A VISIT TO EUROPE 333 



also the visits paid me in Kuiiigsberg, as most of my ac- 

 quaintances either managed to meet me at Rosenstock's 

 or at Schwarzenberger's. 



Berlin, the next stopping place, harbored me four days, 

 and my time was principally taken up with visits to rela- 

 tives of California friends. And how they love to hear 

 those American stories; everything interests them. 



Monday, the 28th of September, about four o'clock, I 

 reached Grabow and have really enjoyed the quiet little 

 town, where everything seems so peaceful after the noise 

 of a large city like Berlin. The Martienssens, Labs and 

 Jastrams rival each other in making my stay most agree- 

 able. The little town has hardly four thousand inhabit- 

 ants, but they are all of the solid Mecklenburg kind which 

 are an honor to any country. Farming is the principal 

 occupation of these people, which accounts for their 

 healthy minds and bodies. To-morrow I shall continue 

 my journey to Hamburg, much as I should like to spend 

 a few more days in these quiet surroundings. 



Hamburg, Oct. 8th, 1868. 



Again I am well cared for at Zingg's Hotel, and make 

 the rounds at my old friends. Dubois secured for me a 

 ticket to New York, for which I paid him one hundred 

 and twenty dollars. 



Of course, I make the best of my stay by reviving re- 

 membrances of old, which I described in former pages. 

 A spot, which was new to me, is the little borough of 

 Wandsbeck, which, they say, will soon be raised to the 

 dignity of a city, as it has almost the required ten thou- 

 sand inhabitants. The trouble is, that it takes an uncon- 

 scionable amount of legislating and red tape, as Wands- 

 beck, like Altona, is within Holstein territory, which has 

 just become a province of Prussia. This pleasant bor- 

 ough has several places of interest, such as the castle of 

 ( mint von Schimmelmann, a beautiful forest and the mon- 

 ument of its genial citizen, the writer and poet, Matthias 

 Claudius (the AVhittier of Germany), who is best known 

 as the "Messenger of Wandsbeck," which name he had 



