The Four Corners Abroad

by Amy Ella Blanchard

  CHAPTER XII

  ALL SAINTS

  SUNDAY was always an interesting day, for there were many things todo. The little American church near the Odeonsplatz was a homelikeplace where once a week, at least, one could imagine himself at home,so familiar was the service in one's own tongue, and here the familygenerally went. After church it was the custom to promenade up and downthe Parada, and with the rest of the citizens to listen to the music ofthe band which played upon the balcony of the Feldernhalle.

  But there was one Sunday when the morning service was unattended byany from _Pension_ Bauer, for all took their way to the cemetery. Thiswas the day of All Saints, and every grave, even the humblest, wasdecorated, lights were set to burn, and the whole place looked likea great garden of blossoms. There were many persons walking quietlyaround, old women were stationed to watch the tall candles or toreplenish the swinging lamps.

  "It is very solemn and very beautiful," said Nan to Dr. Woods, withwhom she was walking. "I never imagined anything quite like this, but Ithink it is a beautiful custom."

  "The royal tombs are decorated to-day, too," said Dr. Woods. "We oughtto go to St. Michael's, for in the crypt there King Ludwig II and anumber of others are buried. A great many persons visit the place everyyear, for this is the only day upon which the place is opened to thepublic. If you all are not too tired we might go there from here."

  Nan agreed and they passed on to where Jean and Jack were standingwhispering together.

  "Look, Nan," said Jack, "at that little girl over there. She is puttingthat one little candle and that tiny bunch of flowers on a grave.She looks so poor. I wonder whose grave it is? I hope it is not hermother's."

  "See, she is coming away," said Nan. "Don't watch her so closely, dear;it doesn't seem kind."

  The two children turned quickly away, but could not forbear watchingthe little girl as she slowly passed out the gate.

  "I wish I knew about her," said Jack following the departing figurewith sympathetic glances.

  "Let's go, Nan," said Jean; "it is so sad here."

  "I don't think you twinnies ought to have come," Nan told them.

  "Oh, yes, we ought. We like the flowers and the lights, but we don'tlike little girls like that to be so poor as not to have more flowersand candles," Jack returned.

  They now came up to the rest of the party and proposed the walk to seethe royal tombs, but Mrs. Corner decided that she was too tired to goand, therefore, the twins went home with her while the others continuedto the church. Here a long procession of persons passed steadily inand out of the crypt, where masses of flowers and brilliant lightssurrounded the tombs of dead royalty.

  "I'd like to know more about King Ludwig II," said Nan to hercompanion. "The Bavarian succession is so mixed up in my mind I neverdo get it straight."

  "There is a little history of Bavaria that I saw somewhere. I shallbe glad to bring it to you, if you would care to look it over. Youwill find this a most interesting kingdom, full of romance as well asof solid fact. The unfortunate Ludwig II was son of Maximilian II andgrandson of Ludwig I. The present Prince Regent is a son of Ludwig Iand a brother of Maximilian II. He is, therefore, uncle of Ludwig IIand of the poor mad king Otto, the actual king."

  "I will write that all down, and then I can remember it better,"said Nan. This she proceeded to do. "I should like very much to seethe history, thank you, and get all these Ludwigs and Maximiliansstraightened out. It will make the places named after them so much moreinteresting. I did get a sort of half idea from all those wonderfulcastles we have been making trips to see, but I am not yet quite exact."

  "I think you will like the legend called 'Weibtreue' which tells of anevent away back in the twelfth century."

  "Tell me it."

  "The story goes that Welf VI with his wife and followers were besiegedby Konrad, the Hohenstaufen. After a long time they said they wouldyield, but Konrad was so angry at the long resistance that he declaredthat every man should be killed, though he consented to allow the womento go out first, each being allowed to take with her the thing shevalued the most. Finally when the city gates were flung open out came along train of women, and what do you think they had on their backs?"

  Nan's eyes were bright as stars. She loved this sort of legend. "What?"she asked.

  "The Countess Ida, Welf's wife, came first and on her back she carriedher husband. Each of the women following carried either a husband,father, lover, son or brother."

  "Good!" Nan's hands came together. "And what did Konrad do?"

