THE STREETS.
Mr. George continued for many days wholly engrossed with his studies in
the museum, so that Rollo saw very little of him, and had no help from
him in respect to finding occupation and amusement.
"Indeed," said Rollo to Rosie one evening, "I have lost the use of him
altogether."
Rollo was, however, not at all at a loss for the means of spending his
time. It was an endless amusement for him and Josie to ramble about the
streets, and observe the countless variety of scenes and incidents which
were going on there. It is the custom at Naples, among all the lower
classes of the people, to do every thing in the street, and all the
sidewalks and open spaces, especially along the quays, were occupied by
hundreds of families, engaged in every species of trade and manufacture,
and in all sorts of domestic occupations. Here, in a wide place by the
side of the street, cabinet makers would be at work, polishing tables,
or making veneers, or putting together the frames of bureaus. A little
farther on, a large space would be occupied with the manufacture of iron
bedsteads, with all the operations of forging, filing, polishing, and
gilding going on in the open air. Next, a turner would be seen, either
out upon the sidewalk, or close to his door, turning with a bow lathe;
and next a range of families all along the street, the women knitting or
sewing, or spinning yarn, and the children playing about on the
pavements near. Perhaps one of the oldest of the children would be
tending the baby, either holding it in her arms, or rocking it to sleep
in a round-bottomed basket on the pavement. These round-bottomed baskets
were all the cradles they seemed to have.
But what pleased Rollo and Josie most was to stroll along a street in a
part of the town where the sailors lived. It was at a place where there
was a wide beach, which was entirely covered with fishing boats, that
had been drawn up there on the sand. Between the boats and the street
there was a level place, where the fishermen's families had established
themselves. Some were making or mending nets. Some were frying fish in
the open air. Some were gathered around a big stone with a flat top,
which they were using for a table, and were eating their breakfast or
their dinner there. Some were lying stretched out upon the ground, or
curled up in corners, fast asleep.
It was a very curious sight to see, and it would have been a very pretty
one, had it not been that almost all these people were clothed in rags,
and looked like so many beggars. Indeed, there were a great many real
beggars every where about,--so many, in fact, that no lady could have
any peace at all in walking about the streets of Naples, on account of
their importunity. Mrs. Gray and Rosie would have liked very much to
have walked about with Rollo and Josie, in the excursions which they
made in this way; but they could not do it, for every where they went,
such a number of poor, diseased, crippled, and wretched-looking objects
came up to them, and gathered around them, as to destroy all the
pleasure.
There is no need of this at all; for Naples is a very thrifty place, and
the people that live in it are abundantly able to take care of their
poor. They have, in fact, built hospitals and endowed them, and the poor
people who have no friends to take care of them might go to the
hospitals if they chose. But as the climate in that country is mild, and
they can live well enough in the open air, they prefer to ramble about
the streets and beg, and there are enough inconsiderate people among
the visitors always at Naples, from foreign countries, to give them
money sufficient to keep up the system.
Thus every person among the lower classes in Naples, who has any
disease, or infirmity, or malformation of any kind, considers it a
treasure, and comes out into the street to exhibit it to all beholders,
as a means of gaining money. No imagination can conceive more shocking
and disgusting spectacles than those which the police of Naples allow to
be brought up right before every lady or gentleman who attempts to take
a walk in the streets. These sights meet you at every turn. Even if you
take a carriage, you do not escape from them; for the beggars crowd
around the carriage when you get into it, at the door of the hotel, and
watch for it there when you come back. And when you stop on the way to
go into a shop, all that are in that street at the time gather up and
wait at the door till you come out; and while you are getting into the
carriage, and the coachman is shutting the door and mounting upon his
box, they implore, and moan, and beg, and entreat you to give them a
little money. They are so wretched, they say, they are dying of hunger.
A great many of these people are really poor, no doubt; but they have no
right thus to force their poverty and their diseases upon the attention
of the public, when other modes, and far better modes, are provided for
their relief. A great many of them, however, are impostors. Indeed, one
of the greatest objections to the system of allowing the poor to get
their living by begging in the streets, is the direct tendency of it to
encourage and train impostors. No one can possibly know from hearing the
complaint of a poor person by the wayside, or from the appearance which
he presents, either how much he needs help, or how much help he may have
already received; and of course, by this mode of dispensing charity, the
best possible facilities are afforded for every species of deceit and
imposture.
Mrs. Gray understood all this, and she saw that if every body would
firmly and perseveringly refuse to give money to applicants in the
public streets, the system of making an ostentatious parade of misery,
real and counterfeited, that now prevails in Naples, would soon come to
an end. She accordingly never gave any thing, neither did Mr. George or
Rollo. Indeed Rollo and Josie were seldom molested when they were
walking by themselves, for the beggars--considering them as only two
boys--did not expect to get any thing from them.
"The only beggar that I ever gave any thing to in Naples," said Rollo,
"was a poor black dog. I gave him half of a fried cake that I bought at
a stall. He swallowed it in an instant. I call him a beggar because he
looked up into my face so piteously, though he did not ask for any
thing. He did not speak a word."
"And what did he do after you gave him the cake?" asked Rosie.
"He looked up a moment to see if I was going to give him any more," said
Rollo, "and then he walked away."