_Traghetto_, just above the _Salute_; and Luigi, who for five years past
has won at the Annual Regatta on the Grand Canal--a superb fellow is
Luigi, as handsome as a Venetian, and every inch a gondolier; and
Francesco, his brother, first gondolier to the Countess, whose palace
fronts the _Accademia_. For the instant I am in Venice again, while they
all talk to me at once, telling me of their friends and mine whom we
have known there--subjects far more absorbing than all the surprises of
this new world. Five minutes later we are swinging up the Lagoon, Marco
bending his oar aft, Espero on the cushions beside me.
There is to me a seeming fitness in entering the Court of Honor
reclining in a gondola and rowed by a gondolier. No other craft that
floats could so perfectly harmonize with these surroundings; none so
dainty, so graceful, so dignified. There are no other oarsmen who could
move with such ease and finish. These stately water-birds of Venice and
their masters add, too, an element of the picturesque. They are to the
lagoons what the flowers are to the esplanades, or the swans to the
smaller inlets. The launches, noiseless as they are, seem out of place
here and jar upon your senses; they are too new, too suggestive of
progress and revenue and time-saving. But the gondola revives the
traditions and customs of those earlier centuries, when this great White
City of the Lake was still in its glory. Moreover, it is the only sort
of princely craft which these noble families, whom you feel sure have
lived for centuries in these great palaces, could use in their
magnificent goings and comings.
[Illustration: THE PERISTYLE.]
For whenever I stand on the bridge of the Peristyle and look across the
Court of Honor, surrendering myself to the magic spell of its beauty, I
cannot help yielding to the conviction that this noble quadrangle is
surrounded by palaces of marble
[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF DOME OF THE HORTICULTURAL BUILDING.]
which have taken centuries to perfect; that the grounds and walks,
stretches of grass, masses of flowering plants, and bold colossal
statues have all been added from time to time, as in other palace
gardens of old, when opportunity or royal whim dictated; that this great
city was built ages ago, long before the time of the Greeks, who
modelled their own temples along their classic lines; and that not only
were its builders the ablest and most learned men of all ages, but that
their descendants, those who live beneath these roofs, are the wisest,
the most cultured, and the most artistic men and women of their time.
To me, moreover, the City is never evanescent nor unreal; never like a
house built upon the sands. It is, when I look at it in amazed delight,
not only entirely genuine, but firm and solid as the marble which it
resembles. It is too vast, and the elements of atmosphere, perspective
and proportion, enter too largely into its _ensemble_ to make it appear
other than genuine. When, for instance, you stand in Athens, near the
Parthenon, and your eye falls on a broken column at your feet, you _see_
that it is marble, and you _know_ that it is heavy. But without this
sample stone in the foreground, and your knowledge of the character and
quality of the material, the whole temple is to you, from where you
look, only a film of light, now ivory, now alabaster, now lost in
purple shadows. Here, about the White City, there is no broken column as
an eye test, there are only superb façades, reaching skyward, and great
stretches of columns and arches, relieved by gilded domes and sculptured
frieze. They are never close to you--no comprehensive view is possible
nearer than two hundred feet, and who can tell “staff” from marble at
that distance--but far away, across the shimmer of the Lagoon, or over
the massing of foliage or clustered roofs.
[Illustration: DOME OF HORTICULTURAL BUILDING AT NIGHT.]
There is, in addition to all this element of reality, a reality which
every one must feel for himself, still another charm--an undefinable
quality that constantly surprises and delights you. To this is united a
majestic picturesqueness investing these superb palaces and royal
gardens with a distinction never attained by any of their predecessors.
This does not seem to be due so much to colossal proportions nor to the
never-ending series of buildings piled one behind the other, as to the
skill shown by architects
[Illustration: IN OLD VIENNA.]
and landscape gardeners in the general plan. Especially is this charm
felt in the absence of rectangular lines of construction; in the winding
in and out of the lagoons; in the neglected fringing of untrimmed
foliage skirting the water’s edge; in the half submerged bits of islands
where the ducks plume their feathers; in the informal formality of great
massing of plants; in the dotting of broad stretches of gray-green water
with gay-colored gondolas; and in the colossal proportions of superb
decorative statues, so that a glimpse of Venice can be caught between
the forelegs of a huge sculptured bull, and the columns of a classic
temple be outlined over the back of some water-sprayed mermaid.
