and Dante and worthy reproductions
of the old masters.

"There are so many beautiful things," he used to exclaim excitedly in
broken English; "why should they want to make anything that is not
beautiful?"

He sputtered time and time again over the pity of gilding the casts.
You'd have thought it was a crime which ought to be punished by
hanging.

"Even Dante," he groaned one night, "that wonderful, white sad face of
Dante covered all over with gilt!"

"It has to look like gold before an American will buy it," I
suggested.

"Yes," he nodded. "They would even gild the Christ."

Ruth said she wanted to learn Italian with me, and so the three of us
used to get together every night right after dinner. I bought a
grammar at a second hand bookstore but we used to spend most of our
time in memorizing the common every day things a man would be likely
to use in ordinary conversation. Giuseppe would say, "Ha Ella il mio
cappello?"

And I would say,

"Si, Signore, ho il di Lei cappello."

"Ha Ella il di Lei pane?"

"Si, Signore, ho il mio pane."

"Ha Ella il mio zucchero?"

"Si, Signore, ho il di Lei zucchero."

There wasn't much use in going over such simple things in English for
Giuseppe and so instead of this Ruth would read aloud something from
Tennyson. After explaining to him just what every new word meant, she
would let him read aloud to her the same passage. He soon became very
enthusiastic over the text itself and would often stop her with the
exclamation,

"Ah, there is a study!"

Then he would tell us just how he would model whatever the picture
happened to be that he saw in his mind. It was wonderful how clearly
he saw these pictures. He could tell you even down to how the folds of
the women's dresses should fall just as though he were actually
looking at living people.

After a week or two when we had learned some of the simpler phrases
Ruth and I used to practise them as much as possible every day. We
felt quite proud when we could ask one another for "quel libro" or
"quell' abito" or "il cotello" or "il cucchiaio." I was surprised at
how soon we were able to carry on quite a long talk.

This new idea--that even though I was approaching forty I wasn't too
old to resume my studies--took root in another direction. As I had
become accustomed to the daily physical exercise and no longer
returned home exhausted I felt as though I had no right to loaf
through my evenings, much as the privilege of