Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries Volume Ii Part 11

"The village in which I was now to teach was the largest community in the canton, with more than 2000 inhabitants, and 400 citizens ent.i.tled to vote, and it was situated among the outlying hills of the Jura.

Towards the south, rich meadows and well cultivated fields, slope down to the Aar, which hastens with rapid course through the valley to the Rhine. On the other side of the Aar the ground rises gently up to hilly Emmenthal, and behind it rises the chain of the Alps. The Urner and Swiss mountains in the east, the Rigi standing alone in foremost grandeur; in the centre the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau, up to the Savoy Alps, among which Mont Blanc rises its head majestically. Towards the west the lakes of Viel, Neufchatel, and Meurten spread their shining mirrors. It would be difficult to find anywhere a country so lovely, and at the same time grand, as here presents itself to the eyes.

"The houses of the village are detached and scattered about in groups for some height up the mountain, almost every one is surrounded by a garden and meadow, and shaded by fruit-trees; a clear rivulet glides with many windings through the village. Unwillingly do the thatched roofs give way to the prescribed tiles. The farming of the inhabitants comprises fields, meadows, and woods, the herding of cattle, and on the most valuable properties, mountain pastures, and the making of b.u.t.ter and cheese. The vine also is cultivated. The Grencheners do not deny that in common years their wine is sour, they sneer at it in songs and jests, but yet they drink it, and find it wholesome. They are a powerful race, of Allemanni origin, the men are mostly slender but strong, and some of them uncommonly tall. Among the women and maidens there is frequently that Madonna-like beauty which is often to be found in Catholic districts. They are cheerful and gifted with humour, perseveringly industrious, and skilful in adapting themselves to every position and helping themselves. It is not the custom with them to close the doors; it is mentioned as an unprecedented circ.u.mstance, that three years ago a watch was stolen in the village. But the locality is not favourable for thieves; woe to him who allows himself to be caught, he would not come unscathed into the hands of justice.

"The Grencheners had the repute of untamed lawlessness, which manifested itself in litigation and a strong inclination to take the law into their own hands; the knife was frequently used, and blood was shed. If the result was not mortal all who were concerned in it were summoned, in order to keep the magistrates away. The injurer and the injured negotiated, through mediators, as to a suitable indemnification, and with the conclusion of the treaty the enmity terminated. Money was not in my time the standard by which men were valued, but their labour. I value a citizen there, who, having by an unsuccessful enterprise lost his property, has worked as a street servant. His fellow-citizens esteem him as much as before, and praise him because he performs his service right well. For lads who did not like the labours of peace, foreign service offered them a beaten way, which was not objected to by the community, because it freed them from many disturbing elements; however, it brought back many wild fellows not amended.

"In the year 1790, when the French invaded Switzerland, the cantons were very disunited; they carried on their struggle against the enemy singly; the Bernese fought well at Neuenegg and the Vierwaldstattersee, but one after another were subdued by superior power. The Grencheners were bold enough to defend their village against the French invaders; they went out, some of them armed with halberds and old weapons, against the enemy, and joined in hand-to-hand combat. The name of _Jungfer Schurer_ still lives, in the mouths of the inhabitants, and they still show the place where she lost her life in the struggle. The French officer, her opponent, was brought wounded to the hospital at Solothurn, and is said to have there lamented penitently that he was obliged to kill a maiden; but he had only the choice of doing this or falling under her blows.

"The bath lies in a small secluded valley, separated from the village, a building with a large front, betwixt ponds and pleasure-grounds with shady groups of trees. Behind it is the spring, a clear iron water. In summer the bath is visited by guests from Switzerland--Alsacians and others--who accidentally discover the place and take a fancy to it. In this century the small valley of marsh and sedge was still the possession of the community. The father of Girard obtained the land for a moderate price; built his huts upon it, drained the ground, enclosed the spring, and arranged the baths--at first in very modest style, extending the grounds as means increased. Father and mother both exerted themselves, sons and daughters grew up to a.s.sist; one son studied at German universities, and became a physician. The inst.i.tution has to thank him for its rapid prosperity.

"This was the place where I was presented in the church as schoolmaster, not without the opposition of some pious parties.

"All the powers of resistance were roused to the utmost by the ultramontane party; publicly by the press, privately by every possible means. A heretic to be the only teacher in a Roman Catholic school--that was unheard of! The government, the common council, and I myself, were overwhelmed with abuse; the ecclesiastics in Grenchen were severely blamed for having allowed a wolf to break into the fold, and it was set before them as a duty (not only by the newspapers) to use their utmost efforts to stifle the devil's brood in the germ.

