Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-04

riages from Florence to Vallombrosa's gates.
THE CHARCOAL BURNERS.
At Tosi looked up the mountain and
saw away to the right, and above where 1
knew the monastery lay, lines Of blue smoke
in ieathery pencilings against the dark green
OF the massed mountain frs.
Those are the carbonari. They never
leave the mountain, save on feast days"
said kindly carrettsjo. "When they come
to Tosi ior wine and oil, they are SO black
and dreadful our children run and hide.
But they do not harm"
So. with vagarous impulse Of adventure.
turned aside from the paved mountain
way, and, with the cartman's son for q
guide, sklrted the mountain, coming in a
two hours tramp through dense forests Of
beech, chestnut and pine, with here and
there blackened opening where trees had
already been burned, or sunny space,
where sportsmen and shepherds snare
the mountain birds, came to charcoal
burners camp, and was Hospitality received
for the night. These carbonari form dis
tlnct class among the mountains of Italy.
They generally live in the villages, the wife
and daughters engaging in the vineyards,
gathering olives or chestnuts, and often an
shepherdesses with small focks. The
fathers and sons go from one forest to an
other as the owners desire charcoal made.
NIGHT IN THE CAMP.
The landlord secures the telling and cut
ting of the trees, and the carbonaro simply
attends to building and firing the pyres
and watching day and night their
smoldering progress. In this labor
the sons share, and regular watches are taken.
The logs are stood on end in round piles
of perhaps 18 feet in diameter, covered and
chinked with mossy earth and then fired in
central hollow which has been filled with
chips of dry timber, fir cones, chips from the
logs and dead leaves and grass. Once we'll
ablaze, this flaming tunnel is covered with
moss and earth, and the pile is then lett to
shoulder for five or six days. When reduced
to carbone or charcoal, the carbonaro de-
livers it to the owner, packed in sacks, two
sacks comprising donkey load, for which
he receives about 10 cents, or about 81 for
each burning, yielding 40 sacks.
At this camp, an unusually large one,
score or more carbonari were at work; and,
as the burning was to be for an extended
period, some six or eight of the carbonari
had built temporary huts and had removed
their entire families te the forest. This gave
life and picturesqueness to the scene,
especially at night. A few iron cressets
had been fastened to the tree TRUNKS, and the
weird colorings to the motley groups of
women with dazzling teeth and eyes, and
men grimy and swarth beyond all desorip-
tion.
MELODY IN THE SHADOWS.
could not repress the feeling that was
ct my old wanderings with my Gypsy
friends again; and as the night gathered
close its sable wing over the majestic forest
trees above, and, one by one some
strange instrument OF music was produced
from the shadowy huts, while melody and
dancing added their fascination to the wild,
strange scene, thousand recollections Of
days with the Rommany swept back on
Pratomagno's darkened heights. Deeper
still grew this feeling as I was shown to a
couch of fir branches for sleep. 1t came not
for hours, for in the gentle soughing of the
frs, the calls of the watchers to each other,
and here and there through the camp, sup
pressed tones of melody, as those who
watched grouped together and reassuringly
sang low and soft the stornelli of Italy, I
was with my loved vagabond friends by
their witching camp fires in my own loved
land
When the morning came, after a break
fast of pan unto, bread fried in olive oil,
and many kindly "addio" and "valel'
from my grimy hosts, 1 found my own way
back to Tosi. On such June morning as
that in which 1 journeyed, the songs Of
birds, the Eolian music of forest breezes, so
bew1tch one all the way from Tosi, that
suddenly and without warning you are at
the enchanting mountain eerie of Vallom-
brosa.
THE MONASTERY TO-DAY.
The spot itself comprises but few acres
Of level meadow, through which runs long
avenue of stately trees. At the end of this
avenue stand the lichened and gray old
buildings. On one side of the sunny open
ing miles on miles of frs rise in serried
ranks to the very top of Pratomagno; on the
other, thousands Of chestnut trees glow in
their golden foliage. Behind and above,
hosts of sturdy beeches climb the mountain.
There are still standing n, 1000, planted BY
the busy priors' hands.
The monastery itself is huge quadrangle
lar structure, with spacious inner courts.
The ancient church, completely robbed OF
its former treasures of paintings-save an
Assumption by Franceschini, and the cupola
frescoes by Fabbrini-stands in the center
of the courts. Its massive square tower rises
grim and lone above the half-deserted build
ings. Perhaps score OF folk, professors,
students, signalbureau agents and govern
ment foresters, who act as sort of mountain
police about the.sequestersd property, abide
here, surly, inhospitable, and as if dog
gedly conscious of the sacrilege in their
pretencs of scholastic life. The old
.Monastry bell still sounds the hours, but
it speaks only to silence and decay. The
great water basins which held the monks
trout preserves are filled with dead leaves.
The wondrous old kitchen, q mighty trun-
Gated cone, where, swinging from huge
turnspit, the oxen once were roasted, is cob
webbed, cold and freless. The Metata,
where an hundred cows were kept, is unten-
anted. Paradisino, the ancient hermitage
on the cliff above the monastery, with its
celle, tower and church are stripped, and
transformed into hayloft. The half-ruined
mill, underneath which rushes the Vicano,
is deserted and still. Marvellous indeed
is it.
NOTATION FOR MUSIC.
In this cell which now STRIPPING student
makes his camara da letto, the good monk
Guido originated the modern method of no
tation in music. In these larger rooms re-
posed at different times the noble forms of
Emperor Conrad IL, Empress Gisela, the
Abbess Ita, Countess Ermellina, of San
Pietro Igneo after being triumphant in his
ordeal of fame, Of Popes Victor IL, Alex
ander II. and w., Innocent H., Pascal Ii.
and Leo *, of Beato Tesoro Beccaria, the
martyr, and that grandest type of all Italian
culture and chivalry, Lorenzo the Magnif-
cent. Christophano Landini, the celebrated
commentator of Dante, made Vallombrosx
his haunt. The famous botanist, Buono
Faggi, Mattio Bandello, BoccacIo's rival in
letters, and Berni, the brilliant humorist,
all lived and meditated at the hospitabls re-
treat
Dream among its cloisters and groves as
long as you may, and then go your way
fo ha rria