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

THE SON OF THE REGIMENT. 67
their table and house, scorning with amiable affectation their
refusals, and warmly renewing invitations and prayers.
There
was not one face in that multitude that was not transfigured by
emotion, eyes dilated and flaming, cheeks pale and tearstained,
lips trembling ;
and in every attitude, every gesture,
every cry, something feverish and convulsive, which stirred yourj
blood and made you tremble in every fibre, so much so that
you were tempted to reply to the salutations and benedictions
of those people, and yet could not utter one word. The
houses were covered with flags
: at every window there was a
group of persons, one above the other ;
the last erect on
chairs with their hands on the shoulders of the foremost, the
former so pressed against
the sill as to be almost crushed.
Some, were waving handkerchiefs, others their hands in the
way of a greeting, and some throwing down flowers ;
all with
their necks outstretched and their mouths wide open like little
birds in a nest at the appearance of the mother. Some
children held in their mothers' arms waved their wee hands
toward us, and uttered a small cry which was lost
mid-air in
the noise of the crowd. The openings of the streets, the
door-ways of the workshops and stores were full of people. I
saw many of those good operatives place a cigar in the hands
of one of the boys, point out a soldier, and push him toward
him. I saw some excellent women put their children
out to the officers so that they might kiss them, as if that embrace
were a benediction from heaven. I saw tottering old men
pressing the heads of the soldiers against their breasts, and holding
them fast as if they could never let them go. ... In the
midst of so many and such forcible demonstrations of gratitude
and affection, the soldiers, poor fellows, were quite stupefied,