Das landhaus am Rhein. English

by Berthold Auerbach

  CHAPTER III.

  A SON OF HAM.

  On no one of the persons interested in Villa Eden, had the startlingevents that had taken place produced a greater impression than on theMajor. He could find no rest at home, and, since hearing Sonnenkamp'sstatement, he had lost the best possession he had,--his sound,healthful sleep. He wandered about restlessly all day, often talkingwith Laadi, throwing the dog sometimes a mushroom fried in fat, andthen punishing her severely when she tried to eat it. At night, hisinward excitement was so great, that he kept talking in a low voice tohimself, and occasionally even roused Fraeulein Milch in the hope thatshe would dispel the disturbing thoughts. Sonnenkamp's flight, and nowthe news that Bella had gone with him, increased the distemper of hismind.

  He summoned all his strength when Knopf brought in the negro, receivedhim most cordially, and insisted upon his staying in his house first.Adams consented; and the Major took him at once to the castle, wherethe work was still going on.

  Fraeulein Milch confessed to Herr Knopf that she was oppressed by a fearshe could not control, and begged him to stay with them; but heregretted that his duties to Prince Valerian made his stay impossible.So far from allaying Fraeulein Milch's anxieties, he rather increasedthem by the satisfaction with which he dwelt upon the consummateknavery of this Adams.

  "I take delight," he repeated, "in observing what a savage the fellowis. A savage nature is not soft, not good-natured, but sly as atiger-cat. After all, how can you expect a slave to be a model ofvirtue, and an example of all that is good?"

  The good-natured, soft-hearted Knopf took a real pleasure in knowingconsummate rascals like Sonnenkamp and Adams. When he had discoveredevil in a man, he carried it to extremes at once, like all idealists:the man must instantly be a consummate villain. The royal descent thatAdams boasted of, was, according to him, nothing but a lie: he wasusurping the character of some man of princely blood who had beendrowned. "For," added Knopf, with great satisfaction, "he could nothave taken the stamped sailing papers from him before he was launchedon the sea of eternity."

  He declared to Fraeulein Milch that he had caught Adams in the lie; forthe man had made a mistake in the dates: and Knopf was not a teacher ofhistory, with all the dates at his tongue's end, for nothing.

  On the Major's return with Adams, his disease fairly broke out, and hewas obliged to take to his bed.

  The Doctor came, and administered soothing remedies, which relieved theMajor; but he had no soothing remedies for Fraeulein Milch. She was toreceive these from a man who had no knowledge of medicine. When theProfessorin could not be with Fraeulein Milch to relieve her loneliness,and keep up her courage, she sent Professor Einsiedel; and to him thepoor woman confided all her uneasiness with regard to Adams. The manwould engage in no occupation; he could drink and smoke all day; butthat was all. He had worked only while he was a slave, and driven toit; and as lackey he had had nothing to do but to sit in fantasticlivery upon the box of the royal coach. So there he remained in thehouse with Fraeulein Milch, doing nothing but inspire her with anunconquerable terror. The greater her fear became, the more pains shetook to preserve a friendly manner towards him.

  Only to Professor Einsiedel did she complain of the presence of thenegro.

  "I must take care," she said, "not to let this one black man give me aprejudice against the whole race."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  Fraeulein Milch blushed as she replied,--

  "If we do not know a foreign nation, or a foreign race, and ourpreconceived notions of it are unfavorable, we are very apt to considerthe solitary individual who may come under our observation as arepresentative of the whole, and to charge upon the whole his peculiarcharacteristics and faults. This Adams, now, is a man who will neitherlearn nor labor. As a slave, he was used to being taken care of, and asa lackey the same: it would be very unjust to let him prejudice meagainst the whole race, and to conclude that all negroes have thesepeculiarities."

  "Very good, very reasonable," was the Professor's verdict. "But Ishould like to know how you come to be so carefully on your guardagainst prejudices. I know very little about women, to be sure; but Ihad supposed this quality was not common among them."

  Fraeulein Milch bit her lip. This acknowledgment of the claim of everyindividual to be judged by his own merits had had a peculiar origin inherself; but she could not tell it. She felt the Professor's keenglance fixed upon her face, and fancied he must have discovered hersecret. She waited, expecting to hear it from his lips, but he wassilent: after a pause, she continued,--

  "Do you not think with me that the blacks will never be free until theyfree themselves, until a Moses appears from among their own number, andleads them out of bondage? And do you not think, also, that thisgeneration which has been in bondage must perish in the wilderness, andthat the new generation, that has grown up in freedom, will be the oneto enter the promised land of freedom?"

  "You seem very familiar with the Old Testament," said the Professor.

  Fraeulein Milch colored up to the border of her white cap.

  "But you have the right idea," continued Professor Einsiedel. "I hopeyou understand me. The black race has developed nothing original: asfar as we can yet see, it contributes nothing to the intellectualpossessions of the human family. Certainly no outsider can free them;but our new age, the only redeemer which we acknowledge, culture, willreach and deliver them. Are you acquainted with the recentinvestigations into the Japhetic races?"

  "Alas! no."

  "Certainly; I forgot myself. But you must know that the sons of Ham,this, of course, you have learned from the Bible, are without ahistory: they bring nothing of their own conquest, acquisition,creation, into the great Pantheon. It is the Semitic, Japhetic racesthat must free the descendants of Ham."

  The Professor was about to lay before Fraeulein Milch the result of thelatest investigations; to tell her what extraordinary discoveries hadbeen made among the Egyptian papyri; how it was proved that the authoror the compiler of the Bible had not understood Egyptian; in fact, thatthe contents of the Bible had existed before in Egyptian writings, andthe deliverance of the slaves was the only one great act of themythical Moses in the whole ancient world. In his delight at finding sogood a listener, he was about to deliver himself at great length, whenClaus came in, having been sent by the Doctor to take Adams home withhim. Fraeulein Milch whispered in his ear that he would have difficultyin making Adams work, at which he cried with a smile,--

  "Yes, yes: slaves and rich men are alike in that. The slave doesnothing because his master feeds him, and the rich man does nothingbecause his money feeds him."

  Fraeulein Milch impressed upon Claus that he must treat the black mankindly, and remember that he did not represent the black race. Thefield-guard laughed heartily, and carried Adams off to his house.

  The dogs barked fiercely, and the women screamed in terror, when thenegro appeared. The screams soon ceased; but, whenever Adams went outof the house, the dogs set up a fresh chorus of barks.