Month 93: Pages 152-153

This Month's Installment

Now Edith had to pull herself together in order not to laugh loudly.  "Do you have so little confidence in me, then?"

    The protruding lips curved; a short, gurgling tone came out from between them:  "Well, I mean one so... one so refined!"  And as if the matter began to be embarrassing for him, he turned to Hans again:  "I have read the book that the pastor gave me.  All well and good... very good even.  I just mean:  if dear God really holds His protecting hand over every good soldier, as it stands, then I wouldn't be lying here in this splash of water and the others wouldn't groan there in their beds.  But then the thing would stand wrong."

    "Of course, it is not meant like that, Adam, but rather:  no one is met by a bullet unless God has determined it."

    But Adam did not let himself be convinced so easily.  "hm, hm!"  And again he shook his head slowly, "the question is just this:  for whom does dear God determine it.  And for whom does He not determine it?  By which route do His troops march?  Does He look after the good ones?  Does He punish the evil doers?  Does he guide the bullet towards the head of the old man who has six children at home?  I have noticed nothing of it... absolutely nothing at all.  But I also do not understand it."

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    "No one understands it, Adam."

    "No, no, no one understands it.  But it was determined for me.  Hard.  Three at once.  Why?  God would know it!  I have always been an old sinner; that is the only thing that I know."

    "It is probably different:  God has the whole in mind:  the rescue of our Fatherland, and the individual whom the bullet meets is the sacrifice for the Fatherland.  Everything that is great and good is always achieved through sacrifice."

    "Good, then I am a sacrifice; I accept that; I have always told the others:  with the pastor, one can make himself understood.  If it is so, then I'll lie in the d----- splashing until the Lord God up there leads me onto dry ground again."

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I had to rephrase "keinen trifft die Kugel, die Gott nicht für ihn bestimmt hat" a bit in order to get a smooth English rendering.  Literally, it's something like "The bullet that God has not determined for him hits nobody," but I translated it as "no one is met by a bullet unless God has determined it."

I've been sick almost all month, and there was a whole week where I didn't do any translation work.  I'm slowly catching up, but I'm still a few days behind, so this month's installment may be a bit shorter than some others.

Month 92: Pages 150-152

This Month's Installment

The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

    He was still not convinced.  There came now so many who "participated"; it was become the fashion, even among the noble ladies.  The paid or professionally prepared were preferable to him.  He had his experiences.

    "You want to go through your practical course with us?"

    "I had already begun it in the Pronitten hospital, together with Miss Hanna Teichgräber, when this morning the Pastor came and informed me that I would be summoned to Rodenburg, to the congregation hospital of St. Nikolai."

    "And your father?"

    "Could not be kept, gave himself up, and did not rest until one took him."

    "What is he?"

    "Train station commander in Malkaymen."

    "In Malkaymen.  There he is indeed in the middle of the area of operations."

    "It will probably be so; I still have no news of him."

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    And as if she didn't want to let a rising worry come up:  "Maybe you are right if I sign up with your sister immediately."

    When they stept into the great hall, they found Dr. Moll with Else taking care of a few of the newly arrived.  Hans saw immediately that neither would be available soon.  He led Edith to the various beds and familiarized her with the people and their conditions.

    He led her to Kurt Thomas, the seventeen-year-old ensign who had received a severe shot in the head right in the first battle, over whose childlike, pure face with the quietly beatific smile, the white bandage lay like a halo.  To Klaus Dieckert, the robust Lithanian, whom they had wounded in the right arm, and who, despite medical prohibition, had already taken up exercises with his left so that even with it he could serve his Fatherland.  To Justus Liepmann, the Jewish assistant from Soldau, who with the big, wistful eyes and the full, chestnut brown beard in the suffering, pace face let Baruch Spinoza or Uriel Akosta come to life.

    He also went in the single room with her.

    "Well, finally!" said Nickelmann, who, quickly spoiled by his nurses and fellow patients, had already expected his entrance with impatience and lay in his waterbed under the brown blanket with the same comfort as yester-day.

