“I go to a hot mineral bath at eleven, and at one we dine. We never know where we shall have our next meal, and very often have little or no idea of what a particular dish we order may turn out. So the life is so new and fresh, so delightful for a time that no one can fail to enjoy it. The band plays, there is a theatre, there are splendid concerts, two libraries, besides endless walks and views in the woods. The air is scented by the pines, and by the wonderful flowers. We could hardly be happier, in the quiet way that becomes our age.... An Italian professor said to one of our ladies, who was laughing, ‘Ah, I will tame you, you screw!’ She said, ‘What?’ He answered, ‘Why, you do not know your Shakspere!”...
“The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh only stayed one or two nights, and had to go to the second floor. To-day we saw the Grand Duke and Duchess walking about: they are very tall and thin. Their children’s nurse is resplendent! She made me quite wild to have her dress for the next costume dance!”...
CHAPTER II.
ROME.
“Ecco Roma!”
The greatest delights from travel came to Miss Buss from the two extremes of North and South—extremes which yet touch—Sweden and Italy, the two most distinctively artistic lands. In the Venice of the North she was at home, for she loved the people; and she was not less at home in the Venice of the Adriatic, where she loved the place and the associations. But the City of the Seven Hills was the home of her heart, and, without knowing what she was in Rome, one could know only the half of her possibilities. Her first visit to Rome in 1875 opened a new phase of being, and gave her a way of escape from everyday worry. After this first visit, she writes—
“The worries, correspondence, and work of re-opening are immense, but I am well, and resolute!
“At Bologna, there is a marble medallion of Ugo Bassi, put up by his fellow-citizens. I comfort myself, you see, by going back to Italy.”
The visit to Sweden was something less of a holiday than those to Italy, because it was full of educational experience. At that date, 1871, Sweden stood in advance of any European country on the introduction of the American system. Professor Siljiström, having been sent to America to report on education, came home, wrote his book, and, having a free hand, was able within three years to work a complete reformation. Miss Buss took an introduction to him from Mrs. Garth Wilkinson, but he was unfortunately not within reach. Through Miss Margaret Howitt, who had recently spent a year with Frederika Bremer, she became acquainted with the Baroness Adlersparre, one of the chief movers in educational matters, and editress of a woman’s journal published at Stockholm, a lady deeply interested in all that interested Miss Buss, through whom the way was opened in Copenhagen for similar experiences.
Miss Buss intensely enjoyed her trip to Sweden and Denmark, and after her return gave an account of her experiences in two lectures to her girls, with clear summaries of history, and vivid descriptions of scenery, manners, and customs. The peripatetic (“goande,” or “going,”) meals amused her, and she tells how—