Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-05-25

"Madame T.eophile," still 10 BATH
alongside their floating corpses Is an
other matter, and is apt to leave doubt
as to the purifying nature of the watei
in which one is immersed. But thii
perhaps is unnecessary fastidiousness,
and it certainly is not shared by the
Venetian naOneUi, or structure hin S,
who disdain bathing establishment ts OF
any and every kind, and who make
the canals alive, in every seuse
of the word, on summer even
ings, as they plunge in and out OF the
water like so many Irish spanlels, yell
ing and shouting as Is the habit OF
small boys of every nation on the face of
the globe. Fit studies for a painter
indeed are these brats, with their beau
tiful rounded limbs and polished brown
| skin1, as they race along the quays, and
chase each other on land and IN water;
for the populace of Venice is a splendid
race, fit sons of the sea who is their
mother; degeneration of type and
physique is not to be found amongst
them, but rather amongst the "gilded
youths" who lounge about the cafes in
| the Piazza, pallid and etfeminate,
and incapable of any active
exertion either in mind or in body.
/
| life of hard work led by the gondoliers
which has kept the true grit in them,
and brought so little change IN either
their habits or ideas. The gondoliers are
conservative in all things; their ideas,
! their habits, the very shape and
method of building and working the
gondola, are the inherited growth OF
centuries, and the gondolier has but o
small and doubtful opinion of Innova-
tions of any kind. One of their most
marked characteristics is the rivalry or
I feud which divides the pOpO'O of
| Venice into two factions, the Nicolotti
and the Castellani. The Castellani's s
chief citadel is, of course, the district
! rouDd the former cathedral of Venice,
$. Pietro In CASTILLO, away beyond the
Arsenal, and behind the Public
Gardens. The Nicolotti, on the other
hand, possess all that part of Venice
which lies between San Giovanni @
PaoIo and Santa Chiara Gust beyond
the station). But it is at the time OF
the regatta that the rival feeling be.
tween the two factions, which
shoulders comfortably at other times,
bursts into a blaze, and causes the
crowd that extends in a compact mass
at either side OF the canal to take an even
more acute interest in the rowers on
account of their representing the rival
part ties that divide the city. A more
brilliant sight than a regatta on the
Grand Canal it would indeed be hard
to find out of Spain. The black mass
OF boats, gORdOic, bdrch and SdRdOti,
that .lts ont from the line of palaces at
1 either side, serves to throw out the
vivid tints of the dresses (for Venetians,
male and female, have wonderful eye
for color in their personal adOrnmentj,
and the brilliant flags and draperies
that fiutter from the windows: the
splendid state barges, manned by Q
mass of rowers, that recall something
of the pageants in the days of Venice's
glory, the pearly tInts of the palace
fronts, mellowed by time, the delicate,
shifting green of the water below, the
blue of the sky above, all combineto make
an unforgerable picture, and one which
for brllliancy of local color and move
ment could only be match ID in an
Audalusian plaza de t1rOs. Very in
dependent in spirit are they, these
regatta gondoliers, and apt to take the
law into their own hands if things are
not to their liking.
If ever there was people in whom
the love of gossip is rampant, it is the
/ Venetians. High and low, rich and
poor, there is no difference, and the
/ coHteSsa in her boudoir will listen with
the same avidity to some eXtraordin
arily petty piece of gossip as her
humble sister in clapping =occole (the
] hIgh-heeled wooden mute worn by the
| women of the people), as she leans on
4 the head of the cOrtiie exchanging the
news Of the day with her neighbors.
! OF the two, perhaps, the Woodworking
/ woman of the people will show greater
kindness of heart in her judgments and
remarks than the woman of the arIstoc-
racy; for the absolutely empty lives,
empty of every sort of intellectual oc.
! cupation, which are led by the ladies
of Venetian society are not calculated
! to develop anything of the higher
graces of the mind, or TO bring to Ii yht
! that gracious 'charity that thinketh no
evil" whit h distinguishes the true men
and women of the world from the
dwellers in provincial ignorace and
| darkness.
The Venetian housewife is not
much troubled in the transac.
/ tion of her marketing. The CHIEF
markets of the staple articles of food
in Venice-fruit and fish-are at the
/ Rialto. The former begins at the foot
of the great flight of steps (Which with
the lines of ascending and descending
! figures, AT little distance, suggest
ideas of Jacobs ladder and its angels,
and spreads itself IN glorious mass
of. color, created by the piles of pump
kins, melons, cabbages, scarlet and
| green peppers, crimson pomegranates,
purple and golden grapes, claret-col-
ored figs and blushing peaches, all
! tumbling in tempting profusion under
the tawny-colored awnings, through
which the sun is allowed to filter his
radiance; until one turns n corner and
! finds oneself in the silvery radiance
and accentuated atmosphere Ito use a
mild term) of the fish market, whence
one is rewarded by view down the
| Grand Canal to the most beautiful
| house in Venice, the gem-like Ca
d'Oro, with its cleaning marble coro-
net. Outdoor life in Venice from
| April to November is dream of never
ending beauty and interest; and as one
recalls mem ories of sapphire days and
silver nights, rosy dawns and crimson
sunsets, the silent delight of her water
ways, the cheerful hustle of her maze
of caiH, and, above all, the glorious
wind-swept spaces of the lagoons
which enclose the city with such low
ing jealousy, one finds it in ones heart
to echo the words of a daughter of
''Nenezia Benedeta"-
"Nno. me bssta per cam.Tar
FL euOr, el pan, e lalegha del NAL"
GERTRUDE f. CAMPBELL.