Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-12-24
GARIBAIDI'S WOOING.
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1iberator, Garibaldi, was one Of roman
tic adventure but nothing else In 1t
was more romantic than his wooing,
which is described by his own mar
rative. He had been driven from Italy
In 1886 and landed in South America,
where he joined the struggle then being
carried on by several small States
against the Empire of Brazil. He had
with him many devoted comrades,
whom he loved with his whole heart.
One day, however, he was shipwrecked
on the Brazilian coast of Santa Catha-
rina, and several of his dearest friends
were drowned in getting to shore. The
survivors at once joined the local army,
led successful attack on Laguna, and
were hailed as liberators. Garibaldi
was made chief of the captured Brazil
ian fleet. He paced up and down the
deck of his flagship, but in no victOr's
mood. The loss of SO many friends had
filled him with melancholy, and he be-
gan to feel his loneliness His mind
turned to q natural remedy. He de
termined to seek a bride among these
people who So idoliZed him.
1.-THE loss Of Luigi, Edoardo and 9TH
ers of my countrymen," he wrote in his
own story, cleft me utterly isolated.
felt quite alone in the world. | needed
q human heart to love me, one that I
could always keep near me. felt that
unless found one at once life would
become intolerable.
"By chance I cast my eyes toward
the houses of the Barra, a hill on the
south side of the entrance to the Ia
COON, where a few simple and pictur-
esque dwellings were visible. Outside
one Of these, by means of my telescope,
1 espied young woman; and forthwith
I gave orders for my boat to be got
out, as l wished to go ashore"
This girl was Anita Riberas, Is years
old, young woman Of unusual beauty,
of great bodily strength and endurance,
and of an unusually fine type of intel
lect as romantic as Garibaldi, and as
untiring as he in her labors for lib
erty.
81 landed" says Garibaldi, "and max
ing for the houses where l expected
to find the object of my excursion,
had just given up hopes of seeing her
again, when l met an inhabitant of the
place whose acquaintance l had made
soon after our arrival. He invited me
to take coffee in his house.
1--WE entered, and the first person
who met my eyes was the damsel who
had attracted me ashore. We both re
manned enraptured and silent, gazing
on one another like two people who
meet not for the first time, and who
seek in each others faces something
that will make it easier to recall for.
gotten past. At last greeted her with
the words, in italian, Thou oughtest
to be mine
my insolence was magnetic. | had
formed a tie, pronounced a decree,
which death alone could annul."
The young woman was at that time
betrothed by her father to wealthy
sutton, whom she had refused to mar
nv. AS her father and the sutton were
determined, however, and she had no
ODClOn, the dIEIfu1 OIL O6ll1UdAOA
have been extremely welcome. In
moment she had given her life to him.
Her father refusing to change her
destiny. Garibaldi came ashore with
small party a few nights later and car
ried her off by force-with her entire
consent-and they were married at an
other port.
Later, when he was fighting for Uru-
guayan independence, she rode with
him through privation and starvation
over the prairies; and on one march,
while they rode together, he carried
their three-mOnths-Old son in hand
kerchief slung round his neck.
Never were man and wife more pas
sionately devoted to each other than
these two; and when, in the terrible re-
treat from Rome in 1849, she sue
cumbed to fever and died in hut in
the marshes of the Pc delta, it seemed
TO the soldier that not only the light
of Italy, but the light of life itself, had
gone out.