    When Edith saw the bald head with the strips of beard hanging down on the protruding lips, she could not suppress a smile.  But he lookt at her for a while with his small, dropping eyes, questioning.  "Well, what's that then?"

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he askt the priest then in his unabashed way.

    "A new nurse, Adam, who is come to take care of you and the other patients."

    But his words, in which a clear rebuke lay, appeared to make little impression.  Again, a questioning look, a slow shaking of the bald pate:  "Well, if she will do her job?"

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

This may be obvious, but I'll point it out anyway:  in response to Hans' question ("You want to go through your practical course with us?"), Edith offers an equivocation, not an actual answer.  I think that this illustrates something of her character as one of those "who 'participated.'"

There's a bit of an ambiguity in "keine Nachricht von ihm."  I translated it as "no news of him," but I'm pretty sure that "no message from him" is also a valid translation.

I translated "wundgeschossen" as "wounded," but I think it also carries a nuance of having been shot.  It seems to be related to the verb schießen, "to shoot."

Month 91: Pages 148-150

This Month's Installment

As always, what's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

Else hadn't been out of her clothes in days.  But in the midst of all the grating activity, she remained the same:  friendly and kind to each of her patients and yet of an unbending definiteness.

    Also over in the lodge For the Golden Key the picture had become much more serious; the charming play of the views and flowers was at an end; now much moaning and groaning also sounded through these halls.

    Mrs. Lisa, however, showed that she had grown for the seriousness.  The strength and litheness of her youthful body let her overcome the difficulty of the unusual work; indeed, the hotter this was, the better it appeared to her.  So also the sunshine now came and went with her, passed like a sweet dream of home over the beds of the sorely tried men, played like a quiet smile of the flashing lips, a thankful brightening of half-opened eyes.

    Hans, however, stood behind neither

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the doctors nor the directors in devoted work.  Among the wounded were many whom he knew well.  He had set out to see him fresh in flourishing youth or in powerful manhood; he found him again miserable and infirm.  The horror of the war spoke to him with violent tongues.  Some, on whose bed he sat, told him about the battle that now raged out there, the one in a clear, coherent account, the other in short sentences repeatedly broken off by pain.

    The accounts and the local proximity let his finely organized mind experience everything as if he were standing in the middle of it.  He heard the rattling and clattering of the machine guns, the whistling of the bullets, the bursting of the salvos.  The lines thinned out; here fell one, struggled to his feet, dropt forwards with a last, desperate strength, fell down... there one was knocked to the ground, hard, hit like a piece of iron, and did not stand up again.  The grenades whistled, sprayed, banged, a hail of lead and fire.  Burr... burr... ratsch... ratsch... rrrr... bum..., so it rumbled and ran in his entire body.  And always his thoughts were on Fritz.  Where could he be now?

    Just now they brought one from his squadron.  "Our captain?  I saw him yester-day still in the middle of the fire.  Always up front; there it is no big deal to go with."

*   *   *

    "Miss von Barrnhoff?  Really!"

    He had actually not recognized her at first when she, in the gray uniform of the nurses, the bonnet on her head, stept into his office.  "Assigned to the community hospital as assistant, with

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orders to announce myself to Pastor Warsow of St. Nikolai."

    Through the importance of her words flashed the rascal; even in the uniform of the Samaritan, she had the aristocratic bearing that she never abandoned.

    "Well, you too!"  Yet at the same time suspicion stirred.  "Quite frankly, I had hardly expected it after your opinion back when I askt you about their assistance in our congregation."

    "Back then I justified my refusal to you.  Now everything is become different.  What appeared to me back then as dilettantism of work is now duty, necessity, even happiness."

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I couldn't think of a way to bring this into my translation, but the alliteration of "Blicke and Blumen" ("views and flowers") seems to add something to the beauty of the "anmutige Spiel" ("charming play").

There are two firsts in this section:  onomatopoeia ("Burr... burr... ratsch... ratsch..."), which I left as is, and a lighter narrative break than a chapter division (* * *).

