EXCURSIONS HITHER AND THITHER.
We have almost too long neglected a principal person in our narrative,
Young Werner; we left him sadly musing on the banks of the beautiful
Hudson River, and must now return to him.
"Well," said Helldorf, smiling, "have you nearly done looking? My
friend, my friend, it almost seems to me as though the most serious
thoughts in the world--thoughts of marriage--were floating in your head.
Consider that your chief object in coming to America was to earn
something, and that until that is done---- Well, then," he said,
interrupting himself with a smile, when he saw that Werner turned his
back impatiently upon him, "it's the old story, and all that I may say
will not alter it. But come along, Werner, else we shall really miss our
boat, and that's the most important thing to us at present."
"And will you indeed accompany me, my dear Helldorf?" asked the young
man.
"I suppose I must," said the other, with a shrug of his shoulders; "but
it's no such great sacrifice I am making. In the first place, I am
heartily sick of my stay in New York, and I have in fact some business
to look after in Philadelphia, which, if it does not absolutely require
me to go there, yet renders my presence desirable. We will therefore
lose no more time, but take our things with us at once; and, if I can.
I'll accompany you on your journey as far as Cincinnati, for I'm much
mistaken if you remain more than four weeks in Philadelphia."
"My dear fellow, however much my heart yearns towards Tennessee--as I
feel but too well that it does--yet it will be impossible for me, within
that period, to conclude that which I ought to conclude in Philadelphia,
or rather, to speak more correctly, to commence the formation of
connexions which I ought to form there. But we shall see; perhaps you
yourself may like to remain longer."
"Well, we shall see, certainly," replied Helldorf. "To speak candidly, I
should, in your place, have gone with them to the settlement at once."
"To become a farmer?"
"For no other purpose; but you are just like all the rest--you will only
learn by experience. But we must really be off. Do you see the smoke
yonder; that's from the Philadelphia packet-boat, and we have little
enough time left to get all our things on board."
The young men returned to the town arm in arm, and in another hour they
stood upon the splendidly fitted-up steamer which was to conduct them to
the proud Quaker city.
Their journey was a short one; they went by water to the southern shore
of Staaten Island Bay, removed the little baggage which they had to the
railway there, and, in six hours more, they found themselves in the most
beautiful, but assuredly, also, the most tedious, of North American
cities.
"Well, and what do you think of setting about next?" inquired Helldorf
of Werner, when, towards evening, they had deposited their luggage, and
were walking about Chestnut-street, the principal street of
Philadelphia, which was then crowded with well-dressed people.
"Why, to deliver my letters of recommendation, of course," answered the
other, smiling. "I have been so urgently recommended to certain houses
of business here, that I may be permitted to hope that I may receive
some assistance from them in furthering my plans. Yes, Helldorf, I may
confide in you--I know that I can confide in you"--continued the young
man, seizing his friend's hand, and becoming more animated; "you have
behaved so heartily towards me, even from the very first, that I must
unreservedly unfold all my plans to you."
Helldorf smiled, but pressed the right hand which was extended to him,
and replied, "And may I not guess them?"
"Partly, perhaps," said Werner, and his countenance coloured more
deeply--"partly, no doubt--my love for Bertha--but that is not all; that
is only the sunny point of my existence--the aim towards which my whole
exertions, my whole soul is directed; but you shall know the means also
by which I hope to attain my object, and you shall tell me whether you
approve them or not."
Helldorf slightly bowed, and Werner began:--
"In stating my endeavours and plans, I probably shall be merely
describing those of thousands besides, who, like myself, are thrown upon
these shores without means, and who wish to make their fortunes, as the
phrase is.
"When I embarked at Bremen almost, my only wish and intention was to
travel through the States in all directions; my plans are now altered.
Taking all things into consideration, I don't think that Pastor Hehrmann
will agree long with the Committee whom they have chosen."
Helldorf nodded his head, significantly.
