The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-12
Dresden. Feb. 1S. 1S05.

gant View Told of in the Letter by Via
 tor.
 Dresden, Feb. IS, 1895
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 Just as surely as every visitor to
 Rome wends his first footsteps towards
 the grand basilica of St. Peters, so sure
 ly is it the desire of the new conner in
 Venice to seek out the beautiful Church
 of St. Marco. This purely Byzantine
 basilica is probably next to "Saint So-
 phia" in Constantinople, and is the
 most beautiful of all churches of it's or
 der. From our hotel on the Grand ca
 nal we could proceed there quickly by
 gondola to the Piazza or square of St.
 Marco, or we could go there on foot;
 we elected to do the latter. We passed
 out of the hotel into a ''calle" or narrow
 lane of five feet in width, which short
 ly lead Us into a wider thoroughfare
 crowded with singular shops whose
 windows were filled with rare paintings
 and ancient engravings, rare old books and Aldine editions; then such an array
 Of curios of brass-work and old silver
 and majolica, carved furniture, mirrors and exquisitely wrought glass, mod ern and ancient works of art of every possible and impossible description,
 flowers, feather work, lamps of silver or brass; words fail to describe the endless variety of objects which met our gaze. People clad in peculiar styles of dress crowded the narrow street. Italians and Greeks, and people from many nations, jostled us as they passed along Tourists representing a dozen nations fingered at the fruit stands, where rich clusters of grapes, delicious watermelons, rosy checked apples and pears blushing peaches fresh green figs and fruit of all kinds were to be had in greatest abundance. Mountains of cheese blocked the doors of many shops, and festoons of yellow and white maccaroni decorated many windows. Birds sang sweetly in their cages while garrulous parrots screeched as if determined to be heard.
 Tapestries, splendid hangings, faces and costly draperies, and long silk sashes for decoration f1uttered in the breeze.
 Here indeed was Bunyan's "vanity Fair in real everyday life. Just the spot for an artist to study for some grand picture.
 As we crossed a pretty marble bridge we noticed plenty of long black gondo- las whose motley crowd of sailors inn portuned us for our patronage, count less pigeons swept by us on rapid wing, fairly screaming for food, and as we passed on. our way beneath the shad- | ows of the old church of St. Noise, in which rest the remains of the English man, John Law, of Mississippi bubble | fame. we again entered another long "calle'' similar to the former, but on | even a grander scale. Beggars old and | young, male and female, animate and | inanimate, surrounded us with out stretched hands, crying in our ears, "Poveri, poveri." The bright sun cast its beams upon the scene and exhibited | that peculiar light which I had seen in pictures of Venice, and which till then I had considered to be greatly exagger- ated. The sun shines nowhere with that peculiar light save in Italy. Now gentle reader, I suppose you wonder why in the world s"Viator" has said about the lovely church of St. Marco; it took me a long time to reach that church on foot (the distance was shor), and I find we are getting there slowly on paper Suddenly passing through a great door way we came right into the Piazza San Marco" and beyond us in the dazzling sunlight rose a structure of ethereal magnificence, a truly celestial edifice. This was san The Piazza is paved with large blocks of marble; it is six hun dred feet long and two hundred and seventy feet wide. This broad Piazza affords the most striking evidence of the ancient glory of Venice. This is, as Howels calls it. the Heart of Ven ice" It is surrounded with palaces and splendid buildings, some of which were erected as long ago as 1490. The huge "clock tower' on our left was erected in 1496. On it's top is very large bell, and on either side stands i, bronze giant. who with a bronze ham | ner strikes the hours and quarters. These tireless giants have been ham, ,, nering away for four hundred yearsl At our side is Florian's cafe; it's doors nave not been closed for over three hundred years. and you can imagine he scene here when the military band 2 plays and crowds throng the square. At moonlight the whole Piazza is \ perfect gala scene, and the effect is de- ' ightful in the extreme. When I was last here Austria held possession of the "Quadrilateral," and Ln Austrian band (the finest at that ime in Europe) played here daily. b 7he bright uniforms of Austrian off, b CTS and soldiers rendered the scene S righter and livelier than now But as s he Piazza is the focal point of Vene- s ian life, it is the place of all others to b