Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/238

Rh That was in the south, where immigration exists to a much less extent. In the North-Western States the Germans come over in immense crowds, and hand themselves together and have “plaisir” enough, and their music finds its way now and then with a bewitching tone to the ears of the Anglo-Americans, and those strong, blooming German girls sometimes attract them so irresistibly as to occasion an approximation in search for “plaisir,” and whatever more there may be also in that German realm. In the evening I supped at the house of the mayor of the city, where I saw many very agreeable people. One amiable young lady took a bracelet from her arm and clasped it around mine. I shall bear her memory in my heart.

The house of the mayor was upon a hill, extremely picturesque, looking down upon a deep valley, where also people lived and were building. That is one of the dangers of building a house upon a hill. You have, for instance, bought a piece of land upon a hill, a piece large enough for a house and a little garden; and you have built a beautiful house, and planted trees and flowers around it, rejoiced in your house and in your magnificent view which extends over the whole lake and great part of the country. This is to-day. To-morrow you hear that the ground adjoining your house is purchased by somebody, who intends to cut it down many fathoms, and to build a street directly below your house. You protest and declare that your house will fall down if the hill is undermined just below its walls! There is no help for it! The day after to-morrow you see that the digging and the delving have begun just outside your walls, and you have in a while the agreeable prospect of seeing the sand-hill tumble down, and your house tumbling down with it, make a summerset into the new street at its feet, and, if it has good luck, demolishing in its descent the