THE HOME: OR, FAMILY CARES AND FAMILY JOYS. BY FREDERIKA BREMER. AUTHOR OF "THE NEIGHBOURS." TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH, BY MARY HOW IT T. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-ST. 1844. PUBLIC LIBRARY R 490164 ASTOR, LENCX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1910 L PREFACE. THE speedy appearance of this volume after "The Neighbours," is a sufficient proof of the success of that work. Indeed, the evidences of this success have been too unequivocal to have escaped any one; and perhaps it would be difficult to decide which has been most gratified by it, the author or the translator. The most kind and cordial, I may say, the most neighbourly manner in which "The Neigbours" have been received, both by the press and the English public, has not only gone with a grateful delight to my heart, as an evidence that whatever is sound and good, come whence it may, will be heartily welcomed by my own proud and noble country, but has flown on rapid wings to the North, and given a charming surprise to the excellent authoress. Before the copy which I had requested my publishers to forward to her had reached Stockholm, Miss Bremer had received various letters from her countrymen in London congratulating her and themselves on having seen "The Neighbours" receive such handsome "neighbour's fare" in the literary circles there. No feeling is so dear to the heart of an author, who is conscious of writing for the improvement as well as the pleasure of his fellow-men, as to find the sphere of his usefulness suddenly, and as it were by miracle, immeasurably widened. To learn, therefore, at once that she was not only read and beloved in England, but that within a month after its appearance in London, "The Neighbours" was reprinted in the great United States newspaper, "The New World," and diffused all over that vast country, and read in the wildest regions of the back woods, while a good edition was rapidly passing through the American press, we may believe was no indifferent intelligence. Indeed, the high estimation in which the literature of England is held in the North, makes it a proud circumstance to any one to be introduced into it, and warmly welcomed there. Miss Bremer, in a letter to me, says with her usual modesty, on this subject, England har en sä rik, sä utbildad roman litteratur, och mina skrifter äro sä ojemna, sä fulla af brister, att jag knappt förstär huru-the fastidious, refined society of England-kan smälta dessa nordiska ra-ämnen!" England possesses a romance literature so rich, so fully developed, and my writings are so unequal, and full of faults, that I can hardly understand how the fastidious, refined society of England, can digest these rude Northern mate ls. But letters from all classes of English society, and from members of the very highest, shew me how enthusiastically these ra-ämnen have been welcomed; so that good husbands have, far and wide, been complimented by their wives with the agreeable name of-Bears. As "The Neighbours" might be regarded as a salutary picture of new-married life, "The Home," I think, will be found equally charming and useful as a picture of family life during the growth of the children. A sketch of home discipline, in which is seen how, without great worldly fortune, or extraordinary events, a deep interest may gather about a group of individuals, and how faults and failings, and diversity of dispositions, which without the great saving principles would lead to sorrow and disunion, are, by these saving principles, love and good sense, made to work themselves out, and leave behind them a scene of harmony, affection, and moral culture, most charming to contemplate. I am not intending, any more than the amiable authoress herself, to present these as faultless stories. "Vi We must remember that they are the product of a nation possessing tastes, in some respects, different to ours, yet still, in the main, extremely kindred in feeling as in language. Miss Bremer describes them to me as a people of a highly intellectual spirit, of strong impulses, but somewhat unsteady in following them out. Svenskar äro ett folk af starka impulser, men ostadigt utförande. Men jag vill ej skylla ifrän mig upa mitt folk! Detta folk har en rik och djupsinnig ande." It will be seen that they, like the Germans, and like our ancestors in the days of the Tudors and Stuarts, are very fond of acting scenes and surprises in family life; a striking instance of which in these volumes, is that where the Franks, on returning from Axelholm, are received by the Father and Jacobi at an inn, in the disguise of landlord and waiter. It may be as well to state here, that the title of Excellence is the highest one next to the princes of the blood in Sweden. It is, indeed, a sort of order of merit; is confined to twelve persons, who may be otherwise noble or not, and is not hereditary. I must add also with pleasure, that to my valued friend, Madame von Schoultz, who has resided many years in Sweden, I am much indebted for endeavours to bring this translation as near as possible in spirit and meaning to the original. Heidelberg, March 12th, 1843. M. H. P. S. Should errors