ish. He knew more
about British politics than most men born and bred in the country; he
read all the big speeches delivered in Parliament, identified himself
with the Whigs, and was a fervent disciple of Cobden and Bright. He did
his best to train me in the way I should go, and his methods were quite
congenial to my taste. We often took long walks together, and his
peripatetic teachings are pleasantly blended in my mind with the
half-way house at the corner of the Jungfernsteg and the Alster Bassin,
then occupied by Giosti Giovanoli, the confectioner. He trained me just
once too often, but that was in London, in a shop near Oxford Circus,
and it was a Bath bun that made me restless. That shop was painted green
and gold, and to this day I would not eat on green and gold premises if
I were starving.

In Hamburg I was welcomed, too, by uncles and aunts, first and second
cousins, male and female, and by a strong contingent of grandaunts. I am
aware that most people have quite as many relatives of their own as they
need for home consumption, and that being so, they are not pleasantly
disposed towards the family history of their friends. So I mean to use
my relatives sparingly, and only to bring them in where they are
associated with things I well remember. My mother has penned most
characteristic sketches of many of those worthy personalities in a MS.
she has entitled "Early Recollections," and the grandaunts hold a
prominent place in those papers; but for the reason just given, I
refrain from transcribing her graphic descriptions of their doings. I
would, however, record my own boyish impressions, to the effect that
one or two of my grandaunts were a caution to rattle-snakes. I have
learned since to see that they were nothing of the kind, but just old
ladies of marked originality. It took some time before I could get to
like being loved by them; I preferred making faces behind their backs, a
pastime which I was joined in by a cousin about my own age. Cousin Carl
got into trouble oftener than I did, and had more reason to regret it,
for in one of the drawers of an old-fashioned mahogany secretary his
father kept an orthodox cane which he would produce on special
occasions--such were the unchallenged methods of training in those days.
My uncle was the best of men, anxious only to chastise for the good of
the young delinquent, whom he tenderly loved, but he might have saved
himself the trouble, for poor Cousin Carl was never t