The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-10-13

ILIle apparatus. ItS owner nOnOred |
my ribs with a herculean poke as he
sprinted to catch fresh shower of
stones, and was bestowing similar
attentions on little group Of ladies
ten yards off before | had time to
apologize.
| gave up counting the cameras in
the crowd when had ticked off 200
within the first five minutes | made
an equally futile effort to keep score
of the varieties of our mother tongue.
To say nothing of the multitudinous
samples that were in evidence from
England alone, / had made photo
graphs on my tympanum of every
known class of the species grown in
the heUnitedStates In one colloquy that
fitted very briefly into my ear as l
was being hurled forward by couple
of impetuous ookies in my rear |
caught two distinctly antipodean
flavors of the language of the worlds
conquerors. One speaker must have
been an English lord of very high
station, for his speech had all the
graceful nuances of the aristocrat.
The other person was plainly a hay
seed from Kansas. Now, look here,
my good man." the angry peer was
saying, you must understand that
other people have rights as well as
you dreadfully aggressive Yankees"
"Naow, look a-here, yerse'f, replied
the Kansan, yer cain't skeer me, an
doan't yer go to tryin' it. Naow,
push ahead yerse'f, Johnny Bull.
Yer amt so many"
Before the retort to this was deliv-
cred or even conceived the ungentle
motors behind me had dumped me
against a human wall many roods
away. What | saw and what | heard
in that surging living sea and also
what | felt convinced me that the
races that speak the tongue of Shake
speare are always moving around
this pendant earth, and are moving
with a force that it's no use trying to
stop. When | got back to the hotel
the proprietor put my thoughts in
shape for me. This is what he said:
Il have been living right in this
spot for the past SO years, but | never
saw anything like this. The erup-
ton? No. | mean the tourists. And
nearly everyone speaks English.
Where do they all come from? Yes,
from America and England, ! know;
/ but, cOrpo di bacco! how do they all
get here so soon? And do you sup
pose there's anyone left in England
and American
said nothing in answer to this
inquiry, for had some doubts my
self. Then the old innkeeper contin,
ued: what a funny lot of people
you English are, anyhow. Not all
English? Well, can't see any differ
ence between you. You must be al
ways travelling. Then you're always
/ pushing. You elbow all the other
forestieri off the earth. You want
everything, and you're bound to get
it. | shouldn't be surprised if you
would try to cart off Vesuvius, too.
| haven't got a Frenchman or a Ger
man in the house. You English ran
them all out-well Americans are
| English, it's all the same. No wonder
you cleared off the Spanish over
there. Mind, I'm not complaining.
You pay me well. I'm only saying
what a wonderful people you are.
/ Coming thousands of miles to see an
old mountain, splitting fire and stones,
/ just as it's been doing for a thousand
years. And tearing the clothes off
each other to get a photograph of the
volcano. Well, don't wonder you're
a rich people, but you're a queer one
to us Italians. You're far greater
curiosity to us than any eruption
Coming as | did, fresh from the
seething midst of the English-speak-
ing throne, | could not help feeling
that the old mans comments were
the most natural thing in the world.
Here and hereabouts there are several
thousands Of "our people," widely
excited over manifestation of nature
that, after all, is not so very rare.
When the several branches of the
big family get together their national
peculiarities are really less marked
than their racial characteristics
aggressiveness, determination, dis
regard of life's usual amenities, con
tempt for all other races, masterly
selfishness, and all the various attri-
butes that aid the English
individual to get there" Like mine
host of the inn, found the army of
tourists from the tight little island
and the great big continent a more
interesting spectacle than the one
they had come so many miles to see.
To one gazing these days for the
first time upon Vesuvius there is some
thing sublime, however, in the sight.
J. Il. l.