of the press occur, my absence must plead the excuse: at the issue of the next translation, this inconvenience will no longer exist. LIFE IN SWEDEN. THE HOME; OR, FAMILY CARES AND FAMILY JOYS. CHAPTER I. MORNING DISPUTES AND EVENING CONTENTIONS. "My dear child," said Judge Frank, in a tone of vexation, "it is not worth while reading aloud to you, if you keep yawning incessantly, and looking about, first to the right and then to the left;" and with these words he laid down a treatise of Jeremy Bentham, which he had been reading, and ran from his seat. to the movement party; at least wherever building and molestation-making comes across them !" The conversation, which had hitherto appeared perfectly good-humoured, seemed to as sume a tone of bitterness from that word "molestation-making;" and in return the voice of the Judge was somewhat austere, as he replied to her taunt against the gentlemen. "Yes," said he, "they are not afraid of a little trouble "Ah, forgive me, dear friend,” returned his whenever a great advantage is to be obtained. wife, "but really these good things are all so But are we to have no breakfast to-day? difficult to comprehend, and I was thinking It is twenty-two minutes after nine! It really about Come here, dear Brigitta !" said is shocking, dear Elise, that you cannot teach Mrs. Eliza Frank, beckoning an old servant to your maids punctuality! There is nothing more her, to whom she then spoke in an under tone. intolerable than to lose one's time in waiting; Whilst this was going on, the Judge, a hand- nothing more useless; nothing more insupportsome strong-built man of probably forty, walked able; nothing which more easily might be preup and down the room, and then suddenly paus-vented, if people would only resolutely set about ing, as if in consideration, before one of the walls, he exclaimed to his wife, who by this time had finished her conversation with the old servant, "See, love, now if we were to have a door open here-and it could very easily be done, for it is only a lath-and-plaster wall-we could then get so conveniently into our bedroom, without first going through the ante-room and the nursery-it would indeed be capital!" "But then, where could the sofa stand?" answered Elise, with some anxiety. "The sofa?" returned her husband, "O, the sofa could be wheeled a little aside; there is more than room enough for it." "But, my best friend," replied she, "there would come a very dangerous draft from the door every one who sat in the corner." "Ah! always difficulties and impediments!" said the husband. "No, candidly speaking," said she, "I think it is better as it is.' it! Life is really too short for one to be able to waste half of it in waiting! Five-and-twenty minutes after nine! and the children-are they not ready too? Dear Elise-" "I'll go and see after them," said she; and went out quickly. It was Sunday. The June sun shone into a large cheerful room, and upon a snow-white damask tablecloth, which in soft silken folds was spread over a long table, on which a handsome coffee-service was set out with considerable elegance. The disturbed countenance with which the Judge had approached the breakfasttable, cleared itself instantly as a person, whom young ladies would unquestionably have called 66 horribly ugly," but whom no reflective physiognomist could have observed without interest, entered the room. This person was tall, ex"But cannot you see, your-tremely thin, and somewhat inclined to the left self, what a great advantage it would be if there side; the complexion was dark, and the somewere a door here?" what noble features wore a melancholy expression, which only seldom gave place to a smile of unusual beauty. The forehead elevated itself, with its deep lines, above the large brown extraordinary eyes, and above this a wood of black-brown hair erected itself, under whose thick stiff curls people said a multitude of ill humours and paradoxes exerted themselves; so also, indeed, might they in all those deep furrows with which his countenance was lined not one of which certainly was without its own signification. Still, there was not a sharp angle of that face; there was nothing, either in word or voice, of the Assessor, Jeremias Mun "Yes, that is always the way with ladies," returned he, "they will have nothing touched, nothing done, nothing changed, even to obtain improvement and convenience; everything is good and excellent as it is, till somebody makes the alteration for them, and then they can see at once how much better it is; and then they exclaim, 'Ah, see now, that is charming!' Ladies, without doubt, belong to the stand-still party!" "And the gentlemen," added she, "belong ter, however severe they might seem to be, which at the same time might not conceal an expression of the deepest goodness of heart, and which stamped itself upon his whole being, in the same way as the sap clothes with green foliage the stiff resisting branches of the knotted oak. "Good day, brother!" exclaimed the Judge, cordially offering him his hand, "how are you?" "Bad!" answered the melancholy man ; “how can it be otherwise? What weather we have! As cold as January! And what people we have in the world too: it is a sin and shame! I am so angry to-day that Have you read that malicious article against you in the paper?" 