The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-31
Venice of Today.

The Venetians themselves do not seem !
greatly to have changed their character,
Or their clothes, or their customs of life,
from those of old paintings and plays
and histories.
In the matter of clothes | refer of
course only to the working people. Our
seignorial selves have changed from the
courtly garments of the Mocenigos and
the Foscari sadly for the worse. There
was new play the other night at the
Rossini, clever dramatic scene of the
period of the last of the doges, by
Count Zugana a local author and play
wright. 1t was played by the Venetian
comedy company of Zago and Privata,
well known in Italy. The costuming
was extraordinarily good for Italy, good
for any country. The details were his
torically accurate, many councillors
gorgeous gowns and ladies robes being
actually family relics. The inevitable
afterpiece of Italian theaters was
farce comedy of today. The same actors
and actresses appeared in modern
pants and dresses, according to the
latest fashion of Milan. The contrast
was painfully striking.
So much for clothes. For types and
characters in Venice today you have
only to read Goldoni of nearly 200
years ago, or even earlier writers of
comedy, to know them well. The dia-
lect itself is but little changed. Col
doni's comedies are being played nightly
in the peoples theaters of Venice, as
though the author were alive and
writing satires upon the present gen
Grafton of Venetians.
In the narrow streets, the dark little
shops, which hug each other closely,
side by side, are the same queer, open
air sort of bazaars and boutiques OF
hand workers, unchanged since the first
days of the republic. Cheeselnongers,
cobblers, iron workers at their forge,
silversmiths, heaters of brass and cop
per, money changers and surgeon bar
bers are all plying their different trades
in their windowless shops, almost as
though they were in the street itself.
Intermingled fruit, flower and veg
etable stalls give gorgeous bits of color
to the somber background of the narrow
Gale. and there is always a strip of
heavenly blue, with perhaps piece of
white cloud, up there between the
roofs, to help compose" the picture,
like Paul Veronese joyous canvases.
There is constant fete going on in the
streets all day long. The sound of hu-
man voices, scraps of song, the clicking
of wooden pattens and the musical
tapping of metals furnish a perpetual
accompaniment to all of your business
and bargaining. The cheeseman dis
cusses politics with the iron worker
across the street, all the while he is
serving you, and uses his knife to &C
centuate the gestures of his argument.
The price of capon induces quar-
ter of an hours discussion, which
includes family news, the latest gossip
of the parish, much good humored ban
terng and a final compromise o. the
fowl.
Babies and cats play in the middle
of the street and look at you witt
wondering eyes when you step ovel
them. Pretty women pass you, will
black shawls over their heads and rec
stockings beneath their short skirts
and show you graceful heels and instep
at every lift of the foot from thei
loose pattens. They have word anC
a laugh, as they pass, for every shop
keeper and worker. Gondoliers swing
by, their hands in their pockets, thei
hats tilted to one side, their coat
thrown gracefully over one shoulde
and a rose or cigarette stuck behin'
the ear. They cannot help their uncon
scious grace any more than the dirt.
brown sails of fishing boat their pic
turesque beauty. Every one is laugh
ing, joking, bantering and bargaining
Life is sad enough, and has troubl
enough. God knows. Most are pool
and many are suffering But that
only greater reason why they shout
make all the pleasure they can out of il
The small details of everyday life i
Venice retain all their charm of colo
and romantic association, after yo
have ceased being tourist and becom
partially settled resident. Your fir
impressions do not seem to fade, {
become spoiled, through familiarity
The most commonplace things you d
are tinged with an element of the pic
turesque and the poetical. The ma
= from whom buy small wood and Goa
, has shop which would delight tn
= heart of Dutch master for a subjec
He himself, in it, with his blouse, re
wsistbsnd, faded brown trousers an
his silver white hair, accompanied b
-, his big yellow Syrian cat, would flu
, nish the best figures for the pictul
! without choosing. And his garrulor
9 talk over bargain is as full of wit {
= dialogue in play.
= do not mean that you live in col
. slant ecstatic state of poetry and n
- nance A cook, whose name is Ang
= lima, will sometimes make an omel
= too hard, even in an old fifteenth Gel
y, tury palace. And even a Lorenzo {
Z an Antonio of a gondolier, with all Il
a picturesqueness of his name and cal
8 ing, can drink too much new wine c
the very day your friends are to arriv
- The everyday doings differ in no gree
! measure from those of modern morta
-, tl. 1,tx1,