The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy

by Eulalie Osgood Grover

Sometimes an especially brave little pigeon would stand on one of the pretty sunbonnets, turning his head about very proudly to be sure that everyone was seeing him. But the pigeon was no prouder than the little girl under the bonnet, who stood very still lest she frighten the pretty thing away.

There are very few dogs or cats in Venice, so the pigeons have nothing to fear. They are the pets of the whole city, and they sleep in the prettiest places near the tops of the buildings.

The great bronze horses at the Cathedral of St. Mark

There are only four horses in the city, too, and they are great bronze horses two thousand years old. They have stood above the doorway of the beautiful Cathedral of St. Mark, on one side of the piazza, more than seven hundred years. Napoleon carried them off to Paris and placed them on top of a fine arch there, where they stayed for eighteen years, but at last they were returned to Venice.

During the World War these famous horses were taken down again and hidden away in a safe place where bombs and robbers might not touch them.

Now once more they are standing above the beautiful doorway, with the pretty pigeons flying lovingly about them.

There were many other things on the big piazza, aside from the doves and the horses, which interested the Sunbonnet Babies. There was a strange old Clock Tower which has been standing there since the time Columbus discovered America. Two big bronze men stand on top of the tower and strike the hours on a great bell with their heavy hammers. First one man raises his hammer and strikes the bell and then the other man strikes it, until the right hour has been struck, from one to twenty-four o'clock, which is midnight.

It seemed strange for Molly and May to go to bed at nineteen o'clock instead of seven, but that was what they did in Italy, for there the clock faces have twenty-four hours on them instead of twelve.

There is another tower on the piazza, too, much taller than the Clock Tower. It is the Cathedral Bell Tower, and it stands nearly in front of the beautiful cathedral.