Letters written in Europe--To Isaac Parker--Dr. Francis--Dr. Lamson, 1844.

TO HIS BROTHER, ISAAC PARKER, LEXINGTON.

Naples, Feb. 12, 1844.

MY DEAR BROTHER,--I suppose you have been to meeting to-day,
with wife and children in the sleigh, and now sit in your room, with a
great fire to keep out the north-westers. To-morrow you will sled wood
out of the forest, or the swamps, perhaps. But here we have the ver-
dure of spring. Flowers are in blossom everywhere, roses in the
gardens, and oranges hang ripe and golden on the trees. It is a fine
sight, too--a tree full of oranges. An apple-tree full of Baldwins, or a
peach-tree loaded with yellow Rare-ripes, is beautiful; but an orange-
tree, with its green leaves and its gold fruit, far surpasses it. Here
you see in the fields what we cultivate in hot-houses. The fig ripens
its fruit in the open air, the prickly pear grows on the side of all
the mountains, and dirty boys sell the delicious hill-side figs in the
streets. Every inch of ground is cultivated, not as we cultivate it, but
with the nicety of a garden. I have not seen a plough in Italy. Almost
all the cultivation is with the hoe and the spade, even where grain is
sowed. But their farming tools are a century behind ours. They bring
hay to market on the backs of asses, each ass carrying three bundles,
or about 300 pounds. In the same way they carry wood, wine, and
even manure. The harnesses are rudely made, and gall the cattle un-
mercifully. They put one single ox into the shafts of a cart, and a
horse, a mule, an ass, or a cow on each side of him : then the driver
mounts the cart, and takes the reins, fastened to a ring in the ox's
nose, and drives off. It is a queer country in its customs. In all the
public-houses men do the chamber-work (for the women get into other
kinds of work, and so can't be trusted), while you find women driving
oxen, and even sweeping the streets! Some of the customs are very
strange. The Carnival is a sort of holy time: it begins the 6th of
January, and lasts till the 22nd of February (this year). During the
last week of Carnival, on Sunday afternoon, men dress themselves up
in masks--in all sorts of foolish disguises, and walk or ride about the
Strada di Toledo, one of the principal streets of the city. To-day we

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