make
money--there will be no poets like Casti in those days--Casti, who wrote
two hundred sonnets against a man who dunned him for--thirty cents! Talk
about knowing enough to go into the house when it rains! Why the Roman
shopkeepers of the poorer class don't know enough to shut their shop
doors when they are starved with cold: you will find this to be the
fact. Look, too, at the poor little children! do they ever think of
playing fire engine, and thus warming themselves in a wholesome manner?
No! One day I was painting away, when I heard a poor, thin little voice,
as of a small dinner bell with a croup, and hoping at last I might see
the little ones having a good frolic, I went to the window and looked
out. What did I see? A small boy with a large, tallow-colored head,
carrying a large black cross in the pit of his stomach; another small
boy ringing a bell; and five others following along, in a crushed,
despondent manner--inviting other boys to hear the catechism explained
in the parish church. Meat for babes! I don't wonder the Roman women all
want to be men, when I see the men without half the spirit of the women,
and, such as they are, loafing away the winter evenings for warmth in
wine shops or cafes. Poor Roman women, huddled together in your dark
rooms, feebly lighted with a poor lamp, and hugging _scaldine_ for
better comfort! Would that the American woman could see her Italian
sister, and bless her stars that she did not live under the cap and
cross keys.'

'The cold has one good effect,' interrupted Caper; 'the forcible
gesticulation of the Italians, which we all admire so much, arises from
the necessity they have to do so--in order to keep warm. I have,
however, an idea to better the condition of the wood sawyers in the
Papal States, by introducing a saw buck or saw horse: as it is, they
hold the wood in their hands, putting the saw between their knees, and
then fairly rubbing the wood through the saw, instead of the saw through
the wood. How, too, the Romans manage to cut wood with such axes as they
have is passing strange. It would be well to introduce an American axe
here, handle and all.'

'We have an old, old saying in France,' spoke Rocjean:

'_Jamais cheval n'y homme
S'amenda pour aller a Rome._'

'Never horse or man mended, that unto Rome wended.' Your American axe is
useless without American energy, and would not, if introduced here, mend
the present shiftless style of wood chopping: eviden