mw^f^^^^^W^ SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Books on Italy and Spain By MAUD HOWE ROMA BEAT.\. Letters from the Eternal City. With illustrations from drawings by John Elliott and from photographs. 8vo. In box. $2.50 nef. Popular Illustrated Edition. Crown 8vo. In box. $1.50 net. TWO IN ITALY. Popular Illustrated Edition. With six full-page drawings by John Elliott. Crown 8VO. Inbox. $1.50 nei. SUN AND SHADOW IN SPAIN. With four plates in color and other illustrations. 8vo. In box. $3.00 net. SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN. With twelve pictures from original drawings and numerous illustrations from photographs taken by John Elliott. 8vo. In box. $3.00 net. LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers 34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON ■■:^:;^\ I ■■lilt i»?%'i^'- Lv. :t 1- J- •^sTi-i^f-'-^ " THE TELL TALE TOWER. Frontispiece. The clock stepped at the hour of the earthquake. ^ICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN. THE EARTHQUAKE AND THE AMERICAN RELIEF WORK BY '' MAUD HOWE AUTHOR OF " ROMA BEATA," " SUN AND SHADOW IN SPAIN," "•TWO IN ITALY," ETC. With numerous illustrations Including pictures from photographs taken in Sicily and original drawings by JOHN ELLIOTT BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1910 /v^^ Copyright, 1910, Bt Little, Browk, and Company. All rights reserved Published, November, 1910. LOUIS E. CROSSCUP Printer Boiton, Mass., U. S. A. TO MRS. LLOYD C. GRISCOM FOREWORD Sicily, the " Four Corners " of that little ancient world that was bounded on the west by the Pillars of Hercules, is to southern Europe what Britain is to northern Europe, Chief of Isles, universal Cross-roads. Sicily lies nearer both to Africa and to Europe than any other Mediterranean island, and is the true connect- ing link between East and West. Battle-ground of contending races and creeds, it has been soaked over and over again in the blood of the strong men who fought each other for its pos- session. There has never been a Sicilian nation. Perhaps that is the reason the story of the island is so hard to follow, it's all snarled up with the history of first one, then another nation. The most obvious way of learning something about Sicily is to read what historians have to say about it; a pleasanter way is to listen to what the poets from Homer to Goethe have sung of it, paying special heed to Theocritus — he knew Sicily better than anybody else before his time or since! Then there's the geologist's vii FOREWORD story — you can't spare that ; it's the key to all the rest. The best way of all is to go to Sicily, and there fit together what little bits of knowl- edge you have or can lay your hands upon, — scraps of history, poetry, geology. You will be surprised how well the different parts of the picture-puzzle, now knocking about loose in your mind, will fit together, and what a good picture, once put together, they will give you of Sicily. When a child in the nursery, you learned the story of the earliest time! How Kronos threw down his scythe, and it sank into the earth and made the harbor of Messina. (The geologists hint that the wonderful round, land-locked harbor is the crater of a sunken volcano, but you and I cling to the legend of Kronos.) In that golden age of childhood, you learned the story of the burning mountain, Etna, and went wandering through the purple fields of Sicily with Demeter, seeking her lost daughter, Perse- phone. You raced with Ulysses and his men from the angry Cyclops down to that lovely shore, put out to sea with them, and felt the boat whirled from its course and twisted like a leaf in the whirlpool current of Charybdis. When viii FOREWORD you left the nursery for the schoolroom, you learned the names of the succeeding nations that have ruled Sicily, every one of whom has left some enduring trace of their presence. As you cross from the mainland of Italy to this Sicily, you can, if you will use your memory and imagination, see in fancy the hosts who have crossed before you, eager, as you are, to make this jewel of the south their own. First of all, look for the Sicans ; some say they are of the same pre-Aryan race as the Basques. After the Sicans come the Sikels. They are Latins, people we feel quite at home with; their coming marks the time when the age of fable ends and history begins. Next come the Phoeni- cians, the great traders of the world, bringing the rich gift of commerce. They set up their trading stations near the coasts, as they did in Spain, and bartered with the natives — a peace- ful people — as they bartered with the Iberians of the Peninsula. The real fighting began when the Greeks came, bringing their great gift of Art. Sicily now became part of Magna Graecia, and rose to its apogee of power and glory. Syracuse was the chief of the Greek cities of Sicily. The Greek rulers were called Tyrants. ix FOREWORD They were great rulers indeed; the greatest of them, Dionysius, ruled 406 b. c. Then came the heavy-handed Romans and the first glory of Sicily was at end. The Romans made a granary of Sicily and carried off its treasures to adorn imperial Rome. They stayed a long time, but with the crumbling of the Roman Empire there came a change in Sicily, the first Roman province, and for a time the Goths and the Byzantines ruled her. Then came the Saracens. They destroyed Syracuse and made a new capital, Palermo, that from their time to ours has remained the chief city of the island. After the Saracens came the Normans — the same generation of men that subdued England under William the Conqueror, — and gave to Sicily a second period of greatness; for if the Greeks gave Sicily her Golden Age, the Norman age at least was Silver Gilt. The French came too, but their stay was short, their reign in- glorious; it is chiefly remembered on account of the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers, when the Sicilians rose, drove out their conquerors, and drenched the land in French blood. In the early part of the fifteenth century, Spain, who was beginning her age of conquest, con- X FOREWORD quered Sicily and held it subject for more than four hundred years. Finally, in the year 1860, came Garibaldi, and reunited Sicily to Italy. Geologically, Sicily has been as restless as it has been politically and socially. At least twice it was connected with Italy, and once probably with Africa, so that African animals entered it. The Straits of Messina, only two miles wide, and one hundred and fifty fathoms deep, are Nature's record of an earthquake rupture between Italy and Sicily. Mount Etna, the most impressive thing in the island, has been there since early tertiary times — before the days of the ice-age, when the mammoth and cave-bear roamed through the woods of Europe. It is probably a younger mountain than Vesuvius, but long before the dawn of history Sicily and Calabria were the prey of the earth- quake and the volcano. The Straits of Mes- sina and Mount Etna are both the results of earthquake activity. The Straits are a gigan- tic crevice in the earth; the volcano is only a tear in the earth's crust, so deep that the hot steam of the interior of the earth rises from the ever open rupture. Etna, therefore, is not the cause of earthquake, but is itself the child of xi FOREWORD an earthquake. It sprang, a full-grown moun- tain, from the breast of earth, as Pallas from the brain of Zeus. Etna was probably far larger once than it is now. The present cone rests on a volcanic plateau, that appears to have been the base of a larger cone, which was blown to atoms. The old mountain is full of cracks which are filled with hard basalt that cements it to- gether. Its explosive tendency causes it to give rise to a great many little cones upon the sides, called parasitic cones, which burst forth suddenly almost anywhere. Historian, poet, geologist, each tells his story, but the poet tells it best of all. There is no better description of Sicily and its people than the one you will find in the Odyssey. " They all their products to free Nature owe, The soil untilled, a ready harvest yields, With wheat and barley wave the golden fields, Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour, And Jove descends in each prolific shower. By these no statutes and no rights are known. No council held, no monarch fills the throne; Each rules his race, his neighbor not his care, Heedless of others, to his own severe." — Homer's Odyssey, translated by Pope. xn CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Messina Destroyed 1 II. The Straits of Death 39 III. America to the Rescue 77 IV. The Cruise of the " Bayern " . . .116 V. Royal Visitors 161 Yl. At Palazzo Margherita 191 VII. Building the New Messina .... 217 VIII. The Camp by Torrente Zaera .... 248 IX. Guests at Camp 269 X. The Villaggio Regina Elena .... 293 XI. Taormina 312 XII. Syracuse 344 XIII. Palermo 377 XIV. Mr. Roosevelt at Messina .... 427 XV. Easter 446 XVI. Messina (Ave atque Vale!) .... 466 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Tell Tale Tower Frontispiece Facing Page RxuNS OP THE American Consulate, ^Messina .... 20 MissiNA. The Torrente Zaera 244 Reggio. Queen Elena's Group of American Cott.\ges . . 248 Hotel Regina Elena and Church of Santa Croce, American Village, Messina 282 Messina. American Cottages, Villaggio Regina Elena . . 304 Viale Griscom, American Vill.\ge, Messina .... 436 A Makeshift Church and Belfry 448 Pay-Window and the Archbishop's Bell 454 SCYLLA 468 Via Belknap, American Village, ISIessina 472 Euz.'LBETh Gri.scom Hospit-u., Villaggio Regina Elena . . 476 Ullugtrationjf from ^fjotograpfjg Messina in Flames 10 The Municipio in Flames, Messina 10 Rescxte Party of Russian Sailors 11 The Palazzata, Messina 11 The Water Front, Messina 40 A Funeral Barge 41 The King and the Wounded Officer 41 The B.arracks, Messina 44 Ruins of a Church, Messina 44 Digging for the Buried-Alive 45 The King at Messina 45 XV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Messina. The Cathedral Before the Dis.\ster The Cathedral, After the Disaster Aecangelo's H0U8E Messina. Where Marietta Lived Stromboli from the "Bayern" The Americ^jnt Ambassador and Red Cross Nurses on the "Bayern" Italian Milit.\ry Encampment, Messina Italian Officers and Men, Mf^sina Messina. A House that Escaped Destruction Soldiers on their Way to a Rescue The Military College, Messina Palace of the Prefect, Messina Tenente di Vascello Alfredo Brofferio Lieutenant Commander Reginald Rowan Belknap, L^". S. N. W'reck of Railroad, Reggio Street in Reggio Grand Hotel Regina Elena, American Village, Messina Arrival of the "Eva" rR.\AiE of First House, American Village, Messina Lieutenant Commander Belicnap putting the American Camp in Commission Hauling up the Colors, American Village, Messina Messina. Via I. Settembre The Cathedral, Palmi Messina. Arrival of Furniture for American Cottages American Village, Messina. Via Bicknell, First Street Stragglers from the Herd, American Camp, Messina In the American Village, Messina .... awocato donati Mr. Buchanan's Boy and His Mates Quitting Work Arrival of the Barber .... Workshop of American Village, Reggio First American House in Reggio . American Shelters, Palmi Reggio. Carpenters at Work Olive Grove near Palmi .... Captain Belknap .^.nd Carpenter Faust 50 50 51 51 114 114 115 115 130 130 131 131 222 222 223 223 226 227 227 240 240 241 241 252 252 253 253 258 258 259 259 266 266 267 267 276 277 XVl LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS View from the Hotel, American Village, Messina . 277 AMERiC-'iJs- Village, Messina. The Pay Line .... 286 "The FRONT OF THE P.U^A.CE HAD FALLEN INTO A HE.\P OF RONS" . 287 Church of Ol-r L.ujy of the Poor, Seminara .... 287 ZlA ^LvDD.AiENA AND HeR F.^MILY 308 CaPT.UN BiGN.AJJI AND His St.vff 308 G.\sparone AND Water Boys in Hotel Col-rty.^d, Messina 309 ROAD-MAKlNG IN THE AMERICAN VlLL.^GE, MeSSINA 309 American Qu.\rter. Messina 312 An Eruption of Mt. Etna 313 The Road to TAORiiiNA 313 Mt. Etna from T.\ormina : . . 324 Example OF SiciLi.\N Gothic Architecture, Taormina . . 324 Choir Stalls, S.of Domenico, Taormina 325 Friar Joseph's Missal 325 Fort Eltiyelus, Syr-vcuse 352 Example of SiCTLiAN Gothic Architecture, Syracuse. 352 GiRGENTi. A Wine Cart 353 GiRGENTi. A Sicilian Cart 353 Church of S.\n Giovants'i, Syr.\cuse 360 The-vtre, Palerjio 360 Etruscan S.\rcophagus, P.axermo Museum 361 In the Museum, Palermo 361 Villa Tasca, Pai.ermo 376 Villa d'Orle.vns, P.vlermo 876 Fountain of the Pretoria, Palermo 377 Chl-rch of S.^- Giov.^nni, P.^lermo 377 Tower of the ^Lajitor-^na, P.\lermo 390 Water Carriers, Taormina 390 Church of the ]\L\rtor-\na, Palermo 391 P.\LERM0. C.U'ELL-A. P.tL.\TIN.\ 391 MoN*RE.\LE 396 The Royal Palace, Palermo 397 The Cathedr-vl, P.\lermo 397 Reab. of the Cathedr.\l, Monreale 400 The Cathedral, Montieale. Tombs of Willi.\m I. .vn'd Wil- Li.\ii II 400 Monte Pellegrino, P.ylermo 401 Facade of the Cathedral, Monre.u,e 401 xvii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Interior of the Cathedral, Monbeale 404 MoNREALE. The Cloisters 404 Bronze Door of the Cathedral, Monreale .... 405 The Arab Fountain, Monreale 405 Palermo. The Quattro Canti 432 Palermo. The Marina 432 American Village, Messina. The Celtic's Carpenter Cook AND TWO "Scorpions" measijring off the Land . . 433 Wing of the Elizabeth Griscom Hospital, Villaggio Regina Elena . 433 The King, escorted by Buchanan, Brofferio and Eluott, visits American Village 440 Mbssina. Painting the American Cottages .... 440 ChurchopSantaCroce, American Village, Messina . 441 Hotel in Construction, American Village, Messina . 464 Enclosing Gang at Work 464 Grand Hotel Regina Elena from the Railroad . . . 465 View from the Hotel, American Village, Messina . . . 465 Grand Hotel Regina Elena and Church of Santa Ceoce . 480 Map of Sicilt p 12- 14- W ~j 1 V . ■ ]/J ifoJSS^'V^j^ an C A«j<, ^;I^;^:vA fl A j '-'\\ T"° %;J rongoli v/c&A '- if '^/ S C.Nau C.o/'J.fi/l'e ""■' jpSdTW^uif of Usticip ^ ' P * " ' 1? OStron,io,, , py/y<,uillaM Squilhce (6 /(/ Felicud: Saline ^:t C.falicno (T ■cudiO 'Q. 12 „Pi"Srl6 \ ■\}Upan Gi Pantellaria ''"'"V S„l,,fMil C.jM/d/77«>r^: <*♦ MESSINA. RUINS OF THE AMERICAN CONSULATE. Page21. MESSINA DESTROYED Mr. and Mrs. Cheney, our Consul and his wife, and to recover the papers of the Consulate, for we knew now that the Consulate had been entirely destroyed. Mr. Bayard Cutting, our Consul from Milan, was of the party, and Mr. Winthrop Chanler, whose mission was to look up missing Americans. From the moment the news of the earthquake was known in America, the Embassy was besieged by tele- grams from people at home who had friends in Sicily. The largest American colony in Southern Italy is at Taormina, only two hours distant by train from Messina. It was im- possible for our Taorminesi to send word of their safety to their relations at home, who were torn with anxiety about them. It was at this time we first heard that Miss Catharine Bennett Davis of the Bedford Reformatory was traveling in Sicily and it was feared was in Messina, and of Anne Lee, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Paton, Harry Bowdoin, Charles King and Charles Williams, all Americans settled in Taormina by Etna, a town at first believed to have suffered severely. We went up to the station to see the relief party start. The train was half an hour behind 21 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN time. It was easy to see the impatience of the Americans to be off. " You have plenty of provisons? " a friend on the platform asked Chanler. *' I have a sack of Bologna sausages, a whole Parmesan cheese, and a case of Nocera water,'* was the answer. " Where will you sleep? " asked an anxious wife of one of the travelers. " We have one small tent, the last in Rome, — all the rest have been bought up, — and several umbrellas." Food, water, shelter were the three indis- pensables; they were going to a desert that lacked all these, and the torrential rain that began on the fatal day still continued. " Try to establish wireless communication between a warship in the harbor and the Marconi station at Monte Mario," said Athol to a press representative. " If that's impossible, wire Rome via Malta." " Don't expect news of me till I bring it myself," one of the travelers called as the tardy train moved out of the station. It seemed hopeless to expect news. Our first friend to leave was Colonel Delme Rad- 22 MESSINA DESTROYED cliffe of the English Embassy (the famous hunter of lions), who went down on the first train after the disaster. Later several official people we knew and one or two newspaper men followed. After they left Naples we heard no more from them. They disappeared into the blue, and we learned not to look for news of them till they themselves brought it. As the train pulled out we heard the tramp, tramp of marching men coming up the street — more soldiers for the south. Nearly all the garrison at Messina had been killed; every day regiments of soldiers went down to that grim battle-field, some to lose their lives, all to suffer agonies of mind and body, for as usual the army bore the brunt of the disaster — and bore it well. As we left the station we met Princess Nadine, called " the first citizen of Rome " by reason of her splendid work for the poor sick children of the city. Something was said about meeting the prqfughi (refugees) who were expected on the next train from Naples. She shook her great benevolent head and answered firmly: '* That is for the rest of you. I must keep to my work. My sick babies cannot be 23 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN neglected. Everybody else will do for Calabria and Sicily; tJiey only have me." The Princess was right. She belongs to the regular working army of philanthropists. The reserve volunteer force of the world was already mustering for this world disaster. A little farther on we met our friend, Lom- bardi, the great mathematician, carrying a traveling shawl and an umbrella. He stopped to speak to us: " Just in time to say good-by ! I am leaving by the next train." " For Messina? " He laughed — " No, to get out of Messina — that's more than I can do in Rome! I am off for Morocco, the farthest place from Messina I know. The Moors won't trouble themselves much about the earthquake. I must have more quiet than can be found in Italy this year, if I am to finish my calculations." Just as we were getting into our cab outside the station our friend Nerone came along. He looked pale, red-eyed, completely knocked out. " What is the matter.? " I asked. " Have you been ill.^^ " 24 MESSINA DESTROYED " Matter ? " he cried, astonished at the ques- tion. " This thing has made me ill. I had to take a purge and go to bed.'* I never heard that Nerone did anything else for the sufferers — taking a purge did seem an odd way of showing sympathy. As we drove from the station, past the Baths of Diocletian, we met the regiment, whose measured tread we had heard, and recognized, marching gallantly at the head of his company, a young captain whom we had often watched drilling his men in the great field across the Tiber. We called him Philippus for that soldier of Crotona the Segesteans found slain among their foes after the battle, and to whose memory on account of his superhuman beauty a temple was erected. Philippus was our neighbor; now that he was leaving it seemed he was almost our friend. The barracks where he and his soldiers lived were near our house. It was their bugle that eveiy night at half- past ten sounded the call we too obeyed, " Go to bed, go to bed, put out the lights." The soldiers were most of them mere boys with beardless faces. When we should meet again they would not look so young. Those who went 25 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN down to the earthquake region aged fast as men do in battle. I haunted the station in those days, watching the departure of the bands of engineers, fire- men, doctors, medical students that went down from Rome by every train that left for Naples. From Milan, from Turin, from Flor- ence, from every city or town of northern Italy, help poured down towards the stricken -country. The Knights of Malta sent a field hospital and a corps of doctors and nurses. Food, clothes, medicines, tents, nurses, doctors, the great stream of help flowed steadily towards the south. The railroads were not equal to the tremendous strain put upon them, and the con- gestion of traflSc was one of the hardest of Italy's trials. Her people were starving, dying of cold and hunger, while the whole railroad system was congested and the good food and the warm clothes, instead of reaching the poor victims, were shunted on side-tracks or delayed in freight houses for weeks, even months. It was inevitable that this should have happened; the same thing would have happened in any country. But everything was against Italy. The unheard-of severity of the winter was not 26 MESSINA DESTROYED the least element of danger and difficulty. The railroad is managed by the Government, that poor overburdened Government that tries its best to carry the great weight put upon it. The strain of carrying south the vast stream of provisions and supplies and of carrying north the enormous numbers of the refugees flying from Sicily was too much for it. What nation, what railroad system could have handled such a situation? One sinister commodity took pre- cedence of all others — quicklime; already the menace of pestilence was in people's minds, for now we knew that in Messina, a city of 200,000 souls, more than half the inhabitants had perished. On Saturday, the second of January, Athol asked me to visit one of the first families of refugees who had arrived in Rome. I found them in a gaunt new barrack of a house in an arid street of one of the ugliest quarters of new Rome. " You have some superstiti here? " I inquired of the porter's wife, who came out of the little den where she lived and cooked (chiefly garlic it appeared), for her husband and children. "Oh yes, poor people! You will find them 27 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN on the second floor. You are not the first who has asked for them." She stopped and looked at me curiously. *' Excuse me, you too have perhaps come to inquire for news of some relative down there .^^ " " No, no, thank Heaven ! only to ask if I can do anything for them." ** So much the better! There is enough to do." The porter's wife nodded and went back to her cooking. I climbed two long flights of the cheap, stark building and rang a strident bell. The thin varnished pine door was opened a crack, and a handsome slatternly woman looked out. When I asked to see the profughiy she stood aside and let me pass. In the entry I met two people coming out, a shabby man with a hard dry face like an eagle's and a very beautiful young girl with a waxen complexion. When they heard me ask for the profughi they stopped and looked at me so intently that I paused and looked helplessly back at them. " You have asked to see the profughi,^' said the man in a harsh dry voice; " do you possibly know something of them — or of others — down there — .^^ " 28 » MESSINA DESTROYED " Nothing. And you? — do you know any- thing of Messina? " " I? " laughed the eagle-faced man drearily, ** I am of Messina. This one also," he looked at the girl, *' though I never saw her till today. We go here, there, together, asking news — her people are all there and mine." " Come," said the girl, " do not let us waste time." She spoke with authority as one used to giving orders and having them obeyed. I noticed then how sumptuously she was dressed. They went down the stairs together, a strange pair, the shabby eagle-faced man and the young lovely lady. I never saw the girl again, or knew whether she found those for whom she sought. " It is the truth that I have not had jBve minutes to comb myself today," said the pa- drona, who had opened the door, a dark woman of the noble Trasteverine type. She smoothed her magnificent black hair that lay in full natural waves over her low forehead, and pulled up the collar of her white jacket to hide her beautiful bronze throat. " Believe me, Signora, that blessed bell has never stopped ringing. Holy Apostles! One would think 29 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN that the Messinesi were different from other Christians, that they had two heads, everybody must have a look at them." " I am sorry to disturb you," I began. '* No, no," she said, " I did not mean that. What is it to do ? They are relations of relations of my husband's. They knew our name and address in Rome and, having no other friends, they came to us. They arrived yesterday. We have taken the furniture out of one of our rooms, borrowed a few beds, and done what we could to make them comfortable. Poor souls ! Anything that you can do — " she threw open the door of a large apartment, evidently the property room of some theatrical company. The floor space on the left was taken up with bundles of stage costumes neatly folded and tagged. A white toga with an olive wreath and a pair of sandals lay next a costume Othello might have worn, judging by the coffee- colored stockinette tucked into the yellow satin cloak. On the right of the door were four decent beds; in the corner stood a dining table with a loaf of bread, a green wicker basket of ricotta, and a flask of Genzano. The room was half full of people. 30 MESSINA DESTROYED " This lady wishes to talk with the Messinesi,** cried the padrona, good-naturedly elbowing the crowd, evidently friends and hangers-on of the house. " You have seen them, yes? They only have two eyes apiece and one mouth? Well, then make room for the stranger lady. She may do something besides stare at the poor abandoned creatures." The people readily fell back and I found myself face to face with one of the first families of the survivors who had reached Rome. At sight of them I was overcome with suffocating emotion. It was a full minute before I could speak, before I could see through the sudden mist that blinded me. It was as if their sufferings had set them apart, their sorrows hallowed them. In the middle of the group stood an old man and woman, holding each other by the hand. Both were bent and wan looking; the woman seemed the less shaken of the two. She had a wonderful shrivelled face with gray-blue eyes and a brown seamed skin, stooping shoulders covered by a small peasant shawl, and an alert wiry little body. It was my business to ask certain questions, but it was more than a minute before I could get out the words. 31 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " What are your names? " *' I am Rosina Calabresi," the staunch old woman quavered. " This is my husband; he cannot talk much yet. He is better now, but for three days after the earthquake he could not say a word. This is our son Francesco, and this is his wife." Francesco, a soft-eyed young man, patted his wife's hand; she hid her face on his shoulder and began to weep. ** This is my grandson," Rosina continued, *' he is of Reggio. He was staying with us that he might go to school in Messina. His mother is my eldest daughter. We have not yet heard from his parents. We do not know whether they are alive or dead." The boy, a pale, interesting lad of fourteen, looked at me with serious unmoved face. " My husband was a government employe formerly," the old woman continued; ** he was a postman." She shook him gently by the arm. " Cannot you speak to the lady.'^ " The old postman moved his lips dumbly. " He is only seventy-eight years old, and I am seventy," Rosina went on. " Francesco is our young- est son." I asked the young woman her name. 32 MESSINA DESTROYED " Lucia," she said, and hid her face again. The young man comforted her. " She will do better soon," said the old woman, nodding to me. ** When do you expect the baby? " I asked. *' Tomorrow," she said, " it will be nine months tomorrow, the first child, we have not been married quite a year." Her soft eyes overflowed again. " Do not cry. You have your husband and you will have your child. That is something to be thankful for. Did all your family escape .^^ " " Yes, all that were in our house, six of us,'* said Francesco. '* We do not know about the others." I heard a deep sigh behind me and turned to see a little wan child, bandaged and pillowed up in a great bed. She never stirred or smiled during my whole visit. When I spoke to her, she only gazed at me with great sombre eyes that had lost their childishness, eyes that had seen sights of horror they could never forget. " That is my grandchild Caterina," the old woman explained. " She has been lame from birth. When we escaped from the house I carried her in my arms. As we ran the earth 33 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN beneath us opened and threw stones at us. One of them struck Caterina and broke her lame leg." " Tell me how you escaped? " The young man, Francesco Calabresi, a plumber of Messina, now spoke: " We slept in two rooms on the ground floor behind the shop. We were all asleep in bed when the earthquake came. There were three long shocks and the earth groaned as it rocked from side to side as if it were in pain. Though the house fell down about us we were not hurt. The door into the street was jammed and would not open. I found a small hole in the wall near it and managed to crawl through it and to help the others out.'* " It was dark, and cold, and it rained — Oh, God, how it rained! " cried the old woman, " and we were all, except Lucia, naked as the day we were born." Lucia smiled for the first time and opened her dress to show me her high chemise. " Yes, I had this on; it was the only thing we saved." She was evidently proud that she alone of all the family had escaped with a garment to hide her nakedness. In Sicily the 34 MESSINA DESTROYED old Italian habit of sleeping without night clothes still prevails. There is a widespread prejudice against night clothes. Nena, an old Venetian servant, once told me that it was very unwholesome to sleep dressed. This absolute nakedness, both of the living and of the dead, seemed to the rescuers the last touch of horror. " It was quite dark," the old woman con- tinued, " only out over the sea there was a strange light like fire. We found our way to the Villa Mazzini. Part of the railing and the gates had been thrown down so that we could get into the garden. That is how we escaped being killed. We waited together till it was light, then Francesco went and tried to find help. We stayed in the villa two days and two nights. The rain never stopped for one moment. We had no food, no clothes, no shelter, but we were alive and safe." " Did you see any of your neighbors? " " No, but as we ran we heard people all about us crying * misericordia.^ " " Did you expect to escape.'^ " " Oh, no! I believed it was the end of the world. The earth shook and rumbled under- neath us. When it grew light it seemed as if 35 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN the mountains of Calabria were coming at us across the straits to crush us." Francesco now took up the story: " I made my way down to the Faro. When it was light I found a boat and rowed out to the ships in the harbor. Later, when the Russian vessels came, they gave me a little food and a few clothes. In the end they took us on board their ship, they fed and clothed us. Russians, did I say, Signora.f^ No, they were angels. They took us and many, many others to Naples on their great ship. At Naples the highest signoria waited upon us as if they had been servants. They gave us white bread and wine and more clothes, shoes also, and they showed us the kindness of brothers and sisters. We shall never forget them. Then the Duchess of Aosta paid our fare to Rome." '* What.f^ The railroad did not take you free.? " " Oh, no! Every one was paid for by the Duchessa benedetta." As they seemed pleased to have me stay with them, I sat and comforted them as well as I could for an hour. After a little Lucia came and sat beside me and promised me that she 36 MESSINA DESTROYED would not grieve when her time came to go to the hospital. We made out a list of the things most needed, headed by a set of plumber's tools for Francesco and a basket for the baby to sleep in. I promised to return in a few days, and as I rose to take leave they clung to me as if I had been an old friend. '* Is it your wish in the future," I said to Francesco, " to remain in Rome, or later to return to Messina? " Even now we outsiders had not yet grasped the awful completeness of the disaster. At my question Rosina became terrified, and for the first time in our interview lost her self- control. She threw both her hands above her head with a dreadful gesture of despair and shrieked : " Messina.^ What is it that you say.-^ Mes- sina non esiste piii ! " It was from Rosina that the eagle-faced man had got his phrase; it was from her that I for the first time had an inkling of the true extent of the calamity. When I look back at these last months during which I have lived with the thought of Messina always with me, till it seems as if the word Messina must be 37 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN found seared upon my heart when I am dead, I hear those words, " Messina non esiste piu 1 '* When I pass in review the hundreds of survivors I have seen and talked with in Rome, Syracuse, Palermo, finally in Messina itself, I see clearest of all the face of Rosina, the ancient woman; I hear her shriek of woe: " Messina non esiste piu ! ** 38 II THE STRAITS OF DEATH Wednesday, December 30th, the King and Queen of Italy sailed through the straits and into the harbor of Messina. As their ship, the *' Vittorio Emanuele," approached the Faro, the gunners of the Russian cruisers, the English men-of-war, and the Italian battleships began to fire the royal salute. " Cease firing! " The signal flashed from the King's ship; this was no time for royal salvos. The '* Vittorio Emanuele" crept cau- tiously along, feeling every inch of her way, for a new terror had been added to the old perils of Scylla and Charybdis. It was said that under the seething waters of the uneasy straits a submarine volcano had arisen, and no one knew how much the bottom of straits or har- bor had been altered by the action of this hid- den volcano. A fleet of small boats filled with desperate half-naked men put off from the shore and sur- 39 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN rounded the King's ship. This was the third day after the earthquake; the survivors were starving, dying of cold and hunger, when in every Itahan village men and women had taken the clothes from their backs, the food from their mouths for them, when in Rome the poor prisoners in the gaols had voted to a man that the little sums they had earned and put by against their release should be spent for them. The shivering figures in the boats stretched out appealing hands towards the King. *' Aiutarteci, aiutarteci ! " they cried. " Help us, Majesty. Give us to eat, give us to drink, clothes to cover us, the abandoned of God and man! " These broken men were the King's escort, their frenzied cries Messina's greeting to her sovereign. In a crazy felucca a tall old sailor held up a hand to silence the clamoring crew, snatched a red biretta from his silver curls, waved it above his head with a ringing cry: " Evviva! We have the King, we have all! " " Thou say est well, Luigi," the young avvo- cato, Arcangelo Bonanno, called out from the pier. He knew Luigi, the old fisherman, and had sailed with him from Giardini to Messina 40 MESSINA. A FUNERAL BARGE. Page 42. THE KING AND THE WOUNDED OFFICER. Page 43. THE STRAITS OF DEATH in the " Stella del Mare," one of the few boats spared by the tidal wave that had made total wrecks of most of the fishing smacks along the coast. As the " Vittorio Emanuele " neared the shore those on board saw the white facade of the palazzata through the gray rain — for still it rained and always rained a fine cold rain, " not quite like any other 'rain," as Rosina Calabresi had said. " Earthquake rain " I remember she called it. At first sight it seemed as if the palazzata — the splendid row of palaces two miles long, that lined the sickle-shaped harbor fronting the straits — was little damaged. As they came nearer they saw that the outer wall, with its sculptured facade of graceful reclining goddesses, was an empty shell. " There were three shocks," Rosina said. " One from side to side, one up and down as if the earth jumped under us, one round and round; that was the worst, the very earth groaned with the pain of it.'* These three shocks that reduced the beautiful city of Messina to a heap of ruins, lasted just thirty-two seconds! The sidewise movement threw down the side walls; then the first, second, 41 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN third, fourth, and fifth floors,with all that in them lived, dropped one over the other in awful chaos to the bottom of the cellars. Along the water front high in air hung a cloud of dun smoke; for after earthquake and tidal wave came fire. That drifting smoke was the only thing in sight that moved as the King approached; it might have been the soul of Messina hanging over the dead city. The King's launch made its way through the harbor's dreadful debris, — there were floating corpses everywhere, — and drew up at the heavy stone quay; here the land looked like the waves of the sea, in some places it had sunk six feet below the water, in others it had been heaved high in air. A long line of unrecognized dead had been laid out for identification; naked and helpless the poor disfigured corpses washed to and fro with the tide, while those among the survivors who had the heart and courage tried to find a name for each. Our friend the Avvocato Bonanno (he had spent the night of the 28th in Taormina and so escaped destruc- tion) was helping make up the tragic roll- call. " That is Maddalena, youngest daughter of 42 THE STRAITS OF DEATH Count Q.; I danced with heron Christmas Day. This is her old grandmother, yes, I am sure, I remember the httle mole on her cheek. And this — might be Nina, the eldest daughter; look for an emerald scarab on her left hand. Ah, God, the human brutes! " The emerald ring, the finger it had graced were both gone, cut off by ghouls that rob the dead. The launch touched the quay, and the King stepped on shore where he was met by the few city officials who had survived. The spokes- man began a halting address of welcome : " The visit of your august majesty is an honor that we shall never forget, in the name of the city — " The King cut the good man short with an abrupt : " Scusi, do not let us talk nonsense," and in silence led the way to the barracks where hundreds of his brave soldiers had perished. " Snuffed out," Bonanno said, " or so we hope, like so many rush candles." A few steps farther on the King met four soldiers carrying a wounded officer on a litter. The King glanced at the man and a flash of recognition lighted his face. 43 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " Fermate! " he cried. The bearers set down the litter; the King propped the poor head, rolHng helplessly from side to side, with a fragment of gray military cloak folded for a pillow, wiped the ashen face, and whispered the one brave word ever on his lips " Co- rag gio! " The streets through which the King passed were mountains of rubbish, the houses heaps of ruins, the air pestilential ; the fire still burned in many places, and the smell of roasting flesh was simply overpowering. The few survivors who hung about the ruins added to the despair of the scene; some crazed with hunger, thirst, despair, behaved like maddened children; they talked of their dead or lost families with the terrible indifference of the insane; their minds were not strong enough to grasp what had happened. Others, oftenest women, appealed to every passer-by, imploring help in their frenzied efforts to reach some beloved being buried under tons of masonry. A woman tearing desperately with her bare hands at a huge mass of stone it would have taken a regi- ment of men a week to move recognized the King; she ran as if in frantic haste, threw her- 44 MESSINA. THE BARRACKS. Page 43. MESSINA. RUINS OF A CHURCH. Page 44. MESSINA. DIGGING FOR THE BURIED-ALIVE. Page 4; Mjl ^ ■H H^HH^^^^^ 1 ^H^PHI^*'it ^^^K^'ff - H HtfKai ■fcm.^Jl • ' V* ., d^ - -^ THE KING AT MESSINA. Page 45. THE STRAITS OF DEATH self at his feet, raised her bleeding hands in an agony of appeal. " Maestd, aiuto! Save them! They are alive. I hear them, my husband, my son, my only son." " It is too much," the King broke from her with a sob. " Help her, you others, if you can," he cried to his aides and pushed on through the ghastly ruin of what three days ago had been the famous Marina, one of the most beautiful streets in the world. " The King's walk through Messina," said Bonanno the avvocato w^ho followed him, " was like the walk of Dante and Virgil through the Inferno. At every step raving men, weep- ing women clutched at him, clung to him, stretched out their hands to him. Those hands ! I dream of them now% hairy hands of men, transparent hands of women, old shrivelled hands with gripping fingers, chubby hands of little children lifted to the King, as if he could help them. I would not have been in his place, no, not for three kingdoms." From that desperate throng one tragic figure must stand out clear in the King's memory as it does in Bonanno's — the Deputy Ludovico 45 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Fulci pacing back and forth before the ruin of his brother's house. Though Bonanno knew him well, he did not at first recognize him; in four days the deputy had grown twenty years older. " Nicolo, Nicolo! Art thou yet alive .