It is easy while under the spell of this Ancient City to persuade myself
that in this their festival year, these nobles who dwell here are
holding high carnival, with much feasting and merry-making, and
illuminations at night. That they have bidden all the nations of the
earth to join them in these gracious festivities lasting many months;
and that as an especial honor, and for the delight and entertainment of
these distinguished guests, they have decreed that a great fair shall be
held where may be seen many strange people from the uttermost parts of
the earth, who, with barbaric dancing and weird music may depict the
manners and customs of their climes. That this Fair of the Festival Year
shall be placed, not within the lines of the Palaces but outside the
walls of the Great City, at the end of a broad highway, rolled out like
a huge carpet of many colors.
* * * * *
Rousing myself from these reveries, I bid Espero good-by, join the
throng, follow through the gates and so out upon this broad highway, the
Plaisance. My dreams are all true. Along the crowded thoroughfare move
half the wild tribes of the earth--Javanese, Esquimaux, natives of the
Soudan, Bedouins from beyond the Great Desert, Algerians, Arabs, Greeks,
Armenians, Syrians, and Turks. Fringing each edge of this gay promenade
I find the huts of the Javanese and Soudanese, the tents of the Bedouins
and Arabs, and the more pretentious booths and structures of the
Algerians and kindred people. Here, too, are the quaint gateways and
open squares of old German and Austrian towns; the low-roofed, deftly
constructed houses of the Japanese; the intricate carvings of India
covering the booths, and, draping the doors of the Eastern bazaars the
rich stuffs, rugs, and tapestries of the Orient.
Near the entrance to the Turkish village, tucked away on one side of the
highway, just out of the rush of the never-ceasing throng, and yet close
enough to be within call, rises the dome of a small Mosque. Above this
a single, snow-white minaret shoots up into the blue.
[Illustration: MOSQUE OF THE SULTAN SELIM.]
When the sun is gone there leans from a tiny balcony high up on this
needle of a minaret, a white-robed priest. Suddenly above the whirl and
hurry there filters down through the soft twilight air the Muezzin’s
call for prayer:
“La Ilah Ell-Allah Muhammed Rassoul Ell-Allah.”
To me there is nothing so simple, nothing so impressive, nothing so
devout, as a Muhammedan standing in the presence of his God. There is a
childlike faith, a manly trust, a sincere belief evinced and experienced
by these believers, that never seems to predominate in any other form of
religion.
How often, in a great cathedral, do you come upon a figure silently
leaving the confessional, and catching a full view of the face, detect a
lingering trace of sorrow, or anxiety, or doubt. But watch the faces of
these Muhammedans, these poor sedan-chair carriers, and of that
broad-shouldered Arab, who has been moving great boxes of unpacked goods
on his back all day. How tired they all look as they enter the Mosque,
bowing low with reverent awe, and prostrating themselves wearily to the
pavement. It is as if each penitent had brought his very burden within
these sacred precincts, supplicating for relief.
Now look, when the silent service is over, and study these same faces
as, with a light-hearted spring, each man rises from his knees and with
serene expression, and calm, restful eyes takes up once more the burden
of his life.
This exquisite and picturesque little Mosque--it is the prototype of the
purest bit of Eastern architecture in Stamboul--these thoroughly genuine
people, this sacred service--not as a necessary part of the Oriental
exhibit, but as an essential, indispensable part of the life of the
natives themselves--this combination of the genuine and the picturesque
is to me the true keynote of the Great Exposition.
II.
My old and valued friend, Far-away Moses:--What a superb old Shylock he
is; not in the sense of “three thousand ducats and for three months,”
but in the unique quality of the character itself! Neither Irving nor
Booth ever conceived so fine and fitting a costume as this old man wears
every day in and out of his bazaar, and along the streets of his
transplanted village; a costume of soft material, with an under-vest
delicately embroidered, the over-jacket a coat of brown camel’s-hair
with dark red voluminous waist-sash and the wide Eastern skirts covering
his still sturdy legs.
