Seed-time and Harvest Part 73

He came down from the speaker's stand, and blew his nose, as if he were sounding a trumpet over his speech.

Tailor Wimmersdorf then took the floor, and said the Rahnstadt Reform must consider it a great honor to have a proprietor among them; so far as he knew, it was the only one, for the Herr von Zanzel, although he owned an estate, and was a member, was not to be counted, for he made no purchases in Rahnstadt, and had nothing to do with them. He voted for the Herr Proprietor.

"Bravo!" resounded through the hall. "Wimmersdorf is right! Neighbor, you are right! How shall we live, if we don't keep on good terms with such people?"

"That is not my opinion," said Schultz, the carpenter, creeping softly up into the cask, like a fat snail, out of its sh.e.l.l, and he looked like one, for all the world. "Stuff and nonsense, tailor Wimmersdorf, stuff and nonsense! Did the Gurlitz potentate trouble himself about us, did he pay up our bills, before he needed us? Why does he stand here in the hall, when his admission has been opposed? Hasn't he modesty enough to go out? But no! And why? Because he is a Great Mogul. I say, out with him, out!" and the snail crept into its sh.e.l.l again.

"Out! out!" cried several voices, and others cried, "Speak again! Go on!" and a rascally shoemaker sung out in a clear voice,--

"Snail, snail, come out of your sh.e.l.l!

Stick out your horns, we know you well!"

But Schultz the carpenter would not come, he knew very well that he should only weaken the impression his speech had made; he preferred to strengthen it, he stood with Brasig, behind the scenes, and both called, "Out! out!" and they would certainly have gained their point, had not the devil pushed forward David and Slusuhr, into the cooling-vat, each with a moustache, to signify that they were excessively liberal. They sung Pomuchelskopp's praises with psaltery and harp; he was a helpful angel, said Slusuhr,--"Yes, a fat angel,"

cried that rogue of a shoemaker,--he had helped many a poor family here in Rahnstadt,--he said nothing about the ten per cent. interest,--and he would do much more for the city. David began the same song, a little colored with saffron and spiced with garlic. "Gentlemen!" said he, making a low bow to the roguish shoemaker, who received it very quietly, "bethink yourselves, think of the good of the whole city! In the first place, there is the Herr Pomuchelskopp himself, in person, then there is the gracious Frau Pomuchelskopp,--a fearfully clever woman,--then there are the Frauleins Salchen and Malchen, and the Herr Gustaving and the Herr Nanting and the Herr Philipping, and then come the Fraulein Mariechen and the Fraulein Sophiechen and the Fraulein Melaniechen, and then come the little Herr Krischaning and the little Herr Joching, and then comes the youngest of all,--well, wait a moment, I am not through yet,--and then come the house-maids, and the kitchen-maids, and the nurse-maids, and the swine-maids,--and I don't know how many more,--and then come the coachman and the grooms, and the herdsmen, and they all want something. Why should they not want something? Everybody has his wants. And they need coats and they need trousers, and they need shoes and boots, and they need stockings and shirts and jackets; and when it is cold they need warm coats, and when it is warm, they need cool ones, and when Palm Sunday comes, and they go to be confirmed, they must have nice coats, and on Christmas--good heavens! I have always said this Christ must have been a great man, what an amount of business has he introduced into the world by Christmas! And all these things we make, and sell in our shops. But who buys them of us? The Herr Pomuchelskopp buys them of us. I have nothing more to say."

And it was not necessary, for, as he finished his speech, all the tailors and shoemakers were, in imagination, making boots and shoes and trousers and jackets for the little Pomuchelskopps, and the shopkeepers were disposing of their remnants to Muchel, and Kurz had, in antic.i.p.ation, sold him half his stock in trade.

But in spite of this, Brasig and the carpenter Schultz still cried, "Out with him! Out!" and the other side cried; "Let him stay!" "Out with him!" "Let him stay!" And there was a dreadful uproar. The material interests represented by the Pomuchelskopp's boots and trousers, rose up in opposition to the ideal fraternity; it was a hard fight. At last the bell from the president's desk quieted them sufficiently for the Herr President Rein to make himself heard.

"Gentlemen," said he--"Out with him!" "Out with him!" "Let him stay!"--"Gentlemen," he began again, "Thank G.o.d!"--"Out! out!" "Let him stay!"--"Thank G.o.d! the opinion of the a.s.sembly has expressed itself so decidedly, that we can proceed to a vote. So; let all those who are in favor of admission go to the musician's gallery; those who are opposed, go to the speaker's stand."

The Rahnstadt Reformverein put itself in motion; every one trotted off as fast as he could, to show his decided opinion, and it sounded, from a distance, as if a fulling-mill were in full progress at Grammelin's, and the result of this quiet proceeding was soon manifest, for Grammelin rushed into the room, crying, "Herr President! Children! I beg of you go to some other place, or vote in a more quiet way!"

"Eh, what?" said Thiel, the joiner; "we must vote! Else it is no Reform."

"I know that, Thiel, but you are voting so hard, that the plaster is all tumbling down from the ceiling."

They perceived by this that they were going a little too fast; and from that time, they did not attempt to vote with their feet; but only with their hands.

The votes were counted; Pomuchelskopp was admitted as a regular member of the Reformverein. Schultz the carpenter turned to Brasig, and asked, over, his shoulder, "Well, if it comes to this, Herr Inspector, what will become of Germany?"

"It is all one to me," said Brasig; "but don't talk to me of your Fraternity!"

Now the poverty-question came upon the carpet, and after the president had explained the question, the Rahnstadt Reformverein took it up for discussion: "How poverty came to be in the world, and why it remains here."

