Everything here possesses the charm of fresh primitiveness; the festive bathing gown, the tasteful, fashionable toilet of Western seaside places are unknown. Youth, full of the love of enterprise, assembles in Neukuhren; small dance in the evening, an expedition in a _leiter-wagon_, in which numerous families are crowded together, a concert, a performance--everything that with small means gives great enjoyment to eager spirits, is provided here by the leaders of social amusements. Let us follow Doctor Kuhl, with his two friends, upon their way through the watering place. The respected elders sit before the Kurhouses, newspapers in their hands, and hold council about the State's welfare. The debate is very keen, as it is a time of political agitation. The little Jewish doctor yonder, a follower of Johann Jacoby, defends the "four questions" against a whole bench of judges and councillors, who are beside themselves that the tiny little man's inexhaustible eloquence does not permit them to put in a word. Their lips quiver, their eyes flash; they have armed replies upon their lips, but all attempts are vain, and at last only the energetic bass voice of a minister of finance succeeds, if not in allaying, at least, in deafening him. A ladies' club is sitting on the terrace of the Kur-house, in questionable morning-costumes. Even the ladies of a certain age, who in the evening still expect to obtain partners for the dance, and even admirers, have as yet neglected to summon the Graces to their toilet-tables; a portion of them sits there in grandmother-like caps; the charming love-locks that in the evening droop so fascinatingly over their temples, still linger in some place of concealment, and no one can foresee that these garments of sackcloth can develop later into elegant draperies. Everything is so homely, so simple, so nun-like; all the more lively is the conversation. A betrothal, which had taken place on the previous evening, gave cause for plentiful shrugging of shoulders, because the gentleman as yet held no respectable position in life, and the _fiancée_, as several female friends asserted, a very uncertain one. Hardly was this conversation worn out before Doctor Kuhl, passing by with the two Fräuleins Dornau, offered an inexhaustible topic. Here all considerations were at an end, and the battle-axes were wielded pitilessly. A widow, of dubious age, but of indubitable inclination to marry again, was reckless enough to take the unlucky victims under her protection, as she hazarded the remark, that one sister was at the same time a chaperon for the other. Both the Fräuleins Dornau slight capacity for playing a chaperon's part was then discussed on all sides with exultant eloquence.