Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-10-02


Italian is not on good terms with work
except when working" stranger.
Orchards and vineyards thrive with little
labor expended. There are practically
no insects (though there will be soon,
as the English sparrow has penetrated
to the foot of Vesuvius and the myriads
of song birds, insectivorous, are grow
ing less, so we were told. Here for
the first time in our European tour we
got among flies. We had forgotten al
most there was such pest. but we are
now reminded they still exist; though
they are not near so numerous in Italy
as in America. 1t is no secret with
Europeans that filth. usually stables,
draw and breed flies, and all but Italy
keep too clean to admit of propagation.
Reverting to agriculture-theh horse is
little used, no farm machinery, and few
wagons are seen outside of cities. In
the thickly settled portions, where an
acre will be called farm and support
a family, the work is done by hand, and,
as usual, by the women and children.
In central Italy, where it is not so
fertile, and in southern Italy where the
farms are large, oxen are used nearly
altogether. But this is ahead IF the
theme, as we are now writing of north
ern Italy, by far the best of her people
and lands. The northern Italian is less
Italian, perhaps, than he is Frank and
HelvetIan. The French for centuries
overran north Italy, the Swiss and Aus
trian later, and now the German and
English are butting in. The Italian is
IN good feeling with everybody but his
neighbor Switzerland. Each of the two
countries is looking for clash in the
future. On the frontier, at Chiasso for
instance, there is stretch of neutral
ground, or territory of concurrent juris-
diction, and the soldiers of each country
patrol there night and day to prevent
smuggling. They are on speaking terms
but that is all. The outcome of any
clash is mere speculation. The Swiss
are a mere handful of people compared
to the italian nation, but they are hardy
people and their mountains are almost
unassailable. The Swiss citizen, as also
the Italian, is a soldier by birth and
training. He has his uniform, gun and
ammunition, furnished by the govern
ment, at his home, and when called upon
knows his number and regiment, and
there he falls in. Every horse owned
by a Swiss has his place at the gun
carriage or the cavalry barracks, and
once every year he and his owner repair
to his canton and go through drill; then
back to his place on the farm or at the
cab or wagon. The italian citizen is
hardly less prepared. Italy has the
best and handsomest uniformed army
in Europe. Her numbers will not equal
Germany's, but her army is more impos-
ing and her officers par excellence the
finest uniformed. She has large army,
q large navy and can get reasonable
credit. A popular fallacy in this, as in
many other things connected with Italy,
is shattered by visit here.
OF all Italy the north alone lays any
claim to cleanliness and an eye for the
beautiful. Lower down nature has
supplied verdure and flowers to en-
bellish the land; here the people raise
and cultivate flowers to excess. One
can see acres of coxcomb. or red sage,
or some other gorgeous flower, cultivated
for market and the home. The villas
and that word cannot begin to impress
the reader with what villa is, its
splendor. vastness and magnificence--the
villas would impress you that the owner
tabooed the natural earth and must walk
over fiowery beds, laved by fountains
of crystal water, surroundings festooned
with fruit and fiaWery vines and espied
upon by marble statues such as only
the Italian sculptor can chisel from
Italian marble. These are gorgeous
places, to some of which you may be
admitted through the high portals and
catch glimpse of the velvety grounds,
and a few Of the mansions you may
enter, provided the lord and his lady are
away for the summer. Gilded palaces
all! To several of these, American
heiresses have brought the millions to
recuperate decaying grandeur, and some
are prisoners within the great walls
that. with the festoons, almost shut
out Gods sunlight, while some have
left the money and renounced ali claim
or allegiance to the princely estates
just to be free once more. But so it
will go on until time (or America) is
no more. Could our prospective brides
of European nobility first look upon
their gilded prisons they would renounce
title and even crown to be free, forever
free. We know of one such match, we
must in justice say while passing, that
will not fall under this category. The
Duke of Abruzzi, soon to take a West
Virginia bride, is of the royalty, highly
honorable and a man of merit and
energy; he is not an adventurer or
fortune seeker, but one of Natures
noblemen.
So much for ruminating. We get to
Como, not far beyond the Swiss border,
and here We find the trolley cars of the
best and running on right-hand tracks.
We are on Lake Como. one of the
largest and prettiest of the Italian
Lakes. We engage passage on a
| steamer for the morrow's tour of the