When the first frosty shudder, which affects every one who, when wet and cold, approach a fire, had gone off, Sechingen's curious glances were attracted to the employment of the two females. The woman sat near the fire, with two carding combs in her hand, with which she was manipulating some cotton, and only ceased her toil now and then, in order to take a short pipe from her mouth and rekindle it in the ashes. There was, however, a sort of cleanliness and tidiness in her whole appearance, which made a very favourable impression on the young German, who, through his late wanderings, had become very susceptible to all that displayed comfort and domesticity. She was dressed very simply, but cleanly in "homespun," and the greatest order seemed to prevail in the little and poorly furnished room she inhabited.

The appearance of the second figure

VOL. X.-NO. CXX.

was far from speaking so favourably for her; her anything but cleanly dress afforded a peculiar contrast to that of the American woman who sat by her side. It consisted of a gay coloured cotton, which had long before seen its best days, and the great spots in it seemed to turn a melancholy glance toward a bar of soap, which lay on a shelf in the room. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her arms resting upon them, puffing the smoke out of her short pipe, to her heart's content, up the chimney, and did not appear to pay much attention to the new comers.

The two damp guests were, however, most carefully examined by the three children, whose wild and dirty appearance would have proved them to belong to the Irish woman (for such she was), had not Sechingen's silent supposition to this effect been confirmed by the irresistible

S

evidence of just such a piece of cotton stuff as Madame wore, which made its appearance in various polygon and triangular patches in the children's clothes.

With wildly opened eyes and speaking or shouting organs they stared, not at the Indian, for they had seen plenty like him before, but at the, in their opinion, much more strangely attired German, and they could only be prevented by the repeated admonition of the hostess, for their mother did not trouble herself much about them, for continually getting between the stranger and the fire that did him so much good.

On Sechingen requesting something warm to eat and drink, the American woman immediately gave up her double avocation of smoking and carding, and before long two cups of boiling coffee, with toasted bacon and maize bread, smoked on the rough but clean wooden table, to which the two visitors applied themselves without much pressing, but with a most ravenous appetite.

Sechingen's pampered stomach would, under different circumstances, have been hardly satisfied with the food set before him; but at the present moment, he was not in the humour to look long at or taste what he ate, as long as he had anything to swallow, and in a few moments dishes and plates were empty.

ex

During the meal, the two women had not troubled themselves any further about their hungry guests, except that the hostess filled their cups two or three times; but when they got up from the table and returned to the fire, the females began admiring the German's hunting coat that was ornamented with lap and laces. Sechingen allowed them to amine the work, and through their attentiveness acquired the moral conviction that the women were quite charmed with his tasteful coat, and he therefore asked the Irishwoman, in a friendly tone, whether she thought of making her husband one like it. The woman, however, ejaculated: My husband, sir? The Lord save you, such a jacket for a grown up person? but it would make a famous coat for my youngest boy."

Sechingen bit his lips and took a side glance at the Indian, who seemed, however, not to have found anything curious in

the remark, or to have noticed it at al' but as a sign of starting again, toos up his gun and nodded to the German.

"What are we indebted to you for your kindness?" Sechingen now asked, as after this remark, he did not feel so perfectly at home with these people.

"Oh, I don't know," the hostess replied. "The little I could put before you was given willingly, and is not worth mentioning. If we lived here on the main road, it would he a different thing, for we couldn't afford to keep all the travellers for we are poor and have to work hard for our living; but here we are, in th middle of the wood; and in Alabama where I come from, it's seldom the custom to take anything from travellers; so God be with you, you owe nothing."

Sechingen thanked her heartily, not only for her hospitality, but also for her kind remarks, and with fresh vigour, although still greatly annoyed by their wet clothes, they followed a narrow path which ran along from here at the foot of some higher ground and consequently rescued our travellers from the swamp through which they had, till now, been forced to pick their way. But few words were exchanged between them, for Sechingen looked round for game now that they had entered clearer ground, though his guide did nothing of the sort, but walked stolidly along. The German's attention, however, was wasted to no purpose, for not a single deer or even a partridge could be seen, and in high ill-humour and utterly dissatisfied with American sport, he at length threw his rifle once more over his shoulder and swore, like an ungrateful fellow, that Charles Fisher was a humbug.

They had not far to go before they reached a clearing and block house, which the Indian intimated was the "German settlement," though certainly very different from what Sechingen had anticipated; still he hastened towards it cheerily, for he would meet countrymen here, and have a chance of recruiting his weary limbs, after the night of terror he had lived through.

There is, however, something very peculiar about Germans in America; though we are bound to state it is not the case in Arkansas and the Far West,

here they seldom see a compatriot and are really delighted to meet any one who could give them news of home. In the Eastern States, however, it is far different, where all new immigrants are regarded by their countrymen already settled there, as "intruders," and where a man somewhat Americanized is too proud to address a former friend, lest any Yankees standing near may immediately perceive that he is "a Dutchman too. In truth a German will only assodate with a German there, for the sake of plundering him when he has a chance, and laughing at him in the bargain. Although Sechingen did not know this, a very different reception awaited him here, and he was welcomed with open arms by a worthy fellow of the name of Klingelhöffer, who had pitched his tent in the wilds.

He was engaged in bringing firewood home; but immediately unyoked his team, and conducted his guests into the little cabin, to afford them every possible comfort after the fatigues they had endured. The Indian soon settled his mind to take up his quarters here, at least for the night, and, therefore, spread his blanket out on the fence, that the wind might dry it, while Klingelhöffer, followed by Sechingen, entered the house, where the stranger was heartily welcomed by the hostess.

He soon exchanged his wet clothes for dry ones, and soon forgot, in the enjoyment of nourishing food and a bright fire, all the sufferings he had gone through.

