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whole Confederation, and also in Germany, as much of it as I have seen. Now I tripped right into the village. Very pleasantly rural, with a clear stream flowing through it, the situation of this village appeared to me. I enquired after the dwelling of my friend Herr Hess
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. They described a red house. But when I saw one, I thought that must certainly be the parsonage, and not Herr Hess's house, because I had not anticipated that Herr Hess would be the owner of the finest house in the village. So I asked again. Yes, yes, they said, That is Hess's house. So I went in and found that it was. 'Twas just time for the midday meal and the table was laid. A country meal of smoked bacon and meat smelt very good. Bless me, Hess, said I, you are living here in Mülheim just like a proper gentleman. I had never thought to see so many pretty, healthy children, farmhands and day-labourers, horses and cattle, two fat sows in the pigsty. Yes, said he, thank God, I am doing very well here, I can deal and peddle as I like. The neighbours like me and I give them work, a chance to earn some bread. We are healthy, our life is free and happy. That's how it goes, said I, when the government of one canton limits business and trade so much, and binds one's hands, then the best and most capable brains leave and buy into another place where greater liberty reigns. So one region is continually gaining while the other loses. Yes, said he, I'm not complaining. Freedom is a noble thing. I have never even for a moment wished myself back in my former homeland.After the meal Herr Hess conducted me all round the house and the barns and showed me his fields and pastures, led me into his beautiful vineyards, where I ate my fill of the tasty grapes. Everything is close at hand, a level meadow, garnished with fruit trees like an orchard - and right in front of the windows a garden, the like of which one seldom finds with common people in the country, I would not have expected such at Herr Hess's home in Mülheim. His thrifty wife is herself the gardener and reveals more knowledge and taste than her appearance leads one to expect. Herr Hess is absent all the week on business, in Lichtensteig, Herisau and St. Gallen, and is at home for only two days, when he leafs through his trade books and produce and puts everything in order. So his little, unpromising-looking wife must take everything on herself, and indeed she does, in the house, the stables and everywhere. I was struck with admiration when she showed me her cattle, her two fat sows in the pigsty, and then when I saw the good order in the house, the garden and everywhere. True, nowhere was there perfect cleanliness, but everything was in good condition. And how could a little woman, not having a maidservant or any assistance, possibly keep everything neat and clean. Herr Hess and perhaps a hundred others, who have the good fortune to possess such a wife, are certainly those who least know how to value her, and scarcely one in twenty truly perceives what a support such a brave housewife is to a man who wants to make something for himself in the world. If the man has understanding and a good head for business, and such a woman to keep his house, then in these days, even with no property or only a small one, he can do very well [...].
We made ourselves ready to travel on to reach Weil in the evening. So we left Mülheim in the late afternoon. We came to Pfyn on the Thur, where there is a ferry. There I saw horrible devastation made recently by the Thur. Not a trace of the main road was still to be seen, which leads straight from the water up to Frauenfeld. I asked the ferryman whether the Thur was really dangerous here. So you know something of the Thur too? said he, yes, it is a channel for lightning. It has changed the course of our ferry more than a hundred times. Here it is impossible to build dams by it that might hold it in bounds. Where are you from, then? The Toggenburg, said I. The Thur runs scarcely a stone's throw before my windows, and yet six hours' journey up the valley and it's nothing. From there only a few watercourses run together and make a stream. Then many streams from the Alps add to its strength. But in dry weather, where I live and for four hours' journey downstream one can wade through it at many points.
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Rudolf Hess had done well out of moving to Mülheim because the regulations for settling in this area were more liberal. [Chronik, pp 269-370] Bräker may be covertly criticising the Toggenburg.
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