Pages 204-205

This Month's Installment

    "Right, Hanna, thus we both separate, firmly and gladly and happily, whatever happens."

    "Yes," she replied quietly, "thus we separate, firmly and gladly and happily."

    Now there was something strong and resolute in her face again, which had attracted his attention at the time of their first meeting here in the pipe leaf arbor and which he had so loved in her since then.  No further syllable was spoken, no kiss exchanged, the hour was too holy, too serious for that.  Nothing had happened but that in this difficult, holy time, the young tendrils had entangled themselves into a great love, firm and untearable, in faithfulness until death.

    But even when they spoke about death, as lovers always do and as these days brought about as something natural, in truth, neither thought about death.  Nothing was in them but a warm, insurmountable feeling of life,

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nothing but the blissful consciousness of one being in the other and remaining in him, even if he went into the bloody war to-morrow or the day after to-morrow and she cared for her wounded here in the quiet parsonage.

    He had lowered himself onto a bench; the standing had weakened him even more than he wanted to let himself notice.  "Everything will be well once I am out there again," he said, "especially now when I feel so strong, so happy."

Pages 203-204

[I was without electricity for nearly six full days and was unable to post this on time.  I'm five days late, but I'm back-dating the post.  With little else to do without power, I workt on catching up, and while I made considerable progress, I'm still a couple weeks behind.]

This Month's Installment

    "The thought came to me quite vaguely when the grenades whistled around me for the first time and then never again.  Then, I always thought only:  Forwards!"

    "And are you also thinking the same thing now..."

    "Yes.  Can you blame me?  It can go better for me nowhere than here.  I have the fresh country air, a comfortable bed - that for nights I no longer knew - I have you for a nurse.  But everything that was otherwise dear and valuable to me pesters me here.  The country quiet, which was a refreshment earlier, begins to press all of a sudden; I shouldn't have promised the physician two days; I should have gone to-day yet, to-morrow at the latest."

    She had pulled herself together until now, but now she appeared hurt.  "Go then!  Don't you have a horse?  The grandfather will drive you to the train station with his wagon, provided that it is still running."

    He noticed that she had become ill.  "No," he said with considerable warmth and yet very definitely, "you may not speak to me that way!  You think much too healthy and much too German, just what I have always liked in you.  We may not allow anything personal now, neither you nor I.  To-day, only the Fatherland, the cause, lives and speaks."

    She reached out to him.  "Forgive me; I was simply unjust and petty.  It has passed."

    Her eye lingered on his face with a quiet sparkle.  "I wanted to have you like this!  Thank you; now everything is good."

    He still held her hand in his and continued:

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"You know words are not my thing.  Indeed, I do not need to tell you; you feel it as I do, Hanna, that in the not very long time in which I have known you, you have come to mean much to me.  If it didn't concern such a holy cause, the farewell would become difficult for me.  Perhaps I wouldn't come to you at all.  But let me take along one thing in the battle that now waits for me again:  the awareness that I am also become something to you, so that when I have to return again"- he released his hand from hers and broke off; he wanted to say nothing more in this hour.

    But she stood there, incapable of any word, her eye a little stunned and yet full of a warm, proud light directed at him.

Pages 202-203

This Month's Installment

I'm still behind, so this is still shorter than usual.  What's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

    After eating, Fritz was not to be moved, to lay himself again on his rest bed.  "I must gradually practice," he said and askt Hanna to take a short turn with him through the garden.

    "So that your stronger arm upholds me, if it should not go alone," he added jokingly.

    But it went very well; even without her help, one noticed how good the movement was for him after the days-long resting.

    "I shouldn't have left the field at all, despite all doctors.  But in the end, they certainly aren't what has me on this walk but rather the wish, after the exhausting battle, to say good day to you once."

    She laughed.  "You have really become healthy alarmingly quickly so that you are already making your jokes now."

    "You're right.  It is a joke.  In the field, one thinks about nothing of the sort."

    "What then does one think about in the field?"

    "On that which one hits."

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    "On nothing else?  Not even that one could fall?"

Pages 201-202

This Month's Installment

I'm still behind, but I've been catching up some.

    "It was not directed straight at you, Miss Hanna," said Fritz, a little embarrassed; "but it doesn't matter.  You understand it best of all....  So when, Doctor?"

