My Summer in a Garden 90 FREDERICK S. COZZENS Living in the Country 111 CHARLES GODFREY LELAND Hans Breitmann's Party 127 FRANCES M. WHICHER Tim Crane and the Widow 129 JOHN GODFREY SAXE The Stammering Wife 135 ANDREW V. KELLEY ("Parmenas Mix") He Came to Pay 139 MARIETTA HOLLEY A Pleasure Exertion 144 EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN The Diamond Wedding 162 MISCELLANEOUS Why He Left 23 A Boy's Essay on Girls 38 Identified 47 One Better 48 A Rendition 57 A Cause for Thanks 73 Crowded 103 The Wedding Journey 105 A Case of Conscience 126 He Rose to the Occasion 136 Polite 137 Lost, Strayed or Stolen 138 A Gentle Complaint 141 Music by the Choir 173 WASHINGTON IRVING WOUTER VAN TWILLER It was in the year of our Lord 1629 that Mynheer Wouter Van Twiller was appointed Governor of the province of Nieuw Nederlandts, under the commission and control of their High Mightinesses the Lords States General of the United Netherlands, and the privileged West India Company. This renowned old gentleman arrived at New Amsterdam in the merry month of June, the sweetest month in all the year; when dan Apollo seems to dance up the transparent firmament--when the robin, the thrush, and a thousand other wanton songsters make the woods to resound with amorous ditties, and the luxurious little bob-lincon revels among the clover blossoms of the meadows--all which happy coincidences persuaded the old dames of New Amsterdam, who were skilled in the art of foretelling events, that this was to be a happy and prosperous administration.