shady piazza, looking out on the work 
of her hands, she laid her head on my 
daughter’s shoulder and wept, saying, ns she 
did so, she had found a new life for which 
site thanked God and Dr. Ekenbaoh. Nor 
did Katrina withhold tier hand from work ; 
she never considered the garden complete. 
She trimmed and weeded ; she planted 
seeds of verbenas, portulaceas and morning 
glories. One morning she discovered u pair 
of mocking birds building their nest in a 
wild inimoa i tree, which she had persuaded 
her father to leave standing when lie cleared 
the ground for the house; in a week they 
were so tamed that every morning they came 
to sing and be fed on the window sill of the 
young girl. 
This bird lias some singular and Charm¬ 
ing characteristics. You never hear their 
song in the wild woods; hut clear a little 
place, build a house and let women and 
Children go in and out., and presently comes 
the mocking bird for companionship and 
home. His song is incomparable among 
birds; in the morning his music welcomes 
the coming day, and at midnight in his glo¬ 
rious melody you seem to hear the stars 
sing together. How often have I swung in 
my hammock in the balmy Florida morning 
and listened to a duet of rival birds, who 
liavo Caught each other’s notes in distant 
trees, striving who shall sing God’s praises 
in this lovely climate the loudest, richest, 
deepest. It 1ms taken me very near to 
lluaven, for I never heard such music from 
human voices; no concert in Berlin or 
Florence could equal the beauty of its 
melody. 
I must return to the hard work of Herr 
M ’s farm. Ho had, as I said, planted an 
acre of common vegetables for a kitchen 
garden. There were two acres left of his 
ten-acre farm. Of this he put an acre in 
cucumbers and one in English peas. These 
crops would gro w while he was preparing 
lor the great si:.pies that he had resolved to 
plant and would mellow the ground for 
them. When they were Well under way he 
went about other duties—such as finishing 
parts of his house that lie had left incom¬ 
plete, building a horse-cart, for which lie 
bought wheels at. Key West, and a small 
boat hewn from a cypress log. lie also 
began a larger boat to be built in the same 
way, but sufficient to sail to Key West and 
to live in on the trip. This boat, finished 
in tlie spring, was quite a wonder in its way. 
It was hewn from two logs of cypress, such 
as are frequent in tlmt section. It measured 
forty feet in length, had eight feet beam, 
and was four feet deep; was schooner rig¬ 
ged aid closely decked—was to be a sale 
boat in a sea, and bad a cabin afl, comfort¬ 
able for two men. Herr M. estimated her 
carrying capacity at something more than 
500 bushels. 
x. 
It will he remembered that my friend 
planted in November. In December he had 
leltuce, radishes, leeks, spring heels and 
young cabbages. In January lie had new 
potatoes ami sweet, corn, with green peas 
and snap beans, cucumbers and some other 
vegetables. In March lie gathered 100 bush¬ 
els of English peas, sold to speculators on 
t he steamers for $1 a bushel, and 40 barrels 
of cucumbers, for which he received $120. 
You may believe that Herr M. was pretty 
well set up by liis good fortune. He had 
been in the country but four months, and 
had already sold $410 worth of lisli and veg¬ 
etables, in addition to the crops saved for 
domestic use. He lelt. that everything now 
was income—that his days of slavery were 
over. He sang cheerily all Hie day long, as 
he plowed or hoed or performed other labor. 
He wanted to pay me Hie full price of Ids 
land at once, bnL this 1 thought not pru¬ 
dent. I look one-half, and left over $200 in 
his hands. 
W lieu lie had cleared the two acres of peas 
and cucumbers, he spread if with compost 
and immediately planted it. with sugarcane. 
