How "A Dear Little Couple" Went Abroad Part 2

relieved itself in the usual way very soon, and our little couple were put into their berths and comforted and petted until they fell asleep, and as they slept poor Papa and Mamma had their little turn at the same kind of discomfort, and, when they were relieved, followed the children's example and took a long nap. They didn't care for dinner that night, either of the party, and in fact very few of the pa.s.sengers went to the dining-saloon, for the steamer was having such a wild frolic and dance on the waves that things were hardly comfortable on deck or in the saloons, and the stewardesses and stewards were very busy all night, and for all the next day, because the gale lasted so long and made so much seasickness on board that n.o.body felt very happy, you see.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VI.

NAPLES IS CLOSE AT HAND.

THE discomforts of the voyage, however, were very few; and after the strong winds died away, and the sky got rid of the wind clouds, and brought forth its merry sunshine again, the pa.s.sengers crowded the decks, and took their ease in their comfortable steamer chairs, reading, writing, or just being lazy awhile, and the children played the game of "shuffle-board," and "tag," and "hide-and-seek," and such games as little people when they get together whether on land or shipboard, enjoy with all their might and main. Polly and Teddy laughed as loud and as often as the rest of the children, and b.u.mped with the "grown-ups"

during "tag" quite as frequently, but they always said: "Excuse me!"

when they did so, and if it was a lady they ran against Teddy's cap was off in an instant while he made his little polite apology. I regret to say the other little ones were apt to forget that small act of politeness; they were so fearful of being "tagged," perhaps they hadn't time for apologies for unintentional rudeness. But after awhile, in some way, they caught the trick from Polly and Teddy, and surely that was a good thing, wasn't it? (I only mention this to show you that even little people--no matter how little they are--can influence each other for good or bad, and it is so much better to choose the "good," you know).

And now I come to the day--or rather the early morning of the day--when the good ship steamed into the beautiful Bay of Naples with her colors flying, her band playing, and a crowd of excited and early risers amongst the pa.s.sengers at the deck railings. Amongst them, of course, were our little couple and Mamma and Papa, and the children were wild with delight over the novelty of the scenes before them: the swarms of small native boats, which hung around under the steamship's sides, at her bow, and under her stern; the natives themselves, calling out in their whining tones for "_Monie, monie!_" (money); the little Italian lads who were constantly diving for the pennies some of the laughing pa.s.sengers were tossing into the water.

You would not believe they could possibly have found those pennies (they were not "_pennies_" as _we_ call our coppers, but small coin of not even the value of one of our pennies, and which were called "_centesimi_") in the water; but then you must know the water in the Bay of Naples is very blue--oh! a beautiful blue--and very transparent, and those small imps of divers would dart head-first down below the surface, and catch the coin in their teeth, and come up laughing, ready for more.

Our children had, during the voyage, seen porpoises jumping out of the water, and had seen the signalling of the few pa.s.sing ships, and had thought those sights great fun. Think, then, how "all-overish with gladness" they felt here in Naples harbor, watching these foreign scenes, and so happy with the novelty of their position that they fairly longed to open their rosy mouths and _whoop_ after their usual fashion at home.

They looked ahead of them and saw the pretty city of Naples gleaming in the shine of the early rising sun, with its terraced gardens rising one above the other in ma.s.ses of green foliage, through which the gaily-colored roofs of houses and other buildings could be seen. It made a charming and picturesque sight for everybody; and even those who had seen it all many times before, perhaps, felt the same thrill of delight as our dear little couple were feeling as they beheld it all for the very first time.

"It makes me feel so full in here!" said Polly, to her mother, while her blue eyes shone like stars.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Me, too!" echoed Master Teddy, placing his hand as Polly did, on his heart, and drawing a long breath.

But we must hurry on with our story. (Don't blame _me_, children, for hurrying, and leaving out much you would like to know, but blame the _Publishers_, for it is all their fault, I'll tell you privately.) When, at last, our party found themselves on the dock, and were waiting for Papa to finish attending to the baggage, Polly saw something which made her cry out: "Oh! look!" It was a little bower all decorated with large yellow lemons, larger than any lemons the children had ever seen before.

