By Elsie Singmaster
MARTIN LUTHER. THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. With frontispiece.
THE LONG JOURNEY. Frontispiece in color.
EMMELINE. Illustrated.
KATY GAUMER. Illustrated.
GETTYSBURG. Illustrated.
WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL. Illustrated.
WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY. Illustrated.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK
[Illustration: CONRAD RUBBED HIS EYES--HE LOOKED AGAIN (p. 52)]
THE LONG
JOURNEY
BY
ELSIE SINGMASTER
[Illustration]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY ELSIE SINGMASTER LEWARS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published February 1917_
TO
WILLIAM BLACK LEWARS
A DESCENDANT
OF
JOHN CONRAD WEISER
AND HIS SON
CONRAD
CONTENTS
I. THE GROSS ANSPACH COW 1
II. DOWN THE RIVER 21
III. BLACKHEATH 40
IV. A ROYAL AUDIENCE 60
V. ACROSS THE SEA 79
VI. THE PIRATE SHIP 96
VII. THE HOME ASSIGNED 111
VIII. THE FLIGHT BEGINS 131
IX. THE DARK FOREST 149
X. JOURNEY'S END 169
THE LONG JOURNEY
I
THE GROSS ANSPACH COW
On the evening of the twenty-third of June, Conrad Weiser brought
home, as was his custom, the Gross Anspach cow. The fact was, in
itself, not remarkable, since it was Conrad's chief duty to take the
cow to pasture, to guard her all day long, to lead her from one little
patch of green grass to another, to see that she drank from one of
the springs on the hillside, and to feed her now and then a little
of the precious salt which he carried in his pocket. What made this
twenty-third of June remarkable was the fact that this was Conrad's
final journey from the pastures of Gross Anspach to Gross Anspach
village.
Liesel, the property of Conrad's father, John Conrad, was Gross
Anspach's only cow. War and the occupation of a brutal soldiery had
stripped the village of its property, its household goods, its animals,
and, alas! of most of its young men. Gross Anspach had hidden itself in
woods and in holes in the ground, had lived like animals in dens. Upon
the mountainside wolves had devoured children.
What war had left undone, famine and pestilence and fearful cold
had completed. The fruit trees had died, the vines were now merely
stiffened and rattling stalks, and, though it was June, the earth was
bare in many places. There were no young vines to plant, there was no
seed to sow, there were no horses to break the soil with the plough.
Sometimes Conrad had company to the hillside pasture. He was thirteen
years old, a short, sturdy, blue-eyed boy, much older than his years,
as were most of the children in Gross Anspach. Above him in the family
were Catrina, who was married and had two little children of her own,
then Margareta, Magdalena, and Sabina, and below him were George
Frederick, Christopher, Barbara, and John Frederick. They all had blue
eyes and sturdy frames and they were all, except John Frederick, thin.
John Frederick was their darling and the only partaker in the family of
the bounty of Liesel. The fact that John Frederick had no mother seemed
more terrible than the lack of a mother for any of the other eight
children.
When Margareta and Magdalena and Sabina and George Frederick and
Christopher and Barbara and John Frederick accompanied Conrad to
the hillside, they all started soberly, the older girls knitting as
they walked, Christopher and Barbara trotting hand in hand, and John
Frederick riding upon Conrad's back. They had little to say--there was
little to be said. When the prospect broadened, when they were able to
look out over the walls of their own valley across the wide landscape,
then spirits were lightened and tongues were loosed. Then they could
see other valleys and other hills and the desolation of their own no
longer filled their tired eyes. The little children ran about, the
older ones, still working busily, sat and talked.
Their speech was German, the soft and beautiful German of the south.
Sometimes they spoke in whispers and with fearful glances of the
past and its terrors, and of the cruel French. Sometimes the older
girls whispered together of romantic dreams which could never come
true, of true lovers and a happy home for each. But most of all they
talked--amazing to relate--these little Germans of two hundred years
ago--of Indians!
About Indians it was Conrad who had the most to say. Conrad was the
oldest boy; though so much younger than Margareta and Magdalena, he
could read easily while they could not read at all. While Conrad
talked, their thoughts traveled out of their poor valley, down the
great river, through strange cities to a mighty ship upon which they
should sail and sail until they reached a Paradise. Sometimes Conrad
walked up and down before them, his hands clasped behind his back,
sometimes he lay on the ground with his hands under his head. He talked
and talked and let himself be questioned in the lordly manner which
lads assume with their sisters. He carried with him always, buttoned
inside his thin clothes, a little book which he knew by heart.
"Is it cold there?" asked Sabina wistfully. Sabina was the last to
recover from the fearful winter.
Conrad leafed his little book.
"I will read. 'The climate is everywhere subtle and penetrating. During
the winter'--here, Sabina,--'during the winter the sun has great
strength.'"
"I do not know what 'subtle and penetrating' mean. Those great words
are beyond me."
"They mean that the climate is good," explained Conrad, who did not
know exactly either.
"Will we be hungry?" asked Sabina, still more wistfully.
Conrad could hardly turn the leaves fast enough. His eyes sparkled, his
cheeks glowed.
