Here in the town may take pleasure in often coming to see us,
As in the house of our neighbour the merchant happens each Sunday."
Softly the son at these words raised the latch, and left the
apartment.
-----
III. THALIA.
THE BURGHERS.
THUS did the
prudent son escape from the hot conversation,
But the father continued
precisely as he had begun it
What is not in a man can never come out of him, surely!
Never, I fear, shall I see fulfill'd my dearest of wishes,
That my son should be
unlike his father, but better.
What would be the fate of a house or a town, if its inmates
Did not all take pride in preserving, renewing, improving,
As we are taught by the age, and by the
wisdom of strangers?
Man is not born to spring out of the ground, just like a mere mushroom,
And to rot away soon in the very place that produced him!
Leaving behind him no trace of what he has done in his lifetime.
One can judge by the look of a house of the taste of its master,
As on ent'ring a town, one can judge the authorities' fitness.
For where the towers and walls are falling, where in the ditches
Dirt is collected, and dirt in every street is seen lying,
Where the stones come out of their
groove, and are not replaced there,
Where the beams are rotting, and
vainly the houses are waiting
New supports; that town is sure to be wretchedly managed.
For where order and
cleanliness reign not
supreme in high places,
Then to dirt and delay the citizens soon get accustom'd,
Just as the beggar's accustom'd to wear his cloths full of tatters.
Therefore I often have wish'd that Hermann would start on his travels
Ere he's much older, and visit at any rate Strasburg and Frankfort,
And that pleasant town, Mannheim, so evenly built and so cheerful.
He who has seen such large and
cleanly cities rests never
Till his own native town, however small, he sees better'd.
Do not all strangers who visit us praise our well-mended gateways,
And the well-whited tower, the church so neatly repair'd too?
Do not all praise our pavements? Our well-arranged cover'd-in conduits,
Always well furnish'd with water,
utility blending with safety,
So that a fire,
whenever it happens, is
straightway extinguish'd,--
Is not this the result of that conflagration so dreadful?
Six times in Council I superintended the town's works, receiving
Hearty thanks and
assistance from every well-disposed
burgher.
How I design'd, follow'd up, and ensured the
completion of measures
Worthy men had projected, and afterwards left all unfinish'd!
Finally, every man in the Council took pleasure in working.
All put forth their exertions, and now they have finally settled
That new
highway to make, which will join our town with the main road.
But I am greatly afraid that the young
generation won't act thus;
Some on the one hand think only of pleasure and trumpery dresses,
Others wont stir out of doors, and pass all their time by the fireside,
And our Hermann, I fear, will always be one of this last sort."
Forthwith to him replied the excellent
sensible mother
"Father, you're always
unjustwhenever you speak of your son, and
That is the least likely way to
obtain your wishes' fulfillment,
For we cannot fashion our children after our fancy.
We must have them and love them, as God has given them to us,
Bring them up for the best, and let each do as he listeth.
One has one kind of gift, another possesses another,
Each one employs them, and each in turn in his separate fashion
Good and happy becomes. My Hermann shall not be upbraided,
For I know that he well deserves the
wealth he'll inherit;
He'll be an excellent
landlord, a pattern to
burghers and peasants,
And, as I clearly
foresee, by no means the last in the Council.
But with your blame and reproaches, you daily
dishearten him sadly,
As you have done just now, and make the poor fellow unhappy."
Then she left the
apartment, and after her son hasten'd quickly,
Hoping somewhere to find him, and with her words of affection
Gladden his heart, for he, the excellent son, well deserved it.
Smilingly, when she had closed the door, continued the father
"What a wonderful race of people are women and children.
All of them fain would do
whatever pleases their fancy,
And we're only alow'd to praise them and
flatter them freely.
Once for all there's truth in the ancient
proverb which tells us:
He who moves not forward, goes backward! a capital saying!"
Speaking with much circumspection, the
druggist made answer as follows
"What you say, good neighbour, is certainly true, and my plan is
Always to think of
improvement, provided tho' new, 'tis not costly.
But what avails it in truth, unless one has plenty of money,
Active and fussy to he, improving both inside and outside?
Sadly confined are the means of a
burgher; e'en when he knows it,
Little that's good he is able to do, his purse is too narrow,
And the sum wanted too great; and so he is always prevented.
I have had plenty of schemes! but then I was
terribly frighten'd
At the expense, especially during a time of such danger.
Long had my house smiled upon me, decked out in modish exterior,
Long had my windows with large panes of glass resplendently glitterd.
Who can
compete with a merchant, however, who, rolling in riches,
Also knows the manner in which what is best can be purchased?
Only look at the house up yonder, the new one: how handsome
Looks the stucco of those white scrolls on the green-colour'd panels!
Large are the plates of the windows--how shining and
brilliant the panes are,
Quite eclipsing the rest of the houses that stand in the market!
Yet at the time of the fire, our two were by far the most handsome,
Mine at the sign of the Angel, and yours at the old Golden Lion.
Then my garden was famous throughout the whole country, and strangers
Used to stop as they pass'd and peep through my red-colourd palings
At my beggars of stone, and at my dwarfs, which were painted,
He to whom I gave coffee inside my beautiful grotto,
Which, alas! is now cover'd with dust and tumbling to pieces,
Used to
rejoice in the colour'd glimmering light of the mussels,
Ranged in natural order around it, and connoisseurs even
Used with dazzled eyes to gaze at the spars and the coral.
