The morning call., 1890-05-25
ANOTHER PICTURE
FROM ITALY
A Graphic Pen and Ink Sketch of
the Life of the Peasantry.
How the Tillers Of the Soil Manage to Exist.
Net Permitted to Own a Farm They Guild
Not Buy One II They Wanted To.
Special to THE MORNING CALL.

ancient lectia or litter OF the Romans,
and partly on The backs Of tiny donkeys OF won
drous shagginess and marvellous power, have /
come. during the nearly two weeks since leaving
Naples In d ZigZag course of about 400 miles,
across The inirequeutly Travelled, little known
ever weird aud lonely, yet always transcendently
beautiful peninsula of Southern Italy.
This territory IS that OF olden Apula. Once
II was part OF q 8cia Magma. Its great cities
were Arpinum, Euceria. Arpi and Canusium. In
the little lime was wandering through Apulia |
counted upward of 800 castles, modern medieval
and In ruins, strikingly recalling lie splendOr
and decay OF Ireland: stood among the remaining
relics OF Canine, where the Romans met their
crushing defeat Of b. C. PIG, and where the his
tore city was finally destroyed in 1883, by ROD
ert Guiscard, one OF TasSO's heroes; saw Bari
upon the Adriatic, SIN famous, in the time OF
Horace, for Its FISH, and lOltercd in the ancient
abbey and church OF 81. Necolo, where are found
the paintings Of OF the earliest Italian
masters. Fiyaiinl, and where, in 1898, Pope
Urban III held the famous council which sought
TO reconcile the Church OF Greece with that of
Rome tramped with Il genuine Italian tramp
tie hrSt and only one OF The spccieS OF which |
have ever had knowlrdge-acro' the Campi
etetls, where trifie OF 2l5O years since FRO
consul Tloe.lus SemprOnius Gracious fell VIC
II m 10 his previous and premature confidence In
the willy Lucanian Fiayus, into PUtenza, where
an earthquake, In 1857 Ia an instant mauufact-
ured over 1000 fieakS ana bsggars from
puiatons consequent upon wounds; passed
Norman sovefeisns. to the extinct volcano,
Monte Vulture, Inc Apuiian Vullure" OF HOr-
ace, whose crater, oyergr0wn with gigantic oaks
ana eeeches, now contains two lakes, percned
above one OF which Is the most eerie monastery
OF Europe possibly excepting
MoNsERRAT, IN SPAIN,
md from whose walls l could discern the blue
waters OF the Mediterranean on ihe west ana
those OF The Adriatic ON the east; thence came
with several hundred returning iowIy pilgrims
camping with them by the roadside AT night
into TsranIo, The ancient TareGtum OF the
Greeks, whose wUGdrous wealth gave it fatal
luxury and III time horror disgrace and ruin
when, In 2U9. the Romans Dlundered Ii and
sold 10000 OF lis people into slavery; and
finally crossing The eastern mountain range
of OiIanlo Oh foo. had tbs pleasure of SET
ting my substantial American sole-eather for an
eAblia' altng tramp OF ten Italian miles upon the
same Appian Way, leading frOm Rome TO Capna,
ana nom CaIua 10 BilndiS, which stenturian
valrdictOlians nave so many times vocferou>Iy
tiod, feeling Tar more satisfied With my own dAy
aGd lime than could have even 50 distinguished
predecessor as Horace when, In the train OF
M8eeiias, be tagged along the same stony road
10 secure a literary SCOOP" at the conclusion OF
certain famous alliance between Augustus aud
Antony AT Iarentum.
But one has opportunity in this sort of loiter-
ing 10 see 2O0u years luis side of the myths
heroes ana sayagely OF q time our classics have
mysuclsed, deiiird and glOrified. You feel like
suing win tile carrettaJo As his cart and OK or
mule are BaiiluR by tile fountain; climbing TO
the shTlnes with the dusty pilgrims; waiting by
tue montatolo or mounting block with the beg
gars al way>ide inns; making all SORTS OF ex-
cuSeS to get into The interior of cabins for
draughts OF acqua dt latte aud nanfa, the butter
mix and orange wafer, which you can always
get IN The ceuHtry for i've Sod. or one American
cent; winding along the craggy ways with lie
pecore and his fiocks; becoming The com
paHlun OF the ylgnajO or Vine-,ireSser at his
ScorchIng toll the slltiiBg VINEYARDS;
tfudging at the side OF the plowman at Ell tle odd
procession IN the fields; and close to every man.
net OF Ia9orins loWly, TO get near to the heart
tirobs Vi each and all OF these that you may know
they are human like your This is the only
way 10 Know Italy or any country. ThDse who
only see America Oh the New York avenues,
London along Rotten Row. Milan at the Scala
Florence at the CaSctne, Rome in the Corso and
Naples along the Chiaja, never see or know of
the brouZed and toiliug hosts who produce the
magnItcenee OF which they are part. But even
II II be vulgar and common, my heart turns TO
these In every land; andl confess that cnntenl-
platon OF the dumbness patience and sunniness
OF lie while slaves OF Soul hern Italy, from which
the entire Italian Kingdom draws its greatest
iood as well as military supply, fills me with a
feeling Of the
DEEPEST AND MOST PATHETIC TENDERNESS.
