Year: 1875




Candidate.


Once upon time there was a very
rich German merchant, who had /
very beautiful daughter She did no
have two enviuus elder sisters, like The
merchants daughter Beauty, in tht
fairytale. On the contrary, she haC
no elder sisters at all but q whole
crowd of merry, romping younger
brothers and sisters, who loved hel
dearly. In fact, they corld not helI
so, for Bertha WAS as good as she was
beautiful. -sa', - c.l-


Now this charming young lady had
many lovers, but none Of them had
won her heart. She was gentle and
merry with them all, granting special
favor to none. OF course there was a
reason for tfi-, as there generally is in
such cases. There was very quiet,
modest young man, who lived In
Bertha's home as tutor to her little
brothers and sisters. EIe was what
they call in Germany candidate; that
is, he had studie d to be minister, but
had not yet been given the charge of a
congregation. -,


bertha had met him as a stranger q
few Years before, when both were yis-
iting in Holland. She was skating one
day on one of the frt zen canals near
Amsterdam, and in stopping to tighten
her skate-strap she had dropped pref
ty trinket. This young man had found
it, had given it to her with courteous
at is yours, Frauiein % She had
thanked him and passed on. That was
all, but neither Of them forgot the mo-
ment, and neither tried to hide bright
look Of recognition when in time the
good merchant formally introduced the
new tutor to-his daughter.


AT first he had been very happy in
his new capacity, and had helped to
make everybody else so, by his pleas
ant, sunny temper, and his merry
plans. But for the last few months he
had been grave aud silent, and, though
the children loved him dearly still,
they could not find his Company as
amusing as it once was.


Fraplein Bertha, too, bad lost great
deal of her pretty color, and often
looked very absent and sad when she
thought no one WAS watching her.


The good tather and mother soon
saw What was the matter, and spoke TO
one another about it. They agreed
that they would rather see their dear
daughter happy than to have any 9TH
er blessing in the world and that they
believed a good, true-hearted man, like
the young candidate, was the very per-
son to make her SO.


II can give her money enough" said
her father, but money alone cannot
bring her happiness, and that is what
want for her."


The good mother assented and they
came TO the conclusion that they need
only be quiet, and things would soon
come right of themselves. But months
passed away, and things did not seem
to be coming right at all. The young
candidate grew graver and paler, and
his eyes began to look quite sunken
and hollow. Bertha could not eat any
of the nice things that her anxious
father piled up on her platter each day,
in the hope of tempting her appetite /;
and she was so nervous that the slight
est thing startled her. One day her
mother begged her to say all that was
on her heart. The pretty Bertha burst
into tears, and, bOwing her head on her
mothers shoulder, told her trouble. 1t
was not much too tell-only that she
knew that the candidate loved her
dearly, and was too proud to tell her
so, because he was so poor.


"And how about my Bertha" said
the mother; but Bertha only claspei
her more tightly and sobbed harder
than before. "It is nothing to be
ashamed oil that my dear little daughter
should have learned to love good and
noble man, who for months has evil
dentiy loved her better than anything
in the world and it is better that we
should talk of the matter reasonably
together"


So at last Bertha was quiet and calm,
and looked happier than she had done
for months, as her mamma talked in
the pleasantest possible way to her
about the many virtues of the young
candidate.


Still matters remained at a stand still;
the father showed as much friendship
as possible to the young man, and the
mother had long .notherly talks with
him about his health, and scolded him
in the most affectionate way for not
taking better care of himself.


But the kinder they were to him, the
more determined he became in his own
mind that 1t would be a very mean
thing for him to take advantage of this
confidence and friendship by trying to
persuade their daughter to be the wife
of poor young minister. So the whole
family was very uncomfortable indeed,
and all because one young man was too
modest to see what everybody else
Sayv vary MAINLY


At last, when the good mother could
not bear any longer to see so many
people made uncomfortable without
reason, she told Fraulein Bertha that
she must really set her woman's wits
to work and find some way out of the
difficulty, else it would end in very
painful way for them all, by the lovers
dying of a broken heart.


1t was the fifth of December-St.
Nicholas Eve-and all tine little broth
ers and sisters were gathered around
the table in the sitting-roOm, in great
state of excitement preparing for the
expected visit of the Saint in the conf
ing night, on his silver-white steed.


Besides the little ornamented shoes,
which hold the forage for the horse, the