Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-05-16
A Singular
Wooiing
Py STEPHEN DELANO

StdGlcS,
I'm awfuly glad to see you," she
said. "There are three of us women
hcre-mOther, Aunt Sarah and land
not man There Is no fun for us to
go tramping about seeing sights by
ourselves Besides, its very incon-
vcnient Here Italians fleece us at
every turn. Why, cabman yesterday
followed me into my pension for pour
bOir (a tip after charging me double
price. and. since he couldn't speak any
English, couldn't argue with him
Finally shouted Eel Renan 0he
queen. and the man ran downstairs
so fast | thought he would break his
neck ! suppose he thought | had in
nuence ut court"
Kate is n jolly girl and laughed
heartily ut her own inventive genius.
II say" she went on, I've made a
mash-an italian. He follows me ev-
erywhere. These Italians act Just as
they did in Dnntcs timc-oge and
sigh and do all manner Of ridiculous
things, thinking that's the way to win
a woman. What are you going to do
tomorrow"
"See sights
you go with usf'
"Ccrtainly."
every we'll Well all leave here to-
gether at 10 sharp. There's a train at
1890"
The next day when we left the train
Mt Pompeii and walked to the entrance
of the exhumei city we were ap-
preached by half n dozen guides.
did the bargaining for the service they
offered and chose one whose appear
ance was far more respectable than
any of the others. He was very hum
ble however, and agreed to pilot us
for ridlcuously low price AS we
started off, the guide leading the way,
Kate fell back and. pulling my sleeve,
whispered:
'"rhe Italian!'
what ltalianY
my admirer. He has learned at the
hotel that | ordered Il carriage for the
BluIIDH ~ tblIit lItIt-Il COSL
him Il franc tip--and has come down
to perpetrate some medieval non
sense
you're stuffing me-"
"On my honor. I'm not; you will see
for yourself before long"
We walked up the street leading into
the heart of the city and paused at
the temple of fortune. Our guide spoke
English fairly well. but | could read
lily see that If lecturng in his own
tongue he would give us Il very inter
estIng account of what we saw Not
withstanding his limited English vo
cabulary he made us see the fire and
smoke that first emerged from Nesu
vius on the day Iompcii was destroy
ed, the great tree shaped column OF
ashes that hung over the doomed city
the CONSERVATION of the citizens, the
coming darkness, people fleeing to the
different gates; then the inky black
ness through which crowds struggled
dropping by the way.
This he gave rs Il preliminary to In
formation as to the different buildings
we examined, | was astonished at the
amount of the information he possess
ed. had visited Pompeii before with
n guide, but was disguised with the
amount of nonsense he gave us instead
of information, This man spoke as
one who had been educated to speak
of the ancicnts, giving his authority
fn " chat hn told
times in Latin. from the Roman au-
thors whose works have come down
to us
Kate, when she had recognized the
man, was much amused Hut while
he was diScoursiug ! looked at her and
saw great change. She appeared to
he charmed with his lecture. and
could see In her expression an inward
pride that the man had been so at
tractcd to her rs to assume to hc n
guide for the purpose OF being with
her and giving her the benefit of his
erudition upon what. without It, would
have lost most OF its charm.
| shall not soon forget that eloquent
address, or series OF addresses, ending
with description Of scene in the
theatre while we were looking down
from the seats on to the stage where.
some nineteen centuries before. was
enacted the scene described
When we parted from our guide |
dropped his Zee into his hand and
asked him for his card He gave It to
me, and | read: "Guiseppe Reuoli. Ro-
man Archaeological, via ---- 6S."
Putting it in my pocket | followed
my party. Scarcely had we got into
the train when Kate, who had seen the
guide give me his card. demanded It,
gave It to her, and her face took on
one OF those looks that In woman
means delight at being admired by
man of ability.
called the next day on Senior Benoli,
finding him in the midst of treasures
lately cNhumed, which he was eXam!n-
ing and recording MS government ar
chaeoogiSt He greeted me with nm
Il ~ \