BDCHHOLZ 
 FAMILY 
 
 SECOND PART 
 
 SKETCHES OF 
 BERLIN LIFE
 
 THE 
 
 SKETCHES OF BERLIiV LIFE. 
 
 By Julius Stinde. 
 
 Translated from the Forty-ninih German Edition. 
 
 In Two Parts. Each, 1 2mo, $1.25. 
 
 "We cannot recall another work, fictitious or olher, in which 
 the middle class is viewed from the inside. The author does 
 not as an outsider satirize the class he describes ; he merely lauc^hs 
 at such follies or absurdities of individual members of it as, in life, 
 their friends would see and smile over." — T/ie Nation. 
 
 " The author's hilarity is always cheerful and elevatincf, and for 
 unadulterated humor, for quiet, unobtrusive fan, commend us to 
 this famous book." — Hartfoi-d Post. 
 
 "Not Berlin alone, but the g^reat Ch.incellor himself, have ex- 
 pressed their delight over the Buchholz family. All those quiet, in- 
 nocent household festivals which delight honest Germans are pleas- 
 antly described. Herr Stinde's pen is of the quiet, pleasant kind, 
 and never coarse, and he is the best representative of tixie German 
 humor we have yet seen." — New York '/tines.
 
 THE 
 
 BUCHHOLZ FAMILY 
 
 SECOND PART 
 
 SKETCHES OF BERLIN LIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 JULIUS STINDE 
 
 TRANSLATED, FROM THE (FORTY-SECOND) EDITION OP 
 THE GERMAN ORIGINAL 
 
 BY 
 
 L. DORA SCHMITZ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1887 
 
 \Authorized Translation^
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Educational Plans 
 
 • . I 
 
 The Press Festival 
 
 • • 
 
 
 II 
 
 DoiMESTic Art . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 A Regatta 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 In the Green Grunewald 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 The Portrait . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 New Connections 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 The Christmas Fair . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 91 
 
 Fashionable Society . 
 
 , , 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 On the War-Trail 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 "5 
 
 Betti 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 129 
 
 The First of April 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 143 
 
 How it all Came to be so I 
 
 )ifferent 
 
 
 
 155 
 
 The Eventful Thursday 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 165 
 
 The School of Life . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 179 
 
 Trials .... 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 194 
 
 My Son-in-Law . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 214 
 
 Uncle Fritz 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 222 
 
 How They all are 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 231
 
 THE BUCHHOLZ FAMILY. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL PLANS. 
 
 As long as my daughter Emmi was still unmarried, I 
 did believe that she might become happy with the 
 man who, according to my idea, Providence had se- 
 lected for her. But now I think the contrary, and can 
 only suppose that human life develops as many varie- 
 ties as the balsams we sow in flower-pots. We fancy 
 that only well-developed, rosy-red blossoms will come 
 up; but when they do appear, some of the flowers are 
 of a most ordinary shade of violet, others are red, but 
 single ; whereas not more than two or three show 
 blossoms of the kind described in the catalogue. 
 Some do not come up at all, or if they do, the buds 
 drop off before opening. 
 
 Or is it that good fortune is not big enough for 
 every one to have a slice, such as I and my Carl have 
 had ? Why"- is it that we are happy and content ? 
 Because Carl would most assuredly have had the 
 highest respect for his mother-in-law, had it not been 
 that she died before our marriage. I could swear that 
 Carl would have acted very differently towards her 
 from what Dr. Wrenzchen does towards me. I cannot, 
 indeed, complain that he is wanting in polite speeches 
 and phrases, but the more pleasant his manner, the 
 more suspicious he appears to me ; for, according to 
 what cultured people say, those who excuse, accuse
 
 Of Innate Privileges, 
 
 themselves. If he meant all he said, he would at once 
 have packed off that cook of his, when she was not 
 only rude, but insolent to me. A mother-in-law has as 
 much right in the kitchen of her newly-married daugh- 
 ter as the daughter herself, especially when the young 
 wife is inexperienced and is about to give her first 
 party ; for although there may be no question about 
 treating the guests to a surprise, they ought at all 
 events to be made to feel some degree of respect for 
 the household arrangements. Therefore when a cook 
 hinders a mother-in-law in this duty, planting herself 
 in front of the hearth, and, by making use of uncul- 
 tivated language, forces the mother of her mistress to 
 concentrate herself backwards out of the room, then, I 
 say, it is the sacred duty of the son-in-law at once to 
 fetch in the police, and to have the wretched creature 
 locked up with all possible speed. Now as the doctor 
 did not have this done, I know well enough what to 
 think of his polite speeches and complacent remarks ; 
 these may be said to be the brazen shield of the arch- 
 fiend, by means of which he wishes to thrust me off, 
 that I may not have an opportunity of telling him the 
 truth to his face. But he will find all that useless ; 
 opportunities cannot be thrust aside for ever. When 
 once they do come, they come with the certainty of 
 the multiplication table. And then we shall see ! 
 
 I had at first resolved never again to cross the thres- 
 hold on the other side of which I had been so shame- 
 fully treated without provocation. On second 
 thoughts, however, it struck me : before Frau Buch- 
 holz submits to be chased away by a fury in the 
 kitchen, things would need to be very different. One 
 does not so readily give up one's innate privileges. Of 
 course, when I go to the house I take no more notice 
 of that gook than if she were mere air ; not a look do I
 
 and the Three Senses. 
 
 give her, not a "good-day," not even a condescending 
 smile ; I pass her by as if enshrouded in icy disdain, 
 like a wet bathing-sheet. And she — in her thick- 
 skinnedness — takes absolutely no notice of all this. 
 
 Emmi is always immensely pleased when I look in 
 of an afternoon to coffee. Dr. Wrenzchen is at that 
 time out on his rounds, and we can chat away undis- 
 turbed about things that men can't in the least under- 
 stand. What astonishes me is that the girl has so 
 quickly adapted herself to her position as a doctor's 
 wife. She writes down the names of all the people 
 upon whom he has to call, and takes great interest in 
 his different patients; at times even she does not 
 hesitate to make a bo\vl of strong beef-tea when 
 the case is urgent, and a spoonful of soup is more 
 needed than a spoonful of medicine. It is only on 
 Thursdays, when the doctor goes to his Medical So- 
 ciety — where he plays skat till midnight — that Emmi 
 feels lonely and forsaken. " Child," said I, " this is a 
 misery that unfortunately you may have to endure to 
 your dying day; but still you may consider yourself 
 lucky, for there are husbands far more inconsiderate 
 than yours, in fact, who have but three senses, like 
 bears — those of eating, grumbling, and sleeping. 
 You ought never from the first to have tolerated those 
 Thursday-evening goings-out. I am afraid now that it 
 may be too late to educate him." 
 
 "If only I were not so utterly alone," said Emmi, 
 " you cannot think how wearisome the hours are when 
 I have to wait for him." — " Do you stay up for 
 him?" — " No, Franz will not have that!" — "So he 
 sends you to bed, does he ? " — " He thinks it better for 
 me." — " And all your worry about his not coming home 
 counts for nothing, I suppose ? Or can you go to sleep 
 with an easy mind, while he turns night into day with
 
 About Thursday Evenings 
 
 his beer-drinking chums ? I couldn't ! " " Mamma, 
 what is it you have against Franz ? " — " I ? Nothing 
 whatever, except these Thursday evenings and the 
 cook." " Oh, don't bring up that old dispute, mamma; 
 the girl has had her scolding and will not forget her- 
 self again. As to Franz, he bargained for these Thurs- 
 day evenings from the very outset, and I agreed." — 
 " If you are happy as things are, it is not for me to 
 interfere ; you must know best what your nerves can 
 stand. But what is the use of my talking my tongue 
 sore, if you will neither see nor listen." 
 
 Emmi was silent ; she then asked : ''What harm is 
 there in his spending one evening in the week with his 
 friends ? I cannot have him gilded over and rolled up 
 in wadding." — " Is that a tone in which to speak to 
 me, Emmi?" — "Mamma, you must remember I am a 
 married woman now, and do not need to account to 
 any one but my husband for what I do. You know I 
 love you dearly, but I do not like to be treated as if I 
 were still a school-girl." — " And can you not under- 
 stand that I am acting only for your good?" I ex- 
 claimed, "do you think I do not notice that you are 
 not as happy as you ought to be ? Do you mean to 
 say you look forward to your Thursday evenings ? " 
 
 Emmi shook her head almost imperceptibly ; but I 
 saw it. After a time she said cheerily: " I mean to get 
 a little dog ; it will be a companion for me." 
 
 Just as I was about to make a reply, a visitor was 
 announced. It was little Frau Lehhiann, the lawyer's 
 wife, with whom Emmi had become rather intimate; 
 and I must confess I like her very much myself, 
 although she is rather inclined to be scraggy. She 
 looks nothing by the side of my Emmi, for Emmi has 
 developed beyond all expectation — her full round arms 
 give her quite a stately appearance; still, little Frau
 
 and Young Dogs, 5 
 
 Lehmann is very bright, and when once she gets over 
 her shyness before strangers, looks very neat and 
 pleasing. Still she never was what we call pretty. 
 
 When Frau Lehmann heard of Emmi's wish to have 
 a dog, she said: " I advise you not; a young dog snaps 
 at everything, and lays hold of the newest things first. 
 We used to have one, but in less than a week it had 
 ruined two pairs of embroidered slippers, and a rug 
 that had been given to us; and then if the creature 
 was left alone of a night in the passage, it evidently 
 got home-sick, for it howled in the most piteous way. 
 My husband had to get out of bed and give it a beat- 
 ing to make it change its tune." — "The poor crea- 
 ture ! " exclaimed Emmi. — " If a dog howls or makes 
 a noise, it has to be taught better," I put in; "for 
 what men require, that they must have. Did you get 
 the animal to behave better ? " I asked. — " We had a 
 good deal of fun with it afterwards," Frau Lehmann 
 answered; " but when our first child was born, we got 
 rid of it. It is not good to let children and dogs play 
 together, dogs are apt to have diseases. You can ask 
 your husband about this, Frau Wrenzchen, he will 
 know." — " It could surely not be dangerous," said 
 Emmi curtly, as if not pleased with the conversation. 
 " I think you had better give up the idea of having a 
 dog," said I, in a soothing tone, " your husband will 
 surely only be too glad to remain at home, once in a 
 way, to please you; or you could come to us when you 
 feel wearied alone — you know you will alwaj^s be re- 
 ceived with open arms in your old home." Emmi 
 seemed to be thinking the matter over, so I consid- 
 ered it well not to say more at present, and therefore 
 turned to Frau Lehmann with the question: " Does 
 your husband go out much of an evening ?" — " It de- 
 pends," she replied, " he has his club and meetings,
 
 Cockroaches in the Kitchen. 
 
 which he cannot do without." — " Have you to wait up 
 for him ? " — " I used to be silly enough to do that, and 
 would keep looking at the clock every five minutes, 
 and ended by having a cry when it got very late; but 
 now I find no time for watching and waiting. The 
 children are up and about early of a morning, and 
 they are my little world, and give me occupation 
 enough. And moreover a man must at times have 
 an opportunity of discussing other matters than do- 
 mestic worries and nursery affairs, so, of course, he 
 goes out of an evening sometimes." 
 
 " When I was young, men did not go out to res- 
 taurants as often as they do nowadays," was my reply; 
 '' but these places are got up in such a luxurious way 
 now, so utterly beyond the means of the middle 
 classes, that men get perfectly spoiled, and end in 
 finding nothing comfortable enough for them in their 
 own homes, and in the simple arrangements there. 
 One ought, therefore, to try and prevent their going 
 out much; and, at all events, when they do go, it 
 ought to be with their wives." — "And are the children 
 to be left at home in the nurse's charge ? " put in Frau 
 Lehmann, " I do not agree with you there. One can- 
 not trust these servant-girls for any length of time. 
 When they know that their master and mistress are 
 out every evening, they think themselves at liberty to 
 do as they please, and accept visits from goodness 
 knows who ; they are even quite capable of locking 
 up the house, and going out for a walk themselves." 
 
 ''Have you experienced this yourself?" I asked. — 
 " Oh yes," replied Frau Lehmann, smiling; " one even- 
 ing when we returned home from a partyat an unusually 
 early hour, my husband actually caught a cockroach 
 in the kitchen ! " — " A cockroach ! " I exclaimed, in 
 surprise. — " Yes, indeed ! that's the nickname given
 
 The Affair with the Soldier. 
 
 to the fusilier guards from the barracks in the Chaus- 
 see Strasse." — " I could tell you a pretty story myself 
 from that quarter," I blustered out. — ''You, Mamma?" 
 said Emmi. — "I? . . . Oh, no . . . certainly not." — I 
 felt that I had turned scarlet up to my ears ; but I 
 could not and dared not tell Emmi of the affair with 
 the soldier, who, taking me for Jetty, had laid hold of 
 me in the store-room. Were Emmi to tell Dr. Wrenz- 
 chen that I had meant thereby to give him an oppor- 
 tunity of proposing to her, he would lose every ves- 
 tige of respect for me. I recovered myself, therefore, 
 as quickly as possible, and said with forced copipo- 
 sure : " What the story was, I do not altogether re- 
 member; moreover, it didn't happen to me, but to a 
 friend of mine, and wasn't very interesting after all." 
 — Dark spots in a human life are indeed like rust 
 stains on a fireplace, they are for ever eating their 
 way through. Frau Lehmann, who, thank God, was 
 in a talkative mood, started the conversation again by 
 saying : " And what airs they do give themselves ! 
 you would hardly believe it possible." 
 
 " You need scarcely tell me that, dear Frau Leh- 
 mann," I replied quickly ; " for if any one has had 
 experience with servants, it's me. They are becoming 
 more high and mighty every year, and would not 
 think of wearing any dress that did not come from 
 Gerson's establishment. And one knows well enough 
 where they get the money from ! They make out 
 that visitors give them gratuities ; but if they don't 
 find these sufficient, they take to pilfering. Last year 
 asparagus was ridiculously cheap ; but when I sent 
 our servant marketing for me, the bundle always cost 
 a halfpenny more than when I bought it myself, and 
 I can assure you the stalks were none the thicker. If 
 one did not forcibly close one's eyes to what goes on,
 
 8 About Servants, 
 
 one would never be without the police in one's 
 house." 
 
 " I find my servant honest enough," said Frau Leh- 
 mann ; " and I should be very well satisfied with her, 
 were she not so wretchedly difficile about her eating. 
 My husband is very fond of meat cooked with veg- 
 etables — mutton with savoy or turnips when they are 
 young, for instance." — " My husband won't touch 
 them ; I may once in a way venture to give him Tel- 
 tow turnips, but he does not much care about them," 
 was my remark. — " Or beef stewed with white beans, 
 with a little vinegar," added Frau Lehmann ; "but 
 our servant won't touch these dishes, she says she has 
 never been accustomed to such eating in her own 
 home, and yet her father is only a common labourer 
 in Rixdorf ! " — -"The truth is, that they are all aiming 
 at something beyond their own station in life," I 
 replied, corroborating Frau Lehmann's statement ; 
 "and when a girl nowadays accepts a place as a 
 servant, she comes as if she were doing one a favour, 
 and then laments to herself that she did not become 
 a pianoforte-player or something of the kind. My 
 washerwoman has a daughter who is being taught the 
 piano, and while the young lady is drumming away 
 at a Reverie, the mother has washed three shirts. And 
 yet these people can hardly get a wink of sleep for the 
 hunger that plagues them." — " It's a mercy there's not 
 a conservatoire in Rixdorf yet," said Frau Lehmann, 
 " else my servant might probably be musically in- 
 clined as well. As it is, I have had to forbid all novel 
 reading. Just fancy, she had actually been subscrib- 
 ing for some novel brought round by a hawker, and 
 for which she had to pay forty pfennigs a week — that 
 is more than twenty marks a year!" — "Why, that's 
 more than princes and barons give for books," I ex-
 
 and Inquisitions. 
 
 claimed, horrified. — " And you can have no idea how 
 abominable the book was ; in the very first chapter 
 lime is thrown into a foundling's e}'es to burn it blind, 
 and this is followed by murder and assassination, and 
 every conceivable atrocity. My husband says such 
 reading has a most injurious effect upon the morality 
 of the people." — "And yet she can't eat meat and veg- 
 etables cooked together," I added. — " Is your servant 
 a reader, Emmi ? " I asked, for she seemed to have 
 be n listening with but little interest, her thoughts 
 perhaps occupied with other matters. " There must 
 be some trouble in her mind," thought I, " like a 
 splinter in one's finger, that at last begins to inflame 
 and fester." — " I cannot say that I need complain 
 about mine," she replied, evasively. " As long as the 
 girl prepares our food as Franz likes it, and does her 
 work, I have no reason to find fault." — " Of course 
 not," I replied, somewhat annoyed, '' yours is the beau- 
 ideal of every perfection. Do not be vexed at our 
 discussing so ordinary a subject ; the question about 
 servants was not introduced into the world by you, 
 nor are you likely to put an end to it." — " I can't 
 think how we got on to the subject," said little Frau 
 Lehmann, rather disconcerted. — " It began with the 
 dog," I replied, "and so Emmi is herself to blame." 
 
 Frau Lehmann, who must have noticed Emmi's 
 abrupt manner, now rose and said, "Do not be 
 vexed, my sweet, dearest Frau Wrenzchen ; " and 
 with this she laid her hand on Emmi's head, drew the 
 little pouting face to her, and gently stroked the fair, 
 golden hair and cheeks of my youngest child, who did 
 indeed at the moment look a little pale. Emmi 
 replied, " Well, I can't say I take very much pleasure 
 in inquisitions held against servant-girls ! " — Frau 
 Lehmann smiled, and said jocosely, " Next time, then,
 
 10 About Potatoes in their Skins, 
 
 we'll discuss the weather ; or, better still, I'll bring 
 my boy with me, the young jackanapes — he'll give us 
 enough to talk about. My advice to you is to get a 
 canary, like mine, it keeps the Vv^hole house cheery ; 
 but I hope one day before that you will pop in upon us 
 in a friendly way." Thereupon "good-byes" were 
 said and Frau Lehmann went. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Emmi ? " said I, when 
 the lady had gone. — " She is so taken up with her own 
 children," replied Emmi, peevishly ; " and then, why 
 need you have told her about the dog?" — "You did 
 not tell me not to mention it!" — "You might have 
 known that I shouldn't like it. What have other 
 people got to do with my feeling lonely at home 
 sometimes ? " 
 
 " Your husband must positively be made to sac- 
 rifice his Thursdays to you," I replied, with decision ; 
 " and in any case you can arrange to spend the even- 
 ings with us when he goes out for his own amuse- 
 ment ! " 
 
 "Without Franz?" 
 
 "If he leaves you to yourself, you can surely leave 
 him once in a way ! " 
 
 " No, Mamma, I will not do that." 
 
 "I mean without any rudeness on your part, of 
 course," I continued. " I shall send you both an in- 
 vitation for next Thursday, to potatoes-in-their-skins 
 and herrings, which I know he is so fond of. The 
 following Thursday the Lehmanns might invite you, 
 and so on, till we get him out of his irregular ways. 
 He must be gently and imperceptibly chained to th'e 
 family. If this proves unsuccessful you must try the 
 plan of leaving home yourself one evening." 
 
 She shook her head thoughtfully. — " Think over 
 what I have said," I added. " If he does not give in
 
 and Editors. ii 
 
 now, he never will ; and the little bit of happiness you 
 ought to get out of your lives will be off before you 
 know where you are. Think it over." I then brought 
 my visit to a close. 
 
 That same evening I told Carl that I had invited 
 Dr. Wrenzcheti and Emmi to spend next Thursday 
 evening with us. " Do not be surprised, how-ever," 
 said I, "if I have the herrings placed on the table un- 
 divided." — "Why such a new-fangled idea?" asked 
 Carl, somewhat puzzled. " It is a delicate piece of 
 domestic diplomacy, Carl," was my reply, "by leaving 
 the herrings whole. Dr. Wrenzchen will be unable to 
 pick out all the middle cuts for himself, as he did last 
 time ; he will have to eat the head and tail bits, like 
 the rest of us." — " But supposing he likes the middle 
 cuts best ? You are generally disposed to give your 
 fellow-creatures what they like best, Wilhelmine." — 
 " I do, Carl, gladlv, as you know ; but in the present 
 case it is a matter of education. He's not nearly old 
 enough to have nothing: but middle cuts." 
 
 THE PRESS FESTIVAL. 
 
 Many changes have occurred in favour of literature 
 since it has risen to the rank of a profession. This, 
 as we know, it formerly was not ; for only on the 
 rarest occasions was anything produced. Literature 
 was generally taken up as a secondary occupation. In 
 fact, it is now no longer considered a disgrace to be- 
 long to it ; indeed, we find the Press itself declaring 
 that it has become the seventh great power. I must, 
 however, confess that I have never yet met an editor 
 with a crown on his head, or with a purple robe on in 
 place of a great-coat. It would certainly create a sen-
 
 12 About White Neckties. 
 
 sation were one of them to promenade Unter den 
 Linden, or to go to Kranzler's for a cup of coffee, in 
 any such attire. Still, if one happens to come into 
 personal contact with an editor he makes a very liberal 
 impression, and seems opposed to all domineering 
 principles, except as regards what his own paper may 
 have to say. Apart from the steam-press he is like 
 any other mortal, and his spare time is devoted to 
 amusement. 
 
 Hence a Press Ball was announced ; and as a fete 
 is always grander the larger the number of people that 
 attend it, tickets for non-professional persons were 
 also issued. The seventh great power might to a 
 certain extent be said to be giving its court ball ; 
 hence not to attend the festival might be said to be an 
 act of opposition. Besides I had only seen the Winter 
 Garden, with its tropical plants, during a concert, and 
 had never yet seen the adjoining rooms. I was there- 
 fore anxious to see what sort of appearance the place 
 would present on a festive occasion ; and I must say 
 my expectations proved far too moderate when I found 
 myseif face to face with the reality. It was superb. 
 Up above were the electric lights and v/reaths of roses, 
 music on both sides, and on the exquisite parquet 
 floor a large gathering of dancers, who might forth- 
 with be termed a very graceful company — that is to 
 say, the ladies more especially ; the outsides of the 
 gentlemen being distinguished only by the difference 
 in their white neckties ; which were of various shapes, 
 of various materials, and in various positions. Intel- 
 lect, which is regarded as man's special ornament, is 
 not so much in request at a ball as good dancing ; 
 hence a nimble-legged sub-lieutenant may eclipse even 
 a member of the Ministerial Council, whose dignity 
 seems to have run into his knee-joints. The ladies, on
 
 Carl has a Secret Love-trouble. 13 
 
 the other hand, looked angelic in their elegant toilettes, 
 and they formed an eesthetic contrast to the gentlemen 
 of the party. 
 
 These were my first thoughts as I entered the festive 
 rooms with Uncle Fritz. Carl would not come, much 
 as I urged him ; he made out that he stood a long way 
 off from the literary circles. " Carl," said I to him, 
 "do you not every morning read your newspaper? — 
 can you exist without it ? Well, then, have you no 
 wish to meet the gentlemen who provide you daily 
 with your mental food, face to face ? You can put 
 your subscription-ticket in your button-hole if you 
 like, to show that you belong to the Press as a reading 
 member." 
 
 However, it was impossible to persuade him ; so, 
 being anxious myself to attend the Press Festival, I 
 asked Uncle Fritz to accompany me. He agreed at 
 once, saying that as I belonged to the profession, he 
 might surely venture to go. He expected, moreover, 
 he said, to enjoy himself very much, if only I did not 
 bully him as I did Carl. The answer he deserved for 
 that remark I kept to myself at the time, for fear of 
 frightening him from going with me ; and then, too, 
 the poor fellow has still that secret love-trouble of his 
 to bear. 
 
 One day, when an opportunity occurred, I said to 
 him that I could not imagine anything more thankless 
 than when the object of one's affection remained at 
 such an unapproachable distance. His reply to this 
 was : " You are wrong, Wilhelmine, epistolary love 
 has its bright side too." This showed me how deter- 
 mined he is not to give up Erica. But my idea is that 
 the grandmother won't give her to him. 
 
 My Carl had another reason for declining to attend 
 the Press Festival. His friend Moderow had a cask of
 
 14 Special Brews and CorypJiciises. 
 
 some special brew which he meant to open that same 
 evening, and they were all going to meet to enjoy it — 
 old Bergfeldt, Schramke, Steinkohlen-Miiller, and in 
 addition to their usual party Dr. Paber too, perhaps. 
 So I said : '" Well, then, you may go ; for if there's a 
 doctor among you, you will probably not come to any 
 harm. But be sure not to be the last to leave, and 
 take care not to get under the wheels in coming home." 
 Betti was to spend the evening at the Police-lieuten- 
 ant's, where Mila's birthday was to be celebrated; and 
 so Uncle Fritz was my only escort to the circle, with 
 which I was partially acquainted as a reader, but 
 which I had never before met vis-a-vis. 
 
 When we arrived the dancing had already begun. I 
 felt somewhat overpowered at the sight of such a large 
 gathering of people, all strange faces to me ; for, of 
 course, I could not know how renowned they might be. 
 
 Luckily I caught sight of Herr Kleines, who looked 
 like a mock attache' to an embassy, and I went up to 
 him. "Do you know the corypheuses ? " I asked. — • 
 " All of them," he replied.- — " Then point some of them 
 out to me," said I. He answered that most of them 
 were exactly like their photographs. That was not 
 enough for me. When he found that I was not going 
 to let him off, he gave me his arm and steered me 
 through the crowd. 
 
 He did apparently know a number of the notabilities, 
 but it struck me that they did not seem to recognise 
 him. He asked me whether I had got my autograph 
 album. When I said no, he led me to a Turco-Arabian 
 tent, made of real Persian carpets, where stood a gen- 
 tleman who handed every lady a little book in which 
 the notabilities had entered some intellectual remarks, 
 in order that they might remain unmolested during 
 the Festival, and thus able to devote themselves wholly
 
 About the Ladies Dresses. 15 
 
 to the pleasures of the evening. For, indeed, it would 
 be irksome to any notability to have to prove himself 
 a man of intellect throughout the evening. One 
 member of the Committee had undertaken to distribute 
 a literary and poetical souvenir, which was all the more 
 troublesome, as, every time he presented a copy, he 
 had to show the person how it had to be opened. 
 The lid had in fact to be pushed aside to get at the 
 contents, which were both novel and surprising. 
 Those persons who tried to open the case in the usual 
 way, at once destroyed the book, which again was a 
 surprise. If all books were made in this fashion, the 
 book trade would take an unexpected rise ; and hence 
 the novelty deserves all praise, for, of course, the ob- 
 ject of the Press is to encourage progressive develop- 
 ment. 
 
 The dresses of the ladies, which I could examine 
 more leisurely when I began to feel more at my ease, 
 were simply magnificent. There were velvets in red, 
 in blue, in black, all embroidered with gold, and bro- 
 caded silks in the most marvellous patterns edged 
 with the reallest of laces and flowers. Pearls and dia- 
 monds were as numerous as the unnumbered stars of 
 the Milky Way. In a word, the dancers there were all 
 Capitalists. 
 
 Herr Kleines declared that many of them had quan- 
 tities of paste about them ; but I'm not likely to 
 believe such calumny. What lady would venture to 
 face the penetrating gaze of the Press in imitation 
 jewelry ? 
 
 As was but natural, I met Dr. Stinde, who seemed 
 pleased to see me again. We sat down a little to the 
 side, under the branches of an orange-tree, to which 
 real oranges had been attached by wire in a very cun- 
 ning way ; this reminded us of Italy. "It is less dan-
 
 1 6 Of Pluck :d Pods. 
 
 gerous here than on Vesuvius," said I by way of 
 opening the conversation, which Dr. Stinde imme- 
 diately took up, and we both revelled in the most de- 
 lightful of recollections. When any eminent persons 
 passed by he told me who they were, what they had 
 accomplished v/ith their pen, and in what department 
 they had distinguished themselves. This, I need 
 hardly say, was instructive. " Is that anyone partic- 
 ular?" I asked, upon catching sight of a gentleman 
 with very expressive eye-glasses on a boldly-curved 
 nose. — "Why, don't you know Paul Lindau ? " — "I 
 had imagined him very different," I replied; "he is 
 much more interesting in looks than in his books. 
 And I should never have imagined him with that ex- 
 pression of suffering round about his mouth." — "That 
 he probably owes to his critics." — "Do they venture 
 to attack so uncommon an author?" — " Critics never 
 hesitate to attack anything ; but it was Lindau who 
 showed them how the thing was done." — " I do not 
 quite understand?" — "Well, dear Frau Buchholz," 
 said Dr. Stinde after a time, "poets are very much 
 like the birds in a forest ; they all sing in their own 
 way as best they can ; and just as every bird cannot 
 be a nightingale, every poet cannot be a Schiller or a 
 Goethe. What does it matter that their songs are 
 not all masterpieces ? Well, Lindau appeared on the 
 scenes one day, and laid hold first of one singer and 
 then of another, mercilessly plucked out their feathers, 
 and left them to hop off stark-naked, amidst the 
 laughter of the rest of the world." — " That is positive 
 cruelty to animals," I exclaimed, horrified. — " It is 
 only poets that are treated in that way," continued 
 Dr. Stinde, "in order that the public may admire the 
 smartness of critics. And as no one sees the tears 
 wept by the despised poet, and no one is troubled by
 
 About Literary Sharks. 17 
 
 his secret sorrow, Lindau's little jokes were eagerly- 
 welcomed by the public." — "And is this the kind of 
 joking that the others learned from him ? " — " Yes ; 
 and, in fact, they have proved themselves good pupils. 
 Some have devoted themselves exclusively to becom- 
 ing literary sharks." — " Without further ado ? " — " The 
 less ado the better. When Lindau himself began to 
 ponder and to create — when he, too, like the other 
 birds of the forest, started a song of his own, they 
 made a set at him and plucked the brightest feathers 
 out of his body ; and however much it hurt him he 
 had to put on an air of pleased indifference, for he 
 did not wish to commit himself. Now, perhaps, you 
 can account for the melancholy expression round 
 about his mouth. You must have noticed that any 
 vexation first becomes evident by the person letting 
 the corners of his mouth drop." — " That's just what 
 my Betti does at times," I added, in support of his 
 remark. And as a Press Ball is the most appropriate 
 scene for discussing literature, I added : " Our Betti 
 has talent, but she has not yet quite got into the way 
 of writing poetry. If I knew of any one in the pro- 
 fession who could give her some hints, she might ac- 
 complish something. Any plucking out of feathers 
 that Lindau might attempt, he would have to settle 
 with me ! " — " I do not for a moment doubt that," re- 
 plied Dr. Stinde, laughing; "a few minutes ago I met 
 a gentleman who is amember of the National German 
 Rhyming Society, who may possibly be the kind of 
 man you want." — " He would only need to teach Betti 
 the elementary rules, and, perhaps, afterwards touch 
 up her verses. I should think this is all that is nec- 
 essary in art and literature ? " — " For a lady quite suffi- 
 cient," said Dr. Stinde, "what may otherwise be want- 
 ing her talents will effect." — "You certainly have hit 
 2
 
 Wilhelmine forcibly drawn Away. 
 
 the nail on the head there, Doctor," said I, and then 
 asked him whether it would be likely that we could 
 find the gentleman now. 
 
 We set out on the hunt for him, and found him 
 leaning against the trunk of a palm tree, his head 
 with its cluster of fair curls, resting thoughtfully upon , 
 his right arm, the hand artistically touching his cheek. 
 His left hand was holding a red velvet note-book. 
 His necktie was not white, but light-green in colour. 
 In fact, I had always pictured a living poet somewhat 
 like this man. Dr. Stinde introduced us -to each 
 other — " Feodor Wichmann-Leuenfels — Frau Wilhel- 
 mine Buchholz." — " I am very pleased," said I. — " You 
 v/ere no doubt just writing some poetry," added Dr. 
 Stinde, pointing to the little note-book. — " You have 
 guessed rightly," replied Herr Feodor Wichmann- 
 Leuenfels, " and I think I have succeeded in penning 
 some excellent lines. Will you judge for yourself?" — 
 " Not just now," said Dr. Stinde evasively, " but if 
 you would read your poems to Frau Buchholz, at her 
 own house . . . ." — "That is just what I was about 
 to ask," I broke in, interrupting the Doctor, and gave 
 the young man our address, with the request that he 
 would call upon us. When he had accepted the invi- 
 tation Dr. Stinde drew me away forcibly. "Are you 
 not an admirer of poetry?" I asked. — "All in its own 
 good time and place," was his answer ; " I like poetry 
 best when I can read it quietly to myself. If I find a 
 single grain among the chaff in a book of poems, I 
 am but too delighted, for I know that all the inferior 
 portions wull be forgotten, and that w^hich is of value 
 will live. When time has purified it, the people will 
 store it up in their treasure house, that is, in their 
 hearts." — " Do you think the people have an under- 
 standing for such things?" — "No," he replied, "but
 
 On Hartmanii s Philosophy. ig 
 
 they have feeling. So-called understanding may be 
 said to be the patent with which critics cause so much 
 mischief. It is not understanding that creates works 
 of art, but feeling ; it is to feeling that w^e owe all 
 that is best in us. And thus, when understanding 
 casts its supposed infallible judgment upon the inex- 
 plicable charm of poetry, it alwa3'^s seems to me as if 
 some one were trying to measure the scent of flowers 
 by the )^ard. No philosopeer has yet solved what the 
 beautiful really is.'" — " But surely there can be notli- 
 ing simpler than that," I exclaimed ; "the beautiful is 
 everything that is beautiful ; a blind man might even 
 feel that with his stick." — " You must surely have 
 studied Hartmann's philosophy of the unknown," said 
 Dr. Stinde. — " What makes you think that ? and how 
 can you suppose that a practical woman like me can 
 find time for study ? Still I admit I have an appre- 
 ciation for what is beautiful, for I always prefer it to 
 what is ugly." 
 
 '' I w'ill introduce you to a gentleman of the pro- 
 fession who is quite of your opinion," said Dr. Stinde; 
 " here he is coming towards us. Herr Ludwig Pietsch. 
 
 .... Frau Buchholz would be happy " " Ah ! I 
 
 shall be charmed," said the gentleman, and gallantly 
 gave me his arm. I, however, could not get out a 
 word, I was so overpowered at the thought that I was 
 walking beside Ludwig Pietsch ; one word from him 
 in the Vossische, and next day I might be standing be- 
 fore the world in spotless glory ; or, it might happen 
 that he mentioned some one else, then one's choicest 
 dress might as v.'ell have been thrown to the cats. 
 The majesty of the great power overawed me, as he 
 graciously began to address me and let his eye rest 
 upon me. However, his manner as an accomplished 
 gentleman presently gave ine courage, and with a be-
 
 20 TJie Ancient Stage, 
 
 seeching glance up at him, I said : " Pray do not ex- 
 amine it too closely, Herr Pietsch, I have only got my 
 second best dress on to-day ; when one reaches a 
 
 certain age " — " Now you are jesting," said he, 
 
 kindly cutting short ray last words, "with your charms 
 you put many of the youngest in the shade." — " If the 
 Press says so I suppose it must be true," I replied, 
 embarrassed. He then drew my attention to the won- 
 derful tones of colour which the electric light brought 
 out upon some of the ladies' dresses, and explained 
 the whole animated scene to me, after which we had 
 to part, however unwillingly, for the lectures were 
 about to begin, and many other ladies were no doubt 
 hoping to be taken notice of by him. — On Tuesday, 
 sure enough, I found my name in the morning paper, 
 and the paper-boys had to carry me — among the list 
 of distinguished visitors and recognisable to all my 
 most intimate acquaintances — through all Berlin, 
 bringing radiant joy into cottages and palaces. 
 
 The ideal part of the festival then began. The 
 stage — as I learned from a contributor to an archaeo- 
 logical paper — was arranged exactly according to an 
 antique model, except as regards the curtain, the bed- 
 screen and a Bechstein piano. A lady of the dramatic 
 profession recited something. She had a cop)^ of the 
 poem fastened in front of her fan, as the ancient 
 Greeks had no prompter, but she spoke as if from her 
 very soul. Unfortunately I could not follow a word 
 she said, as the acoustics of the Winter Garden are 
 rather indistinct, and I was rather far back in the area, 
 but I was deeply moved by the tone of her voice. 
 And, indeed, it does not much matter about the words 
 if only the hearer is affected, and particularly at a 
 Press ball. 
 
 The considerate committee had arranged a break in
 
 and Men-Scrvants in Tail-Conts. 21 
 
 the proceedings for supper, in order that the musi- 
 cians, too, might have some refreshment. There was 
 one thing that did not please me, in fact, that had 
 long displeased me, namely, that the men-servants 
 should be running to and fro in tail-coats, like the 
 gentleman-dancers; of course the servants' coats differ 
 in so far as they show a greasykind of shininess. At 
 such festivals the attendant spirits ought to be clothed 
 in a suitable livery, or have white aprons tied on in 
 front of them, as has become the custom in some of 
 our more fashionable restaurants. Uncle Fritz thinks 
 that any such arrangement would affect the value of 
 left-off tail-coats, and that this would exercise an un- 
 warrantable reaction upon the national wealth. From 
 a domestic economy point of view he may be right; 
 but I hold to my opinion as regards the outward look 
 of things at a festival. 
 
 I was much pleased in making the acquaintance of 
 a lady colleague, that is, of Frau Vely, the authoress 
 of very charming novels. " My dear Frau Vely," said 
 I to her, "how do you come by all your knowledge of 
 life ? our human existence seems to have scarcely a 
 secret from you?" — "Dear Frau Buchholz," she an- 
 swered frankly, " I write with Leonhardi's blue-black 
 ink, it does not put drags on to the wings of the 
 mind." I determined to procure some of that ink the 
 very next day, not being one of those who overlook a 
 good piece of advice; for it often happens that a great 
 deal depends upon mere trifles. We conversed for some 
 time, and quite agreed that the festival was incom- 
 parable. 
 
 That it was indeed, for although the oranges gradu- 
 ally disappeared from the orange trees, where human 
 hands could reach without actual climbing, still the 
 notabilities remained. Celebrities were to be seen on
 
 22 A Valuable Ink. 
 
 all sides, celebrities whose portraits even we in the 
 Landsbcrger Strasse do not manage to see, and 
 towards the end of the evening I had almost thrown 
 off the uneasy feeling that had oppressed me on lii'st 
 entering. I even took the liberty of introducing 
 myself to Ernst von Wildenbruch, and recommended 
 him to try Leonhardi's ink, telling him that anything 
 written with that ink could not fail to win the ap- 
 proval of the Press. — " My dear Madam," he replied, 
 " I have used nothing but that ink for years, my Chris- 
 topher Marlowe was written with it from beginning to 
 end." — "Then I do not comprehend the critics," I ex- 
 claimed is astonishment. — "You are not alone there, 
 dear Frau Buchholz." — "Do 3'ou know what," said I, 
 " I would advise you to give your tragedies very 
 cheerful endings, the Press has always something to 
 say in favour of what provokes laughter." — " One tear 
 which a poet calls forth will drown any number of 
 vexatious utterances that appear in print: tears form 
 the dew that produces new buds." — " And so you work 
 on heedless of what they say?" — "Yes, precisely so, 
 dear Madam." — " Even when 3^ou know that they will 
 at once be down upon you again ? That is truly cour- 
 ageous." — "Poetry is my second home, I have sworn 
 it the same fidelity as my German Fatherland." 
 
 Unfortunately, just at that moment there seemed to 
 be a general break up, and although I would have 
 liked, above all things, to have had some further ex- 
 change of thoughts with other of the notabilities, I 
 was obliged to set off homewards with Uncle Fritz. 
 He had enjoyed himself too, and thought the show of 
 ladies m.agnificent. — "'Well, you see," said I, "how 
 unnecessary it is for j-qu to look abroad, when j'ou 
 can have a far greater an J a better choice at home." — 
 "Unfortunately, the married ones were the nicest," he
 
 Never sazv Carl so Etherised. 23 
 
 ceplied. — "What sort of principles are these?" was 
 my remark. — " Come now, Wilhclmine, that's enough," 
 he answered abruptly, and began whistling a valse. — 
 " How very different Ludwig Pietsch was," thought I 
 to myself, "and how well informed all the other gen- 
 tlemen were. But brothers rarely have any sisterly 
 feeling of tenderness." 
 
 My heart was so interlarded with my experiences, 
 and so full of the many meetings I had had with dis- 
 tinguished persons, that I wanted forthwith to tell 
 Carl some of the occurrences most worth knowing; 
 but it was as impossible to rouse him out of his sleep 
 as it must have been to wake Sleeping Beauty when 
 she had begun the first quarter of her hundred years' 
 sleep. — I called out to him, "Carl, here I am back 
 again." He never stirred or moved. I shook him. 
 But all in vain. I felt certain of this; they must all 
 have been drinking some specially poisonous stuff, for 
 I had never yet seen Carl so etherised. 
 
 In what sort of state had he come home ? Per- 
 haps robbed of everything he had ? No, there lay his 
 watch on the table, and the glass not broken. But his 
 purse ? It was in his trouser-pocket with his keys, 
 where he never left it when in his normal state. " He 
 will have a' pretty headache to-morrow by way of 
 punishment," said I, examining his purse, for it struck 
 me as unusually bulky. What could be inside ? A 
 very handful of beer-tickets. I must know what this 
 meant. " Carl, what's the meaning of all these beer- 
 tickets?" I called out into his ear, raising him up 
 and shaking him gentl}' as v/ell as I could. — " Mina 
 .... one bit more .... to get out of the habit ! " 
 he muttered with some difficulty, and turned with a 
 jerk out of my hands and fell back among the pillows. 
 "Whatever makes him call me Mina ? " thought I, " it's
 
 24 TJie New Wardrobe. 
 
 quite contrary to his usual way. Well, just a little 
 patience, to-morrow I shall know what they've been 
 doing to him. It's a pity, to be sure, that he'll not be 
 able to enjoy my account of the Press festival; that 
 can be appreciated only by a clear head and an inter- 
 est in the ideal." 
 
 With the thought whether Ludwig Pietsch would 
 remember me, I put out my light. 
 
 DOMESTIC ART. 
 
 We paid a visit to the exhibition of cheap furniture 
 that was being held in the glass building of the late 
 Hygienic Exhibition, and as the prices asked for some 
 of the articles, of really good workmanship, Avere 
 astonishingly low, we purchased a wardrobe to replace 
 the large clothes-press which had been standing in the 
 passage. The lower drawers of the old one would 
 never open properly if one wanted anything out in a 
 hurry, and then too the thing was worm-eaten. Car] 
 approved of the investment, for the new wardrobe is 
 divided in the middle, and he can now have his realm 
 all to himself, and no longer needs to grumble that 
 his clothes are hung on the back pegs, and that when 
 he wants some particular coat he is sure to lay hold of 
 the wrong one. 
 
 When, however, the new wardrobe was put up, we 
 found that it was smaller than the old piece of furni- 
 ture, and hence that it did not cover the same space of 
 wall. Now the piece of wall covered by the old press 
 had never been papered, for I remember we bought a 
 remnant of paper cheap and it proved hardly sufficient 
 to paper the whole passage. We could not get it 
 matched at the time, and thus the wall behind the
 
 Uncle Fritz on Infants' Music. 25 
 
 press was left in its original condition, a bright blue 
 in oil paint. But, of course, not a trace of this was 
 seen when the old cupboard stood there. 
 
 " The whole passage will have to be repapered for 
 the sake of that new piece of furniture," said Carl ; 
 " what shall we have gained by the change ? " 
 
 " Don't trouble about that, wait and see how cleverly 
 we shall manage it." 
 
 He shook his head as he went off, but did notventure 
 to oppose me by slighting remarks. 
 
 I had said " we," meaning not only myself, but Betti 
 and me, for without her help I should not have been 
 able to carry out my idea. 
 
 Betti had, in fact, taken to painting lately, for she 
 had no inclination whatever to become a governess, and 
 yet did not wish to be without some regular occupation. 
 And what was the use of her trying to pass a hard 
 examination, simply to keep children tidy and to teach 
 them a little spelling? Uncle Fritz too dissuaded 
 her, by maintaining that "children are horrid, they 
 can do nothing but cry or sleep ; the pleasantest mo- 
 ments in family life are when the children are asleep." 
 — My reply to this was: "You will talk very differ- 
 ently some day, my boy." — Whereupon he answered, 
 " I have certainly had to put up with noise enough 
 from our club-poets, but I shall never get accustomed 
 to infants' music unless I invest in a pair of india- 
 rubber ears." 
 
 " Children's voices are like angels' voices," said I, 
 "but, of course, they need be one's own children. 
 Your vocal society, 'The Whooping-Cough,' no doubt 
 makes a pretty hullabaloo ; I wonder the neighbours 
 tolerate such uproar." — "They gain something by it, 
 at all events ; they would scarcely know what a mouse 
 was like if they hadn't preserved one in a glass case."
 
 26 Betti takes to Painting. 
 
 Betti had always shown a taste for art. Even as a 
 child she would cut out figures from the fashion 
 papers, colour them neatly, and then gum them into 
 an exercise book. And painting has become such a 
 favourite occupation with ladies, that the most emi- 
 nent artists give them lessons nowadays. And then 
 to think what prices are now given for paintings ! 
 Menzel, a short time ago, got ^^4500 for one picture, 
 and, as Betti says, he has not even used the most ex- 
 pensive colours. Such demands we, of course, should 
 never make, although naturally one would like to 
 cover one's expenses. 
 
 Betti, to be sure, is only at the first stage yet, and 
 paints upon articles of wood ; still I must say she has 
 been very diligent. She has painted three clothes- 
 brushes — one for me, one for her father, and one for 
 Dr. Wrenzchen — all three in flowers. They might 
 have been bought at a shop, they are so artistically 
 finished. If only the varnishing did not come so ex- 
 pensive. Betti tried to do it herself at first, but she 
 never succeeded altogether, and could not manage to 
 get a stiiooth surface properly. Smaller articles, such 
 as plates, paper-knives, pocket-books, and little boxes, 
 are very useful for giving away as presents; among 
 our friends and acquaintances there are birthdays 
 enough to make it difficult to overtake them all with 
 any show of respectability. 
 
 So on the day in question I said to Betti : "There 
 is now a chance for you to give a proof of your talent, 
 and we will mightily surprise your father. What I 
 want you to do is to paint in the pattern of the wall- 
 paper where there is no paper on the wall, and to make 
 it look exactly like the rest of the wall. He will be 
 astDnished when he finds that he can't distinguish be- 
 tween the deception and the reality, unless he examines 
 it very carefully."
 
 About Pigeons. 27 
 
 Betti, it is true, did think this would be too difficult 
 for her, as she had never yet tried wall painting, a 
 branch which was to be taken up later, under Gussow, 
 when she had finished v:ith painting on wood, and had 
 passed through a course of landscape painting, which 
 is very carefully taught by the society of Lady 
 Artists ; still she said she was willing to try. From 
 the outset I had looked forward to the moment when 
 I should be able to say to Carl : *' Now, then, what do 
 you say to that ? And to think that the expense would 
 not be worth speaking about ! Simply an instance of 
 domestic art." 
 
 We took a couple of old cream jars and went to 
 fetch the paint. It was not easy to find the right 
 shades, but I hurried home and ripped a piece of paper 
 off the wall from below the place where the press had 
 stood. This I gave to the young man in the colour- 
 shop, and it enabled him to understand exactly what 
 we wanted, and he mixed the colours accordingly. 
 When Betti saw this she was most anxious to set to 
 work, a proof that she has the talent. The young 
 man also selected the brushes, a large one for the 
 grounding, and several smaller ones for working out 
 the details. That same evening Betti sketched out 
 the pattern, and on the following morning, as soon as 
 Carl had gone to the office, we set about the work. 
 That is to say, Betti undertook the artistic part, and I 
 stood by to assist her with good advice. However, as 
 she declared she could do nothing if I kept watching 
 her, I went off to the kitchen. We were going to have 
 pigeons for dinner, which Carl likes very much if they 
 are carefully prepared, and cooked briskh% with a 
 little onion and parsley root ; so I had enough to do. 
 Cooks rather dislike preparing this dish, as it gives 
 some trouble, and, moreover, they are apt to tell lies
 
 28 A Mistake in the Colours, 
 
 about it, by declaring that there were no pigeons of 
 the kind to be had at the market. 
 
 However, before the last bird had passed through 
 my hands, my motherly interest in Betti's artistic 
 work induced me to go and see how things were pro- 
 gressing with the fresco painting. I found Betti in a 
 not very amiable state of mind, for when I appeared 
 in the passage she said rather shortly : '' What is it 
 you want ? " — I noticed at once that something was 
 amiss, for when Betti's voice has a snappish sound she 
 is not given to be amiable, and so I said with the 
 utmost gentleness : "Well, have you succeeded in ac- 
 complishing anything, my child ? " 
 
 Betti came down off the kitchen steps, upon which 
 she had been standing while pasting up the pattern 
 she had sketched, and then examined the work from a 
 perspective distance. 
 
 " Do you think it will do ? " she asked. 
 
 What could I say ? If I said " No," she was quite 
 capable of replying : " Well then, take the colours and 
 brushes and do it yourself." If I said " Yes," then 
 the painting would, of course, remain as it w^as, and 
 Carl would have every reason to find fault, for the 
 result of Betti's work was really not much of any- 
 thing. 
 
 So after having examined her work from different 
 points of view, and with some show of artistic ap- 
 preciation, I said : " Betti, the pattern seems remark- 
 ably like, but the colours do not quite correspond. 
 Do you not yourself think that the colours are a few 
 shades too light ? " 
 
 "It is all too light," replied Betti, "yet how can 
 this possibly be the case when the young man mixed 
 the colours himself so carefully according to your 
 pattern ? Can it be the light, mamma ? You know
 
 and Another Trial Made. 29 
 
 artists alwaj's complain that unless the light is right 
 it spoils their best paintings." — I was about to agree 
 to this possibility when a most unwelcome thought 
 dawned upon me, and proved to be right. The fact 
 was, I had taken, as a pattern, a piece of the wall- 
 paper that had always been covered by the old clothes- 
 press, and which, therefore, had retained its original 
 and lighter colour. 
 
 "Now, mamma," said Betti in a tone of vexation, 
 " why do you interfere with things when you know 
 that you know nothing whatever about painting ? " — 
 "No, no, my dear," I replied, "you cannot say that 
 of me ; have I not climbed nine flights of stairs in the 
 Vatican to see the genuine Raphaels and the other ce- 
 lebrities in oil?" — "The whole Vatican would be of 
 no use to us here, mamma," interposed Betti ; " I shall 
 have to go and get the proper colours." — So she strip- 
 ped off a piece of the darkened wall-paper and flew 
 off to the shop, for she too was anxious to have 
 finished before noon, and I was meanwhile left to my 
 own thoughts. It seemed clear to me now that Art is 
 by no means so very easy, and demands a goodly 
 amount of genius as well. 
 
 When Betti returned she said : "Mamma, the work 
 cannot be done in the w^ay we imagined. First of all, 
 a background has to be washed in, and when it is dry 
 the pattern has to be painted upon it." 
 
 " Who told you so ? " — " The young man in the shop 
 explained this to me ; he has been in the Academy 
 himself, it seems." 
 
 " Has he studied under Gussow then, that he pre- 
 tends to know so much ?" — " I did not ask him that, 
 but he did say that selling colours brought in more 
 money than art." 
 
 " He told you that, probably by way of excusing
 
 30 Carl Finds Fault. 
 
 himself. Think what an amount it would represent 
 for Menzel to have sold ^4500 worth of oil colours 
 and floor varnish ! He would need to have been sell- 
 ing the stuffs day and night. No, one cannot believe 
 offhand what such a person says, and need know ex- 
 actly what he means." 
 
 While we were conversing in this way Betti had 
 painted in the background with the large brush. 
 There was some paint over, so I used it in trying my 
 hand at painting a wooden box, and did not find it 
 very troublesome. " Betti," I exclaimed in glee, " we 
 shall never again, after this, need to have painters in 
 the house, we can do everything ourselves, and save a 
 pretty penny." 
 
 When Carl came in to dinner, of course we could 
 not conceal the painting that had been begun. He 
 looked at it, shook his head, and said : " Wilhelmine, 
 I am afraid the difference will be noticed. You had 
 better give up the painting and have the whole pas- 
 sage repapered." 
 