Then, in the drawing-room, people look'd with delight on the painting,
Where the prim ladies and gentlemen walked in the garden demurely,
And with
pointed fingers presented the flowers, and held them.
Ah, if only such things were now to be seen! Little care I
Now to go out; for everything needs to be alter'd and tasteful,
As it is call'd; and white are the benches of wood and the palings;
All things are simple and plain; and neither
carving not gilding
Now are employ'd, and foreign
timber is now all the fashion.
I should be only too pleased to possess some
novelty also,
So as to march with the times, and my household furniture alter.
But we all are afraid to make the least alteration,
For who is able to pay the present charges of workmen?
Lately a fancy possess'd me, the angel Michael, whose figure
Hangs up over my shop, to treat to a new coat of gilding,
And the terrible Dragon, who round his feet is entwining;
But I have left him all brown; as he is; for the cost quite alarm'd me."
-----
IV. EUTERPE.
MOTHER AND SON.
THUS the men discoursed together; and
meanwhile the mother
Went in search of her son,--at first in front of the dwelling
On the bench of stone, for he was accustom'd to sit there.
When she found him not there, she went to look in the stable,
Thinking
perchance he was feeding his splendid horses, the stallions
Which he had bought when foals, and which he entrusted to no one.
But the servant inform'd her that he had gone to the garden.
Then she nimbly
strode across the long double courtyard,
Left the stables behind, and the barns all made of good
timber,
Enter'd the garden which stretch'd far away to the walls of the borough,
Walk'd across it,
rejoicing to see how all things were growing,
Carefully straighten'd the props, on which the apple-tree's branches,
Heavily loaded, reposed, and the weighty boughs of the pear-tree,
Took a few caterpillars from off the strong-sprouting cabbage;
For a bustling woman is never idle one moment.
In this manner she came to the end of the long-reaching garden,
Where was the arbour all cover'd with woodbine: she found not her son there,
Nor was he to be seen in any part of the garden.
But she found on the latch the door which out of the arbour
Through the wall of the town had been made by special permission
During their ancestor's time, the
worthy old burgomaster.
So she easily stepp'd across the dry ditch at the spot where
On the
highway abutted their well-inclosed excellent
vineyard.
Rising steeply
upwards, its face tow'rd the sun turn'd directly.
Up the hill she proceeded,
rejoicing, as farther she mounted,
At the size of the grapes, which scarcely were hid by the foliage.
Shady and well-cover'd in, the middle walk at the top was,
Which was ascended by steps of rough flat pieces constructed.
And within it were
hanging fine chasselas and muscatels also,
And a reddish-blue grape, of quite an
exceptional bigness,
All with carefulness planted, to give to their guests after dinner.
But with separate stems the rest of the
vineyard was planted,
Smaller grapes producing, from which the finest wine made is.
So she
constantly mounted, enjoying in
prospect the autumn.
And the festal day, when the neighbourhood met with
rejoicing,
Picking and treading the grapes, and putting the must in the wine-vats,
Every corner and nook resounding at night with the fireworks,
Blazing and cracking away, due honour to pay to the harvest.
But she
uneasy became, when she in vain had been calling
Twice and three times her son, and when the sole answer that reach'd her
Came from the garrulous echo which out of the town towers issued.
Strange it appear'd to have to seek him; he never went far off,
(As he before had told her) in order to ward off all sorrow
From his dear mother, and her forebodings of coming disaster.
But she still was expecting upon the
highway to find him,
For the doors at the bottom, like those at the top, of the
vineyardStood wide open; and so at length she enter'd the broad field
Which, with its spreading
expanse, o'er the whole of the hill's back extended.
On their own property still she proceeded, greatly
rejoicingAt their own crops, and at the corn which nodded so bravely,
Over the whole field in golden
majesty waving.
Then on the border between the fields she follow'd the footpath,
Keeping her eye on the pear-tree fix'd, the big one, which standing
Perch'd by itself on the top of the hill, their property bounded.
Who had planted it, no one knew; throughout the whole country
Far and wide was it
visible; noted also its fruit was.
Under its shadow the
reaper ate his dinner at noonday,
And the
herdsman was wont to lie, when tending his cattle.
Benches made of rough stones and of turf were placed all about it.
And she was not
mistaken; there sat her Hermann and rested
On his arm he was leaning, and seem'd to be looking cross country
Tow'rds the mountains beyond; his back was turn'd to his mother.
Softly creeping up, she
lightly tapp'd on his shoulder;
And he
hastily turn'd; she saw that his eyes full of tears were.
"Mother," he said in confusion:--"You greatly surprise me!" and quickly
Wiped he away his tears, the noble and
sensitive youngster.
"What! You are
weeping, my son?" the startled mother continued
"That is indeed
unlike you! I never before saw you crying!
Say, what has sadden'd your heart? What drives you to sit here all lonely
Under the shade of the pear-tree? What is it that makes you unhappy?"
Then the excellent youth collected himself, and made answer
"Truly that man can have no heart, but a bosom of iron,
Who no
sympathy feels for the wants of
unfortunate exiles;
He has no sense in his head who, in times of such deep tribulation,
Has no concern for himself or for his country's well-being.
What I to-day have seen and heard, has stirr'd up my feelings;
Well, I have come up here, and seen the beautiful, spreading
Landscape, which in
fruitful hills to our sight is presented,
Seen the golden fruit of the sheaves all nodding together,
And a
plentiful crop of fruit, full garners foreboding.
But, alas, how near is the foe! By the Rhine's flowing waters
We are protected indeed; but what are rivers and mountains