Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. In Three Volumes. Vol. III.Auerbach, Berthold
General
Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. In Three Volumes. Vol. III.
Auerbach, Berthold
German fiction -- Translations into English
Lenz knew this already, and had even told Pilgrim so, but he felt much
hurt at the way in which Annele said it, for in this manner she
paralyzed all his powers for his business.
Annele, however, had a private fixed plan of her own in her head, and
she considered herself quite justified in trying to carry it through.
She felt that her best faculties were lying dormant, for she could not
employ them in her small household. She wanted to earn something, and
an Inn of her own was best adapted for that purpose.
She had formerly endeavoured to estrange Lenz from Pilgrim. Now she
made Pilgrim her confederate; he had said it was a pity that she was
not a landlady, for she would give a fresh impulse to the Lion, and
every one thought the same. Her object was, that Pilgrim should assist
in persuading Lenz to undertake the Lion inn; he might still pursue his
art--when she wished to be amiable she called it an art, but when in
bad humour a trade--either in the Lion, or on the Morgenhalde; indeed
the latter would be best, for he would be quieter there, and many a one
had his workshop further from his home, than the Morgenhalde was from
the Lion.
When Pilgrim came now, Annele said to him, graciously:--"Pray light
your pipe, I rather like the smell; I seem at home when people are
smoking around me."
"You are certainly not at home here," thought Pilgrim, but he took care
not to say so. Though Annele attacked Pilgrim on every side, she could
not obtain his co-operation, and Lenz was obstinate and impervious to
all flattery, and proof even against bursts of rage, in a way she never
could have expected from him.
"You first wished to make me a pedlar, to sell watches," said he; "and
then a manufacturer, and now landlord of the Lion; if I am to become so
entirely different from my former self, what did you see in me to
induce you to marry me?"
Annele evaded any reply, but she said, bitterly:--"You are as soft as
butter to the whole world, but to me as hard as a pebble."
Lenz thought he was an experienced man, but Annele wished to make him
one. She neither said to him, nor admitted to herself, that she thought
herself the best fitted of the two to gain a livelihood, but she wept
and complained that she was of no use, and pitied herself on that
account. She said she only wished to act for the best; and what is it
she wishes? to work, to increase their means, but Lenz will not hear of
it.
Lenz told her that the garden was formerly very productive, she had
better cultivate it; but she had no taste for gardening:--"Every plant
grows just where it is placed, in peace and quiet, and requires no
pressing or driving forwards. Make haste! it is far too slow an affair
to watch what is growing and blossoming in time: three visits to the
kitchen, and three to the cellar, and I have gained more profit than I
would get from such a garden the whole summer; and an old woman, to
whom we pay a trifle, is quite good enough to work in the garden."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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