^ " he shrieked. " Oh, my brother, make one little sign! Until tonight I heard his voice crying for help! It has grown weaker and weaker; now I hear no sound. If help had come in time, I could have saved him, saved my brother, do you hear? Him, his wife, his little child, God knows how many others now dead, sotto le macerie." Under the masonry! No one who was in Italy during this dreadful season will ever for- get that phrase, " sotto le macerie,'^ the deadly refrain of the great tragedy. Where is your mother, your lover, your child? The answer was always the same " sotto le macerie.^* The King, Bonanno said, above all else insisted that his visit should bring no interruption to the rescue work: indeed it proved an impetus to it, for he did much to establish something approach- ing system. The work of excavation was begun by the Russian sailors. Three Russian war- 46 THE STRAITS OF DEATH ships, the '* Cesarevich," the " Makaroff " and the " Slava," cruising off the Calabrian coast, met a vessel — some say English, some say Italian — flying to Naples with the news of the earth- quake: the Russians hurried to Messina, they were the first to arrive on the ground. What they did there Sicily will remember as long as her history survives. Like Francesco Calabresi, my plumber, the Avvocato Bonanno described their work in rescuing the entombed men, women and children as something superhuman. " They did not wait for orders, they did not need them; each of them was an inspired leader; they saw no danger, but rushed like madmen among crumbling ruins, toppling walls; they worked like Titans I tell you. The English were not long behind the Russians, as you may believe. What a people! We Sicilians know what we owe them! Did these foreigners save many lives .^ Yes, hundreds, thousands of lives. More than all, the sight of their incredible labors — I say it to you again, they worked like gods not men — broke the spell of apathy that at first held us powerless. Madonna mia ! I myself felt it, though at Taormina the shock was light. At first I was stunned, dazed, lacked 47 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN power to lift a hand! These unfortunates, you may beHeve, were worse. The first man I met after I returned to Messina was a colleague of mine; we had worked in the same oflBce. He was quite stupefied. He did not know if any of his family had escaped or not, he did not seem to care. The visit of the King roused the people; ah! it was like cordial to one who faints. Imagine, on the fourth day hardly a cup of water, scarcely a loaf of bread had come to us from the outside. Was it wonderful we believed the end of the world had come, that we were aban- doned by God and man? " And all this time the great stream of supplies was pouring in a steady flood toward Messina. The city was like a man who dies of starvation in the midst of plenty, because he has lost the power to swallow. " I went first to the house where I had lived," Bonanno said. " It was a heap of ruins fallen outwards into the street; the inner wall was standing. How did I know the house? From the crimson paper on my bedroom wall. That wall — I can show it to you still — was per- fect. There was the crucifix my mother hung over the bed, the palm from last Palm Sunday; 48 THE STRAITS OF DEATH there was the Venetian mirror without a crack, a portrait of Lola, the Spanish dancing girl (she is among the missing). A lot of soldiers were at work excavating our house; an officer with an iron crowbar lay flat on a mass of rub- bish, and pried with all his might at a great stone coping from under which came faint groans. Another officer lay on his back below and some- how, — it looked a miracle, — they got a pur- chase on the stone. With strength that seemed incredible they tugged and heaved and at last lifted the great mass of granite; then they stopped to breathe and the soldiers quickly cleared away the smaller rubbish. We took out Agnese, the wife of my landlord, and her little child; they could not speak; their mouths were full of mortar. When we had freed their mouths and nostrils from the mortar we found they were both too much hurt to stand. We carried them to the field hospital in the piazza, where the doctors from the English ships were at work under a tarpaulin stretched over some posts. Not much of a hospital, but they worked, those doctors, as the sailors worked, like de- mons, as one might say, with all respect. Wet to the skin, fasting like we others, but work- 49 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN ing till their eyes refused to see, their hands to use the knife." " Was Agnese's husband saved too? " "Antonio? Yes, he was saved; that was a strange case, one of the strangest. He was saved by his dog. That blessed animal — I knew him well, his name was Leone — would not let Antonio sleep, but barked and barked and pulled at the blankets till Antonio got up from his bed, dressed himself and went out of the house. It was about half past four o'clock. He could not tell why he did so; it seemed as if the dog's intelligence controlled his. Leone led the way, Antonio fol- lowed to the Piazza del Duomo, where he sat down on the steps of the Cathedral. Leone was not satisfied and still barked and whined and ran back and forth, until Antonio finally got up and went and sat down on a bench in in the middle of the piazza. He was sitting there with the dog beside him when the earth- quake came and the marble Bambino fell down out of the arms of the Madonna over the door of the Matrice, just at the place where he had been sitting; if he had remained there he would surely have been killed. These things 50 MESSINA. THE CATHEDRAL BEFORE THE DISASTER. Page 50. THE CATHEDRAL AFTER THE DISASTER. Page 50. ARCANGELO'S HOUSE. Page 48. MESSINA. WHERE MARIETTA LIVED. Page 51- THE STRAITS OF DEATH are not to be explained but there were many such happenings." " Were there any others saved from your house? " '* Agnese's old grandfather. He lay quite still in his bed and went down in it to the lowest floor of the house. The beams fell so as to protect the bed. When we found him he was without a scratch, but quite blind from the dust in his eyes. I shook the old man by the shoulder to rouse him. He turned his blind eyes towards me and cried with the voice of a wounded lion : " * Leave me in peace! The earth is dying; I die with the earth!'" Arcangelo's stories of miraculous escapes would fill a volume; that of Marietta is one of the most extraordinary. " Marietta certainly owes her life to me,'* he began," or rather to my ears. You must know that my ears are remarkable — so were my father's. I have in truth the hearing of a cat. No one else could have heard the faint knocking inside the heap of rubbish that had been Ugo's workshop. At first I doubted my senses, then I remembered that Marietta 51 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN lived in the little room behind the carpenter's shop, and it occurred to me at the same time that Ugo was working at a job in Catania. I gave information and after many hours of hard work the soldiers succeeded in making a space large enough to let down a basket with food and water to the woman buried under the ruins, whose tapping I had heard. I could now hear what she said; she was quite unhurt; her bed had been placed under an arch, the safest place of course, and the arch remained standing; she had not so much as a bruise. The house had fallen so that unless great care was taken the remaining walls would crumble and crush the woman under the arch. The fifth morning I came with a piece of bread and three dried figs I had found in the ruins for her; I made the usual signal; there was no answer. " * Marietta, canst thou hear.^ ' I called to her. She did not reply. I put my ear to the hole; what did I heav? A sharp thin voice that wailed and wailed but said no word. " ' Marietta, art thou alive? ' 'I am ahve, and so is the child. Water, for the love of Mary ! ' Poverina ! Alone in that dark pit 52 THE STRAITS OF DEATH she had borne her first child. On the eighth day we took Marietta and her baby from the macerie. It was a boy, stout and strong as a young bull, for we had fed the mother and her milk had not failed. Miracles.^ xAh, well, that is as one believes. I myself put the two of them on the train for Taormina. There be many rich forestieri at Taormina; I doubt not they have cared for Marietta; they have great charity, those forestieri of Taormina. They have charity, and they understand us a little, those who live among us here in Sicily; they shared our calamity, they knew our people. Some others do not understand, and should not judge. It may be true that this official ran away, that this other was relieved of office for incompetence. This they know, but they do not know the state of mind and body to which those men were reduced. It was better that they fled, for they were not fit to hold po- sitions of responsibility; few of us were; we were too much broken. No one'who has not seen Messina, who has not known the surviv- ors, can understand; it was not like a battle, where men go in prepared for death, it was quite another thing! " 53 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN While the King was at Messina martial law was proclaimed. General Mazza, who was at home on sick leave, left his bed and hurried to Messina to take command of the troops. I asked Bonanno what manner of man the gen- eral was; I remember his answer well. " A good man and a brave soldier. He has but one fault, the incurable one: he is sixty- eight years old and out of health besides! '* The proclaiming of martial law was a military necessity. The prison at Messina had been destroyed by the earthquake, and the convicts, the scum of Sicily, were at large. From Naples, from Palermo, from all over Italy, the offscour- ing of the cities raced, like beasts of prey who scent the carnage of battle, to the ruin of Mes- sina, the beautiful. It seemed as if Nature's cruelty in destroying half a province roused the basest passions in the base, and the noblest in the noble. The soldiers on their rounds at night saw things — desecrations of the helpless dead, offences against nature — that turned them from thoughtless boys to grave men. Here again the Russians, swift to save, swift to punish, terrible in their anger, set the example. A young Russian midshipman, a beautiful boy, 54 THE STRAITS OF DEATH — his blue eyes were like ice with fire below, Bonanno said, — found one of the human vul- tures at work. The midshipman had very little Italian, only a few words; they were enough : " Ladro ! " he cried and put his pistol to the ruffian's head, " condannato a morte/' and fired. After this the soldiers' orders were explicit; when the offence was monstrous, the human monsters were shot without delay. It is a terrible thing to proclaim martial law but there was no other way. Not only were the Red Cross Knights of Europe, England and America pressing on to the relief of the afflicted city, but the murderers, thieves and ravishers from the four quarters of the earth were hastening in search of plunder and rapine to Messina, the rich, to Reggio, the prosperous, the sister city across the uneasy straits. *' Do you know the worst .^ " Bonanno whis- pered, as if it were too horrible to speak aloud. " Some of our girls — think of it — lost, dazed, stricken creatures, were kidnapped for the brothels of Naples! The slave hunters saw their chance from the first hour; who knows how many of our Sicilian virgins, the purest, 55 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN the most beautiful of God's daughters, are now lost in that hideous, that worst of all slavery? Ah, it is too much! Dear God, had we not enough to bear without this? One I have tried to trace, a flower, a lily, the girl whose eyes said to mine, * When the time comes for you to speak, I am ready.' She was seen alive and well on board one of the first boats that left for Naples; she has never been heard of since." Bonanno dashed the tears from his eyes, shook his fist in the direction of Naples. " Ac- cursed city!" he cried, "sink of Europe!" While King Victor was in Messina helping organize the rescue work. Queen Elena remained in the harbor shaping the course of the hospital- ship work. She went from ship to ship, for every vessel, merchantman or man-of-war of whatever nationality, became for the nonce a floating hospital. The most seriously wounded were carried on board the ships, where they could receive better care than in the hospital stations on shore where, in the midst of con- fusion, and difficulties beyond belief, the faith- ful surgeons worked early and late under the pitiless rain, drenched to the skin, fasting and 56 THE STRAITS OF DEATH suffering with thirst and cold Hke all the rest. It was a time when men and women toiled with every fibre of their being; there was too much to do to allow of specialization; the King planned, but he lent a hand too when he saw the chance; the Queen practically shaped the whole future course of the hospital-ship work; but that was not enough. She rolled up her sleeves, put on her apron and went to work to help the doctors as only a good nurse can. On board one of the floating hospitals she received the wounded, washed and dressed their wounds, bandaged broken limbs, soothed the sick, com- forted the dying. It was then that she came into her true woman's kingdom, earned for once and all the title of Queen Elena the Good. Her fame as a nurse has been spread through- out Italy, throughout the world, not by court- iers or reporters, but by the patients she tended. That is a sort of reputation that lasts. In Syracuse a young Messinese said to a Blue Sister from Malta, who was doing up her shat- tered arm: " Guardi, the Queen put on that bandage; mind you roll it as smoothly as she did." In a Naples hospital a child was heard to 57 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN cry, " The Queen did not hurt me as much as you do, and she had to pick the mortar out of the wound before she dressed it." It is said that more than one woman died in the Queen's arms at Messina; it is certain that she was so much impressed by what she saw there that she became the most impassioned of all who worked for Italy in the dark hour. She suffered even in her person; one poor fren- zied creature in her struggles to throw herself overboard, struck the Queen and hurt her, it was feared at first seriously. Her example of service was followed by the court ladies and by heroic women of every class; her energy aroused hope in the forlorn remnant of the stricken people; it was a moral tonic and stimulus to the whole nation. When they left Rome both the King and Queen believed the disaster to be even more complete than it proved; they had been told that all the inhabitants of Messina and Reggio were killed. Orders were given to the Roman Red Cross Society to wait their instructions. When they reached Messina and found how matters stood, the Queen sent a wire to the president of the Red Cross asking for nurses 58 THE STRAITS OF DEATH and doctors to be sent down. From Vera, one of the first to volunteer, I heard something of the expedition. *' I got my summons on New Year's day — you remember, we met at the Campidoglio that morning and you told me where to go for shoes? I had just succeeded in finding those shoes for my prqfughi when I was called to the telephone. Could I be ready to start that evening for Mes- sina.'' Naturally I could — we all could; not that we had been idle, for there was plenty to do for the refugees already on our hands in Rome; but if I could be of more use at Messina, I was ready to go. There were forty of us women in the Red Cross party and a number of sur- geons. The officer in command made us an amusing speech — he didn't mean to be amu- sing: ' You will take the minimum of luggage and the maximum of obedience,' he said. ' You will drop your titles and remember you are under military discipline and that insubordi- nation will be punished ' — then came a hint of a dark cabin and of manacles for insubordi- nates. We listened to him and felt that we were back in the days of the French Revolution, that we should henceforth be known as Citi- 59 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN zeness this or that. Many of us had titles, but not all. There was Princess Teano - — you knew her as the beautiful Vittoria Colonna; there was the Marchesa Guiccioli, whose husband is equerry to the Queen Mother; there was Countess Teresina Tua, the violinist; Madame Agresti, Rossetti's daughter. We left Rome for Spezia, way up at the top of Italy; it seemed a waste of time when we wanted to go to the south; it was a dreadful night journey; I sent Natika back to Rome from Spezia." Vera sighed; Natika was her Calmuck maid; that little sigh was the only whimper I ever heard from her through these months when she lived, worked, spent her genius, power, money, all that she has and is as freely as water 'pro Calabria e Sicilia. ** At Spezia we caught the troop-ship * Taor- mina ' bound for Messina with a regiment of soldiers. After endless delays we at last set sail; before we were well outside the harbor we were recalled by a ' wireless ' and had to turn round and go back. I sketched the har- bor and Gulf of Spezia, the arsenal, the dock- yard, the two forts, the purple hills behind, the white fishing villages in the foreground. It 60 THE STRAITS OF DEATH was all interesting, but the delay was hard to bear ! Every heart-beat spelt ' hurry * ; every hour of waiting meant so many fewer lives saved. The soldiers who had only just em- barked were ordered on shore again, and we had to wait until they had all disembarked! " Vera's small nervous hands opened and shut impatiently. She speaks with a slight lisp that is like the soft pedal of a piano to the music of her voice. Vera was brought up by an English governess; she is many -colored as a chameleon, polished as a many -faceted jewel; when she is with us she turns the English facet to the light. *' As we passed the Bay of Lerici I thought of Lord Byron and of Shelley who passed his last days there. Is it true you no longer read those poets .^ We do in Russia." At sunrise on the morning of Saturday, Jan- uary 2nd, five days after the earthquake, the " Taormina " with the Red Cross party on board sailed into the harbor of Messina; the s-hips at anchor saluted by dipping the colors; on the admiral's vessel, the marines presented arms. The " Taormina " dropped anchor near enough the shore for those on board to see the 61 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN sunken Marina, the great yawning cracks in the solid ground, the railroad station with the cars heaped together as if there had been a colli- sion. A locomotive lay overturned on its side: some of the cars had been carried out to sea, where they lay idly washing to and fro, others had been seized and turned into dwellings by the wretched superstiti. An endless proces- sion of soldiers and sailors with stretchers bear- ing the wounded filed past, and the rattle of the gay little painted Sicilian carts heaped with the dead never ceased as the long line moved towards the huge funeral pyre. The fumes of the burning bodies reached them on board the " Taormina," sickening but not discouraging the perfumed ladies of the court. There had been some doubt whether they would be ordered on shore to help in the hospitals under the rude tents, or whether the wounded would be brought on board. At last the order came clear and direct : '* Prepare to receive the wounded on board." After that no time was lost. The operating rooms were made ready, the long tables were cleared, the surgeons put on their white gowns, laid out their shining instruments, chose their assistants. When the forty nurses reported 62 THE STRAITS OF DEATH for duty one only among them all wore the uni- form of a trained nurse, Phyllis Wood of the Buffalo General Hospital. " I would have exchanged my title for hers,'* Vera said, *' and what would I not have given for her clinical thermometer, the only one on board!" Later I saw and talked with Nurse Phyllis herself: '* We had come in for the worst, for the wounded that were brought on board the * Taormina ' had been sotto le macerie for days," she said. " They were suffering from intolerable thirst and hunger. Oh, the cries for water, the screams of pain, as the poor maimed creatures were brought on board in the arms of the soldiers and sailors. The first day I was detailed to do the dressing of the wounds; later I was ordered down into the hold to assist Dr. Guarneri, the chief surgeon, with the operations. Then my real work began. We worked at the rate of sixty operations a day, all sorts of settings, every conceivable fracture. There was no time to give anesthet- ics (indeed we had none to give) , yet we hardly heard a murmur from these poor lips. We had two extemporized operating tables and two 63 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN young doctors worked with me under Guarneri. Sometimes it seemed impossible to keep up with the work, to have the dressings and antiseptics ready; but Guarneri is a splendid surgeon, full of energy and enthusiasm, so calm and self- possessed that we worked under him unconscious of time or of fatigue; our hours were from six in the morning till one at night." There was work for doctors and nurses among the rescuers as well as among the rescued. Many of the brave soldiers and sailors, who had worked with splendid courage and devotion, died from gangrene caused by handling the decomposing bodies; the death of one of these heroes stands clear in the nurse's memory. A young lieutenant of Bersaglieri was brought on board the " Taormina," dying from a hemor- rhage brought on by his tremendous exertions. *' He was conscious to the last," the nurse said. " We had no time to undress him, so he lay in his uniform and we placed his sword be- side him. He was only one of many who laid down their lives! " " I had for my helper," Nurse Phyllis went on, " a young Roman belle, not twenty years old, with no more knowledge of nursing than a baby. 64 THE STRAITS OF DEATH She stood up to her work Hke a veteran — it was not easy; no American girl of that sort could have done what she did." Those days on the " Taormina " were not easy days for the Red Cross ladies, but I do not think one of them would be willing to give up the experience they brought. Whatever else was lacking, on board the hospital ship they had splendid surgical skill, for the Italian surgeons are among the best in the world. In this dire emergency the national characteristic, the ca- pacity of working on a spurt, came into play. Soon help came to the " Taormina " from the other ships already on the ground; one sent sterilized gauze, another sent bandages, a third medicines, a fourth a supply of vaseline. *' The English Jackies from a neighboring ship," said Phyllis, " made and sent us a quan- tity of long white garments for our poor naked patients; they were very primitive, made of a long piece of white cloth with two seams and a hole for the head, but we were mighty glad to get them." How like the decent English this was; how I should have loved to see the dear sailors sit- ting on deck sewing the long seams ! 65 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN While Vera was with the Red Cross at Mes- sina, there was a rumor that the authorities had decided to destroy what was left of the city. " Each day we heard a new report," Vera said, " till we did not know what to believe. Your friend, the Avvocato Bonanno, brought us one of the most startling rumors. I re- member his saying, ' We count the dead by tens of thousands. How can they be decently buried, how can a pestilence be prevented? There is but one way to complete the destruction the earthquake has wrought. We should send away the few survivors, then let the warships bombard this vestige of a city till the last walls crumble, fall, and bury together the city and its dead.' " News from Taormina at last — the city, not the ship ! Letters began to come to us in Rome from one and another of our people there, letters that gave us glimpses of their experiences and the work they were doing. My old friend Anne Lee of Boston wrote : " I was wakened by the earthquake but not very much frightened at first. I did get up and go to the window to watch the sea. It was 66 THE STRAITS OF DEATH terrible to hear and most curious. Out in the bay there was a wide circle of whitish yellow light which stayed in one place; it looked like moonlight, but there was no moon, and it was round, not straight like the wake of a star. I could see the waves breaking high on the shore. In no time the poor contadini were coming out of their houses over on the hills with their lan- terns; they looked like Will o' the wisps; they were hurrying over to the town for protection. The big quaking lasted forty seconds, but we had small ones all day. The town was in a panic; men, women, and children ran out into the streets without anything on, or trying to struggle into their clothes. Some of their shirts were upside down; all were screaming with fright. They crowded into the churches by hundreds. At eight I heard music; I went to the window and saw a procession marching down the narrow street that runs along by the old Roman wall. First came the Misericordia, dressed in white with red shoulder capes carrying lighted candles. On a paso was San Pancrazio dressed as a bishop, with two rows of candles burning before him. As soon as they were in sight of the sea they stopped 67 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN and cried out a prayer and waved their hands towards the sea; they went on again to the end of the street, waving towards Etna standing against the blue sky Hke a great white pyramid with a mass of new fallen snow on the summit. It was glorious. The band was playing a slow muffled march, the other instruments stopping while the muffled drum carried on the time with slow steady taps. Before San Pancrazio walked the Archpriest with his two assistants carrying lighted candles, then came the great crow d of men, women and children, the white Carmelite nuns, and the yellow and red handkerchiefs of the peasants making spots of color in the dark mass; they were all so terrified and earnest looking! They took San Pancrazio from his own church to the cathedral to wait and protect them for a while until Saint Peter could be brought to join him. About five o'clock in the afternoon they brought Saint Peter with the same sort of procession, only more people, and placed the two cousins opposite each other in the cathedral. At the mass the church was packed Vith people kissing their hands and crossing themselves when they passed the statues. My poor old 68 THE STRAITS OF DEATH cook Venera spent most of the day on her knees. Down at the Httle town of Giardini there was a cloudburst a few weeks before the earthquake. Some of the houses were entirely crushed or buried. After the earthquake a fearful tidal wave took the water out to sea over twenty feet, then it rushed back and inundated the town, breaking and spoiling all that the deluge had spared and sweeping the fishing boats out to sea. Before the quake the people in Giardini saw two flashes of lightning; they saw a great fiery dragon pass over towards Calabria, and queer little dancing light spots as if the water were boiling. " Since Tuesday all the English and Americans and a few Sicilians have been working night and day down at the station, feeding and water- ing the sick, wounded, and dying on the end- less trains passing through from Messina to Catania. Many refugees have been left here; one woman gave birth to a dear little boy at the station. The American and English are organizing committees to help the sick and wounded who remain here in Taormina. Miss Swan and I are on the cooking committee; we go Wednesdays and Fridays and tend the cook- 69 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN ing of a great kettle of pasta, or beans, or rice. Some take the food home; others eat it in the old deserted church near the clock tower, that used to be used as a school. We give them cheese, wine, and clothing — some of them have never before been so well fed or clothed. Many grumbled because they did not have meat, and didn't like their clothes — they are already sadly spoiled. The news was brought by a sailor who walked from Messina; he told us that Messina was destroyed and thousands killed. Mr. Wood went over Tuesday morning to see if he could find Mr. and Mrs. Cheney. The great palace where they lived was a mass of rubbish. He could look into what had been their parlor and just see a corner of a piece of their beautiful antique furniture, a mirror still hanging on the wall, one of the yellow dam- ask silk curtains hanging out of the window. When they found the dear little woman they only recognized her by the locket she always wore." The Cheneys had spent Christmas at Palermo, where their friends had urged them to stay longer, but they had felt obliged to return to Messina. 70 THE STRAITS OF DEATH " As the trains came into the station the first cry was ' Water, water.* Six hundred or more were put off here at Taormina. We went down to the station at ten, worked there all day and did not get home till eleven or twelve at night. There were five or six trains during the day and as many during the night. The first week was the hardest work and kept us all jumping. In a few days we got settled and organized into committees. There were about three groups all working for the same thing, but each head was afraid some other head would get the greater credit and praise. Truth is, we were all working for humanity, to try and give the poor scared hungry souls food and drink and homes; it didn't matter whether it was A, B or C; they all did splendid work and all worked with all their souls, and every one, including the Sicilian ladies and people from Russia, Germany, Aus- tria and France, was only too glad to help. We gave away over three hundred loaves of bread a day, crackers, oranges, cooked polenta, everything that could be found to eat, milk, water and wine, all paid for by the forestieri, and a few of the townspeople. They were so 71 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN much dazed for the most that it took them ten days to ' come to.' So many had lost friends that at first they could think of nothing else, and some were perfectly willing to stand by and let the strangers do the work. The first official action of the town authorities was on the eleventh day. I looked up from boiling some coffee for a train that was coming, and there stood the Mayor and two or three other short fat fathers of the town all talking at the tops of their voices, their hands and arms going in every direction. They were perfectly pur- ple in the face and looked like so many ban- tam cocks ready to tear each other to pieces. I asked what the matter was? " The Mayor and the municipality had come down to forbid any more bread or food being given away; there would be a bread famine, a wheat famine; we were taking the bread out of the mouths of the Taorminesi, and soon there would be a mob and the people would break into our houses. We had on hand three hun- dred loaves of bread bought, paid for, and broken up. In spite of the city fathers the bread was given to the refugees on the next train. Then there was a rumor that the milk 72 THE STRAITS OF DEATH had given out. Just before I reached the station that day I met three men driving a herd of twenty goats; they had escaped with their goats from Messina. The milk was bar- gained for and fifteen quarts, good and fresh, was milked from the goats and paid for by some Boston girls." A young lady, whose name is I think Miss Fernald, wrote the following story of what she saw at that station of Giardini to her brother: " The first train from Messina. Oh, George, you can never imagine the horror of that first train! It squirmed through the tunnel like an injured worm, and stopped at our station crammed jammed with dying, crushed and bleeding humanity, leaving a trail of human blood as it wound its way from Messina. We had provided ourselves with bandages, brandy, wine, bread, milk. As soon as the train stopped we rushed to the windows and doors with our supplies. I shall never forget the roar of this groaning humanity wildly screaming for water and doctors. People were dying every moment, stretcher after stretcher was brought in and gently laid down in the station. Dr. and Mrs. Dashwood (English residents of Taormina) 73 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN were angels in the work of rescue; they brought four babies into the world at the station. We turned the place into a hospital in the twin- kling of an eye; soon the building was packed with the injured and dying. Delirious women, women gone mad from fright, wounded children, and gentlemen, so patient and grateful. It made my heart ache to hear their humble thanks for what was being done to comfort them. One train we entered had a basket with twelve or fifteen babies, five of whom had died on the way from Messina. The hour's journey had taken nine hours because of the many washouts. One beautiful young lady, who, no one knew, died at the station; they called her ' a princess.' Every person from the villas went down with huge supplies of food. There was hot soup and cocoa, besides bread and fruit. We girls spent three nights and three days at the station and saved many lives by giving nourishment and what comfort was possible to half naked and starving people. The trains returning to Messina were crowded with people looking for their families, and also with a bad set of thieves. We have a regiment now at the station and soldiers all along the beach to Messina. Any 74 THE STRAITS OF DEATH one seen in the ruined city without a passport is shot on sight. Our new year's eve was spent resting on sacks of figs at the station, administer- ing to and comforting the poor crazed women and children, and waiting for the next train. I can't write of the effect of this dreadful spec- tacle. Now things are more systematic as regards our work. It was my duty to go about and find the poor wretches who had wandered into Taormina. I found in one church five sisters who had found their way with great difficulty from Messina. The distance is nearly thirty miles. They were thinly clad and in a starving condition. The natives here have responded to the call fairly well and clothes have come in — but such rags. However, new ones are being made and distributed as fast as possible. The Prince of Cherami of the San Domenico is doing wonderful work as well as the villa people. All the visitors have fled from Taormina, the hotels are entirely deserted and will of course be closed. At the station I saw a woman with a cage of twelve birds; she had lost all her five children. We have felt shocks for five days. Most of the villa people are trembling with fear. What is to be done 75 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN with these homeless wretched people? God only knows. It's over a week now since the earthquake; the trains still come in filled to overflowing with injured taken every day from the ruins." " The German battle-ship * Serapim,' " says Miss Lee, " brought a great number of refugees. One music hall singer had her little canary on her finger; the little creature was singing, the only happy thing on that dreadful ship. I worked for over three weeks at the station of Giardini. One night Mr. Kitson was going through the Red Cross car, helping with milk, wine and so forth. At the end of the car was a large clothes basket full of little new-born babies, two dead, three or five alive, and noth- ing to cover them or keep them warm, so the dead ones had been kept for that. They had been born on the train and had had no one to tend them, poor little souls. It made him perfectly sick and was, we think, partly respon- sible for his long illness. I was kept in the surgical ward room to have the water ready for the doctors and so I did not see all the hor- rors as those did who went through the cars — I was spared that, thank God." 76 Ill AMERICA TO THE RESCUE On the first of January, three days after the great earthquake, a band of Calabrians, Hving in New York, flashed this message across the Atlantic to their mother country: "Do not forget Scylla!" Scylla, how the old name thrills! Scylla had suffered severely, though its gray castle, perched high on the cliff that rises sheer from the shore, was spared. Scylla, the ancient village at the foot of the purple Calabrian mountains, was not forgotten, nor Reggio, nor the white fishing hamlets that line the tawny shores of Sicily and Calabria on either side of the restless straits. The people of the coast were soonest reached and soonest helped by the sailors of the passing ships, for the navies of the world flew on the wings of love and pity to succor the stricken ports. Never were ships watched for with such eagerness, never were sailors greeted with such passionate rapture since Theseus sailed 77 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN back from Crete to Athens with his precious freight of Athenian youths and maidens, saved from the dreadful Minotaur. The people who lived in the hills and valleys of the interior suffered longest, were last relieved; but even to them help came, for the sailors were faithful and carried the world's bounty to the desolate inland towns of Sicily and Calabria. The story of their labor of love would fill an encyclo- pedia. This is the story of the American relief ship " Bayern," that brought comfort and hope to the forlorn survivors of the great earthquake; to tell the story clearly, we must go back to Rome where the cruise was planned. Saturday afternoon, January second, the Via Quattro Fontane, in the neighborhood of the American Embassy, was crowded with carriages, cabs and automobiles. The tall hand- some porter of the Palazzo del Drago was on duty in full dress; he wore a long broadcloth overcoat that came down to his feet, a black cocked hat with a cockade of red, white and blue. His mighty staff of office, a cer- tain grand air he has, make him a formida- ble personage to those who have no real business at the palace. Once you are known to 78 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE this Cerberus, he has no terrors for you; he is gentle by nature as such big men so often are. " Can I see the Ambassador? " I asked the porter. " That I cannot promise, lady. He has just returned from the Quirinal; there are many persons waiting to see him, but — "he raised his shoulders with the Latin gesture that ex- presses doubt — "who knows .^ The Signora can but try." He stood back, made me a splen- did bow with as fine a flourish of his tricorne as if I had been a princess, and the way was free. I entered the handsome portojie, walked through the long marble gallery, past the court- yard where the noise of the fountain sounds like the trampling of impatient steeds, past the twin lions of giallo antico that guard the en- trance, and up the magnificent stairway leading to the piano nobile, the home of the American Ambassador. At the door of the apartment I was met by another of those prodigious serving men — the giants of the American Embassy were the talk of Rome that winter — they were recruited from the ex-cuirassiers of the King's own body guard, the glorious hundred, the shortest of whom is six feet tall. 79 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " Her Excellency would receive me; as to his Excellency, it was just possible. The ladies were in the dancing hall." He waved me to- wards the mirrored gallery. I paused a moment to stare about the great anticamera, big enough to hold an ordinary embassy. At one end there is a wide fireplace, over which, instead of armor- ial bearings, our Eagle spreads its mighty shel- tering wings. This splendid anticamera was in strange confusion, crowded with packing cases, piled half-way to the ceiling with bales of goods, boxes of clothing, boots, food, medi- cines, relief supplies of all kinds. Every able- bodied American in Rome was working pro Sicilia e Calabria, and the Ambassador's home was not only the nerve-center of the relief work but a warehouse, a base of supplies. From the ballroom came the sound of women's voices, the snip-snip of shears, the click of sewing machines. Here was another transformation; the sumptuous ballroom with the smooth polished floor had become a busy workroom. Under the gilt chandelier stood a long table, heaped with bales of flannel and cloth, over which Jeaned four or five ladies, scissors in hand, cutting out skirts, blouses 80 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE and jackets. On the satin-covered benches sat a bevy of young women and girls, bast- ing, sewing, planning, and chatting as they worked. " I have nothing left but red flannel," said the chief cutter-out, " what shall I do with it.'