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HELEN ON HEE TRAVELS: 
 
 WHAT SHE SAW AND WHAT SHE DID 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY KURD & HOUGHTON, 
 
 459 Become Street. 
 
 1868. 
 

 Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1868, 
 
 By W. L. Gage, 
 
 in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Connecticut. 
 
 Providence Press Company. Printers. 
 
HELElSr ON HEE TEAYELS. 
 
 First Letter. 
 
 EDINBURGH. 
 Dear little Cousin Susie: 
 
 I am very mucli afraid that this will not be a very 
 good letter, but I have wanted to see you so much, 
 and tell jo\i what nice things there are in Europe, 
 that mamma says I may try to write a real letter to 
 you, as that will be the next best thing to seeing you. 
 
 Oh, I do miss you so much ! When I am playing 
 with my dolls, I feel lonely without you. There are 
 some very nice little girls here, though, but they are 
 not my cousins, you know! But I shall forget what I 
 want to tell you about, and I think you would like to 
 hear about my ride on the ocean, and it was a very 
 long ride, Susie, I thought. 
 
 When we went one night from Boston to New York 
 in one of the Sound boats, as papa called it, I thought 
 it was the most delightful thing to ride on a steam- 
 boat. It was so large, and the great saloons had such 
 
HELEX ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 beautiful carpets and sofas, and the people looked so 
 happy, and I had such a pretty bed to sleep in, that I 
 wished we would not get to New York so soon, and I 
 told mamma we should have such a nice time all the 
 way to Europe, because we went in a steamboat. 
 
 But oh dear, Susie ! it was very different from what 
 I thought. We did not have such a beautiful great 
 state-room to sleep in, and the ship did not sail so 
 nicely through the water, but very soon began to roll 
 so much that people could hardly walk about. And 
 then on the deck, the children could not be trusted to 
 run and play for fear of falling into the ocean. And 
 at the table, too, the dishes could n't be trusted to keep 
 in their places, but were held in a kind of frame, so 
 they would n't fall into our laps. 
 
 But I had a nice time after all, for there were a 
 good many little children to play with, and one little 
 girl like me had four sisters and two brothers. Was n't 
 that nice ? We used to have our tea sets and dolls and 
 books, and then every day we went up on deck to walk 
 and jump. I was not allowed to sit at the same table 
 with papa and mamma, when they had their meals, 
 but we children had a table by ourselves in another 
 room, and had the stewardess to wait upon us. When 
 we were good she would give us nice things to eat ; 
 but one little boy was naughty once, and she sent him 
 away without any pudding. We did n't have nuts and 
 apples at our table, but there was one nice gentlemen 
 from Cuba who was so kind to us, and he would throw 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 a whole handful of nuts and figs on the floor for us to 
 run and pick up. 
 
 The captain liked little children, too, and he told a 
 sailor to make a nice swing for us on deck, but before 
 w^e could have any good time with it, a great storm 
 came and we had to stay with our mothers. I remem- 
 ber one day when I was at your house it rained all 
 day, but we could run about in the house and play, 
 and aunt Susan, that is jout grandma, told us nice 
 stories, so that it was almost better than a pleasant 
 day. Grandmas tell such nice stories ; do n't you 
 think they do, Susie ? 
 
 But in that great storm when we were on the At- 
 lantic ocean, it wasn't much like that. The great 
 rooms were all dark, because they thought the waves 
 would break in the windows overhead, if they were 
 not covered with boards. We could n't have much to 
 eat, for everything would roll off the tables, and there 
 were such awful noises all the time, things rolling 
 about, dishes breaking, people falling down, and the 
 great waves thumping against the ship all the time. 
 
 The captain said we must all be good children, and 
 he hoped God would n't let us be drowned. So we 
 kept still, and we could n't have done any thing else, 
 it was so dreadful. We could just see around the 
 room by a little light from the lamps, and I thought 
 people's faces looked very pale. And I was afraid, too, 
 when papa put me into my bed, and placed a high 
 board before it, so I could not fall out. It seemed just 
 
4 HELEN OlSr HER TRAVELS. 
 
 like lying in a deep box. I said, " Now I lay nie," to 
 papa, and he prayed a little prayer too, and I cried ; I 
 could n't help it, and I thought he did, too, though he 
 tried to look cheerful. 
 
 But when I woke up the next morning the weather 
 was not so had, and in a few days more, we could see 
 Ireland, and then England, and then we stopped at 
 Liverpool, a great cit}^ in England. 
 
 Have you liked this letter, Susie ? Then I'll write 
 another, perhaps. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Seco]st> Letter. 
 
 EDIISrBUKGH. 
 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 Mamma asked me this morning, if it was not time 
 to write to you again. I know it is, but I think it is 
 rather hard to write a whole letter, do n't you ? And 
 then every body forgets so much they would like to 
 sa}^, certainly I do. jSTow, in that first letter to you, I 
 meant to have told you what we did when Sabbath" 
 day came, when we were on that great steamer. They 
 were not much like home Sundays, for we had no 
 Sunday school, and I like to go to Sunday school. 
 How I did long to see my teacher and the little boys 
 and girls in my class ! But we had a meeting : we 
 went to church in our cabin, and the minister was 
 dressed in a black silk gown, and had white bands 
 around his neck. He read all the prayers, and some 
 from the bible, and then, when all the people read, we 
 children read too. He preached a long sermon, but 
 we all kept still, and all the steerage j)assengers came 
 who wished to, and they listened to all he -said. I 
 liked our meeting very much, but the rest of the day 
 
6 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 seemed so long. Now, Susie, yoii see I forgot to tell 
 you all this in the other letter. 
 
 Oh, how glad I was when papa said we were going 
 to go on to the land again ; but I kept close to papa 
 for there were so many people crowding and shouting. 
 We had no friends to meet us, but some of the j)assen- 
 gers had, and it almost made iis cry so see them so 
 happy. One lady stood on the shore, and when she 
 saw her daughter on the little boat, for the great ship 
 can 't sail close to the land, she said, " My child, my 
 child ; thank God for my child again." 
 
 The first thing we did when we stej)ped off the boat 
 was to go into a great dej;jot, to see some men look over 
 our baggage. Papa said it was the law that if we 
 carried anything in our trunks to England that wasn't 
 allowed, we should have to pay money. I was afraid 
 they would hurt my doll if they found her, for I carried 
 my great one called Rosa, but the men did n't disturb 
 our things much, for thej seemed to feel we had no 
 things hid. That gentleman fr'om Cuba who gave us 
 so many nuts on the ship, had given mamma a bunch 
 of little cigars, such as the ladies in Cuba smoke, but 
 she did n't have to pay for them ; but we heard of one 
 man who had to give up a great many cigars because 
 he tried to hide them. 
 
 When the trunks were locked again, papa sent them 
 to the depot where we were going to take the cars for 
 Scotland, and then we had a little time to walk about. 
 I saw so many great ships, they seemed to come right 
 
HELE^ ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 up to tlie streets, but papa said thej were in the 
 great docks ; that means very deep places filled with 
 water. And oh, there were all kinds of carriages so 
 different from ours, and the oiies people rode in they 
 called cabs, but they did n't look so nice as the Boston 
 coaches, I thought. I alwaj^s thought when I walked 
 down Washington street, in Boston, that there were 
 as many people as in London, but I found a great 
 many more in Liverpool. The houses were so high, 
 and the bricks so dark, and there was so much smoke, 
 and oh, how many great churches we saw, and we went 
 into a great hall, so great that it took me some time to 
 run across it ; and then we walked through beautiful 
 squares, and saw many fine houses, and nice looking 
 people and such pretty stores ; oh, I forget, they call 
 them shops in England; and the bread stores were 
 the most tempting I ever saw, and I had some nice 
 buns to eat. But they did n't have any of Brown's 
 troches there, for we couldn't find anything for my 
 cough but some liquorice lozenges. But the place I 
 liked to see the best was the market. We all laughed 
 to see the women bareheaded standing out of doors 
 selling hens and meat and cabbages and flowers and 
 all kinds of things. One woman had a barrel of pota- 
 toes tipped over, and some little boys were running 
 away with them. And there were so many peojDle 
 buying, and so many people selling, that there was a 
 
 great noise and a great crowding, and we had to walk 
 in the middle of the street. I saw some pretty baskets. 
 
HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 aiid mamma said one would be so convenient for a 
 luncheon basket that we bought one. I wanted to get 
 a little one for you, but then I thought I could not 
 carry it over Europe, very well. I want to see you, 
 Susie, so much, and two other little girls I know, 
 Mary and Anna, that I almost want to go back to 
 America. 
 
 But I have written all I can to-day. We only after 
 that went to the depot. No, first we had our dinner, 
 and then we waited till the cars started. If mamma 
 will allow me to write again, I will tell you what 
 strange cars they have in England. 
 
 I send 3^ou a good bye kiss, and Aunt Susan, too. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Third Letter. 
 
 EDINBUEGH. 
 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 What did I ssty I would write about this time? 
 Was it about the cars I rode in to Scotland? You 
 never saw such a great depot as that one we started 
 from in Liverpool, and you would hardly have known 
 at first where to find the ladies' room. But pretty soon 
 mamma and I found two, and each was marked with 
 a difi'erent sign ; one was " first class waiting room," 
 and the other '' second and third class." ^ We looked 
 into both and they were very difi'erent from each oth- 
 er, for one had nice tables and sofas and chairs and 
 looking-glasses, and was so nicely warmed, too, and no 
 one seemed to dare to go in but very nicely dressed 
 ladies ; but the other was very cheerless and rather 
 cold and untidy. But papa called us to get into the 
 cars, though I thought he must be mistaken about 
 there being any read}^, for I had heard no whistle, and 
 all was so quiet. 
 
 As we walked along on the platform, two or three 
 men rushed up to us ; one wanted to take mamma's 
 
10 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 travelling ba^g, and one pajDa's umbrella, and another 
 looked at me in such a way that I was afraid he thought 
 me a kind of bundle, and would catch me up, too. It 
 seemed very polite, though, for them to be so kind, 
 didn't it, Susie ? But, bye and bye, I saw papa had to 
 give every man some mone}'- who had done anything 
 for us, and I thought it was better to do as people in 
 America do, to wait upon themselves. But the cars 
 were read}^ for us ; still the people seemed in no hurry, 
 and men dressed in a kind of uniform stood here and 
 there beside the train, to prevent anybody from push- 
 ing and crowding, and to see that everybody found a 
 seat. 
 
 The cars, — but we mustn't call them cars, Susie, 
 but carriages ; is n't it strange ? — had doors on each 
 side instead of at the ends, and each carriage was 
 divided into three or four little rooms, as J called 
 them, with the seats facing each other. Six or eight 
 people could ride in each one. The outside of all the 
 doors were numbered either "first class," "second 
 class," or "third class." We had time to look into 
 all, and the first class ones were much the best. The 
 seats were stuffed and covered with plush, and they 
 were divided from each other so nicely, that each one 
 was like a comfortable arm chair. The little curtains 
 at the windows were so pretty, and it seemed like 
 being in a pleasant little room. But the second class 
 cars were not so nice, for they had only plain wooden 
 seats, and no curtains at all to the windows. The 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 11 
 
 third class ones were not much diiferent, only there 
 were not such divisions made, but all the people in the 
 car could see each other, just as we can in America, 
 only the seats were arranged sg differently. And, 
 Susie, which one would you like best to ride in ? I 
 know what you will say ; but it costs much more money 
 to ride in the prettiest ones than in tlie others. 
 
 But I am tired writing so much about one thing. 
 Oh, I was glad to ride on a railroad again, and to 
 think I was going to Scotland ! I did n't know exactly 
 where Scotland was, but I wanted to go. First, we 
 had to go through a very long, black tunnel, but after 
 that we had such a nice time ! The sun was shining, 
 and it was so warm that we could have one window 
 open, and I stood a long time looking out. At first I 
 did n't like the motion of the cars very well, for we 
 seemed to shake from side to side ; but I could n't 
 think of that long, for there were so many pretty 
 things to see. The houses were all of brick, and each 
 one had a little garden in front, full of flowers, and 
 sometimes vegetables. We saw a great many villages, 
 and each one had such an odd looking little church ; 
 and we saw some great cities, but they didn't seem so 
 pretty. And when we were going through the coun- 
 try, with no houses near us, the banks near the rail- 
 road were covered wdtli grass, so there Avas no dust. 
 ' Whenever the train stopped, the guards opened the 
 doors, and saw that people had time enough to get 
 out. I was very glad when one of our companions 
 
12 HELEIsT OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 stopped, and then we liad the little room all to our- 
 selves. Mamma gave me somethmg good from her 
 luncheon hasket, and said, after I had seen the beau- 
 tiful sunset, I might lie down. She said we were in 
 the lake region then. I don't remember anything 
 after that, till we changed cars and had some supper. 
 Then in the new cars, I think I must have gone to 
 sleep, for the first I knew papa was saying to me, 
 " Wake up, Helen, we have got to Edinburgh ! " 
 Do I write too long letters, Susie ? 
 
HELEN 02^ HER TRAVELS. 13 
 
 Fourth Letter, 
 
 EDINBURGH. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 I am going to take a long walk this morning, but 
 mamma says that I must first go on with my story to 
 you. Oh, I wish you were here, and then you could 
 see all that I do, and it would be so much pleasanter 
 than writing and reading a letter, would n't it ? 
 
 When I wo^Ke up 'the first morning we were here, I 
 thought of course I was in my little berth in the 
 steamer, and began to wonder why I was not rocking 
 back and forth. It was so still I looked around, and 
 saw a very different room from my little state-room, it 
 was so large, and had such great beds and windows. 
 I was so happy that I sprang up and was partly 
 dressed before mamma woke up. When we were all 
 ready we went down stairs into a beautiful room to 
 get our breakfast, and we had a little table to our- 
 selves. It stood by a great bow window, and all the 
 time we were eating I kept jumping up and looking 
 out, for there was such a fine prospect before us. It 
 seems as though we must be in another world, too, all 
 
14 HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 looked so unlike Boston and any place ip^ America 
 that I ever saw. Do n't you want to know what we 
 had for breakfast, Susie ? It was only bread and 
 butter and coffee ; but bread and butter never tasted 
 so good before, and then I had some coffee in a pretty 
 china cup, and a little silver sugar bowl and milk 
 pi'itcher for my own use. I am not allowed very often 
 to have coffee to drink, so this was a treat. 
 
 Just before I had finished eating, two ladies came 
 in with' a dear little girl ; she was just the size of my 
 dear little friend Annie, at home, and mamma gave 
 me permission to speak to her. I could hardly under- 
 stand what she said, for she spoke as the Scotch people 
 do ; but I could n't help loving her dearly, she was so 
 gentle. While papa and mamma were reading the 
 morning papers, we stood together at the window, and 
 we could look right down upon the street, — Princes 
 Street, it is called, — and there were a great many 
 little children going to school, and just on the other 
 side was a great monument, and behind that were the 
 most beautiful gardens I ever saw, full of pretty walks 
 and green grass and flowers. 
 
 But I can't remember nearly all I saw and did that 
 day, nor th^ next, until we came here to our friends, 
 so I Mdll skip that, Susie, and tell you now .what a nice 
 house I am in, and who lives here. Oh, we do have 
 such nice times ; that means Jessie and Maggie and 
 me. And Jackie, too; I forgot Jackie, just then. 
 He is, next to my little friend Walter at home, almost 
 
HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 15 
 
 the dearest little boy I ever saw ; lie dresses just like 
 a Highlander, with a black velvet frock and short 
 trousers and red stockings, and such a pretty plaid 
 sash tied over his shoulder. He is never naughty, 
 but is just as polite as a gentleman. And they all 
 have such* pretty plaji;hings, which we play with up 
 stairs in the nursery; and Jessie and Maggie have 
 each a little bed up there, too, and I .sleep with Mag- 
 gie. She is two years older than I am, and she is so 
 roguish, and such a nice girl to play with, and Jessie 
 is older than Maggie, and she is more quiet, but I love 
 her just as much. 
 
 Every morning we get up early, and Margaret helps 
 us dress ; then we go to the school-room, a little room 
 down stairs, where the governess comes, and where 
 the school-books are, and eat our porridge and milk. 
 Jessie's mamma and my mamma come and bid us 
 good morning, and then we go together to the dining 
 room, where we have family prayers. Then when the 
 family have their breakfast, we are allowed some bread 
 and butter. While the governess is giving Jessie and 
 Maggie their music and other lessons, Ja^ckie and I 
 play, or go to walk with Margaret. We do n't have 
 our dinner with the others, but eat earlier in the nice 
 little school-room; only when our mammas eat we 
 have some of the dessert ; and sometimes when they 
 have tea we get a little piece of cake, too. I think 
 the Scotch children do n't eat so many rich things as 
 the American children do, for I never hear even little 
 
16 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Jackie beg for any. This is sucli a beautiful bouse : 
 great rooms, and balls, and pictures, and so many nice 
 things, — and this afternoon Maggie and I are going 
 to dress up her doll with — 
 
 But mamma calls me to go to walk, so .good bye, 
 dear cousin Susie. ' 
 
HELEN 0]S^ HER TRAVELS. 17 
 
 Fifth Lettek. 
 
 EDINBURGH. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 Jessie and Maggie are studying in the school-room, 
 and Jackie has gone to walk, but I have such a bad 
 cold that I am not allowed to go out, so I think I will 
 surprise mamma by having another letter ready for 
 you. I hardly know what to write about, this time, 
 unless I tell you about Sabbath day, that was day 
 before yesterday. 
 
 Anybody would have known it was Sunday, because 
 after breakfast and prayers we did n't .have our- play- 
 things about, but we had nice books to read. I never 
 saw so many pretty books ! There were so many Bible 
 stories, with beautiful pictures, that I hadn't time 
 enough to see them all before mamma called me to 
 get ready for church. The churches do n't look like 
 ours at home, Susie; they are very large, and the 
 pews are not so comfortable, and the minister stands 
 in such a high pulpit ; and just above his head is a 
 kind of cover or framework of wood, which Jessie told 
 me was called a sounding board. After church I heard 
 
18 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 papa say tliere used to be some in America^ a good 
 many years ago. It was built out from the wall, and 
 it seemed to me all the time as though it would fall. 
 
 When the minister came in he looked some like the 
 minister on the ocean, for he had on a black gown 
 and white bands, and one man walked before him and 
 carried the Bible and opened the pulpit door for him, 
 then he went away ; and another gentleman walked 
 behind him, and he stopped just under the high pulpit, 
 where there was a little desk. He was the one who 
 read the hymns t© the people, and commenced their 
 singing for them. There wasn't any organ at all, 
 but this gentleman read two lines, and then all the 
 people sung them together, and then two more, and so 
 on, through it all. Everybody sung as though they 
 liked it, but they sung very slowly. I mean the tunes 
 were so slow\ You know, Susie, that I never sat so 
 still in church as you did, but I tried very hard this 
 time, for if I .moved it seemed as though everybody 
 was looking right at me. All the little children I saw 
 were just as quiet as their fathers and mothers. I 
 liked the minister very much, because he was Maggie's 
 grandpa. 
 
 I didn't have any money to put into the plate at 
 the door, because I did n't know about it ; and when I 
 saw. the others drop in a penny apiece, I was so sorry 
 I hadn't carried mine. Everybody lays a piece of 
 money on the great plate when they go into church, 
 and I think the children give a penny. 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 19 
 
 I almost wished the meeting would be over, so I 
 could go with Maggie to Sunday school; but there 
 was n't an}^, Susie ! We went right home from 
 church ; but w^e did have a kind of Sunday school at 
 home, for we learned Bible verses, and Margaret told 
 us good stories, and we all sung pretty hymns, and 
 then grandma talked to us, too. Oh, Jessie's grandma 
 is the dearest lady ! No, Susie, not dearer than jouv 
 grandma, but we all loved her dearly. She never allows 
 the children to be naughty, and Jessie and Maggie and 
 Jackie never are naughty ; all the time I have been 
 here they have never spoken unkindly to each other. 
 
 When bed-time came I thought I never had had a 
 happier Sunday, only it w^as stich a disappointment 
 about the Sunday school. But now, Susie, I've got 
 something funny to tell you about the Sunday school, 
 for there is one, after all, only it is in the evening, and 
 poor children generally go, and those who do not get 
 much good said to them at home. And Sunday even- 
 ing my papa went there with Jessie's papa, because 
 he is a teacher there, Jessie's papa is, and after the 
 lessons were through my papa talked to them a little, 
 and he told them he lived in America, and I suppose 
 about the Sunday schools there. When papa was 
 going out he heard one little boy whisper to another, 
 "A ISTorth American Indian ! " Just as though he 
 thought all the people in America miist be Indians. 
 I am sure papa doesn't look much like an Indian, 
 does he, Susie ? 
 
20 HELEN OX HER TRAVELS . 
 
 Sixth Letter. 
 
 EDINBUKGH, 
 
 Dear cousin Susie : 
 
 I am so afraid I shall forget to tell you all I mean 
 to in this letter. We have had a very nice time this 
 week, and Edinburgh is the finest city I ever saw, and 
 has the prettiest walks. The streets are very broad 
 and clean, and the houses are built of such nice looking 
 stone, and are so regular, and there ar'e so many large 
 squares with a great monument m the centre and 
 green grass all around, and the shop windows are so 
 full of pretty things, that it makes me feel as though 
 I would like to be a little Scotch girl, too. You never 
 saw in your whole life, Susie, as many bread shops as 
 I see every time I go out ; and they are so clean, and 
 have all kinds of cake in them, beside bread. I like 
 the Scotch short-cake very much, though mamma says 
 it is too rich for children to eat. They do n't have 
 the shops arranged here as we do at home, but there 
 are more different kinds of goods in one shop ; and if 
 mamma wishes to buy me a dress, she does n't find a 
 place where they sell nothing but dresses, as in Boston, 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 21 
 
 but where there are many different kinds of other 
 things. 
 
 When we get to Princes Street it is the best ; on 
 one side the sidewalk is full of people, and beautiful 
 things for them to look at are in all the shops ; and on 
 this side, too, are very handsome houses and hotels, 
 which reach all the way from Calton Hillj (oh, Susie, 
 I must n't forget to tell you about this CaJton Hill,) 
 to the Castle, though the Castle is not on this street, 
 but on a great hill just above. 
 
 One day I went with Jessie's mamma and my 
 mamma, from Princes Street across the beautiful gar- 
 dens which lie opposite the fine houses, and then they 
 said we were in the Old Town. And it looked old 
 enough ! I looked up to the high houses which were 
 before us, and I was almost frightened, they looked so 
 old and high ; and after we went up long flights of 
 stone steps we came to a long street which had a great 
 many old houses on it, and churches, too. Mamma 
 said it was a very celebrated street, called the High 
 street, and when I was old enough to read history, I 
 should feel a great deal of interest in it. Only think, 
 these old houses used to belong to very rich people and 
 had beautiful carving and furniture in them, but now 
 the very poorest people crowd into them. It seemed 
 to me, though, as if everybody lived in the street, for 
 it was full. Women were bareheaded and barefooted, 
 and had things to sell, arid men were driving teams 
 or drawing little carts, and the poor little children 
 
22 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 were playing in the dirt. Between some of these 
 high houses are little alleys where the people go into 
 their rooms 5 hut they looked so deep and Mack I was 
 afraid of them, and I was glad enough when mamma 
 said we would get away from the crowds and go up to 
 the Castle. So we kept on this same street, going up, 
 up, all the time, and it seemed pretty long ; hut we 
 rested a riinute to see all the children go past from 
 the Ragged School. The little girls looked so funny, 
 all dressed alike, with hlue dresses and great straw 
 bonnets. 
 
 I had a real fright, Susie, when we went into the 
 great Parade before the Castle, for every day, exactly 
 at one o'clock, a cannon is fired, so that everybody 
 can know just what time it is ; and then all the gentle- 
 men pull out their watches to see if they are right. 
 But it is n't very nice to be so near such a great gun 
 as we were : and then I kept dreading it, for I heard 
 mamma whisper that it v^as almost one o'clock. Doi\'t 
 you think it always makes a thing worse to dread it so, 
 Susie ? I put my hands over my ears, but I could n't 
 help hearing it ; and oh, dear, how I jumped ! I saw 
 some of the soldiers laughing at me. 
 
 But when we were in the Castle I liked it. We 
 went over a very deep ditch with some water in it, on 
 a draw-bridge, and then up a steep stone walk with 
 high walls on both sides ; and there were so many 
 soldiers, too, everywhere ; and when we reached a great 
 broad place, there were great guns, and they pointed 
 
HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 23 
 
 off toward tlie sea. We could look down upon the 
 city, and see all the houses and people, and it w^as 
 very beautiful. Then we went up higher still, and 
 went into a house, and saw some beautiful gold things 
 in a case : a crown, and a sword, and a ring, and some 
 more. These were called the Crown Jewels, and are 
 worth so much that some one sits by them all the time to 
 watch them. Then w^e went into another door and saw 
 some gloomy looking rooms, where poor Queen Mary 
 was kept prisoner once, though I do n't know much 
 about it, and her portrait hung on the wall. Oh, it 
 was so beautiful ! We went into another building and 
 saw great rooms full of guns and pistols and old 
 armor, such as the soldiers used to wear. We saw 
 some more things, for this Castle is very large and 
 strong, and w^e waited till it was time for Jessie and 
 Maggie to meet us, and then we all walked home to- 
 gether to dinner. 
 
 I wish you had been with us, Susie ! 
 
24 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Seventh Letter. 
 