"He himself is poor," Werner continued, "and the time may arrive when he
may stand in need of a friend; so I will set to work with zeal and
earnestness,--get some situation here, which I must soon be able to
do--work, speculate, devote my whole life to this one object, and then
present myself, cheerfully, to the parents of my beloved, and ask them
for their daughter's hand,--then I shall have deserved her."
"Well said, my worthy young friend," said the Kentuckian, laying his
hand upon Werner's shoulder; "but I don't see why you should make such
preparation here in the East; your prospects _here_ are very uncertain."
"My recommendations----"
"I beg of you, for Heaven's sake, say no more about your
recommendations: those----. However, I will not make your heart heavy;
but, Werner, if you will follow my advice, you will go to the West as
quickly as you can, and become a farmer; every month that you pass here
is so much time lost, for farmer you will become, after all. You are no
merchant, have never been one, and--in short, are not at all fitted for
an American trader."
"But I don't see why not! I understand book-keeping thoroughly."
"Oh, I don't mean on account of want of knowledge; that, if necessary,
could be acquired by you, and soon, too--you are too honest!"
"Why, my dear Helldorf; you surely don't mean to affirm that the
American merchants are dishonest?"
"No, certainly not," exclaimed Helldorf; "and I should be very sorry if
you should so misunderstand me; but more is required in order to be a
merchant here in America than merely book-keeping and speculating on the
Exchange; for this last branch of business we have a special class of
men, the money-brokers as they are called, who, I may say, in passing,
don't stand in very good odour. But the German is no match for the
American in business, because he is too considerate. The Jews get on
about the best of any here; they soon adapt themselves to the manners
and customs of the country, begin in a small way, and do not let either
painstaking or shame discourage them--and become rich. But in America
the standard of honesty is different from that of Germany. In your
country, for example, a bankrupt who should become rich by his
bankruptcy would be stamped with infamy. It is quite different here; I
know people who have been bankrupt three times, who possess more than a
million of dollars, and a reaccounted among the most respectable men of
the city wherein they live. In Little Rock, one of the richest merchants
made a declaration of insolvency, and yet, at the same time, was
building a couple of large brick houses."
"But how was that possible?"
"Oh, in that way anything is possible, and the Americans call it
'smart.'"
"That's the word which Dr. Normann mentioned to me. But about the
merchant?"
"The doctor is acquainted with it, no doubt," said Helldorf, with a
smile. "Well, the merchant in question had settled all his property upon
his wife--no one could take any part of it from him; the creditors came,
but had to draw off again without getting anything."
"But the houses?"
"Oh, his wife was having them built; _he_ had nothing, of course--he was
a poor ruined man; however, everybody gave him credit again, and as soon
as he had obtained his certificate, he began business afresh with more
spirit than ever. I could relate hundreds of such instances of people
whom I have known personally."
"That certainly does not say much for their honesty, if such a
proceeding is reckoned an ordinary mercantile transaction," said Werner;
"but, be that as it may, trade certainly is the quickest way to acquire
a little property; and, I should think, that if one were honest and
upright, buyers must soon find it out, and it would carry weight."
"Oh, my dear Werner, that's of little use here; the modest man remains
behind, and without puffing and quackery, a poor devil can seldom get
along in America, unless, as I have already observed, he turns farmer.
Those are my views, but I don't wish to palm them upon you as the views
of all the world; I shall even be glad, on your account, if you should
not find them confirmed."
"But I have no capital to begin with--at least----"
"If that makes any difference at all, it's rather in your favour than
otherwise," said Helldorf, smiling; "don't suppose that the people who
bring over capital with them pluck roses here. 'Where there is nothing,
the Emperor himself can't levy tribute,' and 'he who has no money pays
no premium.' But these sort of sayings are thrown away upon emigrants;
they must try it all themselves; afterwards, they get along better in
every way."
"But I feel a real desire within me to set to work at a business life
here."
"Very well, my dear Werner, then I wont dissuade you," replied Helldorf,
good humouredly; "deliver your introductions to-morrow, and we'll see
what may turn up. It's getting late, so let us make haste back to our
inn, else we may arrive after time, or miss our supper, which is about
the same thing."