* '* *' Petticoats and under jackets," said the Doctor's wife. " We must put all the colored goods into under-clothing. The poor things beg so for black dresses. You wouldn't want to wear red or blue if you had lost twenty -five members of your family, as my profughi have." *' Still we must use what material we have. Let us keep the black for our 'profughi here in Rome and send the colored things down there where the need is greater and they cannot be so particular." The scene was typical of Rome, of Italy, of the civilized world at that time. In every home, rich or poor, in every country, women of all classes were sewing for those naked wretches who had escaped from the great earthquake with nothing but their lives. In the Palace of the Quirinal the little princesses, Jolanda and Mafalda, sat up in their high chairs, stitching busily for the children of the stricken South. SI SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN The fury of benevolence that had driven men and women all over the world into some action, some sacrifice, for their suffering brothers, was being organized, had become the great driving force that should compel some sort of order out of chaos unparalleled. When it grew too dark to see in the ballroom the friendly giant lighted the chandelier and the candles in the gilt sconces. As he passed me he murmured: " If the Signora can wait till the other ladies have gone her Excellency — " " Of course I can wait." I settled down to overcast the seams of a black woolen frock. " Do you know where one can buy handker- chiefs? " asked the chief cutter-out. " Every shop I tried today was sold out. All Sicilians use handkerchiefs, even the poorest; it's one of their good points. I was at the station this morning helping the English Committee — they meet every train from Naples that brings * survivors,* and fit out the poor things with shoes and clothes. Some of them were half naked; one pretty girl — a perfect Hebe — was dressed in an officer's uniform. The poor souls cry so one has to give them one's own handker- chief; I have hardly one left! " 82 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE ** Ask the Ambassadress; she knows more about what's left in Rome than anybody," said the Doctor's wife. Then in an undertone to me: " It's wonderful how she takes the lead and tlje rest of us all fall in line; she makes us lose sight of the woman in the Ambassadress; she's taken command of the scattered forces of the colony like a generalissimo; she's proclaimed an armistice to internecine strife. Look at those two women, the lamb and the wolf cutting out together; it took the earthquake and Mrs. Griscom to bring that about! " " Time to go home," said the chief cutter- out, as the cracked bells of San Bernardo's rang six. " My hands ache with the weight of these shears; this is the best day's work we have done." One by one, the ladies, colonials and tran- sients, fashionable and unfashionable, took their leave. When all had gone, the giant ushered me into the yellow drawing-room, where I found her Excellency seated in a low chair before the fire making tea. She greeted me with her flashing smile and bade me welcome. I asked for news of those who had gone down to the city of the dreadful night; we had heard 83 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN nothing of Major Landis, Mr. Cutting, Mr. Chanler and the others who had gone to Messina the Thursday before. "No news — but from home, oh, so much! It is as we all knew it would be; we shall do our share." Rumor already had it that great sums of money had been cabled from America, both to the Ambassador and to the Italian Red Cross. If that money was to be well spent, the Ambas- sador's work was cut out for him, as hard work as even he could covet. A few moments later Mr. Griscom came in and asked his wife for a cup of tea. His Ex- cellency's dark inscrutable face showed fatigue; the veiled fire of the eyes was nearer the sur- face than usual, the clear-cut lips were com- pressed. As the Doctor's wife said, it was fortunate for us that we had these strong young people to take the lead in the American relief work. From the first they bore the brunt gallantly; work as hard as their helpers might, they out-stripped all others, gave with a lavish hand, power, sympathy, wit, energy, health; in a word they gave themselves. We turned to them as to our natural leaders in all large and 84 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE even in small questions. It had seemed to me the most natural thing in the world that, having given away all our available cash and all the clothes we could spare, I should go to the Embassy to beg for my profughiy the family of Francesco Calabresi, the plumber from Messina. " You have received large sums of money from home," I said to Mr. Griscom. " Yes," he looked at me steadily, ready to guard the treasure from the most desperate assault. He listened patiently to my story of the Calabresi family, to my plea for money to buy clothes and a cradle for the imminent baby, and plumber's tools to set Francesco up in business before he should become de- moralized by the dreadful Roman system of paying so much per capita every day to each family of profughi, without demanding any work in return for the money. First to lose everything they owned, then to be robbed of their habit of self-dependence was the cruel fate of too many. " We must help these poor people to help themselves," said the Ambassador, sounding the key-note of the American relief work from first to last. Then very kindly he pointed out 85 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN to me that my interest in an individual case made me lose sight of the fact that he must deal with the situation as a whole. The Ameri- can funds must be distributed with method and exactness; the generous help our country was sending must be well spent; his work was to lay out the general scheme, the detail was for others; he had appointed an American Relief Committee; they had held their first meeting that morning. I saw it all then in a flash, got a sense of some great plan maturing, and took my leave, mortified enough that I should have troubled the god-in-the-machine with a mere detail. The next day, Sunday, was like a poem bound in blue and gold. I went up on the terrace to gather the last chrysanthemums that had es- caped the frost, and to loosen the soil about the first hyacinth, whose close-furled pointed leaves pricked through the brown mould. Below the Tiber rolled, a tawny flood, under the arches of the Ponte Margherita. Across the river the angel of the Castel Sant' Angelo lifted his bronze sword over the tomb of Hadrian, the dome of St. Peter's showed like a pale blue bubble against the deeper blue of the sky; the 86 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE bells of Rome rocked and pealed in their towers, calling the people to mass. From the barracks in the Prati di Castello the bugles sounded, and a regiment swung down the white road by the Tiber, past the statue of Ciceruacchio, and over the bridge to the gay music of the royal march. I was leaning over the parapet to watch the soldiers out of sight, when Agnese called me downstairs. " A messenger from the Embassy, Signora, with a bundle so large we had to open both sides of the portone to let it pass! " I hurried down in time to thank the good- natured giant for the gigantic parcel he had brought. Agnese cut the strings and handed me a card with a line in pencil signed Elizabeth Griscom. " Signora, it is a cradle but of an unimagi- nable fineness ! Observe the pillow case, it is of linen. This is a blanket for a queen's son; and these garments, truly they are fit for a queen's children, no less! They doubtless belonged to that small angel with the eyes of his beautiful mother, whom I saw when I took a letter to the Ambassadress? Consider, Signora, are these magnificences fitting for the infant of a plumber? 87 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Madonna mia! It is turning to their account this business of the earthquake! This dress, it is quite new; you yourself could wear it — the color would suit you, or we could have it dyed a dark purple." What the Ambassador could not do, the Ambassadress had done. Besides the dainty cradle, the blankets, jackets and other baby luxuries such as neither Lucia nor Agnese had ever dreamed of, there was a little knitted shawl for poor old Rosina, and good warm dresses for the plumber's wife and mother. Agnese was right; the pretty baby finery belonged to the little son born to the Ambassador during his first months of office in Rome. There is a story that the King, on being told that Mrs. Griscom could not be present at some official reception on account of her baby, exclaimed in astonishment : " I never before have heard of an Ambassa- dress with a baby! " The time had come when the King, the colony, all concerned were thankful that the American Ambassador and Ambassadress were young people, with strong young nerves and generous young hearts. 88 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE " Send for Napoleone," I cried to Agnese. Napoleone the cabman can only be reached through the connivance of a clerk of Fasani, the grocer in the Piazza de Spagna. Napoleone is very " black " and has the superior manners of the " clericals." By the time I had my bonnet on, Agnese an- nounced to me that Napoleone was at the door. When we appeared on the sidewalk he was deep in the Popolo Romano, the Vatican organ which he reads so faithfully that J. says he often loses a fare from being too much engrossed in his newspaper. " To the house in the Via Lamarmora where you took me the other day to visit those un- fortunate profugki/^ I said. " It appears to me, Signora, that they have become very fortunate people,*' said Napoleone, making room for the cradle beside him. He whipped up his strawberry roan, a horse with an action like a crab's, as unique a figure in our Rome as his driver. Napoleone's eyes were very kind when he helped me out with the cradle and the big bundle of clothes. " I will wait for you, Signora, at my own cost, one understands. Diamini! we must all do 89 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN something for these unfortunate prqfughi.*' Napoleone smoothed out the Popolo Romano, put a nosebag of fodder over the roan's head and prepared to wait for me, at his own expense ! When the porter's wife looked out from her little den and saw the big bundle, she put down the dish of carciofi she was preparing for her husband's dinner and came to the rescue. " Per carita, Signora, allow me to carry up that great big bundle; ask the padrona to leave the door open till I come." The padrona di casa was smartly dressed and freshly powdered. She wore huge pearl and diamond peasant earrings, and her wonder- ful hair with its thick regular waves shone like the plumage of the black swan in the Villa Borghese. She recognized me with a smile. " Ah, the American lady! What a pleasure to see her again! " She motioned me to the room where the theatrical costumes had been packed closely together to give more space. The light from a big window struck across the gaunt barn of a place and fell on a group in the center that Andrea del Sarto would have painted as a " Visitation." Rosina, the wrinkled old woman, looked a 90 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE perfect Elizabeth as she stood there, holding her daughter-in-law by the hand: Lucia would have made a lovely Mary. The young woman saw me first. She came towards me slowly, heavily, took my hand in hers and with a strange solemnity kissed me on the mouth; Francesco, her husband (the plumber), followed her ex- ample. Caterina, sitting up in the big white bed, smiled at me with a radiant inner lighting of the face, like a young martyr. Rosina mumbled my hand with her withered lips and wiped her eyes upon a black-bordered hand- kerchief I had given her; all this was before they caught a glimpse of the porter's wife, toiling upstairs with the gigantic bundle. I was the first stranger who had come into the new life that was opening before them, after they had passed through that hell of suffering at Messina. The shackles of convention had dropped from them in that elemental expe- rience, that fearful convulsion when the very earth had stoned them. They met me as equals on the ground of our common humanity; they embraced me because I had brought them help from America, the land of hope. When we grow old, I heard a poet say, we count the treasure 91 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN of unforgotten kisses as a miser counts his gold; In the coming years those kisses, given for my country's sake, will shine bright in my im- perishable hoard. The next day, Monday morning, January 4th, as we were having early coffee, Agnese brought in a note. "Anything interesting.? " I asked, as J. folded the small sheet of lilac paper and put it back in the envelope. " It looks like an invitation." " It is," said J., *' one I shall accept." I must have looked incredulous, for he handed me the note. It was from one of the ladies of the Embassy, who wrote to say that vol- unteers were wanted for a relief ship the Amer- ican Committee was fitting out. This was the first we either of us heard of the expedition of the " Bayern," that a few days later thrilled all Italy and America. Ten minutes later we were in Napoleone's cab, rattling through the Piazza San Bernardo. As we passed the Hotel Europa our friend, Mr. Samuel Parrish, came out of the door. Mr. Parrish, a distinguished New York lawyer, had come to Rome to pass a quiet winter, to improve his knowledge of the language and to study Italian *' primitives." 92 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE It seemed rather early for him to be about, though I found a possible explanation for this as we passed the flower-stand of the Piazza Mignianelli, brave with deep purple violets and pale winter roses. The early birds get the best of everything; the sunny salon at the Europa, where our friend proposed spending the easy restful days of his " season off," was always filled with lovely flowers — yes, that was it, Mr. Parrish had come out at this un- earthly hour to buy his flowers. In the Piazza Barberini, where a brisk wind blew the spray of the fountain of the Triton half across the square, we passed Mr. William Hooper of Boston, hurrying along; Mr. Hooper had arrived in Rome a few weeks before with his wife and was established for the winter in the Hotel Regina. At the office of the American Embassy we were received by the smiling usher, who showed us into the waiting room, threw a lump of soft coal on the fire, and smiled himself out. Shortly after one of the habitues of the Embassy, a Roman American, came in and told us a meeting of the American Relief Committee was going on at the Palazzo del Drago; if we could wait, 93 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN they were all sure to come round to the office when it was over. " They have two or three meetings a day," the Roman American said; " they were up half last night. What with sending and receiv- ing cables from America, holding consultations with the King, Giolitti (the Prime Minister) and Nathan the Sindaco, those men don't have time to eat or to sleep." At last Mr. Griscom came in, passing directly to his private office; a little later Mr. Parrish and Mr. Hooper followed him. Through the open door I caught a glimpse of the Ambassador at his desk, talking with Mr. Nelson Gay and Mr. George Page, both American residents of Rome. These five gentlemen were the Relief Committee, there was only one stranger to us in the group; the naval attache of the Embassy, Lieutenant- Commander Reginald Rowan Belknap. As we waited in the reception room, most of the American men in Rome passed through; first one, then another of the committee or of the secretaries came in to speak to some visitor. We could not but hear scraps of their conversa- tion as they passed to and fro. ** Griscom couldn't have chosen his com- 94 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE mittee better: Parrish and Hooper to help him raise the money in America; Page and Gay to help him spend it ; and Belknap — one sees with half an eye he's a man for an emergency,'* said a visitor. " Of course we shall get the money; I am ready to guarantee it! " exclaimed the treasurer of the committee. '* Parrish is head of the Southampton Red Cross. He has cabled the President," mur- mured another. " The steamer will start from Genoa. Smith, our Consul, is buying up the town to fit her out," said a young secretary. " The Ambassadress has collected half a shipload of supplies! " " All the sterilized milk you can lay your hands on — " This to one who offered con- tributions. ** Put my money in tobacco; those poor devils need a smoke if ever man did," said the Roman American. Waiting in that office was like watching the movement of a vast engine, feeling the throb- bing of our country's mighty heart — our pulses leapt to keep time with it. 95 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " Weston Flint is just the man for you. He is a graduate of our school and speaks Italian well," said Mr. Carter, director of the American Classical School. '* If you can get Giordano of the Tribuna, he's your man. He speaks English as well as I do," said a journalist. ** I know three trained nurses who are ready to go if they're wanted." At last our turn came; Captain Belknap found time to speak to J. The intense concen- trated force that we had felt in the atmosphere of that room seemed personified in the naval attache. To be in his company was like touch- ing an electric battery. Only a few words were exchanged; the upshot of it all was that J. offered his services and was accepted. He said he was ready to go in any capacity, and was then and there appointed interpreter and general handy- andy-man to the expedition. My services were refused; no women except professional trained nurses were wanted. " Do you know a man with some knowledge of accounts you could get to go with us.^^ He must speak Italian." Captain Belknap said it lightly enough, as if he were merely dropping 96 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE a hint. What was it that made that hint more imperative than a command? *' I will try to find one," said J. As we walked out of the Embassy he exclaimed, " Thompson is our man ! This is a sort of press-gang business ; we had better drop down on him at once." We hurried to the studio in the Via Degli Artisti, where we found Wilfred Thompson at work on his decoration for the English church. After the tense atmosphere of the embassy the studio seemed strangely peaceful. On the easel was a picture, still wet, of the pine trees in the Villa Borghese, with the red sunset light striking between their smooth stems. A little cat rubbed its arched back against my dress purring her friendly song of welcome, " three thrums, three thrums." We felt like conspira- tors come to break up our friend's quiet life. He listened gravely to the proposition that he should volunteer for the relief ship, and took time to consider it. In one sense it was not diffi- cult for him to go, he said; he only had to find a home for the kitten, and, as a lesser considera- tion, to make a will. The words struck chill; there was danger then! In the end Thompson decided to go; he spoke without enthusiasm; 97 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN it was evident that having been called upon he felt it his duty to go. His mood was in strong contrast to the enthusiasm of those men at the Embassy; they were on the circuit of the Great Dynamo, they throbbed with the thrill of it, glowed with the Niagara-like power of it. Tuesday morning Thompson offered his services to Captain Belknap. When we met him that afternoon, we knew that he too had come within the magnetic circle, had felt the thrill of the Great Dynamo, for from that time on he toiled like the others with heart and soul, with nerves and body doing double, triple work. " Thompson's got the pace," said J., " a jolly good one too." A man may not choose how he shall serve the great Republic, but whatever service is asked of him, that let him render with heart and soul. Though Thompson would not have chosen the post of supercargo — any more than Flint would have asked to be cashier or J. in- terpreter — once it was assigned him, he threw himself into the work with all his might. The studio saw him no more; the little cat — all the family he had — missed him. He spent his days and most of his nights trying to bring 98 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE order out of that chaos of supplies, checking bills, making lists and invoices of clothes, food, medicine, tools, all the wonderful things bought for the relief ship. The cargo was got together somehow, anyhow; the thing was done — that was the main point. From morning till night those tireless men and women bought and bought, sewed and sewed, packed and tied up in bundles the stores, clothing, shoes, medicines, for the sufferers. It was Thompson's duty to try and bring some sort of order out of that chaos. When men and women are dying of cold and hunger, when human life is at stake and the race is with death, haste is the only thing to strive for; waste counts not. So Griscom and his Americans resolutely cut the Gordian knots of red tape that strangle Italy, whenever they came across one, and never counted the cost. Now that we look back, what they did seems incredible. Remember, it was Sunday morn- ing, January 3rd, that the Ambassador ap- pointed his committee to help him put through the thing he had planned to do; the work of the next three days would not be believed if it could be told. From the beginning Griscom did the impossible — the only thing worth doing 99 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN in this world. He was told that the idea of fitting out a relief ship was chimerical; every available steamer was already engaged by the Italian Government. Even if a ship could be found, where would the supplies come from? The Roman shops were well nigh sold out. If ship and cargo could be scared up, how to get the cargo to the ship.^ It took a month to get a box from Rome to Naples! This last argu- ment seemed final! Every objection was met, every obstacle over- come. In three days the ship was found, the cargo bought, the men and women of the relief ' crew enlisted, ready, eager to start. Monday Captain Belknap engaged the Austrian Lloyd steamer " Oceania; " she could be ready to sail in nine days. Monday night the North German Lloyd's agent telephoned, offering the " Bayern "to be ready to sail from Genoa Wednesday, January 6th. This was a saving of six days; the offer of the " Bayern " was accepted, the Austrians handsomely refusing to claim the forfeit of one thousand dollars due them for breach of contract. Who says corpora- tions have no heart? The committee knew they could count on thes^Germans to do what they 100 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE undertook to do. The discipline, the steady hammer-hammer of the army drill master has got into the very blood and bones of that nation. So the ship was found! As for the cargo: when the committee was not in session, William Hooper, the famous Har- vard athlete, Samuel Parrish, the connoisseur of Italian Cinque Cento, Nelson Gay, the his- torian, George Page, the banker, were working under the lash, buying coats, blankets, shawls, pins, needles, biscuits, cheese, sausages, picks, shovels — all they could lay hands on of these grave-digger's tools, for still on the eighth, the tenth day after the earthquake, even later, men and women were taken out alive from the ruins. In Genoa, James Smith, American Consul, was gathering together a vast store of hams, beans, potatoes, salt pork, rope, canvas, candles, all the ship wares to be found in the great sea- port. It was one thing to put these goods bought in Genoa on board the *' Bayern," but how to get the masses of clothing, tools, food, medi- cines and bedding, purchased in Rome — a tithe of which cumbered the great hall of the Palazzo'del Drago — to the ship.'' " If the railroad to the south cannot take 101 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN the goods to Naples, the railroad to the north shall take them to Civitavecchia; the old papal seaport is as good a place to sail from as from Naples! " Griscom argued; so that knot was cut. Stein, the shipper, was called in, another of those busy silent Germans who year by year are getting more and more of Italy's commerce into their strong capable hands. Stein under- took to have the cargo at Civitavecchia on the '* Bayern's " arrival there, and he was as good as his word. The Government gave free ti'ansportation to the goods. Reports are dull reading, statistics worse — there is nothing quite so misleading as statis- tics — there are a few exceptions to this rule; the reports of the American Relief Committee are among them. The minutes kept by Samuel Parrish lie before me; they are as interesting as a novel. As interesting.'* Twenty thousand times more interesting. The story is told gravely and concisely, but the romance shines through the conventional terms, transfigures the formal.statements; it has the life pulse of an old Greek drama; it moves with the inevi- table sequence of history. The titles of Chair- 102 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE man, Secretary, Treasurer, are disguises like the masks worn by the Athenian players. They serve to hide the personality of the actor, leaving him freer to play the role for which he is cast. The characters speak their lines, the play moves steadily from the first lurid scene of the earthquake to the final chorus of Hope. After Nature had done her worst and the greatest disaster of history had stunned the world, the network of nerves with which America has enmeshed the globe, the telegraph wires and submarine cables, flashed the dreadful intelligence from nerve center to nerve center. Whether for good or for ill, we gave the world its nervous system; ours the responsibility for the quickened pulse of life ! The cables were kept busy; message after message flashed from the Embassy at Rome to Washington, to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco. That cry of the Calabrian exiles: " Do not forget to help Scylla," touched the public imagination. I hear the thrill of it in all the messages that follow, the committee's appeal to the American Red Cross, to the Governors of the States, to the people of America. The Ambassador and Mr. Parrish telegraph the President, Mr. Par- 103 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN ish cables Governor Hughes and Mayor Mc- Clellan, Mr, Hooper calls on Governor Guild of Massachusetts for funds for a relief ship. Time is so precious they do not wait for answers; strong in their faith in America's generosity, these men assume a personal responsibility for the great sums of money needed, so no time is lost in waiting for answers to their appeals. This is the secret of how the incredible thing was done; it was not only by the labor of these resolute men but by the faith^that was in them that the country would " back " them, would make good all they promised. " Theirs," said the Roman American, " is an infallibility absolute as the Pope's; they know that God and the American people are behind them! " We were in Athol's library Wednesday eve- ning when J.'s sailing orders came. The large pleasant room was just light and warm enough. There was a wood fire, there were flowers — blood-red Roman anemones — there were books and pictures, there was Athol himself (the man of whose mellow culture and sensitive taste, the room was an expression) seated in a beau- tiful Savonarola chair at an ancient, perfectly 104 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE appointed table, writing despatches with pen and ink on large foolscap paper. " They have telephoned from the Embassy," said Agnese, who brought the news, " that the Signore should be at the station at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. The Signora is invited to go as far as Civitavecchia with the Ambassa- dress and the other ladies to witness his depar- ture — ah ! sainted apostles ! for that land of death! " Agnese disapproved of J.'s going down to Messina. " Give those unfortunates any- thing in reason," she argued, " clothes, food, even a little money ! But to go oneself, or even to allow one who is dear to go down to that — that yozzo d'infezione, ah! no, there is no reason in that! It is the act of the mad. Mama mia! Are there not enough dead already.^ " " You will be too late for Messina," said Athol, looking up from his despatches. '* They don't like having foreigners about; the English ships from Malta were there a week ago but they found they were not wanted ! You will find more than enough to do at the smaller villages; they have been neglected. Have you any flannel shirts? " *' Hundreds," said J. 105 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " For the profughi, yes, but for yourself? You'll need them and flannel collars; I can lend you some and a hold-all. Have you seen the last subscriptions to the Lord Mayor's Fund? " He handed J. a London paper with the list of subscribers to the English Earthquake Fund. There was a generous rivalry of *' who shall give and do most? " between the Americans and English that was heart-warming. " You deserve a large share of the credit for this," J. said; " I hope it will be set down to your account." Athol's telegrams and articles were read by English-speaking people all over the world; they had great influence in raising the Mansion House Fund, and other contributions. The next morning was gray and mild, a de- pressing sirocco day. Napoleone who drove us to the station was gloomy as Agnese about J.'s going to Messina. His clerical sympathies made him scoff at the value of all lay relief work. " Those afl3ictions that are sent by the Padre Eterno can best be assuaged by the Church," he grumbled, as he put Athol's fine English hold-all on the box beside him. Even the 106 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE strawberry roan was out of spirits and took ten minutes longer than usual between the palace and the station. *' What has his Excel- lency to do with such matters? " Napoleone flung the words over his shoulder. "I tell you frankly, Signora mia, his life is worth more than all the Sicilians put together. It is a pity the island of Sicily did not sink beneath the sea and remain there twenty minutes, long enough to drown all the inhabitants. It would have been a good thing for Italy, magari, and for the rest of the world ! " Wilfred Thompson, who was at the station when we arrived, introduced Weston Flint, the cashier. Mr. Flint wore a leather money bag over his shoulder. " Ask for the special," said Flint, as he wrote our names down on a list; " the Government has put a train at the Ambassador's disposal; they treat us handsomely, you see." *' That young man came to Rome to study archeology," said the Roman American, who was going with us. " He will learn more about ruins and excavation in the next few days than he could have learned at school in a life- time." 107 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN A cab drove up with three neat, plainly dressed, young girls. "The American nurses, God bless them!" said the Roman American. " There come the English nurses; and there's Robert Hale, the painter — why have they gone in so heavily for artistic talent? " Then answering his own question: "Because artists are the hardest working people in the world, and the most generous; they always do more than their share of good work; rich people give their money, they give themselves! " Just then the Ambassador and Mrs. Griscom came up in their motor and we all got on board the train. The journey to Civitavecchia was all too short; we hardly found time to look from the window and were only half conscious of passing the ancient Temple of Minerva Medica, or Ponte Galera, the picturesque, fever-stricken, abandoned town hung in its green shroud of ivy. The artists missed nothing of the beauty of the trip (their search for beauty is as uncon- scious as breathing); the rest of us had to be forcibly wrenched from the discussion of medi- cated gauze and flannel bandages when a turn of the road brought a wonderful view before 108 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE us, — the campagna swimming in an amethyst haze, the blue clear-cut hues of the Alban hills, and far off, a fainter blue stain against the sky, Monte Circeo, home of Circe, daughter of the sun. These things the sons of Mary saw, while the sons of Martha talked of ways and means. What had been accomplished in the few days since that first meeting of the committee Sun- day afternoon seemed a miracle. The men who had worked the miracle were with us, quiet, alert, full of attentions for the comfort of the ladies who were going to see the '* Bayern " start on her cruise of mercy. The leader of the enterprise, Lloyd Griscom, and his right- hand man. Captain Belknap, who bore the brunt of all the great work that was to follow, talked together in undertones, discussing the final arrangements. Later Mr. Gay, Mr. Parrish and Mr. Page joined them. The rest of us kept apart, as it seemed they were holding an informal committee meeting, to decide some last weighty matter, and exchanged our news. '* Mr. Griscom saw the King," said the Roman American, " and offered him the relief ship. The King accepted it and told the Ambassador that nothing could have been devised better 109 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN than such a gift. The money for the expedition was given by the American Red Cross to Mr. Griscom to spend at his discretion." That was wise, for what was needed now even more than money was the good sense to spend it well, ability, organizing power — the thing that is so much harder to get or to give than money — brains! At Civitavecchia we were received by the Sindaco, the Sub-Prefect, and the Captain of the Port; they all wore black gloves and crape bands on the arm. The general exaltation and excitement that ran like fire through Rome was lacking in the small provincial seaport; there was a sense of hopeless mourning here, more distressing than the tearing passion of Rome. Two of our ladies disappeared as soon as we reached Civitavecchia. The rest of us, es- corted by the officials, were rowed out in small boats to the *' Bayern," a fine steamer of 5000 tons, lying in the outer harbor surrounded by a fleet of lighters. *' Still taking on stores, you see," said Mr. Stein, who had come in person to s6e that the goods from Rome were delivered on time. 110 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE *' By four o'clock everything will be on board; they will be able to start without delay." *' This is Captain Mizloff," said Belknap (how could he find time for everything?), pre- senting the big florid typical North-German- Lloyd commander. " They tell me you shall not with us go.^ " said the captain. " It is a pity; we shall a moon and a fine weather have, and a good run to Messina make. Will you my quarters visit .f* " His calm blue eyes, his smiling undismayed presence were comforting. Here was a man who had not been whirled out of his natural orbit like the rest of us. After we had gone over the '' Bayern " with Captain Mitzloff, visited his cabin and admired the portraits of his wife and flaxen-haired children, the expedition began to look more rational, a little less out of the ordinary. His practical sober kindness was somehow reassuring. We went down to see J.'s cabin, an outer room with a good window. The familiar smell of stale sea-water brought a pang of homesickness — of course we were going to sail for America, there never had been any earthquake, it was all a bad nightmare; it was curious how the illusion persisted. It 111 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN grew even stronger when a pink and white steward announced luncheon, and we made our way to the dining saloon, decorated and furnished in the usual North German Lloyd fashion. The chief steward allotted us our seats — oh, it was just like the beginning of twenty other trans-atlantic crossings! I recog- nized the way the table was set, the napkins folded, the bread cut; we were going home — together. " I shall order green goose and mirabellen — " I announced. " You are to sit beside the Sindaco of Civita- vecchia because you can talk Italian to him," said one of the committee at that moment; the illusion vanished. I was placed with Mrs. Griscom and the other ladies of the Auxiliary Relief Committee at the captain's table. J., already separated from me, sat with the nurses, and other assistants, Flint, Hale and Thompson, at the doctor's table, below the salt as it were. He was under orders; discipline had begun. Though we were all anxious and sad enough, there was a brave effort at gayety. The Am- bassador proposed the health of the King and Queen of Italy in a neat little speech; and the 112 AMERICA TO THE RESCUE Sindaco, a stout man with red eyes, responded with a toast to the President. He pronounced a few flowery sentences, and then speaking of the six or seven people from Civitavecchia who had escaped the earthquake and come back to their native town beggared and bereft, he fal- tered, burst into tears and sat down. After luncheon I found my way to the ladies' saloon, all white and gold and blue brocade, with that faint dreadful under-smell of stale sea-water in its draperies, cushions and carpet. Here I found the nurses unrolling two bundles of stuff. " You missed us," said one of the ladies, *' and wondered where we went from the station; this is what we were in search of." She unrolled a piece of ivory-white flannel and another of scarlet cloth. " Who can cut me out a neat cross .'^ This is all lopsided," said the chief cutter-out. She held up a badly cut cross of red cloth. " I know who can make a better one than that," I cried and went in search of J. *' We shall want a good many, for every one of them must wear the badge on his left arm," said the chief cutter-out. 113 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " We fly the Red Cross then? It has been arranged? " The Ambassador had cut another strand of the red tape that strangles Italy. Permission to fly the Red Cross flag had been asked and refused because none of the party belonged to the Italian Society, though several were mem- bers of the American Association. When in order to overcome this objection the leaders asked leave to join the Italian Red Cross, the answer was that it would take two weeks for them to be elected. Mr. Griscom passed over the refusal and carried the request^to a higher court, where it was granted. My last impression of the '* Bayern " was that scene in the saloon, where Thompson and J. stood patiently cutting out the red cloth crosses and the trained nurses sat stitching them neatly on the ivory cloth bands. At two o'clock Mrs. Griscom and the ladies of her auxiliary committee left the ship and took the train for Rome with Mr. Parrish and Mr. Page. " Of course I wanted to go to Messina," said Mr. Parrish, *' but somebody had to stay in Rome to attend to this end of the business! " At four o'clock the " Bayern " sailed, Cap- 114 STROMBOL; from the "BAYERN." Page 121. THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR AND RED CROSS NURSES ON "THE BAYERN." Page 114. MESSINA. ITALIAN MILITARY ENCAMPMENT. Page 54. MESSINA. ITALIAN OFFICERS AND MEN. Page 54. AMERICA TO THE RESCUE tain Belknap having commandeered three small craft against the need of landing on an open beach, for which the ship's boats were unsuit- able. As she sailed out of the harbor of Civita- vecchia, past the old lighthouse with the two defending towers, the " Bayern " flew the American ensign at the fore, the German mer- chant flag aft, and between foremast and funnel on the triatic stay the flag of the whole Christian world, a cross vermilion on a ground white. 