it Peppino's vivacity, who,
placing his left hand on his bosom, makes, with his right, one of the
signs for emphatic negation. This consists of the palm turned to the
person addressed with the index somewhat extended and separated from
the other fingers, the whole hand being oscillated from right to left.
This gesture appears on ancient Greek vases, and is compound, the
index being demonstrative and the negation shown by the horizontal
oscillation, the whole being translatable as, "That thing I want not,
won't have, reject." The sign is virtually the same as that made by
Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians (see EXTRACTS FROM DICTIONARY, page 440,
_infra_.). The conception of oscillation to show negation also appears
with different execution in the sign of the Jicarilla Apaches and the
Pai-Utes, Fig. 82. The same sign is reported from Japan, in the same
sense.

[Illustration: Fig. 83.--Coming home of Neapolitan bride.]

Tonno, in hopes that the quarrel is definitive, to do his part in
stopping the ceremony, proceeds to blow out the three lighted candles,
which are an important traditional feature of the rite. The good old
man Pasquale, with his hands extended, raised in surprised displeasure
and directed toward the insolent youth, stops his attempt. The veteran
notary, familiar with such quarrels in his experience, smiles at this
one, and, continuing in his quiet attitude, extends his right hand
placidly to Peppino with the sign of _adagio_, before described, see
Fig. 68, advising him not to get excited, but to persist quietly, and
all would be well.

* * * * *

Fig. 83 portrays the first entrance of a bride to her husband's
house. She comes in with a tender and languid mien, her pendent
arms indicating soft yielding, and the right hand loosely holds a
handkerchief, ready to apply in case of overpowering emotion. She is,
or feigns to be, so timid and embarrassed as to require support by
the arm of a friend who introduces her. She is followed by a male
friend of the family, whose joyful face is turned toward supposed
by-standers, right hand pointing to the new acquisition, while with
his left he makes the sign of horns before described, see Fig. 79,
which in this connection is to wish prosperity and avert misfortune,
and is equivalent to the words in the Neapolitan dialect,
"_Mal'uocchie non nce pozzano_"--may evil eyes never have power over
her.

[Illustration: Fig. 84.]

The female confi