Farmers also drank of it, and gave me some of their
tea.
They asked me what part of the world I came from; whereas we in
Germany generally inquired what countryman a person is.
When we had breakfasted, and were again seated in the coach, all the
farmers, the lean one excepted, seemed quite alive again, and now
began a conversation on religion and on politics.
One of them brought the history of Samson on the carpet, which the
clergyman of his parish, he said, had lately explained, I dare say
very satisfactorily; though this honest farmer still had a great
many doubts about the great gate which Samson carried away, and
about the foxes with the firebrands between their tails. In other
respects, however, the man seemed not to be either uninformed or
sceptical.
They now proceeded to relate to each other various stories, chiefly
out of the Bible; not merely as important facts, but as interesting
narratives, which they would have told and listened to with equal
satisfaction had they met them anywhere else. One of them had only
heard these stories from his minister in the church, not being able
to read them himself.
The one that sat next to him now began to talk about the Jews of the
Old Testament, and assured us that the present race were all
descended from those old ones.