    "At the earliest, in four days."

    "In two," replied Fritz firmly, "despite your powerful maxims:  in two!  To-day yet, for my sake also still to-morrow.  But the day after to-morrow, no power in the world will hold me any longer."

    "Then I, as a physician, refuse any responsibility."

    "And I, as a soldier, cannot take them upon myself if I stay even just one hour longer.  Or

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do you mean I would want to fall defenseless into the hands of the Russians here one day and to be chased from Perm out of the wider course of the war?"

    He saw Hanna's frightened eyes and stopt quickly.

    "What is he saying there about the hands of the Russians and about Perm?" she turned to the physician.

    "Nothing, Miss Hanna.  The captain is in a bad mood to-day.  I fear a little bit of fever is still stuck in his limbs; such wounds bring that with themselves, even if they are otherwise not dangerous."

Grammatical Minutia

I'm not sure if I correctly understood "von Perm."  I translated it as "from Perm," assuming that Perm is a city, but it could also be "by Perm," if Perm is the name of a character.  Maybe I'll learn more as I progress.

Pages 200-201

This Month's Installment

I've been focusing on some other projects lately and got even further behind in translating than I was already, so this month's installment is a bit shorter.

    "Much longer, Pastor, as long as the war lasts!  Let the others

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be shot dead for the Fatherland!  Let the lame and the crippled limp out of here on their wooden legs or crawl on all fours into the firing line; as the doctor says, I'm sitting pretty here and let myself be taken care of and pampered... is it right like this!?"

    His patience was torn; he spoke with severe scorn.  "God knows, had I suspected that one would make me a prisoner here, I would never have come into this parish garden, harbored in peace; I would have rested in some army field hospital and then gone after the enemy again!"

    "I see, I see... are you so little satisfied with your hospital, Captain?  Have we done our business so poorly?"

    A young girl in a simple calico dress had come out of the house with a bowl full of pears and a plate of light cookies, had placed fruit and cake on the table, and, with eyes in the brownish, place face that wanted to appear naughty and yet were not able to, lookt at the one lying down.  "So, 'a prisoner'!  And 'some army field hospital' - that was indeed said very friendly.  Good that our other patients inside are more content with us."

Commentary

I translated "böse" as "naughty" ("eyes... that wanted to appear naughty"), but I'm not sure this is the best word choice.  Evil and wicked are other possibilities, but these seemed too strong for the context.

Pages 199-200

This Month's Installment

    "It was that bath given for her illness, but I would not have received her for the farther voyage if the clever Miss Hanna were not firmly at my side.

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    "She will be a good prop for the old man.  Of course, she has enough to do with her wounded, to whom I myself am now also joined."

    The physician was silent for a moment.  "Nevertheless I will speak with her to-morrow if it would not be more suitable to pass her wounded on, perhaps to Rodenburg."

    "Hm, hm!  Then you see the case here as so serious?"

    "An early prevention doesn't hurt."

    "But the red cross up there-"

    "Who tells us that the Russians will respect it?"

    The pastor was taken aback.  "Now, is our ward still so impatient?" he askt in his kind way.  "Or have you calmed him down a bit, Doctor?"

    "With these people there is nothing to start.  They all burn to let themselves be devoured by the fire.  They prefer to have limped on one leg or crawled back on all fours."

    The old man had listened with only little attention.  "Yet it is wonderful-" he said and then broke off.

    "What is wonderful, Pastor?" askt Fritz.

    "Oh, nothing - the man who was just with me has a brother here in our area, barely three miles away and stands his ground firmly and rigidly- but no, why should one repeat that!?  It is idle hogwash; this war has stampt out millions of brave warriors from the earth, but it has also mobilized a whole army of old wives.  Now then, you are sitting pretty with us, right, Captain, and not going before our good doctor allows it?"

Pages 198-199

This Month's Installment

I still haven't caught up from last month (in fact, I think I fell behind a bit more), so this may still be shorter than usual.

    "Not quite so quickly?  But more than that.  What do you think one goes through when one knows:  here in your nearest proximity your comrades fight in life and death, and you sun yourself on a deckchair on account of a little thing!