"The pastor of the place was a stately, fine man,--a favourite of the ladies, which gave him influence. But he was not fond of controversy; he loved repose and playing on the violin, and would therefore rather not have taken a part. As far as his influence went he hindered the boys from going to school, and never set his foot in it, so that no religious instruction was given, and the hours appointed for it were filled up with instruction on other subjects. Personally I was on a tolerably good footing with him. It would have given him pleasure if I would have allowed him to baptise my little daughter, who was born two months before at the Grenchen baths, and he would have taken the opportunity of making a quiet effort to convert me, by giving me a book to read, pretending to be written by a Protestant, for the glorification of the Roman Catholic church. Still less than the pastor could his chaplain be used as a battering-ram against the school. He had become a theologian at Wurzburg, and knew that Leipzig was a nest of books. He was a good husbandman and rearers of bees, and had about the same amount of education as the people; they, however, did not remain stationary. He did not always succeed in preserving his clerical dignity and avoiding blame from the authorities. He had never felt it necessary to extend his theological knowledge beyond what was absolutely necessary, and I was sometimes astonished at the chaos in his memory; as when, for example, he related how St. Louis had defended Rome against the Huns. If the conversation fell upon books he never ceased to praise a narrative of a mission to Otaheite, and I soon discovered that this volume was very nearly his whole library. In spite of all this he was a good man, and it will not injure him now if I relate why I loved him. We were speaking one day of eternal happiness and the reverse. I told him how impossible I considered it, that the good G.o.d could be so cruel as to burn me eternally in h.e.l.l. It is the Lord's fault, not mine, that I was baptised a Calvinist, and had thus been instructed and confirmed. Our teacher had told us that we were to love our fellow-creatures, and do good to them; and I endeavoured, according to the best of my ability, to follow this teaching, and yet I was to be eternally condemned! This gave the chaplain pain, and he found a theological answer: 'I hope G.o.d will deal with you as with one of the heathen, of whom it is written, that they will be judged according to their works.' He was not dangerous to the school.

"If the clerical leaders had been more energetic, the supporters they could have called forth, from out of the population, to oppose the school were not to be despised. Besides the women, who for the most part were attached to the pastor, there were men whom the new rule had deprived of official position in the community. Respectability and family connections still gave them importance, and they were led by their old masters to persuade the more energetic youths that the new const.i.tution would not give them freedom enough; but, on the contrary, more burdens, and that they had no reason to be contented with a condition of things which the new leaders would turn exclusively to their own advantage. These opponents were dangerous. From one of them I was in the habit of getting milk for my household; the children fell sick, and became feverish. Then we learnt that the milk of a sick cow had been given us, and that the seller boasted of it.

"As the party which had just been vanquished in the field of politics could not openly make head against the common council and the majority of the citizens; they endeavoured to influence the parents, and were pleased when, in the beginning, there were only a dozen scholars--a small number for a great parish, surrounded by other villages, to whose sons the district school was open. There was only one means of saving the school from dissolution, and that was, its success. But a circ.u.mstance occurred to help us, before it could be ascertained that useful knowledge might be acquired here.

"Grenchen lies on the frontier towards the canton of Berne, about half an hour's distance from the Berne village of Lengnau. The Calvanistic common council of Lengnau inquired of their Roman Catholic Solothurner neighbours whether, and under what conditions, boys from their place would be allowed to attend the district school. The answer was, that their sons would be welcome; the instruction would be given gratuitously, and that the people of Lengnau would only have to take care that the scholars should be quiet and orderly. Hence there was an increase of eight or ten boys from Lengnau; in order to preserve quiet, one of them had been appointed by the mayor as monitor, and was made answerable for their discipline; they marched in military order two and two, and returned home in the same way, and there never was the slightest quarrel between them and the Grencheners. This example worked upon the neighbouring places of the canton; scholars came from Staad, Bettlach, and Selzach, and, later, even from the French Jura. One of them merits special mention. He was a large strong man, two and thirty years of age (a year older than I), from the parish of Ely, in Friburg, a distance of two hours behind the Weissenstein, situated in a wild lonely country of the Bernese Jura mountains, which he had quitted, in order to work on the new high road between Solothurn and Grenchen. When he heard of the district school, he altered his determination; he hired himself as a servant to a peasant for board and lodging, resigning salary for the privilege of being able to attend the school. His desire for knowledge and his iron industry helped him to surmount all difficulties; he afterwards attended the seminary of education at Bunchenbuchsee (Berne); then returned to his home, where he became mayor and teacher; in short, all-in-all. Only one thing Xaver Rais did not become, that was, father of a family; for he always continued his studies, and, as he confided to me afterwards, preferred buying books to a wife. The Grencheners reckon him, up to the present day, as one of them; and even now, when I go to the place, a message is sent to him; then he puts on his satchel, lays hold of his staff, and goes over the mountain with long strides.

"The influx of scholars from the neighbourhood did not fail to have an effect on the opponents in the place; many boys succeeded in overcoming the resistance of their parents, and had the satisfaction of entering the inst.i.tution, which soon numbered between thirty and forty scholars.

In order to regulate the instruction according to the requirements, I was obliged to alter the prescribed plan. I did it on my own responsibility, and when at the close of the first year, I reported this to the government, what I had done was approved, and a wish expressed that the same course might be pursued in the other district schools. In the summer I kept school only from six to ten o'clock in the morning, in order that the boys might be employed in house and field labour. Besides this, the great work of the hay and corn harvest was in the holidays. The objects of study I limited in number, but went more deeply into them; I honestly lamented that the pastor gave no religious instruction, for the boys came from the preparatory school very much neglected in this important branch; they had only been impressed with two points, the indispensableness of the Ecclesiastical order, and the value of relics; of biblical history they were almost entirely ignorant. If the pastor did not teach religion, neither did I teach politics, but left the Fatherland State system to the school of life. On the other hand, the German and French languages, together with practice in composition, history, and geography, arithmetic and geometry, were carried on with great zeal, and it gave me pleasure to observe how forward boys of natural capacity might be brought in a short time, when all bombast was abolished, things represented simply, and each individual suitably a.s.sisted in his intellectual work.

"It was my good fortune to have a tolerable number of clever scholars, and for these I always endeavoured to do more than was prescribed. I gave them, therefore, at particular hours, instruction in Latin; and I made use of this to enlarge their views, and to guide and excite their love of learning. They formed a nucleus which gave the school a firm position. To them I owe the absence of anxiety about the discipline of the school, for their earnest orderly characters had an effect on all.

