New-York tribune., 1909-10-30
DAYS IN SICILY.
Tco Records Of Happy
Saunt6ringS.


DIVERSIONS IN SICILY. BY Henry
Testing Jones. 12mo, PIP. 551. I'm
ported by Charles Scribner's Sons.
SEEKERS IN SICILY. Being a Quest for
feP3nene fons 3e eS Jane ana PerlPaitetGd
Bisland and Anne HoYt. illustrated.
l2nlo, pp. 2S2. john Lane Company.
The Englishman who chats so agree
ably concerning his diversions in Sicily
is a traveller worth following Ho is the
most sympathetic of observers. He likes
the Sicilians and has known how to win
their confidence and affection. 1t could
hardly be otherwise with so cheerful,
courteous and large minded a visitor;
even the coastguarGs fraternized with
him and fed him on jokes and cold
boiled artichokes. He describes briefly
and with humor his excursions about the
country; he offers effective glimpses 1e
Sicilian romance, and he provides sorae
particularly entertaining chapters on the
marionette theatres. He is at pains TO
remove popular impressions which he
considers erroneous; he is, for example,
inclined to attribute the idea that Sicily
is more dangerous than other countries
less to the frequency of crime there
than to the operate manner in which It
is committed AS for Sicilian manners,
he gives a most engaging account Of
them. lie says in illustration: "A
Frenchman, speaking OF an Enghshman
to whom I had introduced him. said to
me, He speaks French worse than you
do! Any Italian wishing to express a
similar idea would have said, He speaks
jc tr,1 hut
DO Our author talks poetry and
music, Dante and Shakespeare. with his
landlords son, who waits on him at dim
ner, and with the master of a little wine
shop and many of his pleasantest en-
counters are with humber folk, those
ardent and persistent patrons Of the
marionette theatre, the Facchini, por-
tiers, coachmen, shoeblacks and the Ike
At Catauia he writes:
1t sometimes happens when travelling in
SiJliy taat one has to spend half an hour
half day. or il may be more in compailV
Sd{;anof,s, %lHn one Of these men; He is usually a
tuil of fun and extremely friendly without
eeIng obtrusive. During conversation one
may perhaps ask him whether ne can read
Sliu TFl'e' ne VIII probably reply that at
scnool ne was taught both. Presently one
may ask him 10 read an advertisement or
10 write down an address; he VIII probably
,' depiS t1at me light is bad or that he is
1TTicupieu Win the luggage or tho horses
1Ae lact is that reading and writing are
70 MN very much what the classics and
me higher mathematics are to MANY an
EHsH5h gEntIeman-the subjects were in
C!uued IN his youthful studies hut as the,,
nave never been of the slightest use ~
eli ttIil = IN earning MS bread, he has forgotten
al lie ever learned OF them and does NOT
care TO say The Sieilian. howeyer no
t,,.aott aeeti. now uneducated he may be- has an
~ SSpPetlIe lor romance which must be Grati-
ISu' anu Ss IL would give him some troII-
bIe 20 brush up his early accoYnpIish hn1ents
arla i.s say at nome reading Pulci and Bot
follow the story of Carlo Ajagno III 10
pal&dins and the wars against t,e 60 ~
Gems IN The teatrtno Besides po Siciiian
exn.rt 90. ~ s.a%s a. home to do anything
eEAcept 10 eat and sleep. ana those ara
lhlngs ba does out Of doors as often ~
not; the houses are for the U-on,er. ,b2
IN ii,l'4 R4aI aho IN lhe street. 1t is as though
ana shop boys were TO spend evenint sfta
eFenlh@' month after month. looking ON at
The Faerie Queeac." "
What two enthusiastic feminine tour-
ISIS from America saw and felt in tho
Sicilian spfingtime Is ioyouslv revealed
In the second volume named above IN
eidents of travel, charming, exasperatinp
or laughable, humorously treated xiep
cites OF character, bursts of deIiob+
over glorious scenery, neat references IN
local history or mythoIogy-all these con-
tribute to the making of truly readabIa
book The two travellers came upon nm
expected enjoyment in the wav Of com
fort or picturesqueness, and the exneri-
ence has been recorded in airy eossin-
ms fashion. They observed the vaearies
OF fellow tourists with genial philosonbv.
they fell into poetic meditation amid the
ruins Of the mighty past. Nowhere were
they bored, and-though there is danger
OF OVERRIDING historical allusion-nowbere
do they bore the reader. Sicily smells
magic; the very soil beneath the oranea
trees speaks Of the dramas OF n thoY-
sand years ago. AN American living
In Taormina did a kindness to her native
cook. for which in grateful return the
cook insisted on presenting her a auan-
tity OF old coins. which her husband had
turned up through the years in their
little garden. Showing them TO the
curator OF museum, Madame. he said
to the fortunate recipicnt Of the gift
you have 4 complete cpitome OF au
EiciHBn history in these cnfnc