University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1911-04-10
The Little Italian

The Little Italian sat on the door
step of his old home. The war hat
been fought, and he was on the side
of the vanquished. 1t seemed to hiu
an unjust fortune that had brought
him from his native country to th'
United States just in time to thrus
him in the ranks of the Confederates
But no complaint had escaped his
lips. His little farm and a wife were
all he had when the war broke our
He titled the ground as he had done
back in Italy. The sun burned his
bended back as it had when he wOrke;
the fields as a boy in the Land of the
l-atinS, and the winters were colder
still than he had ever known. Yet his
labOrs served him well. and his little
wife with the black eyes and glossy
hair made his home cherry and his
days happy.
War was proclaimed, and the coun
try was astir. The Little Italian did
not go at first to fight for the Con
federacy, for he had no slaves, and
this was strange land to him. Bul
when his neighbors took up arms in
defense of what they thought was
right, he kissed his wife goodbye and
SCI out to fight. He stood at the gate
and looked back at his little farm and
the modest house that was his home.
He bade farewell again to the wife III
the doorway. then turned and went
away.
Experiences were his like those OF
many who battled in that memorable
and regretable struggle; he was
among those who fought on the fields
and those who droned out a pitiable
existence behind prison bars. The con-
flict closed with the Little Italian a
prisoner OF war. He was freed, but
home and bis little wife were far
away. Out of prison, he looked south:
but he was weak and almost starved
he could no; go.
The Little Woman waited. She saw
the husbands of her neighbors return
to their homes, or she mOurned with
them the Geath of those who had
fallen in battle or died in dingy pris-
on. Men riding in worn wagons. or
on half-famished horses, or struggling
afoOt, passed by. But the Little Ital-
ian did not come. Time heightened
into weeks end months and thel lit
tie wife wept. He, too, must lie in
some shallow grave far away, she
thought, and tried to forget.
In time, another came to the Little
Woman, looked into her eyes AMI
asked for her heart and hand.
Should Il" she thought. The
Little Italian is dead-but should r.
She who had loved the Little Ital-
ian. who had been faithful to him
tiouSHOuS INT wal anu NuO ustll
waited and wept, gave her heart to
mother.
At last, the Little Italian turned
South. He stood again at the gate,
ooked at the little farm and the mod
EST house that had been his. 1t was
acant now. Weeds had grown up
where flowers once stood, and the
whole place had fOrsaken appear
nee.
She has gone" he muttered, then |
ell to the ground exhausted.
A small 10y driving COW along |
he rough road aroused him. He CALI |
d to the 10y, who approached him |
autiously. He was standing now.
Son, cana you tell-a me where
he man and woman that once Iva IN
heese house?" and he watched the
oy closely as he replied:
'Th' mans dead in the war, an tn
done married ag'in an lives
onder," pointing across the valley to
cabin on the hillside.
The Little Italian said no more. bur
'alked away in the opposite direc-
on.
1t was merely an incident in the
fe of the small boy, so no one
new that the Little Italian had come
ack.
The boy lad forgotten his conversa-
on with the stranger. He had passed
ong the same way many times since
len. and he noticed only that no one
we'd at what was once the Little Ita.-
MS home.
Again the Little Woman wept. The
an who had not died on the battle /,
ED or in soldiers prison, but who
ad taken the place of the Little Itai- ,
II. was borne from the cabin on the
llside to lie under the shade of a
ne in the country graveyard. The Z
title Woman was alone in the world r
.ain-but rot for long. l.