The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-17
TRAVELLERS IMPOSED ON
ITALIAN GUIDES y BEGGARS e
e PLEASURE OF TOURISTS.
One Steers Them to High-Priced Shops
and Gets Commissions. the Other
Collects Small Change.
correspondence of the indianapolis Journal.

world would have heard little of the Queen
OF the Adriatic this summer. But there is
always a percentage os visitors here, for
Venice is no more unhealthy at one time
of year than at another. In fact, it is
never very healthy. The natives tell me
they suffer from rheumatism a great deal
which is what one might expect of so
damp a place.
In some respects Venice is the cheapest
place in all Italy to visit. and in others it
is the most expensive. If you want to live
quietly and TO revel in the historic a~ssocia>
lions of the place alone. you can do it for
a fraction of what you will spend in any
other city of Europe. Historic associations
are the cheapest of European attractions,
anyway, and they do not fence them in at
Venice: nor do they charge you in your
hotel bill for the view, as they do at the
Falls of S~chaffhausen in Switzerland for
the illumination of the falls" Your car
riage floats at your door and costs you only
a dollar a day. and for perfect restfulness
and ease 1 commend any jolted and nerve
shaken traveller 10 the big, black gondola
which plies on the canals of Venice. The
gOndoliers are a decent lot, too, and though
few of them speak any English, they have
49, ~ - N1NAA oh1EtZa ~ nc IL
possible to communicate with them if you
know enough of that language.
1t is surprising, by the way. how the
American woman covers Europe in her
travels with no language but her own at
command. ] encountered one in France
who had been travelling for two years quite
alone, and she was powerless to ask the
guard of the train its destination. She had
hoan farf,tnnt1. o@,-l a
clers wherever she went who understood
her tongue and the language of the coun-
try in which they were travelling. and at
the pensions at which she had stopped in
all the big cities were many English and
American travellers who helped her to get
about.
I'll GONDOLIER'S HARVEST.
The gondola is built according to an &C.
cepted pattern-it was once prescribed by
law-and it costs the gondolier several hun
dred dollars. His harvest is in the fall and
the springtime, and as the gondola requires
no oats and no space for stabling what he
receives in the busy season is almost all
profit. But, like the caleche driver of Que
bee, he has a long dull season, so he must
save something out of his earnings. OF
course, he makes more than a dollar a day.
for there are his tips, and then he usually
hires out by the trip or the hour; and that
is more profitable than service by the day.
This difference is recognized officially in
London, where a cabdriver may refuse to
go by time after the first hour.
l had some odd experiences with these
cabdrivers in June, by the way. One re-
fused to go by time" after the first hour
on the ground that he could make more on
single trips. Il don't want to be unsociable.
sir" he said-meaning, L assume, disagree
able. Another asked me as a favor to let
him off because he had a pickup within
the hour, and when told him he'd have
to find me another cab or take me to my
destination, he said: Il call tina unmanly.
sir"-never forgetting to be respectful. The
London cabman is sometimes impudent. but
he seldom fails to observe the rules of his
kind In addressing a fare" l am glad 10
say L was able to acquit myself of the
charge of 'unmanliness'' by getting into
another cab on Pail Mall and allowing my
unwilling driver to so.
The gondolier has another source of in
come than the fees and tips he receives.
He is regularly in the pay of the Venice
shops. For that reason, among others, the
RAANNo ~ oOOdS III NiAIoN SlODS are dDSuIQlN
exaggerated. This applies to the Salviati
glass. the LAGOS. and. in fact. almost every
thing you would expect to find both good
and cheap in Venice. The glass industry
is one of the oldest in Venice-or. rather.
Murano, which lies across the lagoon. To
catch the dollar of the visitor the big glass
houses have established branches in Venice.
two of them being in palaces on the Grand
canal. When you summon a gondola to
take your first trip on the Grand canal the
gondolier will steer straight for the Sal
Watt factory. A uniformed attendant helps
you out, and before you know where you
are you find yourself in the hands of an
astute salesman. You are Grst escorted to
a room where worlrnen are blowing curious
designs in colored giidod glass. The lump
of heated glass is first blown into shape in
a mold; then the workman takes it in hand
and fashions it according to n fixed design.
But as all but the initial step is free hand
work, though the designs are duplicated a
thousand times, each piece has some slight
individuality.
THE PRICES ARE HIGH.
From this rather interesting place you
are escorted to the salesroorl. where YOU
are not asked to buy; but naturally you are
expected TO buy, and few travellers, 1 sup
pose, have the courage to resist the i'm
piled invitation.
If you have had any experience in buying
this glass in New York you are rather
startled when you see the prices marked
on the pieces displayed. You are still more
surprised when you go to Murano to some
of the factories which co not have branches
in Venice and find how much cheaper the
commoner designs are. Perhaps you begin
to sus0ect that yoI have paid more than
the real value of the article in the Venice
shop. Your Impression is confirmed if you
meet an honest. frank salesman such as l
encountered in one Of the shops.
1t was a big lace shop and 1 was piloted
there by one of the guides who swarm in
St. Marks palace. These men make life
a burGen by their opportunities if they see
you walking in the direction of the cathe-
dral. Most of them try to wheedle you
with lies. one will say that he is the
sacristan of St. Marks and can show you
things which are not open to the average
visitor. Another will assure you that he
is an underoficial or possessed of some
special influence which will be of ad-
vantage to you. They protest. Il am not
a guide"-and they really are not guides
in the best sense-they are what would
be called ''touts' for the shops of Venice.
With a sublime ~impudence. one OF them,
who was evidently a jew, took possession