one upon another, and each only manned by eight labourers, elevated the
heavy beams up to the giddy level of the roof with so much ease that
they appeared to dance in the air. From this moment the brave clever
craftsman could date the foundation of his reputation in Bamberg. The
Prince urged him seriously to stay in that town and secure his
mastership; towards the attainment of this end he would lend him all
the assistance he possibly could. Wacht, however, hesitated,
notwithstanding that he was very well pleased with the pleasant and
cheap town of Bamberg. The fact that several important buildings were
just then in course of erection put a heavy weight into the scale for
staying; but the final turn to the balance was given by a circumstance
which is very often wont to decide matters in life; namely, Johannes
Wacht found again quite unexpectedly in Bamberg the beautiful virtuous
maiden whom he had seen several years previously in Erlangen, and into
whose friendly blue eyes he had then peeped a little too much. In a few
words, Johannes Wacht became master, married the virtuous maiden of
Erlangen, and soon contrived through industry and skill to purchase a
pretty house on the Kaulberg,4 which had a large tract of garden ground
stretching away back up the hill, and there he settled down for life.
But upon whom does the friendly star of good fortune shine unchangeably
with the same degree of splendour at all times? Providence had decreed
that our honest Johannes should be submitted to a trial under which
perhaps any other man, with less firmness of spirit, would have sunk.
The first fruit of this very happy marriage was a son, an excellent
youth, who appeared to be walking steadfastly in his father's
footsteps. He was eighteen years of age when one night a large fire
broke out not far from Wacht's house. Father and son hurried to the
spot, agreeably to their calling, to help in extinguishing the flames.
Along with other carpenters the son boldly clambered up to the roof in
order to cut away its burning framework, as far as could be done. His
father, who had remained below, as he always did, to direct the
demolition of walls, &c., and to superintend the work of extinction,
looked up and seeing the imminent danger shouted, "Johannes! men! come
down! come down!" Too late--with a fearful crash the wall fell in; the
son lay struck to death in the flames, which leapt up crackling louder
as if in horrid triumph.
But this terrible blow was not the only one which was to fall upon poor
Johannes. An inconsiderate maid-servant burst with a frantic cry of
distress into her mistress' room, who was only partly convalescent from
a distracting nervous disorder, and was in great uneasiness and anxiety
about the fire, the dark-red reflection of which was flickering on the
walls of her chamber. "Your son, your Johannes, is killed; the wall has
buried him and his comrades in the middle of the flames," screamed the
girl. As though stung with sharp, sudden pain, her mistress raised
herself up in the bed; but breathing out a deep sigh, she sank back
upon the cushions again. She was struck with paralysis of the nerves;
she was dead.
"Now let us see," said the citizens, "how Master Wacht will bear his
great trouble. He has often enough preached to us that a man ought not
to succumb to the greatest misfortune, but ought to bear his head erect
and strive with the strength which the Creator has planted in every
man's breast to withstand the misery that threatens him, so long as the
contrary is not evidently decreed in the Eternal counsels. Let us see
now what sort of an example he will give us."
They were not a little astonished when, although the master himself was
not seen in the workshop, yet his journeymen's activity continued
without interruption, so that work never stood still for a single
moment, but went on just as if the master had not experienced any
trouble.
With steadfast courage and firm step, and with his face shining with
all the consolation and all the hope that sprang from his belief--the
true religion rooted deep down in his breast--he had followed the
corpses of his wife and son; and on the noon of the same day after the
funeral, which had taken place in the morning, he said to Engelbrecht,
"Engelbrecht, it is now necessary for me to be alone with my grief,
which is almost breaking my heart, in order that I may become
acquainted with it and strengthen myself against it. You, brother, my
honest, industrious foreman, will know what to do for a week; for that
space I am going to shut myself up in my own chamber."
And indeed for a whole week Master Wacht never left his room. The maid
frequently brought down his food again untouched; and they often heard
in the passage his low, sad cry, cutting them to the quick, "O my wife!
O my Johannes!"
