Part 8 (1/2)

Once back froo Richard divided his time between his desk at Franklin Square, his roo up the friendshi+ps and the social activities his trip to England had temporarily broken off Much as he now loved London, he was still an enthusiastic New Yorker, and the amount of work and play he accomplished was quite extraordinary Indeed it is difficult to understand where he found the time to do so much In addition to his work on Harper's he wrote many short stories and special articles, not only because he loved the reatly enjoy the things he could buy with the ht him His pleasures had increased as steadily as the prices he could now co back on those days it is rather ree, the temptations that surrounded him, and his extraordinary capacity for enjoyotten the balance betork and play, and stuck to both with an unswerving and unceasing enthusiasm However, after four h tied with the Harpers to spend the late winter and the spring in collecting material for the two sets of articles which afterward appeared in book form under the titles of ”The Rulers of the Mediterranean” and ”About Paris” He set sail for Gibraltar the early part of February, 1893, and the following letters describe his leisurely progress about the Mediterranean ports

NEW YORK, February 3, 1893

DEAREST MOTHER:

This is a little present for you and a goodby Your packing-case is what I need and what I shall want, and I love it because you made it

But as YOU say, we understand and do not have to write love letters; you have given me all that is worth while in me, and I love you so that I look forward already overtogether at Marion and telling each other how good it is to be together again and holding each other's hands I don't believe you really kno HAPPY I as aboutto make you feel less proud of your wicked son

dick

Off Gibraltar, February 12, 1893

DEAR MOTHER:

Today is Sunday We arrive at Gibraltar at five to and the boat lies there until nine o'clock Unless war and pestilence have broken out in other places, I shall go over to Tangiers in a day or two, and from there continue on my journey as htful trip and the most enjoyable I have ever taken by sea These s twin-screw steaets to know everything about everyone else, and it has been er steaht I would not find in any new old country I was about to visit anything ht, but they are reat deal They are different fro about The ones of who always and sinking out of sight whenever they reached home

They, with the exception of a Boston couple, know none of reat deal in e has been SUCH a rest I had no idea of how tired I was of talking about the theater of Arts and Letters and Miss Whitney's debut and eois to a degree and as kind-hearted and apparent as anie or rest in years, and I a Of course, the idea of a six , but I find that besides that I was a good deal harassed and run down, and I a and start fresh I feel miserably selfish about it all the tih you were the owner of the line

The discipline is like that of the Ger moves by the stroke of a bell, and they have had dances and speeches and concerts and religious services and lectures every other one with much enthusiasm We have at the captain's table Dr Field, the editor of The Evangelist, John Russell, a Boston Deress and who has been in public life for over forty years A Tammany sachem, who looks like and worshi+ps Tweed, and who says what I never heard an Ae say: ”That's me That's what I do,” he says ”When I have insoet up and go round to Jake Stewart's on Fourteenth Street and eat a fry or a porterhouse steak and then I sleep good---that's me” There is also a lively lady from Albany next to me and her husband, who tells anecdotes of the war just as though it had happened yesterday Indeed, they are all so s I never understood the truth about, and it isI really do not knohen I have enjoyed h queer and Ger Dr Field is h until I cry He is just like Ja his hands and s exploits I twist everything he says intohe did not really see a bullfight, but that he walked around the outside of the building I have promised to show him life with a capital L, and he is afraid as death of ht when he presented a testimonial to the captain, and referred to the captain's wife and boy who to see after a two years' absence, at which the captain wept and everybody else wept And Field, seeing he had made a point, waved his arms and cried, ”I have never known a ood wife to care for--except YOU--” he shouted, pointing at ers, who fully appreciated how I had been worrying hi scored on ive the captain his testio and a queer Southern girl who paints pictures and sings and writes poetry, and who is traveling with an odd married woman who is an invalid and who like everyone else on board has apparently spent all her life away fro the story I told Dad the night before I sailed and I think it in some ways the best, quite the best, I have written I read it to the queer girl and her queer chaperon and they henever they speak of it, which they do every half hour All the passengers apparently laid in a stock of ”Gallegher” and ”The West” before starting, and young woraphs and favorite quotations Yesterday we passed the Azores near enough to see the s in the houses, and we have seen other islands at different ti Tomorrow I shall post this and the trip will be over It has been ato write letters often, but a head over ears into this new life and let the old one wait awhile You cannot handle Africa and keep up your fences in New York at the sa out to talk to the Boston couple, or to propose a lion hunt to Dr Field

Since I wrote that last I have seen Portugal It al is a high hill with a white watch tower on it flying signal flags It is apparently inhabited by onerow of yellow houses with red roofs, and populated by sheep who do grand acts of balancing on the side of the hill There is also a Navy of a brown boat with a leg-of-mutton sail and a crew of threeto have a traveled son None of you ever saw Portugal, yah!

I ae place and there does not sees about Moors in bare legs and six thousand Red-coats and to hear Englishain When I woke up Gibraltar was a black silhouette against the sky, but toward the south there was a low line of mountains with a red sky behind them, dim and mysterious and old, and that was Africa Then Spain turned up all areen, and the Mediterranean as blue as they tell you it is They wouldn't let un into Gibraltar They know my reputation for war

dick

GIBRALTAR

February 14th, 1893

DEAR MOTHER:

The luck of the British Ar with my own took a vacation yesterday as soon as I had set foot on land In the first place Egypt had settled down to her sluggish Nile like calm and cholera had quarantined the shi+p I wanted to take to Algiers, shutting off Algiers and as s I wanted and his adjutant was boorish and proud and haughty Then I detero to Spain but found I had arrived just one day too late for the last of the three days of the Mardi Gras and too early for bull fights Had I taken Saavedra's letters I should have gone to Madrid and met the Queen and other proud folks So on the whole I was blue But I have now deterier at once where I have letters to the Duke de Tnas who is the Master of the Hounds there and a great sport and they say it is very ao to Malta I called on Harry Cust's brother and told him who I was and he tooksubalterns in grand uniforms and we had e of tears to hear English as she is spoke Then ent to a picnic and took tea in a sler's cave and all the foxterriers ran over the table cloth and the Captain spilt hot water over his white flannels and juairls with a knotted handkerchief and then fighting for it-- During one of these scries Mulvaney, two others and Learoyd came by and with eyes front and hands at their caps marched on with stolid countenances, but their officers were embarrassed It is hard to return a salute with your face in the sand and a stout A your first lieutenant's leg I aed for dinners and dances and teas and rides and aain I am also very well thank you and have no illnesses of any sort You told me to be sure and put that in-- As you see, I have cut out half of my trip to avoid the cholera, so you need not worry about THAT To-day I a over the raier where I expect to have soelist in a week or two as Dr Field's letters cover all I have seen I do not tell you anything about the place because you will read that in the paper to the H W but I can assure you the girls are very pretty and being garrison girls are not as shy as those at holand I am the first Aet on very well notwithstanding

You can ilish Soldiers are all crowded into one long street with donkeys and geese and priests and slers and men in polo clothes and soldiers in football suits and sailors from the man-of-war Of course, the Rock is the best story of it all It is a fair green s hill not a fortress at all No more a fortress to look at than Fairmont Park water works, but the joke of it is that under every bush there is a gun and every gun is painted green and covered with hanging curtains of moss and every promenade is undermined and the bleakest face of the rock is tunnelled with rooht we are locked in and the soldiers carry the big iron keys clanking through the streets

It is going to