Tales and Sketches.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 645, 11 February 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Tales and Sketches.

ILEA ON THE HILL-TOP. I Mr. Julius Hahn and his son Fritz were j on a summer journey in the Tyrol. They had" started .from Mayrhofen early in the afternoon, on two meek-eyed, spiritless farm horses,.- and they intended to reach Ginzling before night-fall. There was a great blaze of splendor hidden somewhere behind the western mountaintops ; broad bars of fiery light;were climbing the sky, and the chalets and the Alpine meadows shone in soft crimson illumination. The Zemmbach, which is of a choleric temperament, was seething and brawling in its rocky bed, and now and theii sent up a fierce ' gust of spray, which blew, like an icy i shower-bath, into the faces of the : travellers. "Ack, ■melchverfluchtes Wetter V ' cried Mr. Hahn fretfully, wiping off the streaming perspiration. " I'll be blasted if you catch me going to the Tyrol again for the .sake of Jbeing fashionable !", •:..;:.;. "But the scenery, father, the scenery ! " exclaimed Fritz, pointing to a great, sunflushed peak, which rose in majestic isolation toward the north. ;-: ■' ■; f'-irf ?~' "The scenery—bah!" growled' the senior Hahn. " For - scenery, recommend me to Saxon Switzerland, where you may.sit in an ! easy cushioned carriage without, blistering, yo.ur; legs,;as I: have been,doing'; to-day in •this blasted saddle." ''''.">/' ..'■ -'father, you are too fatj". remarked the son,.-.with a mischievous chuckle; V . i t -•,' "And you promise fair to treadmmy!foo% steps,. son," retorted the',. elder, • relaxing somewhat in his ill-humor '.- ■','■';'';'..; ( V--,■'.':.-" : . ' This allusion to Mr. Fritz's probable,corr. pulence was not well received by; the latter. Hegaye his horse a smart cut with ■ the whip,which made the jaded animal ; start off-at a sort of pathetic mazurka, gait up the side of the mountain. . .. .; ~ , '.;> Mr. Julius Hahn was a person, of no small, j consequence in Berlin. He was the proprietor of the "Haute Noblesse" cencert garden, a • highly respectable place of amusement, which enjoyed the especial patronage of the officers of the Royal Guard.. Weissbeer, Bamsch, Seidel, Pilzner, in fact all varieties; of beer, and as connoisseurs, asserted, of exceptional excellence, could be procured at the " Haute ISToblesse;" and the most ingenious novelties in the way of. gas illumination, besides twomilitary bands, tended greatly to heighten the flavor of the. beer, and to put the guests in a festive humor. Mr. Hahn had ; begun life in a small way with a swal-low-tail coat and a white choker, and a napkin _on his arm; his stock-in-trade, which he utilized to good purpose, was a peculiarly elastic smile and bow, both of which he accommodated with extreme nicety to the social rank of the person to whom they were addressed. He could listen to a conversation iu which he was vitally interested, never losing even the shadow of an intonation, with a blank neutrality of countenance which could only be the result of a long transmission of ancestral vacancy. He read the depths of your character, divined your little foibles and vanities, and very likely passed his supercilious judgment upon you, seeming all the while the personification of uncritical humility. It is needless to say that Mr. Hahn picked up a good deal of valuable information in the course of his career as a waiter; and to him information meant money, and money meant power and a recognised place in society. The diplomatic shrewdness which enabled him.to estimate the moral calibre of a patron served him equally well in estimating the value of an investment. He had a hundred subterranean channels of information, and his judgment as to the soundness or unsoundness of a financial enterprise was almost unerring. His little secret transactions on the Bourse,' where he had his commissio7iai?-es, always yielded him ample returns ; and when an opportunity presented itself, which he had long foreseen, of buying a suburban garden at a bankrupt sale, he found himself, at least preliminarily, at the goal of his ambition. From this time forth, Mr. Hahn rose rapidly in wealth and power. He kept his thumb, so to speak, constantly on the public pulse, and prescribed amusements as unerringly as a physician prescribes medicine, and usually, it must be admitted, with better results. The "Haute Noblesse" became the favorite resort of fashionable idlers, among whom the military element usually preponderated, and the flash of gilt buttons and the rattle of swords and scabbards could always be counted on as the unvarying accompaniment to'the music. i With all his prosperity" however, Mr. Hahn could not be called a happy man. He had one secret sorrow, which, until within a ' year of his departure for the Tyrol, had been I a source of constant annoyance ; Mrs, Hahn . whom he had had the indiscretion to marry before he had arrived at a proper recognition, of his own worth, was not his equal in intellect ; in fact, she was conspicuously his inferior. She had been a chambermaid in a noble family, and had succeeded in marrying Mr. Hahn simply by the fact that she had , made up her mind nob to marry him. Mr. Hahn, however, was not a man to be baffled by opposition. When the pert Mariana had cut him three times at a dancing hall, he became convinced that she was the one thing in the world which he needed to make his existence complete. After presenting him with a son, Fritz, and three rather unlovely daughters, she had gradually lost all her pertness (wbich had been her great charm) and had developed into a stout, dropsical matron, with an abundance of domestic virtues- Her principal trait of character had been a dogged, desperate loyalty. She was loyal to her kin/*' and wore : his favorite flowers as jewellery. She was loyal to Mr. Hahn, too ; and no amount of maltreatment could convince her that he was not the best of husbands. She adored her former mistress and would insist upon paying respectful little visits to her; kitchen, taking her children with her. This latter habit nearly drove her husband to distraction. He stamped his feet, tore his hair, he swore at her, and I believe he even struck her; but when the next child was born a particularly wonderful one—Mrs. Hahn had not the strength to resist the temptation of knowing how the new-born w-onder would impress the Countess von Markenstein. Another terrible scene followed. The poor woman could never understand that she was no longer the wife of a waiter, and that she must not be paying visits to the great folks ip-their kitchens. -—"" Another source of disturbance in. Mr. Hahn's matrimonial relations was his wife's absolute refusal to appear in the parquet or the proscenium boxes in the theatre. In this matter her resistance bordered on the heroic ; neither .threats nor entreaties .could move her.- •-....• ..; ;■ ,-■,' ..;■;■:■•...> .. "Law, Julius, "she would say, while: the tears streamed'down oyer, her plump; cheeks, ''the parquet and .the big.boxes: are for, the gentlefolks, and not for ihumble people like you and : me. I know my place, Julius, and I don't want to be the laughing-stock of. the town, as I should be, if I went to the opera and sat where my lady, the Countess, and the other fine ladies sit. I should feel like a fool, too, Julius, and I should cry my eyes out when I get home." It may easily be conjectured that Mr. Hahn's mourning covered a very light heart when the dropsy finally carried oft'this :lov r ing bat troublesome spouse. Nor did he make auy secret of the fact that her death was rather a relief to him, while on the other hand he gave her full credit for all her excellent qualties. Fritz, who was in cordial sympathy with his father's ambition for, social eminence, had also learned from him j to be ashamed of his mother, and was rather

