"And where, then, is this same Hard ?" asked I; "I know no town of that name here." "It is not a town: it is a village, a short four miles hence.' has money enough; they say he is a Millionaire, and it is like enough; but he is a miserable, parsimonious wretch, and has as many whims as hairs. I know him well enough, though I have nothing to do with him, thank Heaven." "And I shall find a good inn at Hard, you say?" Oh, yes, certainly; a very good one. There are mineral waters there. Ila Schulze has built a house there for the visitors to the springs, and that will be his ruin, in my humble opinion-that and the doctor he has thought fit to establish there;-a conceited, ignorant body-a mere quack, with his new-fangled notions." Some years ago, I was returning from Amsterdam, where I had been sent by my "And how is it that the best artisans Government to obtain payment for some and the most skilful professional men live timber for ship-building, about which some in the villages instead of the towns ?" difficulties had arisen with the Dutch "Oh, that is the doing of the Schulze; Government. I had succeeded beyond my he is a strange character-a humorist as it expectation in my commission; a new and is called-a fool, I say, who can do nomore advantageous bargain had been con- thing like other people. He wants to make cluded, and I was congratulating myself on a city of his paltry village, I believe. He the credit I should obtain with my Government. It was evening: I was snugly packed in the corner of my new travelling chaise, hugging myself on the prospect of a comfortable night's rest, after travelling the whole of the preceding night over some of the worst roads in Germany, and that is saying much. I was soon shaken out of my doze into which I had fallen, by a tremendous jolt. My old servant, Kunz, who was on the box, was sent flying through the air, and deposited high and dry on a bank by the road-side, before he had time to take the pipe from his mouth, and I was projected with such force in the rear of the postilion, that he was under the horses' feet in a second. Fortunately, the animals, being natives, "and to the matter born," took our mishap very coolly, and stood quite still, while the bipeds were scattering in all directions, as if it had been an adventure they expected, and had made up their minds to. The axle-tree and a spring of the chaise were broken, and so was the postilion's nose I was quit for the fright, but poor Kunz had dislocated his shoulder. With some difficulty and great exertion, we managed to get the chaise to the next village, and to the inn, or rather beer house -there was but one, and that a dirty, smoky den. I inquired immediately for a smith and a wheelwright; neither were to be had in the place, and the landlord himself advised me to go on to Hard, where I should get all I wanted. "There were no better workmen for many hundred miles round than were to be found at Hard." The old gentleman held forth long and loudly in dispraise of his learned, or unlearned, brother or rival, whichever he might be; nevertheless, as he admitted I should find the best surgeon, the best wheelwright, and the best smith in Hard, to Hard I resolved to go. On the following morning, the chaise was patched up as well as it could be with ropes and poles; Kunz, who was still in great pain, packed in as comfortably as circumstances admitted, and despatched before me to the much-talked-of Hard; and the weather being extraordinarily fine, and the way not easily mistaken, I followed on foot. Scarcely half a mile from the village I was leaving, there was a sudden and striking improvement in the condition of the land. On both sides of the carefully-kept road were rows of fruit trees, in the finest order. The fields beyond seemed admi In this strain the ancient went on wandering, till I wished him good morning, and he struck off through a bye-path. rably cultivated; not a weed to be seen, | with his new-fangled nonsense; and who the grass abundant, and of the richest qua- cares? He only uses his money to tyranlity. Before me lay the village, consisting nize over his poor neighbors." of cottages, not forming a street but scattered among trees, as in a great garden. In the middle of the village, on a gentle eminence, rose the church. The whole arrangement of the place, the style of building, and the extraordinary fertility of the land around, the more agreeably surprised me from the striking contrast it presented to all I had hitherto seen in this part of the country. "Why, this village of yours is a perfect paradise, father," said I to an aged peasant who just then came up with me; "I have seen no such land as this for many a mile." The view was so charming, so like our dreams of Arcadia, that, involuntarily loitering on my way, I sat down under a tree to enjoy it at my leisure. "How happy, how supremely happy, might the dwellers in this Paradise become, if Satan did not always take a hand in the game of life," thought I. "Who but Satan could have put it into the heads of the Government to send a fellow here to play the great man, and make these honest folks miserable!" While I thus mused, an old woman pass "Yes, God be praised, there is no faulted, whom I immediately hailed. to be found with the