Should I ever read these intelligently in the original ?
And when my father consented for me to go over and spend a year
and live in General Weste's family, there never was a happier or
more grateful young woman. Appreciative and eager, I did not
waste a moment, and my keen enjoyment of the German classics
repaid me a hundred fold for all my industry.
Neither time nor misfortune, nor illness can take from me the
memory of that year of privileges such as is given few American
girls to enjoy, when they are at an age to fully appreciate them.
And so completely separated was I from the American and English
colony that I rarely heard my own language spoken, and thus I
lived, ate, listened, talked, and even dreamed in German.
There seemed to be time enough to do everything we wished; and,
as the Franco-Prussian war was just over (it was the year of
1871), and many troops were in garrison at Hanover, the officers
could always join us at the various gardens for after-dinner
coffee, which, by the way, was not taken in the demi-tasse, but
in good generous coffee-cups, with plenty of rich cream.
