Part 1

Transcriber's Note:

Bolded are represented like =this=. Italics are represented like _this_. Spaced words are represented like +this+.

THE SUNBONNET BABIES IN ITALY

_Copyright, 1922, by_ EULALIE OSGOOD GROVER All rights reserved in all countries

_To the many little friends of the +SUNBONNET BABIES+ who have shared in their happy journeyings_

PAGE THE ARRIVAL AT NAPLES 9 THE FIRST DRIVE 18 SEEING STRANGE SIGHTS 26 A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 40 AN AFTERNOON IN THE PARK 48 THE BURIED CITY 60 A LONG DRIVE 70 PIRATES 82 THE HUMPBACKED ISLAND 96 IN THE CITY OF ROME 116 THE STORY OF THE TWINS 132 TRAVEL ADVENTURES 142 THE CITY IN THE SEA 158 THE GONDOLIER'S HOME 172 _A Letter to the Boys and Girls_ 185 _Pronunciation Guide for Italian Words_ 188

THE SUNBONNET BABIES IN ITALY

THE ARRIVAL AT NAPLES

"See that smoking mountain, Molly! Look! I believe it is a volcano. It is Mount Vesuvius. Yes, I know it is Mount Vesuvius!"

May, the Sunbonnet Baby, was talking with Molly, her little Sunbonnet Baby sister. They were standing on the deck of a great ocean steamer. They had been sailing on the steamer for days and days. They had sailed more than four thousand miles away from their home in America. Now they were almost at the end of their journey. They would very soon be in Italy.

The big steamer was moving slowly up the beautiful Bay of Naples, straight toward the busy, noisy city of Naples. Rising from the shore, not far away, was the smoking mountain of Vesuvius, about which the Sunbonnet Babies' father had told them such strange stories.

He told them that Mount Vesuvius was like a great kettle full of boiling rock, that sometimes the fire under the kettle becomes so hot it boils over, covering the mountain sides and even the plains with melted rock and hot ashes. Such mountains, he said, are called volcanoes.

Molly and May stood on the deck of the steamer eagerly watching the smoking volcano, wondering if it would ever boil over again.

"I almost wish it would boil over now!" cried Molly. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to see red-hot rock come right out of the top of the mountain and fall down all around it!"

"Yes, it would be wonderful," said May, "but I am sure I don't want to see it. The hot ashes might even reach us here on the steamer."

"Father says he will take us to see the old city of Pompeii, which was buried by Vesuvius nearly two thousand years ago. Men are digging away the ashes and cinders now, so we can see just how the people used to live."

"Pompeii must be right over there near the foot of the mountain," said May. "Isn't it strange to think that those trees and farms may be growing on top of an old, old city?"

"Look at the big city just ahead of our boat!" cried Molly. "It is Naples. We are almost there!"

"Why, the city is the shape of a big, new moon," said May. "It curves right around the shore of this lovely, blue bay, and climbs up the hillside to meet the blue sky. Our boat is sailing straight in between the long points."

"O May! Do you suppose it is snowing at home to-day? It seems like summer here, but it is really the middle of March. The trees and the grass are all green. And there is a boat full of oranges and lemons just being unloaded."

"See that basketful of beautiful roses! I hope we can go ashore quickly. I want to buy a lovely red rose for mother to wear."

Not many minutes later the happy travelers were hurrying from the big steamer. There were other travelers going ashore, too, and a crowd of noisy, jolly people seemed to be waiting for them. Most of the women and little girls were bareheaded and wore gay-colored dresses and aprons. They were very much interested in the strange travelers, especially in the two little Sunbonnet Babies.

A smiling, brown-eyed Italian girl ran along beside them, peeping at the two happy faces hidden under the big sunbonnets, and talking very fast in a soft, sweet voice.

The Sunbonnet Babies could not understand one word she said, but they knew she liked them because she smiled so sweetly.

If it had not been for this kind little girl, Molly and May might easily have been frightened. A great many men and boys were standing close about them shouting and swinging their arms, trying to get passengers for their carriages. Even the Sunbonnet Babies' father did not quite know what to do, so many men wanted to carry his bags for him.

The little girl, seeing his trouble, looked up with a smile and asked him to follow her. She then took Molly and May each by the hand and led them through the crowd to a long line of carriages. In a moment a smiling, brown-eyed man was beside them, bowing and offering to drive them to their hotel.