 EDINBUKGH. 
 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 When we went to Holyrood Palace, we did n't go 
 through the same streets we did when we went to the 
 Castle, but we turned a little out of the way, so that 
 we could have a good run on Calton Hill. There is a 
 great prison and some handsome houses on one side 
 of it, and on the top are a great many monuments. 
 I wondered if s'ome great battle had not been fought, 
 just as there was on that hill near Boston where Bun- 
 ker Hill monument is ; but Jessie said that some of 
 the most distinguished men of the country had been 
 buried on that hill, and those were their monuments. 
 But on one side, away from the city, there were walks 
 laid out in the green grass, and we had the ver}^ nicest 
 place to play "catch" ; only we had to be careful and 
 not run onto the white clothes which the washerwomen 
 were all the time spreading out. Was n't it a good 
 place to bleach clothes? Margaret took care of us, 
 and she said that the poor women were allowed a cer- 
 tain part of the grass on that side to dry their clothes. 
 
HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 25 
 
 But it rains so much in Scotland; or it does while we 
 are here, that I shouldn't think clothes would dry very 
 soon. Why, every time we go out, Susie, each of us 
 take a little umbrella for fear it may rain ! 
 
 After we had chased each other down the hill, we 
 went to the Palace, and I was a good deal disappoint- 
 ed, for it looked gloomy, I thought. But it is in such 
 a pretty place, with green fields behind it, and a great 
 high mountain, called Arthur's Seat, off at one side, 
 and on the other side are city houses, and just before 
 it is one end of that old High Street I wrote you 
 about. The Castle is at one end and the Palace at 
 the other. 
 
 I was almost afraid to go past the two soldiers who 
 were marching in front of the door, but Maggie 
 laughed at me, so I took one of her hands and one of 
 Jessie's, and we all went in to the great square, which 
 has the Palace all around it. I wished I knew more 
 about Queen Mary, who used to live there ; but Jessie 
 promised to lend me a little book about her, and I am 
 going to read it to-day. Ask your mother, Susie, to 
 tell you about her, too. 
 
 We saw a great many rooms filled with pictures 
 and very old furniture ; and some of the rooms were 
 very small and had little windows; but I didn't like 
 any of them, and Maggie said she shouldn't like to 
 be a queen, if she had to live there. There were a 
 great many people in Queen Mary's rooms, and we 
 saw her bed, and work-box, and the little fire-place 
 
26 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 where slie had a fire, and on one side of the room 
 hung great pieces of her worsted work. Jessie lifted 
 up one corner, and there was a door, which we could 
 not open, and some one told us that tliere were the 
 stairs where some wicked men came up and mur- 
 dered one of the gentlemen who were sitting at her 
 tea-table, when she had company. We peeped into 
 the little room where the company had been that 
 night, but it did n't seem as though there was room 
 enough for people to sit around a table. After we 
 had seen all we wanted to, we thought it would be so 
 nice to go from these old cheerless looking rooms to 
 the other part of the Palace, where are some splendid 
 rooms where Queen Victoria lives when she comes to 
 Edinburgh ; but the guards would n't let us go in. So 
 we all looked into the old stone chapel where Queen 
 Mary used to go very often to hear the priest, for 
 Jessie said she was a Roman Catholic. I hope it 
 did n't look then as it does now, for the windows are 
 all gone, and the stones are all black with the great 
 fire which burned it, and the ivy is growing all around. 
 I picked some, and perhaps I can send you a leaf in 
 this letter. 
 
 I do n't think you will like this letter much, Susie, 
 for I can't tell about such things very well. I like to 
 write better about our plays. We did n't play much, 
 though, when we went home from the Palace, for we 
 went through the High street, and we had to be care- 
 ful and not get run over. A great boy almost knocked 
 
HELEN OK HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Maggie down when she was just going along on the 
 sidewalk. Oh, you never saw such strange things 
 and such odd looking houses as there are on that 
 street. They run long poles out from the upper win- 
 dows and hang all their clothes on them to dry. Jessie 
 pointed out one very old house, and said a minister 
 used to live there who talked a great deal to Queen 
 Mary about being so wicked as to be a E-oman Catho- 
 lic, and she was afraid of him. She said his name was 
 John Knox. 
 
 We are going away from Edinburgh before long, 
 Susie. I am so sorry ! 
 
28 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 Eighth Letter. 
 
 EDINBUKGH. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 I am not waiting this letter in Maggie's house, because 
 papa said we had made such a long visit that we must 
 go away and find some pleasant rooms, and live as 
 people do when they come to Edinburgh and have n't 
 any friends to visit. Papa says it is called taking 
 lodgings, and people in America don't know much 
 about it ; but we think it is a very nice way to live, 
 though I am lonely enough without my little friends. 
 So we have some rooms to ourselves, and the lady we 
 live with buys anything we want her to, and cooks 
 anything for us ; and we have our meals in our sitting- 
 room by ourselves, and it seems almost as though we 
 Avere at home again. Almost every night at tea I 
 have a little marmalade to eat with my bread. You 
 would n't like it at first, Susie, because it is made of 
 bitter oranges ; but by and by you would like it as 
 much as I do, I think. We buy it in little white jars, 
 and I '11 try and keep an empty one to carry home. 
 
HELEN OX HEK TRAVELS. 29 t 
 
 The butter we have is all fresli, for the Scotch peo- 
 ple like it the best ; and we have such great loaves of 
 bread that anybody in America would wonder what 
 kind of a plate to put them on. And we make our tea 
 as the Scotch ladies do, they make such nice tea, 
 mamma says. The ladies here pour a litle boiling 
 water on to great deal of tea, and then cover the tea- 
 pot with something thick that looks just like a hood 
 for it, and then when this has stood a few minutes, 
 they pour on some more boiling water, and then it is 
 read}^ I saw a lady do so where I was last week. 
 Oh, I almost forgot to tell you where I was last week. 
 
 I said good bye to Jessie and Maggie and Jackie, 
 (though I shall see them again before I go to London,) 
 and went with papa and mamma to see a lady who 
 lives in a little village a few miles from Edinburgh. 
 I like a little village, do n't you, Susie ? such as we 
 have in America, I mean ! This one was n't much 
 like it, for the houses were all of stone, and the long 
 street which runs through it was very narrow, and 
 there was a high stone wall on both sides covered 
 with green moss. Some of the houses looked pretty, 
 though, for the ivy grew all over the front. Just 
 think, Susie, this is the same kind of ivy that grows 
 in little pots in America in the houses; they have 
 some at my grandpa's. , 
 
 I had a pretty nice time at this lady's, only I had 
 nobody to play with, and onl}^ one or two books to 
 read. The furniture in her rooms was very nice, and 
 
30 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 in tlie sitting room the chairs were polished so that if 
 anybody touched them it would leave a mark ; and the ' 
 lady asked me to be very careful of my fingers. I 
 kept forgetting, and then she said she could give me 
 none of her nice jelly till she saw I never touched 
 them. I tried hard not to forget, but I did, Susie, 
 and I hardly got a taste of the jelly. I was so sorry, 
 for it troubled mamma very much to have me so 
 thoughtless ; and then the jelly looked so very nice. " 
 She was a very kind lady, though, and once she sent 
 me in America a beautiful great wax doll, as large as 
 your pretty one. 
 
 When we came back to Edinburgh mamma took 
 me one day to see two more little Scotch girls, and I 
 loved them very much. One was Maggie and the 
 other Mary, and we played tea sets together, and their 
 mamma allowed us to have some real things to eat. 
 But at supper time I drank some strong tea ; and I 
 staid all night, and Maggie and I couldn't get to 
 sleep till after midnight. I do n't believe that tea is 
 very good for little girls. 
 
 But Susie, I can't write any more, and to-morrow I 
 must pack all my doll's clothes, for we are going to 
 . London, and we are all going to take dinner at the 
 Crescent, where Jessie lives, and then we shall have 
 to say good bye.. Shouldn't you be sorry, Susie, if 
 you were in my place ? When I get to London I shall 
 write you some more letters. 
 
 Mamma sends you her love, and I send you a kiss. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 31 
 
 NiXTH Letter. 
 
 LONDON. 
 My dear Cousin : 
 
 I do n't know what I shall tell yon about first ; for 
 there is so much I shall want to say. 
 
 We, didn't much think, last summer, Susie, when 
 we were playing together at your house, that I should 
 be in London so soon. I do n't like it yet as well as 
 I did Edinburgh. We had such a cold ride when we 
 came to London, for we were in the cars a whole night 
 and some of the day-time, too. And when we stopped 
 in the station, and saw all the guards, and such crowds 
 of people, I thought we should certainly be lost. And 
 when we rode in a carriage to our rooms, w^e went 
 through so many streets, and turned so many corners, 
 and heard so much noise that mamma and I thought 
 we should n't dare to walk out much this winter. 
 
 But it is very quiet and pleasant here in our sitting- 
 room, and the bright coal fire makes the place look so 
 cheerful. Did I tell you, Susie, that everybody here 
 has a fire in an open grate, instead of in stoves, as we 
 do ? and in Scotland, too. 
 
32 HELEN ON HEli 'Tl^AVELS. 
 
 I have got my story books and my doll's things all 
 unpacked, and put away in a drawer ; and I am afraid 
 I can 't play with them mnch, now, for there are so 
 many places for us to go to, and the days are so short, 
 here, that it is dark almost before we haf e seen any- 
 thing. And we do n't have any sunshine at all, Susie, 
 but there is a great deal of smoke and fog, and the 
 streets and the houses look very gloomy, I think. The 
 first day after we came here papa took me to walk, 
 and if I should tell you what crowds of people I saw, 
 and how many carriages of all kinds, and how many 
 policemen, you would think my eyes couldn't see 
 right. We kept w^alking on till we came to a great 
 building, the very largest and the most beautiful I 
 ever saw ; and it was made of stone of such a pretty 
 color, and had such beautiful statues and ornaments 
 all over it ; and at one end was a great tower with a 
 splendid clock in it. Oh, it looked as though it was 
 all gold, Susie ! and there was another tower at the 
 other end, and that was different but just as beautiful. 
 Papa said these great buildings w^ere called the Houses 
 of Parliament, and it was the place where the great 
 men of England met to talk about what was best for 
 the people. Because it was Saturday we could go 
 in ; so papa found the office where the tickets are given 
 out, and the policemen allowed us to follow the other 
 people up the great stairs. And there, Susie, it was 
 so beautiful ! There were great paintings, and statues, 
 and stained glass window^s ; and we went into tlie 
 
HELEN OX HEK TRAVELS. 33 
 
 great hall wliere the Queen's throne was. Should n't 
 you like to see a real throne, Susie? There were 
 three beautiful chairs, all covered with red velvet ; the 
 middle one was for the Queen, and one for her hus- 
 band when he was alive, and one for the Prince of 
 Wales. Papa said this great hall was called the 
 House of Lords, and he would show me another one 
 called the House of Commons. 
 
 So we walked on through beautiful rooms, and when 
 we came to the hall we found it was different from 
 the other, and I did n't like it so well ; but papa said 
 it was in good taste, and that the carving was ver}^ 
 rich. I sat down a minute in one of the nice seats, 
 but papa couldn't give me much time to rest. We 
 went out a different way from the one we came in, and 
 saw a very large hall, with nothing in it, and it did n't 
 look pleasant. Papa said that was the old hall, and a 
 great many people had been tried in courts there, and 
 some kings, too. I am going to have Dickens' Child's 
 History of England out of Mudie's library to read, 
 and then I shall know more about what they used to 
 do there. 
 
 When we were on the street again, two or three 
 men and boys ran up to us, and said to papa, " Show 
 you the Abbey, sir ? " I could n't think what they 
 meant; but papa said to them, "No, I have been there 
 often -before." ' ' Where, papa ? " I said. " To West- 
 minster Abbey, which you can see just across the 
 street." I saw then a great, dark looking stone build- 
 
34 HELEN o:n^ her travels. 
 
 mg, as large as three or four cliurclies together, I 
 should think ; and papa said some day when mamma 
 was with us, we would go in to see it. I have heard 
 ahout it before, have n't you, Susie ? 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 35 
 
 Tenth Letter. 
 
 LOIS'DOI^. 
 
 Dear Cousin Susie : 
 
 Do you wake up as early in the morning as you 
 used to? I have to wake up early, for there are so 
 many noises and shouts that I can't sleep. When we 
 were in Edinhurgh, the hugle call in the Castle used 
 to be the first thing I heard every morning before it 
 was light ; and now it is the cries of all the people 
 who have anything to sell; and it seems to last all 
 day, too, for there is something being called out all the 
 time. Do you remember, Susie, that little blue book that 
 my uncle Will brought me home from London, called 
 " London Cries " ? Well, the people here do look and 
 shout just as they do in that book. Men and women 
 bring along oranges, and apples, and images, and old 
 iron, and scouring stone, and glass ware ; and Jew 
 men come with a pile of old clothes on their backs, or 
 a lot of old hats piled one above the other on their 
 heads ; and little boys and girls come to sing and 
 dance, hoping somebody will give them a penny, and 
 
36 HELEN OjST HER TRAVELS. 
 
 sometimes very old men and women do tliis also ; and 
 organ men come with their organs and monkeys 5 hut 
 almost the only cry I like to hear or care anything 
 ahout, is my little water-cress girl's. I call her so 
 hecause she is a poor little girl who comes along every 
 night with fresh flowers and water cresses, and mamma 
 allows me to give her a penny and huy some cresses. 
 She calls out "water cre-e-sees/' in such a sad kind of 
 tone, hut she always smiles when she gets her penny. 
 
 I have heen here now so many days that I am a 
 little accustomed to the noise, hut when we walk out 
 I do n't like to cross the streets, for there are carriages 
 coming hoth ways all the time, and when we are 
 crossing over there is almost always a little street 
 sweeper clinging to us, and hegging for money. Oh, 
 there are a great many heggars here in the streets, 
 Susie ! and they come up to me sometimes, the hoys and 
 girls with matches to sell, and say : " Only ha' penny 
 a hox, miss ; please miss, a penny ! " or, " Please good 
 miss, please good- miss, a little money, please good 
 miss ! " 
 
 There is such a pretty place not far from where we 
 live, that I wish you could see, Susie ! It is called the 
 Arcade, and it seems like a great many stores all put 
 together, there are so many pretty things of all kinds, 
 and the prices are very cheap, / think, hut mamma 
 says she shall not huy me many playthings here, hut 
 wait till we get to Germany, hecause that is the 
 country for toys. 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 37 
 
 Where do you think we all went clay before yester- 
 day? Guess the Crystal Palace, Susie, because that 
 was the place. I had been very impatient to go' there 
 to see a great house all of glass, and it was more beau- 
 tiful than I thought it would be. We had to ride a 
 little while in the cars to get there, and then we stayed 
 all day. I can't tell you half we saw ! for there were 
 stuffed animals, and trees and flowers brought from 
 other countries, and strange-looking houses, such as 
 people used to live in in other countries, and statues, 
 and all kinds of pretty toys and books, and wild ani- 
 mals, too, all alive, and great halls for concerts, and 
 such a great organ, and so many other things, and all 
 in this great glass palace ! Just think how light it 
 would be, all made of glass ! I told mamma it looked 
 some like the fairy land I had read about in a story 
 book. 
 
 We saw one place where Bibles were sold; and papa 
 bought a German Testament for me to read when we 
 get to Germany, and he bought me a beautiful little 
 glass vase ; but I have broken it. Is n't it too bad ? 
 
 We had some nice dinner there, too, and I was 
 real hungry. It was so nice to eat in such a beautiful 
 place. Papa was impatient to get a seat before the 
 great organ, because there was to be a fl.ne concert, 
 and so many people were there ; but I cared more to see 
 Tom Thumb and his family than to hear the organ ; 
 for they were going to come out on the platform after 
 the music ^\'as through. I saw them all in America 
 
38 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 once when I was witli Mary and Annie ; and I was 
 glad I did ; for in the Crystal Palace, the gentlemen 
 crowded before me so I could hardly see. But they 
 sung and appeared as pretty as they always do, and 
 I like to see them very much, though papa and mam- 
 ma said it seemed so ridiculous to see sensible people 
 care for such nonsense. But little children can't be 
 very sensible, can they, Susie ? at any rate we do like 
 to see little Tom Thumb and his little wife, do n't we ? 
 When we went home in the evening I slept all the 
 way. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 39 
 
 Eleve^^th Lettee. 
 
 londo:n'. 
 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 It snowed almost all clay yesterday, and to-day it is 
 raining, so tliat I can't go out. I liave been playing 
 with my doll, and. have sewed a little for her, (my kind 
 of sewing, you know,) and now I do n't know what to 
 do, unless I write to you. 
 
 I was delighted yesterday when I saw the snow, for 
 I thought everything would look as clean and white 
 as it does at home ; but just as soon as the pretty 
 flakes touched the ground they melted in the thick 
 black mud, and helped to make the walking worse 
 than it was before. It seems to me that nothing does 
 look clean in London in the winter time; and the 
 smoke and yellow fog really blackens anything white 
 in our rooms. Why, Susie, we have our white muslin 
 curtains changed eYevj fortnight, for they do n't keep 
 clean any longer. 
 
 Shall I tell you about the Tower, or the Tunnel, or 
 St. Paul's, or the Parks, first, Susie ? for I have been 
 to see all these places since I wrote about the Crystal 
 
40 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Palace. I believe I liked the Parks best, so I will tell 
 about the others afterwards. We do n't live far from 
 St. James' Park, and when it is pleasant, that is, w^hen 
 the sun tries to shine, I go out there to play. It is 
 some like Boston Common, though it isn't all covered 
 with grass, but has a great many little gardens of 
 flowers. There are great trees, too, and a beautiful 
 pond in the centre, with a nice litlle bridge over it. 
 All the walks have seats for anybody who is tired, but 
 I do n't see man}/^ children sitting to rest. Oh, I think 
 I never saw so many children as there are here every 
 afternoon ! Just as soon as they are out of school 
 they come here to play all kinds of plays, and they 
 can't get into much mischief, for the policemen are 
 always ready to see it. The grass is very green here, 
 though it is winter, and some poor little children with 
 hardly any clothes on, sit and roll for a long time on 
 the cold, wet grass. I should have the croup if I did 
 so. Because I have no little girls to play with me, I 
 like best to feed the pretty swans and ducks in the 
 pond ; and so every time I go, I carry bread crumbs 
 for them ; and they are so tame they will come up on 
 the shore and eat from my hand. Oh, would n't it be 
 so nice if you were here, Susie ! 
 
 Sometimes we walk through this park, to Green 
 Park ; that is not so pretty, but it is just beside the 
 Queen's Palace, and then Ave go on to Hjde Park. 
 That is the most beautiful ! and splendid carriages are 
 all the time driving through with very rich people in 
 
HELEN 0^ HER TRAYELS. 41 
 
 them, and gentlemen and ladies are riding horseback ; 
 and instead of a pond in the middle is a winding river, 
 with such a large bridge over it. We were there one 
 afternoon when the sun was really shining; and it 
 seemed like fairy land, for there were so many people 
 and all looked so happy. Little boys were sailing 
 their boats on the water, and little girls like me were 
 driving hoop ; and they seemed to enjoy it more really 
 than the princes and princesses did riding in their 
 handsome coaches. * 
 
 I had such a surprise one day when we were going- 
 home, through St. James' Park. We saw a great 
 crowd of men and women around the gates of Buck- 
 ingham Palace, and the flag was up, too, so it made 
 papa think that the Queen was coming out to ride. I 
 begged him to stay, too, for I wanted so much to see 
 Queen Victoria, she is called such a good queen ; and 
 then I thought she would have such a splendid dress, 
 and look like the pictures we see of queens. So we 
 waited and waited, but a great many carriages came 
 before hers, of people who had been to visit her ; and 
 her son, the Prince of Wales, rode by us on horse- 
 back, and afterwards his wife. I thought she had a 
 beautiful face, and she smiled and bowed to all the 
 people. But at last the policemen pushed us back, 
 and another great gate opened, and an elegant car- 
 riage with four horses came out. There were two men 
 for drivers in front, and two men behind, and they 
 were all dressed alike ; papa lifted me up, and because 
 
42 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 everybody pressed forward so^ I knew it must be the 
 Queen. But she didn't look like a queen at all, 
 Susie, though papa said she was. She was dressed 
 like any other lady, only in black, because her hus- 
 band has died ; but she had such a kind face, and 
 looked so good, that I began to love her, and I think I 
 like her better because her dress is so plain when she 
 goes out to ride. There was a little girl with her. 
 
 Oh dear, Susie, I have written up all my paper, 
 and have so much more to write ! Next time I w411 
 certainly tell about the Tunnel and the Tower. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 43 
 
 Twelfth Letter. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 Yon remember I told you when we went to the 
 Crystal Palace, we went in the cars ; when we went 
 to the Tower, we had a steamboat ride. It was a dark 
 day, just like all the London days ; but papa said I 
 should like to see the great river Thames, and all the 
 great ships and little boats on it. I used to call it the 
 river Thams, until I heard papa pronounce it like 
 Tems, and now I remember the right way. 
 
 We had such a nice ride ! only I was a little afraid 
 that our little steamboat would be run down by some 
 great ship ; and the river looked like a great broad 
 sti*eet, only made of water, and all the ships and 
 steamboats and little boats like diiferent kinds of car- 
 riages; and there were so many, — some going down, 
 some coming up, and some steering across, — that I 
 w^ondered how Our captain could guide us safely. We 
 had a fine view* of some of the great houses, and after 
 a while we saw St. Paul's Cathedral. I knew it must 
 be St. Paul's, because the great dome was just like 
 
44 HELEX OX HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 some pictures I liad seen. But, Susie, did you ever 
 read " Rollo in London " ? If you have you will hot 
 care to have me write much about the river itself, nor 
 anything to be seen from it, because that book makes 
 the story of it much more interesting than my letter 
 can. 
 
 When we reached London Bridge, (it is n't the only 
 bridge in London, Susie, but,, it is a great bridge called 
 London Bridge,) our boat stopped, and papa said we 
 must walk the rest of the way to the Tower, and then 
 we wolild have a good chance to see that part of the 
 city ; but it was n't a very pretty part, and I was glad 
 enough when we reached the great gate of the Tower. 
 We went through it and then into a little room to get 
 our tickets, where we w^aited till some more people 
 joined us ; then a man came dressed in the funniest 
 kind of style, and said he w^as our guide. We saw 
 some more guides, and they were all alike, just as the 
 prison keepers used to be wdien a bad king lived, called 
 Henry the Eighth, papa said. 
 
 We followed him through a great stone gate, where 
 something that looked like a great saw w^ith heav}^ 
 iron teeth, hung just over our heads ; and we saw 
 great iron doors that they used to shut up inside of 
 the gate. Oh, we saw some dreadful things ! The 
 buildings were all black and gloomy looking, made of 
 stone, and with such little wdndow^s ; a'nd we went up 
 dark, narrow stairs, and looked into little rooms w^here 
 prisoners used to live. In one room the wall was 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 45 
 
 covered with their names and what they had written. 
 And we went into one little room without a window 
 in it ; and it was made in the wall, with a little door, 
 too, and that was where a great man called Sir Wal- 
 ter K-aleigh used to sleep. He had a pleasanter room 
 to vmte in, but he could n't go out of it, for he was 
 kept a prisoner. 
 
 There was a great block there, and a great blade 
 fastened over it ; and it used to be for prisoners to be 
 killed upon. I put my head down on it, and the 
 knife hung right over my throat, just in the way'it did 
 over theirs. We saw all kinds of iron things to tor- 
 ture people with, and I had a pair of thumb screws 
 put on my thumbs, but they w^ere n't screwed tight, 
 but it made me afraid only to see them. There were 
 great rooms fidl of guns and swords and pistols, and 
 some of them v/ere arranged and hung up in the form 
 of flowers ; and the guide explained them all to us. 
 When we started to go into one great hall, I ran back, 
 for on both sides were great horses side by side, and 
 men on their backs covered with steel armor, and with 
 swords in their hands ; and I could see some little 
 bo3^s, too. Wouldn't you have hung back, Susie, to 
 see all those dreadful men ? But they all laughed at 
 me; for after all they were not real men, but only 
 imitation men and stuffed horses. We did see some- 
 thing I liked, though ! We saw some beautiful crowns 
 and jewels that the kings and queens of England have 
 worn. I should like to try a crown on my lie ad, for 
 
46 
 
 HELEX OlN HER TRAVELS. 
 
 it siDarkles so prettily witli the gold and the bright 
 jewels ; but I do n't understand how one can cost so 
 much money. But if I do n't stop writing about the 
 Tower, Susie, I can't tell much about the Tunnel. I 
 wanted to see that so much, because it would be so 
 strange to think I was in a great tunnel under a river. 
 
 When we came to it, we had in the first place to 
 go down very long flights of stairs ; and then we saw 
 what looked like a very long tube, large enough for 
 people to walk through ; but one half did n't seem to 
 be used. In the middle were little booths full of 
 pretty things, which women try to sell to everybody 
 that passes through. It was very bright, because the 
 gas Avas lighted ; but I should n't like to live day after 
 day ifi a great tube under a river, and have no light 
 but gas light, should you, Susie ? Every woman that 
 we passed would call out, "'Please buy, ^please buy.'' 
 At each end were little tents with some kind of exhi- 
 bition in them, and I could hear music ; but papa said 
 we should only lose our money, for there was nothing 
 worth seeing in them. 
 
 What a funny ending for a letter ! 
 
 Good bye, Susie. 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 47 
 
 Thirteenth Letter. 
 
 L ON" DON. 
 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 I knew you would laugh about my last letter, for 
 the last part was n't very interesting, I was so tired 
 before I finished. I ahnost wish mamma would allow 
 me to wait till I get home, and tell you what I have 
 seen, instead of writing so many letters. She says I 
 should forget a great deal by. that time ; and I know I 
 should, because every week I forget some little things 
 I want to write about. 
 
 Yesterday was Sabbath day, and I went to church 
 in the greatest church I ever saw. Do you remember 
 I told you I had the promise of going to- see West- 
 minster Abbe}^ some time ? Papa thought we should 
 like to go there to service, and then we could hear the 
 great organ, besides the minister's sermon ; but as we 
 could go there in the afternoon, and could n't to the 
 other churches, we waited and went to hear Mr. Spur- 
 geon in the morning. Did n't you ever hear anybody 
 talk about Mr. Spurgeon, Susie ? I think somebody 
 told me that the Americans generally go to see him 
 
48 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 and hear liim preach once, because lie is so popular. 
 I do n't know exactly what that means ; but perhaps 
 it means that everybody seems to crov/d into his 
 church. It was very unpleasant yesterday morning, 
 and we had to ride all the way ; not because it rained, 
 though, but because London is so large that we have 
 to ride to a great many places. 
 
