STYRIAN PEASANTS cxxiii 



more interesting game in the shape of the Styrian peasants, 

 and in particular of his gillie, Joseph. This Joseph was much 

 of a character ; and his appreciations of Fleeming have a fine 

 note of their own. The bringing up of the boys he deigned to 

 approve of: ''fast so gut wie ein Bauer,' was his trenchant criti- 

 cism. The attention and courtly respect with which Fleeming 

 surrounded his wife, was something of a puzzle to the philoso- 

 phic gillie ; he announced in the village that Mrs. Jenkin die 

 sillerne Frau, as the folk had prettily named her from some 

 silver ornaments was a ' geborene Grafin ' who had married 

 beneath her ; and when Fleeming explained what he called 

 the English theory (though indeed it was quite his own) of 

 married relations, Joseph, admiring but unconvinced, avowed 

 it was ' gar schonJ Joseph's cousin, Walpurga Moser, to an 

 orchestra of clarionet and zither, taught the family the country 

 dances, the Steierisch and the Landler, and gained their hearts 

 during the lessons. Her sister Loys, too, who was up at 

 the Alp with the cattle, came down to church on Sundays, 

 made acquaintance with the Jenkins, and must have them up 

 to see the sunrise from her house upon the Loser, where they 

 had supper and all slept in the loft among the hay. The Mosers 

 were not lost sight of; Walpurga still corresponds with Mrs. 

 Jenkin, and it was a late pleasure of Fleeming's to choose and 

 despatch a wedding present for his little mountain friend. This 

 visit was brought to an end by a ball in the big inn parlour ; 

 the refreshments chosen, the list of guests drawn up, by Joseph ; 

 the best music of the place in attendance ; and hosts and guests 

 in their best clothes. The ball was opened by Mrs. Jenkin 

 dancing Steierisch with a lordly Bauer, in gray and silver and 

 with a plumed hat ; and Fleeming followed with Walpurga 

 Moser. 



There ran a principle through all these holiday pleasures, 

 In Styria as in the Highlands, the same course was followed : 

 Fleeming threw himself as fully as he could into the life and 

 occupations of the native people, studying everywhere their 

 dances and their language, and conforming, always with plea- 

 sure, to their rustic etiquette. Just as the ball at Alt Aussee 



VOL. I. h 



