[Interlacken—Sunday, 8 August 1869]
Sunday. The sky begins to clear. In the evening walked to the Village of Unterseen with a pretty young lady, Miss Thies who came to visit us and who lived beyond the Aar. Returning we came upon a party of Mountebanks. They had lighted a fire below the slack rope and the whole scene was witch-like, horrible; the great mountain loomed up awful just beyond making a solemn back ground to the picture.
Sunday was warm and beautiful but clouded still and Mabel hurt her conscience until she was unhappy by sewing a bag to carry her effects in over the mountains. We walked to Unterseen after sunset with Clara Thies when she told Mabel of the two offers she had received, the painful result of shaking hands after the American fashion with aging men and allowing them to come to the house. They thought it necessary at once to declare their intentions, one offering 600 Thalers a year and pressing immediate marriage & a home with his brother who was quite willing, the other could offer for the present only the love of a brother and a silver thimble with a ruby set in it. The whole thing was comic enough.
We saw a weird scene returning. In the Market Place of the village a slack rope was stretched from top-most window and a party of wretched mountebanks were performing by the fitful light of a fire. We could see the dark mountains standing around & the swaying figure of the man upon the rope outlined against them while a crowd of dirty villagers pressed around.
