. or chaperon,
go out to take the air and if possible
make a conquest, or establish one al
ready begua. Going oat alone is
absolutely against social laws. Shop.
ping, in the American sense, and the
delight of American ladies, is un-
| does the selecting and buying. The
dressmaker alway works at the house
Of her customer, and it is but recently
that milliners lave begun to work in
their own shops. Young women have
but one ambition in life, one mission,
and that is to marry and be free. The
being free does n ot amount to much,
beyond the liberty of going out alone
to church, or to do her own shop
ping.
| had read in books that every mar
RED LADY in Italy has her caualiere
serronte (knight of service), or, In one
word, lover, who is In constant and
adoring attendance upon her, es-
ptcially in plxcas of public amuse-
ment. A long residence IN the land
and experience with the different
classes, both high and low, bsar me
out in denying the prevalence of the
custom and in asserting that the
troth of the Italian women is as stead
fast in the main as that of heir tran
salpine sisters, despite the fact that
many of the marriages-yea, most of
them-are made by parsnss and rela-
tives, love being secondary consider
alton. Formerl y-and speak of Is
years back in the papal states and of
25 years ago in northern and southern
italy-if a young woman failed to get
married before she was 25 years of
age she took her dover and entered a
convent-1lolens Uolens sand hence
there were very few spinsters. The
Italian government put an end to this
form of sepulture by enacting law
which prohibits converts and monas
teries from receiving novices- And
though political and religious LIBERAL
ism has introduced into Italy many
elements that are not good, it has
brought with it not few blessings,
and one of these is the emancipation
of women in the sense that before and
outside of marriage or the convent,
she may earn for herself honorable
sustenance and independence. some-
thing that of old was considered hu~
initiating and disgraceful.
I have left the yodng ladies' hutter-
ing upon the Cors0, or possibly, if the
mother be in a generous mood, seated
at table in one of the best cafes,
partaking of ices. Here again no
gentleman. unless he be on terms of
great intimacy with the family, may
join them, much less offer them any
refreshments at his expense. In this
last particular what paradise Italy
would be to the inpecunious young
man of our American city who beg.
gars himself by spending whole
weeks salary in taking his inamorata
to the theater and treating her to
wine or an oyster supper afterward
| There is good deal of drivel uttered
4 haS II do, Of
the American girl, but it may be
questioned with becoming pertinence
| whether. after accepting attentions
which are not infrequently purchased
at a sacrifice, and placing herself
under obligations for the same, she is
in reality as independent as tie Italian
girl, whom stringent social usage
debars from accepting purchasable
| favors from a gentleman.
The ladies may pay a visit after
leaving the cafe. The conversation
at these visits is, as a rule, neither
brilliant nor exciting. Until of late
the education of Italian women has
been neither varied nor very thorough,
and magazine literature, the armory
| of the American, is yet in its infancy.
But it Is delig htful to hear them dis
cuss, in soft. musical accents, the
latest style of bonnet, the plav. or
how Don Sebastiano breaches Their
con ersational powers may not be en-
| Shaving to the listener, bat their un-
affecttd simplicity is ravishipg. 1have
often sat, a willing and delighted
thrall, to a bevy of these robins chirp-
ing about dresses and millinery.
| And when thy talked their own poets
| and quoted them / cease to wonder
that Dante apotheosized his Beatrice,
or that Pptrarch dsifed his Laura
Returning home, the ladies doff
their finery and pat on calico. If it
be in the winter time the long, tedious
evening is eked out by them in alter
nate sewing and shivering, for even
| the wealthIest families have no fires.
The houses are cool and pleasant in
summer but cold and dismal in win
ter. Even IN the hotels, which have
| fireplaces and fires in Difference to the
wants of foreigners, every thing goes
up the chimney but the smoke. Each
lady holds in her lap small bronze
or earthen yase-cslled scaldius-in
which there is barning charcoal, and
over WnlCR she WdlIus uST cullUldlQRQ
| fingers. Sac may have caaufferette
under her chilling feet, but for the
rest she shivers and wishes That the
men would return, that supper may
be eaten, and folks may go to bed
Extreme sanltarians decry late sup
| pers. In healthy pro.estatiens against
their ratings stand the Italians, as
sound and long lived race as any
| other. Between 10 and II o'clock at
night the father and son of cur family
return and supper is eaten-a substan-
tial meal. consisting of soup, meat,
salad and fruit, with wine as neces-
sary beverage. Tea is only used as
a medicine. The supper is the pleas
ATTEST and mos. homelike meal OF the
day. The family chat is prolonged
until late, and then the children kiss
the hands of the parents, get their
benson for the night, and all retire
The men of such a family may be
happy enough after their own fashion
and conception of home happiness.
But the vomen7 With their quaint
sascies and pent-up longings for
something that is always near, to lean
upon and to love and to cohsiderate
and worship as the sacrament of home,
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