My husband excused us, saying that we wished to reach home soon; that I was fatigued with the journey; but that we could not pass Carlsfors without paying our respects to Ma chère mère. Nay, good, good!" said she, apparently satisfied, "we will soon have more talk within; but first I must speak a few words with these people here. Listen, good friends!" and Ma chère mère struck the back of the violin with the bow, till a general silence prevailed through the hall. My children," continued she, in a solemn tone, "I have something to say to you-the hangman! wilt thou not be quiet there below-I have to tell you, that my beloved son, Lars Anders Werner, takes home his wife, this Franziska Buren, whom you see standing by his side. Marriages are determined in heaven, my children, and we will now pray Heaven to bless its work in the persons of this couple. This evening we will drink together a skal to their well-being. So now you can dance, my children. Olof, come here and play thy very best." new-married couple whom you see before you, and wish, not only for them, but for those who come after them, that they may forever have place in the garden of the Lord!" "Skal! Skal!" resounded on all sides. Lars Anders and I drank, and then went round and shook hands with so many people that my head was quite dizzy. All this over, we prepared for our departure, and then came Ma chère mère to me on the steps with a packet, or, rather, a bundle, in her hand, saying, in the most friendly manner, "Take these veal cutlets with you, children, for breakfast to-morrow morning. In a while you will fatten and eat your own veal; but, daughter-inlaw, don't forget one thing, let me have my napkin back again! Nay, you shall not carry it, dear child, you have quite enough to do with your bag (pirat) and your cloak. Lars Anders must carry the veal cutlets;" and then, as if he were a little boy still, she gave him the bundle, and showed him how he must carry it: all which he did as she bade him, and still her last words were, "Don't forget, now, that I have my napkin back!" While a murmur of exultation and good wishes ran through the assembly, Ma chère mère took me by the hand and led me, together with my husband, into another room, into which she or- I glanced, full of amazement, at my husband, dered punch and glasses to be brought; then pla- but he only smiled, and helped me into the carcing both her elbows firmly upon the table, and riage. After all, I was quite satisfied to have supporting her chin on her closed fists, she look-made the acquaintance of Ma chère mère in so ed at me with a gaze which was rather dark than friendly. Lars Anders, who saw that this review was rather embarrassing to me, began to speak of the harvest, and other country affairs; Ma chère mère, however, sighed several times so deeply, that her sighs rather resembled groans; and then, as it were, constraining herself, answered to his observations. impromptu a manner; for I felt that, if it had been more solemn and premeditated, her bearing and her scrutiny would, perhaps, have had more effect upon me. As to the veal cutlets, I could not but rejoice over them, for I could not tell in what state 1 might find the provision-room at Rosenvik. Right glad, also, was I to arrive "at home," The punch came, and then, filling the glass, and to see a maid-servant and a ready-prepared she said, with earnestness in tone and counte-bed, for we had travelled that day ten miles nance, "Son, and son's wife, your health!" After this she became more friendly, and said, in a jesting tone, which, by-the-by, suited her extremely well, "Lars Anders, I suppose we must not say, 'You have bought the calf in the sack.' Your wife does not look amiss, and she 'has a pair of eyes fit to buy fish with. She is little, very little, one must confess, but 'little and bold often push the great ones aside."" I laughed, Ma chère mère did the same, and I began to talk and act quite at my ease. We talked for some time very merrily together, and I related several little travelling adventures, which appeared to amuse her. In an hour's time we rose to take our leave, and Ma chère mère said, with a most friendly smile, "However agreeable it is to me to see you, I will not detain you this evening. I can very well understand how the 'at home' draws you. Remain at home over to-morrow if you will, but the day after come and eat your dinner with me; for the rest, you very well know that you will at all times be welcome. Now fill your glasses, and come and drink with the people. Trouble man may keep to himself, but pleasure he must enjoy in company." We followed Ma chère mère, who had gone as herald, into the dancing-room; they were all standing, as we entered, with filled glasses, and she spoke something after this manner: "One must never triumph before