The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-02
LIVE IN THE sTREETs
NAPLES PEOPLE HAVE LITTLE
 REGARD FOR HRCYRIErIGs <. OR WATER V
Road is Lined with Beggars-Tour- ists Visiting the Famous Crater
 Must Pay Toll to cripples, sls Musicians and Others.


 - .s ;, - Naples Letter by William E. Gurus 10
 Chicago Record-Eerald.
 If i. a agI6ne drive from Naples to Vesu- viusI. but @an interesting one. You mre a carriage at the hotel or at the agency of Cook & Sons, who control the roan to the crater, and the cable railway, ana start at 6 o'clock in the morning. Ihe route passes through the manufacturins part of the city. which is neither beau, tiful nor picturesque. and follows the coast line of the gulf for six or eight miles between tall buildings occupied both as tenements and factories. Ine people of Naples live chiefly In the streets' and the sidewalks are occupied not only by workmen and artisans as shops ana stores but by the members Of their ram files, who engage in occupations wnich are usually performed in the back part of the house. There Is greater freedom and more careless indifference to obser- vation than you can see anywhere eise, and the native population Is so accus- toned to it that they never show curl osity or interest. One of the commonest sights to be witnessed is one woman do- ing LID the hair of another on the sidewalk in front of their dwelling Men and wo- men are frequently seen washing tneir feet and bathing their bodies as low as the waist line; all the laundry work Is done on the sidewalk and much Of the cooking, while many families use 1t as a dining and dressing room. Some other things are to be seen which I am -not permitted to describe. but people wno have visited Naples will easily remem- Der them. The Behavior of the entire population, men, women and children, IS exceedingly informal, not to say indeli- cate. ...
 All this passes under your observation as if 1t were a panorama while you drive along through the streets toward Vesu- yius. and occasionally the carriage passes through long lines of racks hung with macaroni drying in the sun, Naples' Is the principal point for that industry.
 There are beggars on every block, who run along beside the carriage ana exhipss ,,sa other disagreeable methods to attract at- tention and excite sympathy. They thronS this thoroughfare because every ioreign- CT who comes to Naples visits xesuvius and mlist 20 this way. It is difficult to resist their importunities. 1t IS no use to turn away the head. because they VIII scream at you all the louder, ana when they are tired chasing the carriage they will stop and curse you with as much energy as they have shown in their ap- peals. - +h.
 After awhile the carriage leaves the city and turns into the country, com mencing to ascend the mountain by an easy grade. The roadway Is hemmed In by high walls on either side which shut off the view and remind you that Italy is not safe country to live in: They ago, and many of them are allowed to crumble Some show wide breaches which are now protected by barbed wire, but prudent farmers still keep up these de- fnr If ha inc stripped of fruits and their grain har- vested for them during the night by thieves. After awhile you turn a corner and see a band of musicians awaiting you-five or six men with mandolins, vio- fins and guitars. who walk beside the carriage as it slowly winds its way up the hill and give peripatetic concert, never failing to play and sing santa with God Save the King" which is the same as our America" This appeal to the patriotism of the occupants of the carriage is varied by the .Marseiiiaise tourists are French or German, Tor the musicians show keenness of perception in detecting the nationality of people who pass them. Then one of them passes his hat. If you contribute literally he bows with great courtesy; fl not, he makes no acknowledgment whatever.
 A little farther along you will be met by a and drawn by two peasant girls, while an old woman turns the crank You in fer that all the blind people in Naples have been brought out for an airing, be- cause the roadway is usually lined with them. and the cripples are beyond emu meration. Toward. the top of the vol cano is a hut made of stone, which was inhabited for many years by an old beg gar. He built 1t himself. and lived there summer and winter through many snow storm and through several erup- tions. At one time his hut was almost buried In liquid lava. and the roadway which reached it was entit civ covered. He could not leave his herm" for sev- eral days. because the ground was so hot and must have suffered intensely from the heat while he was penned up there. He was%well rewarded, however. because his experience made him an ob- jet of great interest, and thereafter he had merely to sit at the door of his den and let people look at him. He died two of money. You frequently hear stories of rich beggars in Naples, because hun dreds of people make it business, and it is more highly developed here than any
 The roadway. which, as I told you is owned by the Cook Tourist Company, is a monopoly, and the government per mits it to charge a high toll for every fin the regular way pay .t as a part of the carriage hire, but people who try flo economize and make the ascent on foot are usually astonished and indig- nant when they reach the toll gate and are required to pay $1 for the privilege of working their passage.
 On the way to Vesuvius you pass through the town of Torre del Greco which is built upon the site of the for mer city of Herculaneum, destroyed in the year 79 by the same eruption that ruined Pompeii. Very little excavation has ever been done there. and nobody knows what is buried beneath the long hIocks of tenement houses that line the narrow streets. The discoveries have al- Ways paid for the trouble, but the owners Eeem to be contented with letting the 'dssd mast remain undisturbed. The site