Month 90: Pages 146-148

This Month's Installment

As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

The more deeply he was gript by the significance of this day, by all of his belief and hope in the surpassing unity of his people, the more freely and powerfully the word flowed from his lips.  He did not need to form it at all; he just gave expression to what lay there ready and prepared in his heart; he had to speak because the urge of his heart forced him.  He had always been able only to form the experience, but now he experienced everything with a sincerity of sorrow, with a fervor of enthusiasm, of which he had hardly had an idea until now.  The whole extent and meaning of his duty were wrapt up in these last few days for him.  All doubts as such and all hesitating had given way; he was happy to be allowed to work in his beloved home province in this difficult time.

    After those first victories, one heard nothing at all from the east border.  But here Hans was of good confidence.  And if ever a doubt of impatience wanted to stir in him, then Fritz's image stood before his soul, the bright courage and the firm will to win with which he had gone out

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and which had indelibly imprinted itself on him.

    Then came the news of the outrageous horrors that occur in Belgium.  Just as in the whole German empire, also in Rodenburg they set off an unrestrained bitterness, but it affected no one as much as Hans.

    He could not grasp it that a Christian, a related people for whom he had always had a special love, whose rich art treasures from east of the Rheinland he visited, that such a people was capable of this dreadful barbarity.  What shockt the others became for him a pain that ate deeper and deeper.

    Else saw the grief that undermined him and understood it because she knew his nature and his disposition.  He, however, threw himself into his work with doubled energy.  The activity in the military hospitals, which were still in little demand, did not fill his time, so he dedicated himself to the care of the poor; he called on them in their need; he became a comforter and helper for them.

    A card from Fritz arrived.  "We have had very strenuous marches," he wrote, "often forty kilometers per day.  But I am healthy and have a cheerful confidence of victory."

    At the same time, however, a serious piece of news came, spread from mouth to mouth, and cut through the city like a hawk's cry:  the Germans had been involved with a dreadful Russian superior.  A few wounded, who arrived, confirmed the rumor:  their comrades fought with incredible bravery; they had even won a victory, but like a flood, new armies always rolled over them.  When one was shot down, ten more would immediately stand up in his place.  The casualties that the

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Germans had taken were inexpressible.  Especially the Rodenburg regiments, the infantry, but also several batteries of the artillery had been in the most severe rain of shells.  They had stood like the wall, but their rows had been severely thinned out by the fire that the enemy fired from secured fortifications.

    The rumor swelled; the carriers of the wounded became greater; the hospitals filled; the doctors and nurses could hardly manage the work; day and night there was operating, bandaging, tending.

    In the association building there were only a few beds still free.  Dr. Moll, the leading doctor, ate neither at noon nor in the evening; he wasn't at home at all anymore.

Month 89: Pages 144-146

This Month's Installment

The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

    Now Hans also made his first visit in the lodge "For the Golden Key."

    In a simple but flattering blue linen dress, the white bonnet on the crown of the thick, wavy hair, the arm band with the red cross around her arm, up to him walkt the director:  Mrs. Lisa Stoltzmann.  On her soft cheeks lay a rosy shimmer; the attractive face shone in the consciousness of the new rank.  She had always possessed the beautiful quality of making the best of everything that she started; her rhenish temperament never saw even the deepest severity without a beam of light.

    The number of patients here was even smaller than in the association building and, for the most part, consisted of officers.  All the more could Mrs. Lisa take care of the individuals.  She went from bed to bed, from chair to chair.  She askt every one about his wishes, got hold of the books he wanted, took dictation for letters to wife or mother, which she wrote with such swiftness that the word could hardly keep up with her handwriting.  And the thoughts just went out from the dictating one, then she immediately supplemented so kindly and appropriately that every one thought:  he would have never been able to do it so well himself; that would particularly please his wife.

