Who does not prefer civilization to barbarism and the usages of savage
life? Who would not choose the comforts of a refined home, cool in
summer, warm in winter, well supplied with food, and replete with every
comfort and even luxury, to the open country, with its inclemency,
inconveniences, and vicissitudes of weather?
Yet when one remembers that the few monopolize the advantages of
civilization, and that its victims are so many, one can not help
doubting whether the world of humanity does reap much benefit from the
present highly-developed state of civilization, and whether it might not
be desirable to go back to the simple condition of the first inhabitants
of the world, amongst whom, if there were no palaces, no cooks, no fine
manners, no expensive clothes, no elaborate conventions, no luxuries
in the way of food, neither were there any priests, police, prefects,
tax-gatherers, or any other of our galling modern innovations; neither
was one called upon to give up one's children to serve the caprices of
a despot, under the pretense of serving the country and washing out
"stains from flags."
However all this may be, a frugal supper in the forest on the soft green
turf, hitherto untrodden by any foot of man; the guests seated on the
trunks of old trees that furnish also a glowing and dancing fire; by the
side moreover, of such companions as Julia, Clelia, and Irene--a supper
in such circumstances must be a more delightful height of enjoyment
than civilization could reach. _Per Dio!_ give us such a forest supper,
though it consist only of fruit and the luck of the chase, against any
grand in-door entertainment. Many a time have we shared such a repast.
But our forest party had more than meagre fare. Gasparo, who was also
in charge of the baggage, was commissioned, in company with Jack, to
purchase and look after the provisions. He now spread a cold collation
before the chiefs, with the sailor-boy's assistance--garnishing it
with some green branches--which would have tempted even the palate of a
Lucullus.
A few flasks of Montepulciano and Orvieto embellished the enamelled
table, and, the savory meats, seasoned with the appetite which follows
an arduous day's work, disappeared with amazing celerity.
Julia was in high spirits. It was the first time she had shared in such
a _fete-champetre_, in the society, above all, of those who were her
_bello ideale_ of all that was romantic, chivalrous, and gallant.
Very near to her was her Muzio, disguised in the garb of a Roman model,
and who was now known and proclaimed to be the descendant of an ancient
noble family, and one of the richest heirs in Rome, it might yet appear.
That resistless principle, which, like the loadstone and the needle,
attracts loving souls one to the other, kept him at the side of the
woman of his heart, watching her slighest wish, providing her with every
thing with proud servility; and all the while humbly glancing at her
with that look which art vainly seeks to represent--the look which
alone can be given and understood between those who love with a true and
perfect love.
Julia also, with a little graceful dignity, enjoyed hearing Clelia and
Irene converse with Jack in broken Italo-English. They drew him out to
relate some of the episodes of his sea-life, the adventures he had met
with, and the tempests he had witnessed in his long voyages to India
and China, for he had been at sea since he was seven years old.
The description he gave of the Chinese who stay at home and employ
themselves in different kinds of work performed by women in other
countries, while their wives row, and till the land, with their babies
slung in a basket on their backs, caused much laughter among his fair
hearers, and, indeed, to all present, when translated to them by one of
the company.
"The nautical profession," said Julia, "is the one to which my country
is most indebted for her greatness. My countrymen prize and honor their
mariners. With us, not only in the countries bordered by the sea, but
wherever there is a river or a lake, boys are to be seen continually
taking exercise in boating and rowing, in which practices they run all
kinds of danger, and this is the reason there are so many seafaring men
to make the name of Britain great upon the ocean.
"I have known youths in France and Italy, who were destined to become
naval officers, pass the greater part of their boyhood in the technical
schools, going on board for the first time when they had attained their
fifteenth and even their eighteenth year, when they suffer much, of
course, from sea-sickness, and are exposed to the ridicule and contempt
of the sailors.
"In England it is very different. Youths destined for the sea are put on
board at eleven years of age, and frequently take long voyages, during
which they are instructed practically in all the routine and details
of their profession. This course insures the best naval officers in the
world to England.
"The wealthy among my people do not hoard up money to look at it, but
employ it frequently in purchasing a yacht; and there are, indeed, very
few persons living near sea or river who do not own or hire some sort of
craft, large or small, in which they take their pleasure, and exercise
themselves in the art which constitutes the glory and prosperity of
their land.
"In Italy you have seamen, I grant, who equal the best of any nation,
but your officers will not stand the test of comparison. Your Ministers
of Marine have ever been incompetent, and therefore incapable of
improving and raising a profession which might yet render Italy one of
the most important and prosperous nations of the globe."
The subject so treated by Julia was a little foreign to our Romans, who
were naturally ignorant of sea affairs. Their priests long ago found the
oar and the net of St. Peter too heavy for their effeminate hands, and
gave themselves up to merry-making and luxury as the easiest way of
promoting the glory of God.
A pause ensuing, Julia called for a song or narrative, and Orazio said,
"Gasparo, the chief of bandits, could tell us, doubtless, some stirring
passages in his adventurous life." Whereupon, with a bow and smile, the
old man sat for a moment recalling some circumstance of his past life,
and then answered-
"Perils on the sea I could not relate, because I have been very
little upon it; but on land I have passed through my share of strange
adventures: and if it will not weary you to listen to one, I could,
perhaps, relate events that would make you shudder."
All expressing a wish to hear some portion of his history, Gasparo,
settling himself to an easy attitude commenced the following story.