The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1880-11-24
Venice, 9aeen of the sea.

ening shadows cross its network o
green waters, and climbing fast VI
! its marble facades, givequaint gloon
and suggestive mystery 10 the man,
picturesque portals with their medl
cal sculptures and inviting GOODNESS
some times leading the eye TO inyit
ing patches Of brilliant green IN yer
dant court wards, but oitener int
! passages and halls, dark and grim
with the stains of many humid cen
centuries in deep-tinted, picturesq'
d ecay. At this hour Venice becone
doubly amphibious. Her canals ar.
alive with her male population, mel
and boys, and very many little
maidens, too, in cloth iig leaves
sporting in the water like SO many
dark-skinned Polynesians. They
dive, they gambol, they shout, they
splash, they make the old walls anl
shiny waters merry with their cries
and laughter, while their nude
white bodies come out against them
in shiny. dripping relief, like st
many figures OF a iar-away prlmI-
tive world where innocence still
rules supreme. Mothers sit knee
deep in water on their house steps
either holding their six-months old
babies, while they kick and splash
and COO delighted on their own ac-
count at finding themselves thus
early in life in their native element,
or else they let the older ones loose
with ropes around their waists, Sc
curely fastened either to themselves
or the door-rings to be hauled quick
! ly in III case OF an emergency To
aid them still further in their nauti-
cal exploits, these infants are sup
piled with breast-boards, on which
to float until they learn to swim,
which feat Is soon accomplished.
/ For at this season Nenitian parents
take their babes into the canals for
this purpose as Systematically as
the lands people theirs into the
parks to learn to walk, And it Is
surprising and amusing to see how
familiarly they take to the treacher-
Gus waters which are to them like
I greensward and sidewalks are to
terra-hrma children. Indeed, at
this time Of day, it requires
some extra skill ON the part OF
the gondolior to pick his way
through the swimming, floating,
plunging population, rs thick in
spots as shoals of mackerel in their
/ season, screaming and hustling one
another in the brine rs vigorously
as sporting on the shore. Where
there is so much rollicking naked
ness about, stalwart models of men
as nude, saving their waist-ciothes,
as the classical gods, and little boys
and girls ragless. or next to II; at
. first blush on enc0untering them in
these watery streets of large city
in broad daylight, Just as one does
Broadway pedestrians as the LEI
sure hours OF day come on. the mex
. perienced eye Is somewhat startled,
but soon get accustomed to regard
the sight as a very novel and amusc-
ing episode of Venetian life. One
occasion, having to enter a palace
on the Grand Canal, there were so
many bathing from It's steps that
the gondolier had TO pause awhile,
before he could approach, for them
to clear the way, and We made .
triumphal entry between the drip
ping files of bathers, as if it were the
properest thing in the world to do,
and nobody felt ashamed one side,
| am certain.
Salt water everywhere is a great
leyeler of conventional ideas Of
modesty, we all know, hut with the
background of Venice it gets an ex-
ira renaissant touch. Imagination
can easily transform these warm
living bodies into the stone cupids,
amorini satyrs, gods and goddesses,
and all tho other heather classical
/ population carved In the long streets
of palaces as having Just stepped
down from their pedestals, inches,
and entabulatures for a moments
wash and not to lose the bathing
season. Some of the canals might
be sweeter, it is true, that there is
none the less fun for that. And it
Is not always fun, either. Nota sea
son passes but some Of the children
either slip from their boards or get
entangled in their ropes and are
drowned. Almost in my sight the
parents Of one boy, hauled him out,
went up to dinner, leaving him to
dress and follow. Waiting some
time, and finding he did not appear
they crew anxious, and descended
to search for him, only to discover
that he had pushed off on his board
on his own account, slipped from it
and was drowned. But such incl
dents no more keep children out of
the canals here in hot weather than
boys out Of the streets in America
because now and then one is run
Overland killed. 1t is certainly so We
~ convenient to bathers to be able
to digrQbe in their own bed rooms
or front entries and take a header
in salt water from their own door
ways that | was not surprised 10 see
all Venice on 4 sultry day turned
impromptu into one great bathing
establishment, gratis to all classes.
The effect is very amphibirous and
droll, and only plebeian Venice can
show its population cooling off in
this fashion without ceremony in |
its canal streets in the airiest of non
costumes when the dog star RACES.
At the Lido, the beach which |
separates the harbor from the Adri- |
attic, quite another phase Of bathing
is to be seen. Here an aristocrat-
ic establishment has grown up, |
with every facility for comfortable
and decorous bathing of both sexes |
on fine sandy bottom, with lust
sufficient incline to suit all ages and
degrees Of skill in swimming. Mol
better regulated and convenient
bathing houses, with every necessa
ry safeguard, exists anywhere. In
consequence, the Lido has become
a fashionable resort, chiefly for
Italians and Germans, while Amer
leans also are well represented dur
jpcr tho coaco,,