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Excerpt from The Universal Anthology, Vol. 31: Collection of the Best Literature, Ancient, Medieval and Modern, With Biographical and Explanatory Notes The stage setting in this case is the wide porch with red tiled roof Of a poor villager's cottage. The front Of this cot tage, like most Of its kind, has in its center the main door, to the left the door Of the sitting-room, to the right the kitchen window. The two women are sewing, seated in the doorway. The second door stands partly open, as the good Uncle Nardo, the head Of the family, husband and father respectively of the characters in our dialogue, has just gone in to settle up his accounts. As for the window, although this is an unnecessary detail, I will state on the word Of a veracious historian, that it was closed; for its real use, more than to let light into the kitchen, is to let out the smoke when there is a fire in the fire place, which just now is as cold as the mush that has been cook ing there in the morning, - their food for the day. And we will add that it is now afternoon, stating also, and this is no idle detail as it may seem at a first glance, that we are in the month Of September. And now we have only to relate further that the little fellow who made such weighty charges against his mother and sister, came up to the porch, attired in a complete suit Of gray nan keen, his neck tightly swathed in the intricate and tumultuous folds Of an enormous cravat Of red and white checked cotton. His small and intelligent face was almost hidden under the wide brim Of his straw hat, adorned with a green band, and on his feet, to complete the picture, were clumsy, heavy shoes. The dust that covered them, the lad's ushed face, and the stout stick he carried, showed clearly that he had just come from a long walk. As for his grounds for complaint concern ing the maternal shears and his sister's needle, we cannot deny that they appear well founded, after close examination Of his clothing. At the same time it is evident that the poor women had never seen anything better in their way, and that the dis dainful little fellow had never before rejoiced in such fine feathers as those which now embarrassed him. We can also affirm that, in spite Of his Opening speech, there is a certain gleam of pleasure, a smile on his face, which would seem to denote an inner satisfaction; his journey must have had a satisfactory ending. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
