Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
Transcriber's Note:
1. Page scan source:
http://www.archive.org/details/anoldstorymyfar00reutgoog
2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
3. Greek text is transliterated and bracketed [Greek: ].
_Each volume sold separately at the price of M 1,60_.
COLLECTION
OF
GERMAN AUTHORS
TAUCHNITZ EDITION.
* * * * *
VOL. 35.
AN OLD STORY OF MY FARMING DAYS.
By FRITZ REUTER.
IN THREE VOLUMES.--VOL. 2.
LEIPZIG: BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ.
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED.
ST. DUNSTAN'S HOUSE, FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET E.C.
PARIS: LIBRAIRIE C. REINWALD, 15, RUE DES SAINTS-PÈRES; THE
GALIGNANI LIBRARY, 224, RUE DE RIVOLI.
_This Collection of German Authors may be introduced_
_into England or any other country_.
COLLECTION
OF
GERMAN AUTHORS.
VOL. 35.
* * * * *
AN OLD STORY
OF MY FARMING DAYS BY FRITZ REUTER.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
AN OLD STORY
OF MY FARMING DAYS
_(UT MINE STROMTID)_
BY
FRITZ REUTER,
AUTHOR OF "IN THE YEAR '13:"
FROM THE GERMAN
BY
M. W. MACDOWALL.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
_Authorized Edition_.
LEIPZIG 1878
BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ.
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON.
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
PARIS: C. REINWALD & CIE, 15, RUE DES SAINTS PÈRES.
AN OLD STORY
UT MINE STROMTID.
CHAPTER I.
On the 23rd of June 1843, the eldest son of David Däsel and the
youngest daughter of John Degel were seated on a bench in the
pleasure-grounds at Pümpelhagen. They had gone out to enjoy the beauty
of the moonlight evening together. Sophia Degel said to her companion:
"What made you look so foolish, Kit, when you came back from taking the
horses over to meet the squire?"--"It was no wonder if I looked a
little foolish. He took me into the sitting-room at the Inn and showed
me his wife, and, says he, 'this is your new mistress.' Then she gave
me a glass of wine, and made me drink it at once"--"What's she like?"
asked the girl.--"Why," said Christian, "it's rather difficult to
describe her. She's about your height; her hair is bright and fair like
yours, and her colouring is red and white like yours. She has grey eyes
like you, and she has just such another sweet little mouth."--Here he
gave Sophia a hearty kiss on her pretty red lips.--"Lawk a daisy!
Christian!" cried the girl, freeing herself from his embrace, "I
suppose then that you gave her just such another kiss as you've given
me?"--"Are you crazy?" asked Christian, and then went on soothingly.
"No, that would have been impossible. That! sort have something about
them that doesn't go with our sort. The lady might have sat here on the
bench beside me till doom's day, and I'd never have thought of giving
her a kiss."--"I see!" said Sophia Degel, rising and tossing her pretty
head; "you think that _I_'m good enough for that sort of thing! Do
you?"--"Sophia," said Christian, putting his arm round her waist again,
in spite of her pretended resistance, "that kind of woman is far too
small and weakly for us to admire; why if I wanted to put my arm round
a creature like that--as I'm doing to you just now, Sophia--I'd be
frightened of breaking or crushing her. Nay," he continued, stroking
her hair, and beginning to walk home with her, "like mates with
like."--When they parted Sophia was quite friends with Christian again.
"I shall see the lady in the morning," she said, as she slipped away
from his detaining arm, "the girls are all going to make wreaths of
flowers to-morrow, and I'm going to help."
Every one at Pümpelhagen was busy weaving garlands, and setting up a
triumphal arch across the avenue. Next morning Hawermann saw the last
touches put to the arch, to which Mary Möller added a bunch of flowers
here, and a bit of green there, as it seemed to be required, and Fred
Triddelfitz fluttered about amongst the village-lads and lasses
as a sort of volunteer-assistant, in all the grandeur of his green
hunting-coat, white leather breeches, long boots with yellow tops, and
blood-red neck-tie. While they were employed in this manner, uncle
Bräsig joined them in his very best suit of clothes. He wore pale blue
summer-trousers, and a brown coat which he must have bought in the year
one. It was a very good fit at the back, and was so long in the tails
that it nearly reached the middle of his calf, but it showed rather too
great an expanse of yellow piqué waistcoat in front. As the coat was
the same colour as the bark of a tree, he might be likened to a tree
that had been struck by lightning, and which showed a broad stripe of
yellow wood in front where the bark had been torn away. He also wore a
black hat about three quarters of a yard high. "Good morning, Charles.
