ng an
_Ausflug_, each man with one eye cocked on the scenery and the other
on the look-out for a _Bier-garten_.

Next to me sat a student, whose face was so slashed and gashed that it
reminded one of "Amtshauptmann Weber" (in Reuter's delightful book),
whose "face looked as if he had sat down upon it on a cane-bottomed
chair." Opposite the student was a middle-aged fat "Assessor," with a
small girl in long frilled drawers and short petticoats; and on the
other side of the gangway were two homely-looking women in
lead-coloured garments. As we passed through Altdorf the child drew
her father's attention to a fat goose which waddled away as the tram
approached. "_Sieh mal, Vater_," said she, "_die schoene Gans_."
("Look, father, at the beautiful goose.") "O! _die Gans_," said her
practical and prosaic parent, "_wird viel schoener sein, mein Kind,
wenn sie gebraten ist_." ("The goose will be much more beautiful, my
child, when it is roast.") "And has an accompaniment of sage-stuffing
and apple-sauce," I added, to which he in all serious conviction bowed
an assent.

The valley up which we journeyed was green and pleasant. There were no
walls or fences on either side of the road, but trees shaded the
wayfarer, and his outlook on gardens, bean-poles, orchards, and vines
was agreeable enough. If he chose to look further afield a silvery
streak called the Rhine was visible, and beyond that again low blue
hills stretched away until their cobalt and that of the sky got mixed
on the palette of Nature. From this valley comes the famous
Rauen-thaler wine. Most of the hills, indeed, are covered with vines,
and the village houses showed grapes hanging from their eaves and
peeping in at their windows.

At Neudorf we paused to pick up a _Barmherzige Schwester_; and as our
halt was exactly in front of the village shop I amused myself by
making a mental inventory of its contents. The window--an ordinary
one--had wooden shelves nailed across it; and on these were displayed
soap, slates and slate-pencils, bottles of peppermint lozenges,
hearthstone, flannel, lemon-drops, gingham, sausages, and gingerbread.

The houses of the village were covered with rough stucco, and white or
yellow-wash was swished liberally over them. Under their deep eaves an
occasional small image of _Die Mutter Gottes_ was to be seen. Many
were covered with grape-vines, and all had clean muslin blinds at
their windows, and often pots of geraniums and fuchsias outs