The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rafael in Italy, by Etta Blaisdell McDonald and Julia Dalrymple This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Rafael in Italy A Geographical Reader Author: Etta Blaisdell McDonald Julia Dalrymple Release Date: May 12, 2009 [EBook #28765] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAFAEL IN ITALY *** Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: The Vocabulary at the end of the book gives the Phonetic pronunciation of the Italian words used in the book. The Unicode alphabets have been given wherever available. But the following two Phonetic diacritical marks do not have a Unicode representation. inverted "T" -- (uptack) "T" -- (downtack) Cover ON THE APPIAN WAY ON THE APPIAN WAY Little People Everywhere RAFAEL IN ITALY A GEOGRAPHICAL READER BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD Joint author of "Boy Blue and His Friends," "The Child Life Readers," etc. AND JULIA DALRYMPLE Author of "Little Me Too," "The Make-Believe Boys," etc. SCHOOL EDITION BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1910 Copyright, 1909, By Little, Brown, and Company. PREFACE The very best way to understand the life and customs of a foreign country is to visit it. If that is impossible one may still learn much by reading a story of the people who live there. As this is true of grown people, so is it true of children. They can become acquainted with the children of other lands by reading stories of their simple, daily life, and by living it for a little while within the pages of the story-book. It is no longer the fashion for our school children to learn by rote the facts written down in their geography about all the corners of the earth; they must know rather the children in these foreign lands,—the sights they see, their work and play, their festivals and holidays, their homes, their ambitions. Such a tale is told in this little book about Italy. Rafael Valla, a lad of fourteen, is seen first in Venice; he rows his boat on the canals, hears the music of the band in the Square of St. Mark, goes to the Rialto bridge for the serenade, and suddenly, through a chance meeting with an American girl and her mother, the way is opened for him to see Italy. He joins them in Florence, and they ride over the Tuscan roads in an automobile, stopping to see the peasants gathering grapes, and to visit an olive-farm. In Rome they see the ruins of the ancient city under the direction of a guide, and they go to Naples, and visit Pompeii and Vesuvius. The book is full of pictures of Italian life. One sees the children feeding the pigeons in Venice, the Easter festival in Florence, the vintage with its merry-making in Tuscany, the Roman ruins, the picturesque street-life in Naples with its noise and gayety, and the silent streets of Pompeii. There are many such pen pictures of Italian life, and the story should appeal to the imagination of the child and awaken his interest in Italy and its people. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I An Evening in Venice 1 II Viva l'Italia! 6 III Rafael's Trained Tops 11 IV Streets of Venice 16 V Stringing Venetian Beads 21 VI Sunset from the Tower of San Giorgio 28 VII A Chat about Verona 36 VIII Edith's Florentine Mosaic 41 IX Rafael Leaves Venice 46 X Gathering Grapes in Tuscany 51 XI A Marathon Run to Rome 62 XII "The Golden Milestone" 72 XIII A Ramble in Rome 76 XIV A Morning in the Colosseum 85 XV Merry Naples 95 XVI The Buried City 103 XVII The Magic of the Fountain 110 ILLUSTRATIONS Page On the Appian Way Frontispiece in Color The Grand Canal, Venice 2 Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice 11 Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome 68 Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct 78 The Colosseum at Rome 88 The boys of Naples eating macaroni 99 Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius 103 "The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from the excavations of Pompeii" 106 RAFAEL IN ITALY CHAPTER I AN EVENING IN VENICE It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon. The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of gold. There were no sounds save the calls of the boatmen, the soft lapping of the waves against the marble walls and steps, and occasional strains of music from the military band in the Piazza of St. Mark. No place in all the world shines with more brilliancy than Venice in carnival time. The city is like a diamond, as it catches the myriad rays from moonlight and starlight, and flashes countless answering gleams into the shadows of the night. It is small wonder that people travel from the farthest corners of the earth to watch the glitter and sparkle of this City of the Sea. [1] [2] The Grand Canal, Venice. Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola. The Grand Canal, Venice Notice the mooring-posts and the black gondola. It was on this summer evening that Rafael Valla, a Venetian lad of fourteen, decided to become a soldier of the king. He was sitting in the water-gate of his mother's house, pointing with his toe to the reflection in the canal of a particularly large and brilliant star. "If the starlight moves to the right of my toe," he said to himself, "I will go to the Piazza." He knew perfectly well that he would go to the Piazza. The music of the band was calling to him, and the star was slowly shifting its light, as it had done on many a night while Rafael sat waiting and dreaming in the gateway. The tide was gently pulling his little boat away from the orange-and-black mooring-post, at the foot of the steps, toward the larger canal. "Perhaps my boat knows of all the gay sights that are waiting for it in the Grand Canal," the boy thought idly. "It may well know," he added in his thought; "it has been there times enough." The Grand Canal is the largest and finest of all the water-ways which thread the city. It is spanned by three beautiful bridges, and, on either side, rise the marble palaces of the ancient Venetian nobility; those rulers of men whose names fill the "Golden Book of Venetian History." But Rafael lingered in the gateway. The music of the band was a promise of something still better. Soon hundreds of gondolas would gather at the bridge of the Rialto to hear the songs of the serenaders, and that was what the boy loved best. As the bells in the square sounded the hour, he rose, reached for the rope, and pulled his boat toward the stone landing steps. His motions were alert and decisive, and made him seem a different boy from the one who had been leaning so carelessly against the post of the gateway. Rafael was good friends with his oar, and the little boat, which was only large enough to seat three comfortably, hurried gladly toward the lights of the Grand Canal, and the music in the beautiful Piazza of St. Mark. Hundreds of black gondolas were moving up and down the canals, manned by boatmen in white linen, for the night was very warm; and a melody from an Italian opera, sung in a musical tenor voice, floated from one of the boats. [3] "I, also, would sing, if it were not pleasanter to listen," said Rafael to his boat. Then it occurred to him that it might be most pleasant of all to find his friend Nicolo and take him to hear the singers at the Rialto bridge. He turned toward the steps of the Piazzetta, murmuring as he did so, "These other boats are also moving toward the Rialto. I must find Nicolo quickly, or we shall lose our favorite place at the bridge." The boy tied his boat in the shadow of the steps, and took his way across the small square into the larger one in front of the Cathedral of St. Mark. Numberless columns and pillars surround this square, and each one was outlined with twinkling golden lights. From every ornament and statue that grace the cathedral and palaces shone countless numbers of the fairy flames. The crimson globes of the larger lamps in the square added a different tone, and the silver light of the moon blended with the whole, dazzling Rafael with the brilliancy. He shaded his eyes from the glare, as he searched rapidly among the crowds for his friend. The polished stones of the pavement in front of the cafés were covered with little tables, and hundreds of people were sipping ices or drinking coffee. Nicolo was often to be found selling trinkets among the people at the tables, but he was not there to-night. Nor was he seated on the back of one of the two stone lions that crouch on their pedestals just beyond the cathedral. It is from these convenient seats that the band sounds better than almost anywhere else in the square. At least, the boys of Venice seem to find it so, and so many years have they climbed up to watch the crowds of people in the Piazza of St. Mark, that the backs of the lions are worn smooth with much rubbing. A little bootblack and a water-boy held the places now, and occasionally begged for custom from any one who happened to linger near. Passing in and out among the crowds were pretty young girls selling flowers, ragged boys carrying trays of fruit— crimson peaches, purple grapes and ripe figs—and men selling bracelets and necklaces of shells and colored beads. It was a gay scene. An officer, in the naval uniform of the United States of America, stood in the central doorway of the cathedral, watching the movements of the crowd and listening to the music. As Rafael gave up trying to find Nicolo and turned toward the canal, the officer left his place and followed the boy. "Where away?" he asked pleasantly, in English, as Rafael took his seat in the boat. "To the Rialto; to hear the serenade, Signore," the boy replied courteously, also in English; and would have pushed away from the steps, but the stranger asked, "Will you take a passenger?" "Si, Signore," answered Rafael, "I have been looking for one," and he held the boat still while the officer found a seat. CHAPTER II VIVA L'ITALIA! "Do you like our lovely Venice?" Rafael asked, as the boat slipped away with oar and tide toward the bridge. "Not well enough to stay here forever," answered the man, with a smile. The boy opened his eyes in surprise. How could any one wish to leave the city after once seeing it! As for himself, he adored the place. To slip with his boat in and out of the canals and the lagoon, to dive from the steps and bridges and chase the other boys through the water, to listen to the music in the Piazza at night, seemed to him the only life worth living. But the stranger was speaking again. "I could have been happy here centuries ago, when the city was in the making," he said. "It would have been glorious to fight for the right to live on these islands, and to have a hand in building such palaces and