 We thought we were in good season ; but when we 
 went in, the church seemed to be full, and still the 
 people kept coming. It was such a great church, and 
 so many people can sit down stairs, and then there 
 are two galleries, one above the other, and they run 
 around the whole church. The place where the min- 
 ister stands is just as high as the first gallery, and of 
 course all the people can hear him very well. Papa 
 said he had almost the finest voice he ever heard. 
 You would like to hear all the people sing together, 
 Susie ; for they sing as though they enjoyed it. I 
 liked it better than I did the music in the Abbey, for 
 at Mr. Spurgeon's church I could sing, too. 
 
 I never felt so strangely in any church as I did in 
 Westminster Abbey in the afternoon, I am sure I 
 do n't know why. It seemed very still and solemn ; 
 and though the daylight came in through the stained 
 glass windows, there were a great many wax tapers 
 lighted. All around were white monuments and 
 statues, because a great many people have been buried 
 there; and when it became darker, they seemed to 
 grow whiter in the candle light, while all the dark 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 49 
 
 shadows behind them, and in the great arches, looked 
 blacker and blacker. And when the minister had 
 finished preaching, and the choir began to sing the 
 closing anthem, and we could hear the great organ, 
 I put my face down in mamma's book, and didn't 
 look around any more, but listened to the most beauti- 
 ful music. Though I was only a little girl, Susie, it 
 was so beautiful I would like to have heard it for 
 hours ; and if the organ began to play very loud, so 
 that I would tremble, almost at once would come such 
 soft, sweet sounds, that I would love to hear it again. 
 I think if I live to be an old lady I can not forget the 
 music I heard yesterday in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 This morning, for a surprise, the sun was shining 
 when I woke up, and mamma said we would go to see 
 Covent Garden Market. Oh, Susie, I do wish you 
 could see all the things they have to sell there ! all 
 kinds of vegetables, such piles and piles of them ; 
 those are out doors ; and in a great glass house are 
 the most beautiful flowers, and such nice fruit and 
 nuts. Oh, it was such a temptation to see all the 
 oranges and grapes and figs arranged on little tables 
 on each side of us, and to find that the prices were so 
 high that my pennies wouldn't buy much. But it 
 was a pleasure to see such nice things ; and there was 
 so much sport to see all the people buying and selling. 
 Once in a while mamma would allow me to take out 
 my little pocket book, which she bought for me in 
 Edinburgh, and buy something for a penny or two ; 
 
50 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 and the great market women looked as pleased to get 
 my penny as I did to get their fruit. Papa says that 
 oranges will be coming in more and more every week, 
 and pretty soon there will be boys and girls in every 
 street selling great ripe oranges. I wish I could send 
 you one in a letter. 
 
 What kind of a hat has your dolly, Susie ? I have 
 forgotten. I want mine to have one, but mamma says 
 perhaps I had better wait till we are in Germany, 
 because the fashions may be different there. 
 
 Now I am going to sew ; not my way, but mamma's 
 way ; and that is so hard. , 
 
HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 51 
 
 FOURTEEXTH LETTER. 
 
 LOND.OIS'. 
 Deak Cousin Susie: 
 
 Papa and mamma have gone out to ride ; and be- 
 cause I am so tired I am to stay at home to rest and 
 to write to you. You will wonder why I am tired ; 
 but the reason is, I took such a long walk this morn- 
 ing, and went to the top of St. Paul's, besides. I had 
 been into that great church before, but had never 
 climbed to the top. It was rather hard work. Papa 
 said it was ten years since he had done so, and 
 I am sure I should wish to wait ten years before I 
 should do it again. 
 
 We spent some time in wandering around, looking 
 at the statues and monuments, and at the gTeat organ 
 and the beautiful carving, and then we went to some 
 stairs in the side of the church, which seemed to be 
 made in the wall. Papa paid some money to the man 
 who staid there; and then we went up, up, till we 
 came to the Whispering Gallery. This is a narrow 
 gallery which runs around the inside of the dome, and 
 seems a very great way up from the floor of the church. 
 
52 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 It almost made me dizzy to look down. This is 
 called the Whispering Gallery, because anybody can 
 hear the slightest whisper, or the ticking of a watch, 
 across it. The gentleman w^ho took our tickets sent 
 us to the side of the gallery opposite to him, and told 
 us to put our heads against the wall, and he would 
 put his mouth to the wall where he was, and speak to 
 us. We could understand all he said, and then papa 
 and I tried it, and we carried on a nice little conver- 
 sation together, though we were so far apart. 
 
 Then we began to go up more stairs, again ; and we 
 kept on and on, till we lost all light from the little 
 windows, and it was so dark we could not in some places 
 see the stairs ; and they were so narrow, too, that if we 
 met people coming down we could hardly turn out for 
 them. But you know my papa is a funny man, 
 and he kept us laughing all the way ; and he would 
 tell us what a fine prospect we should have of London, 
 when we were really at the top. So we kept stumbling 
 up ; but when we reached the top, and stepped out on 
 the outside platform, v^e could see hardly anything 
 but a great sea of fog. When we started fi*om home 
 the sun was shining ; but by the time we were at the 
 top, the whole air w^as full of fog, and the sun looked 
 like a little dull red ball. I was disappointed enough, 
 and did n't enjoy the going down as well as the going 
 up. Before we went down, though, we went through 
 a little door at one side of 4he stairs, and found we 
 were at the very top of the dome in the inside. Oh, 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 53 
 
 it was SO high up ! The people at the bottom where 
 we had been^ walking about, looked like the little 
 Lilliputians I read about once. You know the story^ 
 do n't 3^ou, Susie ? 
 
 I liked my visit to St. Paul's very well, and I should 
 like to go there on Sunday, and hear that great organ. 
 But I had a better time yesterday afternoon. Oh, it 
 was such a beautiful place we went to ! and such beau- 
 tiful things we saw ! 
 
 Did you ever hear of a place in London called 
 Madame Tussaud's, Susie ? I never did till I came 
 here ; but papa says it is one of " the sights " which 
 everybody goes to see ; and if people like it as much 
 as I do, I do n't wonder ! There are a number of 
 splendid halls full of wax people. Mamma called 
 them wax figures ; but they looked just as if they 
 were living people. They* are made to resemble dis- 
 tinguished people who have lived, and who are living 
 now; and of course they are all very different, because 
 each figure is made to look exactly like some person ; 
 and the hair and the eyes and the whole face just 
 as much like life as can be. And then all the people 
 are dressed in the same kind of clothes they used to 
 wear. 
 
 We saw all the kings and queens of England, and all 
 the present E-oyal Family, and all the kings and queens 
 of Europe, too ; and all the distinguished men and 
 women of all countries ; and some of them had their 
 little children beside them, and there were two or 
 
54 HELElsr ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 three dear little babies. Some of the gentlemen were 
 dressed like officers, and the kings had splendid robes, 
 and the ladies' dresses were so rich ! The people 
 didn't stand up like statues, but were arranged in 
 little groups and companies, — some sitting and some 
 standing, — so that they all seemed to be alive and 
 talking together. Two or three times I was sure they 
 were living men and women. There was a wax figure 
 of President Lincoln there ; but it did n't look as good 
 as some others. I wish I could tell you more about it 
 all, for I staid some hours, and then I did n't want to 
 come away. It is called Madame Tussaud's, because 
 she was a French lady, and was the beginner of the 
 collection a good many years ago. 
 
 Mamma will come pretty soon, and I want to read 
 a little before she comes. 
 
HELflX ON HER TRAVELS. 55 
 
 Fifteenth Letter. 
 
 L O N^ D O N . 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 I wish I could go to all tlie nice places that pa25a and 
 mamma do, and then I should have more to write to 
 you about than I do now ; but they often leave me at 
 home in the daytime when they go to visit picture 
 galleries and such places ; and in the evenings when 
 they go to concerts and oratorios and lectures, I am 
 in bed, and dreaming about you, sometimes. 
 
 Do you remember I told you, that distinguished 
 people were buried in Westminster Abbey ? A duke 
 is going to be buried there this week, and there 
 will be a great funeral and a great procession of car- 
 riages from his palace to the Abbey. Papa says he 
 was a very rich man, and a very good man, too ; and 
 after he died his body was brought from his castle in 
 the country to the palace here, and will lie in state for 
 a few days. I did n't know exactly what that meant, 
 but by special permission we were allowed to go into 
 the palace to see the "Lying in State of the Duke of 
 jSTorthumberland," as it said on our card. The police- 
 men stood at the great iron gate of the palace, but as 
 we had permission they allowed us to go through; and 
 
56 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 after we had crossed a square, (wliicli lias the palace 
 built around it,) we entered a great hall, and a row of 
 servants dressed in black, with wands trimmed with 
 crape in their hands, pointed the way to the room where 
 the cof&n was. ' It was a large room, and it looked 
 very gloomy ; for the top and bottom and all the sides 
 were covered wdth black cloth, and it was only lighted 
 by wax tapers. The coffin was in the centre, and 
 upon it rested the Duke's badges, and his sword and 
 his coronet. At the head of the coffin, hung against 
 the wall in a frame many badges and marks of honor 
 he had received. 
 
 The room was so still and black and solemn ! It 
 all seemed very different from anything I had ever 
 seen before. When we came out we passed through 
 handsome rooms, and saw statues and beautiful marble 
 stairs ; and anybody would have known that some 
 very rich person had lived there. I could hardly be- 
 lieve that the great man who had owned all these nice 
 things was lying shut up in that coffin. It has made 
 me feel very sober, since I came home, and I don't 
 feel much like telling you about the other places I have 
 seen this w^eek. 
 
 I have ' had some very nice times with some little 
 American children who live here in London. Mary, 
 Freddy, and How^ard their names are. Howard is 
 just the size of my little friend Walter, at home, and 
 just about as roguish. They do n't live very near us, 
 and once I staid all night with them, and the next fore- 
 
HELEX Olir HEK TRAVEL S. 57 
 
 noon I went to their Kindergarten witli tliem. You 
 won't know wliat that means, perhaps, hut it is 
 the name of their schooL It is a kind of play school, 
 such as they have in Germany, and I like it very 
 much. Very little children can go, and they learn to 
 make pretty things, and sing nice songs, and the little 
 girls sew. I wish I could go to one in America ; but 
 perhaps when we are in G-ermany I can. Papa says 
 there are a very few now in America, and bye and bye 
 there will be more. 
 
 Won't it be nice when I go to Germany, Susie? 
 There will be so many new things to see I 
 
 Papa goes every morning to the new reading room 
 in the British Museum to study, and I have been there 
 once to see it. It is the very nicest ]_3lace for gentle- 
 men to study I ever saw. The desks are so convenient, 
 and it is very light, because all overhead is a dome of 
 glass. Besides this reading room and some great 
 libraries, there is almost everything else *in the British 
 Museum; and sometimes mamma and I have spent 
 almost a whole day, wandering around, looking at the 
 curiosities, and the statues, and the s^tuiFed animals 
 and birds, and the precious stones, and the mummies, 
 and so many more things I can not tell, them nearly 
 all. Perhaps I can tell more about it next time if I 
 do n't forget it. 
 
 I can't write many more letters from London, be- 
 cause winter is most gone ; and when it is spring we 
 shall go to Germany. 
 
58 HELEA' ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 Sixteenth Letter. 
 
 LONDON. 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 Papa lias just brought me some American apples ; 
 thej are better than any apples that grow here, and 
 the English people know that, too. Did n't we have 
 nice times eating apples and nuts when I was at 
 your house ? Last night for tea we had some Ameri- 
 can peaches, too ; mamma bought them all preserved 
 in a great glass jar, and we enjoyed them very 
 much. There are all kinds of nice things to eat, here, 
 such nice jellies and preserves, and such pretty little 
 china boxes of preserved meats. I like to go into a 
 bake shop, for there are so many kinds of buns and 
 tarts. All the shops here in London are very beauti- 
 ful ; I mean I see more pretty things than I did in 
 Edinburgh, and every time we go out to walk, I want 
 to buy a great many things. Almost all the things 
 in the shop windows have the prices marked upon 
 them, and sometimes things are very cheap, mamma 
 says. I always forget about the money, and think 
 one penny is just one of our cents, but instead of that 
 it is two cents. 
 
 If you ever come to London, Susie, and you want 
 to see the prettiest things in the shops, ask your papa 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 59 
 
 to take you to Regent street, and you will like it as 
 well as I do, I think. I can't tell you what nice things 
 there are there, for there are so many ; but you must 
 be careful, if you try to cross the street, or you will be 
 run over, there are so many carriages. 
 
 Mamma and I were walking along Eegent street 
 the other day, because I was going to a German fair, 
 to see children's playthings ; and Mary and Freddy 
 told me I could buy ever so many things at a penny 
 apiece. While we were going on, we saw a poor 
 little boy crying so hard ; and he looked so cold I 
 did n't wonder he " cried. He had n't any hat on, nor 
 any shoes and stockings ; and his clothes were full of 
 holes. He did n't beg, but he looked up to mamma as 
 though he wanted something ; and she asked me if I 
 would like to give him a penny. It was pretty hard 
 to do it ; but he looked so thankful when mamma told 
 him to buy himself some bread, that I was almost 
 sorry I had not given him some more. But there are 
 so many beggars, Susie, that I should not keep one 
 penny if I gave one to all I see ; and papa says some 
 of them tell wrong stories in order to get money. I 
 never knew before that there were so many very rich 
 looking people and so many very poor looking people 
 in the world, as we see in London every time we go 
 out to walk. 
 
 One day, not long ago, it was so warm and pleasant 
 that papa said he would not go to the British Museum, 
 but would take us to see all the wild animals. That 
 
60 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 was one of the places I liad wanted tlie most to see, 
 for I liad read about the Zoological Gardens in our 
 Guide to London, (that is what the place is called, 
 Susie.) We rode so long before we got there, that I 
 thought we must be in some other city 5 but papa said 
 it was London all the way. 
 
 We staid there almost all day, and I saw a,ll the 
 animals I ever heard of. Some of them, like the birds 
 and the antelopes, were very pretty and gentle, and 
 some like the lions and bears and tigers looked so 
 fierce, I was afraid of them. There w^as a great house 
 made of glass for the monkeys, and I watched them 
 play together for a long time, and they seemed to 
 know so much that grown up people could 'nt help 
 laughing at them. Then there was another house 
 full of parrots. Oh, such a noise as they made, all 
 talking at once ! The great bears were out doors in 
 great pens, but they did 'nt seem to be cold. I saw a 
 great white bear climb a pole, and papa wondered if 
 he could climb the North pole so well, before he was 
 brought to London. But papa looked so roguish I 
 do n't think he was in earnest. I did 'nt like the alli- 
 gators nor the great rhinoceros, and I was very much 
 afraid of the large black animal which lives sometimes 
 in the water. Papa called it a hippopotamus. (Have 
 I spelt it right; such a long word?) I saw some 
 animals that I should like for my pets, they were so 
 pretty. I hope you can go there sometime, Susie ! 
 What long letters I do write I dont I ? 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVEL S. 61 
 
 Seventeenth Letter. 
 
 LOKDON. 
 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 I didn't write you any letter last week because 
 I had so much else to do. I went shopping with 
 mamma ; and I made my doU some new clothes, and 
 I went to visit some Americans who were friends of 
 mamma's, and had some little children to play with ; 
 and then all the rest of the time I was trying to finish 
 one of my hooks from Mudie's Library. 
 
 When we are in Germany I am afraid I can't have 
 many English books to read, and so papa gets all he 
 can for me now. Mudie's Library is very large, and 
 has all the new books that are good, papa says, but 
 there are not many for children. I had one book from 
 there that was so nice ! It was " Cushions and Cor- 
 ners ; " and I wish it was mine to keep. 
 
 We are going away from London next week, if the 
 weather is pleasant, and there are some more things for 
 me to see yet. We have been here so long that I am 
 almost sorry to go to Grermany, for this seems now like 
 a kind of home, and I like to see so many new things ; 
 
62 HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 and wlien Sunday conies I like very much to go to the 
 churches here. Oh^ Susie, I have seen so many differ- 
 ent churches, and seen so many ministers that papa 
 says are very distinguished in America. 
 
 The little children here sit very still in church, as 
 still as you used to. 
 
 Mamma just peeped over my shoulder and said I 
 must tell you about my going to Greenwich to see all 
 the sailors there. I wish mamma would write about 
 it, but she says these are my letters, and I must tell 
 my stories alone. When we started to go to Green- 
 wich the weather was very pleasant, and I begged 
 papa to go there in a steamboat, so that I could see 
 the river Thames again, and all the fine bridges on it. 
 So we went down in the boat, and came back in the 
 cars; it was so cold that we didn't enjoy it much, and 
 I had to keep my face in mamma's muff, instead of 
 looking at the fine bridges and houses. 
 
 But we had a nice time when we were there. There 
 are tw^o great stone buildings, large enough to be 
 palaces, and they looked like them ; and sailors who 
 are very old men, who have been on the seas and 
 become infirm, live in them. Some of these old men 
 have been in battles and have lost an arm or a leg. 
 They are all dressed alike ; and those we saw looked 
 happy, and seemed to be glad they had such a good 
 home. We went through a great hall, and on both 
 sides of it were little rooms fitted up for the sailors. 
 Each man had a room for himself, and besides the 
 
HELEX ON HEK TRAVELS. 63 
 
 bed and table and chair which were given to him, he 
 was allowed to put any little things he pleased into 
 his cabin. They all call their little rooms cabins ; 
 is n't it funny ?^ One old man with only one arm, led 
 me into his cabin and showed me a little ship he had 
 made, and told me stories about the battles he had 
 been in. 
 
 We went into great halls and saw things that had 
 been kept which had belonged to great commanders ; 
 and we saw a great number of pictures and portraits. 
 What we all liked to see, was some things which men 
 had found which used to belong to Sir John Franklin 
 and his men. Did you ever hear how they were 
 lost ? We saw his watch, and spoons and knives that 
 the men had used. 
 
 A*fter we had seen all these things, it was time to 
 go to the dining hall, and see the tables spread for 
 the dinner. All the plates were made of tin, and the 
 seats were w^ooden benches, but everything looked 
 clean. I thought I should n't like their dinner very 
 well; but papa said if I had been a sailor a good 
 many years, I should like plain, wholesome food better 
 than anything else. 
 
 This makes me think, Susie, of what a gentleman 
 sent me ^^esterday : a plate full of raspberry tarts ! I 
 can play tea-sets with them, and have enough for tea 
 besides. 
 
 This afternoon we are going to some beautiful gar- 
 dens and to South Kensington Museum, and to-mor- 
 
64 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 row somewhere else ; but I do n't believe I can write 
 to you about tbem, I shall be so busy. Won't it seem 
 strange if my next letter is from Germany? We are 
 going to Eotterdam, too. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 65 
 
 EiaHTEENXH Letter. 
 
 BONN, ON THE KHINE. 
 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 We did leave London the week after I wrote my 
 last letter, just as I tliought we should, and we have 
 been in Germany three or four days already ; hut there 
 has been so much for me to see, that I have n't felt 
 like writing any letters. I have been very tired, too, 
 for it was a very long journey from London, I thought; 
 though mamma says a little girl who has crossed the 
 gieat Atlantic ocean shouldn't complain of such a 
 short steamboat ride.. It was n't the time on the 
 steamboat, that I did n't like ; but we had so many 
 changes, and altogether it was n't so nice as I thought 
 it was going to be. What is the reason that very often 
 we do n't have such a pleasant time as we thought 
 we should? ^ 
 
 But I'll tell you all about it, and then perhaps you 
 win think it was beautiful, and that you would have 
 enjoyed it very much. 
 
 Papa thought he would not go all the way from 
 London to Eotterdam in the steamboat, but would try 
 
66 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 the new route, as lie called it. So about eight o'clock 
 one evening, (that is just my bed-time, you know,) 
 we started in a carriage to ride to the station. The 
 streets in London looked so bright and so pretty, 
 lighted up with gas, that I did feel really sorry to go 
 away. I hope we shall go there again before we go 
 home to America. 
 
 There was a great deal of confusion in the depot, 
 because so many people were going in the night train, 
 just as we were ; but after a time papa said our bag- 
 gage was taken care of, and we seated ourselves in the 
 cars, to ride till twelve o'clock. I was wrapped up in 
 a large shawl, and felt pretty comfortable all the time, 
 though I do n't think I was asleep. Mamma laughed 
 about that, and said that little folks do n't always 
 know when they are asleep. 
 
 Just about midnight the cars stopped, and we ^s^ialked 
 a little way to a large steamboat ; and there we ha^ a 
 funny time ! We could n't have a state-room together, 
 as we always had before, but papa was sent to the 
 gentlemen's cabin to sleep, and mamma and I were 
 told to follow the other ladies to the ladies' cabin. 
 When we found it, everything was very nice and 
 prett;^ but I was too tired to look at anything. All 
 the ladies were hurrying to find state-rooms, but the 
 trouble was, there were hardly any ready. There 
 was a new stewardess, and she had n't made all the 
 rooms ready, and so we had to wait and wait a long 
 time. Some of the ladies scolded her : but it did 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 67 
 
 no good. Bye and bye our little room was ready, and 
 it was very nice and cosy, but we found the clean 
 sheet and blankets were very damp ; and mamma said 
 I should certainly have the rheumatism if I was un- 
 dressed. Did you ever hear of little girls having the 
 rheumatism, Susie? 4But I was glad to go to sleep 
 in any way, so we looked around for our shawls to 
 cover -ourselves with, but — now comes the worst of 
 it — papa had forgotten, and kept them and our trav- 
 elling bag with him, and we didn't know at all where 
 he was. We had a good laugh about it, and then 
 mamma covered me with a great square pillow, and I 
 think I went to sleep. 
 
 Papa thought we would want to sleep, so he didli't 
 disturb us ; but the stewardess woke us up some time 
 in the forenoon, and said we ought to go up on deck 
 and see the country and the river before we reached 
 Rotterdam. 
 
 And oh, it w^as the strangest looking country when' 
 w^e did see it ! We were not on the sea any more, 
 but sailing up a river ; and on both sides the shore 
 was near enough for us to see the little houses, and 
 the funny looking people. And all the land was as 
 flat as a floor, almost ; there was n't even a little hill ; 
 and there were so many great wind-mills. In every 
 direction we would look, were four or five great wheels 
 up in the air, turning slowly with the wind. 
 
 I liked to watch the people beside us, as much as I 
 did these other things ; for some of them were Dutch 
 
68 HELEN" ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 people, and some Germans, and tliey were dressed so 
 oddly, and talked very strangely. Some of them were 
 going to their homes, but they had been long enough 
 in England to learn a little English. They said Eng- 
 land was a nice countrj^, but Germany was better still. 
 I wonder if I shall think so ! % 
 
 I think I '11 stop now, and perhaps to-morrow write 
 you another letter, before I forget what I want to tell 
 about Eotterdam and Cologne. 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 69 
 
 JflNETEEKTH LETTER. 
 
 BOISTN. 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 Mamma says I can send two letters by on-e mail 
 this time, so I will commence just where I left off 
 yesterday. 
 
 Our steamboat kept going slower and slower, till 
 we stopped; and because the prettiest part of Rotter- 
 dam lies along by the side of the river, we had a good 
 chance to see it. And the houses were so neat and 
 white, and the sun was shining so brightly, and the 
 sides of the river looked so cheerful with all the ships, 
 that I thought it was much prettier than London. 
 When we almost touched the wharf, a great many 
 men and boys crowded up to the edge to see us ; and 
 you would have laughed to have seen them, though 
 they did n't seem to think at all that there was 
 anything funny about them. They almost all wore 
 wooden shoes, and they were so thick and so large that 
 papa called them boats; and they were really little 
 boats, for they were turned up at the toes like the 
 canoes the Indians make. The boys did n't wear any 
 hats on their heads, and they were dressed like men. 
 
70 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 Our J)aggage wasn't opened here to be searclied, but 
 we were allowed to go at once to the depot. It y^as a 
 low, brown building near by, and did n't look mnch 
 like our depots at home. And the inside was just as 
 different. There was a first-class room, but nobody 
 went in there ; papa says very few people ride first- 
 class in this country, because the second-class cars are 
 just as good as the English first-class. We looked 
 into the third-class room, and that was full of men 
 and women drinking beer and smoking ; then we went 
 into the second-class room, and we found some nice 
 people who had come from London the same way we 
 had. There was a little English boy, too, and we had 
 a nice time together, walking about the great room, 
 and looking at the funny things. There were a num- 
 ber of pictures hanging on the walls, and in different 
 parts of the room were glass cases or closets, full of 
 odd-looking china dishes, all kinds of cups and saucers, 
 and pitchers, and some painted china that I can't 
 guess what it could be used for. 
 
 After we had something to eat, (I have forgotten 
 what it was,) we all went out to walk a little. Some 
 of the houses were very pretty, and all were just as 
 clean and neat as they could be. I should think the 
 women would have to be cleaning all the time, to 
 make everything look so nice. 
 
 Every nice house had a little looking-glass put out 
 from some window in a little round frame, so that the 
 people in the rooms could see Avho was coming down 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 71 
 
 the street. Wasn't that a nice way, Susie? Some 
 of the shops had pretty things, and we saw very nice 
 pictures ; but if we stood long looking at anything, 
 the people would gaze at us, for they knew we were 
 strangers. The people in the streets, even the ser- 
 vant girls, looked as neat as the houses ; — but I must 
 stop telling you about Eotterdam, or I can't have 
 room for anything else. Only just about the canals ! 
 Instead of streets they have canals of water, and have 
 boats instead of carriages ! No, not all, of course, but 
 we saw some streets and as many canals. 
 
