352 Edward Livingston Youmans, 



logne, Paris, Lyons, Toulon, and this place (pronounced 

 He-air !). We have been freezing to death all the way from 

 London, but hoping constantly for the land of warmth, and 

 we haven't found it yet. There are orange trees loaded 

 with uneatable oranges, and there are palms, olives, and 

 numberless tropical fruits, but it is as cold as Greenland 

 still ; it don't feel like a tropical country. 



It is a poor country supported by English visitors. The 

 hotel is called " Le Grand Hotel des lies d'Or " (Isles of 

 Gold). That is, you climb a hill behind through a garden, 

 and thence see some islands of the Mediterranean, which 

 are about three miles off. So the hotel takes its name 

 from the isles. . . . We are resting, giving the animal a 

 chance. Spencer will let me do nothing but walk and eat. 

 Can't read or write. Have to steal moments to write 

 letters, and hence haven't written much. He is working 

 like ten Iforses in quest of what he came for — relaxation ! 

 So we walked two hours this afternoon on the piazza, 

 seventeen feet long and ten feet wide, passing each other 

 at every turn. Lord, how the people stared ! But Spencer 

 didn't care, and I am sure I shall never see them again. 



Friday, December 2'jth. 

 The morning is pleasanter; it has stopped raining; and 

 now we shall have to start through the mud in quest of the 

 "rest" we are after. Spencer is the same and not the 

 same; his qualities abide, but they grow; while not relax- 

 ing a jot of his theoretic laissez /aire, he is still more irri- 

 tably denunciatory of people doing as they can and may. 

 He meddles with me, and interferes with me, and criticises 

 me, and takes care of me, all for my good, of course, in the 

 most assiduous manner. I am beginning to count on 

 momentary escape from his vigilance to do a little writing 

 or reading. — At this point he came for a walk, " a slight 

 ramble of half an hour." It was very wet and muddy, but 

 we rambled through the lanes and alleys, up and around 