inclined to make light of the sorrow which Efe ""actually felt "whtfi he Saw the cold earth" closing over her. ... At,the time whenhe made his summer excursion in the Tyrol, Fritz was a stout blonde youth of two and twenty. His round, sleek face was not badly modeled, but it had neither the rough openness characteristic of a ; peasant, nor yet that indefinable finish which only culture can give. In spite of his jaunty, fashionable attire, you would have put him down at once as belonging to what in the Old World is called "the middle class." His blue eyes indicated shrewdness, and his red cheeks habitual devotion to the national beverage. He was apparently a, youth of the sort that Nature is constantly turning out by the thousands—mere weaker copies of progenitors, who, by an unpropitious marriage, have enfeebled instead of strengthening the type. Circumstances might have made' anything of him in a small way ; for, as his countenance indicated, he had no very pronounced proclivities, either good or bad. He' had spent his boyhood in a gymnasium, where he had had greater success in trading jack-knives than in grappling with Cicero. He.had made'two futile attempts to enter the Berlin University, and had settled down to the conviction that he had mistaken his calling, as his tastes were military rather than scholarly; but,, as he was too old to rectify this mistake, he had chosen to go to the Tyrol in search of pleasure rather than to the Military Academy in search of distinction, i At the mouth of the great ravine of Dornauberg the travellers paused and dismounted. Mr. Hahn called the guide, who was following behind with a horse laden with baggage, , and with his assistance a choice repast, consisting of all manner of cold curiosities, was served £>n a large flat rock. The senior Hahn fell to work with a will, and made no pretence of being interested in the sombre magnificence of the Dornauberg, while Fritz found time for an occasional exclamation of rapture, flavored with caviar, Rhine wine, and pate de foie gras., \ "_Ach,' Gott, Fritz, what stuff you can talk !" grumbled his father, sipping his Johahnisberger with the air of a connoisseur. "When I was of your age, Fritz, I had—hush,; what is that?"

