, \0? SONS OF THE RHINE Sons of the Rhine (Die Wiskottens) By RUDOLF HERZOG Author of "The Adventurer" Translated by LOUISE T. LAZELL New York Desmond FitzGerald, Inc. Copyright, 1914 By DESMOND FITZGERALD, INC. ED'S BOOK SHOP Bocks, Magazines, Stationery Noveltis.i and Greeting Cards 1808 F'ACIFiC AVENUE VENICE, CALIFORNIA CHAPTER I " IT'S after closing hours, gentlemen ! " Loud laughter from without drowned this protest, the great doorknob was rattled impatiently with cries of " Open, Overam ! We want just a drop of beer!" " Then go back and get it where you've been carousing all evening. Mine's not good enough for you ! " " Overam, you greedy dog, don't other tavern-keepers have to pay for their licenses too ! " " Overam, this will be the first we've had, and the best ccmes first!" " Herr Abraham Schulte ! You ought to be running a coffee-house in the Fischertal; you lack the human sym- pathy of a real innkeeper." " Go and give up your license when the town council meets tomorrow ! " " Open ! " Suddenly the great door creaked and flew open and the heavy-set form of the innkeeper appeared on the threshold. He was in his shirtsleeves with a beefy fist on either hip, his militant gray beard standing out from his face like a frill. Blinking, to accustom his eyes to the dark, he peered sharply out into the street. " Well then which of you gentlemen wants a cold plunge in the Wupper? By all that's holy, I'll throw the first one who opens his mouth into the river." A sudden silence fell on the group of six huddled to- gether on the snow-wet sidewalk. Then a broad-shoul- dered fellow with merry, insolent eyes stepped forward. 2136231 2 SONS OF THE RHINE "Overam, I offer myself as the victim. Only I must go into your inn first and make my will, my last will and testament." "Yes, yes, indeed! His will! We'll be the witnesses." " Just look at them ! " said the innkeeper, unmoved by their foolishness. " I might have known. If anyone makes a racket in Barmen it's sure to be a Wiskotten and here we are all six of 'em. I'm performing a deed of charity in bringing you in off the streets. But I beg of you, walk slowly. In the first place, my old woman's asleep; in the second, I'm not on speakin' terms with the new night watchman." Cautiously, on tiptoe, the six filed through the door. They were a fine, robust lot, the oldest barely thirty, the youngest still in his teens. "Well, well, here's the whole bloomin' Wiskotten brotherhood, even including Herr August." "What makes you say that? Why, even I? " said the third one to enter. He was the only clean-shaven one in the group, as even the youngest boasted a downy attempt on his upper lip. His face twitched nervously as he put the question. " Now, now," deprecated the host, " I only thought there were church services tonight." " That's none of " "My business? You're right. And here's Benjamin, too. What? Is he allowed to drink after midnight?" Meanwhile the door had been closed and locked. The eldest of the brothers wiped the snowflakes from his blond mustache, grasped his host with one hand and his brother with the other, and shoved them face to face. " Now ! I demand respectful attention and beer. We bring with us the Hope of the Wiskotten family. Here he is." SONS OF THE RHINE 3 " Ah, no, Herr Gustav, you are " " This young man is the Hope of the Wiskotten family, I repeat. He passed his graduation examinations today. All the rest of us, his elders, were glad enough to get a diploma exempting us from a year of military service.* Now, what do you say to that? " " Donnerwetter! " " That's what we all say. And on your account, solely on your account, to bring you this splendid news we've broken up a family reunion, sacrificed our beauty sleep, risked our necks on the sleety streets, and our reputations in consequence, for some malicious neighbors might say we had fallen because we were tipsy " " Enough enough hush ! I'll draw some beer at once." " At last ! Off with your coats, youngsters." " Don't shout so, Gustav." " Ach! August, we're at old Overam's, not at a prayer- meeting." " I must ask you to abstain from such pleasant- ries!" " Then why are you here at all? Wasn't it because you like a drink as well as any of us? Well then, enjoy yourself! We'll never have another brother graduate from the Gymnasium.* The second and fourth brothers now broke in with im- patient cries of " Beer ! Beer ! " Both were dressed with the greatest of care, the one in clothes of English cut that were set off by mutton-chop whiskers, the other in ultra- German garb, with the type of mustachios we associate with the Kaiser. " Let's have some beer ! Beer, for the Emperor's crack * Secondary school, graduation from which, usually at the age of eighteen, admits to the university. 4. SONS OF THE RHINE lieutenants ! " " English William and Prussian Fritz. Strike up with drum and fife." " Listen to Gustav playing the democrat ! As if he weren't an officer in the reserve himself." " True enough, but it's only a side issue with me. Your health, children ! Even August your health, August is an officer in the reserves, although he would prefer to be a field chaplain, if the post weren't closed to him be- cause he's not in orders. Paul, too, has already the right to wear a sword, and it goes without saying that our Ewald will return from his service with epaulets. Any- body can belong to the reserves, but it isn't everybody that can belong to the great Wiskotten family, fellows who may worry and plague one another, but who all pull together against an outsider, and show an unbroken front to the world. Fellows who know the meaning and joy of working, of producing. Hearty, hard-headed ribbon makers, Barmen manufacturers since their birth. Hurrah ! Hoch! Hoch! Hoch! " Six throats shouted themselves hoarse in response. In the background their host clapped his mighty hands be- fore he grasped the fresh-filled mugs. Gustav Wiskotten had caught up the lanky " bachelor " and tossed him to- ward the ceiling at every " Hoch! " It was a rare scene of high spirits and overflowing vitality. Carried out of his usually dreamy self, Paul Wiskotten, the poet of the family, grasped Gustav by the shoulders excitedly " Man, man," he cried, " you haven't the slightest inkling of what poetry means, and yet you're the very essence of it yourself." " I? You're out of your senses!" A sudden loud knock on the outer door startled them. With an impressive gesture the host imposed silence. All SONS OF THE RHINE 5 eyes were turned in the same direction, as they listened expectantly. " Hola ! after closing time." " The new night watchman," whispered the host. " These frequent changes bring nothing but confusion." "Open!" Schulte looked questioningly at Gustav. He nodded, and the door was opened. " How can I serve you ? No drinks at this hour." With helmet down over his eyes and coat collar turned up, the man entered the room " That is just what I need to assure myself about. Who are these guests? You know well enough that your license is only till mid- night," he said, drawing out his notebook. Gustav Wiskotten had hastily scribbled a few lines on the wine card before him; now he arose. "What is the meaning of this intrusion? Don't you know me? " The watchman stood at attention; there was a ring of command in the voice addressing him. " Yes, indeed, Herr Wiskotten." " Then I ask you again, what is the meaning of this intrusion? " " I beg your pardon, Herr Wiskotten, but Innkeeper Schulte cannot serve anything after twelve o'clock at night " " It is nothing to me what Abraham Schulte may or may not do after midnight; that is, so to speak, his internal affair. We six here form a private club, with statutes exempting us from interference. No one has any right to question us." The watchman hesitated " We have no notice of any such club " Gravely shaking his head, Gustav turned to his brothers 6 SONS OF THE RHINE who sat about the table with the gravity of offended burgomasters. " He does not believe us ! " Taking up the card, he read, " Barmen, the twenty-eighth of Febru- ary, eighteen hundred and ninety. Is that correct? Well then, Society of the Wiskotten Family? Is that also correct? Or do you perchance see anyone here who is not a pure-blooded Wiskotten? Further: Paragraph one, Day of meeting, Thursday. You will not deny that today is Thursday! Paragraph two: Object of this So- ciety, the composition of a song in honor of the Wis- kotten family. This song we are ready to give as further testimony." Six throats were cleared raspingly. The watchman attempted to answer, but Schulte laid a warning finger on his lips and the six voices rang out: " An der Gartentii-a-ur Hat mem Madchen mi-a-ir Sanft die Hand gedruckt. Ach, wie ward mir da-o-a Als mir das gescha-o-ah, Als mem Madchen mi-a-ir Sanft die Hand gedruckt" * This was too much for the watchman. He wiped his forehead uneasily and slipped quietly out. " Aha ! " laughed Schulte. The song was finished and the representative of law and order had vanished. " Ha-ha-ha ! " echoed the six powerful voices in a storm of merriment. Then followed a scene of wild, primitive revelry such as might be seen only in the Wupper valley among its sturdy, boisterous workers. * At the garden gate my sweetheart softly pressed my hand. How it filled me with joy to have her softly press my hand. SONS OF THE RHINE 7 Learning, culture, and acquired elegance of manner fell away. The outer veneer of manner acquired in mili- tary service or travel was stripped off like a Sunday coat no longer suitable in such company. They were not the sons of a house unequaled in the commercial world, but only the sons of their native soil, as had been their father before them when he sat in his blue blouse among his fellows without thought of social distractions, wealth, or poverty. They had come from loom and dye- room, solid, heavy-set fellows, using the coarse, blunt words that always carried their point. Honest and simple enough they were, yet with an inherent shrewdness of business instinct that was later to develop great industries in their quiet valley, equally unsatiable for the joys and whole- some labors of life. At the top of their lungs the Wiskotten brothers shouted to each other, striking the table and laughing aloud at every jest, drinking their beer in mighty draughts, acting just as if this were indeed a private clubroom. Foremost in the drinking and joking was the boisterous eldest brother. " August if it does not hurt your con- science your health ! " "My conscience? * Every laborer is worthy of his hire ' is written in St. Luke." " Fellows, fellows ! August has spoken ! It is in St. Luke. Overam, where's the beer? August the laborer is worthy of his hire." " You just wait till you get home for yours." "What do you mean? Out with it!" " I only mean that your Emily will find you worthy of your hire then." " Yes, our Emily. Hurrah for Emily and her curtain lectures " 8 SONS OF THE RHINE ,A.t that Gustav frowned angrily. He drained his glass and set it down with a thump. " Stop that ! I think I have the right to a little amuse- ment. Don't I work Good Lord as much as all the rest of you put together? If I let myself have double the relaxation " " Oh, come, don't get angry." " There's no need for you to defend yourself here ; keep that for Emily." " Oh, rubbish ! Don't I know that I married ten years too soon? But you have no reason to complain of that. You're all able to have your fling the better for it; to squander money, clank your sabers, and write your trashy poetry in secret instead of devoting all your time to mak- ing good ribbons, braids, and cords. Do you see those two good upper valley Wiskotten fists? Now shut up, all of you!" " Oho ! Who squanders the money ? " " August, for his senseless missions on all the heathen rascals in China, Africa, Kamtschatka." " What do you know about a Christian's duties ? " " Nothing at all ! But my skin is closer to me than my shirt, as the proverb says. First put your own house in order before meddling with the affairs of strangers. If you took all your * mission ' contributions and used them to root out all the suffering and evil at home, so that nothing was left to be desired, then it would be time to unfurl your banner among the heathen. Then, and only then. When there are houses afire here, why run to put out a blaze over there? Give us a pat quota- tion, ' bachelor of arts.' " " Husbandry, Horatio." " That's good, husbandry." SONS OF THE RHINE 9 " Behold Gustav as moralist ! Gustav as demagogue ! Hola ! Rattle your sabers ! " " Listen to the two fire-eaters ! William and Fritz, they're lopsided from strutting about with their swords." " Enough of that ! We simply follow the fashions, as is required of us officers. You show it plainly enough. Don't they look like regular officers on guard duty? Where is your inherited pride in the blue workman's blouse? Don't we still belong to the sturdy working classes?" Paul Wiskotten had risen and walked over to his brother, his clear, bright eyes eloquent. " Don't you see, Gustav, we each have our own pet hobby. Yours is to find intoxication in your cups I find mine in the poets. Does that hurt the factory? No, but it would harm each of us greatly should we give up the thing that is an essential part of our personality." " Well, well," said Gustav, " perhaps you're right." In the moment of silence that followed, their host's voice was heard " Whoever is through drinking had better go home. You'll not get free lodgings here." " Overam, beer ! " " Overam, it's your own fault. If you'd been quicker about keeping us supplied we would not have had time to wrangle." " Overam, a sardine! How much are they? " " A groschen, Herr Wiskotten ! " "What, for such a little fish?" " What do you expect a boiled lobster for your groschen? " " Overam und IsaJc Zankten sich om Zmeback 10 SONS OF THE RHINE Overam Jconnt hatter schlonn, Isak, de mot lopen gonn * jeered the chorus at this duel of words, rattling their glasses on the table. Then the uproar broke loose in a burst that shook the windows there seemed no likelihood of their making an end. " Our Mother ! " One instant, a single movement, and all the big fellows were on their feet. Gustav broke the shocked silence with a laugh that did not ring true. " Stupid ! How could our mother get here in the snow ? Why should she come here to Overam's at all? " " The devil ! That was a scare ! Gustav is pale yet ! " " He'd rather have it out with Emily any day." "Who did it? Ewald! If he was trying to joke, he certainly missed fire." " Well, were you trying to make fun of our mother? " " No indeed, I assure you. I wanted to drink her health. ' To our Mother ! ' The founder of the Wiskot- ten dynasty. With her begins our family tree." " Overam, look sharp now, beer ! " The toast was drunk in respectful silence, and one by one they paid their scores with a distrait air. Then one after another of these self-sufficient, careless men drew out his watch, yawned in a most striking fashion, and reached for his overcoat. Their high spirits had flown, the same sobering influence had been felt by them all. "Are you coming, August?" said Gustav as he rose. " Tomorrow will be a hard day in the factory, and that cursed question of a building site must be threshed out once more." * Abraham and Isaac quarreled about some zwieback, Abraham could hit harder, so Isaac got the worst of it. SONS OF THE RHINE 11 " Don't swear so. I'm coming." " Good night, Overam. Is the money right ? " " Good night to you all. My compliments to your honored mother." " Extend them to her yourself, if you want a clout on the head." On the street they formed a silent, orderly procession. The light snow had been followed by a frost. The full moon illuminated the high, uneven houses and cast a ghostly light on the black Wupper. " I'm going up on the bluff with Ewald," said Paul, " it's such a glorious moonlight night." Gustav Wiskotten shrugged his shoulders. " See that you don't come yawning to the factory tomorrow. And don't disturb Mother when you come home." This last was spoken with a tenderness that was touching, coming as it did from the great, strong man. " It's glorious, Paul, glorious," said the young student, as they left the others and ascended the steep Werlestrasse. " How can anyone go to bed now, on such a night and in such a mood! You were again the only one of them who understood." " Perhaps it was because I had not so many other re- sponsibilities on my mind like Gustav, for instance." " No, no, that's not it. You, too, yearn for things beyond this business life of Barmen." "Beyond?" "Their eternal jog trot, this fearfully monotonous, dull routine, varied only by occasional drinking bouts, like the one tonight. It kills the soul." "You see it all with jaundiced eyes. You must learn to view things in a truer light, then you'll see Life, with its manifold beauties and creative powers." 12 SONS OF THE RHINE "Do you see it?" " I do, and I am a part of it." For a time they walked along in silence. Soon they reached the heights, where the street gave way to a path leading through the fields to a wood beyond. In its deli- cate white covering of snow the path wound before them and vanished between the dark tree trunks. In the dis- stance a dog howled. The " Villa Foresta," an inn by day, seemed like some dreamy fairy castle in the magic moonlight. " Look about you, boy ! " " What do you mean, Paul? " " A view worth coming here to see. What do you make of it?" " The Wupper valley, Barmen, nothing more." " Isn't that enough? We must supply the one lack appreciation. You're fresh from your studies, and still know your Goethe. What does he say? 'What you don't feel, you'll never conquer.' That applies best of all to one's native place." " Did you always think thus, Paul? " " No, not always. One ripens in the love of home slowly. But with a sincere love, the hardest task be- comes easy." " But we cannot all feel the same love. My tasks are different." " Everyone should have the love of home in some de- gree," said Paul, with a tender glance at the sleeping valley, " the love of home." Both gazed down on the city, their eyes gradually be- coming accustomed to the uncertain light, until they could discern the outlines of the houses, the church towers, the forest of tall factory chimneys, and the white streets that SONS OF THE RHINE 13 clambered up the surrounding heights, to lose themselves in the silences of the watching forest. Cupped like a great seashell, the valley lay guarding its treasures. Paul Wiskotten voiced the thought; pride in his home town gave him eloquence. Ewald shook his head. " All your poetry cannot change the black Wupper." " The black Wupper is the blessing of the valley. God be thanked that it is black." " That's a strange point of view. My idea of beauty is to have things clean and clear." " If the Wupper were clean and clear it would be be- cause the people on its banks were lazy and unhappy. Its black color is a mantle of honor given it by men. It signifies, ' Here work is being done. Here dwells an industrious people.' " " But I cannot see any poetry in all this, and what is life without it? " " The poetry lies in the work itself. Life alone can produce vital poetry. When the giant below us awakens, rubs the sleep out of his eyes, and suddenly arises to sing his morning song; when his breath arises from all the thousand chimneys toward heaven, and the whole living organism bestirs itself in the daily miracle of bringing something into existence out of nothing, with its myriad hands and heads is not that poetry? Or when at every hour it sends forth its cheery cry, as on a giant telephone, the hum of its activities sounding over land and sea, 'Hello! This is Barmen-Elberfeld. Who's on the line now ? ' is that not a heroic measure ? The song of toil ! And, mind you, that is what makes our Gustav a living poem." "Our Gustav?" "Yes. Don't you understand yet? Here in the 14 SONS OF THE RHINE Wupper valley our mightiest workers are our truest poets. An artist must be a creator. Herr Gott! How our Gus- tav creates ! How his head teems with creative thoughts that he grasps and molds into shape until the thing is, creating in its turn new life, and food for yet more new life. Oh, no, my dear Ewald, genius is not found only on Parnassus. I can give you my own assurance of that." " You ! Why have you not become a poet ? " " A short time ago you heard Gustav pass j udgment on my verses " " He's not a competent critic. He has no conception of the things that stir our souls. He can understand noth- ing but his eternal business affairs it's always business with him. He does not recognize the individual." " There are more than enough isolated individuals wandering about the world like so much quicksilver. He has something weightier on his mind." " I know, I know, the all-important factory." " No, the individuality of the ' family.' " " I don't understand. That's a paradox." " Nowadays everyone wants to be a ' personality.' That is sheer folly, for eventually it would break every tie and drive us into chaos, anarchy. I tell you, the ' per- sonality ' of the future will be the ' personality of the family.' Only complete unity of purpose can make a race strong and enduring, can produce genius. We cannot all of us be extraordinary characters. But if each member of the family adds his little portion of genius to the common fund, then a worthy whole may be formed." " And can you yourself submit to this dreary wis- dom? You with your gifted soul?" " Gustav has also a gifted soul, perhaps the greatest among us. But it is impossible for him to obey its im- SONS OF THE RHINE 15 pulses because all his powers are given to the factory and our common welfare. Without a protest, he has offered up his private wishes to that end. Is not that greatness? " " But his unhappy home life is that to be borne for the sake of his relatives? Is it just to him? " "Hush, Ewald, you must not speak of that. When he married at scarce twenty, it was because the business that was just beginning to grow demanded a firmer foundation. Our mother saw that and so did Gustav. And if his home life has been unhappy, it is not for us to judge it. We should rather try to make it easier for him in other ways, since just this sacrifice of his has made it easier for all of us." The youngest Wiskotten stood sullenly before him. " I did not ask it of him," burst from his lips. " Ewald ! " " Well, I don't thank him for his sacrifice if I am to suffer in the end for it. I don't give him any thanks if he asks my own free will in exchange." " Yours ? You don't enter into the question. You're to study theology." " But I won't do it." "You won't?" " No, I will not. Even if Gustav has a fit over it. Why he doesn't even go to church." " He respects the cherished wishes of our mother. He would die to please her." " Die ! I could do that. But not live such a life. I cannot consent to be buried alive," he fairly shrieked. His eyes blazed and he trembled with excitement. "Ewald!" With a despairing gesture the youngster threw him- self on his brother's neck. " I want to be an artist. The whole family will be against me. They'll treat me as if 16 SONS OF THE RHINE I were crazy or wanted to become a vagabond. Let them. What does this Wupper valley know of art? Paul, you understand, you have some sympathy. Will you stand by me when the storm breaks out at home? " " Boy," said Paul, patting the bowed head, " stupid, silly boy." "You won't, then?" " Mother will never consent. Anything else, but not an artist." "Mother doesn't need to become one, it is 7, 7, who must." "Well, then, have you the talent? I mean enough to sustain you against the whole family." Ewald Wiskotten proudly raised his head. " That will develop." " Then if you're not even sure " " Now you're playing the Philistine too. Who can know what one may become, what latent talent one pos- sesses ? Courage and enthusiasm make the seed germinate. I assuredly have these." Paul had not the heart to discourage this eager, hot- cheeked lad. " Don't say anything yet at home. Wait," he said, after a moment's reflection. " We'll take a trip to Elberfeld next Sunday and attend the meeting of the Society of Literature and Art there. I'm a member and can take you. Look about you, listen, and see what there is to see. Perhaps it will help." " Paul, will the artist Weert be there? " " Certainly. Also the poet Korten. Now, do be pru- dent at home." "Paul! Paul!" " Have a little patience, Sunday'll be here soon." " Just one more question, Paul, and you must answer me. I cannot understand you, not in the least. In the SONS OF THE RHINE 17 company of all these artists and poets, have you never felt the desire to go where they have been, to get away from this black Wupper, to see the clear, poetic Rhine, the world?" " The men I admire most live here by the very Wupper you revile." " Oh, they're all old ! They have lost their fire, their initiative. They are dotards mumbling by a warm fire and putting their talents to household uses. They're done for, but you, you are young." " They, too, were once young. From the dreams of youth to membership in a provincial Society of Litera- ture and Art is a great descent. It must have come after many a lost illusion, many a defeat, but meanwhile there must have been a readjustment of viewpoints until Reality was attained and they found their compensations in it. You see, youngster, we cannot all be Goethes ; there must be some to read Goethe." "And are you one of these?" Ewald rose and stretched his long limbs. " Yes, I am one of these. I do what I can to enrich my life with my gifts and regard the result serenely. I could find no wider scope for the talents I possess, and if I tried, I would lose my own pleasure without adding to that of others. One must take a square look at himself and see his own limitations, then he can be thankful for what he has. Now, come home to bed." In the valley the great giant, Toil, slept in his mantle of silver moonlight, that transformed him into a smiling god. Not a being of mythology for the learned few, but a beneficent deity, who dispensed bread and occupation to the busy many. Paul Wiskotten beckoned to him. "How beautiful that is ! " 18 SONS OF THE RHINE Ewald made a wry face. " The air is too full of smoke and soot for me. Come along." So they left the hillside with the question still in abey- ance. Gustav Wiskotten had long since reached home. After parting from his brothers at his own door, he had not entered at once, but continued down the street to the factory to set his watch by the large clock there. Then he returned and entered his house quietly, and cautiously opened the door of the nursery. By the light of the night lamp he looked down on his seven-year-old boy and his five-year-old girl. It flashed through his mind that he was only thirty-two. But his eyes beamed as he bent down to kiss the unconscious little mouths. " Here is my own youth given back to me," he thought. "Papa! Papa!" " Be quiet. Sleep well. Good night." "Gustav!" " I'm coming," he said, as he took up the light and entered the adjoining room. " You must not disturb the children. How late you are ! If you take no thought of me, you should at least feel some shame before the children." " Now don't be angry, Emily. Ewald has passed his examinations brilliantly, and of course we celebrated." " You're never at a loss for an excuse." " Come, come. Give me a kiss. A little recreation is good for me after all the day's worries." " Don't I have worries too? " "You? You're the best of housewives. Now come, give me a kiss." " Go away. You smell of beer." SONS OF THE RHINE 19 "Yes," laughed Gustav, dryly. "Abraham doesn't serve violet water to his customers." " In that laboring-man's drinking saloon ! Pah ! " " Listen, Emily." " I won't listen. No, I won't. To be drinking in such a place when your wife needs sleep ! " " Then I'll not keep you awake any longer. Good night." He took the candle over to his side of the room. At that Emily Wiskotten sat bolt upright in bed. Her thick, black hair was hidden by an ugly nightcap and her pretty face distorted with anger. " But I have something to say to you. I am not satis- fied." " Then take off your nightcap, Emily ; if you're not going to sleep, you don't need it and it's not becoming." "Don't you dare jeer at me! Some day you'll be sorry. I brought you my youth, my dot, and my father's money too. But you ! I have all the care of the house- hold and of the children, and I have to go and visit your mother and let myself be criticized by her, and she says horrid things to me because I don't go to church every Sunday. Ach, Gott! and even the pastor, who was there today, said " Gustav blew out the light. " Gustav ! " She heard him get out of his bed. "Gustav!" No answer. " Gustav, the pastor " " Hush, keep quiet a minute. I'm saying my prayers." She bit her lips and listened, trembling with anger. Then she fell back on her pillow with a heavy sigh. Gus- tav was asleep, and in his sleep he dreamed of the coming day that would claim all of his energies all he had to give. CHAPTER II " GOOD day, Kolsch." " Good day, Herr Wiskotten." The gray-headed foreman raised his silk skullcap in answer to Gustav's salute and greeting. " My brother, William, leaves for England the begin- ning of next week. Be sure to have the sample cards for London ready to be sent to the office today." " They are already at the binder's, Herr Wiskotten ; by ten o'clock they should be back." " You seem to have the affairs of the business on your mind as much as I. What's happened today? " " The new machine is all set up. It's a pleasure to see, it work; as for hearing it, it's almost noiseless." " Come along," cried Gustav, his eyes beaming. They crossed the courtyard of the factory and entered the ma- chine house. " Good morning, Armbrust. You look proud as a pea- cock." The chief mechanician, in blue drill overalls and thick felt slippers, pulled at his cap, grinned, and stepped aside. Through the large open skylight the morning sun shone brightly on the immaculate tiled pavement, gleam- ing brass and nickel work, and spotless machinery. Alto- gether the room looked more like the machinery exhibit of some exposition than a place where actual work was done every day. There was no trace of mud on the tiles, no finger-mark on the shiny metal work, not even a stray mote in the slant sunbeams. The powerful trans- SONS OF THE RHINE 21 mission belts traveled with such smooth rapidity that it almost seemed as though they hung motionless. Gustav circled the new Colossus, slowly, with an eye that took in every screw and bolt. " Kolsch, it cost a fortune ! " " But it will earn one for us." " That's what I think. That's why I bought it. Father and August almost went into fits. They thought the 150 H.P. was a plenty. Now see what a dwarf it is." He slapped the silent little machine as one pets a favorite horse. " It's a good worker, too, Herr Wiskotten. Does its work like lightning. But of course it cannot compete with the 450 H.P. of the new one." " Well, we'll not compare them. We'll simply say to- gether they make 600 H.P." The words rang full and sonorous like a bugle call sounding the " advance." The old foreman looked at his young master with a glow of pleasure, adding, " It must be our care not to let them rust." Gustav's eyes answered the challenge. " So long as my word has any weight, no danger of that. I'll see to it that both are kept busy. Now we can begin manu- facturing part silk ribbons. They sell well. Then we're about to enlarge the dye works. We must make up a thing from the absolutely raw material to the finished product, as the big concerns do. Then our profits will be correspondingly large." " When do you commence with the new dye works ? " " As soon as I have the ground. The railroad directors will not sell to me. They're a lot of stubborn mules. Couldn't they dump their old ashes anywhere? " He turned to go. " Perhaps there will be some news today." Again he glanced lovingly at the new machine. At the 22 SONS OF THE RHINE door he tested the oil pump. " Armbrust, if you let the machine run dry may the devil run away with you ! " " He's welcome to, Herr Wiskotten." Outside the stoker sweated over the furnaces. His shovel bit great pieces out of the mountain of coal before him, and with a sweep of the arm he fed the Moloch-man of his furnace. His bright red shirt was open at the throat, and chest, face, and hands were streaked with sweat and coal dust, making him a unique " study in black and white." When he saw the owner coming he stopped work for a moment, leaned on his shovel, and wiped his face with the back of one grimy hand. " Well, Christian, how goes it ? The new monster gobbles its food, nicht? " " Ach, Herr, that beast devours, yes, I can tell you, more than my old woman and our seven youngsters." " But we can trust you to feed them all full, the ma- chine and the seven nestlings too." "I'll do my best, Herr Wiskotten." " From this week on you're to have a dollar raise." " Oh, thunder I mean, thank you, Herr Wiskotten." " How long has he been in the factory, Kolsch? " said Gustav Wiskotten, as they walked toward the main build- ing. " As long as Armbrust and I, and I think a little longer. It will be twenty-five years this spring; your father came into the business then too." Gustav grasped him by the hand with a hearty word of adieu and they parted. The young owner went through the busy workrooms between the close rows of rattling, thumping looms. The noise in the hall was deafening, the transmission belts creaked and groaned, the looms kept up a constant tattoo with their wooden arms, all the various other noises joining with these in a SONS OF THE RHINE 23 vast wild dissonance. The spools whirled, the shuttles zigzagged, dancing from right to left, left to right, as if solving the secret of perpetual motion, while each loom spewed forth the finished ribbons in writhing, snaky coils. Workmen guided the handles, young girls kept feeding fresh spools of thread. The whole room was a beehive of active industry. Gustav's eyes appraised the product of each loom. None of the workers looked up; a snapped or tangled thread would be the price of an instant's inattention. A girl ran past him and dropped a spool ; as she bent to pick it up he gave her a playful push that made her shoot forward. She blushed and laughed, but no one noticed the incident; it was lost amid the whir of the looms. A sudden long whistle changed all this, the machinery slowed down, then stopped. The sudden stop was for the morn- ing coffee-hour, at eight o'clock. Mechanically Gustav drew out his watch. Then he went up to his private office by a side stair. The mail was due by now. On the way up he passed the reel room. Heaps of raw silk, cotton thread, and yarn covered the floor in skeins. The winders thirty young girls and a few married women were gathered about the steaming coffee-cups. In their midst sat an old lady of sixty or thereabouts, big-boned, and with an energetic cast of fea- tures. Upon her lap lay the silk skein she had been wind- ing when the breakfast signal had sounded. Now a heavy book lay upon it. The old lady was reading aloud, peering through her gold-bowed spectacles and mouthing each syllable. It was a Bible. " And Jesus went about in all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every dis- ease among the people. Then he said unto his disciples : 24 SONS OF THE RHINE the harvest is truly plenteous but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." All listened respectfully, for they knew that this old lady quietly reading the Bible now had a swift and heavy hand. " Good morning, Mother," said Gustav. She nodded to him without looking up. He passed on, entered the office noisily, crying, "Mail here?" as he threw his cap on the table. " You might at least say * Good morning.' " " Don't be so punctilious, August. I've been on the go since seven o'clock, and it's hard to remember morning greetings this late." " You'd like to have us all on our stools an hour before post time, I suppose ! " " Rather that than to see Mother about so early. She should take better care of herself. She's not exactly young any more." " Mother's all right. Her supervision is good for the girls, and the morning Gospel, too." " Their coffee-hour should be given up to recreation. She ought to give them extra time from their work to listen to her Gospel reading. Everything in its proper time." " Go ahead and tell her what you think." " I see myself doing it ! Well, anything good in the mail?" " The short-time orders are piling up. If only we've not undertaken them too soon." ** Ach, nonsense. We'll deliver all that is ordered." He sat down, bent over the letters and read them carefully. " Good very good What ? Lower our prices ? Can't be done! Ach, that kind of mail means something. That SONS OF THE RHINE 25 means work after hours. Donnerwetter! " He struck the last letter with his clenched fist. August raised his smug face and cast a hasty glance toward the door to the main offices. " Gustav," he said, reproachfully. "Hey! What's the matter with you? Hymns are all right in church, but are no good in business. What do you say to this railroad affair? They absolutely refuse to sell. They'll starve us out, strangle us. Oho we'll see about that ! " "Didn't I warn you, Gustav? Why didn't you first get the land, then build the additions, then have the new machines installed, and when all that was done go out and get the foreign orders." " Confound such a rigamarole. Were we to let all these good business opportunities slip by? Why, you yourself are a good enough business man, slyer than Moses and the Prophets." "My business ability has nothing, whatever to do with the Bible." " No, your worst enemy could not claim that ! Now give me your advice as a business man pure and simple." " We must find something, some means to annoy those directors, and keep at it till they cry mercy." " Annoy them ! " Gustav Wiskotten stood up and gave a deep-chested laugh. " August, the sin be upon your conscience. I'm poor Adam and you're the serpent. But now I'm started you must give me carte blanche." " Very well, trade and business are all more or less sinful. But business is business. It has its own code of morals." "Bravo! You seem to have no hang-over from last night. Where are the others?" " William has gone to the bookbinder's for his sample 26 SONS OF THE RHINE cards, Paul is in the main office* and Fritz is in his labora- tory above the dye works." " Did father sleep well?" " Yes. Ewald is with him now." " Good-by, then, till later." He stuck his hat on jaunt- ily and went out. Busy with his thoughts, he passed by the dye works to the Wupper that ran along the edge of the factory land. The steam pouring from the vent pipes of the dye works changed to hissing, greasy foam as it struck the water ; streams of bubbling red, blue, and black waste water from the dye vats completed the work of the steam, and the poor Wupper could not boast a single drop of clean, clear water after it had passed this busy manu- facturing town. On the low-lying meadows across the river the Barmen bleachers plied their trade, while on this side, on the lowlands adjoining the Wiskotten fac- tory, the railroad dumped its ashes. Gustav Wiskotten stood for a long time on the low river bank looking at the coveted land. If he could not obtain it, all his dreams of expansion must come to a standstill. Who could have foreseen it? His father had started the business in a very small way twenty-five years ago, and it had grown very slowly on its own profits, until Gustav Wiskotten had made his early marriage with Emily Scharwachter. Then he had insisted on using her dowry for the purchase of more land and the erection of new buildings. He could still see the shocked faces of his father and hers. " Boy, boy," his own father had said, shaking his head gravely, "You won't build it all up in your lifetime. Our bones shall be ready to use to knock pears off the trees before that happens ! " And now ? A cold, fierce pride filled the pondering man, and he held his head higher. Had he not already dis- proved that prophecy? Why stop there, why recognize SONS OF THE RHINE 27 any limitations to his progress? He was not born to be so easily satisfied. Now his glance fell on the disputed land with a feeling of ownership. It should be his. Then he opened the door of the dye works. For a moment he could see nothing in the dense warm fog that filled the room. Then he began to distinguish the workers in their black muslin aprons hustling about among the vats, where the dyes simmered. The shrill whine of escaping steam and the clapping of the dye paddles on the yarn drowned all human sounds. " Hello ! " he cried. " Is Kolsch here ? " " Haven't seen him." " And my brother Fritz? " " Upstairs." Gustav made his way between the pools of steamy dye water on the floor. A clumsily directed paddle struck him sharply. " Hoopla ! " cried the worker. " Butter-fingers ! " cried Gustav, and passed on. He found Fritz in the laboratory above. His aspiring mustachios were visible over the body of a smoked herring that he was devouring with gusto as he held it in his fingers by head and tail. Beside him stood a half-emptied beer glass. " Say, where do you think you are? This is no short- order house." " Let me alone. A man with a hang-over doesn't want to be disturbed early in the morning." " True enough. And I know that herring are good for one after a night of it. But do your doctoring after hours." " That's not worth answering." " Take care, youngster ! " Fritz sprang to his feet. " What's the matter with 28 SONS OF THE RHINE you? I'm as much master here as you are elsewhere in the factory." " Is that so ? Then prove it to your people. When one of them comes here with a hang-over we send him home. To send for herring, at nine o'clock in the morn- ing ! All the dyers must be laughing at you ! " " It's all the same to me ! " " But not to me. A master must show no weakness before his people. If your head is splitting because of last night, you must hide it. 