作者：Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
The Pedler of Dust Sticks试读：
THE PEDLER OF DUST STICKS.
One day I went to visit a friend, a lady, who came from Hamburg, in Germany. I was much pleased with a portrait which was hanging up in her room, and I was particularly struck by the ornamental drawings with which the picture was surrounded. They consisted of whip handles, canes, piano keys, mouth-pieces for wind instruments, all sorts of umbrellas, and many more things, of every sort, made of cane and whalebone. The arrangement was so ingenious, the designs so fanciful, and the execution so good, that nothing could be prettier. But what of course was of the most importance, was the face and head that they were meant to ornament. "What a benevolent, what a beautiful face!" I said. "Who is it?"
"My father," the lady replied; "and he is more beautiful than the picture, and he is still more kind than he looks there."
"What is the meaning of all these bits of bamboo and these little canes, so fancifully arranged around the picture?" I asked.
"These little sticks," she replied, "tell the story of my father's success, and of the beginning of his greatness. He began his noble and honorable life as a little Pedler of Dust Sticks."
"Pedler of Dust Sticks?"
"Yes," she said; "if you would like to hear his history, I will relate it."
I replied that nothing could please me better; that I considered the life of a good, great man the most beautiful of all stories.
"I will tell it to you just as it was; and you may, if you please, repeat it for the benefit of any one."
When I had returned home I wrote the story down, just as I remembered it, as she had given me leave to do.
The Christian name of our hero was Henry, and so we will call him. His parents lived in Hamburg, in Germany. They were very poor. His father was a cabinet maker, with a very small business. Henry was the second of eight children. As soon as he was eight years old, his father, in order to raise a few more shillings to support his family, sent him into the streets to sell little pieces of ratan, which the people there use to beat the dust out of their clothes.
Henry got about a cent and a half apiece for the sticks. If he sold a great number of these little sticks, he was allowed, as a reward, to go to an evening school, where he could learn to read. This was a great pleasure to him; but he wanted also to learn to write. For this, however, something extra was to be paid, and Henry was very anxious to earn more, that he might have this advantage.
There is a fine public walk in Hamburg, where the fashionable people go, in good weather, to see and be seen; and where the young men go to wait upon and see the ladies. These gentlemen were fond of having little canes in their hands, to play with, to switch their boots with, and to show the young ladies how gracefully they could move their arms; and sometimes to write names in the sand. So little Henry thought of making some very pretty canes, and selling them to these young beaux.
He soaked his canes for a long time in warm water, and bent the tops round for a handle, and then ornamented them with his penknife, and made them really very pretty. Then he went to the public walk, and when he saw a young man walking alone, he went up to him, and with a sweet and pleasant voice, he would say, "Will you buy a pretty cane, sir? Six cents apiece."
Almost every gentleman took one of the canes.
With the money he got for his canes he was able to pay for lessons in writing. This made him very happy, for it was the reward of his own industry and ingenuity.
As soon as Henry was old enough, his father employed him to carry home the work to customers. The boy had such a beautiful countenance, was so intelligent, and had such a pleasant manner, that many of the customers wanted to have him come and live with them, and promised to take good care of him; but Henry always said, "No, I prefer staying with my father, and helping him."
Every day the little fellow would take his bundle of dust sticks and little canes in a box he had for the purpose, and walk up and down the streets, offering them to every one who he thought would buy them. And happy enough was he when he sold them all and brought home the money to his poor father, who found it so hard to support a large family.
All the evenings when Henry was not so happy as to go to school, he worked as long as he could keep his eyes open.
He was very skilful, and made his canes so pretty, and he was such a good boy, that he made many friends, and almost always found a good market for his sticks.
The poor fellow was very anxious to get money. Often his father's customers gave him a few pence. Once he came near risking his life to obtain a small sum. He was very strong and active, and excelled in all the common exercises of boys; such as running, jumping, &c. One day he got up on the top of a very high baggage wagon, and called to the boys below, and asked them how many pence they would give him if he would jump off of it to the ground. Some one offered two.
"Two are too few to risk my life for," he replied.
They then promised to double the number; and he was upon the point of jumping, when he felt a smart slap on his back.
"That's what you shall have for risking your life for a few pence," said his father, who, unobserved by Henry, had heard what had passed, and climbed up the wagon just in time to save Henry from perhaps breaking his neck, or at least some of his limbs.
Henry was very fond of skating, but he had no skates. One day, when the weather and ice were fine, he went to see the skaters. He had only a few pence in his pocket, and he offered them for the use of a pair of skates for a little while; but the person who had skates to let could get more for them, and so he refused poor Henry. There was near by, at the time, a man whose profession was gambling; and he said to Henry, "I will show you a way by which you can double and triple your money, if you will come with me."
Henry followed him to a little booth, in which was a table and some chairs; and there the man taught him a gambling game, by which, in a few minutes, he won a dollar.