"Now listen, you foolish, frightened Sabina, listen! 'The country
produces all kinds of cereals, together with Indian corn of various
kinds. Peas, kitchen vegetables, pumpkins, melons, roots, hemp, flax,
hops, everything. Peaches and cherries'--Sabina, you have never
eaten peaches or cherries, but I have eaten one of each--'peaches
and cherries grow like weeds.' Here we have nothing, nothing! Our
grandfather was a magistrate, but we are almost beggars. My father
talks to me as he does not talk to you, Margareta and Magdalena and
Sabina and--"
Margareta lifted her blue eyes from her knitting and tossed back her
yellow braids.
"It is not very long since I spanked you well, Conrad," said she.
At this all the children, even Conrad, smiled. Margareta made a little
motion as though she meant to rise and pursue her brother about the
high tableland, Conrad a little motion as though he dared her to a
chase. But the impulse passed, as all playful impulses passed in this
time of distress.
"My father talks to me because I am almost a man," went on Conrad. "He
says that if we have another winter like the one which is past we will
all die as our mother--" Conrad could not complete his sentence. The
children did not cry, their hearts only ceased for a moment to beat as
Conrad's speech faltered. "He says there will not be enough animals and
birds left after that time to establish a new stock. He says that even
if the winter is mild, Gross Anspach cannot all live--even we few that
are left."
"But I am afraid," said little Sabina.
"Afraid of what?"
"Of the river and the great sea."
"Thousands have sailed down the river and many have crossed the sea,
Sabina."
"I am most afraid of these strange red people."
"I am not afraid of them," announced little Christopher. "Not more than
I am afraid of Liesel."
Once more Conrad leafed his little book. It was no wonder that it
scarcely held together.
"They are not bad people. They fish and hunt and plant crops. They go
farther and farther back into the woods as the white people come. I am
no more afraid of them than I am of Christopher."
"But how are we to get there, brother?" asked Magdalena, who spoke
least among a family who spoke little.
Conrad shut his book and tied it in its place under his coat.
"That I do not know," said he impatiently. "But we will all see yet the
river and the great sea and the deep forests and the red people."
"Old Redebach says--" No sooner had John Frederick began to speak than
his lips were covered by the hand of his brother.
"Old Redebach cannot tell the truth. It is not in him. And he is afraid
of everything. Ten times he has told me that Liesel would be carried
off, that he has had a dream and has seen men watching her. Forty times
he has told me that Liesel would die of the cattle plague. There stands
Liesel fat and hearty. It is the schoolmaster who is to be believed in
this matter. He would start to-morrow if he could. I tell you"--Conrad
pointed toward the declining sun--"we are going, we are going, we are
going."
Now, on the twenty-third of June, as Conrad, alone, guided the
obstinate way of Liesel through the dusk, the words of old Redebach
came back to him. Liesel had all the trying defects of a spoiled
and important character; believing herself to be the Queen of Gross
Anspach, she expected her subjects to follow where she led. She
proceeded deliberately into all sorts of black and shadowy places from
which Conrad did not dare to chase her roughly for fear of affecting
the precious store of milk, upon which John Frederick and other Gross
Anspach babies depended.
Conrad recalled now, besides the warnings of old Redebach about present
dangers, certain fearful things which were printed in his little book.
The savages had learned from the whites to be deceitful, they were
frequently drunk, they would not be governed, they used their knives
and hatchets for hideous purposes. They were enormous creatures, who
increased their height by bunches of towering feathers fastened to
their topknots. They stole upon their victims with the quietness of
cats, they--was that a stealthy footstep which Conrad heard now to
the right of his path?--they celebrated their triumph with fearful
cries--what was that strange sound which he heard to his left?
In spite of himself, Conrad hastened the steps of the unruly Liesel
through the twilight.
The Weiser family lived in one of the few houses left in Gross Anspach.
It was not large, but to the villagers who had taken refuge after the
burning of their dwellings in stables and sheds, it seemed like a
palace. From its doorway shone now a faint light, at sight of which
Conrad felt ashamed of his fear. He heard the rattle of Margareta's
milk pail, and felt against his leg the warm, comfortable body of old
Wolf, the Weiser dog.
"You are late," called Margareta, in an excited tone. "I have been
watching and watching and the children have been more than once to the
bottom of the hill."
"What is the matter?" asked Conrad.
"You will hear in good time," answered Margareta in a patronizing way.
"Where is father?"
"In the house."
"If anything had happened he would tell me first," said Conrad. "I do
not believe he has told you anything."
Behind the broad table in the kitchen sat John Conrad. He was the
younger Conrad grown old and gray with anxiety and grief. His clothes
were whole, but mended with amazing invention. His body was still
powerful and the fire of energy flashed from his eyes. As Conrad
entered, he raised a clenched fist and brought it down heavily upon the
table, which, solid as it was, shook under the impact. A stranger might
have thought that he was reproving the little row of children who sat
opposite him on a bench and who watched him with a fixed stare. But
John Conrad was a kind father; his excitement did not find its source
in anger with his children. Nor were the children frightened. Their
stare was one of admiration and awe rather than of fright.
