In the summer of 1907 Ima Hogg, still grieving
over her father’s death the year before, set off on a grand tour of Europe. It
was her first trip, and it lasted from June till October--and then she stayed
on. (More about that later.)
She
kept a journal of her travels:
This is a chronology of my trip to Europe--not a diary of personalities.
June 22--Sailing-
President Lincoln, Hamburg-American Line.
Cabin 63 - Room-mate Mrs. Ben Thompson.
An auspicious start--a glorious warm day, our ship - 618 ft.
long--making its maiden trip. Many friends had telegrams, letters, books and
flowers as farewell to me, and we waved them a far away good-bye with grateful
hearts for their remembrances - a home leaving being at best somewhat sad....
Ima
traveled with family friends, the Lewis Thompsons of Texas, their sons Ben
& Lewis, and their governess, Magdalena. IH’s roommate on the voyage and
probably on land travels was Mrs. Ben Thompson from Nacogdoches (a relative of
the Thompsons, most likely.) This group from Houston was joined by a Mr. Scott,
a chemistry professor at Austin College, and a Mr. Ben Foster and his sister
Miss Ione Foster from Kansas City.
The passengers are mostly German so we have fallen completely in
to the spirit of things, even trying out our bits of “Deutche” words on them.
Really, though, have made comparatively no acquaintances. My table seat to my
right though is occupied by a lovely old gentleman Rev. Wilkie from Florida and
his wife to his right. A Mr. Dick from Newcastle Eng. Has played bridge with us
and defeated us all. Much of our time has been spent at cards, some at reading,
we have been dutiful enough to dive into guide-books--then we’ve walked
leagues. Shuffle-board is a great game- I can’t play it much, but intend to
spend lost of time at it on the return. Mr. Thompson and I matched Mrs T. & Mr. Dick at “ring-toss”
--they beating us by one point only.
Ima was always competitive.
