. Italian journeys / by Howells ; with one hundred and three illustrations by Joseph swould go on the morrow. The Capo-Stazione, with anair of one who would not presume to fathom the designsof Providence, responded : Who knows ? To-day, certainlynot. To-morrow, perhaps. But— and vanished. This break in the line was only a few miles in extent,and trains could have approached both to and from Bologna,so that a little enterprise on the part of the company couldhave passed travellers from one side to the other with verysmall trouble or delay. But the railway company was asmuch daunt
. Italian journeys / by Howells ; with one hundred and three illustrations by Joseph swould go on the morrow. The Capo-Stazione, with anair of one who would not presume to fathom the designsof Providence, responded : Who knows ? To-day, certainlynot. To-morrow, perhaps. But— and vanished. This break in the line was only a few miles in extent,and trains could have approached both to and from Bologna,so that a little enterprise on the part of the company couldhave passed travellers from one side to the other with verysmall trouble or delay. But the railway company was asmuch daunted by the inundation as a peasant going tomarket, and for two months after the accident no trainscarried passengers from one city to the other. No doubt,however, the line was under process of very solid repairmeanwhile. For the present the only means of getting to Bolognawas by carriage on the old highway, and accordingly wetook passage thither in the omnibus of the Stella dOro. There was little to interest us in the country over whichwe rode. It is perfectly flat, and I suppose the reader 30. Vru, IcuuLuu . Ij Italian ;> o in-n c v S knows what quantities of hemp and flax arc raised there. ThroughThe land seems poorer than in Lombardy. and the farm- Bolognahouses and peasants cottages are small and mean, though tothe peasants themselves, when we met them, looked wellfed, and were certainly well clad. The landscape laysoaking in a dreary drizzle the whole way, and the town ofCento, when we reached it, seemed miserably conscious ofbeing too wet and dirty to go in-doors, and was loiteringabout in the rain. Our arrival gave the poor little place asensation, for I think such a thing as an omnibus had notbeen seen there since the railway of Bologna and Ferrarawas built. We went into the principal cafe to lunch—acafe much too large for Cento, with immense red-leathercushioned sofas, and a cold, forlorn air of half-starvedgentility, a clean, high-roofed cafe an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectitalyde, bookyear1901
