Ever yours, A. T. NOEL BYRON.
The entire family, with the exception of the youngest son, was abroad
at this time. The two eldest daughters were in Paris, having
previously sailed for Havre in March, in company with their cousin,
Miss Beecher. On their arrival in Paris, they went directly to the
house of their old friend, Madame Borione, and soon afterwards entered
a Protestant school. The rest of the family, including Mrs. Stowe, her
husband and youngest daughter, sailed for Liverpool early in August.
At about the same time, Fred Stowe, in company with his friend Samuel
Scoville, took passage for the same port in a sailing vessel. A
comprehensive outline of the earlier portion of this foreign tour is
given in the following letter written by Professor Stowe to the sole
member of the family remaining in America:
CASTLE CHILLON, SWITZERLAND, _September_ 1, 1859.
DEAR LITTLE CHARLEY,--We are all here except Fred, and all well. We
have had a most interesting journey, of which I must give a brief
account.
We sailed from New York in the steamer Asia, on the 3d of August
[1859], a very hot day, and for ten days it was the hottest weather I
ever knew at sea. We had a splendid ship's company, mostly foreigners,
Italians, Spaniards, with a sprinkling of Scotch and Irish. We passed
one big iceberg in the night close to, and as the iceberg wouldn't
turn out for us we turned out for the iceberg, and were very glad to
come off so.
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