The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy Read online

  SEEING STRANGE SIGHTS

  Next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the Sunbonnet Babies wereout upon the sidewalk watching some small boys spin their tops.

  One of the boys had a top which looked like a tiny doll with a veryfull skirt. The boy gave the top a strong twist with his hands, andaway it went dancing across the sidewalk and back again, just as if itwere alive.

  When the boy saw that his dancing doll pleased the Sunbonnet Babies,he sprang up and made a very low bow and held out his cap for a penny,saying, "Un soldo, signorine!"

  The Sunbonnet Babies' father had put a number of big Italian penniesinto their bags, and had said they might spend them just as theywished, so of course each of the happy, barefooted boys receiveda penny, for which they said _grazie_ a great many times.

  Molly and May had already learned that _grazie_ in Italian means"thank you" in English, and that _un soldo_ means "one penny."

  While they were giving their pennies to the boys, and while everybodywas laughing and saying _grazie_, something very interesting wascoming up the street.

  The sharp tinkle of a bell made Molly look up quickly and cry, "O May!Look at those little goats! A man is driving them up the street. He isstopping at the door of that house. What do you suppose he is going todo?"

  "I know!" cried May. "He is going to milk the goats. Look! A woman hascome out of the house with a tin cup in her hand."

  "Yes, and now the man is milking right into her cup."

  _"Oh, what a queer milk cart!" laughed Molly_]

  "And there are two other women who want their cups filled."

  "Oh, what a queer milk cart!" laughed Molly. "People surely get freshmilk when it comes from a live milk cart like that."

  "See what the man is doing now!" exclaimed May. "He is driving one ofthe goats right into the house. I believe he is going to take it upstairs. Probably some one lives up there who cannot bring her cup downto the street, so he drives a goat up to her door and milks it there."

  "I wonder if goat's milk is as good as cow's milk. I should like totry it some time," said May.

  Just then the Sunbonnet Babies heard a pleasant voice saying, "Buongiorno!" and they looked around to see their driver of the day beforesmiling at them from his carriage.

  "Oh, good morning!" they said. "We will go and tell father that youare here. Perhaps he will want you to take us for a drive."

  Sure enough, in a few minutes they were all seated in the low carriageready for a long drive into the country. The driver, whose name wasPietro, sat high up in front, close behind his two small horses.

  When everyone was ready, Pietro cracked his long whip in the air, thehorses jingled the bells on their high collars, and away they wentthrough the narrow, crooked streets.

  It did not take them long to reach the country road which followed theshore of the lovely blue bay. Here and there beside the road grew tallpine trees whose tops looked like great, green umbrellas raisedagainst the deep blue sky. On the hillside above the road were smallgroves of lemon and orange trees bearing heavy loads of green andyellow fruit.

  _The carriage passed a number of country peoplecarrying baskets_]

  The carriage passed a number of country people walking toward the citycarrying baskets full of things to sell--jewelry and flowers andfruit. Two small boys carried strings of onions over their shoulders.They hurried happily along, as if they expected to make their fortuneselling those onions. They called a merry "Buon giorno" to the littleAmerican girls as the carriage rolled past them.

  _Two small boys carried strings of onions over theirshoulders_]

  Soon the road led through a village where the people seemed very poorindeed. The little children were ragged and dirty and hungry, andthere were, oh, so many of them! Most of the children were too smallto earn money, but they were not too small to beg for it.

  "Oh, I never, never saw such poor little children!" cried May. "Wheredo you suppose they all come from? See, they are running after ourcarriage and begging for _un soldo_. Let's give them some pennies,Molly."

  _Molly and May opened their bags and began throwingpennies_]

  So Molly and May opened their bags and began throwing pennies into thecrowd of eager little children, who kept up with the carriage eventhough the horses were trotting fast.

  It was great fun for everybody. The children caught the flying penniesin their mouths, in their caps, and in their hands, scrambling forthem on the dusty road. But soon the horses trotted too fast for them,and they were left far behind. Molly and May could see them dividingthe pennies so each child should have at least one.

  After a while Pietro looked down from his high seat and said that hewould like to take them to a very wonderful place if they would notask him any questions about it until they got there.