115 IV THE CRUISE OF THE ' BAYERN " " It looks as if God had put His foot upon it ! " said Hugh, the Yeoman. J., watching the pallid sunset from the deck of the " Bayern," as she swung at anchor in the sickle-shaped harbor of Messina, turned from the sombre Sicilian mountains, rising tier above tier to the wet gray sky, and looked at what men called the " indispensable city " before God had set His foot upon it. The pile of smoking ruins, in some places tall as the wrecked build- ings had originally been, in others crushed flat to the earth, looked indeed as if some mighty being had stamped his way with giant strides over the city; you could trace his foot- steps in the shattered remnants of the great Sicilian seaport. " Do you believe the earthquake was a judg- ment? " Hugh went on. Gasperone, the Messinese, shook the rough mane of hair out of his eyes and parried the 116 THE CRUISE OF THE ' BAYERN " question with a " Chi lo sa ? " Then he added: " It was foretold; I myself heard the prophecy, though at the time I laughed, with others who laugh no more. One of the hottest days of last summer a tall Nazarene, a hermit from the hills dressed in sackcloth, went up and down the city, followed by a boy — half naked like himself — ringing a great bell. There on the Marina they stopped at a cross street and the Nazarene cried out like one possessed : "'Be warned! Take heed and repent, ye of Messina! This year shall not end before your city is utterly destroyed! '" " It was a wicked city," said Hugh; *' the Almighty smote this place. What else could ha' done it? Our chart called for fifty fathom of water, we plumbed and plumbed — two hundred and fiifty didn't fetch it, the bottom had just dropped out. There's Riggio 'crost the straits, hit the same way — a double stroke you may say. WTien you see a city smote like that, you may know it was a wicked city; 'twas the same with 'Frisco — she got what she deserved. Dowti to Callao centuries ago 'twas the same. The people were fighting and killing each other, so the Almighty he shook 117 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN down the town and out of the water a great high mountain riz right up in the air carrying a big ship as was lying in the harbor with it; I know folks as has seen it! They put an immense cross on the spot; the kings or presi- dents or whatever there is down there, swore that until that cross was pulled down they would never fight no more. Whenever they're like to quarrel, some one points to that cross, and then they manage to settle the row without bloodshed! " "Awe W," said Gasperone. " They say a vile piece of poetry was printed in an infidel paper, asking our Saviour to prove He could work miracles by sending a good earthquake — is that true? " Gasperone spat over the side and nodded; then he too prophesied. " There is more to come." Gasperone shook a warning finger: "Listen! la Sicilia will go down, down, and finally be lost under the sea. Already it has begun; the mountains grow lower and lower; when I was a boy they were much higher than now. The Marina has sunk in some places a metre. You know the ancient stemma, the coat-of-arms of Sicily, has but 118 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " three legs? We have lost one leg, there are but two left. When the next leg goes, it will be finished; the island will topple and sink beneath the sea. I have said it." He made a gesture as if to wipe the ancient island of Trinacria from the face of the globe. It was the third day of the cruise of the " Bayern; " all the relief party were on shore, except Wilfred Thompson and J., who had been detained on board by their work. J., who had come up from the hold to take a breath, listened half consciously to the talk of Gasperone and Hugh, the Yeoman. In his confused memories of that time this scrap of their conversation survives. What has happened since the " Bayern " sailed from Civitavecchia.^ First one, then another of that strangely assorted ship's com- pany shall tell the story. " Immediately on getting under way," writes Captain Belknap, " the work of arranging our supplies began, so that we might know what, how much, and where to lay our hands on everything. Supplies purchased at Genoa were in the after hold, those from Rome forward; except for this separation everything was mixed 119 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN together. The Rome purchases had been made by several persons acting independently; marks on many packages had been torn off or obliter- ated in the hurry of transportation, and the diffi- culty was increased by the absence of many invoices. Fortunately good weather favored us. The work continued in the fore hold until ten p. m. on Thursday." " Worked very hard till dinner getting cargo in order and opening up some stuff. After dinner worked on bills with Flint and Hale," writes Wilfred Thompson in his diary for January 7th. A letter from J., of the same date, gives a fuller account of the first day : " We got straight to work the moment you were all clear of the ship. I didn't even get a chance to take a snap-shot as we left the harbor of Civitavecchia; indeed, I didn't even see the town, as I was helping Thompson with his invoices. After that we all went down in the hold and were hunting or moving things and getting them up on deck. Such confusion as there was in the hold, it is impossible to imagine ! Everything simply dumped in a heap. I found a lot of things they wanted. We 120 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " worked down there till dinner just like porters, and I am tired as a dog." Friday, January 8th, was a busy day for all on board. In the morning the weather was fine, at noon they passed Stromboli, the burn- ing mountain that rises in a sharp cone from the Tyrrhene Sea. Mr. Thompson notes in his diary the beauty of the Calabrian coast. They passed near enough the shore to see the people of the ruined villages living in tents and shanties. J.'s letter for that day says: " After breakfast I went to find sterilized milk in the forward hold. Then I got to work with Hooper, who is a brick, as my partner, and between us we cleaned out that hold. Mr. Griscom came down and saw what we were doing, and tried to photograph us. He ap- proved our efforts, which resulted in our finding many things at the bottom that were supposed to be missing. Such a jumble there never was seen! Everything had been hauled off the lighters and pitched into the holds, without any attempt at order; one and every kind of thing on top of the other and always the thing most needed at the bottom. When I tell you that a bunch of picks and spades had been 121 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN dropped upon boxes of macaroni, you may get a slight idea of what would naturally happen. I spent the day as Hooper's side companion — a bully worker, no shirk in him — and we got through about six this evening. It was a splendid day and Thompson, who worked above the water line, had a glimpse of Stromboli as we passed it about noon. At 4.45 we dropped anchor at Messina — what there is left of it, only a heap of ruins, though at first sight the houses didn't seem to be so utterly destroyed. However, under the searchlights from the ships one could see how complete the ruin is — noth- ing but heaps of rubbish with walls sticking up above them. As soon as we came to anchor, the Captain of the Port came aboard. I stuck to the Commander like Sherlock Holmes and was his interpreter. He (the Italian port official) wanted to know the kind of things we had on board. Three American officers came aboard with Major Landis and Delme Radcliffe, Mr. Cutting and Chanler, who seemed quite in his element. . . . Everyone says what splendid work he has been doing. A little later the Am- bassador and the Commander (Belknap), Mr. Lupton, the American Vice Consul, Major 122 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " Landis, and yours truly, went to see General Mazza on board the * Duca di Genova,' a magnificent Italian liner. It was all very in- teresting. I went as interpreter. Delme Rad- cliffe is quartered on board the staff ship, so he went with us too. He applied to the captain of one of the American ships in the harbor for a boat to take the remains of the English Con- sul's wife to the cemetery tomorrow morning, but could not get one promised till three p. m., as the U. S. flagship only arrives in the morning. Mr. Griscom returns on her and brings you this letter. Delme Radcliffe saw a man taken out alive at six o'clock this afternoon. A propos of boots, they seem to be the things most needed. I fear I have lost my pen in the hold. I am sorry Mr. Griscom is leaving, and Dodge too. D. has been working like a slave. Splendid! I forgot to say that the visit to the General in command w^as to place the ship with every- thing aboard at his disposal." Captain Belknap's record for the same day, giving a fuller account of the visit to the " Duca di Genova," ends with these words: " General Mazza expressed his warm ap- preciation of the offer and the spirit that 123 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN prompted it, and recommended that the ship proceed to Catania and Palermo, possibly also to Syracuse, as these places had received many sick, wounded and refugees, but so far no help in proportion to their needs. At Messina the situation was well in hand and supplies were already available, sufficient for all require- ments." The next morning, Saturday, the U. S. S. " Connecticut," flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Sperry commanding, arrived at Mes- sina with her tender, the " Yankton," and the supply ship, " Culgoa." A conference was held, and the plan of action, the policy of the Ameri- can relief work in Sicily was doubtless then and there perfected; of this the men in the hold of course knew little or nothing. They only knew that Mr. Griscom, the leader of the expedition, was to leave them and were sorry that he should go. Admiral Sperry landed two hundred and fifty men to excavate the American Consulate and recover the bodies of the Consul and his wife; the " Yankton " remained at Messina as a base of supplies; and the " Connecticut," with the Ambassador on board, sailed for 124 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " Naples Saturday afternoon and left the " Bay- ern " to cooperate with the supply ship, " Cul- goa," in relief work along the coast. Several boatloads of supplies for the American Consulate were landed, and a large amount of food and clothes was given with a sum of money to the Archbishop of Messina. About the time the " Connecticut " sailed, a message was re- ceived by the Americans that at Reggio, the city on the Calabrian shore that faces Messina, their help would be gratefully received. While all these official matters were going on, Wilfred Thompson was busy with his invoices and accounts, and J. with his stores in the hold. It was not until the afternoon of Satur- day that they went on shore. Gasperone and Hugh, the Yeoman, went with them. In all J.'s notes and letters there is frequent mention of the strange Sicilian servant, Gasperone, who seems to have been half crazed by the earth- quake, and of Hugh, the Yeoman, one of the en- listed men who had sailed on the great cruise round the world. They landed in a pouring rain and made their way to the ruins of the American Consulate. From a shattered window flapped a yellow 125 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN brocade curtain above a huge mass of stone and plaster, with gaunt beams sticking up against the leaden sky. A detachment of American sailors were working here in shifts day and night. A little farther on the party stopped, rooted to the earth by the sound of a weird lament, like the keening of the mourners at an Irish wake. They soon saw where the dreadful wailing came from. Seated on a pile of debris was an old woman, all huddled together, her head in her hands, her knees drawn up to her chin, swaying slowly backwards and forwards, the movement of her body keeping time to her moans ; she might have been one of the ancient cave-dwellers, the atti- tude, the lament seemed a strange primitive expression of despair, old as the race. " That is Sora Anna; they have found her son's head and part of the body," said Gas- perone indifferently. " That girl is Elena, his fidanzata; they were to be married this month. They are waiting for the coffin." The girl, Elena, stood beside the old woman like a thing of stone. She was a beautiful creature; her face was almost as white as the lint with which her head was bandaged. Silent and dry-eyed, she looked like a statue of revolt. 126 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " At her feet lay the ghastly fragments of her lover's body. Two soldiers passed with picks on their shoulders; one of them asked the girl if he could help her. She paid no attention, but stood looking across the sea, stony and silent, while the mother wailed the death song for her son. " Come," said Gasperone, " it will be dark in an hour; the sun no sooner gets up than it goes to bed. Madonna! With all the rest, it is too much that the days should be so short. After dark, the wild dogs who come from the mountains to devour the dead are dangerous; in the day, they are more timid, the soldiers have shot so many." Gasperone led the way towards the cathedral square. On their way they passed the ruins of the Banca d 'Italia, guarded by a strong force of soldiers. *' There is a great treasure here," said Gas- perone, '* that must be guarded at any cost, you understand. These soldiers might — but it is always so; gold is worth more than flesh and blood!" In one of the main streets Gasperone stopped beside a tragic group — a priest, an old woman and a dead man. 127 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN "Ah, behold!'* he cried, "they have just found Padre Antonio's twin brother. He and his mother were the only ones saved of a family of fourteen." The priest, haggard and wild looking, with his arm in a sling, began to read aloud a prayer. His mother stood beside him, swaying backwards and forwards. As the prayer ended, the mother joining in the benediction. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti; a newspaper reporter fixed his camera on a tripod and photographed the pathetic group. The rain, that had stopped for a moment, now came down again in torrents and drenched them all to the skin. " It was raining like mad most of the time," J. writes, " I can well understand how your poor old woman, Rosina, kept harping on the rain. Anything more dismal it is hard to imagine. I have only been made uncomfortable by it; but there are hundreds of poor people camping out wherever there is a clear space big enough to run up a primitive shelter with boards, if they have them, or sails rigged on poles. I saw one ambitious family roofing roughly with tiles they had collected from the streets. They seemed to be the first to make the attempt, 128 THE CRUISE OF THE *' BAYERN " though the streets are literally strewn with tiles. In these poor shelters, and in the miser- able little tents (some of them about half big enough for a man to crawl into and lie down, and which do not reach the ground by about a foot and a half) the water had flooded every- thing. The suffering from this cruel rain that these poor souls endure must be cruel beyond words. Mr. Thompson writes under the same date: " Worked early getting off the goods the Vice Consul had asked for. The Ambassador and the rest of the party, except Elliott and myself, went on shore; weather very wet and stormy. Lunched early and went on shore with Elliott, passing the ' Connecticut ' with the Ambassador on board. Went to temporary Consulate and met Deputy Vice-Consul, Mr. Cutting, and the acting English Consul. Then Elliott and I went out to see the town, wearing our red crosses. The sights were terrible; we realize now what an earthquake means. We walked along the Marina, the former chief water-front street. It has in places sunk beneath the water level, and is full of huge cracks. Here and there we passed a house but 129 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN little damaged, but nearly all have the roofs fallen in; and, curious to say, at short intervals are houses that have been utterly and entirely smashed for no particular reason that one could see. The American and British Consulates are a case in point. Italian soldiers were diggijng and the party from the ' Culgoa ' working all day under the driving rain, looking in vain for the bodies of the American Consul and his wife. Constantly saw soldiers with spades passing along. The city is under martial law and we saw many soldiers on guard. A few people living in wooden shanties or among the ruins with the rain soaking in upon them. Made our way inland to the cathedral which looks, as far as one can judge, as though the facade must have been fine. The ruins of the cathedral are well guarded by soldiers, on account of the great treasure buried there. The streets around the duomo are so ruined that we climbed over debris level with the second and third floors. The presence of the dead was all too obvious at every few yards. It will take two or three years to clear what is left of the city, and I should think it was a hopeless task and that Messina must be abandoned. Some of the 130 "i:^ MESSINA. A HOUSE THAT ESCAPED DESTRUCTION. Page 129. B ^— -'-sJWV^l REGGIO. SOLDIERS ON THEIR WAY TO A R£iSl,uE. Fage 130. MESSINA. THE MILITARY COLLEGE. Fage 130. MESSINA. PALACE OF THE PREFECT. Page 130. THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " remains, broken beds and chairs, tawdry candle- sticks, torn dresses were very pathetic. One of the sentries stood on guard under a black silk lace-trimmed parasol. So fearfully wet we returned to the Consulate and found Mr. Griscom. About four p. m. we went down on the beach to wait for the boat. Grand and terrible storm over Calabrian coasts. Flashes of lightning lit up the shipping in the harbor and the dreary shore with its broken barrels and all kinds of rubbish. Fell in with an officer from the * Culgoa.' Frightful rain and flashes of blinding lightning. When it was dark but for these, the launch from the ' Bayern ' at last arrived with a boat in tow. The boat was cut loose, but the fool men did not know how to manage it and tried to beach it on the shelving shore over a huge iron grating. Every wave filled the boat and the men let her get broadside on and almost swamped her. To my relief Mr. Cutting was on board and jumped into the water over his knees. Cutting ordered the men to carry the bales and cases of stores ashore. The goods were full of water and some were in consequence almost too heavy to carry. Quite dark except for the lightning. I sent a man 131 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN back to the Consulate for a lantern, which helped somewhat. Finally Cutting and the men went off and left me to guard the goods. When all but the heaviest were taken away I went to the Consulate, taking my officer. Found various men and we had hot coffee, which was welcome and I think saved me. My coat so heavy with water I could hardly move under the weight. Great difficulty in getting the German sailors (of the ' Bayern' ) to carry up the heavy cases to the Consulate. If Cutting had not spoken German we never could have done so. Finally got it done and started to walk about a mile to where the launch and boat were waiting for us. Weird effects! Lights of ships in the harbor over inky black water and sky. At last got launch and got to our ship. Tired out but felt better after dinner. Dreams full of earthquake and huge waves. The desolation of those hours in the drenching rain, waiting for the boat, will remain always in my mind! '* "January 10th: Left Messina about 7 :30 A. M. in rain. Came over to Reggio and lay there all day. Commander Belknap heard from the Italian cruiser, * Napoli,' that they wanted stores there, so we had a hard and busy 132 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " day getting them out. Officers and boats came about three p. m. to fetch them. So rushed had hardly time to look at coast and Reggio, but it did not seem so badly damaged as one would expect from the newspaper accounts. The ' Napoli ' is to distribute our stores to the small towns along the coast. Tired out and bruised by fall. Thick wet evening. At dark got all boats on board and got up anchor and went back to Messina, and lay there for the night about a mile off shore (there is no anchor- age at Reggio). Woman said to have been taken out alive from debris at Messina but to have died later." J.'s letter for the same date says: " I only got a squint at Reggio for a moment, just as we were leaving, when the rain let up a little and we had sent our last boatload ashore. I spent all the morning getting up the stuff from the hold and keeping track of it, and most of the afternoon. What did not go into the boats went into the forward hold. I hunted among hundreds of bales and things for two bales of tent canvas, which I found and got on deck. Chanler had been down there with a gang in the morning and arranged things in a 133 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN way that made it possible. The last time I was down there it was in a terrible mess with eveiything together. You see the after holds are where I have been since the first day, and in my part I know where to find eveiything they ask for, though some things — the white beans for instance — I can't get at, as there are two layers of sacks on top of 'em, which will have to be removed first. It is raining like mad most of the time; I never saw such rain as we had last night. I believe I have said so already; anything more dismal it is hard to imagine." In Captain Belknap's report of this day he says: " We were unable to see General Mazzitelli (in conimand at Reggio), as he was ill, but Captain Cagni, commanding the * Napoli,' senior Italian naval ofiicer present, received us in his stead. He showed much satisfaction in having our supplies to draw upon, especially for women and children's clothing, oil stoves, tent canvas, cooking and table utensils, tools and nails. About four-fifths of the * Napoli 's ' crew had been sent away on relieving expeditions among the outlying small villages, and our supplies were in good time for use in a second expedition 134 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " which was being prepared. We were cordially thanked for our supplies (about 25 tons), which we were able to transfer that afternoon. The * Bayern ' then returned to anchor overnight at Messina, there being no good berth at Eeggio. The ' Culgoa ' remained off Reggio to deliver provisions next day." Remember Captain Cagni! "We shall hear of him again; a live man, with red blood in his veins ! Extract from Mr. Thompson's diary. " Monday, January 11th: Left Messina about six a. m. Splendid rainbow with moon above it. At 7:30 as we passed close to the coast, the lower slopes of Etna, covered with snow, visible. Unfortunately a cloud on top. Anchored off Catania at 10:30. Ugly town from the sea view, but Etna proud above it." Extract from J.'s letter of same date: " We have been getting rid of a lot of stuff and I believe are likely to discharge the greater part of our cargo here, perhaps all, and take a fresh cargo of planks and building wood to some particular place where they are very much in need of it for shelter. This afternoon I helped Captain Belknap to receive the Prefetto 135 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN and Sindaco of Catania, together with a com- mittee of ladies and gentlemen, and to show them over the ship. The operating room, store room, and rooms where the nurses have the clothes, boots, hats, etc., which they put up in bundles as they are wanted. They inspected also the staterooms, turned into hospital wards. As soon as they were all gone I got the hatches off (it was six o'clock), went down into the hold and sent up sixteen bales of blankets and two cases of suits of clothes. As luck would have it, I had them all moved in the morning, right under the crane so that I was able to get them slung up and over the side into the boats on record time, but for all that it took an hour and three quarters and I didn't come out of the hold till eight o'clock. I helped Thompson for about an hour after dinner, and that let me out for today. We started in with breakfast at 7:30; hatch off at 8:30, work till lunch at 12 o'clock; then getting ready for the reception — the receiving committee being Captain Belk- nap, Hooper (my side companion) and Gay — myself and Flint (a firstrate Harvard boy) as assistants to handle the crowd. I have done so many different things today that I have 136 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " forgotten about half of them. Now I must go to bed as tomorrow is going to be a tremendous day." Catania is the second largest city in Sicily. Twenty-five thousand of the survivors had been sent to Catania from Messina and the smaller towns destroyed by the earthquake; the problem of supplying food, clothing and shelter for these poor people was no easy one for the Catanians to solve. Catania had not suffered from the earthquake and therefore was not under military law; the civil authorities were most grateful and appreciative of all the help the Americans offered in whatever shape. Admiral Gagliardi, who was in the harbor on board the battleship " Garibaldi," seems to have been as cordial in his reception of the " Bayern " as the Sindaco. He immediately sent an oflScer to welcome the expedition and to offer any assistance Captain Belknap might require. The cordial relations that immediately sprang up between the Italian admiral and the commander of the American relief expedition can be felt even in Captain Belknap's neces- sarily guarded record. " We were immediately boarded by an officer 137 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN from the battleship ' Garibaldi,' " he says, " with the compliments of Rear Admiral Gagli- ardi. The Admiral offered us any assistance we might need; and when I made an official visit to him that afternoon, he inquired with much interest about all that could be learned of the situation at Messina and Reggio, and about the expedition. He very kindly made it well understood that we had only to ask to obtain any assistance at his disposal — an offer that I was glad to avail of, for men to assist with handling supplies, transmission of telegrams by wireless, and service of boats. The Admiral returned the visit next day, inspected the ship with evident interest, and expressed his approval of her organization and arrange- ments, particularly of the medical department." Catania was glad to see the Americans, and the Americans were glad to see Catania. Every- thing combined to make the visit a success. It is noted in the diary that the eleventh of January was " a splendid warm day and a starlight night.*' The dreadful rain had held up for a little; they were received with open arms. The Sindaco letter of welcome, dated January 11th, rings true: — 138 THE CRUISE OF THE '* BAYERN " ** Municipality of Catania, " January 11th, 1909. *' With pleasure I express to you. Gentlemen of the Committee and all of the Expedition of the American Red Cross, embarked on board the S. S. * Bayern,' the heartiest thanks of the population of Catania, and of the refugees and wounded who have found here a shelter, for your generous offer of medicines, clothes, food, etc. " The relief brought by you will be effective to lessen the sufferings of so many wretched people who have been deprived in a few moments of their relatives, of their beloved native town and of eveiy possession. " With esteemed consideration, " The Mayor, S. Gonsoli. *' The Signor Reginald Rowan Belknap." Catania, the rival seaport of Messina, is a thriving city but the drain put upon the citizens, many of whom had suffered great loss of prop- erty through the earthquake, and the consequent paralysis to business all over Sicily, was more than they could meet. The relief work was in the hands of a Municipal Committee and a 139 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Ladies' Committee; through these well or- ganized committees the medicines, clothes, food and tools that our committee in Rome, and our Consul in Genoa, had worked so hard to collect, were distributed and put into im- mediate use. Mr. Hooper notes in his diary that " Mr. Gay and Mr. Cutting were sent on shore to investigate hospitals and the general situation." Tuesday, the 12th of January, was a busy day; the men in the holds worked from early morning till late night, getting out stores as they were wanted. Here at last was a demand for their wares. In desperate, stricken Messina General Mazza's policy was to discourage the few survivors from remaining. The military authorities w ished to get rid of them as quickly as possible, and they were shipped to all parts of Italy by steamer or train. The entry in Mr. Thompson's diary for January 12th is briefer than usual, but the quality and color of it brings the whole scene vividly before us. " January 12th: In Catania harbor all day unloading goods. A long hard day. Crowd of soldiers, sailors, representatives of various hospitals, priests, sisters of charity and others, 140 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " all standing about, asking for ' goods ' and getting in the way. Had a party of thirty men from Italian warship to help load the lighters. The hardest day of the expedition, nearly knocked out by night. A beautiful day, espe- cially towards sunset. Admiral Gagliardi from the ' Garibaldi ' came aboard with officers and the committee from Taormina arrived; Miss Claxton, one of the nurses, left us. German Consul and friends to dinner. Two quite dirty men kissed Gay on each cheek as a slight token of their gratitude." The committee from Taormina included JNIiss Mabel Hill, Fraulein Gasser, Mr. Harr\- Bowdoin, and Mr. Charles King Wood. They brought with them a letter from the Sindaco of Giardini, a fishing village on the coast, at the foot of the hill on which Taormina stands. Captain Belknap's report of the Taormina Committee's visit says: " Upon their representations of conditions in their district, work already done and still in hand, and cases of need still unrelieved, about twenty tons of clothing, sheets, blankets, pro- visions, medical dressings and miscellaneous articles were given into their care for shipment 141 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN by rail, and 10,000 lire to be spent at the dis- cretion of the committee in their work in these two places. We also sent with this shipment all clean linen remaining on board. The serv- ices of a nurse were also wanted at Taormina and Giardini, and Miss Claxton was sent with this party on their return there. A letter since then has been received from Miss Claxton, saying that she is engaged as a district or visiting nurse, and that all the supplies sent have proved very useful. A further sum of money was entrusted to Messrs. Bowdoin and Wood, both members of the American Red Cross, who under- took to arrange for the expenditure for the relief of the small villages outside Giardini and Taormina, between there and Messina. " In response to an appeal from Acireale, Mr. Gay made a personal visit among the relief workers there, after which some clothing and other supplies and 5,000 lire were delivered to them. To the Little Sisters of the Poor 1,000 lire were given for their immediate assistance. A few bundles of clothing were sent by rail to Messina in care of Mr. Chanler in response to a wireless message from the ' Yankton.' " The Little Sisters of the Poor had suffered 142 THE CRUISE OF THE *' BAYERN " heavily at Messina. Their convent and the schools and hospital attached to it had been completely destroyed; many of the sisters had been killed or injured. The devotion and courage of these faithful nuns to the old people and the children under their care made a deep impression on all the company on board the " Bayern." " While lying in Catania," Captain Belknap continues, " knowing that lumber was needed at Reggio, Mr. Flint was sent ashore Wednesday morning, to buy such quantity as we could get on board that day. Lighterage facilities were very scarce, as many steamers were in the harbor discharging; but by the persistent efforts of the German Vice-Consul, Mr. Jacob Peratoner, who veiy kindly devoted almost his entire day in our behalf, we succeeded in getting on board enough lumber to build 25 houses, 13 by 13 feet, complete with floors." Mr. Thompson's diary for January 13th is of unusual interest. This journal is human and vital. It tells us just what one man saw, did, and understood; it reflects his mood; it has the heat of his life. It gives us a series of snap-shots of the good ship " Bayern " with the 143 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN rosy eupeptic German Captain and the pale slender American Commander, the crew — rather a poor lot of sailors got together at a few hours' notice — the stewards neat and literal, the cast-iron routine, the prescribed Italian doctor, and all the usual personnel of a North German Lloyd liner, commandeered for unusual service, with the supreme authority vested for the nonce in the American Com- mander, the quiet man with a will of iron, who never seems to rest, but by his example cease- lessly stimulates, \'italizes, every member of the ship's company. Mr. Thompson's journal: ** January 13th : In Catania harbor un- loading goods. Emptied after holds before lunch. Afternoon sent away goods for Taor- mina. Went ashore with Little Sisters of the Poor. Town not interesting. Came back at dusk. Elliott got his nose cut on shore in an automobile smash. A number of refugee chil- dren from ]\Iessina came on board to be carried to Genoa. They had lost every one belonging to them. Most of them were apparently happy except one older one. Eleven old men, ten 144 THE CRUISE OF THE "BAYERN" old women, six Little Sisters of the Poor, and six children came on board. Busy serving out blankets till near midnight." These twenty-one old people were between eighty and one hundred years of age. The Sisters had assumed the care and future re- sponsibility for these poor souls. The stay at Catania was the most important phase of the *' Bayern's " cruise. Here the most significant work of the expedition was accomplished. The x\mericans were brought into close and cordial relation with the leaders of the relief work in Catania. They visited the refuges and, finding how well they were ad- ministered and how grievously in need of succor, they helped with money and all the remaining stores of the " Bayern." At Catania the American Committee for the first time was brought into direct touch with the Americans w^orking at Taormina; here was another channel through which the stream of American help could flow directly from the source of supply to its destination, administered from first to last by Americans. The policy of the committee was, as far as possible, to 145 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN employ Americans to disburse the American money and the supplies it had purchased. It was more satisfactory to the contributors, and was of great use to the earnest men and women who devoted themselves to the cause. Here the committee came in contact, not only with Mr. Bowdoin and Mr. Wood, those tireless workers from Taormina, but with Miss Kath- erine Bennett Davis, one of the most significant figures among all those who labored for Italy in her dark hour. They had expected to go to Syracuse, and Mr. Cutting went thither by rail in order to learn the existing conditions of the relief work. He reported that the work in Syracuse was admirably organized, under the leadership of Miss Davis. It was found best, however, not to take the ship to Syracuse, and Mr. Flint was sent there with an American sailor to guard him and the large sum of money he carried for Syracuse. The greater part was given to Miss Davis, the rest was divided between the Sindaco and the Marchesa de Rudini. The refugees taken on board at Catania added to the interest of life on the " Bayern," though the men in the hold had little time to notice 146 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN '* them; still they added a certain color and picturesqueness to the daily routine. J. has memories of the little children dancing on the deck of the " Bayern," romping in and out of the piles of goods as they came up from the hold; and strongest of all, of Sor Michaele, an old opera singer, from the almshouse at Messina, who sat all day long at the piano in the blue brocade saloon, playing and singing the operas of his youth. In Catania the members of the " Bayern " expedition saw thousands of the superstiti. Here they learned what the effects of the earth- quake had been upon the survivors. " They had all been singed by death," writes J. ** They looked like death's heads with the grin and the terror of the skull in their faces. One woman — I saw her once, I heard of her often — went from hospital to hospital, to the refuges, to all the places where there were frofughi, asking the same question everywhere: * Have you here perchance a baby who has the habit of sucking the two first fingers of his left hand.'^ ' That was the only clue she had to her lost child. I never could hear whether or not she found him. In one of the refuges I 147 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN saw a woman who was said to be one of the richest people in Messina. She had lost every member of her family, she had nothing in the world, not a suit of clothes, not a crust, nothing but herself. Dr. Alessandrini, who is studying the nervous effects of the earthquake, says that most of the survivors dream continually of it. We saw one woman who had dreamed of it every night and each time awoke in a convulsion of fright. They were in great doubt if they could save her life. The children, even the quite grown ones of fourteen or fifteen, however, forgot it all immediately. It was like a bad dream to them." The automobile accident Thompson referred to, was telegraphed to Rome. At ten o'clock that night I read an exaggerated account of it in a newspaper. " The painter Elliott injured in an automobile accident," was the heading in the Roman Tribuna. In his letter J. makes light of the accident. *' It was nothing but a collision, the jar of which drove my nose through the plate-glass window of the automobile. Sicily is a bad place for automobiles; the people won't get out of the way. I heard one fellow say, * Am I a 148 THE CRUISE OF THE "BAYERN" goat that I should skip out of the way of this thing? ' They are half Oriental; it would be undignified to run in order to get out of the way of a motor. Mr. Robert Winthrop has brought down a lot of tetanus antitoxin. Cap- tain Belknap has divided it between Messina and Catania." Mr. Thompson's journal: " January 14th, Reggio di Calabria. Left Catania at four a. m. Went on deck at sunrise. Fine effect on rocky coast and Etna in the back- ground with top covered in cloud. Reached Reggio about eight a. m., but could find no anchorage, so circled about all day. Rough weather. Sent away two life-boats of stores, but could not discharge cargo of lumber taken on at Catania to build shacks at Reggio. Stormy sea and sky with splendid sunset effects. Etna, still with cloud-covered top, against a gold sky and masses of purple cloud. Flint came on board in the evening and heard we were at once to sail for Palermo, to relieve refugees in care of U. S. Consul. Later toward midnight this plan was changed; we are to discharge our stores and lumber here, and start for Palermo 149 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Friday night. This day week we left Rome. It seems like a month ago. Reggio on nearer view a sad sight. Lay off Messina for night. " January 15th : Left Messina about 6 :30 and came over to Reggio. Stormy early, later cleared and day became splendid. Got well in and anchored near the shore, close to Italian cruiser ' Napoli.' The others went ashore and by ferry to Messina, but I had to see all stores brought up. Everything up by 11:30, and we put the lumber over in bundles to be towed ashore by boats and launch. Afternoon un- eventful for me. Etna clear against the sky. Got all lumber over the side and had boat-load of goods away, and left Reggio at seven p. m. for Messina. Accounts of condition of city from our people very sad. Persons said to have been taken alive from the ruins two days ago. Our people could hear the cries of a buried dog. The U. S. S. 'Illinois' had party of three hundred men digging for bodies at Consulate. At last succeeded in finding bodies of Consul and his wife. Five people taken out alive today at Messina. Two had food. Left Messina at 10:55 for Palermo." 150 THE CRUISE OF THE "BAYERN" At Reggio the nurses, J., and another member of the expedition were having their lunch on the outskirts of the town close by the station. Near where they sat the railroad carriages, swept off the track and out to sea by the tidal wave, lay half submerged in the water, washing idly to and fro, one of the strangest sights of all that topsy-turvy world. The carriages were doubly lost, first to the railroad company for transporting passengers, second to the poor profughi who used the railroad carriages as houses. Happy the family who could find shelter in one of them from rain and cold ! As the party from the " Bayern " were finishing lunch, an orderly from Captain Cagni brought an invitation to come to headquarters and have some hot coffee. The invitation was accepted with glee, and they waited while the coffee was made by one of the soldiers. It was hot, it was black, but, alas, it was salt. The supply of fresh water was so meagre that they used sea water to wash the dishes, and the orderly who made the coffee made the mistake of taking salt water instead of fresh. There were a thousand apologies, and the hospitable host begged the guests to wait till a fresh pot of 151 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN coffee was brewed, but time pressed, and they were due on board the " Bayern." One of the Americans, adding brandy to his coffee, tried to drink it with painful results. They gave the remains of their luncheon to some children; every crumb of food was precious, even at Reg- gio where the suffering from hunger was never so great as at Messina. Captain Cagni saw to that! First he commandeered all the cattle in the neighborhood and served them out in rations as beef. When the cattle gave out, the donkeys were gathered in and served out as beef, mind you, always beef. Finally the dogs and cats were served out in the same way. Captain Cagni said it was beef, so beef it was. Captain Belknap had received several mes- sages from Mr. Bishop, the American Consul at Palermo, asking that the *' Bayern " visit that place, where the crowd of profiighi was so enormous that the Palermitans could not begin to feed and clothe them. It was decided to visit Palermo on the way from the Straits of Death back to Civitavecchia. The fifteenth of January was the last day of their stay in the ruined districts. 