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    And all of these patients, whether they were young or old, married or single, whether their wounds were light or severe, one thing was common to them:  a boundless fanaticism for their caring, constantly cheerful guardian.  And because they did not dare speak to her face-to-face, they gave their admiration in eloquent glances and delicate bundles of flowers, which they gave with words and sent to her in the house, a quiet expression.  Mrs. Lisa probably caught on then but put up with it.

    She greeted Hans with sincere joy.  "How nice of you, that you also look after us!" she said.  "We have already waited for you longingly and just had a very serious word with the government here.  You will also hold devotions for us as in the association building over there - right?  There you have Thursdays in mind; would Fridays with us be good for you?  Here in the great hall so that all, even the bed-ridden, can hear you.  I will get everything ready with dignity."

    Now she led him to the individual patients.  They received him warmly and thanked him for his visit.  But very soon he noticed that he and his words interested the men less than the beautiful women who accompanied him.  And laughed in the quiet and thought:  If only they find a bit of perking up in their difficult position, no matter who brings it to them!  And lookt not askance nor grudged them their innocent pleasure.

    Messages of victory came from the west, one followed an-other, as thick as hail they fell.  Liège was taken in the storm.  With a swiftness like one never dreamed, the conquering German foot stept

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into Belgium; the iron fist smashed one fortress after an-other.

    A strong charge went through the people; after the war had just begun, the sun of victory already shone.

    Hans was pulled away by the general movement.  Wonders and signs seemed to happen; God, Who did not let Himself be mocked, kept His protecting hand over the just cause.  No drowning praise, no premature jubilation, but humble, fervent gratitude flowed out of the sermons that Hans Warsow preached in St. Nikolai.  It had been little at first.  But they had caught on.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I think there's a bit of innuendo in "Wenn sie in ihrer schweren Lage nur einige Aufrichtung finden, gleichviel wer sie ihnen bringt!"  "Aufrichtung" can mean encouragement or consolation, but it can also mean erection, which also seems to fit since the previous sentence mentions the "beautiful woman" walking by.  I tried to keep this ambiguity in my translation and rendered "Aufrichtung" as "perking up."

This is the entirety of chapter thirty and the beginning of chapter thirty-one.

Month 88: Pages 142-144

This Month's Installment

The italicized part is what I'm unsure about.

    The first skirmish at the border.  A few more violent battles followed and were victories for the Germans.  The parish hall and the lodge "For the Golden Key," both having made subject to their purpose with an astonishing rush, stept into action.

    The number of the wounded was only a few.  Still, Else, because she was alone, had enough to do.  But she carried out her work with the circumspection and composure that so far her feminine activity in all areas had been known for.  Already her manner of dealing with the sick, this soft, calm, yet quite determined manner had a reassuring and easing effect on the people.

    Hans stood faithfully at her side.  With more rigorous will power, he had made into reality the intention that he formed after Fritz's departure.  In serious reckoning with himself, he had drawn a line behind a big part of his past life.  The mentality with which he had until now consecrated his whole being was now only the root from which sprung the fruit:  the deed.  Only it was able to count.

    In the temporary military hospital of the association building, some activity was already taking shape.  The lightly wounded sat upright in their beds, read or wrote short cards to their relatives; a few had even stood up, played cards or checkers and talkt enthusiastically about the political situation.  To talk with them was an easy task, they were cheerful and, despite the first-rate care that was given to them here, were itching

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only to come before the enemy again as soon as possible.

    "Just let yourself get well, dear friend," Hans said to a sturdy cavalryman, who got a shot in the leg and limped on a crutch with difficulty, "in four weeks, if everything goes well, then you can go back into the field!"

    "What!?" cried the man and lookt at him quite aghast.  "I still have to wait four weeks?  You can't be serious, Pastor!"

    But there were also already a few heavily wounded, who, groaning and often screaming because of the pains, writhed in their beds.  Hans spoke with them in the light and pain-free moments and was glad for the bravery and the strength with which they took their sufferings for the Fatherland upon themselves.

