Sunday, May 28th, 1882

Sunday. May 28th Fayal Hotel. Horta.
Before seven o’c this morning we heard Mr Wallach’s voice in the hall. He is just back from St Michaels. He brought Grace a lovely bangle. We went to the Cathedral at 11 to see two men crowned. There were four priests, some acolytes, a choir of men’s voices, the soldiers and a procession (the civil senate[?]) – the church full. Then Mr Lee & I went to call on the Dabneys as we decided suddenly to go by steamer Luso to St Michaels & Terceira Mr Lee, Mrs Lee & I. Mr Lee, is wild to go and for a moment I was fired with enthusiasm at the idea of accomplishing as much as possible in a direction to which I shall probably never return – so I yielded to his persuasions and gave him the money to engage my berth on the Luso, a Portuguese steamer running among the islands and to Madeira. If I had realised [sic] how melancholy it is for a family to be in a foreign land, separated from each other by the water, I should never have dared to undertake the trip but having once cast the die, I made up my mind to take the consequences. After packing Mr Sanisberry, the Misses Dabneys – senior & Mr Herbert D. came for Miss Smith and I to go to a friend’s house from which  we could see the distribution of the bread and meat in execution of the [?] of those who received the crown this morning. There were little posts along the streets on each side with boards on top. [?] loaves of bread and a plate of meat decorated with flowers was the portion of each one who had tickets. There was a great noise by a red [?] band who followed the priest. He sprinkled the rations with holy water and then a whole street full of people rushed with their tickets for their share and pitched it in to bags brought with them for the purpose. It seemed the most truly religious service I have seen here. There was a very old and feeble man on a crutch who was struggling along with his bread and meat and stopping to rest himself under the window where we were happened to hold his hat in his hand for a second. Mr Sanisberry dropped some money and an expression of [?] and happiness came in to his face which was lovely to see. He looked around for the giver but could not find him then showed it to his companions talking very earnestly and then walked off with a certain elasticity in his step to thank the Virgin, we had no doubt, for her gift dropped down from Heaven. We went to one of the Dabney houses, the one first built by the first Dabney of Azore fame. It is a grand old place, on an eminence overlooking Horta and with a full view of Pico from bay to peak. The house is very large with wide generous hall, a ball-room running the whole length of the house on one side, sunny dining hall, etc. The place is unoccupied. The garden is still kept in order and was a very beautiful sight. It was formerly a garden connected with a little den of a house used by the Confessor of the nuns in the convent near by. “Bagatelle” is where the older Dabneys were all born. There is a library still remaining there in the upper hall, a billiard table and some old fashioned New England furniture. After supper we sat in the parlor, Mrs Lee & I in almost a tearful condition. Mr Wallach came to the hill with us. There was a torchlight, Crown feast procession which lighted up the city as we steamed away from the harbor. Mr Herbert Dabney came on board with Mr Sanisberry and got good rooms for us. It was a pleasure to be on a boat of some size and with good rooms after our trying accommodations on the Sarah.