churches. Those were days of service for the men who loved their city." Rafael knew well the history of Venice. As the officer spoke, the boy's eyes turned to the stately walls of the Doge's palace, and to the domes of the great churches; and he thought of the early Venetians who gave their lives in loving service for their country. The stranger continued, "Your good Doge Dandolo had a powerful navy when he led the Venetians across the Mediterranean to conquer the islands of Candia and Cyprus." Rafael nodded. "Si, Signore," he said. "There were many at home who held the city safe while he was away," he added, "and there was need enough of brave men then, both at home and abroad." "Venice was a rich and powerful state in those days," said the stranger. "Now she has little left but her beauty, and that [4] [5] [6] [7] will fall to ruin, as the great bell-tower in the Piazza fell not long ago. A man likes to fight for something more than beauty." Rafael nodded again. He liked this stranger who spoke so easily of the early life of Venice. Just then the boat slipped into a nook under the bridge, where it was safe from the sweep of the gondolas which crowded near, and the two became silent in watching the approach of the barge filled with musicians and singers. This barge was surrounded by a solid mass of gondolas, closely wedged together, each gondolier trying to push his boat as close as possible, so that his patrons might see and hear well. Suddenly red lights flared up from the bridge and flooded everything with radiance. Palace fronts shone with a magical beauty; crimson banners waved from Moorish windows; statues and columns stood out clearly and asked boldly to be admired. Rafael looked at his companion. "Did you ever see a more beautiful sight?" he asked. But he could get no satisfaction from the stranger. "Beauty is not everything," was his answer; and Rafael racked his brain to think what more could be desired in this wonderland of marble and sky and water. Suddenly the music from the barge swelled into a great volume of sound. "Viva l'Italia!" cried a voice from the bridge, and "Viva l'Italia!" echoed from all the gondolas. Rafael waved his cap in the air. "Viva l'Italia!" he shouted in his boyish voice, while his heart beat fast with the enthusiasm of the moment. It seemed to his imagination that the singers were repeating the words of the stranger; that they were telling of the glory of battle, and of a life of service for one's country. It was of Italy they sang—not of Venice—of Italy, and of Italy's king. "Viva l'Italia! Long live the King!" he shouted with the others; and at that moment he felt that he must become a soldier of the king, to live or die for Italy. After the singing was over and the gondolas had begun to disperse, Rafael pushed his way down the canal; and at the steps where he had embarked, the stranger rose to leave the boat. As he did so, he stooped to place a coin in the boy's hand. "With thanks," he said. "I have had an evening to remember." But Rafael pushed his hand away. "I never carry people for money, Signore," he said proudly. The coin dropped from the American's hand to the bottom of the boat. "For Italy, then," he said. "There are many in your country who need it." The boy let his boat drift with the tide, while he thought over the words of the stranger. He and his mother were all that was left of an old Venetian family. Like many others, they had almost no means of support. They rented two of the upper floors of their house to people poorer than themselves; and might have rented the whole house to some of the foreigners who often asked for it, but the mother held to it with a great love. It was a link that kept alive the memory of the past, when her family was one of importance, and Venice was a rich and powerful city. She would rather eat polenta and fish every day, if thereby she could keep the fine house as it had always been, rich with old furniture and the paintings of great artists. She had taught her son to speak French and English, and no guide in the city knew every detail of its history so well as he. "Our history is our pride," she often said, with much emphasis, and the boy felt that she was right. At last Rafael picked up the coin and put it into his pocket; then he took up the oar and pushed the boat back to his own mooring-post. He found his mother, and told her that he was tired of his life of idleness. "I shall become a soldier of the king," he said. "Ah," she said, "every Italian should serve his king. There is need of every one. Our country is very poor." Rafael looked disturbed. "It is not the country that is poor," he answered. "Our good priest says that the country is rich, with all its vineyards, and orchards, and wheat-fields. It is only the people who are poor." "What wilt thou do about it, caro mio?" asked his mother, with a laugh. "I shall earn some money," replied Rafael. "My boat has shown me how." CHAPTER III RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS [8] [9] [10] [11] Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice Notice the three flag-poles, and the bronze horses over the central doorway of the Cathedral. It was early in the afternoon of the next day. The tide was low in the canals of Venice. Hundreds of green crabs could be seen clinging lazily to the stone walls of the houses, wherever there was a