PILGRIM'S ADVENTURES.
Pilgrim was the son of a case-painter. Left an orphan at an early age,
he was brought up at the public expense by the old schoolmaster. But he
spent by far the greater part of his time with Lenz the clockmaker on
the Morgenhalde. In old Lenz's wife he found almost a second mother,
while their only surviving child, the Lenz who has been working to-day,
was like a brother to him. Pilgrim was always the more ready and
skilful workman of the two; for Lenz, with all his undoubted ability,
has a certain fanciful dreaminess of character. Perhaps there is a
genius for music in Lenz and for painting in Pilgrim that has never
been developed; who knows? You must hear Lenz sing some time. He is
first tenor in the Liederkranz; and it is chiefly owing to him that our
society won the prize at two musical festivals,--one at Constance and
the other at Freiburg. As the boys grew up, Lenz was apprenticed to his
father and Pilgrim to a case-painter, but they continued close friends.
Through the long summer evenings they would wander singing and
whistling over hill and valley, as sure to be together as the twin
stars in heaven. Winter nights Pilgrim had to walk up to the
Morgenhalde through snow and storm; for Lenz, being, as I have said,
the last of five children, was somewhat spoiled by his mother, and kept
at home in bad weather. There they would sit together half through the
night, reading books of travel or whatever else they could lay hands
on. Many a volume out of my library has their thirst for knowledge
devoured. Together they devised a plan for travelling abroad; for, with
all the domestic habits of our people, there is a general desire among
them to see the world. As soon as it was sure that both were exempt
from military service,--Pilgrim by lot, and Lenz as being an only
son,--they were anxious to carry their plan into execution. Lenz showed
on this subject for the first time a persistent obstinacy which had
never been suspected in him. He would not be dissuaded from the
journey. His father was for letting him go, but the very thought threw
his mother into despair. When the minister's persuasions failed, I was
called in, and enjoined to talk the boy into a whole catalogue of
diseases, if other arguments failed. Of course I pursued a different
treatment. The two friends had always admitted me into their
confidence, and now freely imparted to me their entire plan. Pilgrim,
as usual, was the instigator. Lenz, notwithstanding his sensitiveness,
has a sound practical nature, though limited to a small circle of
ideas. If not confused by arguments, his instincts generally lead him
in the right direction; and whatever he undertakes he clings to with a
perseverance amounting almost to devotion. I will show you to-morrow a
standard regulator he has set up, whose adoption would be a benefit to
the whole country. Lenz's mind was in fact not so firmly made up in
favor of Pilgrim's plan as he had given his parents to understand. He
thought his friend would do better to learn clock-making thoroughly
before going into the trade, as a merchant should be able to repair any
clock that may come in his way, as well as those he carries with him.
Pilgrim finally decided to enter on an apprenticeship. As soon,
however, as he had learned what was absolutely necessary, the plan of
his journey was resumed more resolutely than ever. The objects he
proposed to himself were numerous. At one time he wanted to make money
enough to visit an academy; at another he meant to become a great
artist on his travels; then again he only desired to discomfit the
moneyed aristocracy by coming home with a bag full of gold. In reality
he despised money, and for that very reason would gladly have had it to
throw away. There was, besides, some youthful fancy in his head at that
time, I imagine. Greece, Athens, was the goal of his desires. The very
name of Athens would make his eyes sparkle and his color rise.
"Athens!" he would say, "does not the word transport you to marble
staircases and lofty halls?" He seemed to imagine that the mere
breathing of classic air would make another man of him, change him into
a great artist. I tried to disabuse his mind of these mistaken notions,
and succeeded in making him promise he would confine himself to earning
a living, and leave all else for some future time. Old Lenz and I gave
security for the merchandise he was to take with him. He finally set
out alone, Lenz yielding to our persuasions, and remaining at home. "I
am like the wave," Pilgrim used to say, "that is drawn from the Black
Forest to the Black Sea." He hoped to introduce our domestic clocks
into Greece and the East, where they had never been so favorably
received as in northern countries and the New World. It is pleasant to
hear Pilgrim tell how he went through various foreign countries,
through cities and villages, with his Black Forest clocks hung about
him, making them strike as he went along, himself taking notice all the
while of everything on the way. That was the trouble with him. His eyes
were too busy with other things, with the landscape and beautiful
buildings and the manners and customs of the country,--a great mistake
for a merchant. As our clock-work never changes, go where it will, over
sea and land, so our people remain the same in every latitude. To make
and to save, to live frugally, and never be content till they can come
home with a full money-bag, that is the one thing they care for, let
the world wag as it may. A very good and necessary thing it is, too, in
its place. One head must not have too many projects at one time. But
the day of peddling and saving is past. We must be men of business now,
and establish permanent markets in other lands for our merchandise.
