\ « • „ **t*. «y • • • » *N. W .^ .vr* v^ , -. 4 ° % # < » ^ * *°** 0* %. '■W :>5i a --VIVAS' » sr * ^ ^o« V^V A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD C. F. King, J] **" A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD AN AMERICAN BOY'S DIARY OF HIS FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE BY C. F. KING, Jr. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS From Photographs by the Author BOSTON THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. 1906 *&. _** LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Copies Received DEC 22 » 906 A CoDyrlffht Entry CLASS fi[ XXc, No, ■ h Copyright, 1906 The C. M. Clark Publishing Co. Boston, Mass. ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL, LONDON fa\ t lA.U % 11O » • PUBLISHERS' NOTE We suggested to young King that he reproduce the Dedication in his own handwriting .and wrote -him to this effect. His answer was so good that we thought we would tell the readers about it. It ran as follows: "I wrote out that Dedication the best I could and hope it is the correct thing, but must say I think to print it in type would look much better, for I write like a hen, and do not like the idea of writing in this book. Am afraid it will queer the book." INTRODUCTORY THIS is my first book. I have worked awfully hard to write it. It is the first time I ever tried to write a book and, of course, I do not know how well I have succeeded. It may be a terrible "frost" and then again it may "catch on." I hope it will "catch on." I lost a lot of fun writing it. Every page rep- resents good hard work and for the most part it represents work put in when the tempera- ture was up high and the weather very hot. A great deal of it was also written when I had to fight mosquitoes with one hand while I was writing with the other. In Rome, Brindisi, Athens, and Constantinople I had to do this. The insects were also bothering me when I was trying to write in Naples, but I stuck to my post and now it is finished. The pictures I made with my own camera. I am proud of the pictures because they are good. That much of my book I feel sure vi INTRODUCTORY will not be criticised very severely, because I had a good camera and everybody who has seen the pictures says that they are all right. This book is the result of a promise which I made to my father. He told me that if I would be good at school and catch up in my studies, and also if my brother Cabaniss was good and caught up in his studies, and I would agree to write a complete diary about my trip and write it every night, he would take me with him on his vacation to Europe. And so this book is the result. When I was sitting up nights, tired and weary after a day's hard sightseeing, trying as best I could to fulfil my promise, writing in my diary, I never once thought that it would be made into a book for the public to read. I wrote it because I had made a promise to father and because he wanted me to write it. I thought it would be a good keepsake and that I could refer to it in the years to come and recall the pleasant times I had on the trip. I do not know whether or not anybody will consider it one of the " 57 Varieties." I hope, however, that it will please a great many people and I believe it will interest every one INTRODUCTORY vii who has traveled in the countries mentioned in the book. I believe those who have not been abroad will enjoy reading it, and every one who goes abroad for the first time could use this book as a guide, I am sure, to good advantage by going to see the things which I have tried to describe. A trip like the one described in this book would do anybody good. It would give them an idea of the world, and when they came back they would be better Americans and love our flag better than they did before they went away. That is the way I feel about it. I am very glad I was fortunate enough to take the trip, and glad also that I kept a diary while making it. All I can say to any one who reads this book is that if you have a chance to go to Europe and see some- thing of the Old World, don't miss it. It's worth while. G. F. King, Jr. St. John's School, Manlius, N. Y., September 27, 1906. ABOARD S.S. ARABIC, Thursday, July 5, 1906. YESTERDAY my brother Cab and I packed two trunks, two dress suit cases, saw a baseball game at Winthrop in the afternoon and fireworks at Orient Heights at night. Our baggage was ready to be put aboard the Arabic to begin our bully vaca- tion trip to Europe which Papa had promised to us, and to which we had looked forward with so much pleasure and delight during our last days at school. Papa had written us that if we were real good he would take us on a vacation trip to see some of the sights of the Old World, and now we are aboard the great White Star Liner Arabic, the biggest ship that comes into Boston Harbor, and we are steaming along at a good clip for the other side. Already both Cab and I have been all over the ship. She is a beauty. There are five 2 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD great decks, and the promenade on the upper deck is wider than the sidewalk on Washing- ton Street, Boston, and extends all the way round the ship. I have already gotten acquainted with the old sailor who is deck quartermaster, and he says that to walk round this promenade ten times is equal to a mile. A great bunch of people were at the dock in Charlestown to see the Arabic sail away. Among them were Mama and my two young brothers, several people from Papa's office and some of my friends from Winthrop. The boat pulled out at 9.30, and it was a great sight to see the people on the wharf as we were leaving all waving farewells to their friends aboard the big ship. The people in Papa's office and other friends sent great baskets of flowers for our stateroom, which made the room look very much like a florists' bazaar. There are twenty public school teachers aboard from Boston and other towns in New England. They are the prize winners in a big Boston newspaper contest and are all to the merry. I have already been introduced to the entire bunch. Among the teachers are A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 3 Miss Grace Allan of Bristol, Rhode Island, Miss Ellen Barrett of Newburyport, Massa- chusetts, Miss Mary Bonython of Boston, Miss Madeline Cass of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Miss Agnes Crosswell of Providence, Rhode Island, Miss Annie Maguire of Jamaica Plain, Miss Rachel Rosnosky of Boston, and Miss Elizabeth Sharry of Worcester. They are all, all right, all right, and unless we run into a storm and they all get seasick I am sure we are going to have a good time. I have also formed the acquaintance of Mr. John Burke of Boston, who, with his sister, Mrs. Keith, have deck chairs adjoining ours. I have also been introduced to Mr. J. W. Garth waite, a very jolly young man from San Francisco who is going over to attend Oxford College. Have met a Dr. Charles Green, Mrs. Green and their daughter, with whom I have made a date to play shuffle-board to- morrow. Mr. J. F. Hannan, a prominent lawyer of Lynn, is also on board with his son Lennox, who is about my age and is a bright fellow. I have met Mr. W. D. Maclnnes and Mrs. Maclnnes of Pittsfield. They have their two little boys, Donald and John, with them and 4 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD are off for a good time. Mr. John W. Mitten and Mrs. Mitten of Boston are also on board and I have been introduced to them. I have also met the Honorable John R. Murphy of Charlestown,and Mrs. Murphy, and their three very bright children. Mr. Joseph F. Quinn, who was some years ago mayor of Salem, is on board and is accompanied by his son Tom, who is also about my age and a bright fellow. I was down in the dining saloon with him to- night and he can make the piano talk in great shape. My opinion of everybody on board, both First and Second Cabin, is that they are all to the good. At twelve o'clock to-day we passed out of sight of land. Had lunch at one, tea served on the promenade deck at four, dinner at 7.30. The feed is all right. Papa has had a confidential interview with the dining saloon steward and he says all we have to do is to ask for anything we want. We have seats at a bully good table, chairs on the promenade deck, our stateroom is a good one and close to the