Many of Wacht's acquaintances were of opinion that he ought not by any
means to be left in this solitary state; by brooding constantly over
his grief his mind might become unsettled Engelbrecht, however, met
them with the reply, "Let him alone; you don't know my Johannes. Since
Providence, in its inscrutable purposes, has sent him this hard trial,
it has also given him strength to overcome it, and all earthly
consolation would only outrage his feelings. I know in what manner he
is working his way out of his deep grief." These last words Engelbrecht
uttered with a well-nigh cunning look upon his face; but he would not
give any further information as to what he meant. Wacht's acquaintances
had to content themselves, and leave the unfortunate man in peace.
A week was passed, and early the next morning, which was a bright
summer morning, at five o'clock Master Wacht came out unexpectedly into
the workyard amongst his journeymen, who were all hard at work. Their
axes and saws stopped, whilst they greeted him with a half-sorrowful
cry, "Master Wacht! Our good Master Wacht!"
With a cheerful face, upon which the traces of the struggle against
grief which he had gone through had deepened the expression of sterling
good-nature and given it a most touching character, he stepped amongst
his faithful workpeople and told them how the goodness of Heaven had
sent down the spirit of mercy and consolation upon him, and that he was
now filled with strength and courage to go on and discharge the duties
of his calling. He betook himself to the building in the middle of the
yard, which served for the storage of the tools at night, and for
keeping the plans and memoranda of work, &c. Englebrecht, the
journeymen, the apprentices, followed him in a string. On entering,
Johannes stood rooted to the spot.
His poor boy's axe, which was identified by certain distinctive marks,
had been found with half-charred handle under the ruins of the house
that had been burnt down. His companions had fastened it high up on the
wall directly opposite the door, and, in a rather rude attempt at art,
had painted round it a wreath of roses and cypress-branches; and
underneath the wreath they had placed their beloved comrade's name,
together with the year of his birth and the date of the ill-omened
night when he had met such a violent death.
"Poor Hans!"5 exclaimed Master Wacht on perceiving this touching
monument of the true faithful spirits, whilst a flood of tears gushed
from his eyes. "Poor Hans! the last time you wielded that tool was for
the welfare of your brothers; but now you are resting in your grave,
and will never more stand by my side and use your earnest industry in
helping to forward a good piece of work."
Then Master Wacht went round the circle and gave each journeyman and
each apprentice a good honest shake of the hand, saying, "Think of
him." Then they all went back to their work, except Engelbrecht, whom
Wacht bid stay with him.
"See here, my old comrade," cried Wacht, "what extraordinary means the
Eternal Power has chosen to help me to overcome my great trouble.
During the days when I was almost heart-broken with grief for my wife
and child, whom I have lost in such a terrible way, there came into my
mind the idea of a highly artistic and complicated trussed girder,
which I had been thinking about for a long time without ever being able
to see my way to the thing clearly. Look here."
Therewith Master Wacht unrolled the drawing at which he had worked
during the past week, and Engelbrecht was greatly astonished at the
boldness and originality of the invention no less than at its
exceptional neatness in the finished state. The mechanical part of the
contrivance was so skilfully and cleverly arranged that even
Engelbrecht, with all his great experience, could not comprehend it at
once; but the greater therefore was his glad admiration when Master
Wacht explained to him the whole construction down to the minutest
details, and he had convinced himself that the putting of the plan into
execution could not fail to be successful.
At this time Wacht's household consisted of only two daughters besides
himself; but it was very soon to be increased.
Albeit a clever and industrious workman, Master Engelbrecht had never
been able to advance so far as that lowest grade of affluence which had
been the reward of Wacht's very earliest undertakings. He had to
contend with the worst enemy of life, against which no human power is
of any avail; it not only threatened to destroy him, but really did
destroy him--namely, consumption. He died, leaving a wife and two boys
almost in want. His wife went back to her own home; and Master Wacht
would willingly have taken both boys into his own house, but this could
only be arranged in the case of the elder, who was called Sebastian. He
was a strong intelligent lad, and having an inclination to follow his
father's trade, promised to make a good clever carpenter. He had,
however, a certain refractoriness of disposition, which at times seemed
to border closely upon badness, as well as being somewhat rude in his
manners, and even often wild and untamable; but these ill qualities
Wacht hoped to conquer by wise training. The younger boy, Jonathan by
name, was exactly the opposite of his elder brother; he was a very
pretty little boy, but rather fragile, his blue eyes laughing with
gentleness and kind-heartedness. This boy had been adopted during his
father's lifetime by Herr Theophilus Eichheimer, a worthy doctor of
law, as well as the first and oldest advocate in the place. Noticing
the boy's remarkably good parts, as well as his most decided bent for
knowledge, he had taken him to train him for a lawyer.
