Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-25


country, though most of the Lombardy
plains have to be irrigated. They
raise fine alfalfa and lots of small
yellow corn and they plant both sor-
ghum and popcorn for forage. They
have a row of pear or plum trees
every fifty yards and on these run
their grape vines. l found peaches,
plums and pears cheap and of good
quality. Wine is 20 cents a pint for
the cheap stuff, on up. Beer is 10
cents a bottle, best quality. A good
meal on the dining car, 80 cents.
So much has been written about
Venice that I'm not attempting any
guide book stuff. In the days of the
Crusades and at the time of Columbus
it was the richest city in the world
and the Venetians were the chief
traders in the world. I went to the
Rialto, mentioned by Shyloc!l in the
Merchant Of Venice. The first news
paper in the world was published in
Venice and as it sold for a coin
called a "gazetta," we derived the
name Gazette" for newspapers, G. G.
Hugh Query's "Gastonia Gazette"
1t is fine to be in Venice with no
noisy street cars nor autos, for the
gondolas move so silently on the
canals. Near Venice is one of the
finest bathing beaches in the world,
and it is lined with little one-room
huts which people haul on carts to the
beach and live in during the summer.
The amount of bare flesh exposed
would. shock the city fathers of
Carolina town and it is bit startling
to see young ladies playing tennis clad
in a simple one-piece bathing SUIT
The Austrians and Germans bombed
Venice from airplanes but did little
damage, although 300 bombs fell in
one night.
Italy is the cheapest country we
have been in, but the trains are not
so clean; and the flies and mosquitoes
are bad and we had to sleep under
nets. Cameras, silks, pictures and
glassware were the best bargains. !
do a lot of window shopping" that is
7 look in the windows and note the
nrices and talk them over with the
merchants. Italy is doing a better
hotel business than most of the other
countries. At the hotel with us were
English, Americans, Chinese and
party from New Zealand. We seldom
hear Of New Zealand at home, but II
is one of the richest. British colonies
and whenever I'VE met the people from
there they seemed to he well bred and
great travellers. The country has
abundant coal and oil fields as well as
productive gold mines and is one of
the greatest wool producing countries
in the world.
Getting out of Italy was a bit eX-
citing. A general strike on all lines
of transportation, trains, autos and
street cars was called by the Social
ist-Labor party which is in power.
Opposed to them are the Fascist, the
name being the Latin Tor "bundle" or
holding together.
This Fascist party consists of
young fellows and the professional
and business men and they undertook
to operate the cars and trains. When
we were in Milan they were running
the street cars free-no one paid any
fare and the cars were each flying the
Italian flag. The soldiers handled the
mail and were on guard everywhere in
squads. armed with rifle and pistol.
There was a little shooting here and
there mostly at night and few
killed. 1t looked like war times 10
sec the soldiers in steel helmets on
guard at every station and others
sleeping on straw on the station plat
form.
We came out of Milan on the Con-
stantinople- Paris eXpress-Operated by
the young students and business men,
in their best clothes, some were fire
men, brakemcn, flagmen, engineers
and they brought it through some
seven hours late. The student en-
gineer would make q mile minute on
down grade and sometimes would run
a couple of miles past a. station, but
he stuck to it and turned us over to
tho Swiss at the entrance to the
Simplon Tunnel much TO our relief,
for they had just taken a Communist
with a bomb off the train.
This tunnel is the longest in the
world, a bit over i miles lorg. We
entered Italy BY the Gothard tunnel
which is 9 miles long. These tunnels
make il unnecessary to go over the
famous st. Bernard pass where so
many travellers used to perish III the
snow or were rescued by the st.
Bernard monks and their wonderful
dogs. The monks still remain at the
post and any traveller can remain all
night without charge, though every
one makes a contribution. I've seen
some fine dogs here too of the st.
Bernard breed.
We reached Geneva in time for the
International Balloon Race, for the