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Keyong Dong · Na Wei

Transforming China’s
Public Services
A Plan for 2030
Transforming China’s Public Services
 Keyong Dong • Na Wei

Transforming China’s
Public Services
A Plan for 2030
Keyong Dong Na Wei
Renmin University of China Renmin University of China
Beijing, China Beijing, China

ISBN 978-981-99-3942-8    ISBN 978-981-99-3943-5 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3943-5

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023
Jointly published with China Renmin University Press
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 Preface

This book is the outcome of the cooperation of a dozen of academics at

Renmin University of China (RUC) under “Modernization of Basic Public
Services: The Way Forward to 2030,” a project entrusted by the
Department of Social Development of the National Development and
Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China, and undertaken
by the RUC School of Public Administration, several years ago. The proj-
ect was designed to envisage China’s basic public modernization from
2010 to 2030 by studying and analyzing the status quo of and problems
in basic public services and to explore the way toward basic public services
with Chinese characteristics. The members of the research team conducted
intensive research and analysis on the basic content of the modernization
of China’s basic public services from 2010 to 2030 and approaches to real-
ize it, including research on theories and international experience and the
forecast of the overall economic and social trend from 2010 to 2030, and
concluded the project with a report. After that, the researchers have fol-
lowed up on the topic, extended and optimized the findings in their
respective research areas, and presented the results to readers in this book
with the support of Renmin University of China Press.
In every country, public service provision is one of the basic functions
of the government. However, what is the scope of public services, and
what are basic public services? What is the objective of public services or
basic public services? How can basic public services be provided effec-
tively? And some more concerning questions: How are public services in
China now, and what will it be like in 2020 and 2030? The book begins
with some brief answers to the basic questions on public services.

v
vi PREFACE

First, what are public services? Public services, in a narrow sense, are
primarily to meet basic livelihood needs in the areas of education, employ-
ment, social security, medical and health care, housing security, culture,
and sports. In a broader sense, the term also includes public services in
areas that are closely related to people’s living, including transportation,
communications, public facilities, and environmental protection, and
those in areas for safeguarding people’s security, including public security,
consumer security, and national defense security. As space is limited, the
book focuses on public services in a narrow sense for basic livelihood needs.
Second, can the market meet the needs for public services? In other
words, can the market ensure that everyone’s needs are met fairly and
efficiently? The answer is negative. For some products and services, espe-
cially public goods, the market is either unwilling or unable to provide it
effectively, which is the economically so-called market failure. In that case,
it should be the government that performs such functions.
Third, what are basic public services? Basic public services are led by the
government, secure the basic needs of all citizens for survival and develop-
ment, and are compatible with the current economic and social develop-
ment. Basic public service is a concept raised by China based on its national
conditions and development stage. It covers every stage of a citizen from
birth to death, and basic services in the areas of education, labor, employ-
ment and entrepreneurship, social insurance, medical and health care,
social services, housing, culture, and sports.
Fourth, what are the characteristics of basic public services? There are
three of them: basic, adaptive, and equal. Basic means that basic public
services meet basic livelihood needs; citizens have the right to receive basic
public services; and it is the government’s function to provide basic public
services. Adaptive means that the service quality of basic public services
should match social and economic development, not lagging or exceed-
ing. The means and methods of providing services should be compatible
with infrastructure construction and scientific and technological progress.
Equal means that most citizens can get equal access to basic public ser-
vices. Its core is to promote equal opportunities, and the focus is to ensure
the people’s access to basic public services, instead of the simple egalitari-
anism. It is a basic right of citizens to receive basic public services. It is a
crucial function of the government to ensure that everyone receives basic
public services.
Fifth, why are basic public services so important? From the characteris-
tics of basic public services, it can be seen that they are conducive to
 PREFACE vii

fundamentally fulfilling citizen’ rights, realizing a sense of gain among the

people, and enhancing national cohesion. The provision of basic public
services facilitates the transformation of the economic development pat-
tern and promotes the sustainable development of the economy and the
expansion of domestic demand. The equal provision of basic public ser-
vices promotes social stability and solidarity and sets the foundation for
the long-term stability of the country. The provision of basic public ser-
vices also helps narrow the income gap and improve people’s livelihood.
More importantly, the effective provision of basic public services is critical
to the modernization of the country’s governance system and governance
capacity.
Sixth, who should be the provider of basic public services? Although it
is the government’s function to provide basic public services, it does not
mean that all basic public services must be provided by the government.
From the lessons of many countries in the world, public services directly
provided by the government often account for only a fraction. In China,
most public services are provided by public institutions, such as schools
and hospitals. In other countries, the government may purchase public
services or essential products and services from non-profit organizations
and enterprises.
The book is the fruit of collective wisdom. Professor Dong Keyong, the
leading editor, is the chief planner and contributor to the main ideas.
Other participants in the project are

Wei Na (professor at the School of Public Administration, RUC)

Zhou Guangli (professor at the School of Education, RUC)
Li Wenzhao (professor at the School of Public Administration, RUC)
Liu Peng (professor at the School of Public Administration, RUC)
Tang Jie (associate professor at the School of Public Administration, RUC)
Ouyang Wei (lecturer at the School of Public Administration, RUC)
Zhou Xiang (associate professor at the School of Education, RUC)
Yang Shenghui (postdoctoral researcher at the School of Public
Administration, RUC)
Dong Pengtao (doctoral candidate at the School of Public
Administration, RUC)
Yang Yuefeng (doctoral candidate at the School of Public
Administration, RUC)
Liu Hailan (doctoral candidate at the School of Education, RUC)
viii PREFACE

Liu Changqian (doctoral candidate at the School of Public

Administration, RUC)
Chen Xi (graduate student at the School of Public Administration, RUC)

The book was divided in parts for compilation. Specifically, Chap. 1 was
compiled by Li Wenzhao; Chap. 2 by Liu Peng; Chap. 3 by Zhou Guangli
and Liu Hailan; Chap. 4 by Ouyang Wei; Chap. 5 by Dong Pengtao;
Chap. 6 by Wei Na and Yang Yuefeng; Chap. 7 by Tang Jie and Yang
Shenghui; Chap. 8 by Wei Na, Liu Changqian, and Chen Xi.
We hope that the publication of this book will attract more attention
from experts, scholars, government officials, and the general public to this
issue. Hopefully, it will intensify people’s comprehension and understand-
ing of the modernization of basic public services, better build consensus
on this cause, and accelerate the pace of its realization.

