Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

HENSELT 239
from personal experience, for more than one family of
distinction have received me into their homes, and
made me feel that I was a loved and honoured
guest.
The husband of the lady I have mentioned belonged
to the ancient order of the knights (Ritterschaft),
which dates back some hundred years, and he had a
fine estate some distance from Eiga in Courland. She
had made me promise that I would some time or
other pay her a long visit, and it was with her that I
spent the summer of this year. Whilst there I wit-
nessed the celebration of St. John's Eve, and as few
in this country have the opportunity of knowing much
about the people of those parts, or the customs which
prevail amongst them, I feel tempted to give a little
sketch of what interested me so much.
I must, however, first tell my readers that the
aborigiaes of Courland are Letts, not Germans, nor do
they speak German. A simple-hearted, intelligent,
and very musical race, they live on the estates of the
German nobles, do all the field and artisan work, and
are paid in kind, not in money i.e., they grow flax,
for which the proprietor gives them a slip of land;
and they not only spin their own flax, but weave
their own linen, fashion winter garments for themselves
out of sheepskins, and in many instances make
their own shoes.
The first thing I noticed on St. John's Eve was the
stir in the household to have a sufSicient number of
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