Vernon one gets charming glimpses of the wooded islands of 
varying size that break the river into narrow waterways. Those 
lovely stone bridges over the rivers of France ! There are no 
two alike, yet each one is a thing of beauty and each one seems 
to fit into the landscape as if it were a natural growth. The 
Virgins Bower is not yet in blossom but its leafy stems are 
mingling with the daisies along the way. Vernon is about 74 
kilometers, less than two and a half hours from the Porte 
Maillot, Paris, and it is preparing for tourists this summer with 
a pretty new timbered wing in the garden of the Hotel du 
Soleil. The Church too, is worthy of a visit; they are taking 
in slim young birches to decorate the altars. How fragrant the 
sap is, like ferns and sweet earth. 
After luncheon we cross the river and take little winding 
roads between high barriers back to the village of Giverny, our 
goal. At the far end of the village, in a long expanse of 
stuccoed wall is a weather-stained- green door. "Yes," answers 
our guide, to our inquiring looks, "this is the place." 
We pull a cord, the door opens and we are in a Paradise 
of bloom. An impressive figure, erect and keen, advances down 
the path to greet us. Can this hale and hearty gentleman with 
the luxuriant white beard, the becoming Panama, the brilliant 
eyes, the eternal cigarette, the friendly and cordial smile, the 
firm flexible fingers, be the artist of eighty that we have come 
to see? Yes, this is Monet. He welcomes us giving eager 
directions about the car and presents M. Albert Andree, the 
painter, who with his wife are house guests here. We are 
taken at once into the studio so-called, but long outgrown, 
where Madame Monet and Madame Andree await us. The house 
is one of those perfectly adapted homes that being built over 
year by year seems in its very bricks and mortar to gain and 
express something of its owner's personality; a long rambling 
house of different levels, embowered in climbing roses, a fit 
boundary for the glorious garden. 
The Studio walls are hung to the ceiling with the Master's 
sketches and pictures. Everywhere there are flowers 
exquisitely arranged in unusual combinations. I accuse our 
hostess, Madame Monet, step-daughter and daughter-in-law of 
Monet, who acknowledges the teachings of the Master. Monet 
by his first wife had two sons. Some years after her death he 
married a widow of social position with three daughters. What 
more natural than that two of the young people should be 
attracted to each other? This son died before the war leaving 
no children and when her mother died but a few years ago, 
the younger Madame Monet took charge of the home and her 
devotion to the great man and his household is beautiful to 
see. Monet's second son, now a man of about 45 and un- 
married, also lives at home. 
