The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-11-16
American Girls In Italy.

A correspondent writes from Milan
that the condition of young women there,
and in Italy Mt large, who wish to sing
in public is dcplornbtc. Tie says the city
is full of American girls with operate
aspirations that are doomed to bitter
disappointment. Some of them arc posi-
lively suffer. ng for lack of the nec.ssar-
les Of life. No one, he adds, can make
II career in Italy without money. Most
OF u countrywomen pay for the privil-
eye of appearing on the stage; pay for
notices in the newspapers; pay for every
thing like courtesy or criticism. Not Il
few Of them go there, and after spending
several thousands of dollars iud that they
have gained nothing. A New York girl
wrote home not long since: ''The
amount of misery, blasted hope and
Observation-Disclosures in this city NIilan)
can hardly be described. It is dreadful
to think of unprotected girls coming
here where tho men have, rs u rule, no
principle, and are absolutely destitute of
morality" The agents who undertake
to manage their aff hrs are almost always
raseals of the vilest sort, such as would
not be tolerated in the United States.
Italy is, as respects an opportu ,ity to
sing, q deiusion and a snare. The Ital-
ians who have any connection with the
opera houses are morally robbers and
even worse. Their infamy can scarcely
be conceived in this country, where, hap
PLY. they have no parallels.
Shopping An Norway.
The friendlincss and unsclfshncss of
the Tromso, shopkecpers surprised us be-
yond everything, US, after showing all
the furs she had to a party of %marauding
Americans, a sturdy Tromso woman led
us to other shops and was about to climb
a hill with us to make sure that we
should not miss n fine view that we had
been told of. She spoke English per-
fectly and she had some lovely things in
her shop-the skins of black and polar
bears, of beaver, marten, squirrel, silver
fox and elder. There was one large
polar bear rug at 500 that every one
wanted ut once, and the elder robes,
made of the downy part of the breast of
the elder duck and looking very like
chinchilla fur, ranged from SIS to $50
and $40. These larger ones was of care
fully selected elder, and sewcd together
with an y TO the soft shndings, and
after that a border. line of grebe skin was
set in the soft pile. AS both sides are of
elder, they are the %softest, warmcst, most
luxuriously comfortable things to
draw about one, but how the fluffy, deli
cately tinted robes would look after q
little wear and tear is another thing. In
the silver shops are to be seen the end
less varieties Of spoons on which Nor
wegian housekeepers set their hearts and
In which they make a show of their
wealth. The true Norwegian teaspoon
has a long oval bowl, and the narrow
fat handle is twisted in spirals and
topped with a knob like an acorn; but
there are spoons as fiat as a pancake
turner, with bowls round, and oval
bowls set sideways; bowls deep md
bowls shallow; spiral stems of extraor-
binary length, and sp' raj stems of only
an inch or so long, and stems turned
backward in a coil until the spoon
can stand alone. A spoon from Tromso
began the ultimate dozen which I hope
to carry away as souvenirs of the princi-
pal towns of Norway. The old silver
jewelry that Tromso showed was not at
tractive, tho clumsy rings and brooches,
like breast plates, being crude, and with
out any special art or quaintness to rec
ommend thcm.-Ss. Louis Gk6e-Demo-
erat.