And here one of those unconquerable prejudices of our Wacht came to
light which have been already spoken of above, namely, he was perfectly
convinced in his own mind that everything understood under the name of
law was nothing else but so many phrases artificially hammered out and
put together by lawyers, with the sole purpose of perplexing the true
feeling of right which had been planted in every virtuous man's breast.
Since he could not exactly shut his eyes to the necessity for law-
courts, he discharged all his hatred upon the advocates, whom as a
class he conceived to be, if not altogether miserable deceivers, yet at
any rate such contemptible men that they practised usury in shameful
fashion with all that was most holy and venerable in the world. It will
be seen presently how Wacht, who in all other relations of life was an
intelligent and clear-sighted man, resembled in this particular the
coarsest-minded amongst the lowest of the people. The further prejudice
that he would not admit there was any piety or virtue amongst the
adherents of the Roman Catholic Church, and that he trusted no
Catholic, might perhaps be pardoned him, since he had imbibed the
principles of a well-nigh fanatical Protestantism in Augsburg. It may
be conceived, therefore, how it cut Master Wacht to the heart to see
the son of his most faithful friend entering upon a career that he so
bitterly detested.
The will of the deceased, however, was in his eyes sacred; and it was,
moreover, at any rate certain that Jonathan with his weakly body could
not be trained up to any handicraft that made any very large demand
upon physical strength. Besides, when old Herr Theophilus Eichheimer
talked to the master about the divine gift of knowledge, at the same
time praising little Jonathan as a good intelligent boy, Wacht for the
moment forgot the advocate, and law, and his own prejudice as well. He
fastened all his hopes upon the belief that Jonathan, who bore his
father's virtues in his heart, would give up his profession when he
arrived at riper years, and was able to perceive all the disgrace that
attached to it.
Though Jonathan was a good, quiet boy, fond of studying in-doors,
Sebastian was all the oftener and all the deeper engaged in all kinds
of wild foolish pranks. But since in respect to his handiwork he
followed in his father's footsteps, and no fault could ever be found
with his industry or with the neatness of his work, Master Wacht
ascribed his at times too outrageous tricks to the unrefined untamed
fire of youth, and he forgave the young fellow, observing that he would
be sure to sow his wild oats when on his travels.
These travels Sebastian soon set out upon; and Master Wacht heard
nothing more from him until Sebastian, on attaining his majority, wrote
from Vienna, begging for his little patrimonial inheritance, which
Master Wacht sent to him correct to the last farthing, receiving in
return a receipt for it drawn up by one of the Vienna courts.
Just the same sort of difference in character as distinguished the
Engelbrechts was noticeable also between Wacht's two daughters, of whom
the elder was called Rettel6 and the younger Nanni.
It may here be hastily remarked in passing, that, according to the
taste generally prevalent in Bamberg, the Christian name Nanni is the
prettiest and finest a girl can well have. And so, kindly reader, if
you ever ask a pretty child in Bamberg, "What is your name, my little
angel?" the little thing will be sure to cast down her eyes in shy
confusion and tug at her black silk apron, and whisper in friendly
fashion with a slight blush upon her cheeks, "'N! 'N! Nanni, y'r
honour."