'Always the strongest,' should be your watchword." Fritz finished his beer in sulky silence. " Have you seen Kolsch, Fritz? " "No. What do you want with him?" " I must see him. The railroad will not sell, and our dye rooms are so crowded now I can't walk through them without getting a crack in the ribs." " Damn it all ! Then my work will be held up too. I must have more room. Won't sell? Oho ! Gustav, I think you will teach them to dance to a different tune ! " " I think so myself. Go on with your experimental work so that you'll have everything ready when we need it." " You may be sure I will. Good-by, Gustav." Gustav left the dye works encouraged. " There's good stuff in that brother of mine," he thought, " but he needs a tight rein for his frivolities." He finally came upon the foreman on the river bank near the wash houses. He too was gazing at the bone of contention. "Looking does no good, Herr Wiskotten. We must have it. Else we'll have to sell the new 450 H.P. for scrap iron." "Kolsch," said Gustav, "I've hunted for you like a SONS OF THE RHINE 29 needle in a haystack. I know that you love the factory and you love our family. Am I not right? " he said, lay- ing his hand affectionately on the old man's arm. *' I belong in the inventory, Herr Wiskotten." "Yes, you do. When I was still a little fellow and devoured story books, my favorite hero was Hagen, in the Nibelungenlied. Well, since then I dare say you've read more than I. But I always shall identify you with Hagen, the most faithful subject of his king, loyal to the last. I cannot imagine our family without you." The trusty old fellow's eyes shone. " Herr Wiskotten, we understand one another. Service for service. What do you want now? " " Kolsch, you have a garden in the suburbs that abuts on the railroad shunting yard." " Herr Wiskotten, that would not do for us at all. It is too far away and would increase our expenses." " For us ? Certainly. I was not thinking of that. But the city wants it, has already asked you to name a price, I believe." " Yes, indeed, and I told them I would sell for a decent figure." " Do you know why the city wants it? " The foreman shook his head. " It's all the same to me, if they pay my price." " The city wants to make a profitable deal with the railway directors. Or perhaps it's the railway that's really making you the offer now. Well, do you see? " he cried, triumphantly. " No, and I can't change the thing." " Kolsch, you can, you must do me a great service. You must deed over your garden to me at once. I cannot promise to pay you as much as the city would, and I may even have to return it to you after you've lost the 30 SONS OF THE RHINE chance to sell to someone else. It's a shabby thing to ask you to accept such an offer, indeed I would be ashamed to come to anyone but you with such a request. I would not do it to save myself from ruin, but the factory Kolsch, it's like a little child that one has brought into the world and for which one must care so that it may grow into sturdy manhood even though it cost our last drop of blood. The factory, Kolsch," he said, with a deep sigh. " Herr Wiskotten," said the foreman, and his eyes sought the dusky current of the Wupper, " I understand you perfectly and your plans as well. You wish to have something that will make the railroad directors glad to listen to you. But at any rate the garden is yours to command. There's no danger of my leaving the factory in the lurch." " But you stand a chance of having a good profit." " The Wiskottens have never yet let me go hungry and I've been with them twenty-five years. Far from that, they give me twice what I need for Anna and myself now. Enough, too, so that we can spare some for our Ernest in Diisseldorf." " How is Ernest getting on at the Academy? Will he soon be a great painter? " " He can do more than he does " " Better that than the reverse, Herr Kolsch." " I console myself with that thought. Shall I sign the deed for you now? " " Yes," said Gustav the moment for words and ex- planations was past, master and man understood one an- other. They entered the foreman's office and Kolsch signed over the garden plot, adjoining the shunting tracks of the railroad, to his young master. Half an hour later Gustav Wiskotten was on his way to the general offices of the railway in Elberfeld. SONS OF THE RHINE 31 The president was busy, so Wiskotten sent in his card to the general manager, who had corresponded with him about the land, and was admitted at once. " I am Wiskotten, the Barmen manufacturer." The general manager acknowledged the introduction. " We have, unfortunately, been obliged to send you an unfavorable answer, Herr Wiskotten. We are only too glad to keep the few bits of land now in our possession for our own use." " But this waste land adjoining our factory is surely of no real importance to you. You could dump your ashes equally well on any other low ground along your line." " It is for us, not you, to decide what we may or may not do, Herr Wiskotten. There are details to be consid- ered of which you are altogether ignorant." " My dear sir, can we not continue this conversation in a more amicable tone? " " Our business offices are not the place for mere pleas- ant conversation." "With all due deference I would like to draw your attention to the fact that I am not in short trousers I have worn long ones for almost twenty years now." The railroad man made a cold gesture of dismissal. " You refuse then to sell this piece of land, although it is of almost no value to you? Even though I tell you that by so doing you cripple our factory? Our business is a large one and deserves some consideration." For answer, a contemptuous shrug. " We have already come to a decision in this matter; you have received it in writing. The affair has passed beyond our consideration. You must pardon me, but I have other important busi- ness." " One other question, if you please. As matters stand, 32 SONS OF THE RHINE I would be willing to make a concession to the railroad in return if " " Herr Wiskotten, this is no horse deal, and my time is occupied this morning." "Then you refuse?" " A new proposition coming from you would reopen the matter." There was a ring of impatient formality in the general manager's voice. "Thanks. I'll not waste the ink. Well then, if I must, by all that's holy I'll build my new factory on the land adjoining the Rittershauser Station side tracks. It's to be hoped we'll get on peaceably. According to your regulations, soot and cinders from your engines must take care of themselves and not fall on my lands. I understand that those smoke-consuming devices are costly." " Of what land are you speaking? The only building site in that locality has been offered us by the city." " Very unbusinesslike of them ! They have not yet completed a deal with the present owner." The official looked up sharply at that. Then he rang for his book of records and ran through it swiftly. " Here it is. What right have you to call this your land? The owner is Albert Kolsch." " What, my dear sir, what ! The present owner stands before you." " Can you prove it? " " If you are interested in my land. I have the deed with me. You can see for yourself." The official read, biting his lips. Then with a sudden access of politeness, " Won't you sit down, sir? " " Thank you, I have become quite accustomed to stand- SONS OF THE RHINE 33 " I must beg your pardon, but in the press of business one forgets I beg of you, Herr Wiskotten." Gustav sat down, but with the protest, " It is almost noon, Herr Manager, you know the dinner hour is all im- portant in a burgher's household like mine." He laughed cheerily. " The affair is so simple ! You have need of my land, pressing need." " Well, well, that might be disputed ! " " But we'll not dispute it ; it would be mere loss of time. Now, for my part, I need your land just as much as you need mine. What would a pair of shrewd old farmers do in such a case to save time and expense? They would trade." " It's not so simple as all that. The value of each piece must be ascertained." " The size of each is almost identical, the value, however, depends wholly on our mutual needs. Raise your price as you will, mine shall follow, so you see their value is equal in the end as in the beginning." " You marshal your attack swiftly, Herr Wiskotten." " I know what is due my present opponent ! " The official bowed. " I must confer with the president at once. Tomorrow at this time satisfactory to you? " Gustav assented. " It pleases me to reach a conclusion so quickly. It is imperative that I start building at once, either here or there. So good day until tomorrow at twelve, Herr Director." "Till we meet again, Herr Wiskotten," said the di 7 rector, with a cordial handshake. As the door closed he muttered, in reluctant admiration, " These Wupper valley people: they are said to be as pious as the orthodox Jews ; they're as rapacious too yes indeed." Gustav went directly to the station in a silent triumphal march, his gray-blue eyes blazing a challenge to the sun itself. He was seeing a vision of the new factory, that 34 SONS OF THE RHINE property he hsld in trust for future Wiskottens. It was. to grow, expand, live. A hundred years ago the Barmen- ites had all been peasants, and the old peasant blood, blood of a frugal, hard-working people, stirred in him. To have, to hold, to administer so that family and property would not cease to grow. To inherit and to hand down an increased heritage. The spirit that now shone in those gray-blue eyes was the one that Paul Wiskotten had called " the individuality of the family." He, the dreamer among the brothers, had recognized it and tried to ex- plain it to Ewald during their talk on the heights above Barmen. When Gustav reached home the silence of the midday pause reigned. There was no one at the factory but old Christian, who sat outside the door of the machine house, eating a sorry mess of beef and vegetables out of a tin dish. Whenever he came upon an especially choice tidbit he popped it into the mouth of a tow-headed youngster who was waiting for the dish to be emptied, and mean- while followed his father's every move with greedy eyes. " Didn't the little fellow get anything to eat at home, Christian?" " Of course ! His little belly is full enough ! But the young pest thinks that anything of his daddy's must taste extra good," he said, giving the youngster a playful slap. " You know how that is yourself, Herr Wiskotten/' Gustav felt a sudden longing to see his own children, yet he would not leave the black Wupper without another glance, and the silent threat, " Just wait, old river, we'll soon have you blacker than ever ! " Then he rapidly cov- ered the short distance to his home and flew up the porch steps. "Good day, Emily; where are the children?" " They'd have starved if they had waited for their father. The roast is ruined." SONS OF THE RHINE 35 " What matter, if we're not. My, but you're dressed up today ! " " Oh, Gustav ! Take your hands off of me. This is an old dress, altogether out of date." " But you're not, my dear. Come here to me ; what do I care about the dress, anyway? " He took her in his arms and kissed her soundly. " A mouth as sweet as honey what difference do clothes make well, what's the matter? " " Gustav," she said, pettishly, freeing herself from his embrace, " you've mussed my hair." " Hair that is soft as silk. I could make good use of it in the factory. Come on, give it to me : I've earned it ! " " You and your eternal factory ! " " Oh, Emily, I must tell you we have the land." " What land are you talking of now? " " The railroad land. I opened those fellows' eyes. They stopped their train fast enough at my signal. In March we're going to build." " You're surely not going to sink any more money into the factory ! Why should you? Think of our children ! " " Just on their account, just because we have them. Not sink it, but get it back again doubled yes, doubled and trebled. Just wait till the new buildings are up. Then the 450 H.P. and the 150 H.P. shall both have room to breathe in. They'll feed the whole Wiskotten crew ; the whole family shall be satisfied." " More than satisfied if you are successful ! " " There is no other way to become successful. Nowa- days only the great industries have any say in regulating trade, and you may rest assured that ours will be among them." He emptied his wineglass and continued : " Emily, if you see your father " 36 SONS OF THE RHINE "Well, what then? Do you want him to give you money? He thinks more of his child's welfare than you do of yours." " Tell him I'll be over this evening. He'd better put a bottle on ice. We'll take counsel over the welfare of his child." He stood up and stretched. " My, that tasted good. Now the human engine has a new supply of fuel." The great arms circled like a windmill. Emily glanced at him with furtive pride. If only he would not treat her like a silly child. She, a wife and a mother ! What more could he ask? "Emily!" "Yes?" He laughed, and she could not help joining in the spon- taneous mirth. This time she allowed herself to be gath- ered into his strong, loving arms without protest. " Now call the children." " They came clattering in at the summons : the boy a Gustav, like all the firstborn of the family even more like his father in his waking hours ; the girl another Emily in miniature, stumbling in her eagerness to reach her father. He picked her up and set her on his shoulder, where she crowed with delight. " Well, you rascals, you let your father eat all alone." "Did you eat up both apples all by yourself? " asked the boy, glancing at the table with a disappointed air. " Were you not willing for me to have them, little son?" " Oh, yes ; but you see, Emily and I thought we were going to get them." "Well then, why didn't you look and see if they are really in my stomach ? " With a shout the little girl climbed down from his SONS OF THE RHINE 37 shoulder, and he was attacked on both sides at once, as the search began. " Ha ! " cried the boy. " He-e ! " cried the baby girl. They were about to make off with their spoil when the mother interposed. "What! Where are your manners? You must say, * Thank you.' " " Thank you," they said, plaintively, looking down at the apples that this forced tribute had robbed of half their value. Gustav laughed and stroked his son's hand. " Tell me, boy, what do you want to be? " " A preacher." " What ! Now, how did you ever get that idea into your head?" " Why, then I would talk in church and no one could make me hush. But wait I'd rather be something else." " Herr Gott, what will it be now? " " Under-taker-driver." "Undertaker's driver?" " Then I'd always have a long procession behind me, and I'd always be at the head of it." Gustav heaved a sigh of comic relief. " Thank the Lord he at least has ambition." ***** The factory whistles sounded the end of the noon hour, and men hurried to answer its summons from both sides of the Wupper, from end to end of the busy valley. CHAPTER III THE streets lay deserted, dead. The windows looking out on them were closed, the doors bolted. Not a child was to be seen playing on the pavements. A profound and solemn silence, a peaceful hush had replaced all the ordi- nary hurry and noise of week days. The tall factory chimneys on this March morning their importance had suddenly vanished. It was a Sunday morning. A faint whisper of church bells seemed to hang over the valley. A few women's heads appeared at the window. They were ready and waiting. Then the first full peal sounded, a second, a third more insistent followed. At this last imperative summons the men folks, who had been reading their Sunday papers in the comfort of shirtsleeves, arose and put on their coats. Without, the harmonious clamor of the bells rose and swelled. Children were given their hymnals and pennies for the collection. Their elders searched hurriedly for larger coins. Meanwhile no one spoke, for the hush of the Sabbath was felt in the houses of the " pious Wupper- thalers." The air shook with the vibrant war of the bells sounding their " Praised be the Lord ! " in eager rivalry. The valley people were indeed pious and zealous, but various in their confessions of faith, and royally intolerant each of all the others. Lutheran and Reformed, each held their own, neither recognizing the United Lutheran-Reformed. The few Catholics of the valley had made their faith con- spicuous by the building of a church that boasted of SONS OF THE RHINE 39 the highest towers in the Rhine provinces. The few Jew- ish merchants were important only in a political way, but numerous other sects, whom the evangelical services dis- pleased, were scattered sparingly over the whole valley. Few or many, each sect stuck to its colors uncompro- misingly. The Reformed made little distinction between Lutheran and Catholic, the Lutherans returned the com- pliment, as did the others. In all the joyous medley of sound each sought out the voice of his own bell, and, on finding it, closed his ears to all the others. From end to end the valley rang with the challenge. Doors opened and the churchgoers appeared, singly, in couples or family groups, all silent and grave. As they moved, processionlike, toward their various churches, friend met friend with stiff nod and compressed lips. Comment and criticism were locked behind those pursed-up mouths to await a later hour ; but sharp glances and raised eyebrows reproved any levity. Once there was a stir, and the passersby made way respectfully for an elder and his family, who passed with fishy, introspective eyes. For half an hour the song of the bells continued. For half an hour the pavement resounded dully to the tread of the churchgoers. All types were to be seen. Pale artisans with downcast eyes ; strong laborers with smiling, honest faces ; alert, level-eyed factory owners ; women and girls of all classes, some laggard and wornout, with an ominous red flush on their cheek bones, and hair drawn tightly back from their faces, others plump and self-satisfied, wives and daughters of prosperous burghers ; beside them the whole- some, truly vital daughters of the Bergish peasant stock. One last peal of the bells, then a silence fell on air and street. The last few stragglers, red and mortified, hast- ened into their church, the heavy doors closed with a clang of finality, and the valley resumed its deathlike calm. 40 SONS OF THE RHINE The Wiskotten home shared this Sunday silence. It stood a few blocks from the factory, in the midst of an old-fashioned garden. A faint odor of cooking escaped from the spotless kitchen, carrying with it a pleasant promise of Sunday dinner. In the sitting-room, whose windows opened on the street, the two old people sat comfortably ensconced in wicker chairs on either side of a long table. Each commanded a view of the street from a window. The maid was at church and they were alone. Wiskotten, Sr., felt very comfortable as he settled back against the head cushion Emily had embroidered for him, and sipped his glass of warm, red wine. His blue eyes, two cheery torches of good faith, beamed with a quiet steadiness from his wrinkled face, that somehow retained an air of youth, despite white hair and furrows of time. Of late his gout had got somewhat the better of him. His early life had been a hard one. He had been a dyer in a small way until after his marriage with a ribbon manu- facturer's daughter, then he had taken over his parents-in- law's business and built it up into a modern concern. From then until the time when his eldest son, Gustav, had taken over the reins he had been at his post every day, first there and last to go, as was Gustav now. But his days of enforced rest had come, gout held him prisoner, willy nilly. He sipped his wine luxuriously, and smiled with contentment. Frau Wiskotten, who until now had been watching the churchgoers, turned to the table and reached for her spectacles. She wore a matronly black dress that stood out in stiff, ample folds, and her hair that sixty years had failed to whiten was covered by a black lace cap. The obstinate spectacles were forced from their retreat and now bestrode her nose. " Well, Mother? " SONS OF THE RHINE 41 " Today is the second Sunday before Easter." " It should be, Mother." " You < should be ' sure of it." " But you know all about such things, Mother, so that makes us both know." Frau Wiskotten took up the family Bible, which had been on the newspapers. " The Gospel for Judika Sun- day is the eighth chapter of St. John, verses forty-six to fifty-nine. Listen, Father: " ' Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me ? " ' He that is of God heareth God's words ; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. " * Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? " ' Jesus answered, I have not a devil ; but I honor my Father and you do dishonor me. " ' And I seek not my own glory ; there is one that seek- eth and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying he shall never see death.' " The reader paused, pushed up her glasses and peered at her husband. " Father, then we shall not be parted." " Assuredly not, Mother." " But I sometimes question, ' Have I always kept Hia words and held His will above my own? ' ' " Now, Mother, if you have not, who has? " " That's what you think, but our Lord may see things differently." " Our Lord Jesus knows you quite as well as I do." " Yes, Father," a girlish blush rose on the old face, " but you see me with different eyes." " What then, Mother? I have loved you and you have loved me, and our children are sturdy fellows." " But was it always a truly Christian wedlock? " 42 SONS OF THE RHINE " H'm ! Yes, with now and then a little thunderstorm. But it was always ' Christian ' thunder." " You just bring up six boys " " And one husband." " And keep an eye on the factory girls besides. If one sometimes lets a hand or tongue fly loose " " Yes, yes, you are doubtless in the right. The chil- dren could stand a box on the ear now and then." " AcJi! I was not talking of that. It did them good, made them grow. But I was wondering if I had not been sinfully proud at some time and done injustice to some poor unfortunate creature. That is what St. John means. * I seek not my own glory : there is one that seeketh and judgeth.' Mother, if you are uncertain in your own mind, you can consult with Gustav about raising the wages at the factory." " What in the world are you talking about now? That has nothing at all to do with to-day's Gospel. Our women get such good wages now that they come to the factory dressed like fine ladies with feathers in their hats. I put a stop to that, you may be sure. 'Twill not happen again." " Then tell me just what do you mean." " I mean, have we not in our married partnership thought too much of accumulating worldly goods instead of lay- ing up treasures in heaven? " " Well, Mother, you alone can decide. I've just worked on from day to day. You've kept the accounts." "And what would have happened if I had not? If I had not worked like a hired overseer in the house and at the factory, keeping everything in order, would that have been better?" Old Wiskotten leaned across the table and reached for the hand of his -tireless helpmate. They remained thus hand in hand for a while. The clock ticked in the quiet SONS OF THE RHINE 43 room and its hands traveled eagerly on. But the energetic old lady could not remain silent long. She spoke again. " Nowadays so many say they seek the Lord God, but they really fear lest they find him. For God is not found in idleness but in labor. Whoever labors follows God's word and whoever obeys God's word shall not see death forever, says the Gospel of the day. So I think, Father, that you and I shall not see death." The strong-minded woman interpreted the text to her satisfaction and her husband acknowledged her fearless philosophy of life with a nod of his white head. Thoughtfully he sipped the mild red wine and looked out into the clear March morning. He saw the high chim- ney of his factory that he had built up stone by stone in his laborious lifetime ; he saw, too, his six sons, standing firm and strong in their inheritance, his eldest, Gustav, their leader, all ready, in his turn, to add to the building of the family fortunes, stone by stone. He sensed the strong benediction of his wife's speech, " God is in labor." He felt it descending on him through his sons, who labored in continuation of his race and his lifework. No, he would not see death. Then he thought of his youngest, Ewald. He was very proud of the boy, the only one of the six to complete his studies. Mother had borne him when she was past forty. Too bad that the youngster was not going into the factory with the rest. Nowadays, when one had to work in the world markets, education was really not a drawback. He debated whether he should talk with Gustav about it some time. But mother had her own ideas about the boy. Well, well, a Wiskotten in the Wupper valley pulpit wouldn't be so bad either. But anyway, such a fine boy it was a pity. Gustav was coming through the front garden with his children. Little Emily spied her grandparents at their 44 SONS OF THE RHINE windows and waved her little arms like windmills. Little Gustav, conscious of his Sunday dignity, solemnly pulled off his cap. Then both clattered up the stairs. " Mamma sends greeting," cried the boy, as he pushed in ahead. " She is at church," cried the little girl, anxious to tell her bit of news. Then they kissed their grandparents and dutifully submitted to their caresses. Grandmother always had Berlin almond cake in her cake box. " I see you're not at church," said Frau Wiskotten, to her son, after the first greetings. " No, Mother, I was busy at the factory making new plans. Sunday quiet is just the time for such work." " I don't know how to make it right with the pastor for always staying away." " Tell him that I am working so that his church may remain in the valley," he said, laughing. His father joined in, but the old lady was displeased. " That's all talk. Sunday work is like veal, only half red meat. There's no real good in it." " Just the same, Mother, I think you'll enjoy the flavor of it later." The old woman's ill-temper vanished. After all, the others were all at church and it was, perhaps, as well that this one remained at home to look after affairs. "Everything all right?" she asked. " Next week we'll begin excavating. Tomorrow the transfer of the deed is to be recorded. I had the land appraised yesterday, so that I might know what we owe Kolsch." " It will pinch us to pay him just now." "Kolsch? Pay him? He's going to leave it with the factory at four per cent, interest. He made me the proposition himself without the flicker of an eyelash. He's SONS OF THE RHINE 45 a wonder! If he were not really a part of the factory, almost one of us, I'd feel humiliated. The city would have paid him twice as much. But after all, the factory is the factory, and it doesn't do to sentimentalize over what is done there. We needed the room for it to grow in." " And the money for building? " asked the mother, with- out giving another thought to Kolsch and his generosity. " Will old Scharwachter contribute? " Gustav rumpled his black hair. " He's trying to back out. Talks a lot about his death and that Emily will have everything then, but says he doesn't want to undress be- fore he's ready to go to bed. I can't stand the tedious old fellow, but my personal likes and dislikes are nothing to the business, absolutely nothing. I refused to be put off. When I had finished two bottles of his Zeltinger ' he began to worry about the fate of the third, so he finally declared himself ready to advance the building money, subject to withdrawal from month to month. It's all the same to us if only he loans it. He is welcome to what satisfaction he gets out of the terms." " Grandmother, I'd also like some sat-is-faction." The children had become restless during this serious conversa- tion. " What's that you want? " " Berliner-Brat," said the grandfather, and nodded in- dulgently to his pets. Each was given a piece of the coveted dainty with the warning, " Now you must be still as mice while your elders talk." " Church is out, Mother," said the old man, his eyes on the returning stream of humanity that flowed more briskly than it had before. They were more erect, walked more briskly, and looked happier. It was as though they had carried a burden of cares and heavy thoughts into the church with them and cast them off there. 46 SONS OF THE RHINE " Here are the boys ! " " August is not with them." " He probably took up the collection," said Gustav. The other four arrived, greeted their parents and brother. William and Fritz had on their topcoats and carried their hats in readiness to go out again. " Will you drink a morning glass with us, Gustav? " " That suits me. How about you, Father? " " If my foot were not so bad. Drink one for me." "You should have said something more elevating to the boys," grumbled Frau Wiskotten. " Out of church, into the tavern. That's not right." " We have a business appointment at the Hotel Vogeler, Mother. Good-by for a while." " Dinner's promptly at one o'clock." Paul and Ewald came out of their room, where they had gone to lay aside their coats, hats, and prayer books. Their father pushed the decanter toward them and they took glasses from the sideboard and sat down beside him. " Of what did the pastor preach this morning? " asked Frau Wiskotten of her youngest. " Of the goodness of God," he answered, glibly. " I can readily believe that. Is that all you remem- ber? " " Beside me on the last bench there were two youngsters who spent their time trading postage stamps." " You should have boxed their ears. It is terrible the way children are brought up nowadays. The mothers are to blame. Nothing serious, nothing but frivolity in their heads ! Those women ! " Emily Wiskotten came for the children. She looked very pretty in her modish coat and broad-brimmed hat, but she was annoyed at not finding her husband there. " He might have waited a minute. He's afraid the beer SONS OF THE RHINE 47 would run away. I must go home directly or none of us will have anything to eat for dinner." Hardly had she gone when the doorbell rang again. A sonorous voice sounded on the stairway, with August's respectful tones responding. " The pastor ! " said those in the living room. "Good morning, my dear Frau Wiskotten. Good morning, my dear Herr Wiskotten. How are you both? Is the red wine losing its savor? Yes, yes, where one sins in his youth he is punished, surely punished in his old age." The short, chubby man with gray whiskers said this in a humorous, fatherly tone. " No, Herr Pastor," answered old Wiskotten. " That is not altogether my case. In my youth I hardly knew there was such a thing as wine. At best, I sometimes had a drop of whiskey." " Whiskey ! We must not soil our mouths with even the name of that drink ! No, Frau Wiskotten, I cannot stay. I have some sick visits to pay in the parish. My Sundays belong to the poor. I just stopped to inquire after your husband. I'm pleased to find him so well. Ah ! here is our divinity student. Exitus acta probat, says the old pagan Ovid. And now we are ready to study theology? " Ewald blushed painfully and stammered, " The old pagan Ovid also says, Disce bomis artes, romana jwoen- tus! " " I don't understand that," said Frau Wiskotten, with a questioning glance at the pastor. " The boy was quoting, ' Learn the fine arts, I exhort you, Roman youths,' " explained the pastor. " But that ? God be praised and thanked, has nothing to do with theology." Paul Wiskotten nudged his younger brother warningly. " Be still," he whispered. 48 SONS OF THE RHINE " Very well," continued the pastor, " I'll come to dinner some week day. Then we'll discuss the future studies of our fledgling. I wish you all a very good afternoon. August shall accompany me on my sick visits." " Father, I will not," cried Ewald, impetuously, as his mother went to the door with the pastor. He clutched his father's hand despairingly. " I will not, I cannot be- come a theological student." "Hush! Your mother must not hear you. Cannot? Why, the whole world is open to one who has studied as much as you. Look at me ! When I had served my ap- prenticeship with the dyer Frowein in Elberfeld, I was given a certificate and my master and two innkeepers friends of his went to the mayor with me as witnesses. He put his official stamp on it, and then my master clapped me on the back, saying proudly : ' Now, with that you can make your way anywhere in the world.' I just had a few words on a paper, but you have them in your head. Your health, my boy ! " That evening Paul and Ewald Wiskotten took the train for Elberfeld. The long Alleestrasse, the pride of Barmen, was black with people, taking their customary Sunday walk. It was said that Napoleon I had planted the trees that lined the avenue. The older citizens of the twin cities of Barmen and Elberfeld still remembered vividly the tales their fathers had told of the great Corsican. He had raised the Duchy of Berg to the dignity of a Grand Duchy, and in their hearts its inhabitants had a weak- ness for the great man who had taken an intelligent in- terest in the material advancement of the Wupper valley. They also took an intimate pleasure in hearing the old SONS OF THE RHINE 49 grandsires speak familiarly of the great men and deeds of the First Empire, associating them with places and people of their own unimportant valley. Ewald could scarcely wait for the car to reach the court- house square of Elberfeld. In a room of the old " Post " hotel he was about to meet all of the great artists and writers of the Wupper valley, perhaps to be admitted to their number if he could prove himself worthy. His heart beat high as Paul opened the magic door. At a long table sat a number of men, young and old, all drinking either wine or beer, according to their tastes. One of them was reading aloud, evidently something of his own, and the rest listened attentively. An atmosphere of solemnity and detachment from the world enveloped the little com- pany. Some of the older men leaned their heads on their hands, smiled, and looked dreamily into space, seeing there, perhaps, the Olympias of their youth. But the younger listeners, pale and ascetic, with flashing, eager eyes drank in the reader's words in a state of mental intoxication. A poet spoke, and each knew what it was to be a poet. It meant success, the difference between a garret and a salon. At this hour they were all of the salon, they bore them- selves like belted knights in the presence of their overlord and king. The reading ended, and the young enthusiasts stormed forward with ready words of praise ; their elders dreamed on. There was a confused clamor of voices, one heard fragments of literary phrasing. " Iambic," " Dactyl," and "Trochee," "History in Relation to Art," "Poetic License." " That was splendid, Herr Gott, splendid ! " Paul Wiskotten presented his brother. A momentary pause to inspect the newcomer, then the discussion went on as briskly as ever. A white-haired man in a long, 50 SONS OF THE RHINE thread-bare frock coat motioned him to an empty seat beside him. " Let me present my brother, Ewald," said Paul. " Herr Korten, the poet, the Nestor of the Wupper valley." " Yes," answered the old man, affably, " the Nestor, an honorary title for my eighty years. I had rather be the Benjamin. How beautiful the world is, if one may only cast the glamour of poetry over it. ' Those who seek my heaven,' says Zeus to the poets, ' shall find it always open to receive them.' Thus we poets are, in a measure, the companions of the gods." "You certainly must have had many experiences in your life, Herr Korten," said Ewald, eagerly. "Experiences? I have lived eighty years, my young friend, eighty years. Others have seen the three great wars of '64, '66, and '70, but I recall also the stormy year of '48. I often think, who among the living has stood at the barricades? Old Korten! And who today can say he has known the great Napoleon ? Again, old Korten ! But you are not drinking anything? " Paul ordered a bottle of Rhine wine. " If you will do us the honor, Herr Korten." The aged man accepted. He held his glass to the light and sniffed daintily, like a connoisseur, as if such wine were a daily occurrence with him. " Gentlemen ! to Art ! I would not care to live, were I not a poet. For the poet, the artist words fail me, gentlemen. Your health! Prosit!" He emptied the glass at one draught. " Thank you, thank you. Don't disturb yourselves. If you would but yield the office of cupbearer to me. It is such a festive, joyous occupation, so illustrious in history and romance. One is a Crasus scattering liquid gold. * Wine creates nothing new, but it reveals the innermost soul,' says Schiller. Ah, that poet ! SONS OF THE RHINE 51 He was called away all too soon, like Napoleon " He drank his wine, pensively. " Whom the gods love, die young. Had they then no love for me? " " You said * Napoleon,' Herr Korten." "Yes, Napoleon." " Did you then know this great man ? " " Know him ? Yes, indeed ! " said the old man. " But I never saw him face to face, unfortunately, never. I was four years old when the Battle of the Nations was fought at Leipzig, and five when his glory was eclipsed at Waterloo. We of Berg, the old Duchy, were fired with the spirit of the time and the memory of the French lived long here. Far into the fifties, yes, even until shortly before the wars of '64, the songs of Napoleon and his generals were sung here in the valley. Yes, yes, a great dead casts long, long shadows." " Tell us one of these songs ! " A gleam of renewed youth and enthusiasm shone in the old man's eyes, as he declaimed without hesitation: " ' " Wer 1st der Held, der dort bei seinen Fahnen, In JugendJcraft einhergeht, stolz und kuhn? Sein graues Haupt mil wundersam mich mdhnen. Wer ist der Held mit solchem Kriegersinn." " Ach, Feldherr," spricht mit Lust der Offizier, " Es ist Latour, dein bester Grenadier." ' " And Napoleon praised the old nobleman, who asked no better fate than to serve faithfully and forever." *"Who is the hero standing beneath his banner, proud and erect with all the fire of youth? I seem to recognize that noble gray head. Who is the hero with such a martial air?" " Oh, general," cried an officer, proudly, " that is Latour, best of all your grenadiers." 52 SONS OF THE RHINE ' ' Zu Strassburg stand in langen, weiten Re'ihen Das Regiment. Der Kaiser tritt heran. " Wo ist Latour? " Da schluchzten all die Treuen, Und ernsten Schritts tritt vor der Flilgelmann, " Ach, Kaiser du, die Adler huldigen dir Fur Frankreich starb dein bester Grenadier! " " * " But," broke in Ewald, " in the year 1800, when La Tour d'Auvergne fell, Bonaparte was not yet Emperor." "Was he not? True, true ! Well, that is poetic license. Perfectly admissible, too, for he always was and will be the ' Emperor Napoleon ' to the people. That is the instinctive feeling that they have for the truly great of all times. Do you think that, after Waterloo, the people here in the Rhine provinces rejoiced at the Emperor's fall? They rejoiced as all true Germans must at the Prussian victories, but not at the fall of an Emperor whose rule we still hold in honorable memory all the more so as it was our * allies ' the Russians who mistreated our burghers and did violence to our women, and forced levies from the towns in the evil year of 1813. Oh, those Cossacks and Calmucks, and Bashkirs ! Just listen to their song of Waterloo or Bell-Alliance, as some call it that was sung here even a decade ago: "' Als friih der andre M or gen graute, Der Donner der Kanonen sen-meg, Aurora aus dem Osten schaute, Die stohen Preussen riefen Sieg, * The regiment stood before Strassburg in serried ranks the Emperor passed in review. "Where is Latour?" A sob shook the line of faithful veterans. The standard bearer stepped forward, gravely. " Oh, Sire, your ' eagles ' give you homage. He died for France, your best grenadier." SONS OF THE RHINE 53 Und Frankreich's Heldensohne tagen Dahingestreckt aufs weiche Moos: Ihr toter Mund schien noch zu sagen Sieg oder Tod sei unser Los.' " " Thus do the people honor this great adversary. They recognize no lying historian, not they; they have their own poets who truly speak what is in their hearts. Prosit, gentlemen ! " He filled the glasses of his young com- panions with the air of a hospitable man. " Perhaps we remember those days and heroes so kindly because of the reaction that followed, the irksome supremacy of the demagogues, the faithlessness of our new rulers that led to the troubles of '48. We sang those songs of French loyalty and good faith to shame and admonish those who sat in power at Berlin. We honored loyalty wherever we found it. Bliicher was a popular hero, as well as General Bertrand, who followed his master to exile at St. Helena. I can tell you, gentlemen, for my own part I have made myself hoarse many times in my youth singing Bertrand's touching ' Farewell.' " " * Ein naclcter Fels, fern von Europa's Kusten, Ward zum Gefangnis ewig ihm bestimmt. Kein Freundestrost dringt je in diese Wiisten, Kein Wesen ist, das Teil am Schmerz hier nimmt. Doch wenn ich Troster meinem Kaiser werde Dann mrd mem Schiksal dennoch selig sein. Ich war in Ruhm und GliicTc stets sein Gefahrte. Ich will es auch im Ungluck ihm nun sein.' " * * A naked rock, far from his native shore, has been assigned to him as a perpetual prison. No friendly comforter penetrates these wastes, no creature is there to share and lighten his sorrows. If I might hasten to console my Emperor, how happy would I call my fate. I was his companion in glory and victory. I desire nothing more than to share his grief and exile. 54 SONS OF THE RHINE Ewald Wiskotten's eyes flashed. How different all this was from his usual Sunday at home. Here was puls- ing life, fire, color ! He ordered another bottle. The other members of the society listened with unflagging interest to the reminiscences of the old man. The poet who had read to them earlier in the evening spurred on the old narrator with eager cries and questions. He was already constructing a new epic based on the old man's experiences. Names and songs of long forgotten heroes rose for an instant from oblivion, many had memories of the portraits and battle scenes where these men had figured. But always as theme and leit-motif of the con- versation, wherever it strayed, was the praise of art, art, the creator and ennobler of all high sentiment this from men who spent their week days in the counting house or teaching in the government schools. Suddenly a high-pitched, jerky voice broke in: " What ! Real Rhine wine? Riidesheimer at that ! Flow- ing in streams? Seemingly inexhaustible? I summon the man before me who has killed the rich Jew ! In the name of Liberty, Fraternity, Equality, share it, share it ! " " Weert, the artist," whispered Paul Wiskotten to his brother. Ewald arose, as was the custom, and introduced himself. The artist nodded, condescendingly, stroking his bushy gray beard. " Very well, very well ; do you want your portrait painted, or do you not? That alone gives your name any significance for me. Well?" Ewald laughed, embarrassedly. " I think," he stam- mered, " I would like " " To have your portrait painted? " " To become an artist myself." Weert turned a scornful, blood-shot eye on the lad. " To think that such a young man should already have SONS OF THE RHINE 55 developed such depraved tastes," he growled, and took a seat at some distance from the object of his displeasure. This speech provoked a burst of laughter in which Ewald had the good sense to join. He glanced furtively at the man of whose earlier achievements he had heard so much and decided that his gruffness was an indication of the artistic temperament. A few more poems were read, and received with the same enthusiasm and emotion. Then the circle was thinned by the departure of a few who had come earlier, and Ewald found himself beside his brusque idol. Feverishly he searched for a suitable opening. "May I ask you a question, Herr Weert?" " Young man, you want to become a painter ; you are, therefore, not of the slightest interest to me." " Will you permit me to visit you and bring a few of my sketches?" " I am no judge of other people's work." " Do you advise me not to become a painter? " " How can I advise you when I don't know the length of your purse? " " Must one be rich, then, to become a painter? " " To be a painter, either rich or very bad-mannered. I have chosen the latter." " But there have been painters who painted master* pieces and became famous in spite of their poverty. Lenbach, Bocklin, Defregger." "Young man, you offend me with your examples. I take cognizance only of the pictures that / have painted. Now listen to me : I came here to drink, not to discuss art. When you consult a physician or a lawyer, you have to pay a fee; you expect it. I don't let anyone steal my valuable time any more than they. Your health! That is all I have to say to you at this moment." 