Veronica And Other Friends by Johanna (Heusser) Spyri

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VERONICA
And Other Friends

TWO STORIES FOR CHILDREN

_BY THE AUTHOR OF_
"HEIDI"

_TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF
JOHANNA SPYRI, BY_
LOUISE BROOKS

BOSTON
DE WOLFE, FISKE & CO.
361 AND 365 WASHINGTON STREET

[Illustration]

Copyright 1886,
BY LOUISE BROOKS.
All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR

II. WITH FRESH COURAGE

III. NINE YEARS LATER

IV. ALL AT HOME

V. UPON UNSAFE PATHS

VI. LAME SABINA GIVES GOOD ADVICE

VII. A THUNDER-CLAP

VIII. EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS KIND

IX. MOTHER GERTRUDE GIVES GOOD ADVICE

X. MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES

XI. THE MOTTO PROVES TRUE

VERONICA.

CHAPTER I.

A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR.

It was early in the month of March. The dark blue vault of heaven lay over
mountain and valley, swept free from clouds by the keen northern blast as
it blew across the hills, swaying the big trees hither and thither as if
they were bulrushes, and now and then tearing off huge branches which fell
crashing to the ground. Other and sadder victims were sacrificed to this
fierce north wind. Human beings as well as inanimate objects fell before
him. He struck down with his mighty arm, not only the old and feeble, but
the young and strong; just as he swept away the clouds, hurrying them
across the skies, beyond the horizon line, away out of sight. Sometimes in
one day, a cruel malady would seize one occupant out of each one of the
three or four little villages clustered on the hillside. A sharp pain
attacked the lungs, and after a brief illness the resistless disease bore
away the sufferer to the silent grave.

At the very moment of which we write, a group of black-clad mourners were
standing near one of the pleasantest houses in the isolated village of
Tannenegg, waiting for the sound of the church bell, as the signal to lift
the covered bier on which was stretched the body of a young woman, the
last victim to the north wind's cruel stroke, and to bear her to her
final resting place. In the quiet room within, two children were seated on
a bench, which ran along the wall. They formed a striking contrast to each
other. The girl, a little black-eyed frowning thing, dressed in some
mourning stuff, followed with fierce looks the rapid movements of a woman
who, standing before an open cup-board, was moving its contents over and
about, as if in search of something that did not come to hand. The boy was
also watching her, but his dancing blue eyes had in them a merry look of
pleased expectation.

"I want to go out, Cousin Judith," said the girl, and her tones were half
angry, half anxious, "Where can my mother be?"

"Be still, be still," said the woman, still tumbling the contents of the
cup-board about nervously. "I shall find something pretty for you
presently; then you must sit down quietly and play with it, and not go
outside, not one step, do you hear? Pshaw! there is nothing but rubbish
here!"

"Well, then give us the rose," said the little girl, still scowling.

The woman looked about the room.

"There are no roses here," she said. "How should there be, in March?" she
added, half vexed at having looked for them. "There," said the child,
pointing towards a book that the woman had but a moment before replaced in
the cup-board.

"Ah! now I know what you mean. So your mother always kept the rose, the
"Fortune rose?" I often envied her when she used to show it to us in her
hymn-book;" and as she spoke, she turned the leaves of the old hymnal,
until she found the rose and handed it to the child.

"Take it," she said, "be quiet, and do not get up from your seats till I
come back;" and she hurried from the room.

The little girl took the prettily-painted rose, in her hand; it was an old
acquaintance, her favorite Sunday plaything.

When her mother wanted to secure a quiet hour for herself on Sundays, she
used to give her "Fortune rose" to her little Veronica, and it was sure to
occupy the child for a long time in perfect contentment.

"Look, this is the way you must do," said the child, as she pulled with
her fingers a small strip of paper that stood out from the side of the
picture; suddenly before the astonished eyes of the boy the red full calix
of the rose flew open, disclosing a glittering golden verse that lay in
the centre of the flower. Then Veronica pushed the paper-strip back, and
the rose folded its leaves and was a perfect flower again.

Quite dazzled by this wonderful magic the little boy stared with amazement
at the rose, and then seized it to try for himself.

While the children were playing, Veronica's mother was being laid in her
grave. After awhile Cousin Judith came back into the room. She was
"cousin" to all Tannenegg, though related to no one. She came back to take
the rose, and put it into the hook, which she replaced in the cup-board.
"Sit still awhile longer, children;" she said, "and presently your mother
will come for you. Be good and do not trouble her, for she has enough to
bear already."