Seeing his father thus, Conrad asked no questions, though a dozen
trembled on his lips. He sat quietly down beside the other children
and lifted John Frederick to his lap.
When Margareta came in from milking, the family had their supper of
black bread and a little weak broth. It was enough to keep life in
their bodies, but not very vigorous life. The children scarcely tasted
what they ate, so excited were they by their father's appearance,
and by the long and solemn prayer with which he prefaced the meal.
Presently Elisabeth Albern came for milk for her Eva, Michael Fuhrmann
for milk for his Balthasar, and George Reimer, the schoolmaster, for
milk for his little sister Salome. For this milk John Conrad took no
pay. He was poor, but his neighbors were far poorer; he regarded Liesel
neither as the annoying creature which Conrad considered her, nor as
the proud princess that she believed herself to be, but as a sacred
trust. If it were not for Liesel half of the poor little Gross Anspach
babies would not survive the summer. Even John Frederick was beginning
to eat the black bread and broth so that younger and more needy babies
might have his share of Liesel's milk.
George Reimer spoke to John Conrad in a way which heightened the
children's excitement.
"I will be here," said he.
The children nudged one another. Their father was the leader in what
poor little affairs Gross Anspach might still be said to have, and he
sometimes assembled his neighbors so that they might encourage and
console one another.
Such a meeting was now at hand. The older girls washed the bowls and
wooden plates and the cooking-pot and put them on the shelf, and
carried a sleepy John Frederick and a protesting Barbara from the
kitchen and laid them firmly and tenderly in their corner of the family
bedroom. When Conrad nodded to little Christopher that he should
follow, the older Weiser bade Christopher stay.
"It is important that all my children who can should remember this
night."
Before long the village men and a few of the women began to assemble.
They came quietly, with only the simplest of greetings, but eye meeting
eye said wonderful things.
"John Conrad Weiser, you are our leader and friend."
"Neighbors, you have been my stay in deep affliction."
A woman with a baby in her arms bade John Conrad look and see how his
namesake was growing.
"If it were not for you he would be gone like his father."
Presently the children, giving up their places on the bench for places
on little stools or on the earthen floor, began to whisper to one
another and to point. From under the thin and ragged coat of George
Reimer, the schoolmaster, projected a flute. George's own flute had
been taken from him by the French soldiers, but in a few days a much
finer one had been found by the roadside, dropped, probably, because
the army could not carry all its own possessions in addition to those
which it had stolen. It might be said that Gross Anspach retained two
valuable articles, John Conrad Weiser's cow and George Reimer's flute.
Behind his father's back, Conrad pretended to play a tune upon the air.
At once the solemn assembly grew a little brighter. Last of all came
Catrina and her husband.
At once John Conrad rose to pray. They still had God, these souls who
had little else, and upon Him John Conrad called, that He might bless
them in _a great endeavor_. At this, in spite of his better knowledge,
Conrad opened his eyes and fixed them upon Margareta until she opened
hers. Conrad clasped his hands tightly, scarcely able to breathe.
"Friends,"--John Conrad had closed his prayer,--"I have asked you to
come here so that I might tell you of an important matter. It is not
necessary that in beginning what I have to say I should remind you of
our miseries and our griefs. You know them as well as I. You know that
this life cannot go on; that, presently, unless we do something for
ourselves, there will be none of us remaining. Our country is desolate.
The soldiers have harried us, the great cold has tortured us, famine
has almost made an end of us. We should not too bitterly sigh and
complain on account of what has come upon us. It may be that thus God
seeks to lead us to another and a better land.
"I need not tell you, either, what land I have in mind. We have spoken
of it, we have seen it in our dreams, we have longed for it with all
our souls. There is fertile soil, there is temperate climate, there
is, above all, thank God! freedom and peace. There is no war there.
There--" John Conrad halted, tried again to speak and failed.
"But we cannot get to that country!" cried the young woman with the
baby in her arms.
There was a long pause. Deep breaths were drawn and a great sigh filled
the little room.
"The way has been opened," announced John Conrad at last. "I and my
family will go to-morrow. Let those who will come with us lift their
hands."
But no hands were lifted. The thought of deliverance was paralyzing.
"Word has come that the gracious Queen of England will send us and
our long-suffering brethren to her colonies in the New World. I have
had a letter from our old neighbor the magistrate of Oberdorf. He is
in London, awaiting the sailing of the ships. He is well cared for;
charitable persons exert themselves for the afflicted people. Probably
by this time he is already far on his way."
"But _to-morrow_, father!" cried Catrina. "Why start to-morrow?"
"As well to-morrow as another day," answered John Conrad. "We have few
possessions and they are easily gathered together. To those of our
friends who will not come with us we could not express our affection
and our farewells in a hundred days. We will go on foot to the river
and make our way to the lowlands and thence to England. It is a long
and perilous journey, but it is not so perilous as to stay. I cannot
advise any one what to do. But for all those who come I will care as
though they were my own."
"But Liesel!" cried the young woman with the baby in her arms. "We will
die without Liesel!"
John Conrad smiled.
"Liesel will stay in Gross Anspach. She will be the perpetual property
of the Gross Anspach babies."