 " And throw money out of the window," I exclaimed, 
 " No, Carl, I'll not have that ; and it's no encourage- 
 ment to art to find fault with things at the very outset, 
 in a hasty way. Wait a little, and then pronounce 
 your judgment. To-morrow you will have a very 
 different piece of work to criticise ! " This proved to 
 be true, but unluckily the work turned out very differ- 
 ent from what I had anticipated. 
 
 What the reason was I do not know, but when Betti 
 on the following morning painted in the pattern, the 
 wall looked stranger than ever. " Betti," said I, " you 
 have not got quite the right knack yet, I think. What 
 do you say to painting the whole wall one colour ? 
 Papa, it is true, prefers it being papered, but that's 
 because he hasn't confidence in us : he is sure to be
 
 A Hurry-Sciirry. 31 
 
 quite satisfied when the passage is once done, and 
 looks lovely." 
 
 We sent the girl Doris to the colour-shop with a pot 
 sufficiently large to hold paint enough for the four 
 walls, and I told her to bring another good-sized 
 brush for grounding, as I meant to help in the work 
 myself. We had decided in favour of sky-blue, having_ 
 got the idea from the old unpapered patch on the 
 wall, and because everything old-fashioned is again 
 the fashion now. 
 
 We were anything but idle. Betti, mounted on the 
 kitchen steps, undertook to see to the upper regions, 
 while I, on my knees on the floor, attended to the 
 lower parts. When we got to the end of our paint 
 Doris was despatched for more. It was a regular 
 hurry-scurry. 
 
 " The only thing wanting now are visitors," said 
 Betti jocosely, for she was enjoying the painting as 
 much as I was. — " That would be a pretty mess ! " I 
 exclaimed. " Betti, we must be quick and see that we 
 are not interrupted, that the vv^ork is finished at once, 
 before papa comes in." 
 
 Haste, however, is both exhausting and mischievous. 
 In her hurry Betti knocked the pot of paint off the 
 steps, and the good blue paint splashed over the floor. 
 
 There is nothing more horrid than upset oil paint. 
 We wiped it up. But it always seemed to come out 
 again. Nothing we could do would remove it alto- 
 gether. By wa^^ of consolation I said to Betti : " The 
 floor would in any case have required a coat of varnish. 
 Doris will have to fetch some more paint soon, and so 
 she may as well bring back some brown varnish for 
 the floor at the same time." 
 
 " And a nice bright red for the border at the top 
 and bottom of the wall," added Betti.
 
 32 Unsitccessful 'Painting, 
 
 '' Will one cupful be enough ? " — " Let her take the 
 large office jar," suggested Betti, and off Doris went. 
 
 Betti was right. A border did seem necessary to 
 give our work an artistic finish. She hoped, as I my- 
 self did, that when once the red lines were drawn in, 
 the unevenness of the painting would not be so con- 
 spicuous. Betti again mounted the ladder, and, as she 
 had the ruler in one hand and her brush in the other, 
 Doris had to stand below to hold up the paint pot. 
 
 After a time Doris ventured to remark: " Miss Betti, 
 you really mustn't let the paint drop so, my jacket 
 and my whole face are covered with paint." This was 
 true enough, I must admit. 
 
 " And this jacket I put on to-day for the first time," 
 Doris continued in a grumbling tone. — "Well, well," 
 said I, " if the paint won't wash out you shall have a 
 new one." With this I turned to my work again, A 
 few powerful strokes with the brush and I could ex- 
 claim : " I've finished ! " 
 
 But before I had got so far Betti had been mutter- 
 ing : '' Mamma, I can't get the border to do, it keeps 
 running down into the other colours. I feel quite 
 desperate." 
 
 I must confess I had not expected very much from 
 the border myself, and yet I have never in my life 
 been so deceived about anything. Sure enough there 
 was the red trickling down in long stripes into the 
 blue, for all the world like the choicest of fringes. 
 We tried to drive the red lines upwards with the blie 
 brush, but this seemed only to make matters worse. 
 
 " We shall have to do it all over again to-morrow, 
 from the very beginning," said Betti dolefully. 
 
 "All this mess over again!" I exclaimed; "just 
 look how you have splattered yourself with paint, 
 Betti, and look at Doris ! "
 
 and Uncle Fritz Sarcastic. 33 
 
 " Sausage-making, which we used to do at home, is 
 nothing to this ! " exclaimed Doris. 
 
 I used up the remaining blue, by giving a final touch 
 to the wall, Doris cleared away the pots and brushes, 
 and then Betti and I went off to change our dresses. I 
 could never have believed that oil-paint could have 
 splashed so much, some had settled on the very back 
 of my neck. And how difficult it is to get it out of 
 one's finger-nails ! It is perfectly astonishing what a 
 speck of paint accomplishes when it gets on to the 
 wrong place! What would the towels be like ? Things 
 no longer looked very promising. 
 
 We had scarcely finished dressing, and tidied things 
 up as far as we could in the hurry, when Carl and 
 Uncle Fritz came in. I recognised their voices in 
 their exclamations at our handiwork. 
 
 " Don't let us go out to them," I whispered to Betti, 
 **let them quietly recover from their first impression, 
 for the first is always the strongest." 
 
 Then they came in. Carl, as I could at once see, 
 was not in the best of humours, but Uncle Fritz's eyes 
 actually beamed with delight, and mischievous jokes 
 were flickering round about his mouth. 
 
 " Wilhelmine, did I not tell you . , .?" Carl began, 
 in a reproachful tone. Uncle Fritz, however, inter- 
 rupted him with a laugh: "No, Carl, old fellow, now 
 don't prove yourself a barbarian in art, there's not 
 another such landing as yours to be found in the wide 
 world. Were you to exhibit it at the Cantian's Platz, 
 you would assuredly get the large gold medal." 
 
 " I beg you not to make any such insulting re- 
 marks," said I; "when people have done their best, 
 there's no need to cast ridicule upon them." 
 
 " You no doubt took the blue grotto in Capri as 
 your model, Wilhelmine," continued Uncle Fritz, pay- 
 3
 
 34 Doris s ruined Bodice and Dress. 
 
 ing no heed to my remark, " If only you were to tie 
 a boat to the wardrobe, the thing would be perfect ! " 
 
 "You needn't excite yourself," I replied, ''our main 
 object was economy, and that is quite beyond your 
 comprehension as a bachelor." 
 
 " Economy! " exclaimed Carl, " what have you spent 
 upon all this m . . . m . . . manoeuvre?" (he strug- 
 gled to find a mild expression, the dear, good fellow). 
 
 " The work itself is our affair, and thus will not cost 
 a farthing ; the rest of the things I have had put down 
 to our account." 
 
 Carl called Doris, intending to send her to the 
 colour-shop for the bill. Doris came at once, as she 
 heard herself called sharply. When she entered Uncle 
 Fritz simply gave a roar of delight. The girl hadn't 
 had time to wash off all the red paint, and would have 
 presented an alarming appearance to any one who did 
 not know what she had been about. Even Carl said, 
 " Doris, you cannot possibly go out like that ; the 
 neighbors would think you had committed a mur- 
 der." 
 
 I was uncommonly glad that Doris could not go 
 out, and that 1 had time, by carefully leading the con- 
 versation, to get Carl off the subject of the bill. For 
 as appeared afterwards, we had managed to squander 
 such a considerable amount of paint, that the landing 
 might as well have been repapered, and without taking 
 at all a cheap paper, as had, of course, to be done in 
 the end. I did not tell Carl about Doris's ruined 
 bodice and dress, which she insisted upon having 
 made good to her, till the whole affair had been almost 
 forgotten, and I had solemnly promised Carl never 
 again to try domestic art upon doors or walls, but to 
 employ skilled workmen, who earned their livelihood 
 by the work, 1 had never imagined that economy,
 
 TJie Excellence of the Old Masters. 35 
 
 under certain circumstances, could lead to such an 
 outlay of money. 
 
 Betti has again taken to painting wooden articles, 
 although Uncle Fritz declares she has a prodigious 
 talent for painting human beings — as he had seen in 
 the case of Doris. Of course such ill-natured remarks 
 were met with cool disdain by us, and who knows but 
 what the landing might not have been made very 
 beautiful if we had been able to follow out our inspi- 
 rations uninterruptedly ? The old masters took cen- 
 turies to attain their excellence, and we had scarcely 
 two days at our disposal. But Uncle Fritz has not the 
 slightest idea of all this. 
 
 How long Betti means to continue painting on 
 wood, must soon be decided, for I already perceive 
 that we shall here have a case of the supply outdoing 
 the demand. Besides, what can be done with all the 
 things ? It shall be my endeavour to win her over to 
 literature, although she does not expect to learn much 
 from Wichmann-Leuenfels. 
 
 A REGATTA. 
 
 It was high time the regatta came off, for the ever- 
 lasting talk about rowing had spoilt our pleasant Sun- 
 days for three weeks previously. Nothing can be 
 more homely than a family gathering on a Sunday; 
 business is left behind locked office doors, ladies put 
 on their latest newest dresses, and the gentlemen do 
 honour to the day by wearing the cleanest of linen 
 and good cloth coats. In the kitchen, too, somewhat 
 more trouble is taken than upon ordinary week-days, 
 and the cookery book, although not generally used on
 
 36 Family Sundays, 
 
 week-days, is indispensable on a Sunday; for it is 
 pleasant to surprise one's guests with some extra good 
 kind of dish. A family party of this kind on a Sun- 
 day really seems to have something sunshiny about it. 
 
 Dr. Wrenzchen, my son-in-law, of course agreed to 
 join us at dinner on Sundays, for this would enable 
 them to dispense with cooking at their house, and 
 their servant could go out. That girl of theirs is spoilt 
 in a most inconceivable way. Uncle Fritz has for years 
 been a regular Sunday visitor at our house. He some- 
 times brings a friend with him, to which we have no 
 objection, and when Betti invites one of her com- 
 panions we are only too glad; for well-dressed young 
 people are a good set-off to the table. 
 
 But mere eating does not make a happy party; there 
 must be pleasant talk, and this we generally had, for 
 Dr. Wrenzchen collects anecdotes throughout the 
 week to provoke laughter, and Uncle Fritz is far from 
 having got to the end of his cheery talk. 
 
 But since the crews began to practise, and the day 
 of the regatta is drawing near, Uncle Fritz had not a 
 thought for anything but boating. His vocal society 
 was not enough diversion for him, and he had become 
 a member of the rowing club as soon as that was 
 started. His language got full of foreign expressions, 
 and he assumed a manner that made one suppose that 
 aquatic sports must have a deteriorating effect upon a 
 man's culture. I had often to pull him up for this. 
 Then, too, Dr. Wrenzchen was not at all so enthusias- 
 tic about rowing as Uncle Fritz, and persistently re- 
 fused to become a paying member of the club. This 
 almost invariably led to a dispute between them. 
 Uncle Fritz, moreover, continued to chaff the Doctor 
 about the candlesticks which his colleagues had pre- 
 sented to him as a wedding present, declaring them
 
 and Family Disputes. 37 
 
 to be only electro-plate, which Dr. Wrenzchen denied. 
 Their talk, however, had never been as unpleasant as 
 it had lately become, and yet we had to cook for them 
 with the same good-will, and to make the usual Sun- 
 day additions. 
 
 Thus it was really the highest time that the regatta 
 came off and put an end to these everlasting disputes. 
 For when once humanity has measured its strength, 
 we at last have peace; and this holds good of a regu- 
 lar war, as well as of a horse or a boat race. The 
 boating men seem to spare themselves no trouble, for 
 they had a man over from London for the express 
 purpose of making them give up their beer drinking 
 and potato eating. Meat is the only thing they are 
 allowed to eat, and smoking is altogether forbidden, 
 for it is said to weaken the physical strength as much 
 as young vegetables and late hours. On the other 
 hand they have to get out from under their blankets 
 early of a morning, and row till they get corns in their 
 hands, and are nothing but muscle and sinew. This 
 kind of medical treatment is called training. I should 
 like to know how much there would be left of Herr 
 Kleines if he were trained ? I should think nothing 
 but a skeleton and the eyeglass he has lately taken to 
 wearing, perhaps also a spark of the wit, which even 
 Uncle Fritz cannot deny that he possesses. 
 
 The long-expected day arrived at last, but with 
 atrocious weather; for days beforehand it had poured 
 in torrents, and on the Sunday morning it came down 
 in the same drenching way. But as the crews were 
 to row whatever happened, as some of the men came 
 from distant cities, we decided to drive out to (jriinau 
 in the afternoon, notwithstanding the weather. If 
 people only make up their minds, they can enjoy them- 
 selves even in the rain. However, we were fortunate,
 
 38 A Cheery Party. 
 
 for upon reaching the Gorlitz station at half-past two, 
 the sky showed several patches of blue. It might, 
 therefore, clear up after all. 
 
 What crowds of human beings there were at the 
 station ! A barrel of herrings is nothing to it. Of 
 space there was nothing to speak of; a dense mass of 
 people were pushing their way into the vestibule, 
 and as dense a mass was pushing its way out. How- 
 ever, all the people got their tickets and also places 
 in the train, for as soon as one train steamed off 
 another was immediately drawn up. Maybach must 
 have been doing a brisk business. When he made up 
 his accounts that night he must assuredly have 
 thought that these boating men put a good bit of 
 money into circulation. The cabmen had their share 
 in the profits, and the tramcars and waggonettes too. 
 There seemed to be a regular migration of the peo- 
 ple to this end of the city, a district they otherwise 
 rarely came to see. 
 
 The more the sky brightened the merrier the peo- 
 ple became, and we were a cheery party in our car- 
 riage also, although it contained far more than the 
 prescribed number; however, as Dr. Wrenzchen took 
 his wife on his knee, and Carl squeezed himself into 
 as small a space as possible, we did very well, espe- 
 cially as it was not long before we reached Griinau. 
 
 We had ten minutes' walk through a fir-wood after 
 leaving the station. Afar off we could hear the sound 
 of music; we also saw a triumphal arch that had been 
 erected and prettily decorated in honour of the Crown 
 Prince; shortly after that we came to the stairs that 
 led up to the platform, where Uncle Fritz had secured 
 seats for us. I v»^ent up without expecting to see very 
 much, and was therefore immensely surprised at the 
 view upon reaching the top.
 
 Flags flutter in the Breeze. 39 
 
 What a sight ! The river Spree is very broad at 
 Griinau, and looks like a beautiful large lake ; the 
 shores rise up gently and form a narrow strip of 
 meadow land by the side of the water, and this strip 
 of land is bounded by a wood of oaks and pine trees. 
 Further up the river to the right stand the Milggel 
 Hills, like a miniature mountain landscape, and to the 
 left, in the distance, the church tower of Kopernick 
 peeps out pleasantly from amid green trees. T?ie 
 Langen Lake, as the river is called at this point, had 
 been decorated in a festive style; in the middle of the 
 water lay an endless row of large and small sailing 
 boats, covered from top to bottom with innumerable 
 flags and streamers that fluttered gaily in the wind. 
 I would never have believed that so many flags were 
 to have been had, and such brightly coloured ones 
 too. And then the numbers of steamboats that were 
 every moment bringing oew batches of people ; and 
 the hundreds and hundreds of little boats with ladies 
 and gentlemen in them, and the merry bit of bunting 
 v/'hving at the end. It was only on the water that 
 there was so much stir. The platform held thousands, 
 and along the shores other thousands were standing, 
 while some sensible folk had set up booths where the 
 multitude could get refreshments. 
 
 I could not look long enough at this busy life out 
 here in the midst of the open country, on the wood- 
 encircled lake and its shores; and I fancy every one 
 who was there must have been quite as enchanted as 
 I was. 
 
 Close to our platform was the Crown Prince's pa- 
 vilion, made of some red material and gold fringe, 
 and decorated with festoons of oak; it stood exactly 
 opposite the goal where the race was to be decided. 
 Of a sudden loud hurrahs were to be heard. The
 
 40 The Races begin, 
 
 Crown Prince had arrived. lie entered the pavilion 
 accompanied by Prince Wilhelm and Prince Heinricli; 
 every one rose from their scats, and from all sides, 
 from the banks and from the boats as well as the 
 large ships, joyous shouts of welcome arose. The 
 band struck up Heil Dir iin Siegerkranz, and just as 
 the Crown Prince was bowing pleasantly in acknov/1- 
 edgment, the sun broke through the clouds, shedding 
 its brilliant light over the w^hole scene of varied colour; 
 the water glittered, the flags fluttered gaily, and wood 
 and meadows looked as fresh as May. We had the 
 brightest of weathers on the green banks of the Spree, 
 regular Hohenzollern Aveather ! 
 
 Then the races began. The firing of a gun was the 
 signal that the crews had started far off down the 
 river beyond the Bammel-ecke, where likewise thou- 
 sands had taken up their stand; at the same moment 
 a red balloon was hoisted to the top of a high flagstaff, 
 and looked exactly like a monstrous poppy in the 
 green surroundings of nature. Nothing could, of 
 course, yet be seen of the boats, but soon they 
 were to be seen coming round the corner. Those 
 who had field-glasses turned them to the point where 
 they had appeared far off. " Who is in front ? " was 
 asked right and left. " Is it the Berlin men ? "— " The 
 Magdeburg crew seem to be even with them ! " — 
 " Where are the Stettiners ? " — " Rather far behind." — 
 "The Berlin men are in front!" — "Now they are 
 coming to the curve, then we shall know ! " — " Bravo, 
 the Berlin men are ahead." — The boats were coming 
 up, the crew with the large red star on their backs 
 were in front, the light blue Stettiners not far behind. 
 Now we shall see ! How they dipped their oars, 
 quicker and quicker, and with increasing force every 
 moment. The boats skimmed along the water like
 
 and tJie Berlin Crezv Win. 41 
 
 razors. Then the front boat flew past the goal ! It 
 was the red-starred crew of the Berlin Rowing Club ! 
 They had won ! 
 
 I was so excited that I could scarcely join in the 
 universal shouts that welcomed them, but Dr. Wrenz- 
 chen shouted enough for two, and smirked away 
 enough for three; he is always as happy as a little 
 king about anything that confers honour upon Berlin ! 
 The crews then rested upon their oars. How they 
 panted ! It must be regular horse-work to come in 
 first. They then saluted the Crown Prince and rowed 
 back. 
 
 The shouts of delight were, however, suddenly 
 somewhat damped by the appearance of a cloud, from 
 which fell a shower of peculiarly large drops of rain. 
 Umbrellas were put up, and in a second the whole 
 gay and festive scene had vanished. This was only 
 for a minute, however, for to judge from the laughter 
 and merriment beneath the roof of umbrellas most 
 people seemed to have adapted themselves to the in- 
 evitable, and were having their fun; and, indeed, ill 
 humour will not make small misfortunes one jot the 
 better. It was only those who had on new velvet 
 dresses that did not join heartily in the merriment; 
 they would certainly have to send their garments to 
 Spindler to be steamed and done up, and would thus 
 lose their fresh look. At any fete where it is likely 
 to rain, simple dresses are, therefore, generally to be 
 preferred. 
 
 I was absorbed in thought under my umbrella, when 
 Carl whispered to me, " Did you see them ? " — " Who ? " 
 I asked. — " The Bergfeldts." — " Is it possible ? " I ex- 
 claimed. — " Emil is over there with his betrothed and 
 his future mother-in-law ; Bergfeldt and his wife are 
 in front of us, down there in the most expensive seats."
 
 " Umbrellas Dozimy 
 
 — " Of course she must be here, things couldn't go on 
 without her ! " T replied, annoyed at her presumption, 
 " otherwise she might have been content with other 
 seats." — " They are having champagne," added Carl. 
 — This cost me a laugh. — " They ought rather to keep 
 their money and pay their brewer," said I ; " she 
 understands as little about champagne as a peasant 
 about cucumber salad. We might ourselves have had 
 champagne, Carl, only we don't care to be so preten- 
 tious. However, if you were to offer me a cup of 
 coffee, I should most gladly accept it. It would be 
 uncomfortable to me to sit down there, in such a 
 bumptious kind of way like some persons." 
 
 The rain continued pouring for some time, but when 
 some one in a loud voice called out, " Umbrellas 
 down," they were all clapped to at once, for a com- 
 mand properly given is always obeyed, and not a 
 single en tons cas would have been tolerated. It was 
 clearing up again also, and the sun was shining over 
 on the Miiggel Hills. Before very long we should 
 have the sun again ourselves. 
 
 *' We shall have the best of weathers yet," said I to 
 Betti, who, however, paid no heed to my remark, and 
 kept looking, in a melancholy kind of way, across the 
 water. I watched her a little, and then said to her 
 anxiously : " Child, are you crying? " — " Oh, no," she 
 replied, " it was but a drop of rain," and she dried her 
 eyes. " If those Bergfeldts are the cause of her 
 trouble," I thought, " it really is disgraceful of the 
 family." 
 
 In trying to discover what she was looking at, I saw 
 a young man I knew very well talking to several 
 others, some little w^ay below in front of us. It was 
 Herr Max and his friends ; but although I tried with 
 Carl's opera-glass to find Felix Schmidt among them,
 
 TJie Race for the Emperor s Prize. 43 
 
 I did not succeed. I knew then what the drop of rain 
 meant : tender recollections had changed into a tear, 
 which in its turn flowed away into nothing, like the 
 unexpressed hope which we had both cherished in our 
 hearts — my silent child and I. 
 
 Our attention, however, had again to be turned to 
 the regatta, for one of the most important races was 
 about to take place, namely, for the Emperor's prize. 
 This was a challenge cup, held for the year by the club 
 that won it, and which had then to be competed for 
 anew. Last year the Berlin Rowing Club won it, and 
 now the Berlin Rowing Society, a Bremen and a 
 Frankfort crew were going to try for it. Not any of 
 the other crews succeeded in getting it, however, and 
 after the Frankfurters had twice run into the Bremen 
 boat, they were not allowed to join in the third start. 
 The Berlin Rowing Club won the Emperor's challenge 
 cup again, so it will remain in Berlin, where, indeed, 
 it really belongs. The Crown Prince had the crew of 
 the winnmg boat introduced to him, and talked a good 
 deal to them, and we were not far off. The Prince is 
 reported to have said that he takes the greatest interest 
 in rowing, and that the Club might always depend 
 upon him attending their sports if his presence was 
 desired. That was truly splendid of him. 
 
 The Berlin victories had already induced Dr. 
 Wrenzchen to change his opinion about boating, and 
 when he heard what the Prince had said, he forthwith 
 buried the hatchet which he had hitherto always 
 swung at Uncle Fritz's head when they got on to the 
 subject of rowing. " Well, old boy, what do you say 
 now?" Uncle Fritz asked him. — "They are a set of 
 confounded fellows, those boating men of yours," said 
 fhe doctor playfully. — I ventured to remark that I 
 found his language very unsuitable, and added :
 
 44 Refreshed zvitJi Coffee. 
 
 "Dear Doctor, on a day of such honour to Berlin as 
 this you might pay more heed to the choice of your 
 words, or has the breeze from the water already had a 
 bad effect upon you ? What are our neighbours likely 
 to think of us \ " — " Dear little mother-in-law, it's only 
 external," said he in reply, and went off with Uncle Fritz 
 to have a glass in honour of their reconciliation. 
 
 When they returned the Doctor had actually become 
 a paying member of the Club, which, in my opinion, 
 he ought not to have done in that offhand way with- 
 out Emmi's approval. It was for him to consider that 
 it would give rise to other outlays of money which 
 might be spent in a more useful way, for instance, in 
 purchasing sufficient crawfish to go round when next 
 he gives a dinner party. 
 
 Between the parts we descended from our platform 
 and sat down at one of the many tables which the 
 proprietor of the Restaurant had set up among the 
 trees. Carl treated us to the promised cups of coffee, 
 with which, I think, we were more content than other 
 folks with their champagne. Emmi as well as Betti 
 agreed v/ith me in this, for neither of them care about 
 champagne, and I myself never liked it even when a 
 girl. When the Aveather is chilly, with rain every now 
 and again, all sensible people prefer something hot, 
 except those, of -course, who are pretentious and make 
 a dead set at their health by drinking what's cold. 
 That is certainly not my way. Uncle Fritz took us to 
 see the prizes, which were tastefully arranged upon a 
 table under the oak trees ; gold and silver goblets, a 
 challenge shield in silver, and other valuable articles 
 either for decorating mediaeval Germ.an rooms or for 
 quenching thirst. All were beautiful and artistic. 
 While my daughters were examining the different 
 things, and Uncle Fritz was explaining the meaning
 
 Heri' Max is Catechised. 45 
 
 of the ornamentations, I suddenly perceived HerrMax 
 close to us, and in the twinkling of an eye I had laid 
 hold of him. He did not seem prepared for this, as I 
 divined from his embarrassed look, but I did not give 
 him time to recover himself, and said at once : " It is 
 fortunate that we have met, for I must have a word with 
 you. Please give me your arm." — He did so, and be- 
 fore he had time to utter a word we were out of the 
 girls' sight in among the pine trees, where the Griinau 
 Society for Improvements in the Neighbourhood have 
 laid out a number of roundabout pathways, which, 
 however, are not patronised by straight-forvvard-going 
 people. 
 
 I began by saying : " I have much to complain of, 
 Herr Max, and may at once tell you that it concerns 
 your friend Felix's behaviour towards me and mine. 
 You are his friend, I believe ? " — " Most certainly," he 
 replied. — " Well, then, I am right in addressing myself 
 to you ; as a true friend you will not withhold from 
 him anything I may say." — He was about to answer, 
 but I continued : " Please do not interrupt me, it is 
 my turn now, one after the other. You may claim the 
 same right afterwards. Why did your friend not ac- 
 cept the invitation to my daughter's wedding, although 
 I wrote him a special note ? Why did he not even 
 take the trouble to send me an excuse ? What reason 
 had we given him for treating us with such want of 
 consideration ? I think he had no cause for thinking us 
 inhospitable. And you yourself have not acted very 
 much better. What can you say in his justification ? " 
 
 He stood before me, his eyes fixed upon the gravel 
 path, as if his answer were to be found there. Then 
 raising his kindly blue eyes, which seemed to have a 
 sorrowful look about them, he said in a low voice, 
 " Nothine ! "
 
 ^.6 " TJicn let inc know the mystery^ 
 
 " Is that all ? " I asked. — " I cannot and dare not say 
 more," he replied. 
 
 "You were frank, and showed confidence in me at 
 Tegel. You seemed happy in your friend's happiness 
 then. Are you as honestly fond of him to-day as you 
 were then ? " — ■' Undoubtedly," he said firmly, and his 
 face brightened up. 
 
 " Then let me know the mystery." — He again be- 
 came silent, but after a little said : "The time has not 
 yet come for me to speak, but you may rest assured 
 that you shall know all when I need no longer be 
 silent, and I trust, then, that all will turn out for the 
 best." — " There is nothing very definite in all that," 
 said I ; "can you not be a little more intelligible ?" 
 He made no reply, but asked : " May I send him your 
 kind remembrances ? some such message would, I 
 know, be very welcome to him." — " So he is not in 
 town?" — "No, Felix has left Berlin for a time." — 
 "Why?" — "To gain experience in his business." — 
 " Well, you may send him my kind remembrances, for 
 that matter, but, if we were to meet, I do not know 
 that I should have any very pleasant words for him ; 
 and I cannot say that you with your mysterious talk 
 are any more to my liking." — " I am sorry to have 
 aroused your displeasure, but I will gladly bear with 
 it for my friend's sake." — " I do not say I have any- 
 thing very much against you, but still there's a smell 
 of burning, and in spite of your friendship for him, 
 you can't deceive me. I trust to your keeping your 
 promise when the time comes." — " I shall consider it 
 my duty, however hard a one it may be." 
 
 As I found that there was nothing sensible to be got 
 out of him, we turned back. As we passed the stand 
 where the carriages were all drawn up, I saw Emil 
 Bergfeldt standing beside a grand turn-out. As soon
 
 About Berlin. 47 
 
 as he saw me he commenced fussing about with tlie 
 horses, as if the position of some strap had to be 
 altered, then he examined the off-horse like a pro- 
 fessional horse dealer, although his knowledge of 
 horseflesh could have been learned only from the 
 sausages he had in his own home. 
 
 Just then the coachman brought him a glass of grog, 
 which he had evidently ordered on the sly, for he 
 flushed up when he saw that I had noticed him ; he 
 tried to wave the coachman off ; however, mistaking 
 what Emil meant, the man cam.e up the closer in 
 handing him the glass. "I wonder whether he often 
 has a glass like that in secret ? " thought I, *' or is it 
 only to-day on account of the damp ?" I determined 
 to talk the matter over with Augusta Weigelt. 
 
 The regatta had meanwhile been continued, and the 
 Berlin men came off first in everything. If Berlin 
 were one day to become a maritime city, its boating 
 men might render the same services at a sea-fight on 
 the wet element, as our lancers do on dry land — they 
 are such plucky fellows. In a sculling race a Breslau 
 man came off first, and on reaching the goal he got as 
 much cheering as the Berlin men had previously. For, 
 of course, every one must have his due. 
 
 I am quite willing to admit that, in spite of the 
 Bergfeldts and Herr Max, I have rarely enjoyed my- 
 self so much as at this regatta, " To think of all that 
 this Berlin of ours can accomplish," said I to Carl, 
 " it makes me feel quite proud, although, of course, 
 rov/ing cannot be said to be appropriate for ladies, 
 if only on account of the dress they wear, it would be 
 too barbarous for us." — Carl replied : "With such 
 sports our young men aren't likely to get effeminate, 
 and the desire to be first in every field won't harm the 
 Germans either." — " But all our young men can't
 
 48 In a state of great cntJinsiasvi. 
 
 devote themselves to rowing, surely," I added. — ■ 
 " That's not necessary," replied Carl, " the good ex- 
 ample will have an effect. Let every one try to be 
 first in his own special department, and to surpass his 
 competitors in good sound work." — " You are no 
 doubt right," said I ; " in matters of national economy 
 you know more than I do." 
 
 We returned to Berlin by a special train of super- 
 human length. The high-road, which runs along by 
 the railway, was crowded with vehicles. The passen- 
 gers in the train waved their handkerchiefs to those 
 travelling on the high-road, and they waved cheerily 
 back, no matter whether they were the occupants of 
 grand carriages, waggonettes, milk carts, or any other 
 sort of trap in family parties. Probably the reason of 
 this was that all were alike happy — about the weather, 
 about the Crown Prince, and about the victories. And 
 the Crown Prince was pleased with his Berlin folk 
 too, one could easily see that. Prince Heinrich, who 
 has already sailed right round the earth, can nowhere 
 in the world have seen such a sight as the Lake in its 
 festive array, and the banks of the Spree crowded 
 with such multitudes. We were, in fact, all in a state 
 of great enthusiasm. 
 
 Uncle Fritz remained behind in Grlinau to attend 
 the Club's celebration of the glorious events. Two 
 days afterwards he appeared on the scenes again, as 
 hoarse as if his throat had been burned, and he de- 
 clared that he had a perpetual and wearisome ham- 
 mering going on in his head. " How is that ? " said I 
 sympathetically. — " From drinking such an endless 
 amount of good healths, Wilhelmine," he replied ; 
 "we watered the victories in pretty good stjde." — 
 " Fritz," said I, " do you call it a ' good health ' when 
 you are scarcely able to see out of your eyes ?"
 
 Of Draughts and Bacilli. 49 
 
 " Wilhelm, it can't be helped," said he, '' and it was 
 perfectly glorious ! " 
 
 IN THE GREEN GRUNEWALD. 
 
 What I am gradually coming to find very curious 
 is, that we make most of our experiences without 
 knowing it at the time, and it is only later we find out 
 whether the occurrence was an experience or not. For 
 instance, we may enjoy a delicious evening out in the 
 country, and pay no heed to the loveliest of draughts 
 playing round about us ; however, on the following 
 day, when aching pains in the limbs, a stiff neck, 
 rheumatism, or some other surgical trouble makes its 
 appearance (which may be alleviated by volatile spirit 
 of camphor), then we know at once that we have been 
 sitting in some draught, and are, of course, one ex- 
 perience the richer. Naturally, we resolve never to 
 do this a second time, but on the next occasion it may 
 not be a draught at all that we omitted to consider, but 
 sour milk or icy-cold beer, and in place of having a 
 swollen cheek we are the victims of bacilli of the semi- 
 colon shape. Fortunately, however, these creatures 
 cannot exist in very hot wine, as has been discovered 
 by the Imperial Sanitary Association. And this is a 
 mercy, to be sure ; for even though superficially 
 polished French people breed diseases in their un- 
 drained seaport towns, we in Berlin will not require 
 to drink carbolic punch, as Uncle Fritz suggested, 
 when our Government had to send Dr. Koch to France 
 for a time, and the daily papers were so full of cholera 
 that one scarcely dared take them into one's hands. 
 Hot wine may be said to be a scientific experience, 
 4
 
 50 About Hot Wine, 
 
 effective even in the case of mere fright, as I learned 
 from what happened to the Police-lieutenant's wife. 
 She got rumblings in her inside simply from reading 
 the papers, and couldn't find her pulse when she looked 
 for it, and this put her into an inconceivable state of 
 mind. For, of course, when the pulse ceases, the last 
 stage has arrived, and the person will do well to begin 
 arranging about her funeral. However, a few glasses 
 of hot wine relieved the symptoms immediately, and in 
 a quarter of an hour the Police-lieutenant's wife could 
 feel her pulse all over herself. She said it was ham- 
 mering away under hqr toes as well as in her temples. 
 She was, in fact, saved. — " Frau Buchholz," she said, 
 " if you had not come in accidentally, who knows but 
 what the black omnibus might have had to be got 
 ready for me ? " — " Your case did certainly seem rather 
 serious," I replied, " but still you were pretty far from 
 requiring to be screwed down. It was only fright 
 that had struck your inside." — " I sha'n't read another 
 newspaper till the fruit season is over," said the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife. — "You are quite right," said I, "an 
 overripe pear in one hand and cholera reports in the 
 other, is more than even the giant Goliath could have 
 stood." 
 
 Hence another experience I had made was that 
 newspaper reading is not always good for people, and 
 that there is no better means for stirring up a pulse 
 than hot wine. However, the wine must be really hot, 
 even though the temperature be twenty-four degrees 
 by the stove in summer. 
 
 The Police-lieutenant's wife does not belong to that 
 species of human beings who try to give themselves 
 an air of importance by showing ingratitude, who, for 
 instance, when they have been on a visit, afterwards 
 make out that the beds were bad; or, after having been
 
 and Flying Sand. ^l 
 
 at a party, fly off next morning to people who are a':>- 
 solutely indifferent about the matter, and relate that 
 they cannot understand how persons can presume to 
 set such dishes upon their table. No, she is not a per- 
 son of that kind at all ; when she had recovered from 
 her attack of illness, she invited us to an afternoon 
 excursion to the Grunewald, we were to have coffee at 
 Paulsborn, and then proceed by Schildhorn to Pichels- 
 bergen. She hired a grand carriage for the afternoon, 
 a most elegant turn-out with a coachman m livery; his 
 great-coat was laid across the box-seat, the front of the 
 coat with its bright buttons — like a yard and a half of 
 the starry heavens— hanging down into the carriage. 
 We two older ladies sat facing the horses, while Mila, 
 her daughter, and Betti sat opposite to us. The gen- 
 tlemen were to meet us towards evening in the Kaiser- 
 Garten, and so we had the whole of an exquisite after- 
 noon all to ourselves. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the Kurfiirsten-Damm, 
 where the houses end, is rather sandy, and that the 
 particles have developed a high degree of flying power; 
 however, as I had put on my new potato-peel coloured 
 dress, with light brown satin trimmings, I looked none 
 the worse for the sand, whereas the Police-lieutenant's 
 wife, in her black costume and goodly amount of 
 fringe, soon looked as if she were dressed in packing 
 paper. At every light breeze some of the district got 
 in between our teeth, causing a grating sensation. 
 However, this we did not mind very much, for we 
 knew that in Paulsborn a coffee-pot, with its alleviat- 
 ing contents, was awaiting us. 
 
 How long will it be before the Kurfiirsten-Damm. is 
 finished, I wonder? Berlin will then extend as far as 
 Grunewald; the Zoological Gardens will come to be 
 the centre of the city, the Ilalen Lake will take the
 
 52 TJie Bergfeldts. 
 
 place of the Gold Fish Pond, and the Grunevvald itself 
 will be another Thiergarten. An inhabitant in this 
 party of the city will have to use a telescope to see the 
 Victory Column, it wiH be such a long way off. When 
 this large suburb of the future has been properly 
 developed, Berlin will reach right to the Grunewald. 
 And develop it will, if we have peace, which is very 
 advantageous for every branch of business, Carl says 
 (except, of course, for powder-mills and plaster-band- 
 age works, where, it is said, there is great grumbling 
 just now; but Bismarck is not likely to start a war to 
 please them). The shade and scent of forests, and of 
 wooded lakes, I have always been immensely fond of, 
 and all this is to be had in the Grunewald, unsur- 
 passed in quality. Still I must confess that when 
 driving through it, comfortably reclining in a car- 
 riage, the charms of wooded scenery act even more 
 powerfully upon me. 
 
 In accordance with these circumstances we con- 
 versed purely in a somewliat higher range of thought, 
 more particularly about the want of really cultivated 
 people. This led us to speak of the Bergfeldts. The 
 Police-lieutenant's wife thought that Frau Bergfeldt 
 might certainly have her good points; but that, never- 
 theless, she would not be seen driving in the same 
 carriage with her through the Grunewald. " Now, you 
 see, Betti," said I, " that distinctions are necessary; 
 this afternoon will be a memorable one to us both, 
 will it not?" — Mila thought that the weather was su- 
 perb, and that only a very few ordinary-looking people 
 were out driving. The reason, she said, they never 
 went anywhere of a Sunday was, that there was such 
 a mixed set of people about. Betti, who has latterly 
 been reading a good deal about the rights of humanity 
 and the equality of classes, was about to make some
 
 A Universal Experience. 53 
 
 remark on the subject, when, fortunately, the carriage 
 drew up in front of the forester's house at Paulsborn. 
 We all got out, and Betti had to keep her intended re- 
 ply to herself; it would, I feel sure, have displeased 
 the Police-lieutenant's wife. I do not at all despise 
 any rank or any grade, and value every one who hon- 
 estly pushes his way in this world; yet, in spite of all 
 the books on equality, it would never enter my head 
 to give my grocer, milkman, or sweep, a the dansant. 
 
 We had our coffee, went over the huntinof-Iodg-e that 
 stands so romantically by the lake, and then drove 
 further through the green forest till wc reached the 
 Havel; after this the carriage rolled slowly along the 
 high-road, from which we had a charming view across 
 the forest and the water. How beautiful it is out 
 there ! No wonder so many restaurants have sprung 
 up at the foot of this hilly shore. We halted at the 
 Kaiser-Garten, where the gentlemen were to meet us. 
 Of course, neither of them had yet arrived. In one's 
 young days a lover never keeps his lady-love waiting 
 for him; on the contrary, he is sure to be at the ap- 
 pointed place before she is; but when one has become 
 a somev/hat well-worn article, gentlemen are in no 
 such hurry. This is what is called a universal expe- 
 rience, and has been made by numbers of persons. 
 Carl, however, I must say, has always been very punc- 
 tual, except when unavoidably detained, and then, of 
 course, he was not to blame. 
 
 I should have been very glad to find the gentlemen 
 there, for pleasant as ladies' society may be, still, an 
 exclusively feminine afternoon does become rather un- 
 interesting in the end. All the more pleasant it was, 
 therefore, when a gentleman came up to our table, 
 and politely bowed to us. At the first moment I did 
 not recognise him, but it proved to be Herr Kleines.
 
 54 Paris Fashions. 
 
 "What a sight you look," I exclaimed; " have you got 
 your younger brother's clothes on ? " — " Not a bit of 
 it," replied Herr Kleines, looking with admiration at 
 his closely-fitting garments, "it's chike ! " — "It's 
 what ? " asked the Police-lieutenant's wife, and with 
 this she turned to me, requesting me to introduce him 
 to her, and yet she must have remembered meeting 
 him on Emmi's wedding-day. — One is not likely soon 
 to forget such an odd creature. — " It's chike ! " he re- 
 peated, and then added by way of explanation : " the 
 latest Paris fashion." — "Well, no doubt, they are a crazy 
 lot, those French people," I exclaimed, " too scrimp 
 and short in everything." — " With their hair, too, 
 shaved off like felons," chimed in the Police-lieuten- 
 ant's wife. — " One's hair like this is just tip-top," said 
 Herr Kleines, smiling triumphantly at his own degen- 
 eracy, " but then it's not every one that understands 
 it." — " There may be something in it to be understood 
 very likely, but beautiful it certainly is not. But pray 
 sit down, we are glad to see you ' chite ' or not." — " It's 
 chike," said Herr Kleines.—" Whether it's chike or 
 chite, it's much the same thing," I replied; "at all 
 events, I've never seen you so odd-looking." 
 
 Herr Kleines said he had a friend with him, a highly 
 intellectual young fellow, and asked if he might in- 
 troduce him to us. The Police-lieutenant's wife bowed 
 condescendingly, and said, "With pleasure;" where- 
 upon Herr Kleines disappeared. — " Well, I never," 
 said Betti, " how can any man be so monkeyish as to 
 imitate the French in such tomfoolery, as Her Kleines 
 does?" — "I think it's very chic,'' Mila remarked. — 
 " The word's chite," said I. — " No, it's chike," said the 
 Police-lieutenant's wife. Luckily, Herr Kleines re- 
 turned, else, probably, there would in the end have 
 been a regular quarrel about that stupid suit of his.
 
 Hcrr Pfeiffer on iJic Present Age. 55 
 
 He introduced his friend Herr Pfeiffer, who made a 
 very pleasant impression. He was a man of middle 
 height, had a beautiful dark beard, and manipulated 
 his eye-glasses most gracefully. I noticed when he 
 took off his hat to us that there were signs of his 
 growing out at his crown; but it seems often to happen, 
 that when young men begin to become dangerously 
 good-looking, their hair commences to fall off ; in this 
 way careful Nature manages to lessen the mischief 
 they may cause in families with young daughters. 
 
 We very soon found ourselves conversing pleasantly, 
 as Herr Pfeiffer agreed with us that, in spite of all 
 the new communal schools, there was a dearth of 
 really cultivated people, and that it was only rarely 
 that one met with persons who could appreciate the 
 higher aims of life. He said that on this account he 
 felt himself very isolated, and generally congealed his 
 feelings from the unsympathising world, which, never- 
 theless, would not leave him to himself. That he 
 sometimes fied to the statues in the Museum, where 
 he felt, fully and trul}^, what he might have said, had 
 but the statues been the living creatures of wondrous 
 beauty, which they once had been when created by 
 pure Hellenism in the days of Pericles and Anaxi- 
 mander. That, on the other hand, the present age — 
 which he must term heartless — shallow — egoistical — 
 he was inclined to despise. Nay, that he did despise 
 it. All this he said with perfect assurance, and in a 
 bass voice which sounded as if he had been speaking 
 through a funnel. 
 
 While we were conversing with Herr Pfeiffer, Herr 
 Kleines went off with Betti and Mila for a stroll 
 through the garden, to show them the curiosities of 
 the place: an uncleanly eagle in a cage (which can 
 perform no tricks whatever, except blinking with its
 
 56 On the Ideal. 
 
 eyes, and eating), the monkeys and rabbits, the racing 
 ring, the donkey-riding, and whatever else the place 
 offered in the way of instruction and amusement. We, 
 on the other hand, were engrossed by the charms of 
 Art, which, of course, is as good to talk about as to 
 look at. 
 
 Herr Pfeiffer admitted that I was right in maintain- 
 ing that antique objects decidedly become more valu- 
 able from being buried in the ground. "That they 
 are," he said, "and it is at once evident when they 
 have been ; but the great, dull-minded multitude 
 passes them by without interest ; the general public 
 can only appreciate operettas, what is low and vulgar, 
 the lightly draped Muse, the equivocal." For his part, 
 he only liked the Fledermaus and the Beggar Student — ■ 
 with those one might be diverted, and he was. The 
 Police-lieutenant's wife agreed with him in this, and 
 said that she too liked melodies that she could re- 
 member, and that when she went to a theatre she had 
 no wish to be bored. 
 
 While we were sitting thus, in the best of humours, 
 meandering through the realm of the Ideal, Betti re- 
 turned, and was alone. " Where are the others ? " 
 asked the Police-lieutenant's wife. — " Herr Kleines 
 has taken Mila out in a boat." — "Without my permis- 
 sion ? " — " My friend Georg will, I am sure, see her 
 safely ashore again," said Herr Pfeiffer. — "But it is 
 already beginning to get dark, and I consider it im- 
 proper that my daughter should be out on the water 
 alone with him," replied the Police-lieutenant's wife, 
 annoyed. — " I will vouch for my friend acting honour- 
 ably," said Herr Pfeiffer confidently, and in a specially 
 deep tone of voice, " I cannot endure anything even 
 hinted at against him." — "There is no need for you 
 to defend him, as no one has yet accused him of any-
 
 In Hot Pursidt. 57 
 
 thing," interposed the Police-lieutenant's wife. Just 
 as Herr Pfeiffer was about to assume an offended 
 look, my Carl and the Police-lieutenant himself ap- 
 peared. As soon as the latter had exchanged a few 
 words with us, he inquired where his daughter was. — • 
 " She is out on the lake. " — " Alone ? " — " No, with Herr 
 Kleines." — " Who's Herr Kleines ? " — " A chite," said L 
 — "No, the word's chike," said Betti. — "A young 
 man got up in the latest of Paris fashions, at all 
 events," added the Police-lieutenant's wife. — " That's 
 enough for me," said Carl; " I propose we take a boat 
 and bring them ashore; I, for my part, would not like 
 my daughter to be out on the Havel with him, and 
 night setting in. Water is treacherous." — The three 
 gentlemen speedily hired a boat, and set off in chase 
 of Herr Kleines, as if he had been a pirate whom the 
 avenging arm of the law meant to catch by the collar. 
 The Police-lieutenant's wife then began to make 
 me reproaches for having introduced Herr Kleines to 
 her. " I did so at your own request, as you may 
 kindly remember," I replied. — ''You might have known 
 his character, and have warned me." — "As to warn- 
 ing, I had no reason to think of it." — "Yes, you had, 
 for when a young man dresses in such a style, his only 
 object can be to make love to girls; the very short- 
 ness of his hair shows one that there's something of 
 a culprit about him." — " He's doing no more than fol- 
 lowing the fashion." — " My husband will pretty soon 
 let him know what fashion he's after," she replied, so 
 angrily, that I thought it wiser to make no further 
 remark to her, and so turned to Betti with the ques- 
 tion : " Why didn't you go with them ? " — " Herr 
 Kleines seemed to me to know nothing about rowing, 
 and I had no inclination to get drowned." — Bctti's 
 reply put the Police-lieutenant's wife into a terrible
 
 58 The Wanderers Return. 
 
 state of anxiety. — " Where can they be ? They ought 
 to be back now ! What can be keeping my husband ? " 
 — We all went down to the shore. There was not a 
 sign of any boat, for the sky had become overcast, 
 and it seemed pure madness to be out on the water. 
 
 We were staring out into the dark, and the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife was getting into a state of despera- 
 tion, when some one was heard calling out, " Oh, there 
 they are ! " And there, in fact, were Mila and Herr 
 Kleines hurrying towards us through the garden. 
 " Now then," I exclaimed, "where have you two come 
 from ? " — " We didn't care about being on the water 
 and so landed at Schildhorn," said Herr Kleines; 
 " v/e have walked back from there." — "And your father 
 off in a boat looking for you, you thoughtless child," 
 exclaimed the Police-lieutenant's wife. — " And my Carl 
 too, and Herr Pfeiffer ditto," I exclaimed; "how are 
 we to get the gentlemen back ? " 
 
 There was nothing for it but to wait. But how we 
 did wait ! I think Ulysses' wife, in the olden days, 
 could not have had a greater longing for her husband 
 than we had for ours, as well as for Herr Pfeiffer. I 
 made use of the opportunity for informing Herr 
 Kleines that he would find it pretty hot work to settle 
 matters with the Police-lieutenant, whereupon he pre- 
 tended that he had to catch a train to the West End, 
 and made off. 
 
 At last we heard the splash of oars. " They've been 
 back long since," we called out as the gentlemen 
 landed. The Police-lieutenant was the first to leap 
 ashore. "Where's Herr Kleines? "he called out. — 
 " I'll stand guarantee for him, as I have more than 
 once taken the liberty to remark," replied Herr 
 Pfeiffer. — " I'm much obliged to you," answered the 
 Police-lieutenant, " but I mean him to speak for him-
 
 In the Cann'an Plats. 59 
 
 self, and it will be some satisfaction to have his ad- 
 dress from you." 
 
 The carriage was ordered, and we took our seats in 
 it as best we could. Harr Pfeiffer declined to drive 
 with us, probably because he would have had to sit 
 next to the Police-lieutenant ; thus he preferred 
 returning through the Grunewald on foot. We were 
 rather a silent party going home, and while we were 
 driving through the forest, I could not help thinking 
 what kind of dance the Police-lieutenant would lead 
 Hcrr Kleines. " It cannot end very smoothly there," 
 I thought. " I certainly shouldn't have the courage 
 to do anything, but the Police-lieutenants may have 
 the nerves for it." 
 
 THE PORTRAIT. 
 
 Betti and I had determined to pay several visits to 
 the Exhibition of Paintings in the Cantian Platz, this 
 autumn ; in the first place, because we generally go ; 
 secondly, because Betti is working away by herself at 
 painting ; and thirdly, because on a first visit it is 
 scarcely possible to comprehend Art in its totality, on 
 account of the crowds. As a rule we never went till 
 we had learned from the newspapers which were the 
 principal pictures ; however, since we have become 
 convinced that while one reviewer loses his head over 
 a picture, another will run it down to such an extent 
 that one wonders w^hy the law does not come dov.^n 
 upon the artist, we do not care much what they write. 
 And I personally care least of all about what Adolf 
 Rosenberg fabricates in the way of criticisms ; for I 
 now know that he changes his opinion as he may do 
 his paper-col'ars. When (as he has done) he asks a
 
 6o On Swindling Critics. 
 
 certain somebody to deserve the fame which the critics 
 have bestowed upon him, I cannot but suppose that he, 
 so to say, flings off his articles without a thought ; for 
 surely he cannot intend deliberately to expose the way 
 of critics by saying that they manufacture unmerited 
 celebrity ! That would be proclaiming the whole 
 profession to be a company of swindlers. No, I regard 
 the position of critics as higher than that, they have 
 never appeared to me so utterly mischievous. How- 
 ever, Adolf Rosenberg — who uses the " Grenzboten " 
 as a spittoon for his poison — has at all events acted 
 honourably towards his colleagues in placing himself 
 in the pillory (by frankly confessing their worthless 
 proceedings), for being himself a critic by profession, 
 he must know how matters really stand. 
 