56 SONS OF THE RHINE He grasped his goblet in both hands and drank deeply. "Your health, Herr Weert!" "Prosit, Herr Kollege! That's better. Any man of gifts who voluntarily buries himself in your black, smoky valley must either go mad or turn drunkard. The latter suits me. Your health ! " "You have been a great traveler, Herr Weert?" " I've visited, in flesh and blood, all the lands into which these poor devils ride only on the steeds of fantasy. But imagination is a noble gift. When they describe the Italy of their dreams, I am fitted with a nostalgia and fancy I can smell the fragrance of the orange and lemon groves ; when they chant their toreador songs, all of Spain's magic rises and envelopes me." "Ah!" cried Ewald, enthusiastically. "It must be splendid to be able to paint all those scenes." "Paint? Splendid? No, but to loaf in those sunny climes, that is splendid, I grant you. Paint? Bah! " " Your health, Herr Weert! " " Your health ! Now, you have the right spirit." At eleven the old poet rose to go. Paul sprang up to accompany him home and Ewald followed like one in a trance. He was in a state of mental intoxication. After leaving the old man at his door, they decided to walk home, crossing the Haspeler bridge afoot and climbing the heights that separated the two towns. Ewald sang to himself, while his more sedate brother strode along in silence. It had been a gala evening for the boys. As they reached the heights, the two cities appeared below them still full of holiday life and light. Sunday was the valley's weekly fete day and Sunday lasted till midnight. The many lights of the little homes shone like a garland on the slopes, danced and flickered SONS OF THE RHINE 67 like a thousand fireflies lower down in the valley. It was a fairy like scene. "Work illuminates," said Paul. "Even the humblest workman's light shines out brightly." " Paul, Paul, but what do they amount to? " " Strong, true men," said Paul ; " they labor all week in the sweat of their brows to gain a living for their wives and children, taking a double joy in their Sunday rest and illumination, for it alone sheds brightness on the toil of the coming week. Boy, I have a great respect for the people " " Stay-at-home ! Stick-in-the-mud ! " j eered his brother. " You have no courage. Out of your warm nest, into the wide world. Go ! even if it has to be as a day laborer." " You've been too well brought up for that, my lad ! " " Then I'll try to forget my upbringing. Only to get out of this smoke hole. Out there the sun shines." " If you've really determined not to be a minister, then why not go into the factory? Mother would consent to that in the end. Don't be so childish. A factory owner, a manufacturer, is one kind of an artist. He creates too." " And has his Sunday light like those there," sneered the high-spirited boy, looking down scornfully on the valley. It lay there, star-eyed with lights, the resting giant of labor, enjoying its Sunday relaxation, full of cheerful Sunday thoughts. CHAPTER IV PASTOR SCHIRRMACHER had finished his after-dinner pipe. He carefully emptied the porcelain bowl, let the water run out of the long, cherry stem, blew through the rubber tube and mouthpiece, then screwed it together again and laid it aside, all neat and clean for his next smoke. Then he changed his house jacket for a long frock coat, took his hat and overcoat, opened the window of his study, and went out, telling his housekeeper on the way, " I'm going to Albert Kolsch's." He did not find Kolsch at home, nor had he expected to, on a week day, but he entered at the daughter's in- vitation with that air of intimate authority a pastor has among his parishoners. " My dear child, your house is spotless, dazzling," he said, looking about him with a pleased air. The living room was simple enough, but the high, mahogany bookcase indicated literary taste in some member of the family. From the neat room he glanced at the fresh, wholesome girl who stood welcoming him. She had been confirmed by Pastor Schirrmacher and would always be " my child " to him. " Father's very particular. He insists on having every- thing exactly as it was when mother was alive." " Your mother was a noble, God-fearing woman. Now she is in heaven and looks down upon you lovingly, my child. The sight of you can give her nothing but pleas- ure, I am sure." Anna Kolsch did not answer. She was looking past 58 SONS OF THE RHINE 59 the minister, who had seated himself in her father's arm- chair, at a picture on the wall, the picture of a pale, work-worn woman. There was a strong resemblance be- tween mother and daughter; the slender figure, the same heavy braids of blonde hair, only that the daughter was still erect and supple and her expression was eager, ener- getic. Work had not yet broken her body nor her spirit. "How long is it since I confirmed you? Wait! Four years next Easter. You must be eighteen then, quite a young lady. Already sewing for your dowry box? " "Oh, no, Herr Pastor!" " They all say that, but when the first suitor comes along the chests are already filled with linen, all hem- stitched and embroidered. Let me have a look at you. I knew it, you're blushing." " Only because you say such things, Herr Pastor," laughed the young girl, " because you " "I? And why should I not? It's a sacred subject." " Because because you are a bachelor yourself," she blurted out, blushing furiously. The pastor cleared his throat, closed his eyes, and for a while could not speak. Then he replied, " I admit, I have been too particular and am punished for it now. One should be more complacent. Marriages are made in heaven." " But I have plenty of time yet," said the girl, bash- fully. ." And should make it a time of preparation, my child. Think of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. When the bridegroom came he took with him those who were ready for the marriage feast and the door was closed." " But truly I'm not thinking of marriage, Herr Pastor. No one wants me. And if anyone did " 60 SONS OF THE RHINE "And if! So, there's a lover in the background after all." " No, no. That was just a thoughtless remark." " Now, now, now, do I know him? I take it for granted he's a steady, sober fellow and not one of the valley's ne'er-do-wells." "Herr Pastor, I'll run away from you if you keep on." " See, you have a guilty conscience." " Indeed not," she protested, " but you make me so confused." "That's a sure sign. Have you known him long? Since childhood?" " But there's no one at all." "Let's see. Who might it be? Hm . . . Friends of your brother Ernst ... the Wiskottens ? " " The Wiskottens ? " echoed the girl in evident dismay. " Don't get frightened, I understand. I approve your choice, my dear child. I myself could name no better husband for you than August Wiskotten." "Herr August?" and she burst into such a musical peal of laughter that the canary in his cage took it as a challenge and joined in merrily. Pastor Schirrmacher raised his eyebrows in disapproval. He had not expected to have his stroke of diplomacy re- ceived in this way. He had anticipated a pleased sur- prise, a shy, incredulous shrinking on the part of the young girl. She would feel herself not wholly worthy of this suitor, then a joyous, grateful advance to question the reality of these good tidings. The pastor felt now that his knowledge of a maiden's heart must be woefully inadequate, that it was a far more difficult task to plead the suit of an ardent Wupper valley lover than to lead a maiden into the mystic presence of the Heavenly Bride- SONS OF THE RHINE 61 groom. The old bachelor grew angry. He cleared his throat, raspingly. " That is not the proper way to receive the suit of a serious-minded man," he said, reprovingly. The laughter ceased as if struck and shattered in mid- air. A board creaked in the sudden silence. Then Anna Kolsch repeated slowly, incredulously, " The suit? " The pastor squirmed under her clear-eyed gaze, a child- ish embarrassment overcame him. Had he gone too far? That Sunday after church he had merely promised August Wiskotten to sound her as to her feelings, to do no more than pave a way for August himself. And now in his anger he had let the whole secret escape him. It was a painful moment. He thought longingly of his dependent and faithful " sick and poor " ; they asked and followed his advice. Here it seemed that advice and admonition were equally unwelcome. " When I said ' suit,' my child, I meant only that it was likely that this thought might have come to August. Have you anything against him? When I first named the Wiskottens, merely in jest, you were certainly startled." " No, Herr Pastor no, no ! " " But I noticed it. You must not try to deceive your old spiritual guide, the one who led you to the Lord's Supper. Perhaps there is something between you and one of the Wiskottens?" " No, Herr Pastor. Truly, truly, there is not. Noth- ing between me and any of them." " That would be a great mistake. A truly Christian marriage is not founded on lust of the eyes, but on a deep, mutual faith in our Lord and Saviour. It is written in the proverbs of Solomon, ' Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain ; but a woman that feareth the Lord shall be praised!'" 62 SONS OF THE RHINE The young girl was silent. She bit her lips and after a moment raised her head and said, with an expression half relief, half defiance, " My parents married for love." Her tone was so assured that the pastor was taken back. "My dear child, who asks anything else of you? But it is your Christian duty to direct your love toward a worthy object, and August Wiskotten " " I don't want him," she said, curtly. " Now, now," he said, soothingly. " Youth is too hasty in its decisions. You must give the matter more thought, search your heart." '* Ach," she said, " search ! Father always says, ' Love comes and it is there, there's no resisting or forcing it." " Oh very well, if you take your father's word before that of your old pastor ! " At that the girl laughed as merrily as before. " But, Herr Pastor, father surely knows. He is not an old bachelor." Pastor Schirrmacher rose, his bushy eyebrows bristling with disapproval. He took up his hat and bid her a hasty farewell. " Remember me to your father. When there is time, I wish to speak with him. At present you are altogether right, you are indeed too young for serious thoughts of marriage. Adieu, my child, and do not forget that we must always, by day and by night, search our thoughts and motives." After he had gone Anna reentered the living room and stood listening to his retreating footsteps. Then she fell to dancing about the room with all the childish abandon of her eighteen years, her canary alone watching her. "Did you hear, Hansel? Herr August! Isn't it enough to make one scream? He's thirty years old and hasn't a sign of a mustache. Even Ewald, that silly boy SONS OF THE RHINE 63 Ewald, has one a very tiny one. Oh, Hansel ! Hansel ! " The canary, as mad with glee as his mistress, answered with a swelling tira-lira-lira, and the now breathless girl flung herself into her father's chair and began, without rhyme or reason, to cry bitterly. The tears streamed un- hindered over the fair, young cheeks at first, then the storm of childish sobs lessened and the girl sat up, shame- facedly wiped her eyes and energetically blew her nose. " How silly," she murmured, " how dreadfully silly." When Kolsch returned from the factory that evening he found the table set, the coffee simmering for the evening meal, and the beer jug standing ready to be filled, accord- ing to immemorial custom at the end of the meal. Kolsch kissed his girl and looked at her searchingly. "What's the matter, you're quiet as a mouse? Has anyone been here? " " Only the pastor." "Well, well, did he say anything special?" " He asked to be remembered to you." " Thanks," said Kolsch, dryly, as he let his daughter make him comfortable in his striped brown house jacket and gorgeous flowered slippers. Then he sat down to his evening meal. Anna buttered his bread for him and made generous sandwiches of bologna and ham. " Not so much, Anna." " A worker like you must eat well. That is my affair." " So I'm under your thumb here, you baggage ! " "Weren't you under mother's? Each ruler to his own domain. Your's is the factory, mine the table." Kolsch grinned and stroked his gray beard. Then he fell to eating, silently, for it was not the valley custom to talk during meals. Only when he had finished his last mouthful and the brimming beer jug stood at his elbow did he begin to talk of his day at the factory. 64 SONS OF THE RHINE " That fellow, Gustav ! Donnerwetter! That Gustav Wiskotten ! There's a born leader ! Hardly had we laid hands on the new piece of land than his plans were all completed. Everything figured out on paper to the last brick and stone ! Everything, plans, specifications, esti- mates of costs. To-day the laborers began excavating. That's life for you. And every Wiskotten at his post. Those are great boys ; even that sly fox, August, always knows his own mind." "August?" "Yes, August. Why?" " Oh, I Here's your paper, father." The old foreman spread the sheet under the lamp and bent his head over the small print. Anna sat opposite him at the other side of the table and stole quick glances at him over her fancywork. The lamp hissed softly, the canary cheeped in a dream. It was very quiet. " You're not talking to-night, child." "I did not want to disturb you." " Ach, the stupid paper won't run away. Has any- thing happened to annoy you? " "Why should there?" " Don't try to put me off. You are not yourself to- night ; you've lost your tongue. You, of all people ! The pastor was here. Did he preach you a sermon on your sins?" " Ach! Please don't say anything about him ! " " Yes, but I will. With all due respect for the pastor, he is a fine man. The parish may well be proud of him. He would give his last penny to the sick and the poor. He is like a father to them, but it is also his way to play the father in other houses and to offer unsolicited advice in the most intimate family matters, as if there were no head of the family. I won't stand for that. I'm the SONS OF THE RHINE 65 father here. Now, out with it. Did he take you to task seriously? " The young girl looked down at the fancywork that had made little progress that evening. "He did not really ask me in earnest." " Well, what in the world was it all about? " " Father ! " " Sapperlot, girl," cried the astonished old man, for she had thrown herself on his neck on the verge of tears. He held her fast and stroked her hair, trying to raise the face she had buried in his coat. " Steady, steady, what's the matter?" " Father, tell me I don't have to I don't have to " "What, child?" " Marry Herr August." The father's grasp relaxed so suddenly that she almost fell. He threw himself back in his chair and laughed long and heartily, till the room rang. Anna looked up in sulky surprise. Then she understood and joined him. "Who invented this pretty tale? It's really not bad." " The pastor came prepared to ask me, in a roundabout way, but he came out with it inadvertently." " Impossible ! " said Kolsch. "Why impossible, Father? We're not suited to each other, though, are we? Herr August must have a gentle, well-born wife, who will always agree with him, as is proper with pious people. While I if ever I marry, I want to look after my husband without having him say anything about the way in which I shall do things. He must always be pleased with the way I manage. Like you, Father! Ach, what rubbish I'm talking." Kolsch stood up and took the girl's head between his broad palms, trying to read her clear eyes. 66 SONS OF THE RHINE " Child," he said, " a proposal from the Wiskottens ! Such a thing comes once in a lifetime." " Oh, Father," she answered, " the Wiskottens are not so rare as all that ; there are five of them to be had." " You little monkey ! Do you expect the whole crew to fight over you?" He stroked her cheek lovingly. Then they sat down and began to talk of their Ernst in Diissel- dorf. " If the boy paints as little as he writes, he'll not go far," said his father. " I do believe he's working terribly hard now. He for- got to send home his wash again this week." " A promising young loafer," growled the old man, " if only he does not turn out to be one of those depraved, dissolute geniuses." " Now, Father, you don't believe anything like that. Only he finds everything so easy to do and then he lets things slide. I'll have to go to Diisseldorf again and make him see things in the right light. He's always thoroughly ashamed of himself when he sees me." Her father nodded. He understood why his vagabond of a boy was filled with shame and embarrassment when this serene, chaste young sister came upon him in the midst of his careless companions. " Very well, go," he said, " but don't be too easy with him." Then they said good night, but old Kolsch found it hard to fall asleep. He had been more deeply stirred up by this offer than he had cared to show Anna. If only August persisted. What was it that Herr Gustav had called him. " Hagen, Hagen the loyal, faithful unto death." With a deep sigh, he finally fell asleep. When he awoke the thoughts of the past night returned. At breakfast he was very thoughtful and cast many SONS OF THE RHINE 67 searching glances at his child. Today the sight of her pained him. He was torn between conflicting duties. Sud- denly he came to a decision, and arose. He would go to the factory and speak to Gustav Wiskotten at once. Gustav had been there since six that morning. When the first pick and shovel had begun to clear a way in the new land and the first wheelbarrow came creaking down the temporary board paths, he had come out and stood beside his old friend, the black Wupper. To him it was no sullen, dirty river that flowed so strongly over the dam, but a pulsing, vital artery of his beloved dye works. It had been the friendly playmate of his childhood, the fellow worker of his youth and manhood, and he nodded to it as if greeting a living friend. Then he went out with the foreman of the excavating gang to look over the ground; talked with the master builder about the necessary concrete work; inspected the lime, sand, and gravel that were being hauled in, and approved the first consignment of brick. Between whiles he went through the factory and dye works on his customary rounds; talked with the heads of the various departments about the most urgent orders, and tested colors at the dye vats with his brother Fritz. At mail time he appeared at the private office, went through his correspondence with August; assured himself, with a sharp glance, that Paul was not dreaming over his accounts ; heard William's re- port of the English trade, and greeted his mother as he passed her in the midst of her girls in the winding room. At the coffee pause, he allowed himself the recreation of visiting his beloved new machine. All was motion, activ- ity, in the spotless room. The belts whirred and the pis- tons seemed to plunge forward at him. He laughed happily, saying : " Patience, patience, you shall sweat soon ! " 68 SONS OF THE RHINE Kolsch had come in upon him at least a dozen times in the course of the morning, always finding him so busy that he did not care to approach him with any outside matter. But when the noon signal sounded the roar became a rumble, then ceased altogether, he approached his young master. Gustav turned as he heard the familiar footsteps behind him. " Still here, Kolsch? Anna will let the soup burn if you don't hurry." " I would like to speak with you, if you have time." " Of course. Just look at the excavations, Kolsch ! That dirt is a sight for sore eyes." " Herr Wiskotten, yesterday afternoon, when I was here at work, Pastor Schirrmacher called upon my Anna." "Well, well, surely not as a suitor! Such an old bachelor as he ! " " No, he came at the request of a suitor." " What's that you say? For Anna? Kolsch, look out! There'll be plenty of bees buzzing around that honey. Don't let your prize girl go too cheap." " Just now the price offered seems rather to be a little too much." " Nonsense, I won't even dispute that with you, but I will say that it's too bad I myself am married and out of the running," he said, jokingly. " Herr Wiskotten, the pastor came this time merely to sound the girl, but he named a name that " " You can surely tell it to me, Kolsch." The foreman stood up very straight and faced his young master. " He spoke of Herr August." Gustav drew in a deep breath. There was a long silence between the two men. Then the foreman said with a trace of bitterness, "I had rather see you laugh, Herr Wiskotten." SONS OF THE RHINE 69 "Kolsch! Why in the devil should I laugh at you? Kolsch, man, if you did not have such a long, gray beard, I'd call you a fool. Who are the Wiskottens and who is Herr Kolsch one and the same, they fit like hand and glove. When I said it's a shame I'm already married, I was more than half in earnest. Whoever gets your Anna, by all that's holy, he'll get a prize. Now perhaps you understand why I did not answer at once, you stupid old fellow." Kolsch just put out his hand and said simply, "For- give me, Herr Wiskotten." " It was because you named August, and by a go- between at that ! A fellow with a clear conscience, a clear record, needs no go-between. Kolsch, we're old friends and can speak plainly. As a business man, our August is more than satisfactory. But, as a man, a bit of hypo- crite, a fellow of secret schemes and subterfuges. I would not want to marry him." " Neither does Anna." "What?" cried Gustav, in astonishment. "Well, what's wrong then? Doesn't that put everything right? Why give me a bad quarter of an hour over the fellow and his unsuccessful love affairs?" " Herr Gustav, I could not dismiss the matter so simply. I have been so close to the Wiskottens that I don't want this this business with Anna to change things. The factory is a part of my very life." " Kolsch, you are right. I could not conceive of my- self working on here without you. You must feel no constraint here. I'll take the matter up at once. August shall either court the girl in the open and take her * yes ' or ' no ' like a man, or else give up the idea altogether. Does that suit you? " " Yes." 70 SONS OF THE RHINE " Good day, Herr Kolsch." " Good day, Herr Wiskotten." Gustav went directly to his parents' house, without stopping to leave word at his own. He found the whole family at dinner. "Has something happened?" asked his mother, sur- prised to see him at this hour. " No, I only wanted to see August." " August ? What's the matter ? " " I'll wait till you're through. Then we'll go to your room." " We've never before had any secrets here," exclaimed Frau Wiskotten. " God be thanked, we have nothing to hide." " You can ask August, later, what I wanted with him." " Worse and worse ! Have you anything on your conscience, August? " " Ach, Mother, Gustav is playing to the gallery again. I have nothing to discuss with him. I don't need to go to my room." " Then you won't come with me, August? " " You act like a conspirator." " I'm on the trail of something like a conspiracy ! If you think the matter can be discussed here, I'm willing. Well, then, did you send Pastor Schirrmacher to Anna Kolsch yesterday afternoon? " " Is that any of your business ? " " Yes, indeed. Her father is my foreman." " Did I ask any questions when you courted Emily Scharwachter? " " You're suspiciously quick to defend yourself. As for myself and Emily, you would do well not to discuss that chapter of the Wiskotten family history, as you were far SONS OF THE RHINE 71 too young and silly to realize what it all meant at the time." " Your tone is insulting," cried August, his face pale with suppressed rage. " If you're trying to make trouble, go home and do it, instead of disturbing us here at dinner," said Frau Wis- kotten, angrily. The peace-loving father cried, " Gustav, Gustav ! " ap- pealingly. " Didn't I ask him to come into the other room witK me?" " There's no need for us to have any secret confer- ence." " Well, if you're satisfied, I am. Tell me, do you want to marry Anna Kolsch? " " I don't know." " You don't know ? Then why did you send the pastor to sound her as to her feelings for you? " " That's my affair." " No, indeed, August," broke in his mother, in no un- certain tones. " Gustav is right. You are no longer the only one concerned. One must know his own mind when he approaches a respectable girl." " Now listen, August, we brothers should not quarrel," said Gustav, " but why did you not go to Anna yourself? Why this go-between?" " Because I did not wish to commit myself so soon. I wanted to see if the idea pleased the girl enough so that she would be willing to accept my conditions." " Good heavens ! Conditions ? " " Yes, indeed, conditions." " May we hear them ? " " That old Kolsch retires. I cannot have a father-in- law working under me." 72 SONS OF THE RHINE " Are you crazy ? " cried Gustav, hardly master of himself. " No, I am not crazy. But discipline must be main- tained in the business." " But what if he has not saved enough to retire in com- fort? Oh, you pillar of the church! It's enough to make one turn atheist." " Don't speak so blasphemously," cried his mother, angrily. William Wiskotten, the "Englishman," stroked his silky side whiskers nervously, then he rapped on the table with his heavy seal ring. " A little more politeness would not hurt either of you. It's really impossible to bring well brought up visitors here." " And those two call themselves ' officers and gentle- men,' " growled Fritz, scornfully. Paul, possessed of more sympathy or self-control, remained silent. Ewald was visibly agitated, but dared not speak when his eldest brother was visibly enraged. "You all stand by him, do you? You'll let the ridicu- lous love affairs of our worthy August come before the good of the factory ? Hasn't one of you a grain of sense ? Heaven be thanked that Anna Kolsch has plenty of it, and will have nothing to do with our pious August. So she is no longer in the discussion. We are speaking now of Albert Kolsch, and so long as he can crawl about on two legs he remains foreman of the Wiskotten works. He's worth half the whole business to me, and I myself am the other half, if you want to know it. Do you understand? " " You're not the only one to have a voice in the mat- ter." SONS OF THE RHINE 78 " Are you the only partner registered, or are our names there too? " " Do you run the whole business ? Don't we do any- thing? " " Yes, yes, you do your share, but you have your whole lives before you, other interests. But I mine? " He lapsed into gloomy silence, staring into space. Then he pulled himself together and turned to August. " Will you or will you not drop your impossible conditions? " " No, I know what is due to my position. There can be no peace otherwise." " Well and good, then it remains for me to tell you that Anna Kolsch will laugh you to scorn unless her father himself urges your suit. As for me, I shall see to it that all Barmen laughs too." August bit his lips, sullenly. For a moment no one spoke. Then the excited voice of the youngest broke in. " And I'll not stand any more either. I won't be forced into the ministry. I say I won't." "What won't the boy do?" asked the deaf old lady, whose attention had been given to the elder boys. " Won't be a minister ! Thunder and lightning ! " His mother's heavy hand fell suddenly on the tall lad's cheek with a resounding smack. Paul Wiskotten grasped the angry lad by the arm and shoved him out the door, while the others burst into peals of laughter at this sud- den revolt and punishment. " You all need a taste of the same medicine," growled the militant old woman. " Well, August," laughed Gustav, " it's high time for us to shake and make up. Mother's on the rampage now. Come, we have something better to do than quarrel over a slip of a girl that will have none of you. Brace up ! 74 SONS OF THE RHINE She's not the girl for you, anyway ; she's far too merry, and her worldly brother, Ernst, would have been a con- stant source of embarrassment to you. Don't you see it now? At last! Heaven be praised! That was a hard job, but you'll thank me for not letting you trade Albert Kolsch for Anna. DonnerTciel! I've not had any dinner yet." " Oh, my ! " cried his mother. " Poor Emily ! " With a laughing farewell, he clattered down the stairs and hurried home. He found the house unusually silent. The nursery was empty, the big dining table showed a single place set. He rang for the maid. "Where's my wife?" " Frau Wiskotten has gone up to her room." "And the children?" " Out playing." " Please tell my wife I am here." A few minutes passed before Emily appeared. She wore an old morning dress that showed signs of wear. " Why did you send for me ? " "Why? Because I am here! Yes, yes, I'm late. I beg your pardon. When a man is greeted by such a long face his apologies stick in his throat." " Don't take the trouble then. I have long known that your mother comes first." " My mother is an old woman, a woman who has held together our whole unruly family. It would not hurt you to speak of her with a little more respect." " Ach, it's always my fault when we disagree. You twist everything I say so as to vent your own bad humor on me." " I twist nothing and I'm not in a bad humor, only hungry; but if you keep on, the bad humor'll come and the appetite go." SONS OF THE RHINE 75 " Naturally, when you've been put in a temper by your mother, I'm good enough to take it out on. You'll have to wait now until Minna fries a beefsteak. It's impossible to keep things warm for hours." " Don't exaggerate so. You might have dressed for the afternoon too. I see enough shabby clothes in the factory." " I'm no princess, and besides, I hardly know any longer what is the right thing to do. If I put on a good dress, I get a sermon from your mother. ' We did not dress so extravagantly in this valley when I was young. A good Christian has no right to look so worldly,' and so on. Then if I try to be frugal and wear something old about the house, you come in and make me feel like a slattern." " Emily," said Gustav, quietly, ** I must leave that to your judgment, after all. But to my mind, a wife should take pleasure in being as neat and pretty as possible in the few hours her husband is at home and can throw off his business cares." " But you never are at home. Should I dress up for my own amusement and sit on the parlor sofa, like a visitor ? " " If I had not had something very important to attend to, I should not have kept you waiting." " Oh, yes, I'm always the unimportant one ; your mother must not be kept waiting. I'm tired of dancing to the same tune forever." " I had to see August." " Indeed ! Wasn't he at the factory until twelve, and won't you find him there again at two-thirty? The fac- tory could hardly go bankrupt in the interval." " It was not about the factory. It was a private af- fair." 76 SONS OF THE RHINE " Then I suppose you cannot tell your own wife about it? " " Great heavens ! My patience is at an end. August wanted to marry Anna Kolsch. Now you know all about it." "What? Who? Does that foolish person expect to catch August? " " Not in the least ; August is the one who's trying to catch her." " Oho ! That's what she wants to make you believe, if it's not too late already ! " " Emily ! " cried Gustav, striking the table. " Herr Gott! you women are vultures. Always ready to strip each other of the last shred of decency. Instead of show- ing any sympathy or mercy, you show the most despicable qualities. It is revolting ! " " You'll be holding the stupid thing up to me as a model next! Well, she has her August. I wish her luck with him." " No, she has not got August. She won't take him for. a gift. When she marries it will be for love and to enjoy life with her husband, not to spend it singing psalms. That is what I went to tell August. That's why I was at mother's. That's why I sacrificed my own dinner hour, so that the factory might not suffer. There, now, is it all clear?" " You don't need to shout at me so," sobbed Emily. " Shout? Did I begin this wrangle? " "Did I? Did I?" she sobbed, stormily. " I I Anna Kolsch is not so stupid after all as to want a Wiskotten. She knows and I wish ach, Gott! I w i s h "Emily!" But she ran out, still sobbing, and he leaned heavily SONS OF THE RHINE 77 against the window overcome by a sudden, heavy weari- ness. Mocking visions of peace and love jeered at him t The maid entered with the beefsteak and he gulped it down hastily, without relish. Ten minutes later he was back at the factory. He came upon his children playing near the great heap of ashes that marked old Christian's domain. The boy, almost as black as the old stoker, ran to his father, crying: " Papa, Papa, I have something to tell you." " Something silly, I'll wager." " Christian said it, so it is not silly." " Well, out with it." " I know what I want to be a stoker ! " "Stoker and why?" " Christian says there's nothing more important. If he says so, the whole factory must stand still. All he has to do is to stop shoveling in coal. He holds the fac- tory in his hands." The zebra face of old Christian popped out the fire- room door " The little rascal snaps the words out of one's mouth," he said, proudly, as if the boy were his own. Then he spat on his hands vigorously, and fell to shoveling. Gustav Wiskotten nodded to him pleasantly, and left the bewildered children to discuss the question further between themselves. " After all," he thought, " a stoker may have the best of it he has few responsibilities." The black Wupper, his familiar spirit, gurgled, " To work, to work ! " " Yes," thought he, " at its source this old river is crystal clear and merry enough to drive anything; it has to serve factories and power plants it is no longer free. A workaday stream cannot hope to be a shimmering, beautiful Rhine." 78 SONS OF THE RHINE He clenched his fists and strode toward the new build- ing site with his head held high. Near the dye works he spied Kolsch and cried out cheerily, " It's all right, now." CHAPTER V THE valley was filled with a spirit of unrest and men gathered at the inns to talk, drinking more heavily than was their custom. Sullen, flushed faces were to be seen among the workmen, and at the factory men were con- tinually gathering in small groups, gesticulating, argu- ing, until dispersed by their foremen. They knew that large orders had come in from London, Paris, and even the great American cities, so that the factory should make large profits and they wanted their share. Finally demands were formulated; higher wages, shorter hours, higher pay for overtime. Strikers had already walked out in some of the Elberfeld factories, and others were scheduled to follow in Barmen. Discontent and discord swept like a cold wind through the valley. Ewald Wiskotten came and went apathetically since the day when his mother's heavy hand had ignominiously checked his impetuous flow of words. But he felt himself growing daily more sullen and nervous, consumed by an inner fire. The incipient rebellion of the valley met with a ready response on his part, he felt a certain sym- pathy with all rebels. There, beyond the mountains, lay the blessed Land of Promise, the romantic Rhine valley. There lay Diisseldorf, the city of all the arts. There Freedom smiled and beckoned. It was midday, and groups of laborers were forming in the old market place, the heart of Barmen. They were quiet and orderly enough, ominous only because of their numbers. Ewald noticed a young girl threading Her 79 80 SONS OF THE RHINE way through the crowd without any sign of fear. They flung jesting remarks at her, but made way with mock ceremony to give her free passage. Paying no atten- tion to their words, she took advantage of the open- ing and went quietly forward. Ewald saw that it was Anna Kolsch and hastened forward to her assist- ance. This gave the crowd new food for laughter and comment. " But, Anna," said he, " a well-bred young lady is not seen on the streets at a time like this." " Nobody would hurt me," she answered. " But what if one of them had laid hold of you? " he protested. " That wouldn't have killed me, and he'd have gotten a nice box on the ears." " But that would not have been ladylike." She quickly withdrew her arm. "Are you afraid of them?" " Bah ! " he cried, " I only wish one of them had laid a hand on you. Then you'd have seen something happen." " Would you have thrashed him? " " Thrashed him ! And given you a little punishment into the bargain afterward." " Me ? " Then she put out her hand impulsively. " Thank goodness you're still the same dear, frank boy." " Why so still? Did you think I had changed? " " No-o ! I suppose you've had so much studying to do that you have had no time to come and inquire about Ernst." "Is he getting on all right?" asked the boy in some embarrassment. " Yes, he is," she replied dryly. " I'm just on my way to pay him a visit in Diisseldorf and find out the latest news concerning him." SONS OF THE RHINE 81 " Remember me to him. Don't forget ! And tell him I'll be there with him soon." He said this so emphatically and with such agitation that she looked up in amazement. His tall body was tense and the boyish face, so dear to her, wore a strange, set expression. " You're going away ? " she asked eagerly. " Going to Diisseldorf and not coming back? " " Never of my own free will ! Oh, girl, how can anyone live beside this black Wupper among these dull-spirited people, who have not the slightest understanding of cul- ture, of art?" " We live here, nevertheless," she said, shortly, and hastened her steps. " You, Anna, you are the one bright spot in my life here. How I can remember romping with you in your gar- den, or sitting in your kitchen on winter days while your mother made us apple dumplings. ' Apples in their night- ies,' she used to call them. How greedily we watched her. That's ages ago ! " " No, only a very few years. Don't be silly and talk as if you were an old man." "You're just as bad," he said, angrily, " talking as if I were still a schoolboy." " Well," she jeered, " it's easy to see they let you out of school too soon." " It's easy to see also," in a tone of superiority, " that you are an out-and-out dyed-in-the-wool Wupper valley girl like all the rest." "And you? You were born in heaven, I suppose. If you'd scour yourself with sand you could not rub off all the Wupper water that is in you. Why, you were bap- tized in it and will smell of it all your life." " We'll see about that," he said, disdainfully. " If my dear family thinks me a mere puppet, it is greatly mis-? 