Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-10-03

ticking of my wi timepiece of Re-
yenge, and who saw raught save its
hands, that every second drew nearer
TO tie last and fatal figure on the dial
the r. moments seemed long and
laden with WEAKNESS. l roamed the
streets OF the city aimlessly. feeling
more like a deserted stranger than a
well-known and envied nobleman,
whose wealth made him the cynosure
of all eyes. The rioous glee. the mu-
sic the color that whirled and reeied
through the great street of Toledo at
this season bewildered and panied me.
Though j knew and was accustomed
TO the wild vagaries of carnival, yet
this year they seemed to be ont OF
place, ~distracting senseless and all IN
familiar.
Sometimes I escaped from the city
tumult and wandered out to the ceme-
terry. There / would stand, dreamily
looking at the freshly-turned sods
above Guido Ferrari's grave. No
stone marked the spot as yet, but Ii
was close TO the Remani yault,-not
more than a couple OF yards away
from the iron grating that barred the
entrance to that dim and fatal charnel
house. l had a drea- fascination for
the place. and more than once / went
to the opening of that secret passage
made by the brigands TO ascertain IL
all was safe and undisturbed. Every
thing vas as ! had left 1t, save that
the tangle of bushwood had become
thicker, and weeds and brambles had
sprung up, making 1t less visible than
before, and probably rendering it
more impossible. BY a fortunate ac-
Nidapt \ had Sac,raJ the kau ~ tho
vault. I knew that for family burial
places Of this kind there are always
two Keystone left in charge of the
keeper OF the cemetery. the other pos
sessed by the person or persons 10
whom the mausoleum belongs, and
this other I managed to obtain.
On one occasion, being left for some
time alone in my own library at the
Villa, / remembered that In an upper
drawer OF an old oaken e%scritoire that
stood there, had always been a few
keys belonging to the doors of cellars
and rooms in the house. / locked and
found them lying there as usual; they
all had labels attached TO them signi-
flying their use, and I turned them over
impatiently net finding what | sought.
l was about to give up the search
when / perceived a large rusty key
that had slipped to the back OF the
drawer; l pulled it out. and to my sat
isfactiOn 1t was labelled "Mauso-
leum." / Immediately took nossession
of II. glad to have obtained SO useful
and necessary an implement; I knew
that l should soon need it. The
cemetery was quite deserted at this
festive season, nc n visited it to lay
wreaths OF flowers or sacred memen-
toes on the last resting places of their
friends. In the joys of the carnival
who thinks of the dead? In my fire.
quent walks there l was alone; l might
nay opened my. own vault and gone
down into IL without being observed,
but i did not; | contented myself with
occasionally trying the key In the lock
ard assuring myself that it worked
without difficulty.
Returning from one of these excur-
sions late OIL a mild afternoon toward
the end of the week preceding my
marriage. | bent my steps toward the
Molo, where l saw the picturesque
group Of sailors and girls dancing one
OF those fantastic graceful dances Of
the country, In which impassioned
movement and expressive gesticula-
ton are everything. Their steps were
guided and accompanied by the sonor-
twanging of a full-toned guitar
and the tinkling beat Of a tambouT1pe.
Their handsome animated faces, their
flashing eyes and laughing lips, their
gay, m~any-colored costumes. the gilt
ter of beads on the brown necks of
the maidens, the red caps jauntIly
perched on the thick black curls of
the fishermen-sll made up a picture
full Of light and life. thrown up into
strong relief against The pale grey and
amber tfnts of the February sky and
sea; while shadows overhead frowned
the stern dark walls Of the Castel
Nuovo.
1t was such a scene as the English
painter Luke Fildes might love to de-
pict on his canvass-the one man Of
to-day who. though born OF the land
of Opaque mists and rain-burdened
clouds, has, Notwithstanding these dis
advantages, managed to partly endow
his brush with the exhaustless wealth
and glow of the radiant Italian color.
/ watched the dance with a faint
OF ~pleasure-it was full of so
much harmony and delicacy of rhy-
TIM. The lad who thrummed the guis
tar broke out now and then into song
"a song In dialect that fitted into the
music of the dance as accurately as q
rosebud into its calyx. / could not dis
tinguish all the words he sang. but
the refrain was always the same,
and he gave 1t In every possible infiec-
ton and variety Of tone, from grave to
gay, from pleading to pathetic.
"Che bella cosa e de MORE ucciso.
'Nanz' ALA porta deli innamorata,"
meaning literally-"How beautiful a
thing to die, suddenly slain at the door
of ones belovedi'
There was no sense in the thing. l
thought half angrily, it was a stupid
sentiment altogether. Yet | COZ Id not
help smiling at the ragged, ba. e-footed
rascal who sang it; he seemed to feel
such a qualification in repeating It, and
he rolled his black eyes with love-iorn
Intensity, and breathed forth signs
that sounded through his music with
quit . touching earnestness. OF course
he following the manner OF
all . eapuIitans. namely. acting his
song; they all do 1t, and cannot
help themselves. But this boy had a
peculiarly rcsueish way Of pausing
and crying forth a piaintive "Ah" be-