•; Mr. Hahn put down his glass with such an energy that half of the precious contents was spoiled. . t ' "Ack, du Ueber, Gott," he cried a moment later. " Wie wunderschon !"

. From a mighty cliff overhanging the road, about a hundred feet distant, came a long yodling call, peculiar to the Tyrol, sung in a superb ringing baritone. It soared over the mountain peaks and died away somewhere among the Ingent glaciers. And just as the last faint note was;expiring, a girl's voice,, fresh and clear as the dewdrop, took it up and swelled it and caroled it until, from sheer excess of delight it broke into a hundred leaping, rolling and warbling tones, which floated and gamboled away over the highlands, while soft-winged echoes.bore them away into the wide,distance. ~

; "Father," said Fritz, who was how lying outstretched on a soft Scotch plaid' smoking the most fragrant of weeds; "if you can get those two voices to the 'Haute Noblesse,' for the next season, it is ten thousand thalers in your pocket, and I shall only charge you ten per cent, for the suggestion;" "Suggestion, you stupid! Why, the thought flashed through my head the very moment I heard the first note. But hush—there they are again." : From the cliff, sung to the air of a Tyrolese folk-song, came this stanza : Tell me, Ilka on the hill-top, While the Alpine breezes blow, Are the golden locks as golden As they were a year ago ? (Yodle) Hohli-ohli-ohli-ho! Hohii-ol)li-ohli-ho! Hohli-ho!

The effect of the yodle, in which,both the baritone of the cliff and the Alpine soprano united, was so melodious that Mr;-Hahn sprang to his feet and swore an ecstatic oath, while Fritz, from sheer admiring abstraction, almost stuck the lighted end of his cigar into his mouth. The soprano answered : /' Tell me, Hansel in the .valley, While the merry cuckoos crow, Is thy bristly beard as bristly As it was a year ago 1 Holili-ohli-ohli-ho! Hohli-ohli-ohli-ho! Hohli-oh!

The yodling refrain this time was arch, gay —full of mocking laughter and mirth. Then 'the responsive singing continued : Hansel: Tell me, Ilka on the hill-top, While the crimson glaciers glow, Are thine eyes as blue and beaming As they were a year ago ? Both: Hohli-ohli, &c.

