The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-06-23
Miss Ferry Writes From Geneva,
SWitz erIand


nearly three days to get here, travelling
westward and so toward home all the
time. I sent you a post card from
Munchen, where spent the first night
and another from Berne where rested
the second. 1t was raining hard when
l arrived there, but otherwise had the
finest of weather. The trip over
"Boden See" was cold and windy how
ever. AS l did not leave Berne until
quite late in the morning, l had time
for nice walk in the fresh air. 1t did
me good after sitting two days in those
stuffy, smoky, hard seated cars
The way from Lausanne was grand
We came around nearly half of Lake
Geneva, and there are ranges on ranges
OF snow covered mountains all around
AS came into Geneva asked lady
If she knew whether the Poste Restante
was at the station or the central post
Officer Who did she prove to be but
the Secretary of the Young Woman's 8
Christian Association. So you see fell
into good hands at once. She told me
about the street cars 80 that l had no
trouble in finding my Pension" (board-
ing house) My room is rather small
but delightfully."- clean and the food is
much better and more varied than /
have been having in long time. For
instance, for luncheon we have macca-
roni with cheese or tomatoes, one kind
of meat, vegetables, potatoes, beans OF
spinach, with dessert of fruit and cakes.
went to the Conservatory as soon as
1 could conveniently to see the celebrat
ed violin teacher, Henri Marteau but
only to be told, HE was not to be dis
turbed, but later was called by tele
phone to go to arrange for my lessons
Marteau has charming villa, some
| what American inside in its furnish
ings He was very nice to me, and his
face frightened when 1 told him
wanted to study Interpretation, as il
that was his forte, but alasl (the added
OApCuSCI ho Sdi't IuloU nave dh dOOohi
panist in all my lessons. My frs
lesson was very satisfactory. He
taught me how to analyze composition
to grasp the composers idea and tC
avoid monotonous playing. He had me
play a concerto quite through, said
had good technique and quality of tone
and many other good points, but that
played with my instinct rather than my
reason. 1t is this intellectual study OF
music that / hope and expect to gain
from him. My second lesson was not g
success. had been having continuous
headache, and there were several people
in the room all the time. He walked
the floor, talked with his wife and play
ed with his little boy, all of which made
me very nervous, in fact he did moi
seem to pay much attention to what
was doing anyway. l do feel the
change of climate or else did not real
ize how worn out was with my win
ters work.
Mrs. Martean is dear, sweet thing
and the little boy is such an affectionate
fellow, he wants to kiss his mamma al
day long. have had to tell them how
tired was feeling and they were per
fectly charming to me and bade me take
the best of care of my health, putting
that before my lessons 1t was well
they did for the long cold, wet season
that followed, gave me touches of rheu-
matism in my shoulder and wrist which
quite prevented my practicing.
1 have taken long walks into the
country, the roads are fine and the
flowers beautiful. They train tie Wis
terra over doors and windows, 80 that
the long pendants of violet colored flow
ers make a lovely framework all around
them. Holly grows here too, it is a
shrub about as tall as man, has insig-
nificant looking flowers, cream colored
with touch of pink.
see the poorer class of women here
washing their clothes in huge stone
tanks while the cold river waters flow
in at one end and out at the other.
They lay the clothes on stones slabs and
rub them with soap, then rub them in
their hands. Whole parties are wash
ing at the same time and they gossip
merrily over their work, but how they
can endure the cold, cold water / can.
not understand
Geneva is sleepy restful place,
quiet almost to a fault. The mountain.
surround it On all sides. Mont Blanc
is in plain sight, as well as many other
snow covered peaks but they are so far
away one gets no idea of their actual
height from this place. The river
Rhone is deep and rapid, while the wa
ter is wondrously clear. The lake of
Geneva is very beautiful and there are
sail boats, steamers and launches in
abundance. There are many beauti-
full parks where / love to watch the
children. They all wear short stock
ings low shoes, and the girls wear
short sleeved dresses just like the pic
lures of long ago. A tiny bit of a boy
goes by with his fiddle box which Is as
long as he is. He wears blue ging.
ham apron and the short stockings Of