THE CARNIVAL
IT was now February. Tessa and Beppo had been home for several weeks.
The baby was growing fast; the mother was strong again and rosy; while
the extra money which the children had earned as models for Mr. Gray had
made the family very comfortable.
"How would you like to go to the carnival?" the father asked.
The family were gathered around the table where the dish of polenta had
just been placed. Polenta, you must know, is a kind of porridge made of
corn (maize) meal. It was the only food the children would have for
supper that night. But that did not seem to trouble them. They all
looked happy, even before they heard the word carnival.
But this had a wonderful effect. Tessa jumped up, caught the baby out of
his cradle, and began to dance about the room. Beppo seized his violin
and started a lively air. Their mother began to laugh, while little
Francesca looked from one to another in surprise. She could not
understand what the sudden excitement was about.
When Tessa had danced herself nearly out of breath, she ran and put her
arms around her father's neck.
"Oh, babbo, babbo! do you really mean it?" she cried. "I have never been
to the carnival, and I have heard so much about the beautiful festival."
Then her mother spoke. She blushed like a young girl as she said to her
husband:
"It would seem like old times before we were married, to go to the gay
carnival together. But how shall we manage it with our family of four
children?"
"I have fixed all that," her husband answered. "We are to stay with your
cousin Lola in the city. She will keep us through the week for a small
sum, as she says she has an extra room that she will be glad to have us
use.
"So get ready, wife, and look as fine as possible in your new blue skirt
and the red bodice below the white blouse. Do not forget to wear the
fringed kerchief on your pretty head. It is the one I gave you when you
were a gay young girl."
His wife promised to make herself look as fine as possible, as she
blushed more deeply than ever.
The carnival! The carnival! Is it any wonder that Tessa and her brother
slept but little that night, and that when they did, they dreamed of
processions and bonbons and clowns and flower-decked wagons and all
sorts of strange sights?
Their father hired a donkey from one of his neighbours for Tessa and
Francesca to ride on. Pietro was to carry their mother and the baby.
When at last they were ready to start, they were a merry sight. Beppo
and Tessa had gathered quantities of wild flowers to use at the
carnival, so that Tessa and her mother looked as though they were in the
middle of travelling gardens.
"If these give out," Beppo had told his sister, "we can go over to the
Coliseum and get wallflowers and some other pretty blossoms that grow in
the crevices of the walls. They must be in bloom by this time. We must
throw many a bouquet to Lucy and her brother."
The city looked bright and gay as the peasant and his family drew near.
The streets were filled with carriages; the sidewalks were lined with
people; while the houses were decked with bright-coloured carpets,
mats, and all sorts of hangings.
Merry parties had already seated themselves in the balconies, for it was
one o'clock on the first day of the carnival.
What does this word "carnival" mean? you ask. It is another name for
"farewell to meat," and the great festival of Italy is always held
during the week before the beginning of Lent. All the days except Sunday
and Friday are given up to merrymaking, which grows more and more lively
until the last night.
The children go to bed and get up whenever they like. There is no
scolding, no cross word; and even if the sport becomes very rough, every
one takes it with good nature.
Tessa and Beppo went with the rest of the family to their cousin's home
on the ground floor of a tall stone building. But they rested only a few
moments.
"Take the donkeys, children, and ride off to see the sights," said their
father. "Your mother and I will stay and talk with our friends awhile
before we go out."
They did not need to be told twice, and were soon in the midst of a
merry crowd on the Corso, as one of the principal streets of Rome is
called.
"Look, look, Beppo," said Tessa. "Do see that wagon full of clowns and
queerly dressed people. They are having great sport. They are pelting
every one with confetti. We shall get hit if we don't take care."
"We'll get some confetti ourselves," answered Beppo. "We must not wait
any longer."
The two children stopped their donkeys in front of a stand covered with
tiny lime-balls. Perhaps you would call them plaster candies. They were
no larger than peas, and looked nice enough to eat.
[Illustration: "WERE SOON IN THE MIDST OF A MERRY CROWD"]
"Now for fun," said Beppo, when each had purchased a big bag of
confetti.
At this moment, some boys, who were close behind, gave Pietro's tail a
sudden pull and Tessa fell forward as he jumped about. Before she could
get up, she felt a shower of confetti falling over her neck and
shoulders.
A loud laugh went up from the bystanders. Tessa laughed, too, as she
brushed the powdery balls to right and left.
A moment after, another shower came falling about her. But this time it
was made of sugar almonds, which a little girl was scattering from a
balcony. She must have liked Tessa's pretty face and wished to give her
a treat.
There was a great scrambling for the candy. The mischievous boys who had
thrown the confetti got most of it, I fear, but Tessa enjoyed it,
nevertheless.
