The Story of Glass Part 5

"He ought to have been!" Jean cried. "He would have deserved it."

"I think so too," Uncle Bob agreed.

"It would have been far better for Venice had he been drowned in the Adriatic," Giusippe answered slowly. "But he wasn't. Instead he began cautiously to look about. There are always in the world, senor, men who have no pride in their fatherland and can be bought with money. The next year the amba.s.sador succeeded in bribing eighteen gla.s.s-makers to go to France and make mirrors for Versailles, the palace of the French king. And no sooner had these men got well to work and pa.s.sed the mystery on to the French than Colbert forbade the French people to import any more mirrors from Venice, as mirrors could now be made at home. Some of these early French mirrors are now in the Cluny Museum in France, my father told me. In consequence of the treachery of these workmen Germany also soon learned how to make mirrors, and the fame of the Venetian artisans declined just as the Council had predicted it would. But it will be long before any other country can equal mine in the making of filigree or spun gla.s.s. You will, senorita, see much of this beautiful work while you are here in Venice."

"I want to, Giusippe; and I want to get some to take home. May I, Uncle Bob?"

Mr. Cabot nodded.

"Your story is like a fairy tale, Giusippe," said he.

The boy smiled with pleasure.

"It is a wonderful story to me because it is the story of my people.

And, senor, there is much more to tell, but I must not weary you. Some of our filigree gla.s.s, it is true, became too elaborate to be beautiful. It is simply interesting because it is wonderful that out of gla.s.s could be fashioned ships, flowers, fruits, fish, and decorations of all kinds. It shows most delicate workmanship. But the drinking gla.s.ses with their fragile stems are really beautiful; and so are the vases and tazzas from white gla.s.s with enamel work or filigree of delicately blended colors. It was the Venetians, too, who invented engraved gla.s.s, where a design is scratched or cut into the surface with a diamond or steel point of a file. And our mille-fiori gla.s.s, which came to us way back from the Egyptians, is another famous variety. This is made from the ends of fancy colored sticks of gla.s.s cut off and arranged in a pattern. You will see it in the shops here."

"I think you Venetians are wonderful!" Jean exclaimed.

"Ah, senorita, you have yet to see one of the finest things we have done," was Giusippe's grave reply. "You have to see the San Marco with its mosaics!"

"Yes, we surely want to go there," put in Mr. Cabot. "Do you think you could be our guide, Giusippe?"

"I could go to-morrow, senor; because of the festa I am free from work.

I would like to show you San Marco, of all things, because I love it."

"I am sure no one could do it better," replied Mr. Cabot, well pleased.

"To-morrow at nine, then. We will be ready promptly. You shall tell us the rest of your fascinating Venetian history and make Venetians of us."

"I will come, senor."

"You shall be paid for your time, my boy."

"Alas, senor! That would spoil it all. I could not then show it to you.

Forgive me and do not think me ungrateful. But my San Marco is to me the place I love. I show it to you because I love it. I have played about it and wandered in and out its doors since I was a very little child. I am proud that you should see it, senor."

"As you will. To-morrow then."

"Yes, senor."

Another moment and Giusippe was gone.

"A remarkable boy! A most remarkable boy!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr. Cabot. "He knows his country's history as I fancy few others know it. Could you pa.s.s as good an examination on yours, Jean?"

Jean hung her head.

"I'm afraid not."

"Nor I," Uncle Bob remarked, patting her curls kindly.

CHAPTER IV

UNCLE BOB ENLARGES HIS PARTY

In accordance with his promise Giusippe came promptly the next morning and the four set out for the San Marco. It was a beautiful June day.

The piazza was warm with sunshine, and as groups of tourists loitered through it the pigeons circled greedily about their feet begging food.

"Why, Uncle Bob, these pigeons are exactly like the ones at home--just as pretty and just as hungry," Jean said.

"Should you like to stop a moment and feed them, little girl?"

"Oh, do! It will make Hannah think of Boston," begged Jean. "But we have nothing to give them," she added in dismay.

"I will find you something, senorita," Giusippe declared.

Darting up to an old Italian who was standing near he soon returned with a small paper cornucopia filled with grain.

"The pigeons of St. Mark's are very tame. See!"

He put some kernels of corn on the top of his hat, and holding more in his outstretched hands stood motionless. There was a whirr of wings, and in an instant the boy was quite hidden beneath an eager mult.i.tude of fluttering whiteness.

"I never saw so many pigeons," Jean whispered. "You have many more than we do at home."

"We Venetians are very fond of the birds," was Giusippe's reply. "So, too, are the tourists who come to Venice, for they never seem to be tired of having their pictures taken surrounded by flocks of pigeons."

"Doesn't this make you think of Boston Common, Hannah?" asked Uncle Bob.

"Yes, a little. But I should feel more as if I were in Ma.s.sachusetts if there were not such a babel of foreign tongues about me." Then turning to Giusippe she demanded: "How did you come to speak English, young man?"

"I have been expecting you would ask me that," smiled Giusippe. "You see, I have an uncle who went to America; yes, to Pennsylvania, to seek his fortune. He stayed there five years and in that time he learned to speak English well. When he came back he taught me all he knew. Then he returned with his wife to the United States, and I got books and studied. When they found at Murano that I could speak English they often called on me to show tourists over the gla.s.s works. In this way I picked up many words and their p.r.o.nunciation. Since then I have found that I could sometimes serve as interpreter for English or American travelers if I watched for the chance. I was eager for such opportunities, for it gave me practice, and I often learned new words."

"And why are you so anxious to learn English, Giusippe?" Jean questioned.

"I hope, senorita, to go some day to the United States. My uncle told me what a wonderful country it is, and I desire to see it. Perhaps in that beautiful great land where everything is in abundance I might grow rich. I now have nothing to keep me here; my parents are dead and I have no other kinsmen. I want to join my uncle in Pennsylvania as soon as I have enough money. Part of my pa.s.sage I have already saved."

"Why, Giusippe!"

"Yes, senorita, I am in earnest. It is lonely here in Venice now that I have no people. And Murano is not what it was in the golden days of my ancestors. I am sure I could find work in your country if I should go there. Do you not think I could, senor?" He turned to Mr. Cabot.

"It is possible," was Uncle Bob's thoughtful answer. "Especially since you speak English so well. What sort of thing would you like to do?"

"I know my trade of gla.s.s-making," was Giusippe's modest answer. "I know, too, much of coloring stained gla.s.s and of mosaic making. These things I have known from my babyhood up. There must be such work for persons going to the United States. Perhaps my uncle, who is in Pittsburgh with a large gla.s.s company, could get me something to do there."

"Pittsburgh!" exclaimed the other three in a breath.

"Yes. My uncle is with the company of a Senor Thomas Curtis, who has been very kind to him."