The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-02-21

burly p geons are in possession of
the city. They are more sacred
than neat, and sanctify rather
more than they adorn. They have
| fine feathers and q very confident manner,
| and the recklessness of their treatment of
| old statuary and the facades that offer
| Judgment for nesting and roosting is testi-
| mony that they and their ancestors have
| been taught that human. hands will not
| harm them. If q child has a paper of
| bread or cake, or package of grain, and
| scatters it upon the pavement of St. Marks
| square the stones are covered with pigeons
| for rods. Preserving these birds is one of
| the old conceits, like the bears at Berne,
| the wolf and the eagle at Rome, the storks
| in Strasburg and the apes at Gibraltar;
and there is not superstition enough about
| the custom TO do any harm.
My strongest impression of Venice will
| be the GOODNESS that the people thought
they were enduring. The weather, the word
was. was exceptionally cold. All, it was
| so bitter! The women on errands in the
| streets hurried along with shawls over
| their heads, and their blue noses, watery
| eyes and purple compilations meant much
| discomfort. The shopping ladies we're
muf1ied up. The young men in the shops
| rubbed their hands and danced about, evil
| IDENTITY needing the exercise. Ponderous
| great coats were upon the pedestrians.
| The musicians playing in the great square
| made haste. They had the air of painful
| performance OF duty. and it was a pleasure
| to see them scrambling away. The wind,
| everybody said, came from the coolest
| quarter, and the weather would not have
| mattered so much if the wind had not been
| blowing.
| There was a beautiful ship-long, low
| white and graceful, with tall masts set at a
| rakish angle. and white smokestack; and
| as the breeze blew out the flag il was 1.-THE
LODI - -
| Is that ship of war? The reply was: ut
is Mr.. Benefits yacht he is great man
| in New York and Paris and keeps his ship
| here. She is ready for q cruise now, and
he comes when he pleases." The yacht is
beauty, and passed close enough going
to the island OF st. George to be able TO
| say that she seemed to glitter with good
| order.
The waters about Venice still abound
with excellent fish; and, while oc-
| cupying as closely as possible the
brief period of daylight, and dsdaining
luncheon, there passed a tall, mel
| ancholy man, with a basket on his head,
heaped with shells, and it was an unex-
| pected pleasure TO ind they were oysters,
and for sale; more than that, the man was
| equipped for opening them on the street.
| Where did they come from? Gathered
| right here in the lagune. And good?
| Very good; couldn' t be better. The price
| One franc and half for thirteen. The
| tall and mournful man responded to a
gesture by taking down his basket and
produced halt a lemon and knife. He
succeeded, after several signs, in opening
an oyster. and it was white, fat and de-
licious. The poor mans labors were Sc
we're, but successful. His nose was blue,
his fady-blue eyes had a PARKWAY express
sion. He was deliberate, but constant, and
accomplished his task.
Reference was made some parapraphs
ago to the breaking of the monopoly of
the gondoliers by the introduction of
| steamboats, on the Grand canal of Venice.
| Gondoliers had things their own way,
| very much as the car and dray drivers
| have in New York and other American
cities and if any reformer wants a spell
| of hard work let him try a reformation of
| the car and dray business. 1t was es-
| teemed sacrllege to put a steamer on the
| Venetian waters, except in the harbor
| proper; but If there was to be new life in
| the old town, that was one of the ways of
doing it, and few plain, swift-gliding
| screw steamers put IN an appearance, and
| platforms were anchored at appro-
| pirate places. The gondoliers struck
| on sight, and the question between the
| old and new took the most acute form.
| The authorities waited three days, and
then told the gondoliers that if they did
| not resume their line of business at a GER
| and they resumed. The steamers are
| popular, because cheaper and faster than
| the gondolas, and they especially serve
| the working men and women. The Grand
| canal is best seen from steamboat. The
| long rows of palaces are a degree mo-
| notonous at any rate. and it adds to their
| interest to pass them at a fair rate of
| speed. Here is the stately pile where
| Browning died, and there is the still
| grander edifice where Wagner was guest
when he had heart failure and passed
away. Everybody knows Byron,'s palace.
| 1t is dreary old place as it looks from
| the water, and well chosen, for about
| half of the Rialto can be seen from its bal
! comics. The largest of the princely palaces
| is used in part as a schoolhouse, in part as
| furniture mandatory, and in part as a
| private residence. 1t would make fine
| hotel, but perhaps there are too many
| hotels already. l wonder why my hotel
should have changed its name. 1t was
| until recently The Grand Hotel of the
City of New York" 1t has cropped the
New York, and you see on the signs. "Ci-
| devant City of New York" My guess is,
it was found that New Workers regarded
the name as shallow device to capture
them, and sought other quarters. | OBJ
| served in Florence a well situated Hotel
| New York, and some New York people not
afraid of anybody were there.
st. Marks is not the largest or the mos
ancient or historic of cathedrals. but
| takes first rank in interest. The effects
| of 1t, Ruskin says-and one must quote
him on st. Mark's-depend mot only
upon the most delicate sculpture in every
| part, but eminently on its color also, and
| that the most subtle, variable. inexpressi-
| BILE color in the world-the color of glass,
OF transparent alabaster, of polished
| marble, and lustrous gold" That sem
tence itself is an Incompatible color pic
| ture, and it is better TO say it is all so, and
| leave it to tell the story. The history of
| the four horses in gilded bronze over the
| principal portal Is typical. They are
| Roman horses-once adorned a
triumph arch in Rome, it is not
certain what one; were taken to CONSTANT
| nople by Constantine; and when the
! Nenetians were masters of that city the
| Doge Dandolo brought them TO Venice
| this was when they were at least thou
sand years old. They were taken to Paris
| by Napoleon, and when he fell restored to
! Venice. The interior of the cathedral is
exceedingly attractive, and grows in its
! majesty of architecture and somber beauty
| of decoration and riches of association as
| IL Is studied. The walls are all firm. but
| evidence of an unstable foundation is in
! the unevenness of the floor, which has be-
come quite undulating. Some of the
| ancient work was so broken long
| ago as 10 be beyond the hope OF
| restoration. and the new work is already
| defaeed, owing to the inferior quality OF
| the marble OF the workmanship-more
| likely the latter, for 1t is not clear that the
| quarries Of good marble have been ex-
| hausted. The mosaics tell what the pos
| sibilities of the art are. The carving of
| the affairs and puipits is exquisite. and the
| objects of beauty and things curious in.
| Vulnerable; and over all there IL an Asian
! glow that Is faded, but it fingers in tones