It was the little boy's mother she meant, and the children knew it. They
knew also very well, that they must be good and not trouble her, for they
had seen her for two days going about the house with eyes red with
weeping. Presently she entered the room, and took the children one by each
hand, and went to the door with them. She seemed to be struggling with sad
and heavy thoughts. She usually spoke cheerily to the children, but now
she was silent, and every now and then she furtively wiped away a tear.

"Where are we going, mother?" asked the boy.

"We must go to the doctor's, Dietrich," she answered, "your father is very
ill." And she led them along the foot path toward the little town, where
the white houses shone in the sunlight. Fohrensee was a new place, that
had sprung up as if in one night from the soil, and now stood there a
great white spot against the dark hillside. Not long before, it had been
only a little cluster of houses standing in a protected spot on the side
of the hill, not very far below Tannenegg. It was so situated that the
biting north wind, which blew so sharply over the exposed houses of
Tannenegg, did not reach the nook where little Fohrensee lay bathed in the
full light of the sun. But the little place was high enough to be visited
by all the cooling breezes, and was healthy, pure and fresh, to a
remarkable degree. When, not long before this time, an enterprising
inn-keeper discovered its health-giving qualities, and built an inn there,
guests filled it so rapidly that he soon put up another. Soon, one after
another, little inns sprang up, as from the ground, and then a crowd of
trades-people came up from the valley, and settled around, for the number
of guests constantly increased, and the strangers found the spot so
favorable to health, that it became a favorite winter resort. And thus the
obscure little Fohrensee became, in a few years, a large and flourishing
town, stretching out in every direction.

Gertrude, however, walking sturdily along with the children, was not
going as far as Fohrensee, with its shining white houses. She turned off
into a foot path that led to several scattered dwellings up on the
hillside, and soon reached an open space, on which stood a handsome house,
with large stables near by. Out from the stable, a hostler had just led a
spirited horse, which he began to harness into a light wagon. Instantly
the little boy freed his hand from his mother's, planted himself before
the horse, and could not be induced to move.

"Stay there then, if you want to," said his mother, "we will go on to the
house; but you must take care not to go too near the horse."

The doctor was just hurrying out from his office; he must have had a long
distance to go, for he was starting off before the usual time for office
hours was over. Gertrude apologized, and begged the doctor to excuse her
for not having come earlier to see him; she had been very busy with her
invalid, and could not get away before. "Never mind; as you have come, I
will wait a few minutes," said the physician, briefly; "Come in; how is
your husband?"

Gertrude went into the room, and told the doctor about her sick husband.
It was Steffan, a strong, young man, on whom the mountain sickness had
seized with unusual violence. The doctor silently shook his head. He took
a small mortar that stood on the office table, and shook into it some
stuff which he ground with the marble pestle. His eyes fell on the child
who stood by Gertrude's side, gazing earnestly at the doctors's
occupation. The little creature had something unusual about her, and
attracted attention at once. Under her thick black hair and heavy brows,
her big eyes looked forth with a solemn gaze, as if everything she saw
gave her food for thought.

"He had no one but himself to blame for it, I fancy," said the doctor, as
he filled some small square papers with his powders.

"No, no! he was not the least of a brawler; he was a quiet industrious
fellow. They had rented some of our rooms, and lived there peaceably and
happily for three whole years, and never was an unkind word exchanged
between them. But he was a stranger in these parts; he was never called
anything but the Bergamasker, and the other fellows could never forgive
him for having won the prettiest and most courted girl in the whole
village. They never ceased to tease and irritate him, and on this especial
evening at the Rehbock they must have been unusually offensive. Apparently
they were all somewhat excited, for they could afterwards give no clear
account of the affair, but the end was that the Bergamasker came home
fatally wounded, and died the next day. Everything has been different
among us since the Rehbock was built. Our village used to be quiet and
orderly; every one was contented to work all the week and rest on Sunday.
Nobody ever heard of such a thing as noisy drinking and rowdyism. But I
have another errand with you now, doctor. Lene charged me on her death
bed to attend to it. She did not leave any money, but she had an excellent
outfit. She bade me sell her bedstead and her bureau, and bring you the
proceeds, to settle what she owed you. She was very anxious that I should
see to it, for she felt that you had done a great deal for her; and she
spoke of how often you had climbed the hill both by day and night, to
visit her. So, please give me the bill, doctor, so that I may settle it at
once, as I promised her."