During the three years of my office as teacher, I never had recourse to punishment; if a boy was idle or untruthful, I used, after admonishing him to amend, to add the notification, that the other scholars would bear no bad lads amongst them. It certainly sometimes happened that at the end of the lesson, in which I had been obliged to give such a warning, certain sounds which did not mean approbation, would reach my ears; but I forbore inquiring as to the cause. On account of the number of scholars, the inst.i.tution was removed to another place; the school-room was on the first story immediately over our sitting-room, and my wife often remarked with astonishment, that though thirty peasant boys were a.s.sembled above, she never heard the least noise; and that our little children were not disturbed in their morning sleep.

"Before a year had pa.s.sed, it was discovered in the village that the school was useful; the boys, especially those of the 'guard,' as they called my _elite_, were in great request, to read and write German and French letters, which were necessary for the traffic in the products of the country; also to examine and draw up accounts, and the like. I willingly overlooked it when here or there one was an hour late, in consequence of having performed these neighbourly acts, for this was of advantage both to them and the school. The people saw us undertaking the measurement of fields, and trigonometrically determining heights and distances with instruments made by ourselves. But the strongest impression was produced, when a boy fifteen years of age begged for permission to speak before the a.s.sembled community for his father. The father, a worthy man, well deserving of the community, had, by misfortune, become bankrupt. Ruin impended, if the largest creditor did not act with consideration, and this creditor was the community itself.

The son appeared before the a.s.sembly, and begged for an abatement of the debt. He described the services, the misfortunes, and the state of mind of his father; his anxieties about his family, and forlorn future; and the advantage it would bring to the community itself, if it preserved to the family its supporter, and to itself a useful citizen.

He spoke with an impressiveness, a warmth and depth of feeling, which caused tears to roll down the beards of the most austere men. I can certify that many will say this: and at last the remission of the debt was pa.s.sed without a dissenting voice. The boy has now long been a professor of Natural Science and Doctor of Philosophy. His speech did even more for the place than the act of another scholar, who knocked out the brains of a mad dog with his wood axe. This they thought was no art, for that every one could do; but the young orator! 'This is the way they learn to speak in the school.' From that time the inst.i.tution was firmly established. But I still wanted something more.

"In vain had I begged the government to give an examination. They had answered that they were acquainted with the progress of the school, and accorded me their confidence. The second year I urgently repeated my request, and represented that it would be of use to the school if the State took notice of it. The examination was granted, and there appeared at it the magistrate of the district Munzinger, many members of the council of government, the prior Zweili, different teachers, and men of distinction from Solothurn. All went off well; the boys felt themselves raised and encouraged by the signs of satisfaction of the highest State officials. After the business was over, the members of the common council and other gentry, with the officials and friends of the school, a.s.sembled at a repast. When the strangers had left, the inhabitants remained long a.s.sembled together; even former opponents had joined; very willingly would the chaplain have made his appearance if he had not been afraid of the pastor, and so would the pastor himself if he had been sure that his superiors would not hear of it. The gla.s.ses continued to pa.s.s round till late in the night, and I was not in a position to let them go by me, so much the less that in the eyes of these men, he who could not drink with them was considered as a weakling, and looked upon as incapable of showing any capacity. From the day of the examination, I could consider the school as having taken root in the community. The time had pa.s.sed away when my friends and acquaintance at Solothurn had declared to me that they would not be surprised to hear an account of my being killed by the wild Grencheners.

"I had indeed never been fearful of so unceremonious a proceeding from the adherents of the 'Black party,' but it was not till now that I was cheered by a feeling of security. Many small but significant traits showed me that the people no longer considered me and mine as strangers, and an approximation was here accomplished which was perhaps the first for some generations. Before the opening of the inst.i.tution, it had been a question of procuring benches and other requisites, and it was then remarked that these articles should not be supplied by foreign joiners. A long time afterwards one of these came to me--there were two brothers--to beg of me to lay a memorial before the government, stating that they wished to remain at Grenchen, and obtain the rights of citizens. By a new decree, the mayors were ordered to examine the papers of settlers, and to send to their own homes all whose papers were not according to rule. These had no papers, and were therefore in danger of losing their domicile. On my inquiring how long they had lived in the place, the man answered, that he and his brother had been born there, also their father and mother; their grand-parents had wandered there as young people, and, indeed, not from a foreign country, or from another canton, but from a Solothurn village, only four hours from Grenchen, where, however, they would no longer know anything about them. The community had dealt well with them, giving them an equal share with the citizens in the communal property, but they denied them the rights of citizens. The government then signified to the community, that they had neglected to demand from their sires the papers, and that the grandchildren must not suffer from it. They became citizens, but still remained foreign joiners.

"After a year was pa.s.sed, fortune was favourable to me. The neighbours'

children chose mine as playfellows, and the wives sought intercourse with mine, whilst many of the men persuaded me to join a union which was engaged in objects of general utility; it soon attained a great development, and introduced much improvement into the administration and economy of the property of the community. I learnt to esteem many excellent country people; many have pa.s.sed away in the vigour of manhood. Her Vogt, justice of the peace, a genuine Allemanni, with a long thin face and dark hair, adapted by his understanding and acuteness to be the champion of the rising enlightenment, was killed not long ago by the fall of a tree which he was felling with an axe.