Beijing, China Keyong Dong

 Contents

1 Modernization
 of Basic Public Services: Theoretical Logics
and Path Selection  1

2 Macro
 Context for the Development of China’s Public
Services: Analysis and Prospects 23

3 Modernization of the Basic Public Education Service System 39

4 Modernization of Basic Medical Care and Health Services 91

5 Modernization of Basic Elderly Care Services141

6 Modernization of Basic Public Cultural Services169

7 Modernization of Basic Social Services217

8 Chinese Government Purchase of Public Services233

References259

ix
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Research framework of the modernization of China’s basic

public services 2
Fig. 1.2 Features of the modernization of basic public services 4
Fig. 1.3 A conceptual analysis framework for the modernization of basic
public services 6
Fig. 1.4 The internal logical relationship between order transformation
and the modernization of basic public services 11
Fig. 1.5 Evolution of the modernization of China’s basic public services 13
Fig. 3.1 Composition of China’s education spending in 2011 56
Fig. 3.2 Share of education spending in GDP reaching 4% for the first
time in 2012 78
Fig. 3.3 The relationship between economic growth and human capital
accumulation. (Note: This figure uses Angus Maddison’s
method to measure per capita schooling years in the primary
education equivalent year, that is, weighting and converting the
years of secondary education and higher education into years of
primary education. The weights for years of secondary and
higher education are 1.4 and 2.0, respectively. Source: The
Research Team for the Report on China’s Education and
Human Resources, Stride from a Country of Tremendous
Population to a Country of Profound Human Resources (Beijing:
Higher Education Press, 2003): 17) 81
Fig. 7.1 The system of current basic social service items in China 224
Fig. 7.2 Basic structure of China’s basic social services 228

xi
 List of Tables

Table 1.1 Processes, principles, and actors in the public service system 9
Table 2.1 Standard normal unit of China’s WGI in 1996, 2002, 2007,
and 2012 31
Table 2.2 Rank term of China’s WGI in 1996, 2002, 2007, and 2012 31
Table 2.3 Characteristics of the WGI scores of some moderately
developed countries 32
Table 3.1 Fiscal education spending 45
Table 3.2 Public budgetary education spending and public funding per
student and their growth rate in 2012 46
Table 3.3 Regional education spending per student at all degrees in 2011 50
Table 3.4 Comparison of average education spending per student at all
degrees in 2011: Rural areas vs. overall 50
Table 3.5 Comparison of the lowest education spending per student at
all degrees in 2011: Rural areas vs. overall 51
Table 3.6 Pupil-to-teacher ratio at different education degrees in China
(the number of teachers = 1) 51
Table 3.7 Comparison of central and local education spending 53
Table 3.8 Education spending per student at all degrees in 2011 54
Table 3.9 Share of fiscal education spending in GDP in OECD
countries (2009) and China (2011) 58
Table 3.10 Education spending responsibility division among governments
at different levels in OECD countries in 2009 (%) 61
Table 3.11 Standards for the basic public education service system
(in 2020) 67
Table 3.12 Standards for the basic public education service system
(in 2030) 72

xiii
xiv List of Tables

Table 3.13 Percentage of education spending in GDP (by funding

sources and education degrees, in 2009) 76
Table 3.14 Educational attainment and gross enrollment rate at all degrees 79
Table 3.15 Human resources development 80
Table 3.16 China’s education and innovation-related indicators in
WEF’s global competitiveness rankings 2013–2014 82
Table 3.17 Estimates for 2020 and 2030 in different settings (%) 83
Table 4.1 China’s main health indicators in 2030 and their
longitudinal comparison 107
Table 4.2 International comparison of main health indicators 109
Table 4.3 Health investment indicators 109
Table 4.4 International comparison of health investment indicators
(2009)109
Table 4.5 Indicators for infectious disease control 112
Table 4.6 Indicators for the control of health risk factors 113
Table 4.7 International comparison of rural health indicators 114
Table 4.8 Equity and accessibility of health services 115
Table 4.9 International comparison of equity and accessibility of
health services 116
Table 4.10 Mitigating disease-related economic risks 119
Table 4.11 Food and drug safety indicators 121
Table 6.1 List of basic public cultural service items in 2020 and 2030 206
Table 7.1 China’s Basic Social Service System in 2030 230
 CHAPTER 1

Modernization of Basic Public Services:

Theoretical Logics and Path Selection

1.1   Introduction
When developing the blueprint and selecting a path for the modernization
of China’s basic public services by 2030, we need to think about four basic
questions. First, where are we? It is mainly about the status quo of and
problems in the modernization of China’s basic public services. Second,
where are we going? The answer should describe the goal and the blue-
print for the modernization of China’s basic public services by 2020 and
2030. Third, what should we do? To be specific, in the course of achieving
the blueprint and the goal, how should we overcome difficulties and find
solutions? What is the priority in resource allocation? And how to find
action tactics? Fourth, why should we act this way? It concerns the theo-
retical logic, historical experience, international experience, and expert
judgment of the above actions, focusing on the question that why these
actions are effective and reasonable. The logical relation of these four
questions is shown in Fig. 1.1.
To answer these questions, we must first identify the nature of the
modernization of basic public services, especially from the perspective of
China in 2030. The importance of the modernization of basic public ser-
vices can be summarized in four aspects: politics, economy, society, and
state governance. The modernization of basic public services is conducive
to (1) enhancing legitimacy, (2) fundamentally implementing civil rights

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023
K. Dong, N. Wei, Transforming China’s Public Services,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3943-5_1
2 K. DONG AND N. WEI

൘ଚ䟼˛˄䰞仈о⧠⣦˅ Where are we? (problems and status quo)

ྲօ㹼ࣘ˛˄䐟ᖴ䘹ᤙ˅ What should we do? (path selection)

䎠ੁଚ䟼˛˄⨶ᜣ㬍മ˅ Where are we going? (the blueprint)

ѪӰѸ䘉Ѹ㹼ࣘ˛˄⨶䇪䙫䗁ǃশਢ㓿 What should we do this way? (theoretical

傼ǃഭ䱵㓿傼઼уᇦࡔᯝ˅ logic, historical experience, international
experience, and expert judgment)

Fig. 1.1 Research framework of the modernization of China’s basic public

services

and realizing citizen treatment in the community, (3) sustainable eco-

nomic growth and the provision and guarantee of social infrastructure,
and (4) maintaining social stability and unity and achieving long-term
peace in the country.

1.2  Comprehending the Modernization of Basic

Public Services: A Conceptual Analysis Framework
Modernization is a key analytical framework for understanding the societal
changes and transformations of the world and China. By understanding
modernization, we can better understand the connotation of the modern-
ization of basic public services. Modernization originated in the ideologies
of the Reformation, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment in Europe.
These movements justified secular goals and personal choices and laid the
groundwork for the subsequent industrial, social, institutional, and techno-
logical revolutions. Modernization embraces at least rationalization, com-
mercialization, industrialization, urbanization, impersonalization, and
separation of public and private. It entails all-round changes in technology,
ideas, systems, culture, lifestyle, social communication, production
 1 MODERNIZATION OF BASIC PUBLIC SERVICES: THEORETICAL LOGICS… 3

