Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1905-06-16
,oughed IN over $40 the first day, inst

liU SOJ tiltIl all DOuSuJ up, anu tndt
they would let him alone. but the next
day when he slowed up there were ter
beegars where there was one the dayl
before, and they followed him every
where, and all the loafers in the
plazas laughed and acted as II they
would catch the cripples when dad got
out OF sight and rob the beggars. Dad
thinks the way the people live is BY
dividing with begears. A man who has
a deformity, or a sore that you can see
half a block away, seems to be con
sidered rich here, like a man in Amer.
lean who owns stock in great corpora
tions. These beggars pay more taxes
than the dukes and things who live in
style.
| suppose dad never studied geogra-
ply, so he didn't know how Venice was
situated, so he told me to go out and
order a hack the first morning we were
here. and we would go and see the
town. When | told dad there were no
hacks, no horses and no roads in
Venice, he said | was crazy in my head
and wanted me to take some medicine
and stay in bed for a few days, but |
convinced him. when we got out
doors, that everything run by water,
and when | showed him the canal and
the gondolas, he remembered all about
Venice. and picked cut a gondolier that
looked like one dad saw at the worlds
fair, and we hired him because he
talked English. All the English the
gondolier could use We're the words
you bet your life" and you're dam
right" but dad took him because it
seemed so homelike. and we have been
riding in %gondolas every day.
On the water you can get away from
the beggars. This Is an ideal exist
cnce. You just get in the gondola. IN
der a canopy. and the gondolicr does
the work. and you glide along between
buildings ard worder who lives there.
and when they wake up, as all day
long the blinds are closed, and every
body seems to be dead. But at night,
when the canals are lighted. and the
moon shines, the people put on their
dress clothes and sit on y~erandas, or
eat and drink. and talk Eyetalian, and
ride in %eondolas, and play guitars, and
smoke cigarettes, and talk love. 1t
is so warm you IAN wear your sum
mer pants, and the water smells Of clans
that died long ago. 1t is just as
though Chicago was flooded by the
bursting of the sewers, and people had
to go around State street, and all the
cross streets, and Michigan avenue, in
fishing boats, with three feet of water
on top of the %pavements. Imagine
the people of Chicago taking gondolas
and riding along the streets, landing
at the stores and hotels, just as they
do now from carriages.
We had been riding in gondolas for
two days, getting aground in the mud
when the tide was out, and going to
sleep and waiting for the tide to come
in. when II seemed to me hat dad
needed some excitement, ana last night
| gave it 20 him.
We were out in our gondola, and the
moon was shining, and the electric
lights made the canal near the Rialto
bridge as light as day. The Rialto
bridge crosses the Grand canal. and
has been the meeting place for lovers
for thousands Of years. 1t is a grand
structure, of carved marble, but it
wouldn't hold up a threshing machine
engine half as well as an iron bridge.
Well, the canal was filled with thou
sands of g%ondolas, loaded with the
flower Of Venetian society. and the
music Just made you want to fall in
love Dad said if he didn't fall in love.
or something, before morning. he
would quit the place. made up my
mind he should fall into something, so
began by telling dad it seemed
strange TO me that nobody but Eye
Italians could run a gondola. Dad said
he could run a eondOla as well as any
foreigner. and | told him he couldn't
run a sondola for shuCls, and he said