bathroom, and everything is tip-top. To- day the sea has been smooth. I am sure we are going to have a good passage. I did not A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 5 know it was possible to be so comfortable and have such a good time at sea. Being unable to keep all the flowers which our friends sent to us, in our stateroom, Papa presented them to the teachers. It made a hit with them. The teachers have a special table and you can hardly see them for the flowers, which are piled all over the table. Our first day has been all right. I ABOARD S.S. ARABIC, Friday, July 6, 1906. WAS up early this morning and as soon as I rolled out of my berth took a peep through the port hole to see what was doing outside. The sea was as calm as an old mill pond and the ship wassailing along so smoothly that I hardly knew she was moving. Have had a good day. Finest ever. Every- body has gotten acquainted with everybody. We are in for a good time. The salt sea air whets up our appetites and we don't do a thing but eat when the bugle sounds for meals. The deck quartermaster, who is always smiling and is always happy, explained to me to-day that it was against the rules for First Cabin passengers to cross over the fence to the Second. He asked me if I wouldn't please be careful and not open the gate to go across to the Second when he was looking. He said 8 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD they would call him down for it if they knew he saw me do it and didn't stop me. This deck quartermaster is all right. He has been on the Arabic ever since she was built and has been a sailor all his life. He fixes up games for us to play on the deck and can tell when a storm is coming by the smell of the atmosphere. He lives in Liverpool and has a wife and several children and says always when the trip is over he takes all of his money home and gives it to his wife. He is a very good man. I have already rubbered all over the ship. Been all over the second cabin, in the steer- age, engine room, and everywhere except on the captain's bridge. Got acquainted early this morning with Pete McNally, the great swimmer, and his trainer Walter Critchell. Pete is going over to do some stunts in foreign waters. He is one of the best story-tellers I ever met. I like to hear him talk. He is making a big hit on the ship. The day has been all to the merry. The deck- quartermaster always willing to fix up games for us. On the sugar loaf deck of the S. S. "Arabic." T S.S. ARABIC, Saturday, July 7, 1906. HE warm sunlight streaming in through my stateroom window this morning indicated that it was time to get up. A half-hour later I took my regular "constitutional" on the promenade deck. Most people who are not seasick do this to whet their appetites for breakfast. I didn't have to, for I had mine with me all the time. I don't need the salt sea air to give me an appetite. It was very warm this morning but it soon grew cooler, a nice breeze springing up. There wasn't much doing through the fore- noon, so I passed away the time reading the Boston papers, particularly the reports of the 4th of July sporting events. While I was reading the Herald a passenger asked me if it was the morning paper. I told him it was but I didn't tell him what morning. Ten minutes later he happened along and said: 10 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD "Young man, didn't you exercise a little mental reservation when I asked you if that was the morning paper?" I replied "May- be I did," and he went away laughing. Pa explained what he meant later and I had a quiet laugh. During the afternoon Cab and I played games with the teachers. In the evening, after dinner, we went up on the hurricane deck to observe the sunset, which was beautiful. When Old Sol went down on the horizon line she lost her fine round shape and, spreading out like a hot air balloon does when it drops on the water after the parachute-jumper has made the descent, seemed to drop out of sight side- ways. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. When the sun disappeared a group of pas- sengers started in singing in chorus, and gradu- ally the group became larger until there must have been a hundred voices there. Some of them were good and some were otherwise. Pete joined the party, and a regular concert was arranged then and there. He told some humorous stories and sang some comic songs, and a German Count — somebody said his name was Von De-Kickiac — made a speech A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 11 in Dutch, and an Englishman named Chilli- willington gave an imitation of Chevalier, but Chevalier's friends would never recognize it. Pete made one of his songs famous on the ship — everybody was singing the chorus after- wards. It was about "Herrings' heads and all such things" in English dialect. The chorus went. "Of all the fishes in the sea, The herring is the fish for me. Sing Tiddy f ol lal f ol lido Tiddy f ol lal — tiddy f ol lal Tiddy fol lal fol lido." The concert lasted until eleven o'clock. I didn't see a ship to-day, although we covered three hundred and eighty miles. GC c SB SB PL s S.S. ARABIC, Sunday, July 8, 1906. UNDAY is a beautiful day on board ship with a bunch of dead ones — nobody did anything — nobody said anything — it was like a deaf and dumb picnic. The day was a long one. The monotony of the morning was broken some, for there were church services. And they were agreeably short! The best part of the service was that there was no ser- mon. We saw some sea birds, a black fish and a turtle — the turtle turned out to be a barrel. It was a beautiful day and the people on the ship ought to have enjoyed it. Somebody discovered a farmhouse on fire a few miles off on the port side and a few of the deck sleepers got up to see it. Then they laid out on the chairs again and kicked themselves for being fooled. Burning farmhouses are not common in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 13 14 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD After to-day's experience I don't wonder that the Second Cabin passengers called the First Cabin "the morgue!" Over in the Second there was all kinds of fun, even if it was Sunday, and I don't think they sinned much either. Why do people wear long faces and look sick on Sunday ? We are three hundred eighty-eight miles closer to Europe to-day. S.S. ARABIC, Monday, July 9, 1906. I GOT up before breakfast, as usual, this morning, about nine o'clock. A full rigged ship was sighted which caused a little excite- ment for awhile. The passengers are wide awake to-day and playing games. The weather and sea still continue good. There is a little ground swell on but nobody appears to be seasick. Miss Cass, Miss Rosnosky, Cab, and myself went over to the Second Cabin to-night. There was an impromptu concert, and there was plenty of talent and a very pleasant hour was passed. Then we went over to the steerage deck, where a bunch of Orientals were having a dance and singing choruses which were not understandable. We side-stepped back to the First, but it was dead there and we stowed away up for'ard and spun yarns for an hour. 15 16 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD I am learning to use sailor language, and my expressions are becoming real salty. I boasted about it to-day and Pete told me I had better watch out or barnacles would begin to sprout on me. The ship is keeping up her pace — we made three hundred eighty-two miles to-day. S.S. ARABIC, Tuesday, July 10, 1906. ANOTHER beautiful day. Just as I came on deck this morning I noted some excite- ment among the Second Cabin passengers and ran aft to see what it was about. There was a large crowd at the rail looking over the sea. I asked an old Irish gentleman named Donahue what they were interested in, and in all seriousness he replied: "There's a flock of porcupines out there" — he meant a school of porpoises. We have been sailing over the Devil's Hole all day — it is said to be the worst place in the Atlantic Ocean, that the severest storms take place there, and that the water is so deep that it cannot be fathomed. It is supposed to be over six miles deep. Just think of it. You could drop the highest of the Himalaya Mountains in there and it would go out of sight. When they told 17 18 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD