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mountains of Switzerland—still the self-same pleasant,
jocular, and good-humoured man that Ave
found him to be six years ago. He folded me in
his arms, expressed himself delighted beyond measure,
and I really belicA'C that from that day,
during our stay in Iceland, there was not a wish
that I could express that “ my friend the governor”
AA'ould not have exerted every nerve to gratify. It
Avas really and unaffectedly a happy moment of my
life; for Avhen very young I had experienced acts
of kindness from him. I had frequently inquired
after him Avhen at Copenhagen; but as the name of
Krieger is by no means an uncommon one, I could
never learn where the individual I sought for was to
be found. Hoav strange it is that we are thus sometimes,
out of all expectation—and I may say calculation—
throAvn together in the Avorld ! that two tr a vellers,
accidentally meeting together in the Alps, and
forming a temporary, but I flatter myself a mutually
agreeable acquaintance, should, after the lapse of a
few years, when all intercourse had ceased, meet once
more, equally unlooked for, of all places in the
world, on Iceland! Finding him still just the
same happy and pleasant individual as before, I
could not resist the temptation, while congratulating
him on his elevation, to condole with him at
the same time on his unhappy lot, which I understood
had consigned him to the workhouse ;—at
Avhich he laughed heartily, and observed it was a
true joke, but no bad one for the governor, who
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had never been so Avell lodged as when he got into
the Avorkhouse. I t seems the building Avas not
only the best in the toAvn, but that it had been for
some time perfectly useless for its original design,
as there was nobody bad enough to put into i t : a
circumstance Avhich reflects no small praise on the
morality of the inhabitants of Reikiavik, Avhose
good conduct rendered such a place unnecessary—
a place
''Wh er e children dwell, who know no parents’ care;
Parents, who know no children’s love, dwell there.”
Like all sea-port towns, however, Reikiavik is
not free from the vice of drunkenness, which is by
no means uncommon among the fishermen and the
lower orders in the town. Indeed Ave happened to
Avitness a deplorable instance of it in the person
of an old woman, Avho Avas lying under a boat upon
the beach, in a miserable state of intoxication, and
who, Ave afterAvards heard, ended her existence on
that very spot.
Nothing could exceed the civility of Mr. Krieger
to all of us, and particularly to myself: he hoped
to see me frequently—at breakfast, dinner, or
supper as might suit me most—and that his door
was open to me at all hours of the day. He could
not offer me lodgings, as his Avhole house was
occupied by Prince Frederick of Denmark and his
suite, at this time on a tour to the north-eastern
part of the island, but expected daily to return.
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