land," returned the "Good day, mother! Whereabouts in ancient, leaning on his stick to rest himself the village is the public house, can you tell beside me as I stopped to look round me. me?" "How comes it that your village lies so scattered, so unlike the other villages about?" said I. "Ugh!" replied the old man, with a discontented grunt, "unlike it is, sure enough. Our village was burnt to the ground about fifteen years ago, and we were obliged to build it so, because the Government would have it. They couldn't have done it worse. I have a good mile further to go to church every Sunday, and that's hard enough for us old folks, especially in winter, and some must go further still. Ah! it was a terrible fire, sure enough. There were not five houses spared." "And how did the fire happen?" "Ugh! Heaven knows! People say all sorts of things! Some will have it, the Schulze set it on fire himself, on purpose to vex us; but I don't say that exactly.' "But that is a terrible charge indeed against your Schulze." "Ah!" said the elder, shaking his head significantly, "many and many's the trick he has played us. He was schoolmaster here first; but he had interest somehow with the Government, and so he was palmed upon us as Schulze. Oh, he's as cunning as a fox, and as hard to catch." "Is he rich ?" Straight on, Sir, on the left hand, near the church; I am the landlady." "So much the better. Then you can tell me at once what accommodation I can have for myself and my servant for a few days.' Oh," ," said the old lady, with discontented air, "that's another thing. I can't lodge gentlefolk: I've no convenience. You must go to t'other house there, higher up on the hill. I saw a broken gimcrack of a chaise there a while agone, I suppose it was yours." "Do you see that little white house with the green shutters there," continued the old woman, when I asked for some further direction; "that's the Schulze's, and close to it is the big new inn for strangers." "Oh, and that belongs to the Schulze, also, I suppose?" "Why, yes and no, as one may say—it is his'n, and it is not, like everything else. hereabouts. It's all his fault that it was built." "It is of no advantage to you, then?" "Not it, indeed, nor to any one else. Since he's been in the village, my house is not worth half what it was. God forgive him! he will have much to answer for at the last day. Yes, yes," continued she, "I believe you; as rich as a Jew! But grumbling. "I should change my plan, he can't enjoy his money; he lives poorer quotha. A pretty thing, indeed, at my than any day-laborer. But he is caught time of life, to go to school! I was not to sometimes, cunning as he is," added the be cozened that way, Mr. Schulze! The old man, chuckling. "When the whim heavens be praised! I can do without him seizes him, he throws away his money by or the house either, for the matter of that." the handful. He'll ruin himself at last While she was speaking, I heard a sud den and warm strife of tongues in one of "Well, well," returned the Schulze, with a kind of authoritative kindness; "for this once I will overlook it." "That very circumstance," I said, "was worthy all my admiration!" "Every proprietor lives here in the midst ofghis own land," said the Schulze, "and thus it is the easier to overlook and cultivate it." "But this rich pasturage," said I "You have not perhaps observed, that all the meadows lie together and are well irrigated. We have also fine marl in the neighborhood. So they have, or might have, in the other places of which you spoke just now; but the people are idle and ignorant. Nature is always a kind mother, but men do not always give themselves the trouble to understand her language; they prefer their own darkness to her light." This remark was somewhat too philosophical for a village schoolmaster or Schulze. I turned to look again at my companion in his rustic tunic and coarse straw hat. There was, I thought, something beyond his condition in his countenance-I might almost say something noble. I fancied, moreover, that the features were familiar to me. The Schulze returned my gaze with a penetrating look. "Are you not," said he at length, " Adolphe Von Rodern!" of every bright eye in I attempted to withdraw my hand, for I took it into my head that my new acquaintance was hoaxing me; but he held it fast, and went on-" The world goes well with you; why, what a broad-shouldered, portly-looking young man you are become! And what good wind has blown you hither from the golden middle path you love so well, to such a bye-way as the road to Hard? I bid you heartily welcome, however, since you came. What, do you not know me yet?" The old woman reiterated her assurances that the subject of complaint, whatever it might be, should not again occur, and the "Von Rodern is my name," still unable village despot walked off. He took the to identify the person before me. same path that had been pointed out to me He laughed, and held out his hand. as the nearest to the inn I was in search of."What, my slender friend, once the delight I quickened my pace. I had curiosity to see the face of the griping millionaire of whom I had heard so much in so short a time; yet I could not say why I should have my desire to see more of a man, to whose advantage so little