me about it I felt that I was on a dizzy height. We didn't pass a ship to-day, but whales were discovered very frequently, especially by Pete McNally and Tom Dowd. They make Chris- topher Columbus and the Lexow Committee look like the shadow of thirty cents for dis- covering things. They have wonderful eye- sight — binoculars haven't a look-in with them and they can make the average person believe he sees the things they point out, too. There was a funny incident over in the Second to-day. There is a Congregational minister over there who wears a Roman collar and cravat and is smooth shaven, and very much resembles a priest. Mr. Donahue, an old Irish gentleman, who had been very deferential to him, got in conversation with him to-day and learned, for the first time, that he was not a priest. He was disappointed, to say the least, and he told the minister so, adding: "But you are the finest imitation of a priest that I ever saw." At 2.30 this afternoon there was a series of athletic sports on the lower promenade deck given for the benefit of the Seamen's Orphans' Home. The games provided lots A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 19 of amusement. Among the events were an egg and spoon race, obstacle race, cigarette race, needle and thread race, whistling contest, biffing on the boom, and a tug-of-war. It cost a quarter of a dollar to enter each of the con- tests and about all the younger passengers were competitors. In the evening there was an open-air con- cert on the promenade deck, Second Cabin, and a dance in the steerage. There is always something doing in the Second, and many of us went over and spent an enjoyable evening there. Our run was three hundred and eighty- seven miles to-day. S.S. ARABIC, Wednesday, July 11, 1906. WE passed close enough to a Cunarder at noon to-day to exchange signals. The Christophers on board were discovering something new every hour during the day. There was a little quiet excitement to-day for a time over a report that, during the night, several passengers had died in the steerage and were buried at sea, and that there were three births in that department. It was a fairy tale. Pa had his kidding shoes on too, and circu- lated a story that the compass had run down and that the ship would lose at least sixty miles on the run to-day. And there were many who swallowed the yarn. You can tell people any- thing at sea and make them believe it. Forty passengers were up at five o'clock this morning to see Pete swim around the ship for exercise. This was another of Pa's jokes. He 21 22 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD said that when the ship slows down every morning to oil the machinery, Pete takes advan- tage of it and swims around the ship for exercise. Captain Hambelton, Pa, and Pete have been seen to-day in earnest conversation and inspecting the life-boats, and a rumor is going around the ship that Pete is going to swim against the stream from Tastrut Light, off the Irish coast, to Roach's Point, Queens- town, a distance of fifty-two miles. The Second Cabin passengers gave their final grand concert in their saloon to-night. All the teachers, Pa, Cab, and myself went over. It was a bully concert. There were fourteen numbers, including monologues, sing- ing, recitations, and instrumental music. Pete told some stories and sang a song or two. After the concert Miss Cass and Miss Ros- nosky joined Pa, Cab, and myself in a mid- night lunch of sandwiches and fruit. We covered three hundred and eighty-seven miles to-day even if the compass did run down. S.S. ARABIC, Thursday, July 12, 1906. A FELLOW named "Brophy Tibibbetts" — the name was a bluff — issued a call on the bulletin this morning for a grand meeting to be held in the Second Cabin saloon to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne. It will not take place, for a number of patriotic Irishmen have declared they will create a riot if a meeting is even attempted. "Tibibbetts" is responsible for a great deal of guessing. He issued another bulletin and had everybody in the air. It read : — " There will be a Grand Bathing Suit Party in the Second Cabin at seven this evening. Ladies and gentlemen are expected to appear in bathing costumes. Pajamas and robes de nuit are acceptable. Everybody is expected to participate." And there were ladies on board who had read of such goings on at Newport who were 23 24 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD willing to take part in the affair, and who said it would be a stylish party. I'd like to have seen it carried out. There is a good deal of excitement over Pete's race with the steamer to-day, and a number of the women folks have petitioned the captain not to let him swim — they are afraid he'll get drowned. This is the last full day of the voyage and the captain says it is the best this season — not a bad day on the entire trip and everybody well and happy. After lunch we sighted the Irish coast, and everybody became interested in the Emerald Isle. Thousands of sea gulls joined us here and the camera fiends got busy. The coast of Ireland looks pretty barren — there are only a few trees and now and then an old castle on a hill, or a small village. About three o'clock we passed Tastrut Light, which looks something like our Boston Light. In fact, all lighthouses look alike to me. It is situated on a large rock and has a Marconi station. After we got tired of looking at Ire- land, Miss Croswell, Miss Sharry, Miss Allan, Mr. Quinn, Mr. Minton, and myself played shuffle-board for an hour and pitched quoits. Westminster Abbey in London. Discovering a burning barn at sea. A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 25 Pete was not allowed to jump overboard off Tastrut for his swim, although he appeared in his swimming togs — the captain threatening to lock him up if he persisted. It was a great bluff on his part and the captain entered into the joke splendidly. Pa, with a long, serious face, played his part like an actor. He stirred up everybody and then became the doctor. He certainly was slick as a practical joker. I saw him to-day making a wise-looking man believe that the rudder wasn't working right and that we were turning in a circle, and the man didn't wake up for a long time. At 8.45 the ship slowed down about three miles from the entrance to Queenstown Har- bor, and a large side-wheel English steamer called a "tender" came alongside to take off the passengers for Ireland. It took about half an hour to put the trunks aboard that tender, and the way they slid them down upon her deck was "smashing baggage" all right, all right. Then about one hundred and fifty passen- gers went aboard and stood upon the upper deck; as they left we exchanged farewells and some of them were really tearful. And then everybody sang. "My Old Ken- tucky Home" was started by the Mormon 26 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD Glee Club, assisted by everybody. That was Walter Critchell's favorite — he sang it all the time. It made a hit with me, for Walter was born in England and never was in Kentucky. Yet he always sang it with all his heart and soul. "Good Night Ladies" went great, and " America " — Gee ! How they sang it ! There were many three cheers given — all the popu- lar ones being remembered, including Tom Dowd, the school teachers, Pete, Walter, Pa, a Mormon named Willie, the Faheys, from Charlestown, and others. It was a grand parting. As the steamers parted, the singing continued, handkerchiefs waved and hun- dreds of little U. S. flags fluttered in the hands of those on board both vessels during the fare- wells. Everybody seemed to belong to one great family. I'll never forget that scene in the Irish Sea. It was lonesome for a few hours after we parted. Then Pete and his friends and the Mormons all got together on the Second Cabin promenade and started to serenade the school teachers, who gathered up on the upper prome- nade deck of the First. There was a space of forty feet between them, and they just made A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 27 the air ring with song for over an hour. Then the teachers got a move on and sang a song or two in return. Kindergarten songs were popu- lar, and "Lightly Row," "Beside the Blue Lake," and "Refreshed by Gentle Slumbers" became popular, except to those who were try- ing to get