CHAPTER XLVI. THE RURAL SUPPER
Who does not prefer civilization to barbarism and the usages of savagelife? Who would not choose the comforts of a refined home, cool insummer, warm in winter, well supplied with food, and replete with everycomfort 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 ofcivilization, and that its victims are so many, one can not helpdoubting whether the world of humanity does reap much benefit from thepresent highly-developed state of civilization, and whether it might notbe desirable to go back to the simple condition of the first inhabitantsof the world, amongst whom, if there were no palaces, no cooks, no finemanners, no expensive clothes, no elaborate conventions, no luxuriesin the way of food, neither were there any priests, police, prefects,tax-gatherers, or any other of our galling modern innovations; neitherwas one called upon to give up one's children to serve the caprices ofa 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 greenturf, hitherto untrodden by any foot of man; the guests seated on thetrunks of old trees that furnish also a glowing and dancing fire; by theside moreover, of such companions as Julia, Clelia, and Irene--a supperin such circumstances must be a more delightful height of enjoymentthan civilization could reach. _Per Dio!_ give us such a forest supper,though it consist only of fruit and the luck of the chase, against anygrand in-door entertainment. Many a time have we shared such a repast.
But our forest party had more than meagre fare. Gasparo, who was alsoin charge of the baggage, was commissioned, in company with Jack, topurchase and look after the provisions. He now spread a cold collationbefore the chiefs, with the sailor-boy's assistance--garnishing itwith some green branches--which would have tempted even the palate of aLucullus.
A few flasks of Montepulciano and Orvieto embellished the enamelledtable, and, the savory meats, seasoned with the appetite which followsan arduous day's work, disappeared with amazing celerity.
Julia was in high spirits. It was the first time she had shared in sucha _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 ancientnoble 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 thewoman of his heart, watching her slighest wish, providing her with everything with proud servility; and all the while humbly glancing at herwith that look which art vainly seeks to represent--the look whichalone can be given and understood between those who love with a true andperfect love.
Julia also, with a little graceful dignity, enjoyed hearing Clelia andIrene converse with Jack in broken Italo-English. They drew him out torelate some of the episodes of his sea-life, the adventures he had metwith, and the tempests he had witnessed in his long voyages to Indiaand 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 employthemselves in different kinds of work performed by women in othercountries, while their wives row, and till the land, with their babiesslung in a basket on their backs, caused much laughter among his fairhearers, and, indeed, to all present, when translated to them by one ofthe company.
"The nautical profession," said Julia, "is the one to which my countryis most indebted for her greatness. My countrymen prize and honor theirmariners. With us, not only in the countries bordered by the sea, butwherever there is a river or a lake, boys are to be seen continuallytaking exercise in boating and rowing, in which practices they run allkinds of danger, and this is the reason there are so many seafaring mento make the name of Britain great upon the ocean.
"I have known youths in France and Italy, who were destined to becomenaval officers, pass the greater part of their boyhood in the technicalschools, going on board for the first time when they had attained theirfifteenth and even their eighteenth year, when they suffer much, ofcourse, from sea-sickness, and are exposed to the ridicule and contemptof the sailors.
"In England it is very different. Youths destined for the sea are put onboard at eleven years of age, and frequently take long voyages, duringwhich they are instructed practically in all the routine and detailsof their profession. This course insures the best naval officers in theworld to England.
"The wealthy among my people do not hoard up money to look at it, butemploy it frequently in purchasing a yacht; and there are, indeed, veryfew persons living near sea or river who do not own or hire some sort ofcraft, large or small, in which they take their pleasure, and exercisethemselves in the art which constitutes the glory and prosperity oftheir 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 Ministersof Marine have ever been incompetent, and therefore incapable ofimproving and raising a profession which might yet render Italy one ofthe most important and prosperous nations of the globe."
The subject so treated by Julia was a little foreign to our Romans, whowere naturally ignorant of sea affairs. Their priests long ago found theoar and the net of St. Peter too heavy for their effeminate hands, andgave themselves up to merry-making and luxury as the easiest way ofpromoting 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 stirringpassages in his adventurous life." Whereupon, with a bow and smile, theold 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 verylittle upon it; but on land I have passed through my share of strangeadventures: 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.