place still cool and wet from the salt sea- water. At the base of the two great columns in the Piazzetta, groups of Venetian beggars were soundly sleeping. The gondoliers call these beggars "crab-catchers," because they cling about the mooring-steps of the canals to beg centimes from the passengers in the gondolas. The Venetian pigeons were also sleeping. Their way of begging is more pleasing than that of the crab-catchers, but they are beggars for all that. They never wait for the sound of the bell which the good priest rings every day when it is time for them to be fed, but fly down to the pavement whenever they catch sight of a person with a bit of grain. They flutter down by twos and threes, and beg with their best coos for something to eat. But now they had all disappeared from the pavement, and might be seen, dozing with their heads under their wings, up among the eaves of the fine palaces and beautiful public buildings which surround the Square of St. Mark. The children, who love to feed the pigeons, had disappeared, too, and all Venice seemed to be taking its afternoon nap. An American lady and her daughter, paying no heed to the heat of the sun, turned the corner of the Doge's palace and entered the Piazzetta, meaning to cross to the farther end of the large square, where wood-carvings are for sale in one of the shops. "Mother," said the girl suddenly, "I wish we knew of something to see besides the buildings in this square. We have been here four days, and have bought a lovely carved cherub, or a souvenir spoon of Venice, for every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this beautiful old city." "We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any time." "I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must be many other interesting places to see besides the [12] [13] Doge's palace and St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them." "You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the hotel windows," said her mother. "Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?" Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a single word of Italian." "Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith; "and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights for the sake of earning some Italian lire." "Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her mother. As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great church. English words floated across to the American people, although the voice which spoke them was an Italian one. "Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops," said the voice. The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael—the boy of the boat and the serenade—knelt in the center, with a collection of tops on the pavement beside him. The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow and an off-hand dash, as if to make room for the next on the program. At last Rafael took up one which was wrapped in gold-foil, and which seemed to be both graceful and business-like, and wonderfully accomplished. It hung balanced between two outer circles of steel, and spun in every possible position —on the pavement, on the top of a post, and at right angles to it—all at one spinning. "It is my golden spinner," said the boy, in Italian. "It has travelled among all the great cities of the world, and never failed to keep an engagement." The boys laughed, and Edith joined in the laughter, although she did not know the meaning of the words. Rafael looked up into her face and smiled. It was the opportunity which she had hoped for. She had noticed his unusual appearance, and that he was dressed with care. "Speak to him, Mother," she urged, in English. "Perhaps he will tell us where we may go to see the sights." The boy rose and took off his cap. "I speak English, Signora," he said. "There are truly many things to see in Venice, if you wish to see them." CHAPTER IV STREETS OF VENICE Mrs. Sprague looked from one child to the other. The girl was eager, the boy expectant. "He is no older than you are, Edith," she said at last. "It isn't possible that he can be a good guide. There will be three lost, instead of two as there were yesterday, if he tries to pilot us through these crooked lanes." The day before, Edith had hired an Italian lad to act as a guide, when she had wished to buy an Italian flag and could find none in the shops near the Piazza. She had made her wish known, by signs, to one of the young boys idling at the base of the Lion's Column. He could speak no English, but Edith showed him a tiny American flag which she carried in her purse. "Viva America!" she said, waving the flag with one hand. Then she waved the empty hand, saying, "Viva l'Italia!" and asked very loudly, as if he might be deaf, "Where to buy?" pointing to the flag. The boy nodded that he understood, and led the girl and her mother across the Piazza and under the old Clock Tower, in which the clock has been marking the hours ever since Columbus discovered America. Beyond the tower he led them through short streets and narrow lanes to a remote, wretched part of the city. