Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-20
Street Scenes and Sights in
Valetta--Maltese Women.
WAKEM ANS WANDERINGS.
LeTantine CHARACTERIZATION Winter Resi-
dents and the Church OF st. John.
The Charming Ways OF the
Women of Malta.
Copyright, 1852, by Edgar L. wakemanI

4 eflQO, the LhlOlQS OF aIlenS LUe
| Boulevard de La RepubIique of Algiers, and
then remove from this conglomerate some
OF its Berber and Oriental aspects, you
would secure an excellent likeness to The
| impression you gain from the colorful
| scenes OF every day life and its activities in
the chief city of Malta
The constant presence Of the British
soldiery, the splendid, luxur1ant and some
times wantonly extravagant displays Of
| the government. officials and garrison
| officials with endless parades and reviews,
| alone give the place extraordinary life and
| activity. IS every native inhabitant of the
| islands is an adherent of the Roman Catho-
lIc faith, priests and students clad in
| priestly garb are never absent from sight;
while the professionals are of an extraordi-
nary number and frequently characterized
| by the greatest splendcr.
Every day, and often many times day,
| the huge passenger steamers of the Med
| iterranean discharge hosts of tourists here
| Thousands during the winter months are
on their way to and from Egypt, Australia
or India. Thousands more are merely
Mediterranean travellers. Nearly all are
| here but for a day, but the accesslonS are
| ceaseless, and their members comprise
| people OF every nationally. These are
| anxious to see much in little time, and with
their chatter in all tongues, craning heads
and enthusiastic faces, heighten and
| thoroughfares.
Then in all this singular and unique med
| ley there are odd trifes for interest and
study ceaselessly passing before you, or
| forming distinct bits OF color and antique
| in the strange and curious settings. Bare
footed sellers of delicious Maltese oranges,
which hide no less than nectar beneath
their thin red skins, dart through the
| streets with their melOdic cries and their
| endless "Sa-has!n or Good mornings !"
whatever the time of day, the most agile
| and alert human beings you ever beheld.
Groups of watermen struggling to their
| homes beyond F'loriana. redolent of harbOr-
side toll and traffic, gaily nod and smile and
chant as they move within the throng.
Here a bevy of bright-faced middies, with
the roll and swagger of old sea salts, but
with the greatest decorum, look in this
shop and that with respectful curiosity, al
WAYS forming pleasant groupings,
and now and then touching a SYM
pathetic cord in your heart as mem
bers of the band straggle behind to
peer into the faces Of the tourists with an
eager, hungry look, as if with a faint hope
of recognizing friends or relatives from
the far-away home. Officers from men-of
war, smileless and critical, and interested
chiefly in the great fortitiCatonS, pass and
repass constantly. They have tolerative
sort of bearing, and the look IN their faces
plainly tells the wonders their battle ships
might accomplish even against Malta should
they ever chance to attempt breach in its
walls.
Solemn Turkish travellers and mer-
chants, viewing everything askance, as
though they remembered the Turkish heads
La Valette once blew back from cannons'
mouths into the ranks of the besiegers, as
reprisal, suddenly appear, whisk along for
q moment, and as suddenly are missing.
Algerian Jews, often with their beautiful
wives and daughters, rich in robes and
splendid Jewels, sweep past with truly
regal bearing. Well they may, for with
the French in Algeria they are gaining
great wealth from the vast tobacco planta-
tons of Mascara. and they bring their
finest cargoeS to Malta, where the cheapest
and best cigars in the world are made by
the deft Maltese, who feel that they are
rolling in wealth if they receive for one
years labor what would sustain the Ameri-
can cigar-maker for only one month.
With all these will be half naked Greek
and Sicilian sailors chattering and gesti-
culating wildly. COwled monks move
noiselessly along. Shopmen rush from
place to place to secure what their Gus
toners desire without losing them while
in the purchasing mood. Hawkers of lava
bijouterie and lace plead and wrangle with
tourists. Military bands are going and
coming filling the air with English, Scot
fish and Irish melodies. While adding to
4 the eXhilarating clamor of the town are
heard all the tongues of all nations,
and above these the changing of countless
cbaECh bells. These are never rung. They
ladre 4ways hammered with emulous STAG
catE as though each bellman were envious
Mountaineering all others. The bells are
aheyer silent from mathis to the angeluS
hour of evening. Even after that time
they often break out as though they had
got loose from restraint and were deter
mined to enjoy 4 night of it-as all humans
seem to do here in the soft and languorous
air.
Indeed, Valetta is never silent save in the
early morning hours. Then it is like a city
of the dead; but always sweet and cool and
winsome. At that time if you are abroad
alone, the silent churches, the huge au-
berges, the tremendous ramparts, the vast,
archways, the dim portcoes and the
shadowy balconies seem to whisper anetv
their tales of romance old, their mysteries
Of chivalrous and knlghtly days.
But soon from this patio, from that mar
row thoroughfare, another silent archway,
from huge barred doors that open and close
with a startling click, come funereal FORMS,
clad IN somber black. They glide aloug
with bowed heads. Their adve% has BEEN
so sudden and their number q At once so
great that you are filed with surprise and
dismay. But these do not remain. For
soft and delicate hand, as if by accident,
with a swift motion changes the folds of
the faldetta, and the pretty faces of half a
thousand Maltese maidens and matrons are
one by one for moment turned roguishly
or kindly to yours. Then you realize that
the faithful fair of Naletta are on their
way to early mass, and you stand there,
hat in hand, yourself a reverent wor-
shipper, mentally blessing one and all for
their piety and pretty, gracious ways.
These Maltese women are among the
pleaSantest Of their sex, both as to the
physical attractiveness and winsomeness OF
sfnahner and character. They are as a rule
s6ut are very perfect as models of proportion
and natural grace. Their carriage is
superb. They possess an assurance which
is never holiness, with modesty untainted
with prudery. Their feet, hands and heads
are very small; their faces round rather
than oval; their eyes and mouth are large
and expressive, and there is an upward,
confdiug and expectant look in their faces
that is very winsome-at least TO men.
They are not generally intellectual, but,
better still, they are contented home
makers, and are like birds Of song in all the
homeSide joys. They mate early, being
mothers at fourteen and grandmothers az
thirty, kwhen they are still youthful and |
eharmyhg. During the reign of the |
Knights quite an ariStocracy of wealth and |
Roelity for so small an area and population |
Spraug up in the islands, which continues
TO this day, and the Maltese women of this |
class are types of the greatest beauty and |
elegance. As the men of the middle and |
lower classes are noted for docility, thrift, |
frucality aud many other excellent virtues, /