It was late in the season, but lie needed the 
cash proceeds of the early crops, and his 
cane would be sure to ripen, as we have no 
autumn frosts. In April he dug 800 bushels 
of Irish potatoes, 250 of which he forwarded 
to my agents in New York by the steamer, 
and in three weeks received the net proceeds, j 
amounting to $? a barrel—in nil, $700. By 1 
this time Herr M. was fairly crazed; he 
wanted to put all Ids land in Irish potatoes, 
but I explained to him that new land was 
best for them, and that they brought this 
great price because they reached the market 
early in the spring. 1 advised Ids putting 
the three acres just, cleared of potatoes also 
in sugar cane, which ho did; and by the 
time he had finished planting the sweet po¬ 
tatoes were ready to dig. He took 800 bush¬ 
els from Hie three acres and sent 800 of the 
finest to New York, whence in due time lie 
received notice of net proceeds amounting 
to $600. 
Herr Muhlenberg was fast growing rich. 
Now, I permitted him to pay the balance 
due for bis land, aud be owned fifty acres of 
unincumbered estate in the garden spot of 
the Continent. For $400 lie also bought a 
sugar mill and all the requisite machinery 
for manufacturing sugar, and while his crop 
was growing erected the works. 
The rainy season had set in now, so that 
it was a good time to plant trees. This sea¬ 
son, ho acceptable to the farmer, brings him 
each day in this region a pleasant shower or 
two, while the rest of the time is sunshine 
or pleasantly shaded with clouds by turns. 
Mein Herr, taking advantage of the season, 
set out uu acre of guavas, one of oranges 
and one of lemons; and at the same time 
other members of the family gathered the 
long gray moss from the trees and buried it 
in the ground to rot off the soft outside. In 
six months it would make splended beds, 
lie bad now on the place—one acre as house 
lot; one acre ns kitchen garden; five acres 
of sugar canc, and three acres in young 
fruit trees. He had received for fish, $190; 
lbr peas, $100; for cucumbers, $120; for 
Irish potatoes, $700, and for sweet potatoes, 
$600—more than seventeen hundred dollars 
in all, after being bnL six months in the coun¬ 
try, and his returns Iiad set in so soon after 
beginning Hint he had never boon pinched 
for money! He now beautified bis bouse 
and supplied it with comfortable furniture. 
XI. 
You may be sure that Herr M.’s friend 
Stein Metz heard of all this, for every 
steamer carried letters between Hie young 
folks. Finally, in June a letter came from 
Hie father Steinmetz to know what was Hie 
truth about till this talk of his new country; 
were all Katiuna'b stories true, or was she 
only trying to get her sweetheart to come 
and make her lonely life a little more hear¬ 
able? As for himself, he had some very 
nice vege tallies in May, but not much to sell. 
He had broken up and planted forty acres in 
corn, and be should be lucky if lie got 
enough from it to pay for keeping warm the 
next winter. They had suffered a good deal 
with the cold, the like of which they hud 
never known at home, and the season so far 
hud been dry, so that they feared losing the 
present crop, which he understood to be a 
common thing in that section. In reply 
Herr M., wrote that Katrina’s story was 
all true, and with a farmer’s care lie planted 
his crops all over again in a long letter, and 
invited his friend to come and see for liiinsol f. 
While the sugar crop was growing there 
was plenty of leisure on the farm, and this 
was employed in a variety of useful ways. 
Gustav look to lishing, and in June had a 
score of big green luriles in his father’s corral, 
with plenty of bass, trout, snapper and 
groupers in the other pen. But lie bad not 
made another great seine haul, for which lie 
had watched. 1 observed that the young 
man was never idle and never busy in tri¬ 
fles; and one day, when I was bunting in 
the woods back of my place, I found him at 
work getting out the stuff for a new house. 
There were nicely hewn, square logs, and a 
big pile of shingles and light poles for gird¬ 
ers. Every thing had a peculiar finish about 
it, as if Hie pride of a great devotion had as¬ 
sisted the tool. 
“ Why," said I, “ how is this, Gustav?” 
The young man, who had not before no¬ 
ticed me, now looked up ami blushed in 
some confusion of manner. “I have been 
buying a farm,” he said; “I have bought 
the t wenty-acre lot of my father, and I am 
going to put a house on it.” 
