The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1907-08-23
IN sunny ITALY
Interesting Letter from ]. w.
harrington Descriptive of
Italy and her People.
NAPLES, ROME AND VENICE
AS They Appear to the Modern
Sight-seer Italian Farms,
Manners and Customs.
London, August Z, 1907.

London, August Z, 1907.
This letter for publication is
for the benefit of nv many
friends who requested ne to
write them about my experiences
in Europe. And | also remem-
Der | promised the editor of the
STANDARD a letter for publica-
ton.
Three weeks | spent in Italy
My landing was at Naples. This
is the most beautiful city from a
distance of all the great cities |
have yet seen, 1t is crescent
shaped, following the shore line
of the Bay of Naples. A few
blocks back from the shore line
the ground rises rapidly and
soon becomes too steep and
high. Then the hills change
into mountains. The beauty of
a city built thus with blue sea
curving along, moon-shaped at
the shore line and a background
OF green mountains and the liv-
ing Vesuvins, makes a picture
on sunny afternoons approach
after two weeks at sea, ever to
be remembered.
But on landing we We're sur
rounded by beggars such as |
have not seen since and hope
never will see again. Old and
young, the lame and the blind, :
little girls carrying sickly look
ing babies, women with many
children, all in rags and dirt,
and the pitiful looks of their
faces, whether pretended Or
natural, added more to their ap-
parent misery.
The first thing | did after land
ing was to go to the government
postoffice to buy postage stamps.
Here the official of the govern
ment both short changed me and
gave me counterfeit money, as
| learned a few minutes later;
but it was but a small sum, and
my first lesson. A few hours
later | was surprised to see a
| herd Of ten or a dozen goats driv-
en- into a street where there is as
much traffic as there is on Mic
ollet Avenue in Minneapolis.
Some stood on the sidewalk, and
some in the street. Men, women
and children milked the animals.
On the following morning they
were driven out Of the city to
the mountains. On principal
street at the sidewalk line saw
a cow MIXED and the milk sold
to patrons by the glass and half
glass.
Although all the traffic on the
streets Of a great city of five
hundred thousand is done with
horses yet it seemed strange to
see no bits on the brides. The
horses are small and nearly all
very poor. Two-wheeled carts
are used for all kinds of hauling.
And from the loads they hauled
l am we'll satisfied that a greater
load can be moved in this man
ner than with a wagon. | looked
in amazement at the great loads
drawn in great high-wheeled
cart by two small horses.
The filthy habits of the people
about the streets and the condi-
ton of the side streets and walks
in early morning cannot help
shocking an American or any
one else except residents of
southern Italy.
This city is we'll lighted and
full of life. A walk in a princi-
pal street in the evening shows
a stylish, well-dressed, orderly
crowd, not differing in any way
from what we would see in an
American city. There is no diff
ference in dress. The ladies'
dress very stylishly and are the
best looking women | have seen
in Europe, except the French.
The stores in Naples are at
tractive and we'll arranged.
This city has the largest Arcade
in the world, l have forgotten
it's dimensions.
Italians coming from Southern
Italy are much darker than those
in the north and are regarded by
the average Italian in the same
class as the white trash" of the
United States.
l travelled hundreds of miles