"STERMINATOR
VESEVO"
(Vesuvius the great Exterminator)
Diary of the eruption of April 1906.
[Illustration: LOGO]
NAPLES
FRANCESCO PERRELLA, EDITOR
1907
(_Copyright_)
Naples--Print A. TRANI.
_In translating this book by Matilde Serao, I have felt as if none of
its beautiful local colour, of its warmly felt and vivid description
should be altered by an attempt on my part to give to its pages a
perfect English intonation. One thing would have been, unavoidably,
the loss of the other, as no language can render in all its truth and
form, the warm and deep expression of southern Italian imagination and
sentiment. Thus, this diary retains the deep impression of the moment
in which it was written, while the bold strokes of colour and the
tender pathos of some of its pages, bring, once more forward to public
admiration, the brilliant name of Italy foremost woman writer, Matilde
Serao_
_the translator_
L. H.
Friend and reader,
Do not ask of these pages the prestige of art or the fascination of
stile. They were written day by day, with a trembling heart, and with
an emotion that often caused the pen to drop from the hand of the tired
and distressed writer. They were written, each night on returning from
the country where the exterminating fury of the mountain had destroyed
men and things, and while still under the horror of the terrible
vision. Thus, rather than a cold literary dissertation, my reader,
you will find in these pages, the simple, deep and tragic story of
the eruption, witnessed by my own mortal eyes. You will find tales
of heroic people, and noble deeds which deserve to be recalled and
exalted. My friend and reader, these are pages of sorrow and distress,
and they are written with a sincere heart. Nothing else.
Naples--May 1906.