 We rode in the cars till we came to Emerich, a 
 place just on the border of Prussia, papa said, and 
 then all the passengers had to get out, and go into a 
 room where our baggage had been carried, to see it 
 examined. Every person had to unlock his trunks, 
 and the guards pulled up the things, to see what was 
 in them. Ours were the last ones looked at, and per- 
 haps that was the reason that our things were not 
 disturbed much. We were glad to get our comforta- 
 ble seats again, and we had some nice companions all 
 the way till we stopped again. Little Frank, the 
 English boy, was in our coupe. We had to stop once 
 in the evening to change cars, and then we got some 
 supper. I had a German pfankuchen, and it tasted 
 some like Aunt Susan's doughnuts, though not so 
 good. Then we rode till we came to Cologne, and 
 the cars did n't go any farther ; it was ten o'clock, too, 
 and we were all sleepy enough. 
 
72 HELEN o:n- her travels. 
 
 Erank's motlier was going to stop at tlie Victoria 
 Hotel, and we went there, too, because papa did n't 
 know about Cologne very well. We all rode in the 
 omnibus that belongs to the hotel, and it seemed as 
 though we should be turned over, we rode so fast. It 
 was a splendid hotel, Susie, and I had a little bed 
 with beautiful damask curtains all around it, and a 
 little bed of real down to put over me, instead of a 
 quilt. 
 
 Oh, dear ! I wish I knew how to write letters, and 
 get in all I want to. I shall have to finish this 
 another time. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 73 
 
 Twentieth Letter. 
 
 BONN. 
 
 Dear Susie : 
 
 I wish I could commence this letter by telling you 
 what I have been doing to-day, instead of going back 
 a week, to finish the story about Cologne, and our 
 coming to Bonn. I call it a story, because these let- 
 ters of mine seem some like a long story, when thej 
 are. put together, don't you think so? 
 
 I believe I had just told you about my nice bed in 
 the Victoria Hotel, when I had to stop writing. It 
 was pretty hard to leave it the next morning, I was so 
 sleepy; but papa had ordered our breakfast early, so 
 that we would have time to walk some before the cars 
 started. We did n't go into a dining room to eat 
 breakfast, but a servant brought some coffee and rolls 
 to our room. In Germany the people do n't eat butter 
 in the morning, but we asked for some. 
 
 I could see in the morning what a beautiful room 
 we had slept in, but it was very different from an 
 American room. The stove was as pretty as a hand- 
 some piece of furniture, for it was made of beautifully 
 
74 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 carved iron, and bronzed over, and it did n't look like 
 a stove at all. There were two tall, large wax tapers 
 on the table, in silver candlesticks ; and although we 
 had only lighted one, and burned it a very short time, 
 papa had to pay for both of them, and much more 
 than they could cost, too. He says that is the custom 
 everywhere in the German hotels, to make people pay 
 a great deal for the lights, even if they are not used ; 
 and that sometimes travellers are so vexed about it 
 that they carry away the wax candles, after they have 
 paid for them. 
 
 We have been to see the Dome, or the great 
 Cathedral ; and I can not possibly tell you how large 
 it is, nor how grand it looked- It was commenced 
 hundreds of years ago, and is n't nearly finished yet. 
 There are to be two immense towers when it is done, 
 and men are at work upon it all the time 5 but it 
 seems as though they could never finish. On the top 
 of one of the half-made towers are real trees growing, 
 and there is a kind of machine up there, too, left a 
 long time ago by the workmen, called a crane. Papa 
 played a nice joke upon me. You know there is a 
 great bird called a crane, too ; and when he said a 
 crane had been feeding there for years, I looked a long- 
 time to see a real live bird, but I didn't see it, of 
 course; though a great many dear little birds have 
 built their nests in the old walls and towers, and keep 
 flying around. 
 
 As we walked towards the Dome to go in, a great 
 
HELEN ON HEE, TRAVELS. 
 
 many men and boys crowded around us, to sliow tlie 
 way, and tliey clung to us just like burrs; but we 
 found the way ourselves. When we went in, a man 
 came up to us with a plate, for papa to put money in, 
 and then told us where we could walk ; because people 
 were there for service, and w^e must n't go in the mid- 
 dle aisles. ' All over the church men and women were 
 kneeling and crossing themselves, and the priests were 
 praying, and somebody was playing the great organ ; 
 but the inside of the church was so grand and beauti- 
 ful, I could look at nothing else. There were some 
 strangers there besides us, and the priests watched all 
 of us ; and when papa and mamma walked arm-in-arm, 
 one of the priests said that was n't allowed there. 
 Was n't it strange ? 
 
 After we came out, we had time to walk around the 
 narrow streets, and see the tall, odd-looking houses, 
 and the strange-looking, talking people. There were 
 some beautiful things in the shop windows, and we 
 bought some little pictures, and something else that I 
 liked better : that was, real cologne, Susie. You know 
 we have nice cologne water, made in America, — I had 
 a little bottle once, — but this would seem to be much 
 nicer made in Cologne itself, and in the very place 
 where it was first made. Mamma gave me a bottle 
 in a nice case, so it couldn't break, and I haven't 
 opened it yet ; perhaps I shall not until we go home. 
 I know it is nice, because the lady where we bought 
 our bottles gave me some on iiij handkerchief. 
 
76 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 I should n't like at all to live in Cologne ; tlie streets 
 are very narrow and very dirty. Our guide book says 
 it has the reputation of being almost the dirtiest Ger- 
 man city. There are no sidewalks, and everybody 
 walks in the middle of the street, on little paving 
 stones, too, which hurt anybody's feet very much. 
 
 The depot was a splendid great building, and I saw 
 the Queen of Prussia there ; she was taking a journey, 
 and had a handsome car to ride in. Mamma and 
 I clung close to papa, for we could n't speak German, 
 and if any one spoke to us, all we could say was, " I 
 do n't understand." 
 
 We had a nice ride to Bonn, and then I had to bid 
 good bye to Frank, because he was going with his 
 mother to Frankfort. 
 
 
 
HELEN OX HEK TRAVELS. 77 
 
 TWENTY-FIBST LETTEK. 
 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 It was only yesterday that I wrote a letter to you, 
 but I have no one to play with me now, and I am so 
 lonely that I shall perhaps enjoy writing again. 
 
 You would n't think I could be very lonely, if you 
 could be here in the room with me, and look out of the 
 window ; for all the street and the square opposite are 
 fall of children playing, and they seem so happy, and 
 have so many nice games, that you w^ould like to watch 
 them, I know. But though they make noise enough, 
 and talk very loud, I cannot understand one word 
 they say, for they are Germans. The little girls are 
 dressed very differently from the way we are dressed. 
 The very little ones have their hair long and put up 
 in nets, and they wear long dresses, made in the fun- 
 niest way, too ; and a good many of them stop playing 
 sometimes, and begin to knit. The smallest ones have 
 some knitting work with them, and they do n't seem 
 to drop the stitches, as I do. 
 
 All da}^ long I have had enough to see from the 
 
78 HELEN ON HER TEAVELS. 
 
 windows; on the other side of the square which I 
 mentioned, is a great Catholic church, (papa says 
 almost all the people here are Catholics,) and men and 
 women have been going in and coming out, all the 
 time since five o'clock this morning. Some of the 
 ladies look like rich ladies, and wear beautiful clothes, 
 and carry little books bound in gold ; but most of the 
 people seem to be poor, and a great many of the women 
 seem to be servant girls. They wear nothing on their 
 heads generally, though sometimes a clean white hand- 
 kerchief is pinned over. All the people look clean, 
 even the little children. 
 
 The weather is so warm and beautiful that it seems 
 like summer; and, just think, when we left London 
 two weeks ago, it was dark and cold; but the sun 
 shines here all the time. We have n't even had any 
 fire to-day in our funny-looking stove, but have the 
 windows open all day. The windows are not like any 
 I ever saw ; they are not opened by sliding them up 
 or down, like ones at home, but open in the middle, 
 and swing into the room like two glass doors ; and 
 they are so long they come almost to the floor, so I can 
 step out and lean against the iron railing which is 
 before them. Such prett}' white muslin curtains we 
 have, too; and I see them in all the houses; they 
 make the houses look light and cheerful. 
 
 I do n't know whether you would like this sitting 
 room of ours, or not, Susie ; we have no carpet on the 
 floor, (people do n't in Germany,) only a little piece 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 79 
 
 imcler tlie table ; the table is moved up in front of the 
 sofa^ so that when we sit at the table to eat, one or 
 two of lis can sit on the sofa. We have some very 
 pretty furniture in the roorn, though it does n't seem 
 very strong ; and such a nice writing desk ! it is full 
 of little drawers and places for books. I am writing 
 this letter on it now. I miss my little rocking chair 
 the most of everything ; and we have hardly seen any 
 kind of a rocking chair since we left America. 
 
 We do n't like this street very well ; it is very nar- 
 row and noisy. It is one of the streets that lead down 
 to the Rhine, and carriages and teams are passing 
 constantly. On each side of the street is a gutter of 
 dirty water, just as in all the streets in the city ; and 
 as there are no sidewalks, every time we go out to 
 walk, we must go in the middle of the street, on the 
 little hard stones. 
 
 I was n't with papa and mamma when they engaged 
 these rooms. I was so tired that I staid on the sofa 
 in the depot, and I had a very pretty room to be in 
 and something good to eat ; and the guard man was 
 very kind to me. When he went out he locked the 
 doors, because he did n't allow people to go into the 
 first-class room without him. I did n't like to be 
 locked in A^ery well, but the doors were made of glass, 
 so that I could see out ; and when the trains came 
 past, I liked to watch them. The engines are very 
 different from the American ones; the engineer and 
 fireman have no little house to stay in, and the trains 
 
80 HELEX ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 have many more cars than ours. So many people are 
 travelling np the Rhine, and very few come from 
 Cologne to Bonn in the steamboat, because the scenery 
 is not pleasant on that part of the Rhine, papa says. 
 
 I had to stay a long time alone ; but when papa 
 came for me, he told how many rooms he had looked 
 at first. It is hard now to get rooms here, because 
 the students are just coming back to the University 
 to study. 
 
 I had a nice ride in a German carriage to this street, 
 and I have had a nice time ever since. 
 
HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 81 
 
 Twenty-Secokd Letter. 
 
 BONN. 
 Deak Cousin Susie: 
 
 I do n't have at all the same kind of places to visit 
 here that I did in London, but I like living here better, 
 and have enough that is new to see. I am trying to 
 learn a little German from papa, and I can say a few 
 easy words now to Marie, our servant girl. She always 
 laughs when I try to say anything, but it is such a 
 good-natured laugh, that I do n't mind it. She is so 
 kind that I really love her ; and sometimes she takes 
 me to walk, and then she tells her friends I am a little 
 American girl. 
 
 Oh, Susie, I yas so mortified yesterday ! I went 
 out alone to a shop very near here, to buy something 
 for mamma ; she told me just what to say, and I kept 
 repeating the funny German words all the way ; but 
 when I went into the shop the people could n't under- 
 stand me, and I could n't understand them ; so I ran 
 home crying. I know that was silly, but I thought I 
 could n't help it. 
 
 Every morning after breakfast we take a walk, and 
 
82 HELEX ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 now we have seen most of tlie streets of Bonn. I 
 mean by tliat, we have seen all the part within the 
 walls. There used to be a great stone wall around the 
 city, but now it is almost all gone ; only the great 
 gates still remain. Some of these are very handsome, 
 and some are very high and strange-looking ; but be- 
 yond these gates the walks are beautiful. There are 
 the finest streets and the most elegant houses, with 
 fine gardens, too, sometimes, and long rows of trees, 
 and sidewalks. I think papa will find us some rooms 
 on one of these streets, and then I shall be very happy. 
 
 Bonn seems like a small city, but the houses are 
 packed so closely together, and the people are crowded 
 so closely together in them, that there are a great 
 many living in this little city, papa told me to-day. 
 The streets are narrow, though quite clean ; and there 
 are no trees at all, and no sidewalks ; or if there are 
 any, they are too narrow for more than one person. 
 
 Every time we walk out the people gaze at us, and 
 so do the market women, too, w^hen we ask them any 
 questions. Oh, I must tell you how .pretty the market 
 places do look ! We go often to see the women, and 
 what they have to sell, when it is early. They sell 
 their things out of doors, and on the great squares, 
 which are surrounded on every side by buildings. 
 The market w^omen are dressed so fanny, and all about 
 alike. Tliey^wear blue calico dresses made very short, 
 and brown stockings, and very thick, stout shoes. 
 Over their heads they have pinned a large linen cloth. 
 
HELEN ON HEE, TRAVELS. 83 
 
 as white as snow ; and you can imagine, Susie, what a 
 pretty sight it must be when two or three hundred of 
 them are together, and the sun is shining down upon 
 their white heads. They have all kinds of vegetables 
 and flowers, (of course I mean all those they can get 
 at this time of the year, and it has been so warm that 
 many things are ready for market,) and arrange them 
 in rows in their baskets. Fresh butter and eggs, too, 
 are plenty. At first I used to pity them when I saw 
 them bring their great loads of things to market, for 
 they carry everything in baskets on the top of their 
 heads ; and sometimes we have seen women carrjdng 
 two or three at once, and full, too. This is the way 
 in which they carry everything, I believe, excepting 
 water, for they carry baskets of wood and clothes in 
 the same way ; but they look very contented and 
 happy. I wish you could see the washerw^omen carry 
 home to ladies their clean clothes. They have a basket 
 full on their backs, and have their shoulders covered 
 with such things as must be starched, skirts and 
 dresses ; so they look like poles hung all around with 
 clothes. 
 
 When we see all we want to in the morning, papa 
 and mamma go home to study, and I to read and play ; 
 though at dinner time we have to go out again to a 
 hotel, because the people in this house do n't cook our 
 dinner for us. I do n't like what we have to eat very 
 well, but papa says this is thorough German ; our 
 soups are white and thick, and the meat is cooked in 
 
84 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 tlie funniest way, with vegetables, and we do n't see 
 any pies at all, but have some strange kinds of pud- 
 ding instead. All tbe German men drink wine or 
 beer instead of water. I tasted some beer the other 
 day, but it was so bitter I could hardly swallow it. 
 
 But mamma says I have written long enough, and 
 I may go to walk now. How I wish you could go 
 with me ! 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 85 
 
 Twenty-third Letter. 
 
 BONN. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 Did n't I write to you, that I hoped papa would find 
 us a pleasanter home on one of those pretty streets 
 outside of the gates ? Well, he has done so, and two 
 or three days ago we moved. I called it a real mov- 
 ing, for it is a good deal of trouhle to pack all my 
 hooks and doll's clothes; hut then mamma has the 
 hardest part to do, of course. 
 
 We have a very pretty place and house to live in 
 now. It is on a street which runs from Bonn towards 
 Cohlenz, and there are fine houses on hoth sides ; and 
 we only have to go a very little way before we can see 
 the beautiful river Ehine. Our landlady provides our 
 dinners in our sitting-room ; so that we do not have to 
 go out in the middle of the day, and the weather is so 
 very warm, — though it is only Spring, — that no one 
 likes to go out at noon-time. The furniture in our 
 room is very pretty, hut it looks as though it would 
 break if we touched it ; and we can see that some 
 pieces have been broken off, and then glued on again. 
 
86 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 There is a nice little foot-stool here just right for 
 me to play with dolly, but every one of the four legs 
 is fastened on with glue, so I hardly dare to touch it. 
 Papa says it is very generally the case in the towais 
 along the E,hine, that the furniture is so lightly made 
 that it will easily break, and then the lodgers must 
 pay double what it cost. 
 
 Mamma and I had a funny time yesterday when 
 we went out shopping. There are beautiful shops 
 here of pictures and carved wood-work, and there is 
 one great shop full of the prettiest porcelain things. 
 I wish we could buy some to carry home, but I sup- 
 pose they would break. Mamma found she could n't 
 understand well enough to go into the shops Avhere 
 German was spoken, so she inquired where she could 
 find English spoken. There every thing was very 
 pleasant, all but the prices. The shop ladies were 
 very polite, but things cost a great deal. We have 
 heard since that is the way they do every where in 
 Germany, if they see the customers are English or 
 American. Mamma bought me a travelling dress, 
 and she had to pay almost twice as much as it was 
 really w^orth ; and she did n't know the German money 
 very well, and made some strange mistakes. 
 
 They have nice places here. I do n't know what 
 they are called in English, but the German people 
 call them conditorein ; they are very nice great rooms 
 fitted up with little tables and chairs, and people go in 
 and eat cake and drink a cup of cofi'ee or a glass of 
 
HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 87 
 
 wine, and then they are allowed to read the papers. 
 Papa sees the newspapers in one of these, and I went 
 with him once. I do n't like the German cakes very 
 well ; they only taste good when they are dipped into 
 tea, and this is the only way they are eaten ; but we 
 get nice bread, and tender little white rolls, and there 
 are several different kinds of them. 
 
 Oh ! you would laugh to see the peasant boys and 
 girls carrying home their bread ; it is n't white, but 
 black and sour, and is made in long rolls, as long as 
 papa's aiTGi. It is very cheaj), and they eat it with 
 cheese and beer. The other day I saw a woman with 
 five or six of these long loaves, and she looked as 
 though she had an armful of wood. 
 
 Mamma has bought a little tea machine, so that she 
 can make her own tea. There is a -little alcohol lamp 
 . which belongs to it ; there are a great many pretty 
 bronze and brass and tin machines for making tea. 
 Mamma makes ours, because the German tea is not 
 good ; they make it so very weak that even you or I 
 could drink it, and then the}^ put a few drops of rum 
 into every cup. 
 
 Mamma has been to several shops to find pure tea, 
 but it all seems to be mixed with herb leaves, which 
 spoil the taste. Papa says if the Germans cannot 
 make good tea, they certainly can good coffee, for he 
 never drank such nice coffee as he finds in Germany. 
 People here do n't shut up the tea in tight tin boxes 
 as we do, but do it up in thin papers, or allow it to 
 
88 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 remain open on plates. It is no wonder it is n't good, 
 is it? 
 
 Papa and mamma are talking of sending me to a 
 German school to learn German ; it is n't a Kinder- 
 garten, but a school where some English scholars go. 
 I shall dread it, for I shall be so lonely; and then I 
 can 't have so much time to walk and play. 
 
 Last night we had a beautiful walk along the banks 
 of the river Rhine, and saw the steamboats going up 
 and coming down. 
 
 Do you like my letters, Susie ? Please tell me if 
 you do n't. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 89 
 
 TWEITTY-FOlErilXH LETTER. 
 
 BONN. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I almost wish I had a copy of the letters which I 
 write to you, so that I could see what I have written 
 about and what I have not ; for as soon as I have sent 
 a letter, I forget what was in it. I wish I could see 
 you when you read my letters. Do you go out on the 
 piazza to sit, and let your dolly hear them ? Oh, I 
 think I would almost he willing to go away from Eu- 
 rope, if I could only have one more af those nice walks 
 with you and aunt Susan. I wish everybody was as 
 kind to little children as she is I 
 
 I have n' fe told you anything yet about our Sundays 
 here, have I ? You would n't think there was any 
 such day as Sabbath day, if you were here and saw 
 the people walking and riding, and filling the pleasure 
 gardens full, and drinking and smoking there. 
 
 The people almost all stop working, only the shop- 
 people generally keep the shops open, and they dress 
 in their best clothes, and try to have a very gay time. 
 Some go away in the cars to some other town to visit 
 
90 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 their friends, and some hire carriages and take rides, 
 and some have company in their own houses. When 
 we were walking through a beautiful park last Sunday 
 on our way to church, I saw so many little children 
 dressed in white, with wreaths on their heads, that it 
 seemed almost as though I was in America on Fourth 
 of July. 
 
 Papa says a great many of them go to church for 
 an hour or two, and then they do not think it at all 
 wrong to do what they please. We go to a Scotch 
 church, and it is almost like a little meeting at home. 
 There is a very nice minister ; his name is Dr. Gra- 
 ham, and all the children love him. His house and 
 the church are built together, and so at first papa was 
 puzzled to know where to go ; for the building looks 
 some like a church. 
 
 But now we go there every Sunday, and there are 
 two or three more Americans besides us, and a num- 
 ber of English and Scotch families. I have seen 
 some dear little children, and I hope I shall become 
 acquainted with them. Papa says there are a great 
 many English families living in Bonn, but most of 
 them go to the English church ; we have been there, 
 too. First the Germans who are not Catholics have a 
 service there, and afterwards the English. 
 
 Dr. Graham has a great garden behind his house, 
 and has some bee-hives, and a nice swing, too ; he 
 asked me to come and swing a little, and perhaps 
 mamma will allow me to go. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 91 
 
 It is rather hard for me to write to-day, for I am a 
 little tired. I did n't go to bed very early last night, 
 and I must tell you the reason. 
 
 I had almost the best time yesterday that I ever 
 had in my life. Dr. Graham came to see us in the 
 morning and invited us to go with a little party on an 
 excursion. We were to have a steamboat ride and 
 then walk two or three miles to an old ruin, where we 
 would have something to eat, and have time to rest. 
 He said, "be sure and bring your little daughter, and 
 if she is not old enough to w^alk so far, she can ride on 
 a donkey's back." I was so delighted, and mamma 
 said I might go. She put on me my Scotch winsey 
 dress, and we all carried thick shawls, because we were 
 coming home by moonlight, and it would be cold on 
 the river. 
 
 All the party were at the boat in season, and there 
 were two boys and two little girls to be with me. Oh, 
 we had such a beautiful steamboat ride ! We sat on 
 deck, and could see the beautiful houses and places on 
 the banks of the river, and some old ruins of castles 
 farther away. The people on the boat were all Ger- 
 mans but our party. We stopped at a little village 
 very near the great ruin called the Drachenfels, and 
 left the boat. Then we had such a merry time. We 
 all walked a little way, and then Dr. Graham put us 
 children on donkeys. I had -a nice seat, something like 
 a little chair, to sit in on my donkey's back, and it was 
 covered with red flannel. He was a real naughty 
 
92 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 donkey : he would go just as lie wished to, and some- 
 times he would turn around so suddenly as almost to 
 throw me off. But then his master would whip him. 
 It was such a nice ride. We climbed up steep paths 
 and through vineyards, and little peasant children 
 would follow uSy and offer us flowers for a groschen, 
 that is their money, about as large as an American 
 cent. 
 
 The gentlemen and ladies walked, but we all got to 
 .the old ruin about the same time. Then we plaj^ed in 
 the green grass and picked wild flowers, and had some 
 tables spread nnder the trees, and had some coffee to 
 drink and bread and butter to eat. There was a little 
 house there where people lived who made our coffee 
 and sold us the bread. We played around the old 
 ruin, called the Heisterbach, and then went back. My 
 donkey ran all the way down the hills. 
 
 Now you see why I went to bed late L 
 
HELEN OX HEK TRAVELS. 93 
 
 TwEXTY-EiFTH Letter. 
 
 BONN. 
 Deak Susie: 
 
 I sliall liave to write all my letters now in the after- 
 noons, because I have commenced going to school in 
 the forenoons. I do n't have very far to walk, but I go 
 down this street past the beautiful park and the great 
 hotel to the Coblenz gate, (this is the prettiest gate in 
 Bonn, I think,) and then keep straight on through 
 one of the narrow streets to my school. 
 
 It is n't a great school-house where I go, but it is a 
 lady's home, and she has one room for a school-room. 
 She is a very pleasant teacher, but she can't speak any 
 English ; all she can say in English is to count one, 
 two, three, four, and so on. She calls me Helene, and 
 tries to make me like the school, but she tells all the 
 children, even the English ones, to talk with me in 
 German, and so, because I can't understand German, 
 I do n't talk with anybody, and I feel very lonely. I 
 suppose she does this because she knows papa wishes 
 me to learn the language. 
 
 We have rather a pretty school-room, but we have 
 
94 HELEN ON HEll TEAVELS. 
 
 uncomfortable wooden seats, and they are not painted. 
 Our teacher teaches the children to read and count and 
 sing and such things, and tells stories in German, and 
 then she gives us a long recess, and we play in her 
 garden. 
 
 I do n't play much, though, for the hoys and girls 
 play so many games I do n't know, and so I sit alone 
 and look on. There is one dear little ho}^ there I 
 begin to love ; I wish he was my little brother. He 
 has long curls and his name is Victor. We do n't talk 
 together, but we smile to each other. I told papa 
 about him and his name, and he says he is the son of 
 a distinguished German poet who died two or three 
 years ago. 
 
 I can hear some funnj'- noises in our street, so I will 
 stop writing a little while and look out of the window. 
 
 Well, Susie, I have been looking into the street for 
 half an hour, I think, and there is something- nice to see 
 all the time. Students go by with funny colored little 
 caps on their heads ; and peasant women, with great 
 baskets full of things ; and companies of soldiers ; and 
 carts with women or dogs harnessed into them ; and 
 splendid carriages with rich people ; and donkeys with 
 peasant boys driving them ; (you would laugh to see 
 these boys take out their colored pocket handker- 
 chiefs, and dust their boots before they go into the 
 city ;) and a great many people walking. Oh, I can't 
 tell you nearly all there is to be seen ! On the other 
 side of the street, just opposite to our house, is a large 
 
HELEN OJS^ HER TRAVELS. 95 
 
 garden, filled with old trees ; and in the middle of it 
 is a walk which leads to an old house. There is an 
 old lady who comes out of the house every day, and 
 walks up and down this walk ; she dresses very oddly, 
 and does n^t look as though she cared as much for the 
 fashions as some ladies do ; but all the nice-looking 
 people who come past bow very politely to her, and 
 show her great respect. Mamma and I have liked to 
 watch her ; and yesterday we heard that a great Ger- 
 man poet (not Victor's papa, though,) used to live in 
 that house, and that this old lady was his wife. The 
 Germans were very proud of him, and now they love 
 her. Sometimes a fine carriage, which belongs to some 
 rich people here, comes for her to ride. 
 