    One especially stirred up his admiration.  It was one not much younger infantry man from Berlin, named Adam, who had sustained a serious internal injury because of a piece of shrapnel and now had to lie the whole day in a tub full of warm running water.

    But he felt so well in his wet element and carried his suffering with such humor that from his side room he often talkt with the others in the large hall and he knew how to pick up and amuse even the dejected with just the right jokes.  With his bald head, the thin, black moustache hanging down on both sides, the small, dripping eyes, and the exposed, short neck, he, sticking out of the tub covered with a brown towel, lookt like one of the mythical sea creatures and was christened "Nickelmann" by Else.  Since then, no one called him anything else, and his little cell

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was constantly packt with comrades to whom he proclaimed from his riverbed in philosophical composure his worldly wisdom and in his dry way encouraged comfort and courage.

    But he preferred to have with him the pastor, who "understood" him, as he said, the best, and with him he could have a little "more cultured" conversation than with the others.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

In the phrase "A few more violent battles," "more" goes with "violent" to form a comparative adjective (in the original text, it's "heftigere").  It's "a few battles that were more violent," not "a few more battles that were violent."

I held back a few sentences from the next chapter so that what's above is the entirety of chapter twenty-nine.

Month 87: Pages 140-142

This Month's Installment

The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

 "Before, such rubbish was from evil, now it is a deadly sin; we have more important things to do," he said to the second mayor Kernstock, an older man, who held to the traditions and considered the routine as a blessing.  He himself had a stubborn capacity for work and demanded it from his co-workers and employees, but he was objective in everything and always fair.  They knew it and followed him gladly, even when he required much.  "Few words and many deeds!" was his solution.

    The meetings that with his predecessor lasted the whole morning were dealt with in two hours when it came to him, but twice as much was done in them.  Only under special circumstances were conferences with the individual departments allowed to extend more than five minutes.  That was known to everyone, and he had to follow it.

    Hans Warsow had just sat down to work on a war-time devotion when the mayor's visit was announced to him.

    "I have come in order to discuss a few necessary things with you.  It is essential that we work together in this difficult time.  Every splinter must be eliminated.  State and city, church and independent clubs, all must pull on the same rope.  Above all, it is necessary to bring every sort of act of love under one hat.  You have an association for the poor in your community to which now great tasks fall.  It must, of course, adjust to the whole thing.  We, I mean,

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give by ourselves with no backing, so far as it concerns your community, without us agreeing with you.  You do the same."

    "I agree."

    "Then the second:  the care of the wounded.  Surely we will receive many from the eastern battlefield, especially the severely wounded who cannot be brought far.  I was askt by the military authority and have placed a number of beds at its disposal, which I hope to increase considerably.  Our city military hospital is of course not enough.  A few private clinics and both lodges are already set up-"

    "I thought also of our new association building," said Hans, "it is spacious and would be suitable for use as a military hospital, the great hall for the regular soldiers, the side rooms for officers or individual care."

    "That's just what I was thinking.  Your sister would take over the administration there and look after the helpers; the medical administration should, as I just now heard, receive Doctor Moll - you know him, he is one of our best chirurgeons.  My wife, who took a Samaritan class in Königsberg, took over the lodge "For the Golden Key"... By the way, you look bad.  But that helps nothing now.  We must all get down to it, unto the last.  Healthy is the one who cannot leave his work, only he who has little to do is sick.  Goodbye, I have a meeting in city hall."

    Hans had to smile.  Now he dealt with him exactly as with the officers who were placed under him.  Without asking and hearing!  But it

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was rightly so for him, he followed gladly where he met real ability.  And in a time like this, there was only orders and obeying.  Everything else hindered and delayed.

Commentary/Grammatical Minutiae

According to my dictionary, "an demselben Strange ziehen" is an idiom that means "join forces."  I maintained its literal meaning, however, and translated it as "pull on the same rope."

I don't know if it's a significant detail, but I feel I should note that the "helpers" in "Your sister would take over the administration there and look after the helpers" is feminine ("die Helferinnen").

This is the end of chapter twenty-eight.

