Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-16

an III CIIcAy, anu the Olu doctor, Don
| Lucl Vitlle came and looked through
his great horn-rimIued glasses, took
snuff, and shook his head. He des-
| PATCHED servant to the palace of
! the Bishop, and then turned to Cirillo.
saying to him: Run to call the heir:
his father, perhaps, can at least press
mis- hand
Cirillo clapped his palm upon his
! right leg, above the knee, for it ap-
peared TO him that the doctor was
ShreWd enough to see through the
cloth of his trousers. He met Don
COrradin0 coming into te courtyard
! from the boar hunt; the signorino
! threw down his gun and ran to the
! chamber where the old baron lay in the
great bed with red silk curtains and
Ciriuo thrust himself into his den
under the stairs, until he heard Don
Lucas heavy tread descending and
the great door open and close as the
physician went out. That occasion was
past, and he had not denied mamma
Bibiana
After the time of mourning for the
old baron was ended, the new baron,
Don CorradinO, sold some lands, and
it was known that he was going to
Paris of France. MAESTRO Gaetano
would rule things, as indeed he had
done for years; Cirillo also would re-
main; the women were dismissed, and
Donna Sabina Mosca was pensioned
and went to live at the house of a
niece at COse1za, with money enough
to let her pass the days with her hands
upon her belt. When after Il year the
baron returned, he brought with him
a servant from Paris, a young fellow
with mOustacheS like 81 cat, mischevouS
as a red donkey, who made a butt
of Cirillo, and sneered when the poor
man, leased by those unkind looks,
let fall a dish on the floor. This man
aped CirillOS movements and modes;
and did SO much that at last the baron
said: ''Ohe, CirilO, here you come in
like PontiJs PLATE into the creed: it
is better far for you to stay in the
stables, and take care Of my horses"
So Cirillo slept no more under the
stairs, but in the hay-loft. It appeared
that those good beasts knew more
than Christians; they understood that
Cidillo was of noble race, like them
selves, and they took to loving him.
He cleaned and fed them, and trained
the colts; and whenever the baron
sent any to be sold at Cosenza, Cirillo
led them by the halter; and when the
bargain was made, he with the preteXt
of tightening the leather strap. would
approach to the ear of the horse and
whisper: Goodbye and good luck, my
brother,"
Then the baron took the within to
go as far as England where's they never
see the sun because Of the big fog; and
that time also he brought back a SER
want, a nimble little man with red
face, and gave him charge of the
stables, where he cheWed straWs and
Kissed like a serpent as he groomed
the horses, and commanded Cirillo to
bring buckets Of water. Look, CirillO,"
said the baron, now that there is Tom
my for the horses, go you to the chest
nuts"
Up there, on the mountain, the chest
nut crop had been computed upon the
trees by compare NGnziO, who came
from Malito on purpose-onethird for
massarO Cola Brancalupo, who had the
tOrre and the groves on mezzadria, and
tWO-thirds for the baron that owned
the land. Cirillo had to watch the
drying of the chestnuts, night and
day, i'll the acrid smoke Of the green
wood that at first gave him a deuced
cough, while the tears ram down his
face. But he became used to it, as
to everything. At the spelatura, he
trampled the nuts with his wooden
shoes, stimulating the other fellows
that worked with him. and crying,
Viva SAINT Antonio.' while the down
of the chestnuts flew in the air and the
nuts ratified in the sieves. Then later
in November, he went with the long
line of plOughS to the fields of the
VALID, where the black earth steamed;
while the quails flew over in great
focks on the way to Africa, crying
qua, qua, qua Then to the olive
groves, where Cirillo swung himself
among the highest branches, with his
long arms, to beat down the olives,
while men, women and children crept
about on the muddy ground to gather
them. At Ave Maria, shelter was
sought in the farmhouse; there the
lads and girls danced to the cornamusa
and the ciaramedda. But Cirillo in
vited no one to dance; who would dance
with him, ugly as he was? The mas
saro talked with him about the old
baron, good soul, and the eXtrava-
gances of the young baron; and also
about King Vittorio, who soon would
have driven away all the strangers,
like so many wolves. But L am not
yet DID," thought Cirillo, "and if it
was known that l am the baron, even
comare Menica there would dance with
me, ugly as L am"
After the olives, Cirillo had to work
in the fields, those fat fields of the
VALID where malaria overcomes the
peasant and puts him to bed with the
fever. So it happened to CirillO; and
he took refuge in a hovel there, near
a pond, and every day that he had the
fever he stayed under a cOverlet and
his great cloak, with a kerchief on his
head; and other days he went in a
cracked boat that was there, to catch
fish and cells in the pond. He caught
frogs, too, which in Calabria are
called singing fishes, and since he was
no longer able to work for the baron
he set up an industry of his own, sell