The Argosy — page 239: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

224 SAN MARCELLO: THE PISTOJAN DISTRICT OF THE APENNINES. OW to make the most of a short time or a small sum of money are considerations which enter into many minds. Cook’s and Gaze’s circulars are consulted, other suggestions for travelling mode- rately are discussed, yet in spite of the facilities offered in various ways, most people are glad to listen to a few practical remarks from anyone who may have stayed at a particular spot in France, Italy, Germany, or elsewhere; to hear of the kind of accommodation afforded, the scenery and excursions to be made in the neighbour- hood, the expense of going hither and thither, the mode in which the place is reached, and other similar matters. Switzerland is pretty well known, 1s yearly more and more fre- quented, and perhaps no country presents such infinite variety of beauty. The snow-capped mountains, the blue glaciers, the lovely fertile valleys, the streams, lakes, and waterfalls, the delicate Alpine flowers, all give a series of beautiful pictures with which it is scarcely possible to meet in such quick succession in any other country. At this season of the year many persons visit the Italian lakes, but they would fear to pass a summer further south lest they should be fairly scorched. ‘This 1s because they imagine themselves walking through heated cities, having on either side of them glaring white buildings and the blazing sun pouring down upon their heads. They cannot conceive it possible that cool and refreshing retreats are to be found, such as are to be met with in the Apennines, or places where people with civilized habits could take up their abode. ‘This isa mistake. Many of the charming villages in the Apennines are already much visited, and some pleasant volumes have been written describing tours in a portion of the Pistojan districts; where now, at many points, decent, if somewhat simple, accommodation may be had. Two summers ago I passed three months in an old rambling villa at San Marcello, and spent them agreeably and coolly. Finding Florence intolerably hot towards the end of June, and that the lady at whose pension I had been living was going to take a country house for her family and friends, I asked permission to join the party. She readily agreed to my wish, and we soon left the suffocating city. We started from Florence on the 25th of June, a little before seven in the morning, for Pracchia, a railway journey of between forty and fifty miles, which carried us through Pistoja and some _ beautiful country, until at half-past ten o’clock we reached Pracchia. Herea carriage was awaiting us to drive us still eight miles farther before we should arrive at San Marcello, Some travellers prefer driving from ECOMICMDOO;KS,(E)