Fighting Quality of Italians.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 March 1912, Page 4

Fighting Quality of Italians.

d -Uoat of us arc inclined to uksou- \ 1, into with the Italians the brigand ! 'e and desperado of old, who did not 10 scruple to drive a stiletto into the ■e back of a tourist for a few shillings, is and who wa& depicted on the stage n with a mask and a long black cloak, d which shielded his guard arm, and it a dagger of sorts in his stabbing .; hand. Here is another, and prolf bably true, pen picture from the is Xew York .Sim :— e The war is allowing the fighting i- quality of Italian soldiers. The it fishermen of Naples and Sicily wd > If are serving in the navy, and .ho g peasants from .small vilhigew scatters ed between the Alps and Sicily who h arc serving in the array, have ov>>rd come difficulties which might have ;- stopped veteran soldiers. A soldier Y on outpost duty had his helmet pier. 0 cod through by a bullet. He to >k t it oil' and closely examined the cwj 1 holes. "A close shave, eh?" •<->- t marked his officer. "What did you -, feelP" s "Wind through my hair, sir," i tho man answered, and went on fir- & ing at the Turks. y A war correspondent came acr ) s i a mule driver whose beast had bee i I shot dead by a Turkish bullet. Tkn y driver was calmly taking off tin f load from the mule's back, and in > doing so he muttered: "I'm oor'v *. for thee, hut better thou than I.' i. Many of the soldiers write ib thair i j mothers at home, sending them the ; | money they save from their small : | pay, and saying that they do not , | need it, as they are getting oxtr.i : | rations. Their unselfishness is «'• : I a par with their courage. > j Nor is tho patriotism of the Itali | zans at home less marked than the i ' pluck of the soldiers at the front. | Poor people are saving money to i contribute it to the fund for the | wounded at war, and everybody is ; buying presents to send to the : .1 ] diors for Christmas. An old womai i hfinded a. package of cakes to an <-f- . j fioer, and asked him to send it to i Tripoli for the soldiers. All said by way of explanation was: "T intended to send them to my so.! but he has been killed, so I thought the others might have them."