Ilka: Hansel, Hansel in the valley, - I will tell you, tell you true; If mine eyes are blue and beaming, What is that, 1 pray, to you ? Both: &c. ~ Hansel: Tell me, Ilka on the hilltop, *" While the blushing roses blow, Are thy lips as sweet for kissing As they were a year ago ? Both :••• .Hohli-ohli, &c. • ■, •

Ilka; Naughty Hansel in the valley, Naughty Hansel, tell me true, If my lips are sweet for kissing, What is that, I pray, to you ? Both: ' Hohli-ohli, &c. Hansel: Tell me, Ilka on the hill-top, - ~, While the rivers seaward'flow,' , Is thy heart as true and loving "As it was a year ago 1' Both':' Hohli-ohli,&c.'' ' Ilka: Dearest Hansel in the valley, I' will tell you, tell you true. - Yes, my heart is ever loving, True and loving unto you! Both:- Hohli-ohli-bbli-h'o! > Hbhli-ohli-ohli-ho! Hbhli-bh! For a few moments their united voices seemed still to be quivering in the air, then to' be born softly away by the echoes into the cool'distance of the glaciers. A solitary thrush began to warble on a low branch of a stunted fir-tree, and a grasshopper raised its shrill voice in emulation. The sun was near its setting; the bluish evening shadows crept up the sides of the ice-peaks, whose summits were still flushed with expiring tints' of purple and red. Mr. Hahn rose, yawned and stretched his limbs. Fritz threw the burning stump of his cigar into the depths of the ravine, and stood watching it with lazy interest while it fell. The guide cleared away the remnants of the repast and began to resaddle the horses. " AVho was that girl we heard singing up on the Alp?" said Mr. Hahn, with wellfeigned indifference, as he put his foot in his stirrup and made a futile effort to mount. "Curse the mare,'why don't you make her 'stand still ? " ' ' "Pardon,' your honor," answered the guide stolidly; "but she isn't used to the jsaddle. The girl's name is Ilka on the Hill'top. She is the best singer iu all the valley." ; ' * Ilka on the Hill-top i How—where does she live ?" ] "She lives on a farm called the Hill-top, 'a mile and a half from Mayrhofen." "And the man who answered—is he her sweetheart ?"

.' "Yes, your honor. They have grown up together, and they mean to marry somejtime, when they get money enough to buy jout the old woman." "And what did.you say his name was? " , "Hansel the Hunter He is a garnet.polisher by trade, because his father'was that before him ; but he is a good shot and likes roving in the woods better than polishing stones."

' "Hm," grumbled.Mr. Hahn, mounting •with a prodigious effort.

i . ~-„', Chapter 11. It was in the autumn of 1863, only a few weeks after Mr. Halm's visit to Ginzling and Dornauberg. There was war and rumors of

war in the air. 'The'iAustriahs and the Prussians were both mobilizing "army-corps after army-corps, and all the Tyrolese youth, liable to service, were ordered to join their regiments. The Schleswig-Holster question was being violently debated in the German and the English press, the former clamoring for blood, the latter counseling moderation. The Danish press was as loud-mouthed as any, and, if the battles could .have been fought with words, would no doubt have come out victorious.

It had been a sad day at the Hill-top. Early in the morning Hansel, with a dozen other young follows of the neighborhood,, had marched away to the music of fife and drum, and there was no knowing when they would come ,back again. A dismal whitish fog had been hovering about the fields all day long, but had-, changed toward evening into a fine drizzling rain—one of those slow, hopeles rains that seem to have no beginning and no end. Old mother Überta, who, although she pretended to be greatly' displeased at Ilka's matrimonial choice, persisted in holding her responsible for all her lover's follies, had been going about the house grumbling and scolding since the early ■ dawn.

"Humph," said Mother Überta, as she lighted a pine.-knot and stuck it into a crack in the wall (for it was already dark, and candles were,expensive); "it is a great sin and shame— the lad ■is neither crooked nor misshapen—the Lord, has done well enough by him, Heaven knows;. and yet never a stroke of work .has,he done since,his,poor father went but of the world as naked, as he came into it. A shiftless.i.fiddling'and galavanting set they have always been, and me then, as has only this one lass, givin' her away, with my eyes wide open,' into misery. '■' Ilka, who was sitting before the open fireplace mingling 'her furtive tears with the wool she was carding, herebroke into a loud sob; and hid her face in' her hands.

