December 7, 2013

Well, I can't believe it, but this is Camillo's last letter from his epic "field trip" to the United States in 1893-94. He was gone from Ivrea for about ten months, but he's been with me now, for just over two years, and to come to the end of this set of letters is a bittersweet milestone.

I almost didn't do this project. In fact, I had resolved to not do it. For years, maybe since I was eighteen, I had carried this little book along with me wherever I went. I can see it on my raw wood desk in New York City, I can see it in a milk crate in my first apartment in San Francisco, and it sat on a shelf here in Palo Alto for many years.

By summer 2011 when we decided to go to Ivrea for my uncle's 70th Birthday I was no longer a single gal on my own (really, what did that single gal do with the time??), but a mother of three young daughters, with a full and busy life. The idea that we were taking our then eighteen month-old, five year old and seven year old to Europe for a month was overwhelming enough that when I went to pack the little book, I thought to myself, "Forget it. Just do yourself a favor and officially cross this project off the list." As I was putting the book down, it half slipped out of my hands, my fingers grasped the book between two pages, and I glanced at the gap that had opened.

The letter I was looking down at was "Palo Alto, Cal, 14 novembre 1893."  

I felt like someone or something was reaching out to me to say, "no, no, no....you cannot put this down. you are the one this project is for." I glanced upward to the ceiling, to the sky, to the universe and thought to myself, "oh alright, alright, I'll do it," feeling more than slightly put upon by fate or my ancestors or whatever forces were conspiring to give me one of those "meant to be" moments that was committing me to a project I had neither the time nor the resolve to take on. I packed the book, brought it with me to Italy, and once again, didn't touch it.

But when I got back to Palo Alto in August, I had been so moved by my return to Italy, the first trip in 15 years, a long stretch for me, who grew up visiting just about every summer as a girl, that for the first time, I felt fully committed.

That is not to say that the work proceeded quickly.

In my life as a mom home with little ones, big chunks of time were rare to come by, and so I approached the project Kaizen style. What that looked like for me was this:

In the morning I would creep out of my bedroom and tip-toe through my dark, slumbering household. I would put water on to boil, then sit down to translate two or three sentences. By the time the teapot was jiggling and spewing steam, I was often about two thirds the way through my very small daily goal, and my oldest daughter, hair akimbo, still cloaked in the scent of her previous night's journey through dreams and imaginary worlds, would appear by my side for her morning hug. She was usually patient as I tied up a last sentence, but many, many days I cut my goal short. Many days I didn't even get this far. There were weeks that were full of the bustle of school performances or holidays, weeks in which the children or I were ill, weeks while the house got repainted, many kinds of weeks in which I could not steal that slice of morning time.

And so it was, the project stretched out.

But all along the way, despite the fact that my pace did not at all meet my own expectations, the tempo seemed to be following some other kind of encouraging logic. For example, I translated the letters in which Camillo arrives in Palo Alto, in the Fall of 2012. And so I became very attuned to the historical plaques around town. It turns out a lot happened during that year in Palo Alto. Among other things the first public school opened on September 1893, and according to a plaque I found, my youngest daughter started school on exactly the same day that school opened for the first time, ever, in Palo Alto--where Camillo himself had just arrived and been hired to work as an assistant professor. Small things like that happened all the time, most recently, I took my daughters to see Harvard Square for the first time, right as I was translating the letter in which Camillo also visited Harvard Square for the first time.

But of all of the coincidences, there is one that means more than all of them to me. During the time that I was working on these letters, my brother and his new wife were trying to get pregnant. It wasn't easy for them, so their journey had twists and turns, and the pace certainly did not conform to their expectations. However, ultimately, everything came together the way we always hope things will, and my sister-in-law became pregnant with a boy.

I think my brother knew I was working on these letters, although I need to ask him to what extent he was aware of my daily "visits" with my great-grandfather, Camillo. I, on the other hand, was totally blind to what my brother was working on.

When my nephew was born on September 3, 2012, my brother called me to share the news. He and my sister-in-law had been very cagey about the name, wisely avoiding unwelcome feedback and suggestions from excited well-meaning relatives. So when my brother told me my nephew's name, August Camillo Olivetti, I was so shocked I almost fell off my chair.

By this time I had been translating for well over a year, and had come to feel that I was somehow actually channeling my great grandfather, that his humor, his powers of observation, and his adventurous spirit were coming alive somehow in me, on the page, over the internet I'm not sure where--but there was a palpable sense of life flowing. So when I heard that my nephew was to bear his name, it was as if time liquified and I was in many years at once. It is hard to explain, and from a reader's perspective I'm sure it's even more difficult to believe or feel into, but it felt like certain threads of things came together and many regular assumptions fell apart. And more than anything else, I felt as if I had known and loved this new baby for a very, very wide expanse of time that cannot be measured in the regular way. That feeling for him only continues to grow, and as far as this small translation project goes, I feel encouraged that my nephew might enjoy reading about his namesake, giving the project at least an audience of one.