The first who rose was Rector Baldrian. He came up from behind, like all the rest, into the speaker's stand, but piled up a great heap of books before him, as high as his shoulders, to create a favourable opinion of himself, in the minds of the audience. As he had arranged the Bible and Xenophon, and Plato and Aristotle, and Livy and Tacitus, and all that he had on hand of Cicero, he made a bow, and said those were his reserves.

"Gossip," said Johann Bank to the shoemaker, Deichert, "this will be tedious; we know what he is, come and have a gla.s.s of beer."

Then the rector began, and proved first, from the Bible, that in very old times there was poverty among the Jews.

"That is not so!" cried an eager voice from the crowd, "the confounded Jews have all the money there is; they know well how a poor man feels."

The rector did not let himself be disturbed, he proved the matter from the Bible, and then took up Xenophon, and told about the Helots in Sparta, but the a.s.sembly did not seem quite to understand it. Upon that, he opened Plato, and began on him, that is, on the "Republic,"

and said that if the Rahnstadters had such a state of things as Plato had planned for the Athenians, every laborer in Rahnstadt could have roast beef and potatoes for dinner every day, and could ride in a coach Sunday afternoons, and the children, who now went begging about the streets, would go with gold chains around their necks, instead of beggars' sacks.

"Let him tell us more about that!" "Three cheers for Plato!" sounded through the hall. "Gossip, is that the old Jew-grinder Platow, who is blind of one eye?"

"Eh, gossip, I knew him well enough; he has bought many a piece of beef of me," said Krauger, the butcher.

The president's bell produced quiet, and that rogue of an advocate Rein turned to the rector, and begged, in the name of the a.s.sembly, that he would have the kindness to give the Rahnstadt Reformverein a particular account of the Platonic Republic.

That was a hard request, and the sweat ran down the poor old rector's face, as he began three times, and three times broke down, for he was far from having a clear idea of it himself. He finally said, in his distress, the Platonic Republic was a republic, and what a republic was his hearers, so well educated in political matters, knew very well.

Well, everybody knew that; and then the rector got off among the Romans, and told something quite different, how sometimes the old Romans got hungry, and how they clamored loudly for _panem et circenses_. "Panem, my dear hearers," said he, "signifies bread, and circenses, open air plays."

All at once, shoemaker Deichert sprang up on a bench, and cried, "That is what I say! The old Romans were no fools; and what they did, we Rahnstadters can do, any day! What? when I and Bokel and Jurendt and all the others are sitting at Pfeifers, playing vingt-et-un, shall the burgomeister come and take away our cards, and send us and Gossip Pfeifer to the Rath-house, and make us pay a fine and costs? What? I say, like the old Romans, free, open play for all!"

"You are right, there, gossip," cried Jurendt, "three cheers for the old Romans and the Herr Rector!" And the others echoed: "Hurrah!

hurrah!"

The rector acknowledged the compliment to himself and the Romans by a bow, and as he noticed that the president glanced frequently at the clock, he hastened to finish his speech, and concluded with these words: "My respected hearers, if we consider poverty at the present time, we shall find that it is only the children of poor people, and of the mechanics, who go begging in our city." With that he retired, carrying off his "reserves" under his arm.

He was followed by Johann "Meinswegens." "Gentlemen," said he, "I am, meinswegens,[11] a dyer," and thereupon he extended his two hands over the cask with so much emphasis that the whole Reformverein was astonished,--"I used to go to school to the Herr Rector, and he is right, we must have a republic, meinswegens Plato's, meinswegens somebody's else; but what the Herr Rector said about the mechanics, that is a sin and a shame; I mean, meinswegens, the mechanics and not the Herr Rector. Gentlemen, I have, meinswegens, travelled into strange countries as a journeyman mechanic--"

"You sat in the chimney-corner, with your mother," cried a voice from the crowd.

"What? I have been as far as Birnbaum in Poland, and, meinswegens, farther still, ever so far! as true as the sky is blue, and on the word of an honest blue dyer," and he smote on his breast. "And, gentlemen, I could, meinswegens, keep two journeymen, only that, unfortunately, indigo is so dear."

"Oh, you rascal! You color with logwood!" cried shoemaker Deichert.

"That is a stupid joke!" cried Johann.

"What, indigo? Hear!" cried several voices, "he colors with logwood!"

"Yes," cried the roguish shoemaker, "one can easily tell the women-folk that he colors for, they look like tar-barrels, the old logwood gives such a strong color."

"Young man," asked Johann, in a very superior way, "have you, meinswegens, ever looked into my dye-tub?"

"You should hold your tongue, when we are talking about poverty; you are well enough off," cried another.

"Gentlemen, meinswegens, that is a stupid joke! It is true, I have built myself a new house----"

"Of logwood," cried the shoemaker. "Of logwood!" repeated the others.

"No! no!" cried the dyer, "of fir wood, with oaken beams!"

"Of logwood!" cried the others.

"Gentlemen," began Johann once more, very impressively, raising himself up, and striking his breast with his blue fist, "I am, meinswegens, a Rahnstadt burgher, and I have no more to say."

"That is enough!" cried several.

"Then do as you ought!" cried the day-laborers, "down with the blockhead, he tells us nothing but what we know already."

And Johann "Meinswegens" was obliged to come down from the platform.

Then came Kurz: "Fellow-citizens! We are to discuss poverty, and my honored predecessor has been speaking of indigo. That is a pretty business! Why should we poor merchants pay taxes, if every dyer may get his own indigo, and my honored Herr Predecessor can only do this, because no one can overlook his cards, and see how much indigo he uses, and how much logwood!"