The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
TYPES OF ANCIENT ROMANS.
Reincnrnntions of the Nobfest Il
New York's Italian PurIieus.

The majority of untraveled Americans.
reading little and moving in narrow SOC
ial grooves, have always held firmly to
the idea that Italians. as a race, were Of
the "dago' type which broken gaspipes
ana new cartracks have made familiar In
our streets. a provincial woman re-
marked the other day. apropos Of the en-
gagement made abroad of young
American girl to an Italian gentleman:
Isn't 1t shame to think that nice,
dainty American girl should marry one
Of them" apparently believing that her
friend s fiance made a precariouS,
though honest, living with the help Of an
organ and a monkey. All the Italians she
knew did that: ergo. all the Italians in
Italy must do it. The absurdity of the re-
mark and the implied opinion would per-
haps have been apparent to her had she
really thought the thing over; but she
yielded naturally enough to the ignorant
prejudice which surrounded her. This
sort of thing is merely amusing to other
and more cultivated Americans and to
Italians themselves, but there Is another
fallacy less unreasonable, to the effect
that the "dagos" of this country are al
most exclusively of an ignoble type, not
at all suggestive of the grandeur that
was Rome
Many immigrant Italians, doubtless.
seem to resemble the city mob which had
to be fed with corn and amused by muir
der in the Coliseum rather than the all
conquering legions of a Pompey or a
Cacsar.-But il is fairly certain that the
popular conception of those world mas
ters is based with Anglo-Saxon, un-
imaginative hard-headedness on the
ideals of a very different race; and the
resemblance between the actual lower
class Italian of today and the ideal
Roman pleheian of the past may be great
er than is commonly supposed. However.
even nowadays, and in Mulberry Bend, 1t
is possible to find types which approx
mate those made familiar by the sculptors
of ancient Rome.
One day, in Elizabeth Street. chance led
| an observer to seek a shop where hand
organs were made. When the boss
stepped forward, 10. ii was no less a
person than Germanicus, round faced and
pleasant. but obviously a ruler of men.
His legions Were saving wood and fitting
screws with diligence under his command
ing though kindly eye. Dignity sat
amiably upon him as he answered ques-
tions. Fate now called him to make
organs instead of to avenge the honor of
Rome. but he meant to do the one as
faithfully as the other.
Again. in Mulberry Bend Park one day.
sat Cicero, taking care of his grandchil-
dren-an old and wrinkled Cicero. far
pleasanter in his humble reincarnation
than in his consular days. He had been
gifted this time with sense of humor
rather painfully lacking aforetime. 1t
twinkled in his kindly old eyes as he
tickled the baby's chin or watched his
slightly older descendant as that young
ster toddled about. His contribution to
the welfare of the State. while less strik-
ing than that rendered nearly two thou
Sanu years ago was extremely uSefGl IN
the domestic economy of one crowded
tenement. Certainly he was doing his
duty, and apparently wasn't going to talk
so much about it as was his wont in days
of yore. Mark Antony was appropriately
discovered in a small restaurant drinking
wine. There were no pearls in il. although
the sentimental passer-by might have Of
fered in their place a tear Of sympathy for
his fallen estate. But even the infatuated
Cleopatra would have preferred him
cleaner.
Coming to later days, one finds also
types of medieval Italy. a photographer
interested in the study of such faces one
day looked idly from his window and saw
Dante grinding an organ across the way.
Dante was willing to pOse-was, in fact,
willing to do anything for money-and
so his picture was made. He doesn't know
how to write, and has forgotten all about
Beatrice but has probably in the course
of his hard life become familiar again
with the Inferno