The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-01-18
A GLIMPSE OF ITALY.
STRANGE WAYS OF DOING THINGS IN
THAT SUNNY LAND.

neral Is Strange and Startling
Sight to n stronger.
An old adage says, "when in Rome, do
ss the Romans do" but 1t is a question
whether the average American tourist ever
learns the customs of the Romans. Even
people who have lived in the Eternal City
fail to observe many of the traits and ways
of the Romans in their daily life An
Englishman who was an old resident of
Rome was put to shame by an American
schoolteacher of 22 who asked him If he
knew why they chopped so little wood In
Italy He had taken upon himself the
office of general dispenser of information
among the guests, and, not being willing
to confess ignorance, he blurted out:
"Ah, yes; fawncy 1t must be the want
of wood hand the smallness of the hax.'
But the young woman-and she came
from New York city-explained to him
that the real reason was that they sawed
most of the wood. She showed the guests
how the Italians hold the saw between
their heels and knees and draw the log
across the teeth. These are little things,
but they go to make up peoples person
atty and are curious facts for foreigners.
When one vehicle passes another In
Italy, the driver keeps to the left. The
pedestrians act in the same way. Some
foreigners go through Italy from Naples to
Milan and at the end wonder why it was
that the Italians persisted in getting into
their way.
The native Roman cats two meals day,
one, the colazione, or breakfast, at noon;
the other, the pranzo, or dinner. from
to In the evening Black coffee is a ia
vorite drink among the women at the
cafes, but tea is seldom used. 1t costs usu-
ally 10 cents cup. italian bread is made
without salt, which is under heavy tax
and is classed with tobacco and stamps.
Wherever one is sold there also you may
purchase the other two commodities
AS for the owners of bicycles, they have
a hard time. Each rider must take out
license for himself. He can ride no other
wheel but his own and should he permit
his brother to use his wheel without IL
cense the authorities would seize and re-
tain the machine until a heavy fine was
paid.
Another peculiar custom is the way in
which an Italian will beckon with his
hand. In America people wave the hand
toYard them when they desire PERSONS
approach In Italy it is just the opposite
When an Italian waves a goodby to you
with his hand, you imagine he is calling
yOu DtCh anu IL ITO Ndnbo YOU w applOehOh
he motions with his hand as Americans
do in making gesture of repulsion.
In New York there are morning and
evening papers with liberal outflow of
extras between. In Italy the papers reach
the public about O'Clock at night.
About every school door when classes
for the day have been finished you will SEQ
gathering of men and women. These
are the parents, who come to carry home
the books of their children.
When the family wash is ready, the
mother carries the basketful of clothes on
her head to the public washhouse, ready
for action. Every one loves the queen.
She is very devout and every now and then
steals from her palace dressed in plain
black and mingles with the worshipers in
the churches. AS for the king-well, that
| is another story.
Bananas and peanuts are never seen in
Italy. AS for hand organs and the festive
monkey they are seldom seen in the city
streets. A peasant from the mountains
bringing in vegetables to sell to the city
folks must pay tax at the gate before he
can enter the walls. At the first sign Of
snow Roman schoolboys have holiday.
There are great many suicides in
Rome, and the favorite way is to throw
OAlCSCil ONcI tIlO wan VI w ~ w
the Suicide bridge out on the Alban hills
and leap from it on to the rocks 800 feet
below. And when person has thus end
ed his life the natives think it proper to
cut small cross on the spot where he or
she plunged to death. AS many as II
crosses have been counted in as many feet,
and the bridge is rather long.
To refuse a pinch of snuff is grievous
insult. To walk in the sunlight is to class
yourself with dogs and barbarians. To
enter shop and to walk out without max
/ ing purchase is to call down upon your
head the wrath of an Italian tongue,
whose superlative curses would make
New York truckman green with envy.
The reason of this is that the windows Of
the store contain everything in stock with
marked prices, and the shopkeeper hates
to talk unless there is sale in prospect at
the end He may have done nothing but
sit and doze for an hour before you enter,
and he may do nothing else after you
leave, but should you fail to buy he con-
siders himself the most abused man in the
city, whose time is lost upon fools in gen.
eral.
1t is not always the native guide that is
the best. One day at the Church of ST.
Peter in Rome party of American school
boys were watching the crowds come and
go when "a swarthy faced man approached
and asked in the purest Italian IL they
wished guide. On the spur Of the mo-
ment one of them answered him in Greek.
The fellow gave them keen look; then,
with broad grin and still broader
brogue, said:
"Arrahl Now, phwat are ye givin mes
Sure, an / know ye are Americans, an it's
mesep that's Pat Bannigan." And that
man could tell you more about Rome in
five minutes than a native could in a
month.
One grows careless in travelling, and
many things slip the memory, but there is
one thing that it takes months to get ao-
customed to--a Roman funeral. OF all
sights burial procession in Italy is the
strangest. 1t startles man to turn a cor
ner and to come suddenly into gloomy
street where the yellow glare of funeral
torches throws grotesque shadows along
the house walls. There is quick glitter
Of oensers, a low wall from the mourners,
n measured tread 0f Whita rOhad chanting