82 SONS OF THE RHINE taken. Let August change his plans and become the minister they're so anxious to have. I'm going to be an artist." "Don't do it, Ewald," she cried, now really con- cerned. " I'm going to be a great portrait painter." " Ernst says it takes more than the wish." "Ernst! He and his wisdom can go to the dickens. He doesn't paint, he loafs." " But he has real talent." " And I'll prove to you that I have it too, no matter how you try to stop me. I have all the Wiskotten stub- bornness." " Yes, you have that." They had reached the railway station and she gave him her hand in farewell without looking up, for she felt some childish moisture rising to her eyes. Her maiden heart suddenly realized that these were the last of her childhood's easy tears. Her companion was no longer the merry playfellow of the past. " Adieu, Ewald." " Adieu, Anna." His eyes followed the slender, youthful figure as she walked gracefully down the long waiting room. Then she turned with a forced smile for a final " Good luck." All his stern new manhood melted away, he fairly bolted from the place, filled with a sudden unreasoning desire to cry like a little boy. That afternoon Gustav Wiskotten sat in his private office with August, reading the English mail. " Our William certainly knows his business. We'll have to forgive him his English whiskers and clothes. He has SONS OF THE RHINE 83 those fellows over there eating out of his hand, and my hands are getting callous just from opening all the orders he sends in. Now we'll make the factory hum with overtime and night shifts." " If only our men stand by." "What? You don't think our workmen are going to strike with the others? Not they, my boy; you don't know them." " That sort of people is always dissatisfied. It's all the same to them if they have to fish in troubled waters to get what they want." " Then we must see to it that there are no troubled waters then they'll not begin to fish. So far, our waters are still clear." " I only hope that your * clear waters ' are not an illusion." Gustav rose and opened the door to the main offices. " Paul, give me the pay roll. Thanks. Now you may call Fritz from the laboratory." By the time his brother had arrived, he had read over and revised the list. " Stop your writing a moment, August. Sit down, Fritz. Paul, you may remain also. I shall be as brief as possible. We are having a greater period of activity in the textile branches at present than in any previous years. And judging by indications, it may be expected to increase still more. Meanwhile the building of the new dye works must be pressed; we must be at work day and night. I'll give up my evenings at the tavern, August will have the goodness to let the mis- sions take care of themselves, Fritz will give his horse a rest, and Paul forget his verse making. In short, each of us must sacrifice his private pleasure for the general good and prosperity. Our workmen must do the same, one and all. That they may be equally aware that their 84 SONS OF THE RHINE efforts are for the general good, I propose to raise their wages, both regular and overtime, ten per cent. Do you, agree?" " Ten per cent, at one jump? " said August, dubiously. "Yes, my boy, we don't hang up old stockings at Christmas time!" " Couldn't we wait until they make their demands ? Perhaps they would not ask so much as that." "Demands? What are you talking about? Who has any right to make demands? I'd be a poor manager if I let my people go hungry enough so that they had reason to make demands ! I'm not merely the man who gives them work. I'm responsible for their welfare. They know that and it must remain so. If we prosper they must share our prosperity, else how in the devil could we ask them to stand by when a bad year comes ? We must give what we give freely in order to keep our workers' confi- dence. Then there can be no strikes." " Ten per cent. ! " repeated August, shaking his head. "I think you're forgetting your own church tithes, August. Don't they go up as your income increases? " This brought a laugh from Fritz and Paul ; even August himself joined in reluctantly. "Well then, you're agreed?" Gustav looked inquir- ingly at each of them. " Very well, then, I'll sign the new pay roll. There's my signature. Yours too, Aug- ust, if you please. Thanks. When they finish work to- day this shall be read to them in all the workrooms. I'll give Kolsch orders to have them remain. So now, to arms for King and Fatherland, and may God be with us ! " There was a knock at the door. " Come in ! " Kolsch stood on the threshold. "May I speak with you, Herr Wiskotten?" SONS OF THE RHINE 85 "Why such a long face? Is the factory afire any- where?" " Yes, in the dye works, Herr Wiskotten." The fore- man entered and closed the door. The Wiskotten broth- ers sprang to their feet as one man. " The dye works? What do you mean? " " Herr Fritz had scarcely left before Wisczkowski, the Pole, had them stop the machines so that he might talk." " Gott im Himmel! " boomed Gustav. " He dared lay hands on my machinery ! Go on, Kolsch, go on." " I noticed at once that something was wrong and hurried over there. The Pole was insisting that the work- ers join the strikers at once in order to coerce the owners. ' Now was the very best time.' This afternoon all the dyers of Barmen were to walk out. Whoever did not go with them had no feeling of solidarity, and such a fellow was a traitor and a scoundrel." " Of course you discharged the fellow on the spot," cried Gustav. " That very instant, Herr Wiskotten." "And what then?" " The dyers protested and demanded that he be taken back or they would all go with him." Gustav's forehead grew purple ; he was fairly apoplectic with rage. "Herr Wiskotten, you must compose yourself!" ex- claimed Kolsch. " Bring a glass of water, Paul." Gustav struck the glass from his brother's hand and it crashed against the wall. " Enough of that foolishness. I'm no silly, fainting woman." He paced up and down the room, pulling himself together. " I cannot believe it ! The dyers, the very ones who have been with us the longest ! " 86 SONS OF THE RHINE " They are bewitched, Herr Wiskotten ; there's some- thing in the air now that intoxicates them all." " The dyers, my old dyers ! " August went toward the door looking very pale and resolute, but Gustav barred his way. " Where are you going? " " I will appeal to their consciences, try to recall them to their better selves by Scriptural admonition." " If you did that you'd make yourself ridiculous and lose your last scrap of authority over them. No, my boy, this is no time for moral suasion ; Biblical texts are not needed now, but a firm, strong grasp of the situation. I'm quite composed now. I thank you, August ; you meant well, but I am the one to handle this affair. It would be better for the rest of you to remain quietly here, so as not to appear too concerned. Come on, Kolsch. We must hurry," he said to the foreman, as they went out. " We must keep the sedition from spreading into the rib- bon works or the reel room." " Don't worry about the girls there. Your mother can hold them." Deliberately, and with apparent composure, Gustav crossed the factory yard. A few girls showed curious faces at the windows, but they drew back affrighted at their usually genial master's stern looks. Christian stepped out of the furnace room as they passed. " Shall I go with you, Herr Gustav? " " Shut your mouth and keep your furnace going," said Gustav, as he opened the door of the dye works and entered. There was a Sabbath stillness in the big room. No roar of steam, no clatter of paddles, but a faint veil of vapor hanging above the heads of the men, who were ranged solemnly along the farther wall, and seemed pale and un- SONS OF THE RHINE 87 easy. Gustav drew the door shut and slowly swept his eyes over the group. " Who has announced a holiday here? " No answer. " Very well, if this is not a holiday, why are you not working? " Embarrassed silence. Then a voice called out : " Because we don't want to." Wiskotten glanced quickly in that direction and saw that it was the Pole, the ringleader. " If you don't want to work that's your affair, but it is my affair to see that the material in the dye vats is not ruined. I would not have believed that you could have proven so irresponsible. Your working strength is your own, but the goods belong to me and are only entrusted to your keeping. I myself had rather be ruined than betray a trust." One of the dyers stepped forward. His voice was husky with emotion. " Herr Wiskotten, we realize all that. Property en- trusted to us is sacred. The last piece was taken out half an hour ago and hung on the racks." " And what is to be done with them now ? Have the Brownies or Gnomes promised to come and do the beat- ing and wringing? " The man shrugged his shoulders and cast an appealing glance at his comrades. " Well, I see that you don't want to work any longer, and the reason? Have I not a right to know that? " A clearing of throats, some husky attempts at speech, then silence again. " You don't consider it worth while to explain to so unimportant a person as I? Or am I to understand that you have no reasons ? " 88 SONS OF THE RHINE " We have a reason, Herr Wiskotten." " But not the courage to tell it? " " The courage too ! " " Well then, let Bartholomew be your spokesman. His tongue is loose enough over his beer. Now is the time for us to profit by his talent." A smothered laugh ran through - the group as they shoved forth an oldish dyer, whose hair and whiskers were discolored from long exposure to the dye vapors. He protested, but was met with, " Speak up, Bartel, you can do it." " I'm waiting, Bartholomew ! " " Herr Wiskotten it is so to speak it is all because of the big orders that are coming in now." " Well, we were not exactly idle before they came in. If we had nothing at all to do, there would be no factory." " That's right, Herr Wiskotten, it fits like the < Amen ' in church. But now there's more than ever to do." " God be thanked for that ! That gives you overtime and you earn more. Does that fit like another ' Amen ' ? " " Do you hear that? " cried Bartholomew, to the others. " Did I not tell you exactly the same thing? " " Well then, if you see that," said Gustav, with an air of surprise, " why are you not working? " Wisczkowski, the Pole, stepped forward. " Because we'll not be made fools of any longer. We know well enough that we get paid for overtime, but we have a right to more than that in times like these when the factories are cramming their pockets." Gustav stared grimly at the man. "Did I ask your opinion, Wisczkowski, or has any- one else asked you to speak? Wait until your turn comes. I promise not to forget you." " I've as much right to speak up here as anyone." SONS OF THE RHINE 89 Gustav stepped closer and looked him in the eye, then deliberately turned his back on him. " Bartel," he cried. " Yes, Herr Wiskotten." " Follow me attentively, for the sake of those who have chosen you as their spokesman. With what wages did you start here? And now? Have they not increased continually as the dye works and factory grew more pros- perous? Has there been a single time when you had to do the asking for a raise? Were not all these raises given voluntarily ? Yes, times are good now and we should make the most of them, but do you really believe the right way to profit by them is to stop work and sit under the tree with your mouths open for windfalls? Look out that window there ! You can see where we're getting ready to enlarge the factory, build bigger dye works. We're sinking good money in there in order that it may bear interest for you and for us. Yes, indeed, for you. If we did not risk that money we should not be able to compete with the big manufacturers and might be driven to the wall finally. This is how we are preparing for future prosperity, and that future prosperity depends largely on the kind of work we do right now. Shall we set to with a will or go at it half-heartedly? Is there one among you who can truthfully say that the Wiskot- tens have ever treated him shabbily? Is there anyone who won't trust us and wants his money in advance? Out with your grievances! Let's have it over in one job, this washing of dirty linen ! " Bartholomew had slowly backed away. There was an excited murmur among the others, then they shoved him forward again. This time his manner was more assured. " Herr Wiskotten," he said, respectfully, " what I said about orders and higher wages, everything I said at 90 SONS OF THE RHINE first was all foolishness. We've always been satisfied. We're satisfied now. We must make that acknowledgment to you. But we were altogether bewildered and upset by Wisczkowski's calculations about the flood of gold that was pouring into your pockets. He said we ought to have a finger in it. And then, Herr Wiskotten, our feel- ing of solidarity must be maintained." Gustav Wiskotten took the revised pay roll out of his pocket. " I thank you, Bartel, for your acknowledgment. And now that you may all see that I spoke in good faith and deserve your confidence, I wish to read you this paper that was made up before we had news of this disturb- ance. Of our own free will we had just revised the pay roll, adding ten per cent, to your wages, both regular and extra. Here, Bartel, you can see for yourself. There it is, signed by myself and Herr August." Bartholomew waved it away. " Herr Wiskotten," he stammered. " DonnerJciel, what a bunch of rascals you must think us now." He turned to his comrades. " Ten per cent. ! Of his own free will! Oh, I feel small enough to crawl into a mouse hole. I'm through." The Pole could keep silent no longer. "You pack of old women! Go kiss your master's hand and thank him for his gracious concessions. Isn't there a man among you with a mind of his own? We are not the only ones in question, we're part of a general movement. Our spirit of solidarity is involved." " Wisczkowski," cried Gustav, harshly, " you no longer have any business here. You've been discharged." " How you do go on, Herr Wiskotten ! I and the others have all called for our pay. We'll walk out together and not come back again either until every dye work on the SONS OF THE RHINE 91 Wupper has accepted our wage scale without conditions or reprimands too. They're to be abolished from now on." " Wisczkowski, go to the cashier at once and draw your pay." " There's no hurry, Herr Wiskotten. We're all going together. Your fine talk of ' freely ' giving us this raise won't go down." Gustav grew pale and almost gasped for breath in mingled rage and astonishment at being thus boldly out- faced. " Wha-at? Does the fellow call me a liar? Get out! " he thundered. " Get out or I'll break every bone in your body into the bargain." The man made no move to go. " Kolsch, open the door ! " The dye worker grinned derisively. At that Gustav's self-control snapped. With a bound he was upon his thick-set opponent and had him by the throat and waist- band. His chest heaved with the effort, the veins stood out darkly on his forehead as the silent, fierce struggle went on. The Pole's eyes bulged, his lips were flecked with foam, as he strove with all his might to crush the strong hands that grasped him. " Keep back ! " cried Kolsch, as the men pretended to separate the wrestlers. He stood behind his master like a medieval sword bearer, a veritable Hagen at this hour. He knew the significance of this struggle, that the mas- ter's authority hung in the balance. Gustav seemed exhausted, his eyes closed for a mo- ment. His opponent took advantage of the relaxed hold to take a gasping breath, then with a triumphant cry he sprang forward. But Gustav met this sudden attack with renewed fierceness and, with a mighty effort, swung 92 SONS OF THE RHINE the Pole clear off his feet and hurled him through the open doorway. He fell with a clatter and his limp body thudded heavily on the ash heap outside. Outside a couple of workmen hastened toward the fallen man, but grimy Christian stood over him with his shovel. " Don't you touch the damned rascal. He's in exactly the right place." Gustav had felt shaky for a moment, but now he began to laugh. He set his hands on his heaving sides and laughed louder and louder. The men could keep back no longer ; they pressed forward eagerly with outstretched hands, shining eyes, smiling faces. " Herr Wiskotten ! " " DonnerMel! " " Herr Gustav ! " One of them went through the motions of flying out the door like the Pole. " Hoop-la ! " In the midst of the tumult, the dyer, Bartholomew, cried : " Hurrah for our master, Herr Wiskotten ! Long may he live, long may he live ! Vivat Hoch! Vivat Hoch! Hurrah!" The ringing shout echoed all through the factory, and the anxious brothers in the private office smiled in relief. " So," said Gustav, " now we're among friends once more. Now we'll come to a quick understanding on this solidarity question, B artel. How long have you worked here?" " In May it will be twenty-five years, Herr Wiskotten." "And Friedrich? And Karl Schlieper?" " Just the same." " That's a long time ! Then there are one or two who have been here twenty years, and most of the rest have been with us at least a dozen. When my father started the business the majority of you came to work here. None of the firstcomers ever left, unless Death claimed SONS OF THE RHINE 93 him. In the place of those, new, hearty fellows have come in who soon felt themselves at home. We've stood by each other in good years and bad. When a poor year came we bore it and saw that no one suffered want. When a prosperous year followed, we did our best to make its profits compensate for past losses. Thus we have stood by each other like one great family. Father and Mother Wiskotten were father and mother to all, in your home life as well as in the factory. If there was a merry christ- ening feast or a solemn burial, we rejoiced and sorrowed together like one united family. And always, through it all we have worked together. Is that solidarity or is it not? Or do you call it solidarity to cast aside without ceremony this old true friendship for the sake of joining a great mob that knows nothing of you, has no personal interest in you, just because a few agitators and loafers tell you it's the latest fashion? You know well enough that each and every worker here is free to have his own political and religious beliefs. I respect every honest con- viction, be it red, black, or blue. But above all these minor differences is the one great idea that unites us, the higher and greater politics of mutual labor and trust. That is the true solidarity. And it was once as much a matter of pride with you to say, ' We are Wiskotten men,' as it was for us to say, ' We are the Wiskottens ! ' " " And it shall still be, Herr Gustav." " We know what real solidarity is, and our women at home know too." " Now stop lecturing us, Herr Gustav ! " " Make room ! Stand back ! Get to work ! " The belts began to fly over the wheels, levers were pressed, and the whirring, sighing, steaming spirit of labor was at work again in the room, as if there had never been a pause. The color vats simmered and boiled, 94. SONS OF THE RHINE the paddles thwacked on the wooden sides of the vats, and the material already on the drying racks was attacked vigorously, wrung and beaten as if the men now feared that the dwarfs might be about to take it away from them. They bustled about as if the work was so pressing that with the best will in the world they would find no time to ask or answer questions. They had apparently forgotten the presence of the owner, and a man standing near Gustav Wiskotten poured the used water out of a vat so suddenly that the stuff splashed his boots. " Look out!" he cried, after the mischief was done, and did not stop to make excuses. A thick white fog rose once more and enveloped the scene. "Was that all right?" asked Gustav of his foreman, as they left. The old graybeard beamed at him. " You could not have done better, Herr Gustav." "The Pole has taken himself off," cried grimy Chris- tian, from his glowing inferno. " He's all in one piece except the seat of his pants that's split." "Bad times are coming to the valley, Kolsch! Our competitors will have trouble enough filling their orders if they have not prepared for this." " Those who can keep open will have a fine time of it. From now on, we'll have to put on night shifts." " I depend on you, Kolsch. Not a muscle can be spared." " Well, it would seem now that the strike troubles of the Wupper valley have no further meaning for us. We'll make good use of our time." Gustav returned to the private office all business the incident closed and forgotten. He interrupted his broth- ers' exclamations of satisfaction with : " Let that be till later. We have other things to think of. We may be the SONS OF THE RHINE 95 only ones in the valley that are able to keep open. Now to plan the campaign ! " They put their heads together, planning and reckoning, all afire with eagerness. Their mother entered with the question : " What was all the racket a while ago ? " " The Pole took wings and flew out of the dye works," answered Gustav curtly. " He made himself obnoxious and urged the men to strike ! " Wha-at? Where's the rascally fellow? " " Already settled, Mother ! Probably getting his pants mended now. They split when he landed, you see. Now listen, Mother; we were just going to send for you. From to-morrow on we shall run night shifts. Kolsch shall consult with you about everything in your reel rooms ; you'll be wanting your girls there to have spiritual tendance by night as well as day." " Emily might lend us her Minna? " " Of course. Send her word at once, or better still, why don't you go over there yourself? It would please her mightily to have a say in the matter." It was ten o'clock that night before Gustav left the factory. The reaction of his unusual day, the after ex- citement of it all, came over him now. He felt that he must walk it off and wandered aimlessly through the streets for some time. The city was awake and astir as on a holiday. Shouts and oaths were heard on all sides. Outside the drinking places the pale, anxious wives of the strikers stood wait- ing for them. Here and there a more resolute woman pushed through the crowd and reappeared with her de- linquent in tow. Then the others, harassed and worried though they were, would break out into boisterous laugh- ter. " Give it to him, Hulda!" 96 SONS OF THE RHINE " Look out, there's a step ! " Then the laughter would ebb and a heavy silence fall again among the shivering women. The largest crowd was before Overam Schulte's. The striking Rittershauser dyers had their headquarters there. Schulte had given them the freedom of his hall. " But no disorder, or I'll turn out the lights ! " He him- self stood near the speakers' platform, his powerful arms bared, ready to quell the least disturbance. Gustav had come in with the crowd and now let himself be carried along toward the center of interest. A speaker on the platform was saying that all the factories of the district had shut down at noon, with the sole exception of the Wiskottens. " Renegades ! " cried a hoarse voice. Abraham Schulte rose on tiptoes and glanced search- ingly over the crowd. " Hush ! " cried a few voices. " Go on ! " The speaker went on to discuss the social question and the solution for which all must strive. His speech was quiet and pithy, as he discussed the Wupper valley dye factories, the various branches of wholesale trade involv- ing dyeing, the large profits of the business and the low wages. He asserted that many families of the factory hands were forced to live and sleep in a single room, or to have at most a kitchen and sleeping room. He ex- horted the pastors of the valley to be more active in their care for the social welfare and observance of the decencies among their parishioners. There they could reach the real root of evil, rather than in vestry meetings, where they hobnobbed with the wealthy factory owners. He demanded thoroughness, practical work, not mere make- shift charity; sweeping innovations only to be attained through united action on their part. SONS OF THE RHINE 97 "Hear! Hear!" " Where are the Wiskotten men? " " I move that the meeting pass a vote of censure on the Wiskotten workers ! " " Have you the floor? " cried Overam, frowning at the interruption. " A vote of censure " " Are you deaf? I asked if you had the floor." " No but " " Then you will have the goodness to wait your turn. No speaking except from the platform." The form of old Bartholomew now appeared on the platform. There were a few hisses, answered by cries for silence. " I have just one thing to announce, in my own name and in that of my comrades. We are no strikebreakers! Why so? Because we have no need to strike." "Traitor! Dog!" Overam Schulte patrolled the hall angrily. " If that brawler opens his mouth again, I'll show him a thing or two. Everyone gets a chance to be heard here, but it must be from the platform and in an orderly manner. Beer? " " And why don't we need to strike, we who work for the Wiskottens? Because we have absolutely no grievances. Because for twenty-five years the firm has treated us fairly, us and our families. And may God fricassee the devil if we shall repay such treatment with ingratitude and baseness. It's solidarity enough when one belongs to one great family as we do. The Wiskottens and their work people have done that since the beginning. That's the truest solution of the problem. It's a shame that all factory owners are not like the Wiskottens. We know well enough they're not, and because we understand this 98 SONS OF THE RHINE we are willing to contribute from our own wages to help the strike." " Judas silver ! Judas silver ! " This time Schulte had spied out the disturber. " Aha ! The Pole! Mister Wisczkowski! Are you the speaker? " " No." " Will you hold your tongue, then? " " No." "Well then, young fellow, I'll attend to you. You don't belong here." He heaved the Pole up like one of his beer kegs and shoved him through the crowd. Some offered to help, but the bull-necked innkeeper had no need for them. " Leave him alone ; he's a pastmaster in the art of sudden exits. Hoop-la ! " The Pole bumped down the stairs and burst out among the waiting women, who were delighted at this new butt for their sarcastic comments. " Donnerkiel! you're in a hurry " " Make way, here comes one in a great hurry to solve the * social question ' " " Look at the absent-minded professor, he's forgotten his pants ! " " Hush, there are women folk present." * That evening Gustav Wiskotten was very late return- ing home. His dyers would not let him go and he re- mained with them, sat among them as his father had in the patriarchal days of the valley, when there had been no class feeling, no strikes. CHAPTER VI THE giant whose mighty limbs filled the valley bed was stricken with Spring fever. His blood was stirred and heated by the south wind, that had wheedled away the latest trace of snow; by the March sun, who knew how to give such ardent, youthful kisses. The spirit of ad- venture was abroad, longings and desires such as fit the Springtide were felt; men felt Spring's influence in their renewed courage and ambition, and songs of love and freedom rang in the streets. The working people of Barmen had their share in all this too. The woodlands cried out to them, " We've kept a thousand buds safe in their brown jackets through the long Winter not for them to remain hard and close- folded, but to expand and riot in the new life of the year. Have you less hope and promise of blossoming time than the trees of the forest? " And the sun, who had renewed his youth with the young year, smiled down on them, saying, " Children of men, you forget the season! There is but one Springtide in each year!" They resounded to the exhortation of Spring, and came to claim their share in the season's joys. The young ardor of the sun was not alone for those who had spent the Winter in sheltered comfort; it was for them, the peo- ple, as well. They put on their holiday cloaks, stuck their caps jauntily on one side and cried, " Now, let the sun shine ! " They streamed along the narrow streets that skirted 99 100 SONS OF THE RHINE the river banks, chary of speech but eager-eyed, inspired by the unusual feeling of freedom in midweek the re- sult of the strike. They gazed about them in strange wonder, as if seeing their familiar valley for the first time. A ready laugh greeted each attempt at jest or repartee, and many laughed from sheer sympathy at jests that never reached them their inner excitement de- manded a vent. Crowds gathered about the labor union headquarters. Those without knew that inside these places new modes of living, new conditions were being discussed a new world was in the making. Their breath came gaspingly as with fixed, intent eyes they strove to wring these secrets from the blank, silent walls that shut them out. Then the business was finished and the leaders and organizers passed on to other centers. Everywhere the same silent, mysterious demonstration of power and purpose. Meanwhile the holiday makers pressed on to their fa- vorite drinking places. Here genial liquor and compan- ionship loosened tongues, bared hearts. Demands of the union were discussed, wages, working hours, and holidays. Curses mingled with expostulations fantastic dreams of youthful enthusiasts with the sober bread-and-butter policy of their experienced elders. " The main thing is to be able to carry the money home to ' Mother.' " " The main thing is that from now on the labor party must have a voice in affairs " " The party? I have six hungry youngsters at home. They are ' party ' enough for anyone, and have a voice, I can tell you." Day after day, meanwhile, the Spring sun rose brightly, gayly, filling the valley with restless thoughts, hopes, ex- pectations. One afternoon Ewald Wiskotten could not SONS OF THE RHINE 101 endure to remain at home any longer. His young blood was in a ferment of the same restlessness that filled the valley. The unrest seemed to hover in the air and be ab- sorbed through the very pores of his skin. He had looked through his school sketches and filled his portfolio. Now, with the precious burden pressed close to his side, he was on his way to Elberfeld to visit the painter Weert. He it was who could, must, show him the way to freedom the freedom he himself had tasted. The poetic illusions with which he approached the painter's studio were soon rudely dispelled. A slatternly maid opened the door and without further ceremony ushered him into the sanctum sanctorum. His eye was startled, confused by a medley of incongruous objects worthless rubbish much of it, old weapons, bits of bright tapestry, curious trifles, some bizarre, others truly beauti- ful all calculated to wrench the bourgeois soul from its moorings and launch it rudderless in the realm of Art. In the midst of all this an easel, on it a life-size copy of Van Dyck's " Marchesa Spinola " in all the charm of her youth and dazzling beauty ; the masterpiece of that great artist that epitomizes all that was his of harmony in coloring, elegance of composition, and sweetness of ex- pression. It was difficult for the beholder to decide whether its charm lay chiefly in the subject chosen was it not after all due to the inimitable handling of the mas- ter's brush? Across the room on an old sofa lay the master of the studio asleep ; of this there could be no doubt, as the room resounded with his sonorous snores. " Good day, Herr Weert ! " said Ewald, loudly. A spasm ran through the prostrate form. "What? Who? Excuse my momentary distraction. I'm in the midst of a composition searching for a shade, an ex- 102 SONS OF THE RHINE quisite tone yes, that is right. I have it now!" He sprang up, ran his hands through his hair, and suddenly recognized his visitor. " You ? " he said, slowly, his voice betraying his annoyance at the unwelcome intrusion. " What has brought you here, young man ? If you want to be photographed, the place is three doors further on, to the left." " I beg your pardon, Herr Weert, for having broken into your afternoon siesta." " Siesta? I sleep only at night and far from well even then. I compose on that sofa ! " " May I disturb you for a few minutes, then ? " " The word is well chosen. Very well, be so good as to * disturb ' me, now that you are here." He stroked his bushy beard and glowered at the young man from blood-shot eyes. " Herr Weert, a week ago Sunday I had the pleasure of conversing with you about art." "The pleasure? Incidentally, I never discuss art." But Ewald had resolved in advance not to let himself be put off by any rudeness. " Herr Weert," he broke in, " ever since I was a little fellow I've heard your name in such great respect that I cannot think of anyone else as being more able to give me the good advice I need now. I want to go to the Academy to become a painter to learn to be an artist, to paint as you do " The painter laughed, ironically. "Like me? Like me? You must be drunk. I, a painter? " " Herr Weert," stammered the young man, " I, even I, know a little, if only a very little, about painting. The man who painted this picture, this wonderful lady on canvas, that man is an artist." " He is, indeed, my boy. Without a doubt, Van Dyck is SONS OF THE RHINE 103 an artist such an artist ! " He suddenly became silent and strode over to the canvas, stood before it in brooding, thoughtful silence, stroking the glowing pigment with a clumsy affection a world of inarticulate love. " Herr Weert ! " "What is it, my boy?" " Was it not you who painted this copy? " " Certainly. I painted it long ago, copied it from the glorious original by Van Dyck not so badly, either. Yes, yes, in those far-off days when I was still a wanderer in many lands and held my youthful enthusiasm to be talent. Then I had the courage, the bravado to attempt the themes of Van Dyck. This painting, those days I That is all I have saved from it all a single canvas." " But it is a treasure." "Yes, indeed, more especially to me! But for it I might be a house painter, at best a decorator. But this is my lure, my magnet. Does the world hold a lovelier lady? One more charming and graceful than this Italian Marchese, whose fair body has long since been food for worms? Name me one! Indeed, you cannot. God him- self has his humorous moments, I believe. For think of it ! He lets some stodgy lace, braid or tape manufactur- er's wife, such as live in this valley, lose her way to the photographer (three doors on to the left) and stumble upon my studio. Well, do you imagine she can tear her- self away after seeing my enchantress? It is, ' Oh, Herr Weert, you must paint me like that. In that pose and the same colors. Just think the eyes my husband will make. I must surprise him with it.' And so I paint every one of our buxom barnyard fowls in the guise of this rare, sweet turtledove in this pose, these colors. I can readily believe, without seeing, that her husband will c make eyes ' at the portrait, be surprised. My treasure, 104 SONS OF THE RHINE my all, is a copy. Its possessor what was it you said just now? a painter ! " " Herr Weert, if I could but paint one such copy " " Don't be ridiculous, you son of the black Wupper ! Of course, I am aware that I can paint better than anyone else here. I might, indeed, aspire to something more than membership in the local painters' guild. Ah, this Wupper valley, this valley thrice accursed of all the Muses. I myself fled it twice, but the aroma of the fleshpots drew me home, and there was too much greed in me for a third attempt. Do you know what my importunate stomach has cost me? My art, my career nothing less, young fellow." " But you are now the most sought-after portrait painter in Elberfeld and Barmen." " Because there was no other so besotted as I, among those who followed art from this benighted valley. They made their escape to more favored lands, and were will- ing to suffer hunger rather than return. Thus, I, who turned back in cowardice, greed, am the most sought- after artist of the region. Because, forsooth, I can visual- ize a Helen in every woman, transform every female prod- uct of the textile industries into a sister of Van Dyck's peerless one. Neither has my study of the Old Masters been wasted, no indeed! Ah! but they understood the possibilities of costume. At all our festivals and holi- days it is I who arrange the living pictures, tableaus, floats, after famous paintings. Our ' ladies ' here find everything modern too common for their tastes. Don't forget this in your studies bear this in mind so that on your return you may be competent in this useful occu- pation." Ewald looked a picture of entreaty and deprecation. " May I now show you my drawings ? " SONS OF THE RHINE 105 The painter's eyebrows went up in assumed surprise. "Is not all that enough to dissuade you? Well then, in God's name, let me see them. My worst enemy cannot accuse me of having led you into this." He took the portfolio and opened it, turning the leaves carelessly. Ewald suffered agonies, the leaves seemed to fall all too swiftly, and in spite of his unhappiness he could not bear to have one of his darlings slighted. " Herr Weert, you have overlooked a page." " So much the better." Then a silence, heavy witn suspense. After a few minutes hours to Ewald the painter suddenly closed the portfolio, tied it up deliber- ately, and handed it slowly to the breathless expectant. " Not bad." " You find, then, that I have have talent? " "Let us dispense with such words in plain speaking. Talent? Van Dyck had talent, so had his master, Rubens, and old Diirer. Rembrandt was a genius. I speak only of the German masters, now. The rest of us, my boy, must be content with the title of ' painter,' given us by an easy-going public." " But have I enough for even that? Truly? " "Who said anything like that? I said not a single word about your becoming a painter. All that I said was * not bad.' " "I beg of you, Herr Weert, not to play the oracle." " Must I be more explicit? Well then, I see everything that can be recognized for workaday uses here. You have the right stroke and enough fancy and creative ability for original composition. One can see that you have grown up in a manufacturing atmosphere. Such lace- work, such an eye for ornamental detail quite extraor- dinary. You are well fitted to design the most chic of fashion plates." 106 SONS OF THE RHINE " Don't jeer at me, Herr Weert." " I'd be more of a boor than I am to do that. I advise you to go on, be up and doing." "Ah! Paint pictures?" "Ach, no! Fashion plates." " Herr Weert, enough of this mockery ! If you're hav- ing your joke at my expense, well and good. But if you are in earnest " " In earnest? You would do well to show more respect for my judgment, Herr Kollege" " Very well. You just told me to go on. I'll not forget that. I'm ready to be ' up and doing ' too." " Boy, come to your senses." " I have come to my senses, Herr Weert, and I shall take good care in the future to make the others at home come to theirs. I'm going to Diisseldorf at once. I know what I want, and I'll get it." " I cannot agree with that. Listen a minute ach, Gott, this youth has gone mad don't shout like an an- archist here in this studio. He's hopeless. Nature and time alone can cure him." "Herr Weert. It is Springtime in the valley. The factory hands parade the streets in their Sunday best, claiming their share of God's sunshine." " It's likely to shower and ruin their finery." " No, no ! I take it for an omen. I claim my share of the world's sunshine that never penetrates this smoky valley. I'm going out into that sunlight, into the bright lands of art and freedom." " Aha ! " cried the artist, grasping the gesticulating arm, " now at least we're getting at the root of the mat- ter ; youth is always the same, and yet the newspapers say we are progressing. ' Art ! Freedom ! ' Boy, boy, had you but said work! I can now console myself with the SONS OF THE RHINE 107 prospect of having you return to us a few years hence I shall have a congenial boon companion then ! " "Herr Weert, for God's sake stop jesting! I'm in earnest about this artist freedom. Tell me of your own experiences, I beg of you. Forgive me too, for having wasted so much of your time." "Wait a moment," growled his host, as he scribbled hastily on a bit of paper, " I'm directing you to the right place for whatever you want." Folding the note, he pre- sented it to the young man with a deep bow. " Read it outside, but not now, if you please. Adieu." " Herr Weert " " Very well, I see you still wish a parting word from me a bit of worldly wisdom. Now then listen with all your ears one can gain wisdom only through experience. The juice of the grape must become wine, willy nilly in spite of all its aspirations, sweet or sour, according to its nature. Thus every youthful iconoclast is bound to settle down into a useful, law-abiding citizen when he arrives at the proper age." " I had rather you spoke to me of the freedom I am going out into freedom itself, not what it produces." " My second bit of philosophy, ' Whoever has returned from the land of freedom, whoever has seen it, never speaks of it. Whoever speaks glibly of it has never seen it.' " " But why do they not speak of it, those who have seen it?" " Because, perhaps, it has been given them to see some- thing celestial or infernal. Perchance the naked glory of a seraph or a Medusa! Farewell, farewell, if pos- sible forever well." Ewald Wiskotten, greatly disconcerted at this unusual harangue, took his departure, and the painter stood star- 108 SONS OF THE RHINE ing heavily at his beloved canvas. " Silence ! " he com- manded it, " don't tell me what I might have been. I know that I'm a failure. Genius demands industry sacrifice!" Once outside, Ewald remembered the note that had been given him. He opened it and read : " Herr Korten, Master Poet." Here then was the one to show him the way to freedom. A vision of the old man in his shabby frock coat flashed before him, the light of enthusiasm shining undimmed from his aged eyes. He recalled the old poet's tales of the great Napoleon and the stirring days of world conquest; the patriotic songs still echoed in the boy's mind. How the old fellow put the pessimist Weert to shame. With the impetuosity of youth that transforms its wishes into beliefs, he contemptuously dis- missed the painter as a Philistine and hastened to visit the aged idealist. A tremulous little old woman opened the door, a good, kind soul, who regarded him somewhat anxiously. " We are just at coffee. Will you kindly step in? " He entered a simply furnished room, the walls of which were covered with steel engravings and framed diplomas. The old poet was seated at the table, comfortably sipping his afternoon coffee from a generous cup. " Ah, my young friend ! Welcome to my tusculum. Mother, this is one of the young Wiskottens ; a brother of the gifted Paul Wiskotten, and, like him, a young man who understands art." The old man gazed half fearfully at the guest and began hastily to clear the table. " My helpmate," said the old man, beaming, as he rubbed his hands together, " is an excellent woman. If only she had a proper appreciation of art, she would be quite perfect." SONS OF THE RHINE 109 During this speech the old woman had drawn nearer to Ewald. " Ach, Herr Wiskotten," she wailed, " if you could but wean him away from his poetry. He is such a good man, but in this one thing he is like a child. Old as he is, he cannot free himself from the childish fancies." " Oh, you of little faith ! " cried the old man. " To love youth is to love life and to remain young. Do you want to make an old man of me? " " That's the way he always goes on," said the little old woman, with an appealing look at her visitor, " al- though he is all of eighty years old." " ' Mulier taceat in ecclesia,' says St. Paul * women must keep silent in church ! ' When people discuss art, they become religious, serious, Mother. And our guest is impatient to commence his pious art." " I'm going, I'm going, husband, I'm going right away." She hurried away with the laden tray, casting one last appealing look at Ewald. " Always this high- sounding talk you must learn to accept it as we do." " An excellent woman," repeated the old man, with a fond look at the disappearing housewife. " Won't you sit down? Make yourself comfortable. A cigar? H'm well, can I not offer you a pipe, then. For indeed the cigars Schiller would say, ' The place is burnt out.' The phrase fits our present state. You'll really enjoy a pipe? Wait, here is a spill. To light a pipe with a match is like eating fish with a steel knife. Now we'll chat. What times these are, to be sure ! " " The factory hands are lounging about, parading the streets in their Sunday finery." " Yes, yes, yes, that is what we reap ! In '48 they were in coarse blouses, to-day their Sunday clothes on week days ! We enriched, fertilized the hard soil with our best blood so that it might blossom in the future." 110 SONS OF THE RHINE "Was it so dreadful then in the Wupper valley?" " Terrible, yet wonderful. Wonderful indeed for the poet listening to the heart beat of his people. The move- ment arose and grew out of a land's anguish and sense of oppression. It is wrong to uproot and overthrow the religion of a people. They were exposed harshly, sud- denly, to the working of new strange forces. They awoke suddenly to the fact that they had been promised much and given little, and now that the restraints of faith and tradition were removed, they rose to demand their rights. There was no patience in this new regime, no meek sub- mission. Armed and menacing, they forced recognition from the king in Berlin, in that March of '48, when the liberty bells were ringing. You surely know Freiligrath's battle song? Yes, that was the work of our trained bands. Then when the National Assembly was dissolved and the deplorable condition of affairs became known then in the year '49 these same volunteer trained bands were formed once more in Baden, in the Palatinate. When the militia here was about to be mobilized, we refused to give our quota of men until certain fundamental rights of the German people were recognized, secured. When troops were sent to enforce the levy, we barricaded the streets and riots broke out ; men sang ' Freedom that I love.' " " Ach, Herr Korten," broke in Ewald, " those must have been mad days." The old man's ready enthusiasm flared up, he took his pipe from his mouth. " Listen to this," he cried. " * Auf, deutscJies Volk, du stark Geschlecht, Es schlug die grosse Stunde. Steh auf und sei nicht langer Knecht, Mit Kraft und Mut steh fur dein Recht, SONS OF THE RHINE 111 Im heil'gen Volkerbunde! Der schwarz-roth-goldenen Fahne nack Zu Sieg und Heil aus Druck und Schmach! Wir zittern nicht vor Bajonetten Die Freiheit, die Freiheit, Die Freiheit bricht die Ketten! ' " * " Ha ! Freedom ! " repeated Ewald with blazing eyes, " and then " " Then they tore up the pavements, threw the burgo- master's furniture out of the windows to build bar- ricades, and tried to hang the mayor from his own lamp post " " They'd never have done all that if our Gustav had been there," interposed Ewald, somewhat skeptically. " Gustav ! Who is Gustav, or any one man to curb the sovereign people in rebellion. The hot-headed royal ad- vocate Hoechster was himself a ringleader, and so was the well-known Dr. Bracht. Then torches blazed and salvos resounded, I can tell you. ' For Freedom ! For Free- dom ! ' was the cry." He fell back into his chair, shaken with emotion. " Do you think my valorous Lagienka ? Achi those Polish songs. There's poetry for you ! " " Now it's my turn," cried Ewald, hastily undoing his portfolio. " You'll live to see it all, Herr Wiskotten," said the old man, still absorbed in his theme ; " the working people shall have their demands granted. The consecrated blood of those days cannot have flowed in vain. Now the flowers * Up, German folk, you mighty race, the crucial hour has struck. Arise and be no longer enslaved, with strength and courage claim your rights in the holy people's confederation! Follow the flag of black-red-gold to victory and peace, from oppression and shame. We tremble not before opposing bayonets freedom freedom free- dom bursts our chains. 