So without expectation, but accompanied by countless unplanned delightful moments, this project unfolded one sentence at a time. For someone who grew up a striver, who as a habit had tried to set high bars, and who felt quite reduced (I'm embarrassed to say) by the day to day pace of life brought on by babies and children, this project changed me in a fundamental way. It has helped me trust life a little more. It has shown me that time is something all together different than the measure of hours and days, it has proven to me that I am very small in space and time, but am invisibly threaded together with people and life in ways I don't understand, in a way that makes me feel a part of something bigger than I had thought of before.

To those of you who have followed along the last couple years. Thank you. This is a rough draft to be sure, but some work got done and it was nice to have company. To those of you who are glancing at the project for the first time, I promise to follow up with links to some of the really fun posts, like the one in which Camillo meets Thomas Edison, or the one in which he describes the construction of the quad at Stanford. I am grateful to have been able to be a conduit for the voice of this opinionated, funny, stubborn, adventurous, innovative electrical engineering student. The process benefitted me more than I could have imagined when I reluctantly agreed to take on the project.

With love,
Cristina


*****

In the book of letters I have, this one is dated 12-7-94, but I have to imagine that this dating is an error of the original transcriber.  Hardly any of the other letters are dated in this style (as opposed to writing out the month, ie 4 giugno 1894), it seems unlikely that Camillo would have mistaken the month, and the letter does seem to be the last one written before he embarks on the Fulda.

Philadelphia 12-7-94

Carissima mamma

Non so se questa mia ti arrivera prima della mia persona.  Probabilmente si.  Ad ogni modo te la scrivo avendo a narrarti quanto feci in quest’ultima settimana.

Come ti ho scritto ho dovuto penare alquanto per trovare un posto, essendo tutti i vapori quasi completi e rimanendo solo vacanti poche cabine a prezzi altissimi.

Ho preferito questa volta fare il viaggio su di un vapore diretto a Genova per molte ragioni tra le altre perche piu economico, ragione piuttosto importante specialmente perche mi trovo dopo aver pagato il biglietto ad un ablativo quasi assoluto.  Dico quasi perche realmente ho ancora abbastanza per andar avanti fino al sabbato, giorno della partenza, e avere ancora in tasca una sessantina di lire per spese di dogana etc. ma non molto di piu.

Dearest mother,

I don’t know if this letter will arrive before I arrive in person.  Probably yes.  At any rate, I’m writing it, narrating what I did in this last week.

Like I wrote to you I had to suffer a little to find a spot, being that all the ships are just about full and the only vacancies that remain are a few cabins at high prices.

This time I preferred to make the trip on a boat headed directly to Genoa for a lot of reasons, among others, the most important reason really is economical, especially because after having paid for the ticket I find myself at a quasi “ablative absolute” (this is a term for a Latin construction in which the pronoun and its adjunct form one single phrase that indicates the time/cause of an action...I think this is a way of Camillo expressing that he is absolutely at the end of it all...money,time, etc).  I say quasi because realistically I have enough to get by until Sunday, the departure day, and then I have another 60 lire in my pocket for customs expenses, etc. but not much more.

Cio mi rincresce specialmente perche non potro portare niente o quasi a Emma ed ai bambini del che essi saranno assai malcontenti ma d’altra parte la mia lettera di credito e finita e scaduta ed io non ho ne tempo ne voglia di farmene venire un’altra.

In questi giorni ho girato New York ed i dintorni e sono venuto alla conclusione che la miglior cosa che vi e nella metropoli degli Stati Uniti e il famoso Central Park, un enorme parco deliziosissimo situato nel centro della citta, ove per lo meno si respira un’aria meno infocata e polverosa di quella che i nostri polmoni son costretti ad inalare nel Tenderline.  A New York avevo preso in affitto una bellissima camera a 75 cents al giorno.

I regret this, especially because I won’t be able to bring back anything, nearly nothing, at least, to Emma and the children, and because of this they will be unhappy, but on the other hand my line of credit is over and expired and I have neither the time nor the desire to make arrangements for another.

These last few days, I toured New York and its surroundings, and came to the conclusion that the best thing in this Metropolis in the United states is the world famous Central Park, an enormous absolutely delightful park situated in the center of the city, where at least you can breathe less smoky dusty air than our lungs are forced to inhale in the Tenderline (this is the nickname, at the time, for a bustling neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, sort of near the Village).  In New York I rented a very nice room for 75 cents a day.

Due giorni fa ho lasciato temporaneamente New York e son venuto a Philadelphia, per poter cosi dire d’aver visitato tutte le grandi citta degli Estati Uniti.

Philadelphia e una citta assai simpatica, anzi a quel poco che ne posso guidicare piu simpatica delle grandi citta.  Cosa strana, ma pur vera, le vie sono in gran parte ben selciate con asfalto, cosicche non si e assordati dal rumore dei carri e delle carrozze, cosa che e addirittura insoffribile in New York o Chicago.