techniques, and living forms. It is a process in which a new order replaces

the old one, a process of not only active adaptation but also passive response.
From the perspective of modernization, we can gain more insights in
the modernization of basic public services. It is a crucial and even essential
component of modernization. Basic public services being modernized
means that the provision and production of public services must reflect
some of the basic characteristics of modernization, such as rationality, effi-
ciency, professionalization, industrialization, and urbanization.
Rationalization is one of the paramount characteristics of modernization.
Its essence is to find the optimal means to achieve some goal. It requires
that public service provision and production conform to the principles of
rationality. Modernization emphasizes the division of labor, professional-
ization, and efficiency. It entails professional provision and production of
public services, that is, public services are provided by professionals and
professional organizations, instead of self-sufficiency. Public service organi-
zations must be independent from the government and the private sector.
They must be independent corporations and take responsibility for their
actions. Corresponding to professionalization, the modernization of basic
public services requires the bureaucratization of public service organiza-
tions, which coordinates, motivates, and integrates through clear regula-
tions, ranks, and salaries, among other means. Emerged in the context of
industrialization and urbanization, modernization requires public service
provision and production to reflect this attribute. Urbanization empha-
sizes the difference between urban and rural public services. The funda-
mental characteristics of cities are spatial agglomeration and scale expansion,
and large-scale industrial production raises new demands for public ser-
vices. Urbanization and industrialization will have a profound impact on
public service arrangements, provision, and production. Modernization is
always the forerunner of technology. As technology promotes industrial-
ization and urbanization, it will inevitably have a profound impact on pub-
lic service organizations and production. Modernization also means the
separation of public and private spaces. The protection of public space is
vital to public services. It is primarily manifested in the socialization of
some areas and affairs traditionally held by individuals, such as education,
aged care, and medical care. It is also the inevitable result of a risk society
and increasing uncertainty, that is, the public bears public risks.
It can be concluded that the modernization of basic public services
features at least rationalization, professionalization, bureaucratization,
urbanization, intelligence, and publicization (see Fig. 1.2). Rationalization
4 K. DONG AND N. WEI

สᵜ‫ޡޜ‬ᴽ࣑⧠ԓॆⲴ⢩ᖱ Features of the modernization of basic public

services

уъॆ Professionalization

、ቲॆ Bureaucratization

෾ᐲॆ Urbanization

Ც㜭ॆ Intelligence

‫ॆޡޜ‬ Publicization

⨶ᙗॆ Rationalization

Fig. 1.2 Features of the modernization of basic public services

means that basic public service organizations need to consider benefits and
costs. Professionalization means that basic public service organizations
need to consider the division of labor and efficiency. Bureaucratization is
the organizational basis for the above two features. It requires procedural-
ization, standardization, and impersonalization, and links everyone’s
remuneration with their ability. Urbanization means that basic public ser-
vice organizations need to consider space and scale. Intelligence means
that basic public service organizations need to consider scientific and tech-
nical issues and apply artificial intelligence as much as possible in address-
ing public service supply and production, for example, the revoluton
means Massive open online courses revolution (MOOC) revolution in
 1 MODERNIZATION OF BASIC PUBLIC SERVICES: THEORETICAL LOGICS… 5

education and the machine diagnosis in medical care. Publicization means

that basic public service organizations need to show fairness and justice.
They must be open, fair, and just, and treat everyone in one category
equally without discrimination.
Any basic public service can be analyzed from the perspectives of actors
and processes, that is, which actors are involved in the service and what
processes they will go through. Moreover, service attributes, institutions,
technology, and cultural attributes will have a significant impact on the
actors and the processes.
Following the above-mentioned two threads, actor and process, the
conceptual analysis framework for the modernization of basic public ser-
vices focuses on public services, government, citizens, and organizational
model, and discusses the inherent logical relationship between these four
elements (see Fig. 1.3). It concerns three main questions: First, what falls
in the scope of public services? Second, what kind of organizational model
should be adopted? Third, what is public service governance? The answers
to these questions determine the main functions of the government and
citizens. Different countries and societies have different answers to these
questions, thus forming different public service systems. The discussion
on the first question is directly related to public service provision. That on
the second question is directly related to public service production. The
third question concerns the linking between provision and production,
and the respective oversight over the two processes. In general, the gov-
ernment and citizens are directly involved in the provision process, deter-
mining the financing, content, and distribution of use of public services.
For the production process, the government and the public mainly play
the roles as supervisor and cooperative producer. Accordingly, we can
divide public services into processes and segments and discuss the roles
and functions of the government, citizens, society, market, and organiza-
tions in them. The provision, production, and governance all need the
support of institutions, technology, and culture, so that the entire process
can operate in an open, fair, efficient, and orderly manner.
Public service provision should follow the principles of fiscal equilib-
rium, democracy, social justice, and sustainability. The principle of fiscal
equilibrium was first put forward by Mancur Olson in the discussion on
the government structure theory. The core idea of this principle is that
“beneficiary pays,” which applies to financing and payment in public ser-
vice provision. According to this principle, a public service within the pur-
view of the central government shall be paid by the central government,
and that within the purview of the local government shall be paid by the
6 K. DONG AND N. WEI

ཆ䜘⧟ຳ˄᭯⋫ǃ㓿⍾ǃ⽮Պǃ᮷ॆǃ⭏ᘱ઼ഭ䱵˅
‫・ޜ‬㓴㓷
External environment (political, economic, social, cultural,
Public organizations
ecological, and international)
᭯ᓌ ⿱・䶎㩕࡙㓴㓷
Government Private NGOs
‫・ޜ‬㩕࡙㓴㓷
‫ޡޜ‬ᴽ࣑ 㓴㓷⁑ᔿ
Public profit
Public services Organizational model
organizations
⿱・㩕࡙㓴㓷
‫≁ޜ‬
Private profit
Citizens
organizations
䇮䇑৏ࡉ ⋫⨶⨶ᘥ 䇮䇑৏ࡉ
Design principles Governance ideas Design principles
‫׋‬㔉䗷〻 ⭏ӗ䗷〻
Provision process Production process
⋫⨶䗷〻
Governance process
᭟᫁փ㌫˄ࡦᓖǃᢰᵟ઼᮷ॆ˅
Support systems (institutions, technology, and culture)

Fig. 1.3 A conceptual analysis framework for the modernization of basic public
services
 1 MODERNIZATION OF BASIC PUBLIC SERVICES: THEORETICAL LOGICS… 7

local government. All these payments come from taxes, which means that
if a region needs more public services, taxpayers in the region have to pay
more in taxes. If a public service provided by a local government is paid by
the central government, it will lead to oversupply or undersupply. The
principle of democracy emphasizes that under the principle of fiscal equi-
librium, what kind of public services a region shall provide and to what
extent it shall provide them should be decided by the citizens in the region
through democratic procedures. Public service provision in the region
shall reflect the preferences and willingness to pay of citizens in the region.
The principle of democracy means that the local government should pro-
vide more choices in public service provision and ensure citizens have the
practical right to choose. The principle of social justice emphasizes that
the government, especially the central government, should provide some
basic public services that are conducive to ensuring the basic fairness and
justice and maintaining the basic stability and social equality. For these
basic public services, whether within the direct responsibility of the central
government or the joint responsibility of the central government and the
local government, they are all “hard constraints” and must be provided.
The principle of sustainability emphasizes that the provision of basic pub-
lic services should be sustainable and match the level of economic and
social development of the country or region. Over-providing public ser-
vices may lead to unsustainability.
Public service production should follow the principles of co-­production,
efficiency, competition, and diversity. The principle of co-production was
summarized by Elinor Ostrom in the research on policing, which high-
lighted the importance of civic engagement to public security. The prin-
ciple requires citizens to participate in public service production and work
with police organizations to produce public security. Besides policing, citi-
zens’ conscious participation is crucial for better results in education,
medical care, and aged care. The principle of efficiency was advocated by
Herbert Simon in organizational studies. Efficiency means to get the most
at the lowest cost or, specifically, to maximize the benefit at a given cost or
to minimize the cost for a given benefit. The principle of efficiency requires
public service organizations to act at the maximum efficiency and find the
most efficient way to provide public services. The principle of competition
is advocated mostly by economists. They regard competition as a process
of discovery, which can achieve the optimal allocation of resources. The
New Public Management theory introduced the principle of competition
into the public domain, emphasizing that competition between public
8 K. DONG AND N. WEI

