Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-12-02
IMPRESSIONS OF VENICE.


Century, delineatcs the character Of the
. Queen OF the Adriatic" with the subtle
skill with which he describes a novel
heroine. The paper is handsomely il.
lu.trated, and the author says, in part:
The fault OF Venice is that. though it
is easy to admire it. 1t is not so easy to
live in it. After you have been there
werk, and the boom OF novelty has
rubbed of, you wonder whether you
can accommodate yourself to the pecu-
liar conditions. Your old habits be-
come impractic.b!e, and you find your
sell obliged TO form new ones OF an un-
desirable and Improbable character.
You are tired IF your gondola (or you
thlnk you are), aud you have seen all
the principal pictures aud heard the
names of the palaces announced dozen
times by your gondolier, who brings
them out almost as impressively rs il
he we're an English butler bawling titles
into drawing Ioom. You have walked
several hundrest tunes around the Piazza
and bought several bushels of photo.
graphs. You have visited the antiquity
mougers, wnuse horrible slgn-bOards
dishoner some of the grandest vistas in
the Grand Canal; YOU have tried the
opera and .found it very bad; you have
bathed at the Lido and found the water
fiat. You have begun to have q ship
board feeli,.g-to regard the Piazza as
an enormous ga .OOu all The Rtva degit
Schiavoai AS u promenade deck. You
are obstructed and ENGAGED your desire
for space is unsalistied; you mss your
usual exercise. Yon try to take walk
and you iall, and meantime. as l say,
you have come to regard your gondola
as sort oil magnitied baby's cradle.
You have no desire to be rocked 20 sleep
though you are sufficiently kept awake
by the irritation produced, as You gaze
across the shallow lagoon, by. the attl-
tude OF the perpetual gondolier, with
his turned-out toes, his protruded chin,
his absurdly unscientitic stroke. The
canals have horrible smell. and the
everlasting Piazza, where you have
looked repeatedly at every artic IN
every shop, window aud found them all
rubbish, where the young Venetians
who sell bead bracelets and ''psnora
mas" are perpetual!y thrustlng their
| wares at you, where the same tightly
buttoned officers are forever sucking
the same black weeds. at the same
empty tables, in front OF the same cal fes
the Piazza, as I say. has resolved
itself into sort OF magnificent tread.
mill. This is the state OF mind of those
shallow inquirers who lind Venice all
very we'll Tor week; and if in such Z
state of mind you take your departure
you act with fatal .rashuess. The
loss is your own, moreover; it ID
not-with all Difference to your personal
Il oft oot, hat Mt NvNe
who remain behind; for though there
are some disagreeable things in Venice
there is nothing so disagreeable as ths
visitors. The conditions are peculiar
but your intolerance oi them eyapuratel
before it has had time to become pre-
judice. When you have called for thu
bill to 60, pay it and remain, and you
will find ON the morrow that you ar,
deeply attached to Venice. 1t is by liv
ing there from day to day that you fee
the fulluess OF its charm; that you invit'
its exquisite influence to sink into you
spirit. The place is as changeable as
nervous woman, and you know it onl,
when you know all the aspects OF it
beauty. 1t has high spirits or low, 1t i:
pale red, gray or pink, cold or warm
fresh or wan, according to the weathe
or the hour. 1t Is always interestin.
and most always sad but it has
thousand occasional graces, and is al
ways liable to happy accidents. Yo'
, become extraordinarily fond of thes
things; you count upon them ), the
make part of your lie. Tenderly fon
you become; there is something inde
Unable in those depths of persons
acquaintance that gradually estabis
themselves. The place seeus to pei
soniiy ITSELF. to become human All
sentient. and conscious of your Affection
Yeu desire to embrace it, to caress il
to possess it; and finally. a soft sens
of possession grows up, and your Wis
becomes perpetual love affair. II
, very true that If you 20 there like th
! author of these lines, about the mlddl
of March, u certain amount OF dissI (
. pointment ia possible. He had not bee
! there for several years, and in the II
terval the beautiful aud helpless city ha
suffered All Increase of injury. Th
> bar rbarisns are in iull possession, an
you tremhle for what they may dt
:. You arc reminded, from the moment-G
! your arrival, that Venice scarcely exls,
= any more as city at all; that it exist
only as battered peep-show and bs
Zaar.