How are you getting on? Aha! I see that the erection is nearly
finished. It looks very nice, Charles--but still, I think that the arch
might have been a little bit higher, and you might have had a couple of
towers, one on the right hand and the other on the left. I once saw
that done at Güstrow in the time of old Frederic Francis, when he came
back in triumph! But where's the banner?"--"There's none," said
Hawermann, "we hav'n't one."--"Do try to remember where we can get one,
Charles. You can't possibly do without a flag of some kind. The
lieutenant was in the army, and so he must have a flag flying in his
honour. Möller," he called without turning round, "just fetch me two
servant's sheets and sew them together lengthwise; Christian Päsel,
bring me a smooth straight pole, and you, Triddelfitz, get me the brush
you use for marking the sacks, and a bottle of ink."--"Bless me!
Zachariah. What on earth are you going to do?" asked Hawermann, shaking
his head.--"Charles," said Bräsig, "it's a great mercy that the
lieutenant was in the Prussian army, for if he had been in a
Mecklenburg regiment we should never have managed to get the right
colours. Now it's quite easy to rig up a Prussian flag. Black ink and
white sheets! we want nothing more."--Hawermann at first thought of
dissuading his friend from making the flag, but on second thoughts he
let him go on unchecked, for, thought he, the young squire will see
that he meant it kindly.
So Bräsig set to work, and painted a great "vivat!!!" on the sheets.
"Hold tight!" he shouted to Mary Möller and Fred Triddelfitz who were
helping him, "I want to get 'Lieutenant and Mrs. Lieutenant' properly
written on the banner."--He had decided, after much thought, on putting
"Lieutenant and Mrs. Lieutenant" after the "vivat", instead of "A. von
Rambow and F. von Satrop" as he had at first intended, for von Rambow
and von Satrop are merely the names of two noble families, and he had
all his life had a great deal to do with people of that kind, while he
had never yet known a lieutenant, and therefore thought the title a
very distinguished one.
When the flag was finished he trotted across the court with it, and
stuck it up on the highest step of the manor-house, and then hastened
down stairs again to see how it looked from below. After that, he tried
hanging it out at the granary-window, and again from the loft above the
stable where the sheep were wintered; but none of these places met with
his approval. "It won't do at all, Charles," he said at last; but after
a long pause he added: "I have it now!" and pointing at the arch he
continued, "That's the very place for it."--"Ah, but," said Hawermann,
"don't you see that if you put it there, it'll hide our arch
completely. The great poplar over there prevents any wind getting at
your banner, and so it's hanging to the pole like an immense icicle
that hasn't melted since last winter."--"I'll soon put that right,
Charles," cried Bräsig, pulling a quantity of twine out of his pocket,
and tying one bit to the upper and another bit to the lower end of his
banner. "Gustavus Kegel," he called to the boy who fed the pigs, "are
you a good climber?"--"Yes, Sir," answered Gustavus.--"Very well then,
my dear pig's Marcary," said Bräsig, laughing heartily at his own joke,
and all the grooms, and farm-lads, and lasses laughed because he did,
"take the ends of these strings, climb the poplar with them, and then
draw tight."--Gustavus did as he was desired, and drew the banner as
tight and firm as if he had been setting a main-sail in preparation for
Pümpelhagen leaving her moorings and sailing away. Bräsig meanwhile
stood by the pole or mast like a captain during a sea-fight, and looked
as if he were commanding the whole ship's company: "He may come now as
soon as he likes, Charles. I'm quite ready for him."
