Chapter XII (2)

"The year 1839 had come to an end, and the winter term--the most tedious time of the school--had begun with an increased number of scholars. One Sunday some old scholars came to me, and suggested that the Grencheners had at one period occasionally performed a play. This old custom had long fallen into disuse; there had been nothing to see except at the carnival, 'the Doctor of Padua,' Punchinello, and the old buffoon sports, which had been brought home by mercenaries from the Italian wars, and established in the villages; but they wished to have again a great play, and begged me to help them. I desired to have time to think, and made inquiries of the old people, particularly of old Hans Fik, who, at least forty years before had co-operated as a youth, and, as he acknowledged to me with shame, had acted the part of the 'Mother of God.' From him I learnt that the last dramatic performance had been the 'St. Genevieve.' He doubted whether this younger generation could accomplish anything similar, for such a splendid paraphernalia, with many horses, such tremendous jumps clear over the horses, could no longer be seen in the present day. The _role_ of the count had been particularly fatiguing; one man had not sufficed for it; they had, therefore, had three counts, who, by turns, exercised their gymnastic art. Upon my asking whether there had not been speaking also, and whether he could not remember some passage which he could recite before me, the old man began to declaim, one tone and a half above his natural voice, singing and scanning with a monotonous abrupt rhythm and cadence. Undoubtedly this mode of delivery was a tradition from ancient times, and the speaking in these representations was an accessory only, while the jumping, wrestling, and gymnastics were the main point. From the productions of modern art which were at my command, I chose a native tragedy, 'Hans Waldmann Buergermeister von Zuerich,' by Wurstemberger of Berne. The hero, a leader in the Burgundian war, exerted himself to destroy the rule of the nobles in his native city, and to introduce reforms in accordance with the spirit of the age. Many of these innovations were displeasing to the citizens. The 'man of the people' became unpopular, a conspiracy of nobles upset him, and he was executed. The piece was not deficient in the necessary action; single combats, popular insurrection, fighting, and prison scenes gave spice to the dish; and longer dialogues were struck out. When my time for consideration had passed, the scholars made their appearance with military punctuality, and undertook with acclamation to perform the piece I had chosen.

"The young men set actively to work, and showed that innate disposition to self-government which had been developed by education and practice. Those who took part in it--the elder and fifth-class scholars--assembled at the national school, formed a union, and constituted it by the election of a president, a treasurer, and a secretary. They immediately proceeded to the distribution of parts. This took place as follows:--The president inquired of those assembled, 'Who will act the part of Hans Waldmann?' Three or four candidates rise, each brings forward his claims--height, a powerful voice, or school education; then they retire, and the discussion begins. Each candidate has his adherents and opponents. The discussion is closed, and a nearly unanimous majority allots the principal _role_ to the teacher, Tschui. Thus it went on with all the parts in succession, and the remainder of the general body agreed together as to their distribution as soldiers, peasants, and peasant women from Lake Zurich. The final vote put an end to all contention; there was not the least murmuring against the decision of the majority. I had been present at the meeting without saying a word; for, willing as the boys always were to listen to my advice--nay, even to look to my countenance for the expression of a wish,--yet it would have been annoying to them if I had obtruded myself upon them on the occasion of this performance. The distribution of parts gave perfect satisfaction; if I had undertaken it, it could not have turned out better,--probably not so well. Immediately after, a number of the elder lads, between twenty and thirty years of age, asked me to allow them to assist by acting the part of soldiers; they represented that there were some wild fellows among the actors, and there might be some ill-conducted lads among the spectators who would behave mischievously, and it would be well if they were at hand to keep order. Their desire was willingly complied with, and the appearance of these stout youths may have contributed to make their service unnecessary.

"After the parts had been written out and learnt by heart, the rehearsals began, and continued during the whole winter. Most of the actors could only be brought to a certain point of proficiency, and there they remained; but some, especially the actor of the first part, richly repaid the trouble taken with him, and won, both at the performance and afterwards, the highest praise. But what delighted me most was to observe the moral effect of this dramatic industry of the young people on the life of the village. The common councillors related, with joyful surprise--what had been unheard of in the memory of man--that this winter there had been no fighting, nor the least ill-behaviour. The lads no longer sat in the taverns, drinking; they practised their parts at home, neighbours and acquaintances listening to them. Although women were excluded from the stage, the young ladies and peasant women being represented by the boys; yet the women and maidens were called upon to co-operate in other ways.