SO far as have been able 10 ascertain by the
most painstaklng Inquiry, there are no peasant
farmers in all Italy. L doubt II there are 1000
small laud holders In the entire Kingdom. /
refer, OF course, 10 land TILED as farms. olive
and orange groves aud Vineyards. Whatever
may he The fortune of The ambitious lOwly in The
larger Italian cilirs, the feudal arisToeracy
fendal noblemen, the feuual eccIesiastic ben
efices, and The still almost feudal Government,
own and are determined never TO reiinqulsh
every square Inch OF Italian soil the sun of
heaven shines on. GLAND would be sold to the
peasantIy On my terms; This Is an unwritten
ih'SNS'NS4S
single peasant or any combination of peasants
10 ever secure sufficient means TO purchase a
tract OF land score of combinations on the part
OF Tilted arIstoeratlc or ecclesiastlc land
holders would be ready to purchase at
ANY an pse hands 10 keep bI ,Se ef q Ss low
equivalent in the italian language for the werd
farm. Tie dictionaries define farm as "attitto."
''allOgamento'' VILLA" etc. The very essence
OF the first two OF these words is something fixed.
fastened, retained, but hired out A score of
times have endeavOred To make Italian PEAS
| ua of
| Gods green earth, lncluulng America. where
even such as tbey could absolutely own, solely
possess. irTeyOcaDly hold, the home above them
and the sou Oh which II stood. Their lips
| parted; drawn, sad stuls came into their
| paIehment-ilke faces; aud their eyes rolled up
ward expressive OF the hopelessness Of their
effort at comprehension. The black men OF the
South, twenty five years before the war, were
clearer sociology Than these. The serfs OF
| Hannibal. lie helOts of the elden Celtic septs
| had quicker, keener spirit OF men. and more OF
| The virile blood which demands and commands
| possession.
| Again, were these not absolutely remorseless
| combinations OF landed capital an usurmounta-
bic bar 10 The requirements Of any portDu OF The
| SOL by lie lowly Italian rnstico, his condition
| would sill be equally as hopeless. No human
| being who labors In the fields OF Italy could. by
| any manner OF deprivation approaching siarya-
| ton, save SUFFICIENT money in the course OF his
| entire natural fife TO purchase enough land in
| which to decenily lay the bones of his own
| family. he Government provides in lie Campo
| Santo OF every village, town and city hole for
Lhe bones and quieklnne 10 consume them; be-
4
| ner OF land holding task-masters have kept him
| In such an equable and
CONSTANTLY CONSUMING
Condition OF poverty that this sort OF an equiya-
| leDI is regarded kindly, well as a hyH1enic,
measure of Bnal justice. One Italian soldo Is
| equal 10 one-hith OF an American cent. Through
| ont all southern lialy The wages OF shepherds,
| cartmen, yiBe-dres-ers, gTape-gaIherers, piow.
men, aud every manner OF iaboring counfrymau,
average 30 solid, or 16 cents per day Out of
this IS cents ger day, which Is not securabe for
| more than half The days OF The year, the Italian
| IustJeo pays The rent OF his capanna or howell,
| feeds and clothes his family, pays.al manner OF
| outrageous petty impO. zione or taxation. and.
aggregatiyciy, The difference between the
| peasantfy OF Ireland and OF Italy is this:
The Irish superior race despolled of
| glorious originally possessed Establishments,
| Wrhhing under soddeB, fmilacabe, unredressed
| wrong. Italian peaSantry were never else than
| serfs and whatever exceptional Individual heart
| bufnngs may be, as a class are incapable OF
| stDtng The loss OF conditions and heritage of
| which they have never been deprived A
| MaSantello or Garibald. fired by gleamings of
| lie outer worlds retiexiye intelligence may
| every TWO or three centuries rise fiom among
| fishermen, sailors or city lazzaroni and cayOrI
| about for time AS "liberator'; but these poor
| cattle upon TWO legs have come TO know have
ever stood aud will ever stand still In their Ital.
| Ian Gelds and novei-Tnangers s, and with radiant
| grateful eyes lick the hands which dole them
| lusks-the only fruit OF their lab0rs they were
| ever allowed 10 know.
| All Southern Italy is extraordinarily pastoral
| IN landscape and character OF husbandry; and
outside a few OF the coast cities the entire popu-
| iaton are practically peasant lzbOrers, shep-
| herds, vineyard iaborers and workers In the
| betds. The olive, orange, grape and dale palm
| aie cultivated everywhere at the edges OF viz
| lagos and gu sunny mountain slopes; but the
| larger portion OF Ibe land is employed In the
| growing Of small grains and corn. / have yet 10
discover, save in The north, where the landscape
| paTtakes OF Alpine diversity and Tuggeduess
| those splendid and poetcal combinations viii
| which so many word painting enthusiasts seem
lmpie ssed. In detail IL Is nowhere so EN- joyable
| as that Of old England, New England, or any OF
| thousand localities we know IN our own loved
| land. Here and there, as IN Spain, are little
spots oil surprising loyeiiness; but stu, as in
| Spain, Tue general lace of The country hints of
sadness and drearinrss; impels feeling that it
| is worn out, burned out, lived out; forces con-
| seriousness that
| THE sun HAS EATEN IT'S HEART
Away; and one IS pursued by broBding, onln-
Gus, indeiinable conviction that with the eternal
| flies beneath and the ever-blaZiug sun above
| the arid crust must shortly give out and with
/ the Yacnous LIE OF tie lnsensaIe humane