Month 86: Pages 138-140

This Month's Installment

    "I can hardly come to it, my time is up."

    There was a pale appearance around her face.

    "I would like to leave behind a little keepsake for you, Miss Hanna," he said, and it was the first time that he called her by her first name.  "Would it be a joy for you if I ordered that book, the history of my regiment, for you?"

    "You could never do a greater thing for me."

    In her words lay her soul, and it spoke to him, melancholic and jubilant at the same time.

    "Then I will order it for you immediately."

    They were very near the house; she remained standing close to the pipewort arbor.

    "I have something else that I would like to say to you, that I must say to you," and again the words came from her lips haltingly and with difficulty.  "You said earlier that in this war there would be only one for you:  victory or dying!"

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    "Quite right.  It is also the title of my book."

    "But something else would be possible."

    "You mean to fall, living, into the hands of the enemy!  No, that will never happen, that is taken care of."

    "One could be wounded."

    "One must also bear that, although it is a much heavier thought than death is."

    "It doesn't need to be a serious wound, it could be a mild one.  But no matter if serious or mild, would you fulfill a great wish for me?"

    He guessed her question:  "You mean, I should then come over there to your military hospital, you wanted to give me an appetite for that already through friendly guidance."

    "That's what I meant, but not over there, but rather here with us in the parsonage.  And you promise it, don't you?"

    "Of course, although, quite frankly, I'd prefer not to make use of your friendly offer."

    A short farewell yet from the pastor's wife, an affectionate word of blessing from the old man.  Then Fritz Warsow rode at the top of his speed over the coarse pavement of Pronitten out into the field.

    Now was it become silent in Rodenburg.  Life in the streets fell silent, the businesses saw only a tired traffic, the inns stood empty, and the houses were closed early.  That was the outer face that the city showed.  Inside, however, there was restless activity.  Dr. Stoltzman, who

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recently received his appointment to mayor, was now quite in his place.

    He gave his orders without any long-winded-ness.  All bureaucratic frills had always been hateful to him.

Commentary/Grammatical Minutiae

Not much to say this month.  This is the end of chapter twenty-seven and the beginning of chapter twenty-eight.

Month 85: Pages 136-138

This Month's Installment

As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

    "Happy and optimistic, as I see."

    "Happy and optimistic!" he repeated.  "The belief in victory is victory.  And we all have that!"

    "And no fear at all - not even a little bit?"

    "Fear? The word isn't in the dictionary of a Prussian soldier."  But as if he had concern to appear glorious:  "Admittedly, how it will feel later out there, when the bullets are whistling around one and the grenades are bursting, one can't know that yet to-day.  One just has to wait for that.  But fear it will definitely not be!  Of that I am certain...  It is so simple:  Triumph or die!  It couldn't

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be anything else at all.  And is death really to be feared?  We all have to go some time!"

    Again he paused a moment and then continued, becoming more serious:  "A few years ago, I was occupied with a beautiful job:  I had the assignment to write the history of my regiment.  It was no easy task, at first I had imagined it would not be so difficult.  But the further I progressed the more I felt that it brought the greatest benefit to me.  I got to know the heroes who one served this regiment, who had given blood and life for its flag.  To learn from history and from the lives of great men is probably the only school that brings us fruit.  To his book I have added a foreword, I have done it out of deepest conviction, and since then it has become more central to me, no longer a byword of my book but rather of my life."

    "And this word? she askt with a quiet hesitation.

    "And old song:

No lovelier death in this world

Than he who is killed by the enemy,

On green heath in a free field,

Needs not to hear great wailing."

    They were walking very slowly.  A hot shimmering was in the air, the trees stood motionless, not a leaf stirred.

    "A beautiful saying," she said after a long pause.  "But there is also something in it that depresses.  What then can we do here inside?"

    "Work in the silence and heal wounds!"

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    "We want that.  But of course, it is only very little, shamefully little compared to what you do out there."

