Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-10-23
DURING WAR
Practically Closed to Visitors OF
Every Nationality.
The Gondola n the Pigeons OF St.
Marks Square, the clty's rwo Chief
characteristics Threatened
With Destruction.
BY cAMILLo
dnternationaI News Service }

FILtAAGs ~ 0ll llC IhlEuIS anu Ger
lis which the exigencies of modern
progress, and the requirements of
modern life nave heaped on Venice
n ner unique quaint beauty, those
resulting from war are practically the
worst, as they threaten to destroy
two of Venice's chief characteristics,
the gondola and the pigeons OF St.
Marks square.
Venice saw her last brilliant season
in the spring OF 1914 AS to the sum.
mer bathing season, it was hastily in
t%errupted at it's height by the sudden
outbreak of hostilities. Owing to ner
position, to the fact that she possesses
one of the most important military ar,
senals OF Italy and that she is the
seat of the maritime defense of the
Adriatic, the city a since then been
practically closed to visitors OF every
nationality.
After Italy's intervention, Venice be-
came a sort of Asiatic forbidden city,
and not even italians are admitted
without a special permit from the
commander in chief This permit,
however, is only issued to those who
can prove to the satisfaction of the
inquisitorial authorities that they have
legitimate business to transact within
the city boundaries, and is invariably
temporary. Idlers, curiosity mongers,
and the socalled lovers of the pictur-
esque, are ineXorably excluded. AS
to the newspaper men-well, Admiral
Cutinelli regards them as the most
undesirable of all, whether they be
Italians or from the allied countries.
The first result of the stringent
measures adopted by the military au-
thorities concerning the s~ojourn Of
foreislSrs, was a general closing of
all large hotels and the Transforming
of the Lido into a sort of huge SAM
tarium where thousands of conva-
lescing soldiers now bask in the sun
wrapped in long white tunics and
await the time for returning to the
front ito finish the job" With the
hotels scores of curio, lace and other
shops closed to save expenses while
waiting for the return of the good
times.
But those who nave suffered most
from the absence of visitors are the
thousands of pigeons nesting in the
buildings and towers of Venice's IA
nous square. 1t is a well-known fact
that the few pounds of Indian corn
the municipality provides for their
maintenance are anything but suffi-
cient properly to nourish the poor
creatures, and that it was the charity
of the tourists which in former years
and at all seasons provided them with
substantial food.
But now, the familiar sight of the
old English lady or the young Ameri-
can misses feeding the pigeons in the
center of the square is no longer to
be seen and the poor birds vainly clus-
ter around the mar who stops to ad.
miTe this or that facade or the fres-
Goes of st. Marks. The corn vendors,
known to thousands of Americans by
their first name, are there as usual,
but the purchasers are few, and the
cooling pigeons fly back disappointed.
OF late the pigeons have begun to emf.
CRATE to avoid starvation.
AS to the gondolas and the Condo
Tiers, they have suffered terribly from
the war, and their fate resembles much
that-of the pigeons, It was the tour
list and the wealthy visitor who pat
ronized the gondolier, and their alb.
sence from the city for more than a
year has compelled score of gondoIa
proprietors to go out of business and
sell their outfit at a sacrifice
The gondolier, the thick-set. sun
burned, muscular specimen of human
ity, that sent the gondola skimming
20 yards over the CLASSY surface at
every stroke of the long oar, has dis
appeared with the mobilization. and is
now either at the front or serving on
one of the men-of-war cruising the
Adriatic. Only a few old ones are
left, and the visitor who now crosses
the Grand canal is painfully impressed
by the small number of gondolas in
service.
At sunset, when the cupolas, the
domes and the spires of Venice gilt
ter under the last rays of the parting
sun the spectacle presented by the
squares is even more s%addening, Navy
officers in immaculate white uniforms
and army officers IN gray nave long
replaced the ~variegated, fashionable,
wealthy crowd that in former years
added to Venice's charm and pictur.
esqueness, and tell in unmistakable
words the story of Italy at war.
Yet Venice is resigned; no one COM
every class has sacrificed on
altar of patriotism its own pri-
yate interests,