Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-07-19
WOMAN OF CAPRI.
Their Gentle and Affectionate Disposition
Accustomed to Laborious Work.


Accustomed to Laborious Work.
The native inhabitants of Capri, as
we see them to-day, are a simple and
2 gentle people When irritated or
aroused, the fierce anger and jealousy
of the Italian character will sometimes
show themselves, but their usual atti-
tude is that of admiring wonder and
patient subservience toward the we'll
dressed strangers who have chosen to
make the island their home. Capri is
in some degree one of the Happy Is
lands" All classes of society are re-
presented, but there is mingling of
ranks and grades that seems strange
to the jewellers in large cities. The
island has no native aristocracy, the
people belonging nearly all to the peas
ant or shopkeeping class. But there
have been marriages by which the
peasant maids of Capri are entitled to
rank themselves among ladies of birth
and station. One of the handsomest
private residences on the island boasts
of prince for its master, and the fair
lady that he has made his wife is the
daughter of an employee of the tele-
graph company, which, by means of
optical signals, enables the inhabitants
of Capri to communicate, in the case
Of an emergency, with the mainland.
Artists have frequently been drawn
into the tolls of matrimOny by the soft
chances of their fair models A beau
tiful villa, built in Pompeiian style, and
not far from the Grand Marina, is ruled
over by a Caprian girl, wife of the eel
ebrated artist, Cherubino, of Rome.
Here and there about the island new
and handsome villas appear, and one
and another is pointed out to the
stranger as the house where a German
or an Italian or an English signore
dwells with his Caprian wife.
There is very little of mystery in
these marriages when one comes to
know well these fair Caprian girls.
They have the rich beauty of the South,
the soft, lustrious eyes and glowing
color, and languor and the swaying
grace. At the same time, their con-
slant journeys over the mountain roads
of their native island at the heels of
their patient dOnkeys make them 1.-THE
and strong. They are quick and APP
preciative, and it requires little mag
ination to realize that world-wearied
man might find it sweet to make his
home on this fair island, with one of
these gentle girls to share his life.
There seems to be no evidence to show
that any of these marriages have re-
suited unhappily or brought disap-
pointment in their train.
Nearly all the laborious work. such
as is performed by men elsewhere, is
done at Capri by women. The men
are on the sea as marinari or fishermen,
or they have been conscripted into the
and the builders, the farmers, and in
some instances the mechanics. 1t
seems strange to an American from the
land of machinery to observe the awk-
ward and primitive fashion in which
work of all kinds is done here. Fields
are cultivated and houses are built
with implements such as were familiar
to our grandfathers, but of which we
have almost forgotten the use. The
houses of Capri, constructed now of
the same material and in the same
manner as were the dwellings of buried
Pompeii in the first century of the
Christian era, are built of stone and
plaster. Rough stones are piled to-
gether after the manner in which farm
ers build fences to divide their fields in
our country, and which is also common
here. The crevices are filled in with
sand and coarse cement, over which is
laid plaster, and thus the walls and
arched roofs of the dWellings--th
former sometimes two to three feet in
thickness-are constructed. Every part
of the work is done in the most primi-
tive and laborious manner. The earth,
for instance, that is dug from the pro-
posed site of some new wall is scratched
with rude hoe, gathered up by the
hands, and thrown into basket, which,
when filled, is carried away upon the
head. All this will be done by women,
assisted occasionally by some youth
who has escaped CONSUMPTION through
mental or physical incapacity, or by
a graybeard too old for military service
and unfit for life upon the sea. All the
stone from the quarries upon the noun
tain-side is carried to the building site
upon the head, and we have frequently
seen girl children of not more than ten
years carrying in this way stones that
must have weighed twenty to thirty
pounds. The head is protected by a
coarse turban, upon which the load is
mounted. The Caprians seem to have
no idea that anything can be carried
any distance in the hand.-Mary e.
Vaaadyaae, IN Harper's Magazine.