a little sleep. For the concert con- tinued until after midnight. It was a great night. We made three hundred eighty miles to-day. BwfcfeL 8fe Tf^H hmmam fediizs gj^ HP* f J «S ~Z^» IB if BMW iL/^tj '%yjjtfil Double deck street cars in the suburbs of London, 5* s i ' c^B • 5 • j£k us car in London. HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, Monday, July 16, 1906. CAB and I started out this morning to do some sightseeing. We took a bus to London Tower and spent about two hours there. We went through the White Tower, Beauchamp Tower and the Armory, and saw all there was to be seen, including the "Traitor's Gate" and the Crown Jewels. The armory, with its great collection of weapons of every description, armor, etc., was quite inter- esting. The Tower gives one the shivers when he thinks of what took place there years ago, and the yard, where the scaffold stood where the kings killed their wives when they got tired of them, makes you feel glad you didn't live in England in those times. I heard a man say, " The whole thing is a gruesome reminder of England's inglorious past," and I guess he was right. I am so glad I am an American. We've got relics in America, but 41 42 A BOYS VACATION ABROAD they stand for something decent and we can point with pride to them and tell the stories connected with them. The Crown Jewels were certainly beautiful. From the Tower of London we walked through the passageway that is used when the drawbridge is open, and got a fine view of Lon- don and the Thames from the bridge. To-night Miss Cass and Miss Rosnosky went with Cab and myself to the Vaudeville Theater to see Edna May in "The Belle of Mayfair." She was all to the merry and so was the rest of the show. The teachers were delighted — it was their first visit to a London theater. After the theater we met Mr. Henry G. Day, of Providence, and Mrs. Henry H. Love, of Boston, at our hotel. Mrs. Love had started for America on the Deutschland a few days before, but the steamer collided with a pier at Dover, and Mrs. Love returned to London to go on another steamer. She had been touring the continent for two months. c HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, Tuesday, July 17, 1906. AB and I spent the morning in the Na- tional Picture Gallery, where we saw some rare paintings from the hands of artists all over the world. I left Cab looking at the paintings while I went off to take some pic- tures with my camera. In the afternoon I went to the British Mu- seum, met the teachers there and three young fellows from Raleigh, North Carolina. That evening I ordered five hansoms and invited eight of the teachers to go with Cab and myself to Madame Toussaud's Wax Works. I had two of the teachers in a hansom with me, and, as the seat would only hold two, one of them sat on my lap. She didn't make any fuss over it — neither did I. We returned to Charing Cross by the tube — subway — and had a car to ourselves. We had a merry time and sang all the way home, 43 44 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD creating quite a little sensation at every sta- tion — and the songs were all good American songs, too, with a real patriotic flavor. We had lunch at the Cecil and then drove the teachers back to St. Ermins. The teachers in the party were Miss Cass, Miss Rosnosky, Miss Hatton, Miss Sharry, Miss Allan, Miss Lamphrey, Miss Maguire, and Miss Barrett. They are a jolly bunch. Ludgate (Circus in London. One of the many beautiful fountains on the Champs Elysee, in Paris. c HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, Wednesday, July 18, 1906. AB and I went through St. Paul's Cathe- dral this morning. It is the finest as well as the largest church I have ever been in. In the afternoon Miss Cass and I went to West- minster Abbey and in the evening we went to the Criterion Theater. We met Cab and Miss Rosnosky there. We had bully good seats; they were complimentary, given to Pa by a friend. I wrote several letters on my return to the hotel, to Ma and others. Pete and Walter left London for Paris to- day. 45 HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, Thursday, July 19, 1906. WE spent this morning at the tailor's and rubbering about town. In the after- noon Pa took Cab and I to the Hippodrome where we saw a fine show. It is a large and handsome theater, and has an arena as well as a stage. The arena is on the floor in the center of the house. The entertainment con- sisted of vaudeville, circus, and museum acts, and a big spectacle called "The Flood." The stage is lowered and the arena forms a big tank which holds three hundred thousand gal- lons of water. About a hundred people, horses, cattle, sheep, and dogs, are utilized. The stage was fixed up like a village, with a mountain in the background, a house and bridge in the foreground. A shower takes place, a dam bursts, and house, bridge, cattle, sheep, people and all are swept away. It was thrilling and realistic. After the show we 47 48 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD drove over to the St. Ermins Hotel to say good-by to the teachers, as they leave for Paris to-night. Pa, Cab, and I went to the Empire Theater to-night and saw the best vaudeville show yet. The ballet "Coppelia" was better than "L' Amour" at the Alhambra. An excursion boat on the River Thames. A lonely funeral procession in Rome. c HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, Friday, July 20, 1906. AB and I spent the morning riding about the city. We also had a delightful sail on the Thames. Boarding the steamer Charles Lamb at the Charing Cross Pier for Chelsea, ten miles up the river, we passed many inter- esting places, including the Parliament build- ings, London Pottery Works, St. Thomas Hospital, Battersea Park, Pumping Station, and Lambeth Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury lives at Lambeth Palace, and it was there that the late Queen Victoria was sleeping when she was awakened and informed of her elevation to the throne of England. The steamer ride cost four cents. We bought return tickets on the steamer Alert. The river steamers are about 130 feet long, 30 feet beam and have a 250 horse- power engine, which drives them about sixteen 49 50 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD miles an hour. The excursions are cheaper than bus rides. Returning to the hotel we met Papa and he decided an auto ride would be a good thing, and so we went out for two hours. We headed for Regent's Park and rode all around this beautiful place, and then climbed Hampstead Hill, the highest point in London, and from which we obtained a splendid view of the city and suburbs. We were forty-five minutes from the Strand and it looked good to me. On the way back we passed by the spar- yards and the house where Dick Turpin was supposed to have been imprisoned, and from which he escaped through a window, mounted a horse in readiness for him and rode away to freedom. I observed to-day how common it was to see men wearing overcoats and women wearing furs in the summer time. After we got back to the Cecil, Pa went out in a hansom on a business call and met with a severe accident. The horse slipped and fell, breaking the shafts and throwing Papa for- ward with great force against his knees, the hansom top striking him upon the head at the same time. He was badly shaken up and considerably bruised. He required the atten- A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 51 tion of a doctor. We have just got through packing and leave for Paris in the morning, in spite of the fact that Papa is pretty badly hurt. London Bridge, showing dome of St. Paul's in the distance. The Tower Bridge in London. A HOTEL CONTINENTAL, PARIS, Saturday, July 21, 1906. T 9 a.m. sharp, the Southeastern and Chatham Express left Charing Cross station for Dover — we were on it. The ride was the most beautiful I have ever taken on a train. We passed down through the " Garden of England," which is the popular name for the Shire of Kent. The farms and orchards were splendidly kept and the little towns looked very pretty. We arrived at Dover at 10.45, and on the way passed through nine long tunnels. The train fetched up on the Ad- miralty Pier. The steamer did not leave until 11.25, and I put in the time taking pictures. This is the pier Pete started from when he swam across the English