Submitted by scott on

July 18 Thursday – Sam took a train from Milan to Como, then took a steamer to Bellagio, Italy on
Lake Como.
We lunched at the curious old town of Como, at the foot of the lake, and then took the small
steamer and had an afternoon’s pleasure excursion to this place,—Bellaggio.
When we walked ashore, a party of policemen (people whose cocked hats and showy uniforms
would shame the finest uniform in the military service of the United States,) put us into a little stone
cell and locked us in. We had the whole passenger list for company, but their room would have been
preferable, for there was no light, there were no windows, no ventilation. It was close and hot. We
were much crowded. It was the Black Hole of Calcutta on a small scale. Presently a smoke rose about
our feet—a smoke that smelled of all the dead things of earth, of all the putrefaction and corruption
imaginable.
We were there five minutes, and when we got out it was hard to tell which of us carried the vilest
fragrance.
These miserable outcasts called that “fumigating” us, and the term was a tame one indeed. They
fumigated us to guard themselves against the cholera, though we hailed from no infected port. We had
left the cholera far behind us all the time. However, they must keep epidemics away somehow or
other, and fumigation is cheaper than soap. They must either wash themselves or fumigate other
people. Some of the lower classes had rather die than wash, but the fumigation of strangers causes
them no pangs. They need no fumigation themselves. Their habits make it unnecessary. They carry
their preventive with them; they sweat and fumigate all the day long. I trust I am a humble and a
consistent Christian. I try to do what is right. I know it is my duty to “pray for them that despitefully
use me;” and therefore, hard as it is, I shall still try to pray for these fumigating, maccaroni-stuffing
organ-grinders [IA, Ch. 20].

Day By Day Acknowledgment

Mark Twain Day By Day was originally a print reference, meticulously created by David Fears, who has generously made this work available, via the Center for Mark Twain Studies, as a digital edition.