The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-26


as hlRn as his bTeRst-but never the shep-
herds crook OF olden tales and modern tab
Leaux Vlvants-complete the picture. And
It Is always picture, for this fellow with
the face Of an apostle and the eyes of saint
Is 30 deliciously lsnguid and inexpressibly
lazy that his splendid form is forever in
pose and repoSe.
Nearly every shepherd OF Southern Italy
Is married. He marries young. He reArs
or rather there grows, seemingly all uu-
conscious to himself, a large family. The
sons marry other shepherds daughters; the
daughters, other shepherds sons. Himself
perhaps born in the grass by the side of the
traturo," in cleft Of some rock in the
edge or torrents gravina, or in some low
hut on hill or moor, he emeTges from child
hood to manhood nomad: a nomsd in
youth and manhood, be mates as a nomad !;
and never ceases a nomadic life until the
qu!cEllme OF some village Campo Santo
consumes his bones. So that TO every flock
belongs family.
The characterization group possesses no
home but that of the daily grazing land of
the flock. Their sole possessions never equal
50 in value. Their total earnings do not
exceed II cents per day. Like Wallachian
gypsles, they squat anywhere for rest and
sleep, and eat anything that will sustain
life. II they possess a single aspiration on
earth, 1t is that secret one Of so many other
Italian fed and moor laborers, to take to
the hills" that is, to become
outright brigands. Universal indo-
lence and repugnance to effort
effort are safeguards against this. The
Apulian shepherd himself is a picturesque
fellow enough, despite your consciousness
OF his vacuous ignorance, his unvarylng
cruelty to his flocks, and his
utter sodden, rather than active, brutality
to his wife and children, who serve as his
pack-muleS, like the American sqnaws, 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 SSH more destructive
wind storms, that frequently fling both
shepherds and tiOcks from the crGgs to
death, come whistling over peak or howl
ing through gravina. Then the human
marmot Wakens from his lethnrgy and
accomplishes prodigious feats of strength
and woudrous acts Of valOr, in rescu-
ing endangered members of the flock
or of his own terrified brood. His
food is polenta and chestnut flour bread.
He is the one Italian VIM drinks water in
stead Of wine His field lore, though IN
conscious TO himself, is marvellous.
When spurred by extreme hunger, all
mountain moorland birds are doomed
where he sets his snare. 1t is a wild,
strange, melancholy land he looks down
upon, il he have the energy for looking
His wife and children around him are as
voicelsss AS himself and his focks. The
very melody Of the sheep-bells becomes a
meaningless din. One carries away from
his environment and companionship with
him only pathetic sense Of bis hopeless
ness and degradation. You can only re-
member him as another animal in hairy
hide, insensate to the trumpetings of eternal
nature around him. The sheep browsing at
his side are his equals in intelligence; his
superiors in denonstrabe forces and activ-
tiles. The lone kestral wheeling above this
Apulian shepherd has wider horizon Of
view.
Those who care for the 1ocks of Pied
mont, Lombardy and radiant Tuscany are
a different folk OF whom a SUMMER picture
can be drawn. In the main they are tbe
little children and youths and wives of all
the peasantry. In Northern and Alpine
Italy the beauty of the cities, quaintness
and peacefulness OF the villages and ham
let's, the radiance Of the valleys and the
noble pioturesqueness Of the forests aud
mountains seem to have given a,rehexive
peacefulness, sunniness and even virllity to
the people.
The shepherd is always one OF the viii
layers. He or she shares their everyday
life. The feasts. espousals, marriages,
funerals, all are theirs for enjoyment and
Contemplation, Nearly every family has
are me ged into larger flock and taken to
the highest mountain lands fer the entire
summer. In such cases shepherd and his
family accompany them, and they live
much as do their kind in Apulia. In Octo-
Der the same flock will be driven to the
moors and marshes of Maremme, where the
shepherd and his family su bsist almost en-
tirely on shared wild fowl which come here
i'll myrIade to escape the winters of the
British Isles, the Baltic regions and the
German forests.
But tens Of thousands of little f1ocks led
by tens of thousands of little shepherds aud
shepherdesses leave the village Rreggia or
sheep-fold and home every morning for the
higher glades. Sometimes a dog, often q
pig trained to herd the flock, goes with
them. If maiden has charge of the flock
she will have her spindle or knitting, and
will work and sing and tend her flock the
whole day long. If lad or STRIPPING lead a
flock he will let the pig or the dog tend the
sheep, with ON occasional moment Of
executive observation, and the rest Of the
day he gathers mushrooms, hunts the young
of birds all Of which are eagerly eaten
save those of the swallow and hawk, snares
forest fowl, or pipes on his flute In idle
fantasy.
Both must bring a backload of ferns,
grass, oak, elm or vine leaves, with the
fiooks at night, Some of this is for tenn
porary use; but the winter store is thus
chiefly gathered. l have counted more
than 100 Of these little flocks descending
from the mountains with the shepherds at
eventide. The valleys are voiceful with
thousands of tinkling bells. with the notes
from hundreds of shepherds flutes, with the
tYiLLi OF scores Of shepherds songs. Then,
as the shadows fall softly upon the hsmlets,
comes the housing of the sheep in the
greggia, and the pastoral yields to the
prosaic while "Ravellan and "Nencia" gaiu
new strength for the morrow from their
bowl Of steaming polento, or porridge Of
cruohed white beans.
The fairest possession Of all Italy is sunny
Sicily. Yet Sicily has no homes for the
lowly Of the countrysides as we know and
love even the lowliest home. Nearly all
Sicilians are serfs Of the few. Doubtless
100000 souls out of Sicily's entire popula-
ton OF g, 1854, 900 inhabitants hold this rela-
tion to the nobility governing classes and
ecclesiastics. An infinite compassion fires
ones heart for the hopelessness of such peo-
pie; and when interest in tremendous nat
ural phenomena, classic regions and dead
age remains lessons. the pathetic
side of life begins to pcs
sess and hurt you. Any land boast
ing no progressive forming population,
masters of the soil they till, or without
fairly contented peasantry possessing &C.
cure and. well-defioed rights in their hold