THE REAL ITALIAN

Southland Times, Issue 18816, 8 May 1920, Page 11

THE REAL ITALIAN

DOER OF BIG THINGS

SIMPLE, NON-FURY PATRIOT.

(By Montague Grover, in the Sydney Sun I

TURIN, February 27. When? do the Dagoes come from ? I harre just been spending tome days m various Italian cities, and I have not yet seen a Dago. I have met, seen hundreds of thousands of Italians, spoken to scores of them, and. in not one instance, have I encountered one man who corresponds with the typo common among the Itahan residents of the Australian cities. The whole of the rsßhients of Italy seem to belong to the same clam of people as the better class of the Italian we know. Where the other comes from is a mystery, A great many of the Italians speak English in varying chtgrecs of fluency, but even those; who haw mastered only a few words use those words without a suspicion of the weird steaka-da-oyat dialect we meet so frequently in Australia. Seen in the bulk, the Italian isn't very I tali an-looking at all—but he is very Italian thinking. His fierce patriotism is something which appeals to the Australian himself, so fiercely patriotic. And, unlike some nationalities, be is ready to accept the other man's patriotism. When the visiting Aussie, glancing critically at St. Peter's remarked, "Yare, but you oughter see the Presbyterian Church at Minyip,” the Italian friend who was showing him round wasn't a -bit—resentful, as an Erejlishmac would have been were the same remarks made concerning; St. Paul's. He saw the humour of it as the Aussie had intended, and at. the name time realised and respected the undercurrent of whim.-aral patriotism in H.

A NATION, OF GENTLEMEN. The Italian is the most charming, simple host to the foreigner whom it is possible for a traveller to meet amongst, and the Italian women, with the sole exception of the Australian women, are the most, beautiful in the world. The welcome which is extended to (everybody is not a welcome which, the cynic may suggest, is based upon the prcepect of tourist profit. The Italian cabman and the Italian vendor of trinkets and the Italiiut porter are just the sarnie as all the irst of their das® you meet in Europe. The tourist is a gift from the goda to be exploited, though after the ex peri - eneeo the tresvellgr has had in Colombo and Port Said, h*. is astounded at the moderation of even this sort of Italian. But it is among the people you meet casualty, thft Italians whom you happen across in the course of your peregrinations, who. whctlrsr they be educated men of the world or roottssos or labourers, show themselves to hr most courteous and obliging, and ready to go out of their way to assist. The Italian is one of Nature’s gentlemen, and I fear- that a good many Australians, judging lira nation by a. few of the worst speeameoH, fail to realise the fact. I for one did rot, and I have been sitting on the penitent form over since the first day I landed Mi N spirit ORGANISATION OF THE CITIES. The PgJian, moreover, reveals himself as you per t: teate into his country and study his mctJuxls. as an organiser, a doer of big things. He is not merely the poet, the dreamer, the artist. We are apt to remember only- the statues and the pictures which Michael Angelo left behind him ; to forget that be was, as well, an engineer, a statesman in the best sense of the world, a captain o 'L industry. The world does not think of the modem Italian in this way. It pictures his land as a beautiful place filled with priceless worfc?i of art in very dirty and smrllful surroundings- Nothing is further from the truth. The modem Italian has been busy of lit c and the world has never heard of it. Not fg> many years sgo Naples was as dirty and »a evil-smelling as an Asiatic city, and in o Iher respects there were many undesirable features manifest to the stranger almost before he was clear of the wharf. To-dmy, it is much cleaner than, say, Sydney. Its streets are like new pins. Its undesirable elements have been swept away. Pocsfoly they were of enemy origin; they aeeraod to be. Anyhow they have gone, and. trouble the tourist no more. CLEAN AND WELL KEPT.

Tiome. spurred with the ideal of investing; modem Rome with the glory and splendor of ancient Rome, has succeeded in making itself, not the greatest, city in the world, but in all probability the most perfesri. Florence, content to rest on its laurel», won in the middle ages, bids—not for UTOdem magnificence, but it achieves modem efficiency as far as this can be effected walhout disturbing the features which are. its pride and the pride of all civilisation. Genoa is a composite of the old and the now, and Genoa has contrived to accept fire one without destroying the other, l.hirin is frankly a modem city, worked out c kii the Parisian plan and the American systom. It is a place of broad tree-planted I boulevards, the port of much of Italy and j af.l of Switzerland, with industries of its I awn which make the industries of the j great republic across the Atlantic sit up nnd listen at times. I And all nnd every - one of these cities is ! clean, well-kept, provided with means of ' transit and comforts for which we look in | vain in far Australia. For instance, every j hotel worthy of the name, every flat, every ; large house is provided with rteam heat, which makes fires unnecessary, and fills the whole air with a genial warmth.. JMot that the steam heat is needed for many months. The Italian climate is much like that of Melbourne, though the winter is . shorter. The air is dry, and the heat of the summer months brings with it no such feeling of oppression as we get in Sydney. But with all its efficiency, all itfi historical interest, all its art treasures, the greatest charm of Italy is the Italian.

Be emphatic. I mast on genuine “NAZOL.” Nothing like it for preventing or relieving coughs and coida. No cold is Naaol-proof. 60 dews 1/6. (Advt.)