From Maryann in Linburgh in Germany writing to
Miss Davis in the form of a journal recording her
stay in Germany. She requests that her 'Travellers
Journal' may be passed on to her family and kept
for her as a memento. Part I 6 Nov [ ],
she left for Germany in the Heles McGregor. The
passage was rough and she reports every lady on
board was ill until they reached the Elbe, 'a
broad noble river.' She was then met by a friend
of a friend, Mr Ehlers De Hembing, whose English
sister-in-law was the sister of Sir Thomas Tobin
of Ballincollig, Cork. She comments, 'my first
impressions of the German character are most
favourable. Their hospitality appears to equal
that of the Irish.' She then travelled to Henburg
where she was met by a Mr. Weusthoff, and from
there to Hamburg where Dr. Blennenthal's (her
employer) son met her. She was a little dismayed
by the Blennenthals house, as it was full of
tobacco smoke and she found the sitting room
comfortless: 'but I reflected that I had not come
here to look for comfort and a day's familiarity
with the place has made it look better.' Dr.
Blennenthal himself is an invalid, crippled with a
spinal or paralytic affliction, and she is to look
after his five children. She finds Lineburg 'an
exceedingly curious town', full of narrow streets
with houses leaning towards each other. She also
finds German cooking very different to what she is
used to: 'I doubt whether I shall ever like very
tough meat nor [ ] and herrings and mixtures of
apples and potatoes.' Part II Nov - 27 Dec
[ ], in which she details some of the historical
and political background of Lineberg. Dr.
Blennenthal is himself a senator although too ill
to take any active part in government. Salt
manufacture is an important industry in Lineberg,
with enough manufactured there to supply all
Germany. Lime trees border all public roads. She
is getting to know the suburbs well as she goes
daily for a long walk. It is bitterly cold, but
she, prefers this to the moistness of Cork.
'Shooting and smoking' she says are the chief
pastimes taught to both boys and girls from a very
young age, and she adds 'Master Fritz Blennenthal
although only eight years old is already an adept
smoker. Music is played outdoors everyday by the
military band, but ladies are not meant to stop
and listen to it.' She was at a musical evening of
Mendelhossen and Weber, one of eight similar
concerts to be staged over the winter and costing
4s.6d.; her employers the Blennenthals are not
musical. Her tastes have adapted themselves to
German Cookery, and so far she has found no meat
so tough as the first joint she tasted. She
mentions soups are made from all sorts of
material, some better than others. The vegetables
come 'dressed in very strange fashions', with a
favourite being a mixture of apples and potatoes,
which she doesn't like at all. Pimpernichil rye
bread which is made only at Osnabugh is considered
a great delicacy but she finds it close, heavy and
sour. She describes a normal day in the house: the
family breakfast at 7.30, and then the boys go to
school at 8.00, they dine at one, have coffee at
4.00 and then dine at 8.00 again. Coffee parties
are very common, with Sunday being the favourite
day for going visiting. Once a week they have an
English evening when lady friends of the
Blennenthals come to tea, after which Dr.
Blennenthal begins reading from some English book
which the ladies then continue. Maryann by request
corrects their mispronunciations and reads last
and longest. She feels Germans seem to associate
gatherings with the attainment of a pursuit. Once
a week they gather to read poetry also. She went
also to a practise session of the local young
people's choir and exclaims: 'It was almost
worthwhile to come to Germany for the music
alone.' On Sundays there are three services during
which the shops close, but reopen for the rest of
the day, and ladies spend the day visiting each
other. She remarks the churches are made of stone
and are very large and very cold. However the
service is much simpler and shorter than in
England. Christmas is a very important festival in
Germany, with secret preparations being made
leading up to Christmas Eve when the Christmas
trees are lit, the decorations which mothers
prepare in secret. On Christmas Day presents are
exchanged. In the Blennenthal's house after church
on Christmas Eve at 7.30 p.m. the folding doors of
the drawing room were thrown open to reveal a huge
Christmas tree. She found the sight so impressive
and beautiful she wonders why it is not more
widely adopted in England. So far she has found
Germans to be very kind and friendly, and much
less 'slaves of fashion' and conventions of
society than the English. At first she felt lost
amongst such different people and customs, but now
she sometimes feels so at home she forgets she is
in a foreign country. She mentions her happiness
that the rights of women are so well upheld in
Germany, as a wife gains her husband's title e.g.
Frau Doctor. She is making good progress with her
German, and is getting three lessons a week from a
German lady at a cost of 16 lessons for 12
shillings. English is cultivated in Germany and
takes the place French does in England. However
she still finds it hard work to sustain a
conversation in German. To meet people, she says,
you must first call on them before they will call
on you. She mentions each German state has its own
coinage, and she finds this very confusing. In
Hanover the currency has been changed to that of
Prussia, but the old currency is still in
circulation as well so things are very
confusing. Part III She
describes the New Year's celebration which are
second only to Christmas. At the parties children
throw pieces of [bread] into cold water, the shape
it takes will then reveal their future. She
remarks Germans dance remarkably well and very
fast. It is considered improper for a lady over 25
to dance, and for any woman over 30 to dance is
scandalous. She remarks she doesn't enjoy the
German balls. She also finds the all female
parties rather slow. Schools in Lineberg are
considered very good, and some English and Scots
families settle there for a few years while their
children are being educated. She mentions the
peasantry of the area speak low German, and
remarks they seem quite well off, but can never
rise to another rank. The peasant women wear a
peculiar lace cap and lots of jewellery. At the
age of 21 all men must enter their names for
conscription, and are then chosen by a lottery to
join the army. Their pay is very low, three
shillings per week and two loaves, so many
soldiers work as servants while off duty. Also no
officer is allowed to marry without having 16,000
thalers. She remarks German young ladies seem to
have the same weakness for officers as their
English counterparts. She also is quite puzzled by
the fact German girls take no exercise but yet can
dance for seven hours consecutively and describes
the betrothal and wedding ceremonies of one young
lady. She feels German ladies are not as grave and
refined as the English ones and are given to
swearing. Part IV She states
Easter is even more highly thought of than
Christmas, and it is seen as the beginning of the
new school year and also as the correct time to
change classes. The promotion of children to
higher classes takes place in a large public
ceremony, and confirmation, which is taken more
seriously in Germany than England, is also
performed at Easter. Mentions drunkenness amongst
the lower classes is much less common there than
England. One of Dr. Blennenthal's sons had scarlet
fever and part of his treatment consisted of
rubbing his body three times daily with
bacon-fat. Part V 2 June [ ]
She remarks on how industriously all German ladies
knit. One woman she knows has over 70 pairs of
stockings all which she made herself. The girls
leave home for one year after their confirmation
to go to another family to learn housekeeping and
to be weaned away from home. She remarks
housekeeping is the main business of a woman's
life. The journal then finishes in the form of a
letter to George Boole, with an added unfinished
journal of a trip to the [Hanz] mountains she took
with some friends detailing the stops the train
took, and the scenery she viewed on the way.