The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-02-21
VENICE AND VIENNA.
Murat Halstead's Observations
in European Cities.
STEAMERS SUCCEED GoNpoLAs,
How Did Byron stand on the Bridrs os
sighs?-soiidity of the Aus.
TRAN Capital.

1he Train, leaving a long trail of steam
ana smoke, spun along, with the hazy sky
OF the Adriatic on the right, the snowy
masses of the Alps on the left, through a
PLAIN dotted with mulberry trees, occa-
sionally chimney in the villages, tall as
the Companies, until, with a sweeping
turn to the right. we ran into country
very low and level Then was reminded
by the bitches of the Jersey fats, then bits
OF water appeared near, with scope of it
IN sight, and on the horizon right ahead
were towers in Turner atmosphere-the
first glimpse of Beautiful Venice, the
Bride of the Sea-" Quickly there was
change in the voice of the car wheels, and
we were running along line of earth
with just room for two railway tracks
and stone wall breast high on either
side. 1t was an embankment two miles
long, narrow span; this was the inva-
sion of the city of the sea by the all-con-
querlng railroad; and it would have been
an improperly not to remember the way
that Alexander conquered Tyre when she
battered down her wall and thousands of
her people slew, and these to Persia went,
and with fire and sword through many a
land" There was a revival of history and
poetry, and fancy flew on fairy wings.
Duly the shrillness that announces great
depot occurred, and the cars stopped, nine
hours from Florence. l had not been
quite satisfied in my mind whether 1
should undertake to go to my hotel in
cab, and was prepared for anything except
long swim. The gondoliers were on
hand in force, but the front rank
facing the passengers was formed
h ha 20 Of hn
hotels, each with his badge around his
hat, and they far outnumbered the passen-
gers. The scramble was about the regular
thing. Ny Grand hotel man was not re-
mote, and seized my handbag, umbrella
and shawl, and the slip of green paper
that called for my trunk. l was led gently
but firmly to a marble step washed by
green water. and handed into very black
boat. Two volunteer Venetians, Condo
lier and an assistant porter saw that | did
not fall or stumble. and venerable citizen
stood with hook and held the boat so
that it rocked under my footsteps very
slightly. Promptly my trunk was aboard,
the porter and assistant and the old man
received few coppers-for one had to as
sumo grandeur-and leaned back in the
gondola, which was unsteady as an aver
age skiff. | had hardly been sure that the
streets of Venice were real water, but
there it was, plenty of it, and the
wind blew bitterly down the Grand canal.
1t had a wintry flavor. My gondolier was
master of the situation, and indicated a
desire to impart information. He named
the palaces as long as We pursued the
broad canal, then with a yell turned into
q side street-that is to say, ditch. The
cry was to warn other boatmen that he
was coming; the ditch was a short cut.
The people at large go in the steamboats,;
the gondola method of getting about is
expensive. The gondolier's cry is like in
Italian that of an freshman driving a
jaunting-car, only not so loud and imperi-
Gus. What he says is-it one may reduce
it to English or American-''Y creme hi
oo-you-ho-we." 1t means, Here L am
look outr'
In forty-five minutes from the time I
got out of the cars saw great many of
the stones of Venice, and some of the mud
and the refuse of garden vegetables, in
particular cabbage litter. The mix
ture in places of seaweed and the
outer leaves of cabbages was also pecu-
liar. l was pulled to the Grand hotel,
itself an old palace, second door west of
the Desdemona house. | was not aware
Desdemona had been so carefully hunted
up, but it seems that her late residence is
nearly as well authenticated at Venice as
that of Christopher Columbus at Genoa,
and it is much more conspicuous. The
Grand hotel was not crowded. There
were letters from friends, and several
social invitations from America that ! re-
GREETED not to have received in due time
and form. The astonishing stiffness of
the place impressed and oppressed me, and
in the night the silence deepened. 1t is
n
Talk of wooden pavements! They are
quiet in a sense; but the quiet of the Grand
canal at midnight, without even the dis
tant creek and splash of an oar, has a
depth have not been able to measure.
Ii is dutiful in Venice to go first to st.
Marks square, and the grand Old cam
panile shocked me. l had no idea its
noble proportions were of brick, but it is q
raw brick tower with n marble top, sur
mounted by very much gilt angel; and
] am indebted to a guide-book for the in
telligence that this angel is nineteen feet
high. As religious exercise / climbed
the tower and was cheered by the guide
with the story that Napoleon rode up it
on horseback, but he did not believe every
thing, or even very much, and said Napo-
leon really bestrode donkey in his ascent
IL is not impossible that he performed
this feat-not from the slightest sense of
humor but to save his strength. When
Napoleon conquered Venice and dethroned
the last of her doges, he was % years old
assembled by a few broad steps at
first, and then thirty-eight inclined
planes, each with one step to
start, and there are few steps at the bell
room, which is as far as visitors are al
lowed TO go. The ascent is steep walk,
but not a trying climb, and the view could
hardly be more interesting. The whole
IL, e Of frNv,
the lagune, the heavy smoke from the
manufacturing quarter. a score of domes,
besides the 1--WE on ST. Marks cathedral, a
mart of the Grand canal, the superb island
of St George. the long. seInl-clrcle of
stately fronts looking seaward, the ware
houses when Venice was the connecting
link between Europe and Asia, the four
celebrated bronze horses on the facade OF
81. Marks, the bronze giants that strike
the hours on the historical clock whose
face marks the hours of the whole day, the
CLEAN on the northern sky of the icy sum-
nits of the Alps. l. does not seem from
the campanile that Venice is ''throned on
hundred isles, " for the smaller canals are
too narrow TO be visible in the midst of the
mass of roofs Those canals are not OBJ
structions to walking about town, for the
streets pass them by solid marble bridges,
under which the gondolas glide, their
marked prows alwavs telling what the
height OF the arch must he for safety in
massage. The current of the sea is not
strong in the smaller canals, and they are
not strongly recommended in hot weather
to those particular about odoTs. sun,
they are not poisonous, for the pure salt
water every day moves through the
canals, snd this wholesome influence may
be relied upon 10 overcome a multitude OF
evils. In the Grand canal there are
strong currents. As the tides come and
go the broad that winds through the city
Is like a rushing river, and its banks are