channel in July, 1906. It must have been a tough trip for him — he was in the water 15 hours and 10 minutes. The trip across the channel was an excep- tional one, for it was smooth and consequently 53 54 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD pleasant. Arrived at Calais, France, at 12.40, and at 1.15 left on the North of France Special for Paris. We had lunch on the train. The ride to Paris was not as enjoyable as we ex- pected — the country was not very attractive looking, there being much low land and swampy fields. It was 4.45 when we arrived in the French capital. Baggage inspected, we took a cab to the Continental. My first impression was the lack of hansoms and the great number of victorias, the hand- some buildings and broad avenues, and the sidewalk cafes. We didn't like our rooms at the Continental and so we went up to the Elysee Palace Hotel on the Champs Elysee near the Arc de Triomphe. We will move in there to-morrow. After dinner, Cab and I drove over to the Hotel Dijon on the Rue Caumartin, where the teachers are stopping. They were not at home when we arrived, so we left our cards and walked over to the Olympia Theater. Papa met an interpreter there whom he had known when he was over here three years ago. Dur- ing the intermission we walked all over the theater, and it was very different from any- thing I had ever seen before. Half of the A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 55 orchestra was a promenade and was filled with small drinking-tables. There were a lot of women there who are called the "demi- monde," whatever that means. Then we went down into the Olympia Tavern, the largest cafe in Paris and which has the longest bar in Europe. It is closed all day, but opened from six at night until six o'clock in the morning. It is the resort of carousing men and women. Then we visited the American Cafe and the Cafe de Paris, both on the same order as the Olympia. We got back to our hotel about midnight. Before our courier left, Papa made arrangements with him to show Cab and me around the city, starting in Monday morning at nine. On turning into my bed to-night after seeing for the first time some of the sights of Paris, there comes over me a feeling of gladness that I am an American. J* . ■-. ■■; ■ — ■ 1 ■■* ** T — - " - . . » T""' •'i*" *^*i """u"* i Birdseye view of Paris, made from the Eifel Tower, in Paris. Birdseye view of the River Seine, made from the Eifel Tower, in Paris. HOTEL CONTINENTAL, PARIS, Sunday, July 22, 1906. WE slept until 11.30 this morning. After breakfast we drove to the Eiffel Tower, the highest structure in the world. It is 1000 feet high, made of steel, and three different elevators are used in getting to the top. The first makes two stops, the first stop being 100 feet from the ground. There is a theater, res- taurant, and bar there. At the second stop I got some fine bird's-eye views of Paris with my camera. From the top the view over Paris was grand. The people on the streets looked like ants. From the tower we drove over Alex- andre's bridge, a magnificent structure, and around the city for an hour. Then we had dinner and drove over to the Hotel Dijon and found the teachers. Dr. Clara Fitzgerald, of Worcester, Mass., a friend of Miss Sharry's, was visiting her. We were formally made acquainted. The doctor is taking a 57 58 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD post-graduate course at the University of Paris. Miss Sharry, Dr. Fitzgerald, and Papa went for a drive, and Miss Cass, Miss Rosnosky, Cab, and myself went for a walk, bus ride, boat ride on the Seine, and a walk through the Louvre and thegardens. We also drove through the Rue de Rivoliand the Place de la Concorde, the largest square in the world, where over thirty-seven thousand people were guillotined during the French Revolution, up through the Champs Elysee around the Arc de Triomphe. It was midnight when we got back to our hotel. ELYSEE PALACE HOTEL, PARIS, Monday, July 23, 1906. WE moved in here early this morning, and found our courier Romeli waiting for us. Pa stayed at the hotel while Cab and I went out to see Paris. We first visited the Place Vendome, and saw the column with a statue of Napoleon on top. The column is made of melted guns captured in the Napoleonic wars. Then we visited the Bastile Column, erected in memory of the Revolution, through the Rue de Rivoli to the City Hall, Palace of Justice, Hotel Dieu, police courts, fire headquarters, Cluny Museum, St. George's statue, Mont- martre, and the Latin quarter, where we had lunch. Then we drove to the tomb of Napoleon. Before entering the Hotel des Invalides, where the tomb of "the little Corporal" is, I bought some postals and a souvenir bust of Napoleon. The tomb is a wonderful thing to see and it is 59 60 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD odd in many respects. We all bowed when looking upon it, for it sets down deep in a sort of amphitheater. In the building are also the tombs of his brother, General Duraut, Duroc, King Gerome, and his wife. The altar where the burial service took place is very pretty and the chapel is full of captured flags which hang from the balconies. Next we visited the church of the Madelaine, Notre Dame and the Morgue. In the charnel house were the bodies of three men, an old woman, and a young girl awaiting identification. It didn't take us long to see enough of the morgue. Then we went down by the many department buildings, the Automobile Club, St. Augustine's Church, and to Cleopatra's Needle, which stands in the center of the Place de la Concorde. The Granin Museum of Wax- Works was next visited. Then we drove by the residence of Major Dreyfus and out to Pre Catalin, where the society people of Paris go for their afternoon teas. We got a good idea of the swell tea gardens and came back to the hotel. With the courier, Cab ana I had dinner at the Olympia Tavern and then drove to the Moulin Rouge and saw a good vaudeville A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 61 show. After the show we visited a cafe called "Heaven." When we came out it was rain- ing and we got drenched in going to the " Cafe of the Dead." It is a gruesome affair. Drinks are served on the tops of coffins and the walls are covered with human skeletons, bones, and queer pictures. In the anterooms we saw some queer illusions. It was almost 2 a.m. when we got back to the Elysee Palace Hotel. It was some time before I could get to sleep, however, on account of the sights I had seen. ELYSEE PALACE HOTEL, PARIS, Tuesday, July 24, 1906. WE left the hotel at 10 a.m. with the courier, for a day at Versailles. Papa was in bed when we left; his knees are giving him a great deal of trouble. The train left at 11.20, and after a very pretty ride of forty- five minutes we arrived in Versailles. We drove to the Petit Trianon where Queen Marie Antoinette lived, and went all through the palace and stables and saw the royal carriages, sleighs, and harnesses. When looking at Napoleon's carriage we met the teachers. The carriage is the same one the present Czar of Russia rode in when he drove through Paris some years ago. In the Grand Trianon we visited the apartments of King Louis XIV, the apartments of Na- poleon I, his billiard room and the apartments especially fitted up for the late Queen Victoria of England, but she never saw them. 63 64 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD Lunched at the Napoleon Cafe, and then visited the Royal Palace and Gardens and saw all the beautiful fountains, which are used only on the first Sundays of the summer months. In the picture gallery in the palace were beautiful paintings by Gernex, Le Baron, Gerard, Vernet, and others. These gardens and the Royal Palace were designed and built under Louis XIV. Leaving Versailles at five, we reached Paris at six o'clock. We had dinner at the hotel, and stayed in to-night, as we were tired out. ELYSEE PALACE HOTEL, PARIS, Wednesday, July 25, 1906. WE finished up with our courier Romeli to-day. This morning he took Cab and me to the Louvre, the greatest picture gallery in the world — it was built by the great Napoleon. It is surrounded by beauti- ful avenues, lanes, fountains, and statues. The Louvre has some fine Roman sculptuary and vases, the original Venus de Milo, statues of Mercury, Mars, Romulus, Remus, Venus, Horatius, and