In A Few Instances I Noticed Men
Wearing The True Calabrian Hat - Peaked, Brigandesque - Which Is
Rapidly Falling Out Of Use.
These people were, in general,
good-looking; frequently I observed a very handsome face, and
occasionally a countenance, male
Or female, of really heroic beauty.
Though crowds wandered through the streets, there sounded no tumult;
voices never rose above an ordinary pitch of conversation; the
general bearing was dignified, and tended to gravity. One woman in
particular held my attention, not because of any exceptional beauty,
for, indeed, she had a hard, stern face, but owing to her demeanour.
Unlike most of the peasant folk, she was bent on business; carrying
upon her head a heavy pile of some ornamented fabric - shawls or
something of the kind - she entered shops, and paused at house
doors, in the endeavour to find purchasers. I watched her for a long
time, hoping she might make a sale, but ever she was unsuccessful;
for all that she bore herself with a dignity not easily surpassed.
Each offer of her wares was made as if she conferred a graceful
favour, and after each rejection she withdrew unabashed, outwardly
unperturbed, seeming to take stately leave. Only her persistence
showed how anxious she was to earn money; neither on her features
nor in her voice appeared the least sign of peddling solicitude. I
shall always remember that tall, hard-visaged woman, as she passed
with firm step and nobly balanced figure about the streets of
Catanzaro. To pity her would have been an insult. The glimpse I
caught of her laborious life revealed to me something worthy of
admiration; never had I seen a harassing form of discouragement so
silently and strongly borne.
CHAPTER XIII
THE BREEZY HEIGHT
Catanzaro must be one of the healthiest spots in Southern Italy;
perhaps it has no rival in this respect among the towns south of
Rome. The furious winds, with which my acquaintances threatened me,
did not blow during my stay, but there was always more or less
breeze, and the kind of breeze that refreshes. I should like to
visit Catanzaro in the summer; probably one would have all the joy
of glorious sunshine without oppressive heat, and in the landscape
in those glowing days would be indescribably beautiful.
I remember with delight the public garden at Cosenza, its noble view
over the valley of the Crati to the heights of Sila; that of
Catanzaro is in itself more striking, and the prospect it affords
has a sterner, grander note. Here you wander amid groups of
magnificent trees, an astonishingly rich and varied vegetation; and
from a skirting terrace you look down upon the precipitous gorge,
burnt into barenness save where a cactus clings to some jutting
rock. Here in summer-time would be freshness amid noontide heat,
with wondrous avenues of golden light breaking the dusk beneath the
boughs. I shall never see it; but the desire often comes to me under
northern skies, when I am weary of labour and seek in fancy a
paradise of idleness.
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