Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/115

 “The coffin, borne by the cuirassiers, passed, and then the banners bent forward all together in salute,—the banners of the new regiments, the old, tattered banners of Goito, of Pastrengo, of Santa Lucia, of Novara, of Crimea, of Palestro, of San Martino, of Castelfidardo; eighty black veils fell, a hundred medals clashed against the staves, and that sonorous and confused uproar, which stirred the blood of all, was like the sound of a thousand human voices saying together,—‘Farewell, good king, gallant king, loyal king! You will live in the heart of your people so long as the sun shall shine over Italy.’

“After this, the banners rose heavenward once more, and King Victor entered into the immortal glory of the tomb.”

Saturday, 21st.

Only one boy was capable of laughing while Derossi was declaiming the funeral oration of the king. It was Franti. I detest that fellow. He is wicked. When a father comes to the school to reprove his son, he enjoys it; when any one cries, he laughs. He cowers before Garrone, and he strikes the little mason because he is small. He torments Crossi because he has a helpless arm. He ridicules Precossi, whom every one respects. He even jeers at Robetti, that boy in the second grade, who walks on crutches, through having saved a child. He provokes those who are weaker than himself, and when it come to blows, he grows savage and tries to do harm.