rst time
with electricity--a great event. People were to meet in the
statue-gallery. After all were assembled, the King, the Queen, and the
Emperor entered, followed by the princes and their different suites.
The Emperor was dressed in the uniform of the _garde de corps_ (all
white) with a silver breastplate and silver helmet. He was an
apparition! and did not look unlike one of the statues. Or was he a
Lohengrin who had come in a swan-drawn skiff down the Tiber to save
some Italian Elsa?

There were some presentations made. I, for one, was presented to his
Imperial Majesty, and was charmed with his graciousness. We talked
English, which I think rather pleased him, for he made some facetious
remarks on things and people and actually laughed.

The next evening, the 18th, the fireworks and the illumination of the
Forum, the Colosseum, and the Palatino, were the entertainment after a
_diner de famille_.

The Diplomatic Corps was bidden to the Villino. The place was rather
too small to contain all the guests. Fortunately, it was a pleasant
evening; there was a full moon which lent charm to the scene. Bengal
lights, to my mind, are the cheapest form of illumination, but the
fireworks--for which the Italians are so renowned--were splendid.
Rockets of all colors, bursting in mid-air and sending down showers of
lighted balls, were never-ending, and everything belonging to
pyrotechnics was in profusion and perfection.

The _bouquet_ (which is the French for the _apotheose_) surpassed
everything I had ever seen before. It lasted several minutes. When
everything has burned out, only the brilliant "W" with an Imperial
crown remained, and faded gradually away.

ROME, _March, 1889_.

Dear Aunt,--Rome is placarded all over with blood-curdling pictures of
"the Wild West Show" and portraits of our friend Buffalo Bill. I call
him "our friend," although I can't say I know him very well. We
traveled in the same car with him for a whole week on our way to
California ten years ago. That is not enough, is it?

I had never seen a Wild West Show and was most eager to go; besides, I
wanted to see "our friend" in his professional character. We made up a
large party and went there _en bande_.

The tents were put up not far from the Vatican gardens, behind Castel
St. Angelo. None of us had ever been to such a performance, and we were
all delighted at the marvelous feats of lassoing by the cowboys and the
rifle-shooting of the cowgirls,