The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-01-15
A FAMILY FEUD.

Those two rival families repeated on q
small scale the discords of the Montagues
and Capulets; only, with due regard to
the civilization of the times, instead of
splitting blood they spilled money. In
stead of dead relatives there had been
many lawsuits, long and entangled; they
went to law for spite, for resentment,
for anger; they kept at law with that
obstinate delight in litigation which is
one of the joys of provincial life. AS
usual it was question of trifles-a
stream of water that had taken wrong
direction; an unruly goat that had
leaped from the field of one into the field
Of the other; some obscure and stupid
potatoes which. spreading themselves
underground, had disregarded the boun-
DIARIES
Upon this showered legal documents.
The lawyers toiled to write in that style
of theirs. the last relic of barbaroTls in
vasions. Judgments ware multiplied.
Lawsuits grew complicated. The two
advocates rubbed their hands for joy, and
from the aspect Of things were sure of
transmitting as a valuable inheritance
those quarrels to their sons. How the
enmity between the Pasquali and the
Dericca families had been caused could
not be clearly learned. Affirnations va
ried on one and the other side. But it
was deep and declared en1nity. Being
neighbors in town and in the country,
they frequently met, looking askance at
each other. The women heard mass in
two different churches. Ii the Dericca
girls wore blue gowns, the Pasquali girls
at once put on pink ones. In the munich
pal council the Pasquali were always
conservative and the Dericca naturally
radical. That which one did the other
would not have done for thousand
scudi. Where one went the other did
not appear.
And then gossip, evil speaking, COM
plants, eagerness for scandal, malignity;
in short, all that outfit of pleasing things
which take place in provincial towns be-
tween two rival families. On top of all
this, Carlo. the eldest son of the Pas
quail, and Maria, the second daughter of
the Dericca, thought it best to fall in
love with each other.
Love in small town has not much
variety; usually it begins in childhood,
continues amid games of blindman's
buff, is apt to manifest itself in social
dancing parties and round games, and is
always ratified by the parish priest and
the mayor. These loves are recognized,
superintendent, established, registered in
the household comings and goings, pro-
tected by grumbling grandfathers and
by priestly uncles; loves without nerves,
without tears, without tendernesses and
fancies; something extremely calm and
slow, the capitalization of love.
But Carlo Pasquali had had the in
comparable fortune to pass, once, a fort
night at Naples. which made him look
with scorn upon provincial customs; and
Maria Dericca, at night by feeble lamp,
had wept over the hapless heroines of
Mastriani, and had envied them in their
fantastic passions; therefore for these
two was required an exceptional love.
First it was furtive glance; softly
murmured word, yet heard with singu-
lar perception by her who should hear
it; carnation pink fallen from a bal
cony by reason of the wind, of course; a
sudden pallor Of his, a sudden blush of
hers; then, by the armed Intervention of
a rogue of fifteen-year-old girl who
came with a fatiron to smooth Marias
linen and the course of true love at the
same ti1ne-a note and brief reply; a
little letter, a long letter and finally
those voltlminous epistles Of eight or ten
sheets of note paper which mark the
highest point of the folly of love.
Alas! The joy of the young people
was brief and sorrow rapidly arrived to
destroy it. They were seen, spied, the
news reached their respective papas and
all the thunderbolts of paternal wrath,
embittered by eleven lawsuits, fell upon
the heads Of the poor lovers. The bal
cony windows were closed, the bolts
were fastened ON the terrace door, the
carnation pinks on the bush were count
ed, walks were forbidden, or at least
made without previous notice, the hour
of going to mass varied each Sunday
but those two continued to love each
other. Rebuffs. exhortations, prollibi
tons. difficulties availed only to infiane
their love; at night, in the winter, Maria
arose. dressed herself, wrapped herself
in a shawl, and i'll slippers, with bated
breath, trembling for fear, descended
the stairs to window of the first floor;
the young friend was in the street, lean
ing against the wall.
So they talked for two Or three hours,
without caring for the cold, the rain, Or
the loss of sleep; they talked without
seeing each other from a distance of five
meters of altitude. becoming silent at
every sound Of q passer, then cautiously
resulning their discourse, with the con-
tinual fear that Maria's parents might
arouse and find her in that aerial COLO
guy. But what did it all matter to
them? They had within their hearts
sunshine. light, springtime, courage, en-
thusias,n. II the king had come they
would not have moved. Instead the