New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-11-13
A BLACK KISS.

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refused 50 many young men, and the
flower OF the country, too, she would
condescend to marry a carbonate, a
dirty, black, hairy charcoal burner,
who washed his face once a week,
when he went to Peppe, the barber,
to be shaved? The Lord deliver her,
she would rather be an old maid all
her life; yes, indeed, for she was well
OFF at home, she was independent!
And Cencia, with ill-concealed dis
dain, repeated the popular rhyme:
Non voglio il carbonaro she mi tinge,
Ma voglio il mulattiere she mi stringe.
sTell the fellow she had said to
the old neighbor Serafna, who for the
time had gone as mediator to the
girl, 'tel the fellow not to come sing
ing under my window any more, and
if he don't heed kindly warning, he
will get something worse, as true as
the Madonna, si0 lodata! What did
he think? What did he expect? Did
he still persist. after having been
twice refused? Didn't he understand
by this time, that she wouldn't have
him, even if he were covered with gold
and precious stones?
And the good old woman, Serafna,
who went to plead the case of the
carbonate, returned crest fallen and
discouraged to the young man, VIII
stood waiting for her, leaning by his
back against the winepress.
''What did she say?" demanded he,
anxiously.
Serafna shrugged her shoulders.
"Don't think of her any more, n,io
bello. Do you see that stone? Upon
my word, it is not harder than her
heart.''
Giuseppe Talamo had made his re-
quest of marriage in the symbolic way
that was customary in the country.
Towards midnight he had gone and
placed before Cencia's door block in
which he had made a crevice with an
axe, and had inserted therein a wedge.
1t may he imagined with what anxiety
and palpitation of heart he had run
the following morning, before the dawn
had scarcely tinted with red the
picturesque mountain of the Pollino,
to see if the block had disappeared. It
was there in the same place where he
had lefti which signifed clearly that
his request was refused; but he was
not discouraged for that. 1t is we'll
known that stubborn are the Gala
brians, and, nothing daunted, he
passed under Cencia's window every
Saturday evening, on his way home
from the coal kiln, playing his guitar,
slung over his shoulder, and singing
in a melancholy voice. And Cencia
hearing him, trembled. saying angrily:
'.Will he never get through-the
dirty face? If he would only go and
look in mirror-and if he hadn't one
she would give him one herself
Carmine, the farmer and father of
Cencia, would not have been unduly
particular about the choice of hus-
band for his daughter. Provided she
was satisfied, it was all the same to
him, whether the man was coal
burner, a shepherd, a herder, or a
farm laborer, and not for all the money
in the world would he have forced her
to marry against her will.
What did you reply to Giuseppe,
the carbonaio?' asked he.
''That did not want him.''
''To think that he is the fifth sutton
that has presented himself, and you
have refused them all, said the farmer
with a sigh.
Cencia's only answer was to turn to-
ward the door of the house, and in a
monotonous and sorrowful voice she
called together the hens and chickens
that were picking away at the bran,
dried in a paste upon the snout of a
pig that lay contentedly meditating
near the empty trough.
Cuu,sri, curl, carr, curl, cu-cs.."
And the roosters, and the hens, and
the chickens, running at the familiar
sound, crowded around her, while she
emptied for them her apron which she
held aloft by the two corners, and in
which she had put two or three hand
fuls of barley.
Strange, capricious girl!
The great trouble was, that her faith
er had brought her up badly; she was
his only daughter, and had been
allowed to have her way in everything;
and she, knowing her advantage, made
the most of it. A good husband would
really have been agreeable to her, and
several had presented themselves, but
| she had found some fault, or raised
some objection, until now there was
not a dog that would offer himself, as
was maliciousiy whispered among her
| friends.
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