est approach to excitement was
mushroom-gathering; and in this occupation my inability to distinguish
the edible from the poisonous species made my efforts unacceptable. We
lived so "far from the madding crowd" that its din scarcely reached
our ears. A week or ten days might pass without our receiving any
intelligence from the outer world. The nearest post-office was in the
district town, and with that distant point we had no regular system of
communication. Letters and newspapers remained there till called for,
and were brought to us intermittently when some one of our neighbours
happened to pass that way. Current history was thus administered to us
in big doses.

One very big dose I remember well. For a much longer time than usual
no volunteer letter-carrier had appeared, and the delay was more than
usually tantalising, because it was known that war had broken out
between France and Germany. At last a big bundle of a daily paper called
the Golos was brought to me. Impatient to learn whether any great battle
had been fought, I began by examining the latest number, and stumbled
at once on an article headed, "Latest Intelligence: the Emperor at
Wilhelmshohe!!!" The large type in which the heading was printed and
the three marks of exclamation showed plainly that the article was very
important. I began to read with avidity, but was utterly mystified. What
emperor was this? Probably the Tsar or the Emperor of Austria, for
there was no German Emperor in those days. But no! It was evidently the
Emperor of the French. And how did Napoleon get to Wilhelmshohe? The
French must have broken through the Rhine defences, and pushed far
into Germany. But no! As I read further, I found this theory equally
untenable. It turned out that the Emperor was surrounded by Germans,
and--a prisoner! In order to solve the mystery, I had to go back to the
preceding numbers of the paper, and learned, at a sitting, all about the
successive German victories, the defeat and capitulation of Macmahon's
army at Sedan, and the other great events of that momentous time. The
impression produced can scarcely be realised by those who have always
imbibed current history in the homeopathic doses administered by the
morning and evening daily papers.

By the useful loquacity of my teacher and the possibility of devoting
all my time to my linguistic studies, I made such rapid progress in
the acquisition of the language that I was able after a few weeks to
under