The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-05-20

A MARIETTA BOY
In Venice, Italy, Writes 4
Interestingly. D
A CITY OF cAAkLs .IlQ G0l Il
In FlutteF Of IL ~
Launching Of d Bic
The Welcome I'd

United States Shlp1
writes from Venice 4 $
2sth, 1897, to his tatE I5is
place, from which q the
following extracts:
"We arrived at. this beautiful city
OF canais and gondSias few days
since, and | assure you, tits quite .
relief, you may say q rest, to getoifA
from that coast Of Asia Minor.
tits true that part OF that &
is the coast of Palestine and
time one finds ii interests
romantic to be there, bud
stationed there tor two I'VE
! more, the romance all fades NJ
/ the picture, and ia its stead, ther
are trains after trains of camels an
doukeys, in charge Of those serious
looking Asiatic people.
Ii there is anything else that can
look as melancholy as a funeral
procession it is a train OF camels
and donkeys. The donkey always
looks as if he still had lingering
and sorrowful memory of his auces-
tors difficulty with BALKAN and
wes expecting in the near future
to have q tilt With BALKAN himself,
and the camel as you know, even
when frolicing rourd with circus,
is one of the most melancholy OF
| animals, but in his native land,
! where dressed in his every day
| clothes where he is used solely az a
| beast of burden, he is indeed a per-
feet picture OF patient and detected
misery.
That land is sometimes called the
cradle OF the human race, but [ have
had to gaze 80 long and uninterrupt.
eddy at it that 1 no doubt feel good
deal like fellow who contemplates
his family cradle after having rocked
it TO raise about fourteen children
and among them about two sets
OF twins.
OF course if one had nothing to
do but to remain ashore with plenty
Of money to visit all the places OF
interest it would be very nice, but
we only went ashore at intervals
and the balance of the time we were
riding at anchor in the port of some
dilapldated old town of which we
have just enough Bible history to
make Hs feel that We we're there to
attend q funeral.
Those people are not so gay and
cheerful as the Europeans or Ameri-
cans but rather on the serious order,
like the camels and donkeys with
which they are 80 much associated.
But there are many good, kind and
generous people there with whom
one may soon establish a warm
friendship.
| enclose small bunch of violets
given me by little Armenian girl
keep them for me. You see the
little violet after growing among
these people for all these thousands
of years, still commands the same
admiration that it does in our land.
In coming to this place we stopped
two or three days at one of the small
Greek islands called SYRIA. Its his
tory is very old. Homer gives ex-
tended accounts of its great fertility
and wonderful scenery, but in the
ages that have past since these days |
wars and other calsmities have at
times almost depopulated the island, |
but il is still very fertile and raises
great quantities of vegetables,
grapes, figs, etc, for the markets Of
Athens and Constantinople, and the
scenery is grand. II has many beau.
tiful buildings, built principally of
the Greek and Italian marble and
ornamented with a sculpture that is
simply wonderful. There is robably
no more interesting place in the
world than Greece, having been
prominent in ancient history and in
the middle-ages, yes, the rest Of the
enlightened world seemed to revolve
around Greece. With plenty of
time and money person could
find many months Of entertain.
ment looking at historic places and
things.
AS to the sights Of Venice. Hav-
ing been here before, have already
given you my impressions Of the
place and my wanderings around it,
though most OF the crew Of this ship,
about four hundred and sixty men,
have not been here before, so it is
a treat to them.
1t is rumored around the ship that
We will go 20 England in June tol