could be said by those who knew him best. He walked on so quickly that I should not have easily overtaken him, if he had not stopped again to speak to some countrymen coming from the village. We exchanged salutations as I came up, and he gave me the "pas" civilly enough, and that was enough to begin a conversation. It turned naturally enough upon the fruitfulness of the surrounding country. His manner was perfectly unassuming, but very decided, and his expressions betrayed a degree of cultivation greatly beyond what might have been expected from his rustic appearance. As to the land, he asserted roundly that it was neither better nor worse than the other land in the neighborhood, with which I had instituted a comparison greatly to the advantage of the former; the only difference he would admit was the better cultivation. I stood looking stupid enough, I believe. I could not for my life recollect where I had seen the speaker. Suddenly a ray of light flashed on my mind. Was it could it be my University friend, Engelbert? "Engelbert it is, and no other." I was deeply moved; the golden days of my youth returned in a moment. I returned his embrace heartily, and forgot in a moment all the ill that had been spoken of him. He called a boy from a neighboring field, and bade him run directly to his wife. "Say that I have found a brother," said he; "tell her to have the breakfast carried under the lime trees. We will join her directly." eccentric he had always been considered, but his singularities had been excused as I was called upon immediately for a the harmless freaks of a young, inexperisketch of my life since we had parted at enced, and enthusiastic head. But that Inbingen, the cause of my present journey, such a one, destined by nature and fortune and my visit to Hard. The story of many for the most splendid career, should end in of our former mutual friends came in epi- becoming a village schoolmaster and Schulze sodically; and, among others, Morn's, you-who, in heaven's name, could ever have may be sure, was not forgotten. "And expected this? now for yourself, my friend," said I at length, "it is your turn now." "I," replied Engelbert, laughing: "you may satisfy yourself-look at me. I am what I look like a peasant, and also Schulze of this village." His Augusta-so he called his wife-his children, were evidently most fondly attached to him, as he was to them. How could this man be so selfish, so grasping, so hard-hearted as he had been painted to me? And yet the wealth he was said to possess awakened my suspicions; it had been well known at the University that his family was very moderately endowed with the goods of fortune, and then how did this opulence tally with the simplicity, not to say parsi"My free choice!" "And how long mony, exhibited in the dress and style of have you lived here?" "Nineteen years, living of his family? A miser he must cerand most happily." "Well, well, but ex-tainly be. I resolved to lengthen my stay, plain yourself a little." and examine my man a little closer. After breakfast, we continued our walk up the hill. "But you, strangest of beings! how came you so? Why, with your fine talents and abundant knowledge, do I find you buried in this remote nook of earth? Can it be your free choice ?" "Another time; come to breakfast now. My wife and family will be waiting for us." We went on a little further, and a sudden turn of the path brought us to the lime trees, under the shade of which sat a beautiful woman of about thirty years of age, in a rustic dress, and with an infant on her lap. At her feet sat another, under two years of age, to whom a rosy cheeked, golden-haired brother was bringing flowers. Two elder boys, apparently between the ages of seven and twelve, were standing near their lovely mother with books in their hands, and their great blue eyes fixed on me with curiosity. Their dress was like their father's, and no way differing either in form or material from that of peasants. The Schulze presented me to his wife, over whose delicate features a gentle blush passed as she returned my salutation. I was speedily acquainted with the whole charming group. The children lay on the grass round a large, exquisitely clean wooden vessel full of milk, which, with the ordinary black bread, formed their breakfast. White bread and newly-churned fresh butter were brought for me, with a flask of old Burgundy. "I know of old our hostility to milk breakfasts," said Engelbert. It seemed to me like a dream; the sight of this really picturesque group, and the extraordinary rencontre with Engelbert as a peasant--he who had been admitted to be the best endowed by nature, the richest in acquired knowledge amongst our whole circle at the University! Somewhat "I cannot lodge you under my humble roof," said Engelbert, "for I have no spare room. But you will find everything you can want in the inn. I have established baths there over the sulphur springs, and you may take your choice of the rooms, as the season has not yet begun. No visitors will be here before next month." CHAPTER VIII. THE HOUSEHOLD. The wheelwright had already my carriage, and the surgeon my servant, in their hands. The mechanic undertook the speedy renovation of the chaise, for a hint from the allpowerful Schulze