"No indeed;" cried Frau Nussler, taking away the ap.r.o.n, and turning her red eyes upon Brasig, "but he has gone crazy!"

"G.o.d forbid!" exclaimed Brasig, springing to his feet, "what has he been doing?"

"He is going to make a speech."

"What? Young Jochen make a speech? That is a bad sign!"

"Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" lamented Frau Nussler, "and the laborers are all standing out in the yard, and he has turned me out of the room, I don't know how I came here."

"This is going to extremes!" cried Brasig, "but compose yourself, Frau Nussler, I am not afraid of him, I will venture to go in." And he entered the room.

Jochen was walking up and down, rubbing his head. Brasig sat down near the door, and followed him with his eyes, but did not speak; on the other side of the room sat Bauschan, who also followed his master with his eyes, but did not speak,--it was a very serious business, at least for Jochen and for Brasig; Bauschan was tolerably composed. At last, Brasig asked very gently:

"What is the matter, Jochen?"

"I don't know," said Jochen, "my head is so confused; my thoughts are running every way, as when one shakes up a bushel of oats."

"I believe you, Jochen, I believe you," said Brasig, and looked after him again, as he walked up and down. All at once Jochen stood still, and exclaimed angrily, "How the devil can I think of a speech, with both of you looking at me like that!"

"So! Do you want to make a speech? What do you want to make a speech for?"

"Brasig, am I any worse than other people? Are my laborers worse than other people's laborers? They want their satisfaction, in these hard times; but I am not exactly fitted for it, the business is too much for me; you are quicker-witted, do me a favor, and make one for me."

"Why not?" said Brasig, "if it is to do you a favor; but you mustn't disturb me!" and now Brasig walked up and down the room, and Jochen sat still, and looked at him.

Suddenly the Herr Inspector opened the window, and called: "All come up here!" The day-laborers came up.

"Fellow-citizens!" began Brasig; but--bang!--he shut down the window: "Thunder and lightning, that won't do! They are only day-laborers, one can't talk to them as if they were burghers! And now you see, Jochen, how difficult it is to make a speech, and will you meddle with a business, for which even I am not prepared?"

"Yes, Brasig, but----"

"Be still, Jochen, I know what you are going to say." He went to the window, opened it again, and said, "Children, each one go to his work, for to-day; there will be no speech to-day."

"Well, that is all the same to us," said Kalsow, "but the Herr---"

"He has been thinking about it," interrupted Brasig, "and he has decided that the spring is too early for it; by and by, at harvest, he will make you a fine one."

"Yes," said Kalsow, "that is the best way. Come then, people!" and they went to their labor.

But now, as the coast was clear, Brasig turned towards Jochen, and all the dignity, which his body was capable of expressing, was shown in his manner to Jochen, and all the influence he had exercised upon Jochen, in years past, now centered upon the poor kammerpachter, as he said, "What? They call _you_ crazy? You are no more _crazy_ than Bauschan and I; but you are _foolish_. Why did your dear--I mean blessed--I mean cursed--parents bring you into the world? To make speeches, and frighten your dear wife out or her wits, who has nourished you at her bosom this five and twenty years, like a new-born child? Come with me, this moment, and beg her pardon, and tell her you will never do so again!"

And Jochen would have done so; but he was spared the apology, at least in the manner which Brasig demanded, for Frau Nussler entered the room:

"Jochen, Jochen! How you distress me!"

"Eh, mother----"

"Jochen, you will be the death of me!"

"With your good-for-nothing speeches," interposed Brasig.

"Mother, I will not---"

"Ah, Jochen, I believe you will not do it this morning; but you have set yourself up, you shall see, it will happen again."

Jochen said no, he had had enough of it.

"G.o.d grant it!" said Frau Nussler, "and that you may see that I can give up, too; for all me, Rudolph may be married to-morrow."

"So," said Brasig, "now there is peace in the house again! now everything is in order, now give each other a kiss! One more, Jochen, that the left side of your mouth need not come short."

This was done, and Uncle Brasig trotted off directly to Gurlitz, that he might inform his little G.o.ddaughter Mining of her happy prospects.

He took the nearest foot-path, and that was the one which the Herr Proprietor Muchel had stopped up, that it might not be public any longer; but he had not succeeded in his design, for Gottlieb, at Brasig's suggestion, had opposed it, and had gained the suit.

