The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-25

ancient, widowed and funereal gondola;
was rowed to the railway station. took the
first train from the city towards Milan,
shutting out with closed eyes these unhappy
inland which hid the Adriatic from
sight; and then returned over the
great bridge of arches, the way
all other expectant travellers come;
hoping thus to find myself so wrong in my
city Of dreamful restfulness and delight
would be there awaiting me. 1t may be
this will seem foolish, trivial action. 1t
was not. did it to be honest and just. l
found precisely what l first discovered-a
hot. sitting, sinking city, rotting at its
base; orumbling at its domes;, Raady
bawd in bastard architecture, and Haunting
puerile coloring between; alive with laz-
zaroni; hateful with importuning Condo
liers; damp, dank, moldy with ooze and
salt and slime.
The truth about Venice is that, whatever
might have been its charm and glory in the
days of the doges, it presents but two as
poets for study to the visitor of to-day.
One is of that intense solemnity awakened
| by the contemplation of the beautiful dying
| or dead. The other is one of righteousness
pitiable az that pathetic contempt with
which We view the antics and makeshifts of
Robert Macaire" upon the stage, or fol-
low the disgusting baseness of the Duke of
BilRewater" with shaking sides and moist
eyes throughout the later adventures of
'Huckleberry Finn So if you insist up
on the former aspect, you must look beyond
the bleached and rOtting skeleton of the
Venice which is, to the Venice which was,
You must see with historic eyes; accept
with sentimental enthusiasm; worship abso-
lutely what the past has made and called
art; and rehabilitate through your OWE
blind imagination and willing fancy a once
doubtful perfection with the splendid pro-
portions and embellishments you would be
lieve were here in some dim time before
you.
On this line of fealty to Venetian tradi
ton your historic faith sees a noble peopl,
flying from the wrath of Northern Huns
and, casting their lot with the wild fisher
: men of the Adriatic founding a city or serie
of cities, at last uniting numerous shoal
and islands in powerful and resourcefu
> maritime league. 1t recalls the eventfu
concentration of their communistic peoples
into republican government ant
the election of the first dux, doge
or leader. in 697, in the person
Of Pauluccio Anafesto. who was give,
: authority over all the islands. You trace
from the time of this first doge to the dat.
of the extinction of the Venetian republi,
precisely I, 100 years later, by Napoleon Bo
naparte. long line of patriot, warrior
! | statesman and navigator doges, whose sol
liberties, the extension of Venetian fam
\ for science and art, the repellance O
q eastern aggression on the one han
). and the statecraft of the Lombard
g and the Franks on the other. You
u religious fervor is awakened that tn
relics of St. Mark were recovered fror
e Egypt and majestic church became thei
!, reliQuary: you feel the glow with whic
70 Tasso wrote that Venice sent 200 vessel
3 to assist in the holy wars; and you f1out til
70 idea that the extension of her commers
e, was first consideration in her astoundir
practical evidence of piety. You rememb'
b. her 'espousals of the sea- as a sweet an
l. strikingly symbolic mysticism. You b
h lieye her to have been inspired by the hig
j. est patriotism in her almost ince
10 SAINT wars against Genoa and
m her savage conquest of Padu
n Verona, vicenza. Bassano. Belluno and
as the Milanian Brescia, Bereamo, Rovig
o. Cremona, Crema and Treviso. You a
On certain she assisted in the suppression
at piracy. rather than that her feluccas Al
is galleons for half athousand years broug
nd to her Quays untold treasures wrest,
ng through butchery and murder from haple
th harvesters of the sea. You are certain tn
nd her worldwide fame in the dawn al
tic through the earlier part of the golden a
1n for magnitcence, art and refinement "
,ul wholly resultant from the heroic 81
mt idarity of republican liberties, inste
YEA of from governmental crimes Al
of corruptions and the fostering of magni
he cent titled banditti preying upon hum
or rights and property. worse than ever d
sh- graced the rule of Spain in Cuba. Ar
ng turning TO its olden glory in architects
'as and painting, Won are ready 70 confess
aer ] bastard, nsmeless, birthless, paEentlsss q