"For many things were to be procured for the theatre--decorations, costumes, and orchestra. The newly-built wing of the bath-house was chosen for the theatre; this wing contained the dining-room and the adjoining dancing-room; the first, a long room, the other somewhat smaller and a square; there was an opening in the wall from one room to the other, in the form of an arch. The dancing-room was to be the stage, and before the arch hung a curtain: the dining-room was for the spectators. A platform and benches gave more than a thousand seats, and a gallery attached to the wall opposite to the curtain served as boxes. The plan of the stage arrangements was devised by a genuine artist, the painter Disteli, of Solothurn, known by his pictures of Swiss battles; the union took charge of the execution of it. It begged the common council to signify what trees might be cut to supply the necessary timber; crowds went out; the trees fell under the strokes of the axe; the lads harnessed themselves to them, putting on the tinkling-bells of the sledge-horses, and exultingly dragged the stems down the steep hill-path to the saw-mill. Then came the carpenters of the village, assisted by a sufficient number of men; in a short time the theatre was ready. The decorations were much aided by the misfortune of a play-manager, who, with his company, had for a long time been giving representations in a neighbouring city, but then had been obliged, by the pressure, not of the public, but of creditors, to go away, leaving behind him the whole of his theatrical properties. The scenery, therefore, was in the custody of the city, and the theatrical union succeeded in hiring, for a moderate sum, what was necessary--a room, a street, a wood, and even a dark prison. The costumes were designed by the painter Disteli; he coloured not only the particular dresses faithfully, according to the attire of the time and place, but contrived how it might be most cheaply carried out, by using the articles of dress that were at hand,--the aprons, bodices, shawls, and cloaks of the women. Whilst the village tailor worked, with an additional journeyman, incessantly at the costumes which required a higher degree of dexterity, the maidens occupied themselves for weeks with the smart dresses of the noble ladies, and the simple, picturesque attire of the women of the people; and many heroes owed to the taste and skill of a sister or a future bride the plumed cap and mantle which made him an object of admiration. If the dress, even less than the wearers, left little to desire, so did the equipment of the soldiers give a peculiar excellence to this performance; for the union addressed a petition to the government of the Canton, to allow them the use of the equipments and arms from the Burgundian war that were in the armoury at Solothurn, of helmets, armour, armlets, greaves, swords, spears, and halberds; and safe securities were offered for the careful return of them, with compensation for any damage. The government not only granted the request, but their most intelligent members helped both by word and deed, and delighted the troops with an old culverin and the coal-black equipments of the Burgundian gunners of the end of the fifteenth century.

"When February was so far advanced that the days of performance could be settled,--it was to be on at least three following Sundays, in order to repay in some measure the great preparations,--I pointed out to the president of the union, after a general rehearsal, that it would be well to have some playbills printed. 'Playbills!' said the president, 'there can be no harm in that, the people will then know who they have before them.' It so happened that the actors had thought of having a strip of paper attached to the head-dress of each, on which the public could read in large characters the name of the person. This mistake induced me to add upon the bills, to the usual contents, a short summary of the scenes in each act. The union sent their messengers, and I doubt whether there were any town or village within five leagues where the bills were not carried. What conduced to all this zeal in the preparations, was not only the pleasure of showing themselves before so many men, but also the calculation, that only a numerous attendance would bring up the entrance money to balance the expenditure, and give a chance of an overplus, which would be at the disposal of the union.

