Whether they would be there did not the word go round that the steamer approached, I cannot say, but here and there the display seems a thought theatrical.

Meanwhile in their boats in the canals, or on the pavement mending nets, are the Burano men.
Everybody is dirty.

If Venice is the bride of the Adriatic, Burano is the kitchen slut.
[Illustration: VENUS, RULER OF THE WORLD FROM THE PAINTING BY GIOVANNI BELLINI _In the Accademia_] Yet there is an oasis of smiling cleanliness, and that is the chief sight of the place--the Scuola Merletti, under the patronage of Queen Margherita, the centre of the lace-making industry.

This building, which is by the church, is, outside, merely one more decayed habitation.

You pass within, past the little glass box of the custodian, whose small daughter is steering four inactive snails over the open page of a ledger, and ascend a flight of stairs, and behold you are in the midst of what seem to be thousands of girls in rows, each nursing her baby.