Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-07-10
HANS PETER IN THE FOOLS PAR
ADISE.
from the German. |

From the German.l
Hans Peter was a poor man, who was
obliged to earn his bread by hard work
This did not please him for two reasons
he did not like work, and he did dearly
love GOOD eating So when he sat down
to his dinner ofplain meat and vegetables,
or ate his lunch of bread and cheese, he
scolded and grumbled, grumbled and
scolded, because he could not have poul-
try, game, and fish every day, like the
treat lord az the CASTLE who, so far as
Hans knew, never worked at all.
When the revolution broke out in Ger
MANY, Hans was quite ready to join what
was called the peoples side; for he fam
cied that every one was like himself, and
could not suppose that "the people :"
wanted anything but to take the money
and fine houses from the rich men.
"Then," thought he, "when l have my
share, 1 can sleep all day, if I like, and |
VIII spend every evening in amusements."
Alas he found himself sadly mistaken; ;
he had still only so much money as he
earned; and work in the army was
much harder than work at home, to say
nothing of his chances of being killed in
battle: besides the rations were very far
from being as coed as the food that his
Poor Katrina she had weary time of
it when Hans came home again. Let her
try her best to please him, he grumbled
and scolded worse than ever
At last one of his neighbors said to him,
"Hans, let us go to America. They say
pold is as plenty there as stones in the
street; we can have lands and houses for
the asking; and, best of all, there are no
servants there-all are masters"
This suited Hans Peter exactly, so he
sold the few things he had, and in one
way and another scraped together money
enough to pay for the passage. Katrina
cried at first because of leaving her old
neighbors and her little cottage, but they
told her such fine stories of the new coun-
try that she soon grew cOntented. Indeed,
she was always contented; il she had
nothing better than rye bread and coffee
for her breakfast, she thought to herself,
at might have been only bread and
water" and that thought made the coffee
taste very good.
Well, Hans and Katrina journeyed to
America; but, as you may suppose, they
found no house standing ready for them,
no food to be had except for money, no
money to be gained without work. Poor
Hans would gladly have gone back to his
ole home. Was it so, then-must he work
all his life long? Was there no place
where he could be idle, and get have
every thing he wished?
Katrina tried her best to cheer him up,
but 1t was of no use; he was sualen and
cross, and felt himself ill-used. When he
saw little Hans Growing and laughing, in
stead of thinking him the prettiest and
smartest baby in the world (Which he GER
tainly was, as Katrina knew, he only
growaed another mouth to fill, and l
must work enough for ALL"
AT last, one noon, as he lay resting
under the trees, half asleep, he heard some
one call, "COme, Hans, comet"
"Where?" said he, sleepily, and thought,
1.-THE hour of noon is not over yeti shall
not GO TO work"
''Why, to Paradise, to be sure! Some
envious people have named it The Fools
Paradise Those who live in that land
do not know even the name of work.
They eat and drink and play games till
they are ready to sleep, and they do SO
every day.
BY this time Hans had his eyes wide
open, and saw a man in carriage, who
nodded pleasantly, and motioned to Hans
to take seat beside him. You may be
sure Hans did not wait for a second inyi-
tation. The selfish fellow did not even
ask the stranger to take his wife and
child with him to the happy country, nor
did he stop to think what would become
of them, but sprang into the carriage with
loud "Hurrah," and was no sooner seat
ed than he found himself at the gate of the
wonderful city. The fat, sleepy sentinel
was too busy eating to notice Hans, so he
walked straight in. On all sides he heard
J,,,~ II hnu
driving his flock to pasture Tor some
where else, Hans was not quite certain
about it)---and such a flock !-rOast pigs
ready for the table! While Hans was
staring with his mouth wide open, roast
pigeon flew into il, probably installing
that Cor the dove-cot
SWELL, well,' thought Hans, "this is not
so bad luncheon, If only had some
thing TO drink!"
Even as he wished, he came to a
spring, not of water, oh, no-but some
thing that pleased the idle fellow far bet
ter; it was excellent beer.
While he was drinking, the sky sud-
denly darkened, and every one on the
street, except Hans, FASTENED within
doors.
The rain began, the drops were gold
dollars, and as II rained faster, gold eagles!
Hans scarcely knew whether to be glad
or frightened. for his unfortunately large
nose received many a hard knock. How
ever, he managed to stuff his pockets, and
hurried to the first public house.
Landlord, landlord" cried he in very
important manner, "set table for me with
the best that you have: will pay in gold !"
and he drew handful from his pocket
Tia, ha," laughed the landlord, !" what
children in the streets!" ls
But table soon appeared, spread with
whatever could delight . hungry man !;
meat and vegetables of every kind. poultry