The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-28
TALES OF TEN TRAVELLERS. A CORSICAN INCIDENT.
BY EDGAR l.. wAKEMEs. ,oaI An rt,hta rsaeryad

 the Chronic Traveller. "where no dead rise up to curse It's heroes names; where the love of country has always been a worship and a religion: where the warrior instinct is drunk by babes from their mothers breasts; and where the fathers and others Of those yet liv- ing gave with furious eagerness of their blood for freedom. like the pelican which rends her breast to rear her hungry brood; 1t Is not strange that natures. denied the traditional heroic expression of patriotism and writhing beneath the oppression of real and fam cied wrongs. frequently give way to outbursts of passionate frenzy.
 "The most trifiing and the most ridic- ulous circumstance often throws whole parishes into deadly feud. Then follows the curse of Corsica. the vendetta or blood revenge This horrible custom has caused in less than five hundred years, upwards of one million assas- sinats, or murders purely for revenge. in an island whose greatest population never exceeds a quarter million souls!
 'It Is still within the memory of man when a Corsican Easter week process sion. on its way to a roadside chapel. encountered dead ass upon the high way. The people were angered. and the sagrestano or sexton cursed those who had so dishonored sacred cus- tom.
 Strife instantly arose between those in the procession, who were from Luc- ciana, and the folk of Borgo. as to which parish the dead ass belonged. Arms were seized. shots exchanged and many suffered serious wounds. Each parish cast the dishonor upon the oth- CT; each in wild and murderous sortie dragged the dead ass to the village of the other.
 "The folk of Borgo once succeeded in hurling the offending carcass upon the very threshold of the church door of Lucciana. Its men and women, mad dened by this indignity, stormed the village of Borgo with fierce battle crys and deadly volleys, victoriously leav- ing the bedraggled and almost shred ded body of the innocent beast impaled upon the church tower of the defeated village.
 ''The podesta or magistrate at last caused it to be removed and buried in peace; but peace came not to Borgo and Lucciana. The vendetta of the dead ass rages between their people to this day. Viale, the Corsican poet, com posed comic epic upon the subject af- ter the manner of The Stolen Pail of Bologna; and, the singing of a satir- ical lamento from Viale's comic epic in the little market place of Lucciana. led to the characteristic Corsican chain of circumstances which I am about to relate" '
 But a few years since the most idol ized man among the lowiy of Corsica was one Batista Caste. He was scarce 'ly more than a youth, but was an un- trained singer of marvellous sweetness and power.
 Some unfortunate secret clung to his birth which deprived him of that most prized and sacred inheritance among Corsicans, the love of kindred; but that some secret hand provided for his necessities was well known, for funds were always promptly furnished for his keeping in the Morosaglia national school, founded by the Mberality of the immortal Corsican patriot, Pasquale Paoli. -.
 Intoxicated by the plaudits of the people. before the age of twenty he had left the academy and became a wander, ing minstrel among the villages of the island. His life was thus care-free and triumphant.
 "He sings with clear voice like the bird our beloved voceros or laments," said the villagers from Cape Corso to Bonifazio, land therefore he shall have not so much as the toll of the bird for his livelihood"
 And so it was; not alone among the lowly in their simple festas and merry makings, but also among the rich in their weddings. their christenings, their burials and the extravagant cele- bration of their name-days.
 Unconcerned, too, was Batista for re- quitement. He sang for the very love of song; while his hatred of gain made the people heap richer largess upon him. Taking from this only for barest necessities, Batista bestowed all else upon the poor, and suffering.
 "Ah," cried the people in their enthu- siasm, 'that the sainted Paoli were again among us!-the wise Pasquale to lead and direct, the invincible Clement to do battle and Batista Costa to chant the songs, of war. Then would such rivers of money flow into the treasury, that we should quickly wrest freedom and independence from the hated Frenchm
 Batista was singing for the people of Lucciana at their Easter festas. His fame had brought the islanders from long distances roundabout. Even the shaggy herdsmen from almost inaccess- ible mountain heights, and one or two from rival Borgo, their hate temporar- fly overcome by love of song, mingled with the exultant throng.
 A burst of uncomfortable enthusiasm had ended in Batista being carried about the village upon the shoulders of men and women. In mood of merritt ment and to please the people who were so honoring him, he suddenly began