Rettel, Wacht's elder daughter, was a fat little thing, with red rosy
cheeks and right friendly black eyes, with which she looked boldly into
the face of the sunshine of life, as it had dawned upon her, without
blinking. In respect of her education and her character she had not
risen a hair's breadth above the sphere of the handicraftsman. She
gossiped with her female relatives and friends, and liked dressing
herself, though in gay colours and without taste; but her own peculiar
element, wherein she "lived and moved, and had her being," was the
kitchen. Nobody's hare-ragout and geese giblets, not even those of the
most experienced cook far and near, ever turned out so tasty as hers;
in the preparation of sauces she was a perfect adept; vegetables, such
as savoy and cauliflower, were dressed by Rettel's cunning hand in a
way that could not be beaten, since she knew in a moment through a
subtle unfailing instinct when there was too much or too little
dripping; and her short cakes put in the shade the most successful
productions of a similar kind at the most sumptuous of church feasts.7
Father Wacht was very well satisfied with his daughter's cooking; and
he once hazarded the opinion that the Prince-bishop could not have more
delicious vermicelli noodles8 on his table than those which Rettel
made. This remark sank so deeply into the good girl's pleased heart,
that she was preparing to send a huge dish of the said vermicelli
noodles up to the Prince-bishop, and that too on a fast day.
Fortunately Master Wacht got scent of the plan in time, and amidst
hearty laughter prevented the bold idea from being put into execution.
Not only was stout little Rettel a clever housekeeper, a perfect cook,
and at the same time a pattern of good nature and childish affection
and fidelity, but like a well-trained child she also loved her father
very tenderly.
Now characters of Wacht's class, in spite of their earnestness, often
display a certain ironical waggishness which comes into play on easy
provocation, and lends an agreeable charm to life, just as the deep
brook greets with its silver curling waves the light breeze that skims
its surface.
It could not fail but that good Rettel's ways and doings frequently
provoked this sly humour; and so the relations between Wacht and his
daughter were invested with a curiously modified charm of colour. The
indulgent reader will come across instances later on; for the present
it may suffice to mention one such here, which certainly deserves to be
called entertaining. In Master Wacht's house there was a quiet,
good-looking young man, who held a post in the Prince's exchequer
office and drew a very good income. In straightforward German fashion
he sued the father for the hand of his elder daughter, and Master
Wacht, if he would not do an injustice to the young man as well as to
his Rettel, could not help but grant him permission to visit the house,
that he might have opportunities to try and win the girl's affections.
Rettel, informed of the man's purpose, received him with very friendly
looks, in which might be read at times, "At our wedding, dear, I shall
bake the cake myself."
Master Wacht, however, was not altogether well pleased with his
daughter's growing liking for the Herr Administrator of the Prince's
revenues, since the Herr Administrator himself didn't seem to him to be
all that he should be. In the first place, the man was as a matter of
course a Roman Catholic, and in the second place Wacht thought he
perceived in him on nearer acquaintance a certain sneaking
dissimulation of manner, which pointed to a mind ill at ease. He would
willingly have got the undesirable suitor out of the house again if he
could have done so without hurting Rettel's feelings. Master Wacht
observed him closely, and knew how to make shrewd and cunning use of
his observations. He perceived that the Herr Administrator did not set
much store by well-cooked dishes, but swallowed down everything in the
same indiscriminate fashion, and that, moreover, in a disagreeably
repulsive way. One Sunday, when the Herr Administrator was dining at
Master Wacht's, as he usually did on that day, the latter began to heap
up praises and commendations upon every dish which busy Rettel caused
to be served up; and not only did he call upon the Herr Administrator
to join him in his encomiums, but he also asked him pointedly what he
thought of various ways of dressing dishes. The Herr Administrator
replied somewhat dryly that he was a temperate and abstemious man,
accustomed from his youth up to the greatest frugality. At noon, for
dinner, he was satisfied with a spoonful or two of soup and a little
piece of beef, but the latter must be cooked hard, since so cooked a
smaller quantity sufficed to satisfy the hunger, and there was no need
to overload the stomach with large pieces. For his evening meal he
generally managed upon a saucer of good egg and butter beaten up
together and a very small glass of liquor; moreover, the only other
refreshment he allowed himself was a glass of extra beer at six o'clock
in the evening, taken if possible in the good fresh air. It may be
imagined what looks Rettelchen fixed upon the unfortunate
administrator. And yet the worst was still to come. Bavarian puffy
noodles were next served, and they were swollen up to such a big, big
size that they seemed to be the masterpiece of the table. The frugal
Herr Administrator took his knife and with the most cool-blooded
indifference cut the noodle which was passed to him into many pieces.