Henry was going away with his money, thinking with delight of the pleasure he should have in skating, and also of the money that would be left to carry home to his poor father, when the gambler said to him, "You foolish boy, why won't you play longer, and double your dollar? You may as well have two or three dollars as one."
Henry played again, and lost not only what he had won, but the few pence he had when he came upon the ice.
Henry was fortunate enough that day, after this occurrence, to sell a few pretty canes, and so had some money to carry to his father; but still he went home with a heavy heart, for he knew that he had done a very foolish thing.
He had learned, by this most fortunate ill luck, what gambling was; and he made a resolution then, which he faithfully kept through his whole after life, never to allow any poverty, any temptation whatever, to induce him to gamble.
Henry continually improved in his manufacture of canes, and he often succeeded in getting money enough to pay for his writing lessons.
There were Jews in the city, who sold canes as he did, and he would often make an exchange with them; even if they insisted upon having two or three of his for one of theirs; he would consent to the bargain, when he could get from them a pretty cane; and then he would carry it home, and imitate it, so that his canes were much admired; and the little fellow gained customers and friends too every day.
The bad boys in the city he would have nothing to do with; he treated them civilly, but he did not play with them, nor have them for his friends. He could not take pleasure in their society.
Henry was a great lover of nature. He spent much of his life out in the open air, under the blue skies; and he did not fail to notice what a grand and beautiful roof there was over his head. The clouds by day, the stars by night, were a continued delight to him. The warm sunshine in winter, and the cool shade of the trees in summer, he enjoyed more than many a rich boy does the splendid furniture and pictures in his father's house.
One beautiful summer afternoon he was going, with his canes on his shoulder, through the public promenade on the banks of the little bay around which was the public walk. The waves looked so blue, and the air was so delicious, that he was resolved he would treat himself to a row upon the sparkling waters; so he hired a little boat, and then got some long branches from the trees on the shore, and stuck them all around the edges of his boat, and tied them together by their tops, so as to make an arbor in the boat, and got in and rowed himself about, whistling all the tunes he knew for his music, to his heart's content. He went alone, for he had no companion that he liked; and he would have none other.
At last what should he see but his father, walking on the bank.
Henry knew that his father would be very angry with him, for he was a severe man; but he determined to bear his punishment, let it be what it would, patiently; for he knew, when he went, that his father would not like it; and yet he said, in telling this story to a friend, "I was so happy, and this pleasure was so innocent, that I could not feel as sorry as I ought to feel."
Henry bore his punishment like a brave boy.
It was too bad for the poor fellow to have no pleasures; nothing but work all the time. This was especially hard for him, for no one loved amusement better than he.
He relished a piece of fun exceedingly. In the city of Hamburg there was a place where young girls were always to be seen with flowers in their hands to sell. He had observed that the Jews, of whom he bought the pretty canes, were often rude to them, and he determined to punish some of them. There was one who wore a wig, with a long queue to it. The girls had their long hair braided and left hanging down behind.
One day this man was sitting in this flower market, with his back to one of these girls, and Henry took the opportunity, and before either knew what he did, he tied the two queues together; the young girl happened not to like her seat very well, and got up rather suddenly to change it, and off she went with the Jew's wig dangling behind her, much to the amusement of the spectators, and especially of Henry, who saw and enjoyed it all highly, though pretending to be very busy selling a cane to a gentleman, who joined in the general laugh.
Lucky it was for Henry that the Jew did not discover who it was that had played this roguish trick.
Henry saw how difficult it was for his father to support the family, and was very earnest to get money in any honest way. One day the managers of a theatre hired him to take part in a play, where they wanted to make a crowd. He was pleased at the thought of making some money to carry home; but when he went behind the scenes, and saw all that the actors did, he ran away and left them, caring not for the money, so he could but get away from such disgusting things.
Thus did Henry live, working from early morning till night, going to school with a little of the money he had earned, when his father would allow him to take it; keeping himself unstained by the wickedness that he often saw and heard in his walks through the city; observing every thing worth noticing, and making friends every where by his honesty, purity, and kind-heartedness.
At this time the French were in Hamburg, provisions were dearer than ever, and Henry's father, with all the help he received from his son, could not support his family in the city.
One day he called Henry, and said, "Do you think you could support your mother and younger sister and brother in some other place?" Henry replied directly, "Yes, dear father, I can; at least, I will try." So his father sent him with this part of his family to a cheaper place, about fifty miles inland. He gave him five dollars and his blessing, as they parted.
Here was our friend Henry in a strange town, a small place, with no friends there, but just fifteen years old, and with his mother, and brother, and sister depending upon him for their daily bread.
Henry was a brave boy; so he did not allow himself to fear. With his five dollars he secured small, cheap rooms for a week, bought some bread and milk for the family, and after a good night's sleep set out, the next morning, to obtain work. He went into the street, and after a while read upon a sign, "Furniture varnished." He went into the shop and asked for work. The man asked him if he could varnish well. Henry replied, "Yes, I can." He was very skilful, and he had varnished his canes sometimes, and he felt sure he could.