one is over the brook, but if people sail in the ship of matrimony with prudence, and in the fear of God, there is a prov: erb which says 'well begun is half won; and therefore, my friends, we will drink a skal to the * Dricka skal, to drink a health. (Swedish), and I was greatly fatigued. I had slept a little on the quarter-of-a-mile way, between Carlsfors and Rosenvik, and the twilight had come on so rapidly that, as about eleven o'clock at night we arrived at home, I was unable to see what my Eden resembled. The house seemed, however, to me somewhat gray, and small in comparison of the one we had just left; but that was of no consequence, Lars Anders was so cordially kind, and I was so cordially sleepy. But, all at once, I was wide awake, for, as I entered, it seemed to me like a fairy tale. I stepped into a handsome, welllighted room, in the middle of which stood a nicely-arranged tea-table, glittering with silver. and china, while beside the tea-table stood the very neatest of maid-servants, in that pretty holyday dress which is peculiar to the peasant girls of this country. I uttered an exclamation of delight, and all sleep at once was gone. In a quarter of an hour I was quite ready, and sat down as hostess at the tea-table, admiring the beautiful table-cloth, the teacups, the teapot, the teaspoons, upon which were engraved our joint initials, and served tea to my husband, who seemed happy to his heart's core. And thus the morning and the evening were the first day. The next morning, as I opened my eyes, I saw that my Adam was directing his eyes, with an expression of great devotion, towards the window, where a ray of sunshine streamed in through a hole in the blue-striped window-curtains, while, at the same time, the mewing of a cat might be heard. My beloved husband!" I began, solemnly, "I thank you for the beautiful music which you have prepared for my welcome. I conjecture you have a troop of country girls, all dressed in white, to scatter twigs of fir before my feet. I will soon be ready to receive them." cabriolet, I began to make observations on my own little world; but of house and enviro s I will speak later, and first say something of the master of the house himself, because you, my Maria, as yet know nothing of him. I have your letter before me, your dear letter, "I have arranged something much better than which I received a few days after my marriage. this oldfashioned pageantry," said he, merrily. Thanks, beloved, good Maria, for all its cordial "In association with a great Artist, I have pre-words-for all its good advice, which is well pared a panorama, which will show you how it looks in Arabia Deserta. You need only to lift up these curtains." You may imagine, Maria, that I was soon at the window-with a sort of sacred awe drew aside the curtains. Ah, Maria, there lay before me, in the full glory of the morning, a crystal lake; green meadows and groves lay around, and in the middle of the lake a small island, upon which grew a magnificent oak: over all the sun shone brightly, and all was so peaceful, so paradisaical, in its beauty, that I was enchanted, and, for the first moment, could not speak; I could only fold my hands, while tears filled my eyes. 66 May you be happy here!" whispered Lars Anders, and clasped me to his heart. "I am happy, too happy!" said I, deeply moved, "and grateful." "Do you see the island, that little Svano?" asked he: "I will row you often there on a summer's evening; we will take our evening meal with us, and eat it there." Why not breakfast?" inquired I, suddenly fired with the idea; "why not to-day, in this beautiful morning, go and drink our coffee? will immediately-" "No, not this morning," interrupted he, laughing at my earnestness; "I must go into the city and visit my patients." "Ah!" exclaimed I, in a tone of vexation, "what a thing it is that people cannot remain in health!" "What, then, should I do?" asked he, in a sort of comic terror. preserved where it will never be forgotten; and now to your questions, which I will endeavour to answer fully; and first of all, for my husband for my own Bear-here, then, you shall have his portrait. Of a middle size, but proportionably, not disagreeably stout and broad; a handsome, well-curled peruke, made by the Creator's own hand; large countenance, couleur de rose; small, clear gray eyes, with a certain penetrating glance, under large, bushy, yellow-gray eyebrows; the nose good, though somewhat thick; the mouth large, with good teeth-but brown, alas! from tobacco-smoking; large hands, but well made and well kept; large feet, the gait like a bear: but this gives no idea of his exterior, if you do not take into account an expression of open-hearted goodness and cheerfulness, which inspires a joyful confidence in the beholder. This speaks when the