Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-08-20
in Fight
for Its Existence

the water at every stroke. Although
few motor boats have operated sat
isfaetorily for years on the broad
Grand canal, one can imagine their
troubles In traffic jam on even the
medium-sized waterways to be not I'M
IKE those of farm tractor set down
among lodging taxicabs ofFifth avenue
Even If 1t were not surely protect
ed by the existence of the smaller
canals, sentiment would fight ably with
the gondoliers for the life of their in
stltution-for it is little less. One
can hardly imagine Venice without
| gondolas. And the gondoliers them
selves are an important factor in We
netian life Henry James called these
sturdy, sunburned, water-loving men
the true children of Venice They
typify much more closely than the
merchants and artisans and gentry, on
their pile-made ground, the spirit of
the founders of Venice who built up
among the waters the unequaled mari
! time world power of its day.
THE visitor to Venice for the first
time is sure to be disappointed in the
appearance of the gondola. SO much
that Is romantic has been associated
with these boats that the stranger un.
consciously expects them to be gayly
decorated. But each is like all the
rest, somber, unrelieved black. The
powerful council of the old Venetian
republic provided for this dusky hue
back in the Sixteenth century, and
the requirement has been followed as
faithfully ever since as If the mighty
Ten still held unquestioned powers of
life and death over all the citizenry.
One explanation of the queer law is
that Venetians were squandering too
much money vying with one another
in decking their gondolas with costly
trappings. Another is that 1t was to
lend prestige to authority. At any
rate the edict excepted the gondolas
of the Doge and the foreign ambassa-
dArs which were richly embellished in
gold and crimson.
Measure of Wealth.
"At the height Of Venetian prosper
ity the wealth of certain individuals
might be measured by the number of
| gondolas they maintained as in Amer
lea today ones bank account may
sometimes be inferred from the auto
mobiles he owns. At the present time
there are relatively few privately
owned gondolas. They serve as taxi
cabs with stands at prominent points
along the canal banks. Some Vene-
tan families hire a gondolier and his
/ boat from month to month; and as is
true of chauffeurs in some moderately
well-to-do families in the United
States, the gondolier when not row.
ing his boat, may act as butler or gen.
eral man-servant about the house.
/ 1.-The gondola is first mentioned In
manuscripts of 1904 A. D., but had
probably been evolving from forms not
greatly different since the first Vene-
tians took up their abode on the lagoon
mud banks several centuries earlier.
The unusual craft has f1ourished only
where it was born, and is hardly
known in other parts of the world
save as a curiosity, or to give
breath of Venice to the ornamental
lakes of World Fairs. One of the few
TRANSFORMATIONS Of the gondola that
has been attempted was to the Grand
canal that Louis XIV built at ver-
sailles in 1874. These boats, gift of
Venice, unlike their patterns, we're
brilliantly decorated. A colony of Ital-
ian gondoliers and their families was
established In the Partisan suburb and
remained until the French Revelation