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For becoming mad is much worse than the little inconvenience that the wound prepares for one!"

    The maid came and called the pastor to a visit in the house.  As if he had waited for this moment, Fritz turned quickly to the physician:  "The Russians are standing at the door.  You need not deceive me, Doctor; I know it as well as you."

    "My colleague in Metgetken told me to-day on the telephone that his entire circle has already fled and Russians squadrons would have invaded a few places."

    "It is very well possible," Fritz replied calmly, "it is a matter of a few units whose breakthrough we could not hinder with the vast superiority."

    "I have deliberately said nothing.  An imminent danger probably does not threaten us yet in Pronitten, and should it enter - in any case, I would not like to excite the old gentleman needlessly."

    "It would also have no point; he would, as far as I know him, never go, and you have already taken the pastor's wife to safety."

    "She also did not want to; she refused with such a tenacity that with her fear, I had been barely capable of making her leave her husband.  But as a result of her interior agitation, her suffering made such progress that her remaining here was no longer possible."

    "She had left just before my arrival, to Wiesbaden.  Right?"

Pages 197-198

This Month's Installment

I was sick for about a week and haven't caught up yet, so this is a bit shorter than normal.

    On the parsonage the white flag with the red cross waved widely visible.  For the few

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wounded, who had arrived here until now and were willingly taken care of by Hanna and the district nurse, the large room was enough temporarily, along with a smaller one that had been set up on the first floor.  Only later, when the number increased, should the school house be taken for help, which was near the parsonage, separated only by the garden.

    Between the large garden veranda and the pipeleaf arbor, where the sun had the most free access, stood a comfortable deckchair, and on it rested a wounded officer in his field uniform, the large, gray coat spread over his feet.

    "The healing proceeds more quickly than I assumed.  Indeed, it happens more often with this sort of injury where no bone is affected; the arm is also coming along well."

    Doctor Robinson, resident district physician in Pronitten, a figure of Herculean physique, whose chief characteristics - energy and childlike goodnaturedness - one read immediately by sight, said it half to Fritz, half turning to the old pastor who stood on the head side of the wounded and read the words from the physician's lips.

    "That is good news that you bring me, Doctor!  Then I can go back to my unit on the quickest way and need not lie here on the bearskin."

    "Well, you will indeed not have it quite so quickly, Captain."

Pages 196-197

This Month's Installment

What's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

But I say to myself:  only while we at that time in the quiet of peacetime cared for the spiritual things, while we with earnest zeal planted moral and religious strengths in the souls, we made our people strong in order to lift ourselves now to such a unanimous magnificence that we give strength to the one staying behind to build the places of culture and of love in the midst of a destructive war."

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    He remained standing, as if he expected that she would finally say something to him, only one word to break the ice that lay between them.  She raised her head from the ground; a faint wince ran over her lips.  But she stayed silent; the released word did not fall.

    They had continued on the way and reached their destination.  Edith disappeared into the interior of the large parish hall, and he trod the path to the city military hospital.  But his thoughts were with her and with that which they had just spoken with one an-other.

    There is something in her that is not to be broken, he said to himself, a pride or perhaps a reserve that will never concede that she is wrong.  Even all her suffering and the difficult time change nothing about it.  What actually changes a person!? - Thus we will probably disperse ourselves into all eternity!

    Full and warm lay the sun of the later summer over the Pronitter parish garden.  She spread her beaming hands over the paths and lawns; she broke through with attractive seeking in every thicket, on every patch; she played with golden lights on every tree trunk there, sat pleasantly on every full, dark leaf, took the weary ones gliding to earth in her soft arms, and sunned the dying yet with their brilliance; she filled everything with peace and with pleasure.  It was as if there in the great, wide world, there was nothing else but light and brightness, as if the heavy war, which played out here in the nearest vicinity, was only a pressing dream out of which one was now awakened to a new, beautiful day.

This is the end of chapter thirty-five and the beginning of chapter thirty-six.

Pages 195-196

This Month's Installment

I've been under the weather lately and fell behind a bit, so this may be shorter than usual.