"What relatives has the child?" asked the doctor shortly.

"She has none at all in these parts," replied Gertrude. "She has been with
me all through her mother's illness, and now she is mine. Her mother's
family are all gone. She might perhaps be sent to her father's parish in
Bergamaskische, but I shall not do that; she belongs now to us."

"I would not go there," said the child firmly in a low tone, clinging to
Gertrude's dress with both hands.

The doctor opened a big book, tore out a leaf, and drew his pen twice
across the closely written page.

"There," he said, handing the cancelled sheet to Gertrude, "that is all
the bill I shall give you."

"Oh, doctor, may God reward you," said Gertrude. "Go, child, and thank the
doctor, for you owe him a great deal."

The child obeyed after her own fashion. She planted herself before the big
man, looked steadily at him with her great black eyes and said somewhat
hoarsely,

"Thank you." It sounded more like a command than anything else.

The doctor laughed.

"She is rather alarming," he said, "she is evidently not accustomed to say
anything she does not really mean. I like that. But come, I must be off,"
and handing the medicine to Gertrude he left the room quickly so as to
avoid her repeated thanks.

The little boy was standing where his mother had left him, still staring
at the restless horse. The doctor looked kindly at the little fellow.

"Would you like to take care of a horse?" he asked, as he got into his
wagon.

"No, I should like to drive one of my own," replied the child without
hesitation.

"Well, you are quite right there: stick to that, my boy," said the
doctor, and drove away.

As Gertrude, holding a child by each hand, climbed the hillside, the boy
said gaily,

"Say, mother, I can have one, can't I?"

"Do you mean to be a gentleman like the doctor, and own a horse,
Dietrich?" asked the mother.

The boy nodded.

"So you can, if you will work hard for it, and stick to your work well.
You see the doctor had to do that for a long time, and has to do it still,
and if you stick to your work as he has, and never stop nor get tired till
it is done, and well done, then you will be a gentleman, even if you are
not a doctor. It doesn't matter what you do; you may be a gentleman if
you persevere and work hard and faithfully."

"Yes, with a horse," said Dietrich.

The little girl had been listening intently to every word of this
conversation. Her black eyes blazed out suddenly as she looked up to
Gertrude and said decidedly,

"I'll be one too."

"Yes, Yes, Mr. Veronica! Mr. Veronica! that sounds well," cried Dietrich,
and he laughed aloud at the idea.

Veronica thought it no laughing matter, however. She pressed Gertrude's
hand firmly and looked up with glowing eyes, as she said, "I can be one
too, can't I mother; say?"

"You should not laugh, Dietrich," said his mother kindly. "Veronica can be
exactly what you can be. If she works steadily, and does not grow tired
and careless, but keeps on till her work is finished and well finished,
she will be a lady as you will be a gentleman."

Veronica trotted along contentedly after this explanation. She did not
speak again. The frowning brows were smoothed and the fiery eyes now shone
with the light of childish joy as she caught sight of the first flowers
that began to peep above the ground. The child's face looked fairly
charming now; her well-formed features framed by the dark locks, made a
beautiful picture.

Dietrich was also silent: but he was pursuing the same train of thought,
for he broke out presently,

"Will she have a horse too?"

"Why not, as well as you. It all depends on how steadily and how
faithfully you both work," replied Gertrude.

"Well, then, we shall have two horses," cried the boy, joyfully. "Where
shall we put the stable, mother?"

"We can see to that bye and bye, there is plenty of time for that. It
won't do for you to be thinking about the horse all the time, you know,
you must keep your mind on your work if you mean to do it well."

Dieterli said no more. He was busy trying to decide on which side of the
house it would be best to put the stable.

That night, Gertrude again hurried down the hill to the doctor's houses
and this time she brought him back with her.

Her husband's illness had taken a turn for the worse, and the next day he
died.

CHAPTER II.

WITH FRESH COURAGE.

A few days later a numerous company of mourners followed another black
bier to the sunny church-yard.