  "His soldiers were furious at the trick, but Konrad himself was sostruck by the women's devotion that he forgave them every one."

  Nan laughed. "Now I know why the women of Germany have such mightystrong backs. They began their training away back in the twelfthcentury and evidently have kept it up ever since, for they carry suchloads as I never saw."

  Dr. Paul laughed, and the two, having passed through the Karlsthorand up the wide Lenbach-platz, waited for the others who had lagged alittle behind.

  Mrs. Hoyt's sitting-room was more of a rendezvous on a rainy Sundayafternoon than at any other time, and when the chill mists had resolvedthemselves into a persistent drizzle, the young people gathered in thecheery place to forget outside conditions and to get rid of the blues.Here, after dinner, Nan found Mary Lee and Jo with the Hoyt family andtwo or three of Maurice's schoolfellows. Mrs. Hoyt was dispensingtoasted buns, Lebkuecken and chocolate, and it was the coziest ofcompanies.

  "Just in time," Mrs. Hoyt told her. "Sit right down wherever you canfind a place, Nan. We have none too many chairs, as you see."

  Maurice jumped to his feet and gave Nan his place while he took aposition on the floor by Jo, who was seated on a sofa cushion by thewindow.

  "This is nice," said Nan in a satisfied tone. "It is so much like home,and one does get tired of foreign doings once in a while."

  "I thought we'd better stay in this drizzly afternoon," remarked Mrs.Hoyt. "Juliet, for one, should not go out, for she has already takencold."

  "If she has taken cold give her quinine; if she has taken anythingelse, give her thirty days," advised Maurice, between bites ofLebkuecken. And of course everybody laughed, as he meant they should.

  "This is the best Lebkuecken I ever ate," said Nan. "It is much betterthan any we have had."

  "That is because it is the real Nuremburg article," Mrs. Hoyt told her."There is none quite so good. Have you been to Nuremburg, Nan?"

  "No, but perhaps we shall go before it gets too cold. Aunt Helen wasspeaking of it only yesterday. I want so much to see the Hans Sachshouse, the old streets and the Burg."

  "There is really a great deal to see there, and it is a convenientpoint from which to go to Rothenburg, which, if anything, is even morepicturesque. If you like an old mediaeval town you will have it there."

  "Then I hope we can go to both places. I particularly want to seeNuremburg on account of its being the scene of the Meistersinger. Ilove that street scene, and I hope the real thing looks just like it,"replied Nan, who by this time had heard several operas.

  "It is quite exact," Mrs. Hoyt told her. "Boys, stop demolishing thosecushions; this is not a dormitory for a pillow fight. Do be sensible."

  "We would be if we could, Mrs. Hoyt," replied Henry Olcott, whom theboys dubbed Heinz, as a German contraction of Heinrich.

  "I don't see what Mr. Mann does with such a lot of animal spirits,"continued Mrs. Hoyt.

  "There are fifty-seven varieties," remarked Jo, "and they are allpickles."

  "Not all, please, Miss Jo," said Henry prostrating himself at Jo'sfeet. "Thy servant is a baked bean with tomato sauce; try Heinz."

  "I can vouch for the sauce," retorted Jo. "Get up, silly, I am not aheathen idol."

  Just as Henry was rising to make a dignified salaam, one of the otherboys gave him a push and down he went again on his knees, to thedetriment of his new trousers.

  "I say, this is too much rough-house," exclaimed Henry. "Mrs. Hoyt,call thes
e fellows to order."

  "Come, boys," cried Mrs. Hoyt, "you are getting too obstreperous. Weshall have to sing hymns to sober you down."

  In a few minutes they were all standing at the piano singing "OnwardChristian Soldiers" with all the vim their youthful voices possessed,Nan accompanying. They sang for an hour, the boys coming out strong onthe hymn of the St. Andrew's brotherhood, and all those with any sortof martial spirit. As a fitting close, Mrs. Hoyt selected "For all thesaints who from their labors rest," since this was All Saints day.

  The lads had entirely quieted down by the time this was ended, and DickLangham, the most exuberant of them all, had actual tears in his eyesas he whispered to Mrs. Hoyt at parting, "I just wish my mother werehere, Mrs Hoyt; I'd like to play baby and get in her lap. Those oldhymns took me right back home."