"Look at the lovely carriage ahead of us," she cried. "It is lined with
white. Aren't the ladies in it pretty, Beppo? That seat in front of
them is just loaded with bouquets and confetti. They are standing up now
to throw better."
Beppo didn't care for this half as much as for the wagon-loads of people
dressed in bright colours and wearing masks.
"Look at that man, Tessa, before he is out of sight. Yes, it must be a
man, though he is dressed like a woman. See his false curls hanging down
under the bonnet, and hear him talk. He keeps every one around him
laughing. Let's put on our masks and then ride past Lucy's house. She
won't know us if she sees us."
Beppo had made some rude masks before the children left home. After they
had put them on, they felt sure no one would know them as they rode
through the lively crowd.
"Look up at the second balcony," whispered Tessa, as she came up close
to her brother's side. "There are Lucy and Arthur with their father and
mother, in the midst of a merry party. We might have known they would be
here on the Corso."
"Do you see what Arthur is doing?" replied Beppo. "He has a bouquet of
flowers fastened to the end of a long string. And now he is dangling it
over the rail. Just see that lady in the balcony below reaching out to
get it. She thinks it is being thrown to her. How surprised she is when
it comes up again out of her reach. Oh, what sport!
"But watch, Tessa. I am going to throw my prettiest bunch of flowers to
Lucy. Ah! she looks like an angel to-day. She is all in white."
Beppo took a bouquet of roses and tossed them straight up into his
little friend's lap. She was looking directly toward him as he threw
them. She began to laugh, and, lifting them in her hands, turned to her
father and said something.
"She is asking him who we are," said Beppo. "She will never guess, for
she does not expect to see us at the carnival."
Tessa and her brother now moved onward, but not before they were covered
with a shower of candy. It was Lucy's return for her flowers.
A little before sunset the two country children went back to their
cousin's. They found their father and mother all ready to go out to see
the races.
"What an odd-looking child you are, Tessa. And you, too, Beppo," said
their mother. For they were fairly covered with white dust.
"Never mind," laughed Beppo. "You will look like that to-morrow, mother,
if you stay outdoors long enough. I really think that hundreds of
bushels of confetti have been thrown about the streets to-day. We have
received our share of them, without doubt."
"Come, come, not a moment to lose now," said the father, "or we shall be
too late to see the sport."
The good-natured cousin said she would look after the baby, while
Francesca rode off down the street on her father's shoulder. The donkeys
had been put in the stable for their night's rest.
The party soon reached the Corso, which had been cleared of carriages.
Both sides were lined by an ever-growing crowd.
Just at sunset a gun was fired. Instantly a number of beautiful horses
were freed. They wore fine trappings and were without riders or drivers.
Down the Corso they raced from one end to the other. It seemed as though
they passed by like lightning.
"Good, good," shouted Beppo, as the first horse reached the goal. This
one was the winner of the race, of course.
"We can see this sport every night of the carnival," his father told
him, as they walked slowly homeward, looking at the sights on the way.
Early the next morning Tessa and Beppo started off on their donkeys once
more. They did not wish to lose a moment of the day's fun. They had many
a mock battle with the children whom they met, but the fighting was all
good-natured, and the only weapons used were handfuls of confetti.
In the afternoon they found themselves near Arthur and Lucy, who were in
an open carriage. They did not have their masks on, so their friends
spied them out very quickly. They were very glad to see each other, but
the crowd was so great they did not have a chance to say much.
"Tessa," whispered Lucy, "father has something to ask your parents. He
was going to write to them if he did not see them before the end of the
carnival. Be sure to tell them. It is about you."
That was all she had a chance to say before the driver started up the
horses and she had passed on. Tessa wondered what it could be about, but
her mind was soon busy with the gay sights, and she forgot all about it
till she reached home.
The last night of the carnival was the gayest time of all. As soon as it
was dark, Tessa went with her father and mother and Beppo out into the
streets. Every one carried a torch and tried to keep it lighted. At the
same time he must try to put out as many other torches as possible.
How the lights danced up and down the streets! What a puffing and
blowing there was all the time. Tessa no sooner got her torch lighted
than some one came up from behind and put it out. Then she would cry,
"Senza moccolo, senza moccolo." That means, "Without light, without
light."
After a while, Beppo fastened his torch to the end of a long pole. He
thought he was safe at last. But, no! a moment afterward some one came
along with a pole longer than his own and dashed it down. The fun was
all the greater for such little things as this.
The city looked wonderfully pretty with the lights dancing about the
windows and balconies and streets.
After an hour or two the crowds began to thin out. Every one was tired.
Tessa and Beppo turned homeward with their father and mother, calling
out:
"The carnival is dead. The carnival is dead."
Soon afterward they tumbled into bed, half asleep, still repeating the
words they heard echoing through the streets:
"The carnival is dead!"