" You always say mean things to me, mother, when Hansel is away," sobbed she, "but when he is here you'let on you liked him ever so much." ' ' !

j. The^mdJ^er v 'reicpgnisjed s ,'''this ,as a homeJ .thurst, and. wisely; kept silent.. She wet her fingertips, twirled. ,the; thread, stopped, the ,-wlieel, inspected some point in.the mechanism, _,with a .scowl, of intense preoccupation, and then .spun- on again'with a severe concentration of interest as if lovers were of small consequence compared •". to -,. spinning-wheels. Mother Überta was a tall, stately woman of fifty, with a comely wrinkled face, and large well-modeled features.; You saw at once that life was a serious business to her,; and that she gave herself no quarter! • , " Humph !"■ she began after a!while, with, that indefinable interjection of .displeasure which, defies all spelling.'.."You talk like the witless creature that you are.., Didn't I tell the lad, two years ago, Michaelmas was, that the day he could pay off the mortgage on the farm, he should have you and the farm, too? And eight hundred, and fifty florins oughtn't.to frighten, a : man as has got tbe right spirit in him. And there was Ruodi, of Ganzelstein, as has got a big farm of his own, and Casper Thinglen with fifteen hundred acomin' to him when his grandfather dies, and you sendin' them both off with worse grace than if they had been beggars askin' you for a shillin'. Now, stop your snivelin' there, I tell you. You are like your poor sainted father—God bless him where he lies—he, too, used to cry, likely enough, if a flea bit him." At this moment Mother Überta's monologue was interrupted by a bud rapping on the door ; she bent down to attach the unfinished thread properly, but before she had completed this delicate operation the door was opened, and two men entered. Seeing that they were strangers she sent them a startled glance which presently changed into one of defiance. The fire was low, and'the two men stood but dimly defined in the dusky •light, but their city attire showed that they were not Tyrolese. And Mother Überta, having heard many awful tales of what citydressed men were capable of doing, had a i natural distrust of the species. | "And pray, sir, what may your errand 1 be ?" she asked, sternly, taking the burning i pine&not from its crack, and holding it close i to the face of the tallest stranger. : "My name is Habh, madam," answered 1 the person whose broad expanse of • counteI nance .was thus suddenly illuminated, "and this is my son, Mr. Fritz Hahn. Allow me to assure you, madam, that our errand here 1 is a most peaceful and friendly one, and that ,w# deeply regret it if our presence incommodes you." - ■- "Ilka, light the candles," said Mother ' Überta, sullenly. " And you," she continued, , turmg again to Mr. Hahn, " find yourself a seat, until we can see what you look like." ! ■ "What a vixen of an old woman !" whis- ! pered the proprietor of the " Haute Noblesse " to.-his .son, as they seated themselves on.the | hard wooden bench nearthe window. - | "Small chance for the ' Haute-Noblesse,' , I fear," responded Fritz, flinging his travelling cap on the clean-scoured deal table.

Ilka,' who, in the meanwhile, had obeyed her mother's injunction, now, came forward with two'lighted tallow dips, stuck in shining brass' candlesticks, and placed them on the table before the travellers. She made a neat little .courtesy before,each of them, 'to which they responded with patronising hods. " Parbleu! Elle est ckaiynante .'" exclaimed Fritz, fixing a bold stare on the girl's blushing face. f , " Bien ctidrmante, " replied Mr. Hahn, who took a great pride in the little French he had picked up when he carried a napkin over his shoulder. ' ' ' '

And, indeed, Ilka was chdrmante as she stood there in the dim candle light, her great innocent eyes dilated with child-like wonder, her thick blonde braids hanging over her shoulders, and ' the picturesque Tyrolese costume—a black embroidered velvet waist, blue apron and.short black skirt—setting off her fine figure to admirable advantage. She ■was a tall fresh-looking girl, of stately build, without being stout, with a healthy blooming countenance and an open guileless expression. Most people .would have pronounced her beautiful, but her beauty was of that rudimentary,' unindividualised rkind which is found" so frequently among the peasantry of all nations. ' To Fritz Hahn, however, who « as not a philosophical observer, she seemed the most transcendent phenomenon his eyes had ever beheld.

