Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-03-22
Steam launches For Venice.

otSdhA A@HoiAStASo VI SAh~~s
Inconoclasm is again busily active
in its work of disturbance and the
ideals of picturesque serenity are tot
tering in fear on their pedastals.
1t comes over the sea from Venice that
the beautiful Queen of the Adrlatlc is
soon to be divested of the chief jewel
of its diadem Of charm, Is soon to be
shorn OF its sources Of supremacy and,
like mutilated Sampson, to watch its
glory fade and the sun set on the re-
splendent strength.
There is mourning in the hearts of the
travellers at the word that journeys
over the sea from beautiful Venice.
The report states that the delight of
the dreamer, the poet, the artist, the
beauty lover everywhere is about to
be replaced with the rushing mechan-
ism of this helter skelter age. The
gondola of the lagoon is soon to give
way to the bustling whirring of an
electric launch, the poetry at the pal
ace Of the Doges will turn on its san
daled heel to make room for stone
booted prose.
While the Venoese themselves may
revel in the prospect of rapid transit
and the thought of steaming hlther
and thither from house to shop and
from palace to st. Marks in the lively
manner of American enterprise, the
thought of the desecration brings on
ly the liveliest regret to that great
battalion of travelling Americans who
regard Venice as the Mecca of their
old-world pilgrimage. 1t brings even
stronger sentiments Of disgust to that
vaster army who do their travelling
with mind and story and whose
dreamy Venice is part of their castles
and estates in Spain.
1t is part of the proverb verified by
time that the order of the old giveth
place to the new. But who wants a
Venice without its gondola and the
picturesque form of the romantic gon-
dolier and the soothing dip of the lazy
paddle and the sheen of the moon and
the glamour of the hour and the voice
of Italy's pride and passion ringing
out in the night in the musical story
chanted by the gondoler?
All the comfort of quick propulsion,
all the end of the century luxury OF
naptha and steam and electricity, all
the benefit that impatient spirits gain
from the hurry of rapid transit, are
trifles light as air and as impotent as
breath to balance the scales so heavily
weighted with the loss of the pictur-
to hurry on the lagoon that washes
the step of the palace of the Doges
Who cares to rush carelessly by the
imposing Palazzo of St. Marks tc
skim hastily under the Bridge OF
Sights or pass quickly before the port.
ais of Portals dwelling, with its mem
ories of Bassanio and the "unlessoned
girl whose scholarly cleverness de-
feated the willy arguments of ShylocR
the Jew?
The gondola has been one of the
joys of Venice since the day of its
glory under Italian supremacy. 1t is
an undisputed institution of the pic,
turesque town with the streets of flow
ing water. 1t is as much part of the
traditions of Venice as the lions and the
banners that decorate ST. Marks OF
the jeweled ring dropped annually in
to the Adriatic. 1t has its place in
song and story and glides picturesque
ly down the canvases of innumerable
works of art The needs of the houl
may demand its removal Inconoc
lastic fiends may accomplish their de
structive work. but the Italian city o
the present will never supplant thu
city of the past in the hearts of it!
lovers, and Venice is not Venice, no
can it be.-Chicago Chronicle.