service organizations can improve the efficiency of public service provi-

sion. The principle of diversity was first advocated by biologists, who
emphasize the diversity of life. The application of the principle of diversity
in public service organizations means that public service organizations
shall be of various types and sizes and the organizational model of public
services shall match the attributes of public services. Capital- and labor-
intensive public services differ in the organizational model. Therefore,
public service organizations shall be diverse, as diversity of public service
organizations encourages competition and improves efficiency.
Public service governance should follow the principles of working
together, regulation, responsibility, and trust. The principle of working
together is fundamental to governance. It means that public service provi-
sion and production are organically unified, and that the government, citi-
zens, and public service organizations act together to produce and provide
public services. Different ways to combine the production and provision
of different public services will bring different institutional arrangements
for public services and thus different actor roles and functions. The prin-
ciple of regulation is an important facilitator for governance. It means that
the government plays an important role in governance, or the government
shall play a role in meta-governance. The regulation here refers to that the
government regulates public service organizations on whether they pro-
duce quality public services in accordance with the choices and require-
ments in public service provision. The principle of responsibility is that the
government, citizens, and public service organizations should assume cor-
responding responsibilities. Public service organizations must keep their
mission in mind and produce high-quality public services. The govern-
ment should act as regulator, respond to citizens’ needs, and hold public
service organizations accountable. Individual citizens should assume the
roles and responsibilities as co-producer and supervisor. According to the
findings in Making Services Work for Poor People, the World Bank’s World
Development Report 2004, citizens can hold public service organizations
accountable via the “short route,” that is, to directly voice and exercise
oversight over public service organizations. They can also do that via the
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by one into the arms of gendarmes below. The palaces along the
Riva were a broad ribbon of color with a binding of black coats and
hats. The wall of San Giorgio fronting the barracks was fringed with
the yellow legs and edged with the white fatigue caps of two
regiments. Even over the roofs and tower of the church itself specks
of sight-seers were spattered here and there, as if the joyous wind in
some mad frolic had caught them up in very glee, and as suddenly
showered them on cornice, sill, and dome.
Beyond all this, away out on the lagoon, toward the islands, the red-
sailed fishing-boats hurried in for the finish, their canvas aflame
against the deepening blue. Over all the sunlight danced and blazed
and shimmered, gilding and bronzing the roof-jewels of San Marco,
flashing from oar blade, brass, and ferro, silvering the pigeons
whirling deliriously in the intoxicating air, making glad and gay and
happy every soul who breathed the breath of this joyous Venetian
day.
None of all this was lost upon the Professor. He stood in the bow
drinking in the scene, sweeping his glass round like a weather-vane,
straining his eyes up the Giudecca to catch the first glimpse of the
coming boats, picking out faces under flaunting parasols, and waving
aloft his yellow rag when some gondola swept by flying Pietro’s
colors, or some boat-load of friends saluted in passing.
Suddenly there came down on the shifting wind, from far up the
Giudecca, a sound like the distant baying of a pack of hounds, and
as suddenly died away. Then the roar of a thousand throats, caught
up by a thousand more about us, broke on the air, as a boatman,
perched on a masthead, waved his hat.
“Here they come! Viva Pietro! Viva Pasquale!—Castellani!—Nicoletti!
—Pietro!”
The dense mass rose and fell in undulations, like a great carpet
being shaken, its colors tossing in the sunlight. Between the thicket
of ferros, away down the silver ribbon, my eye caught two little
specks of yellow capping two white figures. Behind these, almost in
line, were two similar dots of blue; farther away other dots, hardly
distinguishable, on the horizon line.
The gale became a tempest—the roar was deafening; women waved
their shawls in the air; men, swinging their hats, shouted themselves
hoarse. The yellow specks developed into handkerchiefs bound to
the heads of Pietro and his brother Marco; the blues were those of
Pasquale and his mate.
Then, as we strain our eyes, the two tails of the sea-monster twist
and clash together, closing in upon the string of rowers as they
disappear in the dip behind San Giorgio, only to reappear in full
sight, Pietro half a length ahead, straining every sinew, his superb
arms swinging like a flail, his lithe body swaying in splendid,
springing curves, the water rushing from his oar blade, his brother
bending aft in perfect rhythm.
“Pietro! Pietro!” came the cry, shrill and clear, drowning all other
sounds, and a great field of yellow burst into flower all over the
lagoon, from San Giorgio to the Garden. The people went wild. If
before there had been only a tempest, now there was a cyclone. The
waves of blue and yellow surged alternately above the heads of the
throng as Pasquale or Pietro gained or lost a foot. The Professor
grew red and pale by turns, his voice broken to a whisper with
continued cheering, the yellow rag streaming above his head, all the
blood of his ancestors blazing in his face.
The contesting boats surged closer. You could now see the rise and
fall of Pietro’s superb chest, the steel-like grip of his hands, and
could outline the curves of his thighs and back. The ends of the
yellow handkerchief, bound close about his head, were flying in the
wind. His stroke was long and sweeping, his full weight on the oar;
Pasquale’s stroke was short and quick, like the thrust of a spur.
Now they are abreast. Pietro’s eyes are blazing—Pasquale’s teeth
are set. Both crews are doing their utmost. The yells are demoniac.
Even the women are beside themselves with excitement.
Suddenly, when within five hundred yards of the goal, Pasquale
turns his head to his mate; there is an answering cry, and then, as if
some unseen power had lent its strength, Pasquale’s boat shoots
half a length ahead, slackens, falls back, gains again, now an inch,
now a foot, now clear of Pietro’s bow, and on, on, lashing the water,
surging forward, springing with every gain, cheered by a thousand
throats, past the red tower of San Giorgio, past the channel of spiles
off the Garden, past the red buoy near the great warship,—one
quick, sustained, blistering stroke,—until the judge’s flag drops from
his hand, and the great race is won.
“A true knight, a gentleman every inch of him,” called out the
Professor, forgetting that he had staked all his soldi on Pietro. “Fairly
won, Pasquale.”
In the whirl of the victory, I had forgotten Pietro, my gondolier of the
morning. The poor fellow was sitting in the bow of his boat, his head
in his hands, wiping his forehead and throat, the tears streaming
down his cheeks. His brother sat beside him. In the gladness and
disappointment of the hour, no one of the crowd around him seemed
to think of the hero of five minutes before. Not so Giorgio, who was
beside himself with grief over Pietro’s defeat, and who had not taken
his eyes from his face. In an instant more he sprang forward, calling
out, “No! no! Brava Pietro!” Espero joining in as if with a common
impulse, and both forcing their gondolas close to Pietro’s.
A moment more and Giorgio was over the rail of Pietro’s boat,
patting his back, stroking his head, comforting him as you would
think only a woman could—but then you do not know Giorgio. Pietro
lifted up his face and looked into Giorgio’s eyes with an expression
so woe-begone, and full of such intense suffering, that Giorgio
instinctively flung his arm around the great, splendid fellow’s neck.
Then came a few broken words, a tender caressing stroke of
Giorgio’s hand, a drawing of Pietro’s head down on his breast as if it
had been a girl’s, and then, still comforting him—telling him over and
over again how superbly he had rowed, how the next time he would
win, how he had made a grand second—
Giorgio bent his head—and kissed him.
When Pietro, a moment later, pulled himself together and stood erect
in his boat, with eyes still wet, the look on his face was as firm and
determined as ever.
Nobody laughed. It did not shock the crowd; nobody thought Giorgio
unmanly or foolish, or Pietro silly or effeminate. The infernal Anglo-
Saxon custom of always wearing a mask of reserve, if your heart
breaks, has never reached these people.
As for the Professor, who looked on quietly, I think—yes, I am quite
sure—that a little jewel of a tear squeezed itself up through his
punctilious, precise, ever exact and courteous body, and glistened
long enough on his eyelids to wet their lashes. Then the bright sun
and the joyous wind caught it away. Dear old relic of a by-gone time!
How gentle a heart beats under your well-brushed, threadbare coat!
SOME VENETIAN CAFFÈS
VERY one in Venice has his own particular caffè, according
to his own particular needs, sympathies, or tastes. All the
artists, architects, and musicians meet at Florian’s; all the
Venetians go to the Quadri; the Germans and late
Austrians, to the Bauer-Grünwald; the stay-over-nights, to the
Oriental on the Riva; the stevedores, to the Veneta Marina below the
Arsenal; and my dear friend Luigi and his fellow-tramps, to a little
hole in the wall on the Via Garibaldi.

