stress to market, with a basket on her arm, often covered with
an embroidered cloth, in which are placed the purchases of the careful
housemother.

A huckster is frequently accompanied by a dog, both being harnessed to
the little cart which holds the wares. Often the man will be free,
while the woman and the dog side by side drag the cart to which they
are tied, the woman usually knitting even when the air is cold enough
to benumb her fingers. Women knit constantly in the streets about
their other work, whether bowed down under huge bundles of fagots on
their backs, serving milk at the houses, or doing many other things
with which we should regard knitting as incompatible.

The best society is like the court, in being exclusive. It is
difficult for strangers, in Germany as in America, easily to obtain
desirable acquaintance, except by means of letters of introduction,
and the friendship which comes with time and natural selection.
Glimpses of home-life in cultivated circles are accordingly to be
highly valued.

One delightful visit with supper, to which we were invited, began
about six o'clock. That we might have more in common, the hostess, who
herself spoke English with much intelligence, had invited a German
lady who had resided in Boston to meet us. We were seated on the sofa
and shown some of the many art treasures in the way of fine engravings
which the home contained, the fancy-work of our hostess--a German lady
seems never to be without it--lying neglected as the conversation rose
in interest. Supper was served between eight and nine o'clock, at a
round table accommodating the hostess and her three guests. Delicious
tea, made from a burnished brass teakettle over an alcohol lamp on a
stand beside the hostess, with white and black bread, five kinds of
sausage, cold meat, and pickled fish, composed the first course. There
was a second, composed of little cakes and apples.

Dinner, in our experience, was almost invariably good. First course,
always soup and bread. Second, unless fish were served, some kind of
meat, a variety of vegetables, among which green beans, spinach, and
varieties of cabbage delicately cooked were prominent. This course was
usually accompanied by cooked or preserved fruit. Third course,
various puddings and cakes, all good, some delicious; never any pie.
The luxury of dessert was sometimes omitted. It is not common in
German families, except those frequented by American guests. Radishes