Rettel rushed out of the room with a loud cry of despair.
I must inform the reader who does not know the secret of eating
Bavarian puffy noodles that when eaten they must be cleverly pulled to
pieces, since when cut they lose all taste and bring disgrace upon the
professional pride of the cook who made them.
From that moment Rettel looked upon the frugal Herr Administrator as
the most abominable man under the face of the sun. Master Wacht did not
contradict her in any way; and so the reckless iconoclast in the
province of cookery lost his bride for ever.
Though the chequered figure of little Rettel has cost almost too many
words, yet a very few strokes will suffice to put clearly before my
reader's eyes the face, figure, and character of pretty, graceful
Nanni.
It is only in South Germany, particularly in Franconia, and almost
exclusively in the burgher classes, that you can meet with such elegant
and delicate figures, such good and pleasing angelic little faces,
where there is a sweet heavenly yearning in the blue eyes and a divine
smile upon the rosy lips, as Nanni's; from them we at once see that the
old painters had not far to seek the originals of their Madonnas. Of
exactly the same type in figure, face, and character was the Erlangen
maiden whom Master Wacht had married; and Nanni was a most faithful
copy of her mother. With respect to her genuine tender womanliness and
with respect to that beneficial culture which is nothing but true tact
under all conditions of life, her mother was the exact counterpart of
what Master Wacht was with respect to his distinguishing qualities as
man. Perhaps the daughter was less serious and firm than her mother,
but on the other hand she was the perfection of maidenly sweetness; and
the only fault that could be found with her was that her womanly
tenderness of feeling and a sensitiveness which, as a consequence of
her weakened organisation, was easily provoked to a tearful and
unhealthy degree, made her too delicate and fragile for the realities
of life.
Master Wacht could not look at the dear child without emotion, and he
loved her in a way that is seldom found in the case of strong
characters like his. It is possible that he may have always spoiled her
a little; and it will soon be shown in what way her tenderness so often
received that special material and encouragement which made it often
degenerate into sickly sentimentality.
Nanni loved to dress with extreme simplicity, but in the finest stuffs
and according to cuts which rose above the limits of her station in
life. Wacht, however, let her do as she liked, since when dressed
according to her own taste the dear child looked so very pretty and
engaging.
I must now hasten to destroy an idea which perhaps might arise in the
mind of any reader who should happen to have been in Bamberg several
years ago, and so would call to mind the hideous and tasteless head-
dress with which at that time even the prettiest maidens were wont to
disfigure their faces--the flat hood fitting close to the head and not
allowing the smallest little lock of hair to be seen, a black and not
over-broad ribbon crossing close over the forehead, and meeting behind
low down on the neck in an outrageously ugly bow. This ribbon
afterwards continued to increase in width until it reached the
preposterous breadth of nearly half an ell; hence it had to be
specially ordered in the manufactory and strengthened inside with stiff
card-board, so that it projected above the head like a steeple-hat;
just above the hollow of the neck they wore a bow, which owing to its
breadth stuck out far beyond the shoulders, and resembled the outspread
wings of an eagle; and along the temples and about the ears tiny curls
crept out from beneath the hood. And strange to say, many a fine
Bamberg beauty looked quite charming in this head-covering.
It formed a very picturesque sight to stand behind a funeral procession
and watch it set itself in motion. It is the custom in Bamberg for the
burghers to be invited to attend the funeral procession of a deceased
person by the so-called "death-woman," who in a croaking voice and in
the name of the deceased screams out her invitation in the street, in
front of the house of the persons she is inviting; as, for instance,
"Herr so-and-so, or Frau so-and-so, beg you to pay them the last
honours." The good gossips and the young maidens, who in general seldom
get out into the open air, fail not to put in an appearance in great
numbers; and when the troop of women sets itself in motion and the wind
catches the immense ends of the bows, it can be likened to nothing else
but a huge flock of black ravens or eagles suddenly startled and just
beginning their rustling flight.