New Britain herald., 1915-12-23

Canal is the palace ReZZonico where Robert Browning lived and died. usually this is a very gay quarter with crowds of gondolas passing, and the palaces alive with brilliant enter tainment. But now all is silent and lugubrious, and the few gondolas creep along like Indian canoes on deserted river
 : One touch of life has been given to this quarter byssome American artists who have pulled down an old palace and built a very showy front reach ing down to the water. The bright Yellow and red are in marked con. trast with the sombre palaces all around. The military escort accom- panying the party pointed out an abandoned garden with a fine old palace built only to the first story. Warning Against Gambling. There is story there,'' said the military escort. That palace was begun by a son of one of the Doges. But the son got to gambling, lost all his money, and mortgaged the palace yet unfinished. And so the old Doge ordered that all work on the palace should be stopped, and never again started, as an everlasting warning against gambling. And there it stands today, after four hundred years, just as it stood when work was stopped, still giving its warming
 Further along on the left, is the gray stone building used as the Aus trian embassy until Italy declared war against Austria. The flagstaff which used to bear the Austrian colors, stretches over the canal, but ~sr is the former German embassy, also deserted. They were two of the most active centers of entertainment and official exchange during peace times.
 Cleaning Out Canals.
 In front of the former German em- bassy dredges are now at work clean ing out the side canals. This is mammoth work, done every 200 years in the Grand Canal, and every 20 years in the side canals. The present ab- sence of traffic has given opportunity for this securing. Great masses of black mud are brought up and carried out to sea. All the sewage of Venice empties into these canals, but the tides of the Adriatic sweep out the sewage and keep the city in a reason ably healthy condition.
 Tn the market section of the city the Grand canal shows it's usual ac- tivity, with the fish and vegetable markets surrounded by boats and crowded with customers. Venice has recently finished a veritAble palace for its fish market, and the military escort told how this had come about.
 Blot and Scandal.
 ''The queen came here about five years ago." said he. "She was shown the beauties of the Grand canal, and admired them greatly-all except the old fish market She declared that was a blot and a scandal And so the city decided to spend a million francs fer a new market. And yet, the queen has never since come here to see this building erected to meet her taste, and Venice is beginning to ask whether it was really worth while to spend so much money to meet a woman's whim.''
 The Rialto bridge is the very heart of the busy merchant quarter. This famous bridge is the only one known to have been made stronger by in- creasing it's weight. It began to crack at the outset, and the architect said add more weight
 Bazaars and Stores.
 Bazaars and stores were therefore added all along the bridge, greatly in- creasing its weight, so this so steadied if that it stands secure today. One of the bomb raids was in this vicinity, and the people crowded the bridge