A GARDEN IN VENICE 



when their pockets are full with hard-earned 

 economies. It is their ambition to buy a plot of 

 land and build a house for their wives and chil- 

 dren. The children when they grow up bring 

 their wages to the home, and the fathers grown 

 old are so supported. At Belluno, where we 

 spend the summer, I have seen half a dozen of 

 such houses built in the last five or six years. 

 Each has its plot of ground for grano turco, and 

 often grass enough to keep a cow, and the price 

 of such lots is high. 



One of these men who came to me was a very 

 able worker, not rare among them, but also an 

 honest worker, giving a fair day's work for his 

 day's pay; and this, being with me something 

 above the general rate, was a further temptation 

 perhaps to misconduct. Nevertheless, he ac- 

 counted to the last centime of the money he 

 spent, till at the end of his third season he disap- 

 peared, and I was told, the police wanting him, 

 he had gone to America. I sincerely trust he 

 met there with the fortune that his conduct with 

 me deserved. It was an erring cast of the police- 

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