mouth is silent, as is most frequently the case; the forehead is serene, and the bearing of the head such as reminds one of an astronomer; the voice is a deep bass, which is not at all amiss in singing. Here, then, you have his exterior. His inward self, best Maria, I have not yet myself studied. Betrothed to him only within two months, wife since fourteen days, I have not had great opportunity to become acquainted with a man who is generally silent, and whom I have not known more than half a year. But I trust and hope all for good! You ask whether I feel love, actual love, for him; and give, half in jest, half in earnest, extraordinary signs by which I may be able to prove this. Whether I am sensible of an insup"Row me over to Svano," was my reply. portable want when he is absent? Whether I, "I shall be back," said he, "for dinner, about like Madame L., become pale and embarrassed three o'clock, and then we can-that cursed hole when he enters a company in which I am althere above," said he, "I could not have believ-ready? Whether he has any fault, any bad ed that the curtains had been so tor-" "That hole shall remain as long as I am here," exclaimed I, with enthusiasm, interrupting him; "never would I forget that through that hole I first saw sunshine at Rosenvik! But tell," inquired I, "what old fortress is that which one sees across the lake there, so gray in the distance? there, where the wood is so black?" "That is Ramm," replied he; "a great country-seat." "And who lives there?" I asked. "Nobody at this moment," he replied. "Fifteen years ago it belonged to Ma chère mère; but she did not find herself comfortable there, so she removed to Carlsfors, and sold Ramm. The estate was purchased by peasants, who now cultivate the land, but the fine house and park are falling to decay. People say that at present it is rented for the summer by a foreigner, who wishes to hunt in the country; and a fine opportunity has he to do so in the park itself, which is above a mile (Swedish) in circuit, and in which, during their long-undisturbed rest, game of all kinds has wonderfully increased. Sometimes we'll go and look about there; but now, my little wife, I must have my breakfast, and then say farewell to thee for a few hours." When coffee was ended, and he seated in his habit, which in another would be unpleasant to me, but which in him is agreeable? No, Maria, of all this I experience nothing; but understand, dear Maria, I can very well endure him; I must have found him excellent, otherwise I should not have married him; but love-him! In the first place, he is much older than I am; he is nearly fifty, and I want yet three years of thirty; farther, he has been so long an old bachelor, has his good and his bad habits, and these last I do not find at all agreeable; but they shall not destroy our domestic happiness; of that I am determined. Thus, in the first place, he has a habit of spitting about everywhere, on handsome matting just the same as on bare boardsthat habit he must leave off. Secondly, he smokes a great deal; to this I shall accustom myself, because I know how necessary and agreeable a pipe is to those who have made it for long the companion of their way through life; but we will have a contract between us, thus: "I am quite willing to see the lighted pipe, yet it shall only seldom be introduced into the parlour, and never into our bedroom; he may puff away as much as he likes in his own room, and in the hall, where the fumes pass away freely." Thirdly, he has an extraordinary habit of making most horrible faces, often to his own Ma chère mère received us friendly, but she did not seem to be in good-humour herself. There were several old ladies and gentlemen to dine, all strangers to me; it was a heavy affair; and though the dinner was magnificent, spite of all my attempts, I could eat nothing. thoughts, and often during the conversation of | but when I gave the slightest hint of that, he others; but here we will have an understanding made such terrible grimaces, that I gave up al between us-sometimes I shall say to him, attempts of the kind. So we mounted the cab"Bear, don't make such horrible faces!" But riolet, and, in drizzling rain, drove off, under an most frequently I shall leave him quietly to umbrella. himself, because I know how painful it would be, how almost impossible, for him to counteract such long-accustomed working of the features; more especially as it often furnishes a mode of speech which is very expressive, and appears more merry than disagreeable. Fourthly, he has a kind of carpenter mania, and would In the afternoon, immediately after coffee, very willingly sit of an evening and chisel and Bear went with the gentlemen down into the billglue, and make dirty work over table, and chair, iard-room, leaving me with Ma chère