A SHORT WALK.

Mr. Caper having indignantly rejected the services of all professors of
the guiding art or 'commissionaires,' slowly sauntered out of his hotel
the morning after his arrival, and, map in hand, made his way to the
tower on the Capitoline Hill. Threading several narrow, dirty streets,
he at last went through one where in one spot there was such a heap of
garbage and broccoli stumps that he raised his eyes to see how high up
it reached against the walls of a palace; and there read, in black
letters,

_Immondezzaio_;

literally translated, A Place for Dirt. On the opposite wall, which was
the side of a church, he saw a number of black placards on which were
large white skulls and crossbones, and while examining these, a
bare-headed, brown-bearded, stout Franciscan monk passed him. From a
passing glance, Caper saw he looked good-natured, and so, hailing him,
asked why the skulls and bones were pasted there.

'Who knows?' answered the monk. 'I came this morning from the Campagna;
this is the first time in all my life I have been in this magnificent
city.'

'Can you tell me what that word means up there?' said Caper, pointing to
_immondezzaio_.

'Signore, I can not read.'

'Perhaps it is the name of the street, maybe of the city?'