oidered
exquisitely), lovely flowers painted on lovely vases, etc., etc., etc.,
ad infinitum. The Norwegian jewelry was also a surprise and delight; I
don't care for jewelry generally, but these silvery lace-like creations
took me by storm. Among other pretty things were lots of English
bedrooms, exquisitely furnished and enormously expensive. The
horticultural department was very poor, except the rhododendrons, which
drove me crazy. I only took a chair twice. You pay sixty cents an hour
for one with a man to propel it, but can have one for three hours and
make your husband (or wife!) wheel you. You do not pay entrance fee for
children going in your arms, and I saw boys of eight or nine lugged
in by their fathers and mothers. We think everybody should go who can
afford it. Several countries had not opened when we were there; Turkey
and Spain, for instance; and if Switzerland was ready we did not see
it. The more I think of the groups I spoke of, the more I am lost in
admiration. A young mother kneeling over a little dead baby, and the
stern grief of the strong old grandfather, brought a lump into my
throat; the young father was not capable of such grief as theirs, and
sat by, looking subdued and tender, but nothing more. The artist must
be a great student of human nature. I went, every day, to study these
domestic groups; at first they did not attract the crowd; but later it
was next to impossible to get at them. Every one was taken from life,
and you see the grime on their knuckles. Almost every face expressed
strong and agreeable character. There were very few good and a great
many had pictures. Of statuary "The Forced Prayer" was very popular; the
child has his hands folded, but is in anything but a saintly temper, and
two tears are on his cheeks. I should like to own it. If I had had any
money to spare I should have bought something from Japan and something
from Denmark. I do not think any one can realise, who has not been
there, what an education such an Exposition is. China's inferiority to
Japan I knew nothing about.

A. goes out sketching every day. The other day I found her painting a
white flower which she said she got from the lawn; it was something like
a white lockspur, only very much prettier, and was, of course, not a
wild flower, as she supposed, or, at any rate, not indigenous to this
soil. She declared it had no leaves, but I made her go out and show me
the plant; it grew about ten inches high, with le