Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-04-13
GRACE.

GRACE.
Hotel Savoia & Jolanda.
Venice, Italy.
Feb. 20, 1921. @
My dearest Mother:
There is no danger of ever getting
bored in this land of sunshine and
flowers. One thing is not finished Be
fore another is ready to be staged,
ad if any particularly "big stunt"'sis
to be "pulled off" it is always "pull-
ed" on Sunday.
This morning we walked up with
every intention of goingto the Cathe-
dral for services, but when we got to
st. Marks Square it was alive with
soldiers everywhere. Two bands SQf
music were playing and from every
building floated Italy's beautiful
flag of red, white, and green, with a
cross in the center. Is.
1t seemed that today the soldiers
were scheduled to take their oaths of
allegiance to king and country, and
every division of the army was repre-
sented. r. %
First came the infantry, next the
artilleryand laast the navy. The Off
GERS were conspicuous, with their gay
uniforms much decorated with red,
long graceful capes over their shoul-
ders, and hat set off with large red
plume. The band played and the
troops marched in review. Next the
general in command Il took him to
be) made a speech of which did
not understand word, and then fol-
lowed the oath Of allegiance. 1t was
all so martial, and of course attrac-
tive, but the pity of it is, that the
grim side of war has to exist, We
watched it all until the last soldier
had marched away, and then went
to St. Mark with the other spectators.
AS usual it had no seats but was
thronged with worshippers, most of.
whom were on their knees before
some shrine or altar. We stood with
the crowd listening to sermon de-
|livered in Italian and, though / could
not understand its meaning, / felt
awed and silenced by the beauty Of
the scene and the spirit Of the devo-
tions.
You might infer from the military
spectacle on the streets during the
morning hours, that these people had
but a limited religious sense,but a
visit to the churches would change
that idea, for if anything there is too
much rather than not enough. The
Latin mind works differently from
the Anglo-Saxon and we simply do
not look at life from the same angle.
Their churches are open all day long
every day in the week, so you can
attend service any hour of the day,
just so you attend. Besides they are
given a good deal of latitude in the
idea that "the Sabbath was made for
man, and not man for the Sabbath
and proceed to live accordingly. :.
After lunch we took long walk
and saw some of the. ugly sides OF
Venice, for believe me it has its ugly
sides even if in other respects it is
the lovelist city of Europe. We stroll
ed down narrow little allies u sup
pose you would call them that
where the sunshine rarely penetrates
far and the sight and smells left by
the receding tide, would give you
nightmare in the broad daylight
You could see the bottoms of all the
canals which was simply covered
with filth of every description and
rats too big to look real, were crawl
ing along the walls. It seemed pity
to waste so fine day on such sights
so we went back and spent the after,
noon on St. Marks Square.
There was temporary band stano
put up for the day, so we had con
cert all the afternoon given by 9
military band of seventy-five instru
ments. We got seats in front of one
of the coffee shops and pastries anc