George Reimer spoke next. He sat with his arms folded across his
breast, within them his precious flute. Tears were in his eyes and in
his voice as he said:--
"_I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me._"
The company broke up without music. There were those who must go home
to tell wives or mothers; there were those who wished to talk to John
Conrad in private. There was Catrina, with her husband, weeping and
distressed, who did not dare to trust her babies to the sea. She must
plan with her sisters the bundles which should be packed for each to
carry, the food which must be gathered to last as long as possible. To
her and her husband John Conrad forgave a large debt, and his kindness
and their inability to pay made the parting more heartbreaking. John
Conrad still had a little store of German gulden, long hoarded against
the coming day.
When all was done and the children were asleep, John Conrad took his
oldest son by the hand and led him up the winding street between the
ruined houses to the little Lutheran church which had been saved in
the great destruction. The moon shone quietly upon it and the little
walled-in space behind it. Thither John Conrad led his son, and beside
a new-made grave they paused.
"It is not good to dwell on grief when one lives in the world and has
still the work of half a lifetime," said he solemnly. "But there are
moments when it is right that we should yield ourselves to our sorrow.
The others will come here in the morning, but you and I will then have
no time for shedding tears. Your mother looked into the future. She
begged me to go when the time came, even though I must leave her here."
"My lad,"--John Conrad laid his arm across the boy's shoulders,--"there
are many things I would say to you. You were, as you know, her darling.
But she knew your faults, that you are strong-headed and strong-willed.
As you are of all my children the quickest to learn, so are you the
least obedient and steady, the most impatient and impetuous. Your
mother prayed for you daily. Will you remember her counsels, lad?"
To the yearning voice Conrad could make no answer. Arm in arm father
and son stood for a long time. Then, when the moon had sunk behind the
little church, Conrad felt himself led away.
"Now, my son," admonished John Conrad, "weep no more, but set your face
forward."
II
DOWN THE RIVER
The night of the twenty-third of June is a short night at best. When
one robs its beginning of four or five hours, there is little darkness
left. Bidding his son go to bed, John Conrad spent the night in
vigil. In spite of his reminder that this was not a time for grief,
he went again to the little church. From thence he climbed through
the ruined vineyards to the pastures on the hill where his father and
his grandfather had pastured their sheep and cattle. There he stood
long and looked about him, his mind traveling back to the happiness of
their peaceful lives, spent in sturdy labor and sweetened by the honor
which they had had among their fellows. Here were the roots of his own
life, deep in the soil--would God that he could stay where he had been
born! He was no longer young, responsibility and adversity had made him
old. Those rosy stories of the new land--might they not be as other
travelers' tales, concealing a reality worse than this fearful present
of hunger and fear? Five hundred miles of river, three thousand miles
of sea, and then an unsettled country! The same shapes of fear which
had fascinated and disturbed young Conrad seemed now to await his
father behind every tree and bush.
Suddenly John Conrad heard a soft sound on the summer wind. George
Reimer, as restless as himself, was somewhere about with his dear
flute. John Conrad bent his ear to the direction from which the sound
came. It was a German hymn, "A Mighty Stronghold is Our God." John
Conrad lifted his head and with it his heart. George Reimer would be
with them and George Reimer's flute. Returning to his house, John
Conrad lay down for a little sleep before dawn.
But George Reimer did not go to the new country. Upon the indescribable
confusion of the Weiser house the next morning, he came smiling.
Into sheets and coverlets the Weisers had tied all their movable
possessions, the various articles making curious knobs and projections
on the great bundles. The family spinning-wheel must go--surely no
article was more necessary! This Conrad was to carry on his back. The
few cooking-pots which remained--these must be taken, though all else
were left behind. Wardrobes were small, sheets were few, pillows did
not exist. The feather beds could not be carried--these were given to
the neighbors.
About hovered all Gross Anspach. Each person had brought a little
gift, a tiny trinket saved from the pillaging of the hamlet, a little
bouquet of the few garden flowers which had survived the cruel winter,
a loaf of bread or a package of dried beans for soup. Catrina, a baby
on each arm, wept loudly. Each baby had to be embraced many times by
its departing relatives and each departing relative had to be embraced
by all the village. Under foot, six tiny kittens risked their lives.
Old Redebach, tottering feebly about, quoted warning passages of
Scripture:--
"_As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth
from his place._"
On the doorstep sat Wolf, his solemn eyes watching the scene in
amazement. Everywhere was confusion, everywhere was noise.
For a few moments George Reimer watched quietly.
"Neighbors!" cried he. "If you cannot help these friends, stand back!
Here, Conrad, I will tie that bundle. Here, John Frederick, I am to
be your horse as far as the river; see that you behave, or I will run
away. Sabina, I will keep your kittens if I have to catch the mice for
them myself."
With one accord the Weisers turned upon him.
"You are going with us, surely!"
"Only to the river." His eyes sought those of John Conrad. "I cannot
go farther. My little sisters are too young, my father too feeble, my
mother is sick--I can neither take them nor leave them alone."
"God will reward you," said John Conrad. "But it is a sore loss to us."
