The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1884-09-20
IN FOREIGN LANDS.


IN FOREIGN LANDS.
Views of Venice Matters ard Things OF
Note In the Famous City Of the Sea-Ve-
roma and fits Surroundings.
From our cwn Correspondent.
| Oh Venice Venice! when thy marble walls
| Are level with the waters, there shall be
| A cry OF nations DER thy sunken halls,
| A loud lament along the sweeping sea.
| From Florence to Venice is delightful
ride of nearly 200 miles through some OF
the finest regions OF central and northern
Italy. As far as Pistoja- as the
! place where pistols were invented--the
road runs along the base of the Apennines,
but at this point the ascent of the noun
tain is begun and the iron rail winds uF
the fertile slopes, giving varied and exten.
| sive views Of the broad plains of Tuscany.
Beyond the mountains we follow the course
! of the river Reno nearly to Bologna, one Of
| the important cities Of both medieval and
| modern Italy. Its university. established
early in the twelfth century, at one time
boasted 10000 students, and many import
ant discoveries in science were made here
About thirty miles farther on we pass Fer.
rara, the nome of Tasso, Ariosto and Titan
| and seventy miles beyond Ferrara the
/ spires and towers of Venice come.in sight
apparently rising out of the sea. Crossing
bridge more than two miles long WI
reach tho station and take Venetian cm
nibus, gondola, to our hotel, which was
according to the best authorities, formerly {
palace.
| Nations, like men, often owe their for.
tunes to small beginnings. Upon the down
fall of the Western Empire in the fifth
century, handful of the inhabitants OF
northern Italy sought refuge from the con.
quering barbarians upon the low islands al
the head of the Adriatic, thus laying the
foundations of the city of Venice. From
humble fishermen they gradually increased
| in numbers and power, obtained mastery
of the Mediterranean and the commerce OF
| the world, and maintained an indepen-
dent national existance for more than 1900
years, until conquered by the great Bona
parte in 1887. In 1866 Venice passed from
| the control of Austria and is now part OF
United Itaty. Around its marble palaces
and gloomy prisons are clustered more
memories of beauty and pride, of chivalrous
devotion and treacherous despotism, OF
romance and tragedy, of high souled honor
and the blackest passions of the human
heart, than about almost any other spot on
| earth.
The Venice of to-day is a city of about
130, 600 inhabitants, built upon lit islands,
separated by III canals and connected By
nearly 400 bridges. The Grand Canal,
shaped like huge inverted letter S, divides
the city into two nearly equal parts and
| runs from the railway station on the north
west to the Piazza of st. Marks on the
| southeast. It is the Venetian Broadway.
Imagine, if you can, city without the
sound of horse or wagon; no broad paved
streets, but in their place narrow crooked
canals, upon whose dark waters the black
gondolas glide almost noiselessly: a city in
| fact where the rush and hustle of the nine
| teenth century never have reached and
probably never will reach; city which
seems to live in the romance of its past
and you will havesome idea of Venice.
| The grand central point of interest in
Venice is the Piazza of st. Marks, an ir-
regular square about 600 feet in length and
$50 feet wide. It is terminated On the east
by st. Marks, the Campanile, or bell tow
er, and the Doges Palace, and on the
three remaining sides is surrounded by a
palatial structure, the lower story with
broad arcades being occupied by shops and
| cafes. The Piazzetta is smaller square
extending from st. Marks southwark to
| the Grand Canal, the famous winged lion
J of st. Marks and the statue of st. Theodore
standing as sentinels on the shore. In the
summer a military band plays in the square
several times each week and the entire
piazza is filed every evening with gay
crowd of pleasure seekers.
| The world has nothing like the cathedral
of st. Marks. It was built in the eleventh
century, in the form of Greek cross, with
a great dome over the centre and four
smaller ones over the arms. 1t is in the
Byzantine style, and the oriental splendor
and magnifcence of its decorations cannot
be described. Above the portal are the
celebrated bronze horses which have stood
| successfully upon the arches of Nero
Domitian, Trajan and Constantine at
Rome, were taken to Constatinople by
Constantine the Great, brought to Venice
by zeno, taken to Paris by Napoleon, but
restored again to Venice in 1916.
Passing through the vestibule one is al
most bewildered by the weird splendor and
SURPRISING richness of the interior. The
| ceiling does not rise in pointed arches, like
the great Gothic cathedrals of central Eu-
rope, neither is it fiat or panelled like the
might basilicas of Rome, but is followed
out into vast tdome-shaped forms, with has
sive semi-circular arches between, the
| Whole covered with costly mosaics upon
a gold ground. Around US rise hundreds
of pillars of rich marble and variegated
stone, while the chapels on every hand
present new features of interest. The pave
ment of tesselated marble rises and falls
in waves under foot, the foundations hav-
ing settled uneaually. Among the relics
which are here exhibited, are two alabaster
columns from Solomon's s temple, the stone
on which John the Baptist was beheaded,
vase containing some Of the blood Of the
Savior, and many others regarded by the
profane as of equally doubtful authenticity.
The dreamy light which illuminates the