 The Exhibition is no doubt a practical kind of build- 
 ing, but, as its principal outward charm — as seen from 
 the City line — seems to consist in its being water-tight, 
 it cannot be said to lay claim to actual beauty. Its 
 artistic contents we determined to- exam.ine in this 
 way : that both of us were quietly to note the pictures 
 that pleased us best, so that when we came to make 
 our second peregrination round the gallery there 
 might be a mutual exchange of opinion. The plan 
 failed, however, for when we entered the first room 
 we caught sight of the life-size figure of a man in 
 uniform, which stood out from a purple curtain with 
 a rich border of gold, in the most lifelike manner, and 
 with an aristocratic look. " Who is that ? " I asked 
 Betti, forgetting the agreement we had made. She 
 read out of the catalogue : " Friedrich Franz the 
 Second, late Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Sciiwerin." 
 • — "I could see at once that it must be a prince," I 
 replied. " Who painted it ? " — " Fritz Paulsen," she 
 said, reading on. — " Goodness, how it all seems to rise
 
 ^^ Mamma, you must be Painted!' 6i 
 
 up before me ! " I exclaimed. " Whatever can he 
 have thought of me?" — "Why, mamma?" — "Well, 
 child, when I was in Naples, I asked him whether he 
 would paint my portrait some day, and it Vv'as almost 
 arranged that he should." " How very nice," Betti 
 said, interrupting me ; "a picture of you for papa's 
 
 birthday You couldn't give him anything more 
 
 beautiful." — "Child," said I, "what are you thinking 
 about? Haven't I just had a most excellent photo- 
 graph taken of myself, at Carl Giinther's, which you 
 were all delighted with ? " — " And so we are still, but 
 when I look at you, mamma — well, you seem just 
 made for oils," said the girl, laughing. " How 
 precious the picture would be to us all ! " she con- 
 tinued in a more serious tone, "when . . . " — "When 
 I am old and ugly," I added, smiling. — " I did not 
 mean that," she answered, " but we might not always 
 be with you, and then, in looking at your portrait, it 
 would be like having your dear self, life-like before 
 us. Mamma, you nitist be painted." — " If I were to be 
 hung on my son-in-law's wall, with a somewhat severe 
 expression of face, Emmi might possibly be the better 
 for it ; there are proofs that the sight of a picture has 
 roused a conscience for its own good." After a little 
 I added : " Papa would grudge the money, I am 
 afraid." — " It wouldn't be so very ruinous, and, mam- 
 ma, you could pay for it yourself." — " That would 
 merely be taking from the debit and placing it in the 
 credit," said I, putting her off, — " All the little money 
 I have put by, little by little, I would give towards it," 
 urged Betti. " Oh, I am so delighted at the thought 
 of the picture ! " 
 
 "We shall have to think the matter well over 
 again," said I, putting an end to the conversation. 
 "But come now, Betti, and let us look at the pictures, 
 as we proposed to do."
 
 62 Of the Modern Masterpieces, 
 
 While wandering from one long room to another, I 
 was conscious that my thoughts were not paj^ing 
 proper heed to the pictures before me, but were more 
 actively engaged — than I myself wished — with my 
 future portrait. As often as I caught sight of the 
 likeness of any lady, I asked myself, why was her por- 
 trait painted, and was she justified in having it done? 
 In a good many cases the portrait had certainly not 
 been painted for the sake of beauty, more probably 
 for the sake of a likeness. Several were hung so high 
 that it was impossible to judge in their case. It then 
 occurred to me that Ludwig Pietsch had made never- 
 to-be-forgotten remarks about my personal appear- 
 ance ; and when I came to think the ^whole matter 
 over — m}^ half-binding inquiry of Professor Paulsen in 
 Naples, Betti's anxious wish, my Carl's surprise on 
 his birthday, and the fact that I v^as not growing 
 younger — made me see that I ought to give in without 
 more ado. I beckoned to Betti and said, *' I am 
 wavering about giving in to all your wishes." — " Oh, 
 how good of you!" exclaimed Betti in glee.— "But, 
 Betti, I haven't sufficient artistic enthusiasm to make 
 my heart take the decisive leap, I must find some 
 ^picture that will disperse this last bit of uncertainty." 
 — " Let us look for it, mamma, I will help you." 
 
 It cannot be denied that a great number of unusual 
 pictures attracted our attention, and we could scarcely 
 say enough in admiration of the modern master- 
 pieces. Betti thought that the portraits in black 
 — as if washed over with liquorice — seemed to be 
 the most fashionable; but I was not in favour of that 
 funereal style. — " What do 3^ou say to this ? " she asked 
 me, pointing to a portrait representing a tall lady in 
 an olive-green velvet, and looking as if she would 
 have a friendly reply for any one that addressed her.
 
 and the Decrees of Fate. 6'^ 
 
 — "Ah, that would be exactly to my liking," said I; 
 " only, I fancy my brown rep would suit me better, 
 and then only about half as large; the smaller frames 
 are sure to be less expensive." — '* Well, have you quite 
 decided now, mamma?" asked Betti. — "If you think 
 that papa . . . ." — "That's sure to be all right," she 
 said, rejoicing, putting her arm round me; "you dear, 
 good mother, and so you're really going to be painted ! " 
 — "Child, child," said I, "you are crushing me to bits. 
 Now let us see who painted that portrait." — " Here it 
 is in big letters in the corner," she replied, pointing to 
 the name. " Fritz Paulsen ! " said I, reading it. It 
 was quite clear to me now; it was the decree of fate. 
 
 By the time we left the Exhibition I had made up 
 my mind that Carl should have the surprise on his 
 birthday, for Betti assured me that paintings were 
 not only of lasting value, but that their value in- 
 creased year by year. — " If they do that, then there 
 can be no loss," I replied; "and we haven't got to 
 feed them. One thing, however, Betti, I have resolved 
 upon, and that is not to read a mortal word about the 
 Exhibition in the papers; for if any critic — after a 
 bad night's rest — were to vent his ill humour upon the 
 portrait we both admired so much, all inclination to 
 have myself painted would then and there die within 
 me." — " But supposing it were pronounced beautiful ? " 
 — " That we know ourselves it is. And was it not 
 stated in Meyer's popular, wearisome lecture, that 
 works of art are classic when the judgment of the 
 multitude is everlastingly in favour of them ? Well, 
 we two surely belong to the multitude ! " 
 
 A few days af terv/ards I drove over to the Dorotheen 
 Strasse, where Professor Paulsen resides. When I 
 rang the door-bell, it was opened by a woman who 
 showed me into an anteroom, and said : " There's some
 
 64 An Artist's Studio. 
 
 one with Professor Paulsen at present; who shall I 
 say is waiting to see him ? " — I had thought of taking 
 the Professor by surprise, and so replied : " Tell him 
 an acquaintance from Italy has come to call upon 
 him, he will know who it is." — The woman looked at 
 me doubtfull}^, and went slowly towards the door 
 which led into the studio; but before disappearing, 
 she gave a glance at the objects of art and the old 
 china ornaments that stood upon a table in front of 
 the mirror, and upon an antique cupboard — as if to 
 inform me that every article had been counted. That 
 is assuredly the domestic dragon who guards the 
 treasures, I thought, and I was not far wrong, as I 
 afterwards learned, for the woman Bachmann, as she 
 is called, looks after the household affairs with more 
 than an ordinary sense of duty. 
 
 Before very long Professor Paulsen came in. He 
 recognised me at once, and said that as his visitor had 
 left he was now quite at my disposal, but asked me to 
 excuse him for a few minutes; and, in fact, he re- 
 mained away only a very short time, and then invited 
 me into his studio. 
 
 It was the first time in my life that I had been in a 
 studio, which I had hitherto pictured to myself as an 
 empty room, where, in the midst of the utmost con- 
 fusion, pictures were painted. I must confess my idea 
 was founded upon a non-acquaintance with artistic 
 concerns. I found myself in a room that reminded 
 me of one in the Italian palaces, except that Herr 
 Paulsen's studio showed a much greater attention to 
 cleanliness, and was arranged more with a view to 
 comfort. Parts of the walls were covered with tapes- 
 try, others were adorned from top to bottom with pic- 
 tures, as in the Museum. Weapons, too, were arranged 
 on the wall, and on some shelves were figures, dishes,
 
 Discussing the Portrait. 
 
 jugs, and articles in coloured glass. Then there were 
 a number of antique chairs and couches, tables, cabi- 
 nets, and rugs; everything good of its kind, and won- 
 derfully in keeping altogether. 
 
 "Well, I must say," was my exclamation on recov- 
 ering from my first amazement, " I had never expected 
 this; it will be a pleasure, truly, to be painted amid 
 such surroundings. I must tell you at once. Professor 
 Paulsen, that I have come with this intention." 
 
 We sat down in a comfortable corner. The Pro- 
 fessor asked me whether I had had lunch, and would 
 not hear of my declining to partake of some refresh- 
 ment. The woman Bachmann was ordered to bring 
 me something; a good cup of soup and a little cold 
 meat. While taking our lunch we discussed the por- 
 trait; Herr Paulsen was not in favour of my brown 
 rep from an artistic point of view; he thought some 
 decided colour would suit me better. So then I sug- 
 gested my claret-coloured dress, which he approved 
 of. I was to give him my first sitting the following 
 day, and in order that my Carl might not notice any- 
 thing, he proposed that I should send my dress to his 
 house, where it would be carefully placed in the old 
 German cabinet. The woman Bachmann, he said, 
 would help me to arrange my dress, as she was ac- 
 customed to do this. I asked if Betti might come with 
 me, for it occurred to me that my daughter might 
 gain something by watching him paint, and perhaps 
 get some artistic hints. However, he said he would 
 prefer that she did not come till after the third sitting, 
 when she would be able to judge of the likeness. He 
 would, he said, be very glad to see her then. 
 
 This was on Tuesday; on Thursday I sat for the 
 first time. I must say a very peculiar feeling came 
 over me as I looked at the canvas upon which my. 
 S
 
 66 About Hanging Gardens, 
 
 portrait was to be painted, and it was strange to 
 think tiiat it could be done without a copy. In fact I 
 was to be the copy myself, and might talk and amuse 
 myself, while the artist, with various kinds of brushes 
 laid on different colours exactly where they were 
 necessary to produce the likeness. 
 
 I asked Professor Paulsen whether he had always 
 resided in his present house, whereupon he told me 
 that the town had purchased the land upon which his 
 old house had stood, as a Market Hall was to be 
 erected in that quarter. "My old studio," he con- 
 tinued, " had a hanging garden with a view across a 
 wood-yard out over the river. Directly adjoining my 
 garden was the Logcngarten, with its high elms and 
 lime-trees, like a small forest. In the spring-time the 
 blossoms of the lime-trees gave a delicious scent, a 
 bullfinch used to come and sip water from the saucers 
 of my flower-pots, pigeons from a neighbouring house 
 came for bread-crumbs that Bachmann strewed for 
 them; even the yellow loriot built its nest in the trees 
 by the water, scarcely a hundred steps from the Lin- 
 den, and nightingales might be heard of an evening. I 
 could fancy myself quite in the country, everything 
 was so peaceful round about. The wild vine twined 
 its way up to the roof, and fiowers of all colours 
 flourished there. I liked my lictle garden to be full of 
 bright flowers, like the one I remembered by my 
 parents' house." — " Nothing grows in our garden," 
 said I, " too much shade spoils everything botanical. 
 How lovely it must have been in your old place, espe- 
 cially to have had nightingales in the middle of Ber- 
 lin ! " — " Unfortunately this never lasted very long. 
 When the little bird forgot itself and the world, in its 
 song, soiT^e wretched cat would creep up and seize it.' 
 — "Could not the cat be content with sparrows?'
 
 and Market People. 6y 
 
 said I. — " No, no, Miss Puss has rather a liking for 
 nightingales, they sit conveniently low among the 
 shruhber3^ When the trees were cut down to make 
 room for building, the singing birds left." — " That 
 served the cats right," I exclaimed. " And soon after- 
 wards everything had to be pulled down — houses, the 
 studio and the hanging garden — and there was an end 
 to all the beauty. It is to be hoped that the Market 
 will prove advantageous to Berlin, from a practical as 
 well as from an architectural point of view." 
 
 " I, myself, do anticipate some good results," I re- 
 plied, " for v.-hen one sees these market people late of 
 an evening lying on the ground beside their baskets, 
 and camping out all night in the open air, like the 
 lazzaroni — whatever the weather may be — all sensible 
 persons must feel that it is inhuman for any one to 
 treat their health in such a way. And peasants are 
 human beings, surely ! Moreover, I expect that the 
 Market will lead these people to be more particular in 
 their manner of behaviour ; at present they are, as a 
 rule, very backward in this respect. Fancy what hap- 
 pened to me last summer when most people were off 
 to some watering-place or other. I went one day my- 
 self to buy some young peas, and as those offered me 
 by one of the women were over-ripe, I hesitated, and 
 then said (only what was true), ' I would not dare to 
 set those before my husband, I'm sorry, good-day.' 
 Not a syllable did she give me, but the woman in the 
 next stall calls out rudely: 'Never you mind, Frau 
 Meyer, she only wants to do the fine leddy. A fine 
 leddy, indeed ! If she were a fine leddy she'd be any- 
 where but in Berlin at this time of the year ! ' Now 
 surely such a thing is not likely to happen in tlie 
 Market Hall without the police interfering and giving 
 the women a benefiting lock-up in gaol ! Or are we
 
 68 The Portrait begun. 
 
 to be forced to go to Nordeney on account of these 
 market women ? " 
 
 Professor Paulsen then made a pause, and I could 
 rise and go and look at what had been done. Primaeval 
 man must have looked something like this, I thought 
 — recognisable and yet not perfect inform. The body 
 was only given in outline, and the chair upon v/hich I 
 had been sitting consisted merely of one daub of 
 colour, whereas the place where my hands were 
 eventually to be, was indicated merely by a smudge 
 with his flesh-coloured brush. After contemplating 
 the work quietly for a little, I said : "I had imagined 
 that painters began at the top, with the hair, and then 
 worked downwards bit by bit." — " It's very likely that 
 some may do this," replied Professor Paulsen ; " I, for 
 ,my part, prefer to give as definite a sketch as possible 
 of the total impression first, and then to work out the 
 details in so far as I consider them artistically correct 
 and effective in each case." — "I'm very curious what 
 it will look like when finished," I said, and then 
 added : " Is that black under the eyes to remain, and 
 am I really as yellow about the neck ? " 
 
 Professor Paulsen seemed not to have heard these 
 last questions, but touched an electric bell, whereupon 
 Bachmann appeared. " May I offer you a little re- 
 freshment ? " he said, addressing me. "If you could 
 give me another hour to-day I should accomplish more 
 than at another sitting of double the length of time ; 
 yet I should be sorry to tire you ? " — " Have I been 
 sitting for an hour already ? " I asked in astonishment, 
 for it seemed to me that I had come only a short time 
 ago. In interesting society, however, the hours seem 
 to fly. — " You've been here over two hours," said the 
 woman Bachmann. — " You needn't speak unless you're 
 asked," said Professor Paulsen severel}^ " it doesn't
 
 About Rhenish. Wiiic. 69 
 
 matter to you how long I make my hours. Bring 
 in a bottle of ' Johannisgartcn,' also some cake and 
 fruit, or whatever else you may have in that way." 
 The old woman went off with a displeased look, but 
 soon returned with a more conciliatory expression of 
 face, and placed the things her master had ordered 
 upon the table. Then she gave a look at the portrait 
 and said quietly : " It's going to do," and went off. I 
 felt annoyed at this. 
 
 The little refreshment did me good, and the wine 
 was excellent ; I could not remember to have ever 
 tasted anything like it, and therefore asked where it 
 came from. It struck me that if the price were not too 
 exorbitant, I might tell Carl to get some for his birth- 
 day. " This Johannisgarten I get direct from a friend 
 of mine. Otto Sartorius, the proprietor of a vineyard 
 in Mussbach in the Rhenish Pfalz," he replied. — 
 " Does your friend supply other people as well ? " — 
 " Send him an order and see ; you will be satisfied 
 with what he sends you, I am sure. Since the French 
 have taken to manufacture their clarets out of Italian 
 wines, I prefer the genuine German growths, especially 
 as the price is pretty much the same as that demanded 
 for the French fabrications." — " I can quite under- 
 stand that," I replied ; '* really one may learn some- 
 thing new every day of one's life," and with this I 
 jotted down the address. 
 
 After resting a little the painting began again, and 
 when Professor Paulsen had finished for the day, the 
 picture had assumed a very different appearance. The 
 woman Bachmann was right after all : it was going 
 to do. 
 
 She helped me to change my dress in the adjoining 
 room ; and when I took my leave, Professor Paulsen 
 told me I might bring Betti next time, for, as I had
 
 70 Delicate Threads of Affection. 
 
 sat so extremely well, he would require one sitting 
 the less. 
 
 Agreeable as this praise was, I could not conceal 
 from myself the fact that I should be too late for 
 dinner, a thing that otherwise never occurred. So I 
 had to think of excuses to give Carl ; but he always 
 notices directly when things are not straightforward, 
 so that I am not at all a good one at inventing stories. 
 Of course I got quickly enough back to our part of 
 the world by the city line, still the time at the other 
 end had been too short for me to concoct a proper 
 excuse out of my own head. 
 
 At home I found them waiting for me. Carl, how- 
 ever, when he saw my embarrassment, welcomed me 
 with the words : " Was the bridge drawn up that you 
 couldn't pass ? or did you get into a wrong tramcar?" 
 — "No," I answered hotly, "you needn't imagine me 
 so stupid as that. I have been trying to find out where 
 we can get a good and proper sort of wine." — Carl 
 looked at Betti, and Betti looked at him, and both 
 burst out laughing, which made me feel very uncom- 
 fortable. " What are you giggling at ? " I asked, a 
 little put out. — " So she's been wine-tasting ! " said 
 Carl gaily. — " Yes, that she has ! " I exclaimed, an- 
 gered by the ridicule, and threw the address of the 
 wine merchant upon the table. "Here's the address 
 if you want to have it, and you may order the wine 
 for your birthday yourself, it will give me no pleasure 
 now to do it after the way you have met me." — " Wil- 
 
 helmine, if I had only known " Carl began by way 
 
 of excusing himself. — " It's the nature of you men ; you 
 are for ever, with your rough hands, destroying the 
 delicate threads of affection that women weave for you. 
 But I'll forgive and forget, if only you send off the order 
 to-day. You may as well order wine for punch at the
 
 Carl Dines Hurriedly. 7 1 
 
 same time. Come, don't crumple the address in that 
 way I And now let us have dinner." 
 
 We were pretty silent during dinner. I was sorry 
 to have drawn such a thunderstorm down upon Carl, 
 but if I hadn't, he would assuredly have got to the 
 bottom of the secret about the portrait, and, moreover, 
 I should have had double trouble in getting him to 
 order the wine. If Professor Paulsen pays us a visit, 
 we can't offer him anything less good than what he is 
 accustomed to. 
 
 Carl took his dinner hurriedly, and said_ " Gesegnete 
 Mahlzeii" before we others had had our second help- 
 ing. I was about to run out after him, to tell him that 
 things were not as bad as they seemed, when Betti 
 began: "Why were you so angry, mamma?" — "I 
 angry?" — "Well, you seemed so, at least." — " And I 
 had good reason to be annoyed." — " No, mamma, you 
 hadn't." — "Indeed!" — "What I mean, is, that when 
 you were so long in coming home, papa got anxious, 
 and kept on saying: 'Where can mamma be?' I tried 
 to make excuses, but you know that when papa is 
 serious and asks a question point-blank, one has to 
 tell him the truth."— " Well ?"—" So I told him that 
 he must remember that his birthday was in a day or 
 two." — " Betti, how could you go and tell tales ? " — 
 " I knew that papa would be content with that, and it 
 was the truth also. If you had met his jokes in a 
 cheery way, all would have been well. Really, this 
 time I do not know who acted most stupidly." — 
 " Betti ! is that the way to speak to me ? " — " I did not 
 mean to be rude, mamma, but I am old enough now 
 to see that you would have gained more by giving in," 
 — " It's a new thing to hear such remarks from you, 
 Betti," said I. — She got up, and said in a low voice : 
 " I once thought there was some happiness for me in
 
 72 A /I after-dinner Nap. 
 
 life — we never spoke about it, mamma — but it has all 
 passed away now; we have both of us been silent 
 about it, you and I; what was the use of words ? You 
 know it as well as I. The love 1 thought of giving to 
 that one person, I mean now to divide between you 
 all, as well as I can. Now you know why I have come 
 to look at things differently from what I did. Forgive 
 me, mamma, if I hurt you by what I said. I did not 
 intend to." 
 
 She went away and I was left alone with a heavy 
 heart. Betti had resigned herself to her fate ; the 
 spring of her life was past ! It was well that no one 
 saw how I cried. When I recovered I determined that 
 henceforth her life should be made as pleasant as it 
 was in my power to make it. Not an unkind word 
 should ever cross my lips; and if any one should 
 worry her again, they'd suffer for it ! 
 
 Carl had gone to lie down, as was his usual way 
 after dinner; we had knitted him a large sofa blanket 
 for these after-dinner naps. I went in to him. When 
 I opened the door he raised his eyes. " Carl," said I, 
 "if you don't care about ordering that wine, leave it." 
 — "What is it, Wilhelmine ? " said he, without much 
 interest. — "You hadn't any appetite to-day, Carl 
 dear?"— "No, I hadn't."— " Was it my fault?"— "I 
 didn't say it was."—" Carl, I was a little excited." — 
 " It seemed to me you were. I would advise you, in 
 future, not to go in for wine-tasting, you cannot stand 
 a mixture of things." — " Now, Carl, that's a return 
 shot at me. Are you angry, Carl?" — "No, I'm not; 
 for you can't alter your natural disposition. Why 
 should I be angry?" — "Carl," said I, "you've been a 
 very jewel all your born days. I confess I was more 
 violent than need be; but still, have I ever wished my 
 children a better father than you? The hour will
 
 The Essence of Art. 73 
 
 come when I shall stand justified before you; it is not 
 very far off, believe me. Now this evening you shall 
 have the best of beefsteaks for supper, as you ate no 
 dinner. Will you have it cooked with onions or with 
 &ZZ^ Carl dear?"— ''With both !"—" And I'll have a 
 glass of genuine Munich beer fetched for you; nobody 
 shall say I haven't a warm heart for you. Now shut 
 your eyes for a little more sleep; when it's time for 
 you to be off to the office, I'll come and wake you." — 
 Before I went I gave him a kiss, which pleased him 
 very much. The angel of reconciliation had descend- 
 ed upon us and held watch by his couch. He was 
 well tucked up, too. 
 
 The portrait formed the main object of my exist- 
 ence; I was determined that it should become incom- 
 parably good even though I had to sit for three weeks 
 like a brooding hen. It did not take as long as this, 
 however, for it was surprising how the painting de- 
 veloped; and Betti, who accompanied me each time, 
 was greatly astonished, and finally came to the con- 
 clusion that she would never attain such facility. 
 "The mixing of the colours is too difffcult," she said : 
 " a little of every colour is laid on the palette, and 
 those have all again to be mixed together, yet when 
 the artist puts it on the canvas with his brush, it agrees 
 to a nicety with your likeness. The essence of art 
 lies in the artist's insight into nature." — " I am afraid 
 you .are wrong there, Betti," I replied, " other people 
 might have an insight into that. No, in my opinion 
 the essence of art consists in an artist always dipping 
 into the right colours ! " 
 
 Nothing, therefore, came of my idea that Betti 
 might pick up some hints from watching the artist at 
 work ; on the contrary, after this she gave up her 
 wood-painting entirely, declaring that it was mere
 
 74 Upward Strivings of Genius. 
 
 dabbling in art, and that she had been meanwhile al- 
 together neglecting her literary studies. And, indeed, 
 according to the certificates tliat she received at the 
 High School, she possessed talent i b and industry 2 a. 
 Having these guarantees of her ability, I determined 
 to persuade Herr Feodor Wichmann Leuenfels (who 
 had in due course called upon us) to come more fre- 
 quently to our house, although Betti herself does not 
 seem to be very much edified with him, and Uncle 
 Fritz, in his plebeian way of speaking, always calls 
 him the patent humbug. Now as Carl, too, is not in- 
 clined to believe in professional poets, I stand alone 
 in my sympathy for the upward strivings of this young 
 man of genius. And yet Leuenfels is a remarkable 
 man — one need only see with what confidence he aims 
 his shafts at other writers of verse: I consider myself 
 too good, he would say, to subscribe my name to such 
 trash. 
 
 Meanwhile the sittings were coming to an end ; it 
 was astonishing to see how the picture became more 
 and more life-like, until finally it was exactly like the 
 reality. The black below the eyes, and the yellow 
 about the neck had vanished, and now formed a most 
 natural kind of shade; the patch of colour that had 
 originally stood for the chair, assumed the appearance 
 of the embroidery exactly; and the hands, which had 
 given some trouble, were precisely like my own. — ^I 
 was quite overcome when contemplating the finished 
 picture in its frame of carved gold, and thinking what 
 Carl would feel on his birthday. " Art is a grand 
 thing, after all," I said, "but. Professor Paulsen, I am 
 a little too good-looking in the picture, I think." — 
 " You are wrong," he replied, " the portrait-painter 
 has not merely to copy nature, but has to a certain 
 extent to endeavour to obtain a likeness from the
 
 The Portrait Finished. 75 
 
 pleasantest point of view. The expression varies with 
 the humour a person happens to be in, and I have 
 painted you, as 3'ou look when cheerful, when some 
 good fortune of your own, or that of some one else has 
 brightened the expression of your face." — " But have 
 I not turned out a little too young-looking?" — 
 "Mamma, how can 3'^ou say such a thing?" Betti 
 interposed. " In the picture you are exactly like what 
 we have always known you, ever since we can remem- 
 ber, our dear, kind mother. You never looked any 
 different from what you do in the picture." — " If you 
 are satisfied, I do not need to object, for I'm not un- 
 human. I did not have my portrait taken from van- 
 ity's sake. Professor Paulsen, but because my children 
 insisted upon it." — "Then you have very sensible chil- 
 dren," said he. 
 
 The sittings had been a real pleasure to us, so we 
 were sorry when they came to an end. Betti had 
 watched the Professor painting, or played on the piano 
 anything she happened to know by heart. Sometimes 
 also she amused herself with the dog Peter, a shaggy 
 kind of creature like a poodle, that would dance round 
 and round, looking, for all things in the world, like a 
 furry foot-sack gone mad; one could never make out 
 which was the head and which the tail. The woman 
 Bachmann, who was full of praise about the picture, 
 told me that in the old studio they had a dog called 
 Paul, and that it might have been a human being 
 v.-ere it not that it had a dog's skin, and that at times 
 it was cleverer than many a human creature, but that 
 a malicious old witch had given it poison because the 
 dog always barked at her. Bachmann said she noticed 
 the dog was ill at five in the evening, and at twelve at 
 night it looked up at her again, and wagged its tail 
 as if it had wanted to say, " Bachmann, it's all ovei
 
 'j6 A Surprise for Carl, 
 
 v/ith me; give a kind message to master from me" — 
 that was the end. Her master was much grieved 
 when she went in and told him. But the old wretch 
 of a woman did not escape punishment; she ended in 
 getting a couple of months' imprisonment for slander- 
 ous talk and disturbing the peace of the house. 
 " Thank God," said I, " there is justice still to be had ! 
 Thanks, I'll send for the dress." Bachmann had given 
 herself some trouble in helping me to change my 
 dress on the different occasions, and had shown 
 herself so obliging that I made her some little return. 
 The picture was to remam in the studio till the birth- 
 day. 
 
 A slight degree of stage-fever seized me, however, 
 when the day came upon which Carl was to be sur- 
 prised. On the previous afternoon Professor Paulsen 
 came himself, when the picture was to be hung up in 
 our best sitting-room ; he wished to see it placed in a 
 proper light, so that even in this respect nothing was 
 omitted. Afterwards I locked the door and took away 
 the key. Betti was all expectation, and kept singing 
 to herself, a thing I had not heard her 'do for long. 
 
 In the morning we had our coffee v/ith a cake, as upon 
 any other birthday, and we gave Carl several useful 
 things, which pleased him very much. Then I went 
 and unlocked the room and called through the door, 
 "Carl, there's someone in the best room wanting to see 
 you." — He seemed a little vexed at being disturbed, 
 but hurried out and we followed him on tiptoe 
 quietly. There he stood as if lost in contemplation 
 of the picture, but Betti's shoes creaked and he turned 
 round and saw us. " Wilhelmine," he said, with emo- 
 tion, " my good wife, you could not have given me a 
 greater pleasure than this." He drew me to him and 
 kissed me on the forehead and mouth. Betti clapped
 
 and old Recollections Azvakencd. 
 
 her hands in delight. "Was I not right, mamma? If 
 only parents would always follow their children's 
 advice ! " — Carl turned to her and smiled, and then 
 put his other arm round her. This was a birthday 
 such as we had never had, we were so utterly, so heartily 
 happy and content. 
 
 " Do you like the portrait, Carl ? " said I, for of 
 course one likes to have an opinion. "Do you think 
 the likeness good ? " — " It is you to a nicety/' was his 
 answer, "and yet there is something more in it than 
 that ; it seems to me as if I had you there again as 
 )'ou were when my bride, as you looked in the days 
 of our first love, do you remember?" — "You mean 
 I look too youthful there, Carl ? " — " No, not at 
 all, but it awakens my old recollection, and now when 
 I look at you yourself, I see exactly the same ex- 
 pression still in your features. The artist has suc- 
 ceeded in bringing it out more distinctly than we are 
 accustomed to see it." — " So now you are no longer 
 vexed about my having been late for dinner that day ? 
 
 I had just returned from my first sitting " He 
 
 laid his hand gently on my mouth. "The storm 
 passed by very quickly, and it has never really come 
 down upon us, although, at times, there has seemed a 
 good deal of thunder in the air." — "Carl, remember I 
 
 have often had the big washing in my head, and ■" 
 
 — " Wilhelmine, is the picture to have its laugh at 
 3''ou ? Look how kindly and pleasantly the painted 
 Frau Buchholz can look down at me." — I laughed and 
 said : "Well, I have hung up a nice warning to mv- 
 self." — The door-bell then rang. " Children," I ex- 
 claimed, "there are visitors coming— probably Emmi 
 and Dr. Wrenzchen ! " 
 
 And so it was. My son-in-law wanted to offer his 
 good wishes before going off on his rounds, and left
 
 78 A Ghostly Lady. 
 
 Emmi with us for the whole day. The portrait pleased 
 them immensely. Dr. Wrenzchen asked me in private 
 what it cost ; I pacified him by saying that it might 
 one day be his. In the evening we had a pretty large 
 gathering of friends, and Carl— that best of men ! — 
 had actually arranged for us to have " Johannisgarten ;" 
 this came as a surprise for me, and so the merriment 
 lasted far into the night. 
 
 Before getting into bed I went to take a last look at 
 my portrait, and said : " I will do my utmost — this I 
 vow ; but to be superhuman is a thing that can't be 
 expected of me, not by any portrait in the world." 
 Carl, who came to see what was keeping me, said : 
 " Why, Wilhelmine, this is ghostly in the extreme ; you 
 look as if you were playing the part of the White Lady, 
 in the picture gallery among the portraits of her an- 
 cestors ! " However, I could not reveal my deeper 
 feelings to him at the moment — he was in too jocose 
 
 a mood. 
 
 NEW CONNECTIONS. 
 
 They are going to live in the Privy Councillor's part 
 of the town, with a flower garden in front, and a 
 green-house, stables and coach-house at the back, and 
 the gardener is to wait at table, and to have six pairs of 
 white cotton gloves in addition to his wages. He is, 
 however, to pay for the washing of them himself, as 
 he is not likely to be so extravagant with them. The 
 furniture they have purchased belonged to some 
 baron who disappeared ; it is meanwhile all in the 
 loft. The marriage is to take place as soon as the 
 workmen are out of the house, and when the young
 
 About Health. 79 
 
 couple return from their wedding trip — they are either 
 going to Paris or to Vienna — they are to take up their 
 abode in their grand residence. All their china is of 
 the onion pattern, and the kitchen sink in white marble 
 with gilt. No prince could wish for anything finer. 
 
 All this was told me by Augusta Weigelt, who came 
 to call ; I had not seen her for some time. But, of 
 course, she cannot well leave home now that she has 
 another little baby. The boy is getting a splendid 
 little fellow ; and the second child, a girl, is such a 
 nice-looking little thing ! It has got well- over its 
 vaccination troubles, though I should never have ad- 
 vised its being vaccinated at so young an age. Au- 
 gusta, however, thought that what had to be done was 
 best done soon, so that she might have the necessary 
 certificates. 
 
 " You are, no doubt, already thinking about your 
 daughter's future marriage," said I jocosely. — " Not 
 exactly that," she replied, " but when the little thing 
 is lying in her cradle dreaming, and I am sitting 
 by her with my sewing, I do sometimes begin to 
 speculate. Time passes quicker than one fancies, and 
 I mean her to have the best education possible. One 
 can never know in what sphere she may eventually 
 come to live. My brother's marriage will change a 
 good many things in our family." 
 
 " His bride must be enormously rich," said I, " if, as 
 you say, they are to have a whole house to themselves 
 in the Thiergarten quarter, and to keep a carriage ; 
 this represents a lot of money. Your brother Emil 
 may well talk of good luck." — " Undoubtedly ! and 
 is sure to be very happy ; he will, so to say, find him- 
 self in a nest of gold. When one considers that he 
 has absolutely nothing but himself, and that she, 
 with her countless wealth, is marrying him out of
 
 8o Brains of more accoirit than Gojd Looks. 
 
 pure affection . . . ." — '' Where was it that they be- 
 came acquainted?" I asked, interposing. — "First of 
 all at a lawyer's ball which Emil was invited to by a 
 friend of his, with sisters, for he is an excellent dancer. 
 And she has rather a liking for the legal set. Emil, 
 she says, must take his doctor's degree, and, if it does 
 not cost too much, must eventually become a professor 
 or something tip-top. She is quite bent upon this, 
 Emil says." — " But he is no scholar ! " I exclaimed, 
 " she has made a mistake there." — " Well, at all events, 
 Emil is a most good-looking fellow, you must admit 
 that." — " Remarkably good-looking, no doubt," I re- 
 plied ; "but as far as I know, good looks are rather 
 at a low demand with professors : it's more the brain 
 that tells with them, as is proved w4th scientific 
 accuracy after their death. However, I shall be well 
 enough pleased if she succeeds in being one day able 
 to style herself Frau Professorin, and can only hope 
 that Emil is not marrying a mere money-bag, and is 
 more on the look-out for a good heart, and a soul 
 without wrinkles. Are you sure he is quite happy — 
 I mean content and happy at heart?" 
 
 " I do think he is," replied Augusta, " and why 
 should he not be? He is getting everything he can 
 possibly wish, and he will be able to assist his parents 
 and the rest of us also. He knows well how difficult 
 it is for us to make both ends meet." — " Now that I 
 like in him," said I, " and if he manages to get the 
 purse strings into his own hands, he will, no doubt, do 
 what he can for you all."= — " Of course he will I " 
 exclaimed Augusta cheerfully ; " mother thinks so 
 too ! And father will then no longer need to slave 
 away at all sorts of extra w^ork, and our troubles will 
 come to an end." — " That is not bad at seventy," I 
 added, "if things were but all finally settled."
 
 TJic Prospective Wedding. 
 
 "It won't be very long now before they are," re- 
 plied Augusta, "and I myself wish that the wedding- 
 day were over ... it comes rather hard upon us."— 
 "In spite of all the brilliant prospects ? " — "It's just 
 the brilliancy of it that causes the trouble," replied 
 Augusta, " for, of course, we cannot appear as dowdies 
 beside all the grand folk that will be invited to the 
 wedding— that would never do. My husband cannot 
 go in his old dress-coat, and my best dress is com- 
 pletely out of fashion. Moreover, if we give them a 
 present, it must be either a pair of sugar-tongs, or 
 salt-cellars, or something of silver from a goldsmith. 
 Mother did suggest a dinner service, it is true, which 
 would make a goodly show ; but we cannot manage 
 that, it comes too expensive." — "Do not take it ill, 
 Augusta," said I, "but that mother of yours is the 
 very essence of senselessness. Where can she expect 
 you to get the money from ? " 
 
 These words of mine, which were nothing but the 
 positive truth, put Augusta out rather, and she said, 
 stuttering : " We have calculated the matter out 
 most carefully, and only considered what will be 
 absolutely necessary. A hundred thalers would cover 
 all the expenses." — " I call that quite unjustifiable in 
 your position," said I ; "think of the future, Augusta." 
 — "We have done so," she added gaily ; "if we do not 
 attend the wedding, this would at once put an end to 
 any intercourse between us and our grand connec- 
 tions. And then where else — except among such 
 people — are we likely to get to know persons who 
 may one day be of use to our boy, when he 'will 
 require good introductions to help him on in life? Is 
 it a wise thing to appear indifferent to connections in 
 a high position, who, as Emil says, could invite 
 princes and other celebrities to their soirees?" 
 6
 
 82 About Iligh-floivn Notions, 
 
 "Augusta," said I seriously, "do you think you 
 have the proper polish for such feudal entertainments ? 
 Do you not yourselves belong to the Lansberger 
 Strasse ? But this much I see ... a Bergfeldt will 
 remain a Bergfeldt all its born days." 
 
 " I know that you have a pique against my mother, 
 but you have never yet shown me anv of the ill-feeling 
 
 you have towards her "—"The ill-feeling is all 
 
 on her side," said I, interrupting her. " for whenever 
 there was a quarrel it v,'as she who began it. But do 
 not let us rake up that subject, do not let us upset 
 ourselves with things of the past ; let us, at least, keep 
 calm and composed So you really think you can- 
 not manage to get out of the wedding ? " 
 
 "We must positively be there. What excuse could 
 we give to our acquaintances were they to ask why we 
 had not attended the wedding? Dear, good Frau 
 Buchholz, we cannot possibly do otherwise ; and now 
 I am going to ask a very great favour of you — but 
 you must not misunderstand me — and you will not be 
 angry, will you ? — could you lend us the hundred 
 thalers ? " 
 
 If any one had told me that she wanted me to fetch 
 her down the clock from the Town Hall, I could not 
 have felt more dumfounded than at this attack of 
 hers. " Augusta," I replied after a somewhat longish 
 pause for reflection, " it is certainly true that a drown- 
 ing man will clutch at the first straw within reach, but 
 why need I be that very straw ? If you were really in 
 distress, you or your husband, you might assuredly 
 count upon me, but I have no sympathy with your 
 high-flown notions. In any case, I should have to 
 talk the matter over with my husband. But consider, 
 a'hundred thalers are just three hundred marks — and 
 that is no small item in these bad times. One hears
 
 and Wedding Presents. 83 
 
 on all hands of troubles in business life, and of the 
 social abyss that has slowly been opening for years." 
 — " It is only a loan I'm asking for," said Augusta in 
 a low tone of voice. "We'll manage to get the money 
 elsewhere, and Emil will give us back all we have to 
 lay out ; this we hope for certain." — " Augusta," said 
 I in a warning tone, "hope is of no value whatever at 
 the Imperial Bank. I think that you should have a 
 fashionable back put on to the skirt of your black silk 
 dress ; two widths of material would be sufficient 
 with enough over to alter the sleeves. Your husband 
 could get the loan of an elegant dress-coat from his 
 tailor for a couple of shillings, and instead of thinking 
 of silver plate, choose a pretty flower-pot, and present 
 it to them in a somewhat dignified way. That would 
 do quite as well." 
 
 Augusta shook her head. " His bride doesn't care 
 about flowers," she said, " and greatly prefers what is 
 valuable and expensive ; and it is of no use your try- 
 ing to persuade me that my dress could look anything 
 but as ancient as the one my grandmother wore when 
 she was confirmed." — "Do not talk so irreverently, 
 Augusta," said I; "I remember your grandmother 
 quite well — she was one of the Neumanns in the 
 Linien Strasse, and I do not think it v/ell-mannered 
 of you to use the good old lady as your last trump 
 card, in order to have your own way. I can tell you 
 this : money is easily spent, but not so easily made." 
 
 " I am sorry if I have applied to you at an incon- 
 venient moment," said Augusta a little huffishly, and, 
 rising from her chair, she added : " it's high time I 
 were at home again to see the children." Whereupon, 
 I said, " Sleep well over it again is my advice to you ; 
 I'm sure you could manage more economically." — • 
 " No," she replied, " I'm sure we couldn't, for I did
 
 84 Darwin proved Wrong. 
 
 not even include twelve-buttoned gloves in my calcu- 
 lation. If I did as you want, I suppose I might 
 present myself in cotton gloves. In grand houses, 
 however, it's only the servants that do that ! " I did 
 not repeat her own words about considerate conduct, 
 although I confess I felt myself boiling up. I mere- 
 ly said : " I mean it all more for your own good 
 than you seem to imagine ; you can sew three but- 
 tons to the end of every finger of your gloves, for all 
 I care ; that, at all events, would create sensation 
 enough ! " 
 
 She replied that I was perfectly at liberty to act thus, 
 if ever I got into the dilemma of being drav\rn up into 
 tip-top society. " Gusta," I called out after her, ''you 
 don't mean to say you are crying about a couple of 
 plums. Don't make yourself ridiculous ! " But she 
 had already gone, and did not hear me. 
 
 How right Carl is, after all ! — for he has of ten said : 
 " Money matters put an end to all sentimentality." 
 As a rule, when Augusta came to see me, we were as 
 one heart and one soul, for I have a very good opinion 
 of her. Darwin has proved wrong in her case, for her 
 part of the Bergfeldt characteristics seems to have 
 been transmitted to a lateral branch. But now that 
 rank and giddying wealth is to be married into the 
 family by Emil, she too is beginning to become de- 
 luded, and the mother's nature seems to be coming 
 out in her, like wisdom teeth that appear late in life. 
 Any lasting kindliness of feeling towards Frau Berg- 
 feldt is one of the seven impossibilities in this world, 
 as any one may know who has discovered her narrow- 
 ness of mind, after having been long acquainted with 
 her. When one sees a woman like her trying to rise 
 out of her station, and yet so wanting in culture that 
 she is perpetually giving glaring proofs of her igno-
 
 About Tivclvc-buttoiicd Gloves. 85 
 
 ranee, it is exaetly as if a hen were trying to imitate a 
 skylark. It can't be done, in fact ! 
 
 I told Carl of the business that had induced Augusta 
 to apply to me for assistance, and did not omit a single 
 syllable that had passed between us, as I wished him 
 to support me in my resolve to refuse them the money. 
 For as I said, have we got the money to throw away ? 
 Who knows but what coffee and petroleum may be 
 hurled up to an unattainable height, by the new tax 
 upon corn ? Each one is bound carefully to look after 
 what he has, unless he means to end his days in a 
 workhouse. 
 
 " Wilhelmine," said Carl thoughtfully, after he had 
 let me have my say, and a word or two more ; ^' have 
 you felt these bad times so very heavily that you bring 
 them forward in justification of your action?" — 
 " What do you mean by justification and action ? If 
 5'^ou can't express yourself a little more clearly, I 
 sha'n't be able to understand you." He took my hand, 
 as if by accident, stroked it affectionately, and said : 
 " Now tell me, would it not have been better to have 
 offered Augusta the money ? Aren't you a little sorry 
 already to have said her nay ? " — " Carl, do you mean 
 to say you want the Bergfeldts to make a show by our 
 emptying our pockets ? Twelve-buttoned gloves, in- 
 deed ! She'll either have that or none. It was just as 
 if her old mother had been talking out of her, per 
 telephone ! No ; I say that if any one is to have 
 twelve-buttoned gloves it's me or Betti ! But we are 
 not ambitious of any such piece of extravagance ! " 
 
 "Now, do not excite yourself, Wilhelmine. What 
 does it^matter about the gloves .? A more important 
 matter is at stake— the Weigelts' whole happiness." — 
 " Are you in earnest ? " said I uneasily, for my husband 
 at that moment did not look at all disposed to jest. —
 
 86 Carl Talks in Riddles. 
 
 " Perfectly in earnest," he replied. " When women 
 set their minds upon having a thing, they will have 
 their way, even though mischief should come of it." — 
 "Carl, what do you know about women?" I asked 
 severely. — " We were talking of the Bergfeldts, weren't 
 we?" he replied. — "I could have wished that subject 
 left untouched." — " What I wish to say is that Augusta 
 will get that money, wdiatever happens." — " Well, 
 then she'll get what she wants." — " Not altogether, I 
 am afraid." — " Carl, do me the favour, and don't talk 
 in riddles ; tell me briefly and clearly what it is you 
 fear." — " What I fear is that the Weigelts will fall into 
 the hands of money-lenders and be completely ruined. 
 Let us lend them the money, Wilhelmine. If Emil 
 has promised to assist them later, he'll do it. At all 
 events they would be out of their difficulty for a time, 
 and be prevented from taking some foolish step. 
 What do you say, Wilhelmine ? " 
 
 I considered for a moment, and then said : " Carl, 
 do you think Augusta imagined I refused her request 
 from unkindness, or because I grudged her the pleas- 
 ure ? " — " The childlike trust she has always felt to- 
 wards you, will have vanished now, I think." — " The 
 Weigelts are so wanting in independence ; if one did 
 not watch them, they would be sure to commit more 
 stupidities than might even be God's will. So, after 
 all, we had better spare them the few hundred marks, 
 especially as your business is in woollen wares. I'll 
 go to Augusta to-morrow — it is too late to-day." — "If 
 you mean to offer help, do not wait," said Carl, by way 
 of warning, as I left the room. 
 
 I felt much comforted in mind after my talk with 
 Carl, and went to see about supper ; it seemed as if a 
 weight that had oppressed me ever since Augusta's 
 visit, had suddenly been taken off me. I sent the
 
 About 2indcvclopcd Bccthovens. 87 
 
 servant-girl out for a red herring, and prepared it for 
 Carl with my own hands, using a whipped egg and a 
 pinch of white pepper, that being the way he likes 
 them best. 
 
 My husband had advised me to send Augusta a letter 
 by the tubular-post, to say that I would call on the 
 follovv'ing afternoon about the money matter ; how- 
 ever, I thought that the twenty-five pfennigs might 
 as well be saved, especially as I did not know whether 
 the Acker Strasse, where the Weigelts lived, was pro- 
 vided with that blessed postal arrangement. I wish 
 now that I had sent one of Stephen's officials with my 
 message, for there are some people who cannot fly 
 quickly enough into trouble, and the Weigelts are 
 among the number. 
 
 On the following afternoon, at about three o'clock, 
 when I had climbed to the top of their stairs, I heard 
 music in the house, only a couple of squeaking notes, 
 it is true, but still enough to astonish me, for they had 
 never yet discovered anything in themselves or the 
 children that indicated the existence of an undeveloped 
 Beethoven. I rang the door-bell, which Augusta 
 opened, and at once gave her the good news, by say- 
 ing : " Child, everything has been arranged ; you can 
 have all you require most willingly." 
 
 Curiously enough, it did not have the effect I an- 
 ticipated. Augusta merely replied : " Come in, and 
 take off your things, Frau Buchholz." — " Have you 
 changed 3'our mind about the money, Augusta ? " said 
 I, upon going in. — " Oh, no ! " was her answer, 
 "we've already got what we required; fortunately the 
 world is not made up of stinginess." I took a scat. 
 " What musical box is that your boy has got there ? " 
 I asked, pointing to the child, who had the box on a 
 chair and was grinding away at it in delight. Augusta
 
 88 Taken hi by the Money-lender. 
 
 looked embarrassed, and carried the boy and the 
 musical instrument into the next room. When she 
 returned she said in a matter-of-fact kind of way : 
 "The little organ was part of the bargain, of course." 
 — " How so ? From whom ? " — " From the money- 
 lender." — "Well, I must say it's very kind of him ; 
 he's no doubt fond of children, and, the box being a 
 useless thing to himself, he gave it to the boy, I sup- 
 pose ? " — " I did not say that," interposed Augusta ; 
 "I mean he did not charge much for it. Don't you 
 think it is quite worth fifty marks ? Well, he let us 
 have it for thirty, and it plays five tunes." — "Thirty 
 marks for that squeaking thing ! " I exclaimed ; "how 
 could you let yourselves be taken in like that ? " — 
 "We couldn't well help it." — "Gusta," said I, "sit 
 down and give me a proper account of v;hat you've 
 been doing; there's something wrong, that's clear." 
 
 She sat down beside me and told her story. After 
 having applied to me in vain, there seemed nothing 
 left for them but to go to a money-lender, who ad- 
 vances sums of money to men of Small means in re- 
 turn for some voucher with a signature. -" Is the 
 man a usurer ? " I asked. — " No," she answered, " usury 
 is too strictly prohibited." — "Thank God," said I, 
 breathing freely again. " But, Frau Buchholz, in the 
 case of persons with small incomes like ourselves, of 
 course there is not much security, so one is obliged to 
 take half of the money in goods, so that the man may 
 have some compensation for the money he advances." 
 — " Barrel-organs and such useless rubbish ! " I said 
 sharply. " There are some useful and very valuable 
 articlcfi among them," she replied, pointing to a num- 
 ber of packages in the corner. " There's a damask 
 table-cloth large enough for a table to seat twenty- 
 four persons — a wonderfully cheap thing; some excel-
 
 A genuine piece of Swindle. 89 
 
 lent rep for furniture covers ; three dozen pocket- 
 handkerchiefs ; four blue silk umbrellas, six aprons 
 and several smaller articles." — " Will you let me look 
 at the table-cloth ? " I asked. Augusta fetched one of 
 the packages and opened it. I examined the table 
 napkins and the table-cloth. I looked at them again 
 and again before I could make up my mind to tell her 
 the inevitable truth in an inoffensive way. At last I 
 said: "Augusta, the cloth is splendid and will last 
 for ever if you never take it into use; but this I can 
 tell you, that if ever a drop of wet falls upon it, the 
 pattern will vanish. It is nothing but a common 
 printed article — a genuine piece of swindle — not worth 
 a penny." 
 
 Augusta looked at me in amazement. '' That's im- 
 possible," she exclaimed; "it's valuable damask." — 
 "It has not even lain among linen, I should sa}'," was 
 my reply. " I must tell you," said Augusta, " that in 
 order to obtain the 300 marks we had to purchase to 
 the amount of 400 marks." — "And all upon credit?" — 
 " All at eight per cent, interest, which we shall have 
 to pay every month." — "And where are the 700 marks 
 to come from ? " — " It will have to be paid off gradu- 
 ally as my husband's salary becomes due." — " Au- 
 gusta," I remarked, "could you not have waited a 
 little ? I see now, unfortunately, that I have come 
 too late. How, in all the world, do 3'ou mean to get 
 rid of all these debts ? " — " We trust to Emil helping 
 us." — " But supposing he dare not touch the money, 
 remember it's hers." — "Well, but my husband's in- 
 come goes on increasing year by year." — " You will 
 need all he makes yourselves; as the children get big- 
 ger, 3'ou will find your expenses increasing at the same 
 time. Moreover, a rise in his office isn't like climbing 
 a ladder, it's more like a slow drive through sand." —
 
 90 A Motherly Friend. 
 
 "All that's going to be changed. My husband says 
 that unless he gets an increase soon, he means to 
 go over to the Left, and the Government will then 
 come to see that it is standing in its own light. He goes 
 regularly to his political club; liberty, he says, must 
 come off victorious in the end." — " Augusta," said I, 
 " do not talk of things you understand as little as 
 damask table linen. Take all this rubbish back to the 
 man, and let him quit you of the 400 marks, or, better 
 still, back out of the whole agreement, and trust to 
 us." — "That's impossible now." — "If I offer you the 
 money, you surely have only to say Yes!" — "I 
 daren't." — " Now, then ! just tell me who dare say you 
 daren't ? " — " My husband." — " What can he mean ? " — 
 " He says that circumstances will be very different when 
 the Opposition have the helm in hand ; taxes are to 
 cease, salaries to increase, and living to be made cheap; 
 that we shall then not need to go a begging, and to 
 expose ourselves to getting a refusal. First, it was 
 you that wouldn't listen to us, now we won't listen to 
 you. If only the Opposition could have its turn now ! " 
 — " Augusta," said I, " this is all stuff and nonsense. 
 Have I not always proved myself a motherly friend to 
 you ? When I hesitated about giving you the money, 
 I was merely considering what was best for your- 
 selves. Now, do follow my advice." 
 
 She cast down her eyes, and said in a low voice : 
 " It can't be done now. I have already bought mate- 
 rial for my dress, and sent it to the dressmaker. 
 The money has already been partly spent, so matters 
 must remain as they are. And who knows but what 
 we may yet win in the lottery, for which the man 
 made us take tickets ? He told us that very often 
 those who were deep in misfortune were the luckiest 
 in such thing's."
 
 About Birds of Passage. "91 
 
 If only I had not said them nay; or if only I had 
 sent them a message last night; if only I had .... 
 yes, if only I had ! There was little use in blaming 
 myself now; and yet I felt as if I had been as much 
 to blame as Augusta herself. " We must wait and 
 hope for the best," I said, rising to go. But before 
 leaving the house, while standing in the dimly-lighted 
 passage, I threw my arms round Augusta, and neither 
 of us could restrain our tears. What we really were 
 crying about, cannot exactly be said ; probably, how- 
 ever, it was the thought that the happiness and con- 
 tentment which had hitherto dwelt with them up on 
 their fourth storey, was being driven away by their 
 new and grand connections. I could not recover my 
 cheerfulness, much as I tried to ; my mind's eye seemed 
 perpetually dwelling upon that would-be damask 
 cloth, and for long I couldn't get the sound of the 
 barrel-organ out of my head, for which a debt of 
 thirty marks had been inflicted upon them. 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS FAIR. 
 
