a coarse texture, ornamented with
figures of large flowers. It was partly concealed from view by a range
of clean linen hanging to air around an earthenware stove, which
projected far into the apartment.

A young girl, of about sixteen or seventeen years of age, sat beside
the bed. She was dressed in that picturesque costume which, with little
difference, has been handed down to our days among our Swabian
peasantry. Her golden hair was uncovered, and fell in two long tresses
plaited with different coloured ribands, over her back. Her cheerful
face was somewhat tanned by the sun, but not so much as to obscure the
lovely youthful colour of her cheeks; a lively blue eye sparkled from
beneath a long eyelash. Plaited full sleeves of white linen covered her
arm down to the hand; a scarlet bodice, laced with a silver chain, and
trimmed with fancy-worked linen, of a finer texture than the sleeves,
sat close to her shape; a short black petticoat fell scarcely below the
knee. This ornamental dress, together with a clean white apron and high
clocked stockings of the same colour, fastened up with pretty garters,
did not appear quite in keeping with the humble furniture of the room,
nor with the week-day costume of a peasant's daughter.

The young girl was busily employed spinning fine thread; at times she
opened the curtains of the bed, and peeped in. But, as if she had been
caught in the act, she quickly closed them again, and smoothed the
folds, so that no one might remark what she had been about.

The door opened, when a little plump elderly woman entered, dressed
much in the same way as the girl, but not so smart. She brought a basin
of hot soup for breakfast, and then arranged the plates on the table.
When she saw her daughter (for such she was) sitting beside the bed,
she was so startled at her appearance, that a little more and she would
have dropped the jug of cider which she also held in her hand.

"For God's sake, what are you thinking about, Barbelle," said she, as
she placed the jug on the table and approached the maiden; "what are
you thinking about, to sit and spin there with your new bodice on? And
she has got her new petticoat on, too, and the silver chain, I declare,
and has taken a clean apron and stockings out of the chest! What a
piece of vanity, you foolish thing! Don't you know that we are poor
folks, and that you are the child of an unfortunate man?"

The daughter patiently allowed her bustling mother to