The common councillor, Schmied Girard, met with an accident in the flower of manhood, on the occasion of a bonfire, which was lighted on the Warinfluh, high up on the edge of a rocky precipice, in order to show the Bernese neighbours sympathy in the celebration of the festival in honour of their const.i.tution. He pushed a great log with his foot into the fire, slipped, and fell backwards over the rock into the abyss. He was an uncompromising opponent of the rotten system in the State, and had not feared to make known his sympathy for David Strauss, whose call to Zurich in 1839 had brought about the noted Zurich row, and to express his conviction that there could be no improvement till the community could choose their own pastor, and it should only be for five years. No wonder then that the ultramontane party spoke of his death in their papers as by the finger of G.o.d, for the edification of the good, and as a warning to the G.o.dless. The Grencheners answered the fleeting curse of the pious press by an enduring inscription on stone.

In the village, by the side of the high road, in a place that every traveller who goes along the road must remark, there is a simple memorial stone. The inscription says that it is dedicated to the memory of the common councillor Girard, who was loved and esteemed by his fellow citizens, who laboured and met his death in the cause of liberty, justice, and enlightenment. He was a good neighbour to me, and a powerful support: my wife gazed at him with astonishment when he took her Italian iron out of the fire with his bare hand, and placed it in the iron stand.

"An _esprit de corps_ in a good sense soon arose among the scholars; they felt themselves a distinguished corporate body. I made expeditions with them; amongst others, to Neuenberg, where the curiosities of the town, especially the rich collection of natural history, were shown to them with praiseworthy willingness. Another time we accepted the friendly invitation of a teacher at Solothurn to see a series of physical experiments. To the capital of the country the boys would not go on foot, but drove, as proud Grencheners, in a carriage decked with foliage, drawn by stately horses. In the lecture-room their demeanour was quiet, and they showed attention and intelligence, and they could see there much that, from want of proper appliances, I could only describe to them. The school was the focus of their life, the place where they collected on all great occasions. When one night the alarm-bell sounded, announcing a fire in the neighbouring village of Bettlach, they all came unsummoned to me; we put ourselves in order, and hastened with rapid steps to the spot where the fire was; we formed a rank to the nearest brook, and received our share in the praise and parting thanks of the pastor, for, when the fixe was extinguished, the clergyman delivered a speech of thanks to the neighbours who had come to help. I became the confidant of the cleverer ones in many features of their inward development. The boy who had come forward as advocate for his father was, on his first entrance into the school, so uncurbed in his overflowing strength, and so untamed by any culture, that, instead of taking his place in the usual way, he always vaulted over tables and benches; the wild creature scarcely kept within his clothes.

But very soon all this was changed; Sepp became quiet and serious, and his whole strength exerted itself in reflection and learning. I expressed to him my pleasure at the change, and he told me that one night he had not been able to sleep, and the thought had come into his head, 'Thou hast hitherto not been a man, but an animal; now, through the means of the school, thou canst become a man, and must do so.' From that night he felt himself changed. Another--now an able forest-manager and geometrician--had surprised me by an almost sudden transition from slow to quick comprehension and rapid progress. He gave me afterwards this explanation: 'All at once light broke upon me. You had set us an equation; I racked my brains with it, but could not find out a solution. I was in the stable milking the cows: I had taken the paper with me, laid it beside me on a log, and was looking at it every moment. Then it pa.s.sed like lightning through my brain: "thus must thou do it!" I left the cow and pail, took my paper, ran into the room, and solved the equation. Since that all my learning has gone on better.'

"The year 1839 had come to an end, and the winter term--the most tedious time of the school--had begun with an increased number of scholars. One Sunday some old scholars came to me, and suggested that the Grencheners had at one period occasionally performed a play. This old custom had long fallen into disuse; there had been nothing to see except at the carnival, 'the Doctor of Padua,' Punchinello, and the old buffoon sports, which had been brought home by mercenaries from the Italian wars, and established in the villages; but they wished to have again a great play, and begged me to help them. I desired to have time to think, and made inquiries of the old people, particularly of old Hans Fik, who, at least forty years before had co-operated as a youth, and, as he acknowledged to me with shame, had acted the part of the 'Mother of G.o.d.' From him I learnt that the last dramatic performance had been the 'St. Genevieve.' He doubted whether this younger generation could accomplish anything similar, for such a splendid paraphernalia, with many horses, such tremendous jumps clear over the horses, could no longer be seen in the present day. The _role_ of the count had been particularly fatiguing; one man had not sufficed for it; they had, therefore, had three counts, who, by turns, exercised their gymnastic art. Upon my asking whether there had not been speaking also, and whether he could not remember some pa.s.sage which he could recite before me, the old man began to declaim, one tone and a half above his natural voice, singing and scanning with a monotonous abrupt rhythm and cadence. Undoubtedly this mode of delivery was a tradition from ancient times, and the speaking in these representations was an accessory only, while the jumping, wrestling, and gymnastics were the main point. From the productions of modern art which were at my command, I chose a native tragedy, 'Hans Waldmann Burgermeister von Zurich,' by Wurstemberger of Berne. The hero, a leader in the Burgundian war, exerted himself to destroy the rule of the n.o.bles in his native city, and to introduce reforms in accordance with the spirit of the age. Many of these innovations were displeasing to the citizens. The 'man of the people' became unpopular, a conspiracy of n.o.bles upset him, and he was executed. The piece was not deficient in the necessary action; single combats, popular insurrection, fighting, and prison scenes gave spice to the dish; and longer dialogues were struck out. When my time for consideration had pa.s.sed, the scholars made their appearance with military punctuality, and undertook with acclamation to perform the piece I had chosen.

