Part 28 (1/2)

”Stop!” cried Brasig, ”Lord preserve us, what is all this fellow?”

”But that isn't all, by a great deal, there is ever so much more.”

”We will give him the rest. Go ahead!”

”'Fifth Revised and much Enlarged Edition. Brunswick published by Vieweg and Son 1843.' Now comes a preface.”

”Let that go, too,” said Brasig. ”Begin at the beginning.”

”The heading runs in this way: 'SUBJECT' with a line underneath.”

”Well!” said Brasig. ”Go on!”

”'Organic Chemistry has for its purpose the investigation of the chemical conditions of life, and the complete development of all organisms.' Period.”

”What sort of things?” asked Brasig.

”All organisms,” said the schoolmaster.

”Well,” exclaimed Brasig, ”I have heard a great many outlandish words, but 'organisms,' organ---- Hold! Karl, don't you know 'Herr Orgon stood before his door,' that we used to learn by heart, with Pastor Behrens, out of Gellert? Do you suppose this organ can be any connection of his?”

”Let it go, for the present, Brasig, we don't understand it yet.”

”No? why not, Karl?” said his old friend, ”We can learn. You will see, this is a water-book; they always begin with something you can't understand. Go ahead!”

”'The existence of all living beings is carried on by the reception of certain materials into the system, which we call means of nourishment; they are expended by the organism for its own improvement and reproduction. Period.”

”The man is right there,” said Brasig; ”Means of nourishment belong to living beings, and”--taking the book out of Strull's hands, ”'they are expended by the organism,'--now I know what organism means; it means the stomach.”

”Yes,” said the schoolmaster, ”but then here is 'reproduction.'”

”Ah,” said Brasig, off hand, ”production! We have got used to that of late years; when I was a child, n.o.body knew anything about production; but now they call every bushel of wheat and every ox a production. It is only an ornamental way of speaking, that they may appear learned.”

So they went on for a little while, until the schoolmaster went home, and when he had gone, the two old friends sat together, quietly and trustfully,--for Brasig was to spend the night at Pumpelhagen,--until Habermann gave a deep sigh, and said:

”Ah, Zachary, I am afraid there are hard times coming for me.”

”Why so? Your young Herr is a lively, witty fellow; what amusing things he said about farming!”

”Yes, that is the very thing; you took it for jest, but he meant it for earnest.”

”He meant it for earnest?”

”Certainly he did. He has studied farming out of new-fas.h.i.+oned books, and they don't agree with our old ways, and though I should be very glad to understand the new methods, I can't do it, I haven't the requisite knowledge.”

”You are right there, Karl! See, the sciences always seem to me, like seafaring. When one has been used to it from a child, going up the mast, and out on the shrouds, he can do it when he is old without being dizzy-headed, and so a school-boy, who is trained in the sciences from his youth up, won't be dizzy either and can run out with ease, even in his old age, on any rope that science stretches out for him. Do you understand me, Karl?”

”I understand you. But we did not learn in our young days, and for dancing on such ropes,” pointing to the book, ”my old bones are too stiff. Ah, I would not say a word against it, he can farm in the new fas.h.i.+on, for all me, and I will help him to the best of my power; but this kind of farming needs a long purse, and that is something we haven't got. I supposed, at first, he would get something with his wife; but it couldn't have been much, for even the new equipage and the new furniture were ordered from Rahnstadt, and the first s.h.i.+lling is not yet paid for them.”