be fully compensated for the risk and loss she might sustain.

I am happy and proud to state that, although Mrs. Webb generously
advanced, all told, a sum approximating thirty thousand dollars during
the first few years of my studies in Europe, every dollar of it was
repaid within two years after my return to America.

Upon my mother's capable shoulders fell the difficult and not always
thankful task of financing and planning for our adventurous expeditions.
Thus completely shielded from money worries and material vexations, I
abandoned myself to the glory of dreams. I was ready to slave in
passionate devotion and enthusiasm to further the career that meant my
life--to conquer in song. And so unafraid, and happy with the heart of
youth, I set forth to the Old World of my dreams and hopes!

We sailed from Boston late in September, 1899, on the old Leyland liner
Armenian. She was a cattle boat; the passengers were merely incidental,
the beef was vital. It rained the day we sailed, and it rained the day
we arrived at Liverpool. London, where I spent a brief ten days, remains
only a vague memory of fog and depression. I was happy to leave it
behind and continue toward the wonder city of my dreams--Paris.

Who can ever forget the first intoxicating impression of this queen of
cities? The channel trip, the bustle of arrival at Boulogne, the fussy
little foreign train tugging us unwillingly over the lovely meadows--all
I retain of that is a blur. But it seems like yesterday that the spruce
little conductor poked his merry face into the compartment and gurgled
joyfully: "Par-ee!" Every nerve in my body tingles now when I recall the
excitement of it all.

We drove first to a small family hotel which had been recommended by
some of our fellow passengers on the Armenian. I at once took charge of
the party, and, in a halting harangue in French, told the landlady what
rooms we wanted and how much we wished to pay.

"If you will only tell me in English," said the landlady helplessly,
speaking my native tongue perfectly, "I can understand you better."

After this crushing rebuke to my French, I let my mother arrange all
details.

We remained but a few days here--only until we could install ourselves
in an apartment in the Latin Quarter, very near the lovely gardens of
the Luxembourg and close to the omnibus stations. It cost then three
sous to ride on top of a bus--"_l'imperial_," as it is called--and six
sous to ride inside.