 One of the prime mysteries in nature — as one may 
 read any day in the newspapers when Michaelmas 
 comes round — are the birds of passage; long before the 
 invention of the compass they have regularly flown 
 straight away to foreign countries, and, in the case of 
 the swallows, these journeys are made even on the 
 very same day and hour of the year. Inexplicable it 
 docs indeed seem to me that the birds should all go 
 off together, but as to the reason of their leaving, that 
 cannot be so very incomprehensible to any one with 
 an imaginative turn of mind — they go for their own 
 pleasure's sake; v\^e know that mankind does the same.
 
 92 That Boy Edtiard, 
 
 In the spring, as soon as the first warm Sunday tempts 
 him, he wanders about his own neighbourhood; on 
 Good Friday he must be off to the Spandau Restau- 
 rant ; at Whitsuntide he wanders out to the Grune- 
 wald, on other occasions to Stralau or Treptow; and 
 as soon as the frost has made the ice firm enough, the 
 Rosseau Island in the Thiergarten is the object he has 
 in view. His locomotive organs seem affected in this 
 way from childhood upwards. Then, when Christmas 
 comes round, off he must go to the Christmas Fair, 
 whither some inexplicable power seems to draw him — 
 four horses couldn't hold him back. It would seem to 
 be precisely the same as with the birds of passage, 
 except that the Christmas Fair cannot be said to offer 
 unalloyed pleasure, especially when a thaw puts in an 
 appearance, and one comes home with a border to 
 one's garments as if some higher power had dragged 
 one through the slush. 
 
 We had arranged this Christmas to go with the 
 Wrenzchens, Uncle Fritz, and the Krauses, although 
 the Wrenzchens are rather uncertain people, owing 
 to his being a medical man. The arrangement had 
 been made more especially on account of the Krauses, 
 who much needed some diversion, for that boy Eduard 
 of theirs has again been causing them a good deal of 
 vexation. Can there be anything harder for a father, 
 who is himself a school-master, than to have to send 
 his own son to another school to do his work there ? 
 It never entered Eduard's head to do anything at 
 home. Not he ! in place of learning his Latin he 
 Avould run off and play at Robbers and Soldiers in 
 the Friedrichshain with other boys, or would dawdle 
 about the streets, and, when locked up by way of 
 punishment, would play tricks with the lamp, which 
 might have caused a fire. Then, too, when he was
 
 and his Practical Jokes. 93 
 
 thought to be really at work, because he was quiet 
 and seemingly out of mischief, it would be found that 
 he had a secret Robinson Crusoe or some such story 
 book by him, and his exercises would be a mass of 
 mistakes and ink-blots. It was inconceivable to me 
 that in spite of all this, his mother was for ever trying 
 to shield him. Did she wilfully blind herself to the 
 fact that his first baby-shoes had long since been worn 
 out, and that he no longer wore a little velvet tunic 
 and little white drawers? She would say: " It is not 
 right to torment the child with such hard work," and 
 would say this even in the boy's presence. Eduard 
 only needed to pretend that the Latin gave him head- 
 ache, for his mother to say pettingly — " Papa will give 
 you a note of excuse, my darling, and will say that 
 you were not well ; " whereupon Eddy would creep 
 away to the rocking-chair and give himself a swing 
 just to while away the time. Herr Krause, of course, 
 did not dare to make any objection, else she would 
 immediately bring up the subject of over-working 
 young children, and he would have as little to say for 
 himself as an untidy recruit. What a miserable speci- 
 men of a man he is ! 
 
 Things would have remained in this state, goodness 
 knows how long, had it not been that the young scamp 
 created a pretty disturbance one day. It happened 
 thus. Close to the Landsberger Strasse is the St. 
 George's Churchyard, which has been turned into a 
 garden, and benches are placed there, where old peo- 
 ple and sick folk can have a rest, for into their little 
 rooms the sun shines perhaps but for one shoit hour 
 a day, and maybe not even as long. Of little folks, 
 there is, of course, no dearth, and no prettier scene 
 can be imagined, than when a grand wedding takes 
 place, and the young couple — in their deep emotion —
 
 94 Tlie Can of Lamp-black. 
 
 come out of the church forming one group with the 
 nursery maids, and nurses with little infants in their 
 arms — a group which is, indeed, but a passing one, 
 and yet promising much for the future. 
 
 At such moments the bigger children are, of course, 
 left without supervision, and Eduard Krause made 
 use of a moment of this kind for his disgraceful piece 
 of mischief. On a heap of sand, where most of the 
 little children were grubbing about, he placed a small 
 can of lamp-black, and it is still a mystery where he 
 got hold of the stuff. Now, as we all know, children, 
 unfortunately, look upon everything they find as play- 
 things, whether it contains lamp-black or any dan- 
 gerous material, and thus, scarcely had ten minutes 
 elapsed, when the sweet little creatures had complete- 
 ly covered themselves with the black stuff, and looked 
 like a pack of little negroes : hands, faces, clothes 
 were all full of it, and the original white of pinafores 
 and stockings had vanished, probably never to be seen 
 again ; certainly not, at their first washing, in any 
 case. 
 
 But the Nemesis had not been asleep. An old man 
 sitting on one of the benches, sunning himself a little, 
 had noticed that Eduard had placed something on 
 the heap of sand, and then hurried off ; however, as 
 the bride's carriage drove up at the moment, he did 
 not pay any further heed till the mischief was done, 
 and the only thing was to get the little dirty pigs 
 home, which was not accomplished without scoldings 
 and pushings, and a great amount of crying. The old 
 man then related what he had seen, and as young 
 Krause's ways were well known, it was at once sus- 
 pected that he was the culprit. 
 
 Several excited mothers and some loud-voiced fa- 
 thers afterwards went to Herr Krause's abode, and
 
 A Walk to the Christinas Fair. 95 
 
 offered to sell him the children's besmudged clothing, 
 and he did, in some cases, agree to repay them for the 
 damage done, although not very willingly. Eduard's 
 misdeed was the talk of half the Landsberger Strasse 
 for some time afterwards, and the Police-lieutenant's 
 wife told me her husband had said that if the police 
 had been appealed to, the case might have been made 
 a criminal misdemeanour, and that the father had 
 acted wisely in taking the matter in hand and set- 
 tling it quietly. Herr Krause has, since that day, 
 tightened the reins a little, it must be confessed ; but 
 nothing much will be gained by it. His reins are 
 mere threads of cotton. 
 
 Hence it was more than right that the Krauses 
 should have seme diversion and amusement, and the 
 proposal of a walk to the Christmas Fair seemed very 
 welcome to them. We expected them to call for us 
 about six o'clock, as had been arranged, but it was 
 half-past before they came. Frau Krause excused 
 herself by saying that at the last moment she had 
 missed her Japanese tray, and that she had been look- 
 ing for it, but could not find it. I said that such 
 things were apt to get lost, or to slip behind some 
 piece of furniture, and that she would probably find 
 it in the morning, or, at any rate, before long. It did 
 turn up again, but in a very different way from what 
 we had anticipated, and, I may say, it was in a most 
 calamitous way. However, of this all in good time. 
 
 We did not wait long after we had all assembled, 
 and we walked away in the direction of the Schloss 
 Platz, for that was, of course, the principal part of 
 the market. We were somewhat slow in getting 
 there, partly because of the crowds, partly on ac- 
 count of the shops which had to be looked at. 
 First one of us and then another kept calling the
 
 96 Berlin at Christinas-time. 
 
 other's attention to what pleased us best. " No, but 
 do look at this ! " — " Oh, I should like to have that ! " 
 — " Just look, how lovely ! " And so it went on turn 
 about. Many of the shops really surpassed themselves. 
 In one confectioner's there was even an artistic castle 
 made of nothing but gingerbread, and some equally 
 artistic-looking men made of plums to represent 
 knights. 
 
 Then, too, the drapers' establishments and the china 
 shops, and those with bronzes, and the silk mercers; 
 every one of them were exhibiting their choicest wares 
 and displaying them to the best advantage. At 
 Christmas time everything looks brilliant, and the ap- 
 pearance of the shop windows would almost make 
 one fancy there was some special illumination, every 
 jet of gas and every lamp that will burn is lighted, 
 and the brightest and most glittering things are 
 placed in the windows: there's no getting by at all. 
 One hears so constantly of the treasures of the East, 
 and of the splendid bazaars there. There's little rhyme 
 or reason in that. Before Christmas, isn't all Berlin, 
 with its immensely long and brilliantly lighted streets, 
 one monstrous bazaar? 
 
 In the midst of all this modern splendour, lies the 
 Christmas Fair like a bit out of the good old times. 
 It was the same in the old days when ray parents took 
 me there for the first time, and it is precisely the same 
 at the present day. There are the same long narrow 
 rows of booths, the same toys are exhibited ; the peo- 
 ple selling their goods have noses as red with cold as 
 in the olden days ; and wear the same sort of warm 
 caps ; and the younger folks selling their three- 
 farthing lambkins, sawing-jacks, monkeys, and jointed 
 wooden-dolls, and whatsoever else there may be, have 
 exactly the same kind of thin voices as in the old
 
 The solemn, silent Royal Palace. 97 
 
 days. And how deliciously balmy is the smell of the 
 dark fir-trees, whole forests of which are standing 
 about, and the light green pyramids decorated with 
 bright tinsel, and covered with lights. And how com- 
 forting is the smell of the fresh pancakes and the 
 pastry ! And what numbers of people, big and little, 
 are enjoying themselves as if they had never before 
 seen such a glorious sight, gazing again and again in 
 admiration, at what, after all, cannot be anything al- 
 together new to them. Jumping-jacks are still to be 
 had at the same corner as of old ; they are painted 
 red, yellov.'', and green, with a feather in their hats, 
 and their legs and arms clatter at the pull of a string, 
 just as in years gone by. The hawker's cry, too, is 
 still : " Front-ways he'll nod to you, backwards he'll 
 jerk to you, and all for a penny, the splendid Jack. 
 Buy him, my lady, he's the last I've got ! " It all 
 sounds so friendly-like, as from the far-off days of 
 childhood ! Oh, the dear, good old Christmas time ! 
 What has always made upon me an indescribable 
 impression, is the solemn, silent Royal Palace stand- 
 ing there like a giant, towering above the market 
 stalls that look dwarfed beside it. Round the Palace 
 is a confused hum of human voices, and a red glim- 
 mer of a thousand little lights, as if the shuffling, 
 scuffling Present could not find a better shelter than 
 by the side of the unalterable Past. "And, in fact, 
 this is the case," said Herr Krause to me ; " for upon 
 the self-same places where the people in former times 
 flocked together for their sacrificial feasts, the strong- 
 holds of Rulers, or Christian churches were eventually 
 built. Hence, even at the present day the annual fairs 
 are held almost exactly on the very same places, and 
 the same days upon which the idolatrous worship of 
 the heathen once took place. Who knows but what, 
 7
 
 gS Of PreJiistoric Times, 
 
 exactly where we are now standing, human beings 
 were once sacrificed at the time of the winter solstice, 
 while those who watched the tilting matches and 
 shouted to their gods, probably stood somewhere 
 about the part which now goes by the name of the 
 noisy corner of the market ? " — " Herr Krause," said I, 
 after he had talked himself out, " I think you can't be 
 feeling quite yourself ! Do you fancy a King of 
 Prussia would have tolerated such heathen worship, 
 and human sacrifices, and turmoil, in front of his win- 
 dows ? What would have been the use of the 
 Royal Guards?" — "I must beg you to remember 
 that all this occurred in prehistoric times, when iron 
 was still unknown, and people used stone knives." — 
 "Here, in Berlin ?" — "Assuredly, here as well as else- 
 where." — "Who do you think will believe such 
 things?" — "You may see the stone implements any 
 day in the Museum ; they are obvious proofs of what 
 I have told you." — " Well, granting that people may 
 at one time have eaten with stone knives in Berlin, 
 surely it can only have been from pure stupidity." — 
 "Prehistoric investigations corroborate what I say." 
 — " Herr Krause, you are a teacher, and know all this 
 better than most people, no doubt ; but I caa only 
 hope you do not impart this kind of universal history 
 to your pupils."—" Certainly I do, young people must 
 be made acquainted with the first beginnings of a 
 nation's life to understand themselves and their 
 position in the body politic." — "To my mind universal 
 history begins with our great Elector, while the times 
 of Frederick the Great are far from being the end of 
 it," said I, "and if you want any pupil of yours to 
 understand what he is as a body politic, he need only 
 know that he is a German, and that his duty is to love 
 his fatherland and his Emperor with his whole heart. 
 That's about; enough.''
 
 and Pease-Pudding and Honey Cakes. 99 
 
 What is it that makes men's minds confused ? It's 
 a superabundance of cleverness, and Herr Krause 
 seems to be suffering from that. 
 
 We had not, however, gone to the Christmas Fair to 
 quarrel, but to buy useful things. Tradespeople want 
 to dispose of their goods, and hence come from far 
 and near, and offer a great selection of useful, 
 domestic utensils at a cheap price. Herr Krause, for 
 all I care, may use stone knives, if he likes. We 
 separated, therefore, and turned our attention to 
 business. 
 
 Emmi and I set about purchasing a sieve which 
 she was much in need of, as, of course, it greatly 
 facilitates the making of pease-pudding which the 
 Doctor is fond of having on a Thursday with pigs' 
 feet. Uncle Fritz meanwhile was at another booth 
 buying honey cakes with inscriptions in sugar, to 
 please us ; he'd better have done no such thing. On 
 my cake was written: "Old lady, don't grumble!" 
 on Em mi's : " For ever will I stick to thee, hurrah." 
 The one Dr. Wrenzchen got he quickly put in his coat 
 pocket, not, however, before I had noticed that he had 
 coloured up. " Fritz," said I, with a touch of annoy- 
 ance, " I must say that this sugared poetry is not at 
 all to my liking." — " Then scrape it off," he replied, 
 "and get Leuenfels to write something else. The 
 cake will be none the worst for it." Fritz, in fact, 
 is incorrigible. 
 
 We wanted also to see the Breite Strasse, to have a 
 look at Rudolph Hertzog's establishment ; in the first 
 place, because the most brilliant display imaginable is 
 always to be seen there ; and, in the second place, 
 because my Carl provides that enormous establish- 
 ment with various kinds of fancy articles which are 
 woven expressly for the firm. But happy as was
 
 100 About a Japanese Tray, 
 
 the thought, the getting there had its difficulties, for 
 no greater crushing and pushing can be met with any- 
 where, than at the corner wliere the Schloss-Platz and 
 the Breite Strassc meet. Nevertheless, we did suc- 
 ceed at last in getting through ; for it is the custom 
 in Berlin, when there are great crowds upon holidays, 
 always to keep to the right in the streets, hence it is 
 onl}' strangers that are to be seen fighting against the 
 stream, till some one calls out, "You, there, keep to 
 your right, else those huge beetle-crushers of yours 
 will be trodden to bits." That quickly has effect. 
 
 When we could breathe freely again, and had got 
 safely out of the crush in rather a tumbled condition, 
 we passed a long line of persons selling a variety of 
 small wares. " I'm going to make some purchases 
 here," said Uncle Fritz, " I find I want all sorts of 
 things, and I dare say all of you must have come 
 across people with a host of children, but little else in 
 the world, what do you say ? " And strangely enough 
 each one of us could remember some such case ! How 
 flourishing their business became, when we all drew 
 out our purses, it was delightful truly. Uncle Fritz 
 bought up everything that was left, and one of the 
 lads cried out — " Hurrah ! I've sold ever3'thing ; 
 what'U mother say to that ! " And off he scampered. 
 What joy, about a few pence ! 
 
 Another youngster scampered off too, leaving Frau 
 Krause with a Japanese traj'' in her hands, speechless 
 and horrified, like a petrified pillar of salt. Herr 
 Krause flew off after the runaway. " My dear Frau 
 Krause," exclaimed I, "what's the matter with you? 
 Whatever's happened ? " — " It's our tray," she moaned. 
 "Oh, Eduard ! " She staggered. Uncle Fritz hur- 
 ried to support her, gave her his arm, and said : 
 " Try to recover yourself, and look at the matter from
 
 and the incorrigible Ediiard. loi 
 
 the brighter side." This, however, she did not do, but 
 pulled out her handkerchief, and we had a nice hys- 
 terical scene. 
 
 Meanwhile, Herr Krause returned. "He's escaped 
 me," he called out angrily. "Who has?" I asked. 
 " Eduard," he burst out. " What a boy he is ! He has 
 helped himself to my cigars, and been selling them 
 here at the Christmas Fair. The tray also he took 
 .... bored holes into it ... . ran a cord through it 
 .... and hung it round his neck. And there he 
 stood among those poor children I When I caught 
 sight of him, and thought I had got hold of him .... 
 out he slips his head from between the cords, and off 
 he flies ! The police shall be sent after him ! " — 
 " How can you be so inhuman ? " Frau Krause began. 
 "Come, let us go home, Eduard's sure to be ina ter- 
 rible state of fright." — " No," said Herr Krause, " I 
 shall remain where I am ; were I to settle matters 
 with him at this moment, I might, perhaps, be too 
 severe with him. To-morrow morning he shall ha'^'e 
 his reward." — " You don't mean to beat him, surely?'' 
 whined Frau Krause. In a gentler tone Herr Kraure 
 then said : " I shall set him a task for each day, and " 
 — he added in a more sorrowful tone — " he shall have 
 nothing for Christmas."—" Surely you'll let him have 
 a. tree," the mother cried out. "" No tree at all," sighed 
 tne father. 
 
 " If those words v/ere a bridge, I, for one, wouldn't 
 venture upon it," my Carl whispered to me. " In three 
 days it will all have been forgotten," I replied, " yet, in 
 my opinion, Krause ought to give the young scamp 
 such a thrashing that nothing would be left of his 
 jacket beyond the button-ho'es, otherwise nothing 
 reasonable will ever be made of the boy." — I am on 
 principle averse to every kind of flogging as a means
 
 I02 A Silent Party. 
 
 of punishm?nt, because it is an unenlightened pro- 
 ceeding and inhuman ; but tlirashings there must be. 
 
 After this occurrence we had no proper interest in 
 looking at any more of the brilliant Christmas displays 
 exhibited in the shop windows, and so we followed 
 Uncle Fritz, who — by way of making us a little return 
 — had invited us all_ to Dressell's restaurant, as he 
 cannot well show us any hospitality at his ov\m rooms. 
 
 We might have been a very merry party had not 
 the Krauses been in such utter distress : he with the 
 furrows of anger on his brow, she with her tearful 
 looks and spoiled Japanese tray. Uncle Fritz had 
 ordered Dressell to provide a sumptuous supper, with 
 all kinds of delicacies that, as a rule, do not find their 
 way in among the homely fare of ordinary folks. He 
 can, of course, indulge in such things, as his business 
 is more flourishing than it ever was, and he is inclined 
 to be lavish with his money. 
 
 But although everything was excellent, we were a 
 pretty silent party at table out of consideration for 
 the Krauses. At last Uncle Fritz could not resist ex- 
 claiming: "Good Gracious! are we then to be so 
 merry, who have little need to be so ! " — " That you 
 ma}^ well say," replied Herr Krause, " but if your own 
 flesh and blood played such tricks with lamp-black, 
 and then . . . ." — " He'didn't mean any great harm by 
 it," broke in Frau Krause. — " Really ! " exclaimed 
 Herr Krause, as sharp as vinegar. Whereupon Frau 
 Krause retorted excitedly : " You know yourself that 
 Eduard takes unusual interest in foreign nations. I 
 can honestly say that no boy of his age is his equal in 
 that ! and how well he remembers every detail about 
 Columbus and Robinson Crusoe . . . ." — " Now, 
 Adelheid, what has all that got to do with the lamp- 
 black, and his destroying the children's clothes, which
 
 At DressclFs Restaurant. 103 
 
 I had to pay for pretty heavily," exclaimed Herr 
 Krause. — " Well," she answered snappishly, " he told 
 me, for he confides in me, because I'm not so violent 
 and unfeeling as you .... that he wanted to see those 
 children represent a scene in Ara Pequenna, where the 
 negroes live " 
 
 Herr Krause looked at his wife as if he meant to ask 
 her whom she thought of bamboozling with such 
 stories. This silenced her, and she even looked a 
 little embarrassed. Uncle Fritz, on the other hand, 
 maintained that it was undoubtedly a very amusing 
 game, and added that it promised great things for 
 Eduard's future, when matters might be arranged with 
 a little less black, and ended by saying he thought 
 Eduard had an uncommon degree of inventive genius. 
 Frau Krause, however, took offence at this, and asked 
 whether any one of us doubted the truth of what she 
 had said; that, at all events, she did not mean to be 
 insulted in that manner, and up she got in a huff and 
 insisted upon going. Neither of them could be in- 
 duced to remain, and so off they went, and we blessed 
 their departure. 
 
 We others remained. Herr Dressell, elegantly at- 
 tired and with a white waistcoat on, presented us 
 ladies each with a lovely bouquet of flowers, and toojc 
 the trouble to see that there was plenty of ice for us, 
 both vanilla and strawberry, the coolness of which was 
 irresistible ; so we soon recovered our good humour. 
 The Doctor filled our glasses with the utmost amiabil- 
 ity, and even peeled me an orange with his own 
 fingers. When he chooses he certainly can be most 
 agreeable; except about those Thursday evenings. 
 
 We ended the evening by drinking to the toast, that 
 next year we might again have a Christmas migration, 
 but only a family party. I could not resist adding :
 
 104 About stylishly got -up Cards, 
 
 "and let us follow the example of the birds of pas- 
 sage when the time comes ; every one must come, no 
 matter whether it be from across the ocean or from 
 the Landsberger Strasse, and thence on to the Schloss- 
 Platz and to Dressell's in the Linden. A few kilometres 
 more or less won't matter. The main thing is the 
 proper sentiment in the human breast ! " 
 
 "Wilhelm ! " exclaimed Uncle Fritz, " that was capi- 
 tally said, and if you were a man I would certainly 
 have you posted up in our electoral district ! " 
 
 Of course, healths all round were then drunk again, 
 and our glasses made to ring. 
 
 FASHIONABLE SOCIETY. 
 
 Through my son-in-law we had become so intimately 
 acquainted with the Lehmanns that we were very soon 
 on a pleasant footing with them without any formalities 
 between us ; in fact our intercourse with them was 
 quite friendly, we invited each other without any of 
 those stylishly got-up cards with the formal " Genothigt 
 tvird nicht" * which have become the fashion. For the 
 mere sending out invitations has now come to be con- 
 sidered a pleasure. The Lehmanns, however, at times 
 fall back into their old formal ways, as we experienced, 
 much to our regret ; this they ought all the more to 
 avoid doing, as Frau Lehmann is much too timid to 
 manage large entertainments, and her husband seems 
 always to act as though he were his own guest. 
 
 * Until recently it was in Germany the " good old custom " for the host 
 and hostess to u}-ge their guests to partake of what was on the table. The 
 words used now on invitation cards, and even on small banners decorating 
 tlie diihes, mean simply that at supper g^uests are requested to attend to 
 themselves.
 
 and a fashionable Tea-Party. 105 
 
 A fortnight beforehand we received a card the size 
 of a calendar for hanging on a wall, with the words : 
 
 "Assessor Lehmann and his wife do themselves the 
 honour of inviting Herr and Frau Buchholz and 
 daughter to tea on the evening of Saturday, the 17th 
 of Januar}^, at 8.30 o'clock. R. S. V. P." 
 
 " Carl," said I, " this is a case of a dress-coat and a 
 white tie for you, and a very important matter as re- 
 gards dress for Betti and me. I can manage easily, 
 for I shall only need to have my claret-coloured silk, 
 the one I had for the wedding, a little altered." — "An 
 erection stuck on behind, no doubt?" — " Carl," said 
 I, " it is very improper of you to speak of such things, 
 and, indeed, I should much prefer your not observing 
 ladies' external arrangements at all. As to Betti, we 
 have found in the last number of the Modenwelt a gem 
 of a dress, which will do admirabl)^ for the season." 
 
 " Season," exclaimed Carl, " what do you know about 
 the season ? " 
 
 "If the Lehmanns give a tea party, then it's the sea- 
 son," I replied; "Frau Lehmann herself told me that 
 they had to do as others did, their social position de- 
 manded it." — " Isn't it more likely that she persuades 
 herself to believe such things ? " — " Carl, they have an 
 old Excellency in the family and want to show him 
 off; whether they give their guests any enjoyment by 
 it, we had betternot say." — Carl laughed, and replied: 
 "Excellencies are always well worth seeing." — Where- 
 upon my remark was: " I heartily wish them joy of their 
 Excellency. Heaven knows what good they get of 
 such things. Costly surroundings and a very meagre 
 effect." 
 
 The Wrenzchens were, of course, invited too. Emmi, 
 who did not know whether we had all been invited 
 from the Landsberger Strasse, came round to inquire;
 
 io6 Evimis Little Dog. 
 
 she wanted also to leave her little dog — she had in- 
 vested in one after all — at our house while she was 
 out, as the animal cannot bear being left with the 
 cook. " Emmi," said I, " that innocent creature might 
 be a warning to you from higher regions, that your 
 cook is a bad character, and it would be wise for you 
 to give her notice to leave. Dogs have a very fine 
 knowledge of mankind; your cook must one day have 
 given the creature a secret kick in its ribs, which it 
 cannot forgive. I can sympathise with it there." 
 
 "Mamma," replied Emmi, "Maffi does not really 
 like anybody except Franz and me, and is so fond of 
 barking that he snarls at everyone, especially when 
 my husband is called out of an evening to a patient. 
 Herr Greve, who lives on the floor above, has already 
 written to us complaining of the noise our dog makes. 
 Otherwise, there's not a nicer little animal in the 
 world than Maffi Pamph." — "That's a matter of taste," 
 I remarked; "to my mind its eyes are too horribly 
 like Lucca's." — " Maffi likes you, Mamma, because of 
 the biscuits you bring him, and he would be quite 
 quiet here, I'm sure." — " But it can't be, Emmi, for 
 we're all going to the Lehmanns. Give him an extra 
 good meal before you leave home." — " Pugs seem 
 always to be hungry," said Emmi. — "They are greedy 
 beasts," said I agreeing with her. 
 
 All this trouble about the pug the doctor puts up 
 with, owing to those Thursday evenings; he even went 
 himself with Emmi to choose the material for a new 
 dress, and was not as stingy as usual. When I praised 
 him for this in a jocose way by saying, " Now, now, 
 dear son-in-law, such outlays are altogether out of 
 keeping with your domestic arrangements," he replied : 
 " They would be double what they are had we gone 
 into a large house, as somebody suggested." I knew
 
 About Skating. . 107 
 
 very well that that was a hit at me, but I smiled, say- 
 ing : " If the house is small there are beer parties 
 enough to make up for it ! "—And thus he got what 
 he deserved; but in spite of my momentary triumph, 
 I felt more convinced than ever that before long there 
 will be a clash between us, and neither the pug Maffi 
 nor Emmi's dress will prevent it. But Emmi will then 
 know what she owqs to herself and to her family. 
 
 While we were thus busily engaged about our 
 dresses, as well as our worries, the first frost appeared. 
 Skating-ponds were opened in all directions; for, as 
 soon as it begins to freeze, the gardens round the beer- 
 houses are immediately flooded of an evening, and next 
 morning skating can be had in the very heart of the 
 town. When my two daughters were still attending 
 school, I had no objection at all to their going to one 
 or other of these places, with their girl-friends, for a 
 penny apiece. The only misfortune that could befall 
 them was that they might run against a tree or a lamp- 
 post. However, as they got older I only allowed them 
 to skate at the Rousseau Island in the Thiergarten, 
 because it is there that the more elegant portion of 
 Berlin societ}^ is accustomed to meet for the exhila- 
 rating enjoyment of winter. 
 
 Our old family physician used always to maintain 
 that there was not a more healthy exercise than skat- 
 ing, and, in this respect, Dr. Wrenzchen may be said to 
 belong to the same school of medicine, for he is fond 
 of a run on the ice himself, and flies across the shin- 
 ing surface like a veritable humming-top, with this 
 difference, of course, that he is wiser and is gifted with 
 sense. And, certainly, it is a pretty sight. Round 
 about the sheet of ice, the Thiergarten looks like a 
 forest, and through the grey wintry branches of the 
 trees the sky is often of a rosy red, with a touch of
 
 lo8 TJie Icc-Cavalier. 
 
 yellow like a melon, when the sun sinks down on the 
 horizon behind Spandau. The trees on the banks 
 L^re decorated with gay flags, every nation being rep- 
 resented, and the effect is all the more enlivening as 
 most of the crowd of people are attired in dark cos- 
 tumes. When the military band strikes up some 
 cheerful melody, all the skaters pass in and out among 
 one another in time to the music, as well as they can. 
 Some parties even arrange regular quadrilles, and in- 
 tricate dances with taking hands, turning round, let- 
 ting loose, making chains and again taking hands, and 
 one feels astonished at their skilfulness. 
 
 The greatest adroitness in skatmg, as in other such 
 exercises, is displayed by the military men, and the 
 lieutenants develop this rapidity of motion equally 
 well when skating with the wife of a superior officer, 
 as when acting the part of an ice-cavalier to a young 
 lady of whom it is reported that she will not have 
 much under a million marks at her marriage. So 
 here again we have an instance of that dutifulness 
 which distinguishes the service, and can never be suffi- 
 ciently appreciated. Fraulein Kulecke, who is pretty 
 well up in such matters, drew my attention to this, 
 and pomted out a line of skaters where lieutenants 
 alternated with goodly dowries, and they all had tight 
 hold of one another by the waist. Some people, no 
 doubt, think it unbelievable that any girl could slip 
 straight from the Rousseau Island into matrimony, 
 and with a thaw these attachments are apt to meli 
 away too, as fathers rarely show any great apprecia- 
 tion for the loveliest of eights cut upon the ice, for 
 such skill, although eminently artistic, is a very unre- 
 munerative accomplishment. Sometimes, however, as 
 Amanda Kulecke declares, it is managed, for on the 
 way home, through the slushy Thiergarten, the cava-
 
 Not overawed by Excellencies. 109 
 
 lier may come out with the word, and she may not say 
 nay, because, in fact, the girl imagines marriage, too, 
 a blissful gliding through life. 
 
 But it's not always a case of gliding. Life expects 
 many a one to run down a steep staircase on skates. 
 
 The day of the Lehmanns' tea-party had meanwhile 
 arrived. 
 
 As our invitation was for half-past eight o'clock, we 
 went at about ten o'clock, and arrived in very good 
 time, for the grander an evening is to be, the more 
 abominably late the guests appear. We were far from 
 being the last to arrive, but his old Excellency was 
 already there, and, to a certain extent, formed the 
 brilliant centre of light, owing to his bald head and 
 his numerous decorations. We were presented to 
 him at once, and His Excellency expressed himself as 
 being very pleased to have the privilege of making 
 our acquaintance. Whereupon I replied, with the 
 most formal of curtseys and visible solemnity, that 
 the privilege was all on our side. By so doing I 
 wished him to see that although we belonged only to 
 the middle class, we were by no means overawed by 
 Excellencies. His Excellency then entered upon a 
 long talk with my Carl about business in general, 
 which I considered wanting in tact, as he might have 
 known that ladies took no great interest in such sub- 
 jects. I moved aside, therefore, with a less deep but 
 well-measured curtsey, and amused myself by watch- 
 ing the other guests. The number of persons the 
 Lehmanns had invited was endless. To remember 
 them all one would need have been born with a mem- 
 ory the size of an omnibus. 
 
 The only persons I knew were the Hamburg doctor 
 and his charming young wife, who was dressed in grey 
 silk dotted over with rose-buds, and cut 4 la Marie
 
 no An uncovifortablr Crush. 
 
 Antoinette, which suited her to perfection. Betti had 
 been at once taken possession of by two lieutenants, 
 and was engaged in conversation with them. Emmi, 
 on the other hand, felt drawn to the wife of the Ham- 
 burg doctor, and I must confess that, although young 
 girls may be lovel}', young wives are far more bewitch- 
 ing. There seems so much depth of feeling about 
 them. 
 
 After a time T found myself near the seats .of honour, 
 namely, round about the sofa where the elderly and 
 most voluminous ladies made a solemn impression by 
 their ver}' dignified appearance and the brand-new rib- 
 bons of their caps. Tea was taken without so much 
 as the sound of a word, and with it there was handed 
 round a fruit tart and small narrow knives to eat it 
 with. 
 
 What was there to talk about ? All of us being per- 
 fect strangers to one another, no one, of course, cared 
 to open their mouths with a remark about the weather; 
 then one don't seem to know enough about the thea- 
 tres; and household affairs are naturally too inferior a 
 subject for the occasion. Guests were, moreover, still 
 coming in, and the crush was so great, one might have 
 supposed the Lehmanns had annexed the waiting-room 
 of a railway station, and that some official would 
 presently be ringing a bell and calling out : " Take 
 your seats, please ! " — I kept thinking to myself : "I 
 wonder what's to happen next. If Vv^e had been in the 
 Landsberger Strasse we should all long since have 
 been sitting round the supper-table, and would know 
 what we had been invited for." 
 
 The room was now crammed full, and I was secretly 
 beginning to denounce the season and these fashion- 
 able gatherings, when some one began to play on the 
 piano. The Lehmanns had managed to secure the
 
 On Doleful Music. 1 1 1 
 
 services of a youth from one of the conservatoires; he 
 wore huge linen cuffs, only three pairs of which could 
 go to the dozen. This youth then attacked Mozart 
 and the audience too; it was a perfect banging. This 
 roused the canary out of its sleep, and it forthwith 
 began singing at the top of its voice and utterly 
 drowned the music that followed. In fact the musical 
 entertainment could not be continued till the bird's 
 cage had been covered over. A young lady then rose 
 and filled the room with her shouting. Of melody, in 
 my opinion, there was nothing to be heard, but the 
 effect was all the more melancholy. As soon as the 
 applause ceased, she commenced a second perform- 
 ance. It was of the same doleful colour, enough to 
 give a drill-sergeant the blues. When the accom- 
 panist had wrung out a few melancholy chords by 
 way of conclusion, I said to the lady on my right : 
 " There now, the second child's dead too ! " — " What- 
 ever do you mean ? " she asked. — " Oh," I replied, 
 " that's what we say when a mournful piece of music 
 comes to an end." — "It was my daughter that was 
 singing," she retorted in a stinging way, and turned 
 her back upon me. 
 
 In order to show her that her behaviour had left me 
 perfectly cool and indifferent, I turned to the lady on 
 my left and endeavoured to start a conversation with 
 her, and began by speaking of a flaxen-haired youth, 
 above life-size, who had at that moment entered the 
 room, and seemed a fitting subject for remark. — " What 
 kind of genius is that, I wonder ? " said I. — " Whom 
 do you refer to ? " replied the lady. — " That very long 
 young man standing there at the door," said I; "you 
 just wait and see if he doesn't cause mischief." — " I 
 am not aware that my son has given you any reason 
 for such a remark," she answered snappishly. — "Par-
 
 112 A St and-: p Supper. 
 
 don me that ever I was born," I replied, remembering 
 that what one calls out into a wood, the echo brings 
 one back. 
 
 I vowed to myself not to utter a single word more, 
 as I could not possibly know in what relation all these 
 people, whom the Lehmanns had collected in honour 
 of His Excellency, stood to one another; so I allowed 
 my thoughts to speculate about the ways of fashion- 
 able society. From these gloomy reflections I was 
 fortunately aroused by supper being announced. 
 
 In the next room, which had been kept locked all 
 the evening, a side table had been arranged w^th all 
 possible kinds of eatables, and presented a very in- 
 viting appearance when the doors were thrown open. 
 The gentlemen hurried in and gallantly attended to 
 the ladies. Those ladies, however, who had no special 
 gentleman to attend to them, and who did not choose 
 to push themselves forward, got nothing. I was 
 among the last to reach the manger, and succeeded 
 only in snatching hold of a small dessert plate and a 
 knife and fork; at the same time I saw that all such 
 dainties as caviare, pates de foie gfas, and chicken, had 
 already vanished. Of the turkey nothing was left but 
 the skeleton, and of the fillet of veal only the mark on 
 the dish where it /lad been. There was, however, still 
 some Italian salad to be had, also some cold sliced meat 
 which, upon closer inspection, proved to be American 
 tinned meat and Brunswick sausage. The jellies, too, 
 had scarcely been touched. I took a small helping of 
 what was left, and while eating it in discomfort in the 
 midst of a standing crowd, it struck me that one 
 needed experience in this kind of stand-up supper, as 
 not a soul thinks of pressing one to take anything; in 
 fact the whole proceeding seemed to me a kind of 
 murderous attack, and so I quietly envied the sub-
 
 A Presentiment comes True. 113 
 
 lieutenants who had been in front of the battle. Betti 
 told me afterwards that her lieutenant had brought 
 her a delicious bit of the breast of a chicken, while he 
 had preferred venison with a goodly supply of caviare. 
 The younger folks had, it seemed, been making en- 
 gagements with one another, as there was to be 
 dancing later. The Lehmanns thought it better 
 taste to let His Excellency depart first, so there was a 
 little delay. Wine and punch were handed round, 
 and this brought more life into the conversation; His 
 Excellency was meanwhile standing beneath the chan- 
 delier, holding a kind of audience. 
 
 At the beginning of the evening I had stated that 
 that unusually tall young man would be likely to 
 create trouble, and I proved to be right. When I 
 have a presentiment of anything, it always comes 
 true, and moreover, so precisely like what I had 
 imagined, that I should assuredly have been anointed 
 a prophet had I lived in the Old Testament. 
 
 All of a sudden a fluttering, flapping noise passed 
 through the rooms, and it very soon turned out that 
 the canary had escaped. The young man just men- 
 tioned, having nothing better to do, no doubt meant 
 merely to amuse himself with the little creature, but 
 his huge awkward hands must have so bent the cage 
 door that it would not close again. 
 
 And now the fuss that was made in trying to catch 
 the bird. Several brooms and a pair of steps were 
 fetched, and an endeavour was made to drive the 
 creature into the adjoining room so as to catch it if it 
 were to settle on the cornice. The bird, however, 
 would neither go into the next room nor on to the cor- 
 nice. The chase became more and more eager and 
 determined, and the bird became the more bewildered. 
 The young man who had caused the mischief took part 
 8
 
 114 Glad to get Home. 
 
 in the chase, and in this way tried to make up for his 
 awkwardness; but just as he was about to make a 
 very vehement thrust with a broom, as if he were 
 playing billiards in the air, he accidentally struck the 
 glass chandelier beneath which His Excellency w'as 
 standing, and fragments of glass came pouring down 
 upon His Excellency's shining pate. 
 
 Although His Excellency was in no way injured, he 
 at once intimated a wish to withdraw, and thus left 
 the company which harboured so dangerous an indi- 
 vidual. This greatly distressed the Lehmanns, who 
 seemed quite to lose their heads. They accompanied 
 His Excellency to the door, and the Hamburg doctor 
 meanwhile caught the bird, and the dancing com- 
 menced. The young people enjoyed themselves im- 
 mensely, as usual on such occasions, but I did not 
 breathe freely till we were on our way home in a second 
 class " rib-breaker," leaving the stifling heat, the badly 
 arranged refreshments, the host of people to whom 
 we were utterly indifferent, in one word, fashionable 
 society, behind us. 
 
 When we reached home, my Carl said: ''Wilhel- 
 mine, if you feel as I do, you'd butter us some bread 
 and let us have a couple of bottles of wine. I'm quite 
 hungry." — "That's just what I do feel," I answered. 
 So there we sat down at three o'clock of a dark 
 winter's morning, in a cold room with ice on the win- 
 dows, and refreshed ourselves after all the hardships 
 we had endured. 
 
 While we were all of the opinion that the Lehmanns 
 could not have given themselves or any one else any 
 pleasure with their tea-party, and were speaking of 
 the various persons in the way they deserved, I asked 
 Betti if Uncle Fritz had not been invited. — " Invited, 
 he was," she replied, "but he told me he had no great
 
 Out on a Hunt after a Man. 1 1 5 
 
 liking for stand-up suppers, and that he wouldn't 
 readily be found crawling into such traps." 
 
 Upon which I remarked : "I do not consider his 
 words well chosen, but if he means them to refer to 
 the fashionable entertainments of the season, I must 
 confess I approve of what he says ; for, honestly said, 
 I consider this evening the most profitless one I have 
 ever spent in my life." 
 
 ON THE WAR TRAIL. 
 
 If Uncle Fritz had ever told me, when I was a girl, 
 that at some later period in my life, when I had be- 
 come a sedate woman, and married moreover, I would 
 one day go out on the hunt after a man without Carl's 
 knowledge, accompanied only by the Police-lieuten- 
 ant's wife, and that we should do this after the man- 
 ner of the Red-skins whom we read about in those 
 old days in Lederstrumpf's stories, where it is said 
 they crept stealthily upon their enemy on all fours, 
 and then scalped him amid hideous war-cries .... 
 I should certainly have said: " Come now, you've been 
 wearing a new cap and got a chill in your head, no 
 doubt." — But, although it really did come to pass 
 that I had to go out on the war trail .... can it be 
 said that I was to blame ? Certainly not ; it was simply 
 owing to the new arrangements that have come to 
 be a necessity in Berlin, now that it is year by year 
 groAving bigger, yet these arrangements had been 
 made for v^'ell-intentioned persons and not meant to 
 be abused bv people without consciences. Or, can 
 Herr Kleines be said to possess a conscience ? I, for
 
 1 1 6 A Simple Matter. 
 
 my part, doubt it, but if he has, ft must have a loop- 
 hole. The Police-lieutenant's wife lays the blame on 
 my shoulders, and says that I should never have in- 
 troduced him to them ; this, however, I denied with 
 all the strength in me, for it was she herself who asked 
 me to introduce him, the day when he came up to us 
 at Pichelswerder, and her curiosity would not rest till 
 she knew who the young man was who was talking to 
 me, dressed in the very height of the fashion. Then 
 only did I venture to introduce him. If she maintains 
 anything else, she will at some future day have to 
 answer for it, when our hearts come to be laid open ; 
 for the result will not be altogether in her favour. 
 Still I do not wish to say a word against a lady in her 
 position, for I value her friendship. And, after all, we 
 are none of us without our failings, although no one 
 can say that I have ever made any one responsible for 
 what other people had done, or exposed them to the 
 dangers and changes of the weather, merely because, 
 from a feeling of respect, they made no reply, and 
 preferred to suffer and endure, rather than over-step 
 the bounds of social propriety. If Frau Bergfeldt 
 had met me in that way I should not have forgotten 
 my superior culture, no, not by any means, but should 
 have thanked my stars that I was not in her shoes. 
 
 The matter in question was as simple as possible. 
 The Police-lieutenant's wife had noticed that her 
 daughter Mila had latterly been writing an unusual 
 number of letters to her girl friends without the post- 
 man bringing any answers. This made the mother 
 suspicious, especially as Mila has really very beautiful 
 light brown plaits of hair, and has become altogether 
 very pretty. In my opinion a little too fully formed 
 for her years ; still, slim enough, and particularly neat 
 about the feet; this she no doubt has from. her father,
 
 TJie First Clue. wj 
 
 who is still very fond of casting a pleased look down 
 upon his well-fitting boots, although he has long since 
 passed that period of life when tight shoe-leather is 
 considered one of the pleasures of existence. Mila 
 certainly has not inherited her nimbleness of walking 
 from her mother, any more than she has those neatly 
 tripping feet of hers ; for I'm convinced that since 
 her mother has been tramping about the world, the 
 price of leather must have risen. But no one need 
 take offence at this, for, of course, natural gifts are 
 natural gifts, and I, for one, consider it condescending 
 in a lady of her position to promote any special branch 
 of industry. 
 
 When her suspicions were once aroused, and she 
 felt sure that all was not as it should be, the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife became watchful ; yet, although she 
 looked all through Mila's possessions, she could not 
 find a trace of anything. However, on the day of the 
 big cleaning, when all the furniture is turned upside 
 down, it came to light — for there among the mattress 
 springs of an old couch which Mila had in her room 
 as a sofa, stuck a packet of letters tied together with 
 a light blue ribbon. All of them were addressed /^.y/^ 
 restaiitc, and the make-believe friend to whom Mila 
 had been writing was no other than — Flerr Kleines. 
 
 When she had recovered from her horror, the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife locked herself into her room, and 
 read all the documents through, so she told me after- 
 wards : " exactly like what one reads of in novels," 
 she said, " and there was poetry too ; Spielhagen 
 couldn't have done it more effectively himself, I think." 
 
 What was to be done ? Should she tell her husband, 
 place the letters all in a row on the table, get him to 
 sit on the sofa behind, call Mila in, and hold a regular 
 inquisition that would end in angry words and scold-
 
 ii8 About II err Kleincs, 
 
 ings ? Or should she go more cautiously to work ; 
 leave Mila in optical delusion as if nothing were 
 known, and lay hold of Herr Kleines and give him 
 his well-merited deserts ? She decided upon the latter 
 course, and therefore rolled the blue silk ribbon round 
 the sinful literature, and confided it again to the sofa 
 springs. She could thus from time to time watch how 
 matters were proceeding, and by always knowing 
 what v/ent on, could, as it were, be her child's own 
 guardian angel in disguise. Of this she was con- 
 vinced — Herr Kleines was a mere family deceiver, who 
 took delight in making love to young ladies, and in 
 breaking off the connection as soon as he noticed that 
 the family were beginning to consider the matter be- 
 yond a joke. Thi3 is one of the dark sides of life in a 
 large town ; if anything of the sort happened in a 
 small town, such a man would at once be excommu- 
 nicated by every respectable family, till he made up 
 his mind to marry the girl, or if that couldn't be man- 
 aged, he would be dismissed from his post, and some 
 younger and more honourable man would obtain his 
 place, with a prospect of an increase in salar}^, so that 
 there might be no excuse for his hesitating to accept 
 the offer. 
 
 Herr Kleines' character was sufficiently well known 
 to the Police-lieutenant's wife, for the day after he 
 had taken Mila out in a boat on the Havel in the dark, 
 the Police-lieutenant paid a visit to Herr Kleines' 
 lodgings, and as Flerr Kleines happened to be out, the 
 Police-lieutenant had a long chat with his landlady. 
 This landlady became as talkative as he could have 
 wished, for it was clearly a relief to her, once in a way, 
 to be able to blurt out everything uninterruptedl^^ 
 "He didn't owe her anything, that she must admit; 
 but as to order — there was nothing whatever of that in
 
 and Ills Landlady. 119 
 
 him ; if she didn't tidy up everything herself, his room 
 would look as if it had been tumbled up by an earth- 
 quake. And then his dreadful and endless smoking ! 
 It was a wonder the house hadn't long since been 
 burnt down ; her new table-cover was full of holes in 
 no time, and a bed-quilt he had also set fire to. When 
 she had complained of this, his reply was ' that she 
 could insure the things against fire if she chose ; he 
 wasn't responsible for such damage.' Was that a proper 
 way to speak ? " — " About what time did he usuiilly 
 come in of an evening ? " the Police-lieutenant had then 
 asked. — " He goes his own way in that more than in any- 
 thing else," the landlady had answered ; " no Christian 
 way of reckoning time could keep any account of his 
 way of treating day and night. Yet she herself was of 
 a respectable family. Her parents, however, had left 
 her nothing but the house to live upon, and she had 
 been advised to let out the apartments ; it was a hard 
 way of earning a living ; a bitter, miserable kind of life. 
 She never dared be ill, and had to put up with a great 
 deal ; for those young men who were modest and easily 
 pleased were apt to get behindhand in paying what 
 they owed ; and those gentlemen who were punctual 
 in paying were full of pretensions, and impudent. 
 Othcrv/ise she would never tolerate the coffee parties 
 they gave, that was certain, for her father had held a 
 good position." 
 
 " What were these coffee parties ? " the Police- 
 lieutenant had then asked. — " They call the ladies their 
 cousins," the landlady had replied, " but she knew 
 them to be shop-girls whom they had met at public 
 dancing-rooms." — " Who do you mean by ' they' ? " — ■ 
 '' Weil, Herr Kleines and Herr Pfeiffer, who has rooms 
 here too. I have to make the coffee and to provide 
 the cakes, and they are all as hungry as young wolves ;
 
 I20 About Maich-uiaking. 
 
 at times I have had to supply them with as much as 
 two marks' worth of cakes. What will be the end of 
 it all ? Yet if I drop a word about extravagance, there 
 is at once an uproar, with abusive language. When 
 one has to live upon furnished gentlemen, one gets to 
 know what goes on in the world." 
 
 1 felt my coiffure standing on end when the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife told me of these goings on, and after- 
 wards, when I had an opportunity, I asked Uncle Fritz 
 if he had ever heard of such things, and whether 
 young men were all as bad as that. — " There's some of 
 one sort and some of t'other," was his reply ; and 
 then he added : " but the fault's not theirs alone. If 
 families were to welcome young fellows to their houses, 
 without regarding them merely as matrimonial specu- 
 lations, many a one would, maybe, be more steady. 
 But as things are, if a young fellow behaves at all in a 
 friendly way towards any of the daughters m a house- 
 hold, the aunts immediately set about making up a 
 match, which makes the man fight shy, and off he goes 
 howling. It's no wonder that he goes and plunges 
 into the stream of Berlin life ! What's the good of 
 perpetually regarding society as a mere marriage 
 market? " — What Uncle Fritz got from me in reply to 
 his last remark was not milk-sop, that's certain. 
 
 The main point was, however, that we now knew 
 enough about Herr Kleines ; and when the plans of 
 the Police-lieutenant's wife were matured, she paid me 
 a visit and said: "Things have come to a point now." 
 — " What ? " said I. — " Well, he has invited her to m.eet 
 him at the confectioner Miiller's, to have chocolate 
 there." — " The place opposite the Central Hotel," I 
 asked, " and celebrated for its cakes ? " — " That'll be 
 it, for they are to meet at the Friedrich Strasse Station." 
 — '' It's shameful," I exclaimed, " to disgrace so wel-
 
 Wilhebnine pursued by Ill-luck. 12 1 
 
 come an arrangement as a city railway station by such 
 wicked doings ! " — " Yet it was you that introduced 
 him to us." — " It was not," said I. — " It was." — " It 
 was not." — " It was so." — " Well, I never ! " I replied, 
 with as much nonchalance as possible, in order not to 
 cause any provocation. — " Frau Buchholz," she re- 
 sumed with all her innate refinement, "you are, at all 
 events, in some degree responsible, and must, there- 
 fore, help me catch Herr Kleines at the station. I 
 have taken our tickets already ; now do be good 
 enough to put on your things and come with me." 
 
 I had hitherto always considered a railway journey 
 a kind of pleasure, except, of course, when travelling 
 in one of those crawling trains that stop at every tele- 
 graph post ; but I see now that all depends upon the 
 why and the wherefore, and whither one happens to 
 be going, and that speed is, after all, only a secondary 
 consideration. 
 