"Again the actors came and begged to have a procession, 'such as there used to be formerly, in which we ride, the soldiers march, and women and others drive in smart carriages.' Those, therefore, who assisted in the village, were to assemble and move in regular procession to the baths, distant about a quarter of an hour. But the youths who had gone through numerous rehearsals, in order to attain the heights of the art, wished now to have a rehearsal of their procession, and to put on their equipments and beautiful dresses; I left it to them to do as they pleased. I learnt too late that to this innocent pleasure was added also a plan of revenge. It had come to the ears of the union, that the clergy of the place were not favourable to what the worldly authorities were so well disposed. The pastor had made a report at Solothurn, against the godless intention of performing a worldly piece on a Sunday, and the Bishop and Chapter pressed the government to prevent such misconduct. This made the young men very indignant. One Sunday afternoon, when the church bells sounded for the catechisings, the dissonance of a drum mingled with their solemn sound. It was the parochial servant, who had become old as a drummer in foreign service; he was a master of his instrument, and on this occasion was not in the service of the council, but of the actors for the rehearsal of the procession. The great strength with which the veteran played in the closest vicinity to the church, and the pleased twinkle of his eye, betrayed that he had lost at Rome and Naples all respect for ecclesiastics, and had particular pleasure in vexing the priests. He had before this avowed to me that he did not believe all Calvinists would burn in hell; he had told his pastor at confession that he had always been good friends with his Bernese comrades, and that he felt assured the good God would not cast away such brave fellows into the jaws of the devil; when in consequence of this, the pastor had refused him absolution, he had gone away saying: 'Good Mr. Pastor, henceforth I throw all my sins on your back.' So he marched round the house of God, overpowering the voice of the preacher, and causing the young people to run out of the church to see the procession. The clergy had good reason to complain, as people had been disturbed in their devotions. Soon there appeared an order from the government for the affair to be investigated; there was some difficulty in bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion, but the union promised never again to disturb the worship of God, and the ecclesiastics dropped their opposition to the performance.

"At last the great day for the first performance came. It was Sunday, the 15th of March, 1840. At mid-day the village was all astir; about two o'clock the procession was arranged, and began its march along the old high road which led from the village to the baths. The ground was still covered with snow, but the sun shone bright. First came a carriage with a brass band from Fulder, which was travelling in western Switzerland; this band played a solemn march. Then the knights with mounted retainers, two and two, in brilliant Burgundian armour, as many as forty horse; then again carriages adorned with fir-branches and ribbons, occupied by the wives and daughters of the nobles and people, and with insurgent peasants, the infantry with their gun brought up the rear. It was not a bad picture of the old time, the weapons shone in the sunshine, and the figures rose, sharply defined, from the dazzling snow.

"The performance began about three o'clock, and lasted four hours. The success exceeded all expectation; the house was filled, and the applause loud. I experienced painful moments behind the scenes, as for instance when the fighting heroes, in spite of all admonitions, would strike at each other with their long sharp swords, so that the sparks flew, and I was obliged to be contented that only a few drops of blood flowed from a slight wound in the hand. The play was followed by a supper to all who had cooperated, and the gentry of the village, and lastly a dance. The knights danced in their armour till midnight, having put it on about mid-day. I concluded, therefore, that this race had not degenerated in bodily strength from their forefathers, who fought at Murten and Granson.

"The two following representations went off as fortunately as the first. The population streamed in from far and near, also travellers from Basle, Zuerich, and other cities. Since that one-and-twenty years have passed; in the new school buildings there is a theatre, in which the scholars perform small pieces; but the worthy men still look back with pride to the great performances of their youth.

"One consequence of this play was, that the master became a part of the joyous recollections of the Swiss villages. The house which the community had hired for the institution, and the dwelling of the master, a provisional locality, stood with its front to the old high road; behind lay the little garden, at the back of which was a meadow belonging to the house which pastured two goats, and on which fruit-trees were planted. My abode was on the ground-floor; on the first storey, to which there was a narrow steep staircase, was the school-room and a reception-room. In summer acquaintances from the neighbourhood came frequently, and relations from home visited us, delighting in the country and in the well-disposed people. The holiday-time was gladly made use of for expeditions among the mountains. The close intercourse with the men of the village was also beneficial to the school, of which the wants were amply supplied. Without any application, the common councillor let me know, that the allowed quantity of wood appeared to him too small; but I need not mind that, as I had only to state how much I wanted, and I should have enough given me. The scholars were eager to show attentions to my little ones, and to render voluntary services for our little household and farm. They took care of the garden, mowed the grass, and made the hay; I received from them the earliest strawberries and cherries, and when the rivulet was fished, the most beautiful trout. Since the examination, their zeal for learning had increased. The German and French compositions of the clever ones were very creditable; they solved equations of the second degree with facility, could explain the workmanship of a watch, a mill, and a steam-engine, and also the laws of their working; besides this, they could read Cornelius Nepos and Caesar. Instruction in the history of their Fatherland was throughout Switzerland carefully attended to, but only the brilliant parts of it. Every child knew about the battles of Morgarten, Sempach, and Murten; but the submissiveness of their rulers, the French pensions and decorations were generally passed over in silence. It appeared to me more judicious not to give the light without the shadows.