mère, the and floor; to this I will accustom myself with old ladies, who kept talking to themselves, and my whole heart, and merely every morning a certain Lagman Hok, an old and tried friend make all carefully clean again. It always gives of Ma chère mère, who sat near her and took snuff. me pleasure when a gentleman has some little Ma chère mère was silent, played patience, and favourite occupation, and after Bear has been looked grave. I said now and then a word, but Occupying himself all day, till he is weary, with every moment grew stiller, for my head ached his medical profession, this is a cheerful diver- sadly; the rain beat against the window, and, to sion of mind to him. Fifthly, he has a habit of tell the truth, I was out of humour with Lars using certain coarse words; this I will patient- Anders, who, it seemed to me, might have come, ly, and by little and little, get him to leave off; at least once, during that long afternoon, to look but that to which I am most fully determined, after his little wife, and not have gone thus inabove all things, to accustom him is, to feel him-dulging his old bachelor habits of playing billself happy, and to find contentment and pleasure iards, drinking, and smoking; and in this illin his own house; for, Maria, I was poor, was humour the afternoon wore by. obliged to get my bread in the sweat of my own Towards evening Ma chère mère requested me brow-for teaching music is no light labour. I to play something. I sat down to the piano, was not young any longer, had no beauty, nor made a prelude, and began to sing that beautiful talent beyond that little bit of music; and he, little thing, "Youth;" but the heat, my headache, from a family of consequence, of a respectable and my chagrin together, put me quite out of station in life, and universally esteemed on ac- voice. I sung at first tremulously, then false, count of his character, his knowledge, his quali- and at last out of time, although I had sung that fications, selected me from among many richer, piece a hundred times before. All was still as handsomer, and better than I. He attended me death in the room, and I really could have cried, during my severe fever with the utmost kind-only that at my age one cannot be so affected. ness, and when my mother would have recompensed his trouble with the remains of our hoarded-up money, he put it aside, and requested -my hand. Then he was kind to all who belonged to me, gave presents to my brothers, and through him prosperity entered into our formerly needy house. Should I not be grateful? should I not like him? should I not endeavour, with all my power, with my utmost ability, to make him happy? Ah, yes! that will I; with all his virtues and his defects, in jest and in earnest, in good and in evil, will I make him happy; and a voice within me says that I shall succeed. Tuesday morning, 3d of June. We poor mortals! What are all our good intentions, when we have not power over ourselves? The day before yesterday, I sat and boasted with myself how happy I would make my husband; yesterday-but, in order to punish myself, I will tell you all. I must turn back to the evening before yesterday, when I was so satisfied with myself. struck a few closing notes and left the piano, with an apology, and a few words on my headache. Notwithstanding all this, Ma chère mère seemed really kind towards me. She seated herself by me on the sofa, gave me a great cup of strong tea, and treated me as people treat a sick child. I was now really come to the crying point; for all this, together with good Lagman Hok's politeness, overcame me. I thought how truly this was the completion of the deplorable part I had been playing the whole day, and that Ma chère mère would think to herself, Lars Anders has made but a bad choice; he has brought home a wife who is at the same time old and childish, sickly, and full of affectation! I was downright miserable. At last Lars Anders came, and then it was time to leave. The weather had become fine, and the tea had done me good; but the mischief had taken possession of my soul. I was out of humour with myself, with my husband, with the whole world; and, more than this, Bear sat all the time silent, and never seemed to trouble himself about my headache; for after he had just asked how I was, and I had answered "Better," he did not speak another word. Bear was on a visit to a sick person, and I was writing; he came back, and I put aside my writing, and, half in jest, half in earnest, the contract respecting the tobacco-smoking was made and signed. So far all was right, and so ended that day. The next day, that was yesterday, we were When I came home, I had something in the to dine with Ma chère mère. I had a little head-kitchen to see after; and when I returned to the ache; and after I had arranged my