The Harrison times., 1900-11-24

Santa Maria, and the shops were all
closed after IL o'clock, while all the
church bells rang at frequent inter
walls, and the gondoliers were berib-
boned, and the churches were crowd
ed. consequently, as it was the day
set sor the inspection of several
chuj ujfhes, l got a much desired
gli1Ipse of Venetian life that has
bee4 the favorite theme of many
wrilers. In the Church of the Frari,
whSr we went to see Titian's mon
umSnt, erected by order of Ferdinand
|, of Austria, and Canova's monu-
mest. Idol which Rpskin. .has.pso.,
nouneed SO severe a judgment that
travellers look it up for the purpose
of determining whether it is as bad
as he said, we found two priests sell
ing indulgences in the sacristy, while
two alert young men, with close
cropped hair were giving instruct
tiOns to dozen or more boys, who
looked as if they had been herded in
the square in front and driven in,
like ponies, to take part in the cere-
monies of the hour, and who were
larking, and humping into each 9th
er and into everybody else, while
sacristans, not yet wholly dressed
tor the day, were putting live Goals
OF fire in a small iron bowl attached
to the end of long wire, and in
pouring out quantities of whitish
substance which | took for incense,
from bags brought from somewhere
near Bellini's Madonna, which we
had gone to that part of the church
to see. In the main church there
were swarms of bareheaded women,
fresh from the fruit stands of the
Campo SantO Polo, with the marks
"a ,A~ir vocation clingrng to their
garments ro-oh looking E4ssn- from
the fishing boats nea-r,y. and ever So
many irresponsible children Leing
dragged around by other children
not so many years older, in a man
ner that seemed to endanger the
safetyof their shoulder sockets. All
was hurry, and confusion, and disOr-
der. At the Church of the Saints
Giovannian and Paulo, where ever so
many Sges are buried, and where
rwo7of thesi'r' sfhgfes are s=Ssspesdsa
fronl the wall at such an acute angle
as to Justify the fear that they may
presently tumble to the marble floor,
to the CONSERVATION and perhaps to
the damage of the idlers below, we
saw the remains of the sculptures
and stucco work destroyed by fire
33 years ago, and pictures of Tit
ans masterpiece, "The Death of St
Peter, MARTYR" which was entirely
destroyed at the same time. The
noisy, bustling, excitable little sac
ristan who showed us about was en-
tirelv unmindful of the crowds of
worshipers in the church, rushing by
. two women in devotional attitude
before the ef1gy of Santa Maria,
which had been gaudily dressed up
for the occasion in a costume that
brought to my mind the picture of
Joseph's coat, in order to lift the
skirt and show us the gold beneath.
In the chapel, he was SO anxious to
assure us that the great bells of the
church had been unhurt by the fire of
S67, and were to be hung anew in
the fully restored church, as soon as
it is restored, that he seized a great
hammer and struck each of them,-
there are threc,-such a resounding
blow that the noise thereof must
| have gone out across the Grand Ca
nal, near by. In another church, St.
Stephens, believe, where we went
to see famous west entrance, said
| to be ever SO much handsOmer than
! the north entrance, | saw woman
| sitting under one of the affairs calm
| lv unwinding a hank" of thread
which hung about her two knees,
just as if she had been a French wo-
man sewing in the garden of the
Tuileries, while nearby, another wo-
man, with shriveled cheek, knelt her
lips moving in continual prayer,
watching with keen interest the act
ion OF her neighbor, being especially
excited whenever a recalcitrant kink
obstructed the process. l saw St.
Marks, the finest of all the churches
the day before, when the worshipers
were few and the visitors many, but
| dare say the scenes enacted there
to-day were of kind with those de-
scribed above. ST. Marks is fine
very fine, and viewed from a short