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Although Venice is called the City of the Sea, and has hundreds of canals, there is also a network of narrow streets and lanes threading the islands on which the city is built. It is possible to walk anywhere by following these streets and crossing the bridges, and each house has a land-gate as well as a water-gate. One of these lanes led at last into a small square. A low, narrow doorway opened into a dark room, looking out upon a dirty little canal,—far away from the rose-colored, marble-paved Square of St. Mark—and here Edith found her Italian flag. The room was cluttered with old rubbish; and a dozen ragged, hungry-looking men and women sat idly about on broken chairs. The boy told his errand in Italian to one of the men, who answered him in an angry tone. They disputed together for several moments, and then the man brought a small flag from a far corner of the room. The bright red, green and white stripes of the flag were in good proportion, but it was made of a cheap, flimsy material. "I don't care for it," said Edith, putting her hands behind her and shaking her head. Immediately everybody in the room began to talk loudly, which so frightened Mrs. Sprague that she took out her purse and asked, "How much?" The boy held up four fingers. "Quattro lire," he said. "Four lire!" exclaimed Edith indignantly; "that is almost one dollar, and it isn't worth ten cents." But the excited Italian voices were all speaking at once, and so angrily that Mrs. Sprague dropped the money into an old chair, and seizing the flag with one hand and Edith with the other, she backed quickly out into the open air. She forgot that she knew nothing about the way to her hotel, and, without waiting for the boy, crossed the first bridge she saw, and struck into another narrow lane. She was too anxious as to her whereabouts to notice the interesting sights in the streets through which she hurried; but Edith, with a girl's curiosity, saw everything. In a small square at one end of a bridge, a woman leaned from an upper window and lowered a basket to the pavement below. A man with a basket of fried fish on his arm took a piece of money from the woman's basket and put in its place a fish from his own. Then he returned to a little shed near-by, where a woman was frying onions and fish in oil, on several charcoal stoves. As they crossed another bridge, they saw a woman lean from a window to splash her baby up and down in the canal for his daily bath. The baby was tied to the end of a long rope which his mother gently raised and lowered, and he laughed with glee every time he hit the water with his chubby fists. Edith wished to stop and watch this curious bath, but Mrs. Sprague hurried her along, and they soon reached a part of the city where many people were moving toward a church. As they neared the building, the leather curtain, which hangs at the entrance to Italian churches, was pushed aside, and a stream of men, women and children began coming out, each one carrying a candle. The children had little candles, the grown people carried larger ones; and everyone stopped to buy cakes from old women seated near the church door. After crossing many bridges, and passing many churches, Edith and her mother suddenly entered the Piazza of St. Mark, which had grown so familiar to them both that it was like walking into their own home. "I shall not go out of sight of it again," said Mrs. Sprague, with a sigh of great relief. But Edith longed to explore those bewildering back lanes for more of the strange foreign sights. "After we get home to America," she said, "we shall see no more boys selling glasses of water at odd corners; nor shall we see women frying cakes in the streets, and mothers bathing their babies in the canals. If we can only find some one who understands English, we shall have no more trouble." Now that she had found Rafael, she urged her mother to employ him. "He can speak both English and Italian," she said, "and can be our interpreter." Mrs. Sprague shook her head and was turning away, when the boy spoke, and held her attention. "The golden spinner is the smallest of all my tops," he said, "but it does the best work. Why not let me try?" The lady looked at his earnest face and smiled. "Very well," she said, "we will go through the Doge's palace with you. We can't get lost there." Rafael gathered his tops together and turned them over to one of the boys. "Keep them for me, Nicolo," he said, and led the way at once to the beautiful entrance just beyond the corner of the cathedral—the entrance to the most magnificent of all the fine palaces in Venice. [18] [19] [20] [21] CHAPTER V STRINGING VENETIAN BEADS Edith hurried along beside Rafael, and Mrs. Sprague followed slowly into the courtyard of the palace, up the Giant's Staircase and through great rooms, until they came out upon a balcony overlooking the square which they had just left. "Is it not lovely?" Rafael asked simply. Without answering, Edith balanced her camera upon the railing of the balcony and snapped a picture of the two columns in the Piazzetta, near a landing place of the Grand Canal. "Everyone in the United States knows that picture," she said, "and when they see that I have taken it, they will know that I was really here once." "Is it that you will show it to everyone in the United States?" asked Rafael with interest. Edith looked at him quickly, thinking that he was laughing at her; but as she saw that he was serious she answered, "Oh dear! no; only to my friends, who were glad to have me come to see Italy, so that I can tell them