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THE CITIZENS
THUS did the modest son slip away from the angry upbraiding; | |
But in the tone he had taken at first, the father continued: | |
That comes not out of a man which he has not in him; and hardly | |
Shall the joy ever be mine of seeing my dearest wish granted: | |
That my son may not as his father be, but a better. | 5 |
What would become of the house, and what of the city if each one | |
Were not with pleasure and always intent on maintaining, renewing, | |
Yea, and improving, too, as time and the foreigner teach us! | |
Man is not meant, forsooth, to grow from the ground like a mushroom, | |
Quickly to perish away on the spot of ground that begot him, | 10 |
Leaving to trace behind of himself and his animate action! | |
As by the house we straightway can tell the mind of the master, | |
So, when we walk through a city, we judge of the persons who rule it. | |
For where the towers and walls are falling to ruin; where offal | |
Lies in heaps in the gutters, and alleys with offal are littered; | 15 |
Where from its place has started the stone, and no one resets it; | |
Where the timbers are rotting away, and the house is awaiting | |
Vainly its new supports,that place we may know is ill governed. | |
Since if not from above work order and cleanliness downward, | |
Easily grows the citizen used to untidy postponement; | 20 |
Just as the beggar grows likewise used to his ragged apparel. | |
Therefore I wished that our Hermann might early set out on some travels; | |
That he at least might behold the cities of Strasburg and Frankfort, | |
Friendly Mannheim, too, that is cheerful and evenly builded. | |
He that has once beheld cities so cleanly and large, never after | 25 |
Ceases his own native city, though small it may be, to embellish. | |
Do not the strangers who come here commend the repairs in our gateway, | |
Notice our whitewashed tower, and the church we have newly rebuilded? | |
Are not all praising our pavement? the covered canals full of water, | |
Laid with a wise distribution, which furnish us profit and safety, | 30 |
So that no sooner does fire break out than tis promptly arrested? | |
Has not all this come to pass since the time of our great conflagration? | |
Builder I six times was named by the council, and won the approval, | |
Won moreover the heartfelt thanks of all the good burghers, | |
Actively carrying out what I planned, and also fulfilling | 35 |
What had by upright men been designed, and left uncompleted. | |
Finally grew the same zeal in every one of the council; | |
All now labor together, and firmly decided already | |
Stands it to build the new causeway that shall with the highroad connect us. | |
But I am sorely afraid that will not be the way with our children. | 40 |
Some think only of pleasure and perishable apparel; | |
Others will cower at home, and behind the stove will sit brooding. | |
One of this kind, as I fear, we shall find to the last in our Hermann. | |
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Straightway answered and said the good and intelligent mother. | |
Why wilt thou always, father, be doing our son such injustice? | 45 |
That least of all is the way to bring thy wish to fulfilment. | |
We have no power to fashion our children as suiteth our fancy; | |
As they are given by God, we so must have them and love them; | |
Teach them as best we can, and let each of them follow his nature. | |
One will have talents of one sort, and different talents another. | 50 |
Every one uses his own; in his own individual fashion, | |
Each must be happy and good. I will not have my Hermann found fault with; | |
For he is worthy, I know, of the goods he shall one day inherit; | |
Will be an excellent landlord, a pattern to burghers and builders; | |
Neither in council, as I can foresee, will he be the most backward. | 55 |
But thou keepest shut up in his breast all the poor fellows spirit, | |
Finding such fault with him daily, and censuring as thou but now hast. | |
And on the instant she quitted the room, and after him hurried, | |
Hoping she somewhere might find him, and might with her words of affection | |
Cheer him again, her excellent son, for well he deserved it. | 60 |
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Thereupon when she was gone, the father thus smiling continued: | |
What a strange folk, to be sure, are these women; and just like the children; | |
Both of them bent upon living according as suiteth their pleasure, | |
While we others must never do aught but flatter and praise them. | |
Once for all time holds good the ancients trustworthy proverb: | 65 |
Whoever goes not forward comes backward. So must it be always. | |
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Thereupon answered and said, in a tone of reflection, the doctor: | |
That, sir neighbor, I willingly grant; for myself I am always | |
Casting about for improvement,things new, so they be not too costly. | |
But what profits a man, who has not abundance of money, | 70 |
Being thus active and stirring, and bettering inside and outside? | |
Only too much is the citizen cramped: the good, though he know it, | |
Has he no means to acquire because too slender his purse is, | |
While his needs are too great; and thus is he constantly hampered. | |
Many the things I had done; but then the cost of such changes | 75 |
Who does not fear, especially now in this season of danger? | |
Long since my house was smiling upon me in modish apparel! | |
Long since great panes of glass were gleaming in all of the windows! | |
But who can do as the merchant does, who, with his resources, | |
Knows the methods as well by which the best is arrived at? | 80 |
Look at that house over yonder,the new one; behold with what splendor | |
Gainst the background of green stand out the white spirals of stucco! | |
Great are the panes in the windows; and how the glass sparkles and glitters, | |
Casting quite into the shade the rest of the market-place houses! | |
Yet just after the fire were our two houses the finest, | 85 |
This of the Golden Lion, and mine of the sign of the Angel. | |
So was my garden, too, throughout the whole neighborhood famous: | |
Every traveller stopped and gazed through the red palisadoes, | |
Caught by the beggars there carved in stone and the dwarfs of bright colors. | |
Then whosoever had coffee served in the beautiful grotto, | 90 |
Standing there now all covered with dust and partly in ruins, | |
Used to be mightily pleased with the glimmering light of the mussels | |
Spread out in beautiful order; and even the eye of the critic | |
Used by the sight of my corals and potters ore to be dazzled. | |
So in my parlor, too, they would always admire the painting. | 95 |
Where in a garden are gaily dressed ladies and gentlemen walking, | |
And with their taper fingers are plucking and holding the flowers. | |
But who would look at it now! In sooth, so great my vexation | |
Scarcely I venture abroad. All now must be other and tasteful, | |
So they call it; and white are the laths and benches of wood-work; | 100 |
Everything simple and smooth; no carving longer or gilding | |
Can be endured, and the woods from abroad are of all the most costly. | |
Well, I too should be glad could I get for myself something novel; | |
Glad to keep up with the times, and be changing my furniture often; | |
Yet must we all be afraid of touching the veriest trifle. | 105 |
For who among us has means for paying the work-peoples wages? | |
Lately I had an idea of giving the Archangel Michael, | |
Making the sign of my shop, another fresh coating of gilding, | |
And to the terrible dragon abut his feet that is winding; | |
But I een let him stay browned as he is: I dreaded the charges. | 110 |
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