A LITTLE HOLE IN THE WALL ON THE VIA GARIBALDI

These caffès are scattered everywhere, from the Public Garden to
the Mestre bridge; all kinds of caffès for all kinds of people—rich, not
so rich, poor, poorer, and the very poorest. Many of them serve only
a cup of coffee, two little flat lumps of sugar, a hard, brown roll, and a
glass of water—always a glass of water. Some add a few syrups and
cordials, with a siphon of seltzer. Others indulge in the cheaper
wines of the country, Brindisi, Chianti, and the like, and are then
known as wine-shops. Very few serve any spirits, except a spoonful
of cognac with the coffee. Water is the universal beverage, and in
summer this is cooled by ice and enriched by simple syrups of
peach, orange, and raspberry. Spirits are rarely taken and
intemperance is practically unknown. In an experience of many
years, I have not seen ten drunken men,—never one drunken
woman,—and then only in September, when the strong wine from
Brindisi is brought in bulk and sold over the boat’s rail, literally by the
bucket, to whoever will buy.
In the ristoranti—caffès, in our sense—is served an array of eatables
that would puzzle the most expert of gourmands. There will be
macaroni, of course, in all forms, and risotto in a dozen different
ways, and soups with weird, uncanny little devil-fish floating about in
them, and salads of every conceivable green thing that can be
chopped up in a bowl and drowned in olive oil; besides an
assortment of cheeses with individualities of perfume that beggar
any similar collection outside of Holland.
Some of these caffès are so much a part of Venice and Venetian life,
that you are led to believe that they were founded by the early Doges
and are coëval with the Campanile or the Library. Somebody, of
course, must know when they first began setting out tables on the
piazza in front of Florian’s, or at the Quadri opposite, or yet again at
the Caffè al Cavallo, near San Giovanni e Paulo, and at scores of
others; but I confess I do not. If you ask the head waiter, who really
ought to know (for he must have been born in one of the upper
rooms—he certainly never leaves the lower ones), he shrugs his
shoulders in a hopeless way and sheds the inquiry with a despairing
gesture, quite as if you had asked who laid out San Marco, or who
drove the piles under Saint Theodore.
There is, I am convinced, no real, permanent, steady proprietor in
any of these caffès—none that one ever sees. There must be, of
course, somebody who assumes ownership, and who for a time
really believes that he has a proprietary interest in the chairs and
tables about him. After a while, however, he gets old and dies, and is
buried over in Campo Santo, and even his name is forgotten. When
this happens, and it is eminently proper that it should, another tenant
takes possession, quite as the pigeons do of an empty carving over
the door of the king’s palace.
But the caffè keeps on: the same old marble-top tables; the same old
glass-covered pictures, with the impossible Turkish houris listening
to the improbable gentleman in baggy trousers; the same serving-
counter, with the row of cordials in glass bottles with silver stoppers.
The same waiters, too, hurry about—they live on for centuries—
wearing the same coats and neckties, and carrying the same
napkins. I myself have never seen a dead waiter, and, now I happen
to think of it, I have never heard of one.
The head waiter is, of course, supreme. He it is who adds up on his
fingers the sum of your extravagances, who takes your money and
dives down into his own pocket for the change. He and his assistants
are constantly running in and out, vanishing down subterranean
stairs, or disappearing through swinging doors, with the agility of
Harlequin; you never know where or why, until they pop out again,
whirling trays held high over their heads, or bearing in both hands
huge waiters loaded with dishes.
The habitués of these caffès are as interesting as the caffès
themselves. The Professor comes, of course; you always know
where to find him. And the youthful Contessa! She of the uncertain
age, with hair bleached to a light law-calf, and a rose-colored veil!
And here comes, too, every distinguished or notorious person of high
or low degree at the moment in Venice; you have only to take a chair
at Florian’s and be patient—they are sure to appear before the music
is over. There is the sister of the Archduke, with the straight-backed,
pipe-stem-legged officer acting as gentleman-in-waiting; and he
does wait, standing bolt upright like a sergeant on dress parade,
sometimes an hour, for her to sit down. There is the Spanish
Grandee, with a palace for the season (an upper floor with an
entrance on a side canal), whose gondoliers wear flaming scarlet,
with a crest embossed on brass dinner-plates for arm ornaments;
one of these liveried attendants always dogs the Grandee to the
caffè, so as to be ready to pull his chair out when his Excellency sits
down. Then there are the Royal Academician, in gray tweed
knickerbockers, traveling incognito with two friends; the fragments of
an American linen-duster brigade, with red guide-books and faces, in
charge of a special agent; besides scores of others of every
nationality and rank. They are all at Florian’s some time during the
day.
You will see there, too, if you are familiar with the inside workings of
a favorite caffè, an underground life of intrigue or mystery, in which
Gustavo or Florio has a hand—often upon a billet-doux concealed
within the folds of a napkin; not to mention the harmless distribution,
once in a while, of smuggled cigarettes fresh from Cairo.
Poor Gustavo! The government brought him to book not long ago.
For many years he had supplied his patrons, and with delicious
Egyptians, too! One night Gustavo disappeared, escorted by two
gendarmes from the Department of Justice. Next morning the judge
said: “Whereas, according to the accounts kept by the Department of
Customs, the duties and expenses due the king on the cigarettes
unlawfully sold by the prisoner for years past aggregate two
thousand three hundred and ten lire; and whereas, the savings of the
prisoner for ten years past, and at the moment deposited to his
individual credit in the Banco Napoli, amount to exactly two thousand
three hundred and ten lire; therefore, it is ordered, that a sight draft
for the exact amount be drawn in favor of the king.” This would
entitle Gustavo to the pure air of the piazza; otherwise?—well,
otherwise not. Within a week Gustavo was again whirling his tray—a
little grayer, perhaps, and a little wiser; certainly poorer. Thus does a
tyrannical government oppress its people!
These caffès of the piazza, with their iced carafes, white napkins,
and little silver coffee-pots, are the caffès of the rich.
The caffè of the poor is sometimes afloat. No matter how early you
are out in the morning, this floating caffè—the cook-boat—has its fire
lighted, and the savory smell of its cuisine drifts over the lagoon, long
before your gondola rounds the Dogana. When you come alongside
you find a charcoal brazier heating a pan of savory fish and a large
pot of coffee, and near by a basketful of rolls, fresh and warm, from a
still earlier baker. There are peaches, too, and a hamper of figs. The
cook-boat is tended by two men; one cooks and serves, and the
other rows, standing in the stern, looking anxiously for customers,
and calling out in stentorian tones that all the delicacies of the
season are now being fried, broiled, and toasted, and that for the
infinitesimal sum of ten soldi you can breakfast like a doge.
If you are just out of the lagoon, your blood tingling with the touch of
the sea, your face aglow with your early morning bath, answer the
cry of one of these floating kitchens, and eat a breakfast with the
rising sun lighting your forehead and the cool breath of the lagoon
