Partisan
Review
OCTOBER
1936
, COMBINED WITH THE ANVIL
Two Syllables
IGNAZIO SILONE
IN THE banquet hall and on the steps of the inn,
men and youths are going ceaselessly back and forth.
One group, wearing the Fascist Party emblem, is
seated at a table and discussing, in voices that are al-
ready hoarse from too much talking, the details of
the spontaneous and enthusiastic demonstration
which is to take place this afternoon. It is a question,
through stern and strict measures, of assuring the
spontaneous and enthusiastic participation of the
entire population of Fossa and vicinity.
"Should we send trucks to Pietrasecca, too ?" some
one asks.
"Sure, to Pietrasecca, too," someone answers him.
"And we must send carabinieri along with them, so
that the population will understand that they are to
come in spontaneously."
At another table, a group of pot-bellies, under the
artistic direction of Lawyer Zabaglione, are unctu-
ously going over the bill-of-fare for the banquet this
evening. Zabaglione is so flurried that he does not
notice Don Paolo's presence.
*
A strenuous and
basic difference of opinion has arisen, and Zaba-
glione finally and impulsively brings it down to a
personal issue.
"On my word of honor," he shouts, "on the honor
of my wife and the stainless honor of my daughter,
I swear to you that I will have nothing to do with
the banquet, if the white wine is to be served before
the red."
"That's blackmail
I"
shout the other members of
the committee, in high dudgeon. Zabaglione folds
his arms and remains unshaken in his contention.
"Principles are principles!" is the only answer
he will give.
Up on the second floor, in the landlady's bed-
room, the recruiting commitee is meeting.
Those
who have not been able to find chairs are seated or
lying on the widow's bed. The pillow slips are neatly
• Don Paolo is the revolutionist hero, disguised in priest's garb.
embroidered in cross-stitch with the words, "Pleasant
Dreams!" Over the bed hangs a colored print show-
ing a guardian angel in the act of caressing a dove.
In Fossa, the mobilization of the hungry bums has
been followed by that of the bankrupts. The direc-
tors of the Bank 'of Fossa, who are facing a suit for
fraudulent bankruptcy, have volunteered to go to
Africa. Their patriotic example has had its effect on
all sides. The hardware merchant, who has a little
shop on the Town Hall Square opposite the Girasole
Inn, and who has had to close it for insolvency, has
opened it again this morning, has put Gelsomina, his
wife, in charge, and has pasted on the door a sign
reading: "Creditors are hereby informed that the
owner of this business has enlisted as a volunteer lit
And no constituted authority would venture to order
the seizure of a war hero's wares
.
The registration official, having read through the
list of recruits, is led to exclaim: "This seems to be
a mortgagors'
war
I"
The nearer the hour draws for the radio an-
nouncement of the declaration of war, the denser be-
comes the jostling crowd in the street.
From the
right hand side come the authorities, from the left
the cafoni. From the right come motorcycles and
autos, bearing police, carabinieri and militiamen,
with officials of the Fascist Party and the Corpora-
tions on trucks. From the left, donkeys, bicycles and
more trucks, bringing the peasants.
Two blaring
bands go up and down the street, playing the same
hymn over and over again. The musicians are for
the most part artisans, and are clad in the uniforms
of circus animal trainers and hotel porters, with
fancy stripes and a double row of brass buttons down
the front. Outside a barber shop is a picture of
Abyssinian women with long breasts dangling to
their knees. Gathered around this picture is a large
cluster of young lads, who eye it laughingly and
covetously. From the left, the cafoni keep pouring
in: small landowners, charcoal-burners and shep-
herds from round about. From the right hand side,
the stream of Fascist Party representatives is like-
wise an uninterrupted one.
In back of the small square, between the Party
headquarters and the colonnade of the Town Hall,
a radio loudspeaker, decked with an array of small
flags, has been set up. Down beneath the diminutive
but miraculous object upon which the fate of a na-
tion depends, the poor people take their places as
they arrive. The women squat down as they do in
church, while the men in the market place are seated
upon sacks or upon the pack-saddles of their don-
keys. All know why it is they have come together
here, and they now sit blinking at the lit~le me-
'chanical object which is soon to resound With the
call to arms; but they all feel rather out of place
in its presence; they feel downcast and distrustful.
The square and the neighboring streets are soon
3