 I should not have been sorry if our engine had had 
 a fit of explosion, or if our train had come to a stand- 
 still ; but, as always happens where I am concerned, 
 there was not any such good luck in store. How often 
 I have wished, as a child, when our last holiday had 
 come, and some unfinished work had got to be done, 
 that the school would fall in, or be burnt down, or that 
 the teacher would break his leg — but no such joyful 
 wish of mine was ever fulfilled ; on the contrary, it 
 was sure to happen that the girl next me in class 
 would be asked to repeat the very lines I knew best, 
 and that I had to stutter through the verse which I 
 had felt positive we should never come to at all that 
 day. So, of course, on the present occasion, likewise, 
 not a mortal thing came to my rescue, not a vestige of 
 anything like slipping off the rails, nor the faintest bit 
 of a collision, and before I had sighed myself out, we 
 had reached the Friedrich Strasse Station,
 
 122 On the Trail. 
 
 '■ We shall have to cross over to the other side 
 quickly," said the Police-lieutenant's wife, " for he 
 sent her a ticket to Potsdam, of course, for fear of 
 any one noticing anything, in which case we should 
 have waited in vain at the station on the city line. 
 However, I had read his letter and have seen the 
 ticket he sent her. " Horrible," I exclaimed. — '• And, 
 of course, it is doubtful whether the confectioner 
 Miiller may not, after all, be a blind, and that he may 
 have the intention to carry the girl out into the 
 wide world." — " Let us hurry, dear friend," said I, 
 *' there is some crime in view here that must be pre- 
 vented. He shall come to know what Frau Buchholz 
 can be ! " — " And," added the Police-lieutenant's wife, 
 " he'll think of me too, when the crash unexpectedly 
 comes down upon his head." — "Yes, undoubtedly, we 
 are the thunder-clouds," I said, continuing her train of 
 thought. — " I was not aware that there was anything 
 thunder-cloudy about me," she replied curtly, " and if 
 my new mantle is too good for such an expedition, I 
 need not make myself any reproaches. It w^as you 
 who introduced him to us," — "No, it was not." — "It 
 was so." — There was no help for it, she persisted in 
 her wilful opinion. 
 
 Away we went down the stairs, winding our way 
 through the various passages, past the wigwams with 
 the ticket-collectors inside, first round a pillar here, 
 and a corner there, exactly like Indians on the war 
 trail, till we had found the right entrance, and reached 
 the main-line platform, out of breath. 
 
 Meanwhile, daylight had all but come to an end, 
 and the electric lights were lit. The effect was as if 
 moonlight were shining into the huge vaulted build- 
 ing that runs along in a curve, somewhat in the form 
 of an architectural sausage, open at both ends for the
 
 A Weird Scene. 123 
 
 trains to fly in and out. The wind, too, comes driving 
 through the gigantic funnel, and persons who have a 
 liking for shattered healths need only run themselves 
 hot, and then sit in one of those stations. In three 
 minutes the first symptoms of a cold in the head will 
 put in an appearance, or the chill will be felt in one's 
 back. In my mind's eye I could already see myself 
 being rubbed with opodeldoc, and taking hot lime- 
 blossom tea ; yet surely the human organism has some 
 other destination in life than merely to catch cold from 
 a feeling of respectful affection. And one's temper, 
 too, does not get any the better from the waiting and 
 standing about ; there are constant tinkling and rat- 
 tling sounds, and a continual moving to and fro at 
 every turn and corner, just as if the place were regu- 
 larly haunted, for no human eye can see the electrical 
 wires that regulate all the communication. 
 
 The darker the evening got outside, the more eerie 
 things appeared in the station. On looking out from 
 the moonshiny light in the station into the darkness 
 which seemed scarcely larger than a hole in an oven, 
 suddenly something in the distance with a couple of 
 fiery eyes that got larger and larger and rounder and 
 more brilliant every moment — would at last come rush- 
 ing in, panting like some huge monster, and then as 
 suddenly stand still. As soon as it comes to a stop, 
 of course it is at once seen that the apparition is noth- 
 ing but a railway train ; but when it first came rushing 
 from the darkness into the light, hissing and spitting, 
 I could have fancied it some supernatural creature 
 about to crush to atoms everything that came in its 
 
 Then, on every side there is a pushing and driving, 
 to the right and to the left, in front and behind, as if 
 the devil. had let loose all his attendant spirits to
 
 124 A splendid Victory. 
 
 frighten one ; we meanwhile sat there in a cutting 
 draught, on the watch for our enemy, our plans of 
 action ready for the coming attack. Escape he could 
 not, for as soon as he set foot on the platform the 
 Police-lieutenant's wife intended to encircle him, while 
 I was to stand at the top of the stairs with my arms 
 stretched out sideways, to cut off his retreat. He was 
 as good as caught already — of this there seemed no 
 doubt whatever. 
 
 Just as I was beginning to feel the campaign intoler- 
 able, something at last did happen, and although it 
 was not Herr Kleines that appeared, it was his boon 
 companion, Herr Pfeiffer. " There is one of the two," 
 I whispered, " let us to the attack." And before Herr 
 Pfeiffer knew why or wherefore, the Police-lieutenant's 
 wife had met him face to face, and when he was about 
 to make off by turning back, there he had me with 
 outstretched arms before him, as had previously been 
 arranged. Our victory was a splendid one ; he col- 
 lapsed like a jelly taken out of its mould too soon. 
 But he was hypocrite enough to pretend that he was 
 pleased to meet us. We, too, said that we were very 
 glad to meet so very steady a young man, and thus we 
 bandied about a lot of polite speeches that were posi- 
 tive untruths, the one party endeavouring to conceal 
 his fright, the other their wrath. 
 
 He tried in various ways to beat a retreat, but found 
 it impossible ; he said that he must positively go and 
 speak to one of the porters for a minute. But we 
 stuck by him ; thus any communication by which he 
 might wish to warn Herr Kleines was nipped in the 
 bud. At last he made a final effort to frighten us by 
 speaking the truth: " Excuse me, ladies, I must be off 
 to meet a friend, otherwise there will be a calamity." 
 — " May I ask you who your friend is ? " inquired the
 
 Herr Kleines Retreats. 125 
 
 Police - lieutenant's wife. — " It is my friend Herr 
 Kleines," replied Herr Pfeiffer in his deepest and most 
 assuring tone of voice. — "Wear him in your cap, for 
 all we care," said I. And scarcely had I flung that 
 piece of ridicule at him, when Herr Kleines himself 
 came bouncing up the stairs two steps at a time ; a 
 piece of glass, of course, stuck in his left eye, and the 
 outer man was clothed in an overcoat the colour of 
 wash-leather, like a scavenger's, with reddish-brown 
 checks all over it, which made him look more odd 
 than captivating. 
 
 We had thought that, by means of the manoeuvres 
 we had practised upon Herr Pfeiffer, we should be 
 able to catch Herr Kleines with the utmost ease, 
 but when he saw us he made off by the way he had 
 come, and scampered backwards to the point where 
 the station ends and the danger of being run over 
 commences. Can he be going to throw himself on to 
 the rails, to be dashed to pieces by the first chance 
 demon of an engine ? thought I in horror. But this 
 was not likely, for whilst he fled, he kept turning his 
 face, with the eye-glass, towards us, and hopped from 
 one leg on .to the other in a most inelegant fashion, at 
 the same time making most inhuman and contorted 
 grimaces. The Police-lieutenant's wife maintained 
 afterwards, for certain, that he had even stuck out his 
 tongue, and said she supposed it was at me, which 
 favour, however, I modestly thrust back upon her. 
 The whole affair had, moreover, passed so quickly 
 that she may have been deceived, especially owing to 
 the moonshiny light and the presence of the many 
 people about, who, of course, could not imagine what 
 had happened, and gazed in amazement at Herr 
 Kleines' war-dance. 
 
 Surely we shall have him yet, thought I, for he
 
 126 Mila Arrives, 
 
 couldn't go much further unless he preferred death to 
 our society. We had even raised our hands towards 
 him, when he seemed to touch an iron handle, where- 
 upon immediately and before our very eyes, Hcrr 
 Klcines disappeared into the depths, taking off his 
 hat, and smiling in a bland way as lie vanished. The 
 fact was he had got down the luggage-lift ; fancy our 
 having to witness that ! 
 
 " Thank God he is safe," exclaimed Herr Pfeiffer, as 
 the boards closed over Herr Kleines' head, and he had 
 vanished as if by magic. ''You are glad of this?" 
 said I ; " really I could pity you, Herr Pfeiffer." 
 
 If the train from Alexander Platz had not come 
 up at that moment, with Mila in it, I think the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife would be standing there still in a 
 dazed kind of way (as if she had dropped a tray with 
 dishes), and trying to understand how Herr Kleines 
 had managed to escape. She did not, of course, know 
 that his business took him continually to the railway 
 stations, and that he was intimately acquainted with 
 all the arrangements there. Otherwise how could he 
 have made such unconscionable use of the luggage- 
 lift, which was meant for the convenience of passen- 
 gers, and had not been put up by the State for the 
 escape of miscreants. Language has no words for 
 him ; there is no designation contemptible enough for 
 ?uch conduct as his. 
 
 Mila must have nearly dislocated her neck in trying 
 to catch sight of the checked ulster with which Herr 
 Kleines meant to fascinate her ; when, however, in 
 place of seeing it, she perceived her mother and me, 
 her head disappeared from, the carriage window as 
 suddenly as if it had snapped back on an india-rubber 
 string. That was of no use, however, for what has 
 once been discovered remains discovered, and out she
 
 and is taken in hand by her Mother. 127 
 
 had to come of the carriage, out of her romantic 
 dreams of secret meetings v\dth chocolate and the best 
 of cakes at Miiller's, out into real life with electric 
 lights, out on to the platform for local and main-line 
 trains. 
 
 " You're a nice daughter," exclaimed the Police- 
 lieutenant's wife in the purest of Landsberger Strasse 
 dialects ; " come here with you at once," and took hold 
 of Mila firmly by the elbow. Mila looked as miserable 
 as if she had been one of Castan's blear-eyed wax dolls 
 walking in its sleep. I wanted to have a word with 
 her, but her mother said : " Leave her to me, Frau 
 Buchholz ; I shall address my daughter as becomes a 
 'mother. The best thing we can do is to pack her off 
 to a boarding school in Switzerland,' and that as soon 
 as possible. From all I hear they are strict there, and 
 such places as city railway stations are unknown." — 
 *' That is a great advantage," said I. — " One word 
 more, Frau Buchholz, you will be discreet, won't you ? 
 Not a syllable to any one about all this ? Thank you 
 very much, good-bye ! " 
 
 When the mother and daughter had disappeared 
 down the stairs, I meant to have addressed myself 
 again to Herr Pfeiffer, partly to give him a final word 
 of warning, partly also to bind him over to silence. 
 But he was off " on four dimensions," as Uncle Fritz 
 has lately taken to saying when anything has vanished. 
 Probably in his fright he jumped into the train, and 
 not having a ticket, I can only hope his railway mis- 
 deeds will not altogether escape punishment. May- 
 bach attends to the comfort of travellers in every 
 possible way, but any offence committed against the 
 mighty railway corporation itself, he punishes merci- 
 lessly. Let Herr Pfeiffer and Herr Kleines remember 
 that ! It is quite possible that, in some such case and
 
 128 End of the Love Affair. 
 
 in the interest of families, Maybach might order the 
 luggage-lift to be nailed down, and any such result of 
 our war trail would be welcome news to aggrieved 
 mothers. To attain such results, the German people 
 have been given the right to raise complaints, and who 
 can prevent them ? But these complaints generally 
 lead to one's being told that all such things are better 
 managed abroad than in our country. Woman, too, 
 has her political rights, and does not need to allow 
 herself to be imposed upon. 
 
 The Police-lieutenant's wife told me two days after- 
 wards that Mila is soon to be sent away to Switzer- 
 land, where she is to receive instruction in languages 
 and comportment. The mother said she had torn Herr 
 Kleines out of the girl's heart by the root — indeed the 
 girl confessed to have found him more comic and 
 .amusing than anything else, and seems not to have 
 taken the matter very seriously. So this love affair 
 of a summer's day may be considered at an end. 
 Nevertheless, I approve of the precaution taken in 
 sending Mila away from the neighbourhood where her 
 admirer resides, and we are, therefore, not likely again 
 ti- be called upon to go out on the war trail. Mila, 
 too, will make progress with her studies, which is very 
 necessary, for, although we do not make any preten- 
 sion to occupying as high a social position as the 
 Police-lieutenants, I can truthfully say that in litera- 
 ture, history, and such knowledge, our Betti is a good 
 bit in advance of Mila, in fact as far as the Belle 
 Alliance Platz is from the Wedding.
 
 Carl busy at his Books. 129 
 
 BETTI. 
 
 Fortunately the season was now behind us again, 
 and we were living a harmless kind of life. My Carl 
 had to devote more time to his books than he had ever 
 done before, and seemed to entertain the wish of ex- 
 tending his business and to depend more upon his own 
 manufactures, if only he could have obtained the right 
 sort of help. As, however, he seemed unable to find a 
 suitable partner, the business had to remain as it w^as, 
 and he had to manage alone. Betti and I, of course, 
 did our best to make his life as pleasant as possible in 
 various ways, for it was, in reality, only for us that 
 Carl kept busy at his books far into the night. He, 
 on the other hand, seemed specially concerned about 
 Betti's welfare, and would say he wanted to see things 
 comfortably settled regarding her future. When I 
 reproached him by saying that he was overworking 
 himself, he would reply : " Do not worry, child ! 
 Before the day comes for me to close my eyes, I want 
 to be sure that neither of you will want." — " Carl," 
 said I, " do not talk in that way, it pains me. What- 
 ever should I want with Mammon without you ? Do 
 take care of yourself. Keep warm, and do not have 
 such melancholy thoughts ; you'll become hypochon- 
 driacal, and lose your appetite." — "Well, well, Wilhel- 
 mine, as you like, but there's no use trying to conceal 
 the fact that we are neither of us young people any 
 longer." 
 
 Of such conversations Betti, of course, was told 
 nothing. She, quite contrary to her former ways, was 
 now taking an active interest in the household ar- 
 rangements, and no grass was allowed to grow under 
 her feet. And I had the satisfaction of seeing that, of 
 Q
 
 130 About Poetical Instruction. 
 
 an afternoon, she occupied herself with literature. 
 Her attempts at verse-making were still not very suc- 
 cessful, although Herr Leuenfels came from time to 
 time to instruct her in the fundamental principles of 
 poetr3^ In these lessons I silently took part, sitting at 
 my work table, for one can never know in what way 
 poetry may prove useful some day. 
 
 Poetical instruction of this kind is by no means an 
 easy matter. At first Betti was made to select a number 
 of convenient words, such as : wall, warm, pearl, and 
 flower, and had to think of as many rhymes to these as 
 she could find, and then make verses of the collected 
 words. The verses did not become beautiful, some 
 hadn't even a vestige of sense, but even Herr Leuenfels 
 declared these exercises to be utterly indispensable, in- 
 asmuch as persons not quick at rhymes would never 
 produce anything great in poetry. He said that even 
 the so-called classic writers (and Leuenfels somehow 
 had a mighty pique against them) were bunglers at 
 rhyming, and had, moreover, perpetually borrowed 
 from the ancient Greeks, and other such careless poets. 
 
 " You must be mistaken there, or be thinking of 
 some one else," said I, disputing his remark. " Do 
 you mean to say that Schiller — that noble soul — 
 decked himself with the feathers of others ? ' No,' 
 say I, his earthly sojourn was too honest for that." 
 
 " Pshaw ! He honest, indeed ! " exclaimed Leuen- 
 fels disparagingly; " why, he had his cellars full of the 
 best of wines." — " And he deserved to," I replied. — 
 " For those commonplace rhymes of his ? " — " It's not 
 every one can make as good ones," said I, getting 
 personal ; " and as to his having copied others, I don't 
 believe it." In place of answering me, Leuenfels took 
 a volume of Shakespeare and one of Schiller out of 
 the bookrC^se, and turned up certain passages where
 
 Schiller charged zvitJi Plagiarism. 131 
 
 he said Schiller's dishonesty was most distinctly evi- 
 dent. " In ' Hamlet,' " he said, " we find the words 
 ' Fare well,' and in Schiller's Cabale und Liebc ' Fare 
 well.' In the same way in * Hamlet ' we find, ' there 
 comes the King,' and in Schiller's 'yungfrau von Orleans 
 precisely the very same words. And his Louise Mil- 
 lerin says ' Oh,' and ' Ophelia ' says ' Oh,' and there 
 are numberless instances of the kind." 
 
 " Now you see, Mamma," said Betti, who had been 
 helping Herr Leuenfels compare the passages, " if 
 S,chiller had done this at an examination, he would 
 never have been allowed to pass." 
 
 "And to think that for all this length of time his 
 works have nevertheless been described as classic ! " 
 I exclaimed in dismay; "whom can one trust now- 
 adays ? Everything is false." 
 
 " We can tell to a nicet}', in the case of all of them, 
 where they have been light-fingered," said Leuenfels ; 
 " but we younger poets do not let anything escape us 
 with regard to their so-called heroic minds ; we are 
 pitilessly searching in our work." 
 
 I felt as if struck dumb at this discovery, for, hon- 
 estly said, I loved my Schiller ; he was more to" me 
 than any other poet. " Did he steal his 'Song of the 
 Bell ' too ? " I asked. — " Of this we have as yet not 
 obtained any reliable information," replied Leuenfels. 
 — "That is, at all events, some comfort, for I know it 
 almost all by heart, and it would be very disagreeable 
 to think one were carrying stolen goods about in one's 
 memory." 
 
 " It is time that this excessive praise came to an 
 end," added Leuenfels. "Why is it that the public 
 extol the ancient writers and neglect the younger 
 school of poets in such an unwarrantable manner ? 
 The works of ancient writers are purchased, while we
 
 132 Beer versus Poetry. 
 
 are left to grow mouldy in editors' desks. The feel- 
 ing for genuine poetry has died out among the peo- 
 ple.' — " Do not be too hard upon the people," said I, 
 by way of consoling him ; "depend upon it, you will 
 be admired when you are dead." He threw himself 
 into an arm-chair, pushed all his ten fingers through 
 his fair hair, and said, moaning : '* I feel it ; I was 
 born into this ungrateful world a century before my 
 time ! " Thereupon, with a scofifing laugh, he ex- 
 claimed, " Why did I not think of starting a beer- 
 house ! " — " You can do so still," said I, " if the peo- 
 ple absolutely refuse to have their tastes purified. 
 Moreover, I do believe they understand beer better 
 than poetry. Test them by putting a book of poetry 
 by the side of a beautiful cool pint of beer ; you will 
 see which they will grasp at first." — " They are not 
 worthy of our writing poetry for them. And for all I 
 care, let them sink into the slough of their own vul- 
 garity. I will shatter my harp, and leave the people 
 to perish." — "What cruelty!" I exclaimed; "do try 
 once or twice again in kindliness of spirit, a3 Abraham 
 did with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, before 
 God cast His dynamite upon them." 
 
 " How can I do so, when no one will listen to 
 me ? " he began again. " Into the paper-basket they 
 have cast my songs, and — oh, woe is me ! — among the 
 'Editor's Gossip' have I been scoffed at ! " The poor 
 creature — I really began to pity him. " Need every- 
 thing be written in rhyme ? " said I, meaning to speak 
 compassionately and cheerfully at the same time ; 
 " there are people who cannot stand the smell of 
 onions, and others who, before midsummer day, like 
 eating the green herbs above the earth, and after mid- 
 summer the roots from below the ground. It may be 
 the same with poetry ; it may be one person's favour-
 
 TJic Patent Fir-Trcc. 133 
 
 ite dish, while another mightn't care to touch it even 
 with his fingers. To speak honestly, I myself prefer 
 what is not written in rh^'^me, for it's only very rarely that 
 people speak in verse, and then they do so only when 
 their imaginations are too active, and leeches have to 
 be applied, and ice put on their heads. I would 
 advise you to try and write plain intelligible German 
 prose, instead of rhymed verses ; I'm sure it would be 
 more welcome " — " Prose ! " he cried out in a voice of 
 despair — " wretched prose ! " — " My daughter, too, has 
 more talent for v.'hat is simple, I think ; don't you 
 think you have, Betti ? " — "Poetry has certainly not 
 come within my grasp yet," Betti replied. "Let Herr 
 Leuenfels hear the little story you have been writing." 
 — " It's too trivial ; I should feel ashamed of it." — 
 " Please, let me hear it, Fraulein Buchholz," said 
 Leuenfels ; " I did not say that I considered prose to 
 be absolutely superfluous." He will give in by and 
 by, thought I. 
 
 Betti went to fetch her story ; it was one she had 
 presented to her father at Christmas, and it had 
 pleased us immensely, for she had done it all out of 
 her own head without any help. The tree that she 
 wrote about she had seen in a shop — that was all. 
 The mother, the father, and the children were all un- 
 knov/n to her ; she had invented them all herself. I 
 was therefore very anxious to hear what Feodor 
 Wichmann-Leuenfels would say to it ; but Betti was 
 a little bashful, for she stuttered rather at the begin- 
 ning in reading out the title, "The Patent Fir-Tree." 
 "That is pure nonsense !" exclaimed Leuenfels, inter- 
 rupting her. — " It is not," I replied ; " the thing ex- 
 isted, and what has existed is not nonsense. But you 
 are not to interrupt her again, else I shall be annoyed," 
 Betti continued :
 
 134 The Secret in the Pedestal. 
 
 " It had come from America carefully packed in a 
 box. The several parts were numbered, so that they 
 could be put together in the manner intended, and 
 when all the different parts had been fitted into one 
 another, there stood the patent fir-tree trim and ready. 
 The trunk looked almost exactly like a real trunk, 
 only it was a little more glossy than the reality, for it 
 had a coat of sp'endid patent varnish : the branches 
 too were very much more regularly placed than is 
 generally seen in a poor forest tree, they were all 
 curved so evenly and regularly one would have sup- 
 posed they had all enjoyed the same lessons in de- 
 portment. And how beautifully green the branches 
 were ! In place of needles they were covered with 
 fine soft chenille, which the dyer had coloured with 
 his brightest of greens. There was not a tree in the 
 wide world as green. Every one of the wire branches 
 hal a candle-holder, and there were small hooks for 
 fastening on the sweetmeats, silver apples, and golden 
 nuts. The nuts and apples too were made of metal 
 by some patented process. They could not, of course, 
 be eaten, but on the other hand, could be used over 
 and over again as Christmas came round. Then, too, 
 the stand upon which the tree was fixed was of cast- 
 iron, nickel-plated, and had an inscription which in- 
 formed every one who could read, that the tree was a 
 patent one. The stand moreover had a spring, the 
 secret about which was not to be revealed till Christ- 
 mas Eve came ; for even this secret was a patent. 
 
 " In fact, there never was a more patented fir-tree 
 than this American piece of mechanism. 
 
 "Christmas Eve arrived; and while the children 
 were anxiously awaiting the moment for the doors of 
 the room containing the tree and the presents to be 
 opened, the parents were in the room arranging the
 
 A 'Brill aiit Scene. 135 
 
 tables. Affection had assisted in the selection of the 
 various gifts, and again it was affection that lent a 
 hand in placing the gifts in as pleasing a manner as 
 possible, in order that the eyes of those who were to 
 receive them should at once catch sight of what they 
 had most wished to possess. Again, several of the 
 gifts were carefully hidden, so as to be discovered, 
 and by this means a new surprise was created after 
 the first delight had subsided a little. In the midst of 
 all these gifts stood the patent fir-tree. 
 
 ''The parents, in quiet and expectant jo)^, gave a 
 last look round at the pleasant scene which they knew 
 would make the children's hearts beat with greater 
 glee than upon any other sight during the year. 
 
 " ' I do not see anything wanting,' said the mother, 
 ' yet it strikes me that I miss something, but cannot 
 make out what it is.' 
 
 " 'It is the brightness of Christmas, I think,' replied 
 the father ; ' let us light the candles, their brightness 
 will give the finishing touch.' 
 
 *' When the lights on the patent tree were lit, the 
 doors were thrown open and the children stood on the 
 threshold dazzled by the brilliant scene. When, how- 
 ever, they v/ere led up to their several little heaps of 
 presents, each one to a separate place, they burst out 
 in joyous exclamations ; again had come that moment 
 of blissful giving and joyous acceptance. 
 
 " ' Have you examined the fir-tree carefully ?' said 
 the father after a time. 
 
 " ' Is it a real fir-tree ? ' asked one of the boys. 
 
 "' No, but much more beautiful. Now watch how 
 wonderful it is.' 
 
 "With these words the father pressed a little button 
 attached to the nickel-plated stand, and the tree slowly 
 commenced to turn round ; a musical box too began
 
 136 A Musical Tree. 
 
 to play a lively dance. This was the secret of the 
 patent fir-tree. 
 
 "A Christmas tree that could turn and play tunes 
 by itself was a thing the children had never seen. 
 ' How do you like it ? ' asked the father, and again 
 wound up the clock-work. 
 
 " The children did not answer at first, then one of 
 the boys asked : ' Did this tree ever stand in a forest 
 among other trees, and ever listen to the stories the 
 fairies tell, like those in my story book ?' — The father 
 smiled, and said : ' No, this is not a fairy-tree, but was 
 made by a clever man in America.' 
 
 "'It doesn't smell like Christmas,' said his sister. 
 * Now I know what it was I missed,' whispered the 
 mother to the father, ' the tree does not give out the 
 aroma that the firs of our forests do. It wants the fra- 
 grance.' Whether it was that the patent tree noticed 
 that it Vi'as being spoken of disparagingly, it is difficult 
 to say. but just at that moment something cracked in 
 the clock-work, and while a new and merrier tune 
 commenced, the tree, too, began turning round quicker 
 than before. One might have fancied that the tree 
 wanted to show off all it could do. But this only 
 seemed so, for, in fact, the new tune and the quicker 
 movement were patents also. 
 
 " The mother had meanwhile gone out, and when 
 she returned after a short time, she was carrying a 
 small real fir-tree, the very last one to be had of a man 
 in the street who had been offering it to passers-by, 
 but had been unable to sell it, owing to its looking too 
 miserable and poor. The mother took the sweetmeats 
 from the patent tree and decorated the little tree she 
 had purchased ; paper nets and gold paper chains 
 were also hung upon it, and candles were fastened on 
 to the branches. A little table covered with a white
 
 The Patent Fir-Tree taken to Bits. 157 
 
 cloth was brought in for it to stand upon, and soon its 
 candles were lighted and the children gathered round 
 it. ' This is a real Christmas, now ! ' they exclaimed. 
 And when one of the candles in toppling over a little, 
 set fire to the needles of a neighbouring branch, mak- 
 ing a fizzing noise, the fire had to be blown out. A 
 light streak of smoke rose from the tree. ' Now it is 
 Christmas more than ever ! ' the children again cried 
 out. 
 
 " The patent fir-tree had meanwhile been standing 
 still again, as no one had wound it up, but the little 
 forest tree with its fresh aromatic smell sent a per- 
 fume over the whole room. The candle that had leant 
 over a little had helped in this as far as it was able. 
 
 "When visitors came during the holiday week, the 
 patent tree was exhibited and had to perform its feats. 
 Every one thought it very wonderful ; but as Christ- 
 mas Eve was past no one seemed to notice that it 
 lacked what was, after all, the best part about the real 
 tree — the power to awaken memories, the memory of 
 former Christmas Eves, and of the green forest that was 
 slumbering beneath a white covering of snow, await- 
 ing the resurrection of spring. 
 
 " Some days afterwards the patent fir-tree was taken 
 to bits, packed in its box, and placed in the loft, every 
 numbered piece of the trunk, every numbered branch 
 being carefully rolled up in tissue paper. I doubt, 
 however, whether it will be fetched down this Christ- 
 mas and put up again, for I have heard that a beauti- 
 ful large fir-tree has been ordered, so tall that it will 
 almost touch the ceiling, nuts also, with real kernels, 
 and apples that can be eaten, are to be gilded over 
 and silvered of an evening after the children are 
 asleep. 
 
 "These are bad prospects for the patent fir-tree." —
 
 138 A Doivnpour of Abuse. 
 
 Betti ceased and cast down her eyes as if she had 
 been thieving or had committed some silliness that 
 she was ashamed of ; but I enjoyed hearing tlie little 
 story again, although I knew every syllable and com- 
 ma in it. However, I did not say a word, and waited 
 anxiously for Leuenfels to express an opinion ; but he 
 said nothing. " Now then ! " I said at last and a little 
 impatiently. 
 
 Leuenfels shrugged his shoulders and said, with a 
 critical air : " Is that all ? How can any one think of 
 writing about such commonplace things?" — "But 
 she's managed it very nicely," I ventured to remark ; 
 " or are there faults in it ? " — " There is absolutely noth- 
 ing whatever in it," he exclaimed, " no proposition, no 
 periphery, no proper rounding off, and above all not a 
 vestige of poetry. Where is the Christmas angel, with 
 its poetic, white gleaming wings ; where are the church 
 bells, with their harmonious music ; where is there any- 
 thing about faith, hope, and charity ? And what I con- 
 sider most unpardonable is her imitation of Andersen 
 and those other scribblers of fairy tales. My advice 
 to you, Fraulein Buchholz, is to give up any further 
 attempts at writing ; you have talent, certainly, but of 
 genius not a spark ! " 
 
 During this downpour of abuse I felt as if dust were 
 being flung at me all round, especially in my face. 
 Betti sat there looking utterly petrified, and did not 
 venture to stir, she felt so ashamed and disgraced, for 
 Leuenfels was right ; her story did not contain any 
 one of the things he had specified. I, myself, could 
 now scarcely imagine how it was that we had all en- 
 joyed the story so much, and that Carl had maintained 
 that Betti might be uncommunicative, but that she 
 had depth of feeling ; how utterly mistaken, too, I 
 had been in supposing that Betti might yet find happi-
 
 True Genius has no Limitations. 139 
 
 ness, and a kind of profession, in literary work, since 
 it liad become evident that she had no inclination for 
 becoming a governess, or for stud3'ing music or paint- 
 ing. An owl — as I may say — had clearly been sitting 
 in our midst. 
 
 Betti did not venture to make a remark ; she is not 
 apt to give in readily, so I had to risk a speech. " Herr 
 Leuenfels," I began, "as her story does not appear 
 good enough for you, I should like you to tell me 
 what you consider true poetic style ; it is well that one 
 should know the difference." — '' Nothing is easier than 
 that," he replied. " There are two poems of mine 
 published in the ' Eolian Harp,' the editor of which — 
 Hunold MuUer von der Havel — himself requested me 
 to become a member of the National German Rhym- 
 ing Society. And I have become a member. My last 
 poem carried off the prize- Do I need to say more.^" 
 — " Oh no, certainly not." — " I composed it in the Win- 
 ter Garden at the time of the Press Festival. True 
 genius is not bound by time or place. Let me recite 
 it to you." 
 
 With this he leant against the stove, pulled out his 
 cuffs, pushed back his hair, put on a look like apple 
 jelly, and then commenced : 
 
 A SORROWFUL SEPARATION. 
 i^Prize poem by Feodor Wichmait7i-Leueii/eIs.) 
 
 "A palm-tree in the far-off north, 
 In a lone green-house is standing-. 
 How very much hath clianged its worth ! 
 Its leaves are now all vanishing. 
 
 " It dreams long dreams of a pine-tree, 
 On the distant Congo-strand ; 
 Yet long has that tree ceased to be 
 On the desert's fieiy brand."
 
 140 Fran Buchholcs Blood Boils. 
 
 " Now just listen to that," I exclaimed, when he had 
 ended in a doleful tone ; "grand the poem cannot be 
 called, and neither can I call it new." — " Not new ! 
 An improvisation of mine on that evening, not new ! " 
 — " No, new it is not," said I. " Betti, you surely re- 
 member Heine's poem about a dreaming pine-tree. 
 Isn't it almost exactly like this one of Herr Leuen- 
 fels'?" — "There's not the smallest resemblance!" he 
 exclaimed in an offended tone. "In the wretched pro- 
 duction you refer to, the pine-tree stands in the north, in 
 my poem it is the palm-tree, and you call that the same ? 
 Ridiculous ! Those who do not possess sufficient 
 knowledge ought not to presume to pass judgment." 
 
 This made my blood boil up. " You say that my 
 Betti has borrowed from others, while you yourself 
 crib things in such a way that one might fancy the 
 police must be at the door. And yet you talk about 
 genius and pathology, and goodness knows all what 
 other ologies ! That's more than I'll put up with in 
 my house ! So do me the favour to see if your great- 
 coat is in the hall ; if it is, take it out for an airing, 
 that the moths don't get into it. I should think you'd 
 drop writing poetry now, once and for ever ! " — " If my 
 poetry is to be thus scorned, I shall let people know 
 what I can do. If they will not honour me as a poet, 
 they shall learn to fear me as a critic. Now I recog- 
 nise my destination in life, and it is to you, Frau Buch- 
 holz, that I owe this discovery." With this he made a 
 formal bow, and walked out haughtily. 
 
 Ho\v right Uncle Fritz was after all ; if the words 
 " patent humbug " had not been invented already, they 
 would have had to be specially invented for that idiot. 
 And to think that it was Dr. Stinde who packed him on 
 to my shoulders. Just you v/ait, my boy, I'll pick a crow 
 with you yet !
 
 Carrying Burdens. 14 1 
 
 The result of all this was that Betti no longer found 
 any pleasure in writing, and that the world was one 
 critic the richer ; I do not exactly wish Leuenfels to 
 run his head against a wall, but God grant he may ! 
 Had it not been for his insolence, Betti might have in- 
 nocently continued her literary pursuits, and her work 
 would have kept off wearisome thoughts about her 
 lost happiness ! She would have found distraction 
 without seeking it far from home, at the theatre or at 
 concerts. We very rarely go there, for it is a most ex- 
 pensive kind of pleasure when other folks have to show 
 one how to be pleased, and we do not care to throw 
 away our money in that fashion. If once in a way we 
 go to the opera-house to hear " Lohengrin," or to the 
 theatre, those are eventful evenings, long to be remem- 
 bered. At times, too, we go to the Wallner theatre 
 when something really funny is being acted ; but, as a 
 rule, those operettas are too shocking. 
 
 Things therefore went on much in the old way, and 
 as Mila, too, was away, there were hours during the 
 day that seemed as heavy as lead. However, when 
 there's nothing to alter, there's nothing to will, and 
 we both of us had to bear the same burden, Betti on 
 her young shoulders, and I on my old ones, and neither 
 of us cared to admit which found it hardest to bear. 
 
 My thoughts were occupied also with the mysterious 
 remarks Herr Max had made to us on the day of the 
 regatta, and I do not know what I would not have 
 given to have got to the bottom of that subject. How- 
 ever, I asked m3'self b}'' way of consolation. Does 
 human life always flow on in a stream as clear as 
 crystal ? No, indeed, it is more generally as muddy as 
 ditch-water. 
 
 The day of revelation came at last, however, in the 
 form of a letter from Herr Max, who asked me to
 
 142 Interview ivilJi Herr Max. 
 
 grant h'im an interview. I appointed the following 
 Friday, as Belti was to be at the Kuleckes, and I re- 
 ceived him punctually at six o'clock in the best sitting- 
 room. " Now, pray do not make a long preface," said 
 I, after having placed some port wine before him, by 
 way of rousing his spirits, for he made upon me the 
 impression of being somewhat nervous. " You can 
 speak out plainly without beating about the bush, I 
 am prepared for the worst." — " I have come with good 
 news, I hope," he replied. " Then let us have it with- 
 out more ado."— "As I have come as spokesman for 
 my friend Felix, I must enter a little more into detail 
 than you may perhaps like." — " Do as you wish then, 
 but take a little wine first." — He took a sip and then 
 continued: " You got to know him — " — "And to be 
 deceived in him ! Never shall I forget seeing him in 
 the fresh courage of youth and with quick determina- 
 tion risk his own life to save that boy's. I admired 
 him then, and his modest and yet manly character 
 upon closer acquaintance won my whole heart, and 
 not mine alone, and that's what was wrong in him. 
 He knew what he had done, you knew it too, and after 
 rejoicing in having deceived an innocent girl's heart, 
 he vanished, never to appear again. That's what's 
 false in him, and that's my opinion of him now." 
 
 Herr Max replied with animation : " I can justify 
 his behaviour." — " I cannot believe that." — " I think 
 you will believe what I, his friend, have to say for 
 him." — "Tell me with whom thou goest, and I will 
 tell thee who thou art," I observed distrustfully. Herr 
 Max clenched his teeth firmly, and looked at me almost 
 angrily. " You wrong him ! " he burst out ; " I have 
 known him from my early school-da3'S. He was strong 
 and powerful, and protected me, the weak boy, from 
 persecution ; he looked after me when I lost my
 
 Wilhclinine on Recreation. 143 
 
 parents ; I owe everything to him. There is not a 
 truer nature than his, and that is why everything tiiat 
 affects him affects me. How my heart rejoiced when 
 he told me he had found the joy of his life ! And he 
 himself cannot have suffered more than I did, when he 
 told me that it had all to come to an end." 
 
 " Had to ? " I asked in astonishment. 
 
 Max was silent for a time, and then added in a low 
 voice : " We had both of us only been in Berlin a year 
 or two ; our week-days were devoted to work, and on 
 Sundays the large city with its environs offered 
 recreation in abundance. Can you find fault with 
 young men, who are full of life and good spirits, for 
 taking part in the amusements that are offered?" — 
 " I see no reason whatever why they should not enjoy 
 themselves ; but would, nevertheless, not have them 
 follow the crooked paths that Herr Kleines does." — 
 " I do not understand ! " — " Who gives parties for 
 lady-cousins that are no cousins at all." Herr M.ix 
 cast down his eyes, and remained silent. " Well, are 
 you not going to speak ? " I asked in dismay. — " He 
 met her first out at Treptow and danced with her 
 . . . " — " What ' her ' ? " — " His ruin." — '' Now I know 
 enough," I replied bitterly ; "you need say no more." 
 — " I must," he exclaimed ; " you must hear all I have 
 to say. The day we returned from Tegel, where we 
 met you and your daughter, Felix said to me : ' Max, 
 from this day henceforth I break with the past ' . . . " 
 — " That he may have said, but he didn't do it." — " He 
 did his best to break off the connection, but she would 
 not let him. She threatened, if ever he became en- 
 gaged to any girl, to come forward and make some 
 • claim against him." — " Had she any right to do so ? " 
 — " No, and Felix laughed at her threats, but she vowed 
 she'd create the greatest disturbance possible, on his
 
 144 W/ia^ Berlin makes of Mankind. 
 
 wedding-day, even though it should be inside the 
 church. She declared she would swear that he had 
 promised to marry her, and added, that no one would 
 be able to prove the contrary. He asked her whether 
 she meant to ruin his whole life ; whereupon she re- 
 plied that she belonged to a respectable family, and 
 did not mean to be pushed aside by any one, and that 
 in her hatred she was capable of anything, he had 
 better remember that. This vv^as why he avoided any 
 further meetings with Fraulein Buchholz, whom he 
 loved with his whole soul ; he was afraid that words 
 he dared not utter might escape his lips, words that 
 might draw her to him and expose her to annoyance. 
 The only thing he could do was to leave Berlin." — 
 "But first get as much amusement out of it as he 
 could ! Do you mean me to believe that the Bock 
 music-hall is a place for persons with broken hearts ? " 
 He looked at me in amazement, while I continued : 
 " Well, you may think what you like, but I saw him 
 there myself, and moreover in very strange company, 
 I had time enough to notice that ! " — " He had reason 
 for acting as he did. His object was to get that young 
 woman off the right scent ; after that evening she 
 ceased following him about any longer." — " Berlin, 
 Berlin ! " I exclaimed, " is this what you make of man- 
 kind ! And Herr Max, is this what you call good 
 news ? Truly, I am much obliged to you I " — 
 
 " I have good news, certainly," he replied calmly; 
 " the troubles that have kept Felix away are now all 
 at an end ; yesterday that acquaintance of his married 
 an artizan in a good position, and Felix commissioned 
 me to tell you all that had happened, so that you might 
 not misunderstand him." 
 
 I said nothing. Could I declare him free from 
 blame ? No. And yet I felt he had not acted dis-
 
 On Lost Love. 145 
 
 honourably towards us. He did not press himself 
 upon us ; it was I that encouraged him; he had never 
 spoken to Betti of love, had never promised her any- 
 thing, or asked any promise from her. Of that I was 
 convinced. And 3'et in both their hearts there had 
 quietl) and secretly bloomed hopes that had as secretly 
 and quietly withered — destroyed by the levity of 
 Sunday amusements. 
 
 " Has Felix acted so very badly, that you have no 
 word of pardon for him ? " asked Herr Max. — '' Of 
 what good would my pardon be to him ?" I replied. — 
 " It would be everything to him, it would enable him 
 to hope that he might again present himself at your 
 house." — " It is too late now, Betti has resigned her- 
 self to her fate, and lost love is not apt to return." 
 
 Herr Max rose hurriedly: '"I cannot and will not 
 tell him that," he said excitedly ; " he hopes for a kind 
 message. He must have it." — Herr Max spoke so 
 warmly and feelingly for his friend that I could not 
 but be affected myself, and therefore said : " I cannot 
 decide this matter alone, others have a word to say as 
 well," and with this I rang the bell, and sent Doris 
 down to Carl, who was in the office, to ask him to come 
 up to me. He came at once, and when he saw Herr 
 Max, greeted him in a very friendly manner, and said: 
 *' Well, and how do matters stand now, my young 
 friend?" — "The marriage took place the day before 
 yesterday," was his answer. — " Now, Carl, how's this ? " 
 I exclaimed astonished ; " how is it that you know about 
 all this?" — "Herr Felix Schmidt was honest enough 
 to tell me the circumstances that compelled him to 
 leave Berlin ; and I could only approve of his actions." 
 — "And me — you have kept all this from me ? Carl, I 
 do think .... " — " Now, Wilhelmine, do me the 
 favour and look up at your portrait for a minute ! 
 10
 
 146 Wilhchnine Acquiesces. 
 
 Why should you have been worried about the matter 
 unnecessarily ? I myself had begun to doubt whether 
 things could ever come right, and therefore considered 
 it better not to recall the past. The question now is 
 whether Betti has forgotten him or not?" — "She 
 doesn't seem to think of him at all ! " — " Yet it may 
 only seem so," interposed Herr Max. " Well, 1 will 
 try and find out ; still, I do not think there will be 
 much use now ; as soon as she hears all the particulars, 
 she will draw back. She has her pride." Whereupon 
 my Carl replied: "When the time comes, he will tell 
 her all himself. We have no right to abuse the con- 
 fidence he has placed in us. He has repented and 
 atoned for his folly, by having had to conceal his love 
 for her. Can you ask more ? He who is without sin 
 let him cast the first stone ! " — " Carl, I hope you'll be 
 able to cast the stone yourself." He laughed, and 
 said : " My wife has already given in, I see ; come and 
 fetch your answer to-morrow, Plerr Max." — " Do not 
 come yourself, that might strike Betti as peculiar," 
 I urged ; " if things look promising, I will put this red 
 hyacinth on the ledge between the windows." — 
 " Thank you," replied Herr Max ; " I will pass your 
 house the first thing in the morning, and will look up." 
 Thereupon he took leave of us and went away. I could 
 not help thinking that any one who had so devoted a 
 friend could not possibly be a bad man. If onh' youth 
 were not so overflowing with spirit and thoughtless- 
 ness ! Yet, perhaps, were it not so, that little boy 
 would be lying dead in his grave. 
 
 I could not help letting Carl know a little what 
 I thought of his egoistical silence, but my words 
 seemed as good as thrown away upon him, the future 
 seemed all so rosy-coloured to him now. He wanted 
 to have Felix Schmidt as a partner, and would not
 
 Bctti in Good Spirits. \,\j 
 
 think of anything else. " I should have such a sup- 
 port in him, Minchen, for he understands the manu- 
 factures. Away in Saxony, where he now is, they 
 want him to become a partner." — " How do you know 
 that?" — "The firm applied to me about him. as he 
 had referred them to me." — "And what did you say?" 
 — " First and foremost, that he was an upright man, 
 and that I should place full confidence in him myself." 
 
 After supper, Carl went out a little for a glass of 
 beer, and I waited for Betti, who came in at the usual 
 hour. She was in very good spirits, for she had read 
 her little story to the Kuleckes — as had been arranged 
 — and they had all spoken favourably of it, especially 
 Amanda, and so Betti meant again to try her hand at 
 writing, in spite of Leuenfels. Amanda had, it is true, 
 said to her: "Betti, a story must have something 
 about love in it, no matter whether it ends happily 
 or unhappily, but of love there must be something." 
 — "Well, Betti, won't you try?" said I, by way of re- 
 connoitring, and I felt my heart beginning to beat 
 faster. — "Am I to write about happiness and love 
 with tears in my own eyes, Mamma," she replied sor- 
 rowfully.— " You might," I added, continuing my own 
 train of thought, while my heart beat faster and faster; 
 "you might describe two young people loving one 
 another without acknowledging it ; make the lover 
 go far away to earn a livelihood, or something of the 
 sort, meaning to return when he had made enough, 
 but finds then that the girl has meanwhile forgotten 
 him." 
 
 "Forgotten him!" exclaimed Betti, looking at me 
 in astonishment ; " then she could never have really 
 loved him." 
 
 "Then do you love him still? And do yon know 
 why he went away?" I blurted out thoughtlessly. At
 
 148 TJic Red Hyacinth. 
 
 that moment a stroke of apoplexy would have done 
 mc good, for I felt 'sure that Betti would be upset. 
 However, she remained quite composed, and said, in 
 a scarcely audible voice : 
 
 " Perhaps he thought me unworthy of further 
 notice." 
 
 My hands were clutching tightly hold of the sofa, 
 for, indeed, I needed support; gradually I loosened 
 my hold, and drew a breath : " Betti," I said, " be 
 good enough to put that red hyacinth in between the 
 windows, its scent is too strong for me." 
 
 Betti did as I asked her; and now I knew that she 
 would forget and forgive, whatever she might hear, 
 and I also saw how right Carl had been in keeping 
 the matter quiet, for how easily one finds oneself off 
 at a gallop. 
 
 " Have you had visitors. Mamma, that you are sit- 
 ting here in the best room ?" asked Betti. 
 
 " A business friend of papa's has been here," said I, 
 with as much indifference as possible. 
 
 And then we talked of all sorts of things that weren't 
 specially interesting to either of us ; Betti avoided 
 talking about her literary work, and I took care not 
 to let anything further escape me. At last sleep 
 sprinkled its dream-dust in our eyes, and we went to 
 bed. The red hyacinth, of course, was in its proper 
 place. 
 
 THE FIRST OF APRIL. 
 
 I WAS not aware that I had in any way offended 
 Augusta Weigelt, and could not understand, therefore, 
 why she avoided our house as if we had had scarlet 
 fever. It vexed me ; so, a short time ago, when I met
 
 Augusta acts strangely. 149 
 
 her accidentally, I put the question as to why she 
 never came to see us now, upon which she made a 
 number of excuses, as if she had been practising the 
 art of lying. " If you don't care to come, I can't force 
 you," was my reply; "and if you have ceased to care 
 about us, why, we had better begin to address each 
 other more formally. So ' Good-bye ' to you, Frau 
 Weigelt." 
 
 How matters really stood with the Weigelts I could 
 not make out ; nor whether they had received the ex- 
 pected shovelful of sovereigns from their wealthy 
 sister-in-law, or whether a debtor's hawk had taken 
 up its abode on their roof, as Uncle Fritz says when 
 there are bills that have to be paid for dear life's sake, 
 and there is nothing but wishes to pay them with. 
 
 To my subsequent joy, however, I found that I had 
 been wrong about Augusta. She herself was not to 
 blame for the coolness that had sprung up between 
 us, it was altogether the fault of her husband, who 
 did not deserve to have so good a wife. Who would 
 have thought that that simpleton of a student, as he 
 used to be — and who ought to be thankful that he 
 obtained an appointment in a Government office — 
 could have become so uppish. The reason is simply 
 his dunderheadedness, although it nevertheless seems 
 inexplicable. 
 
 It had seemed very strange that he should have 
 forbidden Augusta to accept money from us, but I 
 ascribed this behaviour of his to my having at first 
 refused to give them what they wanted, when she ap- 
 plied to me ; some people cannot stand being denied 
 anything. However, Uncle Fritz discovered what was 
 the true stite of matters. 
 
 Young Weigelt had, in fact, got among a set of fel- 
 lows who fumed away to him about the evils of the
 
 150 Young Wcigclt on the High Horse. 
 
 present state of society; and they succeeded in rous- 
 ing him to such an extent that he believed anything, 
 so long as it wasn't to be found in the Bible. He 
 owed debts that he would gladly have been quit of, 
 and simply because things had gone badly with him, 
 owing to his own stupidity, he now fancied the whole 
 world must be in a bad way too. The State, he said, 
 was of no earthly use, and Government made mistake 
 upon mistake; goodness knows with what else besides 
 they may have talked their beer sour. 
 
 The consequence of all this was that young Weigelt 
 became careless in his work, and disliked by his su- 
 periors, and thus spoke of starting business on his 
 own account, meaning, as he said, to upturn the State 
 altogether ; yet a Prussian Government office cannot 
 be said to be the most appropriate place for such en- 
 deavours. Did he really imagine that he had got his 
 appointment because of his beautiful eyes? Young 
 men like him could be had in plenty — fifteen to the 
 bushel. He might be glad he was not turned out of 
 the office ; in fact, that his wife and child had been 
 taken into consideration, when he was on the point 
 of getting his conge. And yet he set himself on the high 
 horse, when others were given posts ahead of him, 
 and he had to wait for another chance. 
 
 Every one may be said to be the maker of his own 
 good fortune ; but any one who has not learned his 
 business properly, can accomplish nothing but mere 
 bungling, and this was the case with young Weigelt. 
 
 " If our State isn't to his liking," said Uncle Fritz, 
 "he's at liberty to go and find one that is. But it 
 seems to me he knows that he's not likely to find meat 
 anywhere without bones, and that oxen don't run 
 about in America as ready-made sausages ; and that 
 if we have to work here, they have to shift for them-
 
 I'^rcaks of Xatiirc. 1 5 i 
 
 selves over yonder. Let him emigrate with his little 
 bit of learning, and his legible handwriting. He'll 
 be able to suck his thumbs ! It might be the best 
 thing for him to go abroad, to learn what bosh has 
 been talked into him by those soft-brained idiots who 
 call themselves his political friends. To think of that 
 nincompoop — who can't manage his own affairs, who 
 has to put himself into the hands of money-lenders, 
 and has to take useless goods from a swindler — *,u 
 think of him presuming to talk politics ! He wants 
 to govern, does he? He teach the State wisdom — a 
 blockhead like him ! " 
 
 • "Why do 3'ou vex yourself so about him ? " said I to 
 Uncle Fritz; "he's too insignificant a creature to 
 make one angry." 
 
 " I've just been to ask him to join in the torchlight 
 procession, and to come and spend the evening with 
 me and my friends afterwards. His reply was that 
 such proceedings were against his principles." — " Is it 
 possible?" I exclaimed. — "Yes, indeed," said Uncle 
 Fritz, "but truly the freaks of nature are marvellous 
 sometimes." 
 
 This happened a few days before the last of March, 
 when the torchlight procession was being arranged in 
 honour of Prince Bismarck, which was to take place on 
 the evening before his 70th birthday. We heard a 
 great deal about the preparations long beforehand, 
 and were looking forward to the evening with the 
 greatest delight, especially as Uncle Fritz was so en- 
 thusiastic about it. But then, to be sure, Fritz had 
 served during the campaign in France, and knew 
 what it meant to risk life and limb for one's country. 
 " Wilheim," he said to me one day, " not a drop of 
 blood has been shed in vain, every drop has brought 
 honour and power to our country. None can equal
 
 152 TJie TorcJilJgJit Pi'occssion 
 
 us now ! Germany is greater than she has ever been 
 before, and this we owe to our Emperor and to his 
 Chancellor." 
 
 On the evening of the torchlight procession we went 
 to the Linden in good time. Carl, Betti and I, and 
 half Berlin seemed to have assembled on that broad, 
 open space. Head upon head might be seen at every 
 window and on the balconies, and numberless people 
 had taken their stand on the road, the riding-path, 
 and on the pavements. Every one of these persons 
 needs a means of existence, and can obtain it only in 
 times of peace, and this is what Bismarck has man- 
 aged to obtain for us, and will see that we have it in 
 days to come as well. 
 
