The School-House Was Small, But The Volume
Of Clamour That Issued From It Would Have Done Credit To Two Or
Three Hundred Children In Unrestrained Uproariousness.
Curiosity
held me listening for ten minutes; the tumult underwent no change of
character, nor suffered the least abatement; the mature voice
occasionally heard above it struck a cheery note, by no means one of
impatience or stern command.
Had I been physically capable of any
effort, I should have tried to view that educational scene. The
incident did me good, and I went on in a happier humour.
Which was not perturbed by something that fell under my eye soon
afterwards. At a shop door hung certain printed cards, bearing a
notice that "wood hay-makers," "wood binders," and "wood mowers"
were "sold here." Not in Italian this, but in plain, blunt English;
and to each announcement was added the name of an English
manufacturing firm, with an agency at Naples. I have often heard the
remark that Englishmen of business are at a disadvantage in their
export trade because they pay no heed to the special requirements of
foreign countries; but such a delightful illustration of their
ineptitude had never come under my notice. Doubtless these alluring
advertisements are widely scattered through agricultural Calabria.
Who knows? they my serve as an introduction to the study of the
English tongue.
Not without cordiality was my leave-taking. The hostess confided to
me that, in the first day of my illness, she had felt sure I should
die. Everybody had thought so, she added gaily; even Dr. Sculco had
shaken his head and shrugged his shoulders; much better, was it not,
to be paying my bill? Bill more moderate, under the circumstances,
no man ever discharged; Calabrian honesty came well out of the
transaction. So I tumbled once more into the dirty, ramshackle
diligenza, passed along the dusty road between the barred and
padlocked warehouses, and arrived in good time at the station. No
sooner had I set foot on the platform than I felt an immense relief.
Even here, it seemed to me, the air was fresher. I lifted my eyes to
the hills and seemed to feel the breezes of Catanzaro.
The train was made up at Cotrone, and no undue haste appeared in our
departure. When we were already twenty minutes late, there stepped
into the carriage where I was sitting a good-humoured railway
official, who smiled and greeted me. I supposed he wanted my ticket,
but nothing of the kind. After looking all round the compartment
with an air of disinterested curiosity, he heaved a sigh and
remarked pleasantly to me, "Non manca niente" - "Nothing is
amiss." Five minutes more and we steamed away.
The railway ascended a long valley, that of the Esaro, where along
the deep watercourse trickled a scarce perceptible stream. On either
hand were hills of pleasant outline, tilled on the lower slopes, and
often set with olives. Here and there came a grassy slope, where
shepherds or goatherds idled amid their flocks.
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