  Pietro had been so kind they trusted him and told him he might drivethem anywhere he wished. He then turned his horses away from the bluebay and up a low hill, where almost no trees or green things weregrowing. At the top of the hill Pietro said they must leave thecarriage and each pay a _lira_ to the gatekeeper there, and they wouldsee something interesting.

  They wondered if there really could be anything interesting on such abarren-looking hill, but they did as Pietro told them. Then a man,with a burning torch in his hand, led the way through a gate.

  "Now," he said in quite broken English, "I will show you somethingwonderful!"

  "This is not a bit wonderful," said Molly. "It looks like a bigfootball field with a high wall of earth all around it. There isn'teven a flower or a bit of green grass anywhere."

  "Follow me," said their guide, "and you shall see the wonderful thing.Perhaps you will be frightened, but I will take care of you."

  So they followed the guide across the bare, round field. But they hadnot gone far when Molly said anxiously, "How strange the ground soundsas we walk on it! It sounds hollow."

  "Yes, and how hot it is!" said May. "I can feel it right through myshoes. It almost burns my feet."

  "Why, it burns mine, too, May!"

  "Do you hear that queer, bubbling noise, Molly? Listen! It sounds likea pudding baking in mother's oven. What do you suppose it is?"

  "I will show you," said the guide. "A _very big_ pudding is beingbaked in a _very big_ oven. You are walking on the top crust of thatpudding. Would you like to take a look underneath it? Here is a manwho will scrape off some of the crust and let us see what is goingon."

  And so, with a hoe, the man scraped away two or three inches of loosegravel, and there they saw hot sand boiling and bubbling just like ahot pudding. A cloud of black smoke rose from the boiling sand,and a very bad odor made Molly and May cover their noses with theirhandkerchiefs. May tried to pick up a small stone near her feet tocarry home with her, but it was so hot she dropped it very quickly.

  _"Oh! oh!" cried May. "Is the world going to burnup?"_]

  "Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Where are we? Is this a volcano?" cried Molly.

  "That's just what it is," said their guide. "This is the volcano ofSolfatara, and we are on the top of it. This big round field, orbasin, is the crater of the volcano. It boiled over many yearsago, then it cooled off. Now it is getting hotter again, but it is notnearly so hot as Vesuvius over yonder."

  "Oh, it's hot enough!" exclaimed May. "I don't like volcanoes. I'm nothaving a nice time. I want to go back to the carriage. What if thevolcano should boil over while we are on it?"

  "It will not," said the guide. "It is not hot enough yet. Butsomething may happen some time. I hope I shall not be here when itdoes. Now let us take a look into those cracks where the smoke and gasare pouring out. I will swing my torch over one of the cracks and youshall see something wonderful. Now watch!"

  In a moment hot flames shot several feet into the air, and clouds ofblack smoke surrounded the little party.

  "Oh! oh!" cried May. "Is the world going to burn up?"

  "No, indeed!" said her father. "Don't be frightened. That was only alittle gas which the guide set on fire with
his torch, just as motherlights her gas stove at home. There is a pretty big furnace underneathus, and it sends off a good deal of gas. It is the gas thatsmells so bad and makes us cover our noses."

  _A cloud of black smoke rose from the boiling sand_]

  "I don't like it," said Molly. "Please can't we go somewhere else? Idon't like volcanoes."

  "I don't like them either," said her mother. "We have seen enough ofthis one, I am sure."

  So they went back quickly to the carriage and were soon on their wayto Naples.

  "Just think how hot the earth must be inside, if it can boil so nearthe surface!" exclaimed Molly.

  "You know, ages and ages ago, our world was part of the red-hot sun,"said their father. "When it broke away from the sun it began to whirlaround very fast. Little by little it has grown cooler, until nowthere are only a few places on the surface that are still hot. Theseplaces are called volcanoes. Once in a while the hot mass insidebursts through and burns everything it touches."

  "I am glad I have seen Solfatara," said May, "but I think I don't careto go so near another volcano--no, not even Vesuvius."

  A Visit to the Museum]