is, give the thing its due proportion of your time; not only incidentally, in the chat with your guide or driver, on the way to the ruin or the mountain-top; surely, not accidentally, as nine in ten do, if ever; but give it a day or morning or afternoon exclusively, as you would the Aquarium or the Jardin des Plantes. Catch what you can of it. It has the good and the bad chances of any other hunt. Often, the game stands as quiet and as sure as a picture or a castle.

"And what a shallow thing it is, to go trudging up and down, and through and around fifty palaces, cathedrals and towns, and comparing them together, but never asking the real meaning of one of themthat is, what sort of men or women produced them? Without this, what are they all but so many piles of stone, displacing so many cubic feet of air, in so many different shapes! Besides, you don't lose the pleasures of art in studying human nature, for art is one of the chapters in its book. Besides, the study is not only the highest but by far the most useful of all to one's future, in profession, business or society; and a young traveler is bound to keep it going and at the front, whether he or she prefers it or not. Anybody should be ashamed to go home without a dozen solid observations of his own upon the character of each nation he has visited.

"That's you, Mr. Fred," said Nelly. "In fact, the true object in visiting Europe does not lie in Europe at all. It is, to get impulse and knowledge toward higher character and more and higher happiness at home. The simple question is, What things in Europe contribute most to this end? The most profitable one among them certainly should not be neglected. Well, doubtless, this one is precisely what I am pointing out-traits of character and means of happiness in the families, communities and individuals that we can meet.' "But how is a traveler going to find these fine people for his models?" objected Fred.

"I'm not suggesting a search for heroes and heroines; only for those personal or household or social virtues and graces

which everybody is bound to seek, and which turn up in the street, the depot, the parlor, the park, in the laborer, merchant, husband, child. Besides, their weaknesses and failures may teach you as much as the opposite."

"That's all very true, no doubt," said Fred. "The proper study of mankind is man.' But it must be that I don't know how to handle the subject, for I make little advance at it. I never counted it among the objects of a tour to Europe-never in just that way."

"I'm sure I haven't the faintest idea," added Nell.

"Oh, yes. You are both doing much more of this observation than you think you are. But your professors never made it a conscious act with you, never disciplined you in it; they gave you, instead, their Greek paradigms and algebraic problems; and so you enter life weakest on the very point where you are neediest."

"Well, won't you tell us a little about it? How shall we go to work at it-especially we poor girls?"

"Well, in the first place, you need to fix in mind the few motives that produce whatever action men present. There is Love of Esteem, there's Benevolence, there's Selfesteem, there's Love of Sympathy, Love of Knowledge, Love of Goodness, Love of Beauty (and Music), Godwardness, Bodily Comfort in its several kinds. You will witness a hundred acts or expressions of a man within an hour, but every one of them, as it turns up, you must hang upon one or another of those hooks. As for a man's mind, you must find if his power lies most in getting the What or the Where and When of his object, or its Which, that is, its Class, or its Why or its How. Then find the comparative activity of the Will. There you have the whole man, so to say; or, rather, that will do for a beginning.'

66

Yes, but how are you to catch the man ?" inquired Miss Nelly, eagerly. "Ha! Ha!" laughed out Fred. "That's good!"

"He! He!" laughed the ladies, at Nell's little discomfiture.

"She's saying 'man' for 'woman,' as the greater includes the less," Fred added, with sophomoric gravity.

"Well, the fact is, the year spent in Europe should not be passed in traveling, but rather in successive residences in the countries,-in France, Italy, Germany and England, Switzerland taking a shorter

season than the rest. These little residences enable you to take daily conversations with a native teacher and, through your banker or friends, to make acquaintance of some native families. In a given country, take your favorite city for this abiding, and give the less time to the other towns. The little evening sociable,.the lunch party, will be field enough. But besides this, there are various ways to 'catch the man'-ways equally becoming, if becomingly conducted, in a lady traveler as in a gentleman. See what relishing bits of native life H. H. throws in for us with her other Bits of Travel!