"The young men set actively to work, and showed that innate disposition to self-government which had been developed by education and practice. Those who took part in it--the elder and fifth-cla.s.s scholars--a.s.sembled at the national school, formed a union, and const.i.tuted it by the election of a president, a treasurer, and a secretary. They immediately proceeded to the distribution of parts.

This took place as follows:--The president inquired of those a.s.sembled, 'Who will act the part of Hans Waldmann?' Three or four candidates rise, each brings forward his claims--height, a powerful voice, or school education; then they retire, and the discussion begins. Each candidate has his adherents and opponents. The discussion is closed, and a nearly unanimous majority allots the princ.i.p.al _role_ to the teacher, Tschui. Thus it went on with all the parts in succession, and the remainder of the general body agreed together as to their distribution as soldiers, peasants, and peasant women from Lake Zurich.

The final vote put an end to all contention; there was not the least murmuring against the decision of the majority. I had been present at the meeting without saying a word; for, willing as the boys always were to listen to my advice--nay, even to look to my countenance for the expression of a wish,--yet it would have been annoying to them if I had obtruded myself upon them on the occasion of this performance. The distribution of parts gave perfect satisfaction; if I had undertaken it, it could not have turned out better,--probably not so well.

Immediately after, a number of the elder lads, between twenty and thirty years of age, asked me to allow them to a.s.sist by acting the part of soldiers; they represented that there were some wild fellows among the actors, and there might be some ill-conducted lads among the spectators who would behave mischievously, and it would be well if they were at hand to keep order. Their desire was willingly complied with, and the appearance of these stout youths may have contributed to make their service unnecessary.

"After the parts had been written out and learnt by heart, the rehearsals began, and continued during the whole winter. Most of the actors could only be brought to a certain point of proficiency, and there they remained; but some, especially the actor of the first part, richly repaid the trouble taken with him, and won, both at the performance and afterwards, the highest praise. But what delighted me most was to observe the moral effect of this dramatic industry of the young people on the life of the village. The common councillors related, with joyful surprise--what had been unheard of in the memory of man--that this winter there had been no fighting, nor the least ill-behaviour. The lads no longer sat in the taverns, drinking; they practised their parts at home, neighbours and acquaintances listening to them. Although women were excluded from the stage, the young ladies and peasant women being represented by the boys; yet the women and maidens were called upon to co-operate in other ways.

"For many things were to be procured for the theatre--decorations, costumes, and orchestra. The newly-built wing of the bath-house was chosen for the theatre; this wing contained the dining-room and the adjoining dancing-room; the first, a long room, the other somewhat smaller and a square; there was an opening in the wall from one room to the other, in the form of an arch. The dancing-room was to be the stage, and before the arch hung a curtain: the dining-room was for the spectators. A platform and benches gave more than a thousand seats, and a gallery attached to the wall opposite to the curtain served as boxes.

The plan of the stage arrangements was devised by a genuine artist, the painter Disteli, of Solothurn, known by his pictures of Swiss battles; the union took charge of the execution of it. It begged the common council to signify what trees might be cut to supply the necessary timber; crowds went out; the trees fell under the strokes of the axe; the lads harnessed themselves to them, putting on the tinkling-bells of the sledge-horses, and exultingly dragged the stems down the steep hill-path to the saw-mill. Then came the carpenters of the village, a.s.sisted by a sufficient number of men; in a short time the theatre was ready. The decorations were much aided by the misfortune of a play-manager, who, with his company, had for a long time been giving representations in a neighbouring city, but then had been obliged, by the pressure, not of the public, but of creditors, to go away, leaving behind him the whole of his theatrical properties. The scenery, therefore, was in the custody of the city, and the theatrical union succeeded in hiring, for a moderate sum, what was necessary--a room, a street, a wood, and even a dark prison. The costumes were designed by the painter Disteli; he coloured not only the particular dresses faithfully, according to the attire of the time and place, but contrived how it might be most cheaply carried out, by using the articles of dress that were at hand,--the ap.r.o.ns, bodices, shawls, and cloaks of the women. Whilst the village tailor worked, with an additional journeyman, incessantly at the costumes which required a higher degree of dexterity, the maidens occupied themselves for weeks with the smart dresses of the n.o.ble ladies, and the simple, picturesque attire of the women of the people; and many heroes owed to the taste and skill of a sister or a future bride the plumed cap and mantle which made him an object of admiration. If the dress, even less than the wearers, left little to desire, so did the equipment of the soldiers give a peculiar excellence to this performance; for the union addressed a pet.i.tion to the government of the Canton, to allow them the use of the equipments and arms from the Burgundian war that were in the armoury at Solothurn, of helmets, armour, armlets, greaves, swords, spears, and halberds; and safe securities were offered for the careful return of them, with compensation for any damage. The government not only granted the request, but their most intelligent members helped both by word and deed, and delighted the troops with an old culverin and the coal-black equipments of the Burgundian gunners of the end of the fifteenth century.

"When February was so far advanced that the days of performance could be settled,--it was to be on at least three following Sundays, in order to repay in some measure the great preparations,--I pointed out to the president of the union, after a general rehearsal, that it would be well to have some playbills printed. 'Playbills!' said the president, 'there can be no harm in that, the people will then know who they have before them.' It so happened that the actors had thought of having a strip of paper attached to the head-dress of each, on which the public could read in large characters the name of the person. This mistake induced me to add upon the bills, to the usual contents, a short summary of the scenes in each act. The union sent their messengers, and I doubt whether there were any town or village within five leagues where the bills were not carried. What conduced to all this zeal in the preparations, was not only the pleasure of showing themselves before so many men, but also the calculation, that only a numerous attendance would bring up the entrance money to balance the expenditure, and give a chance of an overplus, which would be at the disposal of the union.

