New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-24
8. Vito al Tagliamento, October 20.

ee-storied houses, "Heie NhioeeS
are strung like pearls-otten rather
black pearls-along the roads; where
the uncovered pergolas hang heavy
With era neg: where great industries
thrive under intelligent protection
where agriculture is peaceful ana
nrosperous partnership between land
owner and tenant, the metayer system
Welding good profits to both; where
aristocracy and democracy shake
hands. where there is an ordered I'D
erfv under an hereditary king; where
children swarm as nowhere else, all
well fed and content; where there are
'ew tourists, no beggars, no socialists,
nd no strikes-such is the province OF
I line. two hours north of Venice
,ou may not believe in such Utopia
where outside of America but IL
,oes exist. During the last fortnight l
l I'VE traversed II in all directions from
- 10 end: at fifty miles an hour IN an
lltomobne. it is true but with many
srops and visits and much talk II Is
no one man who has scattered plent!
DER this smiling land, nor is this pros
nar,tv an inheritance from all the ages.
1t is the more remarkable because II Is
modern. 1t is true to-day, II hsu
only begun to be true ten years ago
These immense plains have been
-yatered with the blood OF the men
hose descendants till them to-day;
lered and no doubt fertiliSed as we'll
~ have known many masters ana
ny systems Of government, TheN
e been tossed from one hand 10 an
or. Napoleon, to whom States Ike
n were only 80 many pawns on hts
Gin ssboard, flung them 20 Austria VINO
ga e them back to Italy, who again re-
lin ,ulshed them 10 Austria-al between
1877 and 1914.
But I imagine the character OF the
nsople has not much changed. Al
avery turn and with whomever you taik
you come upon traces Of old oehels'
of long settled convictions; of invet-
.rate habits and ways Of thought ana
Of life. There is a conservatism III
". at any rate in this part Of It,
Va. Jeh makes that Of England seem
nckye The very changes that are
going ON find their sources and roots in
the Middle Ages and in centuries
earlier still.
There is little to show that changes
have been more than superficial. Ola
customs survive in domestic life If MOI
in politics. Houses built in the Middle
Ages are still inhabited; many OF them
quite unmodernized. Old methods IN
agriculture are methods OF to-day
Tho carts, hay wagons, rope harness
fsrmyards, personal customs are "ha'
they were: autiquated, sometimes
picturesque: never Of the presen'
neriod. water flows everywhere, but II
,s for the fields, not for the laoorers;
except for the laundresses who ply
their trade in running streams by th4
roadside. The irrigation is perfect, pu'
sanitation makes little demand on IT,
ond bathrooms IN the American sense
are in middle class houses dream
Of the future
Look a. the children. There are teh'
nftsen. twenty to a family, well nour-
isbed but in rags they have inherited
from parents in poverty; ana Win
their rags their ideas. But the state
and the Municipality have taken
charge Of them. The schoolnouse is
ont n he he largest building in the
village or town, and everywhere SUN
larger and Amer schoolhouses are
building or lust built. / have passed
dozens OF them, and never once did my
host fail to point them out. They are
pes and proofs of the new modern
irit Education, as we understand It,
4, modern discovery, and here In
dins Il is plain that her rulers mean
20 no the foundation stone Of
.vssr prosperity and Of g more per-
.eetly Organised community. II IL
,oponalsory and free. The religious
,vncultv. 20 formidable in England and
,,cn n menace in certain states OF
rer,oa. has been disposed Of The
r,ests are a great power, but the
-tate Is a greater, and the young future
. thsse boy and girl myriads Is IN
~,tss hands. IT. the boy and girl minds
,s moreover, a new inspiration and
eide. They are in rags, but thelr
,o,,ls are not IN rags: neither In the
next asneration will their bodies be
vhAr Nte stopped, they crowded about
"a, elung to it. sometimes cheered
~ often mad4 jokes at our ex-
.-nxe Ind dismissed us with smiles
=, orsoe were we asked for money
y, whine which you hear forever in
.n,rsl and Southern Italy is unknown
l,.,.. | asked my friend'
WHY do they not begT'
They are too rich, and too proud,
and they have all they want. A boy
who begged would catch II from his
father when he went home"
Some Of the three-storied Houses in
which these laborers live wefe new;
many more going up. as the schoel-
houses were going up. Mems minds
IRE turning away from the 2ast.
there's a new glory In the heavens
AID on the earth. In the heavens be-
ca,se, II I could Judge rightly from
uTN