te
sculptor's residence and establishment it would be difficult to imagine.
Alas for the shortness of the few years that were allowed to him for the
enjoyment of it! Long after the house and the studio were completed, and
the marbles all moved thither, Powers was still indulging in the delight
of improving his garden; and his plans for such improvement gave
striking evidence of that genius and passion for mechanical cleverness
and achievements of which I have frequently spoken. He had planned and
begun--I think only begun--to execute an artesian well by means of
certain newly-invented systems of boring, the details of which, in the
absence of all workmen who possessed any knowledge whatever on the
subject, had to be wholly superintended, arranged and adapted by
himself. He had satisfied himself by observations of his own that water
was to be found at a given depth, and had, I believe, prosecuted the
work sufficiently to be assured that his judgment in this respect was
well founded. In connection with this scheme of the artesian well was a
fountain in the garden, which was, I believe, also ultimately brought to
perfection.

In conformity with the convenient continental fashion of ladies naming
one day in the week for the reception of visitors--a plan which enables
them to escape from the interruption to their domestic pursuits on all
other days, and which is very generally adopted by those who have large
circles of acquaintance--Mrs. Powers used to open the drawing-rooms of
her new house on every Saturday, and a considerable crowd was sure to be
found there from two to six. But such recent arrivals on the banks of
the Arno as paid their respects to Mrs. Powers in the hope and
expectation of seeing the famous sculptor were almost, if not quite,
invariably disappointed. None of the Florentine colony expected to find
Powers in the drawing-room on such occasions. They knew better where to
look for him--in his workshop. There he might be found by those who had
brought letters of introduction to him, in his usual workman's garb.
Powers never made the slightest concession to the necessities of
receiving "company" on such occasions. There he was, with his working
cap on head, probably in a long light gray coat, not innocent of marble
dust, but often in blouse and apron.

In the latter days, when, though we little thought it, the end was
approaching, when the night of that long day of continuous activity and
labor was at hand,