hood as she had to communicate. The
appearance of the village had struck us, on entering, as singular. The
houses, instead of wood, which is the material commonly used in the
construction of German villages, were all built of brick, and they
looked quite new. Moreover, there was no church; but only the ruins of
some walls and a tower standing. On inquiring into the cause of all
this, we learned, that four years ago, during the heat of the summer,
when everything in the fields was parched up, and the very rivers dry,
some woodmen incautiously set fire to the brushwood in a neighbouring
forest, and all the efforts to extinguish it proved fruitless. The
flame spread for miles around, consuming heath, dry grass, corn, and
even trees, nor did the town of Golden Traum escape. It was burned to
the ground, as well as all the detached cottages near it. From the
effects of this disastrous conflagration, it had not yet, and probably
never would, recover. Some houses were, indeed, built; and built of
materials which seemed better suited to withstand a similar visitation,
should it occur; but there were no funds wherewith to restore the
church, and the lord of the manor was a great deal too poor to
undertake such an enterprise. "An application has, indeed, been made,"
continued our informant, "to the authorities at Berlin, and we hope
some time or another to have a new church; for we miss the bells sadly
on feast-days, and it is a pleasant thing once a week to meet all one's
neighbours, and see how they are dressed. But for the present, our
pastor performs divine service in a room upstairs, and is not troubled
with a crowded congregation."

It had rained hard during the night, and showers still continued to
fall early in the morning, a circumstance which reconciled us, not a
little, to our compulsory halt of two hours beyond our time. But by
seven, the clouds dispersed, and our linen being restored and packed in
our knapsacks, we begged to have the bill. It amounted to no more, in
spite of all the beer and schnaps of the previous evening, than one
dollar and four groschens. Here, then, we were relieved altogether from
the apprehensions under which, up to that moment, we had laboured. Our
point, to-night, was Hernhut, whence, with a little management, and
some extra pressure, we expected to reach Schandau in one day; and we
had still five dollars, and a little more, in our purse.

From Golden Traum to Hernhut, we were recommended to