HOW VENICE IS
* BEING DEFENDED
before Menace of Modern
Hun, Lagoons To-day Are
Practically Emptied
With the French Army In Italy.
—Before the menace of the modern
Hun, Venice, whose lagoons con-
ago furnished an asylum of
_ifety for refugees fleeing front Atll
la, is to-day almost emptied. Of the
160,000 persons who ordinarily In
habit the city, only about 1,000 re
main. But this is not because Ven
ice fears for her own protection.
Across the battlefield of the reeds
is bellevsd that no invader will
penetrate to the islands of the Ve
netian lagoon. The city puts her
trust In the lagoons as confidently
an she trusted to the sea in olden
times.
To the visitor in Venice these days
when the invading army lies only a
short march distant, one of the odd
memories of the war will be that of
the music of the great guns boom-
Inn from Ltdl and the nests of reedy
islets in the northern lagoon. That
accompanies you all day in Venice.
The Queen of the Adriatichas her
face to the foe. She has shut her
shops and sent her merchandise
away.. The army or the navy have
taken her young men. Those that
remain have bricked up or sand
bagged her churches and monuments
and now await the issue in entire
calm, confident that, although the
enemy is no more than a long gun
shot away, it Is not at her own gates
that Venice is menaced.
From Burano, a motorboat takes
you through a maze of clfannels Into
the canal Silone, where you thread
your way between reed-covered
banks toward the mainland. You
can see nothing but the channel and
the reeds. There Is not a roof nor
a spire in sight. We are getting up
to what may be called the artillery
defense line of Venice. On the way
we passed a British monitor with
her big guns pointed inland. The
coast batteries and big gun mon
itors constitute another defense line.
Here In the salt channel between the
Islands we come suddenly upon a
floating battery or pontoon, as the
Italians call them. It is a big steel
barge mounting a gun which has
been steadily pounding the Austrlans
on the Piave Vecchia all night. She
Is manned by sailors, for tho artil
lery defense of Venice is entirely
in the hands of the navy.
From Porte Grand!, as far as the
eye can see the land is covered
with a waste of muddy water, two
rows of half-submerged willows
marking out the fields which it cov
ers. and here and there an isolated
clump of farm buildings emerging
from the floods. We are here on
the edge of the Piave inundations
and in another naval artillery de
fense belt. High-banked roads, dikes
and farm houses are all that re
main above water. Some of these
farm house islands are held by Aus
trlans and some by Italians, and it
is the aim of both sides to destroy
the farms held by the enemy. A
few nights ago some Italian sailors
undertook a cutting out expedition
against one of the Austrian islands,
captured and burned the buildings
and came back with Austrian pris
oners.
Nothing more dismal can be imag
ined than this battlefield amoncr the
reeds, except the awful desolation
of the Flanders front. Unending
water, half-drowned willows and
farm houses under a bitter winter
sky compose about as melancholy a
picture as even war presents. On
many of the islands formed by the
release of the floods to protect Ven
ice are brave families clinging: to
their homes in the hope that 1918
will see the Invader thrown back.
On this sector the Italians have a
superiority of artillery. It is at
night that the Italian guns do their
hardest work. At night the Aus
trlans always attempt to construct
field works or to lay bridges of boats
across the Piave Vecchia to the ca
nals. They take a number of boats,
tie them together and swing them
out from one hank, trusting to the
current to float them into place on
the other side. It Is the business of
the Italian floating batteries to drive
away these bridge-builders and to
destroy the fruits of their labors,
and this they do with surprising suc
cess.
In Venice, herself, I have seen no
sign of actual damage, except a hole
torn in the roof of San Giovanni and
San Paolo by an Austrian airplane
bomb. The front of San Marco and
the pillars of the Doge's Palace have
been bricked up so that nothing of
them remains visible. The same
precautions have been taken with
the famous statue of Colleont and,
in fact, with all the monuments of
the town that can be so protected.
In the Piazsa dl San Marco almost
all the shops are closed, but a num
ber are still open In the Meroorla,
and, Although almost all the gon
dolas have vanlshod. It is possible to
find one to tike you up the Grand
Canal.
Di/ yfinand King, I
tnd M'ral
>RY WOMAN > !
EVERY MOTHER j
EVERY DAUGHTER
ITtEjDS IJ?IO.N
ATATIMES
ToJoutTtrtneth Into Tier nervei j
and color into her.cheeky
* jjiyZ&Sui
Vh •
Mantek <>\ I, rl I
did Car more * "
harm than roofl.. Today doetora'pra
•crlb# oreinlo . Iran— Xuxated Iron.
>riil* particular form of Iron la Malty
"•aaslmtlated, rises not Mafken. nor In-
I Jura tho leeth nor upeer the atomaoh.
lit will Inoraaae tho utrenith;and en-1
I durance < of i weak, >■ nervous, " Irritable. ]
! <*rsoni, I haciard looklnc woman IM|
I oar cent In two weeks' time In on any I
1 Inatanooa,* I bava used It lA my own I
k \OTII NUXATHB IAOM recomWaajr j,
V X* by Or, Ferdinand Kino oan bttX /
I\ X from any good drugjlet wlr Jr\
Clear tho * oleo—ttelrltl) railcre
Hoararneaa, Coa(k), Sore V'kroai,
Uronrliltla and l.arynalti*—plraaaut
ly flavored taaehra—26c the Bos.
Gorgas Drug Stores
FRIDAY EVENING,
I u The Live Store" "Always Reliable" I
"Store Closed All Day Monday" I
■
Semi Annual |
Has been bringing out the Shirt buyers a
this week, but "Tomorrow" will be a "Big Day" I
jfr# , at this "Live Store" (or this is the greatest shirt sale you will find I
throughout central Pennsylvania and H ERE you will find plenty of S
W ■ '"Manhattans" j
in every quality and coloring—this is the Manhattan store of
Harrisburg and you will always find new and desirable patterns from which to
choose. Every shirt in our entire stock is reduced and the enormous amount of high grade standard B
shirts carried in stock at all times makes DOUTRICHS the favorite store when good shirts are wanted. I
| "Manchester" "Bates Street" "Manhattan Shirts" |
_ J All SI.OO "Shirts" .. . 79 c All $5.00 "Shirts" .. . $3-89 I
- All $1.50 "Shirts" . . . $1.19 All "Shirts" . . . M.89 1
' All SIJS "Shirts" .. . $1.59 All "Shirts" .. . 1
All "Shirts" . . . sllß9 All s7|s "Shirts" . . . 1
"Shirts" . . . $2-89 All s&&> "Shirts" . . . $7.89 , I
All Boys' Shirts and Blouse Waists Reduced I
| January Clothing Reductions
I All s*oo "Suits" and "Overcoats** . . . sl3 I
I All *lB "Suits" and "Overcoats" . . . s~fl |
I All s2o "Suits** and "Overcoats'* . . . siyso
I All *2s "Suits" and "Overcoats** . . . 522
| All s3o "Suits** and "Overcoats** . . . 526
I All s3s "Suits** and "Overcoats** . . . 529
HAHRDSBURG MSQI TELE6FR3CPH
JANUARY IS, 1918.
11