The freedom of Italy, however, was not won in a single campaign.
Although Garibaldi's troops were victorious, some of the other Italian
armies were not, and before long that first war of independence came to
an end. For a time the Austrians' hold over the cities of Italy seemed
stronger than ever, and Garibaldi and many of his friends were forced to
leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. Again Garibaldi
crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and this time he went to New York, and took
up the trade of candle-maker, living in a small frame house on Staten
Island. He liked Americans; they understood him and his burning desire
for Italian freedom better than any other foreigners he met.
He stayed on Staten Island until the chance came for him to go to sea
again as captain of a merchantman, and after that it was only a short
time before he was again in the Alps, his sword drawn, his devoted
volunteers behind him.
It was long before the dream of Italian patriots came true and Rome
became the capital of a united country, but during those years Garibaldi
led crusade after crusade. He wore the simple costume of an Italian
peasant, with a red shirt which was copied by all his men. This
red-shirted army swept the enemy out of Sicily and Naples, drove them
back through the Alps, won so continually that the superstitious
Neapolitans believed that their leader must be in league with the Evil
One. But the people of Italy worshiped this general beyond all their
other heroes.
Even their praises could not spoil the simplicity of Garibaldi's nature.
When his work was done he went home to live quietly with his family. The
friends of his boyhood found him very little changed, the same lover of
Italy and the sea, the same adventurous, generous spirit he had been as
a youth in Nice.
In those youthful days his boy friends had followed him without
question, now the whole of Italy looked to him as their leader; he had
succeeded in doing what hundreds of other men had dreamed of doing,
driving the Austrians permanently out of the peninsula, and restoring to
his countrymen the ancient liberty of Italy. Yet whether as a boy upon
the Mediterranean or as the liberator of a nation he was always the same
frank, straightforward, high-minded Giuseppe Garibaldi.
XIX
Abraham Lincoln
The Boy of the American Wilderness: 1809-1865
Squire Josiah Crawford was seated on the porch of his house in
Gentryville, Indiana, one spring afternoon when a small boy called to
see him. The Squire was a testy old man, not very fond of boys, and he
glanced up over his book, impatient and annoyed at the interruption.
"What do you want here?" he demanded.
The boy had pulled off his raccoon-skin cap, and stood holding it in his
hand while he eyed the old man.
"They say down at the store, sir," said the boy, "that you have a 'Life
of George Washington,' I'd like mighty well to read it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account