48 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
meats. At first it nsecl to give me a very disagreeable 
feeling to be waited upon by the woman-kind of the 
household, and I was always starting up, and attempt¬ 
ing to take the dishes out of their hands, to their infinite 
surprise; but now I have succeeded in learning to accept 
their ministrations with the same unembarrassed dignity 
as my neighbours. In the end, indeed, I have rather got 
to like it, especially when they are as pretty as Miss 
Thora. To add, moreover, to our content, it appeared 
that that young lady spoke a little French; so that 
we had no longer any need to pay our court by proxy, 
which many persons besides ourselves have found to 
be unsatisfactory. Our hostess lives quite alone. Her 
son, whom I have the pleasure of knowing, is far 
away, pursuing a career of honour and usefulness at 
Copenhagen, and it seems quite enough for his 
mother to know that he is holding his head high 
among the princes of literature, and the statesmen of 
Europe, provided only news of his success and ad¬ 
vancing reputation shall occasionally reach her across 
the ocean. 
Of the rooms and the interior arrangement of the 
house, I do not know that I have anything particular 