Philadelphia ha grandi palazzi e tra questi una City Hall che sarebbe bellissima, se non avessero voluto aggiungervi un a orribile torre che stona maledettamente con lo stile Rinasciamento francese del resto.  Ho visto qui pure molti altri edifici monumentali, il cui aspetto esterno farebbe creder esser chiese, ma che invece una piu accurata ispezione mostra esser edifici di banche e compagnie di assicurazione.  L’area di Philadelphia e enorme, e la popolazione non e molto fitta.  In media non piu di 7 o 8 persona abitano una casa, il che denota lo stato di reale prosperita di questa citta dei quaccheri.

Two days later, I temporarily left New York and went to Philadelphia, to be able to say that I visited all the big cities in the United States.

Philadelphia is a very nice city, even from the little I can judge, I think it is nicer than the big cities.  It’s a strange thing, but still true, for the most part the streets are well paved with asphalt, so you aren’t deafened by the noise of wagons and carriages, which is absolutely insufferable in New York or Chicago.

Philadelphia has great palaces and among these is a City Hall, that would be absolutely beautiful, if they hadn’t wanted to add a horrible tower that clashes with the French Renaissance style of the rest of the building.  I’ve also seen many other monumental buildings, that from the outside you would expect to be churches, but on closer inspection turn out to be the buildings for banks and insurance companies.  Philadelphia’s area is enormous, and the population is not very dense.  On average no more than 7 or 8 people live in one house, which denotes the real prosperity of this city of Quakers.

Sono stato a visitare diversi grandi stabilimenti industriali e fra gli altri una fabbrica di locomotive capace di fabbricare piu di 700 macchine all’anno.

Domani andro a visitare l’universita che si trova nel Fairmont Park, un enorme parco avente un’area di quasi mille ettari che occupa la parte nord-est della citta.

Dopo me ne tornero a New York e sabato mattina lascero credo per sempre il nuovo mondo.  Sono contento di esserci stato, ma non mi rincresce di lasciarlo, e se un giorno mi toccasse di lasciare Ivrea credo che probabilmente passeri la Manica ma non l’Atlantico per trovare un posto ove vivere bene.

Nell’ultima mia ti scrissi che il vapore toccava Napoli prima di arrivar a Genova.  Fu un errore.  Esso tocca Gibilterra ma dopo prosegue direttamente per Genova.  Dunque niente dispaccio (I think this is an error in transcription...I think dispaccio should be dispiaccio).  Io aspetto di arrivare a Genova il 27 o il 28.

Addio tante belle cose allo zio che spero stara bene.  Salutami Ep e Tom.

Tuo aff.mo

Camillo

I visited many big industrial plants and among others one locomotive factory capable of fabricating more than 700 machines a year.

Tomorrow I’ll go visit the university found in Fremont park, a huge park with an area of almost a thousand acres in the north-east part of the city.

Then I’ll return to New York to leave the new world for good.  I’m glad to have been here, but I am not sorry to leave it, and if one day I am struck by the idea of leaving Ivrea I think I’d cross the channel but not the Atlantice to find a place to live well.

In my last letter, I wrote that the boat was touching Naples first before arriving in Genoa.  That was a mistake.  This boat lands in Gibralter but after continues directly to Genoa.  So no regrets.  I hope to arrive in Genoa on the 27th or 28th.

Good bye, many good wishes to uncle who I hope is doing well.  My regards to Ep and Tom.

Your very, very affectionate

Camillo

December 7, 2013

New York, 4 giugno 94

Cara mamma,

Finalmente ho potuto trovare un posto in una cabina sul Fulda della compagnia germanica diretto a Genova.  Ti assicura che e stata un a difficolta trovare un posto, perche attualmente vi e un’enorme emigrazioni di mericani che vanno a passar l’estate in Europa.  Il Fulda partira il 16 da New York ed arrivera il 27 o il 28 a Genova.  Prima pero ti telegrafero da Napoli, porto che il bastimento tocca prima di arrivare a Genova.  Il viaggio e un po’ piu lungo che prendendo un bastimento diretto a Le Havre o a Liverpool, ma hi il vantaggio di portarmi direttamente a casa senza esser obbligati a fare trasbordi e lunghi viaggi per terra.

Finally, I was able to find a spot in a cabin on board a German ship named Fulda, that will go directly to Genoa.  I assure you it was difficult to find a spot, because actually there is an enormous emigration of Americans who are going to spend the summer in Europe.  The Fulda will leave the 16th from New York and arrive on the 27th or 28th in Genoa.  Before that, however, I will telegraph you from Naples, the port in which the ship will arrive before arriving in Genoa.  The trip is a little longer than taking a ship directly to Le Havre or Liverpool, but has the advantage of getting me directly home without being obligated to change ships and take a long journey on the ground.

