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It was upon this occasion that in reference to his carelessness of dress, his schoolmates composed the rhyme, "Napoleon di mezza calzetta Fa l'amore a Giacominetta." which, liberally translated, means, "Hi! Look at Nap! His socks down of his shin, Is making love to little Giacomin."

His careless attire, and his partiality for a pretty little girl in the neighbourhood, were ridiculed together in a song which his playmates used to shout after him in the streets of Ajaccio: "Napoleone di mezza calzetta Fa l'amore a Giacominetta." His superiority of character was early felt.

The boy endured these taunts with the stoic composure of a philosopher, but never after did he offer his arm to the little Giacominetta, and never afterward did his socks hang down over his heels.

But the sight of this gallant, with his diminutive, compact, and broad figure, over which the large head, with its earnestness of expression, seemed so incongruous, and which moved on with so much gravity, while the socks fell from the naked calves over the heels all this excited the merriment of the other children; and when, arm-in-arm with his little schoolmate, he thus moved on, the other urchins in great glee shouted after him: "Napoleone di mezza calzetta dall' amore a Giacominetta!"

In his sixth year he was sent to a dame's school. The boys teased him because his stockings were always down over his shoes, and for his devotion to the girls, one named Giacominetta especially. He met their taunts with blows, using sticks, bricks, or any handy weapon. According to his own story, he was fearless in the face of superior numbers, however large.