Gondola Philosophy
The following was written by Francis Hopkinson Smith (American) in his book Gondola Days 1897 describing his first gondola ride and his gondolier.
FHS's description of his first gondola ride:
" It is like nothing else of its kind your feet have ever touched - so yielding and yet so firm; so shallow and yet so stanch; so light, so buoyant, and so welcoming to peace and comfort.
How daintily it sits in the water! How like a knowing swan it bends its head, the iron blade of the bow, and glides out on the bosom of the Grand Canal ! You stop for a moment, noting the long, narrow body, blue-black and silver in the morning light, as graceful in its curves as a bird; the white awning amidships draped at sides and back, the softly-yielding, morocco-covered seat, all cushions and silk fringes, and the silken cords curbing quaint lions of polished brass. Beyond and aft stands your gondolier, with easy, graceful swing bending to his oar. You stoop down, part the curtains, and sink into the cushions. Suddenly an air of importance steals over you. Never in your whole life have you been so magnificently carried about. ..."
On the gondolier:
"Soon you will begin to realize that despite your belongings - wealth to this gondolier beyond his wildest dreams - he in reality is the richer of the two. He has inherited all this glory (Venice) of palace, sea, and sky, from the day of his birth, and can live in it every hour in the year, with no fast-ebbing letter-of-credit nor near-approaching sailing day to sadden his soul or poison the cup of his pleasure. "