Come ti ho detto, ho lasciato a Boston il 28 maggio dopo aver passato una settimana in questa bella citta.  Da Boston mi sono recato a Providence, la capitale del piccolo ma industriale stato di Rhode Island.  In Providence ho visitato un enorme e splendido stabilimento meccanico, uno dei piu grandi e migliori esistenti.  Grazie ad una lettera di introduzione della Societa degli ingegneri di Chicago mi hanno accolto splendidamente e condotto per ogni dove.  Da providence mi sono recato ad Hartford, la capitale del Connecticut, ed anche la ho visitato fabbriche e dappertutto ebbi la piu cortese accoglienza.  Hartford e una citta piuttosto importante e sede di numerose industrie.  Essa possiede un bellissimo Capitol.

As I told you, I left Boston on May 28th after staying a week in this beautiful city.  From Boston I went to Providence, the capital of the small, but industrial state of Rhode Island.  In Providence I visited an enormous and splendid mechanical plant, one of the biggest and best in existence.  Thanks to a letter of introduction from the Society of Engineers from Chicago they welcomed me splendidly and took me everywhere.  From Providence I went to Hartford, the capital of Connecticut and where I also visited factories and everywhere I had the pleasure of the most gracious reception.  Hartford is a rather important city as it’s the seat of numerous industries.  It has a very beautiful Capitol.

Da Hartford sono disceso a New Haven ove mi fermai due giorni.   New Haven e splendidamente situata sulla costa dell’oceano, in una specie di baia, ed e una citta estremamente graziosa con parchi giardini etc.  Essa e sede del collegio di Yale che e il secondo negli stati uniti.  Sono stato a vedere gli splendidi dintorni e fra le altre cose ho passato mezza giornata a Savin Rock, una specie di luogo di bagnatura assai assai piacevole.

I went down from Hartford to New Haven, where I stayed for two days.  New Haven is splendidly situated on the coast of the ocean, in a kind of bay, and is an extremely gracious city with parks, gardens, etc.  It is the seat of Yale College which is the second in the United States.  

I went to see the splendid surroundings and among other things I spent half a day at Savin Rock, a type of place for swimming that was really, really pleasant.

Da New Haven mi recai a new York per via di mare e cosi potei godere lo spettacolo davero splendido del Long Island Sound, un tratto di mare lungo qualche centinaia di chilometri, compreso fra la Long Island ed il continente.  

Cosi finalmente arrivai di nuovo a New York, donde partiro fra due o tre giorni per una breve excursione a Filadelfia.

Al 16 come ti ho detto mi imbarchero sul Fulda e spero per il 28 o 29 del mese di essere in Ivrea donde non mi muovero piu.  Allora ti diro tante altre belle cose.  Per ora contentati di questa abborracciatura.

Baci tanti da me.  Ricordami allo zio che spero di abbracciare quanto prima.  Saluta Ep e Tom.  Tante cose da

Camillo

Ricevuta tua cartolina.  Perche non mi trascrivesti la lettera da Londra.

From New Haven, I went to New York by sea, and in this way was able to enjoy the spectaular, really splendid, Long Island Sound, a stretch of sea between Long Island and the Continent, that is a few hundred kilometers long.

So I finally arrived back in New York, where I will leave in two or three days for a brief excursion to Philadelphia.

On the 16th, as I told you, I will embark on the Fulda and hope to be in Ivrea by the 28th or 29th of the month, whence I will not move any more!  Then I will tell you many other nice things.  For now you’ll have to be content with this [bad letter?].

Lots of kisses from me.  Send my regards to uncle who I hope to embrace as soon as possible.  Best wishes to Ep and Tom.

So many things from

Camillo

Received your letter.  Why didn’t you write me back from London?

December 2, 2013

In another lovely twist of time and fate in this project, I was working on this letter while I was actually in Boston. Right as I was madly transcribing these words, we were en route to my "old haunts" as I described them to the kids. And very shortly after these words became digital, 119 years, 187 days after Camillo put them to paper, Gwendolyn, Chloe and Eloise, Camillo's great-great granddaughters visited the very same "red brick" buildings he did.

Boston domenica 27 maggio 94

Cara mamma,

Se non fosse stato per una piccola cartolina che ti ho spedito quattro o cinque giorni fa ho paura che tu saresti inquieta pel mio silenzio.  Ma...che vuoi..ho avuto tanto da fare.

Dear mother,

If it was not for a small postcard that I sent you four or five days ago I’m afraid you would be worried about my silence.  But...you want...I’ve had a lot to do

Ti ho lasciato, nell’ultima mia, quando ero ad Albany ove mi fermai due giorni e mezzo.  Feci da Albany una piccola escursione in biciclo fino a Troy, ove visitai una specie di universita vecchia ed interessante.  Troy e un a citta industriale assai ben situata su di una collina sull’Hudson River, il gran fiume navigabile che is getta nell’Atlantico presso New York, che deve a lui la sua prosperita.  Ritornando, misi la mia cavalcatura e me stesso sopra un battello e mi lasciai trasportare fino ad Albany.