The little girl called the man _il padre_, which means "father," and he spoke to her as _Tessa mia_, which means "my Tessa." Indeed, the little girl looked so much like the brown-eyed man, it was easy to guess that she was his own little daughter. They had the same bright smile, the same soft voice, and the same kind manner.

The travelers gladly stepped into the man's low carriage and told him where to drive them, saying a pleasant _grazie_ to the little girl whom they were leaving behind. Yes, they did something more than just say "thank you." They each took a big brown penny from their bags and dropped the pennies into Tessa's hand.

Then they all three said _grazie_ again, and laughed and waved their good-bys. The driver cracked his long whip, and the horses dashed away up the busy street.

THE FIRST DRIVE

The Sunbonnet Babies were now really frightened. The streets were crowded, and the drivers all seemed to be trying to get ahead of the carriages in front of them. They cracked their whips, they shouted to one another in loud voices, and they drove their horses as fast as they could make them go.

The noise and the strange faces and the stranger language might have frightened even the Overall Boys just a little, if they had been with Molly and May.

But no one needed to be frightened. The men in Naples are fine drivers, though they do like to make a great show about it. And the nervous little horses enjoy dashing through the streets to the sound of cracking whips.

Everybody was jolly and happy, so the Sunbonnet Babies soon forgot their fears and began to enjoy their first drive in Italy. The carriage passed along a busy street where there were many small shops and handsome stores.

After a few minutes Molly said, in a somewhat disappointed voice, "Why, this street looks like the streets in our city at home. I thought it would look different in Italy."

"Look up that side street," said her father. "Did you ever see a street like that in America?"

"That is not a street, father," said Molly. "That is a long flight of stairs. But why do they build stairs out of doors?"

"Yes, that is a street, and a very popular one, too," said her father. "Naples is built on the side of a hill, you know, and many of the streets that go up the hill are flights of steps like this one."

"O father, may we get out and walk a little way up the street?" asked Molly. "I want to see what all those people are doing."

"And I want to take some pictures with my camera," said May.

So they quickly got out of the carriage and began climbing the long flight of steps. It was about noon, and some of the people seemed to be eating their midday meal.

One poor old man was sitting on a step eating some hard bread and olives. Near him were two barefooted boys who had just bought a plate heaping full of macaroni. A man stood in an open doorway cooking the macaroni over a queer little stove and selling it to the people.

The boys had no knives or forks to use, but fingers were much better. They lifted the long white strips of macaroni high above their heads, then they opened their mouths very wide, and down it slipped. They didn't bite it, they didn't chew it, they just sucked the long pieces down their throats as fast as they could. They seemed to be racing with each other to see who could swallow the most in the shortest time.

Molly and May watched the boys anxiously until the macaroni was all gone. Then how they laughed and clapped their hands! They thought it was the strangest dinner and the strangest game they had ever seen.

The boys thought it was a fine dinner. They were business boys. That morning they had sold more brushes and fans than usual, so they were celebrating by having some delicious macaroni for dinner.

These boys made their own brushes and fans, and went about the streets selling them. Of course Molly and May each bought one of the fans, for they wanted the boys to have another good dinner the next day.

As the little party walked on up the steps they saw many things that were strange and interesting. Little children were leaning out of the high windows, talking and laughing with other children in the houses across the way.

Women were hanging out their washing on ropes stretched from one window to another, and talked loudly with people who were on the steps below.

One woman stood on a narrow iron balcony in front of her window and lowered a basket by a long rope. When the basket reached the steps, a small boy ran to it and took out a covered bowl in which he found two big copper pennies.

The boy carried the pennies to a man near by, who was making hot snail soup over a small stove. The man filled the bowl with some of his delicious soup, and the boy put it carefully back into the basket. Then the woman drew it slowly up, up to her high balcony.

The small boy reached the balcony almost as quickly as the basket did, for he knew that some of that hot soup was for him, and he liked snail soup almost better than macaroni.

As Molly and May watched the preparations for dinner on the little balcony, May suddenly cried, "Look! Look! They have a big dog up there!"

"No, that is not a dog, it is a goat," said her father. "I suppose it lives up there with the family and gives them milk every day. That family must have more money than most of the people who live on this street. They eat snail soup for dinner, they have a balcony in front of their window, and they keep a goat."

"Perhaps the little boy's father owns one of these small shops and makes lots of money selling macaroni, or soup, or onions, or bread, or flowers, or roasted chestnuts," said May.