"You came from Hamburg?"
"Yes, sir."
"Perhaps you know some new and better way than we have of varnishing?"
"What method do you take?" asked Henry.
The man told him.
Here Henry's habit of observing was the means of his getting bread for himself and family. He had noticed a new and better way that varnishers employed in Hamburg, and though he had not tried it with his own hands, he was sure he could imitate what he had seen. He said that he knew a better way. The man engaged him for a week, and was much pleased with his work; he did not want him long, but gave him a recommendation when he parted with him.
After this Henry went to the baker of whom he had bought bread for the family, and asked him for employment. The baker told him he wanted his house painted, and asked him if he could do it.
"Yes," said Henry, "I can do it well, I know."
The baker liked him very much, and gave him the job without any hesitation.
The baker's apprentices had noticed what a good fellow Henry was, and would often give him, in addition to the loaf for the family, some nice cakes to carry home. So he was, as you see, now working among friends.
Henry had never painted before; but he had observed painters at their work, and he did it well. He soon became known to all the people of the town, and made many friends. He was never idle. He made canes when he had no other work. He varnished, or painted, or did anything that he could get to do, and supported the whole family comfortably for two years.
At the end of this time, his father sent to him to bring the family home to Hamburg. Henry left without a single debt, and in the place of the five dollars carried home ten to his father.
I must tell you of a piece of Henry's economy and self-denial. He grew very fast, and his boots became too small for him. While he was getting every thing comfortable for others, he denied himself a pair of new boots, and used to oil the old ones every time he put them on, so as to be able to get his feet into them, and never complained of the pain.
Our hero—for I am sure he was a true hero—was now seventeen. The French had left Hamburg when he returned, but it was still necessary to have a body of soldiers to protect it, and he joined a corps of young men. They made him distributer of provisions. His office was one given only to those known to be honest and worthy of confidence. The citizens began even then to show their respect for the little pedler of dust sticks and canes. We shall see what he was yet to be.
Henry returned to cane-making, to which he and his father soon added work in whalebone. They were pretty successful, but, as they had very little money to purchase stock and tools, could not make a great business.
It was about this time that Henry became acquainted with one who was to form the greatest happiness of his life. There was a poor girl in Hamburg who was a seamstress, and who not only supported herself but her mother by her needle. Her name was Agatha. She had a lovely face and very engaging manners; her character was still more lovely than her face; and she had only these to recommend her, for she was very poor. Henry became strongly attached to her, and she soon returned his love.
Henry's father and mother did not approve of this connection because the girl was very poor; and as their son was so handsome and agreeable, had now many friends, and was very capable, they thought that he might marry the daughter of some rich man perhaps, and so get some money. But, although Henry was ready to jump from a wagon twenty feet high for a few pence, and would walk the streets of the city twelve hours a day for money, he would not so disgrace himself as to give that most precious of all things, his heart, for gold, and so he told his parents.
"I shall," said he, "marry my dear Agatha, or I shall never marry any one. She is good, and gentle, and beautiful; and if I live, she shall have money enough too, for I can and will earn it for her. I shall work harder and better now than I ever did before, because I shall be working for one whom I love so dearly."
Henry's parents saw that it was in vain to oppose him, that it would only drive him out of the house, and that they should thus lose him and his work too; so they gave the matter up.
From this time Henry worked more industriously, if possible, than ever. He did the same for his father as before; but he contrived also to find some hours in which he might work for himself exclusively. All that he earned at these times he devoted to his new and dearest friend. He would purchase with the money he earned some pretty or comfortable thing to wear that she wished and had denied herself; or sometimes he would get some nice thing for her to eat; for she had delicate health, and but little appetite.
After work was done in the shop, and the family had gone to bed, Henry used to hasten to his dear Agatha, and pass two or three happy hours with her. They both had fine voices, and many an hour they would sing together, till they would forget the weariness of the day, and the fact that they had nothing but their love for each other to bless themselves with in this world. They worked harder, they denied themselves more than ever, they were more careful to be wise and good for the sake of each other; and so their love made them better as well as happier.
At last, when Henry was nineteen, his parents consented to his marrying and bringing his wife home to their house. As there was no money to spare, they could only have a very quiet wedding. They were married with-out any parade or expense, and never were two excellent beings happier than they.
The young wife made herself very useful in her husband's family. She worked very hard,—her husband thought harder than she ought to work,—and he was anxious to be independent, and have a house of his own, where he could take more care of her, and prevent her injuring herself by labor.
There was some money due his father in Bremen; and, after living at home a year or so, Henry took his wife with him, and went there to collect the money.
There they lived two years, and there they suffered severely. They were very poor, and they met with misfortunes. At last Henry's wife and their two children took the small-pox; but they all lived and got well, and their love for each other was only made more perfect by suffering; for they learned patience and fortitude, and were confirmed in what they both before believed, that they could bear any trouble if they could share it together.
At the end of the two years, they returned to Hamburg. During their absence, Henry's mother had died, and his father had married a
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