 We went all of us, yesterday, to the cemetery where 
 this great poet was buried. His name w^as Mr. Arndt. 
 A German cemetery is very pretty. All the grave 
 s bones are made in the form of crosses, and have beau- 
 tiful ivy twining over them. Yie saw some beautiful 
 statues of marble, and papa said very good men were . 
 buried under them ; but I do n't remember their names. 
 There are very pretty little words engraved on the 
 crosses over children's graves : they do n't say they 
 have died, but have " fallen asleep," or " gone home ; " 
 that is, German words which mean that. 
 
 I wanted to tell you about another walk we took to 
 a church which is on the top of a high hill a little way 
 from Bonn. It is called the Kreutzberg ; that is, the 
 Cross Mountain. The church is a Roman Catholic 
 
96 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 one, and we saw some images and pictures and flowers 
 in ifc. Then we called a monk to show us a flight of 
 marble stairs, in another part of the church. They 
 are called holy stairs, because they are just like some 
 at E,ome, which some people believe Jesus Christ came 
 down ; and nobody is allowed to go up those we saw, 
 only by creeping up on their knees. Papa had to give 
 the monk some money, and then we walked around 
 to see the beautiful images on the hill, which the peo- 
 ple pray to. 
 
 But I have n't any more time, now, Susie. 
 
 My birth-day comes very soon ! 
 
HELEJ<r ON HER TRAVELS. 97 
 
 Twenty-Sixth Letter. 
 
 BONN. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 Sometimes I wish I was a young lady ! Do n't you 
 wish you were ? Papa and mamma went to a party 
 last evening, but I couldn't go. They were invited 
 to a Professor's house, where they had a G-erman sup- 
 per; and if you had heard mamma tell me what a 
 German supper was, you would have thought just as 
 I did, that it was almost nicer than Thanksgiving 
 dinner. I hardly ever heard of so many kinds of good 
 things, and all to be eaten at one meal ! 
 
 But I have been very happy twice this week. One 
 time was when I went with a party of people to a 
 pretty place; and the other was on my birth-day. 
 Papa had promised me one treat better than all the 
 rest, and that was, that I might choose some nice 
 place for us to go on that day. So I took our guide 
 book and read about several favorite places near the 
 E-hine, and at last decided to ask papa to go to Roland- 
 seek, because that seemed to be the most beautiful 
 ruin. Butf I will tell you about that last, after I have 
 told of the party excursion. 
 
 9 
 
98 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 One afternoon papa and mamma were going with a 
 large number of English people in the cars to Godes- 
 herg. That is tlie name of an old ruin a few miles 
 from Bonn ; and when mamma heard that several 
 children were going, she allowed me to go. There is 
 a beautiful village there, and some of the houses are 
 very fine, and have great gardens around them, much 
 prettier gardens than I ever saw in America. Eich 
 people who live in Bonn and Cologne in the winters, 
 go to this pretty place to stay in the summers ; and 
 sick people go there, too, I believe. After we had 
 walked about the streets, and seen the houses, and the 
 beautiful flowers and trees in the gardens, we started 
 to go up to the old ruin. It was n't a very long walk, 
 so we didn't need any donkeys. I went between two 
 little girls, and we crossed a little bridge over a brook, 
 where some German women were washing clothes. 
 Then it seemed as though we had left all the nice 
 houses and gardens on the other side ; for the rest of 
 the way were httle cottages, which looked very dirty, 
 and not pretty at all. We kept going up and up a 
 steep hill, and not up a straight road, either ; but it 
 wound around the hill, so that we had a nice chance 
 to get views of the little village, and the country, too. 
 
 When we reached the top we went through some 
 stone arches; and it seemed as though we were in 
 houses of stone, with the walls partly fallen down. 
 That was once a strong castle, papa told m^, and peo- 
 ple went there to get protected if their enemies came 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 99 
 
 against them. Some of the broken walls are very 
 thick and high, and have green ivy growing over 
 them, and sometimes trees and rose bushes. In the 
 middle of all is a great stone tower, thirty feet high. 
 There are no windows in it ; only once in a while a 
 little hole to let the light through. We went to the 
 very top of it, and then we could see the Ehine, and 
 the mountains, and Bonn, and as far as Cologne. The 
 Cathedral looked like a black cloud low in the sky. 
 
 After we went back to the village, we had a supper 
 around a long white table in a garden. We had some 
 bread and butter and coffee, just what all of us chil- 
 dren liked. These gardens that I tell you about, all 
 of them, have little white tables and chairs in them, 
 where people sit to drink coffee or beer. I have seen 
 a great many of them since we came to Germany. 
 Did n't we have a nice time ? 
 
 But this was n't as good as my birth-day excursion. 
 I had some little presents, too. One was a German 
 story book, for I can read a little German now 5 and I 
 had a wreath of pink flowers for my head. We went, 
 papa and mamma and I, in the steamboat, to the most 
 beautiful place I ever saw. It was to Rolandseck, (I 
 chose the place myself, you know,) where there is a 
 pretty old ruin ; and on the other side of the river is 
 another one, called the Drachenfels, (that means in 
 English the Dragon's E,ock,) and just in the middle 
 of the river was such a beautiful island, with a large 
 white house at one %nd of it. Some nuns used to live 
 
100 
 
 HELEN ON HER TBAYELS. 
 
 there. Was n't it a pretty place to live ? Papa cut 
 me down a May-pole, — because, you know, my birth- 
 day is in May, — and fastened my wreath to it ; and 
 then we had such nice plays. 
 
 I gathered mylap full, of ivy leaves, and some little 
 girls came up to us with bouquets of w^ld flowers to 
 sell. Oh, I forgot to tell you that the lily of the val- 
 ley, that pretty little white flower, grows wild here in 
 the woods. I couldn't play long wath my leaves, 
 without wanting to jump up and look at the beautiful 
 things all around us. I did n't know before that the 
 world was so beautiful ! Do n't forget, if jou ever 
 come to Europe, to came here if you can; and then 
 you can go to Eolandseck and see the ruins, and the 
 river Ehine, and the pretty island, and all the little 
 villages scattered around. You will find such beauti- 
 ful arbors ; and very often you will see along the roads 
 and paths, wooden images of Jesus on a cross, or 
 sometimes a cross alone. These are where the people 
 kneel and pray, as they are going through the coun- 
 try; because, you remember, I told you they were 
 Eoman Catholics. 
 
 I have n't written a very good letter this time. It 
 was all so nice for me to see, but I can't make it seem 
 so pretty to you ! I wish you could see some of the 
 girls I know here. Who do you play with, now I am 
 
HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 101 
 
 TWENXY-SEVEKTH LETTER. 
 
 HEIDELBEEG. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 You will see that I can not write any more letters 
 from Bonn. When I wrote the last one I thought 
 we should stay there some time longer ; but we were 
 there only two weeks. I did n't seem to get any time 
 to write again, for I went to school and to so many 
 other places. But I think Heidelberg is a much pret- 
 tier place than Bonn was, and I hope I shall have 
 some nice things to tell you about. We came yester- 
 day, and so I can't write much this time, only about 
 our journey. 
 
 t, You have heard, have n't you, how much travellers 
 like to go up the Rhine ? I do n't wonder they do, 
 for we had such a beautiful time ! We were on a 
 great steamboat, and the weather was so warm that 
 everybody sat on deck, though there were nice cabins 
 down stairs. A great awning of cloth was made over 
 the deck, so that the sun couldn't shine upon us. 
 The first afternoon we went as far as Coblenz; and 
 because it was only the first of the evening, we had 
 
102 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 time to see the great fortress on the other side of the 
 river, and the bridge of boats which crosses the river, 
 before it was my bed-time. 
 
 The next morning we had to take our breakfast in 
 a hurry, because we wished to take the morning boat; 
 but our hotel was very near the river. I wanted very 
 much to buy some nice fresh cherries which we had 
 seen the eA'^ening before ; but the woman who sold 
 them was n't up so early, perhaps, for we could n't find 
 her. But I found afterwards that cherries were sold 
 on the steamboat, though papa had to pay a great 
 deal for one saucer full. 
 
 It was very cold sailing up the river so early, though 
 it was warm enough before night, and all the people 
 were wrapped up as though it was winter, and I had 
 on my winter cloak, and even then my teeth chattered. 
 But there was too much to be seen for us to mind the 
 cold much. It was so pleasant to watch all the differ- 
 ent people as they came on to the boat. There were 
 some French and English people, .and a great many 
 Germans ; and some of the English people tried to get 
 the best seats. Then the great Fort and Coblenz 
 looked so pretty in the morning sunlight ; and when 
 the steamboat began to move, it was nice to hear the 
 captain give his orders, and to see how the bridge of 
 boats opened for us to go through, and to watch the 
 «:reat wheels turn in the water. 
 
 And then all the way from Coblenz the things on 
 the shore began to be prettier and prettier. There 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 103 
 
 were great black castles high up on rocks ; and beau- 
 tiful hills with the sides covered with vineyards, where 
 the funny-lookiug peasant women were at work ; and 
 little villages just on the very edge of the river, and 
 nice roads that seemed to run along on the top of stone 
 hanks or walls ; and then it was so pretty to watch 
 for the new surprises. I mean by this, Susie, that the 
 river Rhine is so winding that a great deal of the time 
 we could n't tell what next we should see, till we 
 would turn a great bend in the river, and then there 
 would be beautiful palaces, or old castles, or something 
 as fine. I should think it must be pleasanter to go 
 up the Rhine, than doiun, on a boat ; because going 
 up we must sail more slowly, and so have time to see 
 the things better. Every few minutes we met some 
 great steamboat or little boats ; and once we saw a 
 great raft, so large that there were even little log 
 houses on it, and a great many people, too, who lived 
 in them ; that is, they slept in them and hung their 
 clothes in them. Papa said they were going to take 
 all the timber that the raft was made of, to some great 
 city down the river, and sell it. 
 
 Would you believe it, Susie, that when there were so 
 many new and beautiful things to be seen all the time, 
 that some people would n't mind anything about them ? 
 A number of people, to be sure, sat reading their 
 guide-books and watching the old castles ; but all the 
 French i^arty, and some of the English, seemed to care 
 more about something good to eat than anything else. 
 
104 HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 When they first came on deck they ordered a simple 
 breakfast ; and in the middle of the forenoon they 
 ordered another nicer one ; and they sat at their table, 
 eating, and drinking wine, for a long time. They had 
 as many different kinds of food for their breakfast as 
 you or I would ever get at dinner. While they were 
 eating and talking, I remember we passed a strange- 
 looking old castle in the middle of the river, called 
 Bishop Hatto's Tower. Do you remember the story ? 
 He was a bad man, and would n't feed poor people in 
 a famine, when his own barns were full ; , and so an 
 army of rats began to eat them, and then came after 
 him. He was so frightened that he fled to this place 
 in the river, but they followed him, and I think ate 
 him up. I have the story at home in a red book. 
 
 When we reached Bingen, most of the people left 
 the boat. It looked so pretty there that papa was 
 almost sorry we were not going to stop, too, and go 
 on to Heidelberg in the cars ; but our baggage was 
 marked for Mannheim. So we kept on, but there was 
 nothing more pretty to be seen, only a flat country. 
 We had some dinner on the boat, then mamma and I 
 went down to the ladies' cabin and had a nap. 
 
 We stopped one night in Mannheim, and came here 
 in the cars yesterday forenoon. 
 
HELEN 0]S" HEK TRAVELS. 105 
 
 TWEXTY-ElGHTH LETTER. 
 
 HEIDELBERG. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 We have the prettiest home here that we have had 
 since we left America. The house we live in is a great 
 handsome house, on the street which leads up to the 
 Castle. It looks much nicer than any other house on 
 the street, on the outside ; but the inside is prettier 
 still. The halls are large, and as neat as wax, and 
 the rooms are so pleasant. Our rooms are up two 
 flights of stairs, and I wish you could see them. I 
 cannot tell which is my favorite. Our sleeping room 
 is very large, and is carpeted almost all over : and from 
 the windows we look out upon a most beautiful grove, 
 which is on a great hill in front of the house. The 
 trees are so large, and the grass is so green, that I 
 never get tired looking at them. From our sitting 
 room windows (our sitting room is just the other side 
 of the entry,) we can see the little garden back of our 
 house, and the whole city of Heidelberg, and the 
 Neckar river, and the great hills beyond. We can 
 see the sunset, too, and sometimes just a glimpse of 
 the Rhine. 
 
106 
 
 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 Oil, this is a beautiful liouse, and the people who 
 live here are so very kind ! A German lady owns the 
 house, and her daughter lives with her. She is such 
 a pleasant lady ! She has been in England, too, so 
 that she can speak English perfectly. There are a 
 number of strangers in the house besides us, and some 
 Americans are coming next month ; and a Scotch fam- 
 ily have several rooms on the first story. We have 
 our breakfast and tea in our own room ; but we take 
 our dinner in the great dining room, with the others, 
 and we have very nice food. It does n't seem like 
 any German dinners we have eaten before. If you 
 were only here, we would be so happy together I 
 
 Our landlad}'- has a little black dog, and he likes me, 
 so that sometimes when I walk through the city with 
 mamma, he follows us. There is one long street which 
 runs through the city in the same direction that the 
 Neckar does, and there are a great many funny things 
 to be seen on it. At one end of it is the market 
 place, and I like to go there to see the market women 
 sell their things. They don't dress like the market 
 women in Bonn, and they speak a different kind of 
 German, too, so I can hardly understand them. Al- 
 though it is only June, yet the peasants bring in every 
 day baskets full of cherries and plums and berries. 
 You never saw such great cherries, nor so many dif- 
 ferent kinds ! They are delicious ! I wish I could 
 send you some. There are no peaches here, but there 
 is a kind of fruit w^hich looks much like them, and 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 107 
 
 tastes like tliem, too. These are apricots ; but they 
 are not as juicy as peaches. Doesn't your mouth 
 water to read about all these these nice things ? I see 
 baskets full of tender green salad every day, and we 
 have it every day for dinner. People do n't allow it 
 to grow up and get old, as some people do in America, 
 but they keep it new here, and cut it very often. 
 
 I wish you could see the German pumps ! I do n't 
 know what made me think of them just now, but they 
 are such strange-looking things. They are in every 
 street, because people here do not have water carried 
 into their houses, but the servants have to carry it in 
 pails from the street pumps. They are very tall, — • 
 much taller than papa, — and have an iron handle, 
 with a great knob at the end of it, and it swings 
 slowly back and forth, instead of pumping up and 
 down, like our pumps. I tried to pump a little water 
 once, but I couldn't. The handles are very heavy, 
 and the water comes so slowly that anybody must 
 wait a long time to fill a pail. Sometimes servant 
 girls carry tubs of clothes to them to be rinsed, or fish 
 to be washed, or lettuce or vegetables to be prepared 
 for the table. They do have such strange ways of 
 doing things in Grermany! I don't believe I ever 
 told you about the cows that I saw in Bonn harnessed 
 or fastened to ploughs. Just think of a cow dragging 
 a plough, and a funny-looking one, too, and a woman 
 managing both of them ! 
 
 Yesterday we visited the old Castle. We had to 
 
108 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 go up this street to get to it; and it is going np hill all 
 the way. On both sides are the oldest looking houses, 
 and the people seem to live in the street. Women 
 were sitting on the steps, and children were playing in 
 the dirt. Sometimes they would come up to us, to 
 offer us flowers, or to beg. Papa says that thousands 
 of people go up and down this street every summer, 
 some on foot, and some in coaches. I should like to 
 ride up in a carriage, but I should n't like to ride down 
 so well, because the way is so steep and so narrow. 
 But the drivers make it safe. They put wooden shoes 
 or drags on the wheels, so that they cannot turn, but 
 drag all the way down. I would rather be on my own 
 feet, would n't you ? 
 
 I will tell you about the Castle when I write next 
 time. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 109 
 
 Twenty-Ninth Lettek. 
 
 HEIDELBEKG. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I have had several nice walks lately, and have been 
 to the top of some mountams near here, where we had 
 such fine prospects that we could see for miles. I 
 should like to tell you about one of them ; but I prom- 
 ised to tell you about the Castle, did n't I ? The old 
 ruins of castles that I saw near Bonn were not much 
 like this one here. This is so large and so beautiful, 
 and it has so many statues and towers, and they look 
 so pretty, with the ivy growing over them. The iv}'' 
 grows here under our feet, and twines up the trees, 
 and over the old walls. Some parts of the Castle are 
 very old, and the walls are broken and crumbling 
 away; and some parts have been injured by light- 
 ning ; and there is one tower larger than all, which is 
 broken in the middle, and the top has fallen off. 
 Great trees and bushes are growing now on the top of 
 it ; and people can go up there and sit. The newest 
 part of the Castle seems to be built on a precipice, 
 which looks down upon the city ; and there is a beau- 
 
110 HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 tiful stone balcony there, where people walk. The 
 newest parts, some of them, are not spoiled, and the 
 rooms are just as they used to be, and some people 
 live in them now. We went through the inside of all 
 the buildings we could. We saw a chapel, and great 
 halls, and a dungeon, and some old great kitchens ; 
 and then we climbed up some long dark stairs in a 
 tower, and went to tli^ very top of it. It was the 
 highest tower of all, and we could see a great distance 
 away. Papa explained to me who the great noble 
 people were who used to live here, and told me how 
 these old rooms I saw, that have no roof to them now, 
 used once to be full of gay ladies and gentlemen. I 
 saw a great oven or an open place at the bottom of a 
 large chimney, where oxen used to be roasted whole. 
 But it is of no use, Susie, to try and describe all I 
 saw. I can 't do it ! All around the castle are beau- 
 tiful gardens and woods, and trees have been brought 
 here from all parts of the world. 
 
 There are smooth walks in every direction, and 
 pretty white seats for people to rest, and enjoy the 
 views of the city, or the old Castle, through the trees. 
 In one part of the woods, near the Castle, is an open 
 space, and a large square filled with white tables and 
 chairs ; and there is a pretty kind of Swiss house, too, 
 where people can go to drink beer or coffee, or order 
 anything to eat. There are concerts here in this place 
 every week, and the people come and listen to the 
 music while they are sipping their coffee. Papa took 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. Ill 
 
 me with him once, and we had a little table to our- 
 selves. I was hungry, so I had some bread and butter 
 to eat. It was so warm I took off my hat, and so did 
 the ladies, some of them. All the ladies had some 
 nice sewing or some knitting work in their hands, and 
 worked very busily. I thought it was a very pretty 
 sight ; and every body looked so happy, and talked so 
 fast, though the moment the band began to play, not 
 a person was allowed to even whisper. One night 
 when I was n't with papa and mamma, they had some 
 trout to eat there. An American gentlemen ordered 
 some and they were brought fresh from the water. I 
 asked papa to get me some, but he said they could 
 only be caught with a silver hook, in Heidelberg, and 
 so they were not caught very often. 
 
 I am tired telling so much about the Castle ; what 
 can I write next ? I have become* acquainted with 
 William, the little Scotch boy, who lived in the house 
 with us, and we have nice plaj^s together in the gar- 
 den, and Caro, the dog, plays with us. I hope we shall 
 stay here a long time, and if I wasn't an American 
 girl I should like to live here always. But I want to 
 go back to America again, to see you, and grandpa, 
 and Aunt Susan, and my uncles, and my old play- 
 things, too ! Did you know I left a little bureau full 
 of books, and toys, and doll's clothes ? William has 
 been in Switzerland, and has some very pretty toys. 
 I can hear him calling Caro now; and if mamma is 
 willing I am going to play with him. 
 
112 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Thiktieth Letter. 
 
 HEIDELBEEG. 
 My DEAR Susie: 
 
 It is almost too warm to write a letter, or it would 
 be if I were anywhere else in Heidelberg than in our 
 cool sitting room, I think. Our house is on the side 
 of such a high hill, and our rooms are so large, that 
 we seem to have a cool breeze here all the time. But 
 if you could look down upon the city, from the window 
 where I am writiflg, jou would think it looked very 
 hot. The streets are narrow, and have no trees, and 
 the houses have no blinds. 
 
 We cannot see many churches, for there are not 
 many in Heidelberg to be seen, and those few do n't 
 look much like our churches at home. I went the 
 other day with mamma and Miss Zimmerman, (she is 
 the lady we live with,) and William and his sisters* 
 into the old Roman Catholic Church here, to see some 
 ceremonies. They have them once a year, but I do n't 
 know what for. There was a procession of little girls 
 dressed in white, with green wreaths on their heads, 
 and leaves and flowers in their hands ; and they 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 113 
 
 walked aroimd the inside of the church, scattering 
 their flowers on the ground. Then a procession of 
 priests and bishops, dressed in the most splendid robes 
 of silk and gold, with something on their heads that 
 looked like crowns, followed them ; and over one man, 
 who was dressed the handsomest of all, four boys car- 
 ried a beautiful silk canopy, and two other boys walked 
 under it, too, each of them carrying a silver dish full 
 of fire, I thought it was, but mamma said it was 
 incense. Little clouds of white smoke kept rising 
 from them all the time. Very often all the procession 
 would stop and repeat prayers, and kneel and make 
 the sign of the cross, and do a great many things that 
 I didn't understand at all. The priests blessed the 
 people, and they seemed to think their priests were as 
 holy and good as they could be. Perhaps the Koman 
 Catholics do this in America, but I never saw them, 
 and so I have told jou about it. 
 
 Because I have been writing about the churches 
 here, it has made me think what sweet music we heard 
 from the tops of some of the churches yesterday. You 
 will wonder what I mean ; but yesterday wa§ Sunday, 
 and it was the anniversary of the Keformation, too. 
 If you do n't understand that, ask Aunt Susan to tell 
 you about it and Martin Luther. So the bands of the 
 city went up to the top of the churches, where there 
 is a little kind of gallery made on the outside, and 
 played the sweetest music, some of Luther's music, 
 too. It was just at sunrise, and the brass instruments 
 
 10* 
 
114 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 flashed very brightly in the light. Of course the music 
 was n't played at all on the E-oman Catholic church, 
 because the Roman Catholics did n't like Luther. 
 There is a book which I read before I left America, 
 called the Schonberg Cotta Family, and some parts of 
 it you would like to read, I know. It tells about 
 Luther when he was a poor little boy. 
 
 I went to a great German church yesterday. It 
 was very large, and it looked larger because there 
 were no galleries around it. The women sat by them- 
 selves, and the men by themselves. Besides the music 
 of the organ, there was a band to play on their instru- 
 ments, so that when all the people sung, the music 
 was very loud, I can tell you. The German people 
 sing much slower tunes than we do at home, and 
 everybody sings. The hymns are not all read first 
 by the minister, but the numbers of the hymns are 
 printed in large figures, and placed around in different 
 parts of the church, so that all can see them; and 
 then when the org^n commences to i)lay, the ^people 
 join in with the singing. I don't like to go to a 
 German church very well, because it does n't seem to 
 be a very cheerful looking place, and I can 't under- 
 stand very well what is said ; but I do like to hear the 
 people sing, and see them sit so still in church. I 
 think nobody turns around and gazes at other people 
 as some Americans do at home. 
 
 Perhaps you would like to know what I did the rest 
 of the day, Susie. I went to a Sunday School. Do n't 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 115 
 
 you think I was liappy ? To be sure^ it was a German 
 school, and all the children were Germans ; but it was 
 so pleasant to think I was in a Sunday School once 
 more. It made me think of my dear teacher at home. 
 
 Papa and an American gentleman (that I love very 
 much) took me, and instead of going over the bridge, 
 we went lower down and crossed the river in a little 
 boat. Then we walked to a village, where a good 
 gentleman has a Sunday School. An American gen- 
 tleman was in Germany a few years ago, and told the 
 people about the American Sunday Schools, and some 
 of the p^eople commenced having them here ; .but there 
 is only one in Heidelberg. It did n't look like ours at 
 home, and the teachers didn't teach just the same way 
 that ours do. But they had little papers, and some of 
 the stories and hymns are just like ours, because they 
 are copied from our papers, and only changed into 
 German. I heard them sing "1 want to be an angel," 
 in German, and I was so glad to hear that prettj^ tune 
 again in a Sunday School. 
 
 Now I have finished my letter ! I commenced by 
 telling you how warm it was, and now I have just 
 been writing about a Sunday School. I can't keep 
 to one thing, Susie ! 
 
116 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 Thikty-First Letter. 
 
 HEIDELBERG. 
 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 It is so nice to go up on the top of this house, to 
 sit, in the evenings ! The roof is flat, and veijy often 
 just at sunset we take some cushions with us, and sit 
 there till I have to go to bed. Then we can see the 
 people in the streets, and the river, and the old Castle, 
 and the sunset. I am in bed and asleep when the 
 rest of the people in the house go to see the ruins by 
 moonlight, and I do n't have any evening walks. But 
 almost every morning after breakfast I have a walk 
 with papa, and Caro follows us. We go to the post 
 office first ; not to see if there are any letters for us, 
 because in this country all the letters are carried to 
 the houses; but we buy stamps, or send letters to 
 somebody very often. We send home to our friends a 
 great many different kinds of stamps, but we hear that 
 the American postmasters take them off. We have 
 different money here to buy stamps and things with, 
 from what we had in Bonn, and we have to pay a 
 great many of these little kreutzers to get anything. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 117 
 
 Oh, there are so many nice things to buy here ! 
 But mamma says, when we get to some great cities 
 that we are going to, I shall see many prettier things 
 that I want. Mamma doesn't like to go shopping 
 alone very well here in Germany, and it is n't very 
 safe to send papa, for he makes such funny mistakes ! 
 I had something bought for me two days ago that I 
 liked very much ; that was, a sash of red, white and 
 blue ribbpn. The next day was Fourth of July, and 
 we had n't any flag ; so mamma said I might have a 
 long sash to wear with my muslin dress. We couldn't 
 find a broad ribbon made of those three colors, and 
 mamma bought narrow ribbon and sewed it together ; 
 so it looked just like one piece. It was the most 
 quiet Fourth of Jul}^ I ever saw, because of course the 
 Germans did n't celebrate it, and the greatest pleasure 
 I had was to wear my red, white and blue sash, and 
 to go down stairs to visit William. His sisters are 
 young ladies, but they are very kind ta me, and they 
 asked mamma if I might take tea with them. So I 
 did, and they asked me to sing the Star Spangled 
 Banner. 
 
