[Illustration: THE BAY OF NAPLES]
LITTLE TONY
_of_ ITALY
BY
MADELINE BRANDEIS
_Photographic Illustrations_
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
_by arrangement with the A. Flanagan Company_
_COPYRIGHT, 1934, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEDICATION
TO MY MOTHER, WHOSE MUSIC AND
SINGING ARE SOMEHOW IN TUNE
WITH THE "SINGING LAND" ABOUT
WHICH THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN
PREFACE
When I began to write these stories about children of all lands I had
just returned from Europe whither I journeyed with Marie and Ref. Maybe
you don't know Marie and Ref. I'll introduce them: Please meet Marie,
my very little daughter, and Ref, my very big reflex camera.
These two are my helpers. Marie helps by being a little girl who knows
what other little girls like and by telling me; and Ref helps by snapping
pictures of everything interesting that Marie and I see on our travels.
I couldn't get along without them.
Several years have gone by since we started our work together and Marie
is a bigger girl--but Ref hasn't changed one bit. Ref hasn't changed any
more than my interest in writing these books for you. And I hope that
_you_ hope that I'll never change, because I want to keep on writing
until we'll have no more countries to write about--unless, of course,
some one discovers a new country.
Even if a new country isn't discovered, we'll find foreign children to
talk about--maybe the children in Mars! Who knows? Nobody. Not even
Marie--and Marie usually knows about most things. That's the reason why,
you see, though I sign myself
[Signature: Madeline Brandeis]
I am really only
Marie's Mother.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Chapter I
Tony and Tina 13
Chapter II
Tony and the Balilla 29
Chapter III
Niki 42
Chapter IV
Rome 59
Chapter V
Tony and Anna 72
Chapter VI
Cities, Animals, and Discipline 86
Chapter VII
Statues, Music, and Cheese 111
Chapter VIII
Danger! 120
Chapter IX
The Buried City 128
Chapter X
Fever, Fear, and Troubled Sleep 139
Chapter XI
Tony, Anna, and Tina 149
Pronouncing Vocabulary 160
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE BAY OF NAPLES 4
TONY AND TINA 12
ON A STREET IN NAPLES 14
A FAMILY GROUP ON A STREET IN NAPLES 17
THE BAY OF NAPLES 20
IN FRONT OF THE MARIONETTE THEATRE 22
LAKE COMO 25
"I DIE OF HUNGER!" 30
"I WANT TO HELP YOU," SAID THE BOY 34
BOYS OF THE BALILLA 36
TINA WAS VERY SERIOUS 39
THE MARIONETTES WERE VERY HANDSOME 43
THE MARIONETTE THEATRE 45
THE BAY OF NAPLES AND VESUVIUS 47
ANNA'S HOUSE 52
CAPRI 53
TONY DREW CLOSER TO LISTEN 56
ST. PETER'S: ROME 60
THE PANTHEON: ROME 61
THE VATICAN: ROME 62
THE COLOSSEUM: ROME 64
INSIDE THE COLOSSEUM: ROME 65
TREVI FOUNTAIN: ROME 67
A PARADE PASSING THE COLOSSEUM: ROME 69
"AH. TINA MIA, I HAVE FOUND YOU AGAIN." 74
ANNA 76
"HUSH," SAID TONY 79
AMALFI 81
TONY BENT LOW AND KISSED HER HAND 83
ALONG THE ROAD, NEAR NAPLES 87
ALONG THE ROAD 88
FLORENCE AND THE ARNO RIVER 91
PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA: FLORENCE 92
ST. MARK'S: VENICE 93
A CANAL IN VENICE 97
THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA 98
THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS: VENICE 101
THE DOGE'S PALACE: VENICE 102
IN A GONDOLA 103
FEEDING PIGEONS IN ST. MARK'S SQUARE 104
JULIET'S GRAVE: VERONA 106
WASHING CLOTHES 108
A FISH MARKET IN GENOA 112
COLUMBUS' HOUSE: GENOA 114
A QUAINT ITALIAN STREET 116
MILAN CATHEDRAL 121
VESUVIUS SEEN FROM POMPEII 124
THE APPIAN WAY 130
POMPEII 132
HOUSE OF THE VETTI: POMPEII 133
A STREET IN POMPEII
_Photo by Courtesy of Italian Tourist Information Office_ 136
OLD OLIVE OIL MILL: POMPEII 141
POMPEII 142
SORRENTO
_Photo by Courtesy of Italian Tourist Information Office_ 144
TONY TRIED TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING 151
TONY, ANNA, AND TINA-NIKI-FIDO 156
[Illustration: TONY AND TINA]
Little Tony of Italy
CHAPTER I
TONY AND TINA
It was love at first sight.