In the end no one went beyond the river. From weeping Gross Anspach the
Weisers and a dozen accompanying friends separated themselves at seven
o'clock, the Weisers carrying nothing, the burdens on the shoulders
of their neighbors. At the heels of the procession walked Wolf. At
the summit of the first hill all looked back, save Conrad. The little
village lay smiling in the sun; to the pilgrims it seemed like Heaven.
"I cannot go," cried Magdalena.
"Oh, father, let us stay," begged Margareta.
Before John Conrad could answer, a cheerful sound restored the courage
of the pilgrims and George Reimer's gay "Susy, dear Susy" set their
feet moving.
At the village of Oberdorf there was a halt, while greetings were
exchanged, explanations made, and messages written down for friends
already in America. Among those to whom greetings were sent was the
magistrate who must be by this time safely across the sea.
Here the Gross Anspachers, except the schoolmaster, turned back and the
Weisers shouldered their own bundles. It became clear now that there
were more bundles than persons and the fact occasioned much laughter
and readjustment.
At night the Weisers slept by the wayside. The fare on the boat would
draw a large sum from John Conrad's store and not a penny could be
spent for lodging. Lulled by Reimer's flute, they slept comfortably,
and, roused by the same music, were off soon after daylight.
At the river came the most difficult of partings. Here George Reimer
played a last lullaby and a final reveill├ę. A river boat, the Elspeth,
had anchored near by for the night and upon it the family took passage.
The goods were carried aboard and piled in the center of the deck and
John Conrad and his eight children followed. At once came a protest
from the captain. Old Wolf could not go, and Conrad was commanded to
lead him from the boat. Conrad forgot that he was thirteen years old,
forgot that he was the man of the family next to his father, forgot his
boasted superiority to Margareta and Magdalena and the rest, and threw
his arms round the old dog's neck.
"I cannot leave you! I cannot leave you!"
Then he felt himself lifted up and put aboard the gangplank.
"There, Conrad, there! I will take care of him. I have given your
father something for you. Show yourself brave, dear lad!"
Stumbling, Conrad boarded the boat. He saw the schoolmaster wave his
hand, he saw the green shores slip away, he heard his father's voice.
"Your teacher gave me this for you, Conrad."
"Oh, father!" cried Conrad.
In his hand lay the schoolmaster's flute.
"He said you were to practice diligently and to remember him."
The message made Conrad weep the more. He threw himself down on the
pile of household goods and hid his face.
When he looked up his father sat beside him. In his hand were two
books. He looked at his son anxiously.
"Conrad, we are going among strange people. The first are the
Hollanders, with whom we can make ourselves understood. But of English
we know nothing. Now we will learn as well as we can, I and you. The
schoolmaster gave me an English Bible, in it we will study daily,
comparing it with our own."
"What will we do about the language of the savages?" asked Conrad,
drying his tears. "How will we make ourselves understood by them?"
"There will be time enough for that. It is probable that they compel
them to learn English. The savages are a long way off."
For a few days John Conrad and his son studied diligently. There was
little else to do in the long hours which glided as quietly by as the
stream. The country about them was unbroken and flat; here there went
on a simple life like their own. Everywhere were to be seen in the
brown fields and the dead vineyards the ravages of the fearful winter.
In return for a little help about the boat, the helmsman, who had
served on English ships, did his best to interpret the hardest words
for the students. To the surly captain they dared not speak. Once the
price for the journey was paid into his hand, he seemed to resent even
the sight of his passengers. Frequently he was not sober, and then the
helmsman helped the Weisers to keep out of his way. Unlike the rest
of his race, he could not endure the sound of music and Conrad and his
flute were objects of special dislike. More than once he threatened to
throw both into the river.
When the boat stopped at the city of Speyer for a day and night,
studying and flute-practicing stopped entirely and, urged by the
friendly helmsman, the Weisers went on shore. Now for the first time
the children saw a large town; with eager expectation they stepped on
the wharf. But here, too, was ruin and desolation. The great buildings,
burned by the enemy who had devastated their own village, had not been
restored; the cathedral which towered above the ruins was itself but a
hollow shell. When they reached the next large town of Mannheim, they
did not leave the boat. With increasing longing they looked forward
across the ocean to the Paradise where the enemy had not been.
Daily they were joined by other pilgrims who like themselves looked
forward with aching eyes to the distant country. The newcomers had
each his own story of persecution and famine, of cold and misery. With
them John Conrad talked, gathering from them all the information which
they had about the new country, comforting them as best he could, and
reading to them from Conrad's little book. To the directions they
listened earnestly, hearing over and over again that they must be
patient, quick to hear and slow to speak, that they must be diligent
and thrifty. About the dangers of the sea they talked a great deal and
were relieved to hear that a journey on an inland river was valuable as
preparation for a journey on the ocean. The little book advised also
that those who were about to take a journey by sea should practice on a
swing.
Each day the captain was less and less able to navigate the ship.
Finally the helmsman took command, and while the captain lay in a
stupor, Conrad continued the forbidden flute-playing. Growing careless,
he was caught, and the captain, who could reach neither Conrad nor the
flute, kicked the family spinning-wheel into the river. The loss was
serious and it taught a bitter lesson.
