New-York tribune., 1908-10-31

Waterfeld). illustrated. 12mo, PIP. 500 Ihe
NTacn illan COMPANY
Among the many books about Italy there are
few which picturesquely show us life as it is
lived day by day on the countryside and in the
little towns Mrs Waterfeld offers US one or
the few II is a captivating book. and more
than captivatIng: it deserves a permanent PLACE
as an illuminating study of Italian character
and Italian customs. The author is a keen oo-
server. and she has, moreover. those other nee
essary qualifications for right judgment-sym-
pathy imagination and sense of huinor. Ado
to this a genuine love for her subJect-for
Italy. "the land of dreams and distllusion ana
again of dreams: the land where your feelings
toward its inhabitants change hundred times
a day in the game and battle of Northern wits
against Italian furberiG. How you scold, eX-
postuate and abuse them. how they cheat and
smile with winning grace then starte you with
amazing generosity and kindness; move you 10
tears and laughter; irritate. interest, delight aSd
distract. until you declare that you love to live
among them" The chapters which follow vivid
" illustrate these sentences.
It was in the North of Italy. under the shadow
Of the Carrara mountains that the Waterfelds
found the massive stone fortress Of 1880 wherein
they have been spending happy years. How
reconcile modern Anglo-Saxon housekeeping
with that grim mass of solid masonry. that
-
drawbridges. with q front door that had to be
unlocked by a key more than foot long. and
with bastions haunted. so the peasants declared
by the ghosts of soldiers killed hundreds of
wears ago? The authors record of the difficult
ties attacked and Nvanqushed in making the
castle habitable is amusing as are her aneC-
dotes of her rural servitors and friends Great
WAS the interest of the natives of that remote
and primitive region In the English family
Many presents were shyly brought-presents OF
birds and flowers. Of plants and old coins and
medals for which payment was expected
I'VE once" says the author, tipped peasant
who had spent several hours IN showing us his
picturesque village. and I shall never forget his
look of panied astonishment as bIushng scar
let he asked what the money for The
independence of these people of the mountains
is worth remembrance. Thoughtful gifts TO
those who were III were courteously received,
but the equivalent was always returned. Once.
Mrs Waterfield tells US. when several months
had elapsed I began TO breathe. thinking that at
least family .had accepted the few sweets
and bits of stuff given TO the ragged children
At the time the mother had looked distressed,
saying How can l compensate you for all this?
as if fortune had been given to her. But at
Christmas time she appeared with basket on
her head full of gifts for her illustrious friends
pigeons eggs. a chicken, dried figs and nuts
and white grapes kept over from the vintage.
Her tact too was exquiste-these gifts could
not regard exchange. but as Christmas offer
ings which every proprietor receives from his
peasant nc<Sddri" The hospitality Of these
people is as generous as their independence is
Jealous; yet with this generosity runs a streak
Of parsimony quite pronounced The gener-
osity is wonderful. but not so the parsimony as
we realize in reading of the toll and poverty
of these Apennine peasants:
The women wthered at forty, the men toll
on like many driven beasts. and pG1ir"zd II any
real profit went into the pockets or thg tolIers,
For what is all this thrift and labor 10 eal a
little bean soup and hunk Of coarse maze oreaa,
ana Glotne ne rssIIin ,Secj9o VINO climbs
many a steep hill with his pack. The Italian. so
a supposed insult is the most patient being in the
world in bearing the great lis Of de; a,n ana thfy
mission to the ineyitabe.
Emigration to North South America is the
resource Of the more enterprsing, who gen
orally return with a small fortune. to spend the
rest of their prosperous lives among their ad-
miring neighbors They not always happy
in this return. however:
This Is especially the case among the Younger
generation. who visit to their parents soon
weary for the land Of their adoption. out there
less quest Of fortune In the train going up to
the Bagni di Luce Imcca one autumn We came across
after fifteen years spent in North America.
mans gold watch and immaculate black clothes,
and the woman's blouse of brocaded silk and
FamjIfa mis- and the VIE begar f Jv '"e
picture of what perfect felicity It would be TO her
to live in little house among the chestnut woods
some son and daughter. talking like pure blooded
Americans and looking Enthusiastically italian,
people in their teens. They told her that If that
We're her ideal il certainly not theirs and
that they would not come to see her If she stuck
herself down in slow little place in the noun
tains. where there were no trains and the railway
was ever so far away. They proceeded to crt'-
else everything around them. and to compare
most unfavorsbly the backward customs of Italy
TO the modern delights of New York.
This perhaps is the type Of the Italian Of the
future. and the American will not quarrel with
il. Yet must acknowledge that far more
interesting is the peasant who. met upon the
high road. greeted the Engshwoman with an
echo of the past. the word "Salve." Or that
other wayfarer who. responding to an inquiry
as to an unknown path. exclaimed. Per Diana
l will show YOU the road might of yore a
priest of the goddess he invoked
The anonymous writer Of THE Creed Of
Buddha' John Lane Company looks for a uni
versal acceptance Of Buddhism as the sanest
conception the human spirit has Vet devised on
which to build a science Of religion. 1t is dua
only to our inveterate dualisn that Buddhas
approach to the Western world has been -tbwart-
ed so often Studied sympatheticalIy. that is
10 say from the standpoint of Indian idealisn
Buddhas teaching is be anything but
athestic. As for Nirvana, far from being the
pessimistic impasse OF philosophical nihilisn
II Is the state of ideal spiritual perfection self
realization through union with the divine or
universal Soul. The author knows that iineuis-
tic experts like Professor Rhys DsNids offer 4
markedly different Interpretation. but he is dis