Saluted

Tucked away behind the mountains of Lombardy, the tiny Lago d'Iseo, famed retreat of Italian notables, appears to the eye of passing aviators like a single glistening twisted tear upon the scarred visage of a giant. Last week a salute of 21 battleship guns boomed across this diminutive strip of water. Tourists afloat in ornamental near-gondolas, all but toppled overboard in fright. Shading their eyes and looking about for a super-dreadnaught which was nowhere to be seen, they marveled.

That night the concierges of numerous hotels explained. The Duke of Aosta, gracious cugino (cousin) of His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele, had merely been greeted with the honors due his rank when he called upon famed Soldier-Poet Gabriele d'Annunzio at the latter's villa beside the lake.

"But the guns? The guns?" cried the tourists.

"Ah, so simple! To honor Signor d'Annunzio and to commemorate his heroism at Fiume, the Italian Government has presented him with the battleship Puglia. High and dry upon his lawn, it is ever ready to fire a broadside in honor of Signor d'Annunzio's distinguished guests."