"As I was saying, give a day or so of a week to this object exclusively-the fêteday particularly. Go with friends to the afternoon promenade in the public garden, the piazza, park. After your first stroll for mere enjoyment and to get the aspect of the place, hunt up some family group around their lager bier or vin du pays, or the little crowd enjoying Punch or the juggler-any group which strikes you as genuine, double-blooded native. Keep near and see what trait seems fixed in the greater number of faces, as well as that which speaks, or laughs, or frowns itself out oftenest in conversation; and fasten these traits, only one or two, well in memory. Then look for other like groups. Compare each group with those observed before, and jot down results. A young man, of course, should manage to open conversation with those who promise any profit and who look accessible-the old man sunning himself on the bench in the park, the laborer out of work, the student, the soldier off duty. A little tact, like music, opens all hearts. They are as glad to talk as you are to listen.

silent observation here brings good fruit. I think the intellectual habits of a class, the concentration, order, thoroughness with which they would do business, keep house, write or fight,-could be found in at few evenings by occasional glances at their way of taking food.

"The picture-galleries are a good resource in this line. There is much to bring out expressions of feeling other and deeper than the merely artistic. I have quietly followed a French group through several apartments of the Louvre, and found them, to the last, tossing 'off every picture that was not French, and flaring with gestures of delight at everything, good or stupid, that was the work of a compatriot. To make sure of their taste, they looked for the artist's name before looking at the painting. Was there a landscape in the gallery worth more than that tableau-vivant and little drama in one; at once individual in its intensity and national in its breadth? Could any other nation than the French have furnished it? A moral and mental attitude of the whole mass of the people was given there, as in an allegoric group. A year's residence could do little beyond discovering other forms of this one spectacle. It was like those portraits whose original you have never seen, but which you irresistibly know to be correct. In the picture-gallery, however, your chief study is, of course, the condition of the artistic sentiment; not, just now, as manifested in the pictures, but as manifested at the pictures by the visitors. The question is rather, what subject in art gathers the largest number about it? The answer to this involves moral as well as artistic traits. Of course, the 'manner' of the most attractive pictures must be noticed; as lights and contrasts often make the subject, even with the half-cultivated, a matter of indif

“In the car or boat, when, as is oftenest the case, the scenery is indifferent, you had better talk with your fellow-passenger than take your book or paper. With modest people, it costs a little nerve, sometimes, to break the silence. But, for one, I never met a foreigner, of any rank, who did not receive the advance with pleasure; and the 'silent,' 'surly' Englishman has proved as communicative as any other. And you never know but your companion will turn out the clear-cut type of a million. I remember a ride in the diligence, one morning, in the south of France with a young

fellow from Avignon. In the few hours we passed together he furnished, indirectly or directly, a sample of the entire class of educated young provincials of the South, as individual and son; and everything I have since seen or read of his kind, in fact or story, was anticipated then at the first source. You see it needs only few cases, but well chosen, to open up the thousands of any class. But you must not merely go to see, but to look; and not merely to look, but to observe, and to observe with some method.

"With the humble classes, your best way of drawing out little points of character is the one which also yields most knowledge | on their resources for happiness and comfort the other important topic. In crossing the mountains, relieve your friends occasionally of yourself, and take a little chat with the driver on the box, or as he trudges beside his team. So, ladies might show that interest in the maids who serve their rooms, in the poor washerwoman, the mistress of the petty shop. Ask these people about their families, about work, and wages, and rent, and food, in their neighborhood and class. Often their poor little story has deeper lessons for heart and life than the sight of the Arc de l'Etoile or Notre Dame. They are grateful for your interest in them. You brighten for the moment their poor little life, and widen for ever the circle of their thoughts.

"Places of public amusement and those of worship don't need mention; except that travelers visit them to see the spectacle, or the edifice, and seldom or never the people. So stupid! You remember Jones and Robinson at Cologne, in the Cathedral ?" "There's you, Mr. Fred," said Nelly, pointing to the tall fellow in the sketch. "That's you, 'striking for the biggest things.'"

"Ha!" grinned Fred. "Complimentary! He looks like a sick rooster trying to crow!"

Here Alphonse careered in_ upon us, with his delicious lemonades. Everybody beckoned him at once, caught the big tumblers with both hands, plunged deep the hydraulic straw, and then settled down gravely, sucking and spluttering and gurgling away for ten minutes, with eyes wandering around upon the others in benign and solemn vacancy. Lemonades and roast

apples in turn, through the voyage, kept Alphouse on the trot for the saloon. Sidney Smith's conception of the depth of

human misery, as being "twelve miles from a lemon," was never better dramatized than when the reckless Fred announced, "They say the lemons have given out! Ladies, you're twelve hundred miles from a lemon!" The Ohs! and Mys! and Graciouses! that pelted him! He might as well have hollaed Fire! But the confidential and selfimportant assurances of Alphonse, when he came to gather up the tumblers, put us again at rest.

