Thus we left the staid brother and sister quietly gratified by our
call, and returning to Nieder Olang found the kellnerin of the now
deserted inn awaiting us with a nosegay of stately white lilies. The
gig too was ready, and with our dear friend E---- at our side we drove
homeward in the silent summer evening. We passed Percha, a small group
of peaceful houses and a church, contrasting forcibly with the wild,
tumultuous scenes which it must have witnessed when the enthusiast Von
Kolb and his companions convulsed the peasantry;--and passed over the
upland plains where the ten thousand peasants had been repulsed and
scattered--a corn-giving land, affluent with myriad golden shocks,
like a perpetual Joseph's dream.

* * * * *

The Hof proved too quiet and healthful a resting-place, and its
inmates too genuinely good and honest, for us to bid it a lasting
farewell in '71. Behold us, therefore, in the following summer
again within its friendly walls, where we at first settled down to
a harmonious, industrious routine of several weeks: then an extreme
desire seizing upon some of us to see more of the glories of mountain
and valley around, we set out one and all for six days of pure holiday
enjoyment; part of the programme being for the more adventurous,
attended by Moidel, to climb to the Olm on a visit to Jakob.

MARGARET HOWITT.

[TO BE CONTINUED]