    "In this difficult time I think everyone must

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serve his fatherland with the gifts that God has given him.  What one does and how he does it he must settle with his conscience.  But no one is superfluous who is inspired by the serious will to help in this holy need.  That is my comfort and my foothold when the old inclination to brooding and hesitating comes over me.  And then when I see what a sincere word means to the people, when I may thus stand up, just as before, and speak to these homeless refugees, when I see the quiet lighting up of their eyes and the security slowly returning to their distraught faces, then it also becomes calmer and more secure in me; I no longer quarrel with the feeling of my superfluousness and try to be content with the post that is conferred to me for this time, even if it may be only small and insignificant.  No, pardon me that I repeat it, but it is become a firm conviction for me:  You were wrong when you crushed the staff over us poor knights of the Spirit."

    "It was a different time then," she said now for the first time.

    "Certainly it was.  And to-day, I still place the simple musketeer who surrenders his life to the enemy every day higher than the most profound man who gives the most enthusiastic speeches or sermons.

Pages 194-195

This Month's Installment

    "A difficult fate.  But in the end, what is this all, even devotion to the dearest property, against the loss of a person?"

    He noticed that

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her thoughts were on her father.  But he said nothing because he knew that she did not like to show her emotion, least of all next to him.

    "You still have things to do to-day?" she askt.  "In yet so late an hour?"

    "I have a service to hold with the diaconal sisters in the city military hospital; they could not do it earlier."

    "You have a lot of work now?"

    He didn't answer.

    "But the feeling to be able to give so richly in such a difficult time must carry you through everything - even through the sorrow."

    Again he was silent.

    They had reached the center of the city; the dusk crept over the streets; a few street lamps flickered on and threw their faint light on the pavement.

    "There was a time," he said now, and a sound of bitterness was in his words, "when you thought differently about all that, where you judged my serious striving very insignificant and hurt me with it."

    She lookt at him; the otherwise so calm look of her eyes had something shocked in it.

    "I have - God knows - never thought so highly of my spiritual activity," he continued, "as you assumed it of me.  Just now, as the war broke out, there were hours where I began to have doubts about everything that so far has constituted the substance of my life.  Even now, I cannot deny it; these hours come again and fall upon me here like demonic powers.  And yet - you were wrong back then."

    She walkt next to him, possibly a little faster than previously, her head bowed to the ground so that in the dim lighting, he could see only a dark line of her profile.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

The only translations I could find for scheues ("einige Laternen flackerten auf und warfen ihr scheues Licht auf das Pflaster") were shy, timid, and reserved, none of which really make sense in this context.  I translated it as faint.

Pages 193-194

This Month's Installment

    He spoke quite plainly and simply, but even so animatedly that he also moved them, and every eye of these poor people hung on his lips.  When he finished, they sat quite a while, silently folded their hands, and on the tired faces there was the trace of new courage and of new hope. -

    The work was done.  Edith said goodbye to Frau Lisa, in order to return to the military hospital.  Hans, who still had an evensong to hold, accompanied her.

    Still, the streets were filled with refugee

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wagons; close by them, one drove a herd of cattle and a train of horses, beautiful, stately animals.

    "These are the remnants of a breed such as only East Prussia knows," said Edith.  "Look at the splendid mares there!"

    "Wonderful that they have not yet been conscripted."

    "They are of the finest blood and surely belong to a small farmer."

    "I thought to a greater owner."

    "That could also be.  But even the little people often have the most beautiful horses, which they themselves have raised with effort and trouble.  They form the foundation of the restocking of our cavalry.  Some, however, especially the brood mares, the farmer does not sell at all, but rather harnesses them in front of his own wagon, full of pride, and he brings only her foals to the market again."

    "And now loot of this war!  Just like the beautiful livestock over there, which now, however, are good for the slaughtering ax, at best.  Out of these trains of refugees, these sad rows of wagons, there are built up before my eyes impressive goods, with mighty barns and stables, prospering farmsteads, impeccably led according to the demand for the newest achievements in agricultural territory, stately farmsteads, small properties, built and increased with sour sweat, thriving prosperity, never-resting diligence.  And now, that all goes up in flames or will be driven out into the street!"

Commentary

I don't think that "the little people" ("die kleinen Leute") in Edith's comment "even the little people often have the most beautiful horses" is meant to have a negative connotation, but I couldn't think of a way to avoid it in my translation.

