Wichita eagle., 1890-02-27


s;That man down there under the green um-
brella is selling It, and, . she added, that's
the best place In the city to get it."
'sCould you eat any now, 90 soon after
breakfastg' queried.
The glance she CAV, ne might be trans
lated into English by :. ~ bet. )" and she or
dered a sous worth Of socca, taking good
care not to be cheated either in quantity or
quality. It was served us On snali piece OF
coarse brown paper.
Socca is the favorite dish of the .Nicois
working people It is made from the meal OF
chick peas, which is mixed with water until
paste is formed Then eggs are beaten into
it. and the whole is poured into huge round,
shallow platter, well covered with olive oil
and baked in an oven or over hot TIRE. 1t
is cooked along the streets and in the market
square over charcoal stoves. This, with
half dozen other similar dishes, a few varie-
ties of fish, cheese, fruit, nuts especially
chestnuts) bread and the wine Of the region,
constitute the food of an ordinary working
mans family. They never eat meat. 1t Is
too dear And, it may be added. the Nicols
in easy circumstances eIpcnd very little OF
the table.
We ate the socca as we picked our way
through the narrow streets down TO the
market. Here was a busy and curious scene
A large square occupied by perhaps two hun
dred women who cried their wares or coaxed
US in all the patois of southern France and
northern Italy to buy their flowers, or fruits,
or vegetables, or snails, or chestnuts, or game,
OF cakes, or sardines, or what not. The small
boy was on hand to secure his share Of onion
tops and cast Off fruit, to guy the vender OF
socca and get the scraps in case there was
remnant, to tease the fortune tellers rooster,
that wise bird that knows how to select from
the many tinted bits Of paper on bis mistress
stand the one that just fits each case-price,
two cents. Lively turkeys tied together by
the legs, easy going motherly hens, sprightly
rabbits, and tuneful birds Clipped in to COM
plete the hubbub of the closing hour OF the
market.
The flowers Of Nice are something marvel
GUS. It is only few years since their culh-
walton and sale formed what might be called
an industry here. Now, however thanks to
the efforts OF the Nicois author, Alphonse
Karr, flower trade has been built up which
supports many hundreds Of people, and, it is
said. brings 500, 600 annually into the town.
In the market they are sold very cheaply, as,
in fact, is almost everything else there.
From the market followed my guide home
with the basket. We lodged through crooked
old alleys between tail stone houses and past
1nultitudes of poor little shops. Cobblers,
coopers, chair members wool bleachers, looked
up from their small pieces Of work and nod
ded to the child as she fitted by. Now and
then we thrust our heads into n dark hole
where q few bottles dimly outlined on a
el,o % ;J,o,y
up near the entrance announced that wines
were sold there. Here was a candy store. A
dollar would have cleaned it ont and paid the
rent for month. There few bits of cheap
pottery, OF e dozen pine cones, or three or
four handfuls of snails. or small basket of
sardines, constituted the entire stock of a
merchant and possibly the entire support of
a family.
At length we turned into lane so narrow
that the roofs of the stone buildings met
across it, and began to climb the hill. The
ascent was broken at short intervals by low
steps, The brick pavement was perfectly
clean, but the air was chill and damp. Not a
gieam of sunlight found its way there. A rat
darted across the path before US. There was
a grewsome aspect to the rooms into which
we peered. They looked like rows of tombs.
They were so black that faces within could
not be distinguished; only couple of gisten-
ing eyes here and there told that the occu-
pants were alive. The weirdness of the place
was beginning to weigh upon me- The market
girl was turning into asprite, when suddenly
she pushed open low door and invited me
to enter. 'This is my home, - she said And
she introduced me to her mother very pref
tily. Istared into the aperture. Sure enough,
here was a family; a father, mother and
three children. l stepped inside and the door
swung together Through the cracks in it
ray or two of light struggled But for that
the apartment would have been dark as
night.
found that the father, when he had work,
earned forty or forty-tive cents day. The
mother could make about half that Two
ceDts, as have said, was good days earn
ings for the child for, she explained, she had
to compete with licensed carriers at the mar
ket, almost ell Of whom were Italian women
who could carry heavier weights, and who
could make eight or ten cents during market
hours. Their apartments, or home, COM
prised two rooms, the one on the ground and
a bedroom above. The rent amounted to a
little over a dollar a month. They calcu-
lated that they expended twenty-five or
thirty cents day for food. That was in
the good season, when there was work.
When the father was idle they were obliged
to live more economically. paid the child
for her services and went down into the sun
light and over the river.
Down into the sunlight and over the river,
where hand organs, sweet toned ones, toe,
were going in all the streets, where groups
OF strolling fiddlers and harpists were play
ing before the great hotels, and plaintive
voiced girls were singing under tie palms in
front of the English and Russian villas. The
Nicois were there drinking in the delicious
strains. Their faces spoke their enjoyment.
IN the public garden, where the city and
military bands give concerts six times every
week, more than half the vast audience were
natives If the Nicois, notwithstanding their
pnched lives, are light hearted and even
gay; if they are not without physical vigor,
it is because of their southern sky. It is be-
cause they find relaxation ii music It is
because they stray of on Sundays 10 the hill
sides around and dance away dull care among
the olives and the roses.
MALvIEA j. HOWE