The two friends returned to their boarding-house, and as Werner went out
rather early on the following morning, the afternoon was advanced before
they met again.
Werner came home very tired; he had delivered a number of letters of
introduction, and had found a good many of the people, whom he had
subsequently to call upon, from home, which altogether was no trifle in
that immense city. However, he had been asked by _all_ to call again
next day, a sure sign that the people intended not to accept the
introduction merely, and then drop the matter, but that they would exert
themselves a little for him.
He had received an invitation to dinner for the next day from a merchant
named Harvey, whom he had found a very agreeable man, and he promised
himself much satisfaction from it.
"Well then, our paper is going up," said Helldorf, with a smile; "well,
I wish that I may prove a false prophet. We will remain together a
little longer this evening, for to-morrow I must go to German-town on
some business, which will detain me for three days at the most, and I
hope afterwards to see you finish with Philadelphia and your future
prospects."
"Hardly so soon," said Werner, incredulously; "but time will show; from
all that I have seen to-day, however, I think that I may fairly be
sanguine."
At the public dinner table, they met several other Germans, among the
rest a M. Von Buchenberg, who was seated next to Werner. He had been
some weeks in Philadelphia, and purposed to visit the West, in order to
survey several districts of land in the interest of some company or
other, which already had a high-sounding name.
Von Buchenberg was not calculated, however, to give much encouragement
to young Werner, for he abused the town soundly:
"The devil take this _pious_ Philadelphia!" he exclaimed, indignantly;
"they keep Sundays here so strictly, that one daren't so much as peel an
apple, and yet all the while there they sit in their rocking-chairs, and
calculate and plan, how they shall cheat each other next day. Heaven
alone knows all the sects that crawl about here; there are Quakers and
methodists, baptists, presbyterians, Millerites, Schulzerites, and
Meierites, and Heaven knows what other names the fellows have! A shudder
comes over me when I see the gang of thieves, cutting about in
snuff-coloured suits."
"But the quakers are very plainly dressed," said Werner, taking up their
cause; "indeed, 'tis a part of their religion to attire themselves in as
quiet a manner as possible."
"Certainly," exclaimed Buchenberg; "but is it not strange that they
should dress themselves up in a costume which everybody else has long
since ceased to wear? The women, too, don't they just coquette in an
alarming manner from under their black sun-bonnets of such a very pious
cut! Well, then, the town itself!" continued the little man, who had
just got into train, "this regularity at last becomes quite unbearable,
and one dare not go abroad without a compass. If you inquire of any one
in the streets which way you are to get to so-and-so, they don't answer
you as reasonable people in other reasonable places would answer: 'You
go down yonder, then take the first turning on the right or left as the
case may be, go through that street, and then through such another
street to the place you wish for;' oh lord, no!--if you ask a
Philadelphian your way to ever so near a place, he says directly: 'Oh,
you can't miss it; you go from here three streets south, then you turn
westward till you come to the fourth, then again two streets south, and
it's to the east the third house on the north side.' Now I'll appeal to
anybody, isn't it enough to drive one wild?"
"Why, the points of the compass are easily remembered," said Helldorf,
with a smile.
"It happened just the same with me," Werner declared.
"Easily remembered!--how so?" said Von Buchenberg, who now got rather
warm on the subject. "Suppose that it's cloudy; and besides, since when,
I should like to know, have all men learned astronomy? I know that the
sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but therewith, Basta, the
rest does not concern me. If I want to know about it, I look into the
almanack. But that isn't all: the other day I was sitting at this very
table, and yonder, where that gentleman now sits, there sat a Quaker; in
the middle of dinner he stretches out his arm, and points down the
table, saying to me, 'Friend, may I trouble thee to reach me that
north-west dish.' I sat, regularly nonplussed, and stared at him,
whereupon he added, by way of explanation, that one to the south of the
soup.' Why, it beats all; what, am I to go outside the door, and look
after the quarters of the heavens, or else have a pocket compass always
ready beside my plate?"
