St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1907-12-18

baptism, he plays in one in his boyhood,
courts his girl in one few years later,
leaves the church with her after the
wedding in one, and when he dies the
gondola is the hearse which carries
away the body to its final resting place.
They are curious craft, desiring little
water, very comfortable to ride in, and
as the gondolier skillfully propels the
thing along the Prov is out of water
entirely. These are nearly all black in
color In the day time, if pleasant, the
hoods over the seats are taken off. At
night they are put on tor variosu
reasons. The gondolier is a brawny
musclar philosopher, who pays no atten-
ton to his passengers, unless they mani
fest an interest in the surroundings,
when he unlimbers and becomes source
of general information, which is usually
reliable. They give a yell as they APP
proach turn or corner in the canals,
very much as John Guyer talks to his
horse, but their voices are not harsh and
do not CRATE on ones ears badly. They
are like everyone else, all striving to
annex all this worlds goods possible,
but if you get the tariff at the hotel they
cheerfully give up when they find you
know the prices, and hope for better luck
next time. All freight is taken about in
the large gondolas, or, more properly,
scows, and all goods are delivered to
houses from them. There are no horses
in Venice There are some advantages
in the water highways, but it would
seem that the novelty would soon wear
off with the ordinary mortal. Your
neighbors' hens cannot come over and
scratch up your garden, and the man
who rises at a. m. in the summer and
mows his lawn within % feet of your
bedroom window is not found here at
all. On the other hand you cannot
throw your old tin cans in your neigh
boris back yard, nor can you dig fish
worms in your garden May LIST, for
these things are not a part OF Venice
homesteads, The terraces, or small
flower garden parks are very pleasant in
the evening, but we noted that the beds
were all protected by mosquito netting,
so concluded that this pest must be
present. | should conclude that few
days at time at intervals would give
me all | cared for of Venice.
On our way from Venice we stopped
at Padua to see Prof. Bossini, one of the
noted Italian surgeons. Here is most
noted university, which was very noted
hundreds of years ago. 1t graduated
such men as Savonarola, Petrarch and
Gallileo, and we both expect honorary
degrees next June. We saw almost
nothing of the town, and after wit
Messing some operations performed by
Bossini, went on to Bologna.
Here is splendidly equipped univer-
sity, fine hospitals, and first class oper-
ators. In all our trip, thus far, we have
seen the best work done in Italy and the
surgeons are more than pleased to have
American doctors call on them. 1t is
not common experience to them, in the
smaller university towns and they APP
preciate the fact that a man has gone
out of the ordinary beaten path and
come purposely to see them work. Prot.
Bossini at Padua told us he had met but
few Americans in his clinic, and frankly
said he considered it great compliment
when one came.
We liked so well in Bologna that we
remained week at the hospital. They
have the finest institution devoted to