across your cheek. It may be the salt air and the early plunge that
make the coffee so savory, the fish and rolls so delicious, and the
fruit so refreshing; or it may be because the fish were wriggling in the
bottom of the boat half an hour earlier, the coffee only at the first
boiling, and the fruit, bought from a passing boat, still damp with the
night’s dew!
The caffè of the poorest is wherever there is a crowd. It generally
stands on three iron legs under one of the trees down the Via
Garibaldi, or over by the landing of the Dogana, or beneath the
shade of some awning, or up a back court. The old fellow who bends
over the hot earthen dish, supported on these legs, slowly stirring a
mess of kidneys or an indescribable stew, is cook, head waiter, and
proprietor all in one. Every now and then he fishes out some delicate
tidbit—a miniature octopus, perhaps (called fulpe), a little sea-horror,
all legs and claws, which he sprawls out on a bit of brown paper and
lays on the palm of your left hand, assuming, clearly, that you have
all the knives and forks that you need, on your right.
Once in a while a good Bohemian discovers some out-of-the-way
place up a canal or through a twisted calle that delights him with its
cuisine, its cellar, or its cosiness, and forever after he preëmpts it as
his caffè. I know half a dozen such discoveries—one somewhere
near San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, where the men play bowls in a
long, narrow alley, under wide-spreading trees, cramped up between
high buildings; and another, off the Merceria, where the officers
smoke and lounge; and still another, quite my own—the Caffè
Calcina. This last is on the Rio San Vio, and looks out on the
Giudecca, just below San Rosario. You would never suspect it of
being a caffè at all, until you had dodged under the little roof of the
porch to escape the heat, and opening the side door found yourself
in a small, plainly furnished room with little marble-top tables, each
decorated with a Siamese-twin salt-cellar holding a pinch of salt and
of pepper. Even then it is a very common sort of caffè, and not at all
the place you would care to breakfast in twice; that is, not until you
had followed the demure waiter through a narrow passage and out
into a square patio splashed with yellow-green light and cooled by
overlacing vines. Then you realize that this same square patch of
ground is one of the few restful spots of the wide earth.
It is all open to the sky except for a great arbor of grape leaves
covering the whole area, beneath which, on the cool, moist ground,
stand half a dozen little tables covered with snow-white cloths. At
one side is a shelter, from behind which come certain mysterious
noises of fries and broils. All about are big, green-painted boxes of
japonicas, while at one end the oleanders thrust their top branches
through the overhanging leaves of the arbor, waving their blossoms
defiantly in the blazing sun. Beneath this grateful shelter you sit and
loaf and invite your soul, and your best friend, too, if he happens to
be that sort of a man.
After having congratulated yourself on your discovery and having
become a daily habitué of the delightful patio, you find that you have
really discovered the Grand Canal or the Rialto bridge. To your great
surprise, the Caffè Calcina has been the favorite resort of good
Bohemians for nearly a century. You learn that Turner painted his
sunset sketches from its upper windows, and that dozens of more
modern English painters have lived in the rooms above; that Whistler
and Rico and scores of others have broken bread and had
toothsome omelets under its vines; and, more precious than all, that
Ruskin and Browning have shared many a bottle of honest Chianti
with these same oleanders above their heads, and this, too, in the
years when the Sage of Brantwood was teaching the world to love
his Venice, and the great poet was singing songs that will last as
long as the language.
ON THE HOTEL STEPS
F you drink your early coffee as I do, in the garden under the
oleanders, overlooking the water-landing of the hotel, and
linger long enough over your fruit, you will conclude before
many days that a large part of the life of Venice can be
seen from the hotel steps. You may behold the great row of gondolas
at the traghetto near by, ranged side by side, awaiting their turn, and
here and there, tied to the spiles outside the line, the more fortunate
boats whose owners serve some sight-seer by the week, or some
native padrone by the month, and are thus free of the daily routine of
the traghetto, and free, too, from our old friend Joseph’s summoning
voice.
You will be delighted at the good-humor and good-fellowship which
animate this group of gondoliers; their ringing songs and hearty
laughter; their constant care of the boats, their daily sponging and
polishing; and now and then, I regret to say, your ears will be
assailed by a quarrel, so fierce, so loud, and so full of vindictive
energy, that you will start from your seat in instant expectation of the
gleam of a stiletto, until by long experience you learn how harmless
are both the bark and bite of a gondolier, and how necessary as a
safety-valve, to accused and accuser as well, is the unlimited air-
space of the Grand Canal.
You will also come into closer contact with Joseph, prince among
porters, and patron saint of this Traghetto of Santa Salute. There is
another Saint, of course, shaded by its trellised vines, framed in
tawdry gilt, protected from the weather by a wooden hood, and
lighted at night by a dim lamp hanging before it—but, for all that,
Joseph is supreme as protector, refuge, and friend.
Joseph, indeed, is more than this. He is the patron saint and father
confessor of every wayfarer, of whatever tongue. Should a copper-
colored gentleman mount the steps of the hotel landing, attired in
calico trousers, a short jacket of pea-green silk, and six yards of bath
toweling about his head, Joseph instantly addresses him in broken
Hindostanee, sending his rattan chairs and paper boxes to a room
overlooking the shady court, and placing a boy on the rug outside,
ready to spring when the copper-colored gentleman claps his hands.
Does another distinguished foreigner descend from the gondola,
attended by two valets with a block-tin trunk, half a score of hat-
boxes, bags, and bundles, four umbrellas, and a dozen sticks,
Joseph at once accosts him in most excellent English, and has
ordered a green-painted tub rolled into his room before he has had
time to reach the door of his apartment. If another equally
distinguished traveler steps on the marble slab, wearing a Bond
Street ulster, a slouch hat, and a ready-made summer suit, with
yellow shoes, and carrying an Alpine staff (so useful in Venice)
branded with illegible letters chasing each other spirally up and down
the wooden handle, Joseph takes his measure at a glance. He
knows it is his first trip “en Cook,” and that he will want the earth, and
instantly decides that so far as concerns himself he shall have it,
including a small, round, convenient little portable which he
immediately places behind the door to save the marble hearth. So
with the titled Frenchman, wife, maid, and canary bird; the haughty
Austrian, his sword in a buckskin bag; the stolid German with the
stout helpmate and one satchel, or the Spaniard with two friends and
no baggage at all.
Joseph knows them all—their conditions, wants, economics,
meannesses, escapades, and subterfuges. Does he not remember
how you haggled over the price of your room, and the row you made
when your shoes were mixed up with the old gentleman’s on the
floor above? Does he not open the door in the small hours, when
you slink in, the bell sounding like a tocsin at your touch? Is he not
rubbing his eyes and carrying the candle that lights you down to the
