Diary of Annie Adams Fields

Saturday 15th Saw the Luxembourg and all the lovely rooms it contains. The pictures are its chiefest treasures. Here is Delacroix’s impressive vision of Dante and Virgil crossing the dark river. A brother-poet, he illuminates the words of one who went before that the world and all posterity...

Sunday 16th Rained very hard in the early morning but soon cleared and we walked á l’Oratoire and heard Mon. Coqueril  Fils. A most impressive intellectual and Christ-like discourse. Text “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Monday. Exquisite day. Rose early to see trades-people who bother us at breakfast. Bade the Sharpe’s good-bye then drove through the lovely “Bois” to Auteuil and Passy. We saw the pleasant old street and house where Boileau lived. It must have been a sweet place in those days shut away...

Tuesday 18th Eulalie came to sew, and a train of trades people to sell, everything. Saw the Gobelin tapestry.

Wednesday 19th Shopping with Eulalie. Rainy.

Thursday 20th Went to Montmartre and found after some trouble poor Fairbanks grave. It looked uncared for. I hope it will be turfed at least. The grand old St. Denis we saw also and meditated on the tombs of kings. Dined at good Mad. Busque’s and in the evening went to see Cri-Cri at “La...

Friday 21st Bade the good Wales’s good-bye. It rained and I passed most of the day at home.

Saturday and Sunday lovely but cold. Dined at Mrs Greene’s. Heard M. Coqueril  Père preach upon the text “There is but one good, that is God.”

Monday 24th Went sight-seeing and shopping as usual. Sent a little note to Mrs Greene. We enjoyed our dinner there so much. It was a sweet picture of family life in all its purity and simplicity with a quiet elegance pervading the whole springing from the refined natures of the parents.

Tuesday 25th Friendly visit from Mrs Hoppin and her sister. Read, with Jamie “Lake House.” Dined at our first poor restaurant at the Palais Royal.

Wednesday 26th Saw Mrs Greene and her lovely children again today. Mr Cranch was there. What a pleasant duty it is for those women who are able to do it to dress themselves gracefully and carefully! It was a lovely picture to see the gay children and the beautiful mother with her light flowing...

Thursday 27th Went again to the Louvre to see our favo[rite] pictures again. The weather was very cold and damp but the Claudes’ and Rubens’ warmed us. Shall we go to Italy?

Friday 28th Visited poor Cranch who surrounded with interesting pictures, paints on, half starved. The Greenes are most kind to him.

Saturday. Pouring, pouring still. Sat in our comfortable little room writing and reading. Jamie had a bad head-ache last night.

Sunday 30th The rain still holds but we take a long walk on the Champs Elysées & when evening shuts down drive to the Greenes to take tea. Have the easiest little French time imaginable. It was warm and a little pleasanter as we returned. They are most excellent people. They chanced to call to...

Monday 31st Began “the Girondins” aloud. Spiridion passed the evening. Nice talk. (I think this was his evening.)

Tuesday Nov. 1st Pleasant. A fête day in Paris. The shops all closed gave the city the appearance that everything wears with us on Sunday. Went to Versailles. Met Mrs Hoppin with her sister and little boy. A fatiguing but interesting day. There was a terrible storm of wind all day which added...

Wednesday Nov. 2d pleasant and mild. Went to St. Cloud in the “American Omnibus” that is horse cars. Walked through the lovely park to Sevres. There is everything here that is interesting. One might study the history of the arts most profitably in the Sevres gallery. The rudest Indian models...

Thursday Nov. 3d Walked about with dear Jamie in the pleasant sun-shine. Read in the evening.

Friday Nov. 4th Was ill all day.

Saturday 5th charming weather.

Sunday 6th Drove to the American Chapel. It is a pretty building in excellent taste. The service execrable. Walked home, down the Champs Elysées.

Monday 7th Mrs Hoppin came in to ask a few questions. Stayed at home mostly through the day.

Tuesday 8th Miss Perkins brought me some flowers. Mrs Thurber called and Jamie passed the evening there. Mr and Mrs J. Bigelow called.

Wednesday. Drove to the Ecole des beaux Arts. A strange old palace crowded about with antiquities illustrative of the immense knowledge of Art as possessed by the ancients. There is a gallery here of great beauty painted in imitation of the Vatican and executed with that accuracy which belongs...