112 SONS OF THE RHINE on which it softened the soil in preparation are indeed blooming, and God's sun shines above us for each and all." " For even me," trumpeted the lad. " I will have my share of artist life and freedom. I'm going to the Acad- emy at Diisseldorf." " Du lieber Gott! You lucky fellow ! " cried the old man, in an awed tone. " Would you care to see my drawings ? " " If I may have that pleasure." The portfolio flew open on the table before them. A white and a brown head bowed over it seriously. The two enthusiastic hearts beat in rhythmic union " How beautiful how wonderfully beautiful ! " " Do they please you, then ? " " How can one speak when he is in the midst of such enjoyment ! No, please don't turn the page yet. The handiwork of coming greatness ! Oh, Herr Wiskotten, the ancients were wise when they sacrificed hecatombs to the gods." Ewald felt no shrinking or embarrassment here. His ambitious youth claimed its rights for praise. The child- ish old idealist seemed to him an appreciative comrade, who rose with him above the criticisms of the common herd. " And these manufacturers' patterns ? " " Herr Gott! Herr Wiskotten. I am myself an old storekeeper. Fifty years of my life were spent in the factory, from apprentice up, so I have some right to an opinion of my own. And I say, as Simon said in the temple, * Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!'" " Here I've indicated the various materials, tried to give the texture and colors in watercolors adding my own SONS OF THE RHINE 1.13 elaborate patterning. That was all the work of idle mo- ments, a mere jest with art just to see if I were not more gifted with inventive talents than our old pattern designer in the factory." " Splen-did ! Paris would go wild over them, you may be sure order hundreds of thousands of yards of such novelty goods." " Do you know Paris, Herr Korten? " " Paris ? Yes that is to say, from her catalogues and order books. The firm for which I worked so long sold chiefly to Paris. There I became acquainted with the tastes of the Parisians, and from that the people themselves." " After I've spent a few years in Diisseldorf, I shall go to Paris too ! " "Ah, yes indeed, to Paris by all means. Paris with its entrancing, intoxicating traditions. You know of Hein- rich Heine he's buried in Montmartre " " But I'm interested in the living, Herr Korten ! " " Well, well, perhaps you are right in that. We are a people, a race of thinkers and poets. If we but do justice to our contemporaries, our age too shall be immor- talized." " Have you traveled far in your day? " ." Far? What do you call far nowadays? I've been to the Siebengebirge twice, have seen the legendary Drachen- fels on the Rhine, and once I visited Antwerp was in Ant- werp at the time when the great Flemish poet, Hendrik Conscience, celebrated his jubilee. I it was who brought to him the congratulations of the Wupper valley poets writ- ten in their native Platt-Deutsch. There was a bond between him and us, as there has been Flemish blood in the valley ever since the war of the Spanish Succession drove so many religious refugees here from the Nether- lands. They settled in our valley, bringing with them their 114 SONS OF THE RHINE secrets of silk weaving and lace making. Yes, yes indeed, I have traveled in my day." "And you have all these diplomas too, Herr Korten. You have been held in great honor too, in your long life." The old man smiled wistfully. " In too great honor, perhaps. Too great for my modest talents. But it makes me proud and happy. These diplomas are a record of my progress, they attest that I have not buried my own small ' talent ' ; that I have labored faithfully in the service of the Muses. Instead of worldly rewards, laurels have come to me. Do you realize, Herr Wiskotten, that the people of the valley look upon a poet as a higher sort of being. When they wish for a prologue to a holiday play, or a poem, they do not presume to offer money in exchange does that not show a certain fineness in them? I think so, although the good wife has always thought otherwise, all her life. Instead of money they repay me with the highest honors that are theirs to give honorary member- ship in their guilds or trades unions. There is not a single such association in the Wupper valley that has failed to honor me in this way." Ewald rose. " I must be going now." " Yes, my dear young friend, into the great free world that awaits you ! It was my fate to remain close to my native soil, but just because of this I can realize all the more keenly what it means to escape out into free- dom. Go, then hasten but do not forget us who can only dream of freedom and far-away lands." Ewald left the old optimist, with flushed cheeks and bright eyes "go, then hasten," rang in his ears, throbbed in his heart, lent wings to his feet. The heights of the valley cup flamed as with beacon fires in the glow of the setting sun, and he took it for an omen. At that SONS OF THE RHINE 115 moment he would have laughed to scorn the suggestion that they were not indeed guiding fingers of fire lighting his way. The life that flooded and surged through the twin cities pleased him in his mood of exaltation; he felt that all this visible, joyous tumult was but an outward ex- pression of his own inner feelings. Still burning with a mental fever that the cool March winds had no power to abate, he entered his parents' house. " Where have you been all day ? " queried his mother, angrily, as she stopped reading and took off her spectacles. Pushing the lamp toward the middle to get a better light on his face, she added : " The pastor sat here waiting for two hours. You, you were the one who kept him waiting! " " I never asked him to come ! " " You needn't be impudent. When he is kind enough to offer his advice, you should thank him." " What does the pastor know of my needs? " " Father, the boy must be crazy. * What does the pas- tor know of his needs?' Where have you been? Have you been drinking? " " You know nothing at all of the stuff that has made me drunk." " You could not pay your mother a higher compliment that was hardly your intention, I take it? " " Ach, I mean it was not whiskey or beer. I'm talk- ing of a stronger intoxicant, Inspiration." "What's the boy talking about, Father? " " In-spir-ation." " Inspiration ? These are not the days of Napoleon, Sedan ! Indeed, I see it is high time that you were brought in from running wild on the streets. In two weeks you're going to Halle." "To Halle? Why Halle, Mother? " 116 SONS OF THE RHINE " The pastor says that you will get on with your studies best there." " No, for once and all, I'm going to put an end to this pastor business. Why should he mix, unasked, in my affairs? He ought to have weightier things on his mind. How does he find time to sit so long in the factory-owners' houses? He's needed more elsewhere." " Do you know what you are? A shameless fellow. And a rapscallion like you aspires to become a minister ! " "Indeed, I don't!" " You don't what? " Frau Wiskotten leaned forward " What is that he said, Father. I think I did not hear right." " He said he does not wish to." "Well, what does he not wish to do? What won't he do?" " Mother, let me have my say out^ After all, the ques- tion concerns my future. I know well enough that your intentions are good. But why are you trying to force me into a calling for which I have not the slightest in- clination? " "Because it is all settled, and because it is for your own good and a consoling thought for all of us. That's why!" "That's why? Are we then Jews, to sacrifice one for all. Or Catholics with a vow to fulfill? " " God forgive him ! What a blasphemous tongue he has!" " Truly, truly, Mother, I don't want to offend you, but I cannot become a minister. Can't you see that I do not feel the slightest calling. Surely, one should not become a pastor in the same matter-of-fact way as one becomes a shoemaker or a tailor. How can you wish to force me into the ministry?" SONS OF THE RHINE 117 " Because it is all settled decided." "Nothing is settled," stormed the youth. "Father, have I not told you already that I will not cannot." The old man's habitual peace of mind was troubled by this dispute. He attempted to pacify them by a sug- gestion " Shall we not wait till Gustav comes? " " I'd like to know where Gustav comes in here ; it's my affair ! " cried the boy. " Or perhaps August, Mother? " " No, not August, either ; it's bad enough that the spirit of contradiction has grown so strong here," cried the angry old woman ; " it goes about like a lion seeking whom he may devour." " At least let him tell us, Mother, what he does want to be." "An artist, Father." " What ! ! " rang menacingly from the old woman's lips. " What is that an artist? " " I want to go to Diisseldorf to the Academy there. I want to be a painter." Frau Wiskotten made an incredulous gesture, but her hand trembled as it fell on the table. " Say that again ! " " An artist, Mother. I want to paint pictures of every- thing beautiful ; people, animals, the whole of creation." Frau Wiskotten's lips moved, but no sound issued from them. Her face became livid, and deep creases of anger furrowed it. " You must have forgotten your cate- chism? " " Mother, now listen to me ! " " What is the First Commandment? " " I don't know, Mother, and it has nothing to do with this, anyway " " And God spake all these Commandments ' Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of 118 SONS OF THE RHINE anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' " " But, Mother, that was meant altogether differently those were different times." " It is not different. It is written just so. And I won't for an instant allow you to explain away a single letter of Holy Writ." " But, Mother, haven't we had many pious church painters? " " No Protestants, none of the Reformed Faith." " But Evangelical " "What all don't they call Evangelical nowadays! I don't follow that fashion, however! What is written, is written." " Mother, let me explain to you." " What, shall I let my own child teach me ? Have you forgotten the Fourth Commandment too ? " The boy cast a despairing glance about him; he was fairly stifling with emotion. Then he saw his mother reach for her spectacles and newspaper. The act mad- dened him, he refused to be dismissed " I will be a painter ! " he cried aloud. " Ewald ! " remonstrated his father. " I'm going to be a painter ; yes, indeed, I am ! And Mother shall learn that I mean what I say." " Then go to the kirmess and join some troupe there, become a low comedian at once," cried his mother, angrily, striking the table with her open hand. " They're all of a kind. Novel scribblers, paint daubers, theater puppets do you know where they all belong? In the devil's caldron, all together in the devil's caldron." "Our great geniuses?" " Wastrels, one and all." Again the energetic old hand struck the table a resounding blow. Then Frau Wiskotten SONS OF THE RHINE 119 rose to go into the kitchen about her tasks for the even- ing meal. The boy rose too, every inch of his lanky height. " Mother," he said, stepping in her path, " I'll be of age this Winter. Surely I'm old enough to have some voice in my own affairs; you're guilty of a great sin if you don't help me in my choice." " I'm ready to answer to my God for such sins. You may leave that to my conscience." " Mother, won't you send me to the Academy? " " I'd sooner send you to the poorhouse." " You will not give me any support? " " Not a penny." "And you, Father?" The old man signaled to him " Wait," but the boy was beyond further self-restraint. " Then you cast me off like a beggar? Well, I'll go, Mother, I'll go." " Your bed here will always be ready for you." With lips convulsively pressed together to keep down the angry sobs, the boy turned and went out of the room. In the bedroom he shared with his brother Paul he blindly found and readily packed a small satchel. Then he made sure that he still had the hundred-mark bill his father had secretly given him after he had passed his examinations so well, put on his hat and coat, and was off with his satchel and precious portfolio of sketches. The house door slammed. The old couple in the living room ex- changed an uneasy look of mutual understanding. " Mother," said the old man, " if only nothing happens to the lad." His eyes were wet. " Do you hear, Mother? He's gone." " Father," said the old woman, folding her tremu- lous hands, " Father, compose yourself, this is Holy Week. . . ." CHAPTER VII FOE a week the strike continued to cripple the indus- tries of the Wupper valley, obliging the factory owners to have their yarn made up by outside firms at a great loss of time and money. The Wiskottens had profited im- mensely by being the only factory to remain open. They put on day and night shifts to fill the lion's share of Au- tumn orders that poured in upon them. The members of the firm, even the women folks of the family, found little time for rest or recreation. "Our William certainly knows how to make the most of an opportunity," said Gustav to his mother ; " he has painted the strike demon in such lurid colors that they're mighty anxious about their orders. A great lawyer was lost in him." " Lawyer ! Our William is not anxious to drive straight to the devil in a post chaise." Since her youngest child had gone away in anger the old woman had grown harsher than ever. Easter came and went; there followed part of another week, and then the chimneys of the valley were once more belching forth smoke like so many angry dragons. The accustomed clouds of black vapor again gathered about the roofs of the twin towns, and tourists gazing down from the Sonneborn railway bridge saw with amazement that creatures in human semblance dwelt in this steam- ing caldron. The strikers and their employers had come to an un- derstanding: each had come to the realization that there 120 SONS OF THE RHINE 121 was far more loss than profit for all in letting the works be idle at the busiest time of the year. A compromise was reached and holiday clothes and manners disappeared promptly into convenient closets. Their wearers had al- ready begun to weary of the perpetual Sunday atmos- phere, were homesick indeed for their comfortable worka- day blouses. The first keen pleasure had long since gone from their aimless strolls by the river, and their sturdy muscles cried out for their usual vigorous, purposeful employment. Then, too, directly after Easter Sunday, the " heavens opened," letting down such copious floods of rain that the pleasant promenades were covered with boggy mud. Driven home by the inclement weather, the men were assailed by complaints. Their wives reminded them continually that their wages were now all spent and the pittance doled out to them by the union did not suf- fice to buy as much as a dry herring apiece for the angry mouths at home. Under this last assault, holiday gayety soon vanished, and finding no peace or comfort at home, the strikers turned instinctively to their masters for help anything to escape from the reproaches of their wives. So a peace was patched up on reasonable terms, with the unspoken hope of seeing those terms voluntarily revised by the owners at the end of a busy and profitable season. Thus the factory chimneys began to pour forth smoke once more, in great clouds, as if hastening to make up for lost time. But Gustav looked on with a smile; the Wiskottens had already skimmed the cream of that sea- son's trade. His success in handling his people had, however, won him the ill will of the other owners. Envious glances followed him and many spiteful remarks were made anent his lack of caste loyalty. " What is this thing caste? " he asked of his wife when she reproachfully quoted her father to him. " For me 122 SONS OF THE RHINE there is but one caste, and that is the ' Wiskottens.' If that caste prospers in its factory, I'm satisfied." " It is easy to see that you come from peasant stock ! " " Oh, is it? How is it that you notice this for the first time today?" " Otherwise you would have stood by your own class and not with the strikers." " Woman, my workmen stood by me. That's quite dif- ferent." "You're simply splitting hairs. Had your factory closed down like the others, the rest of the factory owners would not have had to humble themselves so much." " If they had shown more foresight with regard to their men, they would not have been obliged to at all. At our works there was nothing but order and contentment. Was it in my place to evoke disorder discontent? In return for the long-standing good faith of my men, simply be- cause the other factory owners were lacking in good sense could not see further than their own noses? No indeed!" "I really believe you're glad that the others were in so much trouble." " Yes indeed ! Absolutely and entirely ! I only regret that it did not last longer." " You ought to be ashamed to say such things." " I'm not so easily shamed. The others are not, either, but when they're in such a fix it's easy for them to act as if abused. But I have the courage of my convictions, and dare to speak the truth from my heart." " If you have anything like a heart." Answering only with a frown, he left his home and went back to the factory. The foundations were being put in on the new building site by the Wupper. He looked on for a few minutes, then, refreshed, he began his daily SONS OF THE RHINE 123 round in the factory. Everywhere he saw cheerful ac- tivity, with no signs of fatigue or listlessness. The sigh- ing and shirring of the ribbon looms were accompanied by whistling and singing. A girl came flying up the steps in leaps and bounds, on her way from the workroom. In the highest of spirits, she did not see the owner until she had run headlong against him. " You thunderbolt," he laughed, and held her fast an instant, then his grasp loos- ened and she hurried on her way. A flash of longing came to him suddenly, a desire for his share in this eager joy- of-living he saw all about him a longing that left him depressed for the rest of the day. Evening found him weary to the point of exhaustion as he returned to his home. He desired nothing so much as a refreshing, undisturbed sleep. Fritz had relieved him and taken over the night shift. " Good evening," he said, cheerily, tossing his cap on the nearest chair. " Are the children in bed? " Emily sat at her work table and seemed not to notice his entrance. At his question she answered with a curt " yes." " You might at least say * Good evening, 5 " he said, as he seated himself at the dinner table. " Is there any- thing to eat?" " To me ? " " I have already eaten with the children." " Did you? " He played idly with his knife and fork, but made no further attempt at conversation. The maid brought in the supper and Gustav ate it in silence. After he had folded his napkin he let his arms fall wearily to his sides. " I cannot go in to see the children tonight. I'm tired out. I'm going to bed at once." No answer. " Is anything the matter with you, Emily? " 124 SONS OF THE RHINE "Absolutely nothing! But I think it quite proper that you do not go near the children tonight." "What do you mean?" " I don't need to tell you." " I haven't the slightest notion what this is all about." "I suppose, then, that such happenings are everyday matters with you? " " What in Heaven's name? " Emily Wiskotten raised her head, hate and contempt gleamed in her reddened eyes. " You might as well have brought her along with you that young person ! " "What young person, pray? Donner wetter!" " You needn't swear before me ! " she fairly shrieked, no longer mistress of herself. " If anyone has a right to curse here it is /. What do / get out of life? Anger, worry, humiliation nothing more. I'm treated like a beggar, given alms, not what is my due." "That is not the truth!" " That is the whole truth. Nothing is discussed with me ; everything with your mother ! I'm only good enough for a housemaid; yes, that's it, a housemaid to see to the meals and give thanks to her Creator for the favor of seeing her master a few minutes at meal times. What do I know about you after ten years of married life? Just what you look like, nothing more absolutely nothing. And if I learn anything by chance, it must be something humiliating ! " " You're out of your senses, Emily." "How can I be otherwise, when I hear such things? Lying in wait for your own working girls, so as to hug and kiss them, and then play the innocent to me ! Pah ! Pah!" Poor Gustav blushed painfully ; innocent though he was, he felt himself in the wrong. SONS OF THE RHINE 125 "Who told you?" " So you don't even take the trouble to lie about it? I'm not of enough importance for a lie? Ach Goitl If there were no children ! " " Now do be reasonable. I only asked you who told you this tale." " That has nothing to do with the matter." " It has a great deal to do with it, for the half of it was a lie." " A lie, indeed ! The lie is yours. Why, Minna saw it with her own eyes." "Minna?" " Yes, Minna, as she was taking the coffee to the office. She saw you there with your arms about that woman. ' The master is in a good humor,' she added, grinning. I could have slapped her face for that ! " " Do you find it so strange, then, for me to be in a good humor, Emily?" " Oh, with other people you're probably always happy, but I am kept at home here and don't see it." " There was nothing between that girl and me that will not stand examination; it was only a jest. I grabbed her as she ran up the steps. That was all I never kissed her or hugged her." " Apparently there was no need for words nor of what you did, either ! " " No, there was no necessity. I have no need of diver- sion. All I must do is work till my head swims, then eat and sleep ! What more can a man want ? " " Then you must have thought of such things if you did not say them." Gustav rose, gazing half dreamily past his wife as if he had forgotten her existence. " Yes, I thought how beautiful it must be to have such a gay young creature 126 SONS OF THE RHINE rush to meet me and fling her arms about my neck, bring- ing to me a world of laughter and song, of ardent, eager love! Ach! Then I could go forth day after day and attack my work with the ardor of a dozen men, that I might be free to return home the sooner. And I thought, how strange it is that many women lack the gift, the charm for this ! " All her anger flamed anew. " You're trying to cast all the blame on me. After all our past together! Oh, how can you? " " Stop, Emily ! We've talked this all over often enough. You are what you are, and there is no way to change you." " Why did you marry me, then ? Were you foolish enough to think you could reeducate me to your way of thinking? " Gustav looked at her appealingly, his face quivering. " We were both so very young then. We had not the slightest idea of what marriage really meant." " Well, is that your excuse ; don't you even know why you wanted me then? " she said, scornfully. " It was because you were beautiful. I said to myself, * A person that is so beautiful must also be happy, and happiness is good in one's home.' But I was mistaken you are not at all cheery." " But you made no mistake about my money." Quietly, as if explaining some well-known fact to a fractious child, he answered, " Your money made our mar- riage possible. Ten years ago we Wiskottens were not in a position where I could have indulged in an act that would have brought hardship on the whole family. That may sound harsh, but our family pride is very strong. Had you given it a thought, you might have judged that I would carry that same strong family feeling into SONS OF THE RHINE 127 my new home, would be equally loyal to this household. It lay wholly in your hands to develop my tender side, and draw me to you as my duties in the factory became less burdensome, and I had more free time for my own pleasures. But you seem to be lacking in tact as well as cheerfulness. Family ties and affections are not knit any closer by continual nagging. And the factory the factory and no other outside interest whatever has al- ways left me too weary to do it for both." Emily flung herself into a chair, sobbing: " I wish I could go away. ... I wish I had never had the children ... so that I could go away, like Ewald; yes, like Ewald. He at least has shown you that he won't be bullied, that he is what he is and must be paid some attention. Ach Gott " Gustav groped for his cap. "Where are you going? You said a moment ago you were going to bed." " I've forgotten to leave some orders at the factory." She faced him accusingly : " She is she the person of this afternoon there now?" " You might show your own desire for my company in a more agreeable way, Emily. Good night." " I'll leave this house at once. I'll not let myself be humiliated any more." "Good night, Emily." His step lacked buoyancy as he walked across to the factory, and told his brother Fritz, whom he found smok- ing in the private office, to go home to bed. " I happened to remember some work I must get off tonight, and a few more hours' work won't kill me." When old Kolsch came in later for instructions about the filling of an order, he found his young master sitting before his desk, his head bowed wearily, seeing nothing, 128 SONS OF THE RHINE doing nothing. Receiving no answer to his question, the old man went up and laid an affectionate hand on the list- less shoulder. Gustav looked up, their eyes met in a friendly glance. " Kolsch, I'm getting old. The well- springs of my youth are drying up." The old man gave the shoulder another hearty pressure and went out. Speech failed him, but he busied himself about the work that Gustav should have been doing. A week later, William Wiskotten returned from Eng- land. He arrived early one morning and went directly to his parents' house in order to sleep off the fatigue of his journey before meeting his brothers. When Gustav arrived there from the factory that afternoon the returned traveler was still sleeping. " He had earned that much indulgence, Mother. It is a weary task to keep up with those ' Misters ' across the water." " You don't look well, Gustav." " Am I talking so foolishly that you think me ill? " " No, I was not listening, but looking at you. Come, have a cup of coffee with us. Pastor Schirrmacher is here too." Gustav did not need to be coaxed. " I have not seen Father lately, so I think I will." Old Wiskotten was visibly delighted to see his eldest son. He grasped Gustav's hand and held it in a long clasp. " Don't be so choicy in your company, you rascal ! I cannot find anyone to equal you in laughing the rheu- matism out of my old bones." "How are you, Father? Don't be angry with me for staying away. I've had no new jokes for you lately." " Sit down, Gustav. Take a holiday with us." SONS OF THE RHINE 129 " Good day, Herr Pastor. Pardon me for not greeting you first." "Good day, my dear Gustav. You were perfectly right in the order of your greetings. Honor your father and mother, so that you may prosper." " I try to, Herr Pastor. One does the best one can." " At last these strike troubles are happily over. I preached my people a sermon to stir their consciences last Sunday : ' Not unto him through whom strife cometh into the world.' " " Was that the text for the day? " " From the twentieth chapter of St. John : * Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe.' " Gustav stirred his coffee thoughtfully. "Yes, that would have been hard to convince them of also." " The doubting Thomas of Holy Writ finds many suc- cessors in our own day ! " " At least our Lord let him feel, to be sure that it was He. I too must see and touch before I can believe." But the turn the conversation had taken did not please Frau Wiskotten and she broke in : " Yes, the strike is ended now, and you must be busier than ever, Herr Pastor." " He's had plenty to keep him busy all the time, Mother." " My dear Gustav, your mother is quite right. There'll be many now who will begin to see the error of their ways, and I'll not hesitate to give them a pithy word or so of advice." " To the factory owners too? " The pastor looked up sharply. Then he said slowly, in his sonorous pulpit voice: "Be subject to the authority that is just over you. For there is no authority save from God." 130 SONS OF THE RHINE " Herr Pastor," Gustav played nervously with his cup, " you're not preaching to Sunday-school children here. Any opinion can find backing in the Bible. But can we support our opinions so well by our own acts? You know how absolute is the religious faith of the Wiskottens, of Mother and August at least. You'll have to take me into the bargain as the family's doubting Thomas ! And listen, Herr Pastor, I have my doubts of the striking power of sermons from the pulpit that are not prefaced by deeds that give them genuine meaning." " Tell me what is on your mind, my son." " Is there much for me to say? It is the custom in our valley for the pastor to visit the members of his parish. Well and good! But what are the limits of that parish? Does it comprise only those who faithfully attend church? If so, then it is only a matter of reciprocal visiting. To my mind, the parish should be much larger, for those who never go to church have all the more need of a pastor and friend. The others have him every Sunday in church." Pastor Schirrmacher clapped his hands. " You've said something worth while. Yours is a point of view that claims consideration. Do I, too, fall under your sweeping condemnation ? " " Herr Pastor," replied Gustav, heartily, " you are an exception ; you belong to the Old Guard. I've never for- gotten the dressing down you would give me in Sunday- school when I made eyes at the girls. That won my ad- miration; it was practical Christianity. No, no, Mother, I'm not joking. And I know too, Herr Pastor, that your whole income goes to the poor and sick year after year. That sort of practical Christianity is rare enough among your brethren of the cloth." " You forget that I have no family to claim it." " Among the clergy the word family should have a far SONS OF THE RHINE 131 wider meaning, otherwise they are not true spiritual shep- herds. Theirs is the one calling that cannot be attained by the mere passing of examinations. Brotherly love, with discrimination, and self-sacrifice are essential here. They must have both eyes and heart for the greater parish of those who remain at home and are accustomed to be overlooked for these parishioners as well as for the churchgoers ; for those who cannot learn faith in God, because they have not been taught faith in man. Herr Pastor, if you were not so old and intimate a friend of the family, I would not allow myself to talk like this. But, believe me, one learns something of human life and needs in the factory ; there's plenty of both mental and physical want to be seen there. The younger ministers of this valley should study these questions thoroughly. Not in vestry meetings or visits to the pious members of their flocks ; they must learn to know the workingman's house from cellar to roof before they can understand his wants. Then they'll come to realize the worthlessness of mere sermons, however dramatic. We factory owners train these human beings to efficiency as workmen; you must educate them as individuals. Then they can go ahead and make themselves into saints and angels without anyone's help." Pastor Schirrmacher laughed softly. " Did I really ever have you for a Sunday-school pupil? " He grasped Gus- tav's hand warmly. " I'm proud of the result, even though I meet you so seldom nowadays. But what you say about having heart and eyes for the ' greater parish,' my dear son that is indeed right. If that were followed up and the pastor visited with less regard to social distinction, there might be less fear of the growing power of the 1 Reds ' and Social Democrats." " If you really approve all I've said, Herr Pastor, then 132 SONS OF THE RHINE I must drink to your health. Donnerwetter! This is cof- fee; what was I thinking about?" " I would not object to pledging you in a glass of wine. What do you say, Father Wiskotten? " " The very thing, Herr Pastor ! Mother, give us some glasses. No, no, my gout is not troubling me now, I'm just a bit under the weather." Frau Wiskotten brought the wine glasses, although at heart she disapproved the sentiments they were about to toast. She could not do it without an apology for the free speech of her eldest son. " I don't know how on earth he has come by such ideas. He never used to give a thought to such things." " Perhaps I do now because of Ewald his going away. It set me to thinking." " Have you heard anything from him since his arrival in Diisseldorf? " said the pastor, with assumed ease, as he raised his glass to his lips. He waited a moment for an answer, but Frau Wiskotten's lips remained grimly pressed together and she gazed straight ahead, as if she had not heard. " I've had word of him through Kolsch," said Gustav, when he saw his mother would not answer. " The son of our old foreman is also at the academy in Diisseldorf. He has written that Ewald is there and has rented rooms from a man by the name of Zinters in the Bolkerstrasse. He seems to be all right for the present." " Then there's no immediate cause for worry about him?" "Worry? The boy is a Wiskotten. Let him sow his wild oats, and when the last handful is gone he'll come back under the yoke fast enough." " He was never born to be a minister," said the pastor, shaking his head. SONS OF THE RHINE 133 "But he can grow to be a fine man, nevertheless," laughed Gustav. " He's keen and resolute, has plenty of ' go ' in him. He's proven that." " You're very fond of him." " I'm fond of anyone who has plenty of ' go ' in him. It's good material to start with. Besides, though we brothers quarrel among each other, because of high spir- its perhaps even because we are so fond of each other we present an unbroken front to the world. All for each, each for all; a good motto, is it not? " " So you see, my dear Gustav, by listening to you I have been able to gain something, even if this is a pre- tentious house and not a workingman's cottage. At any rate, this has been a very enjoyable chat. I must be go- ing; it's six o'clock now. May you continue so hale and hearty, Herr Wiskotten, and may God keep you in your present contented frame of mind ! Adieu, dear Frau Wiskotten ! Gustav, you must come and smoke a pipe with me one of these days." " Now it's high time to drag William out of bed ! " said Gustav, when the pastor was gone. " The rascal sleeps like a lord ! Well, here he is at last." William appeared in the doorway, freshly shaved, his English side whiskers carefully brushed, and wearing a sack suit that was a masterpiece of British sartorial art. " Did you expect us to shut down work at the factory to welcome you? " jeered Gustav; but he shook his brother heartily by the hand. " My, but you look as if you had just stepped out of a bandbox ! A regular dude ! Never mind, we can stand it if your heart's still in the right place." " Good day, Gustav ! " Then, greeting his parents, he asked, " Will there be something to eat soon, Mother? " Frau Wiskotten raised her eyebrows, but the genial 134 SONS OF THE RHINE old father cried: "Yes, youngster, if you can name the meal. What shall it be, breakfast, dinner, or supper? If you say so, we'll run through the whole programme with you." " Very well, all together in the form of a beefsteak." " Mother, did you notice his English accent? It's not time for them, but I hear the others coming too." August, Fritz, and Paul Wiskotten clattered up the steps and burst into the room together. "Is William up yet?" they clamored, not waiting to see. " Why, hello, William ! Hello, old man ! How goes it, Englishman?" "Blest be the day," began Fritz, in a shrill falsetto voice, " when he to us appears ; " and the others responded, " bum-tara-bum-Jtara-bum-bum- bum." Old Wiskotten beamed on them, the mother covered her ears and fled to the kitchen to order immediate beef- steaks. Meanwhile the brothers sat about the table and plied William with questions. The mother, returning, protested : " The boy must be faint with hunger ; leave him alone." Fritz shoved the decanter of red wine toward him. " Drink out of the bottle. Boots and saddles tootle-te- too ! tootle-te-too ! Ready for the cavalry charge ! " "You'll make him drunk!" " Never, not with a dozen bottles like this! Eh? Old whiskey-and-soda ? Do you use seltzer even to brush your teeth with now?" " I don't see how," said William, in a sepulchral voice, " you can manage to exist here without the least notion of good manners." " Good manners ! You're right, Mother, William is drunk already." "No, I mean it," said William. "There should be SONS OF THE RHINE 135 some difference between the tone of a private residence and a public tavern." " Mother, look out," said Gustav, in a stage whisper. " William must be about to invest you with the ' Order of the Garter.' " " You should be ashamed to say such an immodest thing to me," said the old woman, angrily. " I'm sure of it, though ! And he's going to tell Father that he has been made a peer of England." " I don't understand all this rigmarole ; stop talking nonsense ! " The brothers laughed, even August's prim mouth re- laxed, but almost immediately he thumped on the table for order. " We did not leave the factory an hour earlier than usual to crack jokes, but to hear what William has to tell us. It would not hurt any of you to be a little more serious. This is a business meeting of the firm." Silence fell on the group about the table, and William commenced his report. " I wrote you regularly, told almost all there was to tell. At first it was the usual thing, underbidding of competitors to meet, bickering with agents, demands from individual buyers. Then August's telegram came, saying that a strike had been called for the following day in the whole Wupper valley; that Gustav had given a fine exhibition of muscular strength and had thus been able to maintain order ; that we would consequently be the only ones to fill orders promptly, and could also double our output by running night shifts. The next morning I took a carriage and spent the day visiting each and every one of our customers, showing them the telegram. They had already seen the news in the morning papers and were greatly disturbed. Of course I played the game carefully, to appear as mag- 136 SONS OF THE RHINE nanimous as possible. Our machines were all taxed to the limit, but to accommodate old and valued customers I would take their orders; the small fry must suffer ac- cordingly; I could give attention to and guarantee the delivery of large orders only and so forth. The fact that we had mastered the trouble at the start impressed them most favorably. When I told them how Gustav had cracked the heads of the ringleaders and agitators to- gether until they were all split " " But Gustav did nothing of the sort," protested Frau Wiskotten. " Certainly he did not. But that's what I told them, nevertheless." " That was very wrong of you, William." "But how about the orders it brought? Were they * very wrong ' too? " " The orders were well enough," she replied, curtly. "Well, that's the main thing, isn't it? The London sales agents wired to their various Wupper valley houses for news, but when after much delay the wire arrived, 4 Strike settled, all orders can be filled immediately,' my pockets were already filled with those very orders." "Your health, William!" cried old Wiskotten, in a voice filled with pride and happiness ; never had wine tasted better to him than at that moment. " We're safe now, at least till Autumn," said August, thoughtfully. " But I suppose all our profits will be sunk into the new dye works." "Our new dye works may eat up profits, but it will fairly devour work, work, work ! " laughed Gustav. " And what then what else, William?" " Nothing, except that we must get out some novelty in our line, cheap but pretty. There's where the money is made." SONS OF THE RHINE 137 " Cheap and pretty. That's the idea, but it is easier said than done." " Fritz wrote me the other day about a new saddle horse he was looking at for the Autumn maneuvers. I know him well enough to hazard a guess that he has succeeded with some new experiment." All eyes were turned inquiringly toward Fritz, who seemed greatly embarrassed and stroked his mustache nervously. It was easy to see that he had something of importance to tell them. For a tense moment the at- mosphere of their beloved factory seemed to descend and envelop them ; even here the air seemed to vibrate with the clatter of the looms, the whirring of the spools, and the puffing steam of the vats. Gustav broke the spell with a word " Fritz ! " Fritz rose abruptly and began to pace the room. Then, shoving a chair between those of his father and eldest brother, he drew something from his breast pocket. " To- day I finished the experimental work. To celebrate Wil- liam's return I'll tell you about it now. Look at this, Father. What is it? " Father Wiskotten examined the skein of yarn. " Cot- ton!" "And this one?" " Silk ! No Donnerwetter it's cotton too ! Ach! I'm bewildered ! Tell me, is it silk or cotton? " " It is cotton, Father." The brothers drew closer and craned their necks, their breath came in excited gasps. Then August Wiskotten rose, went to the door, and turned the key. The magic skein now passed from hand to hand. " Go on, tell us about it, Fritz ! " " Well, if even Father's experienced eyes can be de- ceived for a moment," he said, with a satisfied sigh, " then 138 SONS OF THE RHINE I must have succeeded. You see, I dye the yarn itself be- fore it is made up. A finish like this has been laid on finished goods successfully the idea is not new. But until now no one has succeeded with ribbons, where all the dyeing must be done before the material is worked up. Now look at this." He drew a piece of ribbon from his pocket. " Last night I made this on the sample loom." The old man examined it eagerly, then it passed from hand to hand. "Boy, boy, chemistry is a marvelous thing ! " he cried. "Yes, indeed, Father. But this is not the result of those few semesters in Freiburg; they are necessary, but the love of it all is an inheritance from you." " And from your mother ! " The old woman had been rubbing the sample between her fingers in silence. Now she looked up. " Gustav, you were right after all, in your haste to build the new dye works." " Do you think it is a success, Mother? " " This is the best article of the kind ever seen in the Wupper valley. The question of additional cost remains." " No more than ordinary cotton at most only a few cents. It's just a trick with chemicals. The difficulty was to get it just right. It took a deal of experimenting before I succeeded." Gustav rose in great excitement. " Come, Fritz, we must go to the laboratory at once." August started up at this, his usually pale face flushed. " You must show us at once how it is done." "To the factory? Again? No, indeed, my children! Every laborer is worthy of his hire. Tomorrow is time enough." " Man ! " cried Gustav, shaking him by the shoulders. " You're not so tired as all that ! Forward ! " SONS OF THE RHINE 139 " Haven't you a spark of business spirit? " thundered August, stirred out of his usual calm. " Have you all gone crazy? " cried the young inventor. " Forward, march to the factory ! " boomed Gustav. " Don't shout so," chimed in William, looking his dis- pleasure. " You act like wild men." " What on earth do you mean by your confounded superior airs ? It's laughable ! " " I tell you it cannot be done tonight," put in Fritz. " You'll have to wait till morning. I shall have to make up the preparation then and Father can have the pleas- ure of seeing the whole process with you." " Very well, if you require time. I suppose we must not be too impatient. Then the disappointment vanished in an outburst of congratulation. " Deuce take it all ! Himmel Herr Gott! You old Swede ! " laying violent hands on Fritz at every exclamation. The maid knocked at the bolted door and was allowed to enter with the supper. " I'll eat with you tonight," said