of famous Greek and Roman mythological people. In the picture galleries are paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Snyder, Jordaens, Champaigne, Rembrandt, Murillo, Panini, Lethiere, Millet, Vernet, David Canture, Turner, Gras, Lebrun, Valentine, Raphael and others. From the Louvre we journeyed to the Palace of the Senate and the Church of the Pantheon, and then had lunch. Then we walked along 65 66 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD the St. Germain Boulevard and St. Michael to Cluny Museum, the oldest in Paris. The building was built for a palace in the year 1000. It is full of relics of battles. The oldest church in Paris, the Church of the Holy Louis, was visited, and we saw the finest stained glass windows in Europe. We passed the Chatelet Theater and Sarah Bern- hardt's theater, which are on the banks of the Seine and opposite each other — they are the largest theaters in Paris — and through the market, the Du Louvre, the largest depart- ment store in Europe, and then up the Champs Elysee to our hotel. After dinner we drove to the Hotel Dijon and met Walter and Pete, who were calling on the teachers. Miss Cass and I went out for a drive, leaving Pete, Walter, and Cab to enter- tain the girls. The teachers leave for Geneva, Switzerland, in the morning, and thence to Lucerne, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and back to God's country. ELYSEE PALACE HOTEL, PARIS, Thursday, July 26, 1906. READ the morning New York Herald Paris edition, and found lengthy notice about ourselves and Pete and Walter. I put in part of the morning riding and in taking snap-shots; with Pete and Walter in the after- noon, also Dr. Fitzgerald and a Hollandaise nurse, Mile. Emile Gayras. The doctor and nurse accompanied Papa to the hospital to have his injured knees examined, and Pete, Walter, Cab, and I took a drive to the Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel. The ride in the Ferris Wheel was just simply great. We had dinner at a sidewalk cafe near the Palace de Machines. Returned to the hotel. Papa, being unable to proceed further on account of his illness, has made a proposition to Pete to take us along with him on his swim- ming tour, which will embrace Switzerland, Italy, Island of Corfu, Greece and Turkey, 67 68 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD returning overland through Turkey, Bulgaria, Roumania, Servia, Hungary, Austria, Ger- many, Holland, and back to London. Papa is obliged to remain in Paris while his knees are healing and he wants us to enjoy ourselves. We like Pete and his friend Walter and hope they will agree to take us along, for we will then visit Lucerne, Switzerland, Como, Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples, Brindisi in Italy, the Island of Corfu, Patras and Athens in Greece, and Constantinople in Turkey. Pa and Pete will settle the matter to-morrow. The weekly "Students' Ball" was held to-night at Montmartre — we wanted to attend but Pa said "Nay." The public schools of Paris close this week for the annual six weeks' vacation. * ' "W& . I J jlj^PpUHH Elysee Palace Hotel in Paris. Cleopatra's Needle in the Place de la Concord, in Paris. ELYSEE PALACE HOTEL, PARIS, Friday, July 27, 1906. I VISITED the Western Union Cable Office on an errand for Pa this morning, wrote letters and read. After lunch Pete and Walter called and the final arrangements were made for Cab and myself to make the swimming trip with them. Just as soon as Pa agreed to let us go, Pete, Cab, and I went to Cook's office on the Avenue de l'Opera and bought our tickets through to Constantinople, and I went to the Eastman Kodak office in the Place Vendome and bought twenty films of twelve exposures each to take along. After dinner we all went to the Jardin de Paris and saw a good vaudeville show. Dur- ing the intermission there was a special exhibi- tion of can-can dancing and other French dances near the bandstand. A "French qua- drille" seemed to be the most popular of the dances. These dancers would be arrested if 69 70 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD they were in America. We saw all there was to be seen at the Jardin de Paris, and more than we had expected to see. When we got back to the hotel Pete wrote a letter to a Boston newspaper, while Walter related the story of his life to Pa, Cab, and me in the next room. Walter has had many experi- ences and adventures. He was born in Win- chester, England, and when a little boy ran away from home and joined the navy. He was in five shipwrecks, saw real war, traveled all over the world as a sailor, and came to America when he was eighteen years old. He has been an actor, a hotel detective and a courier. He played at the Castle Square Theater in Boston at one time. HOTEL METROPOLE, LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND, Saturday, July 28, 1906. PETE, Walter, Cab and I waved good-by to Pa as we left the Eastern Station in Paris at 8.45 this morning. The ride through France was beautiful — the farms were pic- tures. We went through Alsace and Lorraine, and when we crossed the German border the customs officers came on board the train and examined our baggage. The houses along the line all had red roofs and were very pretty. At Altkirch we saw a lock canal and a boat going up it. Bale was the first place of any size we stopped at. We stopped at Mulhouse, too, for a few moments and then went direct to Lucerne. On this stretch there were thirteen cars on the train and two engines. We traveled through the mountains and villages at a fast rate. The scenery in Switzerland is the most charming I have ever seen. The mountains 71 72 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD are high and very beautiful. They are covered with trees, with a few houses on the tops of some of them, gardens along the bottom, villages in the valleys and rivers, lakes, or canals between the larger mountains. We passed a great many, the tops of which were above the clouds. At Alton we saw the River Rhine for the first time. I could jump across it, it was so narrow. We were close to its source. Alton is a manufacturing city and railroad center. The train made a circuit of the city. Before reaching Lucerne we followed along by a big lake for a few miles. We arrived at Lucerne at 8.20, after riding over eleven hours. We were very tired, but as soon as we got something to eat we went out to see the city. Schumann's big circus, the biggest in Europe, was playing there, and we went in to see it. It has about 200 horses and 100 people. It was a laugh to Pete, who has been the press agent for the Barnum & Bailey, Forepaugh and Sells circuses and other big shows. We walked for several miles around Lake Geneva. It is simply beautiful. The moun- tains are grand and the people are fine. I'd like to live here for the summer anyhow. I think it might be lonesome in the winter. We - Jf ^ / J ^' ■^M ■ ■ - ; xx IB ^■^""■< vv &r-. SMiiiil Cab and I at the summit of the Eifel Tower, in Paris. Vendome Column in Paris. A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 73 leave in the morning for Italy, and in the after- noon Pete will swim Lake Como. I hate to leave Lucerne The hotels are fine, there are nice steamboats, electric cars, cabs, and modern improvements are more common than in London and Paris. The police, soldiers and bellboys all look better, dress better, and are better. The Swiss trains are fine, the compartments being large, bright, airy, and comfortable. Switzerland is all to the good. w HOTEL CAMPIDOGLIO, ROME, ITALY, Monday, July 30, 1906. ITH regrets we left Lucerne at 9.45 yes- terday morning. I hope to visit it again, however. Before eleven o'clock we saw snow- capped mountains with the clouds hanging all around them. When we got to Ertsfeld the sun was high up and the clouds had risen higher up above the mountain-tops, making a beautiful day for sightseeing. The scenery was superb. The valleys, rivers, waterfalls, rapids among those stately mountains made beautiful bits and the quaint little houses added to it all. Every window on the train was occupied by two heads looking at the scenery. There would have been four if there had been room for them. At Galonen we made a twenty minutes' stop and everybody bought some lunch. At Airo- los we lingered for a few minutes, shifted