The bower was coming straight towards them, and they couldn't see what made it move. From the top of the little arch (the _inside_ of the arch, which was just like a tiny summer-house) more big lemons were hanging, and also some little gla.s.ses, which were hanging by handles. As the queer thing came nearer, the children discovered that the small bower was built upon a little hand-cart, and that a brown-faced Italian lad, no older than Teddy, was drawing it between shafts, as though he had been a little pony. He was so nearly hidden by vines and lemon boughs that it was no wonder he had not at first been seen by Teddy and Polly, whose bright eyes were seeing so much. Nestling amongst vines on the bottom of the cart was a bright tin pail, and that was full of lemonade, which looked very clean and nice because it had just been freshly made.

The little lemonade vendor came close to our party, and began a low, bird-like beautiful whistle. It sounded like a flute at first, then like a bird, then like a sweet Eolian harp, and even Mamma was delighted to hear it. After he had finished, his black eyes twinkled, and he said in broken English which Italian children readily pick up: "Buy limonade! ze signorina buy limonade? vera chip" (cheap), "on'y fiva centa gla.s.s!" He filled a gla.s.s and handed it to Polly--"_ze little mees!_"

"We're very fond of lemonade, Auntie Darling," said Teddy, casting wistful eyes upon the cool drink.

"Well, you shall have some then," laughed Mamma, and Teddy and Polly took their first refreshment on Italian sh.o.r.es. The little Beppo grinned at them, pulled a ragged cap from a ma.s.s of black, close curling hair, and, dropping his _centesimi_ (with which Mrs. Darling had provided herself before leaving the steamer, at the purser's office) into his pocket, he began a merry whistle again and moved off in search of more custom.

CHAPTER VII.

THE DRIVE TO THE HOTEL.

AS the hotel to which the Darlings wished to go was located on one of the city heights, commanding a fine view of the bay and famous old Mount Vesuvius (about which our little couple had been told by Papa), the drive there from the dock was of course long enough to let them see a great many funny sights on the way, and you may be sure they were greatly impressed by them all.

They saw men and women in queer costumes of gay colors--the women without hats or bonnets--going about the streets, and sunning themselves in the doorways, combing their children's heads or their own untidy locks; they saw them hanging out their washing on the backs of chairs right out in the street; they saw a _woman and a cow_ together pulling a big wagon; they saw a wee bit of a _donkey_ harnessed with an _ox_, and both tugging at a cart as placidly as though they weren't a funny pair; they saw a cow, a horse, and a donkey, all three harnessed before a vegetable-cart, on which sat a driver "not even as old as Teddy," the children were sure, though he may have been older than he looked, as so many of the poorer cla.s.s of children in Naples are stunted in growth; they saw a wee little bony donkey pulling a wagon which carried six big men and women in it, and they didn't think it was a bit cruel to put so heavy a burden on such a little beast. But our dear little tender-hearted couple thought it so cruel that they could not even look at it after the first glance.

They saw lots of little children in the street going about with great beautiful bunches of flowers--red, red roses and Italian violets in their dirty little hands, running after carriages, and holding their fragrant wares up to the ladies and gentlemen who were driving about to see the city. Polly wondered why the people didn't want to keep the flowers, but kept shaking their heads _no_ all the time. She knew _she_ would keep them and say: "Thank you," very politely if any little girl or boy offered her any.

And presently a small boy ran up to the carriage and held up his roses.

Now, it chanced that Mamma and Papa were very busy at that moment searching for certain information in their guide-books, and so they did not notice the little flower-boy, nor hear Miss Polly's delighted thanks as she took the flowers in her eager hands. The carriage was going very slowly, and the expectant little Italian trotted alongside waiting for the coin which in her dear innocent heart Polly had no idea was wanted, for she was whispering to Teddy: "I think these Napelers are very kind and polite to us, don't you?" And she gravely proceed to divide her gift with her "chum."

"_Una lira! una lira!_" whined the impatient lad outside, and at that Mamma looked up and discovered Polly's funny mistake. How she laughed, and Papa too! How red Polly's cheeks grew! Redder than her roses, which she thought had been a polite gift to her.

"What does he mean?" Teddy asked, "saying all the time '_ooner-leerer_'?"

"He means that he wants _one lira_ (which means twenty cents of our money) for his roses," replied Mamma, "and I will let you give him the money, dear," pa.s.sing it to Teddy, who felt very much like a grown-up man as he leaned over and dropped the price of Polly's beautiful roses in the outstretched and very dirty little hand of the Italian.

