on the mountain
That the song-birds love best.
They were sitting, were flitting,
They were building their nest.
They were sitting, were flitting,
They were building their nest."

After he had finished, he told about the mines in which some of his
friends worked. It was a hard life, with no bright sunlight to cheer
the men in those deep, dark caverns underground.

"Of course you all know that the deepest mine in the world is in the
Hartz Mountains."

His friends nodded their heads, while Hans whispered to Bertha, "I
should like to go down in that mine just for the sake of saying I
have been as far into the earth as any living person."

"The sun is setting, and there is a chill in the air," said Bertha's
father. "Let us go home."

CHAPTER VIII.

WHAT THE WAVES BRING

Bertha's mother had just come in from a hard morning's work in the
fields. She had been helping her husband weed the garden.

She spent a great deal of time outdoors in the summer-time, as many
German peasant women do. They do a large share of the work in
ploughing the grain-fields and harvesting the crops. They are much
stronger than their American cousins.

"Supper is all ready and waiting for you," said Bertha.

The little girl had prepared a dish of sweet fruit soup which her
mother had taught her to make.

[Illustration: Bertha's Home.]

"It is very good," said her father when he had tasted it. "My little
Bertha is getting to be quite a housekeeper."

"Indeed, it is very good," said her mother. "You learned your lesson
well, my child."

Bertha was quite abashed by so much praise. She looked down upon her
plate and did not lift her eyes again till Gretchen began to tell of
a new amber bracelet which had just been given to one of the
neighbours.

"It is beautiful," said Gretchen, quite excitedly. "The beads are
such a clear, lovely yellow. They look so pretty on Frau Braun's
neck, I don't wonder she is greatly pleased with her present."

"Who sent it to her?" asked her mother.

"Her brother in Cologne. He is doing well at his trade, and so he
bought this necklace at a fair and sent it to his sister as a
remembrance. He wrote her a letter all about the sights in Cologne,
and asked Frau Braun to come and visit him and his wife.

"He promised her in the letter that if she would come, he would take
her to see the grand Cologne cathedral. He said thousands of
strangers visit it every year, because every o