The motor-boat can supersede the gondola on the small canals too.

It may be urged that the gondolier has only to become an engineer and his position will be as secure.

That may be true; but we all know how insidious is the deteriorating influence of petrol on the human character.

The gondolier even now is not always a model of courtesy and content; what will he be when the poison of machinery is in him?
But there are graver reasons why the motor-boat should be viewed by the city fathers with suspicion.

One is purely aesthetic, yet not the less weighty for that, since the prosperity of Venice in her decay resides in her romantic beauty and associations.