"I did not consider my duty towards those scholars whose inclination to learn was just aroused as ending with the certificate of dismissal. I wished to carry them on farther, up to the Canton school at Solothurn, which, besides a literary, had a technical class. With this object, it was necessary to provide for their maintenance, for they were, generally speaking, the sons of poor parents; those who were conscious that they would one day possess fields, meadows, and cattle, seldom felt the impulse to acquire more than the necessary knowledge. Before the close of the second year's course, two scholars showed themselves fit for the Canton school. I went to Solothurn, and spoke to the Landammann Munzinger and to the Councillor of the Board of Education, Dr. F. Both were worthy men, who provided for the boys in a great measure out of their own income. Soon I brought them a second, then a third couple. For these also, the necessary maintenance was found, especially as all who had entered had shown themselves worthy. But Dr. F. remarked to me, that he did not see the possibility of providing maintenance for any more, and as the parish was wealthy, they could do it themselves. I replied that this, without doubt, would be the case, as soon as the use of the school and of the further education of clever youths was demonstrated to the citizens by examples. Till then the government must provide that such witnesses should be forthcoming. A somewhat cold and dry answer sent the blood to my head: 'If you do not do all that is possible to promote the knowledge and education of the people, you may descend from your seats and let the patricians resume them, for they understand how to govern better than you!' 'Then I must find maintenance for the next scholars that are to be advanced to the higher school;' I advised them to apply to the Capuchins at Solothurn, as these are bound by their rules to give lodging and board to poor students. They had no occasion to repent of it.

"They were a jolly set in the monastery; the civil war in Spain had divided them into two parties, Carlists and Christinos, who mutually wrote satirical verses against each other. The severest satirist, a young Neuer, was the leader among the Christino writers, against whose satirical verses the leader of the Carlists could not make head; he was an old man of family, who long had guarded the holy chair, and only lately exchanged the papal uniform for the cowl. This domestic dispute was, however, kept strictly within the cloister walls, for outside of them the Fathers were good brothers, and everywhere popular. They lived among the people, shared in their pleasures, and comforted the unhappy; they knew every family, and more especially frequented those houses where the women made the best coffee. The favourite saying of the Carlist chief was, 'There is nothing beyond good coffee and making the soul happy.' Every spring two Fathers came to Grenchen, and the young men collected behind them as behind the rat-catcher from Hameln; the first cried out, 'Ho, ho! go and pick up snails!' This call drew all the boys from the houses into the wood. The rich booty gave a delicious dish to the monastery. The young collectors were repaid with holy pictures.

"The news that I had sent two boys to the Capuchins, soon reached the Landammann Munzinger, and at my next visit he asked me, 'Whether I did not know that they instilled principles into the boys, which were different from ours?'--'That I know well,' I answered, 'but I know still more; first, that scholars must live if they would learn; then that boys who have been two years with me, are so perverted, that no Capuchin can do them any good,'--'Then I am content,' said Herr Munzinger.

