Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-10-10
THE BIRTHPLACE OF LEO.
rARDI.

The poets father was Count Monal-
do Leopard. who had written little
books Of a religious and political char
acter; the religion very bigoted, the
politics very reaclionary. His library
was the largest anywhere in that re.
gion. but he seem not 20 have learned
wisdom in it. and. though otherwise a
blameless man. he used his son. who
grew to manhood differing from him
in all his opinions, villa Il rigor that
was scarcely less sisau cruel. He was
bitterly opposed 10 what was called
progress, to religion and civil liberty;
he was devoted TO. what was called
order, which merely meant the exist
ing order Of things. the divinely APP
pointed prince. the infailible priest.
He had Il mrIi"val taste, and he made
his palace ut R;canati as much like a
teudat castle us he could, with all sort
Of baronial bricabrac. An armed vas
Sal AZ his gate was out of the question,
but at tho door Of his own chamber
stood an cttigy in rusty arluor. bearing
a furnished halberd. He abhorrcd the
fashions OF our century. and wore those
OF an earlier epoch; his wife. VINO shar-
~ At5 p1SJtu'NNS vi OpltiIOIlSs lSkAkdSe
tically apparrlcd herself to look like
the portrait OF some gentiewoman of
us remote a date. Halls hung in dam.
ask. vast mirrors in carvcn frames,
and stately furniture OF antique form
attested throughout the palace 1.-THE
sp!endOr Of Il race which. ii its fortunes
had somewhat declined, still knew how
to maintain its ancient decorum."
In this home passed the youth aud
manhood of a poet who no sooner baEan
to think for himself than he began 10
think the things most discoriant to his
fathers principles and ideas. He be-
lieved in neither the religion nor the
politics OF his race; he cherished with
the desire Of literary achievement that
vague faith in humanity. in freedom.
in the future, against which the Count
Monaldo had 80 sternly SGT his face; he
chated under the restraints of hi. faith
er's authority, and longed for some es-
cape into the world. The Italians
sometimes write of Leopardfs unhap-
piness, with passionate condemnation
of his father; but neither was Count
Monaldo's part an enviuble one, and it
was certainly not at this period that
lie had all the wrong in his differences
with hi, on. Nevertheless, it is pa
thetic to read how the hcartsick, frail,
ambitious boy, when he found some ar
ticle in Il newspaper that greatly pleas
ell him, would write to the aulhor aud
ask his friendship. When these Jour
n~aiists, who were possibly not the
wisest pub.iciSts OF their time, so far
responded to the young scholars adj
vance as to give him their personal
acquaintance as we'll AS their friend
ship, the old count received them with
a courteous tolerance, which had no
kindness in it for their progressive
ideas. He lived in dread of his sons
becoming involved in some of the
many plots then Matching against
order ami .ciigion. and ne reprcsscd
with all lis strength Lcopa:di's rcvo-
lutionary tendencies, which must al
ways have been mere matters of senti-
men,. and not deserving of great rig
or.
He seems not S o much to have loved
ltaiy as 10 have hated k.c"nati. 1t is
a small village high up in the Apen-
mines. between Loreto and Macerata,
and is chiefly accessible in oX-carts.
Small towns every where arc dull, and
perhaps are not more deadly 50 in
Italy than they are elsewhere, but
there they have Il peculiar obscure,
narrow life indoors. Outdoors there
is a little lounging around the cafe. a
little stir on holidays among the lower
classes and the neighboring peasants.
a great deal OF gossip ut ali times, and
hardly anything more. The local no.
blclnan, perhaps, cultivates literature,
Us Lcopardi's father did; there is al
ways some abiute housing around in
the local :.rcnives and writing pamph-
lets on disputed points of the local his
tory; aud there is the parish priest, to
form the polite society OF the place.
As if this social barrenness were not
enough. Rcanati was physically hurt
ful to L&orardi: the climate was very
tickle; the harsh. damp air was cruel
to his nerves. He says it seems to him
a den where no good or beautiful thing
ever comes; he bcwails the common
ignorance; in Recanati there is
no love for letters, for the human.
izing arts; nobody irclucnta his
fathers great library. nobody buys
books, nobody reals the ncwspa
pcrs. Yet this foriorn and detest.
able little town has Que good thing: il
( has a prominently good Italian &C
cent, better even, he thinks, than the
Roman; which would be a greater con
ISOLATION to an Italian than we can vel
understand. Nevertheless it was no
society. and it did not make his fellow
townsmen endurable to him; he recoil
ed from them more aud more and lh'
: solitude iu which he lived among hi
!, books filled him with Il black -Melan
choly. which he describes as q poison
corroding the life OF body and sou
> alike, 10 q friend who tries to econ
. Gle him 10 Rccanati he writes: ''1t i
!, very we'll to tell Tue that Plutarch ant
! Altieri loved Cheroucu and Asst: the,
: loved them but they left them; and 81
shall l love my native place when l an
away from it. Now l say l hate it be
) cause l am in it. 10 recall the spo
! where ones childhood days were pass
= ed is dear and sweet; it is . tine say
t ing, Here you were born, and her
Providence wills you to stay Al
! very well. Say to tie sick man striv
ing to be we'll that he is flying in tn
face of Providence; tell tile poor ma
struggling to advance himself that h
is defying heaven; bid tine Turk bewar
of baptism. for God has made him
: Turk!"-W D. Howeis. I'll Septsmbe
atlantic.