ittle more of the grease,
until at last the lucky one came who profited by his forerunners'
labours, and struggled to the top to snatch the smoked pig. After that
it was easy.
Such is success in this unequal world; the man who wipes off the grease
seldom gets the prize.
Then followed various games, with tubs of water; and coins fastened to
the bottom of a huge black frying-pan, to be plucked off with the lips;
and pots of flour to be broken with sticks; so that the young lads
of the village were ducked and blackened and powdered to an unlimited
extent, amid the hilarious applause of the spectators. In the evening
there was more music, and the peasants danced in the square, the women
quietly and rather heavily, but the men with amazing agility, slapping
the soles of their shoes with their hands, or turning cartwheels in
front of their partners. At dark the festivities closed with a display
of fireworks; there were rockets and bombs and pin-wheels; and the boys
had tiny red and blue lights which they held until their fingers were
burned, just as boys do in America; and there was a general hush of
wonder as a particularly brilliant rocket swished into the dark sky;
and when it burst into a rain of serpents, the crowd breathed out its
delight in a long-drawn "Ah-h-h-h!" just as the crowd does everywhere.
We might easily have imagined ourselves at a Fourth of July celebration
in Vermont, if it had not been for the costumes.
The men of the Ampezzo Valley have kept but little that is peculiar
in their dress. Men are naturally more progressive than women, and
therefore less picturesque. The tide of fashion has swept them into the
international monotony of coat and vest and trousers--pretty much the
same, and equally ugly, all over the world. Now and then you may see a
short jacket with silver buttons, or a pair of knee-breeches; and almost
all the youths wear a bunch of feathers or a tuft of chamois' hair in
their soft green hats. But the women of the Ampezzo--strong, comely,
with golden brown complexions, and often noble faces--are not ashamed to
dress as their grandmothers did. They wear a little round black felt
hat with rolled rim and two long ribbons hanging down at the back. Their
hair is carefully braided and coiled, and stuck through and through
with great silver pins. A black bodice, fastened with silver clasps,
is covered in front with the ends of a brilliant silk kerchief, laid in
many folds around the shoulder
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