about it." "Is that why so many people come to my country," he asked,—"to tell others about it?" Edith laughed. "I came to buy a string of Venetian beads," she answered roguishly. But the boy would not laugh in answer. "It may be that you will take away with you a more precious necklace than your glass one, if you will let me show you our wonderful pictures and buildings," he said. It was a pretty speech, and the girl answered him with another. "You mean a necklace of memory pictures," she said. "Yes, I have begun to string such a necklace. My memory of St. Mark's Cathedral is one of the beads, and this splendid square is another. Then there is a bead for the moonlight on the canals, and one for the fluttering pigeons at their midday meal.". Mrs. Sprague then told Rafael how they had wandered off into a part of the city where the canals were narrow and dirty, where the houses were old and crumbling to ruins, and where the streets seemed hardly more than cracks between the walls. "I don't wish to put that memory picture into my necklace," said Edith. "It is not necessary," answered Rafael. "There will be many beautiful beads. This afternoon we will climb the bell-tower of San Giorgio when the sun is setting, and there you will get a picture of this 'pearl of the world' that will make you forget every other." But Edith was turning her camera upon the pavement below, where three flag-poles stand in front of St. Mark's. "The lazy pigeons in the square were lean and hungry when those three masts were placed before the cathedral," Rafael told her. "The Venetians were hardy sailors, bold adventurers, and rich merchants in those days; and it was an honor for Morea and the eastern islands of Candia and Cyprus to fly their banners in our city. All the vessels from the East and the West stopped at our port, and the fame of Venice spread far and wide." "You speak boastfully," said Edith saucily. "It is all true," Rafael said earnestly. "Four hundred years ago there was no place in the whole world where so much pomp and magnificence could be seen as in St. Mark's Square and on the Grand Canal. "Over in the museum at the arsenal"—Rafael's voice broke in his excitement—"there is a model of a ship of state, in which, for hundreds of years, the Doge used every year to go out to the entrance of the lagoon and throw a jewelled ring into the waters of the Adriatic, to make Venice the bride of the sea. "People from far and wide, by thousands and tens of thousands, came to see the ceremony. It was a marvellous sight to see," he added proudly, as if he had seen it many times. "Two or three hundred senators, in their scarlet robes, marched with the Doge from this palace to the wharf, where the ship of state waited for them; and thousands of magnificent gondolas followed it on its journey to the Lido port, where the ceremony took place." "I thought all gondolas must be black," Edith objected. "A procession of black gondolas would not be very magnificent." "It is the law now that all gondolas must be black," Rafael explained, "because in olden times so many nobles wasted their fortunes in decorating their gondolas extravagantly with rich carvings, gold ornaments, and gorgeous draperies. You can see that such a procession, reaching from here to the Lido port, would be a splendid sight. "There must be many rings out there," he added. [21] [22] [23] [24] Edith had listened, charmed with the sound of so much splendor. "Let us go to the Lido for a sea bath," she said; "perhaps we can find a ring." Rafael shook his head. "The last ring was thrown into the water more than a hundred years ago," he said. "The sands have covered them all too deeply by this time." Then he pointed to the four bronze horses which stand over the central doorway of the cathedral. "They are the only horses in our whole city," he said. "They are almost two thousand years old, and have travelled hundreds of miles, by sea and land. "It is said that they first stood on a triumphal arch in Rome, but they were taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine, where they were kept many hundreds of years. Dandolo, a Doge of Venice, conquered the city about seven hundred years ago, and brought the horses to Venice as a sign of his victory. "They were placed over the door where they now stand, and have been there ever since, except for a visit of eighteen years to Paris, to please the Emperor Napoleon." "See how they paw the air," said Edith. "They look as if they were eager to be off again to the ends of the earth." "No," said Rafael, "we Venetians love those bronze horses. No one will ever take them away from us again. "We need them," he added with a laugh, "how else would we know what horses are like, when we read about them in books?" "It is a great pity that the bell-tower in the square fell," said Mrs. Sprague; "this new one that they are building in its place must be very expensive." Rafael laughed merrily. "That is a queer thing about the Italians," he said; "if it is a great piece of art which we wish to preserve, we do not care what the expense may be." Then he added soberly, "The fishermen miss the old tower more than any of us, because they used to find their way into the Lido port by it." "You say so much about the Lido," said Edith. "We will go over there after we have looked at some of the pictures inside the palace, and at the