Helldorf and Werner laughed heartily, and the worthy Von Buchenberg was
quite right, for the regular plan of the town in which all the streets
run at right angles from north to south, and from east to west, has
familiarized the inhabitants with this mode of expression. And it must
be allowed that when the ear has once got accustomed to it, the most
distant places may be thus admirably and accurately designated; but to
the emigrant, unless indeed he happen to be a seaman, the thing sounds
oddly.
Next morning, Helldorf started on his little journey, and Werner ran
about from one merchant to another, made calls upon calls, and was met
everywhere by mere civilities, or at most by a dinner. He became
heartily sick of this kind of life, and longed for the return of his
absent friend, although he almost dreaded his ridicule, for everything
had happened pretty much as he had foretold him. Still he was at least
conscious that he had not neglected anything which he had to do, and had
done everything in his power.
Helldorf returned at the time appointed; but, contrary to expectation,
he did not ridicule his friend, but merely excused the men (merchants
for the most part) to whom the introductions had been addressed, for not
having paid more attention and regard to them.
"You see, my dear Werner, every year many thousand persons arrive in the
United States, the majority of whom entertain the settled conviction
that they cannot get along at all unless they bring their pockets full
of introductions which certify on the face of them to the good
people--'Hark ye, I am so and so, a respectable, decent person, and it
would much oblige Mr. So and so, in Europe, if his esteemed friend in
Philadelphia or New York, or whatever the place may be, would receive me
in a friendly manner and aid me with word and deed; the friend in Europe
would also, in return, be most happy to render any similar service.'
Yes, that's all very well, but how seldom does it happen that any one
requires an introduction for Germany? for America it is a matter of
daily occurrence. No, the merchants in the great commercial towns are
regularly inundated with such recommendations, and we must not by any
means blame them, if they are not beside themselves with joy and
gladness so soon as they see a stranger enter their house, poking such a
letter of introduction, as a snail does his horns, before him. 'Help,
thyself,' is the motto here, and whoever is thoroughly impressed with
that need not fear. But, Werner, I have a proposal to make to you. I
have accepted a commission in German-town, which will oblige me to go to
New Orleans, will you go with me?"
"How far is it to New Orleans?" asked Werner.
"One can tell that you haven't been long from Germany," said Helldorf,
with a smile. "_Here_ nobody asks how _far_ it is to a place, but the
question is, '_How_ do you get there?' I intend to go by water. If you
like, make up your mind quickly, and we'll go back to-morrow to New
York, whence the packet boat 'Mobile' starts for New Orleans, and, if we
have a favourable passage, we may get there in a fortnight. In New
Orleans you can look about you a little; who knows what may offer itself
there, and after a stay of about a week, I promise to accompany you to
any little river in Tennessee which you may propose. From New Orleans we
can get up there in three days."
"Oh, my dear Helldorf, Philadelphia has discouraged me very much! What
am I to do in Tennessee? How can I hope--how dare I ask, for Bertha's
hand? How am I to support her?"
"Oh, means will be devised," exclaimed Helldorf; "only you must set the
right way to work, and an industrious man need not fear to strive in
vain. Trust in me, my dear Werner, and I'll put you on the right track,
and if you don't follow it, why it's your own fault. Do you go to New
Orleans with me?"
"Agreed!--here's my hand. It's true that I have a couple of
introductions for that place, too; but they shan't determine me, for
I'll not use them;" and, in the first impulse of vexation, he pulled the
letters out of his pocket, and would have thrown them into the stream
which flowed past.
"Hold!" said Helldorf, seizing his hand; "we must not condemn all
without distinction; such letters are like wet percussion caps, they
generally miss fire; sometimes, however, one does explode, and the gun
goes off. Such a bit of paper is not heavy, and, at any rate, can do no
harm."
Werner put back the letters into his pocket, but opined that something
unforeseen must happen to induce him to make use of them.