But Fred Triddelfitz was not ready yet, for he had constituted himself
commander-in-chief of the land-forces, and wanted to arrange his army
in two lines, one on each side of the road. The first of these lines
was formed of the old labourers, the grooms, and the farm-lads. The
other of the married women, the maid-servants, and the girls who worked
on the farm. After a good deal of trouble he partially succeeded in
arranging the men to his mind; but it was otherwise with the women; he
could not manage them at all. The married women were each armed with
one of their little olive-branches, for, as they said, Josy and Harry
ought to see all that was going on at such a time; but unfortunately
the said olive-branches required so much dancing and talking to, to
keep them quiet, that it spoilt the look of the whole line. The
maid-servants refused to acknowledge Fred's authority, and Sophia Degel
even went so far as to say that he had better not attempt to order
_her_ about, for she would obey no one but Mamselle Möller.[1] As for
the light infantry of farm-girls, they were never in the same spot for
two minutes at a time! There was no managing them, for they seemed to
be under the impression that the enemy was in sight, and that it was
their bounden duty to take some dapper young foe prisoner on the spot.
Fred Triddelfitz struck the crook-stick he had intended to use as his
marshal's baton on the ground before them, and said that they were not
worth all the trouble he was taking with them. He then went to
Hawermann and told him: He would have nothing more to do with it, and
as the bailiff did not entreat him to persevere, he asked if he might
have the use of his horse to ride out, and see whether the young squire
and his wife were coming. Hawermann was rather unwilling to allow him
to do so, out of regard for his old horse, but Bräsig whispered: "Let
him go, Charles, for our preparations will have a much more imposing
effect when we get rid of the grey-hound."
Fred rode off towards Gürlitz; but no sooner was he gone than Bräsig
had a new cause of displeasure in the conduct of Strull, the
schoolmaster, who now came up followed by all the youthful descendants
of the Äsels and Egels who were of an age to go to school, each with
his or her hymn-book open. The order which Fred had vainly endeavoured
to introduce amongst his forces was effected in a moment with the
new-comers, for Master Strull was always accustomed to maintain
discipline amongst his scholars. He divided his followers into two
parties; one of which was formed of Äsels, for he could count on their
singing properly, and the other was composed of Egels, who--as he knew
by sad experience--had very peculiar ideas regarding time and tune.
"Bless me, Charles! What does this mean?" asked Bräsig when he saw the
schoolmaster arrive on the scene of action.--"Why, Bräsig, Master
Strull wants to pay his respects to the squire along with the rest of
us, and I don't see any reason why the school-children shouldn't sing
what he has taught them as well as they can."--"Much too 'clesiastical
for the lieutenant, much too 'clesiastical! Do you happen to have a
drum or a trumpet about the place?"--"No," laughed Hawermann, "we
hav'n't any instruments of that kind."--"I'm very sorry to hear it,"
said Bräsig.--"But stop! Christian Däsel come and hold the flag-staff
for me, will you? It's all right, Charles," he added as he went away.
But if Hawermann had known what he was going to do, he would have made
him give up his plan. Bräsig signed to the night-watchman David Däsel
to come and speak to him apart, and then asked him if he had brought
his instrument with him. David thought for a moment in silence; at last
he said: "Here!" and held up the stick which he like all the other
workmen had brought by Fred Triddelfitz's orders that they might be
waved in honour of the lieutenant. "You stupid old dunder-head!" cried
Bräsig impatiently, "I mean your musical-instrument."--"Do you mean my
horn? It's at home."--"Can you blow a tune upon it?"--Yes, David said,
he could blow _one_.--"No man can do more than he is able!" said
Bräsig. "Now go and get your horn and come behind the cattle-shed, and
let me hear what it's like."
When they were alone in the meeting place appointed by Bräsig, David
put the horn to his lips and blew as loud as if he wanted to announce
that the cattle-shed was on fire: "The Prussians have taken Paris,"
&c., for he was very musical. "_Stop!_" cried Bräsig, "you must blow
gently just now, for I want to surprise Hawermann; but when the
lieutenant comes you may do it as loud as ever you like. Now, listen.
When the schoolmaster has got through all his 'clesiastical nonsense,
keep your eye on me, and when you see me wave the flag-staff three
times, be sure you blaze away."--"Very well, Sir; but we must see first
of all that the old watch-dog is safely on the chain, for he and I are
not quite friends just now, and if he sees me with the horn he'll be
sure to fly upon me."--"I'll see to that," said Bräsig, and then he
went back with Däsel to join the others near the triumphal arch, and
when he got there, he resumed his former place as supporter of the
flag-staff. They were just in time to see Fred Triddelfitz riding up
the hill as fast as the old horse could go, when he was near enough for
his voice to be heard, he called out: "They're coming, they're coming!
