rse in life, who, by his own honest
endeavours, and through many self-denials, had raised his father's house
from its depressed condition, and had made the future prospects of his
mother and sister comfortable and secure: he was a man self-dependent,
upright, and good--yes, GOOD, and that I discover more and more the
deeper knowledge I obtain of his true character, even though the outward
manner may be somewhat severe--in truth, I feel myself very inferior
beside him.

The first year of our marriage we passed, at their desire, in the house
of my parents; and if I could only have been less conscious of his
superiority, and could only have been more certain that he was satisfied
with me, nothing would have been wanting to my happiness. Everybody
waited upon me; and perhaps it was on this account that Ernst, in
comparison, seemed somewhat cold; I was the petted child of my too kind
parents; I was thankless and peevish, and ah, some little of this still
remains! Nevertheless, it was during this very time that, under the
influence of my husband, the true beauty and reality of life became more
and more perceptible to my soul. Married life and family ties, one's
country and the world, revealed their true relationships, and their holy
signification to my mind. Ernst was my teacher; I looked up to him with
love, but not without fear.

Many were the projects which we formed in these summer days, and which
floated brightly before my romantic fancy. Among these was a journey on
foot through the beautiful country west of Sweden, and this was one of
the favourite schemes of my Ernst. His mother--from whom our little
Petrea has derived her somewhat singular name--was of Norway, and many a
beloved thought of her seemed to have interwoven itself with the valleys
and mountains, which, as in a wonderfully-beautiful fairy tale, she had
described to him in the stories she told. All these recollections are a
sort of romantic region in Ernst's soul, and thither he betakes himself
whenever he would refresh his spirit, or lay out something delightful
for the future. "Next year," he would then exclaim, "will we take a
journey!" And then we laid out together our route on the map, and I
determined on the dress which I would wear as his travelling-companion
when we would go and visit "that sea-engarlanded Norway." Ah! there soon
came for me other journeys.

It was during these days also that my first-born saw the light; my
beautiful boy! who so