Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

226 MILITARY LIFE.
and forces a white arm to raise itself from time to time, and a
small, patient finger to put
the riotous locks in order. Near
by, in the camp, there is a group of officers, who glance along
the ground. Oh, if there would only come a breath of wind !
Ah, it begins to increase, passes, seizes a little white skirt, the
same small hand does not arrive in time to prevent it from flying.
. . .
Oh, what a pretty little foot ! Those officers
know they are being watched, and how they enjoy
it ! If this
were not the case, that man, to cite one instance, the one
nearest the ditch, would not wear his sash with that careless
elegance, and would not have run the ring along
so that a bo\v
falls over one hip and the other down to the knee ;
that other
one there would not puff clouds of smoke into the air, raising
his head so proudly as he does so, and would not stand in a
Napoleonic attitude this third would not feel so ; frequently
at the nape of his neck to see if the small amount of neckband
allowed by the colonel were not quite limp and starchless.
Meanwhile a family from the village comes down the road
and stops at the entrance of the camp. There is an elderly,
lively, strong-limbed, and corpulent papa, with one of those
old-fashoned faces, two ships' sails outside the cravat, two locks
of gray hair on the temples, a pair of elephant's paws in Uvo
gray linen shoes, and a knotted stick under his arm,
the counterpart
of a communal secretary, who lives in perfect peace
with all, thoroughly satisfied with himself and the remarkable
talent for arithmetic developed by his boys at school the
;
good face of a mamma under a hat in the shape
of a Roman
helmet ;
and three boys dressed in their best clothes, well
combed, oiled, smoothed, and shining, with their heads still
full of a little lesson on the laws of politeness, which was given