The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-11-16
A DAY IN VENICE.
A TRAVELLERS GLIMPSE OF ITS
DREAMY AND IDYLLlC LIFE,


Moonlight Scene - Music. Dark Eyed
DIaidens and Flowers.
I am soon down stairs for q simple break
fase Of coffee, rolls and omelet, and out on
Ponte della Paglia, the gondoliers are clean
mountings aud iron prows till they glisten in
the sun like refined gold and silver. In the
Piazza all is life, and yet that dreamy sort of
life make Venice SO idyllic; the shops are all
open, and the cafes serving to natives and
tourists the morning meal. The windows in
the arcade flash out their brilliant setting Of
jewelry, gems, lovely Venetian glass, rare
curios and stuffs from the east, like price
less girdle around this matchless square of
San Marco.
OF course, my first duty and pleasure, as it
IS my monday and closing one, is to enter
st. Marks church; to wander about within
the aisles and arches; to sit for an hour in
some secluded corner, and contemplate its
marvellous architecture Of piers, of vaults, Of
domes; its almost inconceivable riches Of
alabaster, Of marbles, Of porphyry, bronzes,
gold, silver, statuary and 11osaics; to drink
it all in, and fill the soul with calm and salts
tying delight, and to return again and again
and again day by day to the same feast.
more like dream than q reality.
From the Piazetta at the Molo a gondola
takes me along the grand canal to visit the
manufactures Of mosaics, glass, furniture
and delightful Venetian iron work. Noon
time comes all too soon, and SO leaving my
gondolier at the Rialto, with the admonition
to be at the Molo at o'clock, pass down
through the Merceria and make my way on
to the Piazza, stopping at one Of the little
shops in a side calle to get horn Of corn for
the pigeons; others are before me, for the
bell on the Tore DELI Orologio has struck the
noon hour, and around the square many are
engaged in the same charming occupation. I
stop beside young country woman within
one of the arches, who has score of these
beautiful birds on her person, one two, three,
on top of each other, all pushing, pecking
and cooling for the bright, golden grain which
she holds in her dainty outstretched hands,
and the happy smile on her fair face attests
to the pure enjoyment she is having.
A group Of little ones, sitting on the pave
ment, around the base Of one of the bronze
pedestals to the hagsta6s. with the birds all
about them, in their laps, on their hands, is
another pretty sight, till some one on the
other side of the piazza coos to the birds.
The pigeons simultaneously, from all direc-
tions. rise and 60 swooping and swirring
down upon it en- masse rs it falls to the pave
ment.
After lunch, or dejevner, visits to tho
ducal palace, the churchhs and academia fills
up the time till 8 p M, when return to st.
Marks to listen to the chanting Of the choir.
And what chorus it is. Never before have
heard such sacred music; the strong, clear
voices of the young mingle with the deep
tremor of the aged fathers; the grandly
toned organ peals forth its stirring ac-
compartment in delightful harmony.
rest upon the marble seat within tho
shadow Of the south aisle, and the music
seems to come from far away; it swells up
among the arches and domes and comes
down in mellowed and subdued reflections,
and dies away in gentle and lingering echo
which seems to love aud caress the very air
it pulsates.
Leaving st. Marks, find my gondolier
punctual at the appointed time, and We start
out for our daily drift up the Grand canal as
far as the station and back again, which &C.
cupies two hours, or till dinner time call
it drifting, for that comes nearest to express
ing the silent, almost motionless gliding of
this most fascinating of conveyances. The
gondolier uses his oar. it is true but the ac-
tion is so graceful, the exertion apparently
so easy, the progress so dreamy and slow
that it seems to be simply drifting, as il car
ried along by some unseen current. Never
before have I known what loafing, par ex-
cellence, ideal restroom all physical and
mental activity-meant; the cushions arc
soft as down, my gondolier a most entertain
ing fellow, my cigarette the finest Alexap-
dria the afternoon simply perfect, the Grand
canal wonderland, all quiet and still, with
not sound save the distant warning cry Of
some gondolier at the entrance Of sido
canal; and as I lie back and throw aside my
hat and let the refreshing breeze play
through my hair, am content.
Dinner being over, once more direct my
steps to the Piazza. Tho lamps are all aglow,
and, if possible, tho square is more enchant-
ing by night than by day. Standing just to
tho right Of the archway opening to the
Merceria, one gets tho finest view Of tho
scene Tho moon is midway up the eastern
sky, just above st. Marks, her mellow light
dimmiag the lamps of the Piazza; the majes-
tic Campanile is outlined in sharp silhouette,
its angel crowned spire seeming to reach up
and loso itself amid the shining stars; it
casts a full dark shadow the full length of
the Piazza in strong contrast to the white
ness of the moon lit pavement
The shops are all ablaze; diamonds, sap
phires, rubies, erneralds, pearls, corals, gold
and Genoese work fash back the fire from q
thousand lights. The Arcade is full of surg
ing humanity; the tables at the entrances to
the cafes and out on the pavement arc sur
rounded by almost every nationality, slipping
coffee and granita. The band stationed in
the center Of the square gives to the scene
tho added charm of fine music. Dark eyed
Venetian maidens smile at one through a
maze Of soft black lace, mysteriously wound
about their heads, half concealing, half re-
vealing their beautiful faces. Flower girls
laden with baskets or trays of exotics find
ready sales, for the custom is universal; and
Rosa, the fairest of them all, SO deftly and
coquettishly fixes boutonniere in your
lapel that one hasn't tho heart to refuse the
few sous anyway.
What scenel One never to be forgotten,
and as write, the memory of it makes the
time seem thousand years till I am fortu-
nate enough to be once more in Venice.
Well might Jacopo Foscari beg of his i'm
placable judges to allow him to return to die
in Venice!-Cor. Boston Transcript.
Londoa's New Lord Mayor.
Alderman James Whitehead, the newly
elected lord mayor of London, is an advanced
Radical in noliticS He has accumulated n