Seed-time and Harvest

, and the Kammerrath arrived at Pumpelhagen, with h

ach other as they sat together the evening after his arrival. Franz naturally took his meals after this with his uncle and cousins, and H

as adorned with a coat of arms, which he had ordered from Vienna for half a louis-d'or. It represented a haddock's head (Dorsch Kopp) on a blue field (Fell), which the stupid laborers, who und

he felt constrained to make personal inquiries after the Herr Kammerrath, and added that he had known the Herr Kammerrath very well at Rostock,--old Daniel went off with a peaceful face to announce him, but came back with a face quite as placid to say that the Herr Kammerrath regretted he was not in a state of h

ontinued a little too young to suit her elder sisters, and perhaps prided herself a little upon her childlike joyousness, sought for means to enliven him. Franz, in the kindness of his heart, had assumed the office of secretary to his uncle, and took upon hims

came in the way of the Fr?ulein Fidelia, and as it is an old story that young girls who are growing to be rather old girls, hovering on the line between youth and age, always incline to the youth

lia was very kind-hearted; she was also a little tired of the frivolity and ceremony of high society, and when her blessed mama--the gracious old lady, as Daniel Sadenwater called her,--had endeavored to make her more ceremonious and dignified

became now rather a preventive of contagion. Louise had too much good sense to look among Fr?ulein Fidelia's little fripperies of behavior for manners suitable to herself. But she not only received b

or her birth-day present, Fr?ulein Albertine had given her a new summer hat, and Fr?ulein Bertha, a pretty shawl, and when the presentation was over, the two elder sisters

as soon known among the servants only as "the little cow." Of course it must come to her ears, sooner or later, and then there was a great uproar and a great investigation, and Corlin Kegels, in spite of her weeping and begging, was turned out of doors. Louise came in just t

the Fr?ulein, hastily. "The ro

gh; they have as much feeling as distinguished people. My father says one must learn t

a. "I call 'little cow' a

hem, and this sounds like it, and seemed comical to them. They had no ide

fied the Fr?ulein, and at last, in the kindness of her heart, she resolved upon a

e family to confess--had a very short memory, that the Frau von Rambow, who was a good deal quicker-witted than her husband, undertook to remedy matters. She had an idea, and as she had the rule she could carry it out. All the fathers of families in the village were called together, One Sunday morning, and every one must tell his christened name and his father's name, and she wrote them down,--for she knew how to write,--and then took the first letter of the christened name, and the father's name together, and baptized the whole village. So 'Karl Egel' became 'Kegel,' and 'Pagel Egel' 'Pegel' and 'Florian Egel' 'Flegel,' and 'Vullrad Asel' was changed to 'Vasel,' and 'Peter Asel' to 'Pasel,'

If Louise Habermann had not been with her, she would have given Pasel's eleven-year-old Marie a riding-hat with feathers and veil, and D?sel's Stina, who watched the goslings in the duck-pond, would have got a gorgeous pair of light blue satin slippers. The old fathers

h, he said, and they had good reason to be, in having such a good old master, the Gurlitz people had suffered greatly from the change

her misfortune, an industrious fellow and a tidy housewife could take care of themselves, and that unnecessary favors only taught them to look too much to oth

a little "vieh" to a little "fée." Louise helped her in these Good-Samaritan labors, and as Franz now and then met them in the cottages, he saw to his surprise that the little maiden had a good deal of experience, and was

that he must stay at home that day; Br?sig had returned from the water-cure and was coming to see him in the afternoon. S

. "How active you are, yo

, Karl! I have mad

Habermann, when they were established o

u see, the first thing in the morning is generally sweating. They wrap you up in cold, wet cloths, and then in woolen blankets, so tightly that you can move nothing but your toes. After that they take you into a bathing room, ringing a bell to keep the ladies away,

do. Here, however, I had nothing at all. And then you drink water from morning to night. It is just like pouring water through a sieve, and they stand there and groan, and

t? Just as if the devil had got you on a red-hot iron stool, and kept putting fresh fire und

ain, and then you can talk with the ladies; for in the morning they won't speak to you, they go about in strange disguises, some with wet stockings, as if they had been crabbing, others with their heads tied up in wet cloths, and their hair flying. You can talk to them as you please, but you will find it hard to get answers, unless you inquire about their diseases, whether they have

ut, then, Br?sig, for you have

stuff that lodges in the bones and ferments there, and the gout-stuff comes from the poison stuff that you swallow by way of nourishment, for example, Kümmel and tobacco, or the things you get from the apothecary. And if you have the gout

so wit

N

longer, then? I would hav

se, with reading. I used to read the water-books which a certain Russian has written, his name is Frank, one of the chiefs of the water-doctors. Karl, there is everything in those books, everything in brief. But it is hard for a man to understand, and, on that account, I did not get beyond the second page. That was quite enough for me, for after I had read it I was as dizzy as if I had been standing on my head half an hour. Do you think, Karl, that fresh air is fresh air? Not a bit of it! And do you think that water out of your pump is water? You are quite mistaken! You see, fresh air is compos