corridor door, the only exit from the hotel after midnight, when you
had hoped to escape by the garden, and dare not look up at the
balcony above?
Here also you will often meet the Professor. Indeed, he is
breakfasting with me in this same garden this very morning. It is the
first time I have seen him since the memorable day of the regatta,
when Pasquale won the prize and the old fellow lost his soldi.
He has laid aside his outing costume—the short jacket, beribboned
hat, and huge field-glass—and is gracing my table clothed in what he
is pleased to call his “garb of tuition,” worn to-day because of a pupil
who expects him at nine o’clock; “a horrid old German woman from
Prague,” he calls her. This garb is the same old frock-coat of many
summers, the well-ironed silk hat, and the limp glove dangling from
his hand or laid like a crumpled leaf on the cloth beside him. The
coat, held snug to the waist by a single button, always bulges out
over the chest, the two frogs serving as pockets. From these depths,
near the waist-line, the Professor now and then drags up a great silk
handkerchief, either red or black as the week’s wash may permit, for
I have never known of his owning more than two!
To-day, below the bulge of this too large handkerchief swells yet
another enlargement, to which my guest, tapping it significantly with
his finger-tips, refers in a most mysterious way as “a very great
secret,” but without unbosoming to me either its cause or its mystery.
When the cigarettes are lighted he drops his hand deep into his one-
buttoned coat, unloads the handkerchief, and takes out a little
volume bound in vellum, a book he had promised me for weeks. This
solves the mystery and effaces the bulge.
One of the delights of knowing the Professor well is to see him
handle a book that he loves. He has a peculiar way of smoothing the
sides before opening it, as one would a child’s hand, and of always
turning the leaves as though he were afraid of hurting the back,
caressing them one by one with his fingers, quite as a bird plumes its
feathers. And he is always bringing a new book to light; one of his
charming idiosyncrasies is the hunting about in odd corners for just
such odd volumes.
“Out of print now, my dear fellow. You can’t buy it for money. This is
the only copy in Venice that I could borrow for love. See the chapters
on these very fellows—these gondoliers,” pointing to the traghetto.
“Sometimes, when I hear their quarrels, I wonder if they ever
remember that their guild is as old as the days of the Doges, a fossil
survival, unique, perhaps, in the history of this or of any other
country.”
While the Professor nibbles at the crescents and sips his coffee,
pausing now and then to read me passages taken at random from
the little volume in his hands, I watch the procession of gondolas
from the traghetto, like a row of cabs taking their turn, as Joseph’s “a
una” or “due” rings out over the water. One after another they steal
noiselessly up and touch the water-steps, Joseph helping each party
into its boat: the German Baroness with the two poodles and a silk
parasol; the poor fellow from the Engadine, with the rugs and an
extra overcoat, his mother’s arm about him—not many more
sunshiny days for him; the bevy of joyous young girls in summer
dresses and sailor hats, and the two college boys in white flannels,
the chaperone in the next boat. “Ah, these sweet young Americans,
these naïve countrywomen of yours!” whispers the Professor; “how
exquisitely bold!” Last, the painter, with his trap and a big canvas,
which he lifts in as carefully as if it had a broken rib, and then turns
quickly face in; “an old dodge,” you say to yourself; “unfinished, of
course!”
Presently a tall, finely formed gondolier in dark blue, with a red sash,
whirls the ferro of his boat close to the landing-steps, and a graceful,
dignified woman, past middle life, but still showing traces of great
beauty, steps in, and sinks upon the soft cushions.
The Professor rises like a grand duke receiving a princess, brings
one arm to a salute, places the other over his heart, and makes a
bow that carries the conviction of profound respect and loyalty in its
every curve. The lady acknowledges it with a gracious bend of her
head, and a smile which shows her appreciation of its sincerity.
“An English lady of rank who spends her Octobers here,” says the
Professor, when he regains his seat. He had remained standing until
the gondola had disappeared—such old-time observances are part
of his religion.
“Did you notice her gondolier? That is Giovanni, the famous
oarsman. Let me tell you the most delicious story! Oh, the childish
simplicity of these men! You would say, would you not, that he was
about forty years of age? You saw, too, how broad and big he was?
Well, mon ami, not only is he the strongest oarsman in Venice, but
he has proved it, for he has won the annual regatta, the great one on
the Grand Canal, for five consecutive summers! This, you know,
gives him the title of ‘Emperor.’ Now, there is a most charming
Signora whom he has served for years,—she always spends her
summers here,—whom, I assure you, Giovanni idolizes, and over
whom he watches exactly as if she were both his child and his
queen. Well, one day last year,” here the Professor’s face cracked
into lines of suppressed mirth, “Giovanni asked for a day’s leave,
and went over to Mestre to bid good-by to some friends en route for
Milan. The Brindisi wine—the vina forte—oh, that devilish wine! you
know it!—had just reached Mestre. It only comes in September, and
lasts but a few weeks. Of course Giovanni must have his grand
outing, and three days later Signor Giovanni-the-Strong presented
himself again at the door of the apartment of his Signora, sober, but
limp as a rag. The Signora, grand dame as she was, refused to see
him, sending word by her maid that she would not hear a word from
him until the next day. Now, what do you think this great strong fellow
did? He went home, threw himself on the bed, turned his face to the
wall, and for half the night cried like a baby! Think of it! like a baby!
His wife could not get him to eat a mouthful.
“The next day, of course, the Signora forgave him. There was
nothing else to be done, for, as she said to me afterwards, ‘What?
Venice without Giovanni! Mon Dieu!’”
The Professor throws away the end of his last cigarette and begins
gathering up his hat and the one unmated, lonely glove. No living
soul ever yet saw him put this on. Sometimes he thrusts in his two
fingers, as if fully intending to bury his entire hand, and then you see
an expression of doubt and hesitancy cross his face, denoting a
change of mind, as he crumples it carelessly, or pushes it into his
coat-tail pocket to keep company with its fictitious mate.
At this moment Espero raises his head out of his gondola
immediately beneath us. Everything is ready, he says: the sketch
trap, extra canvas, fresh siphon of seltzer, ice, fiasco of Chianti,
Gorgonzola, all but the rolls, which he will get at the baker’s on our
way over to the Giudecca, where I am to work on the sketch begun
yesterday.
“Ah, that horrid old German woman from Prague!” sighs the
Professor. “If I could only go with you!”
OPEN-AIR MARKETS
OMETIMES, in early autumn, on the lagoon behind the
Redentore, you may overtake a curious craft, half barge,
half gondola, rowed by a stooping figure in cowl and frock.
Against the glow of the fading twilight this quaint figure, standing in
the stern of his flower-laden boat, swaying to the rhythm of his oar,
will recall so vividly the time when that other
“Dumb old servitor ... went upward with the flood,”
that you cannot help straining your eyes in a vain search for the fair
face of the lily maid of Astolat hidden among the blossoms. Upon
looking closer you discover that it is only the gardener of the convent
grounds, on his way to the market above the Rialto.

