, his hands and legs shaking with
excitement, one man stands in front of another so 'hopping mad' that you
would believe them both dancing the tarantella, if you did not hear them
shout--such voices for an opera chorus!--

''You say that to _me_? to ME? to ME!' Hands working.

''I do, to _you!_'

''To me, _me_, ME?' striking himself on his breast.

''Yes, yes, I do, I do!'

''What, to ME! ME! _I_?' both hands pointing toward
his own body, as if to be sure of the identity of the person; and that
there might not be the possibility of any mistake, he again shouts,
screams, yells, shrieks: 'To me? What, that to ME! to ME!'
hands and arms working like a crab's.

'Then the entire population rush, in with, 'Bravo, Johnny, bravo!' At
last, after they have screamed themselves black in the face, and swung
their arms and legs until they are ready to drop off, both combatants
coolly walk off; and a couple of fresh hands rush in, assisted by the
splendid Roman chorus, and begin:

''What, ME? ME?' &c.

'But the battle of the lizards was conducted with more spirit than the
general run of quarrels, for the people were fighting for remission of
their sins as it were--the possession of every sanctified red-headed
lizard being so much money saved from the church, so many years out of
purgatory.

'The _gendarmerie_ heard the row, and at once rushed down--four soldiers
comprised the garrison--to dissipate the crowd: this they managed to do
in a peaceable way. There happened to be a heretical spur in the town,
in the shape of three German artists, and this incited the bishop of the
province, who was at once informed of the miracle-working doings of
Father Ciprian, to displace him.

'Thus, my dear friend, I was left to make love to the girls until I had
to return to Rome--unfortunately only two weeks' time--for the
newly-appointed priest had not the opportunity to set them against me.

'The moral of this long story is: that even vermilion can be worked up
in a miraculous manner--if you put the powerful reflective faculty in
motion; and doing so, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that by
its means you can cause an invisible sign to be stuck up over even a
country town in Italy: '_All Persons are Forbidden to Work Miracles
Here!_''

THE POPOLO EXHIBITION.

The government, aware of its foreign reputation for patronizing the
_Belle Arti_, has an annual display of such paintings and sculpture as
artists may see fit to se