The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-06-01
Special TO THE SUNDAY GAEL e

u all It's GlleI SnCnaOIiubul. II phc ll1uS
>A of the enslavement OF the elton woven
about II there Is sun enough TO know and enjoy.
In endeavoring to analyze causes for the ere
alton OF the universally false sentiment existing
concerning IL the best excuse can ind is In the
REGULARITY of its situation. l, has always I'M
pressed travellers strangely. A city without 4
horse or otHtr beast Of burden strikes as
curious anomaly. This unceasIng seeming OF
strange and remarkable phases has easily been
distorted into the wonderful. the marvellous
Tile vivid faney,-wlth the Opuleut imagination
and poetic sense, have done the rest Each sue
ceeding traveller has seraped tile empyrian OF
imagery to Guido his predecessor In ford de-
scripton and matchess simIle. Coming from
the mountains Of Italy at once across what seems
TO be an arm of the sea, but which, in fact Is SO
shallow a lagoon that school-boy might wade
it IN many places at ebb tide, to
city built so that the earth 1t really
stands upon. and the piing, forming the
perfectly secure foundation forother structures
and street sides, is wholly hidden from view, the
feeling OF actually beng at sea Is diticalt TO
overcome. Indeed. this one fact about ones
almost neradcable first Impressions mas had
more TO do than all else IN giving poet travellers
their Venetian frenZies. Then, again, tie con-
slant intensiicatiOn Of this impression further
unhingeS the average mind ln no other city can
one avoid the roar and thunder of battling ildes
OF humans and conyeyauces upon the streets.
Then, wherever one secures vista toward the
horizon the waters Of tie AdGiatic are first seen,
and tie impression Of being upon the sea Is fur
Their emphasized Again, the quaint strange
craft Of these waters instead Of here and there
tie land, are in view whenever the glimpses
toward the outer world are had One must be at
sea is the impulse of mental conclusion. And
more nystiiylag than all yoa who have always
looked from your window into a street, where
lie earth Is below, aust here pefioree see
1,tlf rraf fgr
aud as though you looked from the p0rthO'e OF
some mystic craft, you see through this nautical
sense OF riding upon't the ocean IN ne structures
opposite your window. other iauciiul craft
which must be floating alongside your own. l
have passed over the BahaIna Banks In sailing
vessel. where for 125 miles bed OF coral more
than 1000 feet high was often less than twelve
aud never more than eighteen feet from the seas
level II that bank stood against the Florida
instead Of tie Bahama shure the capitalists
would nave winter resort cry stanplns upon
the white coral bed inside quarter OF a century
and would regard The expenditure OF two or
thee hundred millions Oh dollars 10 make an
AmsI lean Venice a very triHing .incldent In
American DEVELOPMENT. One must come 10
think OF Venice In sGufe such way as this IN
order 10 measure il in justice and truth.
It is probable that the sanity OF one who should
visit Venice without matliHg a study OF the gon-
duler would be doubted. l endeavored To DO
this earnestly, but find after all, that he Is very
ordinary sort OF fellow. He IS better than the
American hackman, because he 'rObs you with
some slight suavity and grace. In but one other
respect is lie IN any degree remarkable. He is
tall 1.-The and slender Ali Ills limbs show fine
development from rowing upright, every muscle
coming into play at every stroke OF the car
This gives the gondolers sinewy development
most admirable. There are somewhat mOte than
200 LICENSED gondOlleTs; 20 cents an hour is The
legal RATE for the services of boat and boatman,
THIS tatIf being double for every extra goado!ier
YOU hire; and the g0ndOlleTS costume III SUM-
mPr comprises linen trousers, a linen shit
open at the throat, exposing black and hairy
chest greasy cOlUred sash, and a dirty straw
IIfft pft q
as lie can aud live. He sleeps ana eats and
smo- es and guzzles when NOS at work. He is the
vetest coward about the water, used as be is 10
il. aud never permits bis clumsy craft to ap-
urOach the region Of " choppy'' waves. He is,
briefly, VAIN offensive animal, whom poets
have spoiled and amateur photogr apherS have
developed into in insuIterAbie bully OF these
winding, Watery streets. For real manhood,
bravery. hardwood, suHniness. Of neatt and
manner aud true picturesqueness OF costume and
Tearing, tile gHadaOerQ OF Havana HarbOr IS in
cOmpaFabiy the more Interesting man and CHAR
acteT.
To NY mind scene in early morning on Grand
Canal N Venice IS far more interesting than
IN the early evening, when the faded arlsOcTacy
OF thc city are moving about wltn apparent list
Iessness IN their phi yate black gondoas, decorated
with their owners cOats-Ot-arms, propelled by
private goAdO1fers in ridiculous liVeries, or at
night When the Canal in general is wholly and
extensively show object TO open mOnthed
strangers. In the very early morning. while the
gray Is yet upon the water and tie gul gling OF
Tie tides Is like the chpckling Of night imDs In
tile dark retreats OF The lowest arches and angles,
then II is that the oldest aud most fascinating
professions pass .aud:repass away down there in
The shadows beneath your window. Scores OF
little, long barges loaded: with vegetables from
Tie fat outlying Islands are Gntheir way to the
market at Inc Rialto.:- Thair sails are red, with
blue tips and yellow center pieces, aud most
gfolesqus figures Of MadQnnas e;painled some
where on their gaudily. coioted slerns. These
barges are propelled by poles in The
hands OF men in purple, pink, blue and
orange garments, aud very often a. be- headed
peasant woman is piled in:w With tie qegetables.
