The Bandit Queen: A Tale of Italy — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

One day, when a certain member of the Fac- Ity was hearing’ 4 class, Mat Larkins, disguised as an Old woman, came tne Professor’s aunt, and conducted himselt in uch an unsophistocated way, that the man of | re, who was naturally supercilious, was mor- | tified beyond measure, and all the students were | convulsed with lauehter. And yet, though per- sonally Known to everyone present, the fellow | actually departed, made his escape, and no one suspected him. It was not till lone after, when } he showed the disguise and told the story TLtt- | see a the trath was known. Tow. _ ADs s the wat toe we Pa ne ons jae to be Presented 4 in’ the tive? © Matthew Larkins was of ore hight, sien: | ler, graceful, and so exceedingly well formed so fir nly and comp physical strength far exceeded any estimate that could be based upnn his personal app ear- ee. HIS ‘features were almost regular, ani- | head, dark hair, large, a nose slightly inclined to the Roman, & fine mouth, and a beau ifu =n fact SS ok boyish—for he had scarcely any beard, and always kept his face cleanly shaved. Wild and pOmter ons though he might is, he was often sober and. de- soft-spoken as a girl in her teens, mure, a n a for he haa varying moods, and often made sud- ween den and unexpected changes. In short, you light be with him daily and yet never know 1 ou would find him from one minute to an- other and perhaps never be able to fally under- | stand his eccentric nature. He was a native of | southern Virginia, an only son of a once ric idulgent father, and had been quite spoiled in | his youth. He had many pen ce hon ogee and was as brave as: and at times d and daring to a rec brought up many as some that were rather painful. I did not men- Pet ay late adventure, being undecided wheth- | yught to tell it to my friend or not. I wait and be bp id by circumstances. | lared he must 1 . With me, and rather yalietdatiy ] gave my consent: whereupon he | ordered up his bagg the careless dress he first a one of black, with a white the demure, ‘Sanctified look he then chose to | on, gave him the appearance of a clerical s dent. Uate inthe afternoon we sallied out for a | walk; and though a crowd of beggars was about the hotel and i importuned us for charity, they did not recognize in Mat the man who in the morning had drawn them thither by his liberality, and for whom they were really lying in. walt, it being the custom of the wretches t ay siege | | erase 45, ppeared in, and don | play a sympathizing or renerous disposition. An hour before sunset is just the time to see in allitshuman glory, for then the af- ter-dioner siesta is over, and everybody 1s. Naples ‘in boldly, claimed to be | | priests, soldiers, | and children. -|} human swarm actly Knit together that his | | , and quite handsome, with a high fore- | gl brown, expressive eyes, ifully reunded chin. Though | ay senior in age he looked much younger | “the superiority of a ciceroné,- po rit} rious Curiosities, and answered with the air of a ma moving life and Over our wii we talked of the past, and sing reminiscences, and | age, and proceeded to dof | neck-tie, which, with | tu- 15 abroad, hig zh and low, rich a and the } beggar ; All who can afford it, ide-ae W ‘who. cannot, -walk—but all are in the streets at same time; and such another throng and jam, with ‘the noise of a thousand Bediams let loose, I presented no where else in the world. The baker, thé hatter, the carpenter, the shoema- ker, the tailor, with | nany other trades, are all at work in the open air, in the harrow str eets, whiich are crowded with animals, people and Vehicles of every « escription—horseé donkeys, women lazzaroni, beggars, As there are no side-walks for pedestrians the wonder is thatin the crush and jam of the many are not killed daily. And everybody talks in his Joudest key, as if _f men eve else were deaf, and everybody ges- | ticulates as if he were fighting all the rest of mankind. Venders shout and scream, drivers curse and beat their half-starved beasts, cattle low, horses neigh, donkeys bray, females sing, and the bewilder ed stranger, if afoot, is offen 1to enter the first carriage that wants a are and save his life and braine ‘Mat and I had set out for a walk, and there- fore we declined every public conveyance that offered. -Asthad been awhole week in Na- ples, and he had only just arrived, assumed inted out va- his questions who knows what he is talking about. After passing through several minor streets, antered the grand thoroughfare of Naples, the Strada di Toledo, where we beheld more seemingly greater .confusion, ft human voices as Ata booth of quenched our and heard the the ousands of the roarof amighty chbstewens | the acguajolo, we “stopped and thirst with lemon juice and water, the latter cooled by snow instead of} ice; then looked at a party of macaroni eaters, as with great dex- | terity and evident gusto they threw into their mouths and devoured the long, white, quill- shaped paste, prepared from flour, which may be called the national dish of the low er orders; listened a while to the comic drolleries and wit- icisms of punchinello, which I translated for my friend, who only per abot understood Italian, and at length halted near the table of a public scribe. “What is the business of this old, gray-headed man?” inquired Larkins. ‘He writes letters, méssages and the like, for the ignorant and illiterate,” replied [. “Most of the lower classes neither know how to read or write, and therefore he finds plenty of em- ployment in his vocation.”’ cc] Isee! and he evidently has one customer fellow sitting near him now, that hang-dog a cut-throat countenance that rascal has, pretty decently dressed for a Al! and as he is Neapolitan, I suppose villainy thrives in this | country as well as in ours.”’ ‘‘No doubt of it,’”’ laughed I. “J wonder now if he is dictating a love-letter, i hae on some meeting with a brother- thie salielelele) «mae CoO