people, though he was far too courteous to say outright any thing of
this sort.

He had very fine, shrewd blue eyes, a lean, weather-beaten, kindly
face, and a cautious way of saying things. I hardly expected him to
turn out so red-hot a Democrat as he did on better acquaintance, but
being a warm friend of man myself, I was not sorry. Garibaldi was
the beginning and ending of his political faith, as he is with every
enthusiastic Italian. The honest soul's conception of all concrete
evil was brought forth in two words, of odd enough application. In
Europe, and Italy more particularly, true men have suffered chiefly
from this form of evil, and the captain evidently could conceive of
no other cause of suffering anywhere. We were talking of the American
war, and when the captain had asked the usual question, "_Quando
finirà mai questa guerra_?" and I had responded as usual, "_Ah, ci
vuol pazienza_!" the captain gave a heavy sigh, and turning his head
pensively aside, plucked his grapes from the cluster a moment in
silence.

Then he said: "You Americans are in the habit of attributing this war
to slavery. The cause is not sufficient."

I ventured to demur and explain. "No," said the captain, "the cause is
not sufficient. We Italians know the only cause which could produce a
war like this."

I was naturally anxious to be instructed in the Italian theory, hoping
it might be profounder than the English notion that we were fighting
about tariffs.