Gustav. " Emily is at her father's." Despite the excitement they fell to heartily and devoured the supper to the last crumb. " You eat like harvest hands," said William, in a critical tone. " I'll be ashamed of you all when " " When what ? Englishman ! " " When my fiancee arrives." "Wh-a-at!" The chairs crashed back against the wall as the brothers rose in astonishment. " You're a stupid-looking lot with all your mouths open," he jeered. " You are engaged? " said Frau Wiskotten, reproach- fully. " I have been for a whole day. Is that a crime? I 140 SONS OF THE RHINE herewith announce with all formality my betrothal to Miss Mabel White, daughter of our chief London customer." " Oh ! " came in mock respectful chorus. " Your parents should be the first to be told." "But I have just told you, Mother. Miss White is sure to please you. She is planning to visit you this Summer." " How shall I ever get on with a foreign daughter-in- law ? I cannot even talk to her ! " " Her mother was a German from Remscheid, nee Anna Winkelmann." Their astonishment was subsiding now, giving place to pleasure as they realized that the girl William had won was the daughter of an important man in the business world. "William has given another proof that he makes the most of his opportunities," said August, voicing the gen- eral verdict. Until ten o'clock they continued to question William about his fiancee. She was a paragon, tall, slender, chic, a notable horsewoman in a country where many women rode well, etc. Gustav had listened in silence, visualizing hungrily the vivacious, charming young foreigner who was soon to be among them a daily joy to the husband of her choice with her manifold graces. A gnawing envy filled him, but with an effort he banished these tantalizing visions and stealthily wiped his eyes. But the others had seen and understood, with the quick sympathy that was between them all, and as he rose to go they followed him. "Where are you all going? It's bedtime!" cried the mother. " We're going to see Gustav home. He needs company tonight." SONS OF THE RHINE 141 They trooped along the quiet streets to Abraham Schulte's inn, laughing and jesting boisterously, as if they were sole masters of the sleeping town. Paul suddenly recalled that their fellowship was incomplete. " It's too bed Ewald is not here." " Have you news of him ? " " He returned the money I sent him." " Good for him ! I'm proud of his spirit ! Good even- ing, Abraham." " When God wants to send down a plague on one he thinks of the Wiskottens ; gentlemen, could you not give someone else the pleasure of your company? " " Bring on your beer." " Let the old Falstaff have his say. The ox that does your threshing should be free to bellow." " Pleasant young man ! Beer ! " " Is she a high-stepper, William? " " Mabel? She'll lead you all a merry pace." August nudged Gustav. " Wake up, Gustav." He looked about dazedly, thumped his glass on the table, and began to sing wildly: " An der Gartentii-a-iir Hat mein Mddclien mi-a-ir Sanft die Hand gedruckt" And joyously, sentimentally, with abandon, the chorus re- sponded, as if the singing of that one song were the sole object of life. " wie ward mir da-o-a Als mir das gescha-o-ah, Als mein Madchen mi-a-ir Sanft die Hand gedriickt " CHAPTER VIII THE trees of Diisseldorf had burst into a riot of bloom. The sweet, heavy scent of their blossoms was wafted across the Rhine from park and garden, to mingle with the tarry smell of shipping, and make many a dreamy young helms- man sniff longingly and think for a moment his dreams of sailing among distant tropic isles had come true. Ewald Wiskotten sat working in one of the art classes of the Academy, drearily sketching the outline of a plaster cast before him. The luring scent-laden breeze reached him through the open window nearby, but the continual working doggedly pursued him. The outline finished, he raised a weary hand, using his crayon as a measure to judge if his proportions were correct. Then he began to lay in the light and shade. But the professor who had been standing behind him for the last half minute now dashed in a few condemnatory strokes by way of criticism, and passed on with a curt phrase of disapproval. " What does this squinting cari- cature represent yourself or the model? I think it must be you, for I see no resemblance to the other." As soon as he had passed on Ewald erased the correc- tions angrily, drew a guiding line from the root of the nose to its base, and sketched in the eyes correctly. Then, with the last flicker of the " divine spark " extin- guished in him for that day, he turned to answer the call of the Spring scents. He leaned out of the window, drinking in the magic of the sunlight ; below him, on the banks of the Rhine, he saw that the first bathhouse of the 142 SONS OF THE RHINE 143 season was open. For weeks his limbs had been heavy with a lassitude that he had not even the will to shake off. Now the broad, sparkling river called, commanded him, with promise of refreshment. He flung his materials to- gether and fairly ran from the hall. Two fellow students looked up and laughed. " Well, Longlegs, are you taking to your heels ? " " The fellow's so thin one might think that Apollo had taken him for Marsayas and flayed him." " Oh, no, it's the other way round ! He has flayed Apollo just look at the sketch of him." Raging inwardly he hurried on, breathing more freely when he had left the hateful building behind. At the bath- house he flung down his money, stalked into his room, threw off his clothes as if they suffocated him, and sprang headlong into the water. " Look sharp there, Hendrick," laughed the manager, to the lifesaver, " there's a suicide for you ! " " Say, young fellow, don't scare all the fish away. You must let them become accustomed to your looks by degrees." Ewald came up sputtering. " Muttonhead ! " he cried, and dove again. " What did he say? I believe he had the impudence to call me names." " No, he merely recognized you, Hendrick. That's no suicide; he's far too bright." " Perhaps I was not the one he recognized. There are other " Ewald collided suddenly with another swimmer. " Hoop-la ! " he cried, without stopping to apologize. " I'll ' hoop-la ' you. Are the police after you? " Ewald turned angrily, raising head and shoulders above the water" Insolent " 144 SONS OF THE RHINE "What?" Paddling against the current, they eyed each other. " Donnerkiel! " cried the newcomer. Why, it's Ewald Wiskotten." " Ernst Kolsch ! I did not recognize you under that wet thatch of hair." " You left your mark on me, however. Boy, you must have left off your flesh in the bathhouse, for when you struck it was like running into a bag of bones." " Have I gotten as thin as that, so that everyone no- tices it? You're the second today to make such a remark." " If I were you I'd get an English sack suit, or some other baggy clothes." " But really, joking aside, I feel quite well." " I'm glad of that," replied the other, curtly, and fell to swimming on his back. " Anna has been visiting me. Why, you don't say? Well, to mend my clothes and how shall I put it? my manners and my morals. She found both in need of her care. Sent her greetings to you. Brrr! I'm getting goose flesh. The water's still plagued cold. Come on out." As they walked side by side to their bathhouse Ernst looked over his old playfellow searchingly. The contrast was strong with his own robust physique, but he made no comment. After rubbing down and dressing they sauntered through the streets and gardens together; at the corner of the Alleestrasse, Ewald started to leave his companion. " What are you going to do? Work? " " I'm going to eat at Zinters', and they are very punctual." "Are you so afraid as that of your landlord? It's a bad habit. You must both unlearn it." SONS OF THE RHINE 145 " But I have to show him some consideration " " So-o ! I understand. Behind with your rent. Well, if my name was Wiskotten." "What then?" " Why, the name is as good as cash. I'd trade on it for credit." Ewald frowned. His pale, young face clouded and seemed to age. " My share of the family name is all I can trade on and that is worthless. At least, at present." His companion winked. " Well, you don't look exactly like a millionaire, it's true. At least, you might go to a decent tailor." " If my looks don't suit you, you don't have to go about with me." "Don't talk like that. This is not the Wiskotten factory." " Adieu," said Ewald, curtly, and strode away with his chin in the air. Ernst Kolsch hesitated a moment, then generosity and sympathy won the day, and he ran after Ewald. " Oh, Ewald ! " "What do you want?" " To ask if you won't eat your midday meal with me today. I'm going to the Schmitz wine rooms ; you'll find it great." " I cannot let anyone else pay my way." " Man, I've sold a picture." " What ! " He whirled and faced his friend. " Really ? Tell me about it ; what picture ? And to whom ? Hurrah, Ernst ! The sons of the Wupper are coming to the front. What was the picture, I say? " Ernst flicked an invisible speck from his sleeve before answering. The foreman's son in his fashionable clothes 146 SONS OF THE RHINE was a strange contrast to the shabby son of his father's employer. "What was the picture?" he said, with as- sumed nonchalance. " Feast " Of Plato?" " No, of Bacchus. What interest in philosophy has Schmitz? None, except that of Omar, perhaps." " None Schmitz bought it? The owner of the place where we're going now? " " That's it. We don't go exactly by invitation, you know. I pay my way like everyone else. So when I'm hungry and have no money I pay with paint." " Is this Schmitz a picture dealer, then ? " "No, he's a wine shop keeper. He was ambitious for a unique public room. So I'm covering his walls for him pen a pen, as his bill clamors for it. In the end, of course, I'll have to find another eating place. Well, what are you gaping at? The most popular drinking places in Diisseldorf are all painted in this fashion, to the mutual contentment of Macenas innkeepers and artist patrons." " What was your subject? " " I painted a well-known army officer as Bacchus ; a pair of local beauties teasing a panther with bunches of grapes that the god has flung to them; and a stout pater familias who frequents the place was my unconscious model for Silenus." " But won't these people recognize themselves ? " " No danger. I painted the lot of them nude. Thus they belong to mythology." " I'll certainly have to go there with you now," laughed Ewald. All his anger had fled, and with it the depression of the morning. An exalted mood possessed him up with Art, down with the Philistines, it is a day of joyous sunlight and merry moods. He had been stray- ing miserably in a gray fog, unhappy and fettered with SONS OF THE RHINE 147 lassitude. Meanwhile his childhood friend had been sporting in the sun, light-hearted and full of self-confi- dence. " You've found the key, Ernst ! Tell me how I may do it too ! " " You have only to be able to do something that others want," said Ernst, with a worldly-wise shrug. At the wine rooms Ewald admired the wall paintings greatly. " Speak up," whispered Ernst to him. At that Ewald loudly voiced the opinion that no one in all Diissel- dorf had the ability to duplicate these paintings, not even Professor Janssen, the academy director. "You're doubtless a connoisseur?" queried the inn- keeper. " Indeed, you have the air of one." " I am myself a painter," answered the lad, proudly. " But one cannot indulge in envy before such a work as this." At that the flattered innkeeper willingly allowed Ernst to extend his hospitality to his friend, even to the extent of a first and then a second botle of " Kupferberg Gold." The champagne exhilarated Ewald ; the blood flowed glow- ingly through his veins and he saw through a rosy mist. Soon his mood became grandiose. " It is a shame and a scandal how we have to drudge in the Academy. I've been sitting a whole semester before the same plaster cast of Apollo. We sketch him full-face, then profile, side view, back view. Even the most ideal subject would grow tire- some and hateful." " Scold away if it makes you feel any better." "Don't you think I'm right? They ought to let me do something original once in a while. Then I'd show them!" "What?" " Achl something alive, different! Something, I tell 148 SONS OF THE RHINE you, that no one has ever done before. You've already accomplished what I'm waiting to do." "I? What can you know of my work? " " Well this Bacchus here." " That daub cannot enter into the discussion. Why that's a joke, fit only for the wastebasket. My time has not yet arrived ; I'm still waiting, marking time." "But what on earth are you waiting for? If I could do that " " I'm waiting for greater poise, assurance. My life has been lacking so far in the extremes of joy and sor- row. I have not yet heard the triumphal shout of Life or of Death." Ewald emptied his glass at one gulp. " No," he cried, " we must not wait ! We must go forth to the field of action and commence playing our roles. These eternal years of study sap our energies." " Only the energies of those who have not enough. No, my boy, this is the forcing period of our talents, the period of training and probation. Had you started to become a merchant you would now and for three years to come be sitting over account books ; not trading in the world's marts. I see the whole thing in a different light. This superficial skill with the hands is something to be learned to become your personal property. The use you make of it depends on the real ability and under- standing that you have been developing meanwhile. My own type is not yet clearly defined. Meanwhile I fill the interval with daubs. Later I hope to do really good work." " But there are some people whose understanding de- velops earlier," insisted the younger lad. " Or perhaps their arrogance, a thing that can ruin the best years of youth." SONS OF THE RHINE 149 "Yours is a sluggard's philosophy." " It is not without its merits, however," laughed Ernst, raising his glass. " For instance, my father never tasted such wine as this in his youth. Neither did yours. Who knows if we shall have the chance to drink it later. Therefore, let us enjoy our youth; it will never return! Your health, young fanatic ! " " We've just been given the task of an original com- position. For the next few days I'll stay at home and work on it. After that I may follow your advice. Now I'must go home and give all my time to it." " Don't tire your poor brains over it in that fashion. Ideas must come like birds of passage; the mind cannot be put in a vise and have ideas wrung from it by sheer pressure." " Will you come next Saturday and take a look at my work?" " If it gives you any satisfaction. But your waste- paper basket may prove quite as good a friend and coun- selor with this first attempt." " Please be serious, Ernst ! " Then with a vehement enthusiasm born of excitement and champagne : " Listen ! I have an idea now." But the other silenced him. " Tell it to your sketch- book ; it has a prior claim. My turn will come soon enough." " Don't talk like that ! I'll make you think otherwise on Saturday." " I wish you luck. Shall we have another bottle? " " No, I've had enough. I'm just in the right mood and must take advantage of it. Adieu, Ernst ! Many thanks." " Oh, Ewald how on what are you living? My ship came home with Anna aboard yesterday, and I'm actually 150 SONS OF THE RHINE going about in fear of pickpockets. Look, here's a brand- new hundred-mark bill I don't know what to do with." " Did Anna tell you to give it to me ? " " What a notion ; you've had too much wine, my boy ! Anna? Of course not." " I I yes, that was foolish of me but don't tell her. I could really use it just now. Zinters is becoming diffi- cult. I thank you, Ernst." With a hasty adieu he left his companion in a state of high excitement. At the first cigar store he bought himself some tobacco and had the bill changed, holding the gold and silver in his feverish hand to assure himself that they were solid realities. Zinters' was now his goal. Old Zinters had for many years been an independent skip- per on the Rhine between Diisseldorf and Holland. After retirement he had opened a small wine shop in Diisseldorf, where his former shipmates and cronies came for a glass of smuggled Holland gin, a long pipe, and a friendly game of " skat." The very men who smuggled his liquor to him were his chiefest patrons. When Ewald entered the smoke-darkened room it was apparently empty, but at the sound of his step the inn- keeper raised his head from the counter where he had been napping. "What a racket! I expected to see some very im- portant person ! " he growled surlily as he recognized his tenant. " Herr Zinters, I owe you money " " Aha ! So you realize that ! It has been on my mind lately too." " Here are seventy-five marks, Herr Zinters. I am not in a position to pay you regularly. But the money is safe enough, with interest if you wish. Only I must be left in peace about it." SONS OF THE RHINE 151 The old man stroked his beard, blinking greedily at the money. Then he swooped it up in a heap and dropped it into the cash drawer. " Oh, very well, if you're that sure of your prospects I was about to give you notice." " Notice ! " Ewald ran his hand nervously through his long hair. The word had shocked him in his exalted mood, flung him harshly against the facts of life, and in a startled attempt at self-preservation he involuntarily followed the very advice Ernst had given him a few hours ago and he had so scornfully received. " Give me notice? Why, the name of Wiskotten is as good as cash." " Certainly, young sir, if there is plenty of cash be- hind it." " Our factory employs three hundred men ! " " Donnerkiel! " Sly shrewdness gave place to blank astonishment on the old man's face. "How many? Three He reached involuntarily toward the array of bottles before him. " I think a little stimulant would be good for both of us." Ewald accepted a glass of spirits, but already he was filled with shame. He set the glass down heavily and turned to go to his room. . " I'll send Gretchen up at once with the receipt," Zin- ters called after him. " Adieu, Herr Wiskotten." He reached his garret room in a white rage at himself. He had broken faith with his pride, boasted of his family instead of standing on his own feet. But even in the midst of his angry humiliation he felt a certain glow of pride, pride in the family name that commanded respect from strangers. Very well, then, he was a Wiskotten he would show them. He flung off his coat and set to work, still in a fine glow from the champagne and spirits. A knock at the door. " Come in ! " and Gretchen ap- 152 SONS OF THE RHINE peared with the receipt. " We are greatly obliged to you. Is there anything you wish?" " No, thank you, I'm quite comfortable." The girl fixed her large, dark eyes on him with a look of interest. Ewald flushed under the scrutiny. For the first time he felt the charm of this slender young creature, and his embarrassment increased painfully. The pulses in his temples began to pound, and it was of no avail that he silently rated himself " you fool." With a boldness born of desperation he stammered, " Fraulein Gretchen " "Yes?" " You are very beautiful." "Well?" " I should like to paint you." " What a crazy idea ! " " Well, if you won't let me paint you can I have a kiss?" She tossed her head, but made no move to go. Emboldened, he drew nearer and took her in his arms, his face pale and tense with his new emotion. Through her dress he felt the pulsing of her warm young blood. " Gretchen ! " he cried, pressing his hungry lips to hers. For an instant she lay passive in his arms, then freed herself abruptly. "Gretchen, are you angry? Ah, Gretchen " he stammered. She pouted. "But, Gretchen!" "You're too free and easy as though you thought me and every other girl easy to kiss." " But I'm not so conceited as all that. I'm no Prince Charming." " But you are one of the rich Wiskottens ! " SONS OF THE RHINE 153 " How in the world did you find that out ? " he cried, in amazement, " Achl one can see you belong to a good family by just looking at you." He laughed happily at that and tried to kiss her again. This time she was not so compliant and he only succeeded after a brisk chase. Even then she denied him her lips. " Hush ! " she cried. " I'll be back ! I must see if father is still asleep." He stood looking after her, vibrant with emotion. Flinging his arms wide as if to embrace the universe, he cried again and again : " This is something wonderful ! Wonderful ! " He wanted to sing, to laugh, to fly out into space on the wings of this great unknown "joy of life" "Gott! Gott!" She reappeared, finger on lips, closing the door noise- lessly behind her. " Sit down ! " she commanded. " You must behave properly or I'll go." He sat down beside her, his arm about her waist, but she moved away until only the tips of his fingers touched her. " Don't be so silly, that's not the way to behave." He bent toward her, eagerly drinking in her beauty as if he saw her now for the first time. At last he said softly: " Your hair is black as jet." " I've known that a long time, silly." " So are your eyes, and there are flickering lights in them like fireflies in a summer night." " Now, you're getting really poetic." "And what a very aristocratic little nose, with sensi- tive, quivering nostrils ! " She smiled, well pleased. " And a mouth like a scarlet poppy." " I get that from my mother." "Was she as beautiful as you, Gretchen?" 154 SONS OF THE RHINE The girl's eyes glowed. "Father met her at Rotter- dam, when he used to make his trips on the Rhine. She was the ' star ' there in one of the best music halls. If she had lived I would never have had to help father here. She would have let me become an actress or singer as I want to." "Do you?" "Indeed I do!" "Why?" She closed her eyes and sighed. " Look at me ! " he cried, and they gazed at each other hungrily, as though they were the only two living crea- tures in existence. A laugh broke the tension and the youth drew her to him, although his eyes were blinded by strange, dazzling flashes of light that seemed to shoot from the wide, black pupils of the girl who faced him. He grasped her almost fiercely, and they kissed until both were breathless. She no longer resisted, but answered the hot, sudden kisses again, until neither knew who gave and who took. Suddenly she raised herself on tiptoes and bit him sharply on the ear. " Little Wild Cat ! " he cried. But it was only a piquant interlude, and they were at their kissing again. " Gretchen, oh, Gretchen ! " Ewald " " Now I have a sweetheart." " No, you're too young for that." "I? In another year I'll be of age." " Then your parents will have to give you your share." "We-11, I don't know about that," he murmured, uncertainly. " But I'll make a fortune for us myself. I'm going to leave the Academy soon. Then I'll begin to paint pictures of my own. There will be two may- SONS OF THE RHINE 155 be three years of waiting. Oh, Gretchen, dearest, ray betrothed " " It would be much better if your family came to your assistance now. They have plenty of money to spare." " You just wait, Gretchen, they'll be glad enough to come to me later on. Another kiss where is your mouth? Ah h " " Let's go to the circus tonight." "Wherever you wish. Where is the circus? " * " On the Oberkassler side of the river. I was there Sunday with Frank Stibben from Neuss. Next spring he'll be made captain of one of his father's vessels." " That sort of thing must end from today on ! " he commanded, proudly. "What?" "You must not go out alone with other men. You belong to me alone." " But Franz has already spoken to father and has his consent." "A common fellow like that? Marry you? He'd better not come around here again, that fresh-water Jackie." "Don't be so high and mighty! The Stibbens are good, substantial citizens." " They belong to the common herd, the proletariat," he cried, " with their thirty cents' worth of prop- erty. Don't speak of them again ! I tell you I won't allow it." " But you and I are not yet pledged, and we cannot be formally betrothed because you are not of age." " I shall be soon, then we'll " " At seven o'clock tonight I'll meet you in the market * The circus is a permanent institution in Germany, comparable to our vaudeville, well housed, and with actors as well as animals. 156 SONS OF THE RHINE place under the Jan Willen statue. Hush! Father is calling." He grasped the pretty face between the lean hands and covered it with hasty, random kisses. Then she slipped out as noiselessly as she had come. Now for his dream the composition. If he could but put this new, strange happiness on paper ; but only a few shaky lines appeared, his figures were confused, grotesque. His thoughts were wool gathering, a girl's image floated between his eyes and the paper. He started at every foot- step guiltily, expectantly, his hands trembling. The brittle charcoal snapped again and again in his nervous grasp, blackening his fingers until he was forced to stop and wash them. While washing his hands he thought of the toilet he must make for the evening's outing he must look his best. The composition was forgotten. He took his coat over to the window for inspection and found the elbows suspiciously shiny. Slyly, as if committing a crime, he reached for an India-ink bottle and set to work restor- ing an air of prosperous dullness to the fabric. Then he took his shoes and polished them energetically, paring off stray bits of ragged sole with his penknife. He looked at his clean linen with satisfaction, but was assailed with fresh doubts at the thought of headgear. But, viewed from all points, the soft hat passed muster as being ar- tistic, Bohemian, and therefore altogether fitting for an art student. A quarter before seven saw him patrolling the market square, clinking the loose change in his trousers pocket. He still had twenty-five marks; how lucky that Ernst had lent him the money on that very day. Now he could buy box tickets. " Enjoy your youth, it will never return," he hummed merrily. But where was Gret- chen? The courthouse clock struck seven. Nervous chills ran over him. To make the time pass more rapidly he SONS OF THE RHINE 157 began to count one to sixty sixty seconds to the minute, yet he always finished the count before the great hand on the tower moved a space. Impatiently, he gave up count- ing and began to circle the base of the statue. At a quar- ter past she finally arrived. " Gretchen ! " But the reproaches died on his lips. She appeared to him like a charming vision, a great lady who had condescended to come to him, in her clinging white gown and broad lace collar. Her black locks, that he had praised, were covered by a picturesque wide- brimmed hat. " Hurry, or someone will surely recognize us here," she whispered. " Many of father's friends live near here." " Why are you so late, Gretchen ? " he asked, as they hurried along. " It seemed an eternity." " I told father I was invited to a party at Frinchen Klenden's, in Flinger Street. So I had to go and tell her about it." " But that was deceitful." " Oh ! " she said, with an impatient shrug, " I had to tell him something." She gave him no time for further remonstrances, but asked at once, " What seats did you get in the orches- tra? " " A box ; that goes without saying when I take you." She pinched his arm gleefully, and almost broke into a run. Once in the box, however, haste gave way to dig- nity and she made a brave attempt to act the grande dame, paying little attention to the performance and much to the audience. She made eyes at two officers of the Diis- seldorf Uhlans, who turned their monocles on her. At first, Ewald felt the justifiable pride of a pretty girl's escort, but when the officers kept on looking he grew angry and jealous. 158 SONS OF THE RHINE " Don't look at those fellows again. They're inso- lent." "Do you think so? Why, they're lieutenants in the Uhlans and great swells." He pressed her hand tenderly. " But I ask you not to do it, Gretchen." At that she leaned back, sulkily silent. After the performance they walked in silence across the Rhine bridge, passing the docks on the way. Here Gretchen made a great show of recognizing the vessel of her admirer Franz Stibben. He pretended the greatest indifference, but the incident spurred him on in a new effort to please her. " Gretchen " " Let me be, you're unbearable ! " " Would you like to go to Schmitz's for something to eat now? It is a perfectly proper place." She pressed his arm delightedly. " You dear boy ! " Only a few of the regular patrons were there when they entered. She was disappointed and wished to leave at once. To impress her, Ewald ordered a bottle of that ' Kupferberg Gold ' to which Ernst had introduced him earlier in the day. Caviare was the choicest relish he could think of to go with it, and he ordered two portions. She watched him slyly to see how it should be eaten, tested it herself, then began to titter behind her napkin. " Do you like it ? " he asked, anxiously. "Very much," she nodded, brightly, and took a sip of the sparkling wine. She could have kissed him at that moment from sheer gratified vanity. Half an hour later they started for home, she very unwilling to leave her velvet throne and royal repast. But all things must end, and Ewald at last called for his bill. He was beginning to feel ill at ease, and felt the waiter's prying eyes on his inked elbows. He heaved a sigh of relief when they were SONS OF THE RHINE 159 finally in the street. When he tried to embrace Gretchen, she pushed him away. " Those are not the manners of a young gentleman." In her exalted mood she claimed the treatment due a fine lady. With chin in the air and fin- ger tips barely touching his sleeve, she minced along be- side him. Soon the lights of Zinters' shop windows ap- peared and she left him with the command not to come in for another fifteen minutes. The next morning, he found his usual breakfast tray standing outside the door, but it did not tempt him, for his head was heavy and the blood seemed to burn his veins. He gave up all thought of going to the Academy and went for a walk on the banks of the Rhine. There was a faint clink of money in his pocket and he drew the coins out curiously to see how much he had left. Only five marks ! He tried to think of Gretchen the joy of their next meeting and hastened home, to find old Zinters seated alone at the table. In answer to his questions he was told that Gretchen had been to a birthday supper the evening before and was now suffering from a headache. His host seemed brusque, suspicious. He fled the search- ing gaze of the old man and went up to his room. Half dead with fatigue, he slept the remainder of the after- noon and on through the night without waking. Nor did he visit the Academy the next day, although he attempted some work on his composition. But his mind was empty, sterile. He drew, corrected, erased, started afresh on perfectly blank paper, all to no purpose. At midday he asked permission to dine with the Zinters, and met Gret- chen at table. She greeted him coldly, and his heart seemed to leap into his throat; but when her father left the table for a moment to serve a customer, and the serv- ant was busy scraping a plate, she gave him an intimate look that made up for all the rest. Then her father re- 160 SONS OF THE RHINE turned, and she resumed her air of indifference. He carried the memory of that one glance with him to his garret, it thrilled and warmed his blood, and he attacked another drawing sheet with a truly Wiskotten vigor. He worked at the composition until it was too dark for him to see the paper, then realizing a sudden hunger, he descended to the kitchen in search of something to eat. The maid was in the cellar drawing wine and beer, and Gretchen appeared at the door of the public room carrying a tray of cheese and plates. She glanced about quickly, put the tray down, and he felt the sudden warm contact of her body, a kiss and she was gone, humming gayly as she reentered the public room. She sat down to play cards with some of her father's cronies, while Ewald beat a hasty retreat and supped off scraps in the kitchen. The next day Ernst Kolsch paid his promised visit. He studied the composition thoughtfully, stroking his budding mustache. " For goodness' sake say something, Ernst ! " cried Ewald, mad with suspense. " It's too bad this is not Winter time." "Why?" " Then you'd be able to earn something shoveling snow." " Ernst ! " The room began to swim before him. His old playfellow grasped him by the arm. " Boy ! What's the matter? Are you going to faint? You'll die if you don't take better care of yourself." "But my composition? You find it worthless? Noth- ing at all in my poor ' Battle Song '? " "What do you want me to say? How can a half- starved man hope for the strength and vigor of a battle theme. Oh, these stupid, conventional Diisseldorf Acad- emy ideas." SONS OF THE RHINE 161 " Is it hopeless ? Absolutely hopeless, Ernst ? " " Not that. I can see there's some spark in you ; you have a gift, but it has not yet found expression. And work on an empty stomach ! Think of it ! A son of the Wupper valley attempting anything on an empty stomach ! " "Then you do think there's some hope for-jne?" " Hope? More than that, my boy. I am sure there's quality in you. Your costumes are excellent. But for the love of God, come to an understanding with yourself. You're not yet twenty and must await the proper time or you'll wear yourself out uselessly and really fail. Listen to me; you can't go on like this. You must room with me." " That's impossible I cannot," stammered Ewald. " Perhaps you're right. We can lodge independently if you prefer, but have our meals together at my place. I'm utterly tired of being alone, and you cannot refuse to come to the rescue. We'll settle accounts at the end of the year. Keep your sky parlor here if you wish. It will please Anna very much to have you keep me com- pany." Ewald hesitated a moment, then shook hands on the bargain. The sun was shining brightly enough, but he felt a sudden chill of isolation and doubt. What if his dreams never came true if he should fail utterly? He felt the need of Ernst's buoyant confidence. CHAPTER IX ANNA KOLSCH was returning from Diisseldorf. Seated by the window in a " compartment for ladies only," she watched the bright Autumnal landscape slip by. Children on the embankment waved their handkerchiefs at the train, older lads were flying their kites in the stubble fields, while a distant pair of lovers unconsciously sil- houetted themselves on a little hill at the edge of the wood beyond. She gazed out fixedly, until her eyes smarted; factories, villages, stations flashed by. The train rumbled slowly over the Sonneborn bridge; below her rolled the dark, silent Wupper; the valley opened before her sud- denly as if by magic ; one more turn and the twin cities of Barmen and Elberfeld were visible from the train. It was not the first time she had witnessed this silent, panoramic play of scenery, but it still gave her a certain shock of surprise and pleasure. How many times had she made the trip since Spring? At least once every month! Always with the same joyous anticipation, going; the same sadness, returning. Starting with full hands to supply her brother's household wants, coming with plenty, leaving again empty-handed. . . . She shook her head, as if denying an unpleasant asser- tion. No, she did not ask repayment thanks. It was pleasure enough to care for them both. But . . .one of them, Ewald, had not put in an appearance during her visit. He had stayed away, deliberately, as if his con- science were not clear. What if it had not been? That was his own affair, not hers. At any rate, there was no SONS OF THE RHINE 163 reason for his treating her so shabbily. Had they not al- ways been good friends, ever since their earliest childhood? Why, when they could barely toddle, had he not helped her with earnest seriousness when she fell? Was it not her turn now, if he had fallen? But he was apparently not willing to let her. She could not help laughing at the droll, mental pictures of tumbling babies and tall youths. Her wholesome nature readily threw off gloomy and mor- bid moods, useless speculations as to empty and full hands. After all, she was merely obeying her father's orders. Ernst had written them early in the Summer, telling them of Ewald's sad plight and of the arrangement which they had made to have their meals together. Father and daughter had held a long conversation, resulting in Anna's monthly trips to Diisseldorf. She brought to her brother advice, provisions, and money to cover the addi- tional expenses, and their father's admonition, " See that Ewald has everything necessary to his comfort and health." The pride of the old Wiskotten foreman would not allow a " Wiskotten " to suffer want or humiliation. As the train drew up to the Barmen station, she recog- nized the five Wiskotten brothers on the platform. " Eng- lish " William was a step in advance of the others, gazing .eagerly at the passengers descending from the Flushing train, in search of someone. Anna nodded to Gustav, who had been the first to see her, and was assisting her to alight. " You come from our young prodigals, little Samari- tan?" " They want for nothing, Herr Wiskotten. Ewald is in good health and hard at work." " The boy is deeply in your debt, Fraulein Anna, as are we also. You relieve us of a great anxiety." " It is nothing at all," she murmured. 164, SONS OF THE RHINE " I talk it over often with your father. You are doing just the right thing for us all. The boy is hard-headed, but as things are now we can bide our time and await de- velopments in peace. If he has any talent, well and good. Meanwhile, I leave it all to you." " I'll do my best," she said, heartily. " They're looking for you, Herr Wiskotten." " William's fiancee has arrived, Miss Mabel White of London. I'm one of the reception committee." He nodded a farewell and hastened down the platform and Anna turned to go home. Gustav found a slender brunette in the most fashionable and becoming of travel- ing costumes standing beside his brother William. She was greeting the other brothers with embarrassed delight. " This is our eldest, my brother Gustav." " I've heard a great deal about you, Herr Gustav," she said, smiling, as they shook hands. She spoke a fluent German, with only the bare trace of an English accent. " I'm sure we shall become good friends." Gustav gazed down into the expressive eyes. How frankly they met his own ! " I think we are that already, Fraulein White." " So many of you to meet just little ' me,' it's a reg- ular escort of honor," she said, smiling on the group of stalwart brothers. " We don't appear on the streets in a body, except on festive occasions. Otherwise, the citizens might think the ' reserve corps had been called to arms." " The carriage is waiting, Mabel," said William. The two younger Wiskottens hurried off in search of her baggage. " Well, Paul," said August, with a knowing wink, as he stroked his aspiring mustache. " She was well worth going over to England for, a perfect beauty." SONS OF THE RHINE 165 The baggage was found and loaded on top of the car- riage. Gustav took the betrothed in charge, while the other brothers boarded the Rittershausen street car. Noting Mabel's look of surprise at this division of the party, Gustav explained. " We have no cabs for hire here, as in London. The valley is too small and its inhabitants all hold a certain word in terror and abhor- rence." " What is that forbidden word? " " Luxury." She glanced roguishly at first one, then the other, of her two companions. " But I ... am not a mere word, I'm a personification of . . ." " You are an exception," declared William, proudly. " The censor does not pass on strangers from other countries, Miss White. For these he has only critical admiration." "How droll!" " They carry it so far that we manufacturers send our products our ribbons, laces, and braids to Paris and London, and now our correspondents there return them to us in the same boxes as ' Parisian novelties ' or the * latest English fashions.' " " Where's the profit in doing that? " " Imported goods command higher prices." "Women also?" " You can answer that, William." As if by accident she brushed his arm. With an effort he maintained his impassive British mask, but the pas- sionate Wupper blood stormed through his veins, beyond any mental control. Gustav saw and understood; much to the bewilderment of his charming vis-a-vis, he closed his eyes on what he could not bear to see. The other brothers arrived at the same time as the 166 SONS OF THE RHINE carriage and busied themselves, joyously, with the bag- gage. In the triumphal procession, they led their new sister-to-be into the house. Fritz, at the end, whistled a march and Paul gave a suppressed imitation of a snare drum. William, very red of face, opened the door of the living room. There, grouped about the table, sat the two old Wiskottens, smiling cordially, and Emily, Gustav's wife. They rose as the party entered. Smiling, and with- out the slightest show of embarrassment, Mabel White ap- proached the old lady in the black lace cap, whom she recognized as William's mother. Frau Wiskotten ex- tended a slow, solemn hand, saying : " May God bless your coming, my child." "Won't you kiss me?" The old lady made a gesture of surprise, but immedi- ately mastered her displeasure and kissed the girl bravely on the forehead. " And this is my father," broke in William, in his dis- comfort at the cold and patriarchal greeting of his mother. But there was no coldness in the eyes or face of the tender- hearted old man, nor was there need for words here. The beautiful, sensitive girl threw her arms about his neck and kissed him on the mouth. His face shone with joy. " Good girl, good girl," he said, patting her shoulder. Gustav now introduced Emily, but she too was all formality. She felt ill at ease in her provincial clothes before this exquisitely gowned creature, nor did she pos- sess the tact to cover her embarrassment by any attempt at cordiality. She even left it to the old lady to conduct the newcomer to her room. Gustav could not fail to notice this and was displeased at her lack of good grace. " Apparently you don't like her," he said, reproach- fully. " One reason the more for your doing so." SONS OF THE RHINE 167 " Look how pleased father is ! " " Of course, he never made such a fuss over me." " Do be reasonable, Emily. William's fiancee should be feted to-day. It is her day." " I know that, but how about my day? " " Emily," said Gustav, gently, " you need not fear com- parison with any woman in the world. You are quite as important as William's fiancee. But this embittered ex- pression adds ten years to your looks if you could only be made to understand this." " Go ! Run after her too, as you do after all the rest." Fritz came in gayly, " Such billing and cooing. Can't you old married people do that at home? You make me lonesome." He put his arm about Emily, " Give me a kiss, sister ! " " Don't be so silly, Fritz. Let me alone." He drew back, annoyed. " Hoity toity, our little Mabel is sweeter tempered." " Mabel ! You and your Mabels," she sneered. The table had been set with special care tonight in honor of the visitor, the menu was more elaborate than usual, and the maid served it with an air of pride. At the head were seated the old couple, side by side. On their right were the betrothed. On their left, Gustav and Emily, the other sons completing the family party. Mabel beamed on them. " What great fellows those sons of yours are, Mother. Are you never afraid among so many big men ? " Frau Wiskotten shook her head. " No indeed, they have been taught respect." " Even now, we are not all here," cried Paul. " There is still another." There was a moment of painful silence. 