in the fire. In a few moments they are done; and when you open the irons, you find your little balls spread out the size of the plates, and impressed with the pattern. They are delicious, being crisp, light, and as thin as a wafer, with a peculiar flavour, caused by the way they are baked or toasted, or whatever you like to call it, which is so quick an operation, that several hundreds are made in an hour. The usual time for this fun is in an evening, when the young folk are assembled, and then everyone takes his turn at the cooking, one of the company being provided with a lump of butter, held in a piece of paper, with which the inside of the gauffres is well greased each time, before the paste is put in. On New Year's Eve, everybody in Switzerland is employed in making gauffres; and on New Year's Day, everybody is eating them for breakfast. But no one can tell me when and how the custom has originated; and perhaps, it has no more reference to the time, than our custom of making toffy has to the 'gunpowder plot that shall ne'er be forgot.'

This brings to my mind, that every fifth of November, since coming here, we have endeavoured to make some of that sweetmeat; certainly, not out of respect to King James of blessed memory,' whose name,

with

the blasphemous dedication, ought long since to have been expunged from our English Bibles-but, because one likes to keep up a custom that has so many cherished recollections of childhood's happy time, to recommend itself to our safe keeping; but, alas! we have never succeeded; the sugar being of so bad a quality, that it always formed an uneatable compound like hard sand. Always the children have said, "if we could only get some treacle, we might manage,' but no such a thing is ever seen here, and very few persons have ever heard of it. Nor have I, with all the eloquence of which I am mistress, been able to inspire any one person with sufficient respect for its usefulness and manifold virtues, to induce him to procure me a supply.

I have a theory, upon which, if I find it popular, I may perhaps enlarge at some future period; that the advance of a country in enlightenment and civilisation depends upon the amount of treacle it consumes; and to prove it, I will only cite that England, 'first flower of the earth, first gem of the sea,' uses more than any other country; France, if second at all, second only to us, comes next in showing her appreciation of the article; while Germany, always speculating, dreaming, and talking of liberty and

fatherland, and never getting any farther, does not consume so much in the whole of her large empire as Lancashire; and Switzerland, which, take it all in all, is about where it was, I am afraid of saying how long ago, uses none at all,

CHAPTER III.

Making the best of it-Stoves - Cloaca-A BouquetSplendid View-Avalanches-Domestic Squabbles-Mariage de Convenance-Tir Cantonal-Swiss Humour-Aspect of the Country - Swiss and English Drunkenness-Preparations for a Feast-Hecate--Fat Obelisk-Swiss Riflemen-Stump Oratory-Odd Prizes.

EVERYONE tells us-and we find it the happiest plan to try and think the same--that we have been marvellously fortunate in getting this home, which is built in a most substantial manner, with walls that would appear ridiculous in the eyes of the builders of our mode n suburban villas, where one lives in constant dread lest one's 'local habitation' should be levelled with the ground by each succeeding gust of wind, and in which the wood, through being but half seasoned, shrinks so fearfully, that money once rolled on the floor is never found again. Assuredly, we can make no such complaints here, for the walls, both inner and outer, save those in the upper story, are three quarters of a yard in thickness; and the ceilings and floors have so great a space between them, that no sound is heard through them; while the windows

E

are closed with upright iron bolts, that require more strength than I possess to fasten: but you have no conveniences, no closets, no cupboards, no nice little corners and recesses so dear to every housekeeper, for storing preserves, pickles, cakes, &c.; all such things must be kept in your kitchen, whence they vanish like snow before the sun, or in your bedroom-which it is not pleasant to convert into a pantry-unless you choose to descend into the cellar every time you are hungry.

I find the large stove in my bedroom very useful for storing away a miscellaneous assortment of articles, and the little ovens lined with porcelain are delightful for airing and drying linen in the winter, and, when made very hot, can be used for cooking a variety of little dishes; but in placing things therein one must be careful to guard against accidents, such as happened to one of my friends, who had purchased several pairs of fine shoes in Paris, and wishing to season them before wearing, had placed them in the oven of her stove, intending to take them out before winter fires commenced, but long ere that time came she had forgotten all about them, until they were recalled to her recollection by the strong smell of burning leather pervading the apartments. Rushing to the stove, where a roaring wood fire had