St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-02-13
GRAND HOTEL, VENICE,
August, 1879.


August, 1879.
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF VENICE.
L despair of being able to describe
Venice. The City of the Sea Uses in my
vision like an enchanted place where
mans methods are inverted OF changed
altogether to some strange way, and
where the habitations-nearly all of
which the visitor sees Oh his first gon-
dola trip from the railway station to
his hotel are veritable palaces of the
present or past-seem to have been
reared from the watery depths by some
mysterious process known only to the
possessors of wonderful lamps and such
like magic implements. Faded, soiled
and tattered palaces some of them are,
to be sure, and devoted in some cases
to more ignOble uses than they were
wont to serve, but palaces nevertheless
which seem to assert their noble origin
like blue-blooded mendicant. Venice
is not i'll all its aspects so romantic and
unreal. 1t has practical side as well I;
and if your gondolier chances to turn
his craft into one of the numerous side
canals, you are introduced to sights and
smells that are positively worldly, or if
you go out the back door of your hotel,
(the front door ushers you into the ca
na), into the little narrow alleys which
serve as streets, and where the sun
never gets a fair chance to shine except
when IL can peep in at one end, you
will find all the petty huckstering and
other surroundings of common CONNER
cial life. Venice has no horses, except
the bronze quadrupeds over the portal
of st. Marks, and hence there is no
rumbling of caIts and no yelling of noisy
drivers, nor yet any crack of The whip
SO peculiar to other Italian cities. We
nice, accordingly presents a smaller
field for the humane labors of Mr.. Bergh
than do Naples and Rome.
If you extend your walk to the great,
sunny Piazza di San Marco Tor, what is
better, if your visit is in the evening
when the grand square is blaze of light
from a thousand gas-lamps), you are
transported to new scene of beauty
and enchantment. The space is NOT
large, as such things go where land is
plenty, but it is large for Venice, where
the tides of the Adriatic wash the very
walls of the buildings. At the easterly
end is the ancient church of St. Mark
founded in 976), with its Oriental
dOmes, the tall Campanile, and quaint
clock-tower, while bordering the Pias-
setta, which extends northward to the
wateI, is the fancifully decorated Palace
OF the DOges. The mOLO of the Piassetta
is the principal quay in Venice, but its
use is confined to passenger traffic. Near
the margin of the sea are the two ia
nous columns brought to Venice in
ll2O from Greece. They are red gran
lite, and while one is surmOunted by
winged lion, the other rears aloft a
statue OF st. Theodore, the patron saint
of the Republic previous to 827, when
that honor was transferred to St. Mark,
whose remains were brought home by
some raiding Venetians. Around three
sides of the great square are stately
editices- palaces of some sort or other
like the rest of this strange city-and
under them are arcades glittering with
snowy jewelry shops and cafes. As to
the cafes, You do not think of entering
them, any more than you would SINH
lar establishment in Paris, but sit at
little table out in the square, slipping
ices Tor bad beer if you prefer it), feed
ing the pigeons, and watching the gay
throng of passers-by, all at the same
time.
THE PIGEONS.
These pigeons are very numerous.
very fat, and very greedy. They come
in hundreds to tumble over each other
in pursuit of the kernels of corn YOU
throw them, and some of the bolder
birds perch upon the back of your chair
and eat from your hand. The corn is
served to you by the waiter for little
"tip," or ten to Dne he brings it to you
whether you ask for it or not, since
"feeding the pigeons" constitutes one of
the established amusements of Venice.
The birds seem to have very little fear
of human kind, except where there is
danger of being actually trodden upon /;
and yet it is darkly limited that the
Venetian small boy is developing love