I left you, in my last letter, when I was in Albany where I stayed two and a half days.  I did a small bike excursion as far as Troy, where I visited a type of old, interesting university.  Troy is an industrial city that is rather well located on a hill near the Hudson River, the big navigable river that spills into the Atlantic near New York, to which that city ows its prosperity.  On the way back I put my “horse” and myself on a boat and I drifted to Albany.

Partii da Albany il mattino ed arrivai a Springfield (Massachusetts) dopo le dieci.  Visitai un poco questa graziosa citta manifatturiera e poi a cavallo del mio caval mi recai a Chicopee Falls a sei or sette chilometri di distanza, nella quale cittadina vi e fabbrica del mio biciclo.  Essa e qualcosa di enorme e dopo averla visitata mi convinsi che non era una vanteria l’asserzione che essa era atta a fabbricare novecento macchine al giorno.  Mi presentai al signor Overman felice proprietario di tanto ben di Dio, e gli dissi che avrei desiderato vedere la fabbrica malgrado il divieto formale scritto all’entrata.  Dopo qualche difficolta mi pose nelle mani di un ragazzo che mi accompagno per ogni dove.  Fu per me assai interessante e mi convinsi della difficolta nella fabbricazione di tal genere di macchine.  Dopo aver visto tante belle macchine nuove, guardai la mia vecchia.  Specialmente dopo il viaggio della Yosemite essa era ridotta in uno stato da far pieta ed avevo sempre paura mi scoppiassero le gomme.  Chiesi quanto avrebbe voluto per cambiarmela con una nuova, persuaso di andare fino a 50 dollari e non piu.  Invece il signor Overman mi chiese 35 dollari ed conoscendo il valore molto relativo della mia macchina comperata di secondo mano un anno prima ho accettato e cosi ora mi trovo posessore di una delle piu belle macchine esistenti che spero non cambiero piu per almeno quattro o cinque anni.  E leggerissima (13-14 chili) e assai elegante.  L’ho fatta spedire direttamente a New York.

I left Albany in the morning and arrived in Springfield (Massachusetts) after ten.  I spent a little time visiting this gracious manufacturing city and then riding my “horse” I arrived in Chicopee Falls about six or seven kilometers away, the city in which my bike was fabricated.  This was an enormous place and after visiting it I was convinced that it wasn’t a boasting exaggeration that the place fabricated nine hundred machines a day.  I introduced myself to Mr. Overman happy owner of a lot of good things and I told him I wnated to see the factory despite the “forbidden” sign at the entrance.  After a little difficulty he put me in the hands of a boy who accompanied me everywhere.  It was very interesting for me and it convinced me of the difficulty of manufacturing this kind of machine.  After seeing so many beautiful machines (bikes), I looked at my old one.  Especially after the trip to Yosemite this one was reduced to pitiful state and I was always afraid that I would burst the tires.  I asked how much he wanted to trade for a new one, I was inclined to go up to $50 and no more.  Instead, Mr. Overman asked me for $35 and knowing the relative value of my bike bought second hand a year before I accepted and that’s how I find myself in the possession of one of the most beautiful bikes in existence that I hope not to exchange for at least four or five years.  It’s very light (13-14 kilos) and rather elegant.  I shipped it directly to New York.

Lasciata la fabbrica andai a visitare Bellamy l’autore del famoso libro Nell’anno duemila.  Egli si trovava in New York, ma suo moglie (o figlia che sia) mi invito a ritornare dopo una settimana, il che forse faro perche tornando indietro da Boston mi tocca ripassare vicino a Springfield.

I left the factory and went to visit Bellamy, the author of the famous book “In the year two thousand.”  He was in New York but his wife (or his daughter, that is) invited me to come back in a week, which I might be able to do because I’ll be turning around from Boston and I have to pass over near Springfield.

Lasciata Springfield feci una tappa a Worcester (pronunzia vurster) ove visitai una bella universita ed un politecnico e fui in entrambi ricevuto assai cordialmente.

Finalmente sabato sera giunsi in Boston, nella cosi detta Atene degli Stati Uniti.  Presi alloggio pel primo giorno in un hotel, ma poi mi trovai una buona stanza ammobiliata a buon mercato.  Boston e di tutte le citta americane, la piu europea.  In certi momenti mi par di esser nel West di Londra.  Boston propriamente detta e fondata su una penisola tra il Mistic, il Charles River, e la grande Massachusetts Bay, ma oltre Boston propriamente detta si puo considerare come facente parte della cita il South ed East Boston, Cambridge, Charleston e Chelsea che sono separate da Boston soltanto dai due fiumi sopranominati.

I left Springfield and made a stop in Worcester (pronounced Vurster) where I visited a nice university and polytechnic institute where I was received rather cordially.

