The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-25
Where Poverty Is Mocked.

ana ten who are paid more than two
| thousand dollars year.
Where Poverty Is Mocked.
/ The contrasts in Italian life stand
out sharply on account of the mode of
| living. While large fortunes are few.
! one is impressed by the lavish show
made by those who possess even a
moderate income. The rich live in such
proximity to the poor that the misery
Of the latter is thrown into sharp re-
lief. The well-to-do family will occupy
the first floor of a large house, while
all around them, upstairs and down.
viii be a congestion of poverty stricken
tenants under the same roof. The rich
and poor not only live in the same
house, but there is no quarter which is
/ populated by one rank alone.
Every district and every block has
its division of classes. the Sums
reaching even to the gates of the royal
palace itself. A poor family living in a
cellar, with scarcely enough clothing to
hide their nakedness and barely enough
food to keep them alive, can hardly es-
cape a feeling of envy when splendid
carriages arrive and depart from their
very doors, and costly viands are served
so near that they can smell them No
wonder that anarchy breeds where the
uneasy sleep of the poor is disturbed BY
dance music for merry-makers who
revel while their neighbors starve.
The Italian upper-classes have been
the subject of much comment because
they seem to have a dislike for any
kind of work except looking after land.
The professions and commercial pur-
suits are little frequented by those
who are referred to as the aristocracv
1t is considered more gentlemanly to
be idle than TO engage in some honor
able pursuit and have an income The
manner in which the younger genera
ton is brought up offers little hope of
improvement in this regard. Parents
will not allow a boy to go to work If
they can possibly rake and scrape
enough to dress him smartly and main
tain him as loaf~r in cafes and
hanger-on at the theaters.
GentIemen-Save the Mark!
He gets nothing more than a smat-
tering in the way of education, but his
equipment for life is supposed to be am
pie if he turns out to be a good dancer,
a crack shot, and a good mount. It
may be convenient for him at time if
he is also an expert card player. The
worst result of the effect of this class
OF idlers is that the average Italian who
is poor and who sees these gOod-for-
nothing dandies staggering around the
thoroughfares, only wishes that he had
money enough to do the same thing
Instead Of being filed with disgust at
the spectacle afforded by these social
leeches, he strives to initiate them.
Italians as a class have pronounced
gambling instincts. The lottery and the
race course are universally patronized.
The dull old town of Siena comes to life
on the occasion of the semi-annual
horse race in the piazza. This sport
ing event is unlike anything known in
an American community. There are
seventeen wards in Siena, and each one
makes an entry in the contest. A more
unsuitable place for horse race could
not be conceived. The course is over
cobble-stones and turns two sharp cor
ners. Aside from these disadvantages
one side of the street is lower than the
other. The horses are ridden bareback
and each jockey carries a whip big
enough for a slave driver. At each
corner a number of contestants invari-
ably go down TO defeat and disaster,
but the pOpulace is fairly frantic at the
finish. The excitement is so great that
the winner has to be protected from
both his friends and his enemies.
Italians Have No Home.
It is significant that the word home
is not contained in the Italian Ian
guage. This is accounted for by the
fact that the people spend most of their
time in the streets. Men, women and /
children go TO the cafes to drink coffee /
and gossip with their neighbors. You
will be surprised to find people who /
smallest and plainest of apartments.