Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-05-14
custodian of the law, as ne bowed
himself toward his ladder.

| CuStOuIdn VI Luc law, do LIZ UOWCo
himself toward his ladder.
Ats o. m. our adolescent statesman
emerges from the municipal palace
with the conscious dignity of man
who has labored for his country and
done some business on his own ac-
count-the consideration being $50 a
month. minus Ii per cent. income
tax. Does he go home to read good
books and ''store his mind with useful
knowledge?" No, for the good rea-
son that he has no home. He eats,
drinks, sleeps, and has his washing
done IN certain house, of which his
father is the present and he himself
the prospective owner. But he lives
between bis and his favorite cafe, or
wine-house. He may not frequent the
same cafe as his father. Politics
divide men socially in Italy. They
are either liberals or clericals. No
matter how small the town Or village,
there is a cafe and apothecary shop
where the liberals congregate to gos-
sip; cafe and anothecary shop where
the clericals meet and discass the for
lorn hope OF the restoration Of the
temporal lsovereignty..o the pope. To
one or other of these resorts, accord
ing to his political convictions and
the secondary demands of his inner
man, the scion of the familp of which
I write repairs, where he refreshes
himself with cup of black coffee, or
a stoup of wine, while shuffiing the
cards at baccarot or tre-sette. If it be
the winter he INDUCES IN harmless
punch. But he never drinks to excess.
Indeed, it is proper to observe that of
the many vices to which the Italian
gentleman may be subject, that of in
| temperance is not one. Nor is it
often that you see one Of the lower
classes intoxicated. If a man have a
sick headache in Italy, he is not asked
| by his frlnds If he drank too much
on the previous day, but the question
is, did he eat to much? The necessity
in America and the British isles of
| temperance societies is subject of
astonishment and amusement to the
Italians, their usual observation being
"Che bestie!" (what beastsD
If the weather is fine and the muni~
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 promenades
to and fro in the Corso. Should he
meet his sister or other lady acquain-
tances after sundown he may not
salute them. That is against etiquette,
| have asked several well-informed
gentlemen the reason of this singular
custom, but they could give me none.
At the cafe, then, or mayhap at club,
or in thester, our friend passes his
time until toward midnight His
father likewise. Meantime his sisters
array themselves in their best about
an hour before sundoWn, and, with
the everlasting mother, or chaperon,
go out to take the air and if possible
make a conquest, or establish one al
ready begun. Going out alone is
absolutely against social laws. Shop.
ping, in the American sense, and the
delight of American ladies, is un-
known. The mother, or chaperon,
does the selecting and buying. The
dressmaker always works at the house
of her customer, and it is but recently
that milliners have 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 not 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
ried LADY in Italy has her cdUaIiere
serU0nte (knight of service), or, in one
word, lover, who is IN constant and
adoring attendance upon her, es-
pecially in places of public amuse-
ment. A long residence in the land
and experience with the different
classes, both high and low, bear me
out in denying the prevalence of the
custom and in asserting that the
troth of the Italian women is as stead
fast In Ghe main as that of +heir tran
salpine sisters, despite the fact that
many of the marriages most of
them-are made by parents and rela-
tives, love being a secondary consider
alton. Formerly-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-21OIens UoIens and hence
there were very few spinsters. The
Italian government put an end to this
form of sepulture by enactiDg 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 a 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 honora BILE
sustenance and independence. some~
thing that of old was considered hu~
initiating and disgraceful.
I have left the young ladies futter-
ing upon the CorsO, or possibly, if the
mother be IN generous mood, seated
at table in one of the best cafes,
partaking of ices. Here again no
gentleman. unless he be on terms of
l. L