Their preparations for the journey did not occupy much time, and as a
favourable wind filled their sails from New York, they passed Sandyhook
on the second evening, and, steering due south, entered the open sea.
With the exception of some storms, which they had to encounter in
crossing the Gulf Stream, their voyage was as quick and as pleasant a
one as could be expected at the season; only the heat became very
oppressive as they sailed along the Gulf of Florida, past the Havannah,
for the wind, which had hitherto brought some cool breezes with it, now
almost ceased.
It was on the sixteenth day from their departure from New York, that
Werner, stretched out on the bowsprit of the ship, looked forward at the
steamer which was approaching them, for the purpose of towing the ship
through the labyrinth of the Mississippi Delta, about eighty miles up
the broad stream, to New Orleans. She soon laid herself alongside the
ship, the ropes were made fast, and, leaving the flat, reedy, and swampy
shores of the outer mouth behind them, the "Porpoise" steamed away
against the current. Now they glided past between mighty forests
intergrown with reeds,--now these became more open--plantations became
visible,--and now, as they approached nearer and nearer to the gigantic
commercial city of the south, the constantly increasing civilization and
culture had driven the old, venerable, primeval forest far into the
background, so that its distant tops could only be discerned as a green
stripe on the horizon, and, instead thereof, a boundless sea of waving
sugar-canes, and tall, stiff, cotton-plants surrounded them.
Night closed in too soon for the astonished spectator, and by day-break
he was already awake again and on deck, to admire the panorama of New
Orleans, now spread out before him in all its grandeur.
If, even on his landing at New York, he had found himself surrounded by
a peculiar foreign-looking kind of life, how much more was this the case
here, where the tropical countries were wafting their warm luxurious
breath towards him! The innumerable ships and vessels of all
descriptions which bounded the shores with a forest of masts, the
multitude of steamers arriving and departing, the sailing-boats shooting
backwards and forwards across the river, the little fruit-boats, the
crowding of wagons with goods on the shore, the movements of the
cheerful, well-dressed crowd, which seemed to be thrown together there
from all quarters of the globe,--all these so occupied his senses, that
he scarcely noticed that the ship was landed and moored to the quay, and
his attention was first called to the fact by the idlers and
business-people who pressed on board.
Helldorf, who had been several times before in this capital of the
South, and to whom the bustling and picturesque scene was no longer a
novelty, had, meanwhile, handed over the luggage belonging to them both
to a drayman or carter, whose number he took, and the friends lounged
slowly across the Levee,[20] up into the town.
"What do you think of New Orleans?" asked Helldorf, at last, as they
turned into one of the principal streets which ran parallel with the
river, and Werner stopped, really astonished at all the magnificence and
splendour which met his wondering eye on every side.
"There certainly is something grand about such a city," said Werner;
"but it's too much for me, it oppresses more than it pleases. It is
beautiful to see once, but I don't think that it would please me for a
continuance."
"Exactly my idea," said Helldorf; "however, my friend, in a week or two
it will present a different spectacle. As soon as the yellow fever comes
in here, the most of the occupants (those who possess the means, that is
to say,) go out, and of those who remain a large number die off like
flies. I was once in New Orleans in September, and all these streets,
now so crowded with people, were deserted and empty, and as silent as
the grave; many were even boarded up, and on innumerable doors black
crape fluttered, or boards were hung out, containing cautions from
approaching too near, as the pestilence was raging within."
"I suppose Germans don't remain here much, for the climate must be
especially pernicious to them."
"Germans usually form one half of the entire number of victims," said
Helldorf; "they come here, live intemperately and dissolutely, and
expect to be able to endure and to keep in health, where thousands of
their countrymen perish miserably, and are buried like dogs. Oh, my
friend, 'tis a melancholy chapter that, and we'll talk more about it
some other time. For the present, while 'tis yet cool, we'll stroll
about a little; by-and-by, it will be insufferably hot in the streets.
Will you deliver your letters of recommendation here?"