Steffan, the saddler, had been universally respected. He had begun life
modestly; there had been no large industries in Tannenegg in his early
days. He married the quiet and orderly Gertrude, who worked with him at
his trade, and helped support the frugal household. Soon the flood of
prosperity invaded Fohrensee, and naturally the only saddler in the
vicinity had his hands full of work.

Now Gertrude's help was needed in earnest, and she did not fail. They were
soon in possession of a nice little house of their own, with a garden
about it, and no matter how much work she might have to do in the shop,
everything in her own province of housekeeping was as well and carefully
ordered as if Gertrude had no other business to occupy her time and
thoughts. And Steffan, Gertrude and their little Dieterli lived simple,
useful and contented lives and were a good example to all the
neighborhood.

Now, to-day, Gertrude stood weeping by the window and looked across to the
church-yard, where that very morning they had laid her good man. Now she
must make her way alone; she had no one to help her, no one belonging to
her except her two children, and for them she must work, for she never
admitted for a moment that the orphaned Veronica was not hers to care for
as well as her own little Dietrich.

She did not lose courage. As soon as the first benumbing effect of her
sorrow had passed a little, she gazed up at the shining heavens and said
to herself, "He who has sent this trouble will send me strength to bear
it;" and in full trust in this strength she went to work, and seemed able
to do more than ever.

Her property, outside of the little capital which her husband had laid by,
consisted of her house, which was free from debt, and of which she could
let a good part. The question was, whether she could carry on the
remunerative business that her husband had been engaged in, until little
Dietrich should be old enough to assume the direction of it, and pursue it
as his father had done before him. Gertrude retained the services of a
workman who had been employed by Steffan, and she herself did not relax
her labors early and late, to oversee the work and keep all in running
order.

For the first few weeks after her mother's death little Veronica sat every
evening weeping silently by herself in a dark corner of the room. When
Gertrude found her thus grieving, she asked kindly what ailed her, and
again and again, she received only this sorrowful answer,

"I want my mother."

Gertrude drew the child tenderly towards her, caressing her, and
promising her that they would all go together some day to join her mother,
who had only gone on before, that she might get strong and well again. And
gradually this second mother grew to take the place of her own, and no
game, no amusement could draw the loving child away from Gertrude's side.
Only Dietrich could succeed in enticing her to go with him now and then.

The lad's love for his mother showed itself in a louder and more
demonstrative manner. He often threw his arms about her neck, crying
passionately,

"My mother belongs to me and to nobody else."

Then Veronica's brows would knit over her flashing eyes, until they formed
a long straight line across her face. But she did not speak. And Gertrude
would put one arm about the boy's neck and the other about the little
girl's, and say,

"You must not speak so, Dietrich. I belong to you both, and you both
belong to me."

In general, the two children were excellent friends, and completely
inseparable. They were not happy unless they shared everything together
and wherever one went, the other must go too. They went regularly to
school every morning, and were always joined by two of the neighbors'
children, who went with them.

These were, the son of the shoemaker, long, bony Jost, with his little,
cunning eyes,--and the sexton's boy, who was as broad as he was long, and
from whose round face two pale eyes peered forth upon the world, in
innocently stupid surprise. His name was Blasius, nicknamed Blasi.

Often, on the way to school, quarrels arose between Dieterli and the two
other boys. It would occur to one of them to try what Veronica would do if
he were to give her a blow with his fist. Scarcely had he opened his
attack when he found himself lying on his nose, while Dieterli played a
vigorous tattoo on his back with no gentle fists. Or the sport would be to
plant a good hard snow-ball between Veronica's shoulders, with the
mortifying result to the aggressive boy, of being pelted in the face with
handfuls of wet snow, until he was almost stifled, and cried out for
mercy. Dieterli was not afraid of either of them; for though smaller and
thinner than either, he was also much more lithe, and could glide about
like a lizard before, behind and all around his adversaries, and slip
through their fingers while they were trying to catch him. Veronica was
well avenged, and went on the rest of her way without fear of molestation.
If one of the other lads felt in a friendly mood, and wished to act as
escort to the little girl, Dieterli soon gave him to understand that that
was his own place, and he would give it up to no one.

