Prepariations for the trip
Business was going very well and I was completely confident in the state of affairs. I carried out an endless number of calculations which led me to believe I was in an excellent financial situation. I was convinced I could spend some 10,000 pesos on the trip, leaving me more than 80,000 pesos of well invested capital and was confident in my foreman Molinari’s ability to run the business. Molinari came up with the idea of sending me a monthly installment to face expenses in France. The departure was scheduled for August 10th on board the steamer “España”, but on July 28th, as we slept, there was a fire in the workshop in the section facing Belgrano avenue where all the machinery was.
Our neighbour Dr Sanchez’s Chinese buttler sounded the alarm, believing from the noise, that we were being burglarized. My wife ran into the street screaming “help, they are stealing!”. But it was on account of the fire doing damage due to the negligence of a young 13 or 14 year old apprentice that had not completely smothered the fire in the workshop chimney which was located in the center, surrounded by electrical machinery and lumber which had been put to dry. Instead of putting out the fire with a broom, the apprentice threw a bucket of water and the sparks flew all over the place, including the roof ties which were loaded with sawdust. The fire destroyed all the ties, the shelves, the aged lumber, some unfinished furniture and the machinery on the second floor. I swore never to hire an apprentice again! Colonel Calaza, chief of Police and his vice Dr Durao, showed up before the firemen. The next day the Franco Argentinean insurance company showed up to estimate the damages and demanded that I stop all operations in order to take inventory. Furious, I told them I was leaving for France in a few days and that I would no longer be a client of their company. The gentlemen returned the next morning to offer me the immediate payment of the damages. They paid 5,000 pesos for the damages and I advised Molinari to freeze all assets for one month, just in case.
Our departure and stay in France
Our departure took place on August 10th 1900, in midst of great family joy. The city of Montevideo, which still lacked a port, could be seen from the ship.
During the voyage through the Gulf of Santa Catalina we had 24 hours of rough waters, frequently having 10 to 20 centimitres of water in our 6 bunk cabin (3 and 3 stacked). It was so horrible that we were forced to tie the younger ones (Rosa and Joseph) to the beds. The rest of the journey was acceptable and at last we landed on the sixteenth day in Marseille. On the docks, we felt followed silently by a youngster who, as we found out later, was the oldest son of my brother, whose shyness prevented him from speaking to us. Our arrival in Ceret was a very happy one. My eldest brother was delighted with our visit and very happy in his married life. He rented for us the house of arch bishop Soubirane (leader of the “worldwide propagation of faith”) who at the time resided in the Vatican. My children were very happy and were spoiled by all the relatives. My wife and I were questioned intensely about our new and far country. A month later, we were leaving our four children with my brother and sister in law and we left for Paris where Leonie’s sister was waiting for us. We stayed in a mid range hotel in Place St. Suplice. All of Paris was full of people. We were very drawn by the exposition and were dedicated to it for the following week, using tickets we had received from our relatives. We met with friends and acquaintances and made notes about Parisian furniture stores and about everything that interested us in that respect. It was the first time we visited Paris. On our way back, we passed by Toulouse to visit the rest of the family and friends, but we longed to reunite with our own. We bought a camera for Joseph and various gifts for the other two children. We also bought a phonograph. Our children were magnificent and during our absence had taken good advantage of their stay. It was already autumn. In Perpignan the autumn is cool but of a beautiful climate.