My old and valued friend, Far-away Moses, I say, invited me to dinner. I
have enjoyed this especial privilege very often in his own bazaar in
Stamboul, and the aroma of the Mocha and the soothing qualities of his
Narghilehs have haunted me ever since. Now, thanks to his courtesy, I
can enjoy them every day. There is nothing missing in the surroundings
of his own bazaar here on the
[Illustration: “FAR-AWAY MOSES.”]
Plaisance. The walls are hung with the wealth of the East. Divans are
scattered about. On a low table, octagon-shaped and inlaid with
mother-of-pearl and ivory, lie yataghans and Turkish arms, embossed with
silver and enriched with quaint design. The light struggles in through
the small windows and half defines the odd interior, quite as it does
in his shop along the Bosphorus. I throw myself upon a pile of Eastern
rugs and begin adjusting the pillows in true Oriental fashion.
The old man claps his hands, and instantly, as if rising through the rug
itself, an attendant appears, receives an order in Turkish, and
vanishes. Not a gentleman, if you please, in a soiled necktie, frayed
shirt-front, and hired-by-the-month swallow-tail coat, but a swarthy
Turk in gold-embroidered vest and the rest of it, who reappears in a
flash with one of those exquisite squatty little tables that might serve
in a baby house. Then more clapping of hands, and more Turks, one a
gorgeous fellow in a solid gold jacket (the light is dim), under-vest of
purple and silver, sash brilliant scarlet, and so on, down to his
magnificent slippers of red morocco, very much turned up at the toes.
And then an inlaid tray with two dainty little cups, mere thimbles, into
which is poured from a long-handled brass pot, sizzling hot over a
charcoal fire, two mouthfuls of fragrant Mocha. Then the Narghilehs,
with their long flexible tubes, amber mouth-pieces, and the bits of
burning coal, keeping alight the little heap of Turkish tobacco on the
top of the slender caraffe-shaped glass.
We talk of the old days in Stamboul and of the morning we spent at the
Bath, where I was parboiled and rubbed full of holes by two
insufficiently clad Greeks; and then of the festival night at Saint
Sophia when, as a member of his household, I entered the Sacred Mosque
barefooted and befezzed. Later on a lighted lantern is brought in, and
we follow another gorgeous slave into the mysteries of my host’s private
apartments where a repast of kebabs and boiled rice is served.
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING.]
After dinner other lights are fixed against the walls of an outer court,
and a dozen or more of his retinue--Far-away and his _confrère_, Roberto
Levy, count five hundred and fifty followers--with weird song and
gesture, throw themselves with perfect abandon into one of their wild
native dances.
This small army of the Faithful eat, sleep, and dress precisely as they
do at home. The Bedouin women huddle in the dust outside their tents,
baking their wafer-like bread over rounded pans covering heaps of live
coals; the men smoke and lounge on the mats; the dancing-girls from
Damascus and Syria, in the intervals of their stage work, shut
themselves up in their curtain-closed rooms, attended only by their
women.
They allow no difference in their surroundings or atmosphere; there is
no hurry nor rush nor noise; only the indolent, lazy life of the East.
Had the genie of the lamp been summoned from space to work these
marvellous effects it could not have been better done.
But the picturesque does not end with the Turkish village, its mosques,
bazaars, café, theatre, and attendants. Enter the gates leading to the
little toy houses of the Javanese, and stop for a moment at one of the
doors. Half a dozen of the dancing-girls are cuddled together in the
middle of the floor. There is no light except through the open door.
Some are smoking cigarettes. One is painting the eyebrows of a comrade,
who in turn is combing the other’s hair. Two are stretched out on either
side of the entrance lolling lazily. They smile courteously, and when
one rises and trips away to the next miniature house, she drops you a
slight deferential courtesy as she passes--not to attract your
attention, but as challenging permission--to cross in front of you.
If you, an admirer of Western civilization, offer some one of its
subjects a piece of silver, you receive either the customary gruff
thanks or the incredulous stare. If you have doubts about the courtesy,
the refinement, and the charm of the semi-barbarous East, try the same
experiment on one of these little Javanese maidens, fully of age and yet
hardly as tall as the curly haired daughter that you hold in your arms.
