Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-07-29
iTALY'S PEASANT GIRL POET,
her Poems Called Forth Praise
From Europe's Critics

From Europe's Critics.
The Culver: This girl, hardly out
OF her teens, unknown, humble. vjr.
tuouc, the mistress of a school in one
OF the far northern Italian villages
Whlch even the wheels Of a tram had
not reached, without any editorial
Ilourlsh OF trumpets, without power
Iul patronage, without benevolent and
interested friends, with only a bundle
OF ieHfes sewn together in a white vol.
ulNe, has succeeded in gaining a liter
AIRY triumph, not in her w country
alone, but throughout the greatest
part of Europe. In every corner of
Italy, indeed, voices are raised in
and praise at the supreme
power Of the poems-their strength
n beauty-fhat have had their birth
III the heart and brain of the school,
mlstres3 of Motta-Visconti. Here In
THIS small market town, on the edge
OF the Ticino, are extensive woods,
Enown to the hunters from Milan, to
which Ada Negri resorted to heal the
message of the wind as it sighed and
sang through the branches of the
Srees. The poems in which she has
interpreted nature in its ever chang
ing aspects of glory and gloom; in
which she has given a tongue to the
wees and sorrows which are the DOR
zion of man, TO the oppression of the
rlcE, 10 the hard lot of the poor, and
Shos III which she has spoken of the
beauty and tenderness of true love.
nave cafed for the most enthusiastic
praises IRON the most distinguished
critics. In England her work may not
'pe widely known except among liter
AIRY men,, and | am not aware that her
poems have ever been translated
either her first volume, "Fatalita," or
her more recent, called "Tempeste,"
1000 copies of which were called for
befor8 the twelvemonth had expired.
Ada Negri is the daughter of a poor
Aaborer, II who worked in the mines,
and her mother was a weaver of wool,
who, though often weary ana always
Feeble, worked necessarily in a manu-
FACTORY, bearing up bravely against
circumstances because she was work.
'ng for her daughter, who wished TO
study. The poor toiler in the wool
FACTORY, guided simply by maternal in
stlnct and by the Judgment Of the mis-
tress OF the asylum where her little
daughter was sent for two years, saw
an her child q genius and a courage far
ABOVE the common. She gave her the
opportunity of studying in the normal
school of Lodi, while she wore out her
own existence in the wool factory to
secure for Ada a happy future. The
irIing mother remained ut her daily
toll with this object, alternating her
urduous work with enforced rest in
the wards of the hospital, where she
was at one time laid up for twelve
months among those who were re-
celVed within its walls because threat
ened with consumption. In a few
ines in her poem, "Madre Operaia,"
Ada Negri sings of the sublime sacri.
nee OF her unhappy mother, who pur"
chased with hunger. with cold, with
life itself a noble destiny for her child.
s1er daughter had the means of study
ing, and the poor wool weaver took
heart, though her limbs were weary
and h was suffering from ill-healtll.
Her daughter studied, and the moth
er, worn out and exhausted, put into
her work, in the immensely of her af-
lection, some drops of blood and
that nOurished her dreams of
fortune and glory for her child, care
less of everything, content with any
thing, if only there should be i'm the
future a luminous destiny for Ada and
her brown head yet be crowned with
gold and lamel.