Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-02-25

laborers to'take to the hills. - tina, is, to
become outright brigands. Universal
Incidence and repugnance to effort are
safeguards against this. The Apulian
shepherd himself IS a picturesque fellow
enough, despite your consciousness Of
his vacuoiis ignorance, his unvarying
cruelty to his ilOcks, and his utter sodden,
rather than active, brutality to his wife
and children, who serve as his pack
mules, like the American squaws, for
transporting his slender belongings to
the hills.
On the mountain.sides the life Of this
shepherd family Is a changeless one the
whole summer long, unless the terrible
hail storms Of southern Italy fall upon
the mountains, or the still more DIES.
tructiyc wind-storms. that frequently
fling both shepherds and ilocks from the
crags to death, come whistling over
peak or bowling through gravina. Then
the human marmot awakens from his
lethargy and accomplishes prodigious
fea,s Of strength aud wondrous acts Of
valor, in resculng endangered members
Of the flock or Of his own terrified
brood. His food is polcnta and chestnut.
Hour bread. He Is the one Italian who
drink water instead OF wine. His
field lore, though unconscious to HIM
self, IS marvellous.
When spurred by extreme hunger. all
mountain moorland birds are doomed
where lie sets his snare. 1t IS Wild.
strange, melancholy land. he looks down
upon, II he has the energy for looking
His wife and children around him are as
voiceless as himself and his llocks. The
very melody of the sheep bells becomes
a meaningless din. One carries away
from his environment and companion
ship with HIM only pathetic sense OF
his hopclessness and degradation. You
can only remember him as another ami
NAL IN hairy hide, insenSate 10 the trum-
petings OF eternal nature around him.
The sheep browsing at his side are his
/ equals in intelligence; his superiors ia
demons,rable forces and activities. The
lone testral wheeling above this
Apulian shepherd has a wider horizon
OF view.
Those who care for the flocks Of Pied.
mont, iombardy and radiant Tuscany
are a different folk of whom a sumter
picture can be drawn. In the main they
are the little children and youths and
/ wives Of all the pcasantry. In northern
aud Alpine Italy the beauty OF the cities,
! quaintness and peaceiulness OF the villa.
/ ges and hamlets, the radiance OF the
valleys and the noble picturcsqueness OF
the forests and mountains, seem to have
! given reflective peaceulncss, sunni.
ness and even virility to the people.
The shepherd Is always one Of the vii.
I layers. lie or she shares their every
| day life. The feasts, espousals, marn.
I ages, funerals, all are theirs for enjoy.
/ mcnt and contemplation. Nearly every
I family has is own little flock Often
| several Of these are merged into larger
Z flock and taken to the highest noun.
Z tain'lands for the entire summer In
/ such cases shepherd and his family
accompany them, aud they 1--we much MS
/ do their kind in Apulia. In October the
| same flock will be driven TO the moors
and marshes Of Mlremmc, where the
| shepherd and his family subsist almost
! entirely on shared wild fowl which
COMES here In myfiads To escape the
winters OF the British Isles, the Baltic
| regions and the German forests.
But tens Of thousands Of little flocks
| led by tens Of thousands Of little shep.
herds and shepherdesses leave the
village greggia or sheep-fold and home
every morning for the higher glades.
/ Sometimes dog, often pig trained to
herd the flock, goes with them. II a
! maiden has charge Of the flock she will