Every evening "Cousin Judith" came for a little visit, to give Gertrude
some friendly advice about the children, or the household economy. She
used to say that the gentle widow needed some one now and then to show
claws in her behalf, and Judith knew herself to be in full possession of
claws, and of the power to use them, an accomplishment of which she was
somewhat proud. One evening she crossed over between daylight and dark,
and entered the room where Veronica was, with her favorite plaything in
her hand, moving it back and forth as she sat in the window in the waning
light. She could read very nicely now for two years had passed since she
had lost her own mother, and had become Gertrude's child. Many a time had
she read over the motto which shone out so mysteriously from the breast of
the opened rose. To-day she was poring over it again, and her absorption
in "that same old rose," as Dieterli called it, had so annoyed the lively
lad that he left her, and had gone out into the kitchen to find his
mother. When Judith saw the girl sitting thus alone, buried in thought,
she asked her what she was thinking about in the twilight all by herself.

Dieterli, whom no sound ever escaped, had heard Cousin Judith come in, and
came running in from the kitchen to see what was going on. Veronica looked
up at the visitor and asked earnestly,

"Cousin Judith, what is fortune?"

"Ah, you are always asking some strange question that no one else ever
thought of asking;" said Cousin Judith, "where on earth did you ever hear
of fortune?"

"Here," said Veronica, holding up the rose with the golden verse in the
centre. "Shall I read it to you?"

"Yes, do, child."

Veronica read--

"Fortune stands ready, full in sight;
He wins who knows to grasp it right."

"Well, it means this--I should say--fortune is whatever anyone wants the
most."

"Fortune is a horse, then," said Dietrich quickly.

Veronica sat thinking. "But, Cousin Judith," she said presently, "how can
any one 'grasp fortune'?"

"With your hands," replied Cousin Judith unhesitatingly, "You see, our
hands are given us to work with, and if we use them diligently and do our
work well, as it ought to be done, then fortune comes to us; so don't you
see we 'grasp it' with our hands?"

The verse had now become endued with life, and meant something real and
attractive to Veronica. She did not lay her rose out of her hand for a
long time, that evening, notwithstanding that Dietrich cast threatening
glances upon it, and finally broke out in vexation,

"I will tear off the spring some time, and spoil the thing altogether."

The rose was not put into the book and the book into the cup-board, until
the time came for the children to say their evening prayers. This was the
closing act of every day; and it was so fixed and regular a habit, that
the children never needed to be bidden to fold their hands, and kneel to
ask God's blessing before they slept.

CHAPTER III.

NINE YEARS LATER.

A sunshiny Easter morning shone over hill and valley. A crowd of
holiday-making people poured out of the little church at Tannenegg, and
scattered in every direction. A long row of blooming lads and lassies came
in close ranks, moving slowly towards the parsonage. They were the
newly-confirmed young people of the parish, who had that day partaken of
the Communion for the first time. They were going to the house of their
pastor, to express their gratitude for his careful and tender teaching and
guidance, before they went out into the world. Among these were Dietrich
and Veronica. Gertrude stood at a little distance from the church, and
watched the procession as it passed by. Her eyes were filled with tears of
pleasurable emotion, as she noticed that her dark-eyed Veronica was
conspicuous among all the maidens for the tasteful neatness of her
costume, and for the sweetness and grace of her bearing. The glance which
Veronica cast upon the mother in passing was full of love and gratitude;
and seemed to repeat the words that the faithful girl had spoken in the
morning, as she left her to go to the church. "I cannot thank you enough,
as long as I live, for what you have done for me, mother." A yet brighter
expression of happiness crossed Gertrude's countenance when the young men
came in procession after the girls, as her eyes fell on the well-formed
lad, a head taller than his companions, who nodded at her, and greeted her
with merry laughing looks, kissing his hand again and again, and yet once
again. That was her tall handsome Dietrich. His mother's heart leaped in
her breast at the sight of his fresh young life, so full of hope and
promise. Gertrude waited till the visit to the pastor was over, and the
young people had separated on their various paths. Then she in her turn
entered the parsonage. She wished herself to speak her thanks to this true
and long tried adviser and friend, for all that he had done for her
children.

"You are a fortunate mother," said the aged pastor, after he had listened
to Gertrude's expressions of gratitude. "Those are two uncommon children
that the good God has confided to your care, and I feel the greatest
interest in them. The lad has a clear head, and a winning grace that draws
everyone to him. Veronica is serious and conscientious; she has a calm
steady nature and can be depended upon for fidelity to duty, such as it is
rare to find. The children will be your stay and comfort in your old age.
May you keep them in the paths of virtue."

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