 We did n't have any fire-works to see ; but one eve- 
 ning lately we saw something about as pretty. I had 
 gone to bed ; but papa called me to get up, and we 
 saw some boats filled with students sailing down the 
 river, and every one had a great flaming torch, which 
 lighted up his face, and they all together made the 
 river and the shore light. They were singing merry 
 
118 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 songs, and every few minutes they threw up pretty 
 colored balls — some like ours at fire- works — into the 
 air, and then the sparks would fall upon the water, 
 and it looked beautifully. 
 
 I ought to write to you a very good letter, to-day, 
 Susie, because we are going away this week, probably, 
 and I shall have so many new things to see, that I 
 can 't write any more about Heidelberg. I can 't tell 
 you about all my nice walks, because they have been 
 so many. I have n't yet been tired once of looking at 
 the old Castle, and every time I go there I find some- 
 thing which I had n't seen before. Sometimes mamma 
 and I go there to stay two or three hours ; she reads, 
 and I play with my dolls and make beds for them 
 among the leaves. One day I carried my slate and 
 pencil, and tried to draw a picture of a part of the 
 Castle, as I had seen some ladies do ; but it was n't a 
 very pretty picture, you would have thought. 
 
 I am very sorry we are going away so soon; but 
 papa wishes to see some libraries in Gotha, and so we 
 are going there. It is a very long way from here, 
 and we shall go to Frankfort to stop a few days on the 
 way, and perhaps some other places, too. Then I will 
 write again. I am sorry we cannot stay here till the 
 grapes are ripe, for this is the country for them, and I 
 am afraid in Gotha we shall not find so many. But 
 there is always something nice in every place, and so 
 I will try and be happy. 
 
 I wish you were here to see this house, and this 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 119 
 
 pretty place, and our kind friends, before we go away. 
 If yon and Mary and Annie and little Walter were 
 only with me all the time, how glad I should be ! 
 You do n't know Walter, do you ? He is the dearest 
 little boy, and such a rogue ! 
 
 Good bye, Susie, now ! Do n't forget that I send 
 Aunt Susan a kiss in every letter I write. Sometimes 
 I forget to speak of it, though. 
 
120 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Thlrty-Secokd Letter. 
 
 FRANKFOET-ON-T HE-MAIN. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 It is raining so hard this afternoon that I must stay 
 in-doors; and because my playthings are aU packed 
 up in the trunks, I have n't anything to do. I have 
 looked out of the window and watched the people till 
 I am tired, and so mamma has given me a sheet of 
 paper and advised me to write to you. We have been 
 here a day and a half, and have seen a number of 
 pretty places and things, although it has rained almost 
 all the time. When we came from Heidelberg in the 
 cars, we had a terrible thunder shower ; and the hail 
 beat so against the windows that we were all fright- 
 ened, and it has n't been pleasant since. 
 
 We stay in a hotel while we are in Frankfort. It 
 is very amusing to see the different names on the 
 hotels. Some are called the White Swan, the Green 
 Tree, the Golden Ball, and some have no words paint- 
 ed at all, but only the sign of a gold fish, or a great 
 crab, or something as funny. We walked around some, 
 yesterday, and when we came near the great Cathe- 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 121 
 
 dral, there were so many market women selling meat 
 and fowls and vegetables and all kinds of fruit around 
 it, that we could hardly get up to the door. But we 
 at last went in, and saw the people having the same 
 service that they did at Cologne. The church looked 
 very old but it was n't very pretty ; and after we had 
 looked at the paintings we went to the top of the 
 tower. Oh, dear, what a long journey it was to get 
 there ! And when we were at the very top, where it 
 is so high that the people down in the streets look 
 like little boys and girls, we found a little house there. 
 I mean there were two or three rooms finished off, 
 where a family lived who took care of the great bell. 
 Would n't it seem strange to live in the top of such a 
 high tower? It would be some like Jack's house 
 on the bean-stalk, wouldn't it? When the people 
 wanted water, a boy went down and fastened a pail 
 full to some ropes which run on the outside, from this 
 house to the ground, and they had a contrivance for 
 drawing it up. 
 
 It made me think of London to walk through the 
 streets yesterday ; for there were so many people and 
 carriages, and such beautiful stores. I thought some 
 of the things I saw were much prettier than they 
 were in London. There is one great street here which 
 seems to have everything on it. It is called the Zeil. 
 We went to some picture galleries, and to some sculp- 
 ture galleries, and visited houses where distinguished 
 men have lived, and saw pretty gardens and statues. 
 
122 HELEN ON^ HER TRAVELS. 
 
 and we thought that Frankfort would be a very fine 
 place to live in. There were many soldiers in the 
 streets who wore different kinds of uniforms. If j^ou 
 should walk through some of the streets, you would 
 think Frankfort must; be a very new city, because the 
 streets are broad, and the houses so neat and beautiful. 
 But there is a part which is very old, and there is one 
 street which papa says every stranger visits, because 
 it is so very old. I hardly ever saw such a disagreea- 
 ble, strange-looking place ; and we came upon it so 
 suddenly, just after looking at handsome things, that, 
 as mamma said, we seemed to be in another world. 
 It is where the Jews live ; and the street is called the 
 Jews' street. It is very narrow, very narrow indeed; 
 and the houses are so high and black, and so old look- 
 ing, that it seemed as though they would really tumble 
 over. The lower part of the houses w^ere generally 
 little shops, where people bought or sold things. We 
 saw many old clothes hung up at the doors. 
 
 The men and women, and the children, too, had 
 such a strange look. The}^ didn't look as though 
 they were good, and some of them were very dirty 
 and ragged, as though they must be very poor. The 
 men were trying to sell things, and were talking so 
 loud that I thought they were quarrelling ; and the 
 women and children were sitting on the door-stej)S. 
 Papa said if we walked through we could take our own 
 time for looking at the houses, better than if we rode. 
 He inquired which was the old Rothschild house, and 
 
HELEN OX HEE TRAVELS. 123 
 
 I think it was a better looking one than many of the 
 others. You have heard what very rich men the 
 E/Othschilds are, have n't you ? Only think, this old 
 house used to be their home, and now they live in 
 palaces ! At one end of this dark, narro^v street is 
 the Jews' Synagogue, and it looked very new and 
 prett}^ on the outside ; but we could n't go into it. 
 
 I did n't know I had written so much ! I hope you 
 will like to read this letter, for I have liked to write it. 
 It has made me forget the rainy weather. We are 
 not going to be here much longer. After we have 
 taken our long journey, I shall write again, and tell 
 you how I enjoyed it. 
 
 Do n't forget me, Susie ! I do n't forget you ! 
 
124 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Thirty-Third Letter. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 Deak Cousin Susie: 
 
 I commenced a letter to you, telling about the home 
 we have here ; and then I remembered you had not 
 heard anything about our journey to Erankfort. But 
 there isn't much to tell about it, for it was a very 
 warm day when we started, and I thought such a long 
 ride was very tedious. 
 
 When we left Frankfort, early in the morning, we 
 took the express train, and rode fast enough for three 
 or four hours ; then papa wanted to stop at a little 
 city, to see a friend ; and just by our waiting there for 
 him to make a call, we lost the only express train there 
 was before night. So we had to take the slow train, 
 as it is called ; that is, a long train of baggage cars, 
 and a great many third-class cars ; and it stops at 
 every station on the road. But we had a good chance 
 to see the country. We should have enjoj^ed it more 
 if we could only have gone faster ; for there was only 
 one second-class car in the train, and we had it all to 
 ourselves, and I lay down on the nice cushions and 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 125 
 
 had a good nap. We rode on till six o'clock, then we 
 were obliged to wait nearly two hours for another 
 train. We had some supper, and took a walk to a 
 little village about a mile away. You never saw such 
 a place ! Papa says that German villages are all 
 alike ; but this was the worst looking one I ever saw. 
 Some of the houses were unpainted, and were sur- 
 rounded by dirty yards, where the cows and pigs lived, 
 and some were only whitewashed. I thought it was 
 ver}^ strange, when I first came to Grermany, to see all 
 the beams of the houses in plain sight. In every 
 G-erman village you can see in every house the great 
 beams running across each other ; sometimes they are 
 painted in a different color from the rest of the house, 
 and sometimes not painted at all. The people in this 
 little place gazed after us as though they had never 
 seen any strangers before : but they were very polite, 
 for the men all took off their hats, and the women 
 spoke very civilly. Papa said, if we would like to we 
 could spend the night, so that we could see the inside 
 of a German inn in a village ; but everything and 
 everybody looked too untidy to tempt us much. 
 
 And yet we did have to spend the night in a village 
 and in a little inn, although it was a little cleaner. 
 We took the evening train, and papa thought we 
 could at least get as far as Eisenach that night. 
 Eisenach is a place which strangers visit, because 
 there is an old castle there, where Martin Luther used 
 to live. But we did n't get to Eisenach, for between 
 
126 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 eleven and twelve o'clock mamma woke me up, and 
 said tlie cars had stopped and we could go no further. 
 When we stepped upon the platform, we found we 
 were near a little village, and must walk through the 
 fields to get to a hotel or any place to sleep. There 
 were some more people stopped with us, and though 
 we were all tired and sleepy, we could n't help laugh- 
 ing, for the man who showed us the way with a lan- 
 tern was so stupid that it seemed as though he did n't 
 know what to do with us. At last we came to a small 
 house, and went up some steep, narrow stairs to our 
 rooms. The man left us a tallow candle to see by, 
 and told us we had the best chambers in the house. 
 We wondered what the worst could be, if ours were 
 the best; for the floor was not very clean, and the 
 table and chairs were so covered with dust that we 
 couldn't lay our things on them till we had wiped 
 them with a towel. And oh, such beds ! Have I ever 
 told you about the German beds ? They are always 
 made narrow, for one person, and have a feather bed 
 to sleep on instead of a mattrass, and generally a 
 feather bed to sleep under, too, instead of a blanket or 
 spread. In our nice homes along the Ehine we have 
 always had sheets, and generally a coverlet, instead of 
 a thick feather bed, to cover us with ; but in this house 
 I am telling you about, we had no sheets and no white 
 cases to the beds either. Each of our beds was made 
 up in the same way, with a thick, soft feather bed, 
 covered with pink calico, to sleep on, and another like 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 127 
 
 it to put over us. How would you like such, a bed in 
 a hot July night ? I know we did n't sleep much ! 
 
 For breakfast we had some miserable coffee and 
 some hard, dry bread, and then we were glad to leave 
 such a funny place, and take the morning train for 
 Gotha. I think I shall like Gotha ; it seems to be a 
 pretty little city, and if we get a pleasant home, I 
 shall have a great many things to write to you about. 
 We could n't find any rooms to be let, and papa was 
 almost discouraged looking for them. At last we 
 heard of this place, and we shall go away as soon as 
 we can get a better one. We are on a pretty street, 
 but we have to go through such a dark entry and up 
 such a bad staircase ; and there is a soap shop below, 
 so we are smelling soap all the time in these hot daj^s. 
 
 I wish I knew what you are doing now ! Are you 
 writing a letter to me ? 
 
128 HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Thirty-Foukth Letter. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 
 Dear Cousijt Susie: 
 
 I wish you could see how pretty Gotha is ! It 
 hasn't aii}^ great river Ehine, like Bonn, nor any 
 beautiful old castle, like Heidelberg; but all around 
 the city are handsome houses, and great gardens and 
 parks. Perhaps you will think, because I said there 
 was no beautiful old castle here, that there is n^t any ; 
 but there is. It is an immense building on a hill, but 
 the walls are not broken down like those at Heidel- 
 berg, and it is n't pretty, either. I can 't tell you a 
 great deal about the town itself, for it seems very 
 much like the other places in Germany that I have 
 written about ; only I think it is the neatest, clean- 
 est city I have seen. There are no walls and gates, 
 and no trees. The streets are very narrow, but have 
 better sidewalks than in Bonn, because there they 
 w^ere so narrow that only one person could- walk along 
 nicely. The houses are packed closely together, and 
 have no blinds; and they look so hot this summer 
 weather. The gutters at the side of the street are 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 129 
 
 covered over with boards ; they are not filled with 
 dirty water, because clean water is forced into them, 
 and is all the time running through them. When I 
 am walking along, I often see the servant girls lifting 
 up a loose board and dipping their pails into the water. 
 The people do n't drink this water, but I suppose it is 
 clean enough to wash floors and stairs with. 
 
 You would laugh if you could see the peasant 
 women here, and the funny way they dress. They 
 do n't wear white handkerchiefs on their heads, as did 
 those of Bonn, but the strangest looking bonnets and 
 head dresses ! When they come into market with 
 fruit and vegetables, they have a kind of old-fashioned 
 bonnet, with a band of black ribbon over it, perched 
 on the top of their heads; but Sundays, and when 
 they seem to be dressed up a little, they wear a kind 
 of — I don't really know what to call it — turban, or 
 something, made of black satin ribbon. Some black 
 silk is bound around the head, something like a tur- 
 ban, and on the top of it are placed several enormous 
 bows of ribbon, with wire in them, so they will stand 
 up straight, and then streamers of ribbon, two or three 
 yards long, hang down the back. They wear them to 
 church, and seem to think they are as pretty as j'-ou 
 and I do a new hat. That makes me think, Susie, do 
 you wear the same hat you did last summer ? I see 
 all kinds of hats here, and all kinds of dresses, though 
 the G-erman ladies dress very much like the American 
 ladies, mamma says. 
 
130 HELEK ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 It seems so strange to see women work so hard as 
 tliey do in Germany. Whenever we have rode through 
 the country the poor women have been digging in the 
 fields, or ploughing, or sawing wood, and their little 
 children would he helping them. Once we saw a 
 mother at work digging, and her little hshj was asleep 
 in a cradle near her, out in the fields. 
 
 Very often, here in Gotha, I see women harnessed 
 into carts, and drawing great loads, as though they 
 were horses. Sometimes a dog or donkey will be fas- 
 tened in with them, for they make the dogs work very 
 hard. Every day little carts, and sometimes great 
 ones, go past our house, full of milk, or vegetables, or 
 bags of meal, and poor dogs have to draw" them, and 
 a little boy or girl walks along by the side to drive 
 the dogs and to help unload the things when they get 
 to market. I pity the poor peasant women so much ! 
 They do n't carry their baskets of wood and vegetables 
 on their heads, as the Bonn women did, but on their 
 backs; and though they look so stout and* strong, 
 sometimes they are bent almost double by having such 
 a heavy load. There are two leather straps fastened 
 to their baskets, and they slip their arms through 
 these, and then walk sometimes many miles. Every 
 Wednesday and Saturday they come in from the coun- 
 try to the markets here, and then mamma and I have 
 a chance to get nice fruit ; and our landlady gets our 
 fresh butter and eggs then, too. The only trouble we 
 have in going to buy anything is, the peasants speak 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 131 
 
 such bad German we can hardly understand them. 
 There are no Americans in Gotha, and only a few 
 English people, so we do n't hear much but German ; 
 but it is so hard to learn to speak it that I can 't say 
 many sentences yet. If I go to a Kindergarden, per- 
 haps I shall learn faster. 
 
 The shops here are not very nice. I almost think 
 the butcher shops are the best of all. You will laugh 
 at that, but the butcher shops are very different from 
 ours. They are as neat as your sitting room, and the 
 meat is either laid on marble shelves, or hung up on 
 pretty hooks. They sell a great many sausages here^ 
 (papa says the Gotha sausage is famous,) and they are 
 hung in rows in the windows. I like to eat the sau- 
 sages, but I cannot swallow the black bread, it is so 
 
132 HELEN ON HER TRAVP:LS. 
 
 Thirty-Fifth Letter. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I am sitting on a beantiful balcony to write this 
 letter. I must tell you how we happened to come to 
 such a pretty place. Do you remember I told you 
 that we had not a pleasant home here in Gotha? 
 Papa made inquiries for rooms, but he could n't find 
 any until he had advertised in the papers, and then 
 he found this place where we are now. I am so glad 
 we came here, for we have such a pleasant, kind land- 
 lady, (though she is a very old lady,) and she has such 
 a good-natured servant. We have a pretty sitting 
 room, and then, best of all, we have this great balcony, 
 as large as a room, which leads off from the sitting 
 room. I have so much room now, that mamma says 
 there will be no excuse for me if she finds my books 
 and dolls' clothes out of order; and I have a little 
 bureau to keep my things in. 
 
 The furniture in our rooms is very old-fashioned : 
 the sofa has such a prim-looking back and arms, and 
 the great arm chairs look so dignified that I am 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 133 
 
 almost afraid to sit in one ; but they are pretty, 
 too, for the seats and backs are beautifully embroid- 
 ered with worsted roses and leaves. The old lady we 
 live with says her daughters used to do such work 
 many years ago, and she told us the three portraits on 
 the wall were her three daughters. Whenever I 
 glance up at them their eyes seem to be looking right 
 at me, and follow me everywhere about the room. 
 Is n't it strange that the eyes of a portrait follow us 
 so? We have a number of nice tables, and pretty 
 little seats, and a large "writing desk in our sitting 
 room ; and in one corner is a white porcelain stove. 
 It rests on the floor and reaches almost to the top of 
 the room. There are four sides to it; and on the 
 front side and the top are pretty figures made out of 
 porcelain. There are two little bright brass doors, too, 
 and I almost wish cold weather would come, so that 
 I could see if it warms the room like our stoves at 
 home. Papa says it takes a long time to heat up such 
 a stove, but it keeps the heat a long time. 
 
 On one side of our room is a pretty arch of lattice 
 work, covered with green ivy ; and when we wish to 
 go on the balcony we open a glass door under this 
 arch. Oh, it is the very nicest place out here ! It 
 seems like a kind of room out of doors ; for there is a 
 little fence all around it, so no one can fall down, (it 
 is one story up from the street,) and there are white 
 settees and tables in it, where we can sit and read or 
 sew, or have our tea. There is no roof, but a great 
 
 12 
 
134 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 tree hangs over it, and shades it from the sun. Every 
 morning I bring my playthings out here, and play ; 
 and if I am tired of them, there is enough for me to 
 see around me. The Duke's palace is very near us, 
 just across the street, and beautiful houses and gar- 
 dens &11 around us. Our house is on one side of a 
 square, so we can see the streets on both sides of us, 
 and in front, too. It is much pleasanter being a little 
 way out of the city, as we are now, for the houses are 
 better, and the trees and gardens much prettier. 
 
 I like very much to watch the people and carriages 
 going by. The street on one side of us leads to the 
 depot, so that all day long people are going and com- 
 ing. There are some people who ride along in splen- 
 did carriages, and perhaps just after or before them 
 will be a cart drawn by donkeys, and a woman or a 
 boy driving them. But Sunday is the time to see the 
 people pass ; and it seems all day as though it must 
 be some great holiday. Ju'st as soon as I look out of 
 the windows in the morning, I see men and women 
 and children hurrying past to take the train. They 
 are all dressed in their best clothes, and are going to 
 some favorite place to spend the day. And the peas- 
 ant men and women come crowding into the city, to 
 go to church, or to walk in the parks, or to go to the 
 beer gardens. The little boys and girls who come 
 from the country are dressed like old men and women, 
 but they do n't seem to think so. 
 
 I have just been stopping for a few minutes to see 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 135 
 
 the guards changed at the palace. You would n't 
 think .such a plain looking house could be called a 
 palace, but the Duke lives here in the winters, and so 
 soldiers stand before it all day and night. Once in 
 two hours new ones come from the castle, and the 
 others go away. I like to hear the officers give the 
 loud commands to them. But instead of looking at 
 them, I ought to have been writing my letter to you. 
 Can you read my writing easily, Susie ? » 
 
 mm 
 
136 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 Thirty-Sixth Letter. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I want to tell you where we went to church yester- 
 day. The Sunday before we attended the church in the 
 old palace on the hill. It is called the Koyal Church, 
 because the Duke and his court attend it when they 
 are in Gotha. I suppose you don't know that this 
 Duke I write about is the brother-in-law of Queen Vic- 
 toria. Prince Albert, who died, was his own brother. 
 I did n't know it till papa told me. That church was 
 very handsome in the inside; there were beautiful 
 pictures and carving, and the pulpit for the minister 
 was splendid, and the music was very pretty ; but as 
 the service was in German, of course I could n't under- 
 stand very well many things. It seems very different 
 in a German church from an American church ; you 
 know in America the people can sit in any part of the 
 house they wish, if they only pay for their seats ; but 
 in this country the seats are all free, and people can 
 sit anywhere if they only sit with their own class. I 
 mean, that the Duke and his friends have a certain 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 137 
 
 part given to them, and they have velvet cushioned 
 chairs to sit on ; and the very rich people, and those 
 who hold some high office, have a certain place for 
 them to sit. Their seats are generally in the gallery, 
 and the rest of the congregation sit below where they 
 please ; only mamma and I noticed that the peasant 
 women and girls with their long black streamers sat a 
 good way back ; and the servant girls, too, who wear 
 nothing on their heads. Would n't it look funny in 
 America to see women come in to a meeting without 
 any kind of a bonnet on their heads ? I have seen 
 hundreds do s5 in Germany. 
 
 But I had quite forgotten that I was going to tell 
 you about the Moravian church, which we went to 
 yesterday. It was a few miles away, and when we 
 reached the little village where the Moravians live, it 
 seemed as though it was the first quiet place we had 
 seen on Sabbath day in Germany. The streets were 
 all still, for the stores were closed, and the people were 
 in their houses. We went to the little church, which 
 looked almost like a plain house, and waited till the 
 people came ; but it was not long, for the service com- 
 menced early. I did wish you were with me, for you 
 would have seen what you never did before ! The 
 men and boys came, dressed in black, all of them, and 
 went in at one door, and sat by themselves ; and the 
 ladies and girls sat by themselves. The ladies all wore 
 plain looking dresses and capes, and on their heads 
 they wore little white muslin or lace caps, just alike. 
 
138 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 The only difference about these caps was, they were 
 tied and trimmed with different colors of ribbon. If 
 they were widows, they wore white ; if they were 
 married, they wore blue ; and the others wore a deep 
 shade of pink. The young ladies and little girls were 
 dressed in the same manner, only their caps were 
 trimmed with light pink ribbon. They all went into 
 church in procession, and sat by themselves in seats 
 before the minister. I sat with mamma at one side, 
 and I did n't see one of them turn around to look at 
 the others, but when they were not singing they kept 
 their hands folded, and were perfectly still. I hardly 
 dared to move ; and once when I sneezed, I was almost 
 afraid I should be sent out. I can't tell you what the 
 minister said, but he seemed to preach as though he 
 wanted to do the people good. The singing was 
 beautiful, and everybody sung. The strangers have 
 seats at the side of the church, and the peasant 
 women sit there, too. Two of them sat by me, and 
 their dress looked as strangely as that of the Moravian 
 ladies. 
 
 When church was over, all went out in procession, 
 and then we walked into the burying ground behind 
 the church. It was a very pretty, quiet spot, but it 
 was very unlike our cemeteries at home. The grave 
 stones, instead of standing at the head of the graves, 
 were in the form of a cross sometimes, and were 
 always lying on the top of the grave mound. The 
 men and women were each buried by themselves, in 
 
HELEN 01^ HER TRAVELS. 139 
 
 long rows, one after the other ; and the one who was 
 huried last came at the end of the long row. The 
 little children were by themselves ; and on their grave 
 stones were such pretty German words, which didn't 
 say they had died, hut had fallen asleep, or had gone 
 home. Papa says there are some excellent christian 
 people among the Moravians, and I should like to go 
 to their church again. 
 
 Can you understand at all what a pleasant day we 
 had, from what I have written ? 
 
 I am going to a Kindergarten in two or three days. 
 
140 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Thirty-Seventh Letter. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I go to the Kindergarten every day, but I wish I 
 could say I liked to go. If it was only in America, 
 and there was an American teacher and scholars, it 
 would be much pleasanter for me. But I am learning 
 fast to speak German, so that perhaps in a week or 
 two I shall enjoy more going to this school. There 
 are a great many little children there, and some are 
 almost babies ; for they are allowed to enter the Kin- 
 dergarten when they are only three years old. Then 
 there are a few boys and girls as large as I am. We 
 have great rooms to stay in, and we do n't have to 
 study at all. I thought it was very nice, the first 
 few days, to play so much ; but now I am a little tired 
 of the same things over and over. There are a great 
 many teachers, and they try to think of different 
 games for us, and different things to make ; but we 
 generally know what will come for each day of the 
 week. When we go in the morning, for a long time 
 the whole school stay together, and we have games 
 and marches and songs ; some of them are so funny 
 they would make you laugh. The little cbildren hop 
 around as though they were rabbits. After we have 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 141 
 
 played a while together we divide ; the great ones go 
 into one room by themselves, and the little ones into 
 another. Then we sit at little tables, and sometimes 
 make block houses, like what the teacher makes for us, 
 and sometimes we draw, or make pretty things from 
 paper or willow. I wish you could see the show-case 
 full of pretty things which the children have made. 
 The principal teacher has a room, where he teaches 
 young ladies to make and do the same things which 
 we do, so that they will learn to be teachers. I gen- 
 erally go home alone at noon, and I do n't go again 
 in the afternoon. 
 