As Brasig went along this path, he met the Herr Proprietor coming towards him, with a very friendly face in the distance, and as he came nearer he said, "Good-morning, my dear----" but he got no further, for Brasig turned upon him, and without looking him in the face said, "A certain person was going to have my boots pulled off, and let me hop about with bare legs, like a crow;" and with that, he pa.s.sed on, without looking round.

And when he had discharged his errand to Mining, at Gurlitz, and, after great rejoicing with his little rogues, Lining begged him to spend the day with them, although he must excuse Gottlieb, since it was Sat.u.r.day, and he must write his sermon, he said, "Frau Pastorin Lining, every one has his business, and if the Herr Pastor Gottlieb has a sermon to make, why shouldn't I have one, too? For I must go to the Reform this evening;" and so he went back to Rahnstadt.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

When Brasig had opened his budget of news from Rexow and Gurlitz, and the Frau Pastorin and Habermann had no more questions to ask, he took flight again.

"You won't take it unkindly, Frau Pastorin, or you either, Karl, but as soon as I can change my boots I must go to the Reform. You ought to come with me, Karl, we are going to elect a new president to-day, because the old one, as he says, can't stand it any longer. I shall vote for the advocate Rein,--do you know him? A capital man, a thoroughly good fellow,--but he makes jokes, to be sure; and then we have a very important question for discussion, to-day,--Rector Baldrian says it is demanded by the spirit of the times,--we are going to find out how there comes to be such great poverty in the world. You ought to come with me, Karl."

But Karl would not go, and Brasig went alone.

The first person upon whom his eyes fell, as he entered the hall of the Reformverein, was--Zamel Pomuchelskopp, who, as he perceived Brasig, came right up to him, saying, "Good-evening, dear brother, how are you, dear Zachary?"

There were not many who observed how Brasig received this salutation, and those who saw it did not comprehend it clearly; but shoemaker Bank had seen it, and told me about it. "Fritz," said he, "see here, if you should look at the Herr Inspector's face in a shoemaker's gla.s.s, he looked like that; the mouth was so broad, and the nose so thick, and his whole face looked like fire and fat, and as he put out one foot before him and said, 'Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp, I am no brother of yours,' do you know what he looked like? Exactly like the old Sandwirth Hofer, of Tyrol, when he is to be hung on the wall by Landlord Voss, at Ivenach, only that he had no musket in his hand. And then he turned his back to him, and such a back! and went up to the election-table, and gave his vote for the new president, and said aloud, through the hall, 'I vote for the Herr Advocate Rein, for our business must be pure (rein), and if any dirty fellows come in here they must be turned out.'

No body understood what he meant; but they were all still as mice, for they knew something had happened; and as he went through the hall they all made room for him, for he looked like a mad bull; but he seated himself quietly at the other end of the hall, and all the members of the Reformverein know what happened afterwards."

This is what Hanne Bank told me, and I believe him, for he was a good friend of mine, and an honest man, although he was only a shoemaker; he was sent to a b.l.o.o.d.y grave, in his best years, by a good-for-nothing scoundrel, because he stood up for the right, and although it may be out of place here, I will write it, that the memory of such an honest man and good friend may be honored elsewhere than on his tombstone.

So Zachary Brasig seated himself at the farther end of the hall, and sat there like a thunder-storm, ready at any moment to break loose. The advocate Rein was made president, he touched the bell, crawled into the cask, and returned thanks for the honor, and finally said,--

"Gentlemen, before we begin our discussion of the poverty-question, I have the pleasure to announce to you that the Herr Proprietor of Gurlitz proposes himself as a member of our Reformverein. I believe there is no one who will oppose his admission."

"So?" cried a terribly spiteful voice behind him, "are you so sure of that? I beg for a word or two," and as the new president turned round, there stood Uncle Brasig, by the cooling-vat.

"Herr Inspector Brasig has the floor," said the president, and Uncle Brasig stuffed himself into the cooling-vat.

"Fellow-citizens," he began, "how long is it, since we declared for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity here at Grammelin's? I will say nothing about Liberty, although I cannot stir my body in this confounded cask; nor will I speak of Equality, for our new president gives us a good example of that, since he always goes about in a gray coat, and not, like certain people, in a blue dress-coat with gilt b.u.t.tons; but I wish to speak of Fraternity. Fellow-citizens! I ask you, is that Fraternity, when a man wants to pull off his brother's boots?

and when a man will let his fellow-creature run about in the snow, like a crow, or if the snow is gone, in the mud? and a man boasts himself against another, and makes game of him? I ask you, is that Fraternity?

and I tell you Herr Zamwell is such a brother as that. And I have nothing more to say."