The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-11
ITALIAN FISHERMEN
a STRIKING CONTRAST TO THE
ITALIAN PEASANT.

Majestic Sluggards With Gargentuar
Stomachs and Amazing Capacity fol
Sleep-Their Wives the Real Toilers
Home Life and Superstitions.
(COpyright)
CHIoGGIA, ITALY, March 1O.-Tbe vast
| difference between acquired and natural
knowledge, between cultivated and natural
comprehension. between passion and emo
| ton, between impulse and feeling, is never
more apparent than when one turns from
| the contemplation of inland Italian peasant
character t. that Of the Italian fisherman.
The first has nature In his labor on the
hillside with his hocks, in the VINEYARD
where he carries his hamper of ripe grapes
| from the vines to the presses, or driving his
| heTbage or fiower-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
ana CLOTHES responsibility with delight.
This man is a creature OF childish lows and
childish passions; OF quick hot temper and
easily dried tears; OF ardent and heetin0
loves; Of varied and varegated tastes, and
OF ambitions ending in gorgeous attire on
festal days In short, he is a very harlequin
of wish, thought and feeling. You love
LliLIl bub YOU lodT Nun ana 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 natural
environment which has been for centuries
crystallzing the Italian fisherman into a
creature OF almost another race. The sky
is as bright above nlm, but his hut is on the
shilling aands The ia nd
beneath him, but anon it brushes 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 berib-
boned, earringed, iand half brlgandish look
OF the inland peasant; and the type exists.
IN port, convenient to pose for travelling
dllettantl. But this sort of an Italian fish
erman is a creature who has had his origin
In discomfort with inland environment or in
the scourging OF poverty in overcrowded
towns. The real Italian fisherman is a Great
ure of the shore and the sea with a centu-
ries-inherited and deathless love for the will
dernesS, the danger, the loneliness and the
very meagerness or bis calling
He illustrates the influence of all that is
grand and solitary in nature upon human
character and physiognomy. The natur-
ally large eyes of the Italian race are in
him robbed OF their.metallic aud cunning
sparkle and given depth, softness and a
deliberate melancholy of regard. They
slowly turn on you as if reluctant to
leave the objects of their endless contem-
plation. Their walk is measured and I'M
consciously dignified, 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 expectant. And their hearts
are ever un5wervingy devout and fervent,
as II they came closer through their
heritage Of danger to the very personality
Of all that WHOM they deity.
Every fisherman and every flsherman,s
male offspring are forever consigned by
themselves, each other aud ali that love
them to the protection OF the Mother OF
God" Prayer, invocation and supplication
are ceaselessly on the lips of every soul that
bides besides these Italian shores to get
their living aud their death by the sea.
The Italian fisherman has in his life none
or the trivial concerns that occupy the
hearts of the inland peasant. His hut, usu-
ally one room, with smokesdar kened ceiling
and rough, she'll plastered walls and floor,
ls as austere In Its appointments as monks
cell. No ornament or decoration more
gaudy than crucifix or tiny shrine OF cheap
engraving OF the thorn-orowned head of
Christ or the Mater DoEoroSd adorns its
WILLS 1ueTe are Tuue goat skin covered
couches OF dried seaweed 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-lsgged wooden stools at
either side Of the fireplace. This is simply
an open space left in the inside wall crossed
by stout iron rod, from which are sus-
pended half-dozen pots by hooks, the fire
OF seaweed and driftwoed 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 Indictment weather. The
floor is covered with a generous 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 mo-
menu his boat Is sighted by the women folk
they all run pell NELL to the waters edge to
take the sails and gear with the nets and
fish and the wet clothing, dragging them
with all speed to the hut where the fish are
cleaned and sailed and packed in LAYERS
with seaweed, for market or home con-
sumption. Their food consists of this fish.
usually cut in small pieces and boiled in a
sort OF thick soup with such simple condi-
ments as their slender means can procure.
black bread and cheap sour wine.
On rare holiday occasions they NAV have
onions roasted in the ashes macaroni dressed
with olive oil OF tiny dough cakes fried in
oil something like doughnut, II unusu-
ally we'll to do, goat or two will be among
the family possessions, and then the little
ones will have their mug of milk and the
older ones their balls of rich cheese for the
holiday feast, or for offerings to the village
padre.
In costume the Italian fisherman has no
resemblance to his inland brother, He
wears sort of a Greek-like tunic sleeveless
ana reaching barely to the knees. This ia
brought closely to his body with a broad
leather belt, in the inside of which he carries
his rosary. his scapular or perhaps some
holy relic for protection at sea. Rude san
dals OF tough fish or goat skin are bound TO
his feet with thongs that are crossed around
the leg to the knee. His head and beard are
seldom cut or trimmed. 1t often has the
wave of sculptured gods and as he rarely
wears any head covering, save perhaps a
cotton kerohief bound around his head with
the ends floating in his hair, which is some
times as blonde as a Scandinavian's his
whole aspect irresstibly suggests primitive
Greek on the classic loneliness OF his own
loved shores.
The women are finer, freer simpler They
know nothing Of bending over sun-baked
nelds to till the ground with the rude imple-
ments or 1000 years ago. Their labor,
though lnceSsant-tor when not caring for
the harvests of the sea, they are mending
nets, gathering and drying seaweed or
G Gazing some meager YapRtariOn from tiuu