You had better plant it than build,” 1 
said. 
“ I have planted three acres of sugar and 
set out three acres of fruit trees aud one 
of pine-apples,” said Gustav. 
I guess I opened my eyes pretly wide, for 
the young man smiled and said, “Will you 
go and see it, llej’r Doctor?" I said, “ Yes, 
will I, and glad to." 
So we went across his father’s place, and 
sure enough there were Seven acres as hand¬ 
somely laid off as 1 had ever seen, We 
walked down towards the front to see the 
spot selected for a house, and on the way 1 
said, “ lias Herr Steinmetz a daughter that 
will come to be a sister to Katrina?" I 
laughed and looked at Gustav, who was 
again blushing—and then looking up I found 
1 had almost stepped on Katrina and my 
Wii.helmina, who were busy planting a 
flower garden. We all started, for they bad 
been so absorbed the}' bad not noticed my 
coming. Wilhelmina blushed at first aud 
then became pale, but Katrina looked up 
and smiled out of her great blue eyes so 
roguishly that I was taken a prisoner at 
once. 
“ What,” I said, “ all this a secret from 
me ?” 
“I would have been ready for you in 
another week,” said Gustav, inspired by the 
presence of Hie girls. 
“ How ready for me?” 
“1 would have shown you my house and 
my farm, 60 that you should know what I 
am able to do, and then I would have asked 
you if I might be your son-in-law I” 
“ And what, you rogues, if I bad said uo ?” 
I tried to be very sharp in my voice, but 1 
know I felt soft, and I am afraid I looked so. 
“But you will not, my father,” said WiL- 
helmlna, and she took Gustav's hand and 
laid in mine, and left: her own with it. I 
laid her wholesome, plump hand in the 
strong palm of Gustav’s, and only answered, 
“ God bless yon both, my children.” How 
could ! say any thing else? It was their af¬ 
fair, and not mine. But 1 was satisfied, too, 
for the young people were well suited to 
each other. 
Before the first of July Gustav’s house 
was built, and the out-houses were all up 
and the well dug and curbed. It’s a trifling 
matter to dig a well in this country, where 
one goes so little distance inio the ground to 
find a living, bubbling spring. Gustav cov¬ 
ered his well with a neat shed to protect it 
from the sun's heat. When all was ready, 
he took the schooner and went to Key West 
for furniture, which can be bought, there at 
a Cheap rate. 
During these months of June and July a 
good deal of rain fell, and my neighbors had 
been planting cocoaimt trees along the Bay 
front, and scattering a few additional ones 
over their lawns, and disposing some fig 
trees in various corners. As to their orange 
trees they had found a great wild grove in a 
hummock three miles back from the shore, 
and from this had transplanted for stocks. 
My grove furnished grails, and they would 
have fruit in three years. At the same time 
Katrina, with t lie aid of her sisters, planted 
the entire fence lines with grape cuttings. 
In August and September four drags of 
the seine were made by the united families, 
and the proceeds were shared according to 
l lie labor furnished. We made a very good 
tiling of it, having $800 to divide. In Sep¬ 
tember, Gustav and his brother took the 
schooner up into New River and returned 
with a load of oysters, which they planted 
in one of the creeks, and which, by annual 
reinforcement, keeps them in that luxury. 
At the Bay shore they have built a little 
pier of palmetto logs—also a boat-house and 
bath-house, now sheltered by a coeonmit 
grove five years old. From this spot to the 
house the walk is shaded by olive trees. 
XII. 
In October Gustav came to me to buy 
more land; be wanted a hundred acres 
south of his place. I advised him not to 
acquire too much land, to give his attention 
to a perfect development of what lie had, 
and to spend his money for cuttle. But he 
was not to he moved. This young man 
possessed a singular ability to hold his 
tongue. Without any disposition to mystify, 
or habit of concealment or trickery, lie 
seemed fo form plans and proceed to their 
execution with a quiet self-reliance that was 
equally without bluster or diffidence. It 
was his own business; it never occurred to 
him that another would care to know it. 
