Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-17
OUTDOOR LIFE In NAPLES.
Beneath the Soft Moonlight of Italy's
Skies.
Mary J. Holmes Tells of the NeapOli-
tan's Love for His Sunny Skies
and Moonlight Bay.

where the public promenades, streets. and
lanes literally swarm with people from
early morning until late at night, and
often from late at night until early in the
morning Especially is this true when the
weather is fine and the moon is shining
ON the bay, dotted with sails and flags and
the tall masts which repeat themselves IN
the water, until they look like a city re-
fected from the depths of the sea.
Low in the social scale as a Neapolltan
may be, he has in his nature a strong love
for the beautiful and picturesque, and
would much rather spend his nights
beneath the soft moonlight, looking out
upon the sea and listening to the plaintive
songs his fellow-waichers sometimes sing
than to spend them in the close dark quart
ers he calls his home, and which is often
little better than a cave scOoped In the
hillside. In these dens or holes | am told
that men, women and children frequently
crawl prom1scuously with their dogs and
donkeys, if they hold such property, just
the tombs which they have plundered and
and similar places they emerge In the
morning, unwashed and uncombed and it
would seem at times undressed, but quite
In the Toledo, or Via Roma, which in
tersects the city from north to south
A STRANGE MEDLEY OF PEOPLE
is seen, which increases in size and
strangeness as the day goes on and reach
es its climax near midnight. Here, and
in the side streets, peddlers of all kinds
are found, thrustlng upon your notice their
wares, and asking three or four times as
much as they expect to get. Coral orna-
ments of very inferior quality bits of
lava which Vesuvius never saw; shell
combs, which are not shell at all, and
which, if you are foolish enough to buy
them, either break the first time you use
them, or cling to your hair pertinacity of
which the shell is never guilty; fans and
are g lad to get one; horns and canes and
photographs, width every kind of fruit
which grows in the tropical climate. Then
come the news boys with their tattered
trousers, their bare feet, and bright.
at their business And when tht days
traffic is over and darkness has settled in
the corners of the streets, you will see NOV
ing here and there, like great fre-hies.
the lanterns of the Trovatori, who are out
on their night mission hunting for the
ends of cigars or whatever else may have
been thrown away OF dropped accidentally,
and with which, when arranged upon a
tray or board, they expect to drive a
hourishing trade the following day. and
earn perhaps, a franc, which makes them
for the time persons of wealth and i'm
portance.
On Monday and Friday some of the
streets in one old part of the town present
most curious and animated appearance
RAG FAIR
is In progress, and after the infinite
amount OF laughing and gesticulating and
frequent quarrelling a great quantity of
old clothes changes hands, the style and
quality of the garments varying according
to the grade of the first owners There,
held high at arms length the better to
display It's beauties, Is, perhaps a faded
pink satin gown which, in the days of its
freshness was tralled across the board of
San Carlo, but which has fallen so low as
to be offered for sale in the street. while
side by side with it is a battered stove
pipe hat, bearing inside the name of some
American manufacturer; and if YOU STAY
long enough in this vicinity you may rec
ognize the old bonnet which YOU gave
your chambermaid few days ago, and
which has found it way to this market for
goods.
Following the broad quay of the Strada
Guova, with its plats of grass and flowers.
you come to pretty garden near the sea,
where there is quite as animated a scene
as that presented at the Rag fair, though
entirely different. Here IN the afternoon
public readers may be found reciting and
expounding passages from Tasso. and
Dante, and Virgil, and other poets to a
mixed class of people, who listen with as
much interest as if they had never gather
ed cigar ends ii the streets by night or
sold gowns and ponnets by day. They
are peculiar people, these Neapolitans,
full of trickery and deceit, and full, too.
of enthusiasm and love of poetry and ro-
nance, and from the scanty profits of the
morning they gladly pay in the evening a
few contestant for the privilege of listen
ing to extracts from the poets dead long
ago, but of whom they are very proud.
Wherever there is a crowd the Guack
doctor appears, proclaiming the virtues
of his nOstrums, which he generally man
ages to sell, and if he chances to be an ex-
tractor of teeth free of charge and with
out pain, his customers are legion. and
each customer buys bottle of some kind
of drug for which he pays more than reg
ular dentist would have charged to ex-
tract the aching tooth.
But it is, after all, on the broad quay
of st. Lucia, and in the barrow streets di-
veroing from it that you see
THE BUsTLING OUTDOOR LIFE
in perfection Here the petty tradesmen
bring out and festoon the sides of their
dlngy little shops with heterogeneous
mass of dry goods and other commodi-
ties-boot- jacks and masks and spoons.
tables spreads, aprons and curtains, until
the street reminds you of bazaar in
Alexandria, which, 1t is said must be seen
to be believed in, and cannot always be be-
heved in when seen. Near the open door
the only means of admitting Ii ght to the
shop-sits the shopkeeper, frequently a
woman, with a scaldina under her chair.
if it is winter, and an umbrella over her
head IT it Is summer. And not far from
her another woman has brought her wash
tub to the front and is doing the month 5
washing. which will soon be hung to dry
on lines fastened from window to window
above the curtains and aprons and table
spreads. on which will drip little streams
of dirty water, not very conducive to the
good looks of the articles dripped upon
Further on third old woman has set up
her stove preparatory to a bake or boil
and the fumes of fish and meat and mac
caroni soon fill the air and drive you on to
where other women, later risers than the
cooks and the laundress and shopkeeper,
are making their own and children s
tOletteS. with an utter fOruetfulneSs or dis