laugh, they call "Cio!" [Footnote: Literally, _That_ in Italian, and
meaning in Venetian, _You! Heigh!_ To talk in _Cio ciappa_ is to
assume insolent familiarity or unbounded good fellowship with the person
addressed. A Venetian says _Cio_ a thousand times in a day, and hails
every one but his superior in that way. I think it is hardly the Italian
pronoun, but rather a contraction of _Veccio_ (vecchio), _Old
fellow!_ It is common with all classes of the people: parents use it in
speaking to their children, and brothers and sisters call one mother
_Cio_. It is a salutation between friends, who cry out, _Cio!_
as they pass in the street. Acquaintances, men who meet after separation,
rush together with _"Ah Cio!"_ Then they kiss on the right cheek
_"Cio!"_ on the left, _"Cio!"_ on the lips, _"Cio! Bon di
Cio!"_] continually, and banter each other as they trot to the grave.

The boys follow them, gamboling among the little iron crosses, and trying
if here and there one of them may not be overthrown.

We two strangers follow the boys.

But here the pall-bearers become puzzled: on the right is an open trench,
on the left is an open trench.

"Presence of the Devil! To which grave does this dead belong?" They
discuss, they dispute, they quarrel.

From the side of the wall, as if he rose from the sea, appears the grave-
digger, with his shovel on his shoulder--slouching toward us.

"Ah heigh! Cio, the grave-digger! Where does this dead belong?"