"Again the actors came and begged to have a procession, 'such as there used to be formerly, in which we ride, the soldiers march, and women and others drive in smart carriages.' Those, therefore, who a.s.sisted in the village, were to a.s.semble and move in regular procession to the baths, distant about a quarter of an hour. But the youths who had gone through numerous rehearsals, in order to attain the heights of the art, wished now to have a rehearsal of their procession, and to put on their equipments and beautiful dresses; I left it to them to do as they pleased. I learnt too late that to this innocent pleasure was added also a plan of revenge. It had come to the ears of the union, that the clergy of the place were not favourable to what the worldly authorities were so well disposed. The pastor had made a report at Solothurn, against the G.o.dless intention of performing a worldly piece on a Sunday, and the Bishop and Chapter pressed the government to prevent such misconduct. This made the young men very indignant. One Sunday afternoon, when the church bells sounded for the catechisings, the dissonance of a drum mingled with their solemn sound. It was the parochial servant, who had become old as a drummer in foreign service; he was a master of his instrument, and on this occasion was not in the service of the council, but of the actors for the rehearsal of the procession. The great strength with which the veteran played in the closest vicinity to the church, and the pleased twinkle of his eye, betrayed that he had lost at Rome and Naples all respect for ecclesiastics, and had particular pleasure in vexing the priests. He had before this avowed to me that he did not believe all Calvinists would burn in h.e.l.l; he had told his pastor at confession that he had always been good friends with his Bernese comrades, and that he felt a.s.sured the good G.o.d would not cast away such brave fellows into the jaws of the devil; when in consequence of this, the pastor had refused him absolution, he had gone away saying: 'Good Mr. Pastor, henceforth I throw all my sins on your back.' So he marched round the house of G.o.d, overpowering the voice of the preacher, and causing the young people to run out of the church to see the procession. The clergy had good reason to complain, as people had been disturbed in their devotions. Soon there appeared an order from the government for the affair to be investigated; there was some difficulty in bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion, but the union promised never again to disturb the worship of G.o.d, and the ecclesiastics dropped their opposition to the performance.

"At last the great day for the first performance came. It was Sunday, the 15th of March, 1840. At mid-day the village was all astir; about two o'clock the procession was arranged, and began its march along the old high road which led from the village to the baths. The ground was still covered with snow, but the sun shone bright. First came a carriage with a bra.s.s band from Fulder, which was travelling in western Switzerland; this band played a solemn march. Then the knights with mounted retainers, two and two, in brilliant Burgundian armour, as many as forty horse; then again carriages adorned with fir-branches and ribbons, occupied by the wives and daughters of the n.o.bles and people, and with insurgent peasants, the infantry with their gun brought up the rear. It was not a bad picture of the old time, the weapons shone in the sunshine, and the figures rose, sharply defined, from the dazzling snow.

"The performance began about three o'clock, and lasted four hours. The success exceeded all expectation; the house was filled, and the applause loud. I experienced painful moments behind the scenes, as for instance when the fighting heroes, in spite of all admonitions, would strike at each other with their long sharp swords, so that the sparks flew, and I was obliged to be contented that only a few drops of blood flowed from a slight wound in the hand. The play was followed by a supper to all who had cooperated, and the gentry of the village, and lastly a dance. The knights danced in their armour till midnight, having put it on about mid-day. I concluded, therefore, that this race had not degenerated in bodily strength from their forefathers, who fought at Murten and Granson.

"The two following representations went off as fortunately as the first. The population streamed in from far and near, also travellers from Basle, Zurich, and other cities. Since that one-and-twenty years have pa.s.sed; in the new school buildings there is a theatre, in which the scholars perform small pieces; but the worthy men still look back with pride to the great performances of their youth.

"One consequence of this play was, that the master became a part of the joyous recollections of the Swiss villages. The house which the community had hired for the inst.i.tution, and the dwelling of the master, a provisional locality, stood with its front to the old high road; behind lay the little garden, at the back of which was a meadow belonging to the house which pastured two goats, and on which fruit-trees were planted. My abode was on the ground-floor; on the first storey, to which there was a narrow steep staircase, was the school-room and a reception-room. In summer acquaintances from the neighbourhood came frequently, and relations from home visited us, delighting in the country and in the well-disposed people. The holiday-time was gladly made use of for expeditions among the mountains. The close intercourse with the men of the village was also beneficial to the school, of which the wants were amply supplied.

Without any application, the common councillor let me know, that the allowed quant.i.ty of wood appeared to him too small; but I need not mind that, as I had only to state how much I wanted, and I should have enough given me. The scholars were eager to show attentions to my little ones, and to render voluntary services for our little household and farm. They took care of the garden, mowed the gra.s.s, and made the hay; I received from them the earliest strawberries and cherries, and when the rivulet was fished, the most beautiful trout. Since the examination, their zeal for learning had increased. The German and French compositions of the clever ones were very creditable; they solved equations of the second degree with facility, could explain the workmanship of a watch, a mill, and a steam-engine, and also the laws of their working; besides this, they could read Cornelius Nepos and Caesar. Instruction in the history of their Fatherland was throughout Switzerland carefully attended to, but only the brilliant parts of it.

Every child knew about the battles of Morgarten, Sempach, and Murten; but the submissiveness of their rulers, the French pensions and decorations were generally pa.s.sed over in silence. It appeared to me more judicious not to give the light without the shadows.