"Well, shall we buy our dinner here, or shall we go to the hotel for it?" asked their father. "Wouldn't you like some snail soup, or macaroni, or onions for dinner?"

"Oh, no, no!" cried both Molly and May. "We are hungry, but we don't want snail soup or onions."

So they hurried back to their carriage and were soon driving rapidly up the hill to a fine hotel, where they were to stay for several days.

SEEING STRANGE SIGHTS

Next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the Sunbonnet Babies were out 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 very full skirt. The boy gave the top a strong twist with his hands, and away it went dancing across the sidewalk and back again, just as if it were 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 pennies into their bags, and had said they might spend them just as they wished, so of course each of the happy, barefooted boys received a 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 everybody was laughing and saying _grazie_, something very interesting was coming 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 is stopping at the door of that house. What do you suppose he is going to do?"

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

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

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

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

"See what the man is doing now!" exclaimed May. "He is driving one of the goats right into the house. I believe he is going to take it up stairs. Probably some one lives up there who cannot bring her cup down to 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 to try it some time," said May.

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

"Oh, good morning!" they said. "We will go and tell father that you are 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 carriage ready for a long drive into the country. The driver, whose name was Pietro, sat high up in front, close behind his two small horses.

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

It did not take them long to reach the country road which followed the shore of the lovely blue bay. Here and there beside the road grew tall pine trees whose tops looked like great, green umbrellas raised against the deep blue sky. On the hillside above the road were small groves of lemon and orange trees bearing heavy loads of green and yellow fruit.

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

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

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

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

It was great fun for everybody. The children caught the flying pennies in their mouths, in their caps, and in their hands, scrambling for them 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 dividing the pennies so each child should have at least one.

After a while Pietro looked down from his high seat and said that he would like to take them to a very wonderful place if they would not ask him any questions about it until they got there.

Pietro had been so kind they trusted him and told him he might drive them anywhere he wished. He then turned his horses away from the blue bay and up a low hill, where almost no trees or green things were growing. At the top of the hill Pietro said they must leave the carriage and each pay a _lira_ to the gatekeeper there, and they would see something interesting.

They wondered if there really could be anything interesting on such a barren-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 something wonderful!"

"This is not a bit wonderful," said Molly. "It looks like a big football field with a high wall of earth all around it. There isn't even 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 had not gone far when Molly said anxiously, "How strange the ground sounds as we walk on it! It sounds hollow."

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

"Why, it burns mine, too, May!"

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

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

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

"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 of Solfatara, and we are on the top of it. This big round field, or basin, is the crater of the volcano. It boiled over many years ago, then it cooled off. Now it is getting hotter again, but it is not nearly so hot as Vesuvius over yonder."

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

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

In a moment hot flames shot several feet into the air, and clouds of black 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 a little gas which the guide set on fire with his torch, just as mother lights her gas stove at home. There is a pretty big furnace underneath us, and it sends off a good deal of gas. It is the gas that smells so bad and makes us cover our noses."

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

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

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

"Just think how hot the earth must be inside, if it can boil so near the 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 whirl around very fast. Little by little it has grown cooler, until now there are only a few places on the surface that are still hot. These places are called volcanoes. Once in a while the hot mass inside bursts through and burns everything it touches."

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

A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM

Every morning, as long as the Sunbonnet Babies stayed in Naples, Pietro drove up to their hotel to see if he could be of service to them. Once he brought his little daughter, Tessa, for Molly and May wanted very much to see their first little Italian friend again.

That morning Pietro drove them across the city to visit the great museum. Tessa had been to the museum many times, and knew which rooms would interest the Sunbonnet Babies most.

"Follow me," she said. "I will show you the oldest and loveliest things you ever saw."

Fortunately the Sunbonnet Babies' father and mother understood Tessa's language, so they could tell Molly and May in English all that Tessa said in Italian. Before long the two little girls began to understand a little of the strange language themselves.

They spent nearly the whole forenoon in the museum looking at strange, old things that had once been in the homes of Pompeii.

The city of Pompeii was buried under many feet of ashes thrown out by the volcano in the year seventy-nine. It remained buried more than seventeen hundred years. In fact, the world had forgotten all about the old city, when one day an Italian workman discovered a very old house right underneath his farm. Some say he was digging a well when he discovered it.

Other men helped dig away the earth and ashes, and now, after more than a hundred years, a large part of the old city is uncovered.

The strangest thing about it is that the ashes and cinders which buried the city did very little injury to the houses, except to crush in the roofs.