aside the traditional and historic evidences which we have that many
Pennsylvanians have emigrated from the Pfalz in times past. The most
convincing proof to those who can not go there and see the people
themselves, likely consists in the fact that many of the family names of
the Pfälzer and of our Pennsylvania Germans are the same. I attended the
large annual Sängerfest at Neustadt, in which 973 singers from all parts
of the Pfalz participated. I procured a catalogue of their names and found
that a very large proportion are the same as those of the majority of our
people. When we contrast with this the fact that the proportion of names
common between our people and that of any other section, is much smaller,
we see the force of the argument. But this is by no means the first thing
that strikes the visitor. Consanguinity or relationship by blood betrays
itself in a hundred ways. Particular words and expressions, peculiar
pitches of the voice, styles of address, forms of salutations, and special
ways of performing certain kinds of work, tell their tale with an emphasis
that makes itself understood even to the unscientific observer. The
expression of the face and the very ring of the laugh often impressed me
with the truth that it was that of a cousin's brother or sister. I often
expressed my surprise at these things to those around me, and by a free
indulgence in the peculiarities of their idiom enlisted the attention and
gained the friendship of those people with magical effect. From
Frankenthal I went to



Mannheim,


which is the most regularly built town in Germany. It is divided into 100
squares like a chess-board, and has about 40,000 inhabitants. It consists