152 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " Mr. Thompson's diary: "January 16th: Gray morning early. Fine coast. Reached Palermo 9:30 and anchored outside breakwater. Some delay in getting permission from port authorities to land. Nurses and some of our party went ashore to buy clothing for the refugees. Then took drive about the city. Visited hurriedly royal palace and most interesting chapel with mosaics, one of the finest things of the kind I have ever seen. The cathedral inside quite uninteresting. Splendid view over the city and harbor and mountains from terrace of palace. Got back to lunch at two p. m. Visitors after lunch. Helped to make translation of flowery address to Captain. Warship ' Garibaldi ' went to sea just before sunset, passing very close. We left at seven p. m. for Civitavecchia and Rome. At dinner our Captain made a speech, saying how well we had all worked under him. Other speeches followed; some of us stayed on deck till eleven p. m. At Palermo gave 30,000 francs and landed 1,200 mattresses and 1,300 kilos of food from ship stores. ''January 17th: At sea going to Civita- vecchia. Fine day. Blue sea with white caps 153 ' SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN and more motion than any time since we left on this cruise. Took some snaps of old men and children, refugees, but they and all our Little Sisters of the Poor were seasick. Morning packed and handed over all my papers to Gay and wrote letters. After lunch busy till we landed, helping Flint and Elliott pay bills on ship. Reached Civitavecchia at about 3:30, but did not anchor for an hour. Finally got off in launch, towing two life-boats (the boats Belknap had commandeered before they left Civitavecchia; the third was lost by the clumsy sailors when they landed the goods at Messina the day of the dreadful storm). Ambassador and Mrs. Griscom and others waiting. After some delay we got off and reached Rome about eight. Have come back tired out but well. Very glad I went but glad to get back." Truly misery makes strange bedfellows ! The misery of Messina had brought together an oddly assorted company of volunteers on board the " Bayern." There was Mr. Gay, the Sec- retary of the Committee, a Fellow of Harvard College settled in Rome, who has devoted many years to the preparation of a History of the 154 THE CRUISE OF THE "BAYERN" Italian Risorgimento; his splendid library at the Palazzo Orsini contains a remarkable collection of books and pamphlets on the sub- ject. There was William Hooper of Boston, a man of affairs and a famous Harvard athlete, who had left the ease of his apartment opposite the Palazzo Margherita in Rome to act as treasurer to the expedition. There was Wilfred Thompson, the painter, who had left his studio and his little cat, to act as supercargo; Robert Hale, another painter, who in the list of as- sistants is set down as an assistant in the for- ward hold; the Avvocato Giordano, one of the most brilliant of the writers on the Tribuna. There was Weston Flint, the assistant treasurer, four Italian doctors, six nurses, and John Elliott (J.), who had left his studio to act " as interpreter and to assist in after holds and elsewhere." These were the permanent members of the expedition. Now and then across this constella- tion of fixed stars flamed the meteor Chanler, a trail of glory behind him, and the indomitable Cutting, our Consul from Milan, who served in a thousand capacities beside inducing the Ger- man sailors to carry up the heavy cases to the temporary Consulate. They had some mishaps 155 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN of course. The first day Mr. Gay fell down and broke a rib; the same day J. tumbled down an iron ladder into the hold and scraped the flesh off his lean shanks. Thompson, who had a cough, was drenched to the skin over and over again — that did not improve his health — and Cutting — alas and alas, that gallant soul who could never think of himself, had many a duck- ing besides the one Thompson describes, and endured endless discomforts at the " temporary Consulate " where he, Chanler and Major Landis lived during those first ghastly days. The only tie that bound together these men of varying tastes and habits, was the Red Cross each wore on his arm. In all the letters, reports, journals that tell the story of the " Bayern's " cruise the most striking thing is the way these men speak of each other. Every man saw his comrades in a golden glow of enthusiasm; they were all good men and true in their fellows' eyes! As the " Bayern " steamed across the harbor of Civitavecchia J. looked into the blue brocade saloon. Sor Michaele, the old opera singer, sat at the white and gold piano, his stiff fingers surprisingly limbered up, striking the keys 156 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN '' briskly, while his shrunken voice quavered out *' Spirito Gen til," the glorious aria from La Favorita that he had sung in his far off youth, now made familiar the world over by Caruso and the " Victor." After he had struck the last chords, the old man's head dropped on his breast and he began to sob. " Coraggio ! " cried J., " what is wrong with you? We're almost there; your troubles are nearly over." " It is all finished," sobbed the old man. " I have not been so happy for twenty years as I have been on board this ship. At the alms- house there is no piano; who knows if I shall ever see one again .^^ " Soon after the *' Bayern's " return, the Am- bassador despatched a relief expedition under the leadership of Mr. Gay to the Calabrian mountain towns. Mr. Gay was accompanied by Captain Armando Mola of the Italian army, and Mr. W. Earl Dodge, who took with him his large automobile, thereby adding greatly to the effectiveness of the expedition. They had a wonderful trip, visiting forty villages, some of them almost inaccessible mountain hamlets. 157 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN During the eleven days their trip lasted, they brought help to many a forlorn community that had heretofore received no outside assist- ance since the disaster. Mr. Gay has written an admirable report of the expedition, so full, so graphic, that it leaves nothing for me to say, save that I am thankful that this chapter of the romance of the American Relief Work has been told so well. The report should be read by all interested in knowing the full scope of the work. Mr. Gay's letter to the Ambassador written from Palmi, gives a striking picture of what he saw and accomplished. " Palmi, February 10th, 1909. " American Ambassador, "Rome — Palazzo del Drago. " Tuesday, after an hour and a half in the automobile on very bad roads, and three hours on mules, we arrived in a snowstorm at S. Cristina, with nine mules loaded with clothing, and were received like the Messiah. We bought on the spot, at a low figure, 12,500 lire worth of standing timber, securing thus a triple benefit to the sufferers, namely, furnishing shelter to the homeless, saving the transport on the lum- 158 THE CRUISE OF THE " BAYERN " ber which represents forty per cent, of the cost, and giving work to the unoccupied in cutting the wood. Today we are again visiting villages in the automobile. Tomorrow we shall start at daybreak in the automobile for Cittanova, Gerace, Melito, and Reggio. I am returning 5000 lire to the Committee, left over from the letter of credit on Palmi. We should like, if possible, a new letter of credit on Reggio for whatever amount the Committee thinks ad- visable. " We should also like for General Tarditi, addressed as before, a freight car of miscel- laneous supplies as follows : 400 litres of benzine to replace what we have borrowed here; 400 blankets; 200 panes of glass 60 centimetres square; 100 locks, with ordinary keys but all different; together with the following supplies for use in the hospital which will be opened within a week: 50 white varnished chairs, with 6 arm-chairs for the sick, to match; 50 wrap- pers, 50 pair of slippers, and 50 caps for the sick; 6 wall washstands of white earthen ware; 6 alcohol stoves which can be had from Bian- chelli for about 35 lire each; 400 square metres of oil-cloth of a light color, to cover ceilings of 159 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN the hospital wards; 200 square metres of the same of a dark color, to cover the wainscoting; 350 square metres of linoleum of a dark color for floors. " Our telegraphic address tomorrow will be, Telegraph Office, Reggio. " We shall telephone tonight. All well. " Gay." 160 V ROYAL VISITORS " Not a rose! " Vera scanned the sunny south wall where Ignazio, the gardener, has trained the hardy roses. It has been his boast that we can gather at least one rose every day of the year. " What do you expect? The earthquake has turned the calendar topsy-turvy. Nena says this is the coldest winter she remembers; she must be nearly a hundred." It was the terrace hour; Vera had dropped in to help with the flowers. It was too cold to water them, so we " pottered about," weeded, and hunted snails. "That's a brave flower! See, it has three blossoms; if the sun comes out tomorrow there may be more." Vera counted the pretty trumpet-shaped blossoms of the freesia, growing in the old terra-cotta cinerary urn. '* This once held the ashes of a soldier of the Pretorian Guard," said Vera. She had given us the urn. " Do you suppose a pinch of his 161 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN dust remains in it? There's your freesia's courage accounted for. I wonder what he was called. Herminius, Spurius Lartius.^ There was neither name nor date when I bought it; they must have been on the missing cover. What noble action! " Vera's thumb followed, with the sculptor's gesture, the lines of the Pretorian, modelled in low relief on the urn. He wears a mantle, helmet and greaves; his spear is raised against a crouching bar- barian. " He must have been a fine man, our Pretoriati, though this isn't a portrait, only a type. Oh, how civilized those old Romans were! No ugly bones, no grinning skulls. The worn- out body to the clean flame, the handful of ashes to this graceful urn, that two thousand years after the Pretorian's death serves as a a flower pot." *' I believe his name was Philippus," I said, " and that he looked like our Philippus. The regiment has returned from Messina without him. I fear something has happened to our handsome soldier." " Hush! " cried Vera. " The earthquake was a month ago; it still is the only thing we talk or think about." i62 ROYAL VISITORS " Some of our friends begin to forget. The mother of a pretty girl was grumbling today because the Queen says there shall be no court balls, no more dancing this season. She does not forget; no one who has seen Messina forgets! " " Come, let us walk! " There was a touch of tramontana in the air, and we began to pace up and down the terrace, Romulus, Vera's uncouth puppy, shambling at her heel. The bells of St. Peter's were ringing the Ave Maria; from the Pincio came little gusts of music, — the band was playing Cavalleria Rusticana. At either end of the terrace we lingered to feast on the beauty of the view; to the east the white road climbs zigzag from the Piazza del Popolo to the Pincio, with its crown of dark cypresses and stone pines, its wonderful clipped ilex walk that leads to the Villa Medici, home of nightingale and rose. To the west we looked down to the yellow Tiber, angry and swollen, hurrying to the sea. The river was higher than I ever saw it; the driftwood, caught by the piers of the Ponte Margherita, reached half-way to the level of the bridge. " A thousand apologies! " said a voice behind 163 SICILY JN SHADOW AND IN SUN us; " is not this the tortoise of your Excellency? The German maid found it on the terrace of the Princess." It was Ignazio, holding between scornful thumb and finger that yellow mottled vagrant, Jeremy Bentham, who clawed the air furiously with his ridiculous short legs and snapped fiercely at Ignazio. " You are aware the tortoise is ours; you yourself carved that date upon his shell. If you had stopped the hole in the wall this would not have happened." " Excellency " (Ignazio's bill was paid that morning; he will call me " Excellency " till the next is due, then it w^ill be " Signora "), " Excel- lency, this is the most obstinate of all animals, the slowest, the idlest, the most useless." Ignazio dipped the tortoise in the fountain, then laid him on the parapet out of reach of Romulus, who was making frantic efforts to get at him. " You yourself tell me he eats the slugs and snails that destroy our flowers! " " I repeat it, but he has embarrassed me extremely in regard to the Princess, who becomes ill at the sight of him. This is the third time he has invaded her terrace." 164 ROYAL VISITORS *' How about that boy from Messina you promised to employ? " asked Vera. '* He is quite well again; it's time he went to work. I can't have him idling about my kitchen any longer." Ignazio would not have come up to the terrace had he known Vera was there. He nervously nibbled the yellow fibre he had brought to tie up the passion-flower vine. ** Excellency, no! I said I would try to find him employment. I have done so. Capperi ! I have asked an infinite number of persons — always the same answer. In Rome there is not work enough for the Romans, nor bread to spare. The Sicilians must go back to Sicily, or," he waved his hand vaguely towards Ostia, *' over there." Over there meant to America. " Where were you born, Ignazio .^^ " I inter- rupted. '* You do not speak like a Romano di Roma." His glance was a reproach; I had betrayed him. *' It is true, I am from Siena — but there is a difference between an Umbrian and a Sicilian !" "It is always the same story! " I said. *' I have asked every plumber in Rome to employ Francesco Calabresi. They will give money, 165 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN bread, clothes; to a man they refuse him work." "Self preservation! Oh, how worldly-wise the old race is! The man's right though; there is not work enough to go round; one must consider one's own interests or we should all go bankrupt. That's what * mind your business ' means! If you don't look out for yourself, some one else must." J. came up on the terrace at that moment; Vera waved her little hand gaily to him. " What news from Messina.^ " '* No news; I wish I knew how they are get- ting on." " I have a letter from the Avvocato Bonanno, asking about the family of Count Q." *' I have just come from there. I will write him. The Count can speak now, but he's paralyzed, he will never walk again." " You're fretting to get back to Sicily; so am I." It was true; since his return from the cruise of the " Bayern," Rome, even his studio, seemed tame to J. How could he, and Vera too, long to go back to that place of death, when Rome, the Eternal City, wooed with the 166 ROYAL VISITORS voice of her fountains, the perfumed breath of her villas, the beauty of her everlasting hills? '* I have had an inspiration," Vera made the pretty insistent gesture of her finger that rules us all. " This is the psychological moment to exhibit your Diana. Rome is sick with grief! There's nothing going on, not a reception, not even a dinner. Any invitation to do anything, besides give money and sew garments jpro Cala- bria e Sicilia, will be a godsend. That's the practical side of it; then there's the other side. We have supped full on horrors; comfort us with a sight of the lovely lady." Most of her friends follow Vera's advice, for her's is a master spirit; when she takes hold of one's affairs, somehow they always march. The next week was a busy one. Vera decided that we must ask " all Rome " to the exhibi- tion. In order to do this we borrowed lists from all sorts of people. A little white and gold book, the Roman social register, contains the names of all the Court people, the diplomats, and those who belong to the *' smart set." Then there were the lists of the San Lucca Academy and the Art Club. From the bankers and hotels we gathered as many names of the transient 167 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Americans as possible; all our friends helped us. When the long list was ready I sent to an employment bureau for some one to direct the envelopes. She came, bringing her credentials, at five o'clock; as she was an English lady, and evi- dently very poor, we asked her to stay to tea. She sat in the Savonarola chair (it belonged to Giovanni Costa, the great artist — J. bought it after his death) and took her tea timidly, spilling a little on her poor faded dress, and crumbling the pan-forte di Siena (sent us at Christmas from Milan) over the best Persian rug. That ought to have been a warning to me, but it wasn't ! We sent the envelopes and the lists to her and turned our minds to other things. The exhibition was to open Tuesday, February 2nd. The envelopes were promised for the previous Saturday, so that the cards might be put in, the stamps affixed, the invita- tions posted Saturday night. They would then be received on Sunday morning, a good leisure time when busy people have time to read their mail. Vera, Athol, and Wilfred Thompson came to dine Saturday to help us with the envelopes. It was our first social meeting since that fatal 168 ROYAL VISITORS night of December :28th ; we had all of us need of a little joy; the pain of the last month had left its mark. Agnese herself bought the stamps; she would trust no other. I had meant to send the cards by hand — it costs no more, and would have given employment to Alessandro, a poveraccio who has attached himself to us. " These higlietti are important? " asked Ag- nese when I consulted her about Alessandro. " Of the greatest importance." " Listen to me, Signora. I would not destroy your confidence in Alessandro, no, nor in any other, but the distances are far, the Tiber is near — Alessandro might, by accident, let fall a bunch of these letters as he crosses the bridge. The postino is obliged to make his rounds, the carabinieri keep an eye on him. No, it is safer to trust the post ! " Agnese's dinners are not like Attilio's (Vera's great Neapolitan chef), but she has a way of cooking truffles in white wine and serving them in a napkin, to be eaten with fresh butter, that seems to please. Checco of the Concordia gets us the truffles from some mysterious unfailing source, when they are not to be had in the 169 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN market. Agnese's fritta dorata of shrimps, cuttlefish and artichokes is fit for the King or the Pope, or Mr. Roosevelt — his sister once ate one of Agnese's golden frys and liked it. After dinner the table was cleared, two white aprons were borrowed for Vera and me, and the big packages of envelopes were opened and laid out on the table. " We had better look them over, don't you think .f^ " said Athol, the wise, taking up an envelope. " She has a good handwriting — but she makes queer work of these foreign titles. His Excellency the Count and the Countess Lutzow, — really now that won't do! " We looked at each other in despair; each had found the most egregious and impossible blunders. All the addresses except the English and Americans, it had been agreed, were to be written in French. '* They must all be done over again!" I cried. '* No, no, it s not so bad as that. The English ones are all right. We must go over the whole lot, though, sort out the bad ones and redirect them." " Who IS going to do it.^ " I groaned. That 170 ROYAL VISITORS was the question. Vera's handwriting, though distinguished, is cryptic, owing to her having learned to write German and Russian before the Latin script. Athol's tired hand had held the pen for eight hours that day, and could not be further taxed. J.'s handwriting is a work of art, and art is long; my own is frankly bad. Thompson had thrown himself into the work of putting in the cards and sticking up the en- velopes. " Handwriting is the only thing that does not improve with practice — the more a man writes, the worse he writes," said Athol. Here the bell rang insistently; a minute later Agnese announced : " Quella Signora bella ed altaf The beautiful and tall lady followed close upon her, Elinor Diederich, daughter of those gods of our youth, William and Louisa Hunt. Despair, dismay, doubt vanished before her; she blew them all away, as the fresh west wind blows vapors and fog and leaves the sun bright in the sky; that is what it is to inherit the tem- perament of genius. " Of course," said Elinor, picking up one of the badly directed envelopes, *' I knew this 171 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN would happen. That's the reason I came. I have had an experience of that poor thing's work myself. I brought my pen; my hand- writing's the best thing about me." She was hard at it, directing invitations in a handsome hand, as if that had been her calling. At ten o'clock the bell rang again; there was a parley in the anticamera; a faint odor of cigarette smoke floated into the room. " It's Emilio," J. exclaimed. " Show the Signorino in! " Emilio Benlieuri, the Spanish sculptor, one of our familiars, appeared in the doorway, a tall lean melancholy man with the burning eyes and the grave bearing of the Valencian Don. He bowed low to the whole company. " I kiss your feet, Senora," he began in Castilian. " I kiss your hand, Caballero," I responded. "It is getting late," whispered Elinor, *' really, this isn't the time for compliments. Make him put on the stamps — they'll taste good to a hungry man! " The Valencian, who speaks no English, under- stood the large gesture with which Elinor invited him to join the circle, and drew up a chair to the round table. 172 ROYAL VISITORS '* One more volunteer to the relief! " mur- mured Vera. " Per carita Agnese, a sponge; the situation is saved!" Silence settled upon the dining room; the only sounds were the scratch-scratch of Elinor's pen, the snores of Romulus curled up at Vera's feet, the tinkle of the fountain up on the terrace under the stars near the Pretorian's cinerary urn, the rustle of the cards going into the envelopes. On the Gothic sideboard which J. made for our Roman home, the pile of in- vitations, sealed and stamped, rose higher and higher, finally hiding the legend carved in quaint letters at the top: *' Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." How much better we never realized perhaps till that night, when the loyalty and devotion of our friends helped us out of that tight place. Love is the real lifting power when all is said. The love of the whole world was helping Italy in her dark hour; the love of our little circle of heart friends lifted and carried us over that difficult moment, smoothed out the only hitch in the preparations for Vera's exhibition. We worked till long after midnight. The 173 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN faithful Valencian was the last to go; he de- parted in a cab, taking the invitations with him to the Posta Generale. Sunday morning " all Rome " received the card at its breakfast: Lorenzo, the muratore, one of our oldest friends, arrived early Sunday morning to put the studio in order. Lorenzo was Villegas's factotum in the days when our dear Maestro lived in his Andalusian villa on the Viale Pariole, before his Mother Spain called him to Madrid to be custodian of her greatest treasure, the Prado Museum. We had not sent for Lorenzo because we knew he had met with an accident. What wireless telegraphy had summoned him just when he was needed.'' "What a pleasure to see thee!" Agnese exclaimed as she let Lorenzo in. " And thy foot.'' Will it allow thee to work.^ The Signore was bewailing that thou couldst not wax the studio floor. Thou knowest he believes no other is to be trusted." *' It is true that I am lame. Behold my foot. I can wear no boot, only this slipper of a giant. But as to waxing the floor, I can do it on my knees. The Signore is right, I only can execute that labor with fidelity. As to the injury — 174 ROYAL VISITORS well, it was received in the service of the electric company that employs me. They have agreed to pay me a pension till I can go back to work. What matters it if the recovery is retarded? I draw my three francs a day, fresh and fresh. Do you think I would abandon the Signorc at such a moment? Thou art new in this house. Who was it that prepared the old studio for the visit of her Majesty the Queen? But that was years ago before thy time! " From that moment I had no anxiety about the studio. Lorenzo, a Romagnolo, is a tireless worker, one of those Italians who have won for their countrymen the reputation of being the greatest workers in the world. " I wish I could buy him! " sighed J. when I told him Lorenzo had come. Monday was a busy day; the old Portuguese leather chair, that the Queen sat in on her last visit, was taken over to the studio, the best rugs, the two Japanese screens, and the Savona- rola chair. A table was put near the door with some sheets of paper, pens and ink, in case anybody should want to write. At the last minute Brother Harry, who happened to be passing through Rome, gave a valuable hint: 175 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " Of course you are going to send that portrait of the mother to the studio ? " " Why ? " said J., " I never thought of it." " Well, thiak of it now," said Brother Hany. We thought of it, in the end, thought well of it. The day the exhibition opened the portrait of the old Chieftainess stood on an easel in the studio, ready to " receive " visitors with Diana. Agnese called me early Tuesday morning. ** Signora, let us go to the studio to arrange the flowers," she said. " With respect I should prefer it were done before Lorenzo comes. He is prepotente, some things he knows, I do not deny ; but the flowers — ah, that is an art by itself ! " At five minutes of ten the last touch had been given to the studio; J. and I stood waiting to receive the guests. " Suppose nobody comes ! " The answer came quick and sharp; Lorenzo, dressed in his best, wearing one ordinary and one giant boot, his hair shining like the studio floor, threw open the door and announced with a beaming smile : " QuelSignorinomatto! "That mad young man. " So you thought you would play this hand without me ? " said a familiar voice. 176 ROYAL \lSITORS *' Patsy ! " WTiere had he come from ? We last heard of him at the hacienda of our friend the Argentino, in South America. " Same old two-and-sixpence, always in at the death! There's no end of a swell from the Celestial Empire on the stairs! '' " His Excellency the jVIinister of China," Lorenzo announced. The Chinese Minister, followed by his suite, walked into the studio on the stroke of ten, the first minute of the first day of the exhibition. " Ai't, you see, is a matter of importance to these people," Pasty murmured to me. " An invitation to a studio deserves to be treated with respect, ^^^len you show that tableau in America I wonder if the mayor, the governor, the sheriff, or even the hog-reeve, will take the trouble to come and see it. The representative of the Chinese Empire comes in person at the first possible moment. That's my idea of a civilized people I "' The Minister and J. were talking in panto- mime, none the less cordially for that. His Excellency wore seraphic clothes, had lovely polished manners; his hand was smooth as a 177 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN roseleaf, his long nails were miraculous. The party stayed for some time and seemed pleased with their visit. After they had gone, leaving a faint perfume of sandalwood and straw- matting behind them, one of the younger men returned. (He was not of the Legation we heard afterwards). From the first he had seemed deeply impressed with the Diana; he hurried up to J., and pointing to the divine Huntress whispered : " I beg your pardon, Mister; is that God ? " Our next visitor was a dark energetic Italian, with beautiful manners. He gave no name, none of us had any idea of who he was. He was deeply interested in the painting, looked at it from every point of view, and asked many ques- tions about its final destination. He was not an artist, of that we felt sure, but he was a man with more than a dilettante's interest in art. At the end of his visit, as he went towards the door, he saw the pens and paper lying on the table. " Shall I write my name ? " he asked politely; then in a bold hand wrote *' Luigi Rava." " Who is he ? " I asked after the dark unknown had driven off in his carriage. 178 ROYAL VISITORS " Only the Minister of Education. Rome seems to be taking your show seriously," Patsy declared. " That was a good idea, writing his name; mind you make everybody else follow suit. You're likely to have some interesting autographs before you're finished." None so interesting as the Chinese Minister's and it was too late for that. We followed Patsy's advice; after that all the visitors wrote their names. That afternoon the studio was crowded with all sorts and conditions of men and women; artists, tourists, ambassadors, beauties and princes. *' You are the fashion; don't be too much pufiFed up by that," Patsy admonished; "it's because yours is the only free show open in town! " The exhibition was to have lasted five days; we had to keep it open a fortnight. As Patsy said, it became the fashion to drop into the studio, a spacious room in the handsome new Studio Corrodi by the Tiber. We never liked it so well as the old studio in the Borgo Sant' Angelo, but it was more convenient for such a reception. There is a pretty garden with a brand new fountain and brand new flowers at 179 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN the Corrodi; it is smart, up to date, belonging to the new order of things in Roma Nuova. One afternoon Archbishop Ireland and his train of attendant Abbesses came to see us. The Archbishop's sister and several other Mothers Superior had come from America to visit Rome; they were a picturesque group. The Archbishop's sister was a cheery delightful soul; another of the Mothers was so lovely J. wanted to paint her as Santa Theresa. We met them first at the studio of Carolus Duran (now Director of the French Academy) in the Villa Medici. The " Cher Maitre " has brought several of his masterpieces from Paris to Rome, among others a study for a crucifixion, a really noble composition; America ought to have it. The Church is so rich in our country that she could well afford to give him a handsome order for it. The Abbesses in their long veils, taking tea with the great French painter, was one of those impressions of the contrasts of Roman life I shall not forget. They all came to our studio; among the treasured names in the list of autographs are those of Mother Celestine, Mother Seraphine, Mother Agnes Gonzaga. " They remind me," said Patsy, after the 180 ROYAL VISITORS Archbishop and the ladies took their leave, " of Sir Joseph Porter, K. C. B., his sisters and his cousins and his aunts! " Patsy was of the greatest use. He was at the studio almost as much as we ourselves. He devoted himself to the humbler guests if there happened to be some great personage to whom J. had to attend. " It's a good thing to have friends in every calling," said Patsy; " you never know just when they may come in handy." I had re- proached him for neglecting lovely Donna Beatrice for old Checco, the proprietor of the Concordia restaurant. " Checco has given me credit many a time when it would have gone hard with me to get a meal anywhere else! " he said. On the eighth of February a note came from the Marchese Guiccioli, Queen Margherita's gentleman-in-waiting. The superscription, Casa della Regina Madre, set the whole house in a flutter. Eugenio, the porter, himself brought the royal messenger up in the lift. Agnese, w^ho took the letter from him, came hurrying to the terrace, where Ignazio and I were talking about the wall flowers. 181 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN *' See to it," I was saying, " that this thing does not happen again. You were paid a large price for these flowers, enormous sums were charged for concime (fertilizer) and they have done badly. Last season they were poor spindly little things, while those that sprang by chance from a crevice in the wall by the water pipe were a glory. Expound to me the reason of this absurdity." " Signora, how can I explain the laws of God? It is according to their nature. Those wall flowers that come up by chance without care always seem the fairest, perhaps because they grow beyond our reach. Those you speak of so abusively smelt like honey; you yourself complained that they attracted not only the butterflies but the bees from the priest's hive." "A messenger from the Palazzo Margherita brought this." Agnese offered the letter on the best silver tray she so rarely is willing to use. It is not well, she argues, that the first-comer should know we have such a valuable thing in the house, and use it so commonly. It might be stolen or, almost as bad, reported so that the tax for richezza mobile would be augmented. " This letter is for the Signore," I said. 182 ROYAL VISITORS '* Without doubt — the Signora has reason — but being of so much importance she will open it? " ** Certainly not." Agnese and Ignazio were burnt up with curiosity about the letter; they could hardly wait till J.'s return. Lorenzo, who had followed Agnese, is more canny though quite as curious. "Imbeciles! don't you know that to break the seal of a letter from the Casa Reale is an offense,'^ I know perfectly well what it con- tains; as I see you are beside yourselves with curiosity, I will tell you that — you too shall know in good time! " J. had gone for a walk along the Tiber to the Ponto Milvio; he returned sooner than I ex- pected. Eugenio, panting with suspense, had pursued and brought him back. The letter brought the news that Queen Margherita would come to the studio the next afternoon. As we were already in apple-pie order, there was nothing for Lorenzo to do but put fresh laurel branches in the vases and add a little polish to the *' Queen's Chair." Punctually to the minute the royal carriage drew up at the door of the Studio Corrodi. 183 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN The servants on the box were dressed in dark colors, — the splendid scarlet liveries, alas! are Queen Margherita's no longer; they are only worn by the servants of the reigning Queen. J. received her Majesty at the carriage door and escorted her up the marble stair to the big new studio. What a contrast to the dear old studio with the ancient courtyard, the mur- muring fountain hundreds of years old, the water- worn stones dark with ages, where the maiden-hair fern grows in great feathery tufts ! It all came back to me with a sudden rush of memory, as I followed the Queen up the wide white marble stair. I saw the two long flights of hollowed travertina steps that led to the old studio, the uneven brick floor, the window that gave on the court, where the falcon and the white doves from the Vatican lived, the birds of whose wings J. made such endless studies for the Hours in his " Triumph of Time." How many hours, months, years, had flown by since we three last met! Queen Margherita walked across the polished floor with the light step of a girl, and quite naturally, without prompting, took her place in the " Queen's Chair." The social tempera- 184 ROYAL VISITORS ture rose — we felt as children for whom " the party has begun." How does she do it? That's her secret, she could not tell us if she would. She is one of those rare beings who bring their own sunshine with them, whose presence warms us to the heart's core! We hold out our hands towards the kindly glow, as we stretch chilled fingers to a cheerful fire. "It's because she's all there!" Patsy said afterwards, trying to explain what we had all felt. After one quick glance about the studio, the royal visitor fixed her eyes on the big canvas. " This is your Diana of the Tides for the new museum at Washington.'^ " she said to J. *' A fine opportunity; I congratulate you. At what height will it be placed, at what distance will it be seen? " Her questions about the Diana, and the building it was painted for, were direct and to the point. She showed the closely trained mind of a w^oman used to dealing with many kinds of affairs, of giving instant and undivided attention to the matter in hand. " She was all there," as Patsy put it. There was a great lesson in the power of concentration she showed. She is a busy active woman; every hour, each 185 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN quarter of an hour of every day has its appointed duty. We had a sense that she took them up one by one with the same whole-hearted earnest- ness that made every word she said worthy to be graven on our memories. After she had looked a long time at the Diana, she walked across the studio to the easel with the portrait of the old Chieftainess. J. told her something of her life and work, and referred to the story that appeared a few days before in the Tribuna. In a recent speech before the Circolo Italiano of Boston, my mother had snapped out this witti- cism: " The American Eagle came out of the egg of Columbus.'* The mot so delighted the Italians that it was quoted by the Italian press all over the world. "What a beautiful old age!" sighed the Queen Mother, as she looked at the portrait of the woman who has been called in Boston's Little Italy, " La Nonna degV Italiani." " You have painted a portrait of old age as it ought to be," Queen Margherita continued; with that smile of hers, a little graver than of old but with the same piercing sweetness. " Remember that," murmured Patsy. " She 186 ROYAL VISITORS hits the nail on the head every time; that's the reason she has done so much for her generation. Come to think of it, they are two of a kind; both have served greatly and been greatly rewarded! '* He looked from the face of the portrait on the easel to the face of the royal lady who stood before it. *' Your portrait of II Povero Re/' said the Queen Mother to J., *' has changed color. I am troubled about it, I fear it may be because I always take it with me from Rome to Gressoni every year. I fear the jarring may have hurt it." It was arranged then and there that J. should call upon the Countess Villamarina, the Queen Mother's companion, and see what was wrong with his portrait of King Umberto. We all went down to the carriage; the Queen Mother shook hands with us all graciously, and promised she would come again to the studio some day. We watched the landau with the sober liveries drive away. Across the Tiber the regiment of T hi; 'opus was returning to the barracks, after rifle practice at the Tor di Quinto. The gay notes of the royal march sounded joyously; the proud horses of the 187 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN royal landau arched their beautiful necks — it was as if they recognized the music and tried to keep step to it. Three days later, on the twelfth of February, we were waked at half past seven in the morning, with the news that the King would be at the studio in an hour. He came in an automo- bile with two aides, an admiral and a general. They all wore uniform and looked very smart and well turned out. Agnese and I watched them from the terrace (the studio is opposite the palazzo where we live). I was not allowed to go to the studio; Athol and J. decided it would not be suitable, the visit being so early and of so informal a nature; I was, of course, dreadfully disappointed. Lorenzo was there to open the door; he apparently managed to leave it ajar, for he gave me an account of the visit. " His Majesty speaks every language as if it were his own — they all do, it is a gift like another. It was most unfortunate for me, considering the Signore talks Italian, that they spoke in Ingerlish, which resembles — with respect, Signora — the chatter of monkeys. Something I understood, however, by observing 188 ROYAL VISITORS their faces. His Majesty pointed to the horses; they interested him; has he not the finest horses in the world? Before his Majesty de- parted he inquired if he should write his name in the book. The Signore ran to turn over a virgin page; this his Majesty would not allow but wrote his name with all the others, just where it came naturally, when he could have had a whole page to himself. You can see for yourself what a fine big signature he has; he might well be proud of it, but he is not proud — nostro re! He handed the pen to the Sign or Ammiraglio, saying — that I could under- stand for it was in Italian — * See that you write your name better than I have written mine.' On the table lay the photographs the Signore made at Messina; when his Majesty saw them he turned back. They studied all those ter- rible pictures of the ruins together, and they talked again in tliat language I do not under- stand." They stayed twenty-five minutes by the clock on the Castle Sant' Angelo, — Agnese kept watch of the time; then they all came down to the street. The King shook hands with J., wrapped his long military cloak about him (the 189 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN air was keen), and got into the motor. The porter and Lorenzo, standing very straight Hke soldiers on either side of the door, saluted. The porter's wife, the little stepson and the new baby all leaned from the window over the door. " Observe, observe, Signora mia, his Majesty smiles, he is pleased," whispered Agnese, all in a flutter. " Ah, what a good kind heart! '* The motor flashed past the Palazzo Franken- stein, and Agnese and I came down " to hear all about it." Coffee for all hands was demanded and furnished forthwith. In the kitchen Lo- renzo, Eugenio and Agnese talked for an hour about the King's visit. All I could get out of J. was the last precious sentence of the inter- view: " When I thanked him for the honor of the visit. King Victor said, * Not at all, my mother told me to come.' His En^ish is beautiful, just like Queen Margaret's." 190 VI AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA " The Signorina with the bright eyes, who lives in the handsome villino," Agnese began, " asks if the Signora can use her carriage today. That fat beast, her coachman, is very avari- cious, he will expect a mancia of three francs — still if we employ Napoleone, it will cost more — besides with a private carriage se fa piii figura." *' As to making a good appearance, that's of no consequence; the Signorina's carriage, how- ever, has better springs than Napoleone's, rubber tires as well. What didst thou say? " ** As the Signora was occupied I said yes, with tante grazie, and combined that the * milor ' should come at two o'clock. The after- noons are short; as the mancia must be paid, it is better to have one's money's worth." Agnese wears thirty-two flawless pearls in her mouth — as she said these things she showed them all to me with the guileless smile of an infant. 