"I cannot part from this excellent man without consecrating a few words to his memory. He was a tradesman, and had a public shop at Solothurn. He had a philosophical education, was musical, and a man of genuine benevolence. Unselfish, of agreeable appearance and manners, he was inexorable when it was a question of the public weal; he was an opponent of the rule of the old patricians who made use of their power at home and their diplomatic service for their own advantage, and had no feeling for the interests of the people. In the year 1830, Munzinger was at the head of the movement, and the line he took at the popular meeting at Balsthal, on the 5th December, decided the fall of the Patrician government in the Canton of Solothurn. In the construction of the new constitution and laws, in the organisation of the administration, and in his co-operation in their labours for the exemption of the land from burdens, for the establishment of schools, for the formation of roads, for the advancement of agriculture, and the administration of justice, he showed himself wonderfully gifted as a statesman. Though the State only consisted of a few square miles, with some sixty thousand inhabitants, yet the difficulties of constituting it were not less than in a larger State. The old rulers and their adherents, supported by the clergy, made use of the free press, the right of assembly, and their rich ecclesiastical and worldly means, to irritate the people against the new order of things. There was no want of handles to lay hold of, as arrangements for good objects require means, and thus some burdens must be imposed. Thus, for example, the community was bound by a law to erect schools, and further, to endow them with land; where there was no communal property, land had to be bought. Many villages opposed this, but their resistance was forcibly overcome. Later, the chief magistrates thanked the Landammann for having put force upon them for their good. In a different way did the government maintain itself against refractory ecclesiastics. No compulsion was put on them, but care was taken that the peace of families should not be disturbed by their insubordination. The government chose as Chapter-Provost a liberal-thinking ecclesiastic; Rome refused to confirm him; the situation remained unoccupied, and the income went to the school-fund. The clergy refused to solemnise mixed marriages, or to baptise the children; thus such couples had to seek for marriage and baptism elsewhere; but the officials of the district took care that they were entered in the registers. How well Munzinger understood republican freedom may be learnt from an example. The parish of Grenchen possessed extensive woodlands, the property of which was divided between them and the State. The parish had the right to supply themselves with wood, the remainder of the produce went to the State, a condition of things which was evidently not favourable to the cultivation of timber. The government proposed, therefore, that the wood should be divided in proportion to the rights of both sides, and to ascertain this more precisely, sent a commission to Grenchen. The peasants, accustomed from ancient times to be over-reached by the government, were suspicious of being defrauded, and drove the commissioners out of the village. Next morning the landjaeger of Solothurn took the most considerable of the country people into custody, and carried them to prison at Solothurn. This had not passed without some heart-breaking scenes; women had been alarmed, the children cried, and the whole village was filled with lamentation and anger.

"From the feeling excited by these circumstances, I went soon after to the Landammann, and lamented the harshness of the proceeding. The men should have been summoned, none of them would have failed to appear, they were not such as would have evaded it. 'Yes,' said Munzinger, 'I, alas, was not here.'--'I thought so,' replied I, 'the affair in that case would have been managed differently.'--'Undoubtedly,' exclaimed the Landammann, colouring, 'I should have sent out the military and occupied the village, the seizure would still have taken place.' I could not conceal my astonishment at this outburst of anger. 'Yes,' continued Munzinger, 'you, with your monarchical notions, can be cautious and indulgent; there are always gendarmes and soldiers enough at hand to step in if necessary. We have not these means; the people have a great degree of freedom, but we cannot allow that in one single case even a hair's-breadth should be over-stepped.' A true and manly word.

"The Landammann had the welfare of the Confederation as much at heart as that of the Canton, and as the people at home submitted to his discipline because they recognised that it was for their good, so also his guidance was followed in the affairs of the Confederation. In the Sonderbund war, Solothurn, although Catholic, was on the side of the Diet; its artillery distinguished itself in action, and left many valiant men on the field of battle. Munzinger joined in forming the new constitution; he was elected to the Diet, and by this into the Executive Council. Switzerland honoured one of their best citizens in choosing him as President of the Bund, and he dedicated to his Fatherland, from which he was too early torn away, all his powers up to the last hours of his life.

"The year 1840 introduced into Switzerland and Germany the alarm of French invasion; General Aymar had marched from Lyons, and the forces of the Confederacy met him on their frontier. The Solothurn Battalion, Disteli, which was marching through Grenchen, was refreshed by the inhabitants with food and drink, and animated by the cry 'Thrash them soundly,' 'Fear nothing!' The storm was allayed, as Louis Napoleon withdrew of his own accord from Switzerland to save them from war with France. The clouds of war over Germany disappeared also, but they left behind a lasting uneasiness in the mind of the people, which was the beginning of a succession of years of political excitement. At this period I was recalled to Germany by the persuasions of friends and feelings of duty, but it cost me a long inward struggle.

