Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-09-07
VOL. X.

~~N~~'0
around them. and the Tree of knowledge
standing up like a sign post in the rear
There the hugo frame Of Goliah, smitten
by tho fatal stone, reels over like falling
tower, threatening to crush into powder
the swarms of diminuti7e Philistines who
are hopping about in the background
There appear the chosen Twelve, with
faces curiously individualized, in spite of
all the roughness of the carving, and pass
ing through every gradation, from the soft.
womanly features of the beloved disciple,
to the hard, low-browed, rufianly visage of
MN (which also was the traitor" And
there the prosecutor Saul, not yet trans
formed into Paul the Apostle (sheathed in
steel from top to toe, armed with q sab e
that might have suited Bluebeard himself
and attended by a squadron of troopers
armed cap-a-ple), rides at full gallop past
the gates of Damascus on his errand of de-
atruetion.
That bureau must be very old one,
remark [ tentatively
TT is lndeed-but that's not why we val
ue it, answers the old man with kindling
eyes. That bureau is the most precious
thing we have land there's o story attached
to 1t, whcih will never be forgotten in our
family, I'll answer for it. I'll tell you the
story one OF these days, but not tonight
for we mustn't spoil our pleasant evening
by any sad recollections. And here, in
good time; comes Lieschen to tell us that
tea is ready.
| will not tantalise my readers with a
catalogue of thegood cheer which heaped
the table ; suffice it to say, the meal was
one that might have tempted the most
notorious evil liver that ever returned
incurable from Calcutta and seasoned
with heartiness of welcome which would
have made far poorer fare acceptable
Fresh from "reminiscences of Hermann and
Dorothea, I could almost have imagined
myself in the midst of that finest cosm etc
group Of the great German artist. The
hearty old landlord of the Golden
Lion, and 'kluge verstandige Haus-
frau were before me to the life
the blue-eyed Madchen, who loaded
my plate with tea-cakes, might with a
little addition of height and dignity
have made very passable Dorothea; while
brother Wilhelm, had he been there, would
have represented my ideal Hermann fairly
enough. Nor was the friendly chat want
ing to complete the picture. The old man,
warming with the presence of new listen
Ell, launched into countless stories of his
soldier-son, who, young as he was, had al
ready smelt powder on more than one
hard-fought field, during the fierce short
fever Of the Seven Weeks War. Frau
Lisbeth, who was an actual mine of those
quaint old legends which are nowhere MOI G
perfect than in Germany, poured forth q
series OF tales which would have made the
fortune of any Christmas Number in Brit
ain; while the young lady, though rather
shy at first, shook off her bashfulness by
degrees, and asked thousand questions
respecting the strange regions which had
recently quilted; the sandy wastes of the
Nolga, and TIE voiceless solitudes of the
Don-the relics of former glory which ST.
cling around ancient Kazan-wicker-w
shantles inhabited by brawling Cossac -
and Crinean caverns tenanted by Tartar
peasants-battered Kerteh and ruined Sc
vastopol-Odessa with her sea-fronting
boulevard, and sacred Kiev, with her dim
cataeombs and diadem of gilded towers
the barbara splendor of ancient Moscow,
and the imperial beauty of queenly Stock
holm. 1t was late in the evening before I
departed, which I was not allowed to do
withou! promising, once and again, not to
be long of returning.
And [ kept my word; for the quiet hap
piness of this little circle, so simple and so
open-hearted, was a rare treat to restless
gad-about like myself Before the month
was at an end, | had strolled round the
town With Her Holzm0nn a dozen mos; I
had partaken fully as often of Frau Lis
beth's ineKhaustible tea-cakes; aud I had
presented Fraulein hIargarethe, on the
morning of her eighteenth birthday. with
a pair of Russian ear. drops, accompanying
my gift Gas any one in my place might
well have done) by resounding kiss
LD4h oh l,tL
Madehen received as frankly as it was
given. But the relentless divinity of the
scythe and scalp-lock, who proverb1ally
waits for no man, at length put period to
my stay in Berlin; and one evening, few
days before my departure, Ireminded Herr
Heinrich of his promise to tell me the his
tory of the old bureau which had attracted
my attention. The old man, nothing
loath, settled himself snugly in the corner
of the sofa, fixed his eyes upon the quaint
old piece of furniture, which formed the
theme of his discourse, and began as fol-
lows
sYou must know, then, mein Herr, that
in the year so business began to fall of
rather with me q was cabinet maker,
you remember), and from bad it came to
worse, till / thought something should
really be done to put matters to rights.
Now, Just about this time, all manner oi
stories were beginning to go about of the
high wages given to foreign workmen in
Russia, and the heaps of mouey that sun.
dry Germans who had gone there from
Bresiau and Konigsburg, and elsewhere,
were making IL st. Petersburg and Moscow.
And so l pondered and pondered over all
these tales, and over the plight was in,
till at last 1 began to think of going and
trying Hy luck as well as the rest. My
wife and talked it over, and settled that
it should be done; and we were just get
ting ready to start, when one night mes
sage came that my old uncle, Ludwig
Holzmann of the Friedrich -Strasse (who
had taken otfense ST nay marriage, and
never looked near me since) was dying,
and wanted to see me inms sdiately. So
away I went (my wife wanted to come too;
but thought she had better not); and
when got there, l found the old man
living in kind os doze, and nobody with
him but the doctor and the old
pastor, who lived close by. so I sat down
to wait till he awoke. and sure enough, in
about half-an-hour his eyes opened, and
fell full upon me. He raised himself in
bed think [ see him now, with the lamp
light falling on his old withered face,
making II look Jess IKE one OF the carY-
ings on the old bureau, which stood at the
foot of the bed-and said in hoarse whis-
per: Heinrich. my lad, I've not forgot
ten thee, although The black cat has been
between us bit lately. When I'm dead,
thoult have that bureau yonder; there's
mere in it than thou think'st." And he
sank back with a sort of choking laugh,
that twisted his face horribly. Those were
his last words; ior after that, he fell into a
kind ofstupor, and died the same night. /.
When his property came to be divided,
every one was surprised; for they had al
thought him much richer. l got the bu-
reau, just as he said; and, remembering
his words about it, We ransacked all the
drawers from end to end; bat found moth
ing except two or three old letters and a
roll of tobacco; so we made up our minds
that he must either have been wandering g
little, OK else that (God forgive him y he
wanted to play US one more trick before he
died. In few weeks more, all was ready
for our going, ana away we went to st.
Petersburg.
~ len we got there, we found it not at
oil such land of promise as the stories
made 1t out; bat still there we're GOOD wa