UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 253 



rouse his mind to this, he only wept at the loss 

 of their former pretty garden, for which they had 

 both done so much. 



The group of walnut-trees still remained ; and, 

 fortunately, they bore remarkably well. The 

 gathering of the fruit and the pressure of the 

 oil is one of the most important occupations of 

 the Savoyards, and Madeleine was again assisted 

 by her kind neighbours. The walnut harvest 

 commences about September ; the fruit is 

 beaten off the trees with long poles, and the green 

 husks are taken off as soon as they begin to 

 decay ; the walnuts are then laid in a chamber 

 to dry, where they remain till the end of Autumn, 

 when the process of making the oil commences. 

 The first operation is of course to take out the 

 kernel, and for this the neighbouring peasantry 

 collect. They are usually placed round a long 

 table ; a man at each end of it cracks the nuts 

 with a mallet, by hitting them on the point ; and 

 as fast as they are cracked they are distributed 

 to the persons round the table, who take out the 

 kernels and remove the inner part. The Savoy 

 ards are so lively, that this employment is in 

 general accompanied by songs and various amuse 

 ments. The day that Bertram, their English 

 friend, returned, Madeleine was thus occupied ; 

 while her poor old father, placed in a chair beside 

 her, was gazing vacantly at what they were 

 doing. 



VOL. T, Z 



