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you. It is two foot feet long. The masts are

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not in, nor are the sails up; but when you come home it will all be done. If Minnie was here she could make the sails out of cotton cloth, and sew them on the spars the things that go across, you know. Walter, how does Minnie look now? Mother said the other day that she had got to be a little woman, and I thought I would like to know how she looked woman!

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CHARLES.

"What does he mean about Rose Thornton, Walter?" asked his sister.

66 Nothing." "He does." "Nonsense."

"You gallanted Rose Thornton home from the picnic last summer, and have sent her bouquets ever since."

"What of it?"

"Pretty for a boy like you!"

"You are a silly little girl; but read your letters to me."

Minnie then read her three letters, all of which were from her young schoolmates, and all breathed an affection for the little wanderer who once formed a part of the happy group.

These having been read and discussed, the brother and sister went into their father's room, where they found him with several American newspapers, which they looked over with as much interest as they had read their letters. Mr. Percy pointed them to several items of news that he thought would be of interest to them.

They were then called to a substantial dinner, after which they took a carriage and rode through the streets of Hamburg, looking at the public buildings, and at the houses of the people. They found a great difference in the streets, some of them being long, wide, and elegant, and others narrow, close, crooked, and filled with poor, mean habitations. The difference will be ex

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CHAPTER III.

FREE CITY OF THE NORTH.

EVERY person who visits Hamburg comes away

with a pleasant impression of the city. Some parts of it resemble the towns in Holland, while other parts are fresh and new, more resembling the new part of Edinburgh. The morning after our party arrived they went out to see the objects of interest. As they entered the carriage Walter asked,

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"Why is Hamburg called a free city?" "What do you think?

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"I do not know; but perhaps it is called a free city because no duties are levied on goods that are brought in."

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"I should have known better than that," said Minnie, "because our baggage was examined when we came in. If there were no duties, what would our baggage have been overhauled for?"

"True enough; I did not think of that."

"There are," said Mr. Percy, "several fre

towns, known as such, because they have their own municipal regulations and officers, and are not subject to any power beyond themselves. Hamburg is one of them."

"What are the others?"

"Bremen, Lubeck, and Frankfort.

There

were others, but they have renounced their independence."

"How many inhabitants has Hamburg?"

"About one hundred and fifty thousand. What you thought was an examination of baggage when you came in was merely an express arrangement for marking it."

"But, father, some sections of this city look very new and some very old. This part through which we are driving is very ancient. About our hotel it is all new, and looks as if just built; how is that?"

"I can tell you. A great conflagration occurred here in 1842, which swept away a large part of the city. What is now the new part, is the old burnt district rebuilt.”

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"Yes, the part burnt was as mean as that through which we are riding."

"How much was burnt?"

"The fire swept through sixty-one streets, and many courts, ways, and small avenues, and

laid in ashes seventeen hundred and forty-nine houses."

"Tremendous!"

"In the burnt district were several large and elegant churches, which seemed but stubble in the sway of the flames."

"How long did it burn?”

"It commenced on one Thursday, and was not checked until the following Sunday.”

"How did they arrest it?"

"At first they pulled houses down; then riddled them with cannon balls. At length, by advice of an English engineer, they used gunpowder, and blew them up."

"What a great calamity!

"It seemed so at first, but it proved a great source of public improvement. All these new buildings have taken the place of old ones. The Alsterbasin has been much improved, and the city greatly benefited."

"Walter, Walter!" exclaimed Minnie. "What say?"

"See that girl?"

"What girl?"

"The one over there, with no bonnet on." "What of her?"

66

Why, she has a little baby coffin under her arm."

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