66 'No, I don't take in that paper; but I have heard speak of the article," said Judge Frank. "It is directed against my writing on the condition of the poor in the province, is it not?" sor; "The round coffee-pot there," said Mrs. Frank, good-humouredly, "is Madame Folette. Could you not bear that?" "But why call it so?" asked he. "What foolery is it?" "It is a fancy of the children," returned she. "An honest old woman of this name, whom I once treated to a cup of coffee, exclaimed, at the first sight of her favourite beverage,' When I see a coffee-pot, it is all the same to me as if I saw an angel from heaven!' The children heard this, and insisted upon it that there was a great resemblance in figure between Madame Folette and this coffee-pot; and so ever since, it has borne her name. The children are very fond of her, because she gives them every morning their coffee." "What business have children with coffee?" asked the Assessor. "Cannot they be thin enough without drinking coffee; and are they to be burnt up already? There's Petrea, is she not lanky enough? I never was very fond of her; and now, if she is to grow up into a coffee "But you should do so," argued the Asses-sister, why"" people ought to know who are their enemies. It is Mr. N. I should like to give the fellow three emetics, that he might know the taste of his own gall!" "What!" exclaimed Judge Frank, at once interested in the Assessor's news-" N., who lives nearly opposite to us, and who has so lately received from the Cape his child, the poor little motherless girl?" "The very same!" returned he; "but you must read this piece, if it be only to give a relish to your coffee. See here; I have brought it with me. I have learned that it would be sent to your wife to-day. Yes, indeed, what pretty fellows there are in the world! But where is your wife to-day? Ah! here she comes! Good morning, my Lady Elise. So charming in the early morning; but so pale! Ei, ei, ei; that is not as it should be! What is it that I say and preach continually? Exercise, fresh air-else nothing in the world avails anything! But who listens to one's preaching? No - adieu my friends! Ah! where is my snuff-box? Under the newspapers? The abominable newspapers; they must lay their hands on everything; one can't keep even one's snuff-box in peace for them! Adieu, Mrs. Elise! Adieu, Frank. Nay, see how he sits there and reads coarse abuse of himself, just as if it mattered nothing to him. Now he laughs into the bargain. I hope you'll enjoy your breakfasts, my friends." "Will you not enjoy it with us?" asked the friendly voice of Mrs. Frank; "we can offer you to-day, quite fresh home-baked bread." "No, I thank you," said the Assessor; "I am no friend to such home-made things, good for nothing, however much they may be bragged of. Home-baked, home-brewed, home-made; it all sounds very fine, but it's good for nothing." : But, my best Munter," said Mrs. Frank, "you are not in a good humour to-day." "Good humour!" replied he: "no, Mrs. Elise, I am not in a good humo I don't know what there is in the world to e people good-humoured. There now, y hair has torn a hole in my coat-lap! Is that pleasant? That's home-made, too! But now I'll go; that is, if your doors-they are home-made, too, are they not ?-will let me get out of them." "But will you not come back and dine with us?" asked she. "No, I thank you," replied he, "I am in ited elsewhere; and that in this house, too." "To Mrs. Courtmarshal W-?" asked Mrs Frank. "No; indeed!" answered the Assessor: "] cannot bear that woman. She lectures me incessantly. Lectures me! I had a great wish to lecture her! And then, her detestable dogPyrrhus or Pirre; I had a great mind to kill him. And then, she is so thin. I cannot bear thin people; least of all, thin old women." "No?" said Mrs. Frank. "Don't you know, then, what rumour says of you and poor old Miss Rask?" "That common person!" exclaimed Jere mias. "Well, and what says malice of me and old Miss Rask?" "That, not many days since," said Mrs. Frank, "you met this old lady on your stairs as she was going up to her own room; and that she was sighing on account of the long flight of stairs and her weak chest. Now malice says, that, with the utmost politeness, you offered her your arm, and conducted her up the stairs with the greatest possible care; nor left her, till she had reached her own door; and further, after all, that you sent her a pound of cough lozenges; and beautiful countenance! Goodness and joyfulness beam out from his whole being; even although his buoyant animal life, which seldom allows his arms or legs to be quiet, often expresses itself in not the most agreeable manner. My eleven-years-old boy is, alas! veryhis father says-very unmanageable. Still, notwithstanding all his wildness, he is possessed of a deep and restless fund of sentiment, which makes me often tremble for his future happiness. God defend my darling, my summer "And do you believe," interrupted the Assessor, "that I did that for her own sake? No, I thank you! I did it that the poor old skeleton