Here and there a sandalns-Si' iighler and more
graceful bark thar iee>gondola. darts by. II is
rowed by tMo-!1Itn, with tasseled caps, like the
Observation-Disclosures. a half-dnzen goats are
treu lead and tail TO tile guuwaie, and women
aud children milking these on their way to
the next customer. Barcas with soldiers speed
ing TO or from guatd-changing FIJI tue shad0wy
way with din of ehattering profanity. Here
are four nuns with bowed heads being row ed on
some erraAd OF mercy. Again whole families OF
tie lOwler classes, especially piOus through
some common bereavement, are setting out 10
be present at some early mass. Here come
crowd Of boats with villagers, vegetables, fowls,
hagons OF milk bestowed In dewy wisps OF grass,
rolls of butter in last years sweet, white corn
husKs, and numberless and nameless stuffs Tor the
efcato They arefr0m the mainland hamlets,and
must have been astir at midnight Following
these is a curious procession Of gOBdolas piled
higher than the gondolers' heads with house,
hold goods and the people owning them who are
thus " moving" follow in their own gondOlas,
suggesting funeral OF household gods cut short
10 It's cOrtege. There are fraTs With huge
baskets in their gondolns setting out TO the mar
kets to buy and beg for their brethren and the
Door; I'll ed fishermen with 6Oat-lOads Of gleam-
lug fIiFit OF the sea; sailors Subdued and sulen
after an all-nighrs registering on their way back
To their dogs life and the ships; messengers
with the nights collection OF kilograms; bakers
in white linen caps and shirts, with bOat.l0ads OF
black, brown and white bread; waLeT-caTTleTs
with huge hagons OF drinking water; butchers,
icemen grOcerymen, all 10 boats making their
first morning l11nds: and all OF them down
there upon tile water In the shadows seeming
lie some weird and silent 1askers in dream.
Titan gives his Bella" In the Pitt Gallery,
that light, fieecy and almost Transparent golden
red hair commonly known as venetian. This is
another OF those pretty Venetian mysIlcisms
which II Is unpleasant TO dissipate. have seen,
perhaps, 10000 women In Venice Among all
these no Venetian woman was crowned with
hair OF any such color. out OF Difference 10
late freak on the part OF Patti, there were En-
Ellsh, French and American DANES whose heads
were glowing oeacons OF the Titan style The
women OF Venice have square heads with wide
t0reheads deeply sunken and luslTOus eyes,
with wide, archiDg brOws which meet, tiny ears
and hair the texture, color and quality OF
farm horses black tail whose outer and exposed
ntaments nave become rusty, dusty and gray In
ny and ploughing time. There are three classes
from which TO choose your types OF Venetian
women. and from none Of these will you
hnd the ideal faces and forms Of poetic DantiDg
or the artists pencil The first comprise the
women Of the arisIocracy; thin, tall, plain, pa
tent, grave, listleSs, ambitiOnless vacuous 81
lieut.. They remind one of the Jewesses OF AL
gers 10 their langud manner, but possess mons
OF their lHstt Gus, almost pathetic beauty. They
seem TO exist as merely passive beings In hate
iuI DISseul uOltlully Iebdiulne Tue ueHu BlOIleS
of vanished past. In the second class arc
chiefly the brusaue, .strapping, square bodied
wives and daughters of the small dealers relic.
shOwmen aud petty politicians OF modern Ven
Ice. They are loud-yOiced wide-jawed; regard
the social revolution which has put them at the
front of the decayed aristecracy as gladstone,
heaven.s sent dispensati0n; and mimic the last
years Paris and London fashions with an aifiu-
ence ana enthusiasm worthy of their extraOrdi-
nary vigor and assurance The third class Is
OF course the lowly. Its women are bare
headed, bare-legged, bare-breasIed creatures
with pudsy little faces, tiny noses aud eyes, tiny
mouths With puckered protruding lips, necks
with tendency TO gOitre, and with no more per-
lection OF symmetry about their buncby squaw-
like forms than you Will fluid in The bumpy head
pIotruding peasant women from Bulgaria and
lower Hungary who are weekly landed at Castle
GARDEN IN New York. These glory in immense
flat. cieseent-shaled earrings, metal bracelets
upon aims and ankles, huge strings of gaudy
Venetian beads, garlic ana babies. This is not a
pleasant picture, but IL Is True one. Ali these
faces have more or less OF a plalntive LOOK about
the eyes and drawn pathetic expression about
the mouth This, the subtle essence OF uni
yersal poetic aduatlon, Is ascribed BY the more