 " Let us try and get to our old place again, close to 
 the Friedrich Strasse," said Carl. When we had got 
 there, he said to me : " Wilhelmine, do you remember 
 our standing here to see the King when he came from 
 Ems ? The Queen, who was at his side, could scarcely 
 restrain her tears."—" I remember it well, Carl ; what 
 terrible days those were. Uncle Fritz had to be off 
 with the rest. The French were considered the first 
 and foremost among nations, and they vowed and 
 vaunted they would raze Berlin to the ground. Who 
 could say how things would go ? " — " The King, and 
 Bismarck, and Moltke knew though. And do you re- 
 member that we stood here again when our King 
 entered the city with his victorious army as an Em- 
 peror ? " — '• How can I ever forget that ? What a day 
 of rejoicing it was. And what a sight Uncle Fritz 
 was to look at, covered with dust and bedecked with 
 wreaths ! " — "Well, to-day's procession is a solemn of- 
 fering of thanks to the mighty Chancellor for his fidel- 
 ity to his Emperor and to Germany. But look over 
 there towards the Pah c: ; the procession has started."
 
 in honour of Prince Bismarck. 153 
 
 And so it had. A cloud of smoke could be seen at 
 Liie lower end of the Linden, a red light was glowing 
 in its midst like a fire, and this became larger and 
 larger, till it got to look like a huge fiery serpent 
 creeping nearer and nearer, and at last reached the 
 point where we were standing. Bands of musicians 
 dressed in historical costumes, on foot and on horse- 
 back, alternated with groups of men candying torches, 
 and the representatives of the various corps of stu- 
 dents, all in full toggery, occupied endless carriages, 
 and were followed by the bulk of the students on foot, 
 all of them young men, the Chancellor's hope for the 
 future and the inheritors of his legacy. In front of the 
 students w^alked a grey-headed man carrying a bright 
 torch ; he was wearing a student's cap in black, red 
 and gold, the colours of the olden days. His heart 
 must have preserved the freshness of youth, and been 
 full of enthusiasm to-day. 
 
 Endless masses of persons carrying flaming brands, 
 illuminated inscriptions, banners, flags, and badges, 
 kept passing by. Then came the artist's chariot, in 
 the form of a gigantic ship, bearing Germania wield- 
 ing her uplifted and protecting sword, while on the 
 deck of the ship stood representatives of every dis- 
 trict and province of the Empire, who greeted her 
 with shouts of rejoicing. Then came flie ambassadors 
 from Cameroon, with camels carrying gifts such as 
 Africa has to offer ; and they again were followed by 
 endless lines of persons on foot with flaming torches 
 in their upraised hands. 
 
 An hour had passed, but still there was no sign of 
 the procession coming to an end. Thousands of spec- 
 tators stood there, deeply affected, and overpowered 
 by the marvellous scene. The procession ended by 
 all the men from Schcring's manufactory coming up
 
 154 TJic German Empire, 
 
 with their hundreds of magnesium lights, which made 
 the streets look brighter even than by daylight ; and 
 scarcely any one at that moment but had his eyes 
 moistened with tears. It was with deep emotion that 
 the people paid this homage to their mighty states- 
 man, their Bismarck. 
 
 Carl did not feel at all disposed to have supper at 
 any public place after this sight. " Let us celebrate 
 the evening by ourselves," he said ; " I shall like talk- 
 ing over all the glorious past among ourselves." 
 
 So we made ourselves comfortable at home, and 
 when I appeared with a bottle of good "Johannis- 
 garten," Carl declared it to be a very happy thought 
 of mine. He went out, but came back soon with a 
 little book called " Prince Bismarck," by Ernest Scher- 
 enberg, which he afterwards read aloud to us. 
 
 It seemed to me and Betti inconceivable that Ger- 
 many could ever have been so shamefully treated in 
 former daj's. It had silently to endure seeing its 
 rights and its honour violated, merely because, in its 
 dilapidation, it did not know its own strength. But 
 now, thank God, we're all in one box. 
 
 Then, came the day in Versailles when the Chancel- 
 lor read out the Emperor's proclamation, which con- 
 cluded with the vvords : *' We and our successors to 
 the Imperial Crown do pray that God may enable us 
 to be the promoters of the German empire — not by 
 warlike conquests, but by the rewards and gifts of 
 peace, in connection with the nation's welfare, free- 
 dom, and culture." 
 
 " Those were the Emperor's words," said Carl, "and 
 Bismarck will see that they are fulfilled. For fifteen 
 years now we have enjoyed peace and all its blessings, 
 and this we owe to German trustworthiness." 
 
 At these words we all three rose from our seats and
 
 and Frayicc ivitJi her Republic. 155 
 
 emptied our glasses. Whose health we drank need 
 hardly be said. 
 
 *'Novv, do you see," said Carl, returning to the sub- 
 ject again with animation — " France, with her Repub- 
 lic, is again offering up her children to its old idol 
 Gloire j England, with her Parliament, is shedding 
 inglorious blood to its egoism ; they both of them 
 now appeal to us, and ask Bismarck to decide matters 
 — Bismarck, who in Versailles swore with his Em- 
 peror, and before all the world, that there should be 
 Peace ! The days in which we are living are so great, 
 that we can scarcely comprehend their importance ! 
 The young people of our day are growing up in a very 
 different Germany from what I knew in my young 
 days. It is no longer the poor Fatherland whose sons 
 grieved over it the more deeply the more they loved 
 it." — " What a pity we have none," I exclaimed 
 thoughtlessly. 
 
 "We shall have to be satisfied with sons-in-law," 
 replied Carl jocosely. 
 
 In order to remove the impression which these re- 
 marks of ours might have upon Betti, I endeavoured 
 to change the subject, by saying : 
 
 " Daughters would, after all, have acted much in the 
 same way." 
 
 HOW IT ALL CAME TO BE SO DIFFERENT. 
 
 I HAD not exactly forbidden Carl to associate with 
 old Herr Bergfeldt, for it would have been impossible 
 for me to have seen that my prohibition was attended 
 to, there being so many places in Berlin where they 
 might have met in spite of everything ; an excuse to 
 go out on business about dinner-time can, of course.
 
 156 On Granimar and Culture. 
 
 easily be manufactured, and restaurants for a morning 
 glass of beer are to be found at every third house ; 
 one need only drop against the door to find oneself 
 inside. Then, too, old Herr Bergfeldt was far less to 
 blame for all the disputes than was that wife of his, 
 with whom nobody can get on for any length of time, 
 for if she hasn't any one else to quarrel with, she'd 
 take to quarrelling with herself. 
 
 Why is it that I can live in harmony with other peo- 
 ple, and she cannot ? Because any one wanting to 
 stigmatise me as stupid would have to get up two 
 days before me, if not sooner. And then the way she 
 tries to look down upon us simply because the hus- 
 band of the one has an official appointment, whereas 
 the other is only a merchant ; she wants also to make 
 show with a scanty income, and has to be as sparing 
 as possible with her coffee, in order to have one or two 
 pence for a few pleasures. 
 
 Has she not always, when invited anywhere, made 
 great pretensions, and acted as if she had been the 
 chief person present ? And when she didn't manage 
 to get what she expected, off she would go into the 
 dumps, and all pleasantness would come to an end. 
 Then, too, she would act as if she knew what culture 
 was, and would dispute points that had long since 
 been settled, as she once did with me on the subject 
 as to whether petroleum was masculine, feminine, or 
 neuter. I remember when we were discussing this 
 and other words, that my fingers regularly itched to 
 be at her, and I felt pretty much as if I had been sit- 
 ting upon red-hot needles; but properly cultured folk 
 keep quiet even under such provocation. To forget 
 such things, however, is quite another matter. 
 
 In spite of this, Carl ventured one day — in the hap- 
 piness of his own heart, and as if there had never been
 
 Irritation against the Bergfeldts. I'^'j 
 
 a dispute between us — to give me the latest piece of 
 news, in the shape that Frau Bergfeldt was really a very 
 stately-looking woman, and had a very good figure 
 He afterwards said that he m.eant nothing special by 
 this remark ; but I did not let him off with that. He 
 said he thought that we ladies had got to like each 
 other, and to feel as kindly disposed towards each 
 other as they, the husbands, did, for they had stuck to 
 each other from their boyhood. " Well," said I, " your 
 dear friend Bergfeldt would need to have married a 
 totally opposite kind of woman. For all I care, she 
 might have been crooked and deformed, but to suit 
 my taste she must have been a woman of culture and 
 feeling. Had she been that, I should have felt a sis- 
 terly affection for her." The upshot of all this was a 
 long period of irritation against the Bergfeldts, which 
 lasted till we next met. Thereupon, however, she 
 played me that trick behind my back about Betti's 
 engagement ; and when her son Emil found an oppor- 
 tunity of marrying an heiress, her true character came 
 out, for my Betti's happiness was of no more value to 
 her than a bad four-penny piece, and — pardon my 
 saying so — she coolly thrust us Buchholzes into the 
 dust-bin. Hence I can never in my life again become 
 reconciled to her, although at one time we were on 
 very friendly terms ; now, however, she has offended 
 me too mortally. 
 
 For old Bergfeldt, on the other hand, I really feel 
 sorry when we meet by chance. How prematurely 
 grey he has become ; how he totters in his walk, as if 
 some unseen burden were weighing upon his shoul- 
 ders. My Carl does, it is true, get a grey hair now and 
 then ; but trust me for pulling it out ; and as for the 
 way he holds himself, he might any day be taken for a 
 drum-major in civilian's dress.
 
 158 About Eviirs Efigagement, 
 
 Yet what can old Bergfeldt have to worry about ? 
 Are tlioy not all going to be as rich as Croesuses ? In- 
 stead of going to his office, he'll be able to sit and 
 spit at the swans ; and as to her, she needn't leave her 
 bed till eleven in the morning, and can take him pan- 
 cakes in a silver-gilt pan. With anything less than 
 that she'll never be content. 
 
 But it all ended differently — oh, how differently ! 
 
 When I think of it, I could almost fancy that what 
 I lived to see cannot be true, cannot have happened, 
 any more than the sun could go out suddenl}^, or a 
 grand-looking, beautiful tree topple over without any 
 warning. And yet a human being is more to one 
 than the sun, more than a tree whose flourishing 
 branches promise glorious fruits. It is difficult to be- 
 lieve that he is gone, and where he had no right to 
 have gone. 
 
 My Carl had often hinted that he was afraid trouble 
 would come of Emil's having engaged himself to that 
 heiress, and also thought that the Bergfeldts were de- 
 ceiving themselves as to the consequences ; Herr Berg- 
 feldt certainly less so than his wife. I cannot say that this 
 astonished me, knowing as I did that the woman had 
 been born totally devoid of sense and had never learnt 
 anything since. At first when Emil had become en- 
 gaged to the only daughter of the immensely rich 
 widow, and the girl was perfectly crazy about the 
 good-looking young fellow, the Bergfeldts were in a 
 supreme state of joy. Emil had managed to win For- 
 tune's favour, and had come in for the prize. Frau 
 Bergfeldt, of course, at once flung herself at the future 
 mother-in-law, and the two became one heart and 
 soul. The old lady, as well as her daughter, had no 
 intimate friends of their own, notwithstanding their 
 wealth, so they were glad to make use of the Berg-
 
 and its Effect. 159 
 
 feldts ; and, at first, there was no lack of present- 
 giving. Emil's betrothed gave him a large gold watch 
 v/ith a chain, and he obtained credit at his tailor's ;• 
 for the daughter liked to see Emil dressed in the latest 
 fashion. Frau Bergfeldt had, with the utmost friend- 
 liness, been presented with several dress-lengths of 
 silk, but it had cost her a pretty penny to get them 
 made up. The Weigelts and old Herr Bergfeldt, on 
 the other hand, got nothing, as of course there was 
 no need for their making any show. The women-folk 
 did not perceive that there was no genuineness in that 
 kind of affection, and allowed themselves to be 
 enticed on to the swampy declivity, by the show of 
 wealth ; old Bergfeldt, however, seemed half con- 
 scious that things were not as they ought to be. 
 Emil probably felt this even more clearly, for it was 
 he who had finally to settle the matter. 
 
 It cannot exactly be said that Emil had acted frivol- 
 ously; he was really a good-hearted fellow who aever 
 had any ill-feeling towards anybody, except those who 
 had invented head-work. Study was a trouble to him. 
 Old Bergfeldt had, indeed, managed to scrape money 
 enough together for him to attend the high-school, but 
 much had still to be done ; the real difficulties began 
 with his university career, with his first year's military 
 service, with the delay in getting him an appointment, 
 for nowadays there seem to be more lawyers than law- 
 suits. It was then that the heiress appeared on the 
 scenes, a very God-send. Emil would no longer need 
 to bother about his examination, and hoped, at all 
 events, to be able to repay, his father abundantly for 
 what had been spent upon his education. This he had 
 intended to do; he had promised his father, his mother, 
 and his sister to do so. But he had made a wrong cal- 
 culation.
 
 i6o A Misalliance, 
 
 I never knew his wife; I had only seen her at a dis- 
 tance when they were engaged; but from what I man- 
 aged to get out of Augusta, I know what to think of 
 her. Where other people have a heart, she must have 
 had a money-bag, which she opened only when it suited 
 her own purpose. Even before their wedding she had 
 begun to consider Emil's relatives beneath her notice; 
 and the grand people at the wedding, Augusta said, 
 had turned up their noses at them so, that she felt mis- 
 erably unhappy among them, and her husband had, 
 in fact, never ventured to move from the wall, when 
 once he had taken up his position there. Augusta also 
 told us that Emil had confided a good many things to 
 her, that he would never have mentioned to any one 
 else, when he came to see her occasionally. He had 
 told her how hateful it was to him to have perpetually 
 to stay at home with the two women, and to be obliged 
 to put up with their whims; that not a day passed 
 without their dishing up his poverty to him, and that 
 they were for ever harping upon the subject. 
 
 During the very first days of their honeymoon, she 
 had begged him to try and make a name for himself, 
 to work and study so as to win some title by which she 
 might be addressed. For affection's sake he might 
 perhaps have made an effort, but there was no affection 
 on either side. And when, one day, he had asked her 
 for a larger sum of money than usual (not for himself, 
 as Augusta told me sorrowfully afterwards), she 
 sneered at him, called him a nonentity, and asked him 
 what he wanted money for. 
 
 He had sold himself, and she now refused to honour 
 the bill of exchange. This was the beginning of the 
 end. 
 
 It must have been an awful life that those two led, a 
 very hell upon earth ! Did any one, I wonder, in pass-
 
 a7id its Fatal Result. i6r 
 
 ing the villa in the Thiergarten, with the rare flowers 
 iii the front garden, the tubs with laurels and orange 
 trees — suspect that no happiness had ever taken up its 
 abode behind those plate-glass windows ? Did any one 
 know that for weeks past, another and hideous inmate 
 had been creeping in and out among the corners of 
 those show-apartments, an inmate whose step no one 
 could hear but Emil, the supposed master of the 
 house ? 
 
 He certainly had discovered a means by which he 
 could close his ears, a means that he had found in the 
 wine-cellar, and which he made use of even when out 
 on supposed pleasure trips, and he — for respectability's 
 sake — had been allowed to carry the purse. Yet there 
 were hours when he was sober, and when he felt his 
 misery doubly; it was then that the watchful inmate 
 in his home would creep up to him, and begin to whis- 
 per words to him — words that were gradually uttered 
 louder and louder, and with increasing persuasiveness: 
 " You will have to do it ! You cannot help yourself ! " 
 
 And so the awful thing happened, and it then became 
 clear who the unbidden guest had been — Death ! 
 
 To me it seems but yesterda}'. Evening twilight 
 had set in, and the bustling noise of the daytime had 
 begun to cease, when Carl came in more abruptly than 
 usual. I noticed, at once, that something must have 
 happened, and asked (before he had time to utter a 
 word), " Carl, what is it ? What misfortune has hap- 
 pened ? " — " My poor, poor old friend Bergfeldt ! " he 
 said sorrowfully. — " Has he lost his place ? " — " He 
 has had a greater loss than that — his son Emil." — 
 "Lost! do you say?" — "Emil is dead."— r" Impossi- 
 ble ! " I exclaimed aghast. — " It's only too true, he has 
 shot himself. I have just come from Bergfeldt. He 
 is utterly broken down, Augusta is with him " — " And 
 1 1
 
 1 62 Alone. 
 
 where is she — the mother?" — "Where else could she 
 be, but with her dead son ? " — " Alone ? " — " The two 
 ladies have meanwhile gone to an hotel; they left the 
 house, abusing the poor, dead man for having brought 
 this disgrace upon them."—" Left alone ! " I exclaimed. 
 " Car], I must go to her. Such great sorrow she can- 
 not bear alone. If I cannot give her back her son, still 
 I can mourn with her." — Carl embraced me, and had 
 to support me, this news seemed to have robbed me of 
 all my strength. We had been fond of Emil; he had 
 at one time stood closer to us than many thousands in 
 this world. — " Go to her," said Carl softly, " I have 
 told my old friend that I will attend to all the melan- 
 choly business that will have to be done. When it is 
 dark I will come with the men." 
 
 Sooner than I thought, my cab had driven up to the 
 gate. I got out, lifted the latch, opened the gate and 
 closed it again quietly behind me. In front of the 
 house a man-servant was waiting, and let me in in 
 silence. I took off my things in the hall, where two 
 large Moorish figures were holding lamps in their 
 hands, and had a grin on their faces; this alone made 
 me feel uncomfortable. To have to put up with such 
 artificial company every day, must verily have been a 
 penance. The man-servant opened a door for me, and 
 I walked in hesitatingly. 
 
 Only one gas flame, and that half turned down, was 
 burning in the chandelier, probably in order that the 
 room might be kept cool; nevertheless, the gilt frames 
 of the mirrors and pictures glistened in the semi-dark- 
 ness, as did also the bright majolica vases and por- 
 celain figures, of which there was an over-abundance 
 on the cabinets. All this I noticed, but could not see 
 Frau Bergfeldt. I was about to move into the adjoin- 
 ing room, which was separated from the one I was in
 
 Viewing the Dead. 163 
 
 by a heavy plush curtain, when I became aware that 
 something was moving in one of the darkest corners of 
 the room. I stood still. It was she. Miserable and 
 utterly broken down, there she sat in an arm-chair em- 
 broidered in gold, and her eyes, which had a dull and 
 vacant look, were turned towards me. " Is it you ? " 
 she said in a scarcely audible voice, " I knew you would 
 come ! " I sat down beside her. I took her hands in 
 mine, I smoothed her hair and stroked her cheeks, but 
 she took no notice, and seemed to fancy herself still 
 alone. I tried to speak, but couldn't. 
 
 After a little while, she rose and said in a hoarse 
 voice : " Would you like to see him ? " I merely nod- 
 ded. She took me by the hand and drew me into the 
 next room. There upon a little table burned a spirally- 
 twisted red candle, such as have become the fashion ; 
 it was standing in a silver candle-stick, and threw a 
 flickering light over a couch, across which an Eastern 
 shawl had been placed. She moved back the shawl 
 and gazed motionlessly upon the pale face of her son. 
 He lay there as if asleep, except that in his left temple 
 was a small dark wound where the ball had entered 
 his head. I struggled in vain with my tears, they 
 burst forth unrestrainedly. "He will never wake 
 again," she began, "the doctors have been here ; they 
 said his aim must have been steady. Why did not his 
 hand tremble ? He might be alive now. Why did his 
 hand not tremble ?" 
 
 How could I answer her ? He, no doubt, wished to 
 free himself from a hateful life ; that is why his aim 
 was so certain. " Hadn't we better go back now ? " 
 she asked. "I have been sitting beside him, but a 
 scraping noise over there by the stove frightened me. 
 It may have been mice." 
 
 One look more, one last look. Then I drew the
 
 164 Wilhelmine Soliloquises. 
 
 shawl over the corpse, and led the mother back to her 
 old seat. From time to time a carriage might be 
 heard driving past, otherwise the house seemed as si- 
 lent as midnight. 
 
 " Frau Buchholz," she said at last, breaking the 
 silence, "I am so terribly thirsty ; I have been all the 
 time. I didn't like to tell the servant, he looks so 
 grand. I should so like some white beer, only a 
 mouthful. You are so fearless — Emil always said so 
 — would you mind asking him ?" 
 
 I went out and ordered the man to get what she 
 wanted. He was about to raise objections, by saying 
 that he couldn't leave the house, but an abrupt Allez 
 from me made him take to his heels. 
 
 When he came back I took the glass of beer myself 
 and gave it to her. With a look full of thanks, she 
 took a long, long draught. How thirsty she must 
 have been ! How she must have suffered, poor wom- 
 an ! She drew a deep breath, and her whole body 
 trembled. " My son, my son I " she cried aloud, and 
 her voice then became choked with sobs. 
 
 Oh, Emil ! if you had thought of your mother's de- 
 spair, your hand would have trembled, you would 
 have hurled the weapon from you. Unhappy child ! 
 you did not strike yourself only, you struck the hearts 
 of your parents as well. Was there no other path by 
 which you could have escaped from your misery ? 
 God in heaven forgive you — your great sin ! It v/as 
 only by degrees that I succeeded in pacifying her a 
 little. By the time Carl came she had become com- 
 posed, and was willing to come away. Once more she 
 went into the room where Emil lay ; she knelt beside 
 the dead youth and kissed his pale lips for the last 
 time. Then she let us put on her cloak and bonnet as 
 though she had been a child. A cab was waiting at
 
 Bctti acting as a Comforter. 165 
 
 the door. Carl and I took her between us, so that she 
 did not see the men who were standing in the garden, 
 in the dark, with the bier. Carl returned to the house 
 and we drove off townwards. I held her in my arms 
 till we reached their house, where Augusta came to 
 meet us. "Oh, Frau Buchholz," she sobbed, "dear 
 Frau Buchholz, how differently it has all ended — how 
 differently ! " 
 
 THE EVENTFUL THURSDAY. 
 
 Nature has certainly acted wisely in having made 
 the earth round, and in setting it revolving, for in this 
 way old times come to be turned down and new times 
 come to be uppermost. One drawback, however, is, 
 that everything gets crushed in the process, sorrov/ as 
 well as jo}-, and that nothing lasts for ever. Yet, where 
 do we find anything perfect throughout ? 
 
 By degrees the Bergfeldts became resigned to the 
 trouble that had fallen upon them ; Betti went fre- 
 quently to see them, and chatted away to the old 
 father of an evening. This was not an easy task to 
 her, especially at first, but when she came to see how 
 it comforted the father to talk about Emil's childhood 
 — telling her first one thing and then another, with 
 many a repetition and digression — she was only too 
 glad to be a patient listener. The old man, she said, 
 never spoke of the last occurrence, and seemed as if 
 he had scarcely realised what had actually happened. 
 Betti sacrificed herself, but she did it willingly ; her 
 painting, writing, work for bazaars, and the many 
 other things with which young ladies occupy them- 
 selves, had all to be sot aside, for all her spare time
 
 1 66 About Coats of Arms 
 
 was devoted to the sorrowing parents. Even the Po- 
 lice-lieutenant's wife hinted to me tliat Betti was neg- 
 lecting lier. 
 
 But why need we always be ready to do what she 
 wishes ? Why need we feel flattered at her sending 
 round for us and entertaining us with talk about her 
 connections and their family-tree? 
 
 That might have been the case in former days, but 
 no longer now since we have learned that the Buch- 
 holzes are one of the oldest families in Berlin. This 
 was discovered by Herr Hermann Vogt, among the 
 city archives, while he was making his researches 
 about the history of Berlin, and it was he who told us. 
 The first known Buchholz, called Claus, was a town 
 councillor in Berlin from 1449 to 145 1, and lived in 
 the Stralauer Strasse. Another, George Buchholz, a 
 dean, rendered great services to Berlin in connection 
 with the introduction of the Reformation, and even in 
 those days couldn't swallow the idea of going to Ca- 
 nossa. These services of his were rewarded, for, on 
 the 15th of August, 1540, he received a considerable 
 increase of salary. Further, one Kersten Buchholz, in 
 the year 1452, was head of the Guild of St. Mary, 
 which erected and maintained at its own expense an 
 altar in St. Nicholas's Church, to the honour and glory 
 of God. All this is stated in the ancient records, where 
 there is also a coloured illustration of the Buchholzes' 
 coat of arms ; in the upper field, silver, half of an iron 
 knight holding a beech-tree in his right hand, in the 
 lower field, silver, two red planks with a beech-tree be- 
 tween them. The self-same knight forms the crest of 
 the helmet. 
 
 Thus we are certainly not mere people of yesterday. 
 What I mean to do is to set Betti to work at em- 
 broidering our coat of arms on silk, and she shall take
 
 and Reels of Cotton. 167 
 
 this work to the Police-lieutenant's house, when next 
 we are invited there. If the Police-lieutenant's wife 
 should ask what the work is, I shall simply say : It is 
 only our coat of arms — that will stagger her, I should 
 think. On our visiting cards and note paper the crest 
 will look both charming and aristocratic. But people 
 need possess the faculty of appreciating such things ; 
 unfortunately Dr. Wrenzchen and Uncle Fritz are al- 
 together wanting in that respect. 
 
 In fact, as regards Uncle Fritz, the world might as 
 well be standing still without a vestige of revolving 
 about it. For a few years ago when, by way of ad- 
 vice, I said to him : " Fritz, you ought to be getting 
 married," he replied, "Wilhehn, that would be too 
 much for me ; I'd rather buy myself a musical box." 
 — Yet, although, I know that he has had enough of a 
 bachelor's life, he takes absolutely no measures for 
 altering his ways. So I made up my mind last Thurs- 
 day to give him a regular talking to. We always have 
 some friends in on Thursday evenings, in order that 
 Doctor Wrenzchen may come to see that by persist- 
 ently remaining away he will at last draw the dis- 
 pleasure of the whole family upon him. 
 
 As good luck would have it, Uncle Fritz came in 
 somewhat earlier than the others, so that I could not 
 have wished for a better opportunity for giving him a 
 bit of my mind. After he had answered my inquiry, 
 as to how he had been keeping, in his usual way by 
 saying, " So-so-ish," he sat down and began playing 
 with my work-basket, till he had made himself one 
 big toy out of all the reels and needles, as was always 
 his way. 
 
 " Fritz," I began, " are you for ever going to remain 
 a child ? Surely some day you're going to show you 
 have got some sense ! " Instead of giving me an
 
 1 68 Uncle Fritz Cross-examiricd. 
 
 answer he set his toy a-spinning, and seemed to be 
 greatly amused with it. 
 
 "What can people think of you ? " I continued. "Is 
 your present mode of life so very much to your liking 
 that you can't give it up? Are you still perfectly con- 
 tent with having to dine at a restaurant every day ? " 
 — " You know I never liked that," he replied ; " five 
 changes of plates and never a thing upon them ! 
 That's not an arrangement to please any one of Ger- 
 many's sons, who, as a rule, are accustomed to simple 
 but substantial eating at home." — "Well, then," said 
 I, " why don't you start a dinner-table of your own ? " 
 He was silent,-, and merely kept spinning his toy. 
 " How far have you brought matters with the old 
 grandmother in Lingen?" I said, at last, aiming 
 straight at the point. "Well," said he, "I suppose I 
 may say we're half way ; I've done my half of the 
 road." — "Fritz, I do beg of you to be serious. If you 
 have firmly resolved to marry Erica, let this dilly- 
 dallying come to an end, otherwise look about for 
 some one else." — " I'll not dream of any such thing." 
 — "What's the reason then that matters are at such a 
 standstill ? " — " It's the old grandmother — that's the 
 long and the short of it. She's taken it into her head 
 that Berlin is a nest of wickedness, and that I am the 
 blackest gaol-bird in it ; that her grand-daughter's 
 soul would be ruined for ever if the girl were with- 
 drawn from her care." — "But what does Erica's father 
 say ? " — " Nothing. He has to do what the old woman 
 wills. Her money is in the business, and so she has 
 the whole tribe under her thumb." — "Then he's a 
 mere night-cap ? "^" With tassels ! " — " And I think 
 it presumption in her to want to have the reins in her 
 own hands still. Old people may have their own 
 opinions, but so have young people, and they ought
 
 Ericas Praises Sung. 169 
 
 to be allowed to act freely." — " How right you are, 
 Wilhelmine ! and that's exactly what Dr. Wrenzchen 
 says himself." — " I didn't mean in everything," I added 
 hurriedly; "a certain amount of guidance is indis- 
 pensable. That's evident enough from your own case, 
 Fritz. Now, I think you ought in some way to make 
 up for the bad impression you made upon the grand- 
 mother, and thus win her respect." — " I can't possibly 
 go to Lingen merely to show her how well I can stand 
 being thirsty." — " Tell me one thing, Fritz — is Erica 
 really fond of you, and likely to stand by you ? " — 
 " She ? why, she wouldn't give me up, not if she were 
 to get grey-headed before matters were settled ! i\nd 
 I — I don't mean to give her up — that's as sure as a 
 gun." — "Well, then, you both mean to go to your 
 wedding on crutches, I suppose?" — ''If only Erica 
 were not so submissive. In her pious simplicity she 
 imagines that to leave her home without her grand- 
 mother's blessing, would bring disgrace upon her own 
 people ; otherwise the way she is tyrannised over at 
 home would long since have come to an end. I have 
 tried everything that can be done, but the conclusion 
 of all her warm-hearted letters is always : ' hope and 
 trust ; our love will yet overcome all difficulties.' " 
 
 "That's very touching, certainly," I remarked; " but 
 what's to be the end of all this tomfoolery ? Are you 
 sure, Fritz, that it's not more obstinacy than affection 
 on your part that makes you so set upon that one 
 girl ? " — " Wilhelmine, you know I took a liking to Er- 
 ica the very first moment I saw her. I felt myself 
 drawn to her at every turn and corner." — "You were 
 for ever at the Krauses while she was there, certainly, 
 I know." — "She was so simple, so childlike, and kind- 
 hearted. I soon discovered that her life at home 
 hadn't much pleasantness for her; the very country it
 
 I/O Avarice and Malice rule the Household. 
 
 self is not much better than a morass, a road lined 
 with ti'ces, and a heap of earth which they call a hill." 
 — " Probably as high as our Kreuzberg." — " Half a 
 meter lower, at least." — " What about the town itself ? " 
 — " Clean and pleasant-looking, but not quite as big 
 as Berlin." — "That I could have imagined, without 
 your in'^enious observation. Yet the life there may 
 be pleasant enough for all that." — *' If the family cir- 
 cumstances permitted, no doubt it might. But Erica's 
 existence must be a wretched one. That she has to 
 work from morning till night is the least part of it; 
 but she never gets a kind word for what she does, and 
 is told a hundred times a day that every one has his 
 or her duties in life; and a fearful hullabaloo is made 
 about the slightest piece of forgetfulness, as if it were 
 a veritable crime. That's what makes her life unbear- 
 able. Avarice and malice seem to rule the household; 
 everything that costs money they call sinful, and what 
 they can stint their bodies of, is considered piety." — 
 " So she is not as happy as might be ? " — " I mean to 
 get her out from among that set. Everything she has 
 had to put up with, hitherto, shall be made good to 
 her. Life is new to her still; by my side she shall 
 learn to know what it really is. I will show her how 
 beautiful it is; in her eyes I will read how happy she 
 has become; she shall be mine yet, that gentle dpve. 
 You see, Wilhelmine, that I've made up my mind; it's 
 the grandmother that won't." — " Fritz, does she know 
 anything about cooking?" — ''Who.'*" — "Why, Erica, 
 of course." — "I never asked her." — "Well, I could 
 teach her; I know your favourite dishes." — "We've 
 not got as far as that yet, however." — " If it can't be 
 managed otherwise, I'll go to Lingen myself, and let 
 them hear what I've got to say. Let me but meet that 
 grandmother face to face ! " — "You'd take her by
 
 Herr Krause dressed in Wool. 171 
 
 the heels, I dare say." — " Fritz, is that an expression 
 fit for the delicate proceeding in question, and one 
 that can be managed only by a woman, because it de- 
 mands tact and feeling ? But mark me — either this 
 affair is put into proper order, or that old woman will 
 get to know who I am." 
 
 The Krauses came in just as I had finished speak- 
 ing, so there was an end to our conversation. Herr 
 Krause was dressed in so-called Jager's clothing; it is 
 said to be good for the health, and allows worry and 
 vexation to ventilate out of the body better than ordi- 
 nary clothing. This is very necessary in Herr Krause's 
 case, for Eduard's mischievous doings have lately 
 again been carried so far, that he was one day dis- 
 missed from school. Of course he was not removed; 
 but had it not been that Herr Krause is himself a 
 teacher, and that the boy promised before the assem- 
 bled conference to alter his ways, he would have been 
 ignominiously expelled. So Herr Krause is now 
 obliged to go about in wool, owing to that gobd-for- 
 notliing boy of his. Uncle Fritz says that Krause looks, 
 of all things in the world, like a worn-out old acrobat 
 in search of an engagement. Frau Krause, on the 
 other hand, likes the garments, because she thinks 
 they make her husband look spruce, and, moreover, 
 are economical as regards washing, for linen is ruined 
 in no time by the quantity of borax and other stuffs 
 the laundresses worry into the things. In this respect 
 of course I could not but admit that she was right; 
 for what is called a new method of doing up things is, in 
 reality, nothing but a method of making things old — it 
 so rots the clothes. Stiff the things may be, as stiff as 
 boards, and as glossj'' as a tile-covered stove, but 
 they're as brittle as glass. Hence I have never sent 
 our fine things out to be washed, and yet my Carl is 
 alwavs as trim as can be.
 
 172 Enimi keeps the Accounts. 
 
 The gentlemen sat down to whist with a dummy. 
 Uncle Fritz, who, as a rule, always wins, played badly 
 that evening. This put Herr Krause, who was his 
 partner, somewhat out of temper, which it oughtn't to 
 have done, sitting as he was in wool, as I remarked to 
 Frau Krause. She rattled away, trying to make all 
 sorts of excuses, and said, among other things, that 
 perhaps the wool he was wearing came from an angry 
 lot of sheep; however, the truth was that Eduard was 
 really the cause of her husband's great irritability. 
 
 A little before supper-time Emmi came in, and I at 
 once noticed that something was wrong. Here we 
 have it, at last, thought I. I took her into the adjoin- 
 ing room, where supper was laid, and said : "Well, 
 have you come to blows, already ? " — "1 was weary at 
 home," she replied, " and if Franz chooses to go out 
 to play skat, surely I may go out too if I please." — 
 " Haven't I always told you that ? You ought long 
 since to have shown more spirit. Is he coming to 
 fetch you later ? " She shook her head negatively. 
 " Have you really had a quarrel, Emmi ? " — " No, not 
 exactly; but is he always to be in the right ? " — " Why, 
 I should think not ! " — '' You know. Mamma, that I 
 conscientiously keep an exact account of every small 
 purchase I make, even the milk for Maffi." — " By the 
 way, did you bring the creature with you ?" — " No, he 
 was sleeping when I came away, and I did not care to 
 spend money for a cab on his account. But Iwant to 
 tell you that Franz maintains it's not the writing down 
 all the items that makes a good housewife, he says it's 
 in keeping down the accounts." — " Was it about that 
 you got angry ? " — " I merely said he could go and look 
 in the store-room, and he would know where the 
 money had all gone to. I had got in two hams, the 
 string of sausages, butter, and a lot of other things
 
 A meinorable Thursday. 173 
 
 besides." — " But, Emmi, what makes you buy so much 
 at a time, when you can have things in fresh when you 
 need them ? If you have too much in the house, the 
 things will only spoil." — " Our cook thought we hadn't 
 enough provisions in the house, and Franz doesn't un- 
 derstand these things. It was she. too, who advised 
 me to go out this evening, for she said it would be the 
 best way of putting an end to such disputes." — 
 " Emmi, I cannot honestly say that your husband is 
 wrong in the present case," said I, for I had no wish to 
 take the cook's part. " One thing, however, I do ap- 
 prove of is, that you have made a beginning in showing 
 him that you can take refuge in your parent's house. 
 You just wait and see if we shall not all of us re- 
 member this Thursday." 
 
 And verily we did remember it. The day is one 
 that will dwell in the memories of us all, however old 
 w^e may live to be. How I do repent ever having ad- 
 vised Emmi to give tit for tat, in order to get her 
 husband under her thumb. How terribly I had to 
 atone for it all afterwards. And yet I had no pre- 
 sentiment whatever that the tragedy would begin that 
 very evening; otherwise I should assuredly have said : 
 " Emmi, you had better go home, things are looking 
 rather askew." 
 
 Emmi herself did not seem to be feeling altogether 
 comfortable. She had no appetite, and the later it got 
 the more restless she became. It was somewhat the 
 same with me also. I kept thinking, "What if Dr. 
 VVrenzchen should get wild with rage ? They had 
 hitherto lived in the utmost harmony — that is to say, 
 all excepting his Thursday evenings out. Yet, had he 
 not stipulated for them at the outset ? " A chilly feel- 
 ing would creep up iny spine when I thought that if 
 anything happened I should be blamed for it all, and
 
 174 Visited by a Policeman. 
 
 should never again venture to look my Carl in the 
 face. I was on the point of saying to Emmi, " Don't 
 you think you had better be going; Uncle Fritz will 
 see you home," when we heard a violent ring at the 
 front door. Emmi stared at me, and I at her. It was 
 only misfortune that could have rung the bell in that 
 way. 
 
 My Carl, who saw that neither of us were capable of 
 moving, and had long since noticed that things were 
 not all square, went out to see who was there. He was 
 a horribly long time in coming back, so it seemed to 
 me; and when he did return, he called me out of the 
 room. I had made up my mind, of course, that I should 
 probably have to face Dr. Wrenzchen in some degree 
 of wrath. In place of this I found a policeman stand- 
 ing in our entrance; he, in a very formal way, gave us 
 to understand that Dr. Wrenzchen's house had been 
 broken into, and added that he had been requested to 
 see that the Doctor's wife was informed of the fact in 
 as gentle a way as possible. The Doctor had also 
 commissioned him to say that if the lady were at all 
 afraid, she was to remain overnight at the Lands- 
 berger Strasse. 
 
 Emmi, who had hurried out of the room after us, 
 heard all the policeman had said, but nothing would 
 induce her to remain with us. So a cab was quickly 
 procured, and without even bidding the Krauses good- 
 night, we drove off to Dr. Wrenzchen's house. 
 
 We found a pretty state of things there. Dr. Wrenz- 
 chen was trying to discover what had been stolen; one 
 policeman helped him in this, another kept watch at 
 the door, and a third was examining the rooms, and 
 entering notes in a pocket-book. Emmi flew to Franz, 
 who greeted her at once with the words: "Things are 
 not so very bad after all. They've not carried off much
 
 A State of Utter Confusion. 175 
 
 money; luckily I went to the bank this morning, and 
 the other things can be replaced in time." She was 
 about to beg forgiveness for having left the house, but 
 he called it a lucky accident that she happened to be 
 out, as otherwise she might have fared as badly as the 
 servant-girl, whom the robbers had gagged with a 
 towel to prevent her calling out, and had also locked 
 her up in a room, bound hand and foot; he had found 
 her half unconscious, in this state, when he came in. 
 
 Their rooms did, indeed, present a most murderous 
 appearance. In place of newly-married neatness and 
 order, that affects the very bones in the larder, every- 
 thing was in a state of confusion, as if an auction were 
 being held. The robbers had pushed away the escri- 
 toire from the w^all, and had damaged the w^riting- 
 table. The doors of a wardrobe were standing open, 
 and clothes were lying about on chairs and on the 
 floor. The Doctor's best dress-suit had been taken, 
 and an older suit left for him to wear. All the silver 
 was gone, except the candelabra presented to the Doc- 
 tor at his w^edding. Uncle Fritz noticed this, and 
 called out triumphantly, " Now you see they are only 
 plated ! " The store-room had been ransacked: the 
 hams and sausages were gone. The thieves had not 
 shown a spark of reverence for anything. 
 
 In consequence of the men's muddy boots, more- 
 over, the house looked as if a caravan had marched 
 through it.. Perfectly dreadful ! And then the un- 
 pleasant consciousness that the robbers, with their 
 thieving hands, had been rummaging about in boxes 
 and drawers, doing so probably amid rude jokes, and 
 ridiculing things that were of no value to them, but 
 precious to the young people for recollection's sake. 
 On all sides there were trac.s of the thieves, and the 
 place even smelt of them. The poet, it is true, says :
 
 1/6 Dr. Wrcnzchcn and the Po'.ice. 
 
 "Sacred unto all time are the abodes of good men ; " 
 but I would say, any abode that has been touched by 
 bad men one will not readily like again in one's life. 
 The Doctor will have to move ; no long day of clean- 
 ing and scrubbing would ever destroy the picture of 
 horror and desolation those rooms presented. And 
 the burglars— where were they? They had vanished 
 like any lovely dream. 
 
 The police forthwith took a statement of what had 
 occurred. The servant-girl was called, and came in 
 with a pocket-handkerchief at her eyes. The people 
 on the floor above, too, a Herr Greve and his wife and 
 daughter, we asked to come down and state what they 
 knew of the matter. 
 
 The result of all the questionings and answers was 
 — that as soon as Frau Wrenzchen had left the house, 
 a man came to fetch the Doctor to see some sick per- 
 son. The servant-girl had told him where the Doctor 
 was to be found, whereupon the man had replied that 
 perhaps it would be time enough if the Doctor came 
 early in the morning, and asked to be allowed to write 
 down the address. The girl said that she let the man 
 in, but that, at the same moment, a second man had 
 forced his way in, and clapped his hand tightly over 
 her mouth to prevent her screaming ; she said she be- 
 came unconscious then from fright, and when she 
 recovered found that she could neither scream nor 
 move, as she was gagged and bound hand and foot. 
 The Doctor had found her in this state when he came 
 in. Dr. Wrenzchen corroborated the girl's statement, 
 but expressed his astonishment at having, when he 
 came in, found all the doors unlocked, though closed. 
 When he saw what had occurred, he at once called a 
 watchman, and then hurried to summon the police ; 
 they immediately declared that the gagging and fet-
 
 WilJicluiiiic has her oivn Ideas. 177 
 
 tering of the girl, as well as the robbery, must have 
 been committed by several persons ; that this was 
 proved simply by the heavy escritoire having been 
 moved from the vv^all. Herr Greve and his wife main- 
 tained that they had not heard any noise in the slight- 
 est degree suspicious. 
 
 "What had the rascals looked like?" the girl was 
 then asked. She said she couldn't exactly say, but re- 
 membered that both of them had full black beards. 
 " How could you be so careless to let in suspicious- 
 looking men, with black beards, like swindlers ? " said 
 I to her. The impertinent creature answered that she 
 couldn't tell what people were by looking at their 
 noses. " Why did you not call for help ? " She re- 
 plied, that as I wasn't a police-inspector, she didn't 
 need to answer me. " If you'd a clear conscience you 
 wouldn't be so insolent," I replied. What did I mean 
 by that 1 I might have my own ideas ; perhaps the 
 provisions were bought expressly for the thieves ? I 
 should have to give an account of such speeches. 
 "With pleasure," said I ; " I know you well, and think 
 you capable of anything." The Doctor was about to 
 interfere, but I exclaimed : " Depend upon it, she's 
 had her hand in this business ; nobody will make me 
 believe otherwise." The girl then flew into a passion, 
 and I can't say what my answers to her were, for she 
 was so utterly wanting in respect. She called the 
 police and Herr and Frau Greve to be witnesses that 
 I had insulted her, and attacked her honour as a re- 
 spectable servant. The police replied that all this 
 would be enquired into when the case came to be 
 investigated. 
 
 The police then withdrew, leaving us in the utmost 
 state of excitement. The girl was despatched to make 
 coffee, and we tidied up the rooms, in order that they 
 12
 
 178 Dr. Wrenzchen quite Affectionate. 
 
 might recover some sort of physiognomy. The thieves 
 did not seem to have entered the bedroom; but when 
 we came to look and see whether one or other miglit 
 not have crept under the bedsteads, we found Maffi 
 Pamph lying there dead, with a cord round its neck. 
 They had murdered it, no doubt, amid cold smiles. 
 Herr Greve now remembered to have heard the dog 
 barking, but had not thought anything further about 
 the matter. 
 
 While we were drinking our Mocha, which the girl 
 brought in, casting a wrathful look at me, Uncle Fritz 
 said : " You'll see, Wilhelmine, that that girl will 
 bring an action against you." — " She would never pre- 
 sume to," said I, laughing at the idea. "You were 
 more excited than you had any right to be," said Carl 
 reproachfully. " Carl," said I, " if she had met you as 
 she did me about those crawfish, you'd never have 
 •kept quiet so long. She had to catch it from me, and 
 that pretty smartly." 
 
 Dr. Wrenzchen was most affectionate and gentle to- 
 wards Emmi, and declared it to be a merciful dispen- 
 sation that his wife should have taken it into her head 
 to pay us a visit on that very evening, and that a great 
 catastrophe had perhaps been thus warded off. 
 
 "Just so," said I, and smiled at Emmi in a knowing 
 way. We two, of course, knew all the ins and outs 
 about that "dispensation," and how it had been set to 
 work. It had been set agoing by Frau Buchholz, who 
 at that moment was dipping a bit of cake into her 
 coffee.
 
 Where is Eduard? 179 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LIFE. 
 
 I HAVE seen Frau Krause in various forms of impulsive 
 excitement, but never in such a state as she was the 
 other day when she came to us. " Is Eduard here ? " 
 she exclaimed, " has he been here ? " — " No," I replied ; 
 "has he run away ?" — "He's been away since yester- 
 day," she whimpered. "The teacher with whom he 
 has been living thought that we had kept him at home 
 overnight, and, knowing the boy to be delicate, 
 thought that he might have been feeling unwell, as he 
 did not appear at school-time." — " I never knew him 
 to be delicate!" — "You are so unsympathetic," she 
 exclaimed; " but where can he be ? — where can he be ? " 
 — " He'll turn up all right," said I, by way of consoling 
 her. " Have you set the police to work to find him ? " 
 — " My husband is having a search made; placards are 
 being posted on the advertisement-pillars, and notices 
 put in the papers, whatever it may cost. If only some 
 misfortune has not befallen him ! " — " Let us hope 
 not," said I; "but now, Frau Krause, do let me offer 
 you some refreshment." — "No, no, thank you; I can- 
 not rest; I must go and try elsewhere." And off she 
 went, looking as troubled as when she first came in. 
 
 What could Eduard have been about? I felt con- 
 vinced he must have invented some special piece of 
 mischief, for he was ever doing what he ought not to 
 do. Yet it would really be a terrible thing if, after 
 all, some misfortune had run up against him, for the 
 Krauses have but the one child. However, I could 
 not think this likely; such weeds are not apt to disap- 
 Dear. Yet, where could he be ? 
 
 Yes, where was he ? This question was not merely 
 asked by the sorrowing parents, by the yellow plac-
 
 l8o About Books. 
 
 ards on the advertisement-pillars, and by the para- 
 graph among the local occurrences in the newspapers. 
 A number of other people, too, would have liked to 
 know, either from curiosity or by way of receiving the 
 reward offered for information on the subject. All ea- 
 quiries, however, proved in vain, for Eduard was not 
 to be found in Berlin. He had clearly made off some- 
 where. 
 
 If there was anything Eduard disliked in the world 
 it was Latin and Greek, He could not see what use 
 there was in scribbling hieroglyphics on paper, and 
 placing accents on the top of syllables, when he was 
 himself perfectly indifferent as to whether they were 
 long or short. There seemed no sense in it to him. 
 As little did he care into how many provinces Gaul 
 was divided by Csesar. When his history lesson was 
 beginning to get interesting, when the Romans were 
 bravely fighting their enemies, the teacher would tor- 
 ment the class by enquiring into the relations of this 
 or that vowel; and thus in place of hearing which 
 army won the pending victory, in the hand to hand 
 fight, the boys had to set about declining and conju- 
 gating words, and then some in the class would suffer 
 more disgraceful defeats than any mentioned in the 
 Gallic wars. Eduard has specially good reasons for 
 not considering Julius Caesar his friend. 
 
 There were other books, however, that the boy liked 
 immensely, much better than the remarkable doings 
 of the ancients, and these he read with enthusia::^tic 
 delight. They told him of distant countries, of forests 
 of palm and fruit trees, where were to be found quan- 
 tities of parrots and glow-worms as large as one's 
 hand. Adventures might be had there with wild men 
 and animals, that always ended in favour of the white 
 man; and deeds so daring were told that he could
 
 Eduard's Casth'S in the Air. l8l 
 
 scarcely read quick enough to learn how it all ended. 
 Greatly would he have liked to have a trained ostrich 
 to ride upon, such as was described in one of his 
 books. How his boy friends Vv'ould stare in amaze- 
 ment ! Not one of them would be able to overtake 
 him, for an ostrich is such a fearfully swift creature. 
 He could have guided it with reins between its beak. 
 A tame jaguar, too, he would have liked to have, to 
 run about after him like a dog. If any one then had 
 dared to interfere with them, the jaguar would have 
 stood by him; they might all come after him, the jag- 
 uar wouldn't have allov/ed any one to touch him. A 
 bow and arrows, also, he would have carried by him; 
 with these he could have shot right into the top school- 
 room window. Then, if the janitor had appeared, he 
 would have jumped on to his ostrich, his jaguar fol- 
 io vving, and away he would have been across the hills 
 before any one had caught sight of him. 
 
 He had often liked thinking about such things, when 
 kept in after school hours. And these thoughts did not 
 remain a mere wish. The longing to experience for him- 
 self what he read about, became a burning desire; he felt, 
 in fact, that he must be off out into the wide world. Here, 
 in Berlin, everything seemed against him. The teachers 
 were unjust, and showed a preference for other boys; 
 and he wouldn't condescend to sneak into their favour 
 by becoming a milksop, like those in the front rows. 
 He wasn't going to fawn and flatter. Off, therefore, 
 he'd better go. 
 
 Across the plains of Northern Germany sped the 
 night train that leaves Berlin at ii o'clock, arriving in 
 Hamburg towards 6 in the morning. It rushed past 
 quiet places, it whizzed across the moorland, over 
 which the moonlight was spinning a haze that seemed 
 to become minofled with the distance. From time to
 
 1 82 A Journey to Hamburg. 
 
 time bright lights became visible, these were the lan- 
 terns on solitary stations which the steam-horse 
 greeted with a shrill whistle, although it could not 
 make a halt. At some places, on the other hand, 
 the iron creature got a drink, an immense quantity 
 of boiling water, and whilst its thirst was being 
 quenched, men with iron hammers came and knocked 
 at every axle and wheel in the train, to hear by the 
 sound whether any part had been injured, or a break- 
 age was to be feared. Some of the passengers would 
 wake and grumble at the noise which robbed them of 
 the sleep they struggled so hard to get; others were 
 not disturbed by it, but slept on in the most uncom- 
 fortable of upright positions — either because they had 
 good consciences or good nerves. 
 
 In the corner of one of the third class carriages was 
 seated a boy, his head resting against the hard wooden 
 partition; he was enveloped in the sound, refreshing 
 sleep of childhood. A smile was fiittirvg round his 
 mouth, so that any one not knowing who he was, might 
 have fancied that kindly angels on purple-edged clouds 
 were playing with the sleeper, and that the reflection 
 of their brightness might be seen in the boy's face. 
 Any one with such thoughts would have been greatly 
 astonished had it been possible for him to take part in 
 the boy's dream; for, in place of being in the company 
 of lovely, angelic beings, he would have found himself 
 transported into the midst of the excitement of a tiger- 
 hunt. As young Krause's thoughts had latterly been 
 more occupied with tigers and jaguars than with celes- 
 tial creatures, it was natural enough that in his sleep 
 he should have dreamt of the things that filled his 
 thoughts when awake. The crack of the hammers on 
 the axles of the wheels, probably aroused in the mind 
 of the deeply slumbering bov the idea of gunshots,
 
 I How Ed2(a7'd purchased his Ticket. 183 
 
 while the tiger would be speedily added by the quick 
 fancy of the dreamer. 
 