It was the twenty-fourth of June when the travelers left Gross Anspach;
a month later they were still far from the mouth of the river. Each
day passengers clamored on the banks, each day the number of ships in
the river increased, slow packet boats which did not go above Cologne
or Mainz, and faster boats which passed the heavily laden Elspeth
like birds. The river left the broad meadows for a narrow gorge with
precipitous banks upon which stood imposing castles. At sight of the
castles the children were overcome with awe.
"There is Bingen, and its mouse tower, children," said John Conrad.
"Not where the bishop was eaten!" cried Sabina.
"Yes; and about here the treasure of the Niebelungen is buried."
"If we could only find it!" sighed Conrad.
"And there"--the helmsman pointed to ruined walls upon the cliff
side--"there a brave trumpeter defended his master's life. While his
master and others escaped, he blew bravely upon the walls to frighten
the enemy, and when they entered, there was no one left to kill but
him."
The watching of Barbara and John Frederick in their trotting about the
crowded ship grew to be more and more of a task. The first person who
was pushed overboard was made much of, and the man who rescued him was
considered a hero. When many had fallen overboard and had been rescued
the passengers scarcely turned their heads.
As day after day passed and August drew near its close, John Conrad
became more and more anxious.
"It is time we were sailing from England," said he uneasily to Conrad.
"The journey has taken long, food has been higher than I thought, and
we have had to pay tariff a dozen times."
Again and again he took from his pocket the letter of the magistrate of
Oberdorf. Of the chief of his fears he said nothing to Conrad. The good
Queen of England had offered transportation to the distressed Germans;
but had she realized, had any one anticipated that so vast a throng
would take her at her word? The river captains told of weeks and weeks
of such crowding of the lower river. Would there be ships enough to
carry them all to the New World? Would the Queen provide for them until
they could sail?
Presently rumors of trouble increased John Conrad's fears. A passing
boat declared that the Germans were forbidden to enter Rotterdam, the
lowland city at which they would have to take ship for England. The
congestion had become serious. The citizens of Rotterdam announced that
their patience and their resources were exhausted; the Germans could no
longer wait there for English boats; they must return whence they had
come.
At this announcement there was a loud outcry. Like the Weisers, the
other pilgrims had sold or had given away everything except the
property they carried with them; if they returned now, it would be to
greater misery than that which they had left. Go on they must. John
Conrad reminded them of the Lord in whom they trusted. The Queen had
promised and England was rich in resources. The Queen's charity was
not entirely disinterested; she expected the Germans to people her new
colonies. Nor did John Conrad believe that the Hollanders would see
them starve on the way to England. But even as he argued with himself,
his heart misgave him. He had seen persons starve, he had seen men and
women and children struck down by the swords of brutal soldiers. There
was nothing in the world, he believed, too terrible for heartless men
to do.
As they drew nearer to Rotterdam, the anxiety of the helmsman was plain
to be seen.
"I pay no attention to what passers-by say," he told John Conrad. "But
if you see any long, narrow boats, with the flag of Holland flying,
then it will be time to be frightened. They will have the power to make
us turn back."
Each hour the rate of travel became slower and slower. There was
now no current whatever, and for many days the wind did not blow.
Finally, when, at nightfall, the Elspeth came into the harbor, John
Conrad breathed a deep sigh of relief. In the morning the travelers saw
next them at the wharf one of the long boats which the helmsman had
described, and heard that it was to start in an hour to warn all the
pilgrims to return to their homes.
The passengers of the Elspeth were not allowed to enter the city, but
were bidden to wait on the wharf for English ships. Here their quarters
were almost as restricted as they had been on shipboard. In prompt
contradiction of the statement that their patience and their supplies
were exhausted, the kind Hollanders brought food to the guests who had
thrust themselves upon them.
Now the helmsman came to bid his friends good-bye. John Conrad gave him
many blessings and the children cried bitterly and embraced him.
"If he were only going with us, what fine times we should have on the
sea!" said Conrad.
"He seems like our last friend," mourned Margareta. "Everything before
us is strange."
"We thought George Reimer was our last friend," said John Conrad.
"Perhaps we shall find other friends as good."
For four days, the Germans watched for a ship. When at last two English
vessels came into the harbor and they were taken aboard, the Weisers
had little food and less money. When John Conrad heard that no passage
was to be charged, he breathed another sigh of relief.
"The good Queen will keep her promises," said he to his children. "The
worst of our troubles are over."
But within an hour it seemed that the worst of their troubles had only
begun. The channel crossing was rough. From their fellow travelers
there was rising already a cry, which was to grow louder and louder
as the weeks and months went by--"Would that we had suffered those
miseries which we knew rather than tempt those which we did not know!"
When the ship entered the smooth waters of the Thames River, the
Germans began to smile once more. About them were green fields. They
saw pleasant villages and broad stretches of cultivated land and deer
browsing under mighty trees.
"If we might only stay here!" they sighed.
John Conrad shook his head.
"Here we should not find rest."
Once more the Germans disembarked, wondering whether their stay on
shore would be long enough for a closer view of the fine churches and
palaces of London. Of so large a city as this even John Conrad had
never dreamed.