"Our departure was to take place at Christmas; it was very painful for us to take leave. I shortened as much as possible my separation from the scholars. I gave to each of them a book, said farewell, and hastened from them. A young man who had not been at the school, but had acted as a soldier in 'Hans Waldmann,' inquired from what coachman at Solothurn I should hire my carriage. I told him the man. The following day he returned to me, and informed me that he had engaged himself as servant to this liveryman, and had asked low wages that he might be allowed to drive us to Germany, for he wished to take care that we were as well attended to as in Grenchen.

"It was a cold, dark winter morning when we drove from the inn in which we had passed the last night. Great was our surprise, when, at that early hour and in the bitter cold, we saw the whole population, men, women, and children, thronging before the house and along the high road. They wished once more to press our hands, they said farewell, and many other things; 'It is wrong of you to leave us,' 'You must come back again,' 'You shall have the freedom of the city.' They raised their children up aloft, 'Look at him yet again, look at him yet once more!' The whip cracked, and the carriage drove away."

Here we end the narrative of the former schoolmaster of Grenchen.

More than twenty years have passed since the German teacher departed from the Swiss village. He had been a strong and moderate leader in the political struggles of Germany, he had clearly seen where the greatest danger threatened, and his name was often mentioned with warm veneration, or with bitter hatred. When years of weak reaction came, he went to the north of Germany, and again lived in the active performance of his duties as a citizen. Then the faithful companion of his life fell sick, and the physicians advised a long residence in pure mountain air; they determined to go to the village around which hovered so many delightful reminiscences of past times.

The village had changed its aspect; people no longer travelled by the high-roads but on the railway to Grenchen, manufactures had been introduced, watch-making and inlaid work, and the manufacture of cement, and other branches are increasingly developed. But the travellers found the old feeling, not only among the old men, but also through tradition among the younger ones. On the Sunday after their arrival, a long procession moved in the evening from the village to the baths. Foremost were the military bands of two battalions, which were formed of Grencheners under the direction of the new district-master, then the bearers of coloured lanterns, which were a large portion of the population. The multitude arranged themselves before the balcony of the house in which "Hans Waldmann" had been performed. Great chafing-dishes threw a red light over the ponds, jutting fountains and the pleasure grounds of the baths, whilst rockets ascended and lighted up at intervals the dark background, the mountains of the Jura. The guests had to place themselves on the balcony. The music ceased, and a former scholar, now a physician in Grenchen, stepped from out of the ranks. He commenced his greeting by calling to mind, that on the day of their arrival, there had been a great eclipse of the sun; two-and-twenty years before, their guests had entered among them at a period of intellectual darkness, they had helped to make light victorious; he concluded with the assurance that Grenchen would always consider the two strangers as belonging to them. When later the people of the village joyfully thronged round the friends, the parents pointed to a race of young giants that had meanwhile grown up amongst them, saying, "See these are the little ones who used to play with your children, and could not then go to your school." The German had by his side his eldest scholar, Xaver Reis, who had again come to him, over the mountain.

The district school has now three masters and ample funds. The new school-house rises on a height in front of the church, and is a conspicuous object to the surrounding country. The school has trained its own advocates and supporters.

The Master who gives this narrative is Karl Mathy, the State councillor of Baden, in the year 1848 a member of the Imperial ministry, one of the best and strongest champions of the Prussian party.

These pictures began with a description of peasant life at an earlier period, it concludes with a true village story of the latest bygone times. It is a Swiss village of German race, to which the reader has been introduced. Many of its circumstances, the worth and energy of the inhabitants, and their self-government, recall to us a lively recollection of a German time which is removed from us by many centuries. Betwixt the Alps and the Jura also did misrule long retard the culture of the country people, but its pressure was harmless in comparison with the fate of the German nation: its bondage, and the Thirty Years' War.

It was one of the objects of these pages to represent the elevation of the German popular mind, from the devastation of that war, and from the tyrannical rule of the privileged classes. Deliverance has come to the Germans, but they have not recovered their old strength in every sphere of life. But we have a right to hope; for we live in the midst of manly efforts to remove the old wall of partition that still exists between the people and the educated, and to extend, not only to the peasant, but also to the prince, and to the man of family, the blessing of a liberal education.