Pages 192-193

This Month's Installment

    "Better that we go away then!" said a younger woman.  "Just as we packt the last things on the wagon, a Russian cavalry division galloped onto the farm:  'It is good that you are going away,' said the one and yet quite good-naturedly helpt us with the packing up.  'Where do you want to go then?' - 'To Berlin!' I answered. - 'In eight days, we will be there, too!'  And they let us go from the farm unhurt and unhindered."

    A few tried to laugh, but it only came out badly for them; most still lookt down in front of themselves, dull and apathetic.

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    Thus the evening approached.  The large shed now resembled a gypsy camp.  The people who wanted to spend the night had tried to make it like home.  Some still sat on their benches, incessantly drank the generously served tea, and ate of the bread that appeared inexhaustible like that in the wilderness; others crouched on the straw that was spread on the floor; still others already stretched themselves out on the ready-made beds and wrapt themselves in the warm blankets.

    There, Hans walkt in the midst of the people.  When they noticed that he wanted to speak to them, there was a deep, rapt silence.

    And in the deep, rapt silence, he opened his mouth and spoke to them:  With the earthly bread, they had eaten merciful love; now he wanted to serve them the heavenly bread.  And no one would hunger for it as much as they in their misery and in their bleakness.  They had had to give up their home; he, however, in this darkening evening hour, wanted to lead them to the eternal home, from the love that people continuously prepared for them, to the great, lasting love of the Father in Heaven.

Pages 191-192

This Month's Installment

One saw in the frightened faces how much good the friendliness of the pretty, elegant woman did for them as they thawed out of their rigidity under her impression and lookt at the world again more optimistically.  Many got down from their vehicles; they were tired of the long trip and wanted to rest here; others planned to travel farther; to those, the young girls brought bread and coffee to the wagon.

    Inside, busy life progressed gradually; the people sat on the long benches and enjoyed the warm snacks, or they stood in groups and talkt about that which they went through, most still depressed and with quiet, timid voices.

    "No, Pastor, it doesn't go that way!"

    Edith stood near Hans, who was just busy in cutting off a large slice from a loaf of bread for an older man;

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however, he was not exactly very skillful with it:  "You are bleeding already and not just a little."

    She had taken the bread out of his hand and quickly fetched some dressing material with which she bandaged his thumb; almost in the same moment, she already divided one slice of bread from the others, spread it with butter, and handed it to the old man and several children, who had literally fixed themselves on her dress.

    He saw it with quiet admiration, above all, that she let her great suffering be so completely swallowed up in her work for others.  But at the same time, he felt shame about his ineptitude; it annoyed him that he had just exposed himself opposite her that way, and just when Frau Lisa came over to him in rushing activity and touched his bound hand with a quiet, derisive laugh, he took the bandage off again.

    Near him stood a group of women; they were telling dreadful things about the Russian invasion:  how they had immediately shot down the old administrator of the neighboring property, who approached them in a friendly manner, and set his house on fire.

Pages 190-191

This Month's Installment

What's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

    "Well done that you have pickt up the Pastor!" she greeted her husband.  "The poorest will probably need an encouraging word."

    "He has come along not for speaking but rather for helping.  Have you received enough female help?"

    "They flew to me like bees to the hive; it is a true joy; I took them from the train station, from the war effort, yes, as far as they could be spared, from the military hospital.  I took Edith along immediately, who knows how to do such things."

    They had walkt into the interior.  At least twenty young girls were here in diligent activity:  some were cutting mountains of sandwiches from giant loaves; others spread them with butter,

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which stood in front of them in high, yellow stacks on roughly built tables; still others were busy at the large coffeemakers, arranging the cups and the milk jars that they only had to pour out later.  Here was quite a line to make warm beds out of straw and woolen blankets; there, with the help of a few workers and craftsmen whom the mayor had summoned immediately, one made long benches for opportunities for sitting - like a miracle, all this took place before Hans' eyes.  He fought against the rushing thoughts, stept into action himself, and felt a pleasant reassurance for body and spirit in the unusual work.

    Already now, the first carts arrived.  Again Frau Lisa stood at the entrance door; she stept to the first wagon; she spoke a few words of encouragement to the people; she had the right word for each one.