some cars and took on another engine before enter- 75 76 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD ing the great St. Gothard Tunnel. We were from 12.57 until 1.10 passing through the big hole in the mountain, and when we came out of it we were thousands of feet up in the air and traveling at high speed. We were actually up in the clouds. At Bellingana the moun- tains were very high, but had no snow on them and few trees. Here we began to see the vineyards and a change of temperature was noticeable for we were now in Italy. At Chiasso we had our baggage examined — it was the first stop in Italy. We arrived at Como at 4.35, checked our baggage at the station and walked down into the town, which is beautifully situated on the borders of the lake. We boarded a steamer, sailed up to Menaggio and Pete started from there on a six-mile swim to Bellano, which he covered in a little over three hours. It was almost dark when he finished. Cab and I swam a few hundred yards with him. It was cold, for the waters came from the glaciers melting on the mountains. Pete beat Byron's record on the swim by over a mile. We got back to Como in time to catch the 9.30 train for Milan, Florence, and Rome. We had lunch at the Hotel Metropole before OS f. e3 a, A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 77 boarding the train. There is an inclined rail- way running up the mountain side at Como, and up on the top there is a large hotel. The trees and stone walls in Como are covered with lizards, and we saw white ants there an inch long. The night was fearfully hot and the ride to Milan was a tough one. A young lieutenant of the Italian cavalry occupied the compartment with us and was a jolly good fellow. He could talk English and he sang several songs and told stories. He was twenty- one years old and splendidly educated. He could talk five languages. He wore a very pretty uniform — a green jacket trimmed with black, gray trousers, leggings and green cap. He carried his saber and revolver. We arrived at Milan at 10.40. The train there was made up to fourteen cars and three engines. There were eight in our compart- ment and it was tough trying to get to sleep comfortably in that little space. But we got there just the same, for we were so tired we could sleep on a clothesline. Pete slept with one eye open, for he felt the responsibility he had in having Cab and myself with him. When we woke up it was broad daylight and we were making fast time towards Rome. 78 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD When I looked out of the window the moun- tains and beautiful valleys were not to be seen, yet the view was beautiful. I took about twenty little naps during the morning. It was terrifically hot and we were covered with coal dust. We were grimy, to say the least. We reached the "Eternal City" at 1.30 p.m., a half hour late. We were driven to the Hotel Campidoglio on the Courso Um- berto — splendidly located, right in the very heart of the city and only a few minutes from the interesting points. It was never hotter in the jungles of equatorial Africa than it is here. Gee, but it's awful! After the sun slid down the western sky towards the horizon we went out for a walk, visited Cook's office and the post-office. Pete got a letter at the post-office and Walter got one at Cook's office. We got back to the hotel and enjoyed a fine Italian supper. Supper over, we addressed a few postals, had a bath and went to bed. I think I was asleep before I got into bed. Pete and Walter went out to call on some newspaper men and make arrangements for the Tiber swim. Rome is a very busy town from five to nine in the evening — everybody seems to be out A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 79 on the streets during these hours enjoying the cool of the evening. Victorias are cheap in Rome, but automobiles are as scarce as hen's teeth. w HOTEL CAMPIDOGLIO, ROME, ITALY, Tuesday, July 31, 1906. E had a fine night's rest and were ready to go sightseeing at eight o'clock. We visited Cook's first for mail and roamed around until the intense heat became danger- ous, then we went back to the hotel. It's wonderful how cool the interiors of the build- ings are. This is because there is a courtyard in all of them and a fountain in every court- yard. The curtains and blinds are kept drawn all day to shut out the heat, and at night are all wide open to let in the cool air. After lunch we wrote letters and took a siesta. About four o'clock it grew cooler and we had another sightseeing stroll. There were four students from the University of Tennessee stopping at the hotel, and after dinner we went with them to the old Coliseum. It was dark before we got there, but the moon was shining brilliantly from a clear sky, and we saw the 81 82 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD grand old ruin just as I had seen it pictured in magazines. Once I saw a painting just like it. Every part of it was pointed out to us. We got up into Nero's box and looked down into the amphitheater, where so many thousands of Christians had been slaughtered. It was weird there, and as we listened to Pete's thrilling description of the scenes that took place there we felt nervous — he had us all worked up. He pointed out the moon and said it was the same old moon which shone down upon the martyrs and which inspired them to die heroically. The gallery of the vestal virgins, the pits for the wild animals, the prisons of the victims, were all interesting — fearfully so. What bloodthirsty wretches Nero and his nobles must have been! What a ter- rible arena that was! It is infested now with blood-red bugs, ants, fleas, and big lizards. It is a wonderful piece of architecture and the seating capacity must have been enormous. Pete stepped the distance off between the walls and figured it out that the Coliseum would seat about seventy-five thousand people. While we were at the Coliseum a number of Americans — there must have been forty — came into the ruins. They belonged to the A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 83 Travelers' Club of New York. When Pete saw them coming in through one of the arches, he started up a regular circus "bally-hoo" and woke up the echoes of the ruins with " Right this way to the big show — the per- formance is about to commence!" The visi- tors bolted for us on the dead run when they heard that good United States English, and we had a pleasant chat with them. A fellow from East Boston in the party knew Pete. Every- where we go he meets somebody whom he knows or who knows him. From the Coliseum we went to the Piazza Colonna and listened to a concert by a military band of fifty-five pieces. From what I have seen of Rome I think it is a clean city, has plenty of hotels, and a fine place to visit except in the summer. The soldiers, police, and people look good, to me — there are plenty of electric lights, tropical trees, plants, etc., and there is also an abundance of mosquitoes, fleas, bugs, and insects. A village in Switzerland. The mountains of Switzerland. HOTEL CAMPIDOGLIO, ROME, ITALY, Wednesday, August 1, 1906. WE were up at six o'clock this morning, and after breakfast we left the hotel in company with Pietro Gracia, the manager of the Hotel Campidoglio, and boarding an electric rode to the Canothieri aniene, the Royal Boat Club of Italy. King Vittori Emanuel is an active member. The president of the club is the Marquis Calabrini. The club-house is on the Arno, the upper Tiber. Pete stripped in the club-house and donned his swimming togs, and, after the whole party was photographed, we got into a punt and were rowed down the river about two miles, passing under several bridges. At one point, in the bend of the river, we got a magnificent view of St. Peter's and the round tower of Castle St. Angelo. We passed ruined castles, monasteries, convents, etc., which have been standing for centuries, and whose walls are moss-grown. Moving 85 86 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD down the stream we passed under Margherita, Canone, Umberto, Vittorie Emanuelle, Giani- Coleuse, Ponta Vitto, Garibaldi, the Fabricius, Teattre Cipi, the Punta Lublicia and Palatini bridges. Down by the Ponta Rotta, the ruins of the Lublicia, where Horatius defended the bridge, and opposite the Maxima Chaca Massina — this sounds