American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1919-01-31


UT WAS the vintage time, and 1
tried to forget that half of Chris
tendon was plunged in a great
war. Leaving the fighting line, /
wandered about in the lovely freedom
of the hill country of Tuscany, past VIII
las which are surmised rather than
seen through the long vistas Of grave,
still expresses and around smiling, sill
vergreen olive slopes from whose sum-
mits beckon dignifed palace fortresses
of the Medicis or sterner and more
aged ivy-decked towers, writes a Tus-
cany correspondent of the New York
Evening Post. Finally, l reached the
road of my mornings quest and
stopped where a high wall. after many
turns and twists, suddenly opened to
q vision of green terraces. 1t was the
gate to the podere upon which Ton
inc and his forebears have labored for
the last century and a half-the fam
lily "going to the land" not as serfs,
but as willing servants of the soil.
Entering the terraced farm, I skirt
Ell II SltuL Nul WIN IVY GDi NoAihN Nv
tngly over its gray stones; a hedge OF
winter roses followed me In fragrant
Iompanionship all the way to Tonino's
farmhouse, a structure poised bravely
over a %precipitous ledge of rocks.
The house itself might be called an
architectural slant of walls, chimneys.
stone flags and steps running off and
down in all directions till they seem to
merge with the vines and the olive
rec and the green sod. FINGERED a mo-
ment, then followed In the wake of q
primitive oxcart, painted bright red,
on which the empty grape watts rumb-
bled generously as the plodding beasts
dragged their draft over the stony
road.
Harvesting the Grape Crop.
It was a pagan-almost b~acchanalian
picture, as those huge cattle. white
and %big-horned, moved slowiI ard pro
OCCASIONALLY down the way, fianked by
grape vines in endless, festive wreath'
and festoons strung from tree to tree
At the lower terrace a host of neigh
bors was busily at work cutting tn
dew-moist grapes, dropping the lus
cioEs punches into picturesque bas
kets lying all about. The sun PLAYED
in glad, shifting shadows in aud OH
of the vines and olive trees, while tn
damp soil, drinking In he soln-
warmth exuded a moisture heavil.
odorons with the Astounding vitallt,
of Mother Earth.
The harvesters included many won
en-. some territorial soldiers on leav
and a few children. No one, old o
young, gave signs of fatigue; the labo
was pursued slowly and easily, not q
all as a struggle in overcoming tint
or resistance. 1t was this seemin
slowness of the laborers in Italy whic
often gives to the outsider, especial
to the nervous and strenuous Amer
can observer, the impression OF
wastage of time in the Accomplishment
Of things. This apparent slownesi
however, is rather a wise restraint an
distribution of effort, coupled with fri
diiional skill or special hardness
I which bring about results by defines
! as well as by mere expenditure {
: force.
So, at this harvesting. all Of tht
crowded, terraced acreage had bee
shorn of IT'S grapes by shutdown, an
! all the fruit carried away TO the wiz
press.
Supper for Tonino's Laborers.
? At nine in the evening we gathert
at Tonino's house for the harvest su
: per, to which. by immemorIal custof
y everyone who haslabored In the vim
: yards must be invited. We entered
the Kitchen door. near which hung
: little oil lamp patterned after tho
: OF the Etruscans at the long table
the main room of this casa col9nl'
' sat three generations of harvesters
Z "a men, women and children.
. A warm, soothing, natural odor
oxen and stable came thinIy and n
: unpleasantly into the feast ebamb'
= which had that dignity of proporti
e and fine simplicity of lines viii
speaks of Tuscan taste. even In the
> humble quarters. A light hung FRI
. the center of the ceiling threw a raj
J. err dim illumination over the festl
~ board. bun amply sufficient for US
: see ell the good things which await
!. our impending ATTACK. First soup "
. served from huge bowls into deep,