 Eduard was, in fact, carrying out his long-cherished 
 plan. He had kept his pocket-money — both that given 
 him formally by his father, as well as the very secret 
 and much more abundant supply from his mother — all 
 the more carefully, as he had learned from experience 
 that commercial pursuits are useless without success, 
 and his first attempt to acquire capital at the Christ- 
 mas fair had proved an utter failure. Perhaps he did 
 not possess one of those lucky pennies with which so 
 man}^ have come to Berlin in rags and wretchedness, 
 to become millionaires in a few years, finding life then, 
 however, tolerable only upon india-rubber tires — or, 
 perhaps, he did not possess the requisite talent. His 
 business speculation in cigars (in which he had made 
 his father unwittingly take part) was not a success, 
 whereas his savings bank was flourishing. When 
 threatening clouds overcast his school-heaven, his 
 savings were almost enough to purchase a railway 
 ticket to Hamburg, as he discovered in the Berlin A B 
 C guide for travellers. Then, too, his watch was worth 
 a few half-crown pieces. So he broke down the bridges 
 in his rear by selling his watch as well as the detested 
 Latin and Greek books of torment, together with the 
 respective lexicons; this piece of business was transact- 
 ed with a dealer in second-hand articles, who, to their 
 mutual sorrow, could offer but a very low price for 
 them, as he had already too much of the same sort of 
 things to dispose of. The boy, however, took what 
 was offered with a light heart, thinking: I shall not 
 require much money; when I get to Hamburg I shall 
 at once go to sea as a cabin boy. What fun it will be sit- 
 ting high up on the mast and crying out. Land ! land 
 ahead ! when the coast comes in sight, where the na-
 
 184 '^Always boldly forward." 
 
 tives are all black. Hurrah ! What fun ! The boy 
 meant to write home on board ship — more seemed to 
 him superfluous. 
 
 When morning began to dawn, sleep and dreams 
 departed. The boy saw the sun rise on the golden 
 edge of the horizon — coming up in brilliant splendour- 
 This was a new sight to him. His fellow passengers 
 woke also. They asked him where he was going to. 
 To Hamburg. Had he relatives there ? Yes, he said 
 untruthfully. Whereabouts did they live ? Close to the 
 ships. Did he mean the harbour ? Yes; what was the 
 best way of getting there ? On leaving the station, if 
 he kept straight on by Hofer's Hotel, and then turned 
 to the left, he could not fail to find it. Any one would 
 be glad to tell him the way if he asked; he must not 
 hesitate, but ask boldly. That was splendid advice. 
 Be sure not to hesitate ! Always boldly forward ! 
 
 The flat moorland came to an end, wooded hills ap- 
 peared to the right and left of the railwa}'', and the 
 light of the morning sun played amid the young green 
 leaves of the beeches. Thereupon the woods receded 
 to make room for a river which cut its course through 
 the rich meadows in graceful windings. '' Is that the 
 Elbe ? " asked Eduard. — " No," answered one of his 
 fellow travellers, smiling, *' that's the Bille. We're 
 just coming to Friedrichsruh, look ! " Eduard saw 
 this castle of Prince Bismarck's ; the train passed 
 quite close to it. Then a short halt was made at 
 Bergedorf. Women in curious attire came up to the 
 carriages offering flowers and fruits. The boy was 
 told that these were Vierlander women. "What a 
 strange world it is," thought Eduard ; " what wonder- 
 ful things I shall see when I get to distant lands ! " 
 
 At last the train stopped beneath a huge vaulted 
 roof ; it was the Hamburg station.
 
 Looking for the Ships. 185 
 
 Every one hurried towards the way out, and the 
 stream of human beings carried Eduard out too. On 
 getting outside, the boy stood for a moment in doubt 
 as to which way he should go, but soon discovered 
 the words Hofer's Hotel written in large letters on a 
 fine-looking building. Now he knew what to do, and 
 walked bravely onwards. He did as he had been told 
 to do, and turned off to the left ; after a short v/alk 
 he reached a market place where Vierlander men and 
 women, in their peculiar dress, were selling vege- 
 tables. He had never seen such people in Berlin. 
 
 He asked his way to the harbour and got an answer ; 
 but although he listened attentively the answer was 
 utterly unintelligible to him. Latin he had learnt, 
 but did not know anything about Low German. Was 
 his journey round the world going to present unex- 
 pected difficulties after all ? No, no. Only boldly for- 
 ward. And, trusting to luck, on he went. 
 
 He crossed bridges that led across narrow canals 
 where men were pushing heavily laden barges slowly 
 forv/ards. On both sides of the canal gabled houses 
 rose straight out of the water. He asked if this was 
 the harbour. " No, thur be the Fleeth," was the 
 answer, and Eduard was as wise as before. 
 
 At last, however, he gained his object ; he came in 
 sight of the tops of masts, the lower parts of the 
 ships were hidden from view by a long low building. 
 The gateway was open, and as no one interfered he 
 walked in. There lay numbers of ships of all sizes, 
 such as he had never seen before. And huge steam 
 cranes stretched out their iron arms ; boxes, bales, 
 and sacks were fastened to the chains, and the 
 cranes raised their burdens, turned, and again slowly 
 laid their prey down, just like rational creatures. As 
 far as bis eyes could see, these strange machines were
 
 1 86 Editard applies for a Position, 
 
 at work unloading the ships ; sturdy-looking men 
 stood ready to receive the bales, and piled them up 
 into endless heaps. He asked one of them whether 
 this was the harbour. This is the quay, was the reply, 
 the harbour is further on. Keep to the right and 
 across the bridge yonder, and you will see it right in 
 front of you. 
 
 There was the harbour. His heart beat fast at the 
 unexpected sight. Numberless masts rose out of the 
 water like a very forest. The vessels lay close along- 
 side of one another ; and upon the narrow channels 
 of water not occupied by ships, quick little boats and 
 swift little steam-tugs kept plying to and fro. Slowly 
 he went on his way, his eyes steadfastly fixed upon 
 the floating city. How vast it was ! How immense. 
 
 Gradually, however, hunger began to make itself 
 felt. The boy walked into a sailor's tavern and asked 
 for breakfast. What he got was good : a large cup of 
 coffee, black bread, and fresh butter. All this was 
 much better than in Berlin. At a side table were sit- 
 ting some sailors, one of whom was addressed as 
 "captain." The boy thought to himself : " I wonder 
 whether he could make use of me as a cabin boy ? I 
 will ask him. Boldly out with it ! " 
 
 The sailor, at first, did not seem to understand what 
 the boy wanted. When he did make out what the 
 boy's wish was, he saM : " So you want to go to sea } 
 Have you got your father's consent ? " Eduard was 
 silent. " Or your guardian's ?" continued the man. — 
 "No," muttered the boy. — "Then go home again, my 
 boy, that's the best thing you can do." 
 
 Greatly disappointed, Eduard left the tavern. 
 " Home ! " He couldn't possibly go home now. His 
 watch and the books he had sold alone made that im- 
 possible. He would probably find some other captain
 
 and Becomes Discouraged. 187 
 
 more kindly disposed towards him. There were so 
 many ships ! 
 
 Not quite so hopeful as before, Eduard sauntered 
 away along by the harbour. Where could he find the 
 right sort of captain ? He had fancied that all he 
 would need to do was to go on board some ship, state 
 his wish, in order at once joyfully to obtain the work 
 he wanted. But there lay the ships out on the water, 
 and he was on land ! After a while he resolved to 
 speak to a sailor. Accident led him to address an 
 Englishman, who did not even condescend to look at 
 him, and the boy's endeavour to obtain advice failed 
 utterly. This discouraged him very much. 
 
 The harbour now offered him but little pleasure, so 
 he turned aside into a road that led up hill. On reach- 
 ing the top he found people sitting on benches under 
 the shade of trees, and he determined to rest here 
 himself. 
 
 From this hill he had a view down upon the proud 
 river Elbe, away into the blue distance beyond the 
 opposite bank, and down upon the busy life of the 
 town immediately below him. One large steamer 
 seemed just to be starting, majestically it ploughed its 
 way through the water, away towards the great ocean. 
 Smaller steamers, sailing ships, and boats of all kinds 
 were coming in and going out ; how was it he could 
 not obtain a place in any one of them ? His longing 
 to be off somewhere became greater than ever, and he 
 could scarcely endure to look at the v.iew before him. 
 A feeling of restlessness drove him onwards. 
 
 Without knowing where the road led to, he walked 
 on, and soon it seemed to him that the way was well 
 chosen, for he came to a very pleasant looking place, 
 with a number of booths of every description and 
 sights worth seeing. He was asked to go and look at
 
 1 88 An Empty Purse, 
 
 a menagerie. That he could not resist. A merry-go- 
 round, too, was a thing not to be despised. What 
 could there be better for him to do than to have a ride 
 on a lion? Hamburg was assuredly a magnificent 
 town ! After he had more rides on the merry-go- 
 round than ever before in his life, he turned into a re- 
 freshment room to have something to eat. His savings 
 were, it is true, rapidly dwindling away, but a cocoa- 
 nut he must have, and a few shells. They were being 
 sold in the streets, arranged in tempting rows on 
 trundles. 
 
 Later in the afternoon the place became more lively 
 still, a puppet show was given, a bear was made to 
 perform its antics ; the theatre in the square was 
 opened ; on all sides wonderful things were to be 
 seen, and great numbers of people flocked together. 
 Eduard no longer thought about captains. 
 
 Then, however, night set in. The crowds dispersed. 
 Every one went off home. Where was he to go to ? 
 His purse was empty; his day's enjoyment had run 
 away with every farthing he possessed. 
 
 Perhaps he might yet find the man he wanted at the 
 harbour. He set off down the avenue by which he 
 fancied he had come in the morning. Straight ahead, 
 he could not fail to come to the Elbe. 
 
 Had he missed his way ? There seemed no end to 
 the avenue. On and on he went, then stood still : " I 
 never was here before ! Where can I have got to ? 
 Never mind ! Boldly forward ! " 
 
 Was not that the river gleaming over there ? It 
 must be the harbour ! A few paces more, and again 
 he stood still. In front of him glistened a large ex- 
 panse of water; the moon and stars were reflected in 
 it, and the gas lamps along the shores glimmered in 
 the water in long streaks of light. Beyond, the houses
 
 and Alone in a Strange Place. 189 
 
 rose like a dark wall, and towers rose up higher still 
 into the dark sky. 
 
 "I will stay here," he whispered to himself; "over 
 yonder, among the shrubs, I can find shelter." 
 
 He soon found what he wanted. A bench offered 
 him a resting place. 
 
 He sat down, and gazed out over a second and larger 
 sheet of water that lay there as if asleep. The boy, 
 however, could not sleep; he felt so alone in that strange 
 place, so forsaken. 
 
 He was very cold too, for the night was chilly, and 
 he v;as hungry as well. The hours seemed endlessly 
 long. When the clocks in the towers struck the hours, 
 and the sounds reverberated through the night, he 
 would count them, and heard how the one clock began 
 first and the others followed. From time to time long- 
 drawn weird sounds reached him, like fearful moans 
 of anguish. These were the eerie sounds of the fog- 
 signals from the steamers leaving the harbour; they 
 seemed like the wailings of some terrible sorrow, as of 
 farewell tears and the loud moanings of homesickness, 
 and as they came across the waste through the silent 
 night, they found an echo in the boy's desolate heart. 
 
 How gladly he would now have been back in Berlin. 
 
 He wondered whether he could get back on foot ? 
 He fancied that he could find his way. But the re- 
 ception that awaited nim at home, and the jeers of his 
 school-fellows ! He clenched his hands : " I will not 
 go back." 
 
 Finally he was overcome by weariness, but after a 
 short sleep the sky began to brighten, and he was 
 awakened by the chilly breath of early morning. 
 Eduard was shivering, and the feeling of hunger be- 
 came more and more unbearable. He searched his 
 pockets, but could not find any stray coin. There was
 
 190 In desperate Straits. 
 
 the cocoa-nut, however— he had forgotten it ! How 
 was he to get at the tasty kernel, and the milk which 
 the savages lived upon ? Fortunately, on the previous 
 afternoon he had bought a knife, and this would 
 prove useful now. Eagerly he set about peeling off 
 the fibres. What a difficult piece of work ! He man- 
 aged it at last, however, but his forehead was wet 
 with perspiration before he had removed all the tough 
 mass. The next thing to^be done was to open the 
 hard shell; but his knife made no impression upon it, 
 and always slipped off, however much he tried to 
 prevent it. Then he tried to break it on a stone, but 
 found he hadn't sufficient strength, the nut remained 
 persistently whole. A cunning thought struck him : 
 '* I'll sell the nut and buy bread with what I get for it." 
 He could quench his thirst with water from the Alster, 
 and the largest of the foreign shells would make a 
 capital scoop. Savages, no doubt, did this too; but 
 where were the savages? And where was he? He 
 threw his shell away in the river when he had finished 
 with it. His adventurous spirit seemed to be vanish- 
 ing. 
 
 Meanwhile the town had become full of life; swift 
 steamboats kept passing under the broad arches of the 
 bridges, near which Eduard had spent the night; rail- 
 way trains were running over ihem, tramcars, too, and 
 other vehicles. Foot-passengers were taking healthy 
 exercise in the prettily laid out boulevards, and busi- 
 ness men were hurrying citywards. Eduard, too, de- 
 termined to seek his fortune in this famous mercantile 
 city. 
 
 He offered his cocoa-nut to the passers-by, but they 
 had clearly no great desire to buy it ; most of them, 
 too, seemed to have no time to stop even. To the boy 
 it seemed as if all the Hamburg people were in a furi-
 
 The Riiimzvay Caiight. 191 
 
 ous hurry. A little way off, however, stood a man who 
 did not appear to be taking part in the universal race; 
 perhaps he might be persuaded to buy the nut. He 
 would go and tell the man how hungry he was. 
 
 The gentleman did not refuse to listen to the boy; 
 on the contrary, he enquired sympathetically as to 
 where he had come from, and where he was going, 
 and in a few minutes had succeeded in winning Ed- 
 uard's confidence. In fact, Eduard even summoned up 
 courage to ask him whether he knew any captain who 
 needed a cabin boy. The gentleman answered that 
 this might perhaps be managed. " Give me vour hand, 
 my boy, I will take you to one." Who could be hap- 
 pier than Eduard at that moment ! 
 
 The gentleman was inquisitive, that could not be 
 denied. He wanted to know where Eduard had spent 
 the night. " In the open air," answered the boy, with 
 hesitation. — "Have you got no more money?" — "I've 
 nothing but this nut." — "And you are hungry?" — 
 "Very." — "You'll get something to eat very soon. 
 Have a little patience." 
 
 This comforting prospect absorbed Eduard's whole 
 attention, but still he did notice that some of the 
 people hurrying stopped for a moment and looked at 
 him in a curious way, some smiled in a sneering kind 
 of manner, others seemed to pity him. And the gen- 
 tleman was meanwhile holding his hand so peculiarly 
 tight. "Where are we going?" Eduard asked doubt- 
 fully. — " Here we are already," replied his companion. 
 They had halted in front of a large, plain-looking build- 
 ing of a somewhat unpleasant appearance. The gen- 
 tleman pulled a bell-handle, and the heavy door opened 
 and closed behind them at once. In the same manner 
 they passed a second iron gateuay. 
 
 "Here, I bring you a runaway," said the friendly-
 
 192 Ediiard Repentant, 
 
 looking gentleman, and leading Eduard into a room 
 wlicre he had to answer a number of questions. He 
 confessed everything— everything. " If you have spoken 
 the truth j'ou will be kept here but a short time; we 
 shall write to your father." — " Oh, don't, don't ! " en- 
 treated poor Eduard. — "There's no other way, my boy; 
 and now come, we have comfortable quarters for you 
 here. Sleeping in the open air is not good for any 
 one." The inspector gave him a sign, and without any 
 resistance, Eduard followed him into a large airy pass- 
 age, with yellovv'^-coloured walls, and thence up a broad 
 staircase. Here the official opened a barred doorway 
 that led into a corridor, on the one side of which w^as 
 the room which Eduard was told he was to occupy. It 
 was lofty and clean, but the iron bars in front of the 
 window gave the room a desperately unhomelike ap- 
 pearance. " Over there on the wall are the rules w'hich 
 you will have to observe. When any one of the officials 
 come in, you are to stand up and to remain respectful- 
 ly standing while he is in the room. The orders for 
 the day must be punctually attended to, and any in- 
 jury done to the room will be punished. You can 
 write to your relatives, and I would advise you to do 
 so. First of all you shall have some breakfast, after 
 that you will have some work given you." 
 
 The door closed, and was then locked and barred. 
 
 Eduard w^as left alone. Utterly crushed, he threw 
 himself upon the bed. His wilfulness was broken, 
 and repentance came over him. Bitter repentance. 
 
 An official brought him a basin of steaming soup, 
 with a slice of bread ; never had anything tasted bet- 
 ter to him, not even at home when on festive occasions 
 some extra good dish was generally prepared. A 
 basket, too, was brought to him containing pieces of 
 tarred rope, which he was told to fray out till it
 
 and Hor?'iJied. 193 
 
 became oakum. He was expressly warned to be 
 diligent. 
 
 So Eduard had set to work picking oakum. While 
 his hands were busy his thoughts flew hither and 
 thither. They took him to Berlin, where he had never 
 been required to work all day long. How free he had 
 been there, comparatively ! Why had he left home ? 
 How well off he had been there ! When school was 
 over he had been allowed to go out for a country walk. 
 His parents had taken him wherever they went. With 
 his father he had gone out butterfly-hunting, even on 
 that day — he suddenly stopped in his work, and stared 
 blankly in front of him. He fancied he saw a boy 
 standing by him on a pier, and then suddenly disap- 
 pear. Eduard gave a low cry, and covered his face 
 with his hands. He was horrified at himself. 
 
 But from the basket arose a peculiar smell of tar, 
 which again brought up before his mind the Hamburg 
 harbour, and this renewed in him the desire to sail 
 out into the wide world with a fresh breeze. The 
 sight of the water and ships had bewitched him, and 
 he felt he should never again be content away from 
 them. 
 
 Two days afterwards his father came to fetch him. 
 Eduard listened submissively to all his father's re- 
 proaches. One request only did he make : not to be 
 sent back to the High School. 
 
 " What is to become of you, if you will not study ? " 
 said the father. 
 
 " I want to be a sailor." 
 
 13
 
 1^4 '^^^^ poivcrs of Fate. 
 
 TRIALS. 
 
 If ever a preacher in the wilderness prophesied rightly, 
 it was Schiller, when he made his classic quotation : 
 "Yet with the powers of fate, no eternal bond can 
 e'er be made." These words were to come true in my 
 own case, although, certainly, I do not know how, or 
 where, I ever made a compact with the eternal powers. 
 I have always striven to do my duty, and to be just 
 and orderly, but this is no longer possible in life, the 
 wickedness of mankind is too great. 
 
 The investigations concerning the robbery at Dr. 
 Wrenzchen's house had been concluded, and had led 
 to no further result than that a safety chain and a 
 new lock were put on his front door. The Police- 
 lieutenant's wife told me that the robbery had been 
 done according to the usual method of house-breakers, 
 and Dr. Wrenzchen had no choice but to submit to 
 the loss of his silver. I advised him to ask a somewhat 
 higher fee from his patients, so as gradually to re- 
 cover his loss, but this he refused to do ; so now they 
 take their meals uith plated goods, which is in keep- 
 ing with their candlesticks. 
 
 The cook gave notice that she wished to leave, and 
 to my great relief, they did not persuade her to re- 
 main, especially as the girl gave as her reason for 
 Avishing to leave, that she did not mean on every oc- 
 casion to be pulled up by the mother-in-law, and that, 
 moreover, she meant to show that lady that there was 
 justice to be had in Berlin. Dr. Wrenzchen tried to 
 persuade the girl to be reasonable, but her answer 
 was that she had been called "a low cheat," and that 
 she wasn't likely to forget that. 
 
 I myself doubted whether she could have accused
 
 WilJu'lvii)ie receives a Letter. 195 
 
 me of using such words ; yet Dr. Wrenzchen declared 
 he had heard her say something of the kind, amid 
 other invectives, and he came round to ask me to offer 
 the girl some compensation in money, so as to induce 
 her not to make any further fuss — " Do you mean to 
 think that I would eat humble pie for that wretched 
 creature?" I answered, indignantly ; " if I were to do 
 that, it would seem as if I acknowledged myself in the 
 wrong." — " Do as you please, dear mother-in-law, but 
 as the girl was acquitted of the charge of conniving 
 . . . ." — ''She's nevertheless far from being innocent 
 in my eyes." — " I would advise you to withdraw your 
 accusations." — " I shall not demean myself by any such 
 act of submission ; it would be an unheard-of proceed- 
 ing for her to bring an action against me. It's per- 
 fectly impossible ! " 
 
 It proved, however, to be perfectly possible. One 
 morning after Carl had gone to his business, a letter 
 was handed in for me, a larger one than I had ever re- 
 ceived in my life before, and its very outward appear- 
 ance, the very look of the envelope made me suspect 
 some terrible communication. With trembling hands 
 I subscribed my name to the paper the postman had 
 handed in for a receipt, and then I opened the letter. 
 Inside were the words : Concerning the case of the 
 private action presented by Maria Johann Band, 
 spinster, against Frau Wilhelmine Buchholz for abus- 
 ive language. I could not read a word more. The 
 letters I could see, of course, but could not make the 
 slightest sense out of them, they so danced before my 
 eyes. This alone seemed clear, I was summoned to 
 appear in court. 
 
 There was no help for it, I had to go to Carl, and 
 yet when I stood before the office door with the letter 
 in my hand, I hadn't the courage to enter. I took
 
 ig6 A 71 extraordinary Document. 
 
 hold of the bell, and then let go again ; I again took 
 hold of it, but felt I did not dare to ring. Carl had, 
 as yet, no idea what a disgrace was hanging over our 
 heads, and that a public accusation had been brought 
 against his hitherto blameless wife. But, of course, I 
 could not stand there for ever. I opened the door 
 gently and tottered up to his desk. " Carl," said I, 
 timidly, "do read this extraordinary document — it is 
 — it has — I can't understand it." Carl read the paper, 
 and his face assumed a stern expression. "This is 
 vexatious," he exclaimed, " more than vexatious ! 
 There are nine charges." — "Nine?" I cried out in 
 amazement, interrupting him. — " Yes, nine several 
 points ; they are mentioned singly ; there, you can 
 read it yourself." — " Carl, the girl's impertinence sur- 
 passes belief ; I merely said that she ought to have 
 taken more care." — "Wilhelmine, you quite forgot 
 yourself that day in your anger." — " I said no more 
 tlian I had a right to." — "That will be proved when 
 the case is investigated ! " — " Carl, need it come to 
 .hat?" — "Well, perhaps it may be settled without 
 your appearing at court. Before the case is investi- 
 gated an attempt might be made to settle things 
 amicably. You will have to admit having done wrong, 
 pay the girl some small compensation, and^there's an 
 end of it. Are you prepared to do this ? " — " Yes," I 
 sighed. — "Don't be down-hearted, Wilhelmine, and do 
 not worry unnecessarily ; but now, old wifie, you 
 must leave me, business is very brisk, and I have a 
 good deal to attend to." 
 
 Not to be down-hearted is easily enough prescribed 
 but not so easily managed. After that legal document 
 entered our house, my life was nothing but trouble 
 and anxiety ; I felt as if a guillotine were perpetually 
 hanging over my head, and I could hardly swallow my
 
 Wilhclniine appeals to Uncle Fritz. 197 
 
 food. I could not get rid of the thought that Carl 
 merely pretended to regard the matter lightly, so as 
 to conceal the terrible truth from me. One afternoon, 
 therefore, I went to Uncle Fritz, who is very far from 
 being Carl's equal in kindness and consideration, and 
 hence I hoped to learn the true state of affairs from 
 him. When he had read the document, he said : 
 " Wilhelmine, the case is ticklish. You swore at the 
 girl, and she must feel pretty sure of her case, for she 
 has as witnesses the two policemen who were present, 
 also Herr Greve and his wife, and Dr. Wrenzchen." — 
 "The Doctor against me?" — "It says so here. He 
 can, of course, refuse to stand as a witness, being your 
 son-in-law, but who can tell but that he may not 
 choose to let slip a lovely opportunity of having his 
 revenge, once in a way. You have had your fling upon 
 him often enough ! " — " Fritz, do you really think him 
 capable of such m.alice ? " — " He might possibly be 
 mollified if you were to promise for ever to renounce 
 your guardianship over him as a mother-in-law." — " I 
 will promise no such thing," I answered angrily ; 
 " now what I want you to tell me is \yhether you think 
 it likely I shall lose the case." — "You may depend 
 upon it, you will ; for remember the policemen with 
 their official oaths are against you." I had often heard 
 of the danger of official oaths, and that if they were 
 against one, one's case might be considered as good as 
 lost. "Fritz," said I, "what am I to do? What can I do?" 
 — " The one means of escape you had, you have un- 
 fortunately neglected." — " I will make up for it now, 
 Fritz ; only tell me what I can do. Most assuredly I 
 will make up for it now." — "Well, you might main- 
 tain that you were not sober on the occasion, and 
 plead extenuating circumstances." 
 
 That was too much even for my patience. " Oh —
 
 198 About the Pettifogging Lawyer. 
 
 you — you — cannibal ! " I exclaimed, flaring up ; "do 
 )'ou hold nothing in reverence, not even your own sis- 
 ter's tribulation ?" — " Come now, Wilhelmine, don't go 
 on like that. Probably they'll let you off on some of 
 the smaller points, and there's little likelihood of 3'our 
 being sent to prison." — " Carl quite expects the mat- 
 ter can be settled by accommodation, what do you 
 think ? " — " If your accuser had consulted a right sort 
 of solicitor, possibly there might have been a recon- 
 ciliation ; but she seems to have got hold of a left- 
 handed sort of individual; he will probably persuade 
 her to carry matters to extremities to suit his own 
 purposes." — " But how will the girl be able to pay the 
 cost of it all ? " — " The party that loses has to fork out; 
 you'll have to do that, my dear." — " Oh, how mean, 
 how shameful ! To accuse me thus at my own ex- 
 pense. Is that justice?" — "The law precisely." — 
 " Then the law ought to be upset. Fritz, I shall never 
 survive this disgrace ! My days are numbered ! " — 
 " Console yourself, Wilhelmine ; every second respect- 
 able person has been punished once in their lives. 
 Cheer up ! " 
 
 " Is that your advice too ! " I exclaimed bitterly ; 
 " if you've nothing better to say, you may as well go 
 and get yourself embalmed ! I spui-n such advice as 
 your ' cheer up ' ! " Winged with wrath, I left Uncle 
 Fritz, and blamed myself for having exposed myself 
 to being the wretched target of his taunts. Yet, when 
 people lose their heads, they are apt to act senselessly. 
 
 Uncle Fritz proved right about the girl's having en- 
 gaged a pettifogging lawyer ; he was a regular cut- 
 throatish, left-handed kind of individual, so that the 
 attempt at accommodation ended in smoke. 
 
 A few days afterwards came another legal docu- 
 ment, demanding my personal attendance at the Royal
 
 A Victim of Fate. 199 
 
 Magisterial Bench in Old Moabit, No. ii, 12, on Sat- 
 urday at ten in the morning, Room 29. And even 
 thougli I might have thought of running off some- 
 where, what would have been the use ? The Court 
 threatened, in case of an undefended non-attendance, 
 to bring up the person by force ; and rather than 
 grant to my ■ mortal enemy the sight of my being 
 dragged in before the tribunal between two police- 
 men, I resolved to appear of my own free will, although 
 my nervous system had completely collapsed. 
 
 The upsets to my spirit were never ending. Heaven 
 only knows how people came to know that a public 
 action had been brought against me; among our own 
 acquaintances, the one subject of conversation seemed 
 to be the approaching trial. Would it, otherwise, ever 
 have occurred to Frau Krause to come and launch out 
 her condolences to me! — "You know now yourself 
 what it is to be persecuted by fate, although you never 
 showed us much sympathy when our Eduard was the 
 victim." — "Please, remember," said I, "that your 
 troubles were of your own making; I do not think 
 it right of you to make fate responsible for your 
 boy's mischievous tricks, or to imagine that fate in- 
 duced him to run off from home." — " Eduard has such 
 a love for investigation." — " It's always in the wrong 
 direction, however; he never thinks of investigating 
 Latin, for instance." — " He has chosen his profession 
 now, and won't require Latin any more, and it's but a 
 dead language after all." — " May I ask for what pro- 
 fession he has shown a preference ? A confectioner's, 
 perhaps, so that he can stuff himself ! " Frau Krause 
 smiled in a sneering way, and said : " Eduard means 
 to be a naval captain, and some day he'll have a hand- 
 some salary; and captains are always very much re- 
 spected. He has bought himself a compass already,
 
 200 A Visit of Condolence. 
 
 and up in our loft he climbs about the clothes-lines in 
 an astonishing way. A captain's post is the very thing 
 for him."—" He's not one yet, nor do I believe he'll ever 
 be one," said I. — "That's because you alwa3-s think 
 you know better than other people," she replied hotly; 
 " but your wisdom is not infallible, else you'd never 
 have spoken punishable words, I should think." - 
 "That's a subject you do not understand," I answered 
 excitedly. " Very possibly," she replied snappishly; 
 " I only repeat what people say, I would not venture to 
 pronounce judgment, for we've never yet had anything 
 to do with law courts." When she had gone, I said 
 to Betti : " She has shown herself in her true colours. 
 Never let her come in again; my unhappiness is too 
 great for such hyenas to come and feed upon it." 
 
 The following day I had a visit of condolence from 
 the Police-lieutenant's wife. — " Much depends upon 
 the judge," she said, " and the way you represent the 
 case. What are you going to wear?" — "Simple 
 black," I replied. — " The less showy the better, in 
 order that the distinction between you and the plaintiff 
 is not made to appear too great, and your higher 
 social position is not considered an aggravating cir- 
 cumstance. The coat of arms you were having em- 
 broidered will not be of much use to you in the dock." 
 — " I never thought it would. When we keep our car- 
 riage I meant to have it painted on the door." — "And 
 I only meant to say that ancestors and emblems will 
 not be of much use if you are found guilty; such dis- 
 grace sticks to one for ever," — " We've not got that 
 length, however," I remarked. — " But you will surely 
 admit that my husband knows something about such 
 matters, and he said that the thunder-bolt was as good 
 as down upon you already. Yet we are above all pre- 
 judice, and I may add that 1" do not see any reason
 
 The Clouds TJiickefi. 201 
 
 why we need give up our old intercourse with you." 
 In the eyes of the world, therefore, I was already con- 
 demned. I felt positive the Police-lieutenant's wife 
 would never again drive us out to the Grunewald. 
 Henceforth I should be one of the outcasts of society. 
 
 This thought robbed me of all the sustaining power 
 I had left. After this I could do nothing but creep 
 about the house if I wanted exercise. I hadn't even 
 the heart to sit at the window, for it seemed to me as 
 if the passers-by pointed at me with their fingers. 
 Betti tried to persuade me that this was a delusion; 
 but one day, with my own eyes, I saw Frau Heimreich 
 walking up and down the other side of the street with 
 her eldest girl, and casting spiteful glances up at our 
 windows. That was intolerable to me. I became 
 more and more of a sufferer, and it was, at last, so im- 
 possible for me to get any sleep that Carl had to have 
 a bed made up in another room as his snoring dis- 
 turbed me so. 
 
 Frau Bergfeldt, too, paid me a visit; however, I can- 
 not say that she cheered me up, rather the contrary. — 
 " Good gracious, Frau Buchholz, to think of your 
 having got into the frying-pan ! But why need you 
 have struck about you so with the poker ? " — " What 
 sort of speech is that to me ? " said I indignantly. — 
 " Well, it's said you belaboured the girl so, that a 
 bloody head was the end of it. So you'll certainly get 
 six months." — " There's not a word about blows in the 
 matter; how can you talk such rubbish ? " — " I'm sorry 
 for you, Frau Buchholz, but that's what the whole 
 town is sa3ang; yet wherever I go I take your part, and 
 say: 'It's a mercy the cook had a thick skull, else 
 they'd have had to drag Frau Buchholz on to the scaf- 
 fold.*" — " You call that defending me ?" — " Yes, I do; 
 weren't you always considerate to me .... when Emil
 
 202 Miserable in Body and Mind. 
 
 .... so it would really have grieved me were you to be 
 put on the rack, or anything of that sort." — '' Good 
 God, protect and defend me ! I can swear I never 
 raised a finger against that girl." — " Frau Buchholz, 
 don't perjure yourself. How could the report have got 
 about, if there was no truth in it ? Maybe the 
 hand in which you held the poker slipped a bit; at all 
 events, that's what I would say to the judge, if I had 
 flown into the ditch as you have done." 
 
 " Frau Bergfeldt," I said in a weak voice, " I cannot 
 bear any more of this kind of talk, I would rather be 
 left alone." — "I'm in no hurry," she replied, and kept 
 sitting there, and continued: " It's only at first that 
 you'll feel it, afterwards people will forget it; one has 
 to forget things. Yet what's in a person the rain'll 
 never wash off." — And in this style on she rattled. It 
 was not till I was miserable both in body and mind 
 that she went. " Betti," I said, with a last effort, "I'm 
 not at home to any one after this, not even though the 
 Great Mogul himself should come running up on 
 hands and feet." 
 
 One exception had to be made, however^ for Frau 
 Helbich, the tavern-keeper's little wife, would not take 
 a refusal, saying she had an important communication 
 to make. She had heard all the particulars. The skat 
 players had discussed the case to and fro, so that she 
 had become quite interested in it. " Frau Buchholz, 
 it is to you that we owe all our good fortune, and we 
 are deeply grieved to think of you in this dreadful 
 trouble. It's enough to turn the heart in one's body. 
 And I am positive that you are innocent." — "That I 
 am, Frau Helbich; but no one will believe me."—" I 
 believe you," she replied briskly, " and that's the reason 
 I have come here. I v/ant to tell you that whatever 
 may be said, the point about the dog is suspicious." —
 
 An Affix ting Attack. 203 
 
 " It's of no use saying that; the lawyers sifted the 
 whole matter thoroughly," — " Well, but every one 
 knows that the first thing burglars do is to poison a 
 watch-dog." — " That doesn't tally, for the dog in the 
 present case was a mere lap-dog." — " That's just it; 
 watch-dogs are outside the house, and might be got 
 at; the dog at Dr. Wrenzchen's was a lap-dog and was 
 inside the house. Now, who gave it the poison ? That 
 can only have been done by some one in the house." — 
 " That doesn't tally either, Frau Helbich, for the dog 
 wasn't poisoned, but throttled by ha\ing a string tied 
 round its neck. You are mistaken." — " One of our 
 regular midday customers, a student, was positive 
 about this. He said, that if the poisoning could be 
 proved, you would be acquitted." — "Frau Helbich, I 
 am much obliged to you for your sympathy, but the 
 lawyers are likely to know more than a sudent and we 
 others w^ho haven't experience in such things. Every- 
 thing was, of course, thoroughly examined, and nothing 
 was found." — " And I had so firmly hoped to render 
 you some assistance, Frau Buchholz; you cannot think 
 how grieved I am for 3'ou." With this she began to 
 cr}^, and I cried too. Of all the attacks upon me this 
 was the most affecting one; we both felt so utterly 
 helpless. And the following day the case was to be 
 inquired into. 
 
 I was so downcast that I went to bed before it was 
 dark. My Carl came and sat down beside me. He 
 spoke very kindly, and said that I oughtn't to make 
 matters out worse than they were ; but then he hadn't 
 had the many visits of condolence that T had had, 
 " Try and get a good rest," he said, " and do not worry 
 so. When the trial is over, you will quickly recover 
 your old cheerful spirits. You look so snug and com- 
 fortable lying there, now do try and be happier."—
 
 204 WilJiclinine has Doleful Thoughts. 
 
 "Carl," said I, "you surely don't want me to purr like 
 an old torn cat? Even though I could, I wouldn't, in 
 my present state of misery." 
 
 Betti came in and asked me if I cared to have any- 
 thing to eat. "You might bring me a little milk and 
 biscuit later, just enough to support life, but I'm in no 
 hurry," 
 
 I had no appetite. Terrible thoughts seemed to 
 have driven hunger away. In a kind of doze, I 
 dreamed of prisons and executions, and although I 
 tried to persuade myself that this was only the result 
 of Frau Bergfeldt's chatter, as soon as I closed my 
 eyes, the same horrors again rose up before me. 
 
 Carl came in to wish me good-night, and Betti in- 
 sisted upon my taking some food. To please her, I 
 forced myself to take something, and found it tasted 
 better tjian I had expected. The milk was freshly 
 boiled, and the biscuits crisp. The child also brought 
 me in a night-lamp, which she lighted, and after hav- 
 ing kissed me, she too went away. Again I was 
 alone. 
 
 Before me was the last night of my hitherto irre- 
 proachable life; henceforth^ I might never again be 
 able to look any one straight in the face. And if I saw 
 two persons nudging each other, and jeering, I should 
 always suspect that it was about me. And if people 
 should look at me rather doubtfully, might they not 
 be quite right in doing so? Could I ever again con- 
 demn a fellow-creature without saying to myself, 
 " You have yourself sat in the dock, and have had 
 sentence passed upon you." Then a proverb crossed 
 my mind, Heaven only knows where I had heard it : 
 "Woe, woe to thee, Wilhelmine ! the righteous will 
 turn their faces from thee." Sleep was what I wanted ; 
 oh, how glad I should have been to get to sleep.
 
 Praying for Help. 205 
 
 I lay first on one side, then on the other, and just as I 
 fancied I was about to drop off to sleep, I became con- 
 scious that there were crumbs of biscuit in the bed, 
 and my slightest movement made them irritate and 
 annoy me. Every moment, too, there seemed to be 
 more, till the torture became unbearable, and there 
 was nothing for it but to get out of my bed and re- 
 make it. This, I felt, did m}' spirits some good, but 
 of sleep there was none to be got. 
 
 I lay and tum.bled about as much as before. There ! 
 Wasn't that a crumb again? Yes, to be sure it was. 
 A few must have got on to the mat in front of the bed, 
 and stuck to my bare feet. And truly the whole lot of 
 them seemed to have come marching back again. I 
 felt desperate, and cried in my vexation and helpless- 
 ness. By what small means God can punish, us — a 
 single crumb of biscuit is enough ! I knew that I had 
 not always done what I ought to have done, but had I 
 really deserved such terrible chastisement ? It was 
 long since I had folded my hands in prayer ; now they 
 found their way to each other of their own accord, and 
 I humbl}' prayed for help. Then I crept out of bed a 
 second time, and remade it with the utmost care. When 
 I lay down again a gentle peacefulness seemed to have 
 come over me, and sleep came with it. 
 
 Early in the morning I was awoke by noises in the 
 adjoining room, which was being cleaned. I heard 
 Doris opening the window, moving the chairs, and 
 putting all into order; Betti too was up. She came to 
 me quietly, thinking I might still be asleep, and was 
 surprised to find me awake. "Child," said I, "with 
 trouble in one's heart, and crumbs in the bed, there's 
 not much sleep to be got." She helped me to dress. 
 Later Uncle Fritz came in, he was to be my witness ; 
 and, slow as the clock seemed to go, at last it became
 
 2o6 TJic Trial Begun. 
 
 time for us to drive off. The last act of the tragedy 
 was about to begin. 
 
 Never had I even seen the law court in the Moabit 
 district, and now I was actually to appear as a de- 
 linquent there myself. " Over yonder is the court- 
 yard where the executions take place," said Uncle 
 Fritz, pointing to a wall. I shuddered. But Fritz 
 continued : '' As long as Krauts keeps on his white 
 gloves he's not dangerous ; when, however, he begins 
 to take them off . . . ." Carl here forbade Fritz to 
 talk in that manner, and gave me his arm. He asked 
 for Room 29 ; we were shown the way, and at the end 
 of a long corridor, we reached the antechamber. 
 Some people were sitting there on benches, others were 
 standing about. Herr Greve and his wife were there, 
 also some policemen and Dr. Wrenzchen. And that 
 wretch of a girl too I caught sight of, she who was 
 the cause of all this worry and trouble. 
 
 The door of Room 29 was then opened, and a 
 lawyer's clerk read out from some document the 
 words : " Ahrens versus Meier." Several persons who 
 had been waiting went in, and after a short time came 
 out again. They had come to terms at the last mo- 
 ment, fortunate people that they were ! '* Band 
 versus Buchholz " was then called out. My brain was 
 all in a whirl. I tottered forward, my limbs feeling 
 as heavy as though I had been walking in dough, and 
 more like a dead toad than a human being. A small 
 square place like a box was pointed out to me, and 
 there I sat down upon a chair. This was the barri- 
 cade to separate the accused person from the rest of 
 the world. 
 
 At a raised table covered with green baize, sat the 
 magistrate, his assessors, and the clerk of the law 
 court. The latter read out the indictment. On the
 
 Pi'oposcd Coviproinisc rejected. 20/ 
 
 right sat the plaintiff, in the middle were the witnesses 
 who had been called, and behind them sat the public, 
 a barrier separating them from those taking part in 
 the proceedings. 
 
 Everything that I was supposed to have said was 
 then read out. And, oh ! how offensive the words 
 sounded in the mouth of a man who knew nothing 
 about the matter and who hadn't even been present. 
 And this I had to listen to ! The magistrate, looking 
 very solemn in his black gown, then said that the 
 statements of the witnesses would have to be con- 
 firmed on oath, and after giving them an impressive 
 exhortation, they were asked to retire. When they 
 had left the room the magistrate addressed the plain- 
 tiff and me, and gave us to understand that it would 
 be much the wiser plan for us to settle the matter 
 quietly by accommodation, and asked if we would 
 agree to this. 
 
 ** Yes," I sighed. 
 
 " No," said the girl ; she had her reputation as well 
 as grander folks, and didn't mean to be trodden 
 upon. 
 
 No such thing had been done, replied the magis- 
 trate, and moreover, what advantage would it be to 
 her to persist in the punishment of a lady of irre- 
 proachable character? Frau Buchholz was willing to 
 retract her words, and to bear the costs of the trial, 
 whereby her honour would be perfectly satisfied. 
 
 The servant-girl maintained that she would not 
 agree to this. Frau Buchholz should be imprisoned 
 and pay 3000 marks damages, that's what she demand- 
 ed. The magistrate thereupon replied in a very severe 
 tone of voice: "You have nothing whatever to de- 
 mand." — Her solicitor had told her she had. — Then 
 she must have employed a very strange kind of solic-
 
 2o8 Calling Witnesses. 
 
 itor. — He knew as much and more than other lawyers. 
 — That remains to be proved. 
 
 As there was thus no likelihood of any amicable set- 
 tlement to the dispute, the proceedings commenced. 
 Dr. Wrenzchen was called in as the first witness. The 
 magistrate drcAV his attention to the fact that, as a rel- 
 ative of the defendant, he had a right to decline to 
 stand as a witness. "What will he do?" thought I. 
 "Will he take his revenge, and thus bring about an 
 eternal breach between us ? " 
 
 The Doctor said he should refrain from making any 
 statement, but wished to express his surprise at the im- 
 pudence of the plaintiff in claiming him as a witness 
 on her side. This remark of the Doctor's seemed to 
 me the greatest possible proof of nobility of soul, and 
 never shall I forget it. 
 
 Herr Greve was then called. He was asked his age, 
 his social position and his religion, and had to swear 
 not to conceal any fact, or to add anything to what he 
 knew, but to speak nothing but the truth, so help him 
 God. While saying these words, he had to raise his 
 right hand, and all those present had to take part in it 
 by standing up. 
 
 The magistrate then asked Herr Greve whether he 
 had heard the defendant call the plaintiff a low cheat 
 on the evening in question. Herr Greve replied that 
 he could not remember to have heard exactly those 
 words. He was further asked whether he had heard 
 the defendant say of the plaintiff that she v>^as a brazen- 
 faced huzzy. Herr Greve replied that he did remem- 
 ber this, it having struck him as strange that a lady of 
 culture should have used such an expression, and he 
 attributed it to her being in a state of great excitement. 
 
 " Mr. Magistrate and gentlemen, I can furnish a true 
 statement of what happened, and beg you to hear what
 
 Uncle Fritz on the Stand. 209 
 
 rny witness has to say. That girl always behaved in a 
 rude and impertinent manner towards me." Uncle 
 Fritz was then called. As he came forward the abus- 
 ive creature exclaimed: "That's a witness I won't 
 have." — "The admissibility of a witness is determined 
 by the court," said the presiding judge. — " I don't care, 
 I won't agree to it. He once wanted to pinch my 
 cheek, and I gave him a crack across his fingers for his 
 impudence; since then he has alvva3'S been against 
 me." — " I hope no one will credit me with such bad 
 taste," was Uncle Fritz's reply. The magistrate, how- 
 ever, requested him to be serious, and to keep to the 
 point in question. 
 
 Uncle Fritz then stated that the plaintiff, withoutf 
 any obvious reason, had invariably acted in a repre- 
 hensible way towards the defendant. This had struck 
 him whenever they had met at Dr. Wrenzchen's house. 
 "What reason had the defendant given you for acting 
 thus ? " asked the magistrate. — "Well, I can't bear any 
 one coming peering into my pans when I'm cooking," 
 was her reply. 
 
 " Of course not ! " I exclaimed; " you didn't want an 
 experienced housewife noticing how her daughter was 
 being cheated at every turn and corner ! How was it 
 that, notwithstanding their simple life, their expenses 
 were so enormously high, in spite of my daughter 
 keeping an exact account of her outlays. Dr. Wrenz- 
 chen himself was becoming suspicious. Her object, 
 Mr. Magistrate, was probably to frighten me out of the 
 house, in order that she might prey upon an inexperi- 
 enced mistress, and that, too, was probably her reason 
 for making the fuss aboxat the crawfish. — "That's a 
 new insult to be added to the list," the servant-girl 
 called out in a loud voice. Dr. Wrenzchen, however, 
 supported my statement. 
 14
 
 2IO An Important Question. 
 
 The most ticklish point in the case was, however, 
 still to come. The magistrate observed : there seems 
 to have been provocation for the alleged insulting 
 speeches, but the defendant's assertion that the plain- 
 tiff made common cause with the burglars, might be 
 likely seriously to injure the plaintiff's prospects in 
 life. 
 
 The policemen were then examined, and stated that 
 I had certainly declared that the provisions had been 
 purchased specially with a view to the robbers, and 
 also that I had undoubtedly maintained that the plain- 
 tiff had had a hand in the matter. This they affirmed 
 on oath, as did also Herr Greve and his wife. 
 
 A buzzing sound seemed to fill my head. I felt as 
 if the floor of the room had suddenly became aslant, 
 and that I should not be able to prevent myself slip- 
 ping down. I nervously clutched hold of the chair, 
 as I saw the magistrate rise and say to his colleagues, 
 "You will agree, I think, that some mild form of pun- 
 ishment is all that is necessary." 
 
 In the vain hope that some assistance might yet be 
 forthcoming, my eyes wandered anxiously round the 
 room ; and I caught sight of one face upon which all 
 the compassion in the world seemed to be concen- 
 trated, and tearful eyes that looked at me in a dumb 
 but beseeching way. I understood the beseeching 
 look of plump little Frau Helbich, and, as if by some 
 inspiration, I rose up and said aloud, "Mr. Magistrate 
 and gentlemen, I should like to ask my accuser one 
 more question ; let her confess why she poisoned the 
 dog." 
 
 A pin might have been heard fall, the silence was so 
 great. The servant-girl changed colour, and seemed 
 to lose her self-possession. " I never could endure the 
 animal," she burst out. " So you admit having poi-
 
 About Maffi Pamph. 2ii 
 
 soned the dog ? " said the magistrate, giving her a pene- 
 trating look. " It was simply to provoke me that they 
 called the creature Maffi Pamph, because my name 
 was Marie Band." — " And was that sufficient reason 
 for your despatching the animal ? " — " I couldn't stand 
 the name any longer." — " Mr. Magistrate," I inter- 
 posed, " Maffi is merely an abbreviation of Moppel, 
 and Uncle Fritz added the name Pamph." — " Really," 
 exclaimed the girl, casting a malicious glance at me, 
 " there's no one here likely to believe that ! " — " But 
 it's true," I replied; "everything that's soft and pet- 
 like begins with an ' M,' surely no one would ever 
 think of taking a crocodile or a rattlesnake on to their 
 lap to stroke and fondle, and call either of them 
 * Mousie,* or ' minikin.' " The magistrate interrupted 
 me by saying, " I must ask you not to wander from 
 the point. I understand you had absolutely no inten- 
 tion of annoying the plaintiff by giving the little dog 
 the name of Maffi Pamph ? " 
 
 "Goodness me, of course not! We never meant 
 anybody by that name. That's a mere shuflflling ex- 
 cuse of the girl's. The dog barked at every one in a 
 horrid way ; Herr Greve can tell you that, and it was 
 very necessary on the evening of the robbery that it 
 should be quiet, else Herr Greve might have come 
 down, alarmed by the noise, and have surprised the 
 burglars. Moreover, the dog would never let her touch 
 it, so that she must have put the poison in its food." — 
 " That's a downright lie ! " exclaimed the girl. " You 
 have, however, already half admitted having given the 
 animal poison," said the magistrate, turning to the 
 plaintiff; "it would be well for you to tell us the 
 whole truth. Your denjnng matters will not help 
 you ; science has means of proving whether the dog 
 was poisoned or not." — "Well then, I did give it a 
 powder to be rid of it."
 
 212 Wilhclnn)ic Acquitted, 
 
 " And where did you get the powder ? " — " From an 
 apothecary." — "Which apothecary?" — "I don't re- 
 member now." — " Try and recollect, it would be 
 strange if you had forgotten that." — " I didn't fetch it 
 myself." — " Who was it did you the favour to fetch 
 it?" — "An acquaintance." — "What was the name of 
 this acquaintance of yours ?" — "It was a man I didn't 
 know, I asked him." — "Again one of the great un- 
 known ! " said the magistrate, and thereupon made a 
 sign to the clerk, and whispered some words into his 
 ear. The clerk left the room and returned with a 
 policeman. The magistrate rose and said, " There are 
 grave reasons for thinking that the plaintiff, Marie 
 Band, spinster, was implicated in the robbery at the 
 house of Dr. Wrenzchen; she must be placed under 
 arrest, and the case enquired into again. The private 
 charge against Frau Buchholz may be considered as 
 withdrawn." 
 
 Marie Band had to follow the policeman and be put 
 in prison — I was free ! 
 
 We left Room 29, to make way for others. It is to 
 be hoped that this is the first and last time I shall ever 
 have to enter it. But should it happen that I have 
 again to attend, I shall be able to assume a very differ- 
 ent tone, for I have now become quite familiar with 
 legal phraseology. 
 
 When we got outside and could breathe freely again, 
 as if some great danger had been evaded, little Frau 
 Helbich came waddling up to me, offering her heart- 
 felt congratulations. " Frau Helbich," said I, " you 
 have a very penetrating insight into things; what 
 would have become of me had you not been in Court ? " 
 — "All happened as it was ordained," she replied; 
 " our heavenly Father rendered you assistance. He 
 put all things right in His own good time." I pressed
 
 and tJic Servant-girl Watched. 213 
 
 her hand, and said : " And you were the seraph He 
 sent to help me ! " We understood each other. 
 
 A few days afterwards I received another legal 
 document, announcing that the private charge against 
 me was withdrawn. 
 
 The girl had been induced to make a full confes- 
 sion. Maffi Pamph was sent, like any human being, 
 in a sealed box to a chemist, who turned him inside 
 out, and found an inconceivable amount of poison in 
 him, which the greedy creature must have consumed. 
 The rope round its neck was a case of mere sham fight- 
 ing, as was also the girl's being tied hand and foot and 
 gagged. It also came out that the accomplice had, 
 at first, addressed the girl as a lover, and that she had 
 entrapped him partly by love and partly by stolen 
 goods. Of course if she had not been thievishly in- 
 clined by nature, she would never have acted thus. I 
 had ahvai^s maintained that she was a good-for-noth- 
 ing, and Maffi had evidently thought the same; pre- 
 cisely as in the case of Professor Paulsen's dog Polli, 
 that couldn't stand the smell of the old woman who 
 was arrested afterwards. Clever dogs sometimes have 
 a supernatural kind of wisdom. 
 
 As the police managed to discover all this, they 
 afterwards set a watch upon the girl's doings of an 
 evening, and thus obtained further clues, and got on 
 to the track of the burglars; and Dr. Wrenzchen was 
 beginning to hope he might yet recover his silver. 
 
 All the troubles and worries of the past weeks, how- 
 ever, seemed to have attacked my very bones; and a 
 tinge of grey had become visible in my Carl's hair. 
 My dearest, best beloved Carl, had your anxiety on 
 my account really been so great ! Shall I ever be 
 able to repay you, with all my love !
 
 214 Frail BucJiliolz consults the Doctor, 
 
 MY SON-IN-LAW. 
 
