vine arbor and wall, and over the top of the fruit trees up to the
thicket of the nearest hill, and came back from thence as an echo.
After this masterpiece the children's party broke up, and they were
unwillingly taken by Ilse to the house, but the men continued in
conversation a little longer; they had laughed and sung together, and
became confidential. The Proprietor spoke of his early days, how he had
tried his luck here and there, and at last had established himself
firmly in this place. The struggle of daily life had been weary and
toilsome; he gladly called it to mind at this hour, and spoke of it
with the good sense of an energetic man.
Thus passed the second day on the estate--beneath sun and stars,
amongst the sheaves and the herds.
The following morning the Professor was awaked by the loud noise of the
feathered farmyard denizens; the cock flew upon a stone beneath the
window of the visitor's room, and sounded his morning clarion
imperiously; the hens and young chickens stood in a circle round him,
and endeavored to practice the same art; in between the sparrows
chirruped loud, then the doves flew up and cooed their song, at last
there came an army of ducks who began quacking a second chorus. The
Professor found it necessary to rise, and the Doctor called out
querulously from his bed: "That comes from yesterday's singing; now we
hear the effect it had on all the associated farmyard musicians." But
in this he was in error, the little flock of the farmyard sang only
from official zeal to announce that a stormy day might be expected.
When the Professor went into the open air, the morning light still
glowed like fire in the heavens, and the first rays of light shimmered
over the fields in broken and trembling waves. The ground was dry, no
dewdrops hung on leaf or turf. The air also was sultry, and the heads
of the flowers drooped languidly on their stalks. Had a second sun
appeared in the night? But the clear piping of the yellow thrush
sounded from the top of an old cherry tree incessantly. The old
gardener, Jacob, looked at the tree, shaking his head: "I thought that
the rogue had gone away, he has made too much havoc among the cherries,
and now he is giving us information before he leaves; something is
brewing to-day."
Ilse, as she came from the dairy, said: "The cows are unquiet, they low
and push against one another."
The sun rose red out of heavy vapor--the laborers in the field felt a
weariness in their limbs, and continually stopped in their work to dry
their faces. The shepherd was to-day discontented with his flock; the
wethers were bent upon gamboling instead of eating, they bucked one
another, and the young ones frisked and danced about as if they were
set on wires. Disorder and willfulness could not be restrained. The dog
circled round the excited animals incessantly; but his tail hung
between his legs, and when he tugged at a sheep, the animal long felt
the ungentle bite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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