191 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Could it be by chance that Vera's carriage was offered for this particular day? Impossible! Besides, Agnese knows I never go out till four. I have to believe in miracles, such miraculous things happen. Can it be that Agnese works the oracle? Basta! best not lift the veil from such comfortable mysteries. We were booked to call on the Marchesa Villamarina at half past two o'clock; we had spoken to no living soul of this, and here was a fat coachman, a fine coach and pair coming to take us in state to the palace of the Regina Madre. If our very walls have ears, if our correspondence is tampered with, the result is fortunate — let us accept the " milor " the gods send us! We drove up sunny Via Veneto, through the Ludovisi quarter, past the smart hotels that have sprung up near the Palazzo Margherita — the Savoy, Regina, Palace, half a dozen more named out of compliment to the Queen Mother. If the sacrifice had to be made, the beautiful Villa Ludovisi cut up into house lots, trans- formed into the fashionable quarter of Rome, the great winter watering place, it's a little comfort that the best site now serves for the site of Queen Margherita's palace. 192 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA " Do you remember the violets that used to grow here? " " I can smell them now! " " It's hard to forgive that vandalism, even if building lots were necessary." Other things are necessary; the cool shade of ancient cedars, their resinous breath at hot noontide, the plashing of water in moss-grown fountains, the rustle of birds at nesting time, the carpet of anemones beneath immemorial trees, the laurel and asphodel that once grew here in the garden that was Sallust's, that has been sacred ground to poet and artist from Horace's time to Crawford's. Palazzo Margherita faces Via Veneto with its smug hotels; behind the palace lie a few roods of ground, a shrunken splendor, the last vestige of the noble Villa Ludovisi. Here are shadowy walks between gnarled ilex trees, and a few old statues, the last of a great com- pany. A high wall shuts off the Queen's garden from the Via Sallustiana, on the left; at the back on the Via Boncompagni, the wall is sur- mounted by a balustrade with antique amphorae etched with a fine network of black and yellow stains. Perhaps they once held the wine that 193 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN served at Sallust's banquets — it was of the best, Falernian perhaps. *' A pleasant drive to you! " Herr Schmidt, at the door of his hotel, bowed and smiled. A gong clanged behind him; a crowd of porters in green baize apron and pages in buttons rushed from within, as the big hotel omnibus, covered with travelers' luggage, crowded with tourists, drew up at the entrance. " Isn't he a type with his automobile, his big wife wearing the old Orsini diamonds? " I murmured. The Roman hotel-keeper today is a far more important personage than the poet and artist he has ousted from their garden of delight, the lovely Villa Ludovisi. If he were really a Roman, it wouldn't matter so much; but nine times out of ten he is a German or a Swiss. Herr Schmidt is a very rich man and much considered, while Enrico, the painter, who used to spend long delicious days sketching in the Villa — Enrico, who loves and paints the Campagna Romana as it has never been painted before — Enrico's coat is threadbare as Mar- tial's only toga. " Are you asleep? " 194 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA " No, only dreaming." *' Wake up, we're there." We were expected; the sentries at the gate allowed the fat coachman to drive the " milor " into the courtyard. " The last time we were here together was at a dinner of Mrs. Draper's," J. reminded me. When General Draper was American ambassa- dor he lived here, as did his predecessor, Mr. Wayne MacVeagh; in those days it was called the Palazzo Piombino. After the death of King Umberto the palace became the Roman residence of the Queen Mother. A picturesque person in plush breeches, wearing a silver chain of office, received and showed us up the grand staircase. No mean economy of space or height here, or in the long corridor with the marble doorways; our palace builders at home must study Roman interiors as well as Italian gardens. " Don't you remember the MacVeaghs' ball and Queen Margherita walking through this corridor with the Ambassador .^^ " J. asked. " Of course; she wore a blue brocade dress and her incomparable pearls; it all comes back to me. King Umberto was in uniform; he 195 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN carried a helmet with white plume mider his arm. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Francis Adams were here. Do you remember the Austrian diplomat's fascinating court dress .'^ And that Russian military attache in Cossack uniform with a black patch over one eye.^ ; ' " Yes, what a hero you thought him till I told you his poor eye had been knocked out by a careless woman's umbrella." The Marchesa Villamarina received us in the room where Mrs. MacVeagh used to give tea. As we sat talking^ we heard a merry little scream of dismay; the Marchesa, excusing herself, hurried to the next room. Then we heard a laugh like a silver chime. " It's her voice," I whispered. In a moment the Marchesa returned, smiling and merry. Queen Margherita, her eyes bright with laughter, received us in her library. The Queen's dress was like the plumage of a silver pheasant; dress is a fine art with her. You never know what she has on, but you always know it is the perfect thing for the hour. The library is an immense apartment, even for Rome, full of color and atmosphere. It suits 196 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA her as the background in a Velasquez portrait suits the central figure. The highest point of light was a blaze of yellow azaleas on the mantel. There was no senseless bric-a-brac, but every article of furniture was a gem. One who reads the character of a person from the room he or she lives in, would guess that this was the home of a woman of taste and of action ; it was comfortable rather than luxurious; there was nothing of the " dreadful too much." On the walls hung a few pictures, among them J.'s Dante in Exile. On the writing table stood his portrait of King Umberto. J. saw in a moment what had happened to it. The portrait is a silver-point drawing. When these are first made their color is very like a pencil drawing; with time the silver becomes oxidized, and turns darker, the tone improving every year till it becomes a. rich soft tarnished color. While J. was explaining this to Queen Mar- gherita, the Marchesa told me what had been the matter. " In writing her name upon the photograph her Majesty designed to give you, she had the misfortune to upset the Ink." '* She too? Is she so human?" 197 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " It is because her Majesty is so human," said the Marchesa, " that one has that adoration for her." **I've had a letter from Belknap," said J. a few days after this, " asking me to go back to Messina with him." *' You're not going? " I cried. " Of course he is," said Vera. She was playing ball with Patsy on the terrace. *' I can't bear it; besides you must finish your Pan." " Your father would have gone." There was nothing for me to say to that. " Take me with you," said Patsy. " And me! " cried Vera, all on fire. "I can't take you; but there's nothing to prevent your all making a trip to Sicily. You have always wanted to — " he looked at me. " This is your chance, a little later though — it's such a cold season." " How can he be so keen about getting back to that awful place? " I exclaimed. " It's because there is so much more work to do there than there ever was in the world 198 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA before," said Vera. " Every one who has been down feels the same way." " You have said it! " This from Patsy, the golden butterfly. " A man's happiest when he's working to the limit, when there's not one minute of time left in the day to get a grouch on!" " What have you to say about it.'* " said Vera, looking at J. ** I would rather have had this letter than a big commission; we may start any day. You will see the Q.'s.'^ Bonanno is sure to ask news of them," J. went on. *' Let's go now," said Vera. " The Q.'s are far the most interesting of your profughi." There was still time before sunset, so Vera and I, escorted by Patsy, started to walk to the Q.'s. We crossed the Tiber, pausing on the bridge to watch the soldiers, maneuvering the big awkward pontoons on the river above, the part that makes the curve of the S. It was a gorgeous afternoon; the air was golden, spark- ling, full of life. " ' How tenderly the haughty day fills his blue urn with fire!*" 199 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN Patsy quoted. '* I bet that was written in Rome! " On the Lungo Tevere a young officer passed, riding a spirited bay. *' Look out! " cried Patsy warningly. Vera, startled by the prancing horse, sprang aside; the officer saluted. " It*s Philippus! " I cried, as the bay danced along sidewise like a skittish crab. " Whoever he is, he ought to give that beast more work and less corn!" Patsy flicked the dust the bay had kicked up from his sleeve. *' No matter about the dust; he's alive! We shall all be dust soon enough." Patsy left us at the gate. Although there was a nip in the air, we found old Count Q. in the garden. *' Babbo sits out whenever he can," said Rosalia, oldest of the Count's seven remaining daughters. " Since the earthquake he knows no peace within." When I told them J. was going to Messina, the Count's drawn face changed; he began to sob pitifully. Rosalia, a faded beauty with tragic eyes (she had lain beneath the ruins of 200 AT PALAZZO ]\IARGriERITA their house at Messina for twenty-four hours), put a finger to her lips. " Speak not of Sicily, I pray! " she whis- pered, " though in truth he thinks of nothing else. He dreams each night the house is falling." The Count is seventy years old, and para- lyzed. His house was destroyed with his oldest son's next door. For days he heard his son's voice and his little grandchildren's calling for help. They were buried so deep that when help came it was too late. One of the grand- daughters was the girl of the emerald scarab ring Bonanno told us of. *' How goes on the sewing.'' " I asked Rosalia. " Famously; a thousand thanks for the machine. All the cotton is made up. The parents now sleep between sheets; we others shall have that luxury soon." The Countess and her daughters had worked early and late, making bed linen and under- clothes of the cotton cloth sent by our com- mittee. I asked Rosalia if there was any mes- sage for Bonanno. " Tell the Signor Avvocato that we are more fortunate than many — God has sent us friends," she said. " Would the Signore have 201 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN the infinite kindness to carry him a little note- paper, of the most miserable kind, a few en- velopes? His last letter was written on a bit of paper torn from the wall. I am sure he has done everything — but if he would write to mamina and set her mind at rest — tell her the graves are marked, that she will know in which each of them lies — Nonna, Maddelena, Nina? " " All this shall be related to the avvocato without fail. Courage, remember, look forward, not back! " " Altro! It is what I most desire." Rosalia fought back the tears. We left her, smiling bravely, at her post beside the poor old para- lyzed father. " Did you ever see a handsomer family? " I asked Vera as we walked away. " Rosalia is still fine, the next four are pretty as pinks, the two youngest real beauties. Which is that at the window? I can't tell them apart." " Not since they've begun to smile? That's the youngest, Beatrice — watch for the dimple when she laughs." '* Wherever did she get that smart toggery? " " Some of you soft-hearted Americans! She 202 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA was lovely in her big black hat, the latest fashion. Can any of them do anything to earn money? " " They could not earn a centesimo among them all. The Count owned a lot of valuable real estate in Messina; they lived on their rents. In the end something surely will be saved; you can't wipe out real estate. Such pretty girls are sure to marry." " If you had only seen it all, you would understand — it*s chaos ! It will take years, a generation perhaps, before things can be straightened out. Meanwhile ' it is not always May.' " " But Beatrice and the other little one — They are lovely! " " Beauty is a poor dote — young kittens soon make old cats! No, cara mia, they have no chance. You Americans can't understand: you are still primitive. The American carries off his wife as the Indian his squaw. You are at the natural selection stage." " Well, we have been — " " The man assumes the responsibility of the woman's support? " "As a rule!" 203 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " It's bad form for a man to ask a dowry or allowance from the girl's father? " " The unpardonable sin." " I know; my brother married an American. Her father gave her an allowance, but when she died he never offered to pay her funeral ex- penses — his own child. We thought this un- feeling — dreadful ! Americans tell me it prob- ably never occurred to him." " We think it is far better for young people to make their own way," I maintained. " The parents who bring a child into the world," Vera argued, " especially a female child, are responsible for her support. When she marries, they are bound to settle the largest sum upon her they can afford. They must make a sacrifice for their child." There is a sort of finality about a disaster like the Q.'s that we Americans can hardly conceive of; with us failure so often spells success. If a young man's father is ruined, we say of him (we are beginning to say it of his sister) — " This gives him a chance to show the stuff he's made of! " After leaving Vera I went back to the terrace, to watch the sun set over Mons Vaticanus. 204 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA Ignazio was there before me, grafting a new American Beauty rose on the stem of the big Banksia. " You have three sisters, Ignazio," I began. *' You have told me your father is dead. " " And in Paradise, I trust, this long time; I have not grudged masses for his soul." *' A good son! How did he leave his money.'' Did your sisters have dowries.^ " "He divided his money into two parts — my mother already being in glory. A little more than half he left to me, the only son. That was right, for so the greater part of the property remains in the casa paterna. The other half he divided between my three sisters. The oldest went into a convent; it was her wish, you understand. Her share was paid just as if she had married. The second espoused a vignerolo and invested her money in a new vine- yard; they have prospered. The little one, Teresina, would go to the convent, where was Maria, the oldest. But that one, she is intelli- gent, fine, very fine, sent Teresina a letter — God knows how she managed it — telling her on her life not to come to that convent. Soon Teresina found a husband, a baker; he has a 205 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN good business. Teresina has given him plenty of mouths to feed, three boys and five girls. That is better than a convent. Yes, I beheve in the good God, Signora; I am not a free mason, nor an anarchist, but I think a girl can serve Him as well in the world, and far more pleasantly, than in a convent." " You have a daughter.? " *' With respect, I have four. No convent for them; it is worse than a prison ! If my daughter went to a prison I might see her again; but to a convent, never — it is finished." ** You will give your girls a good dowry." " I am a poor man, times are hard, that fellow Cesare, my assistant, is a thief — the Signora knows it — but something I shall do for them." Poor Rosalia, poor Beatrice! Who would *' do " for them? As Vera said, the Q.'s were my most interesting profughi. That good Samaritan, Miss Jane Sedgwick, found them soon after they came to Rome. When she first saw them, they were living in one dreadful dark room; the whole family sat like statues of stone around that dismal hole; the old Count's dreadful sobbing was the only sign of 206 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA life they gave. A pitiful smile dawned on the mother's face when ^liss Sedgwick drew out a fifty-franc bill. Here was a visitor who did more than ask questions and write down answers, a committee that committed itself — recklessly perhaps, but effectively — that justified itself not by its statistics but by its work. On the twentieth of February, J. departed with his chief. Captain Belknap, for Messina, and I was left to devote myself to my profughi. Before he started we went to take leave of Mr. and Mrs. Griscom; happily we found them at home. " Don't you need a suit of clothes? " her Excellency asked J. as she gave him a cup of tea. " I need several; most of mine have been given away." He glanced at me. " I must make out with what's left though — I don't look too shabby for Messina.^ " "The idea! It's only that — I have a tailor — he makes really very well — I thought you might order a suit — " " Do, I beg! " interrupted the Ambassador. " That Sicilian tailor has made me six suits 207 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN already — I can't use any more — he makes too well — they'll never wear out! " " How is your plumber doing? " asked Mrs. Griscom. " Not so well as your tailor. He can't follow his trade in Rome; if I could only send him to America, where plumbing is a fine art and takes the place of bric-a-brac! " " And the new baby.'^ " How could she remember that Lucia Calabresi had a baby! Though aching to go to Sicily, Patsy re- mained in Rome to help me with my profughi. I had some of my " cases " from Countess Pasolini, some from Miss Noble Jones (her brother, our old friend Wallace Jones, was once Consul at Messina), others I read of in the papers. Patsy was studying counterpoint with a professor of music, Dante with a professor of literature, Arabic with a professor of Oriental languages — all late of the University of Mes- sina. " The professors and schoolmasters are having the roughest time of all," he declared. " The devil and the lawyers look after their own. The avvocatos and the medicos all over Italy have organized to help their fellows — but 208 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA these poor teachers! " He had just ferreted out a new professor and family. " They receive one franc and a half a day from the general committee — that keeps the breath of life in 'em — but the father, the only one capable of earning a soldo^ has to stand in line and wait for hours every day to draw the mone3^ If you could have seen their room! I spent those two hundred francs on chairs, beds and blankets. * Who gives promptly, gives twice,' Mr. Par- rish says. Isn't he a corker? Don't let 'em get discouraged — that's his argument; it's the delay that breaks their hearts. Those who have the stuff left in them ought to be kept hard at work, nose to the grindstone." Mrs. Griscom's Ladies' Auxiliary was the best committee I ever served on because it had the least red tape. Like the old vigilantes of the West, it was created for an urgent need, lived a short life with the maximum of work, the minimum of talk. My colleagues, Mesdames Samuel Abbott, Winthrop Chanler, and Nelson Gay, worked each according to their lights, meeting with the Ambassadress from time to time to compare notes and vote supplies. The work was quietly done, with little fuss or 209 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN feathers. Every soldo was well spent, and passed direct from the treasury to the sufferer. Jane Sedgwick and Luella Serrao were my right and left hand (Luella is the widow of our dear Teodoro, for years the lawyer of the Embassy, always the friend of the Americans in Rome), Patsy was my flying Mercury, Elinor Diederich took the Q.'s and other profughi under her wing. Luella had a patriarchal family from Bagnara in her care, an old man and woman with a screed of children and grandchildren. She had been telling me about them one afternoon as we were walking together; just as we turned out of the Piazza Venezia, into the Via Nazi- onale, a clear voice hailed us : " Mia grande Signora ! " Luella, delicate as a windflower, paused. A great gaunt woman, wearing a black kerchief over her head and a quaint short skirt, stood before us. She touched her fingers to her lips; then with the graceful Oriental gesture stooped and touched the hem of the "grande Signora's" garment, and passed on. " That was Sora Clara from Bagnara," Luella explained. " She was discharged from the hospital yesterday." 210 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA We were now passing the fine old palace of the Preffetura. " How well I remember coming to see you there! " I said, looking at the stern fa9ade, " when the Prefect had that stroke of apoplexy. It was said the nursing of his American daughter-in-law saved his life." "Strange you should speak of that!" said Luella. " Pietro Ceccatiello, the young clerk who helped me so much, has been in my mind all day. After we left the Preffetura, Pietro went to Messina and married. He had a good position as an ivipiegato. We have all been anxious about him since the earthquake. The other day my brother-in-law, walking through a hospital at Naples, heard some one call, * Signor Rudolfo ! ' He went up to the bed the voice came from, but the patient was so bandaged he did not recognize him. * Don't you know me? ' the man cried. ' I am Cec- catiello.' ' W^e feared thou wast killed,' said Rudolfo, and put out his hand to take Pietro's. The poor fellow held up two maimed swathed stumps. Then he told his story: after the earthquake Pietro found that he, his wife, and child, though little hurt, were buried, sotto le macerie, three metres deep. They could not 211 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN make themselves heard; they could find noth- ing to dig with. With his two naked hands Pietro dug his way out of that living tomb, saved his wife and child. His fingers were literally worn away. The hands had to be amputated at the wrist, with one foot that had been crushed." We sent Pietro three hundred francs of American money. The messenger who took it to him warned us not to give money again to those in hospitals, but to wait rather till they were discharged. " The miserable one in the next bed to Pietro, who was quite as badly hurt, wept because I had no money for him — invidia (envy)!" I told Vera and Patsy Pietro's story that evening. Vera's jewelled hands flashed as she hid her face in them. '' I can't bear it! " she cried, as if she felt the loss of Pietro's hands in hers. " What was that you said to Rosalia — ' look forward, not back '? Remember the English verse Athol taught us." " The inner side of every cloud Is always bright and shining, And so I turn my clouds about And always wear them inside out, To show their silver lining! " 212 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA " Right! " cried Patsy, " look for the silver lining. If ever cloud had one, it's this that darkens Italy! '* Let us turn the cloud about, dwell no more on Italy's anguish unparalleled, but on the silver lining, the love and help her sisters lavished upon her. If we dwell most upon our country's share, it is because we know more of it — not to set it above the others. The minutes of the meeting of the Ladies' Auxiliary (I was the Secretary), held January 9th, contain this entry: " Mr. Parrish gave an account of an inter- view with Signor Nathan, the Syndic of Rome, who expressed the opinion that if the American Committee had a considerable sum of money at its disposal, it could best be invested in buying lumber and building houses in the devastated districts." That was the seed, — a good seed that bore fruit. By far the most important work done by America for the earthquake sufferers was the building of these houses in the devastated districts. In this enterprise our Ambassador proved worthy of his high office, of the great trust imposed upon him; from the moment the 213 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN plan was decided upon, he devoted every ounce of energy to furthering it both at home and abroad. The details of his work do not prop- erly belong to those outside the magic circle of diplomacy; his was a labor of Hercules — only the old Greek hero had seven labors, and the young American, seventy and seven. He was fortunate in having Captain Belknap to carry out the practical part of the work. It was to help Belknap that J. left his studio, the terrace where the tromboni were blowing their golden trumpets, and the bees from the priest's hive hummed in and out the wall flowers. Patsy and I stayed in Rome, worked for our profughi, played with our flowers. The Anda- lusian carnations, sent from Spain by our friend Don Jaime, were an intense interest. It seemed at first they would die; with the first touch of the March sun, they took heart of grace and decided that life was worth while, even for an Andalusian transplanted to Rome. Ignazio's bills had been growing heavier and heavier every month; he had not grafted the promised number of innesti on the roses; there were other small grievances. In a moment of exasperation I resolved to put an end to these 214 AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA things. I surprised him early one morning as he was changing the earth of the big azalea; he was on his knees, patting the rich brown loam about the roots. " Ignazio," I began firmly, " the time has come when we must part." He shook the earth from his slim fingers, sprang to his feet, agile as a faun, and fixed me with his clear hazel eyes. *' JS vero? This is a fount of sorrow to me! Where might your Excellency be going. '^ " ** It is not I who am going." " Si capisce! The Signora will soon join the Signore? Let her be at ease; everything will go on as if she were at home. Behold the primole the Signora has asked for these many years! They are not a garden flower, therefore it was extraordinarily difficult to obtain these wild things. With infinite labor I got them from the guardiano of the Villa Caprarola, where they cover the hills like a weed." This was my last attempt to part with Ignazio; whatever else is fleeting, he is per- manent. To cover my defeat, I changed the subject and asked him what he knew of the Sicilians. 215 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " I am from upper Italy, a Sienese; I have naught to do with those of the south; I do not say there are not brave people among them but they have too hot blood. They all go armed too, even the women; I have proof of it — " he glanced half consciously at a scar on his wrist; when he spoke again an odd note of resentment had crept into his voice, a shadow into eyes clear as a forest brook. " We who have nothing but our two arms — or at best a little gingillo of a knife, so long, what can we do against them.^ Nothing! It is best to keep away from them, to have nothing to do with them — enough, I have said it! " 216 VII BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA " Un soldo! Eh! Signore, un soldo! " The brown boy, naked as the day he was born, threw up his right arm with that graceful gesture of asking that makes it hard to deny the Neapolitan begger anything. '* Give me the valise, Signore; there is no danger of its getting wet," said Antonio, the boatman, an old friend; J. knew him by his gold earrings and the red scar on his cheek. " Un soldo! " the boy implored. J. tossed a coin into the water; the boy dived for the money, caught it before it was ten feet below the surface, and came up snorting like a young grampus, the soldo in his cheek, his arm raised in that irresistible gesture. " Basta! " cried Antonio, bending to his oars. There is war to the knife between him and the diver, a share of whose profits he demands. '* To the American war-ship, Signore.'' Off to Messina again .^ I would not go in your place! '* 217 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN The boat shot out from the Immacolatella and past the small steamer bound for Ischia, while J. counted his packages. They were pursued by a boatload of musicians, singing " Santa Lucia." From the shore came a whiff of fried fish, just enough to whet the appetite. " The * Celtic ' is close in shore, I believe,'* said J., " I suppose I must give you a franc." " Four miles at least, Signore." Antonio paused in his rowing; " To another it would be five francs, but we are old acquaintances, let us say three." In six minutes they were alongside the *' Celtic," anchored less than half a mile away. It was already seven o'clock when J. came on board. He was received by his chief. Captain Belknap, then turned over to the care of the ship's doctor and made welcome by the officers at dinner in the ward-room. Later he was introduced to Captain Huse, in command of the " Celtic," then took a few turns up and down the deck, just to make sure that Vesuvius was in his old place across the bay, that the sleeping Queen Capri still slept on the face of the waters; by four bells he was ready to sleep. The doctor showed him where he was to bunk. 218 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA There were already four of them in the " sick bay," up among the Jackies; not that any of them were ill, but because it was the only corner on the ship where there was a place to stow them. Belknap had written Captain Huse that he and his man were quite prepared to rough it and, if need be, could sleep between decks. The " Celtic " is a U. S. supply ship carrying about one hundred and forty men, and bow and stern guns; her officers' quarters are small, but somehow Captain Huse made Belknap's party very comfortable. J.'s bunk was in the sick bay, along with Lieutenant Allen Buchanan, Ensigns Wilcox and Spofford and Dr. Martin Donelson, all of cur navy. The rest of the party (thirty-four petty officers and enlisted men from the U. S. S. " Scor- pion ") were stowed in different parts of the ship; the chart-house was assigned to Bel- knap. They all slept well. The next morning, as there was only space for one to dress at a time, J., the last comer, lay in his berth waiting his turn. He heard a familiar voice outside, and caught a glimpse of Hugh, the Yeoman, squat- ting on the slippery iron deck, talking with 219 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN a machinist come on board that morning to join the Messina party. " We was to Suez on the ' Culgoa ' long about the end of December," Hugh was saying, " when we got a message from Roosevelt to get up steam and push through to Messina, and give them all the food and clothing we could spare. We had a thousand loaves ready when we sailed into that Lord -forsaken place! We let it down to 'em in nets. We been hanging around these parts ever since." The machinist asked a question. The Yeo- man's answer was energetic: "Sure! Didn't you know.'^ Roosevelt is sending out wood to build three thousand houses for these Eyetalians, and we're the Johnnies that's going to build 'em. Did you ever hear the likes o' that.^* Ain't he a wonder! " Later in the morning J. went on shore with the doctor, in search of sheets and towels. He was much chagrined that he had not brought his own, and I that I had not sent them — we shall know better next time. They left Naples that afternoon, and early the next morning (the 22nd of February) the " Celtic," her white 220 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA sides shining, her rigging gay with bunting in honor of Washington's birthday, sailed through the Straits and into the harbor of Messina. As they approached the Faro, the oflScers gathered on the poop deck. Bel- knap's keen eyes, sailor's eyes that see so much more than others, scrutinized the water- front. '* Things are waking up! " he said. " There's a schooner taking on a cargo of lemons ! That tramp steamer is discharging lumber." Half a dozen ships lay in the old harbor of Zancle, unloading all manner of building mate- rials. Yes, trade had come back to the indispen- sable city, as it always has done after every earthquake since the one that frightened Ulysses and the Greeks of his time; the ancients made stories and myths about that earthquake that still delight us. Ulysses landed in Sicily, you remember, with twelve of his men and entered the cave of Polyphemus, a terrible one-eyed giant who tended his giant sheep on the slopes of Mt. Etna, the burning mountain that stood over the workshop of Vulcan; you can see the smoke, sometimes the fire of the smithy, coming out of the hole at the top of the mountain to 221 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN this day. The giant killed and ate six of the adventurers; he would have killed them all but for the crafty Ulysses, who made the Cyclops drunk and while he slept put out his single eye with a red-hot pole. Then Ulysses and his six remaining companions concealed themselves under the bellies of the giant sheep; and so, when Polyphemus let out his flock to graze, they escaped. (I myself have seen this ad- venture pictured in an ancient sculpture at Palermo.) When the Cyclops found his pris- oners were gone, he roared with anger and pur- sued them, hurling great rocks after them; but being blind his aim was not good, and three of the boulders fell into the sea, where you can find them today by Aci Castello. One has a round hole like an eye, through which the sun- light shines as it once did through the single eye of the Cyclops. All this means that some Greek sailors " in the dim red dawn of man " really were caught in an earthquake and were so greatly frightened that their descendants not only made myths and legends about it, but remembered it. 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WRECK OF RAILROAD. Page 151. STREET IN REGGiO. Page 133. BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA long sandy point that runs out into the sea below Taormina, and founded Naxos, the first Greek settlement in Sicily, they still talked about the troubles of Ulysses. The real danger of the island, these early adventurers said, was not the Sicans — they were a quiet agricultural people, no match for the clever Greeks — but Polyphemus, the Laestrygones, and Hephaes- tus. They were right; Sicily's real danger now as then is the terrible volcanic force, to account for whose havoc the ancients created those dear giants and monsters, the Cyclops, the Titans, and a hundred others. In the lovely crescent-shaped harbor that once was called Zancle (sickle), then Messana, now Messina, two large deserted fruit steamers lay swinging idly at their moorings. When there was so much for ships to do, it was strange to see these splendid freighters idle. " To whom do they belong.^ " J. asked. Alfredo Brofferio, Tenente di Vascello, an Italian navy officer, detailed to help Belknap in his work, answered: *' To three little children. Formerly they were owned by a great firm. The partners were all killed; of their families only these infants 223 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN survive. The ships may lie there till they rot — who knows if they will ever get up steam agamr The " Celtic's " great anchor splashed in the water, her cables sang as they slipped through the hawse-holes. " Do you see that house? " Brofferio pointed to a mass of ruins on the Marina. *' I lived there with my Signora and our children for two years. On the 22nd of December, six days before the earthquake, I was ordered away to sea. My wife decided to remain in Messina. * We are so comfortable heje,' she said, * the climate suits the children.' So it was agreed. The night before I was to leave, there was a slight earthquake shock, but a mere nothing; we had often felt worse. I thought nothing of it. Women, however, feel things that we cannot — my wife said to me: * This is a warning; tomorrow morning the children and I will depart with thee for Naples,' her very words. A sailor's wife makes long journeys at short notice; we all left together. If she had not been so wise — " Brofferio's steady blue eyes grew troubled, *' you see? Not one who lived in that house is alive today! " 224 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA " The Flying Dutchman sailed away, oh yes, oh ! He tried to enter Table Bay a hundred years ago! " The song of the sailor at the masthead broke the long silence that fell on the group. '* Today is a festa in your country." Brof- ferio shook himself and pointed to the " Celtic's '* three flags and extra bunting; " a saint's day? '* " Why, yes! " said J.; " you may call it so. Three years ago today I went down to the North End (Boston's Little Italy) in search of Parmesan cheese; an Italian grocer at the corner of North and Cross Streets sells the real kind in solid nubbles, hard as a brickbat, not that paltry grated stuff in bottles. As I passed the Catholic church, I saw a poor Italian woman trying to get in. She knocked, pounded, even kicked the church door; but nobody paid any attention. Then she took off her fazoletto — from her dress she was Abbruzese — spread it on the church steps, knelt, folded her hands, and began to pray: " ' Santo Washingtone mio, non hanno aperto la chiesa ' (O my Saint Washington, they have not opened the church!), her prayer began. You see she added Saint Washington, the patron of her new country, to her Calendar 225 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN of Saints; she had come to say a prayer, per- haps hght a candle to him, but the church, open on all other saints' days, was inexplicably closed on this! " A boatload of Italian naval officers and port officials now came on board to offer the usual courtesies; Brofferio explained to them the reason for the " Celtic's " three flags and eictra bunting; soon after this all the Italian navy ships in the harbor hoisted their masthead flags. " You see? " said J., " they too are cele- brating the festa of Santo Washingtone! " *' And the weather? " Brofferio asked an Italian officer, *' always the same? " "You may say so! Per Bacco, this is the fifty-sixth day since the disaster; on forty- five of these blessed days it has rained as in the time of the deluge! " " The Quartermaster reports a steamer stand- ing in towards the harbor, flying the American flag and a white pennant with the words : * Head- quarters of the U. S. Carpenters.' " When he heard that, J. ran for his kodak, just in time to photograph the *' Eva," the first American lumber ship, as she dropped anchor close in shore. 