The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-03-30
tage, had been formally Withdrawn

tage, had been formally withdra xn
from circulation long ago, and were
consequently without value. Of
course it was useless to return to the
tobacco merchant, but 7 went back 10
see him, promptly simply by curiosity
/ to know what kind Of a face he would
put upon the matter. Only ten minu-
tes had elapsed, but he was not at
all embarrassed and swore by st.
January, by the Blessed Virgin, by
his fathers bones and his mothers
honor, that he had never laid eyes on
me before.
+ Every day I meet Americans, vino
have suffered like or worse imposi-
tions. One Of them, as sharp New
England drummer' as I have ever
met, had been short-changed out Of
twenty lire by post-ofice clerk; a
New Yorker, who had bought dia-
mond from jewelry firm recon-
mended in all the guide-books, lost
forty odd dollars by the transaction.
The diamond was O. K, but in MAX
ing change the clerk had unloaded
upon him a number Of counterfeit
gold coin. Another Of my compat-
riots wanted to have a suit cleaned
and confded the commission to a no.
tel porter; next morning the suit
came back, the bill was $3.50 and the
porter required a tip in addition; a
week afterward the American carried
another suit directly to the cleaner,
was charged only fifty cents, and
learned that the sa. ne charge had
been made for the first suit. The
porter had presented a forged bill.
It is the same old story here, season
in and season out. During almost a
half year spent in France, including
an extended sojourn in Paris, l recol-
lect having dealt with only two or
three dishonest people, but in Italy
not single day passes that I do not
encounter a score. [ believe there are
plenty Of honest and noble Italians in
Tuscany and the Piedmont, but there
seem to be few here in the South.
An Off Year for Tourists.
I am told that this is an off year
for touriSts-certainly there are not
so many of them at Naples as at Nice
and Monte Carlo. Thousands Of Eng
lish and Germans have been deferred
from their annual visits by the Sici-
liam catastrophe, not that they fear
earthquakes or infections away off up
here in Naples, but most Of the habi-
tual travellers have become accustom-
ed to include Sicily in their Italian
itinerary, and seeing half their trip
spoiled have decided to give it up en-
tirely, many of them packing off to
Egypt instead.
The inactivity of Vesuvius, which
amounts almost to temporary extinc-
ton, has also hurt Naples as tour
ist city. The red flames formerly
visible by night and the wreathing
clouds of smoke by day made the
volcano the chief attraction Of Naples
in the eyes of the average stranger,
and every season the desire to see
tie phnomenon drew southwark
many voyageurs, whose itinerary
would otherwise have ended at Rome.
But, since the eruption which occur
red four Years ago, not a single glim-
mer Of fire is to be seen even on the
cleareSt night, and only a thin, i'll
defined wisp Of smoke by day. Of
course it is still Vesuvius, still the
mountain which destroyed Pompeii,
still the most famous volcano in the
world, but it has lost, at least for the
time being, more than half its gran-
d:u:J
The attitude Of the Neapolitan po-
nnla ton toward Vesuvius is curious.
With the ruins Of Herculaneum and
Pompeii always beneath their eyes.
like a skeleton at the feast. lugu,
brious reminder Of the subterranean
forces which slumber for centuries
and awaken to spread death and de-
struction; with the recent CalabriaE
cataclySm to warn them of the III
stability Of the earth in all the vol
canic belt Of southern Italy, one
might suppose that the Neapolitans
would fear Vesuvius as dying SIM
ner fears the devil, would rejoice in
the extinction Of Is Fl erdbnas