8o, early in October, lie bought 100 acres of 
land for $400—paid half cash and gave his 
note at three months lor the other half. In 
the first week of November he came to tny 
door on his pony and wanted me lo ride 
with him. lie had a pleased look when 1 
consented ; he said he wanted to take a look 
over his possessions in my company. We 
crossed the creek south of my house and 
then along the shore to his hundred acre 
tract. What was my astonishment to find 
the land apparently divided into live equal 
lots, on each of which was a new kitchen, 
a smoke house and a well! 
“ What does it all mean, Gustav?” Of 
course, if 1 had not asked lie would not have 
volunteered to tell me; so, now that I 
asked, concealment was as fur from his in¬ 
tention. 
“Next week,” he answered, “ the steamer 
will bring Herr Steinmetz; this place is 
for him; that near by is for Fritz, his son; 
the other three are for neighbors from B- 
who arc coming with him. You see I have 
built kitchens; they will need them and the 
wells. It is better they build their own 
houses, however, and so I haven't touched 
them. I shall get five dollars an acre for 
Hie land and sufficient for the work done Lo 
pay me fairly for my time, and I shall make 
neighbors for ns all. We shall have a fa¬ 
mous settlement here very soon.” 
Ah, I thought, what a fine tiling it is to 
have young blood in a new settlement. 
Gustav told me that the drouth, which so 
often kills off the crops and destroys the 
hopes of the farmer in the West, had been 
severe this season, and bis friends had de¬ 
termined to leave the prairies and coine to 
Florida. They had employed him to pre¬ 
pare for them. So in due time the steamer 
came across the Bay with its German freight, 
aud we all went down to welcome Hie new 
comers. Y’et, I could scarcely believe my 
senses; that these yellow, peaked faces had 
been the rotund, healthy and ruddy emi¬ 
grants whom 1 saw depart for the West only 
a year ago. Poor Fritz! Anxious to be 
successful for Hie sake of bis Katrina, be 
bad worked harder than the others, and 
been more exposed to the poison climate, 
and now lie presented a sorry picture in¬ 
deed. Goggle-eyed, hollow -cheeked and 
sallow-faced, his long, thin fingers rested on 
the shoulders of his father and mother, while 
he carefully and with trembling knees came 
along the deck and out upon the shore. 
Katrina covered her face with her hands 
at first and then struggled forward to meet 
her lover. He regarded Her with a dazed, 
tinrecognizing look, which I thought grieved 
her, when she oried out, *' Oh ! Fritz, don’t 
you know me?” Yes, lie knew Hie voice 
and sank on her neck. We had not thought 
uf the change in Katrina. She did not 
look like the same Katrina that lauded in 
New York. Her face was richly browned 
and suffused with a healthy glow; her cheek 
was rounded and her form had grown erect 
and full. Many were the exclamations of 
the new comers when they compared the 
appearance of the Muhlenberg’s with their 
own cadaverous faces. 
I gave them seats ill the olive grove, and 
brought out wine and fruit for their present 
refreshment—and then Herr Muhi.rnberos 
cook and mine sot to work in pleasant rival¬ 
ry to make a good meal for them. While it 
was being prepared they look possession of 
the bath-houses and refreshed themselves 
with cool sea water. Before night each 
family had possession of its own kitchen, 
except that Steinmetz was quartered in the 
new house of Gubtav Muhlenberg. 
We now found the benefit of the mineral 
springs in our noigbborhood, which could be 
made so valuable in not only curing diseases 
but in eradicating the effects of the violent 
remedies administered in Hie West. Here 
were springs of chalybeate, sulphur and 
magnesia, not a mile from my house; but I 
really depended more on the delicious cli¬ 
mate to which they had come, and on the 
ability to live here in the open air at. all sea¬ 
sons, than on the waters or any other medi¬ 
cal remedy, though they certainly had their 
value. Fritz’s case was serious, and for 
two weeks he required the most constant and 
tender watching. Katrina scarcely left 
him for her meals, and her assiduity saved 
him. Thus she repaid the sacrifice he made 
when he consented to her parting from him 
at New York. They have always since felt 
that it saved the lives of both. 