226 ARRIVAL OF THE " EVA." fage 226. AMERICAN VILLAGE. MESSINA. FRAME OF FIRST HOUSE. Page 230. BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA " Gosh! " said Hugh, the Yeoman, scanning the " Eva's " decks, " there are a couple of Boston cops aboard. Wonder who they've come for? " The American Carpenters' uni- form was very like the Boston policeman's. With the arrival of the '* Eva," we began to see the tangible results of all that telegraphing between America and Italy, the Ambassador's despatches, Mr. Hooper's appeal to Boston (never appealed to in vain), Mr. Parrish's cor- respondence with Mr. Taft, President of the American Red Cross. They had not let the grass grow under their feet at home; when they understood that wood and building material for houses was what was most wanted in Italy, our people, acting through Congress and through the American Red Cross Society, *' came up to the scratch " nobly, gave with two hands and never counted the cost. Here was the *' Eva," the first timber ship, as a living proof. No time, no expense, had been spared in fitting her out; as she lay alongside the dock in New York, the stevedores worked day and night, in double shifts, loading her with the good sweet-smelling Carolina pine. There was but one bitter drop in that cup; the '* Eva " was a British steamer 227 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN — when, oh, when shall we do our own carrying by sea? Wednesday, February 23rd, though a drizzling rain was falling, the work of discharging the " Eva's " cargo began at seven o'clock. Ensign Spofford was in charge of the men. He had a dozen " Scorpions " to help him discipline the shrieking, gesticulating mob of Sicilian steve- dores and carters. The precious lumber, tools, glass, roofing paper, hardware, all the priceless materials for the American Village must be guarded from the poor homeless Messinesi, who thought they were only taking their own when they helped themselves. That first rainy day the task must have looked long and hard to officers and men. Belknap, fearful of demur- rage, just touched them with his restless spur — it was enough, more than the rowelling of another — and they sprang with ardor to their task. The carts for transporting the lumber from the Marina were of every description, from gay little painted carretfi to lumbering ox wains. The beasts of burthen included mules, carriage horses, saddle horses, infinitesimal don- keys. The carts must needs keep within hailing distance of each other, for the Viale San Mar- 228 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA tino, leading to the site of the future village, was a slough of despond, a sea of liquid mud. The poor animals floundered, the wheels sank hub deep in the dreadful mire. Time after time the beasts from three or four carts must be hitched to a wagon stuck in the mud. The motley stream of carts, each under the guard of a " Scorpion," crawled at a snail's pace from the Marina, up the Viale San Mar- tino, to the Valley of the Mosella, a lemon grove on the outskirts of the old city. The site assigned to the Americans (as beautiful a site as heart could wish) was on the farther side of the Torrente Zaera, a deep water course. At the Valley of the Mosella — usually called the Zona Case Americana — Lieutenant Buchanan, Ensign Wilcox and two American carpenters re- ceived the lumber. The Americans watched the leisurely Sicilians unload the first two carts. " At this rate," said Buchanan, " we shall pass the rest of our lives in Messina. Here, all you Scorpions! " Then followed an object lesson those Messinesi never forgot. " Half a dozen of our sailor men," writes Belknap, " led by Dougherty, the gunner's mate, ran up and took possession of one of the 229 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN carts ; they tipped the load off sidewise in three shakes. The natives looked on and gaped a bit, but they took the hint and we had no further delay of that kind. Sometimes our sailors were even able to infuse into their gangs the spirit of a regular coaling-ship hustle." Later Belknap had the happy thought of pre- senting each carter with a ten centesimo piece at the end of every trip; it was wonderful how many more trips they managed to make after that. In a few days a contractor was found who furnished a set of fine solid carts, drawn by beautiful red Sicilian oxen; the work now went on rapidly. Friday night, forty-eight hours after the " Eva " hove in sight, the first American portable house was put to- gether, and the frame of the first cottage was set up. Gasperone, who found J. out the very day he reached Messina, hovered about the neat little yellow cottage with its green blinds, well-fitted doors and windows, its convenient handles and latches. He felt the even clapboards, rattled the handle of the door, tried the hinge of a shutter; then, running both his hands through his mop of hair, exclaimed: 230 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA " It's a miracle! Piff, pafiF, two taps of a martello, and behold, a house! " Saturday the rain, that till then had come in fitful showers, settled into the regular earth- quake downpour to show what it could do. It was impossible for the carpenters to work under this deluge. " Belknap didn't let a little thing like that stop him," writes J. " He put the Americans to work and in ten hours built the great work- shed, sixty-four feet long, where from that time on, rain or shine, work was always going on." The different members of the party were now working with the regularity of the cogs of a well-oiled machine. Brofferio was busy making those official visits to the civil, military and naval authorities, which did so much to make everything run smoothly; from the first Brof- ferio knew no other duty than to serve the interests of the expedition to which he was attached; in this way he could best serve his country. Here, there, always where he was most needed, was Belknap. He and his men were from first to last smart in their dress, as if they had been on duty at Annapolis; that 231 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN was one of the great lessons they taught the demorahzed Sicilians. Neat, well set up, clean shaven, with spick-and-span linen, the Americans did their work, the work of giants it seemed to the slow Sicilians, and never for one moment was their discipline relaxed. The chart-house of the " Celtic " became a sort of Box and Cox apartment. By night Captain Belknap slept there; by day J. stood at his drawing-board and worried out the plans for America's part of the New Messina. His letter diary, written on odd scraps of paper, gives little flashes of side-light on the enterprise. On the 22nd of February he writes: " I have just had breakfast; the coffee with rich American cream is a dream. I am having a glorious time designing a hotel. Tomorrow the ship arrives with the first lot of houses to be put up here. Mr. Billings, representing the Massachusetts Committee, (interesting man), and those two delightful men from Taormina, Bowdoin and Wood, that I met before, lunch on board. " February 23rd: The first American timber ship, the ' Eva,' is dropping anchor at this moment close by. Tomorrow the real rush 232 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA will begin. Everything is all so new on board a ship like this that I enjoy it thoroughly. I am treated like a king. I have been design- ing a little outside kitchen, a very primitive arrangement; I hope it will work. *' February 26th: I got up at six o-'clock this morning and went ashore for the first time since we arrived. I have been drawing the plans for the houses, making working drawings and tracings, and literally have not had one moment to call my own. I made a photograph this morning of the first house, one of the forty- nine portable houses Massachusetts sent. I don't want to quit this job till it's finished and it's only just begun. In a way it's much harder work than the ' Bayern ' because it's head work. I have had to design an hotel two stories high, to remodel entirely the plans sent from America — a difficult task— to design a church on a primitive plan. The high altar end is to be in a little house but the main body of the church is to be roofed in only, no sides. I have in mind the * only place where the cannibals are! ' Do you remember the great shed in the Midway Pleasance at the Chicago World's Fair, where the King of Dahomey sat.'^ Chanler 233 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN turned up this morning, lunched on board, and left this afternoon for Reggio with his little band. I was glad to see him, but quite glad he didn't stay as that would have meant one more in our cabin, and we can only dress one at a time. I had to make a set of drawings for Chanler to take to Reggio to show the General; but after I had swatted for an hour and a half to get them finished for him, he went off and forgot them. Rome seems like a dream; I feel as if I had always lived on board ship ! ** February.'^ I think this is the last day of the month. I know it is Sunday, but all days are alike and all go so quickly. I literally have no time for anything unless I steal it as I am doing now. I never felt so sorry for architects before. It seems to me I have made hundreds of drawings (of course I haven't) and all of them have to be changed either by the prefect, the Capo Ingegnere, the captain, or the carpenters; but it's all in the day's work. One cannot make such a good showing, however, when one drawing after another is either altered or discarded. I am sitting down to write this — the first time I have sat down, except to eat, since I came aboard. The sailors squat on the 234 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA deck and write letters, using their knees as a desk. It looks all right but, as the decks are made of iron, one's feet will slip away from one. Letter day on board is a sight to be seen. Remember that post cards have a peculiar fascination for sailor men, who haven't been home since Lord knows when, many of them; we shipped a lot, forty or so, who were on their way home from the Pacific cruise, and brought them here. It's blowing great guns, and all the ships are strengthen- ing their moorings to keep from being blown into their neighbors. Hugh has just looked in to bring me a letter from you. Captain Belknap is in a hurry to get the hotel de- sign finished. Most of the changes that are made are to save wood, so as to have enough to build with; but if rafters, composts, floor- beams, studs, and even sills, are cut out con- tinually, a day's work soon disappears in re- spacing them. I hope you will carry out your plan of coming down to Taormina. The hotels are all closing for lack of business, sending their guests to one (' The Timeo '), and even that is not half full. You ought to see Sicily, you ought to get some idea of the earthquake's 235 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN work, for no matter how wild your idea may be, it will be tame beside the real thing. Wood and Bowdoin are at Taormina, working like slaves to relieve the villages between here and there — they suffered fearfully — and you could see and do much. We have had quite a lively time since I began this. It is blowing a gale and things are happening. Our anchor lost its hold and dragged until we were not more than six metres from the bows of the steamer alongside of us. I didn't know anything out of the way was happening till I heard quick commands and sailor men running; when I looked out and saw they had sent the steam launch over to an Italian man-of-war with a hawser, which was made fast on board of her and the other end was hauled in by the donkey engine, and we were pulled away just in time to prevent a collision — how they did it all without my assistance, I can't quite make out! They are getting over another anchor now for safety's sake, and they will probably need it as the wind seems little inclined to quiet down. It's very warm here; I haven't worn my over- coat since the first day. I doubt if you will be able to see much of me if you come, but 236 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA they will probably let me come to Taormina for a day. In about ten days we go ashore and live in the first twelve houses, and this ship goes away. The ship's doctor went ashore and found a spring of water up a hillside near the camp, and it will be brought down in breakers every day, in a dear little painted donkey cart like the one I brought you from Palermo, and not so much bigger. The first bag of mail, sent on to Messina by the ' Scorpion,' was returned by the postal authorities here, hence the long delay in hearing from Rome. "The next day, U. S. S. 'Celtic,' Messina: Nothing has happened since I wrote you except one rather severe earthquake, which I thought was the ice machine. I am making drawings for the whole outfit, and duplicates to send to various places where our wooden palaces are desired. I am at this moment supposed to be making three tracings and an entirely new scheme for an hotel. One is entirely worked out, with four bathrooms, capable of putting up a hundred people or more, with a great big dining-room and restaurant, thirty by forty feet, with all the kitchen quarters. I try to keep copies of the plans for you, but they are 237 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN snatched away from me, naturally enough, as soon as they are finished. I am to have my innings in building the duckiest little kitchen you ever dreamt of and a whole carpenter to help me. Chanler blew over yesterday and lunched with us. In the evening he left for Naples on business; he returns in a couple of days; they all adore him. " ' Celtic,' next day: Chanler blew back from Naples at seven o'clock this morning, and went back to Reggio about an hour later. He is looking awfully well and is full of business. I am sending a film to the photographer to be developed of the first portable house, and another of the work-shop and houses in course of construction at the end of the first week. It has rained a great deal and Hooper's rubber coat has been of immense use to me — tell him when you see him, and do show him the photos. " March 6th: Mr. Bicknell, of the Red Cross, came today with his secretary, an avvocato, Donati by name. A Roman, of the real old Roman type, he looks like that bust in the Vati- can, the one you always say is so modern — just like the sort of man who takes you in to dinner. 238 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA " Wednesday, March 9th: I don't know how much longer I stay — if I see it through, it will be the first of May before I get away. I am terribly rushed as I have to get out a set of drawings for Queen Elena, of the houses we are to put up at her village. That is to say, I am arranging where they are to go. I took the Duca d'Ascoli, the Queen's gentleman-in- waiting, over the land at the Villaggio Regina Elena yesterday. I am trying to get the draw- ings done for the Queen, and translating em- ployment forms, and things happen every minute as well. I am well and happy and work- ing like anything. The hotel is accepted. The Queen wants me to make designs for a school- house for her; and I am trying to do it, but there are usually anywhere from two to four people in the chart-house, and I get my elbow poked just as I am almost successfully through an ink drawing. "U. S. S. 'Celtic,' March 11, 1909: It's 8.45 A. M. Belknap went over to Reggio this morning at seven and doesn't get back till lunch time, and I have a great stunt before me. Saturday we go out to live in our first batch of twelve houses, which are finished. The water 239 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN supply comes from a mountain stream, away above where the town supply comes from. It has been analyzed by the doctor (who goes with us) and piped by the ' Celtic's ' plumber to the camp. The work that has been undertaken is simply immense. The houses are spotting themselves over the surface of the earth, like flies on sticky fly-paper, as thick and fast. Yesterday was a tremendous day; I had to get out the hotel plan for the engineer, to give our estimate of how much wire would be needed for electric lighting of it, and the Duca d'Ascoli took off at five o'clock a bundle of drawings for Queen Elena; and all the time I was being joggled and jostled by people coming in and out, and many of them staying in the chart-house. I cannot imagine where you got the idea of cold. I wrote a long time ago that I had never had occasion to wear my overcoat since I came down, and it's been very much in the way in these cramped quarters. Bill o* the Bilge's rubber coat has been my greatest boon; though I have sweltered in it, it has kept me dry. Twice we have had dinner on the quarter-deck; we did last night. Captain Huse gave a dinner for the Duca d'Ascoli, the 240 »,.-rff<< ■ D < . < ^ UJ O o o s < OS d2 <2 r!<-> MESSINA. VIA I. SETTEMBRE. PALMI. THE CATHEDRAL. Page 158. BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA Captain of the Port and the Comandante of the Italian man-of-war. Ascoli sat on the captain's right; we had a very jolly evening. About my getting away from here; it's a question. I am just about to tackle the ar- rangement of the houses we are to build for the Queen's village. I have worked out the hotel, special houses for Queen Elena, work- rooms, schools, a church for our own village here in Messina, on a modest plan that will fit the lumber we have at our disposition. The hotel will have seventy-six rooms apart from oflSces. "March 14th: Our warship, the 'Celtic,' leaves here on Monday some time, but we go to the houses tomorrow. The ship only waits to give us a chance to find out if we need anything more. I have sent two rolls of photographs to be developed, the Villaggio Regina Elena and the U. S. village at the end of the second week's work. There is a wall along the river bed, the Torrente Zaera, showing a water-pipe that brings the water to the cottages. It was turned on yesterday. I tried to get a photograph of the kitchen sink with the water running and the first jet of water. The others are of the 241 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN American building work — I hope they will give you some idea of it. The most precious of all the snap-shots is the one of a church belfry with a clock, the hands pointing to the exact hour of the catastrophe. I call it the Tell Tale Tower. This is God's own country in charge of the Devil. Do you know of any one like Flint or Thompson you could send down to help out, a good boss with some idea of method and system and accounts, who can speak Italian? I am so sorry Thompson can't come. A divine day ! I wish I had brought my light summer suit. I think we are going to be comfortable in the camp. Belknap thinks of everything; I never knew such a man! ** Monday, March 15th: We are just off for the camp on the Piano della Mosella. It is a glorious day but hot, though it is early, not yet ten. Last night we dined on board the Italian man-of-war, * Dandolo,' and I send you one of the menus. They are all done by the sailor men and I thought would interest you. Did I tell you the Queen made a request that we build for her three hospitals — one in her own village, one at Messina and one at Reggio.'* I am expecting to get to work on the designs 242 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA as soon as we get instructions from Mr. Gris- com. You must not go away from Italy without coming here. Things move very rapidly and many of them at once! " They move so rapidly that it's breathless business trying to follow them. The work planned was roughly this: To build at Messina a village of a thousand houses with the neces- sary public buildings, hospitals, schools, church and hotel. The hotel was of vital importance. One of the worst features of the disaster was the fact that the brains of Messina had been practi- cally w^iped out. The people saved were largely of the working class, who are up early in the morning and who live in small houses. The great palaces of the rich proved fatal death- traps to most of them. The few business men of sense and energy left to cope with that unheard-of chaos had no place to sleep or eat at Messina. They were forced to live at Catania or Taormina, thus losing many precious hours on the long railroad journeys back and forth. Reggio, from the first the more fortunate of the two stricken cities, soon had a decent hotel lighted with electric light — a thing never before 243 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN known in the ancient city the Romans called Rhegium, and Hugh, the Yeoman, spoke of as Riggio — but Reggio had Captain Cagni ! Be- sides the village at Messina, the Americans had agreed to build a hospital and about one hundred houses at the Villaggio Regina Elena, a charming suburb on the other side of Messina, built by Queen Elena. At Reggio, another American vil- lage of one thousand houses was to be put up; on the Calabrian coast, in what is called the Palmi district, between Reggio and Scylla, five hundred houses were to be erected; and in the country between Taormina and Messina three hundred more, these last to be placed according to the advice of Messrs. Bowdoin and Wood, who ought to be classed with San Pancrazio, the patron saint thereabouts. These gentlemen had, and richly deserved to have, the forty-nine portable houses for their proteges. There is an impression at home that a far larger number of these admirable portable houses were sent than was the case. There were only forty-nine in all, sent by Massachusetts, who also con- tributed material for three hundred houses and much else besides. The village in the Valley of the Mosella was 244 '-J^'^'----.^"^' MESSINA. THE TORRENTE ZAERA. Page 241. BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA to be laid out in regular street blocks like any modern suburban district in America, each block to contain twelve houses. Belknap's plan was to finish the first twelve houses, a kitchen and an ice-house, and as soon as possible take possession of them and establish the party in camp. In the corner of the central square the ice-house was dug and roofed over, and here they stored thirty tons of ice and provisions from the " Celtic," enough to last three weeks. There was great rejoicing the day the water was put in. There was a shower bath in Buchan- an's house, running water in the kitchen sink and men's washroom, and an outside faucet for general use. The waste water was led by a wooden pipe to the Torrente Zaera. The fifteenth of March, three weeks after our builders arrived at Messina, they took pos- session of the camp. It was a glorious day; they were astir early on the " Celtic " packing their kits. J. watched the men put his draw- ing-board and portfolio safely on the ox-cart under Hugh's care, and started to walk to the Mosella. " In the street are a few miserable shops for foodstuffs," J. writes. " I say street, but it is 245 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN really only a passageway where the street used to be. On either side are mounds of debris with little groups of diggers, hunting for their relatives, with a soldier leaning on his gun with fixed bayonet beside some coffins. It was nearly midday; one party was using a coffin for a table and others as chairs — truly, famili- arity breeds contempt. Not only this, but I saw little toddling babies put to play in them, to keep them out of harm's way. One thing shows a wicked lack of forethought. Shelters have been built across the tram tracks, that have only been slightly damaged in one or two places. They make the entire route of the villages that have suffered, and ought to be put in operation immediately." Though he stopped to notice these things, J. reached the camp in time to see the pretty inaugural ceremony. At twelve o'clock the bugler from the " Celtic " sounded " attention." Officers and men all assembled in line. The two civilians, Mr. Bicknell and J., hurried to the end of the workshop and adjusted their cameras. Belknap then read aloud a letter from the Prefect of Messina, the Commendatore Trinchieri, be- ginning: — 246 BUILDING THE NEW MESSINA " Most Il,lustrious Sir: — My Government entrusts me with the honor of according you the right to occupy a camp in the Valley of the Mosella, and to acknowledge the justice of your desires that the National Flag of the United States of America should fly above the place during the daylight." Etc., etc., etc. Tara, tara, tara! The bugler sounded the salute to the colors. The flag crept up the tall flagstaft' and unfolded in the light breeze. " Three cheers, men ! " cried Buchanan. They were given with a will. "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! " There was a little speechmaking after this. J., busy with his kodak, only heard the rousing cheers as the Stars and Stripes, emblem of the world's hope, floated over the new settle- ment on the old, old shore of Trinacria. 247 VIII THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA *' Zona Case Americane, March 16, 1909. " We left the ' Celtic ' yesterday and came out here to our camp at the Mosella, where everything is running like clockwork. I have a pleasant room but no view, while the house where the nails are stored has a divine one. There's no window in Belknap's room; he chose the worst one of all so that no grumbler should have the right to kick," writes J. in his first letter after they left the ship and the hospitable Captain Huse, of whose kindness frequent men- tion is made both in letters and diary. The camp stood in a lemon grove fronting the Straits of Messina, where the whirlpool, Chary b- dis, darkens the sapphire water with streaks of violet. Across the narrow strip of sea to the left lay Scylla, directly opposite Reggio, the dark Calabrian mountains tipped with snow towering above. A more sublime view it would be hard to find, but our men did not stop 248 c-..^-NiK.^<. - *iv:« /iv^ >^^ JVl ^--!*, vJEEN ELENA'S GROUP OF AMERICAN C. -Ti AGE.-:, ruge 244. THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA to look much at views, or to look back in fancy at the historical vista, the long line of heroes and conquerors who had landed in Sicily before them, and set up their camps with the same care to be within reach of a good spring of water. Of course they must have had some dim sense that they were living on classic ground, familiar to them in their school days. They knew, or had known then, that Ulysses and his men and the wandering Aeneas had been here; that Greeks and Phoenicians met and fought here; that Carthage had her first battle with Rome not far away; that Goths, Saracens, Normans, Germans, French and Span- iards had passed over this ground before them. Perhaps they gave a thought to the last comer. Garibaldi, who landed here with his Thousand in 1860 and won the jewel, Sicity, for King Victor's crown; but it is more likely they thought very little about what happened before their day — it's so much more fun to make history than to read it! All these other ad- venturers and heroes landed, sword in hand, to fight for the possession of this fair Sicily, this Helen among earth's islands. For what, in the name of history, had these last invaders 249 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN come? What booty did Belknap and his tnen hope to find in that abomination of desolation, Messina? They planted their flag where the standards of kings and conquerors have waved, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do, and set to work at their task of teaching the inhabitants how to build and how to live in wooden houses. Sicily has never had a Wooden Age till now; here primitive man left his cave to build a cavelike house of the soft, easily worked, tufa stone of the island. The Northmen who helped the Sicilians build their new homes — Danes, Swiss, Americans, Eng- lish — were at great pains to teach them how to live safely and with comfort in their wooden dwellings, where the two chief dangers to be reckoned with are fire and vermin. For the race of Northmen, these problems had already been solved by the time Attila, the Scourge of God, built his vast wooden palace on the Danube, only to die there on his wedding night (still mourned by all true lovers) in the arms of his bride, the gracious Hilda. The Northmen's inherited knowledge was now to help the men of the South solve the riddle: how to live safely in civilized dwellings in a quaking land? 250 THE CAMP BY TORRENTS ZAERA If the Japanese can rise to be a world power, living in houses of paper and bamboo, there is no reason why the Calabrians and Sicilians should not learn to live in wooden houses, should not develop the caution and the cleanli- ness imperative for those who would live safely and decently within wooden walls. " Naturally," writes Belknap, " we took in- terest in the houses other people were building, some of which lay on either hand of ours. From a visit to the Lombardy houses Mr. Elliott got the suggestion of a semi-brick kitchen, which we saw we must adopt if we would make our cottages equally suitable to their future occu- pants' habits of living, and as safe from fire as the houses other people were putting up. A fire built on a wooden floor or dangerously near a wooden wall is a common sight." The camp was astir early. The first sounds came from the kitchen, where the American w^ho cooked for the men and the Sicilian who cooked for the officers made a great to-do with their pots and pans. Next came the music of the goat bells — where did they come from? (" Belknap thinks of everything.") A great herd of shaggy goats came rambling into the 251 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN camp, driven by their dark wild-looking herders. Jugs and bowls were brought out, and the morn- ing supply of milk was drawn from the streaming udders of the patient goats, who browsed and nibbled at whatever they could find. Breakfast was served at six, a Gargantuan feast. There is a legend that the first morning a hungry car- penter made away with nine eggs and the larger part of a ham. After breakfast the workmen began to arrive, for the greater part of the actual manual work was done by Italians; the American oflScers, carpenters and sailors acted as overseers, directing the work. The first day after the " Celtic " arrived they started with five Italian workmen; the next day they had thirty; by the end of the fourth week Belknap employed five hundred Sicilian and Calabrian workmen at Messina alone. As they arrive, each man is given his tools and his number is recorded. The boys come eating crusts of bread, sleepy-eyed and inclined to take time to finish their scanty meal. The men saunter leisurely to their work, smoking their pipes. The voice of the great '* boss carpenter " is heard here, there, everywhere: '* Get to work, darn ye! It's past seven 252 -*3^is|^-^'-"-'':'"- c^'- ^r^Mi-^-'.rLi: MESSINA. ARRIVAL OF FURNITURE FOR AMERICAN COTTAGES. Page 24 S. AMERICAN VILLAGE. MESSINA. VIA BICKNELL, FIRST STREET. Page 238. AMERICAN CAMP, MESSINA. STRAGGLERS FROM THE HERD. Page 251. IN THE AMERICAN VILLAGE, MESSINA. Page 257. THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA o'clock. Al lavoi'o, at lavorol Don't you talk your Eyetalian to me! '* So the gangs are hectored and herded to their Work. Soon both admonition and expostulation are drowned in the song of the saw and plane, in the good chorus of the hammer. The Anvil Chorus seems tame when one has listened to this glorious music after the dreadful silence of Messina, where the dead still lie in tens of thousands, buried only in the debris of their houses. Brofferio had hunted up Zenobia, his washer- woman (she lived in the country), and found her alive and well, having escaped all damage to house or property from the earthquake. She was overjoyed to see him, and early that first morning she arrived at the camp for his linen. Like the good fellow he is, Brofferio shared his good fortune with the rest, and Zenobia agreed to do the washing for his friends. She took away all she could carry on her head and came back for more, making several trips in the course of the morning. She brought the clothes back in the same piecemeal fashion, a few at a time. " The clothes are washed in a mountain 253 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN stream, beaten between two stones, and dried on the grass. They come back the sweetest smell- ing things in Messina," writes J., " only we have to wait an endless time for them." One morning J., whose house was next Brof- ferio's, heard Zenobia making a great outcry: " Signor Comandante! " she exclaimed. " Have mercy on me; I am not strong. I live five kilometres distant — the walk is long, the path is a scandal, the sun is hot. I have brought an immense load. Madonna Santa! larger no woman could carry! " " Thou art avaricious," said BrofFerio sternly, " which is shameful, considering thou art making more money than any woman in Messina. Dost thou grudge the soldi to hire an asino? Basta! Either take the linen properly all at once and return it in the same manner, or come no more. There is always the grandmother of Gas- perone — " *' It is enough; the Signor Comandante shall be obeyed — ten donkeys, if it will appease him!" Zenobia departed and returned later with the balance of the linen, nicely packed on the back of a tiny donkey. This plan worked admirably 254 THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA until the day of reckoning came, and Zenobia's neighbor, Sor Pietro, a poor old half-crazed peasant, who had not recovered his wits since the earthquake, presented a bill for the use of the donkey. Zenobia, a queenly creature, — she looked her name, — had commandeered the beast and refused to pay for the use of it. " She assured us, illustrious Comandante," said Sor Pietro, weeping pitifully, " that the Government required the animal — I myself dug him out of the ruin a week after the earth- quake — for the use of the Americans. I said I will go myself and hear the truth! " Meanwhile Zenobia and the donkey arrived on the field of battle. " Would the Sor Comandante know the truth.^ " Zenobia shot a basilisk glance at Pietro. " The animal was not being used. Sor Pietro himself said it was too miserably weak to draw the jilough. He had no use for him, nor will have till it is time to gather his lemons and take them to the Marina. Should he deny this poor miserable brute when my officers, the magnanimous, the Heaven-sent, demand such an animal.'* He deserves to die of an apoplexy! " At this moment an orderly brought a letter 255 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN to Brofferio. As he turned to read it, Zenobia sprang like a panther at Pietro, caught him by the shoulder, shook him like a sack, and hissed in his deaf ear: " Ingrate, cabbage head, hangman! " '* You have received a very large sum of money this morning," said Brofferio, folding up his letter, " fully fifteen francs. Do me the favor to pay this man five sous. How many times hath she borrowed the asino? Five sous for each trip. Now then!" Zenobia produced a soiled and knotted hand- kerchief from her stocking and counted the money unwillingly into Pietro's seamy brown palm. " Now I wonder," said Brofferio, as the pair walked amicably away together, *' if that comedy was all arranged beforehand .^^ " The early days at Mosella recall the descrip- tion of the building of Carthage. The busy master-carpenters, each with his foot-rule in his pocket, his blue pencil behind his ear, move about among the gangs of Sicilian laborers. One measures out on the bare ground the place where the timbers that form the sills of the next 256 THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA house shall be laid; another directs the driver of a heavy ox -team, drawn by a pair of sturdy red steers, where to discharge a load of fragrant new cut pine boards. At noon work comes to a halt. Francesco taps at the office door and announces: " Dinny ready. Mister! " Francesco is a Sicilian of the Greek type, straight as a lance, with a fine head, thick curling hair and eyes of gray sapphire. He escaped unhurt from his house the morning after the earthquake, after Ij^ing for hours under the ruins. At dinner Belknap sits at the head of the long table; on his right is Brofferio. Then seated in the order of their rank come the offi- cers, the " architect," as they call J., and the master-carpenters. The table is laid with neat- ness — for a camp, with elegance. There is a white table-cloth with napkins, borrowed from the " Celtic; " at either end stands a bowl filled with pale quince blossoms, wreathed with ivy — winding ivy besprent with purple berries, the kind that twined the bacchantes* thyrsus. This is Gasperone's idea, the touch of the aesthetic, the legacy of Hellas, that every day and every hour you see in Sicily, that makes 257 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN this land and its people rich in grace beyond all others. " Them flowers looks kinder pretty," said Timothy, the carpenter. He made a mental note to write his wife about Gasperone's decora- tion of the " mess " table. Francesco and Gasperone, the Sicilian serv- ants, have a third helper, Mr. Buchanan's *' boy," a magnificent negro. This full-blooded African giant stands six-feet-two; he is broad of shoulder, narrow of hip, with teeth like new- peeled almonds and eyes like the big Sicilian oxen. He has the same pictorial " value " as the blacks Paul Veronese painted in his Venetian feasts. Dinner begins with a loin of good roast American pork from the " Celtic's " store. The big negro offers a dish to go with the pork, whispering in a gentle lisp: ** Apple thause, thir.^* " After dinner there is a short pause; work only begins again at one o'clock. Pipes are lighted; in Flagstaff Square the sailors have a game of baseball, watched and cheered by a delighted crowd of Messinesi. Work is over for the men at halfpast five, for the masters 258 MESSINA. QUITTING WORK. Page 258. AF<:RIVAL OF THE BARBER. Page 265. THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA only at bedtime. There is no theatre, no place of amusement, not even a cinematograph in Messina. At sunset the young sailors, who have worked all day and are not yet tired, wrestle and box together, for the lust of life that is in them. A crowd of men and boys gathers to watch and applaud; if the sounds of labor are welcome in this silent city,^ the joyous sounds of play are twice welcome. Between nine and ten J., who works in a little cubby-hole shut off from the captain's office, is ready to turn in. He has stood all day at his drawing- board, making the plans as fast — or almost — as Belknap asks for them. His bed is " de- lightfully comfortable; " the " spring " is given by nailing the planks at one end of the bunk and leaving them free at the other, so that they have some play; mattress and pillow are of good sweet seaweed. " Last night was chilly," he WTites, " but thanks to the traveling rug, in addition to two blankets and Hooper's coat, I was quite warm. I got the tip from a native that the nights were cold and passed on mj^ acquired knowledge, but it was unheeded by the others, who got left. I knew I should be too sleepy 259 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN to put the extra things on, so I plumped them all on before I went to sleep. Tonight we are going to be supplied with extra blankets. It's now a little after one o'clock and the heat is quite uncomfortable; it seems stupid to be talking of blankets." By ten all lights are out except Belknap's, always the last. Every night he knots up the business of the past day; makes each record, answers all letters, plans out the next morning's work. When he is not at work elsewhere, the Chief sits in Jiis office writing those endless despatches, letters, reports, that are not the easiest part of his prodigious labor. Read them over now: it seems impossible that the man, who carried on this minute detailed corres- pondence, could have found time for anything else. You feel the character of the writer in every page; the will of iron, the heart of a child, the training of a sailor who, in order to command, learned first to obey. Nowhere in all this mass of letters and reports will you find Belknap " posing " before his correspondent or that imaginary audience, the world, that may always get a sight of such documents; every- where, with a skill not born of chance, whenever 260 THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA he can " throw the limelight " on one of his men, he does so with a generous hand. Belknap is one of those natural leaders of men, who seem providentially to arise in great emergencies. His tireless energy, his cheerful courage are positively infectious; his example and influence are felt in every phase of the enterprise of which he was the leader. Just what was his work.