sufficed to make him lay all other work aside. The surgeon had put Kunz's arm in its place again, but it was excessively swollen, and at least a week's quiet was pronounced necessary for him. As far as I was personally concerned, I was well pleased with the delay. Engelbert and his family were well worthy of a visit on purpose. Everything about this humorist interested me the more, because I was every hour more thoroughly convinced that to few mortals was so assigned so large a portion of pure happiness as to him. His house, like that of every other peasant, stood in the midst your sickening and poverty-stricken villages. of a well-ordered flower and kitchen garden. I have enough for the real wants of life, and Within reigned the strictest cleanliness, and ample sphere of action for my mental pownot simplicity alone, but downright poverty. ers. I live apart from the splendid misery The sitting-room for the whole family con- of a corrupt refinement, but not from the tained but chairs and tables of the plainest nobler humanity. These are the great imkind, a wooden clock, and a small looking- mortals! (pointing to his books.) To me glass. Engelbert himself, his wife, and lies open the bosom of nature-the glory of children, slept on mattresses stuffed with God-the way of eternity! What more leaves and moss. The house linen was should I ask or seek for ?" coarse, but of a dazzling whiteness. The I pressed his hand, but with some embartable service might have been used in a con- rassment, for I knew not well how to vent of Capuchins. When I insisted one answer him. I might have said, You are an day upon dining with the family, they bade enthusiast. But he was in the right, and I me welcome, laughing, and warned me that felt it; and also that, in many of our social my fare would not be sumptuous. The relations, we are abundantly absurd, and soup was excellent. We had one dish of too often sacrifice the real good of life to roast meat, and abundance of vegetables, our conventional notions. I might have young and well cooked. The bread was frankly admitted, You are in the right; but the common black bread; the only drink then I felt that he had wandered so widely of thin beer or water; and that was the from the accustomed path-his ideas and whole fare. And yet I thought I had never motives were so little in harmony with the dined so well. The charming mother, sur- ideas and motives of the age, from and with rounded by the five cherub heads; Engel- which I had been and still was acting-that bert, with his playful wisdom :-the heart- a verbal acquiescence, while it was all I felt happiness of all made a deep impres- could give, would be of little value. sion on me. I confess I thought myself in I could not sufficiently admire his wonHeaven, and felt provoked when Engelbert derful activity. He farmed on his account, made himself merry with what he was and took not merely a superintending but pleased to call my sufferings as a town gour- an actual share in the business of the farm. mand at his rustic table. The only expense His office as justice gave abundant employof the house was in Engelbert's study. ment, one might have thought, and yet it There he had a small but choice collection seemed to be merely a supplementary one of books, maps in abundance, an electrify- to him. Every day he spent some hours ing machine, an air-pump, and other instru-alone in his study, and his two elder boys ments of physical science. The study was received instruction from him. These chilalso the school-room of the children and dren were taught, all that they were taught, Augusta's boudoir, for here stood her piano. thoroughly. The trees of the forest, the In some of the empty drawers of her hus- plants of the garden, the geology of the band's cabinet she kept some finer articles neighborhood, were familiar to them, not of dress. only in appearance, but in their nature and "Admirable !" said I. "But your fami- properties. They called them by their scily will out-grow your play-room, my dear entific names, for they had learned no Engelbert. You must think of extending others. The prism, the magnet, the microit.' scope, were familiar to them as their ordinary toys. The glorious map of the heavens was open to their constant observation, and they had been early rendered familiar with the starry host. "Not before ten years," returned he. "The temple of our happiness is small, but our happiness itself is great. We have more than room enough." "And you are really and truly happy in As Engelbert took upon himself the these relations ?" education of the elder children and all out"Look at these!" said Engelbert, point-door business, Augusta labored in the same ing to his wife and children. "What joy-spirit in her department. As well as the ous health in every look and gesture; And usual household arrangements, the care and these noble forms are animated by yet no- direction of all the land whose produce was bler souls. Here is my kingdom-my re- destined for domestic supply; the corn, public-my all! I enjoy life in reality, not flax, hemp, &c.; the management of the in appearance, as you do in your city pala- horses, sheep, cattle, goats, &c., belonging ces, full of inconvenient conveniences, and to the farm, were superintended by her. |