PONTE PAGLIA ... NEXT THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS

If you continue on, crossing the Giudecca, or if you happen to be
coming from Murano or the Lido, you will pass dozens of other
boats, loaded to the water’s edge with baskets upon baskets of
peaches, melons, and figs, or great heaps of green vegetables,
dashed here and there with piles of blood-red tomatoes. All these
boats are pointing their bows towards the Ponte Paglia, the bridge
on the Riva between the Doges’ Palace and the prison, the one next
the Bridge of Sighs. Here, in the afternoons preceding market days,
they unship their masts or rearrange their cargoes, taking off the top
baskets if too high to clear the arch. Ponte Paglia is the best point of
entrance from the Grand Canal, because it is the beginning of that
short cut, through a series of smaller canals, to the fruit market
above the Rialto bridge. The market opens at daybreak.
Many of these boats come from Malamocco, on the south, a small
island this side of Chioggia, and from beyond the island known as
the Madonna of the Seaweed, named after a curious figure sheltered
by a copper umbrella. Many of them come from Torcello, that most
ancient of the Venetian settlements, and from the fruit-raising country
back of it, for all Torcello is one great orchard, with every landing-
wharf piled full of its products. Here you can taste a fig so delicately
ripe that it fairly melts in your mouth, and so sensitive that it withers
and turns black almost with the handling. Here are rose-pink
peaches the size of small melons, and golden melons the size of
peaches. Here are pomegranates that burst open from very
lusciousness, and white grapes that hang in masses, and melons
and plums in heaps, and all sorts of queer little round things that you
never taste but once, and never want to taste again.
These fruit gardens and orchards in the suburbs of Venice express
the very waste and wantonness of the climate. There is no order in
setting out the fruit, no plan in growing, no system in gathering. The
trees thrive wherever they happen to have taken root—here a peach,
here a pear, there a pomegranate. The vines climb the trunks and
limbs, or swing off to tottering poles and crumbling walls. The
watermelons lie flat on their backs in the blazing sun, flaunting their
big leaves in your face, their tangled creepers in everybody’s way
and under everybody’s feet. The peaches cling in matted clusters,
and the figs and plums weigh down the drooping branches.
If you happen to have a lira about you, and own besides a bushel
basket, you can exchange the coin for that measure of peaches. Two
lire will load your gondola half full of melons; three lire will pack it
with grapes; four lire—well, you must get a larger boat.
When the boats are loaded at the orchards and poled through the
grass-lined canals, reaching the open water of the lagoon, escaping
the swarms of naked boys begging backsheesh of fruit from their
cargoes, you will notice that each craft stops at a square box,
covered by an awning and decorated with a flag, anchored out in the
channel, or moored to a cluster of spiles. This is the Dogana of the
lagoon, and every basket, crate, and box must be inspected and
counted by the official in the flat cap with the tarnished gilt band, who
commands this box of a boat, for each individual peach, plum, and
pear must help pay its share of the public debt.
This floating custom-house is one of many beads, strung at intervals
a mile apart, completely encircling Venice. It is safe to say that
nothing that crows, bleats, or clucks, nothing that feeds, clothes, or is
eaten, ever breaks through this charmed circle without leaving some
portion of its value behind. This creditor takes its pound of flesh the
moment it is due, and has never been known to wait.
Where the deep-water channels are shifting, and there is a
possibility of some more knowing and perhaps less honest market
craft slipping past in the night, a government deputy silently steals
over the shallow lagoon in a rowboat, sleeping in his blanket, his
hand on his musket, and rousing at the faintest sound of rowlock or
sail. Almost hourly one of these night-hawks overhauls other strollers
of the lagoon in the by-passages outside the city limits—some
smuggler, with cargo carefully covered, or perhaps a pair of lovers in
a gondola with too closely drawn tenda. There is no warning sound
to the unwary; only the gurgle of a slowly-moving oar, then the
muzzle of a breech-loader thrust in one’s eyes, behind which frowns
an ugly, determined face, peering from out the folds of a heavy boat-
cloak. It is the deputy’s way of asking for smuggled cigarettes, but it
is so convincing a way as to admit of no discussion. Ever afterward
the unfortunate victim, if he be of honest intent, cannot only detect a
police-boat from a fishing yawl, but remembers also to keep a light
burning in his lamp-socket forward, as evidence of his honesty.
When the cargoes of the market boats are inspected, the duties
paid, and the passage made under Ponte Paglia, or through the
many nameless canals if the approach is made from the Campo
Santo side of the city, the boats swarm up to the fruit market above
the Rialto, rounding up one after another, and discharging their
contents like trucks at a station, the men piling the baskets in great
mounds on the broad stone quay.

THE FRUIT MARKET ABOVE THE RIALTO

After the inhabitants have pounced upon these heaps and mounds
and pyramids of baskets and crates, and have carried them away,
the market is swept and scoured as clean as a china plate, not even
a peach-pit being left to tell the tale of the morning. Then this greater
market shrinks into the smaller one, the little fruit market of the
Rialto, which is never closed, day or night.
This little market, or, rather, the broad street forming its area,—broad
for this part of Venice,—is always piled high with the products of