 I like to watch the funny-looking people that I see 
 in the street ; and it always makes me laugh to see 
 the way people have their wood sawed here In Gotha. 
 Instead of having one man to saw a load of wood and 
 take his own time for it, a dozen men, and women, too, 
 are hired all at once to work together, and they work 
 sawing and splitting at the sides of the streets. Just 
 think what a little time it must take to finish a load 
 of wood ! And when they have finished one job, they 
 march in procession to another place, and commence 
 working again. One day last week mamma and I 
 counted over twenty men in our garden sawing wood, 
 and women were helping them. A man takes hold of 
 one end of the saw, and a woman the other end ; and 
 they work all day, only when they stop at noon to 
 drink their beer and eat their bread and sausage. 
 
 We have beautiful places to walk in here. I believe 
 
142 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 I have not told you aboiit the great parks, have I ? 
 They belong to the Duke, and are full of beautiful 
 paths, and trees, and little ponds. On every path are 
 pretty white seats, and sometimes mamma and I go 
 and sit on one for two or three hours ; she carries a 
 book, and I take my doll or slate. One day I tried 
 to write a composition on my slate, but it was rather a 
 funny thing. I like much better to write a letter. 
 These parks are so large that we can walk for hours ; 
 and when we wish to go home, we very often go 
 through the orange gardens. These are full of the 
 most beautiful flowers, of all the kinds I ever saw, and 
 there are hundreds of orange and lemon trees. I can- 
 not tell you how sweet the air is, nor how pleasant it 
 is to walk through this -place, or to sit on one of the 
 white settees and look at the flowers. The German 
 children have to be very careful not to touch anything 
 so as to injure it, and they are not allowed in some of 
 the parks without a nurse or older person to watch 
 them. 
 
 Yesterday two little girls came to play with me on 
 my balcony. They had never seen an American doll 
 before, although there are a great many china dolls 
 here. We had a. nice play, and next week I am going 
 to visit them. They have a rocking-horse, and a see- 
 saw, and all kinds of playthings. I wonder if you 
 keep all your playthings as nicely as you used to, on 
 that broad shelf in the sitting room ! It always made 
 me think of a little store. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 143 
 
 Thirty-Eighth Letter. . 
 
 SCHNEPFENTHAL. 
 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 You see I am not in Goth a to-day, but this place is 
 only seven miles away, and we are going back there 
 again in a few days. Perhaps you will laugh at me, 
 and think that I always call the last place I visit the 
 prettiest one of all I have seen; but certainly I do 
 think we have n't seen such a pretty place since we 
 left America. Schnepfenthal is only a little village, 
 but it is a charming one, for it is on a hill, and in the 
 middle of all the houses is the great white building 
 called the Institute, where boys attend school. The 
 boys all dress alike, and wear bright red jackets ; and 
 when they are out of school and playing on the green 
 grass, you can't think what a pretty sight it is!. It 
 seems like a picture. But the most beautiful place, 
 and the one that strangers go to visit, is about a mile 
 beyond Schnepfenthal, and called E-einhardtsbrunnen. 
 It is where the Duke's country palace is, and papa 
 says he could n't have chosen a more lovely spot. The 
 palace itself is very pretty ; it used to be an old nun- 
 
144 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 nery, but the .Duke had it all made over and altered, 
 only he had preserved just enough of the old form in 
 some parts, to have us see what a strange looking 
 house must have been there. At one end is such a 
 beautiful chapel, and the ivy and woodbine twine over 
 it, and over the palace windows, too. All around are 
 the most lovely gardens and beds of pretty flowers, 
 and great trees and a succession of ponds. One is just 
 before the palace, and they reach on, one after the other, 
 almost to Schnepfenthal. On the ponds are pretty 
 boats, and through the gardens are walks and fountains 
 and more of the white seats where people can rest. 
 When the Duke is not in Reinhardsbrunnen, people 
 are allowed to walk up to the very palace and through 
 the court-yard and peep into the Duke's private garden. 
 Papa calls this place a paradise, and it does seem like 
 one, for all around on every side are hills and moun- 
 tains, and covered to the top with trees, and taken such 
 care of that they have wide, smooth walks across them 
 and through them. The Duke owns all these woods, 
 and he spends the summer months in hunting with his 
 friends in them. I think these woods reach as far as 
 Friedrichroda, a little town a mile beyond, for I know 
 we walked through the trees all the way there, instead 
 of going in the road. There is one hotel near the 
 palace, and that and all the hotels in Friedrichroda are 
 full of strangers, because so many come here to see 
 these beautiful places. 
 
 We can 't come from Gotha to this place in the cars 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 145 
 
 without changing cars and then walking some, so we 
 came in a post-wagon. But the time we came here 
 before, about three weeks ago, (did I ever tell you 
 about that ?) we rode on the top of an omnibus. It 
 was such a funny ride ! but I enjoyed it, for we had 
 a good chance to see people as we rode along. I 
 saw women and girls digging in the fields, and boys 
 coming from some village with a wheel-barrow full 
 of loaves of black bread, and men drinking beer at 
 the little inns we passed, and more of such amusing 
 sights. 
 
 We did n't stay long that time, and when we went 
 back to Gotha we became acquainted with a lady 
 who was in the omnibus with us; and we learned 
 to love her so much after we went to our home, 
 that we accepted her invitation to come here again. 
 Her friends live in Schnepfenthal, and teach in the 
 Institute. 
 
 The way we became acquainted with this lady was 
 rather strange. It was in the evening, and I was 
 tired, because we had w^alked so much that day, and 
 I wanted to go to sleep. Mamma kept telling me 
 stories to keep me awake, and she supposed all the 
 people in the omnibus were Germans and could not 
 understand us. But bye and bye this lady spoke to 
 me and said, " See the moon ! " and tlien we knew she 
 could speak English. After that we met her very 
 often in the parks, and we became well acquainted 
 with her, and she is one of the best friends we have 
 
146 HELEN ON" HER TRAVELS. 
 
 in Goth a. She came here with us this time, and it is 
 her friends that we see here, and whom we visit, 
 although we do not live at their house. 
 
 I did mean to tell you what a funny place we were 
 living in here, btit I must keep that for the next time. 
 I do n't say nearly all I want to in any letter. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 147 
 
 Thikty-Ninth Letter. 
 
 SCHNEPFENTHAL. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 Every time I want to write this long word, I have 
 to ask papa to spell it for me. He just told me that 
 it means Snipe's valley, in English ; and that Eein- 
 hardtshrunnen is Foxes' well. You wouldn't think 
 from their names that they were such pretty places, 
 would you ? Did n't I say in my last letter I would 
 tell you what kind of a place we lived in here ? You 
 would have to guess • a good many times before you 
 guess right. But first I want to tell you how we 
 came from Gotha to Schnepfenthal. 
 
 Because it is so late in the season now, (you know 
 we have been in Gotha some weeks,) the omnibuses 
 do not run any longer, and we had to go to the Gotha 
 post office and engage seats in the post-wagon, which 
 comes here once a day. It was the funniest kind of 
 carriage that I ever rode in. It was something like^a 
 square box, about a quarter as large as an omnibus, 
 and set on high wheels ; on the top of it was a seat 
 for the driver and post-man, and under it a smaller 
 
148 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 box to hold the letters. We stepped into the wagon 
 hy a little door in the rear, and found seats for six 
 people. The driver carries a brass horn, and when- 
 ever he goes near a village or town he plays a tune 
 upon it ; it sounds very prettily, we thought. I was 
 very glad when we were really here. We went to our 
 friends in Schnepfenthal to see where they had secured 
 rooms for us, because we knew all the hotels were 
 full. 
 
 And now I'll tell you, Susie; we live in a mill! 
 But it is n't anything like any mill you ever saw, for 
 it looks on the outside like a very nice large house, all 
 neat and painted. In one part of it is a little mill, 
 but two -thirds of the building are fitted up into 
 beautiful rooms, which are let to strangers in the sum- 
 mer time. I said there was one house, but there are 
 two very near together. When we leave the street we 
 go through a great yard, — where I alw^ays see some 
 hens and a black dog, and sometimes the mill door is 
 open and I see bags of meal, — and then into the part 
 of the house where we live. Our rooms are up stairs, 
 and so pleasant ! The sitting room is as neat as wax, 
 and from the windows we can look one way^ and see 
 Schnepfenthal, and the other way is Eeinhardtsbrun- 
 nen ; for we are about half way between them, and 
 our house is in the middle of green fields. But the 
 place is called the Mill. 
 
 There are two girls that are daughters of one of 
 our dear, good Schnepfenthal friends, that I like very 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 149 
 
 much ; and though they are both older than I am, we 
 have nice plays together. Eliza, the oldest one, can 
 speak English pretty well, but Lenchen only talks in 
 German or French, and so we do n't say much to each 
 other. Sunday morning they came to our house with 
 their aunt, and wanted us to go to church with them. 
 It was such a pretty little church : in the same build- 
 ing where the Institute is. There was a little gallery, 
 where the ladies and strangers sat, and below were 
 the teachers and the scholars. The boys wore those 
 jackets I wrote about, and sat very still till the service 
 was over ; but when they were once out on the green 
 they made noise enough. 
 
 Besides the church, there are school-rooms, and great 
 halls full of curiosities, and stuffed birds and animals, 
 and a large public parlor and dining room, and the 
 rooms where the Principal's family live, and many 
 rooms of course for the boys to study and sleep in, all 
 in one building. The parlor was very pretty, for it 
 was full of beautiful presents, which former pupils had 
 sent to their teachers ; and the four sides of the room 
 were really covered with little portraits of the boys. 
 The dining room was very pleasant, too, and every- 
 thing was in perfect order. 
 
 You know, Susie, that the Germans do not keep 
 Sunday as we do, and they think it right to work and 
 play if they wish to. The boys on the common were 
 having games when we went out, and the ladies of the 
 family that we took dinner with had their sewing and 
 
150 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 knitting in their hands. Eliza's father lent me a book 
 in English to read ; hut I am afraid that I shall have 
 no time to read it, for to-morrow, if it is pleasant, we 
 are all going to the top of a high mountain, called the 
 Spiesherg. 
 
 I like the German people very much. There are a 
 great many things I see that seem so funn}^ I want 
 to laugh ; but yet some of the people we meet are so 
 very kind and good, I cannot help loving them. I 
 hope some time you will come to Schnepfenthal and 
 see this dear good family we love so much. The sister 
 that I told you lives in Gotha, came here with us in 
 the post-wagon. Every day when w^e are in Gotha 
 we walk in the park with her, and she speaks English 
 with us, and we speak German with her. 
 
 It is pretty late now. Mamma says I must go to 
 bed early to-night, because we shall walk so much to- 
 morrow. So good night, my dear cousin Susie ! 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 151 
 
 FoBTiETH Letter. 
 
 SCHNEPFENTHAL. 
 My dear Susie : 
 
 I shall have to write very fast this morning, because 
 we are going hack to Gotha as soon as the post-wagon 
 comes past. I am very much disappointed that we 
 cannot stay here longer ; hut the pleasant warm 
 weather seems to have gone, for to-day it is cold 
 and very rainy. We could not go out to walk if we 
 stayed. 
 
 We had such a nice time yesterday ! A party of 
 us started at nine o'clock for a long walk, the longest 
 I ever took. We all wore thick hoots and warm 
 travelling dresses, (I always wear my Scotch wincey 
 when we go on such an excursion,) and a servant girl 
 went with us to help carry the thick shawls, and she 
 had a great basket strapped on her back full of bread 
 and meat and dishes, and things we might want. It 
 was a lovely morning to start, for the sun was shining 
 so brightly that the whole country looked most beau- 
 tiful. We went on through woods and green fields, 
 and up little hills, but all the way was a good path. 
 
152 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Sometimes we would meet peasant men or women, 
 bare-footed, and having great loads on their backs ; 
 and they would always salute us and say, "Guten 
 Tag," which means "good day" in English. 
 
 Lenchen and I trudged on in front of the rest, and 
 picked pretty grasses, or played with our stout canes 
 that papa cut for us off the trees ; but we hardly spoke 
 a word together all the way, for I was afraid to speak 
 much Grerman, and she was too sh}^ to say anything. 
 Mamma thought she looked very much like you, Susie, 
 she said so a number of times. We kept' on and on, 
 till at last I was so tired I had to sit down on a stone 
 and so one of the ladies said, that as we were two- 
 thirds of the way up, we would all rest and have 
 something to eat. So papa chose a nice place under 
 the trees, and spread the shawls, and we all sat down 
 on the ground. The servant girl took off her basket, 
 — I pitied her, she looked so tired, — and the plates 
 were passed around, and one of the ladies cut the meat 
 and spread the bread and butter. It seemed as though 
 nothing ever tasted so good as that did. While we 
 were sitting there we could hear the deer cr3ang in 
 the woods around us, and once we saw one. Mamma 
 says I mustn't say they cried, but bellowed. The 
 woods here in Germany look differently from ours in 
 America, because the trees are standing in regular 
 rows. Papa told me why they looked so. Every 
 thirty years the old forests are cut down, and new 
 ones are planted, and the little trees are set in rows. 
 
HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 153 
 
 SO that wlieii they are grown large they looked as I 
 saw them. 
 
 After we rested awhile we went a little further, and 
 then came out on the top of a mountain not as high 
 as the Spiesherg, but yet we had a beautiful prospect 
 all around us. We were surrounded by hills, and be- 
 tween them in the valleys were villages with red- 
 roofed houses ; and close by us was a strange looking 
 house where the Duke rested with his friends when 
 he w^as hunting. As we went through the woods we 
 saw a party of G-erman men chopping wood, and they 
 spoke such funny German I could n't understand any- 
 thing they said. Lenchen and I saw the top of the 
 Spiesberg first. There is a little house there for peo- 
 ple to rest in, and people live in it and provide coffee 
 or beer for anybody who wishes it. Our party went 
 up stairs into a little i;oom and stayed several hours. 
 Some of the ladies had their knitting work, and some 
 talked, and Eliza and Lenchen played with me until I 
 fell asleep. When I woke, some more friends had 
 come, and then we had such a nice dinner. We had 
 cold meat, and brown bread and white bread, and but- 
 ter and cheese, and coffee and beer, and pears and 
 plums, and some grapes that had come all the way 
 from Switzerland. Oh, they were so delicious that 
 the}^ seemed to melt in my mouth ! We were very 
 much disappointed in one thing, for very soon after we 
 reached the top, all the clear sky was covered with 
 clouds, and we couldn't see much but mist. I had 
 
154 HELEiST ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 rather a bad fall when we went down. It was not 
 the same way we went up. I suppose I ran too fast ; 
 for down I went on my knees, and then I had to limp 
 all the way home; and this morning I am a little 
 lame. 
 
 Do n't you think we had a nice time ? When we 
 left Boston I could not walk one quarter as far as I 
 can now, without being all tired out. I suppose now 
 it is time for me to put on my hat and sacque, and be 
 ready to go. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 155 
 
 FoRTY-FiBsx Letter. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I do n't know how many letters I have written to 
 you from Gotha, but I want to send one more before 
 we leave this nice pleasant home of ours. But I am 
 not writing to-day on the balcony, for it is too cold. 
 The glass door is shut, and we have a fire in our por- 
 celain stove, and my table is moved up near it. 
 
 Yesterday I went with our servant girl to the mar- 
 ket, and she brought home a basket of wood on her 
 back. She wears a funny kind of cape or cloak when 
 ' she goes out, made of brown calico, and it is trimmed 
 with two broad full rufiles, and she never has a bonnet 
 on her head. She is so kind to me that I am very 
 sorry to leave her, and she wants to go to America 
 with us. She is very honest, too, and G-erman servants 
 are not always so. The ladies who keep house always 
 carry a bunch of keys around with them, and keep 
 everything locked up, — even sugar, and butter, and 
 such things. Mamma says, perhaps if servants were 
 more trusted they would n't be so sly and dishonest. 
 
156 HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 We have sucli a dear good landlady ! We had often 
 heard that German landladies would take advantage 
 of people, and sometimes cheat them ; but this one of 
 ours is as kind as she can he. She does n't work any 
 herself, hut is able to totter around on her cane, and 
 see if things are in order. Every day when I go 
 to the hotel to dinner, or while I am in the Kinder- 
 garten, she comes into our room and leaves some fruit 
 or cake on the table ; and sometimes she allows me to 
 water her j)lants on the balcony. After tea she likes 
 to have me go into her room and sing some little Eng- 
 lish song ; and I try to help her down the stairs 
 when she goes to church on Sundays. She has a little 
 carriage which she is pushed along in. We do n't go 
 very often to the church which she attends. 
 
 And that makes me think, Susie, I want to tell you 
 about one old, strange-looking church here in Gotha. 
 When we went there first, and walked through a 
 grave-yard towards it, I could hardly believe but it 
 was a great house. But the inside is the strangest. 
 It is not painted at all, and the seats are of plain 
 boards, without any cushions, or else they are old- 
 fashioned chairs of different kinds. The pulpit is 
 small and high, and has a table before it, with a cross 
 and two candles upon it. There are no blinds nor 
 curtains to the windows, and a gallery runs around, 
 where young people sit. In one part are the soldiers, 
 too, and just opposite the pulpit is the band of singers, 
 who sing and play on brass instruments when the 
 
HELEN OX HER TRAVELS. 157 
 
 hymns are given out. But though this old church 
 looks so differently from all the others here in Grotha — 
 because they have splendid paintings and rich carv- 
 ing — yet there is something else which I have n't yet 
 told you, which interested us the most of anything. 
 All around on the front of the gallery are hung 
 wreaths of dried or artificial flowers tied with rib- 
 bons ; and between them are portraits of children, 
 though I think there are two or three of older people. 
 These wreaths used to be laid on the coffins of those 
 who had died, and after they were buried, their friends 
 brought the wreaths into this old church, and hung 
 them up. Sometimes they are in frames, and some 
 are laid in glass boxes. The portraits are of little 
 children who have died, and their friends can't forget 
 them, because every time they go to meeting they see 
 those pictures. 
 
 There are two or three cemeteries beyond the one 
 where the church is, and we sometimes walk through 
 them. All the grave stones are in the form of crosses, 
 and on nearly all the graves there are wreaths lying. 
 We saw the ivy growing all over Mr. Perthes' grave. 
 Did you ever hear about Mr. Frederick Perthes ? He 
 was a very good German man, and had an excellent 
 wife, and a book has been written about them in Ger- 
 man and English. Their sons and daughters live in 
 Gotha, and papa goes to their houses. 
 
 Papa and mamma go often to a great many places 
 where I can't go, and I can't tell you about them, be- 
 
158 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 cause I don't see for myself. There have been some 
 very nice concerts which I have not heard, and there 
 has been a great fair or something of that kind, which 
 I have not seen. I did n't want to go, for I was afraid 
 of the noise of the guns. Mamma went, and she saw 
 all kinds of playthings, and all kinds of cakes, and all 
 kinds of people, I should think, from what she said. 
 
 Yesterday I saw Prince Alfred at the palace here. 
 He is Queen Victoria's son, and is going to be the 
 next Duke here. He was standing at his chamber 
 window, and I wanted to sing " God save the Queen," 
 but I djd n't know the words. Ha looks like a nice 
 young man. 
 
 Perhaps this will be my last letter from Goth a. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 159 
 
 Forty-Second Letter. 
 
 EKFUPwT. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 Last night I was in my little bed in Gotlia, and to- 
 night we are in a great hotel. The reason I write so 
 soon again is, because I am afraid I shall forget some 
 of the things I want to say, if I do n't tell them now. 
 
 I entirely forgot to write anything about the old 
 palace in Gotha, and now it is too late. I can just 
 tell you something about the size of it, or rather what 
 is in it, and then you can judge what a great building 
 it must be. Besides the great church which is in one 
 corner of it, there are great libraries, and halls full of 
 collections of coins, and of animals and birds, and gal- 
 leries of paintings and statues, and apartments where 
 princes' families live, and offices, and splendid halls 
 fitted up for the Duke to live in if he wishes to, and 
 rooms without number for his servants. Wouldn't 
 you think it must be large ? 
 
 Papa says if we should ever visit Gotha again, he 
 thinks we should not see our dear good landlady, for 
 she is so A^ery old and feeble now. Whenever we 
 
160 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 spoke to her we called her Mrs-Councilloress Henni- 
 berg, because her husband used to be a councillor, and 
 she is always addressed by his title. That is always 
 the case here in Germany, I am told. 
 
 We are in a great hotel, just opposite the depot ; 
 and are in a great room, too. We are all sitting 
 around a great table in one corner, and mamma and I 
 are are on the sofa beside it, and papa in a great chair. 
 Just before we began to write, (for we are all writing,) 
 a servant brought us sop^ie tea, and some gingerbread 
 to eat with it. We had a pretty silver teapot (it 
 looked like silver) and a little strainer to pour the tea 
 through. The tea was weak enough, but I liked that, 
 because I could have a little. Here in Germany the 
 children drink sugar- water; that is, a glass of water 
 Avith sugar dissolved in it. 
 
 We have been walking about ever since we came 
 here. I should n't like to live in Erfurt, for it seems 
 to be such a very old city. There are walls and forti- 
 fications around it, and the streets are very narrow, 
 and really no sidewalks at all ; or if any, they are just 
 wide enough for me alone. We w^ent into a store and 
 bought some pretty pictures as we walked along, and 
 then we went to Luther's cell. You know Martin 
 Luther was a monk, once, and he used to live and 
 study in a convent at Erfurt. It is n't a convent any 
 longer, but is now a school for orphans ; but the cell 
 of Martin Luther has been preserved just as it used 
 to be when he was in it. As we went through the 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAYELS. 161 
 
 yard we saw a great many orphan boys gazing at us, 
 and a woman came up to us to show us the way. We 
 went up a flight of stairs into an old building and 
 through a very long hall. You would never forget 
 that long hall, Susie, if you should once see it ; for on 
 both sides it is covered with great pictures, called the 
 Dance of Death, papa told me. Every picture was in 
 a frame, and was different from the one next to it ; 
 but in every one was the figure of Death appearing 
 like a horrible skeleton, and just ready to seize the 
 people in the painting. None of the people seemed 
 to know that Death was so near them, for some were 
 reading, or writing, or laughing, or dancing, or dress- 
 ing for parties ; and yet he was just behind them. 
 There were pictures of children, too, and dear little 
 babies who were playing so happily ; but he was com- 
 ing up to take them away from their mothers who 
 were bending over them, but who could n't see him. 
 There were men and women of all ages, and doing all 
 kinds of work, but that terrible skeleton was always 
 near them. 
 
 When w^e went into the cell, the door was so low 
 that papa had to stoop. It was a little room, with one 
 small window^ in it ; and Luther's chair, and his table, 
 and his inkstand. In a glass case were some old books, 
 but they were not his. A great portrait of him hung 
 against the wall, and he looked like a large stout man. 
 I have heard much more about Luther since we came 
 to Germany than I ever knew before, and I was very 
 
162 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 glad to see things of his, though I do n't think I cared 
 as much about it as papa and mamma did. 
 
 There is a great cathedral in Erfurt, and we went 
 to see it. It is very beautiful in the inside. The 
 windows are of stained glass, and there are fine paint- 
 ings, and some of the nicest wood carving we have 
 seen. There was some tapestry, too, hanging against 
 the wall, hundreds of years old. When we went out, 
 papa had no small pieces of money in his pocket, and 
 he had to give our guide twice the usual fee ; but she 
 did not even say "Thank 3^ou." If w^e had waited 
 till to-morrow morning we could have seen it in ser- 
 vice time and paid nothing, for the Roman Catholics 
 have a service every morning. 
 
 I am so tired I must go to bed now. My great 
 feather bed in the corner is waiting for me. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 163 
 
 Fokty-Thikd Letter. 
 
 LEIPZIG. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 You will get letters prett}^ often from me, until we 
 get to Berlin, for, as I wrote to you day before yester- 
 day in my Erfurt letter, if I do n't say at once what 
 I have in my thoughts, I shall forget some of it. I 
 cannot tell you much about anything in this city, ex- 
 cepting about the great fair. Every fall there are 
 great sales here of all kinds of things, and people 
 come from great distances to see and buy. The hotels 
 and even all the lodging houses are full of strangers, 
 and papa had no easy time to find us nice rooms. 
 The streets are crowded with people. It makes me 
 think of London every time I go out ; for I am pushed 
 off the sidewalk into the street, and then back again. 
 The shop windows are full of the most beautiful things, 
 and we have been so many weeks in that little quiet 
 Gotha, tliat I am really glad to see so many pretty 
 things again. 
 
 I cannot give you any idea w^hat crowds of people 
 there are here, nor how full the streets are of booths. 
 These booths are made like little houses with one side 
 
164 HELEX ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 open, and a counter or broad shelf built up, covered 
 with things to sell. You can hardly think of any 
 kind of a thing* that anybody could want, that is n't 
 to be found in plain sight. Some booths are full of 
 cakes and gingerbread, and when anybody passes, the 
 woman who is behind the shelf calls out, '• Buy ! buy ! 
 buy ! " Perhaps the next person will have china and 
 glass ware to sell, and so on. There is everything. 
 Boots, and stockings, and collars, and dolls, and everj" 
 kind of plaything, and fruit, and table linen, and iron, 
 and, oh, Susie, I get tired even thinking of all I saw ! 
 Some of the things are very cheap, and I bought a 
 little box and vase, and some more little things, for 
 only one groschen apiece. Papa was standing at one 
 table where there were photographs, and when he paid 
 for those he bought, he probably drew out a package 
 of money from his pocket, and it fell on the ground ; 
 for after a while he found it was gone. We went back 
 to the same place, but somebody must have taken it, 
 because papa never found it. I was very sorry, be- 
 cause he was going to buy some pretty things in Leip- 
 zig, and now he can 't. Is n't it too bad ? 
 