cap and my hair, neither of which satisfied me, it seemed to me that I looked old and faded. I fancied my husband thought the same, a hough he made no such remark. This put me out of spirits, for I feared I should not please Ma chère m re, and I knew how much Lars Anders wished that I should do so. The weather, too, was disagreeable, and I had the greatest desire to stop at home; parlour, there had Lars Anders settled himself into the sofa, and was blowing the tobacco-smoke in long wreaths before him, while he read the newspaper. He had not, indeed, chosen a suitable time for the breach of our compact. I made a remonstrance, and that truly in a lively tone, but in reality I was angry. I took, as it were, a bad pleasure in making him pay for the annoying day I had passed. "Pardon !" exclaimed he in a cheerful voice, and still continued to sit with the pipe in his mouth. I would not allow that, for I thought the old bachelor might have indulged himself freely enough the whole afternoon. happy, what sweet refreshment had I prepared for the weary, troubled man! The thought of my folly distresses me even at this moment; and the only thing that can give me any comfort is, the feeling that he and I love one another better since this occurrence than before. Beloved, good Lars Anders! before I will occasion you another disagreeable moment, you may smoke every day in parlour, sleeping room, yes, even in bed itself, if you will: only I pray God that the desire to do so may not possess you. And now I return to your letter, and to a question which it contains, "Whether I, as a married woman, shall write as willingly and as openheartedly as I did before?" Yes, my Maria, of this be certain; I cannot do otherwise. It is now seven years since I first learned your value; and since that moment have you become to me my He prayed for permission only this once to smoke in the parlour; but I would admit of no negotiation, and threatened that, if the pipe was not immediately taken away, I would go and sit for the whole evening in the hall. In the beginning, he besought me, jokingly, to grant him quiet; then he became graver, and prayed earnestly, beseechingly; prayed me, at last, "out of regard to him." I saw that he wanted to try me; saw that, truly from his heart, he wished I would yield and I, detestable creature, would not. I remained steadfastly, although always cheerfully, by my determination, and at last took up my work in order to go out. Then Lars Anders laid down his pipe; oh, if he had been only angry and spite-conscience, my better self. You were the dear mirful; if he only would not have laid down his pipe, but would have marched out as proud as a nabob, banged the door violently after him, and never come back again the whole evening, then there would have been some "come off" for me, some comfort, something paid for and done with; and then I could have touched over this fatal history so finely and so superficially! But he did none of all these; he laid the pipe aside, and remained sitting silently; and with that I began immediately to endure the gnawings of conscience; neither did he make any of his grimaces, but remained looking on his newspaper, with a certain grave and quiet mien that went to my very heart. I asked him to read aloud; he did so, but there was a something in his voice that I was in no condition to hear; still, in a sort of stifled bitterness against myself, I must yet tyrannize over him. I snatched the newspaper away from him-understand, this was in a joke-and said I would read it myself; he looked at me, and let me have my way. I read, in a tolerably cheerful voice, of a debate in the English House of Commons; but I could not hold out long. I burst into tears, flew to him, threw my arms round his neck, and prayed him to forgive my bad humour and my folly. Without answering, he held me close to his breast so tenderly, so forgivingly, while a tear slowly ran down his cheek. Never did I love him so much as in this moment; in this moment I felt for him real love! ror in which I saw myself as I was, and, though it is now two years since you removed from me far across the sea, still you remain towards me ever the same. Oh, remain ever so, Maria! otherwise I should fear to lose myself. Under your eyes, and with your help, my moral being developed itself; under your eyes, and by your counsel, will I also form myself into a good wife. It is pleasant to me, it makes my life richer, to live, as one may say, in your presence and with you, even though land and sea separate us; especially as my Bear does not belong to that class of men who are jealous of their wives' friends. He is not of the opinion that one must renounce one's friends because one has got a husband or a wife; he is not one to narrow the breast; he is too good, too rational for