ed very short in other respects, not reaching below the middle of
her leg. This is somewhat thick, and so are her ankles, but she has
a fine pair of green stockings to cover them. Her shoes--of pink
leather--are fastened each with a bunch of yellow ribbons puckered up
in the shape of a cabbage. In her left hand she has a little heavy Dutch
watch; in her right she wields a ladle for the sauerkraut and pork. By
her side there stands a fat tabby cat, with a gilt toy-repeater tied to
its tail, which "the boys" have there fastened by way of a quiz.

The boys themselves are, all three of them, in the garden attending the
pig. They are each two feet in height. They have three-cornered
cocked hats, purple waistcoats reaching down to their thighs, buckskin
knee-breeches, red stockings, heavy shoes with big silver buckles, long
surtout coats with large buttons of mother-of-pearl. Each, too, has a
pipe in his mouth, and a little dumpy watch in his right hand. He
takes a puff and a look, and then a look and a puff. The pig--which is
corpulent and lazy--is occupied now in picking up the stray leaves that
fall from the cabbages, and now in giving a kick behind at the gilt
repeater, which the urchins have also tied to his tail in order to make
him look as handsome as the cat.

Right at the front door, in a high-backed leather-bottomed armed chair,
with crooked legs and puppy feet like the tables, is seated the old man
of the house himself. He is an exceedingly puffy little old gentleman,
with big circular eyes and a huge double chin. His dress resembles that
of the boys--and I need say nothing farther about it. All the difference
is, that his pipe is somewhat bigger than theirs and he can make a
greater smoke. Like them, he has a watch, but he carries his watch in
his pocket. To say the truth, he has something of more importance than a
watch to attend to--and what that is, I shall presently explain. He sits
with his right leg upon his left knee, wears a grave countenance, and
always keeps one of his eyes, at least, resolutely bent upon a certain
remarkable object in the centre of the plain.

This object is situated in the steeple of the House of the Town Council.
The Town Council are all very little, round, oily, intelligent men, with
big saucer eyes and fat double chins, and have their coats much longer
and their shoe-buckles much bigger than the ordinary inhabitants of
Vondervotteimittiss. Since my sojourn in the borough, they have