Pages 189-190

This Month's Installment:

Here near a wagon ran a dog, which love and pity did not want to leave at home, with its tongue stuck out; there a small canary anxiously struck with his wings through his small cage, which had been attached under the wagon.  Then again, the train of wagons was interrupted by smaller or larger herds of cattle, which one drove along and which lowed and cried, as if they launched into a bellowing of yearning for the lush home pastures - a wonderful concert in the streets of the city.

    Hans stood for quite a while near the idlers on the pavement; unable to think or do anything, he let the hopeless image pass before his empty eyes.  East Prussia, his Fatherland, the wonderful, thriving country, presented itself to him there in its homelessness and its misery, and his heart beat loudly and painfully, and he could not get over the sight.

    Then, well-known honking sounded in his ear.

    "Good that I met you!" said Mayor Stoltzmann, while he let his car stop and askt him to get in.  "After all, everything has come faster than we had expected," he drove on, while the car forced its way past the long train of wagons only slowly and laboriously.  "The enemy invasion must have extended rather far, and we are

---189---

caught a little off guard in our work here.  There's no harm in it; I have had the shacks in front of the Königsberger Gate made ready for storage as well as possible.  My wife with a few other ladies is already outside and is providing hot coffee.  I want to take the accommodation of the people in hand personally.  You can help me with it; we will find enough to do."

    They had overtaken the train; the car could now drive with unhindered power and in a few minutes stopt in front of the large sheds.

    Miss Lisa walkt up to them in her blue-white linen dress and with a huge house-keeping apron.  Also in her eyes there was nothing but cheerful desire for activity and the satisfaction to be able to step in here so quickly and usefully.

Pages 188-189

This Month's Installment

What's italicized is what I'm unsure about

    The old condition of the sudden tiredness and the concern for his well being arose again; he got up with the help of his brother, offered his hand to Hans, and proceeded to his room.

    As Hans went homewards from Rodenburger Court, the strong anxiety and movement that raged in the streets struck him.  He askt an old woman who received aid from his association of the poor and whom he met on the way.

    "G--, Pastor, what bad luck, what bad luck!" she wailed to herself.  "No, I don't even want to complain anymore.  People like us at least still have our little rooms and our beds, in which we can lie in the evening.  But those there..." with that she turned and pointed backwards with her thin hand, "There they come, Pastor!"

    And now he noticed a long, long train of wagons that sluggishly moved through the large main street:  handcarts mostly, with quickly gathered, most necessary possessions, coach wagons in their tow rope.  And on this as on those, bowed down figures.  Motionless they sat there, the large, gray blankets often pulled up over their heads so that nothing remained but the pale, despondent faces.  They lookt neither to the right nor to the left, not even now, as they went through the large street of the city; apathetic

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and indifferent, they let the thick crowd of people stream by.  They appeared to be busy with only themselves and their fate.  Whither the tired horses, drifting off course, would pull them, whether they would find a place here in the city, whether they would be sent further and also have to spend the next night on the country road again... everything appeared provisional and listless to them.

Grammatical Minutia/Commentary

This is the end of chapter thirty-four and the beginning of chapter thirty-five.

I couldn't think of a good way to match this in my translation, but in the sentence "Nur mit sich und ihrem Schicksal schienen sie beschäftigt" in the original text, the objects of the refugees' concern come first ("sich und ihrem Schicksal"), illustrating their importance.  My translation has the more prosaic "They appeared to be busy with only themselves and their fate."

Pages 187-188

This Month's Installment

    The privy councillor noticed how this subject excited his sickly brother; he began to worry about him.

    "For the time being, the enemy is not yet in Bärwalde, thanks be to God," he admitted, "and even if it should come to the worst, then after the peace and the victory, which is sure for us, we would be richly compensated for the destruction."  Then an angry flame ran over the wrinkled features of the old man.

    "Compensated for!?" he cried, for the first time his voice loudly raised so that even the others around him stopped.  "Pardon, my dear, you are not already become such a strong city dweller that you can say such a thing.  Compensated for!  One can compensate you for your money that you have lost, your furniture and appliances; perhaps one can compensate Hans for his books and his tools - but how can one compensate us for a destroyed home?  All those hallowed treasures of many generations before that are hidden in it?  We sacrifice them - that is our duty.  But we sacrifice them as something not able to be compensated for, never again to be made up for; that makes this sacrifice so difficult for us."