pretty but it is a great big sewer — Pete plunged in and swam across to the oppo- site shore and back again. Then he went down stream to where Csesar and Byron swam, and went across there and back and then continued down the river about two miles. He swam like a fish, and the thou- sands on the bridges cut loose in cheers and applause. They couldn't understand how he could swim with his head under water — he swam the side-stroke. Pete knew why after the swim. The Tiber is the dirtiest stream that flows. Pete was almost poisoned from it. It's a great big sewer. The current is very swift, running about eight or nine miles an hour. The water is a sickly gray color. Pete made Caesar, Horatius, and Byron look like thirty cents — he swam the whole business, all the courses combined and doubled, in A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 87 the time it took one of them to swim one way. There was an interesting incident, "not down on the program," as Pa would say, just as we were ready for the swim. The Palatini bridge was crowded with people, when all of a sudden a big cry went up and, looking round, we saw the body of a young man shooting into the waters — he had jumped from the bridge, a height of at least eighty feet. He was crazed from heat and too much liquor. A Roman boatman named Pietro Speidotti leaped from his punt to the rescue and caught the drowning lad. Both were swept down the stream. Pete swam to his assistance, but Speidotti had reached a low stone wall before Pete got to him. Walter Critchell, Cab, and I jumped into Speidotti's punt and pulled over to them. It was exciting for a few moments. The young man who attempted suicide was turned over to the police and there were cheers for everybody. Somebody said "it was a great demonstration." After the swim we went back to the hotel where Pete took a bath in sulpho-naphthol — I guess he needed it. After lunch we went over to the Coliseum to see it in daylight and 88 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD get some pictures. Late in the afternoon we went down with Pietro Gracia to the boat-club and saw the Italian champion oarsman Bre- nalti in his shell — he did some special rowing for us — and also the champion eight-oared crew. We met the members, were enter- tained, and I made a number of photos. One room in the club-house is filled with trophies won by club members. In the evening we went to a band concert by Italy's best band, and visited the newspaper offices. Hotel Metropole in Lucerne, Switzerland. Lake Geneva in Switzerland. HOTEL METROPOLE, NAPLES, Thursday, August 2, 1906. OUR last day in Rome we were up with the sun and out for the sights. We drove over to St. Peter's and the Vatican. I can't begin to write what I would like to about St. Peter's — there is nothing in the world so grand and beautiful and costly. I thought St. Paul's in London was " It," but it isn't in it for a minute — it's like a lead nickel 'long- side of a twenty-dollar gold piece. It would take a week to see it properly. And the Vatican, Gee! there's no end to it. There are miles and miles of corridors — it is the largest building in the world. The Pope lives there and has magnificent gardens. In one corner of it there is a museum of ten thousand statues and most magnificent paint- ings. While in St. Peter's we were present at a mass in one of the chapels and heard the world-famous male sanctuary choir sing. It 89 90 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD was great. There were about forty cardinals and archbishops at the mass. It was an impressive service. We went back into the Vatican, having met the three Heldmeyer sisters from Cleveland, with whom we be- came acquainted on the train coming from Switzerland, and while we were in there we met a priest, who was staying at our hotel, and Pete fixed it up with him so that we had the honor of meeting the Pope. We were ushered into the presence of the Holy Father in a private chapel in the Vatican. There were nineteen persons at the reception. The Pope looked well, but was very pale. He wore robes of spotless white, and with his snow-white hair and pale face he looked like a spirit. I never felt so solemn in my life. From the Vatican we made a brief visit to the Cata- combs and then went back to the hotel for lunch. In the afternoon we went to Cook's office and I got a letter from Papa, in which he said he had improved greatly — it was good news to us for we were fretting about him. At seven o'clock we left Rome for Naples. We were accompanied by the four students from Tennessee and had a compartment in the train to ourselves. Pete was going to lick a A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD 91 grafter at the station in Rome who wanted a franc because he opened the door in the railway carriage — he wasn't asked to do it. He was an impudent guy and thought he could brow- beat us because he had three or four others with him, but it didn't go for a cent and he was lucky that he didn't get licked good and plenty. It was a hot ride of five hours to Naples. We arrived at midnight. We hired three victorias to take us to the hotel, which is a drive of about three miles, and the teams raced all the way, making great sport for us. We got a general idea of Naples and the beautiful bay on the ride, for the moon was shining brilliantly. Vesuvius was steaming up too, which to us was the greatest thing that ever happened. When we got to the hotel we learned that fifty-six people left it the day before, fearful of the eruption of the burning mountain. It was a terribly hot night, and, as the beach was within fifty yards of the hotel, we all had a dip in the Bay of Naples by moonlight at 2 a.m., with Vesuvius burning quite brightly across the waters. That's going some. At Corfu many row boats swarmed about our ship to take us ashore. A view of Lake Como, Italy. HOTEL METROPOLE, NAPLES, Friday, August 3, 1906. AFTER several hours' struggle to get sleep, and tired from battling with mosquitoes and fleas, we got up about seven o'clock and made preparations for our trip to Brindisi on the east coast of Italy. We went out and saw something of Naples. We were not favorably impressed. The air wasn't good and it was awfully hot. There are beggars everywhere. The only thing I like about Naples is the bay — it is beautiful and the waters are not like the Tiber. I will be glad when we board the train for Brindisi. Vesuvius is steaming up pretty lively. Will write a letter home and one to Pa and call my visit here at an end. HOTEL INTERNATIONALE, BRINDISI, ITALY, Friday, August 3, 1906. GOT awayfrom Naples and its beggars and its hotel grafters at noon, thank heavens ! Our train passed Vesuvius near enough to get a good look at it. It's great, and a new one on me. We passed through very rich farming country for over one hundred miles out of Naples. The trip was hot, but not as dirty as other runs we made in Italy. Late in the afternoon we reached the eastern coast and the air became clear and cool and the scenery improved. Here we got our first glimpse of the Adriatic Sea. The houses were very at- tractive, most of them having flat roofs and gardens on top where the people sit at night and enjoy the cool air. We arrived in Brindisi about ten o'clock and after a drive of about a mile we got to our hotel, which is situated on the water front. The city is much cleaner than Naples. We 05 96 A BOY'S VACATION ABROAD found the steamer we are to sail on for Patras, Greece, right in front of our hotel. The har- bor is small but rather pretty. We had a stroll about the city and to the flower market, and even though it was late there were many people about, and at every other house somebody was playing some kind of a musical instrument. We expect an interesting night on account of fleas and mosquitoes which flourish here. We have been assigned to the same rooms in our hotel which were occupied in 1896 by Tom Burke, Jimmy Connolly, and other Boston athletes who won the championships at the Olympic, and by those who represented America at the games at Athens this year. s«j U,...a_ .., I *«»i>&*■ .vaster- ^^ % **ti& * Ss&kS, A-^A < jP> :::-■"■=:•.;■:•:; :.:. ■■■■.-.-■. .... •-■■.■. . . : ;■;;,■■.■;■;=; .,.:: : . - v , • ■ •• • ,. ;;■:■ :.■•;;:.-": .: . ■ ' ■■■ ■ .■■..■■ :,•-.•;■-;.:■■:■■"■ . ;. - ■. . '.i. ; ■] :; ; . ;' ... ; -:.' ;