    "In this time, probably no one keeps track of who gives more and who receives more.  Love is love, whether it is able to do much or little.  If it only gives what it can!"  And now in a visible effort to lend a higher tone to the conversation:  "You were always practiced in Samaritan duties."

    "You have kidded me about it often enough.  But not completely rightly, as I hope.  Our schoolhouse over there has already been made into a military hospital, also the upper floor of the parsonage has been set up for taking in the wounded, you must see it yourself later."

Month 84: Pages 134-136

This Month's Installment

As always, the italicized part is what I'm unsure about.

Bad enough that one could not go out at least as a chaplain to encourage the soldiers,

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and to comfort and take care of the wounded.  I was at the town hall yester-day-"

    "You wanted to come too?" askt Fritz, full of amazement.

    "Certainly I wanted to.  But they absolutely refused it.  I would be indispensable here, I had to be content with that."

    "You will do good here too.  I'm completely sure of it."

    "I will not be idle.  That is the only comfort that remains for me."

    This day a completely new agreement between the two brothers was sealed.  Quite wonderful, said Hans to himself, what everything enables to-day.  They give new meaning not only to the matters but also to the people and our whole relationship to them.

    In the early morning of the next day, Fritz moved out with his soldiers.  For Hans, however, the hours that Fritz stayed in his house were become hours of incomparable benefit.  I had never previously thought I would ever go to school with him, he said to himself, and now he is become a good teacher for me!

    And it became again happy and free in him.

    Meanwhile, Fritz went out into the dawning morning that was blossoming in the dull blue sky and filled the quiet world with its triumphant light.

    The next stop he had to take a short meal was Pronitten; from there on out, there was then a long march straight through the country to the staging grounds of the troops.  He still would have liked to ride close to Bärwalde for a moment, but he had no time for this.

    Tired and sleepy lay the large parish garden in the heat of the morning.  A few white moths

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glided slowly over the flowerbeds there, the buzzing of the bees that drowsily flew from blossom to blossom was the only sound in the stifling loneliness.

    He didn't need to look for long.  Through the high shrubs of the beans over there, where the vegetable garden was positioned, he saw a woman's dress shimmering; now he was at her side, so quickly that she had not noticed his coming at all and became aware of him only through the jingle of his spurs as he stood close by her.  A slight shock went through her body, but a bright joy shone out of her face towards him.

    "How nice that you have come once again!" she said in her winning manner and shook his hand.

    "Yes," he replied, "what you still did not want to believe back then is now here.  A few minutes more, then I move out from here with my troops to the assembly point.  And then we face the enemy."

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I translated "Sammlungsort" as "staging grounds," but literally, it's something like "collection place."

I don't know if "the high shrubs of the beans" really makes any sense, but it's the best I could come up with.

This is the end of chapter twenty-six and the beginning of chapter twenty-seven.

Month 83: Pages 132-134

This Month's Installation

As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

     As she sat down to breakfast with him, Hans came, who had had work to do in the church and then had made a hospital visit.  His joy was no less affectionate when he saw Fritz in the gray cavalry uniform before him.

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     "I had already given up on being able to shake your hand again, but now here we are.  How happy I am about it!"

     With a splendid appetite, Fritz ate the beautiful Bärwalder sausage that the Hutemach had sent just to-day.

     "What do you think of the situation, then?" Hans askt.

     "Good.  The Russians will make us work here.  But we will force them.  It is, however, a pleasant duty now, with the sword in hand, to be able to defend these East Prussians, who have come to mean so much."

     "We have many enemies."

     "Certainly.  But they fight because they must.  With us, the simplest train conductor knows what it's about.  That's the difference."

     Hans glanced over at Fritz.  He had always liked him, yet sometimes he had probably not assessed him highly enough.  There he sat across from him and was of such great confidence and of such cheerful courage and ate his sausage and his ham without any scruple and thought, like his best days in Bärwalde.  And yet he was about to go into battle and give his life into death.

