After All, The Native Of Cotrone Has Advantages Over The Native
Of A City Slum; And It Is Better To Die In A Hovel By The Ionian Sea
Than In A Cellar At Shoreditch.
The position of my room, which looked upon the piazza, enabled me to
hear a great deal of what went on in the town.
The life of Cotrone
began about three in the morning; at that hour I heard the first
voices, upon which there soon followed the bleating of goats and the
tinkling of ox-bells. No doubt the greater part of the poor people
were in bed by eight o'clock every evening; only those who had
dealings in the outer world were stirring when the diligenza
arrived about ten, and I suspect that some of these snatched a nap
before that late hour. Throughout the day there sounded from the
piazza a ceaseless clamour of voices, such a noise as in England
would only rise from some excited crowd on a rare occasion; it was
increased by reverberations from the colonnade which runs all round
in front of the shops. When the north-east gale had passed over,
there ensued a few days of sullen calm, permitting the people to
lead their ordinary life in open air. I grew to recognize certain
voices, those of men who seemingly had nothing to do but to talk all
day long. Only the sound reached me; I wish I could have gathered
the sense of these interminable harangues and dialogues.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 85 of 152
Words from 22286 to 22538
of 40398
