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

AN ORIGINAL ORDERLY. 2?$
tor was furious, and gave him a regular wigging.
" It is
only
that the thing has been going on rather long already,"
he mumbled
in reply.
At other times he had tricks at which I laughed instead of
reproving him for them, as I ought to have done. One
morning he waked me by whispering in my ear in a curious
"
Lieutenant, he who sleeps catches no fish."
tone of voice :
One day he entered the house just as an illustrious person
was leaving it, and heard me say to the friend who was with
me, that that personage was a " very conspicuous personality"
A fortnight later, while I was talking with several friends, he
appeared at the door of my room and announced a visitor.
"Who is it?" I asked. "It is
(he did not remember the
name) that very conspicuous personality" he replied.
All burst
out laughing ; the gentleman in question heard ; I explained
matters, and he joined heartily in our merriment.
It would be difficult to give an idea of the language this curious
subject spoke : it was a mixture of Sardinian, Lombardian,
and Italian, all
chopped phrases and abbreviated words,
an infinite number of verbs thrown here and there or left in
the air, so that they produced the effect of a speech by a person
in delirium. One day a friend came to see me at the dinner-hour,
and on entering the house asked : At what point of
"
his dinner is
your master?"
" He is trembling" replied the
soldier. My friend stood open-mouthed
That trembling meant terminating (finishing).
with astonishment.
In five or six months, in attending the regimental schools,
he had learned to read and write with difficulty. It was my
misfortune. While I was away from home, he practised his
penmanship on my table, and used to write one or two hun-