 Leipzig is much larger now than it was some time 
 ago, papa tells me. Around the old city used to be a 
 wall, but now it is taken down, and where it used to 
 be is a broad, beautiful walk, called the Promenade. 
 Mamma and I walked around it yesterday afternoon ; 
 we Avere sure we could not be lost, for as it is a circle 
 we knew we should come back to the place we started 
 
HELEX OX HER TRAVELS. 165 
 
 from. There are nice seats for people to rest, and 
 rows of trees the whole way ; and then on one side of 
 us was the old city, with the liouses built very closely 
 together, and on the other side were prett}^ streets and 
 handsome houses and fine gardens. As mamma and 
 I walked along, we would meet little children and 
 their nurses ; and women selling apples or pears ; and 
 the city people idling along. Once we saw a whole 
 orphan school going by in j)rocession. Sometimes we 
 would pass a large square, where there were tents 
 Tvith shows, and booths full of toys, and swings for 
 children. There was one nice contrivance for boys 
 and girls that I never saw before. I wish I could 
 describe it so you could understand what it was. It 
 was something like a great wheel, I should think, not 
 standing, but as though it w^as flat, only raised a few 
 feet from the ground. The hub was a high pole, and 
 at the end of each spoke was a little kind of carriage, 
 with sometimes a seat for two and sometimes for four 
 children, and there were imitation horses attached to 
 it. After the girls and boys had taken their seats in 
 the different carriages, the machine which made them 
 turn would begin to move, and the band of music 
 would play, and then the children would go round and 
 round, and faster and faster. Mamma thought I 
 should be dizzy, so I did n't have any ride. 
 
 It seems as though I had n't written much in this 
 letter, but a gentleman has just come in, and I can 't 
 write when people are talking. 
 
166 HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 
 
 FORTY-FOUKTH LETTEK. 
 
 D R E S D E IS" . 
 Deak Stjsie: 
 
 We came here yesterday, and liad a most delightful 
 ride. The weather was so warm that we had the car 
 windows open all the way, and the country w^as so 
 pretty that it was a pleasure for all of us to look at it. 
 There were a great many peasant women and children 
 working in the fields, and sometimes it seemed as 
 though they were their homes ; for there was often no 
 house to be seen, and the whole family would he to- 
 gether. The baby was in such a funny kind of cradle, 
 and one of the larger children was making a fire under 
 a black iron pot to cook the dinner ; and one family 
 we saw were resting from work and were sitting on 
 the ground, eating a lunch. 
 
 About an hour before we came in sight of Dresden, 
 we saw beautiful hills and vineyards. It seemed really 
 as though on the left side of us, there was a succession 
 of hills ; and on the top of each one was a splendid 
 house, and at the bottom was a little village. 
 
 I suppose I shall not write 3^ou the same things 
 
HELEX ON HEK TKAVELS.^ 167 
 
 about Dresden that gentlemen and ladies write, for a 
 great many places that papa and mamma visit, I do 
 not see. This morning we started to visit the Picture 
 Gallery, (do you know this is called almost the finest 
 gallery in the world?) but papa found it was being 
 cleaned, and was only open to visitors for a few hours, 
 and he must pay quite a fee ; so, as he thought I 
 should not enjoy it very much, and I had seen so many 
 large galleries in London, he left me at a nice place, 
 where he was going to get our dinner. Our hotel 
 was too far away for me to go back to it, and papa 
 found this nice eating house, where I had a sofa and 
 table all to myself, and a large black dog to play with. 
 
 After we had taken dinner, (I had some pudding 
 that tasted like an American pudding,) we walked 
 around to see the splendid churches, and the old pal- 
 ace, and the great theatre, and the markets and streets. 
 The shop windows are full of pictures, and of other 
 pretty things, also. I do n't see so many book-stores 
 here as I did in Leipzig, for it seemed there as though 
 every other shop was a book-seller's. The people in 
 Leipzig must be great readers, I should think. 
 
 When we were walking through one of the market 
 places this afternoon, we saw, besides the pears and 
 apples and grapes, — oh, such delicious grapes they 
 were, too! — some ripe tomatoes. We hadn't seen 
 any before this summer, and I was j^erfectly delighted 
 and I think papa was as much so as I was. You 
 know we eat them raw in America if we wish to ; and 
 
168 ^HELE^f ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 papa likes them so ver}'' much, but the Grermans never 
 heard of such a thing, and only use them cooked in 
 soups. Papa knew this and he thought we would give 
 the woman Avho sold them, a surprise ; so he asked her 
 what those red things were as though he had never 
 seen them before, and put one to his mouth as if he 
 would taste it. " Oh my noble sir, they are not made 
 to eat so ! do not taste it, noble sir, before it is cook- 
 ed !" But papa only smiled, and gave one to me and 
 one to mamma, and we all ate them as though they 
 were oranges. The old lady raised both hands and 
 shouted — " shocking ! horrible !" and called her friends 
 to come and see such a wonderful sight, so that we had 
 quite a group of market-women around us. Then 23apa 
 told them we lived in a country where tomatoes grew, 
 and that we enjoyed them in any way, either raw or 
 cooked. This is n't exactly telling you about Dresden, 
 but perhaps you w^ill like to hear sometimes about 
 something beside the houses and the people. 
 
 We are going to Saxon Switzerland, to-morrow, if 
 it is pleasant ; and then I shall have to walk a long 
 way after we leave the cars. 
 
 Papa wants mamma to go to a concert, so I must 
 go to bed. Perhaps I shall dream you and I are eat- 
 ing tomatoes together ! 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 169 
 
 FoKTY-PiFTH Letter. 
 
 DRESDEN". 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 Yesterday morning I bad to get up very early, and 
 eat an earlier breakfast tban usual for we were going in 
 tbe early train to tbe Saxon Switzerland, and it start- 
 ed about the time that we usually take breakfast. We 
 were afraid it was going to be a rainy day, but the 
 hotel people said the sun would come out and we 
 should have a fine prospect. As we were going to the 
 station we all thought that the part of Dresden near 
 it, looked like Edinburgh, for the streets were broad 
 and the blocks of houses very fine. 
 
 We had a nice ride, and it was just long enough to 
 be pleasant, but not so long as to make me tired. 
 There was one German man in the carriage with us 
 who didn't know what language we were speaking, 
 and he wanted to know what country we lived in. 
 When papa told him we were Americans, he had a 
 great deal to say about America, and a number of 
 fanny questions to ask ; he seemed to think that the 
 country must be small enough for us to know anybody 
 
170 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 who lived there, and lie really looked disappointed 
 because papa could not tell him about some of his 
 neighbors who had gone there. 
 
 We left the train at a little station close to the river 
 Elbe, (that is the river that Dresden is on,) and then 
 crossed over to the opposite side in a boat. There 
 were several people besides us, but we supposed they 
 spoke only German, and it sounded very pleasant when 
 a gentleman offered mamma a seat and spoke in Eng- 
 lish. The German here in Dresden is said to be a 
 little different from other parts of Germany; the people 
 sing their words, but we have not noticed it. When 
 we left the boat we walked first through a village 
 where boys crowded around us, begging to be our 
 guides ; and though papa told them he had been there 
 before and knew the way, one little fellow followed us 
 until papa had to give him a piece of money, and then 
 he went back to wait for somebody else. Papa gave 
 him some advice in English, just for sport, but I am 
 afraid it would n't do him much good. 
 
 So we went on and on ; papa cut a stout walking- 
 stick for me, and we walked on mile after mile. The 
 sun was shining, but we were more and more shut in 
 by great rocks all around us, and some of them were 
 immensely high, and looked as though they would fall 
 upon our very heads. Trees grew on some of them to 
 the very top. Our little path kept leading us on, and 
 we came to some guide-boards ; one pointed the way 
 directly to the Bastei, and the other kept on in the 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 171 
 
 valley to some strange places in the rocks. We took 
 this one first, and after a while we came to a great cave 
 made hy immense rocks resting on each other, and 
 afterwards to a narrow passage under rocks. Great 
 rocks had fallen and lodged on others, and we crept 
 under them, but I didn't like it much. We found a 
 little house in the woods, where a man and woman 
 lived. He Avas chopping wood, and she was washing 
 clothes. In front of the little hut was a table covered 
 with things to sell, such as photographs of the Bastei 
 and little pictures made in the form of roses (I had 
 one of those), and glass vases, and little wooden boxes 
 full of moss. Mamma allowed me to buy one of these 
 boxes, and we filled it with heather which we picked 
 on the sides of the road. Because after we got back 
 to the guide-boards again, we took the way to the 
 Bastei, and the path changed into, a road. 
 
 I was very tired before we reached the top, and yet 
 we rested two or three times ; but we were going up 
 hill all the way, and it was hard. When we were 
 almost at the top we saw a very high tower, and I 
 wanted to go to the top of it ; but papa said we should 
 be tired enough without it. Very soon after there were 
 some buildings where people lived, and in one was 
 beer and refreshment for strangers. We were glad 
 enough to get something to eat, for it was noon, and 
 papa called for cold meat and white bread and butter. 
 They brought us some nice cold venison, but had 
 nothing but the black bread ; for, as it had looked like 
 
172 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 a rainy day, they had not sent down into the valley 
 for any white bread. But we were so hungry w^e 
 enjoyed anything. 
 
 Oh, Susie, I wish I could tell you what we saw when 
 we went out on the very edge of the Bastei ! It seemed 
 as though there was a great ocean of rocks all around 
 us, and they were so high they seemed like the great 
 cathedrals I had seen. Sometimes great trees were 
 growing on them. Just below us, but still six hundred 
 feet below, was the river, and the little "sdllages, and a 
 good way off was what jDapa said was one of the 
 strongest fortresses in Europe; just think, made of 
 these great rocks. It was fearful to look down from 
 where we were ; it made me dizzy, although there was 
 a strong iron railing around us. And we were on the 
 top of one of these high rocks ourselves ! The highest 
 one is called the Bastei. We went over the strong 
 stone bridge which is built across some of the rocks, 
 but it is almost awfal to walk across it. Mamma was 
 afraid for me ever}^ minute when I did not hold her 
 hand, for all the places were so dangerous. We went 
 down a different way from the one we went U23, and 
 through the oddest little village, hid away out of sight 
 in the valley at the foot of the Bastei. We had a 
 good ride back to Dresden ; but I was so tired, I did n't 
 enjoy it so well, but the day itself was about the best 
 I have yet had. Would n't you think it would be ? 
 
HELEN ON HEK TRAVELS. 173 
 
 Forty-Sixth Letter. 
 
 BEKLIN. 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 The ride from Dresden to Berlin did not seem as 
 long as I thought it would, because we stopped over 
 night on the way at Juterbog. If you thought we 
 had a funny time when we spent a night at a village 
 inn, in the summer, you wx^uld have said there was as 
 much to laugh at about our visit to Juterbog. If we 
 hadn't left the cars at all, we should have reached 
 Berlin about nine o'clock in the evening, and it would 
 have been almost better if we had kept on ; but papa 
 had a feeling that mamma would like to see some 
 curiosity there was in that little place, and he thought, 
 too, that a hotel was very near the station. When we 
 found how the case stood, we thought his first visit 
 there could not have left much impression upon him ; 
 certainly the long distance had n't. 
 
 As soon as we stepped out of the station house, we 
 saw it was already very dark. We had been riding 
 since three o'clock. Papa said he remembered we 
 must go through an avenue of trees, and then he be- 
 
174 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 lieved we should come to the village ; hut he was a 
 little mistaken. We each took something in our 
 hands, — I had the luncheon hasket, — and we trudged 
 on and on, until even papa was, I think, a little tired, 
 though he only said that strange places seem longer 
 to reach when it is dark. Almost all of the way we 
 walked hy ourselves, though sometimes German hoys 
 would come along, singing a song or whistling. When 
 we reached the village we supposed of course we were 
 nearly at the inn ; hut papa was again mistaken, for 
 we walked through one very long street, and then 
 another, and still another. It wasn't much such a 
 walk as it is to walk down Washington street in Bos- 
 ton, in the evening, I can tell you. At first the 
 houses were very small, and only one story high ; hut 
 in the second street they were hetter. The streets 
 were paved with little round stones that hurt my feet 
 at every step. There were not many j)eople in the 
 streets. Sometimes we would meet a man to inquire 
 the w^ay of, or a dog would hark at us. We passed 
 one house where we could see into the rooms, because 
 there were no curtains, and we saw rooms full of men 
 and women drinking beer. After we had passed a 
 very tall tower, papa began to inquire of people for 
 the Black Bear, which was the name of the inn. At 
 last we were directed to a house, which certainly did 
 not look neat nor pleasant, and the rooms were full of 
 soldiers, smoking and drinking. But mamma and I 
 were afraid to go in, and that was n't the Black Bear, 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 175 
 
 either ; it was another inn. So we had to inquire 
 again, and a woman led us to the very door. We 
 went into a long entry, and papa opened a door on one 
 side; hut it .was full of men, so^he opened a door on 
 the other side, and there we found a very comfortable 
 room. A man sat by the table, but he said nothing 
 but "Good evening." Papa said, ^'Can we spend the 
 night here, and have a good room ? '" He said " Yes," 
 and then he went out and sent in a servant-girl. Oh, 
 how she gazed at us ! She of course knew we were 
 foreigners, though she didn't hear us speak English, 
 because papa had told us to talk together in German, 
 if we could. Papa said to her " bring us the best sup- 
 j)er you can, and then give us nice beds." Pretty soon 
 she came in with supper ; what do you think it was ? 
 Some brown bread, cut in thin slices, with cheese be- 
 tween them, and beer. That was all we could have ; 
 but although we never had liked the black bread as 
 it is called, we all ate a good deal of it. 
 
 Then the girl lighted a tallow candle and led us 
 through the long entry, and up some stairs which were 
 not painted but covered with white sand. As we 
 passed the kitchen door, all the people of the house, I 
 should think, put their heads out to see us. We had 
 really a nice, clean, large room, though there were no 
 curtains to the windows. After I was put in between 
 the feather beds, papa and mamma left the light burn- 
 ing, (that was because I was in a strange house and 
 me awake,) and went out in the street again to see 
 
176 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 something in an old churcli there. I didn't see it; 
 but it was a very old chest that a man, named Tetzel, 
 used to put money in. He lived when Martin Luther 
 did, and was a very wicked man ; he used to tell people 
 he would pardon all their sins if they would pay him 
 money. But when he had got a great deal, it was 
 taken away from him, and the chest he kept it in has 
 always been in a church in Juterbog. I did n't know 
 when papa and mamma came back, and I did n't know 
 anything till morning. We had a better breakfast 
 than we had supper, and had time afterwards to get to 
 the train in season, and then we came here to Berlin. 
 I do n't know whether I shall like this city or not ; we 
 live in a hotel now. 
 
 r^-^^ 
 
 i^m^ 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 177 
 
 Forty-Seventh Letter. 
 
 BERLIN. 
 Dear Cousin Susie: 
 
 I have been almost homesick since we came here, 
 and wished we were back in our home in America 
 again, for we have had such a time looking for rooms. 
 I always like to go out w^ith papa and mamma when I 
 can in the day-time, and so for two or three days I 
 have been with them a good deal, and — oh, how many 
 flights of stairs I have been up and down ! Papa has 
 been trying to find a home for us near the Unter den 
 Linden ; that is the name of the finest street in the 
 city, and if anybody can live very near it, then there 
 will be only a little way to walk to a great many nice 
 places. 
 
 It seems like being in a great city again to walk 
 through the streets here ; and I think it is a very 
 handsome citj, for I have seen some very fine looking 
 buildings with statues on them, and there are splendid 
 shops here, too ; but you would think, Susie, just as I 
 do, that it does n't seem much like any place we know 
 in America. The sidewalks are so different, and the 
 houses all seem to look alike, for they are all of pretty 
 much the same color, and that is a light yellow or 
 straw-color; papa says they are made of brick, and 
 
178 HELEN ON HEK TKAYELS. 
 
 then covered witli a sort of colored plaster ; and then, 
 besides, — but I forgot what I was writing about when 
 I commenced this letter; jou see I write just as I 
 suppose I should talk if I was with you, only I can 't 
 know what you would say. I w^ish I could ! 
 
 I should think the Berlin people all lived up stairs, 
 for the lower part of the houses is full of shops, and 
 the upper stories are where the people live. And papa 
 says this is the general custom here, although in the 
 new, fine streets there are no shops in the houses. 
 The houses must be very large here, or else so many 
 families could n't live in one ; for they seem to be full 
 from the top to the bottom, and each family hve in one 
 story, so that they can 't have some rooms up stairs 
 and some down as your mother does, but all must be 
 joined together. We saw all kinds of rooms and all 
 kinds of pe'ople when we were inquiring for rooms. 
 When any people have rooms to let, they hang a 
 painted notice by the great street-door, and as we were 
 walking along, if we saw one of these large cards at 
 a good looking place, we would go up stairs till we 
 found the woman who had rooms to let. Sometimes 
 she would live in the first story (that is considered the 
 best), and sometimes in the second, and sometimes we 
 went up to the very top of the house, and then only 
 one room, or two little ones, or we would have to walk 
 through the bed-room — and perhaps that would be 
 dark — to get to the sitting-room. 
 
 Papa and mamma did n't find any place that exactly 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 179 
 
 suited them, although two nice ones were promised the 
 first of next month; so we came to this side of the 
 Linden, in the same street where papa used to live 
 when he was here before. I don't like it very much; 
 but it is n't so much matter to me after all, for when I 
 am in the house I have my playthings and my books, 
 and then I shall walk every day with mamma, and 
 perhaps bye and bye I may go to anotlier Kindergarten. 
 My drawer that mamma has given me is just full of 
 my playthings. I have to keep my box of blocks on 
 the floor. Did I ever tell you, Susie, that I had them 
 for a present one time when I was sick in Gotha, and 
 could not go out for several days ? They are one of 
 the toys that I was promised I should have when we 
 got to Germany, and of course they came. Every 
 time I go out on the street, I see so many pretty toys 
 I would like, and mamma says she sees beautiful 
 pictures she would like, and I suppose papa wants 
 something, too. Whenever I say, '' Oh, dear, I wish 
 I had such a thing ! " papa always says, 
 
 " Man never is, but always to be blest." 
 He has to say it so often to me that I know it by 
 heart; and by this time I understand pretty well 
 what it means, though at first I supposed it was some 
 of his fun. 
 
 But I should think I had written enough ! I wish 
 you would write to me as often as I do to you. Do 
 you ever play with your wax dolly now-a-days ? The 
 German name for doll is puppe ; is n't it funny ? 
 
180 HELElSr ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 Forty-Eighth Letter. 
 
 BEKLIN. 
 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 I begin to like Berlin pretty well. Every day I 
 take a long walk, but the streets all seem to look prett}^ 
 much alike, except the Unter den Linden. That 
 name means in English "under the Limes," but we 
 always say the Linden when we speak of it. It is 
 such a splendid street, Susie, — a mile long ; and it is 
 so broad that there are two or three places for carriages 
 and one for horseback-riders, and two side walks, and 
 one broad walk in the very middle under the trees. 
 At one end of it is a very large stone gate ; papa says 
 it is one of the handsomest in the world, — certainly 
 I can 't think how one could be finer ; and when any 
 one stands by that, he can see down between the trees 
 a whole mile to^a great statue. Do n't you remember 
 hearing my papa tell once about Frederick the Great's 
 statue that he had seen in Berlin? how beautiful 
 it was, and he hoped that when you and I were young 
 ladies, we should see it too ? Well, this is the same 
 one, and I don't wonder now that papa and every- 
 body else praises it so much. 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 181 
 
 There is so much to be seen on this street, that if I 
 should try to tell you what I see and how much I like 
 to look at the splendid shops, you would say I was 
 silly, and I am afraid cousin Mary and aunt Susan 
 would think I should make you discontented. The 
 king's palace is close to the great statue, and there are 
 a great many fine buildings beyond that, and all have 
 statues on them. When we get back to America I 
 think we shall miss the statues some. Papa told me 
 yesterday what all these buildings were : some are 
 palaces, and the Crown Prince lives in the hand- 
 somest one. You know, do n't you, that he married 
 Queen Victoria's oldest daughter, and I think she 
 ought to have a pretty home here, when she had to 
 leave such nice places in England. 
 
 But I began to tell you what was in these great 
 houses. One is an arsenal, and is full of guns and 
 swords ; and another is where the great museum is, 
 where I suppose there is almost everything to be seen. 
 And opposite that, across the great square, is the old 
 palace. It is so large that I should think a little city 
 fall of people could live in it. We went into it yes- 
 terday. Some more Americans went with us, and we 
 had to have a guide. Did I ever tell you, Susie, about 
 a young American gentleman that we used to know 
 when we were in Bonn and Heidelberg ? He used to 
 make me think of your uncle Tenny and of my uncle 
 Will, and I loved him very much. He is visiting us 
 now, and went over the great palace with us. Of 
 
182 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 course we didn't see half nor a quarter of all the 
 rooms ; but what we did see were most splendid. The 
 jloors were polished so much that I could hardly walk 
 without slipping down, and all the gentlemen had to 
 put on soft sandals over their boots, to prevent any 
 scratching on the floors. 
 
 Some rooms were full of portraits, and some of carv- 
 ing, and some of beautiful silver things. Oh, I was 
 really tired seeing so much ! and we kept walking on, 
 from one great room to another, till we came to a 
 church. It is made as a dome, and is round. Papa 
 told me about all the kings and distinguished people 
 who had lived in this palace, and we are going out to 
 a pretty place some nice day, where there is another ; 
 but I suppose it is n't as splendid as this one. 
 
 I like to walk in the Thiergarten, and I take my 
 great ball there to ]3lay. It seems like a great wood, 
 only it has nice paths for people who walk, and car- 
 riage roads for carriages ; and there are little ponds in 
 it, and beautiful statues. There are always a great 
 many people to be seen there, and papa says that in 
 warm weather and on Sundays, it is crowded with 
 people. We only have to go through that great gate 
 I told you about, and then cross a street, and we are 
 just on the edge of this Thiergarten ; but it is three 
 miles long- 
 
 I hope I shall write letters from Berlin that you 
 will like, Susie ! 
 
HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 183 
 
 Forty-Ninth Letter, 
 
 BEELITf, 
 Dear Susie: 
 
 The reason I have not written for so long is, because 
 I have been so busy. I have commenced going to 
 another Kindergarten, and I like it very much. That 
 takes all my time, from nine o'clock till one, and then 
 after dinner I take a walk, or sew, or read. Two or 
 three times lately, mamma has taken me with her 
 when she has gone shopping. I always want to laugh, 
 because the shop women are so polite, and mamma 
 makes such funny mistakes in German. I have just 
 had a new hat ; but we had to go into a great many 
 shops before we could find what suited us. Oh, Susie, 
 they think it is so fanny in the Kindergarten, that I 
 do n't wear ear-rings in my ears, for the little German 
 girls do ! 
 
 I wish I could think of all I have done that you 
 would like to hear about. I remember that we went 
 out to see the palace in Charlottenburg, and we rode 
 in the horse cars. It was so nice to ride in the horse 
 cars again, for we had n't seen any since we were in 
 
184 HELEN ON HER TRAVELS. 
 
 New York ; and I shut my eyes and tried to imagine 
 we were at home again. The cars here are better than 
 ours at home, because there are narrow stairs at each 
 end for people to go up to the top and find nice seats. 
 
 The only thing I saw in the palace that I cared 
 much about, was an old clock that used to belong to 
 Frederick the Great, and could be wound up to play a 
 tune. The music was so loud that I was almost 
 frightened, and I do n't wonder it made Napoleon 
 jump when he heard it in the night. When he had 
 gained a victory once, he came to this palace to sleep 
 one night; and after he had gone to bed, some roguish 
 servant placed this old clock beside him, and touched 
 the spring. It began to play the old Prussian march, 
 and it woke Napoleon up. He thought the Prussian 
 soldiers must be coming upon him, and called for help. 
 
 There are two beautiful monuments of Queen Louisa 
 and her husband in the garden of the palace, and 
 strangers are all the time going to see them. 
 
 It is almost Thanksgiving time, and I really wish I 
 could be with you on that day. I suppose you will 
 have roast turke}^, and mince pie, and plum pudding, 
 for dinner. I do n't think I shall see any turkey, for 
 papa and mamma are going to eat their dinner witli a 
 great party of Americans at a hotel, and little children 
 are not allowed to go. Every two weeks there are 
 American gatherings at the ambassador's, or some- 
 where else, but I can't go there, either. 
 
 I know a few little girls here besides the ones in 
 
HELEX OX HER TRAVELS. 185 
 
 the Kindergarten. Oh, we do have such nice times in 
 my school ! One da}^ we make pretty things out of 
 paper, another day we make nice things with worsted, 
 and another da}^ we prick the prettiest httle baskets 
 and flowers and vines in patterns with pins, and on 
 Saturdays w^e always work in clay, and make any- 
 thing we like. And then every day we have nice 
 stories told us in German, and play amusing games 
 besides. We do not sit still a great while at a time, 
 for the teachers always have some plays ready. All 
 the children, and the teachers, too, carry their break- 
 fasts to school, and so mamma allows me to carry 
 something in my little basket, though I have break- 
 fast at home first. Some of the children carry brown 
 bread and slices of meat, and some bread and butter ; 
 and the teacher has a glass of beer sent in to her. 
 This is the teacher who lives in the house where the 
 school is : the others do n^t live there. We all . love 
 her dearly, and she seems to love us, though she has 
 taught a Kindergarten for a great man};^ years. She 
 and the other teachers are showing us now how to 
 make pretty presents for Christmas. You see, Susie, 
 every family here in Germany have a Christmas tree, 
 and our school is going to have one, too ; and we shall 
 each have a little present, and take something off the 
 tree for our 2>arents. I am making a watch-case for 
 papa, in the form of a slipper. It is made of brown 
 pasteboard, embroidered with w^orsted. He does n't 
 know it, though, and I am going to try and keep a 
 
186 
 
 HELEX OX HER TRAVELS. 
 
 secret this time. Please, Susie, ask your mother not 
 to write it to him. 
 
 I do n't believe I can write any more letters till after 
 Christmas, for I shall be so busy. I am going to have 
 a little tree at home besides. When I can, I '11 tell 
 you about it all. 
 
University of 
 Connecticut 
 
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