re powerful
influence of Christian benevolence.

I can think of nothing but that bright morning, as I lay on a mattress
on the deck, with the 'Pfarrer' on one side of me, and his good little
wife, Lieschen, on the other; he with his volume of 'Wieland,' and she
working away with her long knitting-needles, and never raising her head
save to bestow a glance at the poor sick boy, whose bloodless lips were
trying to mutter her name in thankfulness. It is like the most delicious
dream as I think over those hours, when, rocked by the surging motion
of the large ship, hearing in half distinctness the words of
the 'Pfarrer's' reading, I followed out little fancies--now
self-originating, now rising from the theme of the poet's musings.

How softly the cloud-shadows moved over the white sails and swept along
the bright deck! How pleasantly the water rippled against the vessel's
side I With what a glad sound the great ensign napped and fluttered in
the breeze! There was light, and life, and motion on every side, and I
felt all the intoxication of enjoyment.

And like a dream was the portion of my life which followed. I
accompanied the Pfarrer to a small settlement near 'Crown Point,'
where he was to take up his residence as minister. Here we lived amid
a population of about four or five hundred Germans, principally from
Pomerania, on the shores of the Baltic, a peaceful, thrifty, quiet
set of beings, who, content with the little interests revolving around
themselves, never troubled their heads about the great events of war or
politics. And here in all likelihood should I have been content to pass
my days, when an accidental journey I made to Albany, to receive some
letters for the Pfarrer, once more turned the fortune of my life.

It was a great incident in the quiet monotony of my life, when I set
out one morning, arrayed in a full suit of coarse, glossy black, with
buttons like small saucers, and a hat whose brim almost protected my
shoulders. I was, indeed, an object of very considerable envy to some,
and I hope, also, not denied the admiring approval of some others. Had
the respectable city I was about to visit been the chief metropolis of a
certain destination which I must not name, the warnings I received about
its dangers, dissipations, and seductions, could scarcely have been more
earnest or impressive. I was neither to speak with, nor even to look at,
those I met in the streets. I was carefully to avoid taking my meals