Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-02-08
FROM GERMANY.

OTLEy, Iowa, Jan'y 80, '72.
Mr.. EpIToR:-I herewith send you
a few more extracts copied from letters
Just received from Henry Donnel,
who is still at Barsinghausen, Ger
many, and will perhaps remain there
till Spring. His health has been
quite poor since he commenced his
sojourn there, bnt he is now slowly
recovering, and speaks quite hopeful
ly of getting well again and returning
to this land of plenty. t
CHRISTMAS IN GERMANY.
Christmas here commences the day
before Christmas day, and continues
during the day after, and the people
make the best of it while it lasts. /
am not able to tell you what was done
among the neighbors, for l was too
indisposed to go out that day. Any
how they made religious festival OF
it, and had church twice day, not
withstanding which the performances
were mixed with large amount OF
schnapps and beer-for ! saw several
corners and goers that appeared to
have something heavier to carry than
a good dinner. AS for our family, we
enjoyed the time among ourselves,
and had the best the country could
afford. We had neither chicken,
turkey nor fruit, but got along with
sundry other dishes of our own man.
ufacture. never saw place so des-
titute of delicacies. They make no
preserves, and can no fruit of any
kind-either for the want of knowl-
edge how to do such things, or for the
want Of appreciation of such articles.
must add that, during Christmas,
Santa Claus came this way, and left
mo neck-tie, pair Of wrist-cuffs, a
bottle of wine, and pair of No. Is
slippers. AS l wear No. 6 boots, ]
don't apprehend that the slippers will
pinch my toes much.
CHEESE.
The cheese they make here Is gen.
orally very highly favored. They
take the thick milk, drain off the
whey, make it into balls the size of a
hens egg, and lay them away till
they get dry. Then they are put into
4
stone jars, and kept there till they get
soft again, and rendered down to the
consistency Of soft leather. One sniff
Of it is enough to convince you that
you smell something. A dead cat is
nothing to compare to it. Such is The
stuff they put on their black bread, as
a substitute for butter, and eat, drink
schnapps, and smoke. Indeed, it APP
pears as though one tries to out-nasty
the other. One redeeming virtue is
apparent in the beverages they make
here-the beer and schnapps do not
appear to be manufactured Of fighting
materials--or else the cheese acts as a
moderation. People seldom fight or
1
quarrel under the influence of these
liquors, yet they do powerful sight
| Of loud talking.
ITINERANT PEDDLERs, &C.
AS I sit at my window and see so
many women going by with huge
baskets on their backs, it reminds me
of the pack -squaws in California. The
baskets hold about four bushels, and
are sometimes filled with bread at
other times with potatoes, and fire.
quently constitute a peddler's pack.
filled with merchandise. The most of
the peddlers here are women. haa
supposed that beggars were scarce
here; but hardly u day passes but
some one calls at our door for Aims.
There Is a band of itinerant musicians
who give US a call once In about every
three weeks. The last timc they
called on US, they played Yankee
Doodle before our door; and gave
them agroschen for thanks.