NORTHWESTERN
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ILLINOIS
AN IDYL
Office of purl;caticu :
Koiiins 31, I'ark Row Ijiiil(l¡n¿f
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an idyl;
" Ane Maren ! "
It -was on the last Saturday before Christmas, in the even¬
ing, and Karsten Steinkroken was a little bit tipsy: at such
times he was always inclined toward formalities, and was in
the habit of calling to Maren by two names.
" Ane Maren ! "
" Karsten ! " She stuck her head through the kitchen
door, and nodded to Karsten, who was sitting by the folding-
table before the window. " You called me, Karsten ! Do
you want anything ? "
Karsten left his place by the table and went toward her;
tall and broad, both hands in his trousers pockets, his cap
pulled far down over his forehead on one side, and the last
remnant of a five-ore cigar, such as Danielsen at the market
kept for his customers, deep in his beard like a glow-worm.
" Whether I want anything ? The devil take me ! Did I
ever hear the like? Whether I want anything? Just tell
me, Ane Maren, did I ever call you without wanting
anything ? ' '
He stopped and stood still before her, quite stiff with
astonishment.
" The Lord knows, I don't understand you any more, Ane
Maren! You have taken such a foolish and crazy turn lately
' Originally printed in "Die Zukunft.",
3
'4 AN IDYL.
that I'm really tired of it! Yes, truly, I'm tired of it!
Asking me whether I want anything! "
Maren knew only too well the occasion of his direful
haughtiness; for he had almost the whole of his week's wages
in his pocket, he had a full bottle of schnapps standing in the
corner cupboard besides, and she had seen quite clearly that
down at the bend of the road he had had an interview with the
mayor in his own exalted person; and, when such things all
came together on one day, surely it was fit to make even
stronger souls than Karsten Steinkroken carry airs.
She shook her head and wiped her nose with her apron.
" Yes, of course it was a stupid question, Karsten, of course!
As if you didn't want anything of me! "
Karsten was placated in a moment.
" Yes, of course, of course! Do you think the mayor's
wife in Herrestad asks her husband whether he wants anything
when he calls her? No! She—the Lord knows !—must ask
prettily what he wants. Do you find that queer, Maren? "
" Yes, you are queer, Karsten. You always go by books
and rules; but yet you are always right; I really don't know
how that happens."
" One must know how to arrange his words, Maren. Do
you suppose it is so utterly without reason that the mayor and
the pastor find more pleasure in chatting with me than with
all the other dolts in Steinkroken and in all the rest, of the
parish? There, what have you to say now, then? "
" Well, what did you want, Karsten? "
He leaned over backward, spread his thumbs out over the
AÑ IDYL. 5
edges of his pockets, and blew a cloud of cigar-smoke up to
*
the ceiling.
' ' Why, my best clothes ! ' '
" Lord Gemini, your best clothes, Karsten! "
" Yes, my best clothes, yes! Did you suppose I was not to
have my best"clothes for the holy Christmas feast? "
Things fairly grew black before Maren's eyes. Of course
the best clothes had not been brought out since last Christmas;
and to know where they were now was really not so simple.
. . . That she had not thought of it sooner !
" Karsten, Karsten! If I didn't have you, I really don't
know what would happen to me ; yes, you have a head, you do
think of everything, I mean that! We must look in the gar¬
ret, Karsten, for they certainly must be found."
" Yes, in the garret, yes! They must be there, Maren; I
think, it seems to me, as if I had seen them in the summer;
either they were hanging from the roof, or else they were
lying in a fish-basket. But now we'll go up and look,—take
the lamp! "
" No, I'll go alone, Karsten! As if you, the man of the
house, needed to look in the attic for your best clothes! "
" No, Maren, I'd rather go with you; for you know they
must be got out."
An idea struck him.
" Damn it and curse it, Maren, I'll go up alone; why do
you want to climb up the ladder and get down on your knees
and look about among all the lumber in the garret? No,
Maren, I was never stupid. Should think you had enough to
do down here ! ' '
6 AN IDYL.
" You are smart, Karsten, awfully smart. Haven't I
always said so? There doesn't come a second one like you."
Karsten took the lamp and worked his way up the garret-
ladder. He had already put his head through the trap-door,
when he turned around again and looked down to her. " I
was never stupid, Maren! " And with that he disappeared.
Great heavens, what a life was developed up there in the
attic I All the boxes and flour-barrels were tipped over, fish-
baskets were emptied out so that all their contents lay on the
floor, a whole pile of ropes disentangled; and the hens,
which, three in number, lived up there at this season of the
year, flew squawking and fluttering in all directions, up
against the roof and down to the floor again, scattering the
sawdust, till at last they remained perched against the bare
wall like woodpeckers. But, when Karsten came down again,
at the end, all covered with dust and with straws in his hair,
he had in his hand nothing less than his best clothes. He
was not a little proud of his talent as a flnder. He handed
them to Maren. "There, now you take them and wash them
and rinse them down in the brook; no splashing in the wash-
tub here, do you hear? "
It was on Christmas Eve.