     Finally, Fritz was finished with his breakfast.  He gave a few instructions to an under-officer who waited outside and then stept back into the room.  Else was gone into the kitchen to make arrangements for the billeted squad's meal.  The two brothers were alone.

     "Things haven't been going well for you, Hans?" Fritz askt, and the old, heartfelt concern that he had always had for his older brother spoke out of his words.

     "It's not worth talking about.  It was more so

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a sort of spiritual pressure, too much was rushing at me.  But that is long past."

     "I have often thought about you now.  It was perhaps not so untrue what Edith once thought."

     "Edith?" replied Hans, and something irritated was in his question.  "What did she think?"

     "That it would be one's own thing to build his life completely on the spiritual."

     "Indeed she must know that well!  Only through the spiritual are we become what we are."

     "Quite right.  In the soul lay characteristics through which one wins or loses battles, a great general from 1870 said something like that.  Now we will see whether that which was sown in it during the long peacetime will bring the fruits that we need out there:  the act of will power and the strength for victory that flow only out of a pure conscience."

     Again, Hans lookt at his brother.  And for him it was as if he saw him now with completely different eyes, yes, as if he saw him for the first time in his life.  What he spoke then sounded so clever and thought through, it was the same thing that he said over and over to himself now in many a sleepless night, it was the new and overwhelming knowledge that came to him during these few days.  And with what delicate consideration and care he expressed it to him!  With that certain respect that he had always shown for his older brother and his actions and that even now, where he was of a different opinion, he did not deny.  He stood up and gave Fritz his hand:  "You are right, dear man.  The time of thinking and brooding is past, that of action is come.  You who are setting out are the heroes.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I couldn't find an exact translation for "Schlachtenlenker," but it's obviously a combination of "Schlachten" (battles) and "Lenker" (ruler or pilot), so I translated it as "general."

Month 82: Pages 131-132

This Month's Installment

The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

Until yester-day, I workt in the command headquarters in Königsberg.  How everything went well and was in good form!  It was a joy."

     "And even now you are come to us!"

     He laughed: "Oh, you mean to dismiss me solemnly!  No, my good little old lady, as laudable and proper as that would be, the war leaves us no time for that.  I am, of course, here on official business.  Last night, I took a train of soldiers from Königsberg, we are billetted here until to-morrow.  You will also receive yet an-other man."

     "It should be good to have your people with me!"

     "I want to believe that.  They are splendid guys!  But when they have to wait so long for a snack, like their captain..."

     "I didn't think of that!  Pardon me, I just want to fetch Hans, then I'll make everything ready."

     But he called back to her again.  "How is it with Hans, then?" he askt.

     A shadow flew over her face.  "He has had a very difficult trip home."

     "I heard about the story.  Unbelievable!  That's how they do it!  But after all... we are living in a war now.  And a thing like that forces itself."

     "Then he arrived here quite exhausted just an hour before the mobilization and without any break had to throw himself into a breathless activity.  Everyone came to him.  One saw rightly what love and what confidence they showed in him."

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     "That is nice and must have lifted him up."

     "So it did.  He preached like I have never heard him before.  Then it went from one official act to an-other, I barely saw him at meals."

     "Good for him, who now has something to do!"

     "But you know how all of that touches him internally.  It was always his weakness and his strength at the same time, good for others because he gives to them from his whole soul, consuming for him."

     "Now we all must more or less consume ourselves, we owe it to the Fatherland."

     "He said the same thing.  And everything was going very well - until England's declaration of war came."

     "Why the devil does that band of grocers worry him?"

     "That's not it at all.  It's something else.  He doesn't talk about it, but I know it.  His whole philosophy of life, the Christian foundation on which he built until now, has begun to waver.  Two worlds are wrestling in him:  the old, which he built on the foundation of his spiritual activity in long times of peace that has now collapsed in ruins, and the new, in which he should find himself."

     The maid came and said that there were soldiers downstairs in the hall who showed a billeting note.

     Now Else had plenty to do.  But she did it all quickly, she was not allowed to lose any of the precious time that she could still be together with Fritz.