Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-22


was delivered in our room about an hour
after had ordered IL. 1 was beginning
to think / might as well let the hotel
furnish my fuel at five or six times the
actual cost. But having learned the
Dealers way or doing business, aud
about how much the basket would hold ,
did not deem it necessary afterward to
see it weighed, but gave my orders and
left him and his girls to take their time.
We now experienced the advantage of
keeping our little family together and
of having indoor occupations during q
portion of the time. We had not left our
home behind US; we had brought it with
US to Italy. The contrast between our
quiet and the headlong rush of tourists
"doing' one thing and then Fastening
to ''do' another made US all the more
contented with our own method. Some
had but a limited amount of time and
money, and yet wished to see everything
Others were anxious about their fam
lilies, and kept themselves and their
friends in a constant worry about letters
and kilograms and imaginary ills at
home. A feverish restlessness hurried
some along. After few days of strenu-
Gus sightseeing the most interesting
places have no more interest for them;
and with their souvenirs and photo
graphs they were gone. 1t seemed as if
their chief object was to carry away a
few purchases, to have afterwards to
show where they had been; contented
with the most superficial observations,
and mere staying to enjoy or to assimi-
late, stopping at anything. They were
like so many Wondering Jews. How
much less bother to visit fewer places,
or to try to see fewer things in place.
Better still to ramain as long in a place
as you like, quietly absorb it, and then
move on in q business way to the next.
To make this pleasant and profitable,
it is well to have some object in view be-
sides mere sightseeing. Without in
ward resources, the tourist shut up in his
hotel in bad weather is in torment. He
curses the country, or his own folly in
it in disgust, and carries away from it
the falsest impressions. We foresaw the
advantages of different course, and
our experience proved It.
The girls kept up their French studies,
reading and translating the language
while they were learning to speak it.
Their diaries and letters gave them at the
same time the best practice in English
composition. They had made some be-
ginning in drawing, of which they were
passionately fond and wished to go on
with. We accordingly applied to an
American lady, our hospitable neighbor,
herself an accomplished artist, who
would be sure to know of good teacher,
and met with delightful surprise. She
was about beginning course of lessons
TO her own daughter land would Gabrielle
and Estelle like to join and make up a
little class? OF course, they would like
nothing better, and the class was formed.
Lessons once a week, and drawing prac-
tIce at home or in the streets and suburbs
took up good deal more of their time.
Then there was their music.
AS EstelIe had studied the violin at
home under a teacher OF the German
method, we had not intended to employ
for her an Italian professor, The lady 1
have just mentioned who had found an
excellent teacher for her daughter, in
vited us to be present at a lesson, and to
hear him play. We went, saw, heard,
and were delighted. He proved to be
fine teacher and q composer of some
note-Professor Dvorsak, at the head of
the violin department in the Naples con-