They're at Gürlitz now."
Yes, they were coming. Alick von Rambow and his fair young wife were
driving slowly towards their home on that lovely summer-morning. They
were in an open carriage, and Alick pointed beyond Gürlitz to the wide
green meadows bathed in sunshine and to the shady woods of Pümpelhagen,
and said: "Look, dearest Frida, there it is; that is our home."--These
words were few and simple, but they did as well as any others to
express the pride and happiness he felt in being able to provide such a
beautiful home for his young wife, and she understood his meaning
perfectly, and rejoiced in feeling how much he loved her.--She was of a
calm gentle nature, and might be likened to a quiet brook flowing
peacefully by the hill-side and through a cool shady wood far removed
from the busy high-way; but now the bright sunshine had found out its
secret course, and shone down upon it, lighting up the flowers and
grasses on its banks, and showing the brilliant colouring of the
pebbles lying under its still waters like treasures before undreamed
of. And so the little brook flowed on, making a sweeter and merrier
music than before it had been wakened to new life by the magic wand of
the sun.
Her appearance was much as Christian Däsel had described it, but he had
not seen her cheeks flush with pleasant excitement as they were now
doing, while she looked in the direction in which Alick was pointing;
nor had he seen her grey eyes swimming with happy tears as she turned
them on her husband.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, slipping her hand into Alick's: "How beautiful it
is! I never saw such a rich land! Just look at those corn-fields over
there!"--"Yes," said Alick, who was much pleased with her delight, "the
soil here is a great deal richer than in your province." It was a pity
that he did not stop there, but she had alluded to his pet hobby,
farming, so he went on: "But there is much room for improvement in our
farming operations; sufficient intelligence has never yet been brought
to bear on the subject, and so we don't make half as much out of the
land as we might. Look there at that wheat-field on the other side of
the hill! It is part of the Pümpelhagen estate, and I hope, in a couple
of years' time, to have a crop of plants of great mercantile value in
that field, and then you'll see that it will bring me in three times as
much money as it does now."--Then he launched forth on the commercial
value of flax, hops, oil producing plants, carraway and anise-seed,
with which, in alternate years, he, as a good farmer, would sow clover
and esparcet, "to keep his cattle in good condition, and to make
manure." After that he went on to explain what plants were used for
dyes, and told his wife that red was extracted from the madder, blue
from woad and yellow from weld, and said that he was certain to get a
good price for crops of that kind. Just as he had reached this point
and was riding his hobby much to his own satisfaction, he was startled
by a horse passing the carriage at full gallop. It was Fred Triddelfitz
who appeared in all the brilliance of a rainbow, and disappeared with
the velocity of a falling star.
"What was that?" cried Frida, and Alick shouted: "Heigh! Heigh!" But
Fred took no notice, for he had to bring the news to the people at the
triumphal arch, and had only time as he galloped past Gürlitz manor to
call out to Pomuchelskopp whom he saw standing at the gate, that they
were coming, and would be at the village in five minutes.--"Come, Mally
and Sally, it's high time for you to come!" shouted Pomuchelskopp over
the garden-hedge, and Mally and Sally threw the bit of worsted work
they were doing; down amongst the nettles beside the arbour, put on
their Leghorn hats, and took their stand one on each side of their
father. Then father Pomuchelskopp said to them: "Don't look round,
girls, whatever you do, for we must seem as if we had come out for no
other reason than to have a walk this beautiful morning."
But he was doomed to meet with disappointment.--The Pümpelhagen
carriage was driving slowly through the village, when Mrs. von Rambow
suddenly asked her husband: "Who is that lovely girl who bowed to us
just now?" He answered that it was Louisa Hawermann, his bailiff's only
daughter, and that the house beside which she was standing was the
parsonage. Meanwhile Muchel and his two daughters were going out at
their gate as if for a walk, when as ill-luck would have it, our old
friend Henny was driven by the demon of housekeeping to go out and feed
the chickens. She had on a white cotton cap trimmed with frills round
the face, and the inevitable black merino gown which she still
considered good enough for morning wear. When she saw Pomuchelskopp and
the two girls passing out at the gate, she was very angry with her
husband for going without her, and so she rubbed the chickens food off
her hands on the old black skirt, and followed them. Her stiff
unbending figure clothed in white and black looked exactly like a
tombstone going out for a walk.