168 SONS OF THE RHINE " The youngest son is in Diisseldorf," explained Gus- tav, in a low voice. " At present, he has the notion of becoming a painter." "Oh an artist in the family?" "At home, the different members of our family have various artistic activities, little sister. At the factory, it is ribbons, laces, braids that is our chief business in life ; but as for private business, hobbies we each have our own. Paul is a poet, August a lay priest, and Fritz a judge of horses." "And William?" "Finance!" "As a hobby?" "Were I in his place, I should immediately renounce any other business." " You are flattering," she laughed. " And what is your hobby?" " Should you ask my wife, she would say ' playing the domestic tyrant ' ! " " I think the tyranny must not be very terrible. Am I right, Madam?" Emily did not appear to understand that the girl had addressed the question to her. Frau Wiskotten looked surprised and gave William a significant look. Poor William tugged at his cherished side whiskers in embar- rassment, then explained to Mabel. " You must not use that formal title with Emily. Call her by her first name." "Do you wish me to, Emily?" " Certainly, but I'm afraid I shall find yours difficult to pronounce." " Ma bel, and yours is Em i ly." " Kiss each other ! Kiss ! Kiss ! " chorused the younger brothers. With a laugh, Mabel rose and ran around the SONS OF THE RHINE 169 table to Emily's seat. " Ah h ! " came the chorus, as the kiss was given. " Now that you are here, to save time and exertion," said Gustav. "Shall we?" " What, must I kiss you all? " cried Mabel, in mock terror. "All! All!" chanted the chorus. Gustav took her in his arms and kissed her heartily on the mouth. " What delicious lips she has," he thought, " lips to dream of ! " Then he yielded her to his brothers, who pounced upon her with cries of joy. Even August forgot his austerity and clamored for the precedence of his seniority. Paul asserted that in the future his public and private business should be the cultivation of their fra- ternal relations. His verses should all be for her. Fritz claimed a share of her interest in his favorite sports, and August brought ecclesiastical authority for their friend- ship. They would now set their new playfellow free. " Gustav, the new sample cards are all ready. Send that tiresome fellow, William, about his business. He's letting our competitors have a free field." But the Barmen " competitors " in his private " hobby " were the only ones who concerned William just then; he cared little who " conquered " Britain. " Do you think I took the pains to win Mabel for your pleasure? " " You went to England at our expense." " Whether it suits you or not, old fellow, we have a right to share in your profitable enterprises there." " Mabel belongs to the Firm of Wiskotten. Don't you, Mabel? " " I'll pay ransom for my freedom." " Hurrah ! She'll pay ransom." At last, she regained her seat, breathless and with 170 SONS OF THE RHINE flashing eyes, exhaling an atmosphere of youth, vivacity, and joy-of-living. Emily Wiskotten sat staring into space, full of bitter, questioning thoughts. No one had ever done her such homage, yet she was as slender and beautiful as the newcomer. Her hair was brighter, thicker loosened it fell about her like a cloak. But what pleasure did its beauty give anyone? Whence came the art of winning hearts that this stranger possessed? It was not because of an extraordinary intelligence, nor was it wholly because she was a foreigner. With a feminine instinct, Emily divined that this woman was more of the " eternally feminine " than she more impulsive, more coquettish, more yielding. She took more pleasure in provoking the interest of men, in battling with them in the eternal battle of sex, except with the one to whom she would give herself utterly and for all time. Above all, she was always the woman, always desirable, a creature of a thousand fascinating moods. She seemed to exhale a subtle and intoxicating perfume that drew men to her, as bees to a sweet flower, bringing a flush to their cheeks and a brilliancy to their eyes. Was it a rare and personal secret, this charm? Or was it the natural but often neglected inheritance of the whole sex? . . . Meanwhile, Mabel was chatting with Father Wiskotten about her own father. " Before you were even thought of, we were business associates," said the old man, proud- ly. " He was the first foreigner with whom I did busi- ness." " Really? " said Mabel. " Well, it could not have been any great amount, for he began in a very small way." "How about that, Mother? Did we start out with all this high horse-power machinery? " " Father did many a hard day's work before he suc- ceeded." SONS OF THE RHINE 171 " I too, child. There are men in this town still who boxed my ears for not hurrying with their beer when I was an apprentice." " How fine ! " " Just see, Father," laughed Gustav. " Your new daughter-in-law rejoices over the trouncings you got." " No indeed, not that, but to think how he can make them all stand around now." " That's mother's doing," said the old man ; " she schooled and counseled me well." "Will you do the same for me, Mother?" As usual the light tone of the conversation displeased the old woman. " If you need correcting, child, but I trust you will not." Ensued another riot of advice and jest, concerning the future bringing up of Mabel in her German home. To change the subject she announced. " Tomorrow I'm going to visit the factory; who will escort me? " Father Wiskotten claimed the honor. " My feet are free from gout again." When they had decided on the route and hour for the visit of inspection, it was midnight. " Go on," cried Frau Wiskotten, " or I'll put the lights out." "Out, William! Hurry up! This is a respectable family." This, because during Mabel's visit William was staying with Gustav. He bade his parents good night and kissed his fiancee's hand with an assured British frigidity. This would not pass unchallenged by his mischief-loving brothers. "What? Is that all? Well, never mind, Mabel, we'll make up for his coldness." " Try if you dare," she taunted and ran into her own 172 SONS OF THE RHINE room. " Good night, Father," she cried, through the keyhole. " Good night, little daughter." " Good night, August. Good night, everybody. Dream of me." "Little witch, just wait till tomorrow!" A silvery laugh answered the threat. " A charming girl," murmured the father. " Good night," said August to his brothers. " If we're to have a holiday tomorrow afternoon we must do double work in the morning. Don't forget that ! " " Thanks for the free sermon." Half an hour later all were asleep there, but Gustav and William were still smoking and talking. "Another cigar, William," said Gustav. " If Emily permits." " Oh, don't worry about me. I'm going to bed." William saw that she was displeased and tried to soothe her. " Just a few moments, Emily. I'm very tired too." Gustav reentered the room after looking at his sleep- ing children. " Sound asleep, the boy on his face, the girl sucking her thumb ! I'll be up in five minutes, Emily." The brothers smoked and chattered for a quarter of an hour. Then Gustav threw aside his cigar and said : " You are to be congratulated, William. You have given the family something it has been greatly in need of fresh blood from outside. Mabel brings new life, joy, interest into our rather dull, commercial household." " I was sure she would please you." " Sleep well." " You, also." Emily was still awake when Gustav came into their sleeping room. "Well, have you finished singing the praises of your fine lady at last? " she sneered. SONS OF THE RHINE 173 " Your word is well chosen. She is, indeed, a ' lady.' She knows how to maintain a proper dignity, with all her innocent gayety." "Why not? She has nothing to do but play the lady." " One can still be agreeable with half a dozen children." " No doubt that was aimed at me. Every woman can- not be so fond of male admiration." " Emily, you might moderate your speech a little. This carping is growing to be a second nature with you." "How about your carping? Why, you're head over heels in love with her too ! " " Not in love with her, but with her manners." " Well, shall I try to imitate them, then? " " It would not do you any harm. A little more youth- ful gayety, more laughter and less sulking, would not be unbecoming in a young woman like you." " So, I'm not good enough for you as I am? Speak up plainly and say you're tired of me, that you want to be rid of me. I'm ready to go. I've stood more than enough." She buried her face in her pillow, sobbing bit- terly. He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off, angrily. " Let me be. I'm not your Mabel, that let's everyone handle her. Your charming, well- mannered Mabel ! " Gustav's hand dropped. With difficulty he controlled an answering burst of anger. He tried to mend matters with a poor jest. " You have the imagination of a genius ; you can cer- tainly make something out of nothing, and nothing out of something." " That's right, play the abused, misunderstood hus- band and get your Mabel to console you." " Enough of that ! My patience is worn out." 174 SONS OF THE RHINE " Mine was worn out long ago," she sobbed. Long after the sobbing ceased, Gustav lay awake, silent and miserable. The darkness, the silence, even the bed- clothes seemed to stifle him. The friendly murmur of the Wupper was a relief, then the watchman's step sounded and Gustav's thoughts turned to the factory, that the man was guarding. Soon he would have another building under his nightly care and he, Gustav, would have more work to help him forget. There would be new workmen to hire, new plans to carry out. If only they might make a great success of Fritz's new discovery. Emily's father, old Scharwachter, would be greatly surprised. He dealt in cheap grades of ribbon and silk; here was a chance to do some profitable business together and Emily would surely be pleased. Emily? She was sleeping quietly; while he he lay awake thinking, planning, striving for success in the business, always the business. Was there to be nothing else but that in his life? His heart filled with a nameless sorrow and longing. His hands gripped convulsively at nothing! He could have cried out in anguish and desire that was near to despair. Why had he been robbed of all human, normal joy-in-living? Was life to be one ceaseless round of labors, with never a well-earned laborer's holiday? It was not physical weariness or overstrain that held him in its grip his muscles and sinews were of iron. But his soul? His youth? His eager senses? They were starving, and be- side him lay his young wife and companion, who should have been the living answer to all his desires. He thirsted for beauty, grace, care-free joyousness, the perfume of fair womanhood all that world of happiness that was closed to him, the world of gracious womanhood where he might be free for a time from the dust and soot of his daily toil. SONS OF THE RHINE 175 There lay his young wife, beautiful as a statue, created to give pleasure, but her thoughts circled eternally in one selfish, narrow sphere. To her, marriage was the end of youth and charm, the prison house of duty into which she drew another soul and subjected it to a prison's unlovely discipline. His wife, his life comrade part of his youth. The gray dawn crept through the curtains and put an end to his unhappy musings, a dawn as dreary as his thoughts, for the first storm of November sent its driving rain against the windowpane. Before seven, Gustav was at the dye works. Again he was the man of action driving away the haunting thoughts of the night with a cold plunge in the workmen's bathhouse. Then he breakfasted with his brother, William. " You're in no mood for work today. Go and bid Mabel good morning for me." " No, I shall not go over until nearly noon. I want to give mother a chance to get acquainted with her new daughter." " Well then, come with me to the office and look over the mail." Later Gustav found time for a few words with Kolsch about the coming visit. " I'll see to it all, Herr Wiskot- ten, garlands and decorations in her honor" and Gus- tav was on his way with a warmer feeling in his heart at the thought of the gracious presence that would soon be there. He went his customary rounds, visiting the new dye works where the work was going on rapidly. He surveyed it all with the eye of a general conducting a successful campaign. It was still raining at noon and Gustav awaited his guests at the factory gate with a huge umbrella. Emily had excused herself and would join them later she had 176 SONS OF THE RHINE no desire to play maid of honor in this triumphal pro- cession. Gustav had not urged her, as he felt her unwill- ing presence would act as a damper. At last they arrived. Father, mother, and the body- guard of brothers. Mabel wore a long raincoat and hood that was an object of wonder to the simple valley people they had never seen the like. " Good day, Gustav," she cried, when she saw him, and waved her hand gayly. " Ah, look ! The gates have been decorated in my honor. You are thoughtful enough to deserve the honor of being my brother-in-law." He grasped her hand warmly. " Unfortunately, I could not have the weather made to order too." "Why, this is good weather." " It must be, for this is the time of year when most of the Wupper valley babies come into the world and they're a healthy lot." " Are you joking? " " No, it's the truth. Ask mother if all the babies here are not born with rubbers on their feet and prayer books in their hands." " Don't talk such nonsense," said the old lady, easily angered by any frivolity, but the old man laughed good- naturedly. First they visited the offices, all in beautiful order today. " This is August's realm," said Gustav, " and back here Paul writes his poems when no one is watching him." " Have you written the poem you promised me ? " " Hush ! August will fine me for doing it during busi- ness hours." The catalogue printing and bindery rooms must be seen, the lithographing, and lastly Frau Wiskotten's realm, where the girls were busily at work, silent and sober be- fore the visitors. One young thing began to giggle, but SONS OF THE RHINE 177 a rap of the knuckles on her silly head brought silence again. " Mother rules here, and where Mother rules there is order and Holy Writ." Mabel glanced respectfully at the old woman. " Begin with God ! Finish with God ! " said Frau Wis- kotten, sententiously. They filed through the packing rooms to the loom room. Here the machinery whirred and sighed in joyous haste. Gustav explained the various steps of manufacturing to Mabel and let her direct the handle of one of the looms. She was happy as a child when the yarn disappeared and a bit of ribbon slowly emerged. Her fiancee cut it off gallantly, and put it in his pocketbook for a souvenir, and she beamed at him. They visited everything, examined everything from the raw yarn to the finished goods, and then, laughing like children, they made a dash for the dye works through the heavy downpour. " I'm master here," cried Fritz, as he flung the door open. " A kingdom of fog," cried Mabel. " In your honor. A true London fog," he cried. " Wel- come home." The dyers grinned, and turned back to the work that could not be neglected. The door opened again and Emily appeared. Through the thick, misty atmosphere she was scarcely visible. Mabel called out to her. " When I get back from Lon- don, I'll tell you good day." " Now for the laboratory ! " cried Fritz, shouting to make himself heard above the roar and clatter of the place. " Forward ! Forward ! " cried Mabel, excited by the noise and activity. 178 SONS OF THE RHINE " Look out ! " thundered a voice from the fog, as a flood from one of the used vats was poured out onto the floor. " Why didn't you wait a moment? " thundered Fritz, in answer. "Couldn't," came curtly. " Now do we have to swim across ? In 'Ekkehard ' the holy monk carried the beautiful duchess over the thresh- old," cried Paul. "Who shall play his part now? " Gustav bent down and lifted the waiting girl in his strong arms, carrying her through flood and steam up to the haven of the laboratory. He pushed the door open with his foot, still holding her. " Now you see I have a pleasant * hobby ' too. Better than the only one I could claim last night." She took hold of his flowing mustache and drew him toward her for a kiss. "Now, are you repaid?" He set her down. Emily stood looking at them from the doorway for an instant, then she turned and he could hear her descending the steps, but the brothers came in tumultuously. " Did she repay you for your service, Gustav? " " I gave him a kiss," she said, shamelessly. " You must not pay in such coin," said William. " If you're jealous, I'll give him another," she threat- ened. " Oh, William, do be jealous," begged the mischief makers. Gustav paid them little attention. He was looking to- ward the door, expectantly. He could still see Emily's unhappy face. "Did you see Emily?" " She has gone home. A headache " Gustav heard little of Fritz's proud explanation of his laboratory work. SONS OF THE RHINE 179 " Here I shall stay and mix and putter and brew until I have concocted a new riding horse or so with the magic of chemistry. You can be sure of it, Mabel, but I'll not say anything more yet." She nodded sympathetically, and then cast a startled glance at Gustav. The great, strong man had a stricken look. " Don't you feel well? " she cried, grasping his hand with friendly solicitude. The brothers all turned and looked at him. " Why, old fellow, you're not ill? " He pulled himself together with a deep sigh. " Don't worry. A passing dizziness. It's over now. Thanks, little sister." Her compassionate eyes had restored his self-control. No one must know his real need of pity, she least of all. He bit his quivering lips and tried to smile. The brothers carried Mabel and their parents off to the house. He remained alone in the factory until the whistle released him. With heavy heart he entered his own house. On the dining room table lay a note in Emily's hand: " I shall spend the night at my father's with the children. We can come to an understanding tomor- row." He grew deathly pale, then a painful glow spread over his face to the roots of his hair. The note crumpled in his hand and he unconsciously rolled it into a hard ball between his twitching fingers. Just as involuntarily, he grasped his hat and put it on, turned and left the house, out into the streaming rain, walking blindly until he reached the bank of the friendly Wupper. He could not see it in the inky darkness, but heard its familiar murmur, 180 SONS OF THE RHINE and its black waters lapped at his feet like the tongue of a faithful dog. The tension broke, and one savage laugh that was half a sob burst from him, and the faithful Wup- per kissed his feet in answer. " Yes, yes," he said aloud, as if to a friendly animal, " we two, we belong together. There is nothing for us in existence but work ..." CHAPTER X THE first trial of the new dyeing machinery was set for the next day. The sun rose on a clear, cool Autumn morning, and shone dazzlingly on the fresh-washed pave- ment of the courtyard, as Gustav walked silently beside his brother Fritz for a final tour of inspection. His face was hard and he did not smile to the greetings of his employees. At that moment he had forced all thoughts and feelings from his consciousness, except those pertaining to the new dye works and its machines, into whose passive silence they were about to blow the first breath of life. The engineer who had installed them was at hand to explain technical details, and Kolsch made a fourth in the party. The little group of interested men passed along the rows of yawning ovens to the washing, wringing, and trans- mission apparatus. Brief questions were answered with a few pertinent explanations, and Gustav curtly ordered the machinery to be put in motion. With scarce a sound the great change took place. The open ovens gaped like a row of empty coffins one moment, then a slight murmur, a faint humming sound an almost human sigh, as of a sleeper newly awakened, the water flooded into the empty compartments and the steam rolled out. A shudder of life seemed to run through wood and iron. The tri- umphal " song of toil " sounded through the place the spirit of toil lived and reigned supreme in its new dwelling. 181 182 SONS OF THE RHINE Gustav listened eagerly, intently, to this music of life and labor as if to learn its innermost meaning. Fritz spoke to him, but he did not turn his head, then Kolsch cried, " I congratulate you, Herr Wiskotten ! " "What did you say, Kolsch?" " I congratulate you ! " " Oh, yes. Indeed, there is reason for congratulation here. Thank you, Kolsch." He pressed his hand, and turned to his brother, " Fritz ! " " Here I am, Gustav." But Gustav had again forgotten his presence. When he spoke again it was to Kolsch. " How little people know what such a thing as this costs. Even our own workmen cannot realize it. They only see the walls, but not the cement which holds them together the strength of our souls lies there and renun- ciation of so much of beauty and joy in the world, in life." "Herr Wiskotten, somewhere, somehow, those vital energies must be spent. Here they have not been squan- dered." " No, we are not spendthrifts. But it must be pleasant, after all, to live a care-free, joyous life, with no thought of the morrow. Well, well, I suppose there must be some of our sort in the world too. We must keep our hands to the plow, the other way is not for us." Again his thoughts were for his brother and he laid an affectionate hand on the other's shoulder. "Well, boy, now bring on your battalions. The battlefield is ready. Now it remains for us to secure the victory." " Don't worry, Gustav. My plans are all laid, my forces marshaled." " Then on with the merry dance ! " SONS OF THE RHINE 183 " Let us hope that your father-in-law won't turn dizzy learning the new steps." " He'll have to dance with us, willy nilly." " Do you think he'll be willing to reduce his own manu- facturing output and handle our new goods on commis- sion? Sell them to his customers? " " That depends on his mood when I suggest it. I shall know this noon." " Ah ! You're going to have it out with him at once ? " " I shall " He swept one more searching look over the manifold activities of the new dye plant, thanked the engineer, and with a curt farewell strode out of the factory yard. At his house he told the maid that his wife and children were at his father-in-law's and would have their midday meal there. The old man had been ill since yesterday. Half an hour later he was on his way to Unterbarmen where old Scharwachter lived. The two men saw each other seldom, for Scharwachter was one of the most rigid and intolerant churchmen in the valley. Every natural joy was sinful and abhorrent in his eyes. His son-in-law's boisterous, irreverent manner was a constant irritation to him. When they were in the same room he felt that Gustav's mere presence pushed him to one side, made him insignificant and a person of less importance. Business necessity had alone driven them into an alliance, and on business grounds alone was it pos- sible for them to meet and talk with any comfort. Emily had often been the go-between when difficulties had arisen between the two factory owners. The house stood in a side street and had an uncared-for air. A weather-beaten iron picket fence separated it from the street, and a mantle of wild ivy added a touch of beauty to its otherwise uninviting walls. A brass name- 184 SONS OF THE RHINE plate alone showed signs of care, and on its polished face one read the name " JEREMIAH SCHARWACHTER." Gustav pulled the bell and an old woman, Scharwachter's cook, maid, and housekeeper in one, opened the door. " Is Herr Scharwachter at home? " " I'll see." " I can do that myself." " But I have orders not to announce any visitors." Pushing her aside, as he would a piece of furniture, Gustav knocked at the inner door, then entered without waiting for a response. " Good morning." Herr Scharwachter was seated at his desk on a high stool; he turned his head, then drew his smooth-shaven chin back into the depths of his neckcloth like an offended turtle. " I did not say ' Come in ' when you knocked," he complained. " It is I, father-in-law." " I can see that, but I did not say ' Come in.' " " Very well ! Then you did not say ' Come in.' Now, come down off your stool; I want to talk to you." " It gives me no pleasure to see you here." " No," said Gustav, taking off his hat, " it is no pleas- ure to either of us, nor is it a pleasant thing to have one's wife run away. Where is she? " The little weazened man climbed down from his stool and buttoned his high frock coat up, with an attempt at chilling dignity. "If you are speaking of my daughter, I must insist on a politer tone. You're not talking of one of your fac- tory girls." SONS OF THE RHINE 185 " Well, she did run away, didn't she? " " No, she merely abandoned a marriage bed that was no longer fit for a Christian woman." " Not Christian? I don't understand what you mean." " No, unhappily for all of us, you have never known what that would mean. Had you done so you would not have had to come here as a suppliant today." "A suppliant? Listen to me, father-in-law. You might as well drop that high and mighty tone. There is no question of my asking favors or forgiveness. I am making a demand. Call Emily down here ! " "You dare to order me about in my own house? A fellow like you who ought to be down on his knees before me?" Gustav laughed mirthlessly. "Well, what next? Be brief ; I have no time to waste." " Take your valuable time then and use it to your conscience. That would be better use for it than to plan further adultery in " "Father-in-law!!" The little man cringed for a moment before the other's threatening attitude ; then he stretched out his turtle neck to its fullest length and began to hurl accusations at him. " You won't lie and try to deny that you have affairs with your factory girls. That you wait for them in dark corners pah to hug and " " Great heavens ! The poor innocent things. Well, go on." " Yes, indeed, 'go on ' ! On and on ! Your conscience tells you that there is more to tell or you would not have said * go on.' Like a good and faithful wife, Emily for- gave you seven times and seven times seventy and plead with you gently and earnestly, gave you a living example of right living " 186 SONS OF THE RHINE "Are you through, father-in-law?" " With you? Long ago ! But not nearly through with the list of your sins and offenses. Even the betrothed of your good brother was not safe in your presence. How could a pious Christian wife like Emily fail to turn away with loathing and flee the house into which you brought the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah ? " With difficulty Gustav still controlled himself. " Leave these Biblical allusions out of your conversa- tion and talk like an ordinary human being. This is nothing but a case of jealousy, pure and simple, and I have never given Emily the slightest grounds for jealousy." " Whoever looks upon a woman with desire of the eyes has already committed adultery in his heart. You can find the text for that in St. Matthew, chapter five, verse twenty-eight. And you not only looked upon and desired your brother's betrothed; you let your perverse instincts master you and seized the first opportunity to kiss her secretly." " Who says that? " " Emily." " It's an infamous 1 " He broke off, took out his handkerchief, and mopped his forehead. Then he said, with forced quietness : " Call Emily. This is a matter that we two must discuss, and we alone." Herr Scharwachter looked coldly past him. " Go on, call her," insisted Gustav. " She need not be afraid of me, I promise you." " Emily is not here." "Well, if she can go out walking, she cannot be so greatly disturbed, after all." He pulled out his watch. " It is just midday; you must expect her back soon; she's the soul of punctuality." SONS OF THE RHINE 187 " She will not be back for midday dinner here to-day, for she is not here." " What do you mean? Not in Barmen? " " She has taken the children and gone to visit her Aunt Josephine in Diisseldorf. She expects to stay there for the present, at least." "Gone without asking my consent? " " You are to be given a time of probation, and must submit to it. When you have decided to mend your ways and are sincerely penitent, you may go and fetch her home." " Without my consent ? " repeated Gustav, not heed- ing his father-in-law's speech. " But with the approval of her father. As I have said, when you " " Make an end of your inane twaddle. Himmel Donner- wetter! Is it your place or mine to rule my wife? " " As her husband had lost all moral right to any author- ity over her, the poor child returned to the protection of her father. Only the moral man has a right to rule over the lives of others. The debauchee has none whatever, and no Christian woman can submit to such a one without sin. I have brought up my poor daughter in the true Christian spirit." " You would have done better to teach her a little human spirit. You have turned the Ten Commandments and the God who gave them into things of abhorrence to all real human beings." " I permit no such blasphemy in my house." " You are the real blasphemer. You think the king- dom of God is your own personal property and that you alone hold the keys. All because you have learned the Bible by heart and can quote it patly to fit your narrow beliefs. Your religion is one of sins, punishment, evil. 188 SONS OF THE RHINE God made this world, and when it was finished He looked upon all He had made and saw it was good, yet you would have it that this same world is nothing but a ' sink of iniquity.' If that is not a direct insult to the living God, I'll renounce my faith and be an atheist for the rest of my life." " Out of my house infidel." " You would do better to go out of it yourself. People like you should shut themselves up in cloisters, really re- nounce the world that they profess to hate, instead of bringing children into it and blinding them by your teach- ings so that the very sun looks gray to them. What do you know of responsibility, duty ? " " I am responsible for the purity of my daughter and must see that she leaves this vale of tears unspotted." "Vale of tears? You're right, but your kind are the ones that make it tearful with your sighs and long faces. If you wished to keep your daughter so pure and un- worldly, why did you give her to a strapping fellow like me instead of putting her in a convent? I hold you re- sponsible for all the troubles I have had in my married life; you and not Emily. She is only the victim of your cursed system of education. It is enough to make one weep to see so many of our robust valley girls going about with long faces, the slaves of a false sense of religious duty that turns every natural joy into a sin. Is it any wonder that they find marriage a thing of sorrow and cor- ruption, when they carry the seeds of sorrow and evil in their very wedding garments? Would it not be better sense, better religion, to teach them the joy of living in all its natural innocence, to let them look the world frankly in the face, and then say, with all true piety : ' Heaven must be very wonderful indeed if it is better than this good earth of ours.' Perhaps then, but surely not till then, SONS OF THE RHINE 189 shall the Wupper valley see a race of men born without any crooked or tangled thread in either the warp or the woof. A fabric to make our manufacturers' souls proud." Herr Scharwachter had listened to this tirade, fairly trembling with rage. Now the turtle head shot forward and he shook a skinny forefinger under Gustav's nose. A moment passed before he was master of his voice; then he shrieked : " You you Herr Gustav Wiskotten, I give you formal notice that I shall withdraw my loan to your factory." Gustav stared at him incredulously. Then his expres- sive features slowly hardened into a mask of iron. " Do you mean by that that you are to sever all busi- ness connections with us and that Emily ? " " You have ears. I repeat that I shall call in the loan on January first." " Have you considered the consequences ? " " When you are ruined to the last penny you'll remem- ber this day and realize that you have been justly pun- ished. Your wealth will crumble away like sand before the tide." " Who spoke of my business? I was thinking of yours." " You'll have no heart for such sorry jests when you are trying to raise that money. Don't think for a mo- ment that the people here have forgotten the stand you took in the strike against your own class. You'll pay for that now too, along with your other sins." " I'm trying to raise money ; so far, you're right. To raise money that is bound to make money, and I de- sired to let my wife's father have his share in the returns." " You and I can have no further business dealings with each other and you you shall be utterly ruined." " So you declare war ? War between our two firms ? Very well, Herr Scharwachter, war it shall be, war to the 190 SONS OF THE RHINE knife. You are the one and only cause of my married unhappiness. You brought up Emily in a way that made her unfit to be any man's wife, and then gave her to me to further your business plans. You feared my mother's business competition and sacrificed your daughter to pro- tect yourself. Since then you have prospered and now you expect us all to dance to the tune of your clinking money bags, but your God is not the only one. You shall learn that there is a God of the unafraid, the truthful, honest worker. Here, see our oriflamme, our gauge of battle, Herr Scharwachter." He drew some samples from his pocket and flung them before the old man. " This and this will lead the Wiskotten forces to victory. Copy these, if you can, my little man, but do it fast and well or inside of a year we'll have you and your old-fashioned rags out in the street. We'll hound the steps of your salesmen and cry our * new wares for old,' underbid you everywhere, and rob you of your last customer. Yes, you heard cor- rectly, underbid ! Yes, yes, you shall have your money on the first of January. Put it in Prussian consols instead of your factory, if you want to save it. Good day ! " The door closed behind him, the iron gate slammed. He strode away without a single backward glance, and his step was firm as he returned to his deserted home. Once there he set about adjusting his life to the new order of things. Calling the maidservant, he announced : " Minna, my wife has gone to Diisseldorf with the children. Old Scharwachter's sister is ill and she has gone to care for her. It is uncertain how long she may have to stay. She took the children, as it would be very lonely for her there alone with the old lady. Meanwhile you can take a vaca- tion. I shall not need you." " Really, Herr Wiskotten? " " Yes ; your wages will continue as usual. Frau Wiskot- SONS OF THE RHINE 191 ten will send you word when she is ready for you. When does the train leave for your town ? " " The Gevelsberg train leaves at two, Herr Wiskotten." " That leaves you an hour. Can you be ready by then?" " I'll dress right away, Herr Wiskotten." She hurried off, afraid that she might be called back and lose the unexpected holiday. Half an hour later she was on her way to the station, bag and baggage, with one of Christian's children helping her to carry her hastily packed things. She had altogether forgotten to bid her master good-by. " That's a good riddance," thought Gustav, as he watched the retreating figure. " She would only have pried and gossiped. Now the place is cleaned out." Deep in unhappy thoughts he walked through the empty rooms. At the door of the nursery he called an involun- tary " Hello ! " then put a hand up to cover his burning eyeballs and press back the hot tears his manhood would not let him shed. A sudden utter weariness overcame him and he sat down heavily on one of the little beds, his hungry hands caressing the pillows where childish heads should have been. " My God ! " he said, " I can never stand this, never " The last barriers of pride and reserve were down and he flung himself down in an agony of silent grief, biting the pillows to keep back the rending sobs. Outside, the factory whistle shrilled and the clatter of the returning feet of his workmen, the rattle of their empty dinner pails being set down, the various noises that marked the end of the midday rest period, rose from the court, but he did not hear them. He lay rigid and silent, longing for his children. The hall clock struck the hour, ticked on, struck again, 192 SONS OF THE RHINE and continued its ticking, with no other sound to be heard in the deserted house. When it struck four Gustav started up, counted the strokes, passed his hand over his fore- head, and stood up. A moment he stood there with eyes closed, striving for calm and self-control. Then he said aloud, " Children belong to their mother." Then, as if the sound of his own voice reassured him : " But, no ! They cannot be taken from me altogether. They belong with their mother, but she belongs here and they shall one day bring her back." He went downstairs to the tradesman's door. There was a letter for him in the box, and he unlocked the box and took it out in nervous haste, almost guiltily. A step sounded above and he shrank back. He was not yet com- posed enough to meet anyone. He stood there, letter in hand, his heart beating wildly, hidden from sight behind the door. " Gustav ! " came a lusty call. " That's Fritz," he whispered, to himself. His brother clattered up the stairs, calling his name in all the empty rooms, then turned and went out grum- bling. Gustav waited an instant, then he tiptoed to the front door, bolted it, and went up to his room to read the letter. The writing had told him it was from Emily. Now that he was free from interruption he hesitated to open the letter. He read it slowly: "DEAR GUSTAV: " I have gone with the children to Aunt Josephine in Diisseldorf. The children think it is only a pleas- ure trip, and I shall not tell them otherwise. You have sinned grievously against me; not yesterday alone. Always. Only then did it become clear to me, and father approves my decision. I am filled with SONS OF THE RHINE 193 shame that we did not live a truly Christian married life, that I stifled the voice of my conscience and lis- tened to that of your carnal desires. So I shall stay with the children in Diisseldorf until you promise me that you will act differently, and bring the love and fear of God into your married life so that I shall no longer feel degraded and humiliated. I shall wait and pray for you. Your faithful wife, " EMILY." He read it through twice. A wave of surprise and renewed anger swept over him. " What was this ? She was ashamed? Carnal desires? Degradation? She would pray? " He bit his lips to keep back a cry of grief and rage ; his composure .was shattered to its foundations. He tore the letter into long, narrow strips with a sudden fierce- ness, then crumpled it up and flung it from him. With his hat drawn over his eyes he strode with as- sured and quiet calm past the factory and down the street to the woods that lay on the edge of the city. A thousand memories crowded on him in this familiar spot pranks of his boyhood, dreams of his adolescence and he welcomed them gladly; they crowded out the unhappy events of his nearer past. He gave his attention to the small shops and warehouses that lined the Wupper at this point here a small, independent dyer's shop, next a bleacher's, and still further on near the edge of the wood, where the river widened into a pool, were the few small ironmongers' forges that still bade defiance to the all-devouring iron manufacturers of Westphalia that threatened their exist- ence on all sides. Today, in his own emptiness of heart, he found a sud- den new interest in all these. For once he seemed to have plenty of time, life held no responsibilities for one like 194 SONS OF THE RHINE him one whose heart and mind were empty, so empty. He was eagerly receptive toward the thousand impressions of his life that crowded into his range of vision ; he felt himself to be a new, strange being in a new, strange world. In the wood itself he came upon a forge pond sur- rounded by giant oaks. The smithy had either fallen into ruins or become too small for the growing needs of the owner and was being torn down. Gustav stopped to watch the powerful old blacksmith and his son at work. The old building they were demolishing seemed like the dwelling of some legendary giant. Three rugged walls of rough- hewn material, the fourth the luring face of the cliff that rose behind it. The bronzed, clear-eyed men of the forest were grubbing out the huge fire block, and after that was finished they rolled it out with mighty heaves into the open. The sweat streamed from their faces on to their heavy shirts. Gustav stared at the oaken cyclops in amazement. The old smithy had stood there for at least two centuries, and for other centuries before that this massive oaken fire block had stood and grown as a tree, shaken by and defying the storm winds of the primeval forest world. After the storms came the fire of the forges, and still its stout heart stood the test and was sound and hard. Massive and unbroken it lay there, ready to resist and defy the assaults of other centuries, letting no blow, no flame touch it in its innermost strength. A child of nature with her strength and fortitude. The blacksmith turned to Gustav. " There's some sub- stance to that old fellow ! We might all learn something from him," he said, pointing to the great log. Gustav nodded, and patted the tough wood as one might caress a saddle-horse, and passed onward with a new picture, a new idea in his busy mind, which even here SONS OF THE RHINE 195 could not be really idle. The smithy and its fire block held a moral for him. What if those men were destroy- ing, changing its accustomed dwelling place, did not the sturdy heart of oak remain firm and stout? It was un- changed by all the rest. The thought cheered him. He tried to imagine the inner feelings of this fettered giant. No doubt it, too, dreamed of freedom and happiness while dwarfish beings clambered about on it and pressed glow- ing coals into its firm substance. It lived a quiet and strong life in spite of fate, untouched by change. He stopped with a great laugh that was all courage and no mirth. They were brothers in spirit and he, too, would defy the storms and fires not let them touch his heart. It was evening when he emerged from the forest and the lights of the town twinkled before him. Now his hat was pushed back far on his head and his forehead serene, his step genuinely firm and assured. The shouts of chil- dren sounded as he approached the houses. Glowing red dots moved hither and thither in the streets. Was there to be a torchlight procession? What day was it, anyway? He thought a moment and recalled that it was St. Martin's day " Maden," as the valley people called it in their patois. It was an especial festival for the children. Last year his own had taken part in it, and he had made them jack-o'-lanterns with grotesque, grinning faces. The chil- dren had