e dance, and all the faces about me were radiant with cheerfulness.
Just such a throng, of course, attended upon the festival of god or
goddess ere the old religion was transformed. Most of the Christian
anniversaries have their origin in heathendom; the names have changed,
but amid the unlettered worshippers there is little change of spirit; a
tradition older than they can conceive rules their piety, and gives it
whatever significance it may have in their simple lives.

Many came from a great distance; at the entrance to the town were
tethered innumerable mules and asses, awaiting the hour of return.
Modern Catanzaro, which long ago lost its proper costume, was enlivened
with brilliant colours; the country women, of course, adorned
themselves, and their garb was that which had so much interested me
when I first saw it in the public garden at Cosenza. Brilliant blue and
scarlet were the prevailing tones; a good deal of fine embroidery
caught the eye. In a few instances I noticed men wearing the true
Calabrian hat--peaked, brigandesque--which is rapidly falling out of
use. These people were, in general, good-looking; frequently I observed
a very handsome face, and occasionally a countenance, male or female,
of really heroic beauty. Though crowds wandered through the streets,
there sounded no tumult; voices never rose above an ordinary pitch of
conversation; the general bearing was dignified, and tended to gravity.
One woman in particular held my attention, not because of any
exceptional beauty, for, indeed, she had a hard, stern face, but owing
to her demeanour. Unlike most of the peasant folk, she was bent on
business; carrying upon her head a heavy pile of some ornamented
fabric--shawls or something of the kind--she entered shops, and paused
at house doors, in the endeavour to find purchasers. I watched her for
a long time, hoping she might make a sale, but ever she was
unsuccessful; for all that she bore herself with a dignity not easily
surpassed. Each offer of her wares was made as if she conferred a
graceful favour, and after each rejection she withdrew unabashed,
outwardly unperturbed, seeming to take stately leave. Only her
persistence showed how anxious she was to earn money; neither on her
features nor in her voice appeared the least sign of peddling
solicitude. I shall always remember that tall, hard-visaged woman, as
she passed with firm step and nobly balanced figure about the streets
of Catanzaro. To pity h