Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/236

 been in his stable. He could tell off on his fingers how many pounds of bran, chaff, straw, and oilcake they had consumed; and the relative prices of butter, meat, and fodder for the last twenty years,—and he held forth on these subjects with a most surprising eloquence to Emanuel; giving him at the same time a most learned explanation of the modern stall and artificial feeding, and shewed himself a most determined adherent of the system.

Emanuel listened to him with rising astonishment. This little half-blind man, with his awkward manners—whom he had hitherto looked upon as a simple clown—now stood before him full of eagerness, asserting independent views, shewing insight, and unfolding a knowledge of his subject which quite overwhelmed him.

All this strengthened him in his opinion, that much of the want of appreciation, and injustice from which the peasants suffered, was entirely due to the want of understanding of the kernel which was hidden behind their external shyness and helplessness; and that therefore it was absolutely necessary, for anyone who wished to do anything among these people, to bind themselves to them heart and soul, to be able to win their confidence.

Anders Jörgen, who was flattered by Emanuel's interest in his occupations, became more and more communicative. He led him round all the outhouses and barns, shewed him the granary,