I feel sure that if all the other Old Masters
were lost and only these two preserved, the world would
be the gainer by it.
My sole purpose in going to Florence was to see this
immortal "Moses," and by good fortune I was just in time,
for they were already preparing to remove it to a more
private and better-protected place because a fashion
of robbing the great galleries was prevailing in Europe
at the time.
I got a capable artist to copy the picture; Pannemaker,
the engraver of Dor'e's books, engraved it for me,
and I have the pleasure of laying it before the reader
in this volume.
We took a turn to Rome and some other Italian cities
- then to Munich, and thence to Paris - partly for exercise,
but mainly because these things were in our projected program,
and it was only right that we should be faithful to it.
From Paris I branched out and walked through Holland and Belgium,
procuring an occasional lift by rail or canal when tired,
and I had a tolerably good time of it "by and large."
I worked Spain and other regions through agents to save
time and shoe-leather.
We crossed to England, and then made the homeward
passage in the Cunarder GALLIA, a very fine ship.
I was glad to get home - immeasurably glad; so glad,
in fact, that it did not seem possible that anything
could ever get me out of the country again. I had not
enjoyed a pleasure abroad which seemed to me to compare
with the pleasure I felt in seeing New York harbor again.
Europe has many advantages which we have not, but they
do not compensate for a good many still more valuable
ones which exist nowhere but in our own country.
Then we are such a homeless lot when we are over
there! So are Europeans themselves, for the matter.
They live in dark and chilly vast tombs - costly enough,
maybe, but without conveniences. To be condemned to live
as the average European family lives would make life
a pretty heavy burden to the average American family.
On the whole, I think that short visits to Europe are
better for us than long ones. The former preserve us from
becoming Europeanized; they keep our pride of country intact,
and at the same time they intensify our affection for our
country and our people; whereas long visits have the effect
of dulling those feelings - at least in the majority
of cases. I think that one who mixes much with Americans
long resident abroad must arrive at this conclusion.
APPENDIX - - - - -
Nothing gives such weight and dignity to a book
as an Appendix. HERODOTUS
APPENDIX A
The Portier
Omar Khay'am, the poet-prophet of Persia, writing more
than eight hundred years ago, has said:
