Chapter VI.
Lucile Sherman.
In life's small things be resolute and great
To keep thy muscle trained; Knowest thou when Fate
Thy measure takes? Or when she'll say to thee,
"I find thee worthy. Do this deed for me?"
—Lowell.
A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE.
The tourist who devotes a few days to Florence, or a few weeks even, can have no conception of what it means to live in this city; to awake morning after morning and look out upon the lines of her hills and catch glimpses of their distant blues and purples; to be free to wander about at will through her streets, every one of which is crowded with legend and romance; to look upon her palaces and churches, about which cluster so many deeds of history; to visit the homes of her immortal men—poets and artists; to walk step by step instead of whirling along in a carriage; and to grow to feel a close intimacy with her sculptures and paintings, and even with the very stones that are built into her palace walls.