It happened as Tony was sauntering along a noisy street in Naples. One of
the noisiest, oldest, and dirtiest streets.
Cries, songs, laughter, scoldings filled the air. And smells! But not the
smell of roses.
Tony's brown hands were stuffed in his ragged pockets. A never-mind whistle
was on his saucy lips.
But suddenly he stopped. He planted his legs apart and stared. There, on
the steps of a church, she sat. Her beautiful, pitiful brown eyes looked
up at Tony.
She had a bewitching face. It was a white face; thin and rather sad.
"Hungry?" asked Tony.
[Illustration: ON A STREET IN NAPLES]
Then, without waiting for a reply, he added, "Come along. I'll buy you
something to eat."
He jingled coins in his pockets. His mouth curved at the corners. He had
black eyes and they gleamed.
They started off together, when, all at once, she stopped and would go no
farther.
"Come," urged Tony. "Don't be afraid. I have money. See? I begged it of
the Americans at the big hotel."
He drew the coins from his pocket and showed them to her. But she only
stood and gazed at him with those mournful, brown eyes. Tony's black
ones snapped.
"Avanti! (Forward!)" he cried. "What makes you stand like a donkey? See,
I have enough to buy you all the food you can eat. I am clever."
He smiled roguishly.
"I cry before the foreigners," he continued. "I rub my stomach, so! I
say, 'Ah, I die of hunger!'"
He made a frightful face and patted his stomach.
But she only looked at him and did not move. Yet there was admiration
in her eyes.
"Then," he went on, "they feel sorry for me and they say, 'Poor boy!
Beautiful boy! We must give him some money!' So they do that!"
He laughed and showed his white teeth. But not she. There was something
very serious about her.
Tony had a temper. Angrily, he now stooped and picked her up. She did not
resist. In fact, her fluffy tail wagged heartily and she began to lick
his face.
She seemed to be saying, "I am forbidden to go with you. But if you take
me, what can I do?"
Tony bought meat from a street vender. He put her down and fed her out of
his hand. She ate hungrily. Her little ribs showed plainly through the
dirty white hair of her body.
When she finished, Tony picked her up again. He should have taken her
back to the church steps. She belonged to the Marionette show around the
corner. She was a trained dog.
But Tony did not know this. He only knew that he loved the little dog
very much, that he could not live another day without her.
[Illustration: A FAMILY GROUP ON A STREET IN NAPLES]
Determinedly, he tucked her under his arm and started toward home.
He stuffed the remaining meat inside his shirt. It was not a very clean
shirt, anyway, so a little meat did not make much difference.
Tony was an orphan. Nobody ever said to him, "Take your bath!" "Have you
washed your ears?"
He lived with an old woman in the back of a very old house. Everything
was old on this street. Everything but the children--and there were many
of them.
It was a poor and crowded street. People sat outside their doors all day
long. They worked and played and ate outside.
But now Tony ran inside quickly to look for the old woman.
"Look! Look!" he cried. "I have found a poor, lost little dog!"
The old woman was deaf.
"The dog is hurt?" she screamed. She glared at the frightened animal
which lay quite still in Tony's arms.
"No!" yelled Tony. "I found her and I am going to keep her!"
"You are not going to keep her!" shrilled the old woman.
Then she peered more closely at Tony.
"What is that?" she asked. "Ah, meat inside your shirt! You have been
feeding animals again. Ah!"
Her mouth fell open. A light of recognition came into her eyes.
"Dio Mio!" she gasped. "It is the trained dog of Guido, the Marionette
Man! You have stolen it! Ah, Madonna, now you are a thief!"
Tony shrank. His face grew almost as white as the dog's. A thief! Of
course, Tony knew that often he did not tell the truth. But then, it
was sometimes much easier to make up falsehoods. And much more fun!
Besides, he never told stories that would do anyone harm.
But to steal? That was a different thing.
