picture of bird in flight embossed on stationeryⒶemendation

We areⒶemendation divinely located. From this airy perch among the shining groves we look down upon Heidelberg Castle, & upon the swift Neckar, & the town, & out over the wide green level of the Rhine valley—a marvelous prospect. We are in a cul de sac formed of hill & hill-ranges & river: we are on the side of a steep steep mountain; the river at our feet is walled, on its other side, (yes, on both sides,) by a steep & wooded mountain-range which rises abruptly aloft from the water’s edge; portions of these mountains are densely wooded; the plain of the Rhine, seen through that mouth of the opening of the mouth of this pocket, has many & peculiar charms for the eye.

Our big bed-room has two great glass bird-cagesⒶemendation (enclosed balconies) one looking toward the Rhine Valley & sunset, the other looking up the Neckar-cul de sac, & naturally we spend nearly all our time in these—when one is sunny the other is shady. We have tables & chairs in them; we do our reading, writing, studying, smoking & suppering in them.

The view from these bird-cages is my despair. The picture changes from one enchanting aspect to another in ceaseless procession, never keeping one form half an hour, & never taking on an unlovely one. To look out upon the Rhine Valley when a thunderstorm is sweeping across it is a thing sublime. EveryⒶemendation day there is a new spectacle in Ⓐemendation the way of a sunset, a new visionⒶemendation that the sun-rise brings, & whenⒶemendation the moonlight drapes the Castle,Ⓐemendation town, bridges & valley, it is trulyⒶemendation soothing & satisfying to the outlooker. And then Heidelberg by on a dark night! It is massed, away down there, almost right under us, you know, and stretches off toward the valley. Its curved & interlacing streets are a cobweb, beaded thick with lights—a wonderful thing to see; then the rows of lights on the arched bridges, & their glinting reflections in the water; & away at the other far end, the Eisenbahnhof, with its twenty solid acres of glittering gas-jets, a huge garden, as one may say, whose every plant is a flame.

These balconies are the darlingest things. I have spent all this morning in this north one. Counting big & little, it has 256 panes of glass in it; so one is in effect right out in the free sunshine, & yet sheltered from wind & rain—& likewise doored & curtained from whatever may be going on in the bed-roomⒶemendation. It must have been a noble genius who devised this hotel. Lord, how blessed is the repose, the tranquillity of this place! Only two sounds: the happy clamor of the birds in the groves, & the muffled music of the Neckar, tumbling over the opposing dikes. It is no hardship to like let lie awake awhile, nights, for this subdued roar has exactly the sound of a steady rain beating upon a roof. It is so healing to the spirit.; & it bears up the thread of one’s imaginings as the accompaniment bears up a song.

While Livy & Miss Spaulding have been writing at this tableⒶemendation, I have sat tilted back, near by, with a pipe & the last Atlantic, & read Charley Warner’s article with prodigious enjoyment. I think it is exquisite. I think it must be the roundest & broadest & completest short essay he has ever written. It is clear, & compact, & charmingly done.

The hotel grounds join & communicate with the Castle grounds; so we & the children loaf in the W Ⓐemendation winding paths of those leafy vastnesses a great deal, & drink beer & listen to excellent music.

When we first came to this hotel, a couple of weeks ago, I pointed to a house across the river, by the water’s edge, & said I meant to rent the centre room on the 3d floor for a work-room. Jokingly we got to speaking of it as my office; & amused ourselves with watching “my people” daily in their small grounds & trying to make out what we could of their dress, &c., without a glass. Well, I loafed along there one day & found on that house the only sign of the kind on that side of the river: “Moblirte Wohnung zu Vermei iethen!” I went in & rented that very room which I had long ago selected. There was only one other room in the whole Ⓐemendation double-house unrented.

(It occurs to me that I made a great mistake in not thinking to deliver a very bad German spe◇ech (every other sentence pieced out with English,) at the Bayard Taylor banquet in New York; I think I could have made it one of the features of the occasion.)

We left Hartford before the end of April, March, & I have been idle ever since. I have waited for a “call” to go to work—I knew it would come. Well, it began to come a week ago; my note-book comes out more & more frequently every day since; 3 days ago I concluded to move my manuscripts over to my den. Now the call is loud & decided, at last. So, tomorrow I shall begin regular, steady work, & stick to it till middle of July or 1st August, when I look for Twichell; we will then walk aboutⒶemendation Germany 2 or 3 weeks & then I’ll go to work again—(perhaps in Munich.)

We both send a power of love to the Howellses, & we do wish you were here. Are you in the new house? Tell us about it.