Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-10-23
NUMBER 35.
NEAPOLITAN SCENES



and Means Of subsiStsnee.
Charles Dickens, hastily compiling his
'.Italian Notes." has given the palm for
beggars to the town OF Pisa. Had h.
written more leisurely he would have
done more justice indeed mere justice
to Naples. The Pisao beggars are .
tribe in themselves, curiouely importu-
nate and Impairment but the Neapoli-
tans are nearly all beggars. No Gty IN
the kingdom is moro populous or more
poor. The mixture Of the Moorish blood
with the italian has produced races
among Europeans at all events, unex-
ampled for beauty, cruelty, easy immos-
atty and intolersble laziness. Al you
wander along the streets You hear
snatches of Moorish music mixed with
the true Neapolitan refrains, and you SO
faces, especially among the children Of
eight or nine, Of quite Incredible beauty.
There are the familiar characteristics Of
the beautifully set brow, the facie smile,
and the eyes, sometimes brown, some
times blue, always expressive, and every
thing set of by rich vanish OF dirt
One is reminded of the old-fasbioned
nursery hymn:
My little body's FULL Of sin
And over all Il placed . skin.
But, with all this, there il q cowsrdly
skulking and brutality thss Is not Ital-
ian but Oriental. No sightis mofe COM
mon along that billy road leading from
the famous Santa Lucia to the hight Of
Posiipo than to see miserable little
horses, all bleeding and lame, lettering
under the shafts of 8 cart weighed down
with eight or ten corpulent Neapolitans,
who fog it and kick it till it swerves
and falls. At the corner of one well
known street there il q bird shop where
you may buy nightingales, goidfnches
and robins. Sometimes q crowd Of
gamins il collected to witness . little
surgical operation. Some charcoal burns
in brasiero, and the operator thrusts
irto it needle with wooden handle He
then takes from cage q recently caught
blackbird, and with q red-hot needle
pnts out his eye. It needs much skin
skill that only comes from practice
to do this successfully. An unsteady
hand would prematurely kill the bird.
In most instances, where the operation
is successful, the birds do die, but that
is only after couple Of days Of agony.
You will see the patients in cages
hanging around the shop, with the
sightlees eyes swollen to the size Of .
pea, but in the rare cases Of recovery the
bird sings briskly through the twenty
four hours, day and night being the
same to it. II q stranger approaches the
children leave the bird torturer to beg
for soldi. The fat, round, cherub faces
are thrust up into your own, the little
hands point to the mouth, and you hear
the familiar cry that is translated, ~ am
dying, am dying Of hunger; give mo
half-penny." The truth IL the child
rem live on the strangers.
Sturdy well-to-do women, with bold,
laughing faces, beg pence, and are inn
pertinent and shameless il they do
not get them. In Italy no families arc
80 large as the Neapolitan, and no people
marry 80 frequently and 20 young. a
family of seven Is usual; family Of ZEN
is not unusual Tho prudential cAesk''
is unknown. The Nespolitan houssWAe
Of this poorer class has no care. She
makes no attempt TO '.faire le menage.n
She gives the little ragamufin q soldi or
two to get his dinner, and, like young
Norval, his only care il to increase his
store. which he does by begging; thus
the parents directly encourage their
children, and the police authorities
most respectable body In cooked bats
look ON and do not interfere. Tue results
is just what might be expected. Nsples
is one Of the most populous cities IN
Europe and ono Of the loveliest. IT.
harb0r gives direct trade with al ouax-
tiers Of the world. The country round
about il has the richness OF volcanic
soil. And yet wander through il
streets, and poverty and squalor msee
You at all directions. The death rate =
almost the highest in Europe. Il has
the dearest hotels the worst. Even
in the good hotels it msy be said that e
night the Aeas dance to the music Of tho
mosquitoes. Such trade a. there i in IL
streets is largely in the hands Of foreisn-
ers. Frenchmen and Germans and Lcm-
bsrds and English take the opportuni
ties which the Nspolitans are too lasy
to accept. The place has bad nane
and deserves il. in all countries there
are thieves; but in few capitals north a
Naples need the stranger be in such CO.
stxnt fear Of being robbed. Il i sid
that things are improving. But 70 long
AZ shameless, audacious and insolsnt
begging 10 permitted, 20 long q The
children arc allowed to swarm about The
streets without the slighteet attempt Il
their reclamation or their education, The
degradation Of the beautiful CITY must
remain constant blot on ths Italisn
government.
The police OF Emporia captured Tho
Two burglars who broke into the station
OF tl.s >. 4 at Ottawa. They came 10
Empofia, and bought chissl, which Va
found on one Of them when arrested
They were sent back 10 Ottawa.
49, 49, D~.~~J. ~<,srr~ 49,. +