"Did Pilgrim ever reach Athens?"
"Indeed he did, and he has often told me that the joy and devotion with
which the Crusaders greeted Jerusalem could not have exceeded his on
first seeing Athens. He rubbed his eyes to convince himself it was
really Athens. He expected the marble statues to nod a greeting to him
as he went jingling through the streets. But not a single clock did he
sell. He was reduced to such extremity at last as to consider himself
lucky to get a piece of work to do; and what work! For fourteen days,
under the blue Grecian sky, in sight of the Acropolis, he had to paint
the green lattice-work fence of a beer-garden."
"What is the Acropolis?" asked Bertha.
"You can tell her, Storr," suggested the doctor.
The engineer gave a hasty sketch of the former beauty of the citadel of
Athens and its present scanty remains, promising to bring a picture of
it the next time he came, and then begged the doctor to go on with his
story.
"There is little more to tell," he resumed. "With the closest
management, Pilgrim contrived to dispose of his clocks, so that we were
no losers. It required no small courage to return poorer than he went,
to be a general laughing-stock among his old neighbors. But as his
enthusiasm led him to despise the moneyed aristocracy, as he was fond
of calling it, he put on a bold front, and let who would laugh. Of
course, he went first to the Morgenhalde. The parents were standing
with folded hands about the dinner-table. Lenz gave such a cry, his
mother used to say it would kill her to hear the like again. The two
friends fell into each other's arms. Pilgrim soon recovered his good
spirits, and laughed about his luck being better at home than anywhere
else; for there he found at least a well-spread table. Certainly he
could nowhere have found a warmer welcome than from the parents and son
at the Morgenhalde. Old Lenz wanted to take him into his house; but
Pilgrim resolutely declined. He was always jealous of his independence.
He fitted up a nice workshop at Don Bastian's, very near us. At first
he took pains to introduce new patterns of clock-cases; but he could
not succeed in changing essentially the shape of our Black Forest
clocks,--the square with a pointed arch. Not disheartened by finding
his novelties unacceptable, he cheerfully fell back on making the
old-fashioned cases, for which he gets plenty of orders. He has some
skill in coloring; but his drawing is faulty. You must know that
different countries have different tastes in clock-cases. France likes
the case well covered with bright colors; North Germany, Scandinavia,
and England prefer simpler outlines, architectural ornamentation, like
gables or columns,--at most, nothing more florid than a garland.
Shepherds and shepherdesses are for the Vorarlberg. No clocks can be
sent to the East with human figures on the dial-plate; lately Roman
numerals have been allowed, but formerly none but Turkish. America
likes no painting, but requires carving more or less elaborate.
American clocks, as they are called, have the weights raised by pulleys
on one side. Hungary and Russia fancy fruit-pieces and landscapes.
Ornaments of the best taste are not always preferred; on the contrary,
a finical style is often most popular. If you can improve the
appearance of our clocks, you will be doing Pilgrim a service. Perhaps
you can give him a fresh start in life; though he hardly needs it, for
he possesses the rare art of being happy without being prosperous."
"I should like to make his acquaintance."
"You shall call upon him with me to-morrow. Only come bright and early,
so that we can take a walk over the hills. I will show you some fine
views, and nice people beside."
After bidding the engineer a hearty good night the doctor and his
family re-entered the house.
The moon shone clear in the heavens; the flowers sent out their
fragrance into the night, with none to enjoy it, and the stars looked
down upon them. No sound was heard, save from a house here and there
the striking of a clock.