Italian Vagrants.- Two Italian vagrants were in town last week. One of them carried a barrell organ- out of which from time to time he ground music,- and the other had in his arms that sine qua non of every grand caravan- a monkey. "I verily believe that the Italians are the laziest people in the world.- One would think they'd rather die than work" said - Farmer _ B_ while gazing at these vagabonds. The remark was natural enough. Our opinion of any nation is very much influenced by the character of its emigrants. The majority of Italians who stroll from our seaboard into the interior, generally provide themselves with barrell organs, monkeys or subscription papers, preferring to pick up a precarious livelihood in this way, rather than exercise themselves in some honest vocation. Ragged Laziness, the mistress whom they courted on the vine clad plains of sunny Italy, is still the idol of their worship on this side of the great water. Indolence is a prominent national characteristic of the Italians.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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There is currently no available "Beginner" label. The following is the default level label: Most ethnic groups were not welcomed when they first migrated to America. Whole groups were categorized by unsavory "national characteristics." This report on two Italian vagrants contains numerous references to laziness and calls indolence a prominent trait of Italians. It states that the majority of Italians who come away from the coast have barrel organs and monkeys - implying that they would rather beg than work for an honest day's pay. The Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from June 26, 1827 to June 27, 1837. It changed its name to the Gazette & Mercury.

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