Our friends lmd arrived at a favorable sea¬ 
son ; they had each twenty acres of land, and 
proceeded much as Herr M., had done bo* 
foro them. In two weeks every family had 
a comfortable house, and in a month there 
were fresh lettuce, radishes and other relishes 
on every table. Muhlenberg’s sugar crop 
turned out well, as it always does in Ibis 
region. He cleared three hundred aud fifty 
dollars an acre on the five acres, and thus at 
the end of the year had netted more than 
$8,000, though he had not during that time 
had over ten acres under cultivation. 
It was time now to exhume the moss 
which they had buried in the summer, aud 
which served for mattressess of Hie finest 
quality. Gustav had moreover 2,000 pounds 
to sell, which brought him in $300. 
XIII. 
This sketch draws to a close, but I must 
tell you that at Christmas we had a great 
time. The minister came, and we had a 
double wedding. Gustav and Wilhelmina, 
with Fritz and Katrina, slood in the 
orange grove and the mocking birds chanted 
for them. Then we had a grand dance under 
the olives and cocoauut trees, and the next 
day a steamer that we had chartered came 
up from Key West. We breakfasted early, 
at home, and then a pleasant wedding party 
left, for Havana,—arriving in time for a late 
dinner and to visit the theater at night. The 
next morning they went on a pleasant sail 
around Cuba and among the neighboring 
Islands, and in a week were safely home 
again. 
My neighbors have been settled here more 
than four years, Their fruit trees are all in 
bearing, and they are cultivating more land 
each year, having begun generally with ten 
acres. This, indeed, is all that any one re¬ 
quires for a comfortable life in this charm¬ 
ing section, but Hie crops are so easily worked 
that every' temptation is presented to enlarge 
one’s field of action. All these people about 
me have cleared, at the lowest figure, $3,000 
for a year’s crops, when they cultivated but 
ten acres, and now tlieir profits are greater. 
The finest guava jelly, oranges, lemons and 
pine-apples are sent from here and yield im¬ 
mense returns. All have erected salt vats, 
and one great wind mill, common properly, 
supplies all with sea water. Last, year we 
formed a company for bottling mineral wa¬ 
ters, and this season we shall supply the 
Southern market, especially New Orleans. 
We have also, at common expense, built an 
ice-house and bought an ice machine. The 
like of our poultry was never seen, and it 
costs nothing for the keeping. 
We have a little church and a school- 
bouBe —and by the church a rich, open, 
natural park of oaks, draped in the loug, 
gray moss of the country, which we propose 
for a cemetery when the time comes that wc 
need one. Ab yet, thanks to our good 
Heavenly Father, we have not dug the first 
grave, aud we hope it may be long ere we 
do. But if there have been no deaths, we 
cannot say as much of births—for Wilhel¬ 
mina has three children, the oldest three 
3’ears old, and no twins. As for Katrina, 
she Is the mother of two. Every month 
brings new accessions to our settlement, and 
so we keep up our interest in the fatherland 
while we can’t, help wishing all Our country¬ 
men* Could live here. I mean Hie good ones, 
for there must bo some bad Germans as well 
as good, though as yet only the good have 
found their way to our little paradise. 
All of our people have herds of cattle, too 
that graze on the pastures back on the 
savannas, where no herdsmen arc needed. 
Only we go out every spring and mark our 
calves, while we keep as many cows at home 
as we require for milk. 
Tell me, dear reader, ought I not to be 
grateful that I have been permitted lo save 
the lives of some whom I have tempted to 
this climate, while, prosperity and happiness 
have come to all ? And I am grateful. I 
bless God daily for bringing me here, and 
that lie has helped me to bring others. 
-- 
THE WATER CASK. 