    Now even the privy councillor said nothing more.  Hans had not participated in the conversation at all, rather just listened silently and absorbed in himself.  Everything that the Bärwalder said there had a core and a strength, as always, once he opened his mouth.  Yet this time, however, it was something different:  the old man had given expression to what he himself constantly felt and what grasped him deep in his soul at this moment.

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    The Bärwalder appeared completely exhausted; his hands shook, and the color of his face was drained, become ashen, after the red of the excitement.

    "I think you should lie down, Manny!" the privy councillor said.

    "Yes, yes, I can lie down.  It may be good for me."

 

Grammatical Minutia/Commentary

The expression "was ihm in diesem Augenblick in die tiefste Seele griff" is literally something like "what for him in this moment in the deepest soul grasped," but I smoothed this out a bit into "what grasped him deep in his soul at this moment."

It may also be worth pointing out that in his speech, the Bärwalder uses the word Heimat ("home") which is also in the title of the novel.

Pages 186-187

This Month's Installment

What's italicized is what I'm unsure about

But now when I am become old and tired and hoped to find well-earned rest on it and later on to see my body be bedded down in her bosom, now they come and force me abroad away from it!"

    His watery, dark eyes shimmered; even the other two were moved.

    "Those are the sacrifices that the Fatherland demands from us, Manny!" the privy councillor eventually said.

    "The Fatherland!" retorted the old man, "I know it well.  But then what is the Fatherland?  For all who sit here around us, for all country-born, it is the small piece of earth that they cultivate.  The soil is our home, and what you call love of the Fatherland arises out of the love for the soil.  My whole life long, I have known to treasure the produce of the spirit and of the culture; Hans there knows that the best.  But they are the artistic creations; they are not the original ones, the natives.  That is the piece of land that the man conquers anew every day with his strength and work; only through this does it become his property."

    Speaking became difficult for him.  But he pulled himself together and went on:  "Certainly, we sacrifice it, must sacrifice it so that the whole will be saved.  For in all of us, whoever we are, is and lives nothing else but the Fatherland.  But we people of the land give our last with it, and while we give it, we bleed to death, not much different from the soldier in the field.  But especially when we become old and already so united with our soil that

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we are no longer able to create a new home for ourselves."

Pages 184-186

This Month's Installment

    "But I am just used to her," the old man replied in that harmless selfishness, which had strongly developed through the infirmity of his body;

---184---

it also appeared in such times as perfectly natural that everything had to turn around him.

    "The Hutemach has stayed in Bärwalde?" Hans askt.

    "She and Borowski.  Thanks be to God!  What would become of Bärwalde otherwise!?"

    "But it is a lot from her that she has done it."

    "She explained from the beginning that she wanted to stay.  She has often been in Russia, understands the language, and hopes to manage with the enemy if they should come."

    "But it is a lot," Hans repeated.

    Even from the poultry, which he otherwise preferred and which the privy councillor had again carefully prepared for him, the Bärwalder took hardly one bite.  The brother's patience gave out on him.

    "But you must pull yourself together a little, Manny!"

    The old man replied not a word.  But a vague resentment lay on his face, and his thick, white brows knit themselves together tightly and firmly.

    "It is a difficult time!" Hans sought to agree with the privy councillor and at the same time to placate him, "but we all suffer under it."

    Again no answer, and yet one saw how it was working behind the furrowed brow.  Finally, the old man lifted his head from his chest; searching for the word with difficulty, he said:  "A difficult time for us all, quite right, my son.  And you, who, although a city dweller and a scholar, cling to the country home like all the Warsows, must understand why food and drink has no taste for me anymore.  They have driven me from my soil!  I grew up on it; my parents grew up on it, and my grandparents.  I have cultivated and ploughed it from my

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earliest youth on.  I have put all my work and energy into it, seen it turn green and grow and bear fruit, every spring, every summer, every fall.

Grammatical Minutia/Commentary

Previously, I translated Scholle as clod, but that didn't really seem to fit the context here ("They have driven me from my clod!").  Soil is a better choice here (and probably in most instances so far, too).