Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-04

No. 90 spoke French; ''You don t
want a smoker do you,'' said he conf
dentially. "Oh, you don't want q
smoker? Well, here's a smoker-oh,
yes-but you don't want a smoker. -
We had succeeded in convincing him on
this point and were at peace in the COM
partment, when suddenly the door
opened and the most disreputable villain
of a man, with greasy, red-bsnded
cap drawn over one of his brigandish
eyes, stuck in his head. He opened his
mouth; we shrunk to the other side of
the car; we turned cold; what was that
fearful word he uttered,
BLOOD, OR MONEY?
No, it was only sTieketsI'' and he was
a railway official making sure that we
were in the right train and compart-
ment.
The coast scenery between Venti-
miglia and Genoa is perhaps even finer
than the French Riviera; there are the
same bold, rocky promontories crowned
with ancient strongholds against the
Saraeehs; the luxurious orange and
lemon and olive groves, but here there
is occasionally an opening up in the
rocky ridges on the right hand side,
showing vistas of snow-capped Apen-
mines. The railway skirts the coast so
closely that many times it seemed that
the waves could reach the rails. French
trains are prompt to the minute, but
Italian trains spend so much time
loafing around stations that they
are always late, so that it was
nearly midnight when we were seeking
the "Alberg Trattoria del Nuovo
Confidenza' at Geneva. Not being able
to commit 1t to memory, had commit
ted 1t to paper, only to find that the cab
man was too tipsy to read. He was not
too tipsy to remember his accomplish
ments, however, and hiecoughed
"Ye-es, - his one English word, to all
our French explanations. The porter
CAME TO THE RESCUE,
as somebody always does, and next
morning we opened our eyes on bright
oolored butterflies and cupids and flow
ers, with which the ceilings of italian
hotels are invariably decorated. L will
say here that it is a matter of both COM
fort and economy to take cab, instead
of hotel omnibus; whereas the cab will
cost two francs, the cost Of two people in
the omnibus viii be three or four francs,
and the driver will hang around for
fee at your departure.
After day 3 hard work climbing the
superb marble staircase of the renais-
saince palaces, which are the glory of
quaint old Genoa, we went to the opera
in the evening; we would see the Italian
opera IN its home and in its glory. In
the front row we insisted to the ticket
man, thinking we were buying seats in
the balcony, and verify we found our
selves in the front row in front of every
thing, smack up against the fiddles and
the brass under the shadow of the stage,
and our situation was all the more
absurd because, the season being Lent,
the big barn of q theater was almost
empty. The musicians were arriving all
during the overture, and without dis
turbing the rest, they crawled into their
seats and struck up in the middle of q
phrase. They played well too; the music
at the beginning of the third act when
the maid watches beside the sick bed of
the heroine, would have been most
affecting If the chorus had not been
HAVING AN ARGUMENT
bshind the scenes at the same time. The
opera was Traviata. It was q most re-
markable company; one gay cavalier IN
particular will haunt my dreams. He
was tall and he was gaunt; he was hol-
1ow-syed and cRlfless, aud deeply,
darby serious; the wild black locks of
his ancient wig fell down into the hollow
of his cheeks; his black velvet knicker-
bockers, instead of fitting to the knee,
hung loose like trousers cut short, and
ah, the tender, naive grace Of the broad
white lace rnffle that edged those trousers
and Topped about thoss thin, pathetic
legsl
The stern PARENT was sung by snippy
youth whose powdered hair increased the
youthful pertness of his snub nose and
general behavior. Perhaps it was to in
crease his appearance of age that he ar
raYsd himself in black kid gloves they
were certainly effective, and never shall
1 forget the way in which he tripped
about tine stage with stupendous afie-
tatien of dignity, forever waving these
black kid hands in the airl The pretty
young tenor sang delightfully."-, but he
was afflicted with an
AGONY IN his LEGS;
yzhara his feps wanted n 90 fhere the