The Portland daily press., 1890-09-10
WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPT. 10.
MARIETTA'S IDEAL,
New York Iedger.l

Pohcrasta ran. She had her small
rough table near by, and she PLAYED her
guitar, singing the while to her accom-
paniment. Her entire property consist
Ell OF line already mentioned rough and
rudely painted ta5la, = colored saucer
that stood upon 1t and in which the
passefs by now and thcn dropped coin,
and her guitar-fcr by profession she
was q street singer.
Every morning fond Marietta at her
stand. She placed the empty saucer
upon the table. and taking the guitar
sang from until i o'clock sacred songs,
from 8 o'clocl; until 10 songs from the
best known operas Then from noon
until evening national love songs. Dur
ing the evening she sang miscellaneous
collection of character songs. AS soon
as it grew dark small lamp with a red
shade was lighted and placed upon the
table near the saucer. AS the clock
struck the hour of II Marietta blew ont
her light, drew the strap of her guitar
over her shoulder, emptied the saucer of
its contents into her pocket, and hanging
the lamp on a bracket fastened in the
wall above her stand raised the table to
the top of her head and walked off. Her
nights were spent in the hall of house
which was regularly closed at 10 o'clock.
In this hall a shoe member KEEP his work
ing bench, and it was upon this bench
that Marietta made her bed Marietta
was one of family. Her mother made
her living by selling pocket handker-
chiefs, opera glasses, cigars, spectacles
and any other such things which her
light fingered boys picked from the
pockets of strangers and residents alike.
Mime. Poli understood the business
well, and knew how to keep the boys at
work. But some days trade was not
good and then they had to go hungry.
Once week they all met at the 'grand
promenade" ground. Then Marietta gave
each boy an orange and some chestnuts,
and to the mother some money. Soon
she would leave them and disappear
among the crowd. The boys passed their
nights in boxes, under baskets, or on the
ships in the harbor. At noon they al
ways joined their mother in one of the
"macaroni kitchens" where they de-
livered their wares and fed themselves
upon macaroni cooked in oil, stewed ap-
Piles and fried fish, all of which they pro-
cured for fifty centesimi, and, If bust
ness had been brisk, they would spend
sixty orseventy centesimi. Then they left,
parting each for his place of business.
So lived this family of Polli, whether
it was right or wrong, making the most
of their talents.
Marietta was the most respectable of
them all, for she dressed well, spent her
nights regularly upon her bench, and
also earned quite sum of money. Her
brothers reckoned she must make as
much as three Tires day, during some
parts of the year, and they often Won
dered whittier it could be that she carried
the money, and what became of it.
This was question which puzzled both
mother and brothers, but only in times
of great needs were calls made upon
Marietta's bounty, and then she gave
sparingly, but yet enough.
Marietta's beauty was well known
From her father, who by birth was
Roman, she inherited here wonderfully
fine figure, her clear, broad forehead.
and her beautiful eyes. From her Sici-
han mother, her handsome nose, the
small, firm mouth, and the wealth of
black, curly hair, which blew about her
when she threw back her head in the act
of singing, and the melancholy look
which came into her eyes as she sang,
but which changed into smile if by
chance some passer-by favored her with
bit of money.
With men in general she had little to
say, yet, as she passed along in her sing
ing, her neighbor upon the corner Cwho
sat all day behind a basket of dried
pumpkin seeds, across the top of which
was arranged hoard, upon which were
displayed the seeds would stop u mo-
ment now and then to talk. The pro-
fession of street singer had, even among
her class, a certain social standing, and
she was thought to be q good girl and
had the respect Of ell, many wealthy
family helping her by gift of clothes.
Even the old Principal Dorandi," as he
passed her stand each morning upon his
way to the Palazzo used to speak to her,
and he left her at his death ten hundred
Tires.
Marietta demanded great deal of re-
spect. aud strangers who dared to smile
upon her received only cold looks and
scornful frowns. Even the most hatter-
ing remarks upon her beauty were with
out avail A suitor from the Hotel de
Rome" with his gold braided coat, Was
dismissed with great deal of contempt.
This was occasioned somewhat by Mari
etta's IDEAL. Her great wish, and that
which possessed both heart and mind of
the Neapolitans of her standing, was that
of being proprietor of a one horse coach,
which can be driven through the entire
city, and which both rich and poor alike
might use. Marietta not only dreamed
Of some one who might own one. but
Sunday afternoons, when she did not
sing, she, dressed in her light blue holi-
day dress, with the pale yellow kerchief
and red gold hoops in her pink, shell like
ears, would pay one lire for drive from
one end of the city to the other and back,
being the entire course.
So great was her happiness in this ride
that as she rode along she gazed out as
proud as queen, her eyes sparkling,
and she as joyous as if it were her very
own. Many were the young men who
were pleased with Marietta, and many
were the offers which she rejected on all
sides, for none possessed the one thing
necessary. Whether ell coachmen came
into the world married was question
Marietta often asked herself She dis
played great deal of tact with these
carriage drivers, for 10 sooner had she
taken her seat in the carriage than she
ascertained whether they were married,
and she was in great despair in not be-
ing able TO find one unmarried.
So time passed on, but no driver came
in Marietta's way who wanted to make
her his wife. The much dreaded FIVE
and-twenty years crept nearer AT this
age Italian women begin to lose their
beauty, and Marietta thought with hor-
ror that she could not hope to be an ex-
ception. She knew that when another
year came she could no longer stand at
the street corners without being laughed
at The profession belonged to youth
and beauty alone, and she had no other
way by which to earn her bread. What
should she do? At school she had
never been, and she was not rapid
enough with her hands to procure an
engagement in a factory. Then, too, IN
Naples there are not SO many suchplaces
to be had, and what there were, were
filed by undergrad girls. To be water
carrier was the only thing left, and yet
i'm aVprv caoooJ bo,,ca cO1116 ba fOund