Part 13 (1/2)
Minestra Zuppa, } Olives.
Bistecca (Beefsteak).
Macaroni al burro (with b.u.t.ter).
Macaroni a pomidoro (with potatoes).
Testa de vitello (Calf's head).
Carciofi (Artichokes).
Cavolifiori (Cauliflower).
Salami di Bologna (Bologna Sausage).
Crostata di frutti (Fruit tarts).
Formaggio (Cheese).
Adelaide was musical director, and led the singing cla.s.s in ”Dolce Napoli” and other Italian songs. The girls were dressed in costume, and there was one fisher chorus, which made a very effective tableau with a background of colored sails and nets. Vincenzo allowed his little girls to appear with a neighbor's hand-organ, and when they pa.s.sed their tambourines they gathered a goodly harvest of pennies.
[Ill.u.s.tration: {Drawing of the Venetian Fete.}]
Little Breeze arranged the tableaux and the dances, Mrs. Halsey sending in designs for the costumes; and Cynthia Vaughn ran a side show of stereopticon views, Professor Todd kindly working the lantern.
Milly had the flower gondola, or booth of cut flowers, supplied from her father's conservatory, and Miss Prillwitz contributed to this department a quant.i.ty of little alb.u.ms and herbaria containing pressed flowers and seaweed from different Italian cities. Our dear princess was present, beaming with happiness, and the ”ten” introduced her proudly to their parents and friends. Mr. Roseveldt seemed much interested, in an amused way, in what we were trying to do. ”Go ahead, my dear,” he said to Milly, ”and if you don't come to me to shoulder a lot of bad debts before the summer is over, I shall be greatly surprised, and have a far higher respect for what little girls can do than I now possess.”
”'Little girls,' indeed!” Milly repeated, with scorn. ”There are younger gentlemen, sir, who consider us young ladies, if you do not. But we will compel your respect, and we will not ask you for one penny either.”
This was rather hard, for we had secretly hoped, all along, that Milly's father would help us, and now she had made it a point of pride not to ask him. He behaved very well, however, for although he bantered us cruelly on our Utopian enterprise, he bought a b.u.t.ton-hole bouquet of his own violets from Milly, paying a five-dollar bill for it and neglecting to ask for change, and then took Miss Prillwitz, Madame, Emma Jane Anton, Miss Sartoris, and Miss Hope successively out to supper. He purchased, too, an alabaster model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which Madame had contributed on condition that it should be sold for not less than twenty dollars, and which we had feared would not be disposed of, as we had voted that there should be no raffling. Madame was greatly interested in the fair; it drew attention to her school, and she smiled on everyone--a self-const.i.tuted reception committee. She was even gracious to the cadet band which had serenaded the school in the fall term. The cadets to a man invited Milly out to dinner. She went with each of them in succession, and as the viands were sold _a la carte_, she bravely ordered the more expensive dishes over and over again, enduring a martyrdom of dyspepsia for a week in consequence.
Of course Jim was present, and his mother. Adelaide was attentive to both; there seemed to be a mutual attraction that kept them together, and whenever Adelaide left Mrs. Halsey, and taking up her baton (Milly's curling-stick), led her orchestra, Mrs. Halsey's eyes followed her with a strange wistfulness. Winnie, with her usual heedlessness, had neglected to introduce Adelaide to Mrs. Halsey when she called on her in the court, and she now turned to Jim and asked her name. It happened that Jim thought that she referred to the pianist instead of to Adelaide, and he replied that the young lady in question was Miss Hope, the music-teacher. Mrs. Halsey gave a little sigh of disappointment, and continued her spell-bound gaze. I was about to correct the mistake which I was sure Jim had made, when it was announced that Mrs. Le Moyne, the celebrated interpreter of Robert Browning, would kindly recite a poem of Mrs. Browning's. Mrs. Halsey and Jim moved nearer the rostrum, and my opportunity for explanation was lost. If I had known the effect that the name of Adelaide Armstrong would have had upon Mrs. Halsey, chains could not have kept me in my gondola--so many invisible gates of opportunity are closed and opened to us all along life's pathway!
The poem recited was, most appropriately, ”The Cry of the Children.”
Tears welled into the eyes of many a mother as the practiced art of the speaker rendered most feelingly the pathetic words:
”But these others--children small, Spilt like blots about the city Quay and street and palace wall-- Take them up into your pity!
Patient children--think what pain Makes a young child patient yonder; Wronged too commonly to strain After right, or wish or wonder;
Sickly children, that whine low To themselves and not their mothers, From mere habit, never so-- Hoping help or care from others;
Healthy children, with those blue English eyes, fresh from their Maker, Fierce and ravenous, staring through At the brown loaves of the baker.
Can we smooth down the bright hair, O my sisters, calm, unthrilled in Our hearts' pulses? Can we bear The sweet looks of our own children?
O my sisters! Children small, Blue-eyed, wailing through the city-- Our own babes cry in them all; Let us take them into pity!”
That poem was worth a great deal to our cause. Those of the mothers of our Ten who were present were won to us at once.
Mrs. Middleton, our vice-president's mother, and the wife of a clergyman, entered into our scheme with enthusiasm, and felt sure that her husband's church would a.s.sist us.
Mrs. Seligman and Mrs. Roseveldt put their heads together and planned to interest their society friends. One of hers, Mrs. Roseveldt was sure, would contribute the coal, and another the flour, while Mrs. Seligman would provide the blankets, and a friend of her acquaintance would certainly a.s.sume the butcher's bill. Madame Celeste, the dress-maker, who was present, was about to refurnish her parlors, and would contribute curtains. Madame Celeste bought a quant.i.ty of my photographs of old Italian portraits, and I have no doubt that they were very serviceable to her in the way of suggestions for aesthetic costumes.