They All Lived In The Same Room, In Which They Gave Me A Place With Great Readiness.

The whole family were uncommonly good and obliging towards me, were very open- hearted, and if I bought fruit, eggs, or anything of the kind, and offered them any, they accepted it with great modesty.

But it was not only towards myself that they were so kind, but also towards others; no beggar went away from their threshold unrelieved; and yet this family was terrible, and made my stay a complete purgatory. The mother, a very stupid scolding woman, bawled and beat her children the whole day. Ten minutes did not pass without her dragging her children about by the hair, or kicking and thumping them. The children were not slow in returning it; and, besides that, fought among themselves; so that I had not a moment's quiet in my corner, and was not unfrequently in danger of coming in for my share, for they amused themselves by spitting and throwing large blocks of wood at each other's heads. The eldest son several times throttled his mother in such a way that she became black and blue in the face. I always endeavoured, indeed, to establish peace; but it was very seldom that I succeeded, as I was unfortunately not sufficient master of the language to make them understand the impropriety of their conduct.

It was only in the evening, when the father returned, that there was any order of peace; they dare not quarrel then, much less fight.

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