MARK TWAIN

Linden 31 December '91—six chambers and one dining-
room and one parlor.

Left the family there and on the 4th day of Jan. '92,
Livy and I went down to llscnborg in the Hartz Moun-
tains—ostensibly four, but really seven hours from. Berlin.

Stayed eight days in the house of Pastor Obcrman. He
and Ins wife lovely people. The stoves in our parlor and
bedroom not satisfactory. I caught a heavy cough.

The entire society of the village consisted of the old
Furst in vom Rcuss, her daughter the Princess, and the
pastor and his wife—four people. We made it six.

The doctor and his wife were not in society; he was a
baker's son and climbed to his doctorship by native gifts
and hard work.

The second evening the Furst vom Stolberg-Wer-
nigerode and his son came over on the annual visit to his
sister, the old Furstin. He is a very handsome man, and
the proudest unroyal prince in Germany, and the richest.
He brought several carriage-loads of young princesses
with him. Our party of six (which included the doctor and
his wife) were the only people there below the rank of
prince. Livy and 1 shook hands with the Fiirst, and passed
on, and I missed seeing the awful thing that followed:
The doctor's wife put out her hand and the Fiirst let on
that he didn't sec it. Poor thing, instead of taking warn-
ing, she raised her hand higher, imagining he hadn't seen
it. He ignored it. It was tragic. She had a cry that night.

We came away at midnight, after a good supper and a
pleasant and sociable time. I made the usual number of
blunders in matters of etiquette.

The night before we came away the old Furstin and the
Princess came over to supper and spent the evening. They
are lovely people and good English scholars. The Furstin
is a poet, too. I spun yarns and she translated them to the
company.

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