dungeons, and the Bridge of Sighs," answered Rafael. Edith shuddered. "I will look at the pictures, but not at the dungeons," she said; "and I can look at the Bridge of Sighs every time I come from our hotel into the Piazza." As they stepped back into the room behind them, she repeated the names of three of the great painters whose works have helped to make Venice a treasure-city. "Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto," she said over and over again, as she looked at the pictures which Rafael pointed out to her in the long rooms. "If I find more of their paintings in other cities of Italy, it will seem like meeting old friends." Rafael smiled. "Italy is rich because of her artists," he said. "You will find their works in every city. It may not always be the paintings of those same three men, but there are others which are also famous." Then his happy face grew serious. "It makes the heart sad to think what wonderful dreams our great Italians have had," he said. "My mother says that no dream, no thought of beauty, was ever felt anywhere, that has not found expression here in Italy." As he spoke, he led the mother and daughter out of the palace and across the Piazzetta to the steps where his little boat was tied, and Edith wondered if his words were true. Before her sight-seeing in Italy was ended, she was very sure that they were. CHAPTER VI SUNSET FROM THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO "It is not a good plan to leave the square from the steps in front of the two great columns," Rafael explained, as he went toward the landing-place opposite the Doge's palace, where he always moored his boat. "Why is it not a good plan?" asked Edith. "Because it might later make us run into a mud-bank," he answered merrily. "Whenever any one is executed in Venice, it has to be done between those two columns, and that has made the spot most unlucky. People used to gamble there [25] [26] [27] [28] before it was the place for executions, but now, of course, no one thinks of such a thing." "I should hope not," said Mrs. Sprague, "nor anywhere else." "The only Doge that was ever beheaded, landed between those columns," continued Rafael, "and since then there are people who would not dare to use the steps, for fear it might bring them ill-luck." "I am going to get into your boat from those very steps," said Edith, walking toward them. Her mother, who was already seated in the boat, looked troubled. "He may be right, Edith," she called to her daughter. "You know that I am afraid of the water, and you promised not to take any chances if I would bring you to Italy." But Edith insisted that she should get into the boat from the steps, or not at all. "There is no danger," she said. "These Italians are too superstitious. See how they are always closing one hand and pointing down two of its fingers to ward off the evil eye. I am going to show Rafael how foolish all these notions are." The boy looked at her in anger. He had sometimes closed his own hand in the way Edith described, when he met old Beppo, the brown monk from one of the islands in the lagoon; and had often gone out of his way to meet the hunchback, Tonio, because it is well-known in Venice that the sight of a hunchback brings good luck. Now, when he heard Edith speak so contemptuously of his cherished beliefs, he felt a flame of resentment. Standing quietly in his boat, he said, "Signorina, we go not from those landing-steps in my boat." Edith saw that he meant what he said. "I am sorry that I hurt your feelings," she said, with a pretty air of penitence; "but if you will kindly take me from these steps, I will make a gift to the patron saint of the fishermen, if we find a shrine at the Lido." Rafael melted at once. "It is not that I was afraid," he told her, as she stepped into the boat from the unlucky steps, "but I cannot have the ways of my country ridiculed." Then he pushed off from the landing, and the two great columns rose above their heads in stately fashion. Edith looked from the winged lion on the top of one to the crocodile and the figure of St. Theodore on the other. "There are many stone lions in the city," she said, "but I have seen only one crocodile. Why is that?" "The lion is the symbol of St. Mark," replied Rafael, "and must guard the city, because St. Mark is our patron saint. St. Theodore, who stands on the crocodile, was our first patron saint, before the body of St. Mark was brought to Venice and placed in the little church which once stood where you now see the cathedral." "Is it the St. Mark who wrote one of the books of the New Testament?" asked Mrs. Sprague. "Yes, Signora," replied Rafael. "We have been into the cathedral many times," said Edith. "Mother knows every picture and statue inside and out of it." "It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the whole world," said her mother. "Some one has called it a jewel-box, because it contains so many magnificent gems, precious stones, and golden mosaics; and it seems so to me. Now that I have seen it, I am ready to leave Venice." "Oh, Mother," exclaimed the girl, "we haven't begun to see all that I want to! I must buy some more Venetian glass, and a lantern, and some flags and banners. I mean to make my room at home look like a bit of Venice." Rafael looked pleased. "Our people were making beautiful things in glass two hundred