"Shall we see the Queen?" asked Sabina in a whisper of her father.
John Conrad smiled.
"We might see her riding in her chariot."
Then John Conrad grew sober. As they stood crowded together upon the
quay some young lads shouted at them roughly. The ears which expected
only kindness were shocked.
"They say we are taking the bread from their mouths," repeated Conrad.
"They call us 'rascally' Germans."
"There are rude folk everywhere," said John Conrad.
He directed the children to take their bundles and follow a man who
seemed to have authority to conduct them to some place in which they
were to spend the night.
The way thither proved to be long. Again and again it was necessary to
stop to rest or to give time for the short legs of the little children
to catch up. Again and again the heavy burdens were shifted about. They
traveled into the open country--a strange stopping place for those who
were so soon to continue their journey! They passed many men and women
who looked at them curiously. Presently they heard their own German
speech.
"We will have to wait awhile, probably, for ships," said John Conrad to
his son. "Of course we could not expect to go on at once. We--"
John Conrad stopped short and let his bundle slip to the ground. They
had come out upon a great space, which a few months before had been an
open heath. Now, as far as the eye could reach, stretched long lines
of tents. It was no temporary lodging, for here and there small frame
store buildings had been erected and there were long-used, dusty paths
between the tents. Men and women and children were going about, meals
were being prepared, there was everywhere the sound of voices. John
Conrad stood still in amazement.
"What is this?" he asked.
A single sharp voice answered from the doorway of a sutler's shop.
"We are Germans, lured hither by promise of passage to America. Here we
wait. Here we have waited for months. Have you come, oh, fool, to wait
also?"
It was not the rudeness of the answer which startled John Conrad,
nor the discouraging news which it announced, but the voice of the
speaker. For the speaker was none other than his friend the magistrate
of Oberdorf, supposed to be by now upon the high seas or in the new
country.
III
BLACKHEATH
For a long moment Heinrich Albrecht, the magistrate of Oberdorf, and
John Conrad Weiser, his friend, looked at each other. John Conrad was
the first to speak, in a voice trembling with amazement and alarm.
"Have you returned, Heinrich?"
The magistrate burst into a loud laugh. He was a tall, thin man, of a
type to whom inaction is misery.
"I have not been away. Here"--he waved his hand with a wide motion over
Blackheath--"here we lie, idle pensioners. Here we have been since
May, ever encouraged, ever deluded. Here idleness and evil customs are
corrupting our youth. Here we are dying."
Now the full meaning of the crowded Rhine and the warning of the
Hollanders burst upon John Conrad. He looked at his children, at the
young girls, at the little boys, and finally at plump, smiling John
Frederick. He thrust his hand into his almost empty pocket, thinking
of the long journey back to Gross Anspach for which he had no money.
He thought of his high hopes of liberty and peace and independence. He
covered his face with his hands so that his children might not see his
tears.
"I am here, father!" cried Conrad. "I am strong! I can work!"
"They feed us," conceded the magistrate of Oberdorf. "And they have
given us some clothing and these tents. But cold weather will come and
we shall die."
"Cold weather! We should be in the new country by cold weather! You
yourself wrote that you were about to sail, that you would sail on the
next day. There!" John Conrad drew from his bosom the tattered letter.
"I have stayed my soul upon it! I have set out on this journey upon
faith in it!"
"I thought we should start. I was certain we should start. They say
there are no ships. They have begun to send some of us to Ireland."
John Conrad shook his head.
"This whole land is sick. Across the ocean only there is peace."
"I can get a tent for you beside mine," offered Albrecht. "I have a
little influence with those in authority."
Once more the Weisers shouldered their bundles. They crossed the wide
camp, greeted pleasantly here and there, but for the most part stared
at silently and contemptuously. Finally the magistrate acknowledged
grudgingly that the English people had been liberal and kind.
"But they are growing tired. The common people say we are taking the
bread from their mouths."
The farther the Weisers proceeded through the city of tents, the more
astonished they became.
"The poor Germans have washed like the waves of the sea upon these
shores," said Albrecht.
John Conrad shook his head in answer, having no more words with which
to express his astonishment.
The Weisers made themselves as comfortable as possible in the tent
assigned them. They unpacked the bundles which they had expected to
unpack only in the new country, they received a portion of the generous
supply of food which was given out each morning and evening, and
then, like the thousands of their fellow countrymen, they waited, now
hopefully, now almost in despair, for some change in their condition.
But no sign of change appeared. Day after day John Conrad and the
magistrate and the friends whom they made among the more intelligent
and thoughtful of the pilgrims met and talked and looked toward the
Blackheath Road for some messenger from the Queen. The young people
made acquaintance; the children played games and ran races up and down
the streets of the city of tents. Sometimes Conrad listened to his
elders and sometimes he played his flute for the children.
Suddenly the weather changed. The outdoor life which had been pleasant
became more and more difficult to bear. The nights grew cold; the
Germans shivered in their poor clothes. Now, also, another and a more
serious danger threatened them.
