The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1874-09-02
COhRAD'S LOVES.

plexion was darker than that of most
of his neighbors, for there was ira
dition Of Magyar blood in the family
and his face was by no means lacking
in intelligence, of a merry and peace
full sort.
The village itself had look of hav-
ing been finished long ago; but a
"reader of men" might have looked at
Conrad, if he saw him there and said :
"But that fellows only half done
yet. He doesn't half understand him
self. Pity there's nothing in this sleepy
valley to wake him up"
If, however, the process Of waking
up was to imply any sort of shaking,
there had been little enough Of that in
the life which Conrad had thus far led.
The greatest events of the outside
world had been only as storms on the
ocean, sending hardly ripple of their
uproar into the little land locked cove
of the old doll village.
Gottlieb Midburger, Conrad's faith
er, with his old crony and partner,
Franz Hoferdahl, had made and mend
ed watches in the same dingy and
time-worn shop where their fathers
had filed aud hammered before them
and one life was as like another and
about as unvarying as the ticking of
the fatfaced time-pieces behind the
cobwebs in the shop-window.
Just now, however, as if the course
of Nature were being disturbed, va
rious ripples were beginning to come.
Rumors there we're, for instance, that the
king, God preserve him !" was pre-
pairing to fight war with somebody
and that all young heroes like Conrad
Midburger would soon be needed for
the army.
Stranger still and utterly unaccount-
able, considering his time of life, old
Franz Hoferdabl had caugh. the emf
grafton fever and made up his stead
fast mind to join the great German
tide that sets pepetually toward the
shores of America. Already he had
sold whatever he had to sell, except
his big pipe, his flute and his daughter
Christine, for these he intended taking
with him to the Western Eden.
Perhaps" thought the villagers,
"it's not so strange for old Franz as
for some of US. He's been lonely since
his wife died and then he was great
traveller in his younger days."
That was true enough, for Franz
Hoferdahl had been to Berlin and
America could not be SO very much
beyond. .- ., .t.
The old man had sold his share in
the shop to his friend Gottlieb and
had made as good bargains as he could
for his house and movables; but none
of his anxious neighbors knew exactly
how much of ready cash he took with
him when he and his weeping Chris
tine set out upon their long pilgrim
age.
Christine wept, indeed, as if she
meant to ruin her pretty blue eyes en-
tirely; for the little old village had
been very dear to her and her mothers
grave was there. If there were Other
reasons for her sorrow, Christine KEEP
them to herself; albeit she may have
wondered why one person, at least
had not asked her a question or so con
cerning them.
AS for Conrad Midburger, he haC
said good-by, with all the rest, to hi
fathers old friend and to the tearfu
Christine; and he had rubbed hi
great black eyes, afterward, in way
that looked as if the whole thing wa
a good deal of dream to him. If i
was, there was no help for it sine,
Christine and her father were fa
enough away before he woke up.
Nevertheless, when Conrad missed
day after day, the accu stoned form o
old Franz in the shop, as we'll as tn
CHEEKY voice of Christine Hoferdah
calling her father home to dinner, tn
expression of his face would change
at times, and one would almost hav
said he was beginning to think.
Not quite so much as hat, perhap
lat least, not yet; but pretty 500
Conrad's eyes took note of growin
difference in the ways and seeming @
old Gottlieb Midburger himself. Jus
what it was would have been heard {
say; but, by degrees, the old ma
came to neglect his pipe and then hi
glass of beer and then his work, anC
finally, he took to his he'd and dice
aud the neighbors said, almost wit
one accord, that "Franz Hoferdal
had broken his old friends heart b
going away"
Broken his heart! 7" said Conrad
himself. "But he did not break mipS
And have a heart, tool can feel
beat. And l loved old Franz and
. loved my father very much. and l fe
as if I could cry all day, if | were N
so very big a man." -