that. I believe he would subscribe to the words of the beloved teacher who instructed me in Christianity, "that there is a similarity between the human heart and Heaven-the more angels, the more room for them." Ah, see! there is my Bear! Read what I have written, and subscribe, BEAR. Friday, 6th of June. Thank God! all is right between Ma chère mère and me. How unlike can one day be to another! On Tuesday, so out of tune; yesterday, so cheerful. Yesterday afternoon I proposed to my husband to go and visit Ma chère mère; he consented. On the way I related how foolishly I had behaved, and how willingly I would remove any unpleasant impression which I might have made. He laughed, made faces, looked very kind, and so we came to the place. I would have begun an explanation, but he would not permit it; and now it was my turn to beg of him, if he loved me, to relight his pipe, and to smoke directly at my very side. He refused; but I besought him so long and earnestly, besought it as a token of continued forgiveness, There was a great commotion and bustle in that he at last yielded. I held my face as much the whole house; everybody was in motion; Ma as possible over the smoke-it was to me the in- chère mère herself, as wing and wheel in the whole cense of reconciliation; once I was nearly cough-movement. She was busy preparing rooms for ing, but I changed this into a sigh, and said, "Ah, my own Bear, your wife would not have been so angry, if you had not forgotten her for the whole afternoon; she lost all patience while she was longing after you." "I had not forgotten you, Fanny," said he, taking the pipe from his mouth, and looking half reproachfully on me; but I was beside a peasant's painful deathbed in the next hamlet; this prevented me from being with you." Ashamed to the very soul, I covered my face with my hands-I, I, who had been fostering such wicked and false mistrusts against him, and now in my vanity had been revenging myself I, unworthy one--I, who wished to make him so her two own stepsons (Bear is only half stepson) and their young wives, who are shortly expected, and who will take up their quarters there, the one for a few weeks, the other for altogether. Ma chère mère received us in the kindest manner; Bear she provided with newspapers and Virginia tobacco, and me she bespoke to assist for the whole afternoon. I was cheerful and willing, and succeeded perfectly in pleasing her. Furniture was removed, curtains were rehung, and all went quickly and well, under her commands and with my assistance. We despatched a world of work, and were right merry over it; many were the bon mots which I made, greatly to Ma chère mère's amusement. She clapped me, pinched my ears, laughed and replied merrily, I my Franziska. Many ladies affect a great deat, and altogether afforded me a deal of pleasure. and make themselves very important with their There is something quite original and fresh bunch of keys, running forever into the kitchen in her disposition, and manners, and mode of and store-room: all unnecessary labour, Franzisthought, and she has, without doubt, good under-ka; much better is it for a lady to govern her standing and great natural wit. The mode of house with her head than with her heels; the managing her household appears to me strange; husband likes that best; or if he do not, he is a it is by a union of severity and tenderness; they stupid fellow, and the wife ought then, in Heavare at one and the same time her slaves and heren's name, to box him on the ears with her bunch children; and they, on their part, appear at once to of keys! Many ladies will have their servants surrender themselves, and obey her slightest hint. forever on their feet; that does no good; servants One only time she and I were near coming to must have their liberty and rest sometimes; one a misunderstanding: it was about the toilet-ta-must not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.” bles of the young wives, which I wished to have Let your people be answerable for all they do; a little more luxuriously supplied; but Ma chère it is good for them as well as the mistress. Have mere grew angry, excited herself over "the cur- a hold upon them either by the heart or by honsed luxury" of our times, and over the preten- our, and give them ungrudgingly whatever by sions of young women; declaring that the toilet-right is theirs, for 'the labourer is worthy of his tables should stand exactly as she had placed hire.' But then, three or four times a year, but them, with the same covers and the same look- not at any regular time, come down upon them ing-glasses, as they were quite good enough. To like the day of judgment; turn every stone and all this I remained silent, and therefore all was see into every corner, storm like a thunder-temsoon right again; yet, after