try, peopled by
those of mixed blood. In appearance the Italians may be anything from a
tow-headed Teuton to a swarthy Arab. Varying with the district from
which he comes, in manner he may be rough and boisterous; suave,
fluent, and gesticulative; or grave and silent. These differences extend
to the very essentials of life. The provinces of Italy are radically
unlike, not only in dress, cookery, and customs, but in character,
thought, and speech. A distinct change of dialect is often found in a
morning's walk. An ignorant Valtellinese from the mountains of the
north, and an ignorant Neapolitan have as yet no means of understanding
each other; and what is yet more remarkable, the speech of the
unschooled peasant of Genoa is unintelligible to his fellow of Piedmont,
who lives less than one hundred miles away.

[Sidenote: Different Environment]

The northern Italian is the result of a superior environment. His
section is more prosperous, intelligent, orderly, and modern. The
industrially progressive, democratic north presents a striking contrast
to the industrially stagnant, feudal south. The northern division is
full of the spirit of the new Italy, and its people are less prone to
leave home. Central Italy, too, is making steady advances in agriculture
and education, and the peasant farmer is a stay-at-home. In southern
Italy agriculture is practically the sole reliance of the people, the
lot of the day laborers is wretched, and the failure of a wheat crop is
as disastrous as the potato famine in Ireland was to the Irish in 1847.
United Italy is undoubtedly making progress in education and industry,
the standards of living are rising, and the money sent or carried back
to Italy from America has helped to some degree in this advancement.
Religiously, of course, the domination of the Roman Catholic Church
continues over all Italy, and in illiteracy as in other respects Italy
is an example of what this ecclesiastical rule means where it has power
over the people sufficient to enable it to work its will.

[Sidenote: Common Poverty of the Peasants]

In view of these facts regarding the home environment and difference in
peoples, it will not do, evidently, to use sweeping generalizations, or
to regard the organ-grinder and fruit-peddler as the representatives of
Italy in America. We receive all grades, from cultured professionals to
illiterate peasants, though mainly, of course, the peasant class. The
one common feature of