Morning journal and courier., 1892-04-09
wAKEMAN,s wANDERINGs.


italian Fishermen-A Striking Con-
Irast TO the Italian Peasant-Majes.
tic sluggards with Gargantuan
Stomachs and Amazing Capacity
for Sleep-Their Wives The Real
Toilers-Home Life and Supersti.
tions.
CHIoeaIA, Italy, March 10.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND CouRIKR:
The vast difference between acquired
and natural knowledge, between cultivated
and natural comprehension, between pas
sion and emotion, between impulse and
feeling, is never more apparent than when
one turns from the contemplation of in
land Italian peasant character to that of
the italian fishermen.
The first has nature in his labor on the
hillside with his focks, in the vineyard
where he carries his hamper of ripe grapes
from the vines to the presses, or driving
his herbage or flower laden donkeys through
the sweet and sunny wales; but it is nature
loving and protecting; nature without
menace or danger; and nature which gives
the sense of peace that dulls apprehension
and clothes responsibility with delight.
This man is creature of childish joys and
childish passions; of quick, hot temper
and easily dried tears; of ardent and fleet
ing loves; of varied and variegated tastes;
and of ambitions ending in gorgeous attire
on fiesta days. In short he is very har-
lequin of wish, thought and feeling. You
love him but you fear him and never trust
him, only through your knowledge of the
logical sequences of his character.
But down from the sunny hillsides and
away from the tender Wales, over the salt
marshes and gray sands to the sea, you
can in few hours feel the change of nat
ural environment which has been for CEN
turies crystalizing the italian fisherman
into a creature of almost another race.
The sky is as bright above him, but his
hut is on the shifting sands. The sea is
blue and tender beneath him, but anon it
crushes what it cherishes. His joys mask
eternal menace and his outlook is toward
the infinite.
The type of Italian fishermen common
to poetry, painting and song has all the
beribboned, earringed and half brigandish
look of the inland peasant; and the type
exists, in port, convenient to pose for trav-
cling dilettanti. But this sort of an Ital-
ian fisherman is a creature who has had
his origin in discomfort with inland envi
ronment or in the scourging of poverty in
overcrowded towns. The real italian fish
Il, a of% %ka ahnya and tha
sea with centuries-inherited and death
less love for the wilderness, the danger,
the loneliness and the very meagerness of
his calling.
He illustrates the influence of all that
is grand and solitary in nature upon hu-
man character and physiognomy. The
naturally large eyes of the italian race
are In him robbed of their metallic and
cunning sparkle and given depth, soft
ness and deliberate melancholy of re-
gard. They slowly turn upon You as If
reluctant to leave the objects of their
endless contemplation. Their walk is
measured and unconsciously dignifed,
and their very smile and speech are grave
and melancholy. Their home loves are
deep, expressionless but deathless. Their
grief under the ever recurring tragedies
of the sea is resigned and almost eIpec-
tant. And their hearts are ever un-
swervingly devout and fervent, as If they
came closer through their heritage of
danger to the very personality of all that
which they deity.
Every fisherman and every isherman's
male offspring are forever consigned by
themselves, each other and all that love
them to the protection of the "Mother of
God" Prayer, invocation and supplica-
ton are ceaselessly on the lips of every
soul that bidee besides these italian shores
to get their living and their death by the
sea.
The Italian fisherman has in his life
none of the trivial concerns that occupy
the hearts of the inland peasant His
hut, usually one room, with smoke-dark-
ened ceiling and rough, shell plastered
walls and floor, is as austere in its ap-
pointments as a monks cell. No orna-
ment or decoration more gaudy than a cru
cifx or tiny shrine, or cheap engraving
of the thorn-crowned head of Christ or
the Mater Dolorosa adorn its walls.
There are rude goat-skin covered couches
of dried sea-weed; the heavy benches along
the wall, behind the heavier table with its
sunken places in which to set the bowls
and mugs for food; and stout chestnut
pegs set in the mortar walls for nets and
clothing.
There are three-legged wooden stools at
either side of the fireplace. This is sim
ply an open space left in the inside wall
crossed by stout iron rod, from which
are suspended half dozen pots by hooks,
the fire of sea-weed and driftwood being
only lighted when required for cooking.
There are often one or two windows which
have no glass, but are covered with bit
of goat-skin or sail-cloth in inclement
weather The floor Is covered with gem
erous layer of sand, which is ceaselessly
being renewed for cleanliness.
The fisherman himself does no work
ashore beyond the mere care of his boat,
if he is so fortunate as to own one. The
moment his boat is sighted by the women
folk they all run pellmell to the waters
edge to take the sails and gear, with the
nets and fish and the wet clothing, drag
ging them with oil speed to the hut where
the fish are cleaned and salted and packed
in layers with sea-weed for market or
home consumption. Their food consists
of this fish. usually cut in small pieces
and boiled in a sort of thick soup with
such simple condiments as their slender
means can procure, black bread and cheap
sour wine.
On rare holiday occasions they may have
onions roasted in the ashes, macaroni
fried in oil something like doughnut. If
unusually we'll o-do, goat or two will be
among the family possessions, and then
and the older ones their balls of rich
cheese for the holiday feast, or for offer
ings to the village padre.
resemblance to his inland brother. He
xr,aoro @ Govt of GraaE-1ika fupic s1aeya-