Finally Saturday I arrived in Boston, the so-called Athens of the United States.  I took a hotel room the first day, but afterwards I found a good furnished room at a good price.  Boston, of all the American cities is the most European.  At certain moments I feel like I’m in West London.  Boston proper was founded on a peninsula between the Mystic, the Charles River and the grand Massachusetts Bay, but around Boston proper, and considered a part of South and East Boston, are Cambridge, Charleston and Chelsea which are only separated from Boston by the two rivers mentioned above.

Boston e una citta molto elegante.  Splendidi teatri, un parco bellissimo, strade assai belle, comeche alcune abbastanza strette e tortuose.  Il servizio di tramways elettrici e americano e poco si adatta alla struttura della citta, tanto che non e raro vedere qundici or sedici carri uno dopo l’altro che interrompon la circolazione.  

Boston is a very elegant city.  Splendid theatres, a beautiful park, rather pretty streets, however a few are rather narrow and winding.  The tramway service is Amercian and is not well adapted to the city, so much so that it’s not unusual to see fifteen or sixteen, one after the other, interrupting the circulation.  

In Boston ebbi il piacere di conoscere il prof Gaetano Lanza, professore di meccanica all’Instituto  tecnologico.  Egli mi fece visitare benissimo l’Istituto tecnologico, che e il primo in America.

In Boston I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Gaetano Lanza professor of mechanics at the Institute of Technology.  He gave me a wonderful visit of the Institute of Technology, which is the first in America.

Il laboratorio di meccanica e uno dei piu completi che abbia visto.  Bello pure e il laboratorio di elettricita diretto dal prof Cross, che io ebbi il piacere di conoscere a Chicago e che mi accolse assai bene.  Il prof Lanza mi invito a casa sua ove passai una bella serata e fu assai gentile con me.  Egli e nato in Boston, ma e figlio di un palermitano e parla assai ben italiano.

The mechanics lab is one of the most comprehensive that I’ve ever seen.  Professor Cross’s electrical lab is also very nice.  I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Cross in Chicago and he received me rather nicely.  Professor Lanza invited me to his house for dinner and I had a lovely evening and he was quite nice to me.  He was born in Boston but is the son of a man from Palermo and so speaks italian pretty well.

Fui in Cambridge a vedere la famosa Harvard University, la prima degli Stati Uniti per numero di studenti e per la fama che si e acquistata.  Fondata nel 1636 e la piu antica in America e conta ora 2900 scolari.  Gli edifici dell’universita sono assai numerosi e sparpagliati in un gran parco nel cuore di Cambridge.

I went to Cambridge to see the famous Harvard University, the first in the United States for number of students and for the fame that it’s acquired.  Founded in 1636 it’s the oldest in America and currently has 2900 scholars.  There are really quite a lot of buildings that are a part of the University and they are scattered in a big park in the heart of Cambridge.

Sono costruiti tutti con un certo buon gusto in mattoni rossi che contrastano piacevolemente col verdi che abbonda all’intorno.  Anche la mi accolsero assai bene e visitai scuole, laboratori, biblioteche etc.

The are all constructed in a certain good taste in red bricks that contrast pleasantly with the green that abounds in the surroundings.  There also they received me rather well and I visited schools, laboratories, libraries, etc.

Ieri fui a Lynn, poco distante da Boston, a vedere la fabbrica di macchine elettriche della societa Thomson-Houston-Edison.  Il prof Thomson in persona mi accompagno per ogni dove e mi mostro alcuni segreti che mi potranno tornare assai assai utili.

Yesterday I was in Lynn, a short distance from Boston, to see a factory of the Thomson-Houston-Edison society that builds electrical machines.  Professor Thomson himself accompanied me everywhere and showed me a few secrets that I’ll take back with me that will be very, very useful.

In questi giorni visitai pure musei e biblioteche comeche questo non sia il genere di cose che amo meglio di vedere.  Ho ricevuto la tua lettera di quattro pagine di cui ti ringrazio assai.  Sono disperato perche non so che portare all’Emma, ai bimbi, ad Ep e Tom dall’America.  Spero pero che qualche santo mi aiutera.  Ho aspettato a far compere per non dovermi portar dietro troppo peso e poi perche in New York si compera tutto meglio e piu a buon mercato.

Addio salutami tanto tanto lo zio, Ep e Tom.

Baci da

Camillo

Nella prossima mia ti scrivo data imbarco. Tieni il francobllo per umberto.

Over these few days I’ve also visited museums and libraries however, these aren’t the kinds of things that I love to see.  I received your four page letter for which I thank you very much.  I was desperate because I don’t know what to bring back for Emma, the kids, Ep and Tom from America.  I hope, though that one of the saints will help me.  I wated to shop so that I didn’t have to carry too many heavy things, and also because in New York you can shop better and more cheaply.

Good bye, send lots of good wishes to Uncle, Ep and Tom.