When you tender her the coin she walks to where you stand without the
slightest trace of either forwardness or timidity, drops on one
knee--clasping the money in her right hand--crosses both arms over her
bosom, places the piece on her head, and then bowing low, her face
toward you, retraces her steps into the bungalow. With each gesture she
intends some graceful service--she is your slave--her heart is always
true, her head in subjection. It is only her way of saying thank
you--this poor little half-clad, half-civilized, Javanese maid; but it
is so gracefully, so charmingly done, it is so naïve and sincere, that
if you leave the door of her hut with a cent in your pocket you should
be sentenced to spend a month in her village to learn better manners.
As you are still in search of the picturesque, follow that barefooted
Arab with fez and long yellow gown, who has just saluted with such
respect and humility Roberto Levy (chief commissioner of all these
Muhammedan people), touching his heart and lips and forehead after the
manner of his race. He has some complaint to make or grievance to right.
You note that the man enters a gate farther down
[Illustration: IN CAIRO STREET.]
on the Plaisance, above which you catch the minaret of another mosque,
overlooking “A Street in Cairo.” Later on you discover that this
barefooted Arab drives a camel along this tortuous thoroughfare.
Here again the quality of the picturesque is inseparably joined to the
quality of the genuine. The street itself is a fair reproduction of the
original, with its overhanging latticed windows, iron gratings and
decorations; but the motley crowd that throngs through its crookedness
is the native element itself. Camels with the dust of the desert ground
into their scarred hides, every knot in the harness a guarantee of long
service; donkeys and donkey boys; women closely veiled or wearing the
_burgi_--a wooden spool bound over the nose, with a heavy fringe of
black thread falling below the chin; rows of idlers in dirty garments
sprawled along the edges of the houses hugging the shade; Nubians, black
as ink, in white burnoose and long gowns; pedlers, street venders in odd
Eastern costumes, and scattered throughout the curious throng the man
from Maine and the gentleman from Texas.
Everywhere you find the same element of the picturesque, everywhere is
evident the same quality of the genuine. To accomplish these results
space and time seem to have been annihilated.
“It is I who went up into the Soudan country and brought out this
family, come in and see,” says a dark, black-bearded man, who might have
the blood of all the races of the East in his veins.
I thrust my head and shoulder through a narrow slit in the hut, shaped
like an inverted teacup, and am confronted by a girl wearing a single
garment of coarse cotton cloth, such as would cover a sack of salt.
Behind her, squatting on the earth-floor, sit her husband and father,
beating rude drums covered with skins. The girl instantly advances,
lifts up her face and gazing into mine with half-closed eyes, gives
herself up with slow movement of her feet to that peculiar spell which
seems to possess all Eastern women when under the influence of the
dance. The inmates are all uncleanly, unkempt, and, but for the earnest
face and fawn-like eyes of the Soudanese girl-wife, forbidding and
repulsive. Of one thing, however, you are sure: had you wandered into
the heart of their country and entered any one of their huts, you would
have found the exact counterpart of what is before you now.
So with the Algerians and Nubians, the Chinese and natives of Ceylon,
Dahomey and the South Sea Islands, the Esquimaux even down to the
glass-blowers from Murano: they are not a part of a show--they are the
people themselves. How long this unconscious individuality will continue
and what degrading effects our civilization will produce on these
strangers is a question which cannot be settled until the Fair is over.
It is safe to say that never in the lives of the present generation will
these things be repeated. Before the summer comes again the beautiful
city will fade away like the frost-work of an early morning. This broad
highway, teeming with life and color, will be but a neglected waste,
while the lovely lagoons will once more yield themselves up to the
ever-encroaching lake. Every square foot of the wide inclosure should be
sacred to every American, as marking for them and for the intelligent
world a point in civilization never before reached by any people; as
marking the dawn of a new era in the progress of the Republic; a new
light in architecture, in mural decoration and sculpture; in the weaving
of exquisite stuffs, in the glazing of porcelains, the making of glass
and perfecting of all the lesser arts that serve to beautify our homes
and gladden our lives; and in the proving, by comparison with the best
work of the other nations of earth, the high standard reached by our own
artists, and the fixing forever of that position in the art of the
world.
[Illustration]