The City Of The Sea

Pcar Mr. Editor : My last letter concludeil just where the marvels begañ. "W'e .veré approaching Teniee. I shall tell you ibout the sea Cytoele as soon as I reate henv ive mot detacluuents of Italan cavalry every five minutes during the two days preceding our arrival n Teniee. They were uniformed in ucnvn. and were dusty and real ougli. I learned that they were LOing to Genoa, there to embark for U'jsinia and que'.l the rebellion. Aíer passing Innumerable villas huilt on lenv and niarshy soil, we at last ■eaehed the Adriatic shore at Fusina and made the embarassing discovery fcat tlie queen of the seas Tvas throned on her hundred isles about three nüe out and in deep water. She OU', not send her winged lions after es. and as bieyeles are so clumsy lo TVith, ive graciously deposited wheels wlth tlie steamboat coml;my and embarked for tlie Eairy i-ity of our dreams. 'Jhis aw our lirst ín Europé on anythlng ccxept our tiicj'cles and to see ilie tiara of towers odíL the vast and sumptuous pile rie ciearly and more clearly fromt lie v aves. we unteked vi:mcj:. ín the evening just as the lull moon was rising-. I do not think that auyone believes he has been in Venles until he has had some realistlo experienee- quan-eled with a gondolier or been outrageously overcharged by a hotel keeper. Before that it is sil a elream such as ifc was for ns f hile we wandered among the Ihrongs on the Plazza of St. Mark and heard the orchestra and watched tlie revelerá ivho sat and gaily drank Unef and absinthe at the tables in fiont of the brilliant cafes. We strolled up and down the quays and triec! to feel unsympathetic before that 'pathetic swindle," the Bridge of Sighs. Then the crowd melted away end we tried to follow one of the X'Ony streanilets but it vanished finally and léft us on the Bridge of the Rialto at midnight. We stood 'there ii time under the hypnotic inf:tence of the flaring torches and cries oí gondoüers as they rowed lazily liorne. Beneath us was the sound of dipping oars and occasionally the iiicrry laugh of a girl. Abovo was 1ln quiet light of the stars and when :.:: became as still.as they, we feit th ; need of sleep and hunted up a hotoi where we slept and nervous'.y valled for morning to reveal ncw Aonders. TUIS IS IX CONFIDBNCE. Oí" course I cannot teil you all we saiv in Venice. Ruskin, Howells or Hare can do it so delightfully fqr you. J'ut these few confidences. We rode v. itli the most unpoetic of gondolicrs rp and down the Grand Canal and we learncd that the palaces in Venice ere crumbling, that the gondoüer is soiigless and conscienceless, I)Ut not voiceless , that the Moor and Shylock eau not be forgotten, and that St. Mark's steeds of brass wore In-idled long ago. "tt'e also walked tliose s1 reets which are not canals and we found them so intricate and making sucli a labyrinth that even the !est of maps would liardly extricate the i anderers. There are no horses in A enice. There is no dust and as the poel has written it "no steps, no track oí man leads to her gates." Iate one afternoon we took the steamboat and when it touched Fusina, awoke fi om our dream and in a dazed way niounted our whel rfnïïrode away. EXPJBEIENCED A BBAL EAKTHQÜAKB. Our Tide for 25 miles was a retrae of our approach, asfar as Padua, "SVe k6i our way before in that jr.y and I-.OW did it again. Such a :naze as tl'oso streets are, and you have to go around the city three times before ." magie gato is opened by this conjiiiing and you are released. I'rom tlierc to Ferrara we wheeled upon an elevated i-oad, or embanked highway, I should say, from which we could ee the Jow plain, and broken at times by volcanic hills and intei-:-ocLed by l.i anches oí the Po. Beau ;.ul villas Ene', castles upon steep hills, relieve ac otherwise monotonous succession o! rice fields. We saw ]ivy's home ant Petrarch's native town and far more exciting, were well shaken v.p by an earthquake just as ive were g-oing to bed in the tiny' imi oí the hltlo town of Battaglia. You will Usist that I exaggerate when I say tlial. the long-horned cattle m that lígion made us nervous for i'ear we could not get by, but we feit iike giving them the road and being thankful tLat we were not gored. OOI I.NTO A DEN' OF DBVILS. We passed through Bovigo and reached the Po river along whose banks we rode in search of a bridge, it is a miserable stream with lazy, yelJow -waters and stupid, marshy banks, all uncultivated. The only VM-. made of the stream seems attainoc! by corn milis. These are wonderfvlly old structnres, supported on the vater by boats, old black hulks, which are anchored ; and netwecn lüe boats is a very widé waterw&éel phich turns slowly, monotonously in tl)1) sluggish current. When ïve at Iris; íound a bridge, there was a terriffie wind and thunder storm at" our K'ick. We were almost hurled acrops tl'at bridge and through thetown pn the opposite side. Then we were Ci iven with fearful violence along a niagnificent road toward Ferrara but the rain overtook us just a tii'e out of that city and we took refuge in tbe -wierdest old rookery where f our iive ugly Italians witli iiendish tempers, -vere employed in somc 1111lawful manufacturing, as was very evident from the snspicious, fierce way i:i which they entertained as and di ove us out when the storm oioderated. FBEKAKA'S ;I.O1;Y HAS DBPARTBD. The strects are grass-grown and palaces are forlorn or occupied by nierchants. The old castle with the dungeon -where Tasso was imprisoneil stands within its moat, grand and lone'y, dn the midst of the bnsiest sii eet. ,It was a relief to look ivpon the simple house where Ariosto lived sa contentedly. All this we leit l.ehind and ive reached Bologna after a ride tlitongh n región where the ricereedfe etood eight and ten feet liigh i.ixi -wliere there were threshing-floors made of polished red bricks, and rand conals the surface of whose waters ■u a.s high above the plain. "We amused urselves for a time riding through tha narrow streets andloity arcades, peering now and then into old palaces cm', cathedrals and hunting for the sausages after which I suppose the city was named. BLUFFED AN ITALIAX OFFICE. "When we were wheeüng out of the city an officer confronted and stopped us saying that we had no 1 1 ake. We conceded that fact and rtmarked that we did not care t o 'ouy. Tlin otficer however insisted, led us followed by a curious crowd laclc lo -tlio pólice station and alter a few preüminaries, the magistrate 1nfoi med u that we w-ere fined five lira. Our American ire was aroused and wb refused to pay, saying we had p'enty of1 time and would stay there and board it out. The officer began t sweat and the magistrate ;ooked mucL concerned. The It alian koveinment is too poor to keep anyone over niglit. Then we threatened to seo Ihe American Consul on the Jollen ing day. AVe left our wheels as liO&tage and finished seeing the sights. At mine o'clock in the evening they ti ere getting desperate, so sent to the Chief of the Department, who, v hen he heard our story, told us to go on our way. We thanked him anc! he shook hands with us wishing us "buono viaggia." On The folLowlng day we set out for Florence ca ei the Appenines. More about the njountains in a later letter.