El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-09
Mutter Schmidt
eBy Martin Andersen Ne1oe-)

TINE house 1 am living in consists
of a front, a middle and a rear
building connected. on both sides
by lateral barracks, making Of the
whole a separate world, small pro-
vincial town with all kinds Of work
shops in the back yard, modest society
people in the front house, and solid
working people in the middle building
and a ragged proIetariat in the rear.
Here the most intimate tales Of fates
and events are discussed, and stern jus
| tice Is maintained.
At the gate sits Mutter Schmidt, the
| village witch, the evil spirit of the lit
! tie society; the woman with the SER
pent's tongue. She knows everything
/ that happens and vigorously represents
public opinion, law and judgment A
/ laying out by her toothless mouth Is
the worst form of torture a human be-
! ing is ever submitted to. Nobody thinks
of disputing her authority, much less
as her husband is the janitor and she
has a son who is a policeman.
As foreigners, we naturally came in
for special share of her interest and
! she Immediately swcoped down on U.S.
We naturally did not feel much inclined
to tell our private affairs to thiss per
son whose vulture eyes were always
spying for prey and as 1 hate all au-
beat off all her attacks. greatly to the
establishment of the whole building.
At last she left US in peace, but
plainly read in her eyes, that she did
not intend to let us off. We made
certain reputation for ourselves IN the
building as people who dared brave
Mutter Schmidt and she hated US with
all her heart because of our temporary
victory She was going TO get even
I,~a1 mo lxkad nc
with a black cross as now she was
waiting. Her naked vulturelike head
was always spinning through the little
window at the entrance gate and every
time I happened to pass, she grinned at
me as If to say: Your turn Will come
some time
Not If 1 can help it. said to my
self and carefully watched every step
I made that she might have nothing to
talk about. She would have to make
up a lie herself. Every day expected
to hear some piece of malicious gossip
started by her, but it did not come.
Like all genuine gossip mongers she de-
spised lies pure and simple and en-
joyed only real scandals.
Well, at last she triumphed, 1 really
surrendered to her hab and baggage
1t happened one night when 1 wanted
to attend a workingmen's meeting in
Alt Moabit About o'clock I passed
through Hallesches Thor into the low
er part of Freirerichstrasse. ] had
plenty Of time and decided to walk, q
thing 1 should never have done.
It was one of those evenings when
the arc lamps were singing amid their
blue sulphurous fumes; heavy winged
moths and strangely colored drag flies
made the air unsafe, and from the in
terror Of the wine caves far below, the
sound of laughter and bacchantic song
arose. I was sauntering along leisurely
listening to all this and wondering at
the many mysteries the day hides in
great city-mysteries which come TO
life again during the night Very slow
ly must have walked, for when
reached the other end of Friedrich
strasse it was o'clock and the street
cars had stopped running. Now Erie
derichstrasse Is very long, over two
miles, but this does not explain that
it took me seven hours to walk through
ii. Still I have no other explanation,
all 1 remember is that my head was
heavy. so / hailed a taxicab, gave my
address and sat down on the seat.
And now comes the worst part. The
vitchery OF the night camp upon me
again and 1 fell asleep The driver fell
asleep, too. or perhaps he never was
awake and the horse heard my address,
and brought me home, whereupon it, !
too, fell asleep.
I awoke at the sound of Berlin go
ing to work. a sound hear every /
morning. I wanted to turn over and /
sleep on as usual, but could not move. |
I was stiff with cold.
I was wide awake at once. The light |
of street lamp fell upon the taxime- !
ter, which had not been sleeping, and /
now registered 10 marks. On his seat /
the driver was sound asleep, and /
through the little pane in front 1 could /
see his broad back and little Of the |
horse, that was asleep on three legs,
the fourth was resting on a horny
bump on one of the other legs for that
purpose.
My first thought was to run away
from that beastly bill did not feel
like paying for the drivers and horses
rest all night, but as 1 opened the door
[ saw Mutter Schmidt's face at the
window pressed flat against the pane,
with an expression Of intense excite
ment. How she had racked her brain
to the mystery of this cab, stopping
outside all night. Evidently she had
not gone to bed.
At last had fallen into her clutches
The thought made me shudder, but I
eft the cab as IL It were the most
natural thing IN the world, paid the
driver and went inside. I could see on
the witch's face that she was per-
picked, she had not expected a living
being to emerge from this sleeping car
'iage, and least of all-ne.
Suddenly a cruel smile fitted across
her face-she had guessed the truth.
lid not go upstairs but stopped at one
# the windows on the stairs facing the
7ard. The workingmen were about to
come out, and in little groups they
stood waiting for the foreman to open
he shops. When the yard was full of
= orkers, Mutter Schmidt would ex-
'lode her bomb must wait to see my
'wn execution. They were all steady.
workers who DOTTED their
lats to me and felt sorry to lose their
rood opinion. OF course they had miss
ID me at the meeting. and here was the
explanation.
But nothing happened. The foreman
'pened the shops and the yard emp
led in q moment. Mutter Schmidt ala
lot appear. She had thought of mere
evilish plan. I thought and went inl to