Kisses from,

Camillo

December 2, 2013

I'm back from traveling in Chile with Graham and the three children, followed by our Thanksgiving family reunion in Boston.  The travel and more relaxed schedule allowed for some good work to be done.  I'll be posting a few letters in a row today and tomorrow.  Being gone for two weeks, it was nice to have the space to organize our days according to our own schedules.

Dopo in biciclo ho fatto tutto il giro della Goat Island avendo sempre nuove vedute della cascata e delle rapide superiori.  Dopo mi recai a visitare la stazione elettrica ora in costruzione.  E stato scavato un enorme tunnel in cui si incanalera una piccola parte dell’acqua del fiume prima della cascata, per restituirla poi dopo averne utilizzato la frza enorme.  Il tunnel e stato fatto per una forza di cento mila cavalli (circa la potenza motrice di trecento locomotive da treno diretto), ma per ora soltanto quindicimila verranno utilizzati mediante turbine disegnate in Svizzera e costruite in America, le quali daran moto a tre enormi macchine dinamo elettriche che genereranno due correnti alternative che potranno esser trasmesse a grande distanza.

Afterward I did a tour of Goat Island in which each new view of the waterfall was better than the last.  Then i went to visit the power station that is currently under construction.  They have dug a huge tunnel which channels a small portion of the river before it goes over the falls, and after using its enormous force, it returns to the river.  The tunnel has been designed for 100,000 horsepower (about the same power of three hundred train locomotives), but for now only 15,000 will be used by turbines designed in Switzerland and built in America, which put into motion three enormous electrical machines that generates two alternating currents that can be transmitted over long distance.

Dopo aver visitato questo lavoro mi son recato sulla sponda canadese, passato sopra il famoso ponte sospeso che e meraviglioso per la sua leggerezza.  Quasi quasi, se si va a qualche centinaio di metri di distanza, non si vede piu, tanto e sottile malgrado la sua lunghezza di non mi ricordo piu quanti metri (non meno di 250).  Arrivato nel Canada mi recai nel parco Vittoria costeggiando il fiume e la ebbi realmente la piu bella vista delle cascate, perche si ha proprio di faccia la cascata americana e di fianco la canadese.  Poi ritornai indietro fino ad una cittadina chiamata Clifton, ove con 75 centesimi (di dollaro) ebbi in un buon albergo un eccellente pranzo, una buona stanza per dormire ed al mattino una buona colazione, il tutto servito da una bella ragazza, il che non guasta mai.

After visiting this project I visited the Canadian side, and passed over the the famous suspension bridge which is marvelous for its lightness.  It’s so subtle and slender that little by little if you go a few hundred meters away, you can’t see it anymore despite its length, which I can’t quite remember (no less than 250 meters).  I arrived in Canada and visited the Victorian park along the river, which really has the best view of the falls, because you can see from the American side of the falls all the way to the Canadian side.  Afterwards I turned around and rode back until the city called Clifton, which for 75 cents had a good hotel with an excellent lunch, a good room to sleep in, and in the morning there was a good breakfast, all served by a pretty girl which never hurts.

Al mattino mi recai ancora una volta a veder la cascata e discesi nella “caverna dei venti” canadesi.  Per poter discendere in questa caverna e stato necessario indossare un completo abbigliamento impermeabile assai ridicolo.  Poi un ascensore mi discese fino ai piedi della cascata e passando sotto un tunnel mi trovai alla fine in una specie di cavita formata dalle acque, in modo che realmente si e sotto la cascata protetti solamente dal fatto che l’acqua cadendo fa una curva.  L’effetto e assai bello, il rumore assordante e il vento e l’acqua vi sbatton sulla faccia e vi tolgon il respiro.  Mi dicono pero che l’altra caverna dei venti, sulla sponda americana, e ancora piu emozionante, ma io purtroppo non mi ci sono potuto recare non essendo ancora stato aggiustato un ponticello di legno che mena alla caverna, ponticello che ogni inverno i ghiacci portano via.

In the morning I returned to see the waterfall and I went down into the canadian “wind cave.”  To go down into this cave I had to wear a full suit of waterproof clothing that was rather ridiculous.  Then an elevator took me down to the foot of the falls, and then after passing through a tunnel, I found myself in a kind of cavity formed by the waters, which is under the falls and only protected by the fact that the water falls in a curve.  The effect is rather nice, the noise deafening, and the water hits your face and takes your breath away.   Though I’m told, that the wind cave on the American shore is even more exciting, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit it, because they haven’t yet repaired the wooden bridge that leads to the cave, a bridge which is washed away every year from the ice.

Dopo ho costeggiato il fiume per tre o quattro chilometri per vedere le famose Whirlpool Rapids, ove tutta l’enorme massa d’acqua e ristretta fra due enormi pareti a perpendicolo, e corre veloce spumeggiando fino che si allarga e si placa in una specie di lago formato in una brusca svoltata del fiume.