"I think there's one thing," said the authoress, "that we Americans might better. look at than palaces and galleries and Grand Expositions; and that is, family life in some parts of Europe. I know some families in Germany whose everyday life is an idyl. I believe that half the sweet novels of domestic life there, are only true narratives.”

"I wouldn't wonder," I answered. "My own recollections of some Swiss homes are all that you suggest."

"My dear," said my wife, "here's a good chance to tell your story of the Genets. You haven't aired it for a month."

"I like your lively style of encouragement."

"Let's have it," said Fred.

"Well, I was out there when about your age, spending a few years, and had settled for awhile near Geneva; and one morning I thought I'd drop in upon a pleasant family of young ladies, whose company I had enjoyed several times already of an evening.

The garden gate

was opened invisibly at my ring, and the pretty walks and flowers and noble old trees tempted me to a little stroll before going to the porch. A gentle turn brought me unaware upon a bower and,-what I was always quoting in those days of la belle jouvence,—

'The two divinest things in earthly lot: A lovely woman in a rural spot;'

in fact, two lovely women in a rural spot. "Mademoiselle,' with the best bow to the blonde, petite Cécile. 'Mademoiselle,' with ditto to Hortense, a brunette.

"Monsieur,' in duet, and a duet of courtesies, with down-drooping lids, especially those of the blond, which were long and soft, and purple-dark as the petal of a violet.

"Et madame votre mère, se porte-t-elle bien, ce matin, mademoiselle?'

"Merci, monsieur, très-bien.'

"Et mesdemoiselles même ?' "Elles se portent bien, monsieur, merci. If monsieur would like to see them, we will go seek them, n'est-ce pas ?' said Mademoiselle Hortense, laying her book upon the antique urn, while her sister, as I saw after leaving, began again the reading of her own.'

66 Warm welcome, that! That must be the Continental for snubbing, I should think," said Mrs. Johns.

"Of course, nothing was left for me but to follow, and we found the elder sister in the back parlor, busy with materials for sewing for the poor.

"You will let me keep on,' she said smilingly, after the salutation. We can chat, all the same.'

66 Meanwhile I had walked to the mantle to look closely at a strong pencil sketch upon it, and turning to ask Mademoiselle Hortense whose it was, I found she had flown.

"Hortense has run back to her studies.' "Were the young ladies studying there in the garden?' I asked.

"Oui, monsieur. Mamma keeps us all occupied during all the morning, at one thing or another, Cécile and Hortense are reviewing their history.'

"Mademoiselle Julie has not yet started for Genoa?'

"Non, monsieur; she is in the garden somewhere.' No offer to pass me along, this time; but the little ruse in the bower was explained, and my ruffled vanity smoothed.

"While a domestic matter called away the young lady, I enjoyed a survey of the room; its colors and forms, all so quiet; the carpet of one moss-like green; a little dash of bright drapery here and there, loose upon a chair or a work-stand; books left as the reader dropped them-some half open on the window-sill or the arm of the sofa; a few pictures on the walls, not large, whose ideas were more impressive than their frames; chairs and tête-à-tête as the occupants had left them; music scattered on the piano; the parlor a genuine portion of the home,-of their own individual home,-utterly free from vanity, completely expressive of comfort, selfrespect and the true savoir vivre. I omitted the gilding, I should say gold,-about the room; not the American parlor article, but the rich south sunshine, spread in broad sheets upon the floor, the gauzy

"The entertainments in this home were charmingly simple. They never included many persons at once. Every friend of the family was welcome to drop in upon the tea, at his or her own sweet will. They went when they pleased, or they stayed; and they did what they pleased, or did and said nothing at all if they pleased; like the Professor in Literature I remember, who used to appear once a week, nodded to all around, and then buried his spectacles for the evening in the best book upon the table. However, he used to take a philosophic pipe with the father, of an afternoon, which excused this little eccentricity.

Two

"Every one of these young ladies could entertain the visitors of the family in three languages, and knew something of the current books in each of them, and made better music than most young ladies in New York can do, and drew with talent-one of them with a degree of genius. of them gave several hours a week to classes of poor children; one was trying to impart some of her musical skill to a young friend in straitened fortune. Towards their parents, every action and sentence of the daughters and the sons expressed tenderness or reverence. 'Chère maman a un peu mal de tête.' 'O ù donc est cher papa?'

