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 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."
[Illustration: 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.]