all, I am not sure pest, and strike down here and there at the right whether the toilet-covers were not changed, as, time; it will purify the house for many weeks." soon after, Ma chère mère betook herself to her This was Ma chère mère's housekeeping doclinen-press. trine. She next turned the conversation on my husband, and said, "Yes, you can say justly, my dear Franziska, that you are married to a man who through the whole day will be husband; but still in his own way he is very wilful, and you will have to manage him pretty much in the same way as I managed my husband. Come, we shall see how you will do! You are little, but you can bestir yourself, and I will tell you how you must conduct yourself towards your husband. You will always find him an honourable man, therefore I give you this one especial piece of advice-never have recourse to untruth with him, be it ever so small, or to help yourself out of ever so great a difficulty; for untruth leads ever into still greater difficulty, and, besides this, it drives confidence out of the house." To the arrangement of the chambers succeeded several rougher pieces of house business, in which I was invited to take part: "For," said Ma chère mère, "it will do you good, little friend, to see how things are managed in a well-ordered household. It will be necessary for you to learn this and the other in domestic economy. Roasted pigeons do not fly down people's throats; and one must look if there be anything in the cellar, if one expect anything on the table.'" ་ In reply, I told her what I had sincerely determined on these subjects; and then, contented with each other, we went into the usual sitting-room, where we found Bear sitting and gaping over his newspaper. I followed Ma chère mère, therefore, into the cellar, where, with a large piece of red chalk in her hand, she made various, and to me cabalistical, signs and strokes upon herring and salmon tubs; all which she explained to me, and then led me into every corner of these subterraneous and well-superintended vaults. After this we came above ground, where I assisted in the examination of bread-safes, delivered anathemas over rats and mice, and weighed several flour-casks. Last of all, I must be weighed myself; and, as I proved not to weigh quite five pounds (Swedish), Ma Mademoiselle Tuttin, who is called Adjutant chère mère laughed at me in the most extraordi- Tuttin by Ma chère mère, set the table in order, nary manner, asserting that a woman had been and I, at the request of Ma chère mère, sang (thus burned as a witch, in the time of Charles the she had quite forgotten my first essay), and, as Eleventh, because she was under five pounds' I myself felt, sang very well. She laughed heartweight. All this I endured in the most philosoph-ily at many merry little songs which I sang, and ic manner; but no philosophy whatever would I saw Bear's eyes, full of delight, glancing over prevent my admiration of her housekeeping and to us from above his newspaper. After tea, we domestic arrangements. This admiration came made up, with Tuttin, Ma chère mère's Boston from my heart; for, in truth, a house like this, party, which was one of the most amusing I ever so completely furnished and arranged, in small was at. Ma chère mère and Bear were particuas well as in great, where everything has its ap-larly lively together, and made themselves very pointed place, and stands under its own number, is worthy of observation and admiration; and no less to be admired is the housewife, who is the living memorial of all this, and who knows her affairs as well as any general knows his warcraft. merry at my expense whenever I was stupid in the game, which being very often, produced much better effect than if I had played like a master, and we all laughed till we cried, just like children. After supper, as we took leave, Ma chère mère slapped me heavily on the shoulder, kissed me, and thanked me for a cheerful day. The weather was so fine, when we came out on the steps, that we determined to walk part of the way, and to send the cabriolet before us. Our walk was very When all this rummaging about and this thorough house inspection was brought to an end, we sat down on the sofa to rest, and Ma chère mère addressed me in the following manner: "It is only now and then, my dear Franziska, that I make such a house-review; but it keeps every-lively, and, after many mischievous pranks, I thing in order, and fills the domestics with respect. had the luck to see Bear arrive at the bottom of Set the clock only to the right time, and it will a ditch. I cannot help laughing when I think of go right of itself, and thus one need not go about it; he looked so like a real bear, lying there on ticktacking like a pendulum. Keep this in mind, four feet (between us two, I am not quite sure |