The breeze had been stiffening, and a rather lively lurch disconcerted my reminiscences, and threw Mr Fred and Miss Nelly a little closer together than before, as his camp-stool had been tilting for some time against the arm of her sofa. However, these young people did not seem seriously incommoded; and Mrs. Johns whispers to me that Nelly has found her prince before seeing a palace.

Suddenly Fred gave a hearty Ha! Ha! I looked up again, and found Miss Nelly leaning firmly up against the motion of another lurch, trying with all her might to "trim the ship;" and my wifeling, with face as grave as a captain off shore in a fog, taking on the same responsibility, all alone to herself. Fred voted to both, the thanks of owners, officers, passengers, and crew, and salvage on arrival.

"Now they've set the ship all right again," said Fred, "let's go on, Professor."

"Oh, I think we've gone on enough, for this time at least. I only wanted to show what rich material lies in that unvisited

field of travel, and how easily you can work it up.

"If you'd like a note to just such a family in Switzerland as I've been telling you of, I'll give you one with pleasure; and, in fact, another to a family in the Hague." "Thank you. I would, indeed. You're very kind."

"You'll have something better than Genevan jewelry, Roman scarfs, bronzes, and cuckoo-clocks to bring home to your friends. You'll bring home something worth showing in your own heart and life." "Yes, and maybe he'll bring home something worth showing, on his arm," insinuated the silvery voice from the furs.

Fred's sensitive face, always telling stories of what was going on within, brightend for a second with the mere tint of a blush, and gave a quick glance at Nelly's. Nelly caught Fred's look, and that set her off a-blushing.

"Didn't I tell you so, my dear?" whispered Mrs. Johns, without turning toward me, out of the left corner of her mouth.

"Tell me what?" I asked aloud. "You stupid!" (out of both corners of her mouth). Then pianissimo, "They're

in love, I tell you." "Ah!"

Our little group seldom gathered again in the saloon. The south wind blew mild and milder from day to day. Through the afternoons, not a cloudlet fretted all the broad blue of the sky, nor hardly a whitecap the blue of the sea. The ship moved on, as steady as a steamer upon the Hudson; so, every one was soon tempted up to enjoy the life of the deck. The three Italian merchants, in their slippers, kept shuffling lazily through an everlasting game of shuffles; a French priest and nun spent hours, side by side, on one of the settees, in brotherly and sisterly comfort together. Our authoress used to pass the afternoons, resting in her soft furry wraps and extension-chair, which Alphonse always arranged for her under the lee of the sky-light. She would be reading sometimes; sometimes

penciling her fancies, and then, for many minutes, looking out and up into the far blue glory, with eyes just closed enough to see the things invisible. Mrs. Johns had been as nearly right as most women know how to be, in praising another's beauty; the authoress was more than "handsome." Her face was rather dark than fair. The square brow, the clear-cut, slightly aquiline profile, the elegant oval, gave it all womanly strength; the fine brown hair was parted simply away to the temples; the shadow of its broad curl upon the slightly fallen cheek, the dark hazel eyes, the sensitive mouth, gave that sweetness which is the tender after-glow of a hope that has forever set.

The fat lady sometimes "made her apparition," as the Frenchmen say; always with a little jerky, snappy, yellow pup, that yelped like a toy-dog, and Fred named Ginger Pop. We never heard Madame call him to her by any word but Easy; which Fred said was "her French for Ici! She thinks that's the popular pet name for dogs in France."

Fred and Nelly kept much together in the afternoons. With Fred, the mornings, he said, seemed to drag.

"Drag! and this your first voyage! Why don't you study up the ship, from her coalbunkers and furnaces up to the main-crosstrees? Find out how the second-cabin people and the sailors lodge and fare. See the ways, and get the stories of some of them for us.

"Good! Good morning, ladies! Bring your opera-glasses, and see me pose on the top-mast.'

66

Oh, Fred!" exclaimed Mrs. Johns. "Don't go up there! Well, they'll order you down."

"Well, after I've been up, wont I want to come down?"

He brought us back such accounts of wonderful discoveries, such descriptions of the tremendous engines, three stories deep, and of the two long rows of red, blazing furnace-mouths right down below us, that he scared the ladies out of their senses, and Mrs. Johns smelt fire three times in the night and shook me up every time to investigate. He opened acquaintance with the surgeon, whom he settled as "a heavy fellow," and with the purser, a "jolly good chap." He borrowed two of the captain's books on Navigation, and I overheard him, one day, making suggestions to that gentleman on the ship's headway and the weather.