ally in the upper stratum of society, there
was such a confusion of races that one came in contact with
representatives from all the nations of Northern Europe, Swedes,
Danes, Dutchmen, and Scotchmen, who had settled here at one time or
another, most of them, no doubt, at the beginning of the century, the
period when the hitherto unimportant city first began to grow and
prosper.

The number of inhabitants, at the time of our arrival, was about four
thousand, of whom hardly a tenth were citizens of the city, and a
still very much smaller fraction entered into consideration socially.
What could be called, with more or less justice, the society of the
city was composed of not more than twenty families. These twenty
families, together with a few of the nobility, who came in from the
country to spend the winter, formed a private club, with headquarters
in the Olthoff Hall, and the club's membership was further enlarged,
as was the society of the city in general, by the dependents, or
retinue, of a few of the richest and most respected houses. These
proteges, half of them poor relatives, half bankrupt merchants,
were not always invited, but were, on all important convivial
occasions, designed to produce a deep impression, and their function
then was to submit to what the Englishmen call practical jokes,
during the second half of the banquet, the first half being, as a
usual thing, conspicuous for the remarkably proper conduct of the
company. When the time arrived for this part of the program all
bonds of pious awe were loosed and they proceeded with most daring
experiments, which my pen hesitates to record. On one occasion one of
these unfortunates--unfortunate because poor and dependent--had to
suffer a jaw tooth to be pulled out with the first pair of tongs that
could be found; but it must not be inferred that those who undertook
the operation were necessarily rough men. It was only a case where the
socially arrogant, who made themselves so generally conspicuous in
those days, especially under the stimulation of wine, did not hesitate
to take such liberties. In rich aristocratic houses in the country
they occasionally went to even greater extremes....

How did we live at our house? On the whole, well, far beyond our
station and our means. So far as the culinary department was
concerned, there were, to be sure, occasional strange periods; for
example, in the summer time, when, on account of the superabundant
yield of milk