"AFTERNOON LADIES. "
When toward the west the sun descends
Till tinge of gold with shadow blends ,
And calm are- mellowed hours of day ,
In oriental colors gay
The four-o'clocks are opened wide .
To give fresh bloom to eventide.
In plain , old-fashioned yards they grow ,
And yet , in softened sunlight's glow ,
The mingled green of spreading loaves ,
With putaled red and yellow , weaves
A web , fantastic with their bloom ,
Lilco fabrics from weird Indies' loom.
From hedgoliko rows their flowers gleam
Till nightfall comes with shade and dream.
Belated children of the day ,
Whoso birthplace is so far away ,
You look like dames with sprightly air ,
Whoso robes a foreign tinting wear.
Sweet "ladies of the afternoon"
Your buds , awakened , are the boon
That brings to closing day a grace.
What mystic charm calls up each face
To brightly smile while shadows creep
To veil the summer hours with sloop ?
MAUV FIIENCII MORTON.
MIL.ITAKISM IN ITALY.
There is no doubt that this military
element lends much life and color to
the streets. Although there are more
brilliant uniforms than in Italy in
Austro-Hungary , for example the Ital
ian uniforms are very handsome. The
variety is striking. You see infantry
officers in dark-blue tunics with silver
facings , blue-gray trousers with scarlet
stripes , and long blue-gray cloaks. You
see bcrsaglieri , an elite rifle corps , in
dark-blue and crimson uniforms
- , wear
ing round hats with cock's plumes hang
ing in a large bunch from one side.
You see cavalry officers in blue and gray
uniforms , some wearing fur caps , and
the Savoy regiments wearing gold-
crested steel helmets. You see artillery
officers in blue and yellow , engineer
officers in blue and crimson , the royal
body-guard in blue and silver , and finally
you see the royal horse-guards , imposing
creatures in helmets with black horse
hair plumes , steel cuirasses , white
leather breeches , and high boots. Then
there are the carubinieri , or gendarmes ,
who wear a simple , old-fashioned uni
form long-skirted coat , cocked hat , and
pipe clayed belt and scabbard. It is
quaint and effective.
What we would call the police officers
wear different uniforms in different
cities. In Rome their uniform is much
like that of the infantry of the line ,
which adds to the apparent number of
military in the streets. In other Italian
cities they wear various costumes , prob
ably dating from the days before United
Italy. In Genoa their garb is indeed
extraordinary. They wear long , black
surtout coats , cut like what our tailors
call a Newmarket or paddock coat. The
costume is crowned with a "stove-pipe
hat. " This seems incredible , but it is
strictly true. When it rains they sub
stitute a cap for the stove-pipe.
In addition to the military , the rural
geiidarmery and the municipal police
officers , practically all government em
ployees wear semi-military uniforms.
Firemen , customs-house officers , post-
office clerks , postal-wagon drivers , rail
way employees ( the railways belong to
the government ) , telegraph employees
( the telegraph belongs to the govern
ment also ) , octroi employees all of these
men are in uniform. And people who
are fond of advocating government
ownership of railroads and telegraph
ought to try it over here. These petty
officials in brass buttons are so swollen
up with bureaucratic importance that
they are not even civil. The railways
do not advertise their time-tables , or
anything else for that matter. If you
want to find out anything concerning
trains , rates of faro , rates on luggage by
passenger train , rates on luggage by fast
freight , rates on luggage by slow freight ,
rates for transporting luggage from
station to domicle in railway vans
well , you may succeed if you are per
sistent , but you will get little help and
much isolence from the railway officials.
If you purchase a sleeping-car coupon
with a first-class ticket you are entitled ,
under the law , to demand that a sleep
ing-car be placed on the train even if
you are the only passenger. But the
railway officials will never tell you of
your rights. I found this out from a
tourist agency and took great pleasure
in compelling the railway officials to
put on a sleeping-car for our special use
and behoof.
As for the telegraph , the government
plainly says on its blanks that it is not
responsible for anything errors in trans
mission , failure to transmitbattle , mur
der , sudden death , pestilence , famine ,
or act of God. If you send high-priced
cablegrams by the Italian government's
telegraph service you had better demand
a receipt for the money. A receipt , by
the way , will cost you twenty-five
centesimi extra. An American here
recently complained of having sent six
cablegrams to the United States in one
month , five of which were never re
ceived. Probably the employees pocketed
the money and threw the cablegram in
the waste-basket. The postofflce so dis
trusts its employees that they have a
contrivance for emptying letter-boxes by
which the letters are slid from the locked
letter-box into a bag with a locked top ,
so that the employee can not handle
them. Newspaper-boxes are emptied
into a bag , as in our country. The
government railways have so poor an
opinion of their brass-buttoned em
ployees that they will accept no luggage
unless it has strong locks upon it. Even
with that precaution there are so many
thefts from trunks on Italian railways
that prudent people insure their lug
gage.
Italy GroaiiH Under Militarism.
Why is Italy BO poor ? Why is official
honesty at so low an ebb that she can
not trust even her own government em
ployees ? Why is it unsafe to hand a
letter to a postal-carrier to post , lest he
should steal the stamps ? The answer is
simple. It is because of the brilliant
uniforms which give color to the streets ;
of the vast number of soldiers who live
upon the tax-payers. For every idle
officer loafing at a cafe three or four
men are working hard to earn his living
and their own. The unfortunate country
is ground down with taxation. There
is nothing that is untaxed. Even the
food you eat pays a double tax once to
the state and again to the city. The
very sunlight is taxed , for there is a
heavy tax on windows.
California and Italy are about the
same size. Roughly speaking , Califor
nia contains about 150,000 square miles ,
Italy about 120,000 square miles. They
are not dissimilar in physical charac
teristics. They extend over a long
distance from north to south , and each
has an extensive coast line. Each , is
destitute of coal mines. Each produces
large quantities of wheat. Each pro
duces citrus and other fruits , olives ,
wine , and raisins. The climate is about
the same , although California's is su
perior. They are in about the same
zone. Rome 'lies in about the same
latitude as San Francisco. Our state is
one of the richest and most fertile of all
the United States. Yet suppose that
California were as populous as Italy as
some day it will be suppose it had a
population of millions. Could Califor
nia , even with its vast resources , sup
port an army of a quarter of a million
men as Italy does ? She could do it only
as Italy does , by grinding the people
into the dust with oppressive taxation.
It is a fact that this country about
the size of California has over 200,000
men under arms , with a reserve of
2,000,000 more. She also has a large
and costly navy.
The Italian government is much con
cerned at the enormous emigration.
They try to stop it , but it can not be
stopped. The young men flee to avoid
conscription. From the north last week
there came news of the arrest of some
chemists who were selling drugs which
enabled young men to feign .chronic
maladies so skillfully as to avoid con
scription. This is another symptom of
the army ulcer which is eating into
Italy.
Of course every one in America knows
these things. We know them on paper.
But there is nothing like seeing them.
They had grown dim in my memory
since I was lost in Europe. But a
glimpse of militarism revives my old
impressions. Here it is hated and
dreaded. The ambitious and energetic
flee from it and go to other lauds. Take
the Germans in America as a type of
this class. It is no wonder that the
menace of militarism in our own couu-