"I did not consider my duty towards those scholars whose inclination to learn was just aroused as ending with the certificate of dismissal. I wished to carry them on farther, up to the Canton school at Solothurn, which, besides a literary, had a technical cla.s.s. With this object, it was necessary to provide for their maintenance, for they were, generally speaking, the sons of poor parents; those who were conscious that they would one day possess fields, meadows, and cattle, seldom felt the impulse to acquire more than the necessary knowledge. Before the close of the second year's course, two scholars showed themselves fit for the Canton school. I went to Solothurn, and spoke to the Landammann Munzinger and to the Councillor of the Board of Education, Dr. F. Both were worthy men, who provided for the boys in a great measure out of their own income. Soon I brought them a second, then a third couple. For these also, the necessary maintenance was found, especially as all who had entered had shown themselves worthy. But Dr.

F. remarked to me, that he did not see the possibility of providing maintenance for any more, and as the parish was wealthy, they could do it themselves. I replied that this, without doubt, would be the case, as soon as the use of the school and of the further education of clever youths was demonstrated to the citizens by examples. Till then the government must provide that such witnesses should be forthcoming. A somewhat cold and dry answer sent the blood to my head: 'If you do not do all that is possible to promote the knowledge and education of the people, you may descend from your seats and let the patricians resume them, for they understand how to govern better than you!' 'Then I must find maintenance for the next scholars that are to be advanced to the higher school;' I advised them to apply to the Capuchins at Solothurn, as these are bound by their rules to give lodging and board to poor students. They had no occasion to repent of it.

"They were a jolly set in the monastery; the civil war in Spain had divided them into two parties, Carlists and Christinos, who mutually wrote satirical verses against each other. The severest satirist, a young Neuer, was the leader among the Christino writers, against whose satirical verses the leader of the Carlists could not make head; he was an old man of family, who long had guarded the holy chair, and only lately exchanged the papal uniform for the cowl. This domestic dispute was, however, kept strictly within the cloister walls, for outside of them the Fathers were good brothers, and everywhere popular. They lived among the people, shared in their pleasures, and comforted the unhappy; they knew every family, and more especially frequented those houses where the women made the best coffee. The favourite saying of the Carlist chief was, 'There is nothing beyond good coffee and making the soul happy.' Every spring two Fathers came to Grenchen, and the young men collected behind them as behind the rat-catcher from Hameln; the first cried out, 'Ho, ho! go and pick up snails!' This call drew all the boys from the houses into the wood. The rich booty gave a delicious dish to the monastery. The young collectors were repaid with holy pictures.

"The news that I had sent two boys to the Capuchins, soon reached the Landammann Munzinger, and at my next visit he asked me, 'Whether I did not know that they instilled principles into the boys, which were different from ours?'--'That I know well,' I answered, 'but I know still more; first, that scholars must live if they would learn; then that boys who have been two years with me, are so perverted, that no Capuchin can do them any good,'--'Then I am content,' said Herr Munzinger.

"I cannot part from this excellent man without consecrating a few words to his memory. He was a tradesman, and had a public shop at Solothurn.

He had a philosophical education, was musical, and a man of genuine benevolence. Unselfish, of agreeable appearance and manners, he was inexorable when it was a question of the public weal; he was an opponent of the rule of the old patricians who made use of their power at home and their diplomatic service for their own advantage, and had no feeling for the interests of the people. In the year 1830, Munzinger was at the head of the movement, and the line he took at the popular meeting at Balsthal, on the 5th December, decided the fall of the Patrician government in the Canton of Solothurn. In the construction of the new const.i.tution and laws, in the organisation of the administration, and in his co-operation in their labours for the exemption of the land from burdens, for the establishment of schools, for the formation of roads, for the advancement of agriculture, and the administration of justice, he showed himself wonderfully gifted as a statesman. Though the State only consisted of a few square miles, with some sixty thousand inhabitants, yet the difficulties of const.i.tuting it were not less than in a larger State. The old rulers and their adherents, supported by the clergy, made use of the free press, the right of a.s.sembly, and their rich ecclesiastical and worldly means, to irritate the people against the new order of things. There was no want of handles to lay hold of, as arrangements for good objects require means, and thus some burdens must be imposed. Thus, for example, the community was bound by a law to erect schools, and further, to endow them with land; where there was no communal property, land had to be bought. Many villages opposed this, but their resistance was forcibly overcome. Later, the chief magistrates thanked the Landammann for having put force upon them for their good. In a different way did the government maintain itself against refractory ecclesiastics. No compulsion was put on them, but care was taken that the peace of families should not be disturbed by their insubordination. The government chose as Chapter-Provost a liberal-thinking ecclesiastic; Rome refused to confirm him; the situation remained unoccupied, and the income went to the school-fund. The clergy refused to solemnise mixed marriages, or to baptise the children; thus such couples had to seek for marriage and baptism elsewhere; but the officials of the district took care that they were entered in the registers. How well Munzinger understood republican freedom may be learnt from an example. The parish of Grenchen possessed extensive woodlands, the property of which was divided between them and the State. The parish had the right to supply themselves with wood, the remainder of the produce went to the State, a condition of things which was evidently not favourable to the cultivation of timber. The government proposed, therefore, that the wood should be divided in proportion to the rights of both sides, and to ascertain this more precisely, sent a commission to Grenchen. The peasants, accustomed from ancient times to be over-reached by the government, were suspicious of being defrauded, and drove the commissioners out of the village. Next morning the landjager of Solothurn took the most considerable of the country people into custody, and carried them to prison at Solothurn. This had not pa.s.sed without some heart-breaking scenes; women had been alarmed, the children cried, and the whole village was filled with lamentation and anger.

