Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-10
THEIR WOMEN TOLL
While They Gorge Themselves and
Sleep for Twenty Hours.
THE FISHERMEN OF FAIR ITALY.
Majestic Sluggards Who Know No Labor
Save While on the Sea.
yIRILE ENERGY OF THE SOFTER SEX

yIRILE ENERGY OF THE SOFTER SEX
| rcoRRE sPoyDENcE OF THE DIsPATcH.1
CHIoGaIA, ITALY, March 15-The vast
difference between acquired and natural
knowledge, between cultivated and natural
comprehension, between passion and emo.
tion, between impulse and feeling. is never
more apparent than when one turns from
the contemplation of inland italian peasant
character to that of the italian fishermen.
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
herbage or fower-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 feeting
loves; of varied and variegated tastes; and
of ambitions ending in gorgeous attire on
fiesta days In short, he is a very harlequin
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.
A Creature Of Natures Frowns.
But down from the sunny hiIlsides and
| away from the tender wales, over the salt
marshes and gray sands to the sea, you can
in a few hours feel the change Of natural
environment which has been for centuries
crystallizing the italian fisherman into
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 berib-
| boned. earrineed and half brigandish look
| of the inland peasant; and the type exists,
| in port, convenient to pose for travelling
| dilettanti. But this sort of an Italian fisher
man is q creature who has had his
origin in discomfort with inland environ
ment or in the scourging Of pow
| erty in overcrowded towns. The real
Italian fisherman is creature Of the shore
| and the sea with q centuries-inherited and
deathless love for the viii serness, 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 human
| character and physiognomy. The naturally
large eyes of the Italian race are in him
robbed of their metallic and cunning sparkle
and given depth, softness and deliberate
melancholy of regard. They slowly turn
upon you as if reluctant to leave the OBJ
jects of their endless contemplation.
A Disposition Bred of Danger.
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 TRACE
dies of the sea is resigned and almost ex-
swervingly devout and fervent, as if they
came closer through their heritage of dan
ger to the very personality of all that which
they defy.
Every fisherman and every fsherman's
male offspring are forever consigned by
themselves, each other and all that love
them to the protection of the stMother of
God" Prayer, invocation and supplica-
tion are ceaselessly on the lips of every
soul that bides 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-darkened
ceiling and rough, shell-plastered walls and
floor, is as austere in its appointments as
monks cell No ornament or DECORATION
more gaudy than cheap crucifx or tiny
shrine or cheap engraving of the thorn
crowned head of Christ or the Mater Do
lorosa adorns 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.
Tho Hearthstone of the Fisherman.
There are three.legged wooden stools at
either side of the fireplace. This is simply
on open space left in the inside wall crossed
by a stout iron rod, from which are sus-
pended half dozen pots by hooks, the fire
of seaweed and driftwood being only lighted
when required for cooking. There are
often one or two windows which have no
glass, but are covered with a bit of goat
skin or sail-cloth in inclement weather
The floor is covered with a generous layer
of sand which is ceaselessly being renewed
for cleanliness
lQe uSnerndu ulmSeu uOeS no WORK
ashore beyond the mere care of his boat, if
be is so fortunate as to own one. The mo-
ment his boat is sighted by the women
folk, they all run pellmell to the wa
ter's edge to take the sails and gear with
the nets and fish and the wet clothing, drag
ging them with all speed to the hut where
the fish are cleaned and salted and packed
in layers with seaweed, 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 pro-
cure, black bread and cheap sour wine. On
rare'holiday occasions they may have onions
roasted in the ashes, macaroni dressed with
olive oil or tiny dough cakes fried in oil
something like doughnut. If unusually
well-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 holi-
day feast, or for offerings to the village
padre.