"I don't think Napelers are so polite and kind as I did," said Polly somewhat crossly, for, you see, she felt so astonished and so ashamed of her mistake that it did make her a little cross with herself and the circ.u.mstances.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "A small boy ran up to the carriage, and held up his roses."]

However, when Teddy sweetly and with great gallantry pinned one of his share of the roses to Polly's jacket, she smiled her crossness out of sight, and everything was cheerful again. As they drove along the children saw many other curious things, and stored them away in their memories to talk over together and tell to their little friends at home.

Finally they arrived at the hotel, and were shown to their rooms, which overlooked the bay.

Old Vesuvius, which had been through a state of fierce eruption (you all know about volcanos, of course, and must have heard about Mount Vesuvius, so that you will know what a volcanic eruption means, and I need not explain it here) some time before this, was now settling down into quite a calm state again, but that night after the sky had grown dark our little couple noticed the dull red glow on the crater's head, and saw little thin streaks of fire down upon the side of the mountain nearest the bay; and Papa told them all about the famous old mountain and its bad habits, and promised to take them to the ruins of the once beautiful and ancient city of Pompeii (I shouldn't wonder if my little readers had studied about it in their geographies), and tell them of the way old Vesuvius went to work, long, _long, long_ ago to destroy the city and its inhabitants by throwing lava and hot ashes down upon it, on a day when everybody was happy, and careless, and little dreaming what was coming to them all.

After looking out upon the shining waters of the bay, and seeing the pretty reflection of the stars in them by-and-by, and listening to the twinkling music of mandolins and the tuneful voices of the Italian street-singers awhile, our little Teddy and Polly went sleepily to bed, and never even had a dream, their slumber was so sound.

CHAPTER VIII.

AN EXCURSION.

MANY a nice walk about the streets of Naples did our dear happy little couple take with Mamma and Papa, and into many a shop did they go, completely fascinated with the pretty goods displayed there. They longed to buy up everything they saw, and, if they had been allowed a larger portion of coin than Papa good-naturedly gave them each day, I don't know how many wonderful things they would have purchased.

They enjoyed the street scenes, too, as they walked along. The long-eared donkeys, which carried on either side of their short round backs such enormous and heavily loaded paniers that sometimes all you could see of the little animals were their slender legs, their long wagging ears, and their tails. But they didn't seem to mind their burdens at all, and plodded along thinking their own donkey thoughts, and no doubt wondering what Teddy and Polly were laughing at them for!

And then there were the little shops where fruits were sold, and over the doorways of which were hanging great branches full of oranges and lemons, just as the boughs were broken from the trees (as we in our country, you know, like to break a bough hanging full of cherries from our cherry-trees).

It was wonderful to Polly and Teddy to see such a sight, and to see, as they had seen at their meals in the hotel, those large oval lemons and the golden round oranges served to the hotel guests on the stems, with the cl.u.s.tering leaves adorning them. (You don't see such things as those in New York, do you?)

Well, and then there were the beautiful gardens, rising one above the other in a bewildering ma.s.s of foliage of orange, lemon, and olive trees rich in fruit. Those gardens belonged to the wealthy cla.s.s of Neapolitans, and their pretty dwelling-houses stood amongst the gardens on their terraces, overlooking the city like sentinels on the hills.

There were queer streets--_side_ streets they were--which consisted only of a series of stone steps running straight up hill, like steps dug out of a steep cliff-side; and along the sides of those "step-streets," as Teddy called them, were little bits of houses and shops scooped out of the walls of the terraces and made comfortable, after a fashion, for those who lived in them, and who kept their tiny stores.

Polly and Teddy looked up at them as they pa.s.sed, and noticed that the stone steps--from top to bottom--were swarming with children, men, and women, and nearly all of them, even the wee little people, carried baskets and various burdens as easily on their _heads_ as in their hands; and the strange part was that some of those bundles, which were poised so safely on the heads, would have made a fair load for a horse, so large were they.

Another funny thing the little couple were greatly interested in was the sight of those peculiar decorations each horse, donkey, and cow, and even the oxen were wearing when in harness. It consisted of a long feather, as though from a rooster's tail, which was stuck securely over the animal's forehead, and waved and waggled to and fro as the animal walked along.

When there was no feather to be seen, there was always a _tuft of hair_ or a _tuft of fur_ fastened in place either between the animal's ears or on the harness, and it was considered a very wrong thing if either of those peculiar decorations was forgotten when harnessing.