The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912Hegermann-Lindencrone, L. de (Lillie de)
History
The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912
Hegermann-Lindencrone, L. de (Lillie de)
Courts and courtiers; Europe -- Social life and customs
We did wait, and went all over the camp with him, and saw everything
that was to be seen, and smelled the different fried things which
lurked in every corner. Buffalo Bill beckoned to some of the cowboys to
come forward and named them to us. I think they were delighted. They
had such good, honest (and even handsome) faces. My heart warmed to
them.
One said to me, "Why, you talk English as good as an American!"
"That is not wonderful," I answered; "I am an American."
"Is that so?" he asked. "Well, America's a pretty good place, ain't it?
A good sight better than over here--that is what I think," and,
pointing to the Duke Sermoneta said, "Is that gent American, too?"
"No," I answered. "He is an Italian. Those were his horses you tamed
this afternoon."
"Is that so? Well, I would not like to tell him that them boys of his
can't ride worth a cent and the horses ain't worth their hide."
I hoped that Duke Sermoneta had not overheard this conversation.
Buffalo Bill showed us a young Indian woman who had had a baby a few
days ago.
"It was baptized this morning," he added. "What do you think it was
called?"
"Is it a boy or a girl?" asked the Duke, looking at the brown, wizened
face of the little thing, which was swaddled in an old shawl.
"A girl," answered the young mother, in English.
"Then I suppose you called it Roma," I said.
"No," said Buffalo Bill. "It is the custom among the Indians to give to
the baby the name of the first thing the mother sees after its birth."
"Then they must have named it Tent," I said.
Buffalo Bill laughed. "No, you must guess again. It was called Saint
Peter's."
"Poor little girl!" said the kind-hearted Duke, and put a gold piece in
the ready and delighted hand of the mother.
ROME, _1890_.
Dear ----,--Signor Sonsogni, the promoter of music and art, gave
several librettos of operas to different composers in Italy, and
promised a large reward to the victorious competitor.
Signor Crispi kindly offered me his _loge_, thinking that it would
interest me to be present at one of the performances. There had been
many of these before, but nothing remarkable had so far been produced.
We arrived in the theater while they were playing a short opera of two
acts, which was unfavorably received and quickly condemned with
contempt and hisses.
The judges looked bored to death and discouraged, and the audience
seemed ready to growl and grumble at anything.
Mugnoni led the orchestra in his usual excitable manner. If any of the
operas had been good for anything they would have shown at their best
under his masterful baton.
Then came the "Cavalleria Rusticana."
Already when the overture was played the audience was enchanted, and as
it progressed the enthusiasm became greater and greater, the excited
audience called for the _autore_ (author).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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