"No, I'll not vex myself any more," replied Werner.
"But one of them is sealed," said Helldorf; "perhaps it contains private
matter, and may be of much interest to the party to whom it is
addressed."
"I think not; the writer of it, an old uncle of mine, read the contents
to me, and then sealed it in my presence; it is just an introduction
like the rest, and for a quondam Doctor of Medicine too, who is said now
to have turned farmer, somewhere in the southern part of Missouri; he
wont be able to help me much."
"Well, don't say that," replied Helldorf, with a dissentient shake of
the head; "perhaps, more than all these traders and merchant gentry
here, who look upon an emigrant as a piece of goods, as perishable goods
merely, if they can get any benefit out of him, but entertain a holy
horror of him if such be not the case, or they even fear that he may
become burthensome to them. But come, we will look up an old friend of
mine, who keeps school here in Poydras-street--a college friend."
"And he has turned schoolmaster?"
"Lord! what does one not turn to in America, if an opportunity occurs or
a good prospect offers. As he writes to me, he is doing very well. This
is the number of the house. I think we may as well go in at once."
"But shall we not disturb him?"
"Oh, they're not so particular about that here; besides, the school will
probably be thinly attended in summer, and I shouldn't wonder if the
holidays had already commenced. But we can soon convince ourselves."
They mounted a narrow, steep staircase to the second floor, and, when
arrived there, found themselves without any necessity for tapping at the
door, in the middle of the school as it were. The door of the room,
which was not a large one, stood open, on account of the heat; the
windows likewise; and scholars and teacher sat, mostly in their shirt
sleeves, in the cool draught which streamed through the house.
"Helldorf!" exclaimed the schoolmaster, a handsome young man, with dark
curly hair, jumping up, surprised, from the two chairs on which, half
extended, he had made himself up a very comfortable seat. "Helldorf!
where the deuce do you drop from?"
"Do we disturb you?" asked the other.
"How can you think of such a thing!" was the laughing answer. "Well,
the holidays commence next Friday, and to-day is Monday, and then the
vexed soul will rest!"
"And where shall you go to?"
"Up the river, of course!"
"Why, that's just the thing--we shall travel together, at all events, a
part of the journey. But stay, I must first of all introduce my friend
Werner to you--a German, just arrived, who thinks of settling in the
West. I trust that you'll be good friends."
The two young men shook hands; and the scholars--a mixed company of
French, Creole, German, and English--nudged each other, and tittered at
the German, or "Dutch" as they termed it, that was spoken.
There were boys and girls of all ages, and of the strangest appearance,
thrown together. But one of the queerest specimens stood right before
the little reading-desk, and in front of a large black board, which was
hanging on the wall, and half covered with the alphabet in Roman and
German characters.
"Look ye, Helldorf," said young Schwarz, smiling, as he laid his hand on
the shoulder of the hopeful young citizen of the world, who, with his
knees somewhat turned inwards, and his hands in his pockets, stood in by
no means a picturesque attitude before them, and exhibited his
projecting profile staring from beneath a matted head of hair. "Here I
have a prize specimen of my scholars--a juvenile Benjamin Franklin, only
undeveloped; a diamond, only rather rough! He is one of those rare
individuals for whose genius this low sphere is too narrow, and who may
be found by dozens, armed with spoons and bits of stick, at the sugar
and syrup casks on the Levee! Come, Benjamin, now mind what you're
about!"--turning towards the youth, who was about twelve years of
age--"don't disgrace me, but show what you have learnt. Do you know any
of the letters that are written on here--eh?"
Benjamin distorted his mouth into a broad grin, till it reached from
ear to ear, balanced himself from the left foot to the right, began to
poke, not his hands alone, but his arms also, into his pockets, and
nodded his head in token of intelligence.
"So, you know some of them! But, come, take your hands out of your
pockets--that is not becoming!"
Benjamin obeyed the command, as far as the right side was concerned, and
produced five fingers which certainly appeared to confirm the master's
former speech, and not only bore antediluvian traces of syrup, but also
of Levee dust.
