Amador ledger., 1900-09-28
v. ]. A'GEE IN AUSTRIA
Writes to Attorney Fred L..
Stewart.
NOTED ATTRACTIONS OF The CITY OF VENICE
Other Interesting Notes of the Char
acteristics of Italy and Its
People,

People
KARLsBAD, AUSTRIA, Sept. 4.
F, L. Stewart Esq,
Jackson, Cal.
Dear Fred:-We went from
Rome to Pisa and thence to Florence.
1t has been eloquently said who can
describe the enchanting view of this
art city of Tuscany and the world with
its surrounding gardens? Who paint
the distant horizon from Fiesole smil-
ing at us with it's fair towers to the
blue ridge of the Lucca mountains
standing out against the golden back
ground of the western sky? Here
everything denotes the work of genera
tion of ingenious men. Like water
lily rising on the mirror of lake, so
rests on this lovely ground the still
! more lovely Florence with it's ever
lasting works and its inexhaustible
riches. From the bold airy tower of
the Palace rising like slender mast,
to Brunelleschi's wondrous dome of
the Cathedral, from the old house of
the Spini to the Pitti Palace, the most
imposing the world has ever seen; from
the garden of the Franciscan convent
to the beautiful environs of the Cascine
all are full of incompatible grace.
Each street of Florence contains a
world of art; the walls of the city are
the calyx containing the fairest FLOWERS
of the human mind:-and this Is but
the richest gem in the diadem with
which the italian people have adorned
the earth"
In Florence the best Italian is spoken
and the superiority of the inhabitants
is apparent in their manner and dress.
1t is but a few hours from Florence to
Venice, which is built on cluster of
small islands in a lagoon by that name.
This lagoon is separated from the
Adriatic by long narrow sand d-bank,
divided by several inlets, of which the
one known as the Porto di Lido was
anciently the main entrance for ships
while the Porto di Matamsco is now
the deepest channel. The chief Of the
hundred Venetian islands is the Isola
di Rialto dsland of the deep stream or
rivo alto) which gives its name to the
famous bridge.
The Cavalazzo or Grand Canal winds
through t he city in double curve and
is the main thoroughfare-a marine
main street. There are 146 smaller
canals or Ri, which form the network
OF minor streets along the banks of
which are sometimes narrow paths
(callA connected by 378 bridges; but for
all ordinary purposes of travel and
traffic the canal is the highway and
the gondola is the vehicle. There are
no horses or wheeled vehicles in Venice;
the nights are delightful and the canals
are often filled with gondolas, many
with stringed orchestras and concert
troupes, who ''pass the hat' from gon-
dola to gondola after each musical se-
lection. About 75 miles west of Venice
is Verona the home of Romeo and
Juliet. l saw the balcony under which
Romeo is said to have stood in the long
ago and visited the tomb of the ardent
lovers who sleep side by side in the
nj 1lo rra oh h ri Erop, Va,Ono r,,o
went northward to Innsbruck, Austria,
thence to Munich, Germany, great
city with 800, ZOO people, then on to
Ober Ammergau, whore we saw the
Passion Play. The scenery surround
ing this picturesque Bavarian village
speaks to the travellers of peace and sim
plicity, idylls and pastorals and
shepherds-of anything in short,
rather than of great exhibition. The
villagers consider taking part in the
Passion Play an act of worship, hence
the spectacle is profoundly impressive
to the beholder. The theater contains
1900 seats and is generally filled to
overlooking at each performance which
takes place five or six times per month
during this summer. Four hundred
villagers take part in the play; all are
Catholic Germans. The performance
begins at 8 q. m. and with an hour for
lunch, runs to 8 p. m. l quote the fol-
lowing as to the origin of the play:
''The well-known origin of the Play is
as follows:-Over two hundred and sixty
years ago, at the time when the long
Thirty Years War was devastating
Germany, severe attack of plague
broke out in the villages and valleys of
the Bavarian Tyrol. Partenkirchen,
Mittenwald, and indeed all the larger
towns were devastated by it. The
little secluded village Of Ober Am
mergau was, however, exempt from
the visitation; and in order to be safe
from Infection, the village authorities
drew Gordon about the hamlet-al-
ready protected by Nature by its circle
of mountains-and forbade any of it's
inhabitants to pass from the happy
valley into the perilous outer world;
while the conditions, of course, includ-
ed that none should penetrate from the
plague-stricken region into the charm
ed circle thus held exempt. Perhaps
| IL never occurrad m rnodact Ii+tlo Oho,.