The cooking was done over open fires, and the Weisers went daily into
a forest a few miles away to gather sticks for their contribution to
the one nearest to them. One day a young Englishman, with an evil face,
spoke roughly to Margareta, who cowered back. He went nearer to her and
she screamed in terror. For an instant Conrad watched stupidly, then,
suddenly, his heart seemed to expand. He was, as his father had said,
strong-headed and strong-willed.
"Let her be!" he shouted.
The stranger laughed, and approached nearer still. They could not
understand what he said, nor did he have opportunity to continue what
he had begun to say. Before his hand touched the arm of Margareta, he
found himself upon the ground. Conrad was not tall, but he had strong
muscles; now from his safe position on the chest of the enemy he was
able to dictate terms of peace.
"You get up and run as fast as you can down the road," he shouted.
"George Frederick, give me that big stick."
Fortunately the Englishman had no friends at hand. He looked about
wildly, first at the Weisers, then toward the camp, and promptly did as
he was bid. As he went, he shouted a threat.
"Your whole camp is to be wiped out," he yelled from a safe distance.
"Wait and you will see!"
The hearts of the Germans, growing daily more alarmed, were no more
disturbed, meanwhile, than were the hearts of Queen Anne and her
ministers. While the unexpected thousands lay upon Blackheath, minister
consulted with minister, boards of trade met to discuss plans and to
give them up, and to discuss other plans and to adjourn and to meet
again. It was true that Queen Anne desired to settle her colony of New
York, true that the news of her desire had been spread abroad. But she
had not anticipated this great migration, like the locusts of Egypt for
numbers! Ships were lacking to transport them; suitable asylums were
lacking and the Germans themselves, fleeing like helpless children,
were not able to take care of themselves.
Scores of wise and foolish suggestions were offered. The Germans were
to be sent to distant parishes, together with a bounty for each one.
But the parishes did not welcome them; those who were sent returned,
poorer, weaker, more helpless than before. There were hundreds of good
workmen among them, but even the English workman could scarcely earn
his bread. Let them go to Ireland, let them go to Wales, let them
return to Germany.
And still, while the English talked, the Germans came. Finally, Her
Majesty's Council, meeting almost daily, reached a conclusion and
orders were given for the assembling of ships. Action was hastened by
an extraordinary incident in which Conrad and his father had a part.
The heavy frosts had begun and there was not an hour when the Germans
did not ache with the cold. The quantity of food had become smaller,
the quality poorer than at first. But worse than cold or hunger was the
danger from the rising resentment of the Londoners, who demanded that
this great mass of foreigners be removed.
Conrad, left to himself, with little to do, roamed about the city,
staring at its marvels, at strange London Bridge, crowded with shops
and houses which hung over the water, at mighty Saint Paul's Cathedral,
lifting its round dome, still beautifully white and clean, far above
the gabled city roofs, at the other new churches built since the great
fire, and at the soaring monument which commemorated the fire. He even
looked with awe and horror at the sad and terrible spot where had been
buried, in a deep pit, the victims of the great plague.
Conrad's journeys were not always comfortable. English lads taunted
him, gayly dressed young men ordered him out of their path, the bearers
of sedan chairs thrust him rudely against the house walls. But still he
walked about, watching and listening.
Presently he heard terrifying threats. The Londoners determined to
wait no longer to wreak their vengeance upon Blackheath. Conrad hurried
down the long road to make report to his father.
"They mean to attack us with knives, father. They declare they will
have no mercy upon us!"
"They would not dare," answered John Conrad. "We are under the
protection of the Queen."
Nevertheless, John Conrad called together his friends, and together
they drew up a humble petition, praying that the English people
continue to look kindly upon them and to bestow bounty upon them.
But the petition availed nothing. That very night, Conrad, lying in
his corner of the tent near the edge of the camp, heard the sound of
rough voices and heavy steps. Springing up, he looked out the door. On
the heath a large company had gathered, carrying knives and sickles
which gleamed in the moonlight. With a shout Conrad roused his family,
whose cries in turn roused the sleepers in the neighboring tents. The
attacking party was defeated, not so much by the resistance of the
Germans, few of whom had arms, as by a warning that the soldiers were
coming from London. The Germans were not seriously hurt, but the event
was ominous.
Still the days grew shorter, and the dark nights longer, and the air
colder. Hundreds gathered round the fires, and among them John Conrad
counseled further patience and continued courage. Frequently he read
to them from Conrad's little book, at whose directions for life on the
ocean and in the new land there were now bitter smiles and long sighs.
They had ceased to think of the new country with its rich soil, its
mild climate, and its strange, interesting aborigines, except to envy
the Indian his indifference to the comforts of civilization.
Upon the day of the first snow, Conrad went early into the city. He had
earned a penny a few days before by carrying some bales from a ship to
a warehouse, and he hoped to earn more.
Until noon he walked about the streets. Again and again he was cursed
and threatened. The Londoners had not finished with the Germans in
spite of their temporary defeat. At noon he ate the piece of black
bread which he had put into his pocket, and then went into a cold
church to rest. Presently he fell asleep, and when he woke late in the
afternoon the church was almost dark. He was miles away from Blackheath
and he must set out promptly or the dangers of the way would be
doubled. The week before he had been caught in a fog and had spent the
night inside a garden gate on the ground.