hay and grain with cows, though I also saw some men use horses. Toward
evening I met a peasant of Böchingen, who had finished his work and was
about to return home. On learning that I was an American, he asked me to
accompany him to his village, saying that _Kirmes_ had come, the great
jubilee season of the year when all the churches were being re-dedicated,
after which ceremony the people would go to the public houses and keep up
dancing and drinking wine and beer from Sunday noon till Monday night, and
that I could therefore see a great many Palatinates together in his town I
asked him what hotel accommodations their town had; to which he replied
that there were several hotels and he would conduct me to a good one. On
reaching the place I accompanied him first to his home and was introduced
to his family. I had here one of those opportunities, so rare to the
traveler, of seeing the kitchen arrangements of the middle and lower
classes. When we came to the hotel he asked the landlord for a room for
me, who immediately came to me and explained that on account of the great
"Fest" (anniversary) he had turned all the spare rooms of the house into
coffee-rooms, "but," said he, "though I know that Americans are used to
good accommodations, I can only offer you the _Fruchtkammer_ (granery)
to-night, where I have a good nice bed for you, however, if that will suit
you." The homelike cheerful tone and conversation of the landlord at once
captivated me, and when I looked at the large house and saw all his rooms
already filled with guests enjoying their wine and beer together, after
the German fashion, I soon decided to stay with them. The room which he
gave me was a very large one in the second story of the house, and,
though there were large heaps of grain and different kinds of farming
implements there, the end where the bed stood was clean and inviting,
considering the circumstances. There was no lock at the door, but the
landlord's honest face and assurances soon put me at ease about that
matter. He told me that I might place some barrels against it, however, if
I felt so inclined, which of course I did. There was a lady in that town