"The other, too, Benjamin," said Mr. Schwarz.
The left followed--rather slowly, it is true--but still it followed.
However, it seemed to feel an irresistible disposition to occupy itself
with something, and meanwhile, laid hold of the left foot, which was
raised towards it.
Helldorf smiled, and the foot fell back into its old position.
"Now, tell me which of these letters you know?" asked Mr. Schwarz.
Benjamin, thus driven to extremity, first drew his right sleeve
carefully across under his nose, and made divers efforts, which
severally miscarried, by reason of the grave look of the master, to slip
the left hand into his pocket again. At last, he made a step forward,
rubbed the palms of his hands once or twice violently together, not so
much to their damage as of the dried syrup, grinned yet broader than
before, advanced a second step, and pointed, half abashed, to the
capital "H."
"So, you know that letter?"
Benjamin nodded his head, significantly.
"You don't know any other?"
A violent shaking of his head confirmed his negative answer.
"And what do you call that one?"
The catechumen peeped from one stranger to the other, with an
embarrassed smile, rubbed the palms of his hands with unmistakable zeal
on both his hips, looked first at the board, then at his toes, and then
up to the master--and at last whispered--
"I do--a--n't know!"
But Helldorf and Werner could stand it no longer; and the whole class
joined their loud laughter in a full pealing chorus, and a weight seemed
to be removed from their hearts.
"Go home!" exclaimed Schwarz, who had great difficulty in keeping his
countenance. "You need not come back this afternoon; but mind, let me
have your lessons well learnt by to-morrow!"
He had no occasion to say this twice; the command was obeyed so promptly
that none of the boys stayed to put on their jackets, but each of them
seized his few books under his arm, and struggled towards the stairs, in
order, if possible, to be the first, but at all events, not the last,
who should forsake the school-room. Even Benjamin seemed in a moment
quite transformed; he squeezed a small and very much crumpled straw hat
on his head, and dived, with apparent contempt of life, right into the
midst of the throng that was hurrying out.
In a few more seconds, the three young men were the only occupants of
the room; and Helldorf, still laughing, inquired of his friend how, in
the name of wonder, he had got into such a situation?
"The matter is very simple," said Schwarz; "I had nothing else to
do--could obtain no employment--and became schoolmaster! Thousands do
the same, in America; and out of the forty-seven thousand elementary
schools which the United States possess, I am quite convinced that there
is not one thousand which can show masters regularly educated from youth
upwards to their profession! Nothing is more easy than to pass a
schoolmaster's examination; and as neither party is bound to the other,
nothing is more easy than to put an end to the relation!"
"But such a constant change of masters must operate very prejudicially
upon the children themselves," said Werner.
"Certainly it does. But the masters must have a better provision made
for them, if they are to be expected not to throw up their employment as
soon as anything better may offer! We are not in Germany, where a poor
schoolmaster must put up with his lot, because he cannot hope to earn
his bread in any other way, and where, if the attempt should fail, his
return would remain closed from him for an endless time. If I were to
accept a situation as dancing-master to-morrow, or were to go upon the
stage, or take to performing conjuring tricks, it would be a very
trifling obstacle, if, indeed, it would be one at all, to my becoming a
schoolmaster again!"
"Are the schools all established on the same system as this one?" asked
Werner.
Schwarz laughed. "Speak out what you meant to say!--established without
any system at all, like this! Why we certainly cannot require better
things, in summer, in New Orleans. In winter, my class is--or rather,
was--three times as well attended; the lessons are regularly heard, and
order prevails. But during the summer, everything slumbers--and in four
weeks from this time the city, whose commercial activity now seems
boundless and inexhaustible, will look like a protestant church on a
week day! But we are wasting time here! We will pass the heat of the day
at my house, and towards evening stroll through the town. Then it is
that it shows itself in its splendour, and that one can understand the
possibility of there being people who, notwithstanding the annual return
of the plague-like yellow fever, yet bid defiance to the infection and
to their fears, in order to live in New Orleans."
