American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1880-01-10
BRAVE rRAULE1N MALcHEN

So you won't go to church this even
ing, Malchen?" said Otto Won PoIheim
e his eldest daughter, one Sunday in
; December, as he and the rest of b;s
family were setting out for the market
;, town to hear Pastor Knopps preach an
ADVENT sermon.
-. = No, father, Dorothea can 90 in
my stead, and will keep the house"
|. ). Keep the house aloneP No; 1 will
! leave Hans to protect thee and the
, manse too"
81 would rather not have Hans"
said Malchen with a little pout, as she
: glanced at an ugly gawk, who was her
father's head servant.
=. Then thou shalt not have KARL
grumbied old Polheim, speaking rather
80 himself than to the girl, and, wrap
ping his ancient blue cloak tightly
:. : round him, he struck his iron-tipped
Z stan two or three times on the flags of
the hall. to intimate to the members of
= nus household that it was time to be off.
e Ihey came gathering down stairs and
/. nudging out of different doors-a large
and rather noisy troop. Otto von.Pol-
helm was q landowner on q small scale
:, vhat would be called in England a
z geoeieman-farmer- he had family
a OF 10 sons and daughters, without
counting two servant-wenches and
couple of 'laborers whom he treated as
his children The eldest of these
two laborers, tail, rosy-eheeked,
fair-haired, blue-eyed fellow named
Karl, had --s shown signs of
late Of being ga bit SOFT about Frau
lein Mafehen,- and this displeased her
father: for though he was kind master
he had a squire's pride, and would have
kicked Ksrlstraightway out OF his house
II he had suspected Malchen of cherish
ing any regard for him. At least this is
what he had once said to Karl with
more -bIuntness than prudence, for
worldly wisdom would, perhaps, have
suggested that he should begin by turn
ing off Karlbefore Malchen's sentiments
towards him had ripened into affection
Now, come, come, let's be off, re-
peatedS old Polheim, impatienfly;
"come, wife, and you. Bertha Frida |
and Gretchen; you, Hans, take one of
the lanterns, eand you, Karl, lead the |
way with the other"
p Karl skunk out, looking rather sheep
sh, hnCs scarcely had he got into the
open air than -the-candle in his lantern |
was blown out and he ran back to get
moth@ Malchen was standing in the
hall and struck a match for him. She
struck Ascend and a third, for some
how the phosphorus would not act, and
the operation of lighting was delayed a
little. When Karl took the lantern his
hand touched Malchen's, and the girl
blnshed. 0eft's a cruelty cold night to
60 out in,'' faltered she.
seAnd I don't like leaving you Alone
whispered Karl. 81 think shall steal
out OF church and come back to see if
you are safe.'' .,.,........ ....
- "Oh, no, the door will be barred"
exclaimed Malchen in a fiutter.
ri Then III climb over the orchard
wall, +" answered Karl, nothing daunted,
and he executed wink as he went forth
into the cold
How very audacious he is becom-
ing, y muttered Malchen to herself; but
she apparently thought that it was
of no use to bar the door if Karl meant
to get over the garden wall, SO she sim
ply shut it and turned back to spend her
evening in the kitchen.
Herr Won Polheim's farm stood in a |
onely part Of the country, about two
miles from R, in Bavaria. 1t had
once been castle, and all the rooms
on the ground-floor were large, windy !
apartments, with wainscotted walls and |
old oaken furniture. The kitchen,
aS the ordinary sitting