Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1906-03-17

size. One of the sights of this square
of st. Marks is the flock of pigeons.
One man reaps a golden fortune by
selling corn to visitors. This corn is
then fed to these fat but ravenous
birds, will alight on your head and
shoulders, in fact you cannot scare
them away until all the corn and the
paper itself is gone. We obtained
some good snap shots of them.
I have always believed that all the
streets and walks of Vince were
canals but when I tell you that we
walked four miles one morning with
out taking a gondola Or boat, you
will know how far wrong | was. AS
matter of fact you can, if you know
the way, walk the whole length OF
the city and not touch boat or water.
The Grand Canal is the Fifth avenue
of Venice. But it presents now a de-
cayed greatness and glory. Few of
! the old palaces are now attractive in
appearance. the architecture is
strangely monotonous and the general
appearance is sombre. [ presume in
summer time colorings would be more
pronounced and the whole effect
more enticing. In different palaces
on the Grand Canal have lived Brown
ing and Byron and Howells and a
score Of other literary men. Nova
days progress has struck Venice
and we see steamboats, plying up and
down the Grand Canal, taking the
place of trolleys and alas too, the trade
of the gondoliers. One disastrous
result of these steamboats, is that the
| foundations of piles are being weaken
ed by the continuous action of the
water and it is prophesied that many
houses will ultimately fall. The
gondoliers too complain that the
movement of the waves tends to
| weaken their frail gondolas. Street
scenes in Venice are never dull, the
| the people are decidedly jolly and
happy, OF course they flare up like a
rocket, but came down just as quickly.
The men are happy if they can get a
cigarette and some macaroni. We even
saw two men quite happy in sharing
one cigarette. The women like a
dash of color in their head dress and
they are content. Hot viands are to
be had along any of the streets, hot
macaroni and hot sweet potatoes.
They looked appetizing but cannot
tell how they taste. Of course there
are no horses in Venice proper. AT
the Lido across the lagoon they have
them and it is said that the peasants
will beg, borrow, steal or save twenty
cents to pay boat fare to Lido in order
that they may see horse before they
die.
The gallery of Venice, that is the
Academy has a valuable collection OF
famous paintings, among others the
best of Titan and Tintoretto. Many
of the churches have beautiful paint
ings, the famous Santa Barbara is in
the church of st Maria della Formosa
and here is one of the come most
attractive Madonnas by Sassaparata
| Ct don't remember the spelling!)
| Of course we visited the Rialto Bridge
| This historic old place is full of activity
a dozen shops line the steps and eager
hop-keepers try to waylay the
passer by. Near here we saw the
house of Shylock the Jew, at least it
is the legend that he lived in it.
We visited one of the many glass
factories and saw some choice Vene-
tian glass ware and also visited the
the largest lace factory where thou
sands of girls learn the art of making
| the world famous lace.
It is magical city but I fear it is
long past it's prime. The days of
Venetian greatness, | fear will never
return. Tt is poor city and there is
practically nothing to revive its COM
mercial supremacy. But the romance
and glamor still linger about the sea-
grit city and for the sake of the past,
we want her to keep her present
unique position in the world of art
and literature. should like to see her
in summer attire with the canal crowd
ed with merry makers in varied
colored garb, then I think the Venice
of books would seem more near to
me. Well considering the fact that
we gave but two days to the city,
think | have devoted considerable
space to my account. We must hasten
on for those three weeks are slipping
by and much of Italy remains to be