Brooms are, as we know, among the imperious necessities of the epoch;
and in every household, there are many needful articles of the kind
which must be provided from day to day, or week to week; and which
one accordingly finds, everywhere, persons glad to supply. But we pay
daily less and less attention to these kindly disposed persons, since
we have been able to get the articles at their lowest possible price.
Formerly it was not thus. The broom merchant, the egg merchant, the
sand and rottenstone merchant, were, so to speak, part of the family;
one was connected with them by very close links; one knew the day on
which each would arrive; and according to the degree of favour they
were in, one kept something nice for their dinner; and if, by any
chance, they did not come to their day, they excused themselves, next
time, as for a very grave fault indeed. They considered the houses
which they supplied regularly, as the stars of their heaven,--took
all the pains in the world to serve them well,--and, on quitting their
trade for anything more dignified, did all they could to be replaced
either by their children, or by some cousin, or cousine. There was
thus a reciprocal bond of fidelity on one side, and of trust on
the other, which unhappily relaxes itself more and more every day,
in the measure that also family spirit disappears.
The broom merchant of Rychiswyl was a servant of this sort; he whom
one regrets now, so often at Berne,--whom everybody was so fond
of at Thun! The Saturday might sooner have been left out of the
almanack, than the broom-man not appear in Thun on the Saturday. He
had not always been the broom-man; for a long time he had only been
the broom-boy; until, in the end, the boy had boys of his own,
who put themselves to push his cart for him. His father, who had
been a soldier, died early in life; the lad was then very young,
and his mother ailing. His elder sister had started in life many a
day before, barefoot, and had found a place in helping a woman who
carried pine-cones and turpentine to Berne. When she had won her
spurs, that is to say, shoes and stockings, she obtained advancement,
and became a governess of poultry, in a large farm near the town. Her
mother and brother were greatly proud of her, and never spoke but with
respect of their pretty Babeli. Hansli could not leave his mother,
who had need of his help, to fetch her wood, and the like. They lived
on the love of God and good people; but badly enough. One day, the
farmer they lodged with says to Hansli:
My lad, it seems to me you might try and earn something now; you are
big enough, and sharp enough.