put candles in them and carried them proudly on long sticks, going to their grandparents' houses, where they waved them before the windows and sang the* " Marten song," begging for apples, pears, and nuts. Every house had its own quota of childish mendicants and the jack-o'-lanterns grinned kindly down friendly moons in a heaven of childhood. A troop of little boys and girls surrounded him. Their familiar song rose in a childish treble: 196 SONS OF THE RHINE " Mdden is en godden Mann, Da us godd wat gens en kann, Die Appel und die Beer en Die Note gont woll met." * He swept the group with burning eyes, as if his own little ones must be among them. Then he turned hastily into a side street. But here, too, he could not escape the childish forms, the sweet, shrill voices : " Trepp ow un aff, Trepp ow un aff, Tast man in den NotesacJc Tast man nich donewen, Ka's us godd wat gewen" f He could not endure the sight and sound of them and took to his heels. In his ears rang the voices of his own children clever, ambitious Gustav and that sweet chat- terbox Emily. Hush ! Hush ! He must not listen to those voices. They sapped his pride and manhood. There was the factory and his house at last but still those children and their songs everywhere. Laughing and begging, they sang under the windows of his silent, de- serted home : " Owen in dem Eck Da hdngt dat lange Specif. Gewet uns dat lange, Lot dat Teotte hangen " $ German folksong. Martin is a good man, gives us good things, apples, pears, and nuts also. f Up and down the stairs, up and down the stairs, put your hand in the nut sack not the next one, can you give us something? $ Up in the corner hangs the long piece of bacon; give us the long one, let the short one hang. SONS OF THE RHINE 197 " Out of the way, you young (rascals ! " They gave way before his stern looks, but sang mock- ing songs at him once he had passed, but he went on his way without turning, across the factory courtyard to the buildings. A human form detached itself from the shadows and approached him. "Mother!" " Where have you been ? We've been hunting you all day. Don't you know that we're working overtime to- day? " " That's good. I'll go to the machine house at once." " Where were you, Gustav? " " Out for a walk." She gripped his hand in her own firm, strong ones. "Gustav?" "What, Mother?" " It's not your habit to go walking when all the rest of us are hard at work." " I'll not do it again, Mother," he said, trying to smile. " Has anything happened between you and Emily ? " " Emily has gone to Diisseldorf ." "For how long?" " Mother I don't know." The firm old hand was trembling now, but only for a few pulse beats. Then it lay quiet once more in that of her son. " Come." "Where, Mother?" " Here, where no one can see us." The dye works had shut down at the usual hour, al- though there were night shifts in the other buildings. Here everything was dark and silent; only the continual murmur of the Wupper broke on the boundary walls. Mother and son walked side by side, their strong hands clasped in unaccustomed familiar tenderness. Then Gus- 198 SONS OF THE RHINE tav unlocked the door of the new dye house, turned on the gas and lit it. " Sit down, Mother ; you're tired." "Yes, but I waited in the courtyard for you so no one would notice." " You must not worry about me, Mother. I'm no sapling, no worthless kindling wood. I'm like that oaken block I saw to-day in " "What's that?" " Ach, nothing! Just an idea of mine. Now let's sit down sociably on one of the dye ovens." " Can you tell me why Emily is gone? " " Mother, you would not understand. It is something intimate in our married life." " I know what marriage means. Have I not borne your father six sons ? " He reached for her hands, helplessly, awkwardly. Ca- resses were rare between this mother and son. He opened his mouth twice before the words came; finally he asked, " Did you ever feel ashamed? " "Never!" He bent down and gazed earnestly into aged, toil- marked hands. "You were always very happy together, you and father? " " All our married life." " You don't think it any sin against religion for a man to take pleasure in his wife? " " No, but it is not a matter to talk about." "Very well, Mother, we shall never talk of it again. There will be no need." " She will come back, Gustav. A woman who has once been a wife must come back to her husband, even if it be to hell itself." SONS OF THE RHINE 199 " She says she will pray for me." He rose and strode up and down the room. The old woman sat waiting for him to calm himself. " But if she does not come," he went on, " I shall never go there for her. She went of her own free will and she must come back the same way. I could not entrust her with my happiness again on any other terms. But at worst I still have my work to occupy me." " There is enough of that, at any rate." " Old Scharwachter has called in his loan." " Has the whole family gone crazy ? " The old woman rose to her feet and seemed to grow taller in her anger. " Mother, I shall push him to the wall, never fear ! " he said, vehemently. " And you just said you had no interest in life? " " Ah, Mother ! You and I will do it together." " There's still strength and marrow in my old bones. Let them come." " War to the knife ! Hurrah ! Nothing better than that for me just now! I'm ready for battle." Gustav drew in a deep breath with distended nostrils, like a war horse that scents battle. He thought of the oak log in the forest smithy and a great Viking laugh burst from him. " Let's hear our battle music," he said, turning to the silent machinery. In a moment the great transmission belts were whirring and the great monster of toil was in motion. Gustav went from steam pipe to steam pipe, open- ing the cocks, and the steam roared and hissed out, filling the room, urgent, thrilling " song of toil." And in the midst of it all stood Gustav, his eyes flaming with the lust of battle, with the defiance of life and its threatened defeats that he had inherited from the dauntless mother who stood beside him, ready as ever for her share in the conflict. SECOND PART CHAPTER I DOWN the steep street leading to the Wupper the small hand sleds swished over the freshly fallen snow. The boys held the reins tightly in their clenched hands, guid- ing the sleds skillfully, their heels digging into the snow. They had taken up girls in front of them and imagined themselves knights, heroes of adventure. Shrill cries rang out: "Look out hello! hello!" Little did these joyous youngsters care if a treacherous stone hidden under the snow overturned a sled, fair burden and all. Dresses and knickerbockers were shaken free from the snow, and with a shout back they were on the sled and off again. Snow men stood guard in front of the houses ; the laugh- ing factory girls were bombarded with snowballs ; on the slippery pavements dignified pedestrians walked cau- tiously, both fearful for and angry at the urchins and their coasting; policemen went from house to house or- dering the inhabitants to strew ashes ; the snow danced in the air ; the new moon shone ; the town was full of Win- ter rejoicing. On St. Nicholas' day the children set out their shoes on the window ledge lest that faithful servant of the Christ child might miss them when he distributed his gifts. In the bakers' shops gingerbread men with Dutch pipes in their mouths were stared at eagerly by the boys. The toy shops were crowded with new toys. Inside the houses, mothers and elder sisters worked steadily and secretly. 200 SONS OF THE RHINE 201 Christmas came, bringing its lighted trees, its joyous songs, its subtle sadness for the grown-ups, its sheer de- light for the children. Then the bells of New Year's Eve rang through the valley; in the churches rich and poor sat side by side on this last night of the year. The fumes of punch floated through the houses. On New Year's Day the children raced through the streets, again exchanging their good wishes for cookies and candies. Frost and thaw came and went. The factory chimneys smoked on steadily. The charm of the Advent season passed, and Epiphany brought with it a return to work. This year the Wiskottens did not celebrate Christmas. It is true they met together at their parents' to exchange gifts, but there were gaps in the ranks which everybody carefully avoided noticing. Concerning their hopes and fears for the factory, nobody wanted to speak at such a time. Sorrowfully their glances met and evaded one another, sorrowfully they parted. As soon as the gifts were distributed Gustav went home. There he found a letter from his wife and some little gifts from the chil- dren. He took them up laid them down took them up again and held them in his hand till he went to bed. He thought of the box of toys he had sent to Diisseldorf at the last minute, by special delivery; for till the last mo- ment he had hoped. When he came in from the factory he had listened eagerly in the hall, but the hoped-for had not happened. " She persists in her obstinacy ; if I yield it will be for always. I will not be buried alive." He slept uneasily, and Anna Kolsch, who came early each morning to do the housework, was frightened when she saw him. " Oh, Herr Wiskotten ! " she cried, tears in her eyes. 202 SONS OF THE RHINE "Why, child, what's the matter? You are not going to cry, surely. There's no reason for that, none at all." " Father told me to ask you to spend one of the holidays with us." " Thank you, Anna, but I have grown used to taking my meals with my parents. Nobody minds there if I don't talk, and besides I want to take a long walk in the moun- tains. Tell your father I'll come another time. Next week, perhaps, in the New Year." The girl nodded. " All right, Herr Wiskotten, don't forget, but that's a promise." Every afternoon in his loneliness Gustav Wiskotten wandered up over the solitary white road beside the Wup- per ; up to the silent mountains through the snow- covered woods till he came at last to the newly erected smithy. And each time he rejoiced to see, still in its place, the oak log, which neither iron nor flame had suc- ceeded in destroying. In the first week in January, William Wiskotten brought home his young wife to the villa which stood above the town on a pleasant site reclaimed from the woods by nature-loving inhabitants. This time Gustav was not present to receive them. A few days later he went to call. He found Mabel alone. " Dear Gustav." She took his hands and held them in hers. " Is that all? " he asked, laughing. " Since when have I ceased to deserve a sisterly kiss ? " She kissed him heartily, then looked at him searchingly. " My kiss brought you bad luck once." " What makes you think that? I don't." " Now you're sarcastic." " Don't ever let that worry you, Mabel. I'm not joking. I really mean it." SONS OF THE RHINE 203 They sat down opposite to one another, and the young wife gazed thoughtfully out of the window, far out across the snow-covered valley. "Listen, Gustav. Good taste decrees that one should not touch on certain subjects, that one should appear as usual at times of deepest stress and trouble. Gustav," she looked him full in the eyes, " let us disregard good taste. I consider it barbarous. If we saw our neighbor's house on fire, we should not hesitate to help put it out." " That's true enough," answered Gustav. " Well, sometimes it's a kind of help to one's neighbor just to know that one is there ready and willing to help, even if one can only bring a pail of water." " Just what do you mean by help in my case ? " " The recognition of your wound ; I won't go on pre- tending that there's nothing wrong. Talk things over with me. I am a Wiskotten now, and the Wiskottens are a united family. I am proud to belong to them." " Shake hands, Mabel. You're a plucky woman, and your heart's in the right place. That kiss of yours did not really bring me ill luck, as you think. It brought me luck, Wait, listen ! That kiss was my deliverance deliverance from a number of disagreeable things things that were destroying, not my capacity for work, but all my joy in living. I was about to plunge into outer dark- ness, for all time morose, as I am by nature, and worn out by the constant struggle with Emily. I should have gone under, I say, if you had not come and shown me how different it might be." " Then it was my fault, after all? " "Your fault? Mabel, how can you say such a thing? No, no, little one, it was you who gave me the courage, great, clumsy fellow that I am, to break from the web that was gradually entangling me. You did well, and I 204 SONS OF THE RHINE thank you for it with all my heart. Heavens ! I suffer the fiery torments of hell, but rather that than than freeze." " Gustav." She stood up and went thoughtfully to- ward the door. "Well?" " I'm a married woman too. If William and I were ever to disagree " " Well, what would you do? " " I should just wait, hoping and believing that he would prove the stronger. That's what I should do." She shut her eyes, bending back her head. " That's how a woman loves." She came toward him, holding out her hand : " Don't let her conquer, brother mine. It would be a pity, for her sake and yours." The new dye works vied with the old ones, the looms increased in number, rattled from morning to night. Yet the faces of the young owners were not happy, and around the mouth of the mother the lines grew deeper. The mortgage to Emily's father was in arrears. Mabel of- fered her dowry. Fritz's discovery of a process which would give to cotton the sheen and general appearance of silk had more than fulfilled their expectations. They could make colored ribbons and black laces which, be- cause of their cheapness, defied all competition. And yet orders came in slowly, they could get no new customers, and the warehouse was piled up with unsold stuffs. What was the use, then, of the new 600 H.-P. machine, the in- dustry of the workmen, the commercial enterprise of the owners? It all came to this: overproduction. In February, as William Wiskotten returned from an al- most fruitless business trip, the word weighed upon his mind SONS OF THE RHINE 205 like a parting knell. Frau Wiskotten sat alone with her sons in the private office. A holiday silence lay over the factory. " Out with it, William," said Gustav. " We could not judge much from your letters." " As you imagine, I did all I could." " That's understood. Go on." " I called on all old Scharwachter's customers, and everywhere met with the same reception. They looked at my samples, praised them, inquired our prices." " Well, and then? Weren't they surprised? " " No, I was." The brothers stared at one another. "Impossible; they thought them too dear. Perhaps they wanted real silk at the price." " That's exactly what they wanted." " No joking, William. This is a serious matter. What was it they really wanted? " " Exactly what I said. Real silk at the same price." " You're mad. Even old Scharwachter could not do that." " That's just what he is doing, nevertheless." "My father-in-law?" " Your father-in-law. The firm of Jeremiah Schar- wachter. I had full proof of it." August Wiskotten made a rapid calculation. Then he passed the paper round. " If Scharwachter is selling at that price, he's selling at cost. It can't be a business matter with him." " He wants to make things hard for us," went on Fritz, the inventor, glumly, " to annoy and frighten us." " Not that," said Frau Wiskotten ; " he means to break us." Gustav walked to and fro, he stood at the window and 206 SONS OF THE RHINE gazed at the factory grounds and buildings, then turned back to the others. " This is my affair, mine alone, that's plain. If I had not quarreled with Emily, we should have been out of the hole long ago. Every blow that Scharwachter strikes is aimed at me, me personally. Is there any doubt of that?" The brothers looked down without speaking. " Nobody questions it ? Very well then, you don't imagine for a moment that I am going to let you pull the chestnuts out of the fire for me, do you? That I am going to let you suffer for my fault? No, no, boys, you must allow your Gustav a little pride yet." "What does that mean?" asked Frau Wiskotten, her glance fixed eagerly on her eldest son. " It means two things, Mother. First, that we won't let him break us, not just yet; not if it costs my last cent. Second, notice the phrase, * my last cent,' not yours. If I have got you into this mess, I'm going to get you out of it. I'll do it too. Please don't try to contradict me anyone. I know what I'm doing. Now, listen care- fully. It's a question of who can hold out longest, we or Scharwachter. For my part, it's a matter of personal honor with me now. Scharwachter is underbidding us to ruin us. It means nothing to him to sell for a year or two at cost. But between making nothing and losing there's a difference. And he shall lose. He underbids us. So be it. We'll underbid him." " Gustav, are you out of your senses ? The factory could never stand that," the voices of the brothers came in chorus. " The factory is not expected to stand it. 7 will stand it." "You?" SONS OF THE RHINE 207 " Yes, /. August shall count up what my interest in the factory will come to, together with what will come to me from our parents. That sum I will sacrifice. William, who through his marriage has ready money to dispose of, will be good enough to place it to our credit, the equivalent of my personal effects. When, if ever, we are free from all difficulties, the factory in good order again, and I in a position to pay all this back, then I shall take up my proper place again. If the sum is lost, William will take my place, and I shall retire definitely." Silence reigned. The faces of the energetic young mer- chants were very grave. Then Frau Wiskotten said, quietly, " Gustav is right." He nodded to her without speaking. William tried to object; the others too pro- tested. The old lady looked calmly round the circle. " Gustav is right. It is a question of one or all. One of you may suffer ; the factory never ! " They all acquiesced, though unwillingly. Gustav drew a deep breath. His eyes were lit with a deep, cold, savage pride. Now he was master of his fate, though but for a month or so. He was master Jeremiah Scharwachter should feel it, and through him Emily. He seized his hat and with a curt good-by left them. For an hour, at least, he wandered in the dark round the factory buildings. * * * * * Two weeks later, William Wiskotten started on another trip. He went first to Berlin and from there, without returning to Barmen, on to London, taking Paris on the return trip. He was fully empowered, wherever he met with competition from Scharwachter, to lower the prices, to get orders at whatever cost. At home they awaited results with feverish impatience. The first letters came. The orders were none or small, 208 SONS OF THE RHINE and yet Gustav read the letters with a bitter sort of joy. William wrote that the customers in Berlin had already given their orders to Scharwachter, but that when he had heard their price he had expressed his regret, with the remark that he could have offered them the much more delicately finished patented Wiskotten article at a third less than they were paying Scharwachter. These customers had at once communicated with Schar- wachter, who had been obliged, after many evasions, to make a reduction in price or lose the orders. This meant that Scharwachter was actually paying out money at a daily increasing loss. " Paying out actual money. It's like pulling teeth to him." The reports from London were on the same lines, but a long list of orders was inclosed. The sharp-witted Eng- lish merchants scented the fight and determined to take full advantage of it. By telling Scharwachter of the ad- vantageous offers made them they forced him to furnish them with goods at the same price as the Wiskottens, at the same time giving a still larger order to the latter firm. Gustav Wiskotten laughed. " Pretty wide-awake these Englishmen. No matter, it's brought life into the factory." The factory was indeed alive. Both engines were at work again, the dye works in full swing, and the looms turned their wooden arms with the old familiar rhythm, stretching the yarn, weaving the ribbons. No longer did the girls dare waste their time whisper- ing their love affairs. In the packing rooms the men worked ceaselessly. " Kolsch," said Gustav, one day to his foreman, " these are good times we are having now." SONS OF THE RHINE 200 " How long is it going to last, Herr Gustav ? " " As long as we can hold out." " And how long will that be? " Gustav shrugged his shoulders. " Have you heard any- thing from Scharwachter's? " " They say he goes about with a face as white as a ghost." " All right, Kolsch, it will be yellow before we've done with him." " He's pretty tough, Herr Gustav." " I'm not so very tender myself. There just look at those empty rooms." " But they brought in nothing." " Brought in nothing? Look around you. Every- thing's alive. People working. Wherever you look industry, contentment. Do you call that nothing? Isn't it a thousand times better than the dawdling and idling of the past few months? If we get nothing out of it but the delight of these weeks of work, great Heavens, man, we're alive again!" "" Thank God for it, Herr Gustav. I haven't heard you speak like that for a long time." " Happiness is a queer thing, Kolsch. With me it starts in my hands, flows from them to my heart and back again, reinforced." " Herr Wiskotten, I've been thinking at night when I sit there with my pipe, and I've an idea." "Really?" " It seems to me that the new patent would be more useful if we combined it with quite new and original patterns. The process itself is new and we should carry it out in a new way. People must see at a glance that there is a vast difference between our wares and those of Scharwachter and his like. They must be fresh fresh as 210 SONS OF THE RHINE a spring morning. We'll have them all patented. Then let them gnash their teeth." " Kolsch, you're a wonder ! " " Oh, it's easy enough in theory." " Kolsch, you are a fine sentry. While I sat here in the dark you've been asking questions of the stars. My head hasn't been worth much lately. I haven't seen the wood for the trees." " Private troubles are harder to bear than business ones, Herr Gustav, when one doesn't know how it's all going to end." " Enough, Kolsch I understand. Come along with me now to the designer." Near the binding room a little man bent over a page of squared paper, forming intricate patterns with dots, lines, and scrolls for ribbons. " What beautiful things are you at work on now, Herr Brinckmann? May I see? " "Delighted, delighted, Herr Wiskotten." The little man stepped back, rubbing his hands, assured of the beauty of his work. " H'm, explain that to us." " That is a puncture pattern, background white or any dull shade, with tiny stars of red and blue. Pretty isn't it?" " Anything else new? " The little man opened his portfolio. "Here's a pat- tern with broken stripes; here one with scrolls; this one, lightly sketched in, has circles and squares. Here we have some new lace patterns, and " " All about as old as Methuselah. Herr Brinckmann, those patterns might have come out of the ark. We must have something new, my friend, brand new." " But these are new, Herr Wiskotten, absolutely new. SONS OF THE RHINE 211 Look carefully. No two patterns are alike. You will find in each some delicate, subtle difference." " No doubt of it, Herr Brinckmann, but what I want are novelties, not variations of old themes. I need some- thing absolutely original ; nothing less will satisfy me. Rack your brains." The dried-up little creature smiled, condescendingly. What did mere men of business understand of the art of design ? " Very good, very good, Herr Wiskotten. I'll make you something new, the newest thing possible." " No, no, Herr Brinckmann, you must do more than that. Anybody can do the possible. To beat our competitors we must do the impossible. Then we can defy them. I'll see you again a week hence." " Shall be delighted to see you, Herr Wiskotten." " That old fellow has about as much imagination as a fly. What an old fossil! About once a year he lays an egg and spends the rest of his time brooding over it, wondering what will come out of it a hen, a duck, or a cow. If you were to suggest to him a golden pheasant or a bird of paradise for a change, he would be so terribly upset that he would never lay again." " We need an infusion of new blood, Herr Gustav." " We shall have it. I'll see to that ! " That evening Gustav set out for the tavern. Suddenly he was seized with an intense yearning for rest. He wanted to stretch his legs under a table with a gleaming lamp lighting up friendly faces. He changed his course, going toward the house of his foreman. He rang. There came the sound of hasty footsteps, and Anna appeared. " Good evening, Fraulein Anna, hiay I come in ? " " What a surprise ! You have come just at the right moment. Do you smell anything? " 212 SONS OF THE RHINE "Potato fritters?" " How pleased father will be. At last you have remem- bered your promise but, there, I won't scold." He looked deep into the eyes of the girl, which like twin blue seas reflected the surroundings with an added beauty. " Scold away, it sounds like a song to me." Foreman Kolsch rose in surprise from his armchair. "Herr Gustav?" "Am I disturbing you? You were reading, weren't you?" " Only till Anna there is ready with her fritters. They must be eaten hot, you know. They take some time to cook. Is it a favorite dish of yours ? " " Is it a favorite dish? Wasn't I born and bred by the Wupper, as you were ? " He sat down, glanced round the pleasant room, then leaned back lazily in his chair. Soon he realized that his irritability had entirely left him ; he felt calm and con- tented. "What are you reading, Herr Kolsch?" " Jean Paul." " What's the fellow's name? " " Jean Paul, Herr Wiskotten. He's my favorite au- thor, especially suited to old fogies like me, who like to look back and watch the young fools following the same road they went themselves. It makes one feel so superior." "Is the man still alive?" " He died about seventy-five years ago, but his works will live forever." " You make me ashamed of my ignorance. I never heard of the man. My education has been sadly neglected. I know something of Schiller, a little too of Goethe, but outside that nothing but factory." SONS OF THE RHINE 212 " Take time to read him some day, Herr Gustav. It'll be worth your while." " Goodness, what a lot of books you have. So far, lit- erature has meant nothing to me." " Poets are like mothers, Herr Gustav ; one can never return to them too late or in vain." " I'm afraid I'm too ill equipped." " All the better. Those who are not accustomed to re- ceive gifts usually prove the most grateful. That's my experience. And when my wife died As I was saying, poets are like mothers." Gustav rose and went slowly to the cupboard, through the glass window of which shone the gilt of the covers. Thoughtfully he read the titles. " Herr Wiskotten, my library is at your disposal." " Will you, indeed, lend me something ? The evenings are long." " With the greatest of pleasure." Anna, in a long white apron, brought in a dish of crisply baked fritters. " Please excuse the apron. I have to stand close to the stove and the fat spatters all round. Please begin." " Sit down with us, Fraulein Anna." " In a minute or two ; I must bake some more first, so that you may not have to wait." They sat down and fell to eagerly. When Gustav noticed that Anna buttered her father's bread for him he asked her to do the same for him, so she served them in turn. The plates were soon emptied, and the table cleared. Then Anna brought jugs of beer and pipes for the men, and the foreman, at Gustav's request, read a chapter from his favorite author. At first Gustav listened carefully, then the words acted as a stimulant to his thoughts. They lulled him. He sat 214 SONS OF THE RHINE as though enveloped in a warm cloak. The girl let her work drop and then looked up whenever her father came to an especially fine passage ; from him to the guest, then smilingly resumed her knitting. Peace crept, like a warm wave, through the room, soothing, caressing. Gustav had ceased to listen. An idyl passed before his eyes. He dreamed sweet yet painful dreams. The sweetness van- quished the pain. " I have much to thank you for, Herr Kolsch," he said, as he took his departure. " You are an education in your- self. You are, really ! In the factory I have learned from you ; as for the home, I should have taken a lesson from you earlier. Your house feels as though there were a roof over it. The wind howls through my rooms." " Have your roof mended, Herr Gustav. You can do it." "It isn't worth while, just for me. We mustn't get sentimental, though ; it would spoil a very pleasant even- ing. Fraulein Anna, you little fairy, you, how full of love your heart must be ; there always seems enough to go round. Don't you ever get tired of tidying up my house every morning? " "Oh, Hove to do it!" " Ah, little one, when you marry, some man will be happy as a king. It makes one quite envious. There, there, I'm off. Don't mind me. Good night, Fraulein Anna. Good night, Herr Kolsch." He felt quite happy as he stepped from the comfortable house into the dark, silent street. That night, for the first time, he visited the children's bedroom. The light of the candle fell upon the empty beds, the neglected toys. " Come back," he murmured, " come back, we'll cling together for good or ill. If only, if only, but she is ob- stinate and I am dreaming." SONS OF THE RHINE 215 "Anna!" " Yes, Father." That morning the foreman had received a letter. The church bells rang out over the valley, but the foreman heeded them not. " Anna, as soon as you have finished at Herr Wiskotten's go straight to the station and take the train to Diissel- dorf. I had a letter from Ernst." " Oh, dear, has anything happened to Ewald, father? " " You might think first of your brother." She looked down, blushing. " Is Ernst well? " " Yes, yes, child," he stroked her hair tenderly, " there, read it; I can't understand it myself. Ewald Wiskotten no longer shares his meals. He has had some trouble at the Academy and has changed his lodgings. It's time you looked into it." " I'll go at once. I'll be back by evening, father. Don't say anything about it to Herr Gustav. He has enough troubles of his own!" The short journey to Diisseldorf seemed endless to the girl. Pictures pale, terrible pic- tures came and went in her brain. She had telegraphed to Ernst, who met her at the station. " What's wrong, Anna girl? " " That's just what I want you to tell me." " I I am waked out of a comfortable sleep at ten o'clock in the morning and you ask me to prophesy. That's asking too much." " Have you found Ewald Wiskotten? " " Haven't looked for him." " But supposing some misfortune " " Nonsense misfortune. They dismissed him from the Academy, said he had no talent. That's what happens to the most original artists. Now he's ashamed, hides his face in his hands and cries, What shall I do? ' " 216 SONS OF THE RHINE " Ernst, please don't be silly ; we must find Ewald at once. Father says so." " I don't believe," said Ernst, yawning, " that if I were lost you would rush over posthaste, and I'm one of the family." " Weeds don't die." " Miss Impertinence. There, child, don't look so sober. I'm your prisoner at your command. Forward ! " They drove to Zinters', where they met the daughter of the house. " Can you tell us where Herr Ewald Wiskotten lives now, please ? " " I have nothing to do with an out-at-the-elbow fellow like him." " Where were his things sent? " " The greengrocer on the corner carried them across in his pocket. He quite forgot to take the bill, though." " Come, Ernst, we will go to the greengrocer." Gretchen Zinters stood there, her hands in her apron pockets, looking at them. *' If you're his sweetheart, I'm sure I wish you joy," she called after them. The door shut. Anna Kolsch went on calmly to the greengrocer's shop. Ratinger Street, the good man told her, and he de- scribed the house : " His room is about the size of a rat hole." The brother and sister climbed the four long flights of the dirty house, full to overflowing with common people. Wandering peddlers, occasional workmen, rag and bone men. Nobody occupied more than one room. In the small- est, and most wretched of them all, lived Ewald Wiskotten. The door was shut. Anna knocked, there was a sound within, then silence. Ernst Kolsch banged at the door. No answer. SONS OF THE RHINE 217 " Open the door, man ! I know you're at home. Anna is here with me." " Ewald," cried the girl, softly. " Donnerwetter, I want peace and quiet ! I don't want any of you ! " The girl paled, as she heard this furious outburst, turned, and went quietly down the stairs. " If he can yell like that, he's not done for yet, Anna mine. Cheer up, little Samaritan, you came too soon, that's all." " Ernst," she said, and her voice shook with fear, " do not leave it till it's too late. Go to him every day. Help him, Ernst." " The fool doesn't deserve it," he growled. " The worst of it is the fellow's clever enough, only he can't produce pictures. Look at these things he gave me. He wanted to tear them up, but I stopped him. There, amuse yourself with those on the trip home." He rolled the sheets to- gether and pushed them under her arm. " Now smile, child." Still her wide-opened eyes were full of anguish. " All right, Anna, I promise you. I'll take charge of him; here's my hand on it." She journeyed back to Barmen, the roll unopened on her lap. CHAPTER II A few days before Ewald Wiskotten left the Zinters' Gretchen mounted the stairs to his room, knocked and entered. She carried in her hand a letter which seemed to interest her intensely. Ewald was sitting at the table, which he had pulled close to the narrow window, working hard at some drawings. " Gretchen, is that you at last? " " Here's a letter; look what's in it." Put it down there." " Aren't you curious ? The writing's like copper-plate. It's from some one grand." " Nothing from outside matters to me. It's what's in me that / care about." " I'm not like that ; I care more for the outside. You know where you are there. The inside that you think so fine often dissolves into beautiful blue smoke." "You think I've nothing in me, Gretchen?" " You're always so dull. It would never do for both of us to pull long faces. Besides, father wouldn't let me. It's bad for our business." " But you might take some little notice of me. I see nothing of you for weeks at a time." She pursed her lips. " You never take me out, and the theater's open only during the Winter." " Just now I have no money for that," he said, and gazed gloomily at his drawing. " You never do have any money." " No, but this this " he struck his canvas, " this time 218 SONS OF THE RHINE 219 I've got it ! Go to your friends let them take you to the theater. One day you will be sorry that you did not believe in me." She swayed to and fro on her slender hips, then slipped behind his chair. "What is it you are doing, silly?" and she leaned against his arm and laid her cheek on his ; he did not move. A warm glow ran through him, his breath came slowly, heavily, loudly, and his cheeks began to burn. She stroked his hair with her finger tips. " Tell me, Ewald." He explained hastily, a wedding in Niirnberg the nobles in rich robes, the citizens dressed like princes. " I should like a dress like that. Couldn't you get me one, Ewald?" " I'll paint it for you." " Oh, yes, you'll paint me too, some day." " Gretchen," he seized her violently in his arms, so that the table shook, " kiss me ! Do you hear? You must ! And I'll get you whatever you want, but you must give me the inspiration. Look at that nobody else can do work like that!" Her nearness intoxicated him, he became boastful. "These are not mere daubs of color, masking a lack of de- sign. That's drawing, riches, luxury. These are real people, wearing real clothes, not smudges. There's imag- ination in them, they're no pale corpses. Gretchen kiss me!" " Will you open the letter then? " " I will." His thirsty young lips touched hers. For a time neither heard anything but the beating of their hearts. " Let me go ! " " Not yet." 220 SONS OF THE RHINE " You hurt me." " And you me." " You are mad." "Ah." Now she was free. With both hands she smoothed back her hair. " Open the letter, now." " Let the old letter alone. Gretchen, feel how my heart beats." "Quickly open the letter. I must get back to work." Again he smiled at her, his eyes glowing with the light of conquest. Then he took the letter, tore the envelope and read. He read as though he did not understand ; once he turned the envelope to convince himself that it was ad- dressed to him. Then he read the letter again. The glow in his eyes died out. The lack of comprehension gave place to dismay. His features looked drawn, like those of an old man. " No pleasant news ? " " No." " Let me see." He crumpled the letter in his hand and with uncertain glance looked from it to the drawing on the table. His lips were compressed, his breath came gaspingly. " Show it to me, do ! " His hand opened and the paper fell to the ground. He did not even glance at it. She might stoop, smooth and read it, if she would. The girl picked it up and read it slowly. " Since, during the first two terms, you have shown that you are not up to the standard of the Academy, we beg you to consider your studies here at an end with the expiration of the next term." SONS OF THE RHINE 221 Gretchen looked at Ewald coldly dismissed for inca- pacity. His mouth twitched. Pride, defiance, and the agony of youthful suffering were fighting for the mas- tery. She saw nothing of all this. She saw only the curt words of condemnation. " It's all over between us." He opened his eyes, agony conquered pride. " No ! " he shouted. " So you say, but I can't wait. I'm tired of your boast- ing. Where's your rich family, why don't they help you? No, thank you, I'm not so trustful as all that." " Gretchen, stay. All this is nothing, it will pass. Don't leave me alone, now now, when I need you so badly. The Academy I can do without it. But you I need you. Listen, dearest." " When father hears about this, you'll have to go. He never did think much of you, Herr Wiskotten." " Why do you call me Herr Wiskotten? " "Why not? We're nothing to one another now." " Gretchen, don't go yet, wait. There lies my new work, and just now when you kissed me I knew, I knew." "Let me go!" " Gretchen, kiss me ! " " Don't you dare touch me ! You've always lied to me. I'll never believe you again, such a boaster as you are. I'm not going to let you compromise me, so you needn't think it. Don't ever speak to me again ! " He looked at her miserably. Long after the door had slammed to behind her he gazed at the spot where she had stood, seeming to see her still with the pitiless glance of girlish cruelty which had suddenly stamped itself on her young face. And yet he cried after her, as though cling- ing to her shadow. ggg SONS OF THE RHINE An hour later he left the house. He went to see Ernst Kolsch, whom he found at home. " Read this rag." Having read the letter of the principal of the Academy, Ernst passed it back. " I've seen it coming." "What am I to do? Go home, eat humble pie? I'd rather break stones." " You ought to be in the School of Industrial Arts. There you would be one of the best." "Really? At what pay? Drawing master? Pattern maker? Where does art come in?" " Just there. That's a field which can be lifted from a craft to an art. It's merely a question of genius and you have that, all right." " That's the only suggestion you have to offer ? " "Isn't it enough?" " You are a jealous fool. You simply don't under- stand. Your finer feelings are blunted because you see nothing but the brutal color, and are blind to the details. What have you and I in common ? " Before his friend could stop him, he was off. Next day Ernst received a letter in which Ewald informed him that he would no longer share his meals, and begged him to seek no further communication with him. As artisan, he could no longer accept alms from an artist. For two days, Ewald wandered along the banks of the Rhine, neither eating nor drinking, jealously guarding his few remaining pfennigs like a miser. When hunger be- came unbearable he would run for long stretches at a time, then would lie down sullenly, brooding, looking moodily out over the stream out, out into the great world be- yond, till a mist clouded his eyes and the mist dissolved in tears which fell, burning his cheeks. He lay there in SONS OF THE RHINE 223 the white sand of the Rhine, weeping violently, first for Gretchen, and then for his art. Over the Rhine deep shadows fell, playing darkly with the waves till they lost themselves in their embrace. Night came, confused murmurs arose, Ewald shuddered. The voices of the night, with their ardent message, disturbed his thoughts, weakened him, filled him with desires, long- ings, which made his weakness the more bitter. He rose heavily, seized the branches of a willow, and leaned down, listening excitedly to the murmur of the stream. Cau- tiously he crept along the bank, closer, closer, till he felt the chill of the water. With a scream, he leaped to his feet. Night and the river were reaching out long, black arms to engulf him, winding themselves round his heart, his brain " Mother ! " he cried. The firm ground was once more under his feet. As he fled wildly across the fields, the horrors of night crept round him like hissing snakes. At dawn, he found himself near the city. The morning light shone around him, penetrating his soul, bringing peace to his distraught mind. Over there lay the Academy. He glanced past it, hastily, then forced himself to look at it calmly. " I must get my things from the classroom." It was too early, however. He went back to the Rhine and sat down on the bank, feet hanging, hands between his knees. No shadows fell now over the fast-flowing stream. "What was I afraid of? I'm still here, and the night has gone." Tired out, breathing heavily, but with defiant eyes, he looked at the receding waves, as at a retreating antag- onist. His eyelids grew heavy closed. Once or twice he started in his sleep, and when at last he opened his eyes, he was astonished to find himself there. He was about to 224 SONS OF THE RHINE close them again when suddenly he remembered. He pulled his watch from his pocket it was one o'clock. " I must get my things from the classroom." The spoken word revived him. He rose and set out for the town. Now he had reached the door. The stone step did not resound to his footsteps. He wondered why, as he went slowly, step by step, to the classroom. Ah! that was it. His feet dragged. His comrades were all at work. The scent of turpentine reached him, it went to his head. Things which he could not quite make out danced before his eyes. The ground seemed to give way beneath him, he lost his footing. Swaying, he clung to the door post. As though from afar, he heard indignant voices, saw cold, penetrating eyes turned mockingly toward him. He pulled himself together and proudly, stiff-kneed, marched through the ranks to his place. As he stooped to take out his materials, he felt the floor surge under him. He lost his balance and fell against the window ledge. In silence he rose, looking around him, threateningly. " Oh ho ! He's been trying to drown his sorrows," cried a voice. " Look at the swashbuckler! " " Have you begun already to see snakes ? " One of them handed him the bottle of turpentine. " Here, have a drink." Ew