THE EVE OF THE FOURTEENTH OF MARCH.

三月十四日的前一夜

To-day has been more cheerful than yesterday. The thirteenth of March! The eve of the distribution of prizes at the Theatre Vittorio Emanuele, the greatest and most beautiful festival of the whole year! But this time the boys who are to go upon the stage and present the certificates of the prizes to the gentlemen who are to bestow them are not to be taken at haphazard. The headmaster came in this morning, at the close of school, and said:--

今天比昨天更快活，三月十三日——一年中最有趣的维多利亚·爱马努爱列馆奖品授予式的前夜！并且，这次挑选捧呈奖状递给官长的人员的方法很是有趣。今天将退课，校长先生到教室里来：

"Good news, boys!" Then he called, "Coraci!" the Calabrian. The Calabrian rose. "Would you like to be one of those to carry the certificates of the prizes to the authorities in the theatre to-morrow?" The Calabrian answered that he should.

“诸君！有一个很好的消息哩！”说着又叫那个格拉勒利亚少年：“可拉西！”格拉勃利亚少年起立，校长说：“你愿意明天做捧了奖状递给官长的职司吗？”“愿意的。”格拉勃利亚少年回答说。

"That is well," said the head-master; "then there will also be a representative of Calabria there; and that will be a fine thing. The municipal authorities are desirous that this year the ten or twelve lads who hand the prizes should be from all parts of Italy, and selected from all the public school buildings. We have twenty buildings, with five annexes--seven thousand pupils. Among such a multitude there has been no difficulty in finding one boy for each region of Italy. Two representatives of the Islands were found in the Torquato Tasso schoolhouse, a Sardinian, and a Sicilian; the Boncompagni School furnished a little Florentine, the son of a wood-carver; there is a Roman, a native of Rome, in the Tommaseo building; several Venetians, Lombards, and natives of Romagna have been found; the Monviso School gives us a Neapolitan, the son of an officer; we furnish a Genoese and a Calabrian,--you, Coraci,--with the Piemontese: that will make twelve. Does not this strike you as nice? It will be your brothers from all quarters of Italy who will give you your prizes. Look out! the whole twelve will appear on the stage together. Receive them with hearty applause. They are only boys, but they represent the country just as though they were men. A small tricolored flag is the symbol of Italy as much as a huge banner, is it not?

“很好！”校长说。“那么，格拉勒利亚的代表者也有了，这真是再好没有的事。今年市政所方面要想从意大利全国选出拿奖状的十几个少年，而且说要从小学校的学生里选出。这市中有二十个小学校和五所分校，学生共七千人。其中就是代表意大利全国十二区的孩子。托尔夸托塔索学校担任派出的是撒丁岛人和西西里岛人，邦康帕尼学校担任派出的是佛罗伦萨人，一个木雕匠的儿子；托马塞奥学校有担任派出的是一个土生土长的罗马人；还派出了几个威尼斯人，伦巴第人，和罗曼尼亚本地人；蒙维索学派担任派出的是那不勒斯人，一个军官的儿子；本校担任派出的是詹诺亚人和格拉勃利亚人，你，可拉西，以及皮埃蒙特人，一共十二个人。怎样？这是很有趣的办法吧。给你们赏品的是意大利全国的同胞，明天你们试看！十二个人一齐上舞台，那时要热烈喝彩！这几个虽则是少年，却和大人一样代表国家。小小的三色旗也和大三色旗一样，同是意大利的标志哩！