GARIBALDI AT HOME

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 365, 23 April 1861, Page 4

GARIBALDI AT HOME

Alexander Dumas publishes in his journal, the Indipendente, the following particulars about Garibaldi's life at Caprera:— Geueral Garibaldi left Naples with only 10 piastres in his pocket, or to speak more correctly, in the pocket of Basso, his secretary. General Garibaldi's pocket, quite the contrary to nature, which has a horror of a vacuum, lias a horror of a plenum. On the observation made to him by Basso and his sou, that the sum he was taking with him could not last long, the general answered:— " The harvest has been good, we shall therefore have some corn; aud the kitchen garden was very promising in the spriDg. I left seven horses with Trecchi to sell, we cannot wait then for the next campaign. Be satisfied." They embarked on the faith of these words —confidence in the missioD ended, confidence in the mission to come. So he started. On arriving at Caprera, instead of that pretended palace and rich gardens of Armida piesented to him by the French journals, and even fhe official journal of Naples, he found the mason who iv his absence had repaired his house, and was waitiug for him at the landingplace of the steamer to present him with a paper. Garibaldi took the paper, opened it, and found a bill to pay. The bill was more than 10 piastres; the general found himself compelled to confess his poverty and ask the man for time, but the latter refused to believe in the poverty of the modern Cincionatus :— " You have been the dictator, which is more than a king, of two kingdoms," said he to him ; "it is not possible you have not put apart two-and-twenty piastres." The General assured him of the contrary, and offered him his 10 piastres as an instalment. The mason would not accept them, and summoned the general hefore the tiibunals. The affair is still corom judice. Do not let it be thought we are joking ; it's the simple truth. In the meantime the general entered the house. The work for which the mason asked payment of him was so badly done that in his sleeping room it rains as it does in the street. The general took advantage of one of the steamers from Eubattino to send for another mason from Genoa, as the first would not work for him without being paid for his previous job. If any details are wanted about the general's house and furniture we can give them. The house consists of a ground floor, divided into nine rooms. In the hall, used as a diningroom, the general's room is to the right: the cistern is over this room, so that the general is between the dampness of the ceiling and the rain pouring in from the roof. He is very fond of his room, and no human power could make him give it up. To the left is Menotti's and Fraacianti's room ; after which comes Gusmaroli's, then that of the farmer and his family, consisting of father, mother, and two children. From the farmer's room you pass into the kitchen behind, from the kitchen into the store-room, into Basso's room which is used by other guests also. In the middle there is a dark chamber with a spiral staircase, up which you ascend to the terrace. The furniture in the general's room consists of a wooden bedstead, and two mattresses, a small wooden table placed near the bed, and covered with an old piece of green baize. Before the table there is a chair which has only its legs left, for the rungs are wanting. Two chests of drawers, and a library contaiuiug some works en history and military matters, complete the furniture. This library will be increased by a " Manual of Agriculture," consisting of seven or eight illustrated volumes. A portrait of the general's daughter, taken when

she was four years old, is the principal ornament of the room. Above the general's head is a locket, containing some of Anita's hair, and some of Garibaldi's mother. Near it is Vecchi's picture; a nail, extracted from a box, keeps the frame close to the wall, and also serves the general to hang his watch on, Near the window hangs a looking glass that once belonged to his mother. The chests of drawers contain* bed-sheets, towels, aud napkins, as well as flags rent by bullets, presents to the general from several regiments, The other bed-rooms merely contain iron bedsteads. The animals on the island are seven or eight cows, a bull, and some calves—the general's favorite cow is called Brunetta, and was brought from Sardinia—five asses and two horses from ihe cavalry.

The Liverpool Mercury describes a conflict with a tigres:—"A few mornings ago, whilst Macoomo was going through his performance with the Bengal tigers, at Mauder'a Managerie, Shaw's-brow, Liverpool, a tigres caught his hand in her mouth. Ne?er were coolness and nerve displayed to greater perfection by any man than were shown by Maccomo at this juncture, for, planting his knee in the small of the tigress's back, and pressing her against the bars of the cage, then seizing her lower jaw with the right band, he held her powerless to do more than retain the left hand in her mouth. So cool was Maccomo in this trying position that lookers on thought it part of his performance but when Maccomo called to one of the keepers, ' she has got my hand fast in her mouth ; get a bar of hot iron,' the truth of his dangerous position flashed through the mind 3of those present, and created the greatest excitementone lady fainting away, others running from the painful sight. Four or five minutes elapsed before the iron wa3 ready, during which time Maccomo stood as a piece of statuary, not a quiver of lip to show the pain he was enduring. When ready, the hot iron was applied quickly and surely by one of the keepers to one of the large teeth in the upper jaw, and, as though she had been electrified, her mouth sprang open, Maccomo, quick as lightning, drew his hand away, caught hold of a thick stick, struck the treacherous animal a terrific blow on the skull, brought her down, and forced her to finish her performance before he left Ihe stage. When Maccomo came out of the cage, Ibis bleeding band testified to the struggle which had been going on between man and beast." Nothing Like Leathek.—The Times gives the following acoountofthe extensive system of frauds recently carried on in the leather trade, as revealed in the Bankruptcy Court:—" Mr. Laurence, of the firm of Laurence, Mortimer, and Co., London, and also of the firms of the same names at Liverpool, moved in this high walk of trade, and reigned as an emperor with his lieutenants of viceroys. With eleven provincial firms he had mysterious dealings, the magnitude of which is summed up in the fact that the liabilities of the two firms or firm—for they are practically one— exceed' a million, of which the greater part is due from the eleven tributary firms. We believe we shall not be far from the truth when we say that whenever any of these firms, in town or in country, bought leather, or promised to buy leather, or had the option of buying leather, or intended to buy leather, or wished to buy leather, or thought of buying leather, or having no opportunity, intention, option, or wish to buy more, was in want of money, they drew acceptances or bi'ls upon one another, till out of nothing they dealt with sums that make one's mouth water. As for leather, it hardly appears, except with some very small figure, much in the proportion of Falstaff's h'porth of bread to his forty shillings worth of sack. The result of an aocount of thirteen years with Mr. Mundy, at Paris, was a debt of .£54,000. In the year 1857 the London firm had goods from Mr. Mundy to the amount of £63 ; in the yea/-i859 to the amount of .£65, while in the three successive years they advanced to meet acceptances, or for simple accommodation £36,900, £63,842, and £90,000.