Part 20 (1/2)
”Do you care to come? It's not much longer that way,” said Larry.
”I might,” said the young man. Then looking doubtfully at his sister, ”You cannot come very well, Dorothea, can you?”
”No, that is, I'm afraid not,” she replied. She was a pretty girl with ma.s.ses of yellow hair, light blue eyes, a plump, kindly face and a timid manner. As she spoke she, true to her German training, evidently waited for an indication of her brother's desire.
”There are the cows, you know,” continued her brother.
”Yes, there are the cows,” her face clouding as she spoke.
”Oh, rot!” said Larry, ”you don't milk until evening, and we get back before tea. Come along.”
Still the girl hesitated. ”Well,” said her brother brusquely, ”do you want to come?”
She glanced timidly at his rather set face and then at Larry. ”I don't know. I am afraid that--”
”Oh, come along, Dorothea, do you hear me telling you? You will be in plenty of time and your brother will help you with the milking.”
”Ernest help! Oh, no!”
”Not on your life!” said that young man. ”I never milk. I haven't for years. Well, come along then,” he added in a grudging voice.
”That is fine,” said Larry. ”But, Dorothea, you ought to make him learn to milk. Why shouldn't he? The lazy beggar. Do you mean to say that he never helps with the milking?”
”Oh, never,” said Dorothea.
”Our men don't do women's work,” said Ernest. ”It is not the German way.
It is not fitting.”
”And what about women doing men's work?” said Larry. ”It seems to me I have seen German women at work in the fields up in the Settlement.”
”I have no doubt you have,” replied Ernest stiffly. ”It is the German custom.”
”You make me tired,” said Larry, ”the German custom indeed! Does that make it right?”
”For us, yes,” replied Ernest calmly.
”But you are Canadians, are you not? Are there to be different standards in Canada for different nationalities?”
”Oh, the Germans will follow the German way. Because it is German, and demonstrated through experience to be the best. Look at our people. Look at our prosperity at home, at our growth in population, at our wealth, at our expansion in industry and commerce abroad. Look at our social conditions and compare them with those in this country or in any other country in the world. Who will dare to say that German methods and German customs are not best, at least for Germans? But let us move a little faster, otherwise we shall never catch up with them.” He touched his splendid broncho into a sharp gallop, the other horses following more slowly behind.
”He is very German, my brother,” said Dorothea. ”He thinks he is Canadian, but he is not the same since he went over Home. He is talking all the time about Germany, Germany, Germany. I hate it.” Her blue eyes flashed fire and her usually timid voice vibrated with an intense feeling. Larry gazed at her in astonishment.
”You may look at me, Larry,” she cried. ”I am German but I do not like the German ways. I like the Canadian ways. The Germans treat their women like their cows. They feed them well, they keep them warm because--because--they have calves--I mean the cows--and the women have kids. I hate the German ways. Look at my mother. What is she in that house? Day and night she has worked, day and night, saving money--and what for? For Ernest. Running to wait on him and on Father and they never know it. It's women's work with us to wait on men, and that is the way in the Settlement up there. Look at your mother and you. Mein Gott!
I could kill them, those men!”
”Why, Dorothea, you amaze me. What's up with you? I never heard you talk like this. I never knew that you felt like this.”
”No, how could you know? Who would tell you? Not Ernest,” she replied bitterly.
”But, Dorothea, you are happy, are you not?”
”Happy, I was until I knew better, till two years ago when I saw your mother and you with her. Then Ernest came back thinking himself a German officer--he is an officer, you know--and the way he treated our mother and me!”