He then found time, also, to examine the interior of the little cabin, in which the whole family resided, and could not comprehend how persons, who had formerly been accustomed to comforts, could exist here under such circumstances. The house was built after the usual fashion, of unhewn logs, and the crevices between them were on the north and west side, filled with straw and mortar, to keep out the raw north wind, and formed a secure and tolerably warm wall, at least suited to the climate; the two other walls, however, let in air and light, as much as could find their way through the cracks. In one eorner of the room there were two beds, over which a long board was fastened, holding books-a rather unusual article in Arkansas, and against the opposite wall

stood another object, which the German would not have expected in the woods, and the Indian regarded with looks of surprise, namely, a pianoforte. Three or four roughly made wooden or cane chairs, a table formed of the lid of an old chest, several boxes, on which the various household articles were arranged, filled the rest of the room, and Sechingen, after looking at it all for some time, at length turned to his host and asked him with some hesitation, "Is this really the only space you have for your whole family to live in?"

"No," said Klingelhöffer, "close by there is a little smoke-house, where we keep our meat and grease, potatoes, and corn for making bread."

"And you all live and sleep in this one room?"

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Well, is not that enough?" the farmer said with a laugh, "you ought to be here on a court day, when we have to lodge and entertain two or three neighbours and lawyers, in the bargain; then, it is really tight work."

"But they do not sleep in this house ?"
"Where else,-all together."
"But that is impossible!"

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'Impossible?" the farmer said, "that is a word we do not know in Arkansas; there is nothing impossible in the world, so soon as it concerns ourselves and our own requirements."

"You two, with your three children, who are mere infants, it is true, but five thus sleep and live continuously in this one room? dispense with all the comforts which are generally thought indispensable in a bed-room or sittingroom, and exist, I may say, in the open air or in the road?"

"Yes, yes," Klingelhöffer said with a laugh, "and that is nothing, for we now have a roof over our heads, are not wet when it rains, and can light a fire when it's cold, without fearing that the wind may blow the sparks and ashes over our bedding, as was the case in the first winter when we came here, and I had a house to build. My poor wife was, at the same time, ill, and suffered a great deal. But we can easily do what is agreeable to us, and if we have to dispense with much to which we were accustomed in the old country, still none of the cares oppress us which we were acquainted with there;

we both work, and through it our prosperity waxes apace, and I am now in a position to build a large and more convenient house next year; till then, we shall have to put up with this."

"Yes! I can easily comprehend," cried Sechingen, "that you are able to bear it all with a light heart, for a man, when freed from the oppressive restraint in Europe, feels himself, even in less prosperous circumstances, strong enough to endure and conquer all that bars his progress. But to expose a weak woman, tender children, in such a desert to the rough storm and the discomforts of a life that seems only suitable for an Indian, I really do not know whether I could find courage to do it. If your wife were taken ill, or attacked by home-sickness, and were to long incessantly for the happier home she left behind her?"

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"My dear sir," Klingelhöffer kindly remarked, as he took his hand; "when a woman really loves her husband she will not long to be away from him, because she must give up comforts to which she was formerly accustomed, but, on the contrary, will wish to remain with him and share his joys and sorrows, as my wife has done; if she does not love him from her heart, then it is a matter of indifference whether he drains his cup of sorrow in a city or in a forest. My dear wife is habituated to me and my fancies; habit does much, and she could not give me up now, and so we bide our time here together in the woods." With these words he gave his hand to the young and smiling woman, who leaned her head lovingly on his shoulder. 'Yes, that is all very well," Sechingen said, shaking his head. "You love each other, and can gain your living, even at the worst, by industry and economy; but why? I am confident you could have done the same in the old country, and here you know many enjoyments only by name, which there would have been the natural consequence of your mode of living."

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"You do not know our country yet," the farmer replied, good - humouredly. "You have spent, I may say, only one night in America, for you must not take into account your short stay in one of the best hotels in New Orleans, or the rapid voyage in a comfortable steamer, provided with every luxury. But first become ac

quainted with the country and then we'l talk further on this chapter; but you may be convinced that they must be exceeding advantages, that could induce a German to repudiate his fatherland for ever. Nor can every man perceive these advantages, and many of them, therefore, either drag on a miserable life in the strange and friendless land, or return to their old home, which they only quitted through ill-humour or a love of change. But, no one who has a feeling for liberty and independence, would, for the sake of a few paltry comforts, exchange the free forest for the fetters of his old country. But if he did so-if he, on that account, again put his neck under the yoke, and flew back to his golden cage-why, it would be no loss to America. Such persons are not suited for the woods, but are only food for balls and theatres."

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"I do not know," said Sechingen, doubtfully; a man need not be a devotee to luxury and good cheer, and yet feel convinced that he could employ his time more usefully and pleasantly than in the backwoods during a storm. My throat, for instance, is frightfully inflamed, and I shall not get rid of my cold under a fortnight."

"I believe it," said the farmer, with a laugh; "but you leaped headforemost into the very worst that you could have met with in our woods: enduring cold, hunger, and damp, is certainly a striking contrast to the richly-covered table and warm bed of a steamboat. But now you shall learn some of the pleasures of our forest and farmer life, and if they do not reconcile you with our rough home, still you will be able to see the bright, as well as the dark side of our life. There are many happy beings in the back-woods.

"But they lose confoundedly on near acquaintance," Sechingen replied, as he looked through a gap in the wall at the masses of trees, covered with gray, wet clouds, while the wind, with an unearthly sound, roared through them, and shook down the large, clear drops of rain. “I had formed a different idea of them in many respects."

"You did not fancy," said his friendly host with a laugh, "that the mighty trees stood in a swamp, that they could lie right across the path, and prevent, sooner