, laughing heartily,

ack carbon? That is the point, and I never could get beyond it, in my water-cure science, and do you suppose Pastor Behrens understands it? I asked him yester

u stay a little longer, unti

omething happened to me, Karl," looking Habermann in the face again. "You have known m

?sig, I can te

f out of bed, fell on the floor, struggled out of the blankets and wet sheets, and ran out of the door, with the devils after me, and cried for help. God be praised, the assistant of the water-doctor--the man's name is Ehrfurcht,--met me, and took me to another room, and got me necessary clothing, so that after resting awhile I could go down into the dining-room, that is to say, with half a score bee-stings in my body. I began to talk to the gentlemen, and they laughed. I turned to one of the ladies, and made a friendly remark about the weather, and she blushed. Why should the weather make her blush? I don't know, nor you either, Karl. Why do you laugh? I turned to another lady, who was a singer, and asked her very politely to sing a song, that she had sung every evening. What do you think she did, Karl? She turned her back on me. As I stood there wondering what it all meant, the water-doctor came to me, and said, 'Herr Inspector, don't take it ill, but you made yourself quite noticeable this afternoon.' 'How so?' said I. 'Yes,' said he, 'when you sprang out of the door, Fr?ulein von Hinkefuss was crossing the corridor, and she has told it in confidence to all the rest.' 'And on that account, am I to be deprived of all pity? Shall the gentlemen laugh, and the ladies turn their backs on me? I

rsation turned to farming matters, a

g gentleman get alo

his duty, wherever he is, and Daniel Sadenwater tells me that he watches many a night with our poor, sick master

, and your

d, but the youth is not vicious. He does what he is told, wh

ately, he has a son, fourteen years old, just confirmed. He is tired all day, falls asleep while he

re not like that,

he young man! The Herr Kammerrath is then very feeble? Give him my respects, Karl, I must s

light shock, but had fortunately retained his speech, and this evening Franz ca

de her leave him alone with Habermann, and when she was gone he looked at the inspector with deep sadness, and said, feebly, "Habermann, dear Habermann, when that which has always given us pleasure please

ould rather see Pastor Behrens once more. But I must spe

e so well as they should." After a short pause, he resumed, "My son will have the estate, my two married daughters are provided for, but the unmarried ones--poor children! they will have very little. Axel must take care of them--God bless him, he will h

I hope so. And if not, there is a good deal of money

nothing of farming; but I have sent him books, through Franz, books about

al and reasonable himself, he wouldn't have said that when he was strong an

" said the Kammerrath earnestly, "give me

his eyes, "so long as I can be useful to you

exhausted upon the pillows, "but Fidelia shall wri

ne, he drew his bre

im into the ante-room, "Sadenwater, our master is worse, I am afraid he cannot last

looked through the half-opened door of the sick-room as if it came from thence, and said to him

the doctor would be able to help him, and the Lord would spare him a little longer. They had taken turns in watching by him,

it?" began Fidelia,

brother---- Herr von Rambow, if you will write a couple of lines, I am going to send the carriage for the doct

Daniel Sadenwater, softly, to Haberma

e prop that had upheld them so long, and each was thinking anxiously for something to alleviate and help, a

man life, and he thought of his own father, whom he had always imagined like his uncle, and it seemed as if his own father were dying a secon

cloudy night as that in which his heart had come so near to breaking. Then it was his wife, now

shing cloth, and a silk pocket-handkerchief; and he rubbed alternately the spoons and forks with the handkerchief, and as he looked at his master's name on the fork which he had polished e

moved steadily back and forth, back and forth, as if old Time

nd. Fidelia threw herself down by her father's body, and sobbed and cried until she was taken with spasms. Franz, full of sympathy, lifted her in his arms, and carried her out of the room, and her two sisters followed, in new anxiety for their darling, and Habermann was lef