Afterward, I followed the river for three or four kilometers to see the famous Whirlpool rapics, where an enormous mass of water is restricted between two enormous perpendicular walls, and the water runs quickly and splashes and foams until the river widens out and it calms down in a kind of lake that forms in an aburpt turn of the river.

Avendo cosi visto tutto quello che vi era da vedere sono tornato negli Stati Uniti:  un treno mi porto a Buffalo ove rimasi mezz’ora, per aspettare il treno che mi porto ad Albany.  Dacche avevo lasciato Chicago, i famosi treni lampo americani di cui tutti parlano eran stati per me un mito.  In tutta la costa del Pacifico e nel Nevada e nello Utah e nel Colorado e nel Kansas io ho trovato sempre dei treni diretti che potrebbero stare a paragone col treno Ivrea-Torino.  Ier l’altro pero la cosa cambio perche da Buffalo ad Albany il treno volo con la velocita di 80 chilometri all’ora.  Era il famoso Empire Express che fa il servizio da Chicago a New York in poco piu di venti ore e che e detto esser il treno piu veloce del mondo, comeche questo superlativo americano mi lasci molto scettico, specialmente perche mi ricordo di aver fatto il percorso da Londra a Liverpool con una velocita circa eguale.  Ad ogni modo e certo che il treno andava molto bene.

Having seen all there was to see I returned to the United States:  a train took me to Buffalo where I stayed for half an hour to wait for the train that took me to Albany.  Since having left Chicago, the famous fast trains that everyone talks about have been a myth.  Along all of the Pacific Coast, and in Nevada, and in Utah, and Colorado and Kansas, I’ve always found direct trains that could have been a copy of the train between Ivrea and Torino.  However, the other day things changed because from Buffalo to Albany the train flew at a speed of about 80 kilometers per hour.  I was the famous Empire Express that runs between Chicago and New York in less than twenty hours and that is called the fastest train in the world, however this American superlative leaves me very skeptical, especially because I remember doing the route between Liverpool and London at about the same speed.  At any rate, the train ran very well.

Albany e come saprai, la capitale dello stato di New York.  E una cittadina avente una trentina di migliaia di abitanti, situata sull’Hudson River, quel gran fiume navigabile che ha fatto la fortuna di New York, che per mezzo di questo fiume di un canale si trova in diretta comunicazione acquea col lago Erie e quindi con tutti i centri agricoli e manifatturieri dell’Ohio e della Pennsylvania.

Albany, as you know, is the state capital of New York.  It’s a city of about thirty thousand inhabitants, located on the Hudson River, that great navigable river that has made the fortune of New York, which by way of this river a canal that gives direct water communication with Lake Erie and by lake Erie with all the agricultural and manufacturing centers from Ohio to Pennsylvania.

La cosa piu notevole e il Capitol o palazzo del governo che, a differenza dei Capitols della maggior parte degli altri stati, non e modellato su quello di Washington, ma pare piuttosto uno dei palazzi che adornano i giardini delle Tuileries a Parigi.

The most noteworthy thing is that the Capitol building, unlike the Capitols in other states, is not modeled on the Capitol building in Washington, but seems rather more like the buildings that adorn the gardens of the Tuileries in Paris.

Oggi ho fatto una biciclettata fino a Troy, una bella citta manifatturiera sulle rive dell’Hudson River e sono ritornato in battello.  Domani come ti ho detto, abbandonero Albany per entrare nel Massachusetts.

Today I took a bike ride to Troy, a nice manunfacturing city on the Hudson River, and I returned by boat.  Tomorrow, like I told you, I will leave Albany to enter Massachusetts.

Ora le distanze incominciano a farsi piccole e non si e piu costretti a fare un millecinquecento chilometri in un fiato come mi e capitato talvolta.

Now the distances are starting to become smaller and you don’t need to do a thousand miles in one breath, like I was doing.

Ti mando due somme fatte a macchina.  La macchina e assai complicata e costa quattromila dollari ma in una banca fa il lavoro di dieci impiegati, e quello e piu importante, senza errori.

I sent you two sums done by machine.  The machine is rather complicated and costs four thousand dollars, but in a bank, it does the work of ten employees, and more importantly, without errors.

Addio.  Tante belle cose allo zio.  Baci ai Marselli grandi e piccoli.  Ricordami ad Ep e Tom ed alle persone di conoscenza.

Good bye.  Lots of good wishes to uncle.  Kisses to the Marsellis, big and small.  Send my love to Ep and Tom and all our friends.

Tuo aff.mo

Camillo

Le lettere mi sono sempre state respinte regolarmente e non credo d’aver perso che una cartolina tua diretta a Sacramento ed una a Denver e cio per colpa mia.

Your affectionate son,

Camillo

The letters are getting returned to me regularly and I don’t think I’ve lost but one of your postcards which was sent to Sacramento and one to Denver which is my fault.