Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1921-09-09
Code of Honor as It Is Enforced
in Sardinia, Corsica and
Elsewhere
DIFFICULT TO STAMP OUT
Most Persistent Disciples Are Among
the Most MiId.Mannered and Most
HospitabIe People In the World
Ceremony Of Reconcile
alton.

New 1OrK.-feuuctla SIlll uOuTlSnc5
III many parts Of the old world, but
In no place Is 1t more firmly estab-
lished than in the Island of Sardinia.
Why 1t fourishes there is mys-
terry still unsolved, for the SaI DIM
ans themselves are probably among
the mildest hammered men In the
world. Travel all over their island
and you will be received with the
greatest hospitality.
There are few inns, except In the
two or three chief towns. but inns are
not needed, for every door is open
to the stranger, the best Of fare Is Of
fered-nay, lavished with open hands
the fatted calf is Instantly slain. the
cellars are ransacked for the Oldest
wine. Indeed. you might almost start
a vendetta by refusing hospitality or
wanting to hurry away too soonl
So long as you do notesmlle at the
women folk you are an honored guest
for much longer time than you wish
to remain. But the etiquette about
women Is as strict as In any harem
land In the East, and no intercourse
is allowed with strangers.
Next to Sardinia in the vendetta
business comes Corsica, where the peo-
pie, after all. are not very different.
There Is plenty Of bloodshed In Sicily,
but 1t Is organized by secret so
clety and has nothing to do with ven-
delta.
Albania runs the blood-feud on very
similar lines and Albanla's hereditary
enemy. Montenegro, oddly enough.
cherlshes almost the same traditions.
whereas the Serbians, the cousins of
the M0ntenegrlns, are bloodthirsty In
quite different way. It Is probably
not an accident that feuds and feudal-
ism have the same derivation, and
clannlsh traditions must have some
thing to do with the custom, writes
Herbert Vivian.
Part Of Their Code Of Honor.
The great difficulty that govern
ments find in suppressing vendetta is
that Its disciples regard 1t as part of
their code of honor. Men who go to
church regularly and observe all the
men Of infinite responsibility, who
could be trusted anywhere with un-
told gold and frivolous females-nev-
ertheless consider 1t their sacred duty
to slay the second cousin twice re-
moved of some one who has killed a
member Of their family in legitimate
self-defense. Indeed, there Is stigma
on their, whole clan If blood has not
been wiped out with blood, II many
mOlarS have not repaid a single tooth.
1t ceases to bet never Is, In fact
a personal affair. 1t Is just primitive.
savage justice.
In Sardinia church and state have
been frantically. at work for genera
lions trying to suppress the vendetta,
hut It is very slow work.
From time to time, however, rec
oscillations do take place. Sixty-five
years ago there was solemn cere-
mony Of forgiveness between two fam
lies that had been at war for two CEN
turtles, killing one another and de-
etroying one another's cattle and
farmsteads. 1t made an enormous
sensation, and marked an epoch In the
history Of the island. Only the other
day there was similar event. for
which the parish priest and the mayor
OF Temple, amid the savage rockland
Of Angina, are Jointly responsible.
Almost endless negotiations proceed
ed the formal kiss of peace. No one
wished to forego his vengeance; the
honor Of FIVE hostile families was at
stake. Again and again. for q whole
generation. men and boys have been
stabbed, and though everybody knew
the culprits and all the reasons for