might not fall down dead upon my steps. From no other cause in this world did I go crawling up the stairs with her. Yes, yes, that was it! I dine to-day with Miss Berndes. She is a very sensible person; and her little Miss Laura is very pretty. See, here have we now all the herd of children! Your most devoted servant, Sister Louise! So, indeed, little Miss Eva! she is not afraid of the ugly old fellow; she child, my only son! Oh, how dear he is to God bless her! there's some sugar-candy for her! And the little one! it looks just like a little angel. Do I make her cry? Then I must away; for I cannot endure children's crying. It may make a part of the charm of home: that I can believe;-perhaps it is home music. Behold then the little Louise, our eldest Home-baked, home-made, home-music-hu!" daughter, just turned ten years old; and you The Assessor sprang though the door; the wHI see a grave, fair girl, not handsome, but with Judge laughed; and the little one became silent a round, sensible face; from which I hope, by at the sight of a bretsel,* through which the degrees, to remove a certain ill-tempered exbeautiful eye of her brother Henrik spied at her pression. She is uncommonly industrious, and as through an eyeglass; while the other chil-kind towards her younger sisters, although very dren came bounding to the breakfast-table. Nay, nay, nay, my little angels, keep yourselves a little quiet;" said the mother. "Wait a moment, dear Petrea; patience is a virtue. Eva dear, don't behave in that way; you don't see me do so." Thus gently moralized the mother; while, with the help of her eldest daughter, the little prudent Louise, she cared for them all. The father went from one to another full of delight, patted their little heads, and pulled them gently by the hair. "I ought, yesterday, to have cut all your hair," said he. "Eva has quite a wig; one can hardly see her face for it. Give your father a kiss, my little girl! I'll look after your wig early to-morrow morning." "And mine too, and mine too, father!" exclaimed the others. "Yes, yes," answered the father, "I'll shave every one of you.". All laughed but the little one; which, half frightened, hid its sunny-haired little head on the mother's bosom: the father raised it gently, and kissed, first it, and then the mother. me! Ernst warns me often of too partial an affection for this child; and on that very account I will now pass on from No. 1 to No. 2. much disposed to lecture them; nor will she allow any opportunity to pass in which her importance as" eldest sister" is not observed; on which account the little ones give her already the title of "Your Majesty," and "Mrs. Judge." The little Louise appears to me one of those who will always be still and sure; and who, on this account, will go fortunately through the world. No. 3. People say that my little nine-years-old Eva is very like her mother. I hope it may be a real resemblance. See, then, a little, soft, roundabout figure, which, amid laughter and merriment, rolls hither and thither lightly and nimbly, with an ever-varying physiognomy, which is rather plain than handsome, although lit up by a pair of beautiful dark-blue eyes. Quickly moved to sorrow, quickly excited to joy; goodhearted, flattering, confection-loving, pleased with new and handsome clothes, and with dolls and play; greatly beloved, too, by brother and sisters, as well as by all the servants; the best friend and playfellow, too, of her brother. Such is the little Eva. No. 4. "Now put sugar in the father's cup," said she to the little one; "look! he holds it to you." The little one smiled, put sugar in the cup, and Madame Folette began her joyful circuit. But we will now leave Madame Folette, homeNos. 3 and 4 ought not properly to come to baked bread, the family breakfast, and the morn-gether. Poor Leonore had a sickly childhood, ing sun; and sit us down at the evening lamp, by the light of which Elise is writing TO CECILIA. I must give you portraits of all my flock of children; who now, having enjoyed their evening meal, are laid to rest upon their soft pillows. Ah! if I had only a really good portrait-I mean a painted one-of my Henrik, my first-born, my summer child, as I call him-because he was born on a Midsummer-day, in the summer hours both of my life and my fortune; but only the pencil of a Correggio could represent those beautiful, kind, blue eyes, those golden locks, at loving mouth, and that all so pure and A kind of fine curled cake. and this rather, I believe, than nature, has given to her an unsteady and violent temper, and has unhappily sown the seeds of envy towards her more fortunate sisters. She is not deficient in deep feeling, but the understanding is sluggish, and it is extremely difficult for her to learn anything. All this promises no pleasure; rather the very opposite. The expression of her mouth, even in the uncomfortable time of teething, seemed to speak, "Let me be quiet!" It is hardly possible that she can be other than plain, but, with God's help, I hope to make her good and happy. "My beloved, plain child!" say I sometimes to her as I clasp her tenderly in my arms, for I would willingly reconcile her early to her fate. |