Morning journal and courier., 1890-05-12
Naples ana the Neapolitans.

 plain.
 Naples and the Neapolitans.
 [Italian Correspondence of the New York ob- seryer.l
 It Is often said that Italians are lazy, but my experience throughout Italy contradicts this idea. have seen more idlers and loaf- CTS in the city hall park in New York in one day than have seen in two months of travel in this peninsula. The people are most in- dustrious; the old-time "laEEeroni" are gone, and the common people are full of oocupa- tion, and industrious to degree that com- mands respect. That the moral tone of Ma ples has improved, I would not dare assert, and there are still sights and sounds and odors which offend every sense of the fastidious visitor; but one who has seen London in November, or Baxter street and it's neighbors in New York on any month in the year, would call Naples clean and sweet by comparison. Whatever is in the town Is to be seen, for the whole life of the place goes on out of doo1s, and this is enough of itself to shock sensitive persons, but it makes things very entertaining and amusing to a visitor. Certainly we have laughed more here in week than in months at other places. Hare says that "Nsples has been described as a paradise inhabited by devils, but they are lively and amusing devils-insouciant and idle; good natured and thieving; kind hearted and lying; always laughing except when thwarted, when they will stab their best friends without pang. Almost every body in Naples cheats, but they cheat in as lively and pleasant manner as is compat- ible with possibilities. Nearly all the offici- als peculate, and probably not more than two-thirds of the taxes ever reach the pubic exchequer. If the traveller Is robbed he will never secure redress, for, as in Ireland, 1t would be impossible to obtain evidence, or 1 to find jury sufficiently fearless to convict" Now, all of this bad character is contradlcted l by my experience. The Neepolitans are not | lying, idle, or thieving, and they cheat no ! more than the other nationalities of the globe. The only bad money that l got in 1 Naples was given me by German hotel- { keeper, and as to cheating, the English com- missionaries were match for any native ! Italians who I met As to lying 1t is un1ver- sal practice, if by lying is meant the state. 1 ment of things which arc net true. Some of ! the best people whom know are unable oI Unwilling to tell the truth about themselves, { their families, their friends, and mankind 1T [ general. The bald intention to deceive may | not always exist in these cases, but the truth | is not told, and often the effeot is deception. Until original sin is wiped out, the race will go astray at all periods and in all places ot E it's existence, "speaking lies," and not | much worse In Naples than in London ol [ Chicago.
 l But Naples is entertaining. Crowds gather on the uuays to listen to improvisatori, ano laugh at the skilfully manipulated marion l cites; in the corners and arcades you VII find men and women dictating letters o1
 love or wrath to public scribes; herds o' goats, with jingling bells are driven by the picturesque goatherds to be milked at the door, or on the fifth story staircase, If you
 prefer 1t; the huge two.wheeled. gally paint ed carts, with any number from ten to tWen' ty people crowded in and upon them, dash along over the smooth lava pavement, the driver beating the wretched beast and crack. ing his whip outrageousiy. If he is rebukeo for abusing his horse or ass, his only reply l is, "Why should not beat him, he IS not Christian!" In the churches there are men
 and women praying and confessing at the
 priests window, or as often in front of the confessional or on bench in tho aisle Privacy seems unknown and undesired. Mul
 titudes of boys and girls swarm in the streets
 and squares, lovely in spite of their dirt, ane
 the numbers of finely made and handsome
 men and women cannot be matched Il l any city of the continent. Then, too, ther
 are here the ugliest, and most persistent, ant the vilest begears that infest any part Italy. They solicit, demand, appeal with
 bringing and fawning, or rude and insolen demeanor, that is without parallel. The
 will bless or curse you with volubility an'
 freedom which, until you become accus toned to it, is startling in the extreme. Ga
 rags on the poor, and equally gay clothin on the rich, lend a color and brllltanc
 to crowded streets and fashionable proner
 ades, which is frightened by the souther sun.