(_Monthly Story._)
At one o'clock we went with our schoolmaster to the front of the
town-hall, to see the medal for civic valor bestowed on the lad who
saved one of his comrades from the Po.
On the front terrace waved a huge tricolored flag.
We entered the courtyard of the palace.
It was already full of people. At the further end of it there was
visible a table with a red cover, and papers on it, and behind it a row
of gilded chairs for the mayor and the council; the ushers of the
municipality were there, with their under-waistcoats of sky-blue and
their white stockings. To the right of the courtyard a detachment of
policemen, who had a great many medals, was drawn up in line; and beside
them a detachment of custom-house officers; on the other side were the
firemen in festive array; and numerous soldiers not in line, who had
come to look on,--cavalrymen, sharpshooters, artillery-men. Then all
around were gentlemen, country people, and some officers and women and
boys who had assembled. We crowded into a corner where many scholars
from other buildings were already collected with their teachers; and
near us was a group of boys belonging to the common people, between ten
and eighteen years of age, who were talking and laughing loudly; and we
made out that they were all from Borgo Po, comrades or acquaintances of
the boy who was to receive the medal. Above, all the windows were
thronged with the employees of the city government; the balcony of the
library was also filled with people, who pressed against the balustrade;
and in the one on the opposite side, which is over the entrance gate,
stood a crowd of girls from the public schools, and many _Daughters of
military men_, with their pretty blue veils. It looked like a theatre.
All were talking merrily, glancing every now and then at the red table,
to see whether any one had made his appearance. A band of music was
playing softly at the extremity of the portico. The sun beat down on the
lofty walls. It was beautiful.
All at once every one began to clap their hands, from the courtyard,
from the balconies, from the windows.