 There was no use fighting against it or trying to de- 
 ceive myself; the experiences of the past weeks had 
 completely damped my spirits, and however great an 
 effort I might make to smile — like the jaws exhibited in 
 dentists' windows — my temper became daily more and 
 more disagreeable, and my complexion yellowish-grey 
 in colour. After the trial I had most firmly resolved 
 that in future I would always be most gentle and sub- 
 missive towards Carl, but I found it absolutely impos- 
 sible to control my irritable nature; and so I made his 
 life as well as Betti's miserable, without really wishing 
 to do so. A fly on the wall would annoy me, and I 
 would scold them both for it. Frau Helbich one day 
 brought me a small bottle of home-made Swedish es- 
 sence of life, but it upset my stomach, and I took a 
 perfect dislike to it. In fact, I was ill. 
 
 When matters had become so bad that they could 
 scarcely have been worse, I, at last, did what Carl had 
 wanted me to do at the outset, and agreed to consult 
 Dr. Wrenzchen. " He was so extremely considerate 
 towards you at the time of the trial," said Carl, " that 
 I am sure you can place full confidence in him." 
 But I was myself afraid that the Doctor might pre- 
 scribe me some medicine to harm me. My mind had 
 become so darkened. At last, however, he had to be 
 called in. 
 
 The Doctor examined me very carefully, and then 
 said that the only thing that would restore me to 
 health was a prolonged stay at Carlsbad and use of the 
 waters. " No, no," was my reply, " I'll not submit to 
 be sent so far off as that What will become of things 
 here, if I am away ? " — " You can leave us here with a
 
 and Goes to Carlsbad. 21$ 
 
 perfectly easy mind, and the sooner you start, the bet- 
 ter," replied the Doctor. — " So that I may be out of 
 your way, I suppose ! " — " In order that your complaint 
 may not become chronic." — " But what if Emmi should 
 require her mother?" — " If you want to get well for 
 your own and for your children's sake, follow my or- 
 ders; as your son-in-law I will consider you as far as 
 possible; as your medical man, however, I have no 
 consideration, and must ask you to obey me. Either 
 you go off to Carlsbad in a few days, or I send you a 
 notary that you may make your will." 
 
 Those words of his had effect The necessary prep- 
 arations were soon made, and after a miserably sad 
 " good-bye," Betti and I got into the train. How 
 could I know whether I might not be hurrying straight 
 into the jaws of death, instead of to Carlsbad ? 
 
 Betti had at once determined to accompany me, and 
 put up with my unintentional ill-humour in the most 
 forbearing way. She had, indeed, become perfectly 
 changed since sorrow had entered into her life. For- 
 merly there had always been slamming of doors, and 
 tossing of heads if anything was not to her liking; 
 now she went about so quietly one scarcely heard her, 
 and was all loving devotion. I had had sorrow enough 
 myself; but in my case it had all turned to gall and 
 bitterness. I wondered whether Carlsbad could be of 
 any use to me ! I doubted it. 
 
 And I had reason for thinking this; for during the 
 first days of my stay, there was not a trace of any im- 
 provement. I drank the waters as prescribed, and 
 early of a morning was one of the many hundreds who 
 promenaded past the Marktbrunnen, having my white 
 glass filled with the warm beverage by one of the 
 water damsels. Afterwards a walk had to be taken, 
 and coffee was had somewhere in the open air. Betti
 
 2l6 About Ycllozv Complexions , 
 
 thought Carlsbad lovely, shut in as it is by woods and 
 hills, and the river Tepel flowing by. It did not ap- 
 pear thus to me — in fact, nothing seemed pleasant or 
 pleasing. 
 
 I gave free utterance to my thoughts of the useless- 
 ness of my stay in Carlsbad, and one morning said in 
 rather a loud voice to Betti, who never left my side : 
 "It is really a most unwarrantable thing that I should 
 be forced to stay here, when I'm getting yellower and 
 yellower, in place of getting better." — " That's just as 
 it should be," said an old gentleman, who happened to 
 be walking behind us ; " it is very often the case that 
 a complaint gets worse at first, but this is a sure sign 
 that the waters are having effect ; in a week you will 
 speak very differently." — " Indeed ! " said I, incredu- 
 lously. — " You may depend upon what I say, for I have 
 been to Carlsbad regularly for thirty years, and know 
 the waters. My name is Leopold Freund ; I come 
 from Breslau, and I shall be happy to assist you in any 
 way with my advice." I then introduced myself and 
 Betti to him, and we went together to drink the waters. 
 Suddenly Herr Freund said : " Why does your daugh- 
 ter not take the waters, her complexion is rather 
 yellow ? " — " Why not ! " I exclaimed, " because the 
 yellow tint you notice comes from the lining of her 
 parasol ! " — " Oh ! I see now, of course, it is iperely 
 the reflection," said Herr Freund, smiling ; " it is 
 curious how apt one is to fanc}'' people need the waters 
 when one raves about Carlsbad as I do." 
 
 As Herr Freund is a living proof of the curative 
 properties of the water, the Carlsbaders look upon 
 him as belonging to the place ; and he is certainly 
 well acquainted with its peculiarities ; this was proved 
 by the effect the waters soon began to have upon me, 
 which became more evident day by day.
 
 and Rock-bouillon. 
 
 217 
 
 The orange colour of my complexion and my irrita- 
 bility began gradually to disappear. My pleasure in 
 life returned, and my eyes were able more and more 
 to enjoy the beauties of nature. Upon first coming to 
 Carlsbad, we had never walked further than to the 
 Freundschafts-Saal, or to Pupp's, or the Post-office, but 
 Ave now gradually began to visit places at a greater 
 distance, and scarcely a day passed without Herr 
 Freund telling us of some new excursion to make. 
 He never accompanied us, as he preferred taking his 
 exercise sitting. 
 
 One day he had recommended us to walk across the 
 Otto's Hohe and the Ewige-Leben as far as the Berg- 
 Wirthshmis. We followed his advice, and climbed 
 bravely up the hills. The view was charming and the 
 woods delightful, and we roamed far in amongst its 
 green twilight, till at last we found we had quite lost 
 our way. 
 
 " Let us rest here a little, and then we will turn 
 back," said I to Betti ; but she replied : " You had 
 better sit down upon this rock, and I'll go and try to 
 find the right path." 
 
 What a nice fuss I should have made about this, if 
 it had happened when I first came to Carlsbad, thought 
 I to myself, and kept thinking how marvellous the 
 rock- bouillon was, coming as it did boiling out of the 
 earth, and not only able to clear one's body, but one's 
 spirits too. In a very short time I should be able to 
 fly into Carl's arms a perfectly new creature, as if I had 
 come fresh from Spindler's establishment. Every week 
 there came a letter from Berlin, where things seemed 
 to be going on perfectly smoothly. I found letter- 
 writing somewhat a trouble, which was owing to the 
 waters probably, for they have no effect upon one's 
 mental activity.
 
 2i8 Companions in Affliction. 
 
 Just as I was beginning to fidget about Betti's not 
 coming back, I saw her approaching in the company 
 of an elderly gentleman in a straw hat, with eye- 
 glasses, a white beard, and leaning heavily on his stick 
 in walking. He told us he was suffering from gout, 
 but would be happy to show us our way. We then 
 told him how we had come to be in the woods, where- 
 upon he remarked that there were theoretical as well 
 as practical pedestrians, but that the latter were not 
 worth much w^hen one's potential powers refused to 
 render their services. 
 
 Companions in affliction soon strike up an acquaint- 
 ance, and before we had reached the Berg- Wirthshaics^ 
 he was calling me Mamma Buchholz, and Betti had 
 to call him Papa Michaelsen. He had come to Carls- 
 bad from North Germany to do penance for having 
 indulged too freely in red wine. Upon a remark from 
 me that he shouldn't touch red wine if it disagreed 
 with him, he replied, " Poor Papa Michaelsen couldn't 
 be so cruel as that ! " 
 
 ''What do you mean?" I asked. His answ'er was 
 that if one didn't take pity upon oneself, no one else 
 was likely to do so, and everybody ought to know how 
 much pity they needed. " Are you so much in need 
 of it?" I asked. " That depends upon circumstances 
 and upon the vintages," was his reply. 
 
 We got upon very friendly terms with Herr Michael- 
 sen, for he knew the country about, and became the 
 more willing to join us in our walks the more the 
 waters helped him in his legs. 
 
 We all three went one day to the Hans-Hciling rocks, 
 which are said to be a wedding party in a state of 
 petrifaction ; also to the Aberg, and on our way there 
 passed the black Madonna which is fixed upon a tree, 
 as a holy image. Poor Papa Michaelsen did not think
 
 Papa Michaelsen. 219 
 
 much of the black Madonna. However, he explained 
 several mineralogical ci.cumstances to us, and the 
 structure of the earth's crust, subjects that Betti un- 
 derstood tolerably well. I made the observation that 
 it was very strange that the waters were supposed to 
 be most effectual when taken in the place itself — 
 as my ' son-in-law had maintained — and asked him 
 whether he thought scientific men (who seemed able 
 to concoct anything) might not try and open a spring 
 of Carlsbad waters in Berlin? He replied: "There 
 are two kinds of chemists, useless ones and mischiev- 
 ous ones. Both parties have done harm enough al- 
 read}^ The one set teach people how to adulterate 
 things, and the others carry out their instructions." 
 
 When Papa ISIichaelsen was not able to join us in 
 our walks, we quite missed him, and the old gentle- 
 man thought so much of Betti that he persuaded us 
 to remain a week longer than we had intended. He 
 said his cure would then be at an end, and that we 
 could travel back together. I gave my consent to this 
 the more readily as Herr Freund told me that he con- 
 sidered an after-cure \'^ery beneficial in most cases. I 
 do wish now that I had gone home as we had origi- 
 nally proposed doing. 
 
 One morning when we were sitting peaceably at 
 Pupp's having our coffee, Betti with hers quite of the 
 wrong sort, more than half milk, we two old people 
 with the right sort as prescribed, with H30 more cream 
 than sensible folks have ever been in the habit of 
 taking sinco the days of Adam — all of a sudden up 
 comes a telegraph boy with a message for me ; he was 
 accompanied by the maidservant from our lodgings, 
 so as to make sure of finding me. I opened the en- 
 velope and read :
 
 220 WilJicimine Mystified. 
 
 " A healthy boy, brown eyes, exactly like his father. 
 Is to be called Franz. Mother doing extremely well. 
 
 " Wrenzchen." 
 
 This news came most unexpectedly. Papa Michael- 
 sen congratulated me very heartily, and at once gave 
 Betti her new title of 'Auntie. However, I could not 
 join in any such merriment, for I kept thinking who 
 there was to superintend matters if I was not there. 
 A further surprise awaited me, however. Scarcely 
 half an hour later a second telegram was put into my 
 hands, with the words : 
 
 " A healthy boy, blue eyes, exactly like his mother, 
 is to be called Fritz. The father as well as can be 
 expected ! Wrenzchen." 
 
 '* Herr Michaelsen," said I, " I do not know whether 
 my reason has been affected by the use of the waters, 
 or what can have happened. First I'm told it's a boy 
 with brown eyes, and now suddenly it's said they're 
 blue." 
 
 " It does sometimes happen that eyes change in 
 colour," said Papa Michaelsen learnedly ; " and ac- 
 cording to Darwin it is a case of atavism, but the short 
 space of time in which it has occurred in your grand- 
 son's case renders it a matter of extreme interest. It 
 will certainly have to be reported to one of our scien- 
 tific periodicals." 
 
 " But why should the child first be called Franz and 
 then Fritz ? At first it's said to be like the father, and 
 then like the mother ! This is surely a human impos- 
 sibility." 
 
 Papa Michaelsen gave me a very sly look across the 
 top of his spectacles and said : " What if there should 
 be two ? " 
 
 " Two ! " I exclaimed, " when they're only prepared
 
 Franz and Fritz. 221 
 
 for one. No, that's nonsense ! But I seem to under- 
 stand it now ; those words, ' the father is as well as 
 can be expected,' are Uncle Fritz's and nobody else's; 
 all I can say is that such jokes are not very likely to 
 assist my cure." 
 
 Next day, however, there came a letter from Carl, an- 
 nouncing the arrival of the twins. He said Uncle Fritz 
 had, no doubt, sent me a telegram, and told me that 
 the children were to be called Franz and Fritz. Dr. 
 Wrenzchen had no time to telegraph himself, and had 
 begged Uncle Fritz to send a message. Emmi was 
 doing very well and was supremely happy. 
 
 Franz' and Fritz ! The names were not at all to my 
 liking. The one might, of course, be called Franz 
 after the Doctor, but would it not have been much 
 better to have called the second Wilhelm, in honour 
 of the Emperor as well as of myself? A nice family 
 ours will become with a number of persons with the 
 same name. It will end in their having all to be 
 called by their full names, else there will be a per- 
 petual confusion. I could perfectly w^ell foresee the 
 muddle there would be in days to come. 
 
 Carl's letter had a postscript. " Franz was born 
 during the last hour of the last day in May ; Fritz 
 during the first hour of the first day in June. What 
 do you say to that ? " 
 
 " That, of course, it's natural enough there should 
 be endless stupidity when I'm not by to see to things 
 myself," I exclaimed excitedly. " The poor children ! 
 Not a soul will take them to be twins when their 
 birthdays come to be celebrated one in May and the 
 other in June. And then to think of their names, 
 Franz and Fritz. They might as v.-ell have been 
 called Max and Moritz." * 
 
 * The title of a very popular children's story-book, by Wilhelm Busch.
 
 222 VVilhebnine in Charge of the Twins, 
 
 " Herr Michaelsen," said I, " we must be off home 
 at once ; I cannot be spared a moment longer from 
 Berlin, If I delay I shouldn't wonder if the Bran- 
 denberg Gate were moved from its place, such un- 
 heard of things are going on there." 
 
 " Is the river Spree on fire then ? " 
 
 " If it v/ere no more than that ! But only think, my 
 son-in-law has absolutely got no one to keep an eye 
 upon him ! " 
 
 UNCLE FRITZ. 
 
 Our return home was a most joyful one, and when I 
 pressed my first kiss on the little foreheads of my two 
 baby grandsons, truly everything did seem to me per- 
 fectly as it should be ; for, after all, the two little crea- 
 tures would not be made responsible for their father, 
 and what is more, too, he will henceforth have to play 
 a subordinate part, as everything naturally will have 
 to turn upon the children. I at once took up my post at 
 the Doctor's house, during the daytime. He objected 
 to this at first, but I asked him : " Do you mean to 
 kill your wife and babes ?" That made him give in. 
 And how well he was cared for himself, now that I 
 could look after things in the kitchen without fear of 
 the cook ! After a week's time he regularly beamed 
 on me. 
 
 Emmi recovered day by day. And under my super- 
 intendence she got only what was good for her and 
 strengthened her. If ever there was a Cerberus, it was 
 I, during iliose days in and out of my daughter's room. 
 One thing that did displease me was that, in place of
 
 and luisJies for a Cradle. 223 
 
 having cradles, little immovable bedsteads had been 
 ordered. Emmi told me Franz had said that rocking 
 was not considered hygienic, and was apt to make 
 children stupid. "Wasn't he himself brought up in 
 the old fashion," said I, "and he has come to be a doc- 
 tor ! Well, maybe, if it hadn't been for the rocking he 
 got as an infant, he'd long since have been a mem- 
 ber of the Medical Council." 
 
 Many a time I wished for a cradle, especially for lit- 
 tle Franz, who was of a cr3ang disposition, and Grand- 
 inamma Buchholz had to carry him about in her arms 
 till he was quiet. I told the Doctor that such fits had 
 never occurred in our family, and that the bad habit 
 must have been transmitted from his side. His reply 
 was : " Dear mother-in-law, it's only external." 
 
 Of an evening Carl or Uncle Fritz would come and 
 fetch me, and, at the same time, enquire how things 
 were progressing. On the Thursday evening Dr. 
 Wrenzchen did not go out, much to my surprise. 
 Something did, it is true, seem amiss with him all day 
 long, and as evening approached I could distinctly see 
 how much the usual evening gathering seemed to be 
 upon his mind. 
 
 Towards 8 o'clock Dr. Paber called to ask him 
 whether they might expect him at the Medical Society 
 later? I begged Dr. Paber to remain with us to sup- 
 per, saying that I would send the servant round with 
 a message, and that Dr. Wrenzchen would so enjoy a 
 quiet talk with him here. Dr. Paber agreed to remain, 
 and as there was cold roast veal I prepared an extra 
 good salad of meat with mayonnaise and capers, and 
 decorated it with sliced radishes and not too much 
 gherkin; they thought it delicious. When supper was 
 over I had a large jug of special brew fetched, and 
 my son-in-law thereupon said, "If we could have a
 
 224 About ''Skat. 
 
 game of skat here, I wouldn't change places with a 
 king ! " Dr. Paber looked at me and said kindly: 
 " How would it be for you to try a hand for once, dear 
 Frau Buchholz ? " — " What ! 1 play skat ! " I exclaimed. 
 "You must know something about this entertaining 
 game, from having watched others play it," continued 
 Dr. Paber. " Come, dear mother-in-law, don't be a 
 silly," said the Doctor. " I do not think I have any 
 talent for card-playing," said I. But the Doctor had 
 already fetched the boards, and the two gentlemen 
 commenced to teach me the rules with great patience, 
 without, however, letting me into the secret- of some of 
 the best moves, as I found out afterwards, when Uncle 
 Fritz appeared and he sat down beside me and helped 
 me. And actually I won the game. Dr. Paber declared 
 he had never seen a lady with more natural talent for 
 the game. 
 
 So there I sat with the three gentlemen, who gave 
 themselves every conceivable trouble to lead another 
 fellow-creature astray into the vice of card-playing; 
 and, as I must unfortunately admit, they succeeded 
 very well, for it was nearly midnight before we had 
 finished. My gains I divided into two portions, one 
 for Franz and the other for Fritz. I had become some- 
 what reconciled to the name Fritz, when Dr. Wrenz- 
 chen assured me that their first daughter should be 
 called Wilhelmine. He knows how fond I am of act- 
 ing as godmother. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, I had a promise as regards 
 Uncle Fritz to fulfil. All my troubles and my having 
 to go to Carlsbad had, of course, interfered with my 
 proposed visit to Lingen. But I had now taken the 
 necessary steps. I had asked him beforehand, "Fritz, 
 are you as determined as ever about Erica?" — "Im 
 m.ore wedded than ever," was his reply. "Very well,
 
 Something Happens. 225 
 
 then," said I, "we shall see if something doesn't hap- 
 pen now." 
 
 And something did happen. The old grandmother 
 wrote and stated that it was her intention to come to 
 Berlin, in order to see whether a person could "live in 
 that sinful Babylon without being carried away by the 
 devil. "Wilheimine, how did you manage to accom- 
 plish this ?" asked Uncle Fritz. " By means of a very 
 moralising letter," said I. " You told me what a strict 
 hand she kept over the money matters .... so I told 
 her how much you made a year, and that there was no 
 need for her to undo her purse-strings. And as to 
 Erica's spiritual welfare, I took the liberty of inform- 
 ing her that we had a dean in our family nearly four 
 hundred years old, and that that was surely a suffi- 
 cient guarantee for her. She swallowed that." Uncle 
 Fritz seized hold of me and danced me round and 
 round till I was out of breath, exclaiming, ''Wilhel- 
 mine, you are a regular brick ! " 
 
 The grandmother had intended to take up her abode 
 at the Krauses, but I considered it wisest to have her 
 at our house ; and it was a good thing we managed 
 this, for she was stubborn beyond all conception. She 
 declared that it would be wicked to give her consent 
 to Erica's engagement, without further ado, and to 
 decide upon mere outward appearances. It was not 
 till she had fumbled all through Uncle Fritz's books 
 that she condescended to say that perhaps some day 
 something might come of the engagement. It was a 
 mercy she did not hear Uncle Fritz express his thoughts 
 aloud. 
 
 I so constantly drove her into a corner, that at last 
 she hadn't any sort of excuse to make to me, and al- 
 ways wound up with the remark that Berlin was a 
 godless place. "You'd better look a little about Ber-
 
 226 Trndgi7ig around Berlin. 
 
 lin before you judge from mere outward appearances," 
 I retorted. She could see from the papers what went 
 on there. "That's mere chatter." — "Oh, no!" was 
 her reply. 
 
 I made Betti take my place at the Doctor's house, 
 and determined to plunge into the stream myself. It 
 was clear the grandmother must be shown something 
 of Berlin. Uncle Fritz arranged to let us have a car- 
 riage from Beskow's whenever we wanted one, and 
 thereupon we went first to one place and then to an- 
 other. " People seem to be for ever holding high fes- 
 tival in Berlin," said the old lady one day. " Not at 
 all," I answered ; " the many people you see in the 
 streets are all going to and fro on some business or 
 other. They rest when the week comes to an end, and 
 amuse themselves of a Sunday." The old lady insisted 
 upon seeing everything that was to be seen, and was, 
 moreover, so active, one might have fancied she had 
 been resting all these years, merely in order to begin 
 trudging all round Berlin now. And I had to go with 
 her, wherever she went. 
 
 She wanted one day to go to the top of the Victory 
 Column, but was obliged to give up that, for I told 
 her it was not the correct thing for elderly ladies to 
 do. To have had to drag myself up there for her ben- 
 efit was just asking a little too much. And the appetite 
 all this gave her ; the most indigestible things agreed 
 vvitii her. She would chop away at them on her plate 
 until she got them all into the smallest morsels. Hav- 
 ing to go about with her everywhere was a perfect 
 penance, for, of course, the object I had in view was 
 a marriage, and not mere sight-seeing. What did we 
 care about the rubbish that Schliemann had dug up ? 
 My own cooks have broken me more dishes than the 
 few fragm.ents he has to show. She wanted to see the
 
 An After 7100 n Drive. 227 
 
 Ruhmes Halle, the Library, the Picture Gallery, in fact, 
 every place she had ever heard or read about, till it 
 got a little too much for us, and we were sick of the 
 perpetual gadding about. No one in Berlin ever 
 thinks of going to such places more than once a year, 
 and not even that sometimes. So when she expressed 
 a wish to see- the Egyptian Museum, Uncle Fritz de- 
 clared that it was shut, as the mummies were being 
 fed. So we got out of that luckily. 
 
 It was clear that the old lady was day by day getting 
 to like Berlin better, but her obstinacy about the en- 
 gagement was not one whit the less, and the day of 
 her departure was already fixed without matters hav- 
 ing advanced a step. But she little knew Uncle Fritz. 
 
 On the afternoon previous to her departure, we 
 drove out to Potsdam. It was a hot and sultry day; 
 a light haze lay hovering over the water, and before 
 we had reached Babelsberg, there were peals of thunder, 
 and lightnings flashed across the sky, which was rapidly 
 becoming overcast. The wind rose and swept through 
 the tree tops. " We're going to have a bad thunder- 
 storm," said the man at the gates, as we passed into 
 the entrance to the castle. He had prophesied rightly; 
 before long the flashes of lightning and peals of 
 thunder came crashing down together, and the rain 
 poured in torrents. Darkness had come in the day- 
 time, and with the darkness, fear came upon us, and 
 even affected the grandmother. She stuck her fingers 
 into her ears, so as not to hear the thunder, and closed 
 her eyes tightly not to see the dazzling flashes of light; 
 hence she did not see that at the back of the vestibule 
 a pale and terrified girl was clinging to the fearless 
 man beside her, and that he had put his arm round 
 her. And when the sky became a blaze of fire, and 
 the darkened passage was filled with dazzling light, I
 
 228 TJie Emperor and the Birds. 
 
 saw a blissful smile on the man's face. It was Uncle 
 Fritz. 
 
 When the storm abated, we were shown over the 
 castle by the keeper. We were allowed to see the 
 Emperor's study and his bedroom. There was no 
 velvet or silk, or any gold ornamentation about those 
 rooms. A narrow camp-bedstead served the Emperor 
 as his resting place at night ; but it seemed to me as if 
 some high and holy power had spread its wings over 
 the place, and this called forth a feeling of reverence. 
 
 The keeper also showed us a walking-stick which 
 the Emperor, in 1884, had cut from a tree in the 
 park. It is the one he is in the habit of using v/hen 
 wandering out early of a morning among the shady 
 avenues of trees. At those times all the little birds 
 from far and near come flying to him and tell the Em- 
 peror many a thing no one else knows. People who 
 are wise and just, understand the language of birds, 
 to them nothing in the world is mean. 
 
 The weather had cleared up. The storm was fol- 
 lowed by cheerful sunshine — as war is by peace — and 
 woods, water, and meadows lay before us in all their 
 splendour. 
 
 We had to proceed on our way, however, and passed 
 the estate of Prince Wilhelm and his consort, the 
 Princess Victoria from sea-encircled Schleswig-Hol- 
 stein. We saw the children playing in the distance; 
 they were the great-grandchildren of the Emperor, the 
 sweet young buds of the Hohenzollern tree. On 
 Prince Bismarck's birthday the parents and children 
 planted an oak all by themselves. The little ones 
 helped with their little wheelbarrows and spades, and 
 when the tree was planted they watered the earth 
 round it with pure fresh water. When the boys grow 
 to be men, the oak will give them shade.
 
 Sa7is Souci and CharlottcnJwf. 229 
 
 With Sans Souci the grandmother was enchanted, 
 and she may look far and wide before she sees anything 
 like it again. When entering near the obelisk, and 
 coming in sight of the fountain with its marble gods 
 and goddesses, at the end of a broad wooded walk, the 
 el'fect is always bewitching, every time one sees it. 
 And then the castle up on the terrace. It was there 
 that old King Frederick lived, and it was there he died. 
 The clock stopped when his heart beat its last, and has 
 never gone since. The old grandmother thought all 
 this wonderfully interesting, and our guide was called 
 upon to answer such endless questions, one might have 
 fancied the man could have but little breath left in his 
 body; we could scarcely get her to come away. She 
 even asked to be allowed to see the kitchens. Of his- 
 tory itself she has no notion whatever. And all the 
 while she would not let Erica leave her side. 
 
 With Sans Souci the old lady had indeed been 
 amazed, but she had to open her eyes wider still when 
 she saw Charlottenhof. There the roses grew almost 
 to the top of the Greek House, and the lilies joined the 
 roses in shedding a delicious perfume around. A little 
 further off quantities of light and dark roses were 
 blooming in all their beauty, one more beautiful than 
 the other. Was it to be wondered at that Uncle Fritz 
 went mto that garden of roses, and that he drew his 
 white rose to htm and kissed her warmly without the 
 grandmother's leave ? There was no help for it now. 
 " Are you going to persist in your stubbornness for 
 ever ? " I asked. 
 
 Had the thunderstorm softened her a little, or was it 
 that she remembered that her own life had once had 
 its day of roses, of which nothing now was left but the 
 prickly thorns ? She was silent. I beckoned to the two, 
 and when they came up to us, I gave the old grand-
 
 230 The Betrothal. 
 
 mother a convenient poke in ttie back, by way of en- 
 couragement. And, behold ! out she came with " Yes." 
 
 As we walked on, we elderly ladies discussed the 
 practical part of the matter, and I maintained that 
 there must be no delay about the wedding; this gave 
 rise to a dispute. " My brother has waited long 
 enough," I said decisively; "the marriage must take 
 place in a few weeks' time. What do you say, Fritz ? "' 
 — " The sooner the better," he replied. The grand- 
 mother demurred, saying it was contrary to all custom. 
 " That doesn't matter," said I. — " It is necessary to 
 consider what people will say," she replied. " Have 
 done with all this talk," said I; "what's decided is 
 decided." — "It is not," she said. — "It is," said I. For 
 Fritz's and Erica's sake I gave in; but if those two 
 hadn't come in between me and the old lady, I do be- 
 lieve we should have ended v^\X}ci pooh and bah! 
 
 Erica all of a sudden stood still, frightened, for shot 
 after shot was being fired close to us. " What's that ? " 
 she asked in alarm. — "The soldiers are practising 
 shooting," replied Fritz. — "What for?" she asked. — 
 " To protect the hearth and home which will one day 
 be yours and mine, darling," he said kindly; "and no 
 enemy will ever come to destroy the roses and lilies in 
 that home of ours." She looked up at him and said in 
 a whisper, " What should I be without you, dearest ? " 
 
 In the evening we celebrated the betrothal. Fritz 
 was inexpressibly merry, and his merriment even af- 
 fected the old grandmother, who drank "good healths " 
 with him three times over, and even took more than 
 was good for her. Next day she had to keep in bed 
 till midday, and, owing to a severe headache, had to 
 live upon soda and Juliushall water. When I re- 
 proached Uncle Fritz for not having been more care- 
 ful of her, he said drily, " Wilhelmine, it's no fault of
 
 ''Skat'' Parties. 231 
 
 mine ! It's hard, but just ! Why hasn't she taken more 
 care to accustom herself to spirituous drinks?" 
 
 HOW THEY ALL ARE. 
 
 Franz and Fritz are daily getting prettier, and al- 
 though they might perfectly well be baptized now, 
 the Doctor insists upon waiting till Uncle Fritz is 
 back from his wedding trip, for Fritz is to stand god- 
 father to the youngest child, and my Carl is to hold 
 the elder boy. 
 
 Emmi is no longer alone when her husband is out 
 upon his rounds, and does not miss him on the Thurs- 
 day evenings when he is with his friends. And I must 
 confess there is something magnetic about the game 
 of skat, for it both attracts and rivets one's interest. 
 When v/e go to the Wrenzchens of an evening, and 
 Betti and Emmi are sitting on the sofa working 
 (double work being necessary for Franz and Fritz), my 
 husband, the Doctor and I have a game, and it's de- 
 lightful as long as the twins keep quiet. But scarcely 
 are the words uttered: "Franz is crying," or " Fritz 
 is screaming," than my son-in-law flies off to the bed- 
 room. If he had invested in cradles these disturb- 
 ances might be less frequent, even though not alto- 
 gether avoided, and our games would not invariably 
 be interrupted at the most exciting points. Of course, 
 afterwards no one knows whose turn it is to play, and 
 disputes arise. 
 
 This coming winter— when we are all together again 
 — I mean to arrange evening meetings for skat at our 
 house. Dr. Paber has already consented to be one of 
 the party ; and the Police-lieutenant too, a highly
 
 232 About a Charybdis, 
 
 cultivated man, is also a very good player, so there is 
 no fear of our failing from want of forces, especially 
 as we can calculate upon Uncle Fritz too. Herr 
 Kleines also could be invited in case of need ; and it 
 would do him good to have some intercourse with 
 family life. 
 
 Uncle Fritz's wedding coat is being made, and he is 
 counting the days when he will be off to Lingen. He 
 intends to go straight from there to the Rhine with 
 his young wife. He has declined my offer for Carl 
 and me to go to Lingen with him. He says that he is 
 afraid that a lot of relatives ma}^ merely increase the 
 sentimentality and tearfulness of the day, and that he 
 wants the day to be as merry a one as possible, so he 
 is only going to take his friend Theodor Mann with 
 him as his best man ; for even in the midst of serious 
 matters this friend of his never neglects to give fun its 
 due, and then too his talent for singing and playing 
 brings cheerfulness wherever he goes, and cheerful- 
 ness is ever a welcome guest. When Fritz told me 
 that he meant also to invite two or three of the drink- 
 ing members of his choral society, The Whooping 
 Cough, and the merriest of the lot, I could not help 
 saying : *' Fritz, of what good will they be in Lin- 
 gen ? " — " An amusement to the natives merely," said 
 he. I warned him and said, "You surely know the 
 grandmother's character ! " — '* A veritable old Charyb- 
 dis ! " he exclaimed, laughing, " she revels in water, 
 which is no doubt good for children, and can't be said 
 to harm big people either, and tastes good too." — 
 "Well, my idea is that Erica is not likely to get much 
 fun out of any such arrangement of yours." So he 
 dropped it. 
 
 Many changes have taken place in the Weigelts' 
 affairs. Their folly in wishing to appear grander than
 
 and Furnislied Apart)nents. 233 
 
 they really were, and in running into debt for the sake 
 of their wealthy connections, was bitterly atoned for. 
 Emil's sudden death not only altogether upset the 
 ])lans they had been weaving for future days, but 
 showed them, to their horror, that they had calmly 
 been walking up to the brink of a precipice while 
 looking up at the clouds instead of down at their feet. 
 
 But Augusta did not lose courage ; she again set 
 about making feather flowers, and was glad to get her 
 old customers. She also induced her husband to give 
 up his politics, and managed this more by the example 
 of her own indomitable industry than by talking. 
 Fortunately Herr Weigelt had not become riveted to 
 those political principles of his, and was led back to 
 the right path. Moreover, old Herr Bergfeldt was no 
 longer able of an evening to audit the books of trades- 
 people and others, as he had formerly done ; so Au- 
 gusta persuaded her husband to undertake this work 
 and to divide the money with her father. When Wei- 
 gelt no longer associated with those political criminals 
 he gradually became ashamed of his former credulity, 
 and came to see that he hadn't exactly a talent for 
 governing. 
 
 Frau Bergfeldt had taken to letting out her rooms • 
 hitherto she has been rather unfortunate with the oc- 
 cupants of her furnished apartments. The first of 
 them made off suddenly with all his goods and chattels, 
 without having paid for his last month's residence, in 
 addition to other expenses she had incurred for him 
 and a couple of crowns he had borrowed. Her present 
 lodger, she is afraid, may act in a similar way, so she 
 has run a tape through the keyhole, and fastened the 
 one end to the young man's box. At night she ties the 
 other end round her own wrist, so that she may be 
 sure to wake if he tries to make off on the sly. In
 
 234 Soj/ie curious-looking Material. 
 
 October they are going to move to the Dorotheen 
 Strasse, where rooms are more easily let, owing to its 
 being near the university ; it is a favourite quarter 
 with the students, into whose receptive minds the Pro- 
 fessors strew the seeds of learning which have then to 
 be well watered with beer, both morning and evening, 
 in order to flourish. It did occur to me to recommend 
 Herr Kleines to them, but luckily, upon second 
 thoughts, J knew this would not do, as they were not 
 at all suited to each other. Herr Kleines is much the 
 same as he was, and Herr Pfeiffer, too, has not become 
 any steadier. 
 
 One day lately I went to see Augusta Weigelt, and 
 found her dressed in mourning, but busily at work. 
 She was not, however, manufacturing flowers, but was 
 stitching away at some very curious-looking material. 
 " Whatever's that going to be when finished ? " I asked. 
 *' A little dress for our boy." — " But tell me, where 
 ever did you get that extraordinary stuff with its odd 
 stripes ; I never saw any material like it in my life." 
 Augusta's face coloured up. " Well, why should I not 
 tell you ! " she answered after a little ; " it's the cov- 
 ering of those blue silk umbrellas the money-lender 
 made us take. The things were so peculiar-looking, 
 we couldn't have used them in the streets. But now 
 I've got what I wanted," she added, sadly, but smiling 
 too ; " my little ones will both have silk frocks ! " 
 
 " Better days will come," said I encouragingly. — 
 '' Let us hope so," replied Augusta ; "but they won't 
 come of themselves. So I've taken to using my old 
 magic words again: * dalli, dalli,' I keep saying to 
 m}^self from morning to . night, and if only v/e live a 
 little more sparingly than we actually need to, for a 
 couple of years, we shall get out of all our difficulties. 
 Oh, Frau Buchholz, how gladly I would starve, if only
 
 Old Hcrr Bergfeldt. 235 
 
 my poor brother were still alive." She began to cry. 
 " You must forget that trouble." — " Never," she re- 
 plied ; " he was such a good, kind fellow." — " But )'Ou 
 have got your children, you must live wholly for them 
 now." 
 
 " I mean to teach them to work and to be content," 
 said Augusta ; " everything else in life is vanity ; we 
 have learned that." Thereupon she took up her needle 
 again and stitched away eagerly, as if she had had to 
 make up for lost time. 
 
 Suddenly she stopped and listened. ** There is 
 father," she said, and hurried to meet old Herr 
 Bergfeldt, who was slowly hobbling up the stairs. He 
 had become quite grey-headed, and looked an old man. 
 " Where is Emil ? " he asked, after having bowed to 
 me in an unconscious kind of way. 
 
 Augusta went out and fetched little Franz. "There 
 you are, Emil, dear boy ! " said the old man in a fond- 
 ling tone of voice, as the child came climbing up on 
 to his knee. Augusta whispered to me : " He doesn't 
 always remember things properly, and often speaks to 
 our little Franz as if he were Emil. We never take 
 any notice." She had ordered coffee for her old father, 
 for he always came in about this time to play with 
 the boy. 
 
 With a trembling hand the old man offered the boy 
 a drink out of his cup, and said: "Do you like it, 
 Em.il?" "It's jolly!" replied the boy. That was just 
 what Emil used to say, when he was that age. 
 
 Little Franz, after having a little coffee, brought out 
 all his treasures, all sorts of broken rubbish, but the 
 grandfather knew the name of every single piece as 
 well as the boy. They had a headless doll that they 
 called the Princess Vallera, and one remaining nincpin 
 was the gunner Snip Snap ; these two lived together
 
 236 Abo7(t a Political Rhyine 
 
 in a box that I seemed to recognise. And to be sure 
 it was the little organ. " Is the music all out of it al- 
 ready ? " I asked. " It did not last long," was her an- 
 swer ; '■'■ it could not stand the inspections made into 
 its interior. I myself am glad that there is now an 
 end to its squeaking, it reminded me too much of my 
 high-flown ideas. For keeping the children's toys in, 
 it is most useful." 
 
 In watching the mischievous little pickle carefully, 
 it did seem to me as if he were a little like what Emil 
 had been, especially when brimful of life and spirits ; 
 however, the resemblance was not so great for any one 
 to have mistaken them as old Herr Bergfeldt did. 
 
 Augusta begged me to take no notice of them, as 
 they were always happier by themselves ; this I was 
 the more willing to do as I saw clearly that the old 
 man had himself become a child again. When the boy 
 became more and more uproarious, Augusta called him 
 to come and have his frock tried on. It fitted him 
 very nicely, but the little fellow looked like a blue ze- 
 bra in it. He did not mind that, however, and stalked 
 about singing : 
 
 " Culture vnVi. make us free, 
 Strike down the doors for me." 
 
 " What in the world is that verse the child has got 
 hold of ?" I asked. " It's a stupid old rhyme my hus- 
 band used to sing when he attended his political club. 
 The words are really : ' Culture will make us free, 
 down with tyranny ' — Franz, will you be quiet ! " The 
 old man called the boy to him, and I got up to leave. 
 "Do not be discouraged about things," said I, in bid- 
 ding Augusta good-bye. Her reply was, " I live in 
 hope and trust." 
 
 As the Krauscs are related to Erica, wc unfortu-
 
 and Special Professions. 237 
 
 nately cannot prevent them becoming a little more 
 intimate with us, but I mean to set up a landmark, to 
 fix the boundary beyond which they shall not be al- 
 lowed to trespass. 
 
 Eduard does really seem to be improving since he 
 left the High School, and is no longer plagued with 
 those dead languages. And, after all, studying may 
 not suit every one ; and perhaps many do not know 
 this till they are in the midst of it, and it is too late to 
 begin a new occupation, either because they're too 
 grown-up, or have become spoiled for other work. In 
 the latter case they will be crippled for life, like Herr 
 Weigelt, and their work will be neither one thing nor 
 another. 
 
 If Eduard becomes a sailor, that will be far more ra- 
 tional than for him to be for ever at sixes and sevens 
 with himself and the world; for any one who has been 
 forced to take up some special profession, will have 
 perpetually to act against his own inclination. And 
 yet any other occupations will then rarely be genteel 
 enough; nowadays everybody wants to be at the top 
 of the tree, and to go up by balloon. 
 
 Herr Krause has a much greater influence upon the 
 boy than formerly, and told me that if Eduard only 
 keeps as he is, he hopes the boy may yet turn out a 
 useful member of society. This could not but be wel- 
 come news to us, owing to our connection with the 
 family; and I do not mean to make any further ado 
 about his once having had to work the treadmill; for 
 I have learned by experience how easily one may be 
 drawn from the quietest of existences into publicity, 
 and have an action brought against one. 
 
 What really occurred to make Eduard give up that 
 habit of disobedience which the mother had always 
 encouraged in him, no one here has ever managed to
 
 8 The Wedding Prese?its. 
 
 find out, because old Herr Krause is absolutely silent 
 on the point. When I asked Frau Krause one day 
 what Eduard had really been about in Hamburg, she 
 told me some story about robbers, which she may 
 believe herself, but can hardly expect other people to be- 
 lieve. She said the boy wanted so much to see the great 
 ocean, and when he got to Hamburg the captain of 
 some slave ship got hold of him, and kept him a pris- 
 oner between the decks for two whole days, probably 
 intending to carry him off to the South Seas. But his 
 father fortunately found him in the nick of time. 
 " That was a great mercy," said I; " for if the ship had 
 started, Herr Krause would, no doubt, have had to 
 swim after it." 
 
 My goodness ! the face she made at that. 
 
 Uncle Fritz has furnished his house quite nicely for 
 the time being. Certain things I did find wanting, 
 when he came and fetched me to have a look at it; but 
 he told me that he was looking forward to going about 
 with his young wife and purchasing, by degrees, all 
 that they might want. I could not but admit that he was 
 acting wisely in this, for I remember Carl and I had, 
 at first, to accommodate ourselves to circumstances. 
 
 And we fixed upon our wedding present for them, in 
 accordance with these arrangements; above all things, 
 we decided to give no more plated goods, but the gen- 
 uine article. Dr. Wrenzchen was very generous, and 
 presented them with an ornamental clock ; Betti 
 worked them a sofa cushion; and Fritz's vocal society. 
 The Whooping Cough, who knew his tastes, sent him 
 on the evening before his departure for Lingen a 
 punch-bowl and two dozen glasses; one dozen for use, 
 the second as a reserve. I gave him, in addition, a 
 large packet of bonbons and sweets for Erica's younger 
 brothers and sisters, in order that the poor little things
 
 Carl Carries out a Plan. 239 
 
 mightn't be altogether forgotten. "Fritz," said I, "be 
 sure and write soon and tell us how things go off."— 
 " If I have time, and manage to get away without 
 broken bones." — " Be sure to be attentive to the grand- 
 mother." — " Didn't we get on famously the last evening 
 we spent together ? " 
 
 The train was moving off. I wanted to call out, as 
 my last words, " Speed away to your happiness, dear 
 boy," but he was already too far off. 
 
 Uncle Fritz was hurrying away towards Lingen, and 
 as v/e did not wish his wedding-day to pass without 
 any celebration, I proposed to avail ourselves of the 
 fine weather and have an excursion somewhere. " What 
 do you say, Betti, to our going out to Tegel again ? " — 
 "Tegel ! " she replied in a curious tone of voice, — "oh 
 yes, if you like." 
 
 If I liked ! Why, Carl and I had long since settled 
 our plan, which was now about to be carried out. The 
 plan was my idea; Carl it was who had to see that it 
 was carried out properly to the minute. 
 
 It was afternoon. We had been sitting in the woods 
 where there was a view across the lake, and as I had 
 long since determined some day to have a picnic at 
 this point, a hamper with good things was provided. 
 Betti was rather monosyllabic ; perhaps she was think- 
 ing how happy we had all once been in these woods, 
 which we were to-day trying to enjoy again. 
 
 My husband was rather quiet too, for he knew what 
 was about to occur within the next quarter of an hour, 
 and did not feel quite sure how things would go. I, 
 on the other hand, had no doubts whatever, or why 
 should I have chosen Tegel ? The Present was to be 
 linked with the Past ; what lay between was a winter's 
 day. Where are frost and snow, when the hawthorn 
 blooms again ? Forgotten !
 
 240 Betti i)i a Dream. 
 
 Carl kept taking out his watch, and looked anxiously 
 out on to the lake ; then we both saw a boat leave 
 the opposite shore and steer straight across towards 
 the woods where we were sitting. " I wonder if those 
 people are coming to us ?" said I, as if I knew some- 
 thing. " It looks like it," said Carl. " You know," he 
 added, "how much I am in want of a partner; the 
 business requires increased support." The boat was 
 coming nearer. " I have found some one in whom I 
 place full confidence, but I wanted to know whether 
 he pleased you both as well." With this he looked at 
 Betti. "My decision will depend upon your judg- 
 ment. This was my reason for asking him to join us 
 here to-day. Here he is." 
 
 The boat came flying onwards, rowed b}' powerful 
 arms, and at last shot up on to the beach. Betti had 
 jumped up, and stood immovable ; she had recog- 
 nised the two men in the boat, Felix and Max — the 
 two friends. 
 
 With quick and elastic steps Herr Felix hurried up 
 to Betti, stretching out both hands towards her, and 
 she, as if in a dream, laid hers in h'.s. " Ah, ha ! it's to 
 be '■ Buchholz and Son,' after all," said I in a whisper 
 to Cart. He only smiled. 
 
 When we returned through the woods, the lovers in 
 front, Carl carrying the hamper, and Herr Max and I 
 as rear guard, I said to him: "Are you satisfied 
 nov/ ? " — " Yes," he answered, " most heartily, for my 
 friend is happy." — " And you deserve to become hap- 
 py, too ; I will help you to find as charming a bride as 
 you could wish." 
 
 "You are really very good," he replied, " but unfor- 
 tunately your offer comes a little late ; I have found 
 one already." 
 
 " Well, I never — you too ! " I said, laughing ; " now
 
 Amanda Knlccke. 241 
 
 remember, Frau Buchholz is dying to be introduced to 
 her." 
 
 When Betti's engagement was made known, every- 
 body came to offer their congratulations. The Police- 
 lieutenant's wife seemed very much surprised, and said 
 that she supposed as Herr Felix Schmidt was to be- 
 come a partner, that the marriage was one of conven- 
 ience more especially. My reply was that convenience 
 had certainly something to do with it. 
 
 Wichmann Leuenfels sent Betti his good wishes in 
 rhyme, which amused us very much, for they were 
 quite idiotic. He is at present writing criticisms on 
 every conceivable subject, especially about things he 
 doesn't understand, and is said to have already suc- 
 ceeded in making people pretty well afraid of him. 
 • Amanda Kulecke came also. " Child," she said to 
 Betti, " you are really to be envied. You are going to 
 marry the man you love. You look the very picture 
 of a happy bride, and he's good-looking, too, that 
 must be confessed." Betti threw her arms round her 
 friend and kissed her. 
 
 *' It is time that the sons of our country took a look 
 at me," Amanda continued. ''One did present him- 
 self the other day, it is true, but he didn't take my 
 fancy ; I cannot bear small men, and he had a bald 
 head into the bargain." I could never tell whether she 
 meant to be serious or not, or whether she was having 
 a laugh at herself ; this much is certain, any one of the 
 many pale-faced fashionable youths of the day she 
 would rather see starve, than move an arm towards 
 them. She is too repellant, in spite of her really ex- 
 cellent heart. It is a pity for the girl. 
 
 A few days afterwards we got our first letter from 
 Uncle Fritz, dated from Rudesheim. " He has lost his 
 reason," I called out. " Carl, just read this nonsense." 
 16
 
 242 Frits and Erica. 
 
 — "Dear Wilhelm," he wrote, "here we are at the 
 Rhine. It is considerably larger than the Spree. I 
 do not yet know whether its waters are wet, for I 
 haven't tried them. Yesterday I put Erica right on the 
 top of the Lorelei Rock, where she blew a tune upon 
 a golden comb ; I, with Baedeker under my arms, sat 
 in a little boat listening to her. This .picture was so 
 exceedingly effective that all the steamers stopped and 
 blocked up the river, and police on horseback had to 
 plunge into the Rhine and make them move on. Wil- 
 helm, won't you come to us ; we'll give a repetition of 
 the magic scene, and you shall play the accompani- 
 ment on an accordion. — Uncle Fritz." 
 
 " He must have had a sunstroke," I exclaimed. 
 " Carl, what do you think ? " — " Wait, there's something 
 on the other side of the page," said Carl, shaking his 
 head. "What is it, Carl ? I really feel quite anxious ; 
 he has never shown himself as mad as that." Carl 
 read : " Dear Frau Buchholz, would it be possible for 
 you to come here to the Rhine and pay a visit to two 
 supremely happy children, who wish to show you their 
 gratitude for all your love and kindness to them ; they 
 want to tell you over and over again how inexpressi- 
 bly happy they are. We think of you everyday ; how 
 highly Fritz speaks of you, and how dearly I shall 
 love you. Do come ! Oh, do come ! How beautiful 
 this world is. Why cannot we have you with us ? — 
 Yours, Erica." 
 
 "Do you know, Carl," said I, "when Fritz wants to 
 express any affection for me, he always does exactly 
 the reverse of what an apothecary does with his pills, 
 he puts his sugary stuff inside, and leaves the bitter 
 stuff outside. This much I can see, however, that if 
 ever two human beings were happy on their wedding 
 trip, it's Fritz and Erica."
 
 Again Alojie. 243 
 
 I could not leave home, however. The preparations 
 for Betti's wedding in the autumn have to be attended 
 to; the twins, too, have claims upon my time, and ex- 
 perience has taught me that everything is apt to get 
 topsy-turvy when I'm away. The wedding is to be a 
 very quiet one; this is Betti's own wish. 
 
 Our house will then be big and empty again, as it 
 was when we first came to it. The children are away; 
 we can no longer hear their steps, or the sound of 
 their voices — they have flown away, like birds out of a 
 nest. It has become silent, and we are again alone, 
 my Carl and I — alone, just as in those first days. J^.Iy 
 bridal wreath was green then; when the elder-tree 
 blooms again, I shall have my silver wreath.
 
 The Buchholz Family, 
 
 SJcetcJies of Berlin Life. 
 By J XJ L I XJ S S T I N DE. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 From the DEUTSCHE RUNDSCHAU. 
 
 " The social grade personified in this middle-class lady is drawn with 
 such perfect truth to nature that it may pass for a photograph. The author 
 indicates clearly and minutely all that goes to make up her moral and 
 intellectual being, the sources from which she drew her culture, by what 
 means and through what causes she attained her views, on what she formed 
 her opinions, and how she maintained the same. Every phase of Berlin 
 middle-class life is treated with exhaustive thoroughness, and its relation 
 to God and to the world, to the State and Society, to marriage, the 
 family, birth and death, are given so truly and vividly that the reader once 
 for all finds out where he is, and the occasional exaggerations and improb- 
 abilities do not come into consideration. . . . Karl and Wilhclmine 
 Buchholz, Wrcnzchen and Uncle Fritz, the Krauses, Weigelts, and the 
 Police-lieutenant and his wife, are all people who are equal to their parts, 
 and capable of maintaining their position, and know pretty well that a 
 German exists first of all to fulfil his duty, or — to put it in Berlin fashion — 
 that business comes first and pleasure afterwards." — Jttnc, 1886. 
 
 From BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 "Our author neither theorizes, nor teaches, nor moralizes. From the 
 dense bewildering throng of human actors in the human drama, he has 
 singled out one tiny group for study of an almost scientific accuracy and 
 thoroughness, and has then fused his observations into such a living picture 
 as only a true artist can create. His sketches are vigorous, reahstic, and 
 racy ; they sparkle with bright fun and joyousness. . . . The book is 
 somewhat difficult to label or pigeon-hole. It is not a novel. A slender 
 thread of story indeed runs through these semi-detached sketches, and 
 upon it arc loosely strung a series of highly diversified scenes and situ- 
 ations ; but each chapter is a study almost complete in itself. Light and 
 airy though they be on the surface, a great deal of fine painstaking work- 
 manship has gone into Dr. Stinde's volumes. In their homeliness, their 
 truthfulness, their realism, and their elaborate detail, his pictures are of the 
 Dutch school."— ^/r?/, 1886.
 
 By the Author of "How to be Happy Though Married." 
 
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 Only Temper. Money is Character. 
 
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 Only Trifles. Vainglorious. 
 
 Success in Life. Housekeeping. 
 
 What Is Religion ? About Reading. 
 
 The Wise Man's Conclusion. Tippling. 
 
 Wanted — A Man. Misapplied Virtues. 
 
 A Husband-and-Wife Mutual In all Time of Our Wealth, 
 
 [Improvement Society. How Do You Do ? 
 
 The author of "How to he Happy Though Married," has 
 written his second work in the same bright and entertaining 
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 3 
 
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