"Muchel!" she called after her husband.--"Don't look round," said
Muchel, "our being here must seem to be accidental."--"Kopp!" she
shouted. "Ar'n't you going to wait for me? Do you want me to run myself
out of breath?"--"I'm sure I don't care whether you do or not," growled
Pomuchelskopp. "Don't look round, girls, I hear the carriage now. It'll
be here immediately."--"But, father," remonstrated Sally, "that's
mother calling."--"Pshaw! Mother here, mother there!" cried
Pomuchelskopp in a rage. "She'll spoil everything. But, my dear
children," he continued after a short pause, "don't repeat what I've
just said to your mother."--Henny now came up with them, very much out
of breath with her run: "Kopp!" she began, but got no further in her
speech, for the carriage had now reached them, and Pomuchelskopp stood
still, and making a low bow, exclaimed: "A-ah!--I wish you joy, I wish
you joy!" and Mally and Sally curtsied at the same time as their father
spoke. Alick desired the coachman to stop, and said he was glad to see
Mr. Pomuchelskopp and his family looking so well. Whilst this was going
on, Muchel was pulling his wife's dress secretly as a sign to her to
greet the von Rambows also, but she remained standing as stiff and
straight as before, only puffing and blowing a little after her late
exertions. Frida leant back in the carriage, and looked as if she had
nothing to do with what was going on. Muchel then proceeded to speak of
the happy chance which had led to the unexpected pleasure of this
meeting, and told how he and his two daughters were taking a walk, and
had never .... here he stopped short, for at the same moment he
received a sharp pinch from Henny, and heard her whisper savagely:
"You're treating your wife with very little respect!"--As soon as
Pomuchelskopp came to this abrupt conclusion of his address, Alick
signed to the coachman to drive on, saying at the same time that he
hoped soon to have the pleasure of seeing his neighbour again.
Pomuchelskopp stood still with a very hang-dog look, and Mally and
Sally took their former places at his side, but instead of pursuing
their walk as they had intended, they turned their steps homeward,
Henny following them, and leading her recalcitrant husband back to his
duty after her usual gentle fashion. Never, as long as he lived, did
Pomuchelskopp forget the events of that morning, or the admonitions
with which his wife overwhelmed him.
"Those seemed to be very disagreeable people," said Frida as they drove
away.--"You are quite right in your supposition," answered Alick, "but
they are very rich."--"Ah!" cried Frida, "mere riches don't make
pleasant companions."--"True, dearest Frida, but the man is an
excellent farmer, and for that reason, as well as because he is a near
neighbour, we must admit him and his family to our acquaintance."--"Are
you in earnest, Alick?"--"Certainly," he replied.--After a little
thought, she asked: "What sort of man is the clergyman?"--"I know him
very slightly, but my father had a high opinion of him, and my bailiff
has a great love and respect for him.--But," he added after a pause,
"that is only natural, for the parson has brought up his only child
almost from her infancy."--"Oh; the beautiful girl we saw at the
parsonage door; but of course the clergyman's wife had more to do with
that than he had. Do you know her?"--"Yes--that is to say, I've seen
her. She appeared to be a cheery old lady."--"They must be very good
people," said Frida decidedly.--"Dear Frida," said Alick settling
himself more comfortably in his corner, "how quickly you women jump at
a conclusion! You think that because these people adopted a child
who was no relation to them, and---and--have brought her up well,
that ......" He was going to have enlightened his wife as to the
probable double motive which composes every action, however apparently
good, by showing her some of the lessons he had learnt in what he
called "knowledge of human nature"--for it is a well known fact that
puppies which have been blind for nine days of their life, always think
they understand more of the ways of the world on the tenth day than all
of their surroundings put together.--But before he could go on to prove
the wickedness of the world, his young wife started forward on her
seat, exclaiming: "Oh, Alick, look. A flag and a triumphal arch. They
are preparing a grand reception for us."--And Degel the coachman said,
looking over his shoulder at her: "Yes, Madam. I wasn't to tell you,
but now you've seen it for yourself. I must drive very slowly now for
fear the horses should take fright."