The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-07-25
LIFE
OF ITALIANS

The large estates in Italy as gen
eral rule are owned by the nobility,
and the tenants who cultivate and live
off the produce of the farms are very
eften subject to the orders and COM
mands of the landlord. In most cases
these tenants are descendants of SER
wants of these masters under the old
Feudal SYSTEM of government. Even
in these days of advancement and
progress, a lingering willingness still
exists in these workers of the soil to
humble themselves before their super
iors, and in many il tances they would
sacrifice their own lives to save those
of their supposed lords. For this rea-
son, perhaps, you would observe IN
mingling with these people an under
current of natural affection between
master and servant. Lands in all
parts of Italy have been titled from
time immemorial, and still the product
of the soil today is just as great as it
ever was.
The women and children are as much
part of a farm in Italy, as the COW,
the fowls, the goats, and the donkey.
These constitute the working force re-
quired for the prosperity and advance
ment Of their work.
What ! observed on some Of the
farms in Northern Italy was that, at
sunrise, the mother goes to the stalls
TO feed the animals and milk the
cows; then she saddles the donkey and
places A baskets on it's back. One for
vegetables, one tor fruits, one for
eggs, and one for mis-, cheese, and
saltless butter. This is all covered
with a colored blanket, which she uses
as cushion on her return. With this
load sne leads the donkey to the near
est market for the disposal of her
goods.
In the meantime the father has har-
messed one cow to the plough and is off
to the field to commence his days
work, while the children are feeding
the fowls and the goats, wedding the
vegetable gardens, washing, taking
care of the baby. BY about IL
o'clock n. m. the mother is home with
her empty baskets. This is their
meal hour, so they a., cluster around
IN the open or under shelter, according
to the state of the weather, to partake
of their meal, which is very often OF
salad or some other vegetable, with
eggs, cheese, bread, fruit and wine.
After this meal the mother undertakes
all the household work, and the father
and children the field work. The
next meal is taken at shutdown, prin-
eipally of La Polenta and vegetables
And IN this way, with other slight de.
Walton from the general rule, these
people work from day to day, except
Sundays.
In some instances the income deriv
cd from the produce of these farms
goes l-3 to the landlord and 90 to the
tenants. If the total net income from
a farm of 10 acres reaches 10000, Of
500 francs, per annum, this is consid
cred a pretty good return. Thi
amount divided as mentioned, the far
mer and family would receive in thi
instance $4,000. Out of this money
very often, these thrifty people man
age to save half, which they immedi
ately expend in buying another COW
or something as useful.
In trying to place before you pic
ture of a very small part of the ltal
ian farmers life, / wish to impress
upon the minds of those who are di
rectly interested in the matter o
Italian immigration, that the Italia
farmers are pretty comfortable in hi
own way at home, land that they ar
not amongst those that are eager t
immigrate. In order to induce hir
to come here to labor in the can
fields, the cost of living here must b
presented in detail to him, so that h
can intelligently know how much h
can save after paying for his living
and also what encouragement he l
going to receive in supplies and Ian
from the plantations. If these ques
tions can be answered to the satisfaC
tion of the authorities and the TIA
ian farmers, there is no question i
our being able to procure good labor
ers and useful citizens for this terri
tory from Italy.