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

DEPARTURE AND RETURN. 303
and the bands of workmen, students, and boys, that there was
something stirring the souls of the people, and that some great
event had taken place or was about to do so. Every evening
seemed like that of a fete.
They were the days when, in meeting a soldier, one looked
at and wondered about the horseman who crosses the street
with a folded paper buttoned into his coat ;
and the people stop
to see a convoy of the army train pass ;
and in the boys' schools
there is no way of preserving quiet ;
the old pensioned officers
talk in loud voices in groups at the cafes, and bring down their
fists on the table ;
the mothers grow anxious ;
the young men
become quite mad ;
the women are less looked at than usual,
and cease a little to force themselves into all thoughts, desires,
and plans, as they always do, with their usual proud
tyranny.
Turin felt most profoundly all the poetry of these days.
During the morning, on the avenues around the parade ground,
were the families, relatives, and friends of the soldiers of the
second division, who had been called to arms within a few
days and still wore the greater part of their ordinary dress :
high hats, red caps, elegant light trousers, and great Alpinehunters'
gaiters, black coats, and ragged jackets, all equals
there. Around the barracks there was a continual wandering
of fond mothers with bundles under their arms, a coming and
going of officers and messengers of the division and public
squares, together with a crowd of curious people before the
door ; inside, a deafening noise. At evening, behind the
bugles and drums, came an immense concourse of people who
walked in time, in bands of ten or twelve, arm in arm ;
and the
songs and shouts that echoed through all the neighboring