300 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



slouchy gait. At the Porta Romana the sentinel who guarded 

 the entrance, no matter how often he was replaced, was to their 

 minds always the same incompetent pigeon-toed fellow. The 

 general insisted that some day in his march he would inevitably 

 twist one foot round the other, stumble and stick his bayonet 

 in the nearest passer-by. To be thus ignominiously despatched 

 was a fate dreaded by the Indian veteran. He and Mr. Shaler 

 therefore would give the soldier a wide berth and would laugh- 

 ingly congratulate one another whenever they escaped the 

 threatened danger. 



As it turned out, the weather for several months proved to 

 be exceptionally fine. Mr. Shaler was thus able to indulge his 

 fancy for long tramps and for the exploration of geological 

 localities. In the intervals between his more extended excur- 

 sions he studied Florence, its architecture, its picture gal- 

 leries, its social conditions, and became exceedingly fond of 

 what he called "the gloomy old city." Living in the artists' 

 quarter of the town, he saw much of the sculptors who congre- 

 gate there, and became an interested and keen critic of their 

 work. In several instances where he had gone farther afield 

 than they he was able to guide them to places holding some 

 bit of precious work, hidden from those who tread only the 

 much-frequented ways. 



During the winter there came the news of his father's death, 

 and although he was not unprepared for it, it was nevertheless 

 a great grief to him, as the following letters show. 



To his brother-in-law, the Hon. Albert S. Berry: 



FLORENCE, ITALY, Jan. 18, 1882. 



Your telegram came to me this noon. The date was lost from it, so I am 

 not sure when the end came. If my mother bears it badly and you think 

 seeing me would be a consolation to her, please telegraph me at any moment. 

 ... I cannot tell you how much I deplore my absence. If it were for any 

 private gain I should curse the day I set my foot on ship and put half the 

 world between me and home. The parting is harder to bear than I thought 

 it would be. I know that he wished for death and that death was the only 