"From the feeling excited by these circ.u.mstances, I went soon after to the Landammann, and lamented the harshness of the proceeding. The men should have been summoned, none of them would have failed to appear, they were not such as would have evaded it. 'Yes,' said Munzinger, 'I, alas, was not here.'--'I thought so,' replied I, 'the affair in that case would have been managed differently.'--'Undoubtedly,' exclaimed the Landammann, colouring, 'I should have sent out the military and occupied the village, the seizure would still have taken place.' I could not conceal my astonishment at this outburst of anger. 'Yes,'

continued Munzinger, 'you, with your monarchical notions, can be cautious and indulgent; there are always gendarmes and soldiers enough at hand to step in if necessary. We have not these means; the people have a great degree of freedom, but we cannot allow that in one single case even a hair's-breadth should be over-stepped.' A true and manly word.

"The Landammann had the welfare of the Confederation as much at heart as that of the Canton, and as the people at home submitted to his discipline because they recognised that it was for their good, so also his guidance was followed in the affairs of the Confederation. In the Sonderbund war, Solothurn, although Catholic, was on the side of the Diet; its artillery distinguished itself in action, and left many valiant men on the field of battle. Munzinger joined in forming the new const.i.tution; he was elected to the Diet, and by this into the Executive Council. Switzerland honoured one of their best citizens in choosing him as President of the Bund, and he dedicated to his Fatherland, from which he was too early torn away, all his powers up to the last hours of his life.

"The year 1840 introduced into Switzerland and Germany the alarm of French invasion; General Aymar had marched from Lyons, and the forces of the Confederacy met him on their frontier. The Solothurn Battalion, Disteli, which was marching through Grenchen, was refreshed by the inhabitants with food and drink, and animated by the cry 'Thrash them soundly,' 'Fear nothing!' The storm was allayed, as Louis Napoleon withdrew of his own accord from Switzerland to save them from war with France. The clouds of war over Germany disappeared also, but they left behind a lasting uneasiness in the mind of the people, which was the beginning of a succession of years of political excitement. At this period I was recalled to Germany by the persuasions of friends and feelings of duty, but it cost me a long inward struggle.

"Our departure was to take place at Christmas; it was very painful for us to take leave. I shortened as much as possible my separation from the scholars. I gave to each of them a book, said farewell, and hastened from them. A young man who had not been at the school, but had acted as a soldier in 'Hans Waldmann,' inquired from what coachman at Solothurn I should hire my carriage. I told him the man. The following day he returned to me, and informed me that he had engaged himself as servant to this liveryman, and had asked low wages that he might be allowed to drive us to Germany, for he wished to take care that we were as well attended to as in Grenchen.

"It was a cold, dark winter morning when we drove from the inn in which we had pa.s.sed the last night. Great was our surprise, when, at that early hour and in the bitter cold, we saw the whole population, men, women, and children, thronging before the house and along the high road. They wished once more to press our hands, they said farewell, and many other things; 'It is wrong of you to leave us,' 'You must come back again,' 'You shall have the freedom of the city.' They raised their children up aloft, 'Look at him yet again, look at him yet once more!' The whip cracked, and the carriage drove away."

Here we end the narrative of the former schoolmaster of Grenchen.

More than twenty years have pa.s.sed since the German teacher departed from the Swiss village. He had been a strong and moderate leader in the political struggles of Germany, he had clearly seen where the greatest danger threatened, and his name was often mentioned with warm veneration, or with bitter hatred. When years of weak reaction came, he went to the north of Germany, and again lived in the active performance of his duties as a citizen. Then the faithful companion of his life fell sick, and the physicians advised a long residence in pure mountain air; they determined to go to the village around which hovered so many delightful reminiscences of past times.

The village had changed its aspect; people no longer travelled by the high-roads but on the railway to Grenchen, manufactures had been introduced, watch-making and inlaid work, and the manufacture of cement, and other branches are increasingly developed. But the travellers found the old feeling, not only among the old men, but also through tradition among the younger ones. On the Sunday after their arrival, a long procession moved in the evening from the village to the baths. Foremost were the military bands of two battalions, which were formed of Grencheners under the direction of the new district-master, then the bearers of coloured lanterns, which were a large portion of the population. The mult.i.tude arranged themselves before the balcony of the house in which "Hans Waldmann" had been performed. Great chafing-dishes threw a red light over the ponds, jutting fountains and the pleasure grounds of the baths, whilst rockets ascended and lighted up at intervals the dark background, the mountains of the Jura. The guests had to place themselves on the balcony. The music ceased, and a former scholar, now a physician in Grenchen, stepped from out of the ranks. He commenced his greeting by calling to mind, that on the day of their arrival, there had been a great eclipse of the sun; two-and-twenty years before, their guests had entered among them at a period of intellectual darkness, they had helped to make light victorious; he concluded with the a.s.surance that Grenchen would always consider the two strangers as belonging to them. When later the people of the village joyfully thronged round the friends, the parents pointed to a race of young giants that had meanwhile grown up amongst them, saying, "See these are the little ones who used to play with your children, and could not then go to your school." The German had by his side his eldest scholar, Xaver Reis, who had again come to him, over the mountain.

The district school has now three masters and ample funds. The new school-house rises on a height in front of the church, and is a conspicuous object to the surrounding country. The school has trained its own advocates and supporters.