Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-21
TRAVELS IN PHIL
By Christopher Morley
LITTLE ITALY

AZ
Of Italian gusto for food is that they take
II closer to nature. and also that they are
less Keen than We about meat. They do not
puy their food already prepared In cardboard
boxes. Fish. vegetables. cheese. fruit and
nuts seem to be their chief delights. Fish
or every imaginable kind may be seen on
Christian street. Some of them. small fiat
tened silver-shining things, are packed cum
ntngly In Kegs in a curious rconcentric pat
tern so that the glitter Of their perished eyes
CLEANS In hypnotizing circles. Eels, mussels.
skates, shrimps, cuttlefish-smal pink
corpses, bathed in their own ink-and some
very tiny ocean morsels that look like white
bait. Cheeses of every kind and color, some
or them a dull yellow and nodded in a queer
gourd-like shape. But : the vegetables and
herbs are the most inscrutable. Even the
gastrologer Epicure was unable to explain
them all to me. Chopped bayleaves. arti-
chokes. mushrooms. punches Of red and
green peppers, little boxes of dried peas.
beans. powdered red pepper. wrlnkled olives
and raisins, and str~ange-smelling bundles of
herbs that smell only like straw. but which
presumably possess some strange seasoning
virtue to those who understand them. In the
windows 'of the grocers' shops you will al
ways find Funghi secchi della Liguria (Ligu-
rian dried mushrooms) and Finocchio uso
Stella (Fennel. Sicllian STYLED, which names
are poems In themselves. And. Of course, the
long Bologna sausages-snd great round
loaves of bread.
THE Italian sweet tooth is we'll limited at
i In the Christian street pastlccerfas (pastry
shops), where cakes, macaroons, biscuits and
waters OF every color beckon to the eve.
Equally hromatic are the windows of the
bookshops, where bright portraits of Cen
eral Diaz. King Victor and President Will
son beam down upon knots Of gossipers
arguing on the sunny side of the street. and
a magnificent edition of the Divina Com
media lies side by side with Amore Prolific
and ! Sottcrranei di New York. Another
volume whose title 10 legible even to one
with scarcely any smattering of tongues Is
II Kaiser All'Inferno
Some Of the shops in Little Italy seem to
embrace a queer union OF trades. Fol in
stance one man announces his Office. as a
Funeral agent and detective bureau;
another, 'Bookbinder and flower shop" In
one window may be seen elaborate plans Of
Signor Menotti Nanni's Ocean Floating Safe.
in which tranl atlantic passengers are recon-
mended to stow their valuables. The ship
may sink and likewise the passengers, but
in the ocean floating safe your Jewels and
private papers will float off and
roam the ocean until some one comes to
salve them. The Italian name for this in
genious device is Cassaforte Galleggiante,
which we take to mean a swimming strong
box,
MO ACCOUNT Of Christian street would
IN be complete without at least some mem
tion of the theatres between Eighth and
Seventh streets. The other afternoon I
stopped In at one of them. expecting TO see
moving pictures, which are COMPREHENSIVE
In all languages; but instead found two
Italian comedians--a. man and a woman-
performing on an odd little stage to an au-
dience which roared applause at every line.
] was unable to understand a word. but the
skill and grace OF the performers was evil
dent, as also the suave and liquid yersihca-
ton of their lines. The manager walked
continually up and down the aisles, rebukink
every sound and movement other than leeiti-
mate applause with a torrential hiss. Every
time a baby squalled-and there were MANY
the manager slbilated like a python. The
audience took this quite for granted, SO evil
IDENTIFY II is customary. II is a ~salutary les
son In modesty 10 attend a performance con-
Quoted In a foreign language: there IL moth
ing that so rapidly impresses upon one our
own provincial ignorance of most tongues
but our own.
TITLE ITALY is only a few blocks away
~ from Chestnut street, and yet I daresay
thousands Of our citizens hardly suspect Its
existence. II you chance to 80 down there
about I o'clock some bright afternoon, when
all the children are enjoying the school re-
cess. and see that laughing, romping mass
OF bright-eyed young citizens, you will won
der whether they are to be congratulated on
growing UP In this new country of wonder
ful opportunity, or TO be pitied for losing the
beauty and old tradition Of that ,storied
unninnula 70 far AWAY. ~. f1"4tt