In the town of Strasbourg, in Alsace, there 
lived in olden times a cooper named Ru¬ 
dolph, who, though he had amassed great 
riches, still continued to work at his trade, 
and often might be seen in bis workshop 
setting his men an example of industry.' Un¬ 
fortunately for him, his principal motive to 
exertion was an Insatiable desire for riches, 
for Rudolph was a miser, the bight of whose 
ambition was to be thought Hie richest man 
of ills class in the town. He was very ill- 
tempered, and treated his workmen and all 
the poor who approached him, in a very 
rough and hard-hearted manner. 
One day, when he was finishing a large 
cask In front of his shop, a young woman 
passed, so weary, pale ami careworn that sbo 
might have been taken for more than fifty 
years of age. Her feel, without stockings or 
shoes, were cut and bleeding from llie bram¬ 
bles and stones she had passed over; her 
features were burnt and blistered by the sun 
and wind; her dress bung in tatters, and her 
limbs seemed stiffened by fatigue. Seeing 
Rudolph, she stopped and said: 
“My good masler, take pity upon n poor 
wayfarer; give me a cup of water to moisten 
my parched lips; 1 am very thirsty.” 
“The river is below there,” replied the 
cooper; “ go and drink there as much as you 
like. Must 1 quit my work because a mis¬ 
erable beggar like you is thirsty.” 
“Sir, you need not move; send one of 
your workmen to fetch me a drop." 
“ No one shall stir,” said Rudolph. “ If I 
were lo be kind to one ot your class you 
would tell others that cooper Rudolph gives 
food and drink to nil who require it.aiul my 
house would become a beggars’ ball; go 
your ways and leave me in peace, or 1 will 
have you driven away." 
“Hearlless mail,” said llie stranger, look¬ 
ing at Rudolph with indignation. “Thank 
heaven, 1 am not what I seem to lie; 1 was 
sent to try you, and I will now punish you 
as you deserve. With a sign 1 cotlkl Uiake 
you crawl the rest of your days like a ser¬ 
pent, or fly by night, in the form of an owl. 
But I wish, in punishing your silt, to make 
you a warning to others. Since, therefore, 
it is water you have refused me, 1 condemn 
you to fill to the brim with water the cask 
you have just finished.” 
Saying these words, the woman disap¬ 
peared. 
Rudolph scornfully laughed at her threats, 
and would have refused to execute his tusk, 
but soon fouud be had no power to resist. 
Forced by an irresistible power, he took the 
cask upon his shoulders and walked to the 
river; when arrived there, lie plunged it iu, 
but wliftt was his surprise and dismay to 
find, after he had left it in the water some 
time, that it rose to the surface dry as Ike 
desert of Arabia. He tried over and over 
again; Llie waves dashed round and above 
it, bn! no water would enter. 
At length, wearied and despairing, lie car¬ 
ried the cask home, took some money, and 
without bidding his wife farewell or kissing 
his little children, left his home, hoping to 
find a river where the water might be per¬ 
mitted to enter his cask. But the wicked 
mail searched in vain : to no purpose lie 
placed his cask under waterfalls or in tor¬ 
rents; it remained ever empty. 
Then Rudolph was seized with a profound 
contrition, and throwing himself on the 
ground, he cried : 
“ O, Almighty Father! I have been very 
wicked, and must shed many tears; but 
alas I no tears that I ever shed can atone for 
for those that I have caused to flow from the 
eyes of the unhappy' beings to whom my 
riches should have afforded comfort and re¬ 
lief, and whom I barbarously turned iroin 
my door. Though I cruelly refused to listen 
to their prayers, O Saviour! punish me not 
by rejecting mine; judge me by my future 
and not by my past life. Give me I by 
grace, and accept the promise I make 1 keo 
from henceforth to be kind and charitable to 
all.” As be uttered these words, poor Ru¬ 
dolph dropped a tear—n single tear of re¬ 
pentance. And this blessed tear filled In* 
cask to tbe brim. 
“ My enemies can do nothing agninsUne,^ 
said M.; “they cannot deprive n 
faculty of thinking rightly or acti 
