The New York herald., 1922-04-30
cvnfsnSed From Preceding Page.

cldl ullHculIleS. AIteF mentioning Somo
'ouble connected with a consular post, he
W. ote:
II can scarcely imagine how nearly half
million pounds sterling which / pos
sessed n 1864 could have been discipated,
hut the fact Is that was overtaker in my
vast expectations by two severe crises In
London. To this day our Government is
owing me $4,000 or more, compensation
tor valuable services and losses / sustained
during the Indian Mutiny. All the execu-
tive ofices of our Government in the Ord
nance and Commissariat gave their un-
qualified Endorsement to my claim, but 1t
eventually fell through. / was badly
treated indeed, and upon appealing to Lord
Derby, recently dead, he offered a sugges-
tion to the local Government as pis aller'
out Of the difhculty. There it ended. My
good friend Isaac Butt, M. p, offered to
agitate the matter in Parliament, but being
very rich on my return from India in 1872,
had destroyed all my documents. 1t was
on record and will be found in the archives
u
End magnitude of Mr.. Tanners ordnance
supplies the guns could not have been
brought into position or the capture of
Delhi effected"
NV father died in San Antonio, Tex,
in 1898. People who knew him wei; spoke
Of him to me with much love Of his extraor-
dinary kindness and buoyant spirits. In
San Antonio he was known by the name of
~ u .fCfn nd
brother always spoke of him with love and
tenderness. We younger ones did not re-
member him we'll.
My Italian grandfather, Count Angelo
Romanini Ga political exile) was born in
Bret l. During the Anglo-Italian war ne
ioinea THE democratic society known as
the Carbonari and fell into serious poiitical
trouble. Aided by a firman from the Sui
tan Of Turkey, Abdul Mejid, he Travelled
unmolested over eastern Europe. My
grandmother, Rosa Polinelli came from
Milan They had eight beautiful daugh-
ters. six Of whom married under the age OF
lS-Englishmen. My grandfather was
once a man of considerable position. We
have a tradition that he owned large
estates OF chestnut groves.
He was a good musician and played the
clarionet. He had a passionate love Tor
horses We were told when we were chill
dren Of his going into stable where
there was a wild, unmanageable horse that
no one would approach, and of his coming
cut in twenty minutes leading the animal,
feeding from his hand.
Owing no doubt to this love, he became
for a time the proprietor of an equestrian
company.
Unfortunately, whenever I asked ques-
tions about this "circus," which interested
me most profoundly, I was hushed. Only
nv mother smiled, and I thought that some
day she would tell me more about 1t, but
she never did.
People say that If they read the old let
ters OF their mothers and grandmothers 1t
ia dificult to realize that they were crea-
lures of flesh and blood, and IL the chron-
icle be enriched with some high adventure
or escapade of an uncle or aunt it only
makes an impression as though brightly
colored foreign bird flew swiftly through
q quiet garden.
NV own experience is different. My
Italian mother and her six beautiful sisters
were invested for me with great romantic
glamour that has remained within me
always And the stories / was told about
their youthful adventures thrill me now as
they did when l was a child and was so
proud that belonged to them.
NV life appeared to me to have sprung
from a magical past, where Italy, Persia,
India. white houses with fiat roofs, white
robed Arabs and lovely Arab horses and
my beautiful aunts were all seen through
O mist of childish imaginings, built upon
few stories I was told, photographs and
letters / have seen, my mothers sweet
singing voice, her delicious Italian accent.
her guitar and the many languages she
spoke, among them Greek and Latin.
1t is because of the effect these things
made upon my childish mind that l recall
them briefly.
These were the names of my aunts as
remember them: Regina, Stella, Caro-
lima. Angela, Theresa and Theodore, and
an aunt who died very young. The story
OF the death of this beloved youngest child
shows my grandfather was a man OF pas
sionate feeling-he turned her sick room
almost into a chapel, with candles and
cruciflxes: prayers we're said continuously
The child died-my grandfather blew out
the candles, broke the crucifxes and was
never known to pray again.
A caravan, with my grandfather and
grandmother and their children mounted
ahead on Arab horses! The following
anecdote probably inspired this picture
fixed in my childish mind. My beautiful
Aunts, while out riding, found poor
woman who\had just given birth to child
behind bush by the roadside; not know
ing what to do to help her. they slipped
- thatr Hopnot untttcoatu and Icff them