Helldorf got through a good deal of his business on this day, and
Werner, in the meantime, remained in Schwarz's company, where he soon
discovered that he too was intending to bid adieu to town life, and--to
become a farmer in the woods of the West.
"As soon as I once forsake New Orleans," said he, "I shall never return
to it. I have got through _one_ year safely--to remain a second would be
to tempt Providence; the two hundred dollars that I have been able to
save will found myself a home."
"Two hundred dollars! How is it possible; why, with that you cannot buy
even the most needful things."
"Oh, yes," answered Schwarz, with a smile; "you don't want much in the
woods; if you like to come along with me, I will give you some practical
instructions in the matter. You may still profit from a schoolmaster."
"And do you really believe that with two hundred dollars----"
"Not you," interrupted Schwarz; "not a newly arrived emigrant; unless,
indeed, he follow reasonable counsel and instruction; but with those it
is possible even for him; but, in that case, he does not succeed upon
the strength of his two hundred dollars alone, but makes use of the
premium, also, which his advisers have paid; in my own case, that
amounted to seven hundred dollars--quite a decent little fund."
"And you, yourself, will settle?"
"Yes; I will build my shanty, and clear a little land this fall and
winter; then I can begin at once next spring."
"And cattle?"
"I will rear also, of course--'tis the chief source of profit."
"And do you really think that, in a few years, one may earn enough
to--to----"
"To keep a wife," said Schwarz, with a laugh.--"Eh! that was what you
were going to say?"
Werner coloured up to the eyes.
"Why, of course," continued Schwarz, who noticed it, with a smile. "It
is only as a farmer that you have a prospect of soon being enabled to
marry; it is even, to a certain extent, a necessary consequence, for a
bachelor's household in the bush is rather too dull an affair. Have you
got a little wife already!"
"I? No, Heaven forbid!"
"Halloa! don't rear on your hind legs directly!" said Schwarz; "I didn't
want to inquire too minutely. But, be that as it may, we can try it, at
all events--if you don't like it, why, Lord bless you, you can give it
up again. One takes to something else--better luck next time."
Thus the matter was disposed of for the present, and five days passed
away in a constant whirl of excitement, for everything that the young
German saw and heard possessed the charm of novelty, and was invested
with the magic of a southern climate, so that he several times hinted to
Helldorf, that he felt an almost irresistible impulse to jump on board
of the first ship that started, and visit the tropics.
But every one dissuaded him from undertaking such a voyage, especially
at that time of the year; Helldorf especially exhorted him to abandon
these ideas.
"For," said he, "we are destined for a temperate climate, and although
we may force ourselves into the torrid zone, still, either we perish
there, or become a sort of half-and-half, nondescript being, who, any
one may see, is not in his right place."
At last, Helldorf and Schwarz had terminated their respective
businesses, and the latter allowed himself to be persuaded first of all
to land in Tennessee, and visit the German settlers there. Selecting,
therefore, the fastest of the nine steamers which, on that day, started
up stream, viz:--the Diana--they got their things on board, and were
soon flying up the river between the really garden-like banks of the
Mississippi, where plantation succeeded plantation, and wide boundless
fields alternated picturesquely with buildings concealed by groves of
oranges and pomegranates, until now and then the dark, morassy, and
primeval forest interrupted the blooming landscape once more, and
stretched its waving boughs even to the strand, to which it clung with
its winding creepers, as though it would not be parted from its cradle,
the old Mississippi.
FOOTNOTE:
[20] The Levee in New Orleans, and indeed throughout Louisiana, is the
dyke or dam thrown up along the Mississippi, which hinders the stream
from overflowing the adjoining lands, which, when the waters are high,
are on a lower level than itself. In New Orleans, it is more especially
used as a landing place for steamers and a public promenade, and in
general is the scene of the greatest bustle, on account of the constant
arrival and departure of ships and vessels, while dealers and hawkers
increase the throng and noise.