Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-12-10
LettersssFrom Papa..and Mamma.
VENICE, Italy, July 25th. 1891.

Such strange city as we are in to-
night. There isn't a,horse, or a cart or &
wagon in the whole city, and instead OF
driving or carrying their loads as men do
at home, they take them in boats, and
when people want to go about they have
to go in steamboats, or in small boats,
called gondolas, with man standing on
the back of the gondola rowing with one
oar. If they dol.'t go in boats they have
to walk through little narrow streets
scarcely wider than your cart or the
wheelbarrow would go in, and then "p
and down bridges. for the bridges are
higher than these little streets, so that the
gondolas can go under them. And what
do you suppose the people do without
any back yards or front yards either to
dry their clothes in or for the children to
play in? They dry their clothes in queer
place-up on the tops of the houses. or
hanging out of the window. When they
have pan OF water to empty all they
have to do is to run to the window and
throw it out into'th canal. When they
want to get some good water to drink it
isn't SO easy. all the water is brought
from place thirty miles away called
Brenton. The way this strange city comes
to be so is that there are one hundred lit
tie islands near together here in the sea.
and SO they have built the houses all close
together on what land there is, and then
had no land left for the roads. | am glad
my boys have good big yard to play IN
instead of having water all around, and
perhaps not even a place as large as the
piazza to play in.
There are ever so many churches here
and tall bell towers, and there are hum
dreds of doves that live in the roofs and
and caves. They are very tame and love
to fly down into the large square in front
of st. Marks church, the largest space of
ground in the city. 1 saw little girl the
other day feeding them wheat, and a
whole flock was around her, one or two
on her back, eating out of her hands,
while her brother was running through
the crowd of doves on the pavement try
ing to frighten them, but they are so
tame that they will scarcely fly if small
boy does run after them. In one corner
of this square there is a clock tower, and
over the face Of the clock hangs large
bell, with the figures of two men made in
bronze with hammers in their hands.
When it is time for the clock to strike the
hour one man strikes with his hammer on
the bell; one, two, three, four, five times,
we saw him do it one afternoon. Then
when it is time for the quarters to strike
the other man strikes the bell with his
hammer. In another town there are
good many bells that all ring Tor two or
three minutes at the end of the hour, but
they are not as pleasant to listen to as
those ninety mine bells in the Antwerp
cathedral.
There are great many soldiers il Italy;
we have seen more than in any other
country we have been in, | think. Some
of them look very fine indeed, but l have
seen some that Didn't look at all nice;
they had on white linen suits that were
not at all white and faded red turkish caps
with tasses that flopped back and forth
as they walked. Papa thinks those were
not their regular uniforms, but cool suits
they wear in the summer instead of their
heavy uniforms. Some of the soldiers
wore broad brimmed hats, with big
bunch of feathers hanging down one side.
The feathers were like the longest ones
from roostcr's tail. They looked very
warm to wear this summer weather. Pm
glad our boys in America don't have to
be soldiers whether we want them to Or
not. They have barracks near here
and am walked up in the morning by
the buele call, and at nine O'Clock at night
great caunon goes off near by, perhaps
from one of the ships in the harbor.
Sundays are very different here from those
in Oberlin, with everything quiet except
when the people are going to church and
coming home again. Here the stores are
open just as on other days, and as we
were on our way to church we saw car
penters at work making over store. 1t
is too bad, isn't it?
How many stories | shall have to tell
you, only don't believe | can tell you
any till [ have hugged you two whole
weeks. Do you suppose you can stand it
to be hugged that long? Your own
MAMMA.