That she came right out and spoke of the Farnese Bull as a bull,
instead of referring to him as a gentleman cow, was evidence of
the extent to which travel had enlarged her vision, for with half
an eye anyone could tell that she belonged to the period of our
social development when certain honest and innocent words were
supposed to be indelicate--that she had been reared in a society
whose ideal of a perfect lady was one who could say limb, without
thinking leg. I hope she found her bull, but I imagine she was
disappointed when she did find it. I know I was. The sculpturing
may be of a very high order--the authorities agree that it is--but
I judge the two artists to whom the group is attributed carved
the bull last and ran out of material and so skimped him a bit.
The unfortunate Dirce, who is about to be bound to his horns by
the sons of Antiope, the latter standing by to see that the boys
make a good thorough job of it, is larger really than the bull.
You can picture the lady carrying off the bull but not the bull
carrying off the lady.
Numerously encountered are the tourists who are doing Europe under
a time limit as exact as the schedule of a limited train. They
go through Europe on the dead run, being intent on seeing it all
and therefore seeing none of it. They cover ten countries in a
space of time which a sane person gives to one; after which they
return home exhausted, but triumphant.
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