The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-06-10
SELECTED MISCELLANY.
CONRAD'S LOVE.

/ 'N'"tP'r,, h'oSeNi"A iSHo" " ao
Conrad Midburger, and he was admitted to
be the best dancer and swordsman in the
village. His complexion was darker than
most Of his neighbors, for there was ira.
dition of Magyar blood in the family, and
his face was ty no means lacking in inteIi
| gence OF merry and peaceful sort.
The village had look of being finished
! long ago; Lut reader Of men might have
| locked ut Conrad, If lie saw him there and
said:
'But that fellows only half done yet.
lie doesn't half understand himself. PITY
there's nothing in the sleepy village to wake
him.
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
Conr rad had thus far led. The greatest
events of the outside world had been only
as storms on the ocean, sending only rip
| lie Of their uproar into the little land lock,
ed cove of the old dull village.
Go tleib Midturger, Conrad's father, with
his old crony and partner, Franz HoferLahl,
| had made and mended watches in the same
dingy and time worn shop where their
fathers had filed and hammer before them
and one life was like another, and about as
unvarying as the ticking of the fat faced
time-reace tehiLd the cobwebs in the shop
I window.
just now, however, as if the course Of
nature were being disturbed, various rir Piles
were beginning to come. Rumors there
were, for instance. that the King (God pre-
{ serve him!D was preparing to fight a war
with sombody. and that all young heroes
like Conrad Miarsrger would so2nbe need
ed for the army.
Stranger still, and utterly unaccountatle,
| considering his time of life, old Franz IIof.
erdahl had caught the emigration fever, aud
made up his steadfast mind t. join the great
German tide that sets perpetually towards
the shores of America. Already he had
sold whatever be had to sell. except his big
Pipe and his daughter Christine, for these
he intended taking with him to the western
Eden.
Perhaps" thought the villagers, at is
not SO strange for old Franz as for some
of US. He's been lonely since his W ife died,
and then be was great traveller in his
younger days.
That was true enough, for Franz Hofer
dahl had been to Berlin, and America could
not have been so very far beyond.
The old man had sold bis share in the
shop to his friend Gotleib, and had made
as good bargains as he could for his house
and movables, bat none of his snxious
neighbors knew exactly how much of ready
cash he took with him when he and his
weeping Christine set cut upon their long
pilgrimage.
Christine wept indeed, as if she meant
to ruin her pretty blue eyes entirely; for
the little old village had been very dear tc
her, and her mothers grave was there. /.
there were other reasons for her sorrow
Christine kept them to herself; albeit sh.
may have wondered why one person at leas
had not asked her question orso concern
ing them.
As for Conrad Midburger, he had Sal;
good BY, with all the rest, to his father
old friend and to the fearful Christine; an1
he had rubbed his great black eyes, after
ward, in way that looked as if the Who'll,
thing was good deal Of dream to him
, 1t it was, there was no help for Il sine
Christine and her father were far enough
away before he woke mp. Nevertheless,
when Conrad miesed, day after day, th
accustomed form Of old Franz IN the shop
as well as the CHEEKY voice of Cbristin
Hoferdahl, ealling her father home to din
ner. the e1pressiop Of has face would chang
at times, and one would almost have sal
that be was beginning to thipk. e