  "Come to us whenever you want to be mothered," Mrs. Hoyt responded. "Iwon't promise to take you on my lap, Dick, but I will do my best tocheer you up."

  "Thank you, I'll come," said Dick, bending low and kissing her hand.

  The boys trooped out as darkness settled down on the outer world.The electric lights showed shining reflections on the wet street.Maximilianplatz looked quiet and empty. The "honk-honk" of anautomobile once in a while speeding along, and the noise of a passingtram-car alone interrupted the quiet till the bells of the Frauenkirchepealed out the angelus.

  The rain continued with greater force the next day, and Jean, who hadtaken cold through staying too long in the cemetery, was kept at homefrom school. She found it rather dreary, for there were none of theaccustomed pets which at home helped to beguile the hours, nor had sheher favorite story-books. She was usually a patient little body andable to amuse herself, but to-day time hung heavily and she looked manytimes at the clock, saying mournfully, "It is such a long morning; Iwish Jack would come. What can I do, mother, to pass away the time?"

  At last having exhausted all her resources, Mrs. Corner was obliged tothink up some new entertainment. "You can stand there by the window,"she said, "and tell me what things you see that you don't see at home."

  This struck Jean's fancy at once and she stationed herself where shecould look up and down the street. "I see four _Dienst_--do you say_mannen_?"

  "No, I think it would be _Dienstmaenner_."

  "Then I see four _Dienstmaenner_ with red caps on."

  "That is one thing. Write it down. Here is a paper and pencil."

  "_Dienstmaenner_ on corner," wrote Jean. "I see two soldiers not a bitlike ours."

  "That makes two things."

  "And a man wearing a cloak, a man on a wheel, and the cloak flies outbehind in the funniest way. Nobody wears cloaks at home and all themen, women and children do here." She wrote this down carefully andthen looked out again.

  "What do you see, Sister Anne?" asked her mother after a while.

  "I didn't see anything creer for a few minutes, but now I seesomething: the man and the dog pulling the cart together. That will bea fine thing to write down. Now I see two of those great big horses Nanlikes so much; they are pulling a long wagon piled up with beer kegs,and there's another horse harnessed to one side the pole like you weretalking about the other day. That is crite different from the thingsthey do at home. Oh, and there is an old woman with a load of wood onher back. She carries it in a sort of rack. It looks like a lot forsuch an old woman to carry; she is all bent over with the weight of it."

  "That you would scarcely see at home."

  Jean was silent for a time. "There are a great many dogs," she saidafter a while, "_dachshunds_ more than any other kind; but those yousee at home, though not so many. I reckon I won't put them down. NowI see something," she began after a pause. "It is the woman thatturns the switch there by the car track; she has that funny hat on,and a cloak. There goes a man and a little boy and both are dresseddifferently from any one we see at home. The man has on a _Jaeger_costume, and I suppose the little boy's is meant to be the same. He hasblack velvet trousers embroidered with green, and a little jacket. Hisstockings come below the knees so the knees are bare. He has a hat onwith a long feather sticking up in the back, and some _edelweiss_ atthe side." She wrote this all down carefully and surveyed her work withpride. "I think that is a great deal to see," she told her mother,"and I suppose if I stayed long enough I would see crauntities ofother things. I am going to take this home with me and show it to myfriends." She watched for some time, but saw nothing more of unusualinterest.

  "Suppose we vary it a little," said her mother, seeing the amusementwas beginning to lose its zest. "See how many things you know theGerman names of; that will be an excellent exercise, and will be aninteresting way of studying."

  Jean found that she knew much more than she supposed, though she didnot always know how to spell the words, and soon became rather wearyof looking them up in the dictionary, but she had really passed a longtime at the window, and was relieved to find that very soon it would betime for Jack to come in. So she sat down to watch for her.

  But Jack seemed unusually late, and Jean became actually impatientbefore she saw the little figure in red coat skipping across the streetwith her Aunt Helen, who had gone to the school for her. Jack came inwith her usual impetuosity. She carried a small package, and this shethrust into Jean's hand. "It is for you," she said. "We stopped to getit, and that is why we were so late. We got it at that lovely toy shopon the Karlsplatz."

