FIGHTING QUALITY OF ITALIANS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1023, 26 March 1912, Page 4

FIGHTING QUALITY OF ITALIANS.

Most of us are inclined to associate with the Italians the biigand and desperado of old, who did not scruple to drive a stiletto into the back of a tourist for a few shillings, and who was depicted on the stage with a mask and a long black cloak, which shielded his guard arm, and a dagger of sorts in his stabbing hand. Here is another, and probably true, pen picture from the New York Sun : The war is showing the fighting quality of Italian soldiers. The fishermen of Naples and Sicily who are serving in the navy, and the peasants from small villages scattered between the Alps aud Sicily who are serving iu the army, have overcome difficulties which might have stopped veteran soldiers. A soldier on outpost duty had his helmet pierced through by a bullet. He took it off and closely examined the two holes. “A close shave, eh?” remarked his officer. “What did you feel ?” "Wind through my hair, sir,” the man answered, aud went on firing at the Turks. A war correspondent came across a mule driver whose beast had been shot dead by a Turkish bullet. The driver was calmly taking off the load from the mule’s back, and iu doing so he muttered, “I am sorry for thee, but better thou than I.”

Many of the soldiers write to their mothers at home, sending them the money they save from their small pay, and saying that they do not need ut, as they ate getting extra rations. Their unselfishness is on a par with their courage. Nor is the patriotism of the Italians at home less marked than the pluck of the soldiers at the front. Poor people are saving money to contribute it to the fund for the wounded in war, aud everybody is buying presents to send to the soldiers for Christmas. An old woman handed a package of cakes to an officer, aud asked him to send it to Tripoli for the soldiers. All she said by way of explanation was: “I intended to send them to my son, but he has been killed, so I thought the others might have them.”