The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1885-07-25
Venice.

Venice is the home of the Venetian.
and also where the gondola has its nest
and rears its vodng. It is also the
headquarters for the paint known as
Venetian red. Ihey use it in painting
the town on festive occasions. This is
the town where the Merchant of Venice
used to do business, and the home Of
Shylock, broker, who sheared the
Venetian lamb at the corner of the Ri
alto and the Grand Canal. He is now
no more. l couldn't even lind an old
neighbor near the Rialto who remem-
bered Shylock. From what can learn
OF him. however, am led to believe
that he was pretty close in his deals.
and liked to catch q man in tight
place and then make him squirm. Shy
lock, during the great panic in Venice
many years ago, it is said, had chat
tel mortgage on more lives than you
could shake stick at He would loan
o small amount to merchant at three
per cent. month, and secure it on
pound of the merchants liver. or by
cut-throat mortgage on his respiratory
apparatus. Then, when the paper ma
tured, he would go up to the house
with pair of scales and a pie knife
and demand foreclosure.
Venice is one of the best watered
towns in Europe. You can hardly
walk block without getting your feet
wet, unless you ride in gondola.
The gondola is long, slim hack
without wheels and is worked around
through the damp streets by brunette
man whose breath should be sad
warning to us all. He is called the
gondolier. Sometimes he sings in
low tone of voice and in foreign
tongue. do not know where I have
met so many foreigners as I have here
in Europe, unless it was in New York
at the polls. Wherever go hear a
foreign tongue. do not know whether
these people talk in the italian Ian
guage just to show off or not. Perhaps
they prefer it. London is the only
place l have visited where the Boston
dialect is used. London was originally
settled by adventurers from Boston.
The blood OF some OF the royal families
of Massachusetts may be found in the
veins of London people.
Wealthy young ladies in Venice do
not run away with the coachman. There
are no coaches, no coachmen, and no
horses in Venice. There are only four
horses in Venice, and they are made of
copper and exhibited at ST. Marks as
curiosities.
The Academia dele Belle Arti of
Venice is large picture store where I
went yesterday to buy few pictures
for Christmas presents. A painting by
Titan, the Italian Prang, pleased me
very much, but I couldn't beat down
the price to where it would be any OBJ
ject for me to buy it. Besides, it would
be nuisance to carry such picture
around with me all over the Alps, up
the Rhine, and through st. Lawrence
County I finally decided to leave it,
and secure something less awkward to
carry and pay for.
The Italians are quite proud of their
smoky old paintings. I have often
thought that if Venice would run less
to art and more to soap, she would be
more apt to win my respect. Art is all
right to certain extent, but it can be
run in the ground. 1t breaks my heart
to know how lavish nature has been
with water here, and yet how the We
netians scorn to investigate its bene-
fits. When gondolier gets a drop of
water on him, he swoons. Then he lies
in a kind of coma till another Condo
ier comes along to breathe in his face
and revive him.-BiU Nye, IN New
York Mercury.