  The windows of the toy shops were a never failing source ofentertainment to even the older girls, for they held miracles ofingenuity in the way of toys. To Jack and Jean it seemed that such akitchen as one window displayed, or such a wedding-party as anothershowed, it would be the height of bliss to possess. Jean especiallyadmired the tiny dishes which contained make-believe articles of foodof every kind and description, all so natural that it seemed hard tobelieve they were not good to eat. Jack liked the kitchen with itsarray of cooking utensils, its dust-pan and brush, and its basket ofmarketing which stood ready for the cook's attention.

  Jean opened her package with pleased anticipation on her face, andfound a pretty little doll and two of the tiny plates of make-believefood. The doll was one she had admired the last time she and Jack hadstood before the shop-window. "It is a darling," she said, "and I justlove the little dishes. Did you buy them yourself, Jack, with your ownmoney? It was lovely of you, if you did."

  "I bought the doll and Aunt Helen the dishes. Oh, Jean, what do youthink we did? We stopped at the Kiosk on our way home and Aunt Helenbought tickets for the loveliest fairy play that we are all goingto next week. It is for children and it is called 'The PrincessHerzlieb'; that means the Princess Heartlove. Isn't it a lovely name?"

  "It is lovely and I do hope I can go," returned Jean ecstatically. Sheloved fairy stories above everything.

  "Of course you can go. It isn't for about ten days, and you are notreally ill, you know."

  "I'm sort of ill," said Jean putting on a lackadaisical expression;"mother thought I had fever last night." It would never do to have hercondition underrated, of course.

  "Well, you will surely be well in ten days."

  Jean admitted that she might be well by that time, and after decidingto call the doll Princess Herzlieb, the two went off together to play.

  "I saw that little girl again this morning," Jack remarked when theywere established in a corner. "The little girl we saw yesterday in thecemetery, the poor little girl."

  "Oh, and did you speak to her?"

  "No, I only smiled. I am thinking, Jean, that it would be nice to dosomething for her at Christmas. We have always done something forsomebody then, you know."

  "But you don't know where she lives nor anything about her."

  "No, but maybe I shall see her again. I will watch for her. I saw herthis morning as I was going to school."

  "What was she doing? Just walking along?"

  "She was talking to the woman who turns the switch near our school."

  "Then maybe the woman would know."

  "I thought of
that, and if we don't see the little girl again beforeChristmas we might ask the woman or get some one else to do it. I knowNan would."

  "Did she look very poor?" asked Jean trying to settle the doll before atable of books she had built.

  "Poorer than ever, for she hadn't her Sunday clothes on."

  "Maybe mother will let us give her some of our things."

  "Maybe she will. I don't suppose she will have any Christmas tree, doyou?"

  "I don't suppose she will."

  "I heard Mrs. Hoyt say that everybody does have a tree in Germany."

  "Everybody?"

  "Oh, I suppose there are some who are too poor. Maybe the switch womanis the little girl's mother, and it was her father she was putting thecandle and flowers for."

  "I am going to ask her when we know her."

  "Oh, Jean!"

  "Yes, I am. I don't think it would be anything at all. Jack, we oughtto be saving up for Christmas, and here you've been spending money forme."

  "Because you had to stay in and have a stupid time." There was nothingworse to Jack than to be deprived of her time out-of-doors.

  "It wasn't very stupid. Mother made up some nice creer plays. I'll showyou what I did." She produced her paper and informed her sister thatshe intended to add to her list of unusual things and to play the sameplay on rainy days in every new city she chanced to visit.

  Jack quite approved of the play, and at first wanted to copy the paper,but finally decided that she would rather pick out the things herself.

  "I think I will get a little blank book," she said, "and then I cankeep them all together."

  Jean thought this a good plan, and they concluded that some of theirnext allowance should be spent in this way.

  By this time it was getting too dark to continue their play, and thePrincess Herzlieb had finished her meal so they bore her into thesitting-room, where Nan had just finished practicing, and where Jo andMary Lee were struggling over their German grammar.

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE FAIRY PLAY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES]