nday
morning; the first Mass was over and half the population was coming out
of the sanctuary, the other half waiting to go in for the second Mass.
Among them, talking to a shoemaker, who seemed to be the principal man of
the place, we found Mario. I inquired what he had done with his horses
and how he had passed the night. He said he had found a stable for
Gaspare and Toto and had himself slept in the carriage. I trusted he had
not been very uncomfortable and he replied that he always slept in his
carriage. So I had travelled to Custonaci and was about to return to
Trapani in Mario's bed. He introduced me to the shoemaker.

"You see all these young men?" said the shoemaker. "In another couple of
months they will be in America."

I spoke to some of those who had returned from the States and from South
America. Those who have been to the States like an opportunity to speak
English, but they are not very strong at it, and it is more than tinged
with Yankeeisms. One of them told me that in New York he was treated
very well by his Capo-Boss. They earn more over there than they can at
home; every week brings American money-orders to Custonaci and on mail
days the post-office is crowded with wives, mothers and sweethearts.
When they have saved anything up to 5000 lire (200 pounds) they return
and buy a bit of land on which a family of contadini can live, or they
embellish the family shop or open a new one and hope for the best. If
business is bad and they lose their money before they are too old, they
can go back and make some more. It is the same on the Mountain; the
young men emigrate and bring back money and new ideas. The time will
come when Cofano will see what influence this wooing of Fortune in a
foreign land by the sons of Mount Eryx and Custonaci may have on the next
incarnation of the goddess who reigns in this corner of the island.

CALATAFIMI

CHAPTER XIII--THE PRODIGAL SON AND THE ARTS

Calatafimi is a town of 10,000 inhabitants about twenty miles inland from
Trapani. A slight eminence to the west of the town, 1115 feet above the
sea, crowned by the ruins of a castle of the Saracens (hence the name of
the place, Cal' at Eufimi), commands an extensive and beautiful view
which includes three monuments--first, the famous Greek temple of
Segesta; secondly, the theatre and the remains of the city above it;
thirdly, the obelisk commemorating Garibaldi's first victory over the
Neapolitans in