[Illustration: THE BAY OF NAPLES]
He had not known that the dog belonged to the Marionette show.
"You are not satisfied with telling lies," went on the excited old
woman. "But now you must steal besides! Come, you child of Satan!"
She threw a tattered shawl about her shoulders.
"We are going to take the dog back to Guido!" she announced.
She led Tony away briskly. She was a witch-like old woman. But still, she
had cared for Tony since his parents had died and left him alone.
She had cared for him in giving him a home and something to eat. But that
was all. She had not tried to teach him the things that real parents teach
their children--things like the beauty of truth. Perhaps if she had done
this, Tony might have been different.
As it was, he was a lying little rascal with the face of an angel. He had
no thought but for song and story--and, of course, for animals!
[Illustration: IN FRONT OF THE MARIONETTE THEATRE]
They found Guido at his tiny theatre. The old woman pushed Tony up to the
Marionette Man, the dog nestling in his arms.
"Here is your dog, Mr. Guido!" The old woman's voice was sharp like her
nose. Tony, who liked beautiful sounds, hated to hear her talk.
"This--this--lost child of a thousand devils brought it home," she
croaked. "What will he do next? I am disgraced!"
Guido took the dog from Tony's arms. Guido was dark and oily. He smiled.
But Tony did not smile. Two big tears stood in his eyes. His rosy mouth
did not curl. It trembled.
"So you love my Tina very much, yes?" asked Guido. He laid his hand on
Tony's little brown cap. "You would like to own her, eh?"
"What do you say?" screamed the old woman. "Talk louder! I cannot hear."
"The boy would like to own the dog," repeated Guido, louder.
"He would like to own the world!" shrieked the old woman.
She started to drag Tony away, but he escaped her and ran back to Guido.
"Let me stay with you!" he cried.
Then he lowered his voice so the old woman could not hear what he said.
"The witch is cruel to me," he whined. "She beats me every morning. Ah,
I am not happy."
"What is that? What is he saying?" squealed the old woman, straining to
hear.
But Tony kept his voice low.
"Let me live with you, sir!" he went on. "I am a good boy and always do
as I am told!"
Tony's guardian took hold of the Marionette Man's sleeve.
"Please, sir," she implored. "You must not believe the tales Tony tells
you. I am sure they are lies. I have been good to him. But each day he
comes home with pockets empty. Yet I know he has begged money from the
foreigners and has spent it on the way home."
[Illustration: LAKE COMO]
Guido gave Tony an amused look.
The old woman continued, "Always animals!" she groaned. "This stupid
child would feed every cat, dog, goose, and donkey while I starve!"
In a way, the old woman was right. Tony did just this with his money.
He spent it on food for stray animals.
Or, sometimes he gave it to beggars who sat on church steps. They were
not so fortunate as he. For he was beautiful to look at and people
always believed his sad tales. He was a splendid actor.
He also knew that the old woman had enough for herself. So why should
he bring home his pennies when men and beasts starved on the streets?
But he did not put it this way to his guardian. It was so much easier to
turn his pockets inside out and say, with a roguish smile, "Niente!
(Nothing!)"
"How would you like me to take the lad to live with me?" asked Guido, the
Marionette Man.
"Heaven protect you, sir!" cried the old woman. "You do not know Tony!"
But here she was wrong, for Guido did know Tony. He had often watched
him on the streets, begging. Such a clever child would be able to help
in the Marionette show.
"Let me have him," said Guido, pleasantly. "I am not afraid of little
boys who do not tell the truth. I will teach him as I teach my little
trained dog, eh?"
He laughed and looked into Tony's eyes. Tony smiled at him and brushed
away the tears.
"Yes, I will come to live with you--and with the little dog," he said.
"Then I can be with her always!"
"Yes, indeed," agreed Guido. He turned to the old woman. "Are you
willing?" he asked.
"Willing?" she cried. "Do you ask one who suffers with toothache if he
is willing to part with the aching tooth? He is a rascal and cares
nothing for me. Indeed I am willing to let you keep him. Yet--"
She hesitated. A softer expression came over her face.
"You must promise to be good to him," she added. "His mother was my
friend. When she died she left him in my care. For her sake, you must
promise to treat Tony well."
"I shall treat him as if he were my own," replied Guido, the Marionette
Man.