^ To bring order out of chaos. Men are the instruments of mankind; the race chooses the individual to carry out its desires, as the sculptor his tools. The nation, torn by a sister's anguish, acted first with the heart of Roosevelt, second with the mind of Griscom, third with the will of Belknap; these three men were the triumvirate who put through the imperial thing America desired. The records of a man of action are brief; for him it is the doing that delights, not the telling; and yet in reading over Belknap's report one comes, now and again, upon a pearl of pathos, a dia- mond of humor, that makes the formal docu- ment a precious thing, that makes the camp by the Torrente Zaera one of those that will not be forgotten. In these early days ten American carpenters 261 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN superintended the Italian workmen (later there were more). These skilled mechanics drilled and trained their men with care and energy, for among other things the camp by the Tor- rente Zaera was a school of carpentry. Perhaps five per cent, of the Italians were really fair workmen; the majority were careless and slovenly at their craft. Many of them had never worked at anything, let alone carpentry. The houses they built were the least part of our carpenters' good work; they established a standard of excellence unknown hitherto in a community where, though the good St. Joseph is honored, his trade is sadly slighted. The carpenters and sailors, as such men will, brought their own manners, their point of view with them and stoutly maintained them. They were strong, tough -fibred men, more inclined to teach than to learn from their strange experience. The first Sunday afternoon Tim- othy and Hugh went out together for a stroll in the country. They met a Sicilian riding a donkey; he was followed by an old woman whom they guessed to be his grandmother, carrying on her head a large box and a small keg. *' See that big man, so proud looking, with 262 THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA those two baskets of lemons loaded on to that poor jackass's back; his little legs are bending under him," said Timothy. " Such treatment as they give the jackass should not be allowed," Hugh agreed. " The Italians certainly are a hard lot." " It's Gasperone! " cried Timothy. " Hullo you! " roared Hugh. " Get right off that donkey and let the old lady ride; do you hear.f^ " Hugh, a blond giant, in a white linen jumper and breeches, white canvas cap and puttees, black shoes and neckerchief, impressed the grand- mother of Gasperone. She stopped and stood staring at him, her skinny arms akimbo, her feet firmly planted in the road. He was pleasant to look at, this strange man from the north, with his frank blue eyes, his yellow hair, his rough kindly voice. She was not too old (what woman is.'') to take notice of a handsome young man. " Get down! " ordered Hugh. " Awe ri', awe ri'," Gasperone answered sooth- ingly, then said something to the old woman. She laid her load down and, laughing heartily, seated herself on the donkey. 263 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN '* Now make a beast o' burthen o' your fat self, and see how you like it," Hugh commanded. " Awe ri'! " Gasperone took upon his back, awkwardly enough, the load his grandmother had so skilfully balanced on her head. The two Americans watched the couple out of sight round the corner. Brofferio, who saw the whole scene from the launch — he was on his way to the Italian warship, "Dandolo" — declares that as soon as they were out of sight the grandmother dismounted and Gasperone returned to the donkey's back. The '* Hern " was the second timber ship to arrive. Her Norwegian captain's wife was on board; Captain Belknap mentions her presence as if it were a fortunate and happy thing. " When I beheld a most beautiful young lady in a boat making for the shore," Timothy was heard confiding to Hugh, " blushing like a June morning in Indiana, I went and got a hair-cut and a shave." " She certainly is a charming person," Hugh agreed; '' goodness is shining from her eyes." ** They tell over to the ' Hern ' that she came on board at Algiers, and that the captain has been like a boy with a new sled ever since," 264 THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA Timothy continued, " which strengthens my belief in the captain's wife's goodness." One of the Sicilians, who had applied for work as a carpenter and proved utterly unfit for it, had now, with Belknap's encouragement, set up a barber's saloon close to the camp. After the " Hern's " arrival he was much patronized. The " Hern " was ordered directly to Reggio, where a second camp had been established under the command of Ensign Wilcox. This camp, while smaller than that at Messina, was admirably managed from the first. One morn- ing, while the " Hern " was discharging her cargo, Wilcox was waked at half past five by the news that a big pontoon, their only lighter, that had been loaded the night before, was sinking. Wilcox plunged overboard with a line, hoping to get it made fast ashore and then beach the pontoon before it sank; but as he reached the shore, the lighter went down with a final gurgle, carrying with it half their nails, glass and roofing paper. The boards, doors and other light material went floating about the harbor, and as in Reggio there be land thieves as well as water thieves there was a lively time 265 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN guarding the floating property. Wilcox was fortunate in finding a diver, who undertook to dive for the precious nails and the other heavy things that had sunk to the bottom of the harbor. Timothy, who had been ordered to Reggio, was deeply moved by the accident. He used every effort to hurry the diver to his work, but for some inexplicable reason the man kept putting it off. " I have been trying to get that diver started," Timothy complained. " He can't talk English but I finally found out he would not go down while it rains. I thought that strange but found out the reason at last; he is afraid to go down lest the man pumping would stojp if a heavy shower comes on and let him die for want of air. " The river pirates is thick as fleas," Timothy went on; " they are lifting every thing in sight." The " river pirates " got away with very little, however, as they were pursued and forced to bring back the stolen articles. Timothy was anxious that the Reggio camp should lack nothing the Messina camp pos- sessed ; he had a great deal to say to Hugh on the subject whenever they met. " It's a treat to see the Stars and Stripes 266 WORKSHOP OF AMERICAN VILLAGE. RECGIO. Page 265. \M ^ FIRST AMERICAN HOUSE IN RECGIO. Page 265. PALMI. AMERICAN SHELTERS. Page 275. REGGIO. CARPENTERS AT WORK. Page265. THE CAMP BY TORRENTE ZAERA floating here," he said to Hugh. " I want Wil- cox to fly them at Reggio but he darsen't with- out orders. What's the captain's notion.^ " " Why, we was the first to hoist our flag the day we come ashore," said Hugh. " After that all the other people, English, Swiss, French, Germans, had to hoist their banners, all over the shop, till now the place looks like a blooming world's fair." Or like a camp of latter-day crusaders, Hugh ! " I think we should have our own colors, all the same," Timothy persisted. " If the ' boss ' goes away, I will send them up if I swing for it. Besides, it will create respect. Our men have had to wait a day for their pay. I hope they get it tonight. Last evening to hear them roaring you would think Old Tilley, the pig killer, was back in life! " *' Time to haul her down," Hugh looked to the west. It was sundown. The bugler sounded atten- tion, the men all stood in line, facing the flag. The bugler played the salute to the colors, and just as the red ball dropped behind the blue ridge of mountains, Hugh slowly, slowly hauled down the flag. 267 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " That," said one who watched the pretty ceremony, " is a survival of sun worship." " Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main, Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!" (Kipling.) 268 IX GUESTS AT CAMP " Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies, Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice ! Many roads Thou hast fashioned; all of them lead to the Light, Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright! " (Kipling.) About the time the lighter sank, I received a letter from the camp, asking for a man who spoke English, had some knowledge of ac- counts — a man, in fine, like Thompson — who would come to Messina. Belknap was shorthanded; the work was doubling up on them. Was there any chance of that nice boy, Flint? Would Thompson possibly reconsider.'* Thompson could not; Flint was in Egypt. I remember well the day the letter came, if not the date. I was in Florence, spending a few happy hours by the Arno, in the shadow of the Giglio, Giotto's perfect tower, second among towers only to the Giralda of Seville. There 269 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN had been a wonderful jaunt from Rome in an automobile, that reminded me of my mother's stories of her wedding journey through Italy in a traveling carriage. The motor has brought back the romance to travel, that seemed banished forever when the last vetturino sold his traveling carriage, driven out of business by the railroad. We four — Mr. Parrish the host, Miss Helen Lee, his niece, Charles, the Yankee chauffeur, and I — had passed through Umbria, Tuscany, visited Perugia and Gubbio, stopped at Assisi and Siena, looked at the gem, San Gimignano — but that's another story. That golden day in Florence we hunted up our old friend, George de Forrest Brush, the painter, corralled him in his studio and carried him off willy-nilly to lunch at the Trattoria Aurora on the heights of Fiesole. It was too cold to eat in the garden, so after a long look at the blue Val d'Arno with its encircling mountains, the Carraras and the Apennines, we went into the bare little dining-room. Soon the two specialties of the inn smoked on the table, a dish of chicken cooked with red and yellow peppers — the sauce would make an 270 GUESTS AT CAMP anchorite greedy — and whole artichokes fried to a golden brown, served with melted butter. For those who wanted it, there was a flask of good red Chianti di Broglio; for all there was the rarer wine of friendship. After luncheon we started in the automobile for the convent, perched on a hill high above Fiesole. When we had made half the distance, we passed an automobile stuck fast in the mire. Soon after we were obliged to turn back on account of the snow; the road runs in spirals; some of the turns are sharp, a true mountain highway, with a precipice on either side. Just as we turned a sharp curve, the machine came to a sudden stop. A tree trunk, big as a railroad sleeper, lay directly in our path, placed across the road since we made the ascent. "A close call!" muttered the chauffeur, as he put on the brake and stopped the car. If he had not been quick as a flash, we should have had a bad accident. Charles next sprang from the car, dragged the log to the edge of the path and hurled it do\sTi the mountainside. " That dago will have a little trouble to tote you up again! " he chuckled, as the great piece of wood hurtled down the steep. 271 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN '* A miss is as good as a mile," our host re- assured us. " Such wickedness as that makes me sick," said Charles, as he twirled the steering wheel and set the car in motion. We were all silent for the next mile or two. Which of us was it meant for.'^ Who has so cruel an enemy? We never knew. When I read lately of Mr. Edward Boit and his brother being " held up " and robbed near Vallombrosa, not very far from Fiesole, I wondered if we had escaped the same band of brigands. " Do you know a man who wants to go down and help Captain Belknap at Messina.^ " I asked Mr. Brush, as we sped down the incline, leaving Fiesole behind, past the Villa Palmieri where the characters of Boccaccio's Decamerone lived during the great plague of 1348. " My son Gerome has wanted to go down ever since the earthquake. I will send him to see you tonight," said the artist. That evening Gerome Brush called at our hotel ; it was agreed that I should write Belknap, offering his services in whatever capacity he could be useful. " I am in the automobile business now," the 272 GUESTS AT CAMP young man said, " but that's only temporary. When I go back to America I shall study law. I have been trying to get to Sicily all winter; do fix it up for me I " It was '* fixed up." Belknap telegraphed us to send Brush, and we all returned to Rome. " Why don't you end up your trip by all coming down here.^ " The question was re- peated several times in J.'s letters. As a result, on the 24th of March, Patsy, Gerome Brush and I left Rome for Sicily. We traveled as far as Naples ^nth Mr. Parrish and his niece, who were to sail in a few days for home and could not come with us. The trip from Rome to Naples was a pleasant one, though the spring was very backward. Only a few quince and apricot trees were in blossom; the beautiful vineyards were still dark, ^^ithout a sign of promise. Hanging from tree to tree in the old classic fashion, the vines made a lovely pattern of delicate black tracery against the fervent blue sky. At Naples we regretfully parted with Mr. Parrish and Miss Lee. Patsy laid in a stock of sandwiches, milk chocolate and newspapers, 273 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN and we set our faces to the south, prepared for any fate. Soon after leaving Naples our train broke down. " E rotto il Westing house/* the guard said to each separate traveler in turn. "Look at Vesuvius, or what's left of it!" cried Patsy. We had halted within sight of the great volcano. Patsy had not seen it since the eruption of 1906, when one of the twin cones sanji out of sight and the whole outline of the mountain was altered, losing much of its dis- tinction. " I never thought to see the ever- lasting hills change their very shape before my eyes — that gives you an idea of volcanic force!" On the 25th of March we woke to a wet world. Through the blurred windows of the sleeping- car we looked out upon emerald fields and fruit orchards, between stretches of rough un- cultivated land. The way passed through lemon groves, where the trees were covered thick with pale gold lemons, the air was sweet with the fragrance of their blossoms; through vast plan- tations of blue-green cactus, like those of Morocco; through orange groves where the 274 GUESTS AT CAMP branches bent beneath the weight of red-gold fruit. Everywhere was that splendid contrast of the red and yellow golds, mixed with the gorgeous dark green foliage of the nespoli, whose fruit ripens much later — now there were only hard little green balls between bunches of long graceful leaves. Here and there the green was softened by rosy peach blossoms, the intenser pink of the apricot, or the queer gray sprawling limbs of fig trees covered with silvery bloom, though not a leaf had yet unfolded. '* How can we be such fools as to linger in a city when the miracle of Spring has begun! " Patsy exclaimed; we all agreed never again to commit that folly of follies. At every station we passed cars loaded with piles of newly sawed American lumber, shipped from Naples and dis- tributed at various points on the Calabrian coast. At Palmi we saw the first ruins. Some little wooden huts had been built on the lower slopes of the hill; on the side-tracks were rows of extra railway carriages, turned into shelters for the poor homeless people. It had been raining desperately until we reached Palmi, where fortunately it held up long enough for us to have a good look at the magnificent 275 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN olive trees, the finest I ever saw. A whole forest of olives goes climbing up the mountain- side, like hoary giants with wild arms tossed to heaven. The trees in Dante's Inferno, that bled when their limbs were broken, must have looked like these ancient olives of Palmi, cen- turies old, still the main support of the peasants on whose land they grow. The chestnuts were as fine in their way, sturdy umbrageous mon- archs of the wood, but lacking the mystery that above all other trees the olive, Athena's gift, possesses. Patsy had an errand at Bagnara. From the midst of a group of sad, listless looking women, who stood watching our train as if it were the one important event of the day, a tall girl in black pushed her way to the front. There must have been some signal agreed upon; how else could Patsy have found the sister of Sora Clara the moment he stepped on the platform at Bagnara? They talked together until our train started, when Patsy slipped something into the girl's hand and sprang into the car. " Don't report me," he said. " I have turned over a new leaf; I don't let my right hand know what my left hand does. I re- CAPTAIN BELKNAP AND CARPENTER FAUST ON GROUND FLOOR OF HOTEL. Page 284. lERlCAN VILLAGE. MESSINA. VIEW FROM THE HOTEL, fage ::87. GUESTS AT CAMP ported every franc I gave away in Rome, till I caught on to what it meant. My poor San- scrit professor had been promised substantial help. I reported the little money I gave him; after that he got nothing more. I was told never to give a single family more than fifty francs. How's a man who has lost everything he has in the world going to start life again on ten dollars.^ " The situation of Bagnara recalls Amalfi; there is a fine smooth beach, where the fishing boats are drawn up on the shore. The nets are spread higher up on the sand. Above the lovely scallop of shore the little town perches on the hillside. At Gioia Tauro, just before Palmi, the semicircle of golden beach in the shape of a scimitar, the beryl green water, reminded us of Tangiers. After we passed Bagnara the train went very slowly. *' At this rate we shall never reach Taormina tonight," Patsy complained. " Pazienza, Signorino ! chi va piano va sano I " said the guard. " This is the first train that has gone through since the landslide." This was the first we had heard of a landslide. 277 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN ** A mere nothing, only the rocks came trundling down from the mountains and broke the track so badly that no trains have run for the past month," the guard explained. " Scylla! " We must have been dozing, for we all started when the guard called out the name of the station. "Look!" The tremendous rock of Scylla, with the strong castle on the top, springs from the sea like a great many-toned jewel of coral, shading from rose to yellow. The sun shone, the wind blew the surf in great green and white surges against the cliff. Further out the water was pale emerald, with sudden streaks of amethyst; everywhere on sea, shore and cloud lay shadows of sapphire. Even Patsy was dumb, moved beyond words by that glimpse. " Their Excellencies saw the castle.'' " chir- ruped the friendly guard. *' The earthquake didn't hurt it, more than to crack the outer wall a trifle. They knew how to build in those days!" " The castle is a trumpery medieval afiPair," remarked Patsy, " though it was standing when 278 GUESTS AT CAMP Robert Guiscard came in 1060, but the rock! In the Odyssey it's described as the home of a roaring sea monster, with six terrific heads, twelve deformed feet, and three rows of teeth. Look over there — the Hghthouse ! That marks the whirlpool ! ' Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charyhdis! Across the narrow strait lay the jewel of the south, Sicily! The old name, Trinacria, was given to the island on account of its shape, an irregular triangle with three great points or promontories. It was once a part of the Apennine range, but in some volcanic upheaval it was broken off — as a monarch breaks a link from his gold chain and tosses it to some henchman — and thrown into the Mediter- ranean, where it shines a brilliant in a sapphire setting, the most coveted, the most disputed of earth's gems. Patsy had not spoken for twenty minutes. His dancing eyes had grown grave and steady; the imp, the sprite, the creature of impulse, was gone; in his place was a stranger with grave eyes. *' Villa San Giovanni," cried the guard. " II ferryboat per Messina." 279 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN " Ferryboat! Sounds familiar," said Patsy. " Tumble out, we're here! " As Patsy made me comfortable on one of the wooden benches, I saw a familiar face that puzzled me in the crowd of passengers. Where had I met that pale girl with the mouth like a scarlet trumpet-creeper, the thin curved eye- brows like a crescent moon, the deep eyes that looked violet in the distance and were blue.^ " I know her," I said. " She doesn't appear to know you," Patsy murmured. I was so sure I knew her that I began to burrow in my memory, searched pigeonhole after pigeonhole to find just where in a lifetime of impressions that arch face was tucked away. "It's Palladia!" I found her at last. "My milliner, lost to us in Rome for three painful years, ever since she went to Palermo to set up for herself." I spoke to the girl without more ado: " Palladia, don't you remember me? " " Perfectly, Signora. I have not seen you since the morning I brought you the hat with the primole for Pasqua." " And you would not have spoken to me.^^ " 280 GUESTS AT CAMP " Pardon me, Signora, may I fasten your veil? I feared you would not recall me." We were shaking hands warmly now; she was my milliner again, I her client. " If I bent the hat a little, so? That is more becoming." *' You have done well in Palermo? " *' Discreetly; I am returning from Naples, where I have been to buy the new shapes, look over the modes. I have some beautiful French straw — if the Signora should come to Pa- lermo? " " Of course I shall come, just to get one of your hats. I haven't had a decent one since you left Rome." Palladia produced her card and, w^ishing each other buon viaggio, we parted at the dock. Palladia to take the train for Palermo, we to look for a cab. "No one to meet us! They can't have received letter or telegram," said Patsy. " Just as well, nothing like taking our friends una- wares. Now they won't have time to smarten up for us." "Will that old rabbit-hutch hold us all?" I asked, looking distrustfully at the only vehicle in sight. The driver understood; he 281 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN seized the wheel of the battered old cab and shook it violently to show how strong it was. *' This is a most excellent and signorial car- riage, Signorino. It needs paint; why should it not? I dug it out myself from the ruins, and the horse too. That blessed animal has cost me a lot of fatigue. It was nine days before I could get him out, nine days sotto le macerie ! " " How much to the Case Americane.'* " asked Patsy. *' Two francs. Excellency, with a slight token for myself. The Comandante himself set the price. He drives with no other; I am the official coachman of the Americans." For a horse that had been nine days buried, the poor little rat of a pony drew the cab bravely through the Via San Martino, one smooth lake of yellow mud. '* There's Old Glory! " shouted Patsy. I had been so much taken up with looking back at the desolate streets, at the Tell Tale Tower, I did not know we had arrived at camp. Two Italian soldiers, on guard at the entrance, halted the cab. " Stop, thou knowest thou canst go no 282 ,., '>V. :i<^X^v, fe;^' ^ i HOTEL REGINA ELENA AND CHURCH OF SANTA CROCE. AMERICAN VILLAGE. MESSINA. Page 284. GUESTS AT CAMP farther," said the elder, evidently a friend of the driver's. " What dost thou say? I, who drive to the door of the barracks four times every day at least ! Mayst thou die of an accident ! " " Never, unless there is an officer in thy cab. These be strangers, without a written pass from the Comandante; they cannot enter! " " Archpriest, I say! Mayst thou be stricken with — " " Oh, come now, officer," Patsy interrupted persuasively, " you will not make the lady walk through this mud! We are friends of the American Comandante. He expects us." The soldier was firm; we could not pass. " Peace, I will inform the Sor Comandante," said a new voice. It was Gasperone; I recog- nized him from J.'s description. He put his finger to his lips and tapped gently at the door of the small neat wooden cottage nearest the flag. " Behold a lady and two gentlemen, who have driven up in a cab," said Gasperone through the half-opened door. " Shall they be sent away or allowed to enter the camp.'' " J., standing at his drawing-board, looked from the window. 283 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN ** Good Lord," I heard him cry, "they've come Our plan was to spend the afternoon at the camp and push on that night to Taormina, an hour and a half distant by train. Captain Belknap received us most kindly and showed us about the camp. What had been accom- plished was a miracle; the place had already begun to look like a neat, well laid out American village. " We save every tree we possibly can," said Belknap. " Each lemon tree brings an income of at least ten francs, the mulberries even more." Belknap and J. fought hard for the life of every tree that did not actually interfere with the construction of the buildings. Some of the streets have long lines of lemon trees, with here and there a fig tree. They saved a double row of shade trees, for which the guests at Hotel Regina Elena will some day bless them. As we were inspecting the site of the hotel, the heavens opened and the flood descended. We hurried to the office for shelter and admired the trim row of ledgers, the typewriter, the letter scales, the red, white and blue silk cord 284 GUESTS AT CAMP that Uncle Sam makes for his own special service, all the tidy paraphernalia of the Chief's workroom. I peeped into the drafting-room, partitioned off with a wooden screen from the office. It looked nice and professional, with sheets of architect's paper, opaque white, semi- transparent blue, yellow tracing, compasses, T squares, all sorts of fascinating architectural tools. On the wall hung the neatly drawn plans of the hotel; on the drawing-board was the ground plan for the Queen's hospital at Villaggio Regina Elena. " May we look.^ " Patsy asked. " If you will not touch," J. glanced up from his work. " Mind that India ink! " " I can't let you go on to Taormina in such a tempest," said Captain Belknap. " If you will put up with what we can offer, I should be glad to have you spend the night at the camp." This was more than we had dared hope for; Patsy was in the seventh heaven. '* It's a reward for bringing down the new recruit," he whispered. Brush, the " new recruit," was sent almost immediately to Reggio, where Wilcox found him an invaluable assistant. 285 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN I was shown to my quarters — the room that had been Mr. Bicknell's — in a small frame house, sixteen by sixteen. It was divided into two rooms by a wooden partition with a door; there was a well fitted window with a sash cur- tain in each room. Behind the house was the famous kitchen, of which we had heard so much. It is a tiny convenient place with a cement floor and walls, a stone table with little holes for the live charcoal, and grates to go over the fire. My room had a table, chair, washstand with jug, basin and pail. Gasperone brought me hot water and took my boots and dress to brush. In the corner of the room was a most ingenious and convenient bed. Some springy boards were nailed rather loosely to an upright head and footpiece; the boards were almost as good as a spring, the mattress and pillow of sea-moss were comfortable enough for anybody, not born in Sybaris. I sat down and looked out of the window towards the tool house, the center of interest for the moment. The men had knocked off work, and were passing in file, very slowly, before the open window, where the paymaster sat, paying each man what was due him. 286 THE FRONT OF THE PALACE HAD FALLEN INTO A HEAP OF RUINS." Page 305. SEMINARA. CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE POOR. GUESTS AT CAMP After our long journey, our harassing drive through ruined Messina — where the reality surpassed all descriptions — the exquisite neat- ness, the order, the comfort of the Zona Case Americane, brought a sense of well-being like oil poured on a burning wound. I sat for an hour in that fragrant little wooden room, while the rain drummed with soft fingers on the roof, and went over the history of our journey step by step, tested link by link the chain of chance circumstances that had drawn young Brush, the new recruit, from the garage in Florence to the camp by the Torrente Zaera. The manner in which the whole American working party was brought together is well illus- trated by the story. If Mr. Parrish had not been in Florence, if he had not hunted up Mr. Brush, if that letter from camp had not come the day we lunched at the Trattoria Aurora, we should not have had one of our most useful and faithful workers; and young Brush would have missed one of the great experiences of his life. Mr. Griscom felt that one of his practical difiiculties was that all the help he could hope for must be drawn from the American colonies in Italy, the Government agents, consuls, 287 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN artists and missionaries. If this was a diflS- culty — which I question — the way it was overcome both at the Embassy and the camp was magnificent. Whatever tool he had, Bel- knap worked with and found it a good tool. It may have been his nature — he is the kind of workman who never grumbles at his tools — but the character of the helpers surely counted for something. Our consuls were never found want- ing. Bayard Cutting from Milan, though out of health at the time of the earthquake, went down to Messina with the first relief party, and from that time on he was faithful to the great work. Bishop at Palermo, Crowninshield at Naples, Smith at Genoa, did magnificent service, work- ing day and night, without thought of sparing themselves. The spirit of the officials and volun- teers was almost without exception altruistic. Every man was trying to help the other out; all were matched in the great race for service. Sailors, consuls, artists and missionaries have something in common surely; it was just that something that made them of so much use. They are not machines; they have not been warped and deformed by the commercial slavery that is sapping the life-blood of our people. 288 GUESTS AT CAMP Mammon, the slave-driver, may crack his whip; it does not frighten them. Their time is not money, it's beyond price, so they spent it freely for their suffering brothers and never counted the cost. J. had written that the nights were cold. I unpacked my hot-water bottle and my traveling rug; I was just on the point of calling Gasperone to fill the bottle, w^hen J. looked in. His eyes brightened at the sight of the rubber bottle. *' Are you going to use this.'^ " he asked. " Oh, no! I always travel with it, in case of illness." " If you are sure, I will have it filled; Bel- knap's taken cold. You brought the rug; will you need it.'^ " " No, no! There are plenty of blankets." " You think so? Then I will take this for him. Some of the men have been greedy about blankets; he has less than any man in the camp." *' Take them, take them of course! " J. went off with bottle and rug; I piled every garment I had with me on my sea-moss bed and tucked myself up comfortably. What sort of man was this Chief who inspired such devotion? 289 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN It must have been after midnight, for the cocks were crowing, when I was awakened by the sound of gunshots, followed by loud shouts and the noise of hurrying footsteps. I listened, as I never listened before. In the distance a dog bayed; some vagrant cur had escaped in spite of the stringent orders to shoot all dogs and cats on sight. The flash of a lantern next, the clank of a sword-belt as if one buckled on his weapon as he ran, more footsteps, at first light and hurrying, then slow and heavy, — the tread of men who carry a burthen: they passed the door, grew faint, were lost in the silence of the night. Through the upper uncurtained window-panes the hag- gard face of the gibbous moon looked from an angry sky. I asked at breakfast what the commotion had been. No one had heard the noises of the night; it was suggested that I had been dream- ing. Months after, Patsy told me what had happened. " You remember the two soldiers who challenged us when we reached the camp.?^ They had to keep a strict watch at night so that the building materials and tools should not 290 GUESTS AT CAMP be stolen. The soldier on duty fell asleep at his post. He was wakened suddenly by the steps of his comrade, come to relieve him; before he was fully awake he caught up his gun and shot the poor fellow, who, as it hap- pened, was his best friend. I had it from the cab-driver, never a word of it at camp of course! '* That morning Patsy hunted up the Avvocato Bonanno, and through him made several interesting acquaintances. He lunched with some officers, and recognized among the dishes served certain canned meats sent out from America for the profughi. " The Sicilian peasants simply won't eat them; they'd rather starve," Patsy explained. " The only thing to do with the quantities of tinned food we sent is to feed it to the army; they're not so particular. Another time when we want to help such people in a plight like this, we should send flour and corn-meal and trust them to turn them into macaroni and polenta, their two staples of life. We're so fond of change, so keen about new foods, that we give old standbys, like hominy and oatmeal, new fancy names every year, just to sell them. An 291 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN American believes something new is better than anything old. An Italian only admits a thing good that has been so proven by the centuries. Have you room in your bag for this.'^ " Patsy handed me a pound package of Salada Ceylon tea. " Where did you get it? " " Bought it! We sent these poor devils half a cargo of tea! They did not know what on earth it was good for, tried to smoke it, chew it, use it as snuff — no go ! Finally they put it on sale; now foreigners in camp and on ship- board can buy it at a fair price! The money is put into coffee; that is the very breath of life to a Sicilian." 292 THE VILLAGGIO REGINA ELENA " What did you think had happened? " Caterina traced a cross with her bare brown toe in the dusty path of the campo santo: " Per Dio, Signora, we thought it was the Day of Judgment. Mamma, babbo and I were dressed, ready to go to work — we hve here, my father is guardiauo. My two brothers were in bed; they were killed. One still remains sotto le macerie ; there is no waj^ to get the body out. After the 28th of April no more may be moved on account of infection; it is finished." Caterina, daughter of the porter at the ceme- tery, a lovely girl of sixteen, was our guide. Smiling, she welcomed us, standing under a sculptured " Genius of Grief." '*A strange guide for such a place ! " said Patsy. Strange indeed! Coffins everywhere, and babies in grandams' arms — the new life push- ing aside the old, as the green oak leaves come out beneath the brown. As Caterina led the way up the sunny slope, 293^ SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN between cypresses and roses, she pointed out the tottering and broken monuments; the earthquake had wrought strange havoc here. The chapel of the CavalHeri di Messina with its fine Ionic colonnade was a ruin; some of the tombs were wrenched open. ** Perhaps these dead, like ourselves, thought that the last day had come," said Caterina. A wine cart loaded with casks of wine, with a coffin lashed at the back, passed us. It was followed by two women with grim set faces — no tears, they were all shed long ago. Caterina paused by the grave of the patriot, La Farina, picked a red rose and handed it to me with a shy smile. From the upper terrace we looked down on a plain, furrowed as if for planting. A long line of men were digging a trench. Piles of plain unmarked wooden boxes — there must have been several hundreds - - were stacked on the ground. " These might be packing cases for dry-goods," said Patsy. *' There's not the faintest suggestion of the human form, not even the sloping line of the shoulders, to show what they are! " " Will there be no service, no benediction? " I asked Caterina. 294 THE VILLAGGIO REGINA ELENA " God has already given them benediction enough," she replied. Messina is like a battle-field; there is too much haste for funeral pomp; nothing remains to be done but get the poor human remains out of sight, under ground as soon as possible. From time to time the Archbishop visits the campo santOy blesses the dead en masse, and sprinkles holy water on the long brown mounds. As we watched the men delving in the fosse, a gay little painted carretto passed, driven by a blond lad with a roguish face and a rose behind his ear. He sat upon two coffins, whis- tling merrily. " Buon giorno, Caterina; what a fine day, if the sun would only stay!" He flourished his whip and flicked a fly off the mule's ear. Caterina looked at him adoringly and echoed his wish: " Perhaps the rains are over," she said. ** Thou art well, Carlino.'^ " While they talked about the weather, their eyes also spoke of secrets unspeakable. It was easy to see how things stood between them. In that dreadful indescribable atmosphere, hazel eyes caught fire from blue. Death had become 295 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN a commonplace to the lover and his lass; after so many months of familiarity they had grown callous to its ugliness. In the meeting of their eyes, life laughed at death. In the upper, more aristocratic part of the campo santo, the dead lay in separate graves. Caterina stopped near two grave-diggers at work. " Two metres deep," she said sagely. A pair of stone-masons were working here, directed by a tall eagle-faced man and a youth, evidently his son. One mason marked on a small white headstone letters and a date in black; then with a chisel, which he knocked only with his hand, chipped out the letters from the stone. It must have been soft as cheese, for by the time the grave was a metre deep, the name Domenica was neatly carved. The second mason was smoothing a little white cross that had been roughed out of the same soft stone. When the grave was two metres deep, cross and headstone were ready. The plain wooden coffin had a rude cross nailed on the lid. Without a flower or a tear, it was lowered into the grave and the earth filled in. ** Thou hast done well and quickly," said the 296 THE VILLAGGIO REGINA ELENA gentleman to the elder mason. " Here is the money as agreed." *' The others the Signore spoke oi? " ** Gone — there was some mistake. We have found only this, the youngest. Perhaps another has buried them, thinking them his own. I return to Rome tonight." Then I remembered: this was the man I had met with the fair young woman going from one survivor to another, asking for news of Messina. An Italian officer and an Englishman passed, and stood looking down at those men digging in the long trench. " What do you advise.^ " asked the officer. " She is tormented; here is her last letter. Nothing will satisfy her unless I find him. I have' tried every way; there is no trace, no record. He may have been among those burned or carried out to sea the first days; he may be in that trench. What would you do.'^ " " Find him," said the Englishman, " or another in his place, and put up a stone to him. Then she can have a place to lay her flowers and to weep; it's not his bones, but his memory — " They passed out of earshot. We moved to another part of the upper ter- 297 SICILY IN SHADOW AND IN SUN race and watched half a dozen men take up the flat stone covers of a row of tombs, sunk under the marble pavement. '* What are they doing? " Patsy asked. " We must make room here, there, every- where, for these new ones," Caterina answered. " No one could have expected such a calamity; how could we be prepared .^^ " She spoke with the anxiety of a hostess, who has not beds enough for her guests to sleep in. " These poor dead, they too must lie in sanctified ground; it is their turn." " Those buried here before.'^ " " The people who died of the last cholera." " Let us go," said Patsy, " we've seen enough." Did he remember the story they tell in Flor- ence.? When the ancient city wall was taken down fifty years ago, the workmen died like sheep of a mysterious disease. An investigation was ordered. It was found that the old wall crossed the cemetery, where the victims of the great plague were buried in the fourteenth century; the plague germs were still alive, and the workmen had died of the plague that in Boccaccio's time decimated Florence. 298 THEVILLAGGIO REGINA ELENA '* Would you like a new dress, Caterina? " said Patsy, as we paused at the gate. Her ragged gown clung to her with the grace of classic drapery ; it seemed a pity to change it for a stiff new dress. " Come to the Case Americane at two o'clock and ask for the Signora." "