IX A German First of September 471 



I fell in with the worthy Herr in this wise. 



Stopping at Sitz-Bad one summer, and becoming 



slightly bored there, I struck up an acquaintance 



with the Government schoolmaster, or spracJi-leJirer 



(speech -teacher), as he delighted to be called ; a 



man of feeble body, and not much stronger mind, 



who in his mellow moments (which were not rare) 



was always lamenting his hard fate, as exemplified 



in his having married a bauer - mddchen (who, 



by-the-bye, was a good woman, and kept him in 



most excellent order, so excellent, in fact, that 



his very soul was not his own) instead of waiting 



for some beautiful Englanderinn or rich Russian 



princess, for either of whom he had ready prepared 



an ear-splitting and tooth-fracturing German ode. 



This ode he read to me one evening after a light 



supper of cold boiled trout a rhuile ; and of course, 



as in duty bound, I admired it exceedingly, and 



compared it to every effort of the Teutonic lyre, 



from 



' Anna Mariechen wo gehest du hin ! ' 



up to 



' Bekrantz mit Laub ! ' 



My admiration having warmed his heart, he 

 introduced me to Herr Troster, his great patron, as 

 an Echter Englander, in whom there was no guile 

 whatever, and gave me such a high character to 

 that Teutonic Falstaff, that I got leave to fish in a 

 little stream that trickled through the meadows 

 close by, on the condition, however, of paying for 