years before Christopher Columbus found his way to your country," he said. He had no wish to seem boastful to these people of a younger nation, so he tried to say it courteously. But Edith was impolite enough to say, "The men and women in your city seem to do nothing now but make glass, and carve wood, and weave lace. In so many hundred years they might have learned a good many new things, it seems to me." The boy flushed. "Venice is old, it is true," he answered, "but Italy is still young." Then he threw back his head and laughed with the happy laugh of boyhood. "Viva l'Italia!" he cried joyously. "She will soon be the greatest country in the world." "Viva Venice!" cried Edith, but Rafael was drawing his boat alongside a flight of steps, and did not hear her. "Where is that lame crab of a steamer?" he muttered, looking off into the lagoon. "What are we going to do?" questioned Mrs. Sprague anxiously. "We must go to the Lido in the steamer," answered the boy. "It is too far for me to row there and back before sunset; and it will cost but a small sum to buy round-trip tickets for the three of us. That will take us all to the casino by the tram-car, and pay for our bath in the salt-water." "Pay for our bath!" repeated Edith. "Surely we may go into the water without paying for it." [29] [30] [31] [32] "Not if you wish to go in from the bathing-house at the casino," Rafael replied; "and it is forbidden by law to take away even one pailful of the water without paying a tax. There is a tax on salt in our country, and it is feared that we may get the least bit of salt from the water." "I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Sprague. "It is very hard," said the boy; "but what can one do? A tax is a tax, and must be paid." "But it would not be so, if I could get hold of an oar of the government," he added with a laugh, as he held the boat steady with his own oar while his passengers landed. The little steamer was just drawing up to the pier from its trip across the lagoon. This lagoon is a wide stretch of water, deep only in those places where the ship-channels are kept constantly dredged. When the tide is low, the city shows that it is built upon mud-banks. Twice daily the waters move away from the lagoon, leaving the flats covered with floating seaweed. The returning tide, flowing from the Adriatic through several openings in the long narrow sand-bars, called lidi, covers the seaweed and mud-flats, and forms the lagoon. The little steamer carried Rafael and his passengers to the Lido in a quarter of an hour, giving them time for a bath in the salt water, and a cup of tea at the casino; and also a moment at the little church dedicated to the patron saint of the fishermen, where Edith left a coin as she had promised to do. Then they returned across the water to the church of San Giorgio for a view of the sunset, the sight in Venice which artists love most. It was the most wonderful sunset that Edith had ever seen. The low sun gave out a glory of color, and waves of golden light flooded the city, crowning every tower and dome with a great radiance. "So much gold makes it seem like the Heavenly City," Edith said softly. To the north lay the white-crowned Alps, to the east the blue Adriatic; and Edith never forgot the glory of that hour. A fisher's boat swung slowly through the Lido port, and moved toward its mooring-place at a group of rose-tinged piles. In just such a boat Columbus must have sailed when he was a boy. The rounded prow was decorated with a flying goddess blowing a trumpet; on the masthead there was perched a weathercock and a little figure of a hump- backed man, like the one hidden away in St. Mark's. A great sail, painted deep red, caught the sea-breeze and carried the boat slowly over the shimmering, rose-colored water. Edith drew a long breath of the salt air, and clasped her hands with delight at the picture. Some workmen, driving piles to mark the ship channel, were chanting an old song,—one that has been sung for centuries by the pile-drivers of Venice,—and Rafael translated the words for her, as the men raised the heavy wooden hammer:— "Up with it well, Up to the top; Up with it well, Up to the summit!" Each line of the Italian words ended with a long "e-e-e," or an "o-o-o," and the American girl laughed at the strange song. "It is just the time and place to paint a picture, or write a poem about the Venetian sunset," she said. "It is so different here from what I had imagined it to be," she added. "I used to wonder what kept the sea from dashing against the walls of the houses, and beating down the doors." "Then you knew nothing about the lidi which hold back the sea?" questioned the boy. "No," replied the girl. "People who have been here speak only about the Grand Canal, and the Piazza of St. Mark, and the Bridge of Sighs." She pointed out to her mother the long wharf which stretched along the opposite bank of the lagoon, and their hotel, which was farther up the canal. "There is plenty of space on the pavement near our hotel to spread a sail," she said, "and I thought there was never a spot to set foot in all the city, except in the squares." The sight of the hotel reminded Mrs. Sprague of home. "We must go back and see if there are any letters," she said suddenly, and turned to go down the spiral staircase. CHAPTER VII A CHAT ABOUT VERONA [33] [34] [35] [36]