"To make a long story- short, madam," began Mr. Halm after a pause, during which Mother Überta had been bristling silently while firing - defiant glances at the two strangers, "I am the proprietor of a great establishment ''in Berlin—the 'Haute Noblesse ' —you may have heard of it." "No, I never heai'd of it," responded Mother Überta, emphatically, as if anxious" to express her disapproval, on general principles, of whatever statements Mr. Halm might choose to make. ' " Well, well, madam," resumed the latter, a trifle discontented, "it makes very little difference whether you have heard of it or not. 'I see, however, that you are'a woman of excellent common sense, and I will, therefore, be as brief as possible—avoid circumlocution, so to speak." " Yes, exactly," said Mother Überta, nodding impatiently, as if eager to help him on.

"Madam Überta—for that, as I understand, is your honored man— would you like to get one thousand florins ?"

"That' depends upon how I should get em, '■' answered the old woman,'sharply. "I shouldn't like to get 'em by stealing." "I mean, of course, if you had honestly earned them," said Hahn. '■" ' ."I am af eared honesty with you and with me isn't exactly thesame thing'." ' Mr. Hahn was about to swear, but, mind-

ful of his cherished enterprise, he wisely re-, framed. "

"I beg leave to inform you, Madam Überta," he observed -, "that it'is gentlemen of honor you.have to deal with, and that whatever "proposals they may make to you will be of an honorable character."..

', "And lam very glad to hear that, I am sure," responded the undaunted Überta. . _i '.'.Three weeks ago,: when W e were travelling in,,this region,:' continued .Halm* determined, not to allow his. temperto.be ruffled, .'' we heard., a '.most wonderful. voice yodling in the mountains. We.went away, but have returned, and having learned, thatthe vpice ; was your : , daughter's,' we have come, Jiere'i.td offer a,'thousand florins if she will sing her native Tryolese airs for, eight: weeks, at .pur Concert. Garden, the,' Haute;,, No-; blesse.'".. .;-';..- ~ ■ ■-.-.-'■■ ?•.' ■ ■*> ... ■ ■. i,

; " One , thousand, florins, for eight jveeksj mother !" exclaimed Ilka* ,who had.been lis-1 tening to Hahn's: speech with:breathless..interest. ",Then ~-I could pay, off the- mort-. gage,and we should, not have ; to,,pay interest; anymore, and I should haveone-hundred ..and fifty.-florins left for my dowry;" ; , I " "Hush,-; child,; hush i;> You don't, know what .you are ;talkin' about," ;said. the ; mother, severely...'"..Then■ .turning•;to Hahn,:' /'l.shouid like.to.put one .question to both of you, and when you have., answered that, I'll give .my answer, which, ; there. is no.iwrigr glin'put of. , If the. old woman, went along* would ye then care.so.much about the singin'i of the daughter?" ..,;.-,■• ;,•.:;!•': ,■ ,••..;, ..-..,

"Certainly, by all means,," . responded Hahn promptly ; but Fritz was so absorbed in polishing his r finger nails ,with' a little instrument' ' designed especially, for that purpose that heforgoito answer. '■■'■' ...,'" A long consultation now followed, and the lend of it, was that Ilka agreed to go to Berlin, and sing for- eight; weeksj ,in her national costume,.. on .condition ..that.>her- travelling expenses,and those of -her should, be defrayed.b^:,the,;manager. .Mr.'; Hahn also agreed to pay for,the ;board. and ..lodgings of the two women during their sojourn in the capital, and to pay Ilka' the one thousand florins (and this was a point upon which .Mother Überta strenuously' insisted) in weekly instalments. The next day the contract was drawn up in legal form, properly stamped and sighed ;' whereupon' Mother Überta and Ilka started' ;with Hahn and Fritz for Berlin.'" "". [To he continued,) ■-•-'■■■