Karsten and Maren had been in the city together, and had
given each other presents. First Maren had received a neck¬
cloth from Karsten, and then Karsten had received one like it
from her. Next Karsten had bought a bottle of cognac at one
krone and twenty ore, and put it in Maren's hand, and then
AN IDYL. 7
she had bought a bottle of brandy and handed it to him.
Everything had been agreed on in advance. And then, at
joint expense, there was procured for the household a piece of
chewing-tobacco, so long and thick that it must hold out from
Christmas till New Year's, even if they both chewed off it
ever so zealously.
They had eaten and drunk at supper-time, and now they
were smoking and drinking. They had both got thoroughly
well-defined red cheeks, and a light cloud of blue tobacco-
smoke rose and hung across the room between floor and ceil¬
ing, and gathered about the lamp.
" Here's to you, my girl! " Karsten raised his glass high.
" We really ought to have rigged up a little fir-tree, dear! '-'
" Oh, there are bushes enough behind the fence; if there
had only been children in the house, then ..."
" Yes, that didn't come so, Maren."
' ' Are you sad on that account, Karsten ? ' '
" Oh, no, . . . the deuce a bit ! But you know it's so nice
what it says in the Bible; Multiply, it says, and fill the earth,
it says."
" Yes, you may well say that, Karsten! Say rather. Fill
- Steinkroken ; and I should think it was full enough here with
us two, such a louse-hole where there is not even room for a
cow! I'd really like to see once what would have come of
it if there had been children here besides! "
" Yes, it didn't come so, Maren."
" Ah, no, it is certainly too poor and wretched for that up
here! "
g AN IDYL.
" Maren, Maren! We have had such pleasure up here in
Steinkroken . . . and he raised his forefinger threateningly.
" You must not speak so, Maren."
Friendly recollections rushed across Maren Steinkroken's
face.
" We'll drink to that, Karsten! We've had much pleasure
up here, we've been full of cheer and jollity many a time,—
not to say always."
" Here's to you, Maren! "
" Here's to you! "
■ The bottle of cognac at one krone and twenty ore went the
rounds three times.
Karsten pulled at the waistband of his trousers. '* If I only
don't get silly to-night!"
' ' Say rather ' merry ' ; that goes better, Karsten. And
anyhow you know that I care for you. Lord Gemini, do you
remember, Karsten, when there was such an awful time here,
when Paul Langberg and his old woman were with us, and
there was such a graceless life led here? Do you remember
what a figure that fat Marte Langberg made of herself ? ' '
" Yes, when she wanted to jump, wasn't it ? "
" Yes, she . . . and when she fell her length over the
bench ! "
" Lord, yes, I remember it every bit. But you understood
jumping, Maren! Lord knows, you jumped over the bench as
light-footedly as a weasel. You were still young then,
Maren ! "
AN IDYL. 9
"Oh! as to that, Karsten, that's only four years ago! "
" Long enough for you not to be able to do it any longer,
little one!"
Karsten smiled blissfully at the mere thought of how Maren
had skipped over the bench. It was the drollest sight he
had ever had. His innate sense of the comic never belied
itself, even when it concerned his wedded wife. Since then
he had repeatedly tried to induce her to do it, but she had
always assumed a decidedly negative attitude as soon as there
was mention of the bench. She had done it only twice more,
but that had been on especially festive occasions. Yet to¬
night, on Christmas.Eve, now that they were sitting so cozily
side by side and had been drinking and chatting, it might be
very diverting. Would it not be possible to find ways and
means now?
" Here's to you, Maren! "
" Here's to you! "
" Say, Maren! You can't think what a famous maid
they've got down there at Halvorsen's on the point; such a
winsome figure. And how alluring she makes herself! So
honey-sweet as she is to all men ! Last week, when I was
down there drawing wood, she threw a whole handful of sugai
into my coffee. And how thick she spread the butter on my
bread !... Yes, she's a nimble body! But, Lord, she's just
pure youth, too ! ' '
" Herrje, Karsten, I'm not yet so old, either! "
" You can't jump over the bench any more, child! "
" Don't say that, Karsten! "
10 AN IDYL.
" So help me, you can't jump over any more! But the
maid on the point ! It seems to me as if I could see her skip
over, light as a feather! "
Now the bench should come out, thought Maren. Now he
should see. Now she would !
" Shall I try it once, Karsten ? "
" Oh, no, just let it be; you really can't any more,
Maren. ' ' He shook with pleasure at the mere thought.
" Yes, Karsten, now you shall just see! "
" Well, then, just fetch it out! "
Karsten rubbed his hands, while Maren put the bench in
the middle of the room.
" There, now you count three, Karsten! "
She took her place with her back to the wall and brushed
the hair off her forehead.
Karsten lighted his pipe and laid his hands in his lap; he
was more than half fuddled, and took the matter very
seriously.
" One—two—three—hop ! "
Maren put one leg out before the other, while she gathered
the skirts of her dress in both hands.
" Nonsense, Maren, nonsense. Once more! Why, you
spread out your legs ! As if that took skill! No, mother,
with both feet at once, the skill's in that! Why, this isn't
jumping, the devil it is ! " He got up, laid one leg over the
bench, and drew the other after it. "I call that walking
over. That isn't jumping ! Did you ever see a cow climb
over a fence, or a horse creep through under a hedge? Have
AN IDYL. 11
you seen a hog walk on its hind legs, or where the devil did
you learn anything like that? No, mother, once more, but
not so ! "
He remained standing close by the bench, and looking
alternately at it and Maren, while she had again taken her
position against the wall. " Now, don't forget, with both
feet at once, Maren, so, now : ' One—two—three—hop ! ' "
She held her dress neatly back, pressed her feet against
each other as hard as she could, and then jumped over with as
much agility as possible. But to Karsten the spectacle of her
little bent body, her face, her eyes fixed stiffly on the bench
and her little feet drawn high up, was so overwhelmingly com¬
ical that he sank down in a chair and laughed till he shook,
while he beat his forehead against the table-top over and over.
" The devil take me if I ever saw anything so comical !
Lord of my life ! What a moment ! I fairly can't breathe !
Yes, if you only knew how droll you looked, Maren! Lord
knows, you mustn't do it when other people see ! Yes, you
ought just to have a notion how ridiculous the effect is, ha,
ha, ha ! Good Lord ! "
But Maren sat on her chair in the pride of victory.
" Now you can see, Karsten; you mustn't speak ill of your
wife because she is no longer young; and most likely that
maid at Hans Halvorsen's on the point is not every bit gush¬
ing life either, herself ! "
" To the devil with the maid on the point ! Why, there
isn't any ! Didn't you see that all that was just nonsense ? "
".Well, then just send the bottle round again, Karsten !
12 AN IDYL.
Puh! I have got regularly hot after this circus-playing ! "
" Yes, but it was amusing, Maren ! "
The bottle went the rounds, and the swallows were not so
accurately counted, and they warmly accused each other of
not drinking steadily enough. Maren, as was her fashion,
fell into an ecstasy. There was nothing that she did not find
laughable. She laughed whenever Karsten opened his mouth;
and, when he dropped his pipe on the groimd and crept about
on all fours to look for it, she could hardly keep erect any
longer for laughing, and had to grasp the table as a support.
After a while she pointed to the bench again.
" Want to once more, Karsten ? "
" No, death and the devil, Maren, not now ! No, no !
Everything in moderation ! Now it would be too risky ! "
She wanted to go out into the kitchen to get matches ; she
tottered through the room, and had to hold on by the bedpost.
She turned around toward Karsten and laughed. " Just see,
old man ! I think the bottle's to blame for that !-"
Karsten only shook his head and laughed; " What
foolery !"
" Say, Maren," said Karsten, quite seriously, when she
came in again, ' ' the people say that I beat you and make
awful times in the house up here. I have heard that several
times now, and—Lord knows !—I will not sit down under
it."
" You, Karsten I No, was such a thing ever heard of ?
Shall I call out ? ' '
Karsten had often, when they were both drunk, got her to
AN IDYL. 13
go out in front of the house and proclaim his praise there at
the top of her voice. It was devilish jolly, in his opinion, to
sit in the room inside and listen to it, . . . and besides, it
could not do the parish any harm to hear it.
" Shall I do it, Karsten ? " With this question she
offered herself once more, in overflowing bliss.
" Yes, if you would. . . . For it is really not pleasant to
sit down under such a thing ! "
Maren sailed out of the door, and Karsten pressed his ear
against the window. Yes, now he heard her; " Karsten—is
—the—best—man—in—all—Steinkroken—He—who—says—
anything—else—shall—pay—me ! "
He heard her cry this for a while ; then it became still.
He opened the window.
" The devil, why don't you call out ? You are to call till
I tell you."
And then she screamed anew at the top of her voice, while
Karsten, comfortably smiling with his ear pressed against the
window-pane, sat there and heard how the wind carried his
praise over all the parish. He opened the window again.
" There, now you can come in, Maren! "
She laughed as she came in.
" Well, I think I made that thoroughly clear to them,
Karsten ! "
How it happened nobody knows, but this time, too, Christ¬
mas Eve' at Steinkroken came to an end. It ended with the
hour of dawn, in the canopied bed,—and, strangely, without
14 AN IDYL.
«
any disaster; for the lamp was put out before they went to
their rest, and Karsten had taken off at least one boot and his
jacket; Maren, on the other hand, had gone under the coverlet
" in full canonicals," as Karsten called it.
She laughed herself to sleep. " Say, Karsten," she began
after a while, " do you remember when that fat Marte Lang-
berg wanted to jump? You